 DOCTRINE OF ELECTION

1) Drawing (gk. elkuo) means to draw, lead or impel. In this case the drawing or calling is in love. All the elect will freely respond to the work of the Holy Spirit. The drawing provides the motive to respond.

2) All people are called to repent, but only the elect are drawn. (John 3:16, 36 , 12:32 16:8-11, 1 John 2:2)

3) Believers, Called Ones, Elect, are all names for the same person. God calls, the Holy Spirit works, we simply respond to the call of Love. (Jeremiah 31:3, John 3:16)

4) The calling provides the motivation for the expression of love in the unbeliever who is positive towards salvation. (Philippians 2:13)

5) God can thereby give His gift of salvation to the elect. (John 1:13, Romans 9:16 Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5-6)

6) God therefore gets the glory for His work, we get the benefits (Jude 24-25)

(a) God planned it in eternity past.

(b) God provides it at the cross.

(c) God prepares for it in the life by conviction.

(d) God provides the motivation to accept the offer.

(e) God gives the gift of salvation to the elect.

(f) God gives the Holy Spirit to the new believer.

(g) God has prepared a new body for the believer.

 WHAT ABOUT "ELECTION DAY"?

Election.

In the everyday life the word "election" means to choose or to select: For example when we choose a house in which to live, we elect to do so. No fatalism entered into the choice, and the fact that by choosing one house, we do not choose all the millions that are left, cannot be construed as bad behavior, condemnation or the like.

If man, made in the image of God, is free to choose, how much more shall God possess and exercise that right. This He claims to do with regard to:

Israel, Deut. 7:6,7,

For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:

Jerusalem Zech. 1:17,

Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

Aaron Num. 16:5,7,

And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him. And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD to morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.

David 2 Sam. 6:21,

And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over : therefore will I play before the LORD.

The Twelve John 6:70;

Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? Acts 1:2, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

Paul Acts 9:15

But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

To understand more closely the word "election" as it relates to doctrine, we read that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: 2 Thess. 2:13 'God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth'. and Peter wrote to the Dispersion: 'Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ' (1 Pet. 1:2).

It should be noted that in both of these passages the means as well as the end is included. In both the Old and New Testaments, and regarding members of the several different callings, The redeemed are called 'the elect'; 'Israel Mine elect' (Isa. 45:4); Those on the earth at the time of the Second Coming (Matt. 24:31); Those called by the apostles of the Circumcision (1 Pet.1:2; 2 John 1). In contrast with the bulk of the nation of at the time, Paul speaks of the 'remnant' as 'the election' ( 11:5,7).

Those who came under the first ministry of the apostle Paul; 'Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?' (Rom. 8:33);
Those who came under the second or 'Prison ministry' of the apostle Paul, 'Put on therefore, as the elect of God' (Col. 3:12);

We return now to the two references quoted earlier, and to 1 Peter 1:2 first. It will be noted that election there is said to be 'according to the foreknowledge of God the Father', a word that Peter repeats when he speaks of human foreknowledge in 2 Peter 3:17. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.

A parallel passage in some way is that in which the apostle Paul wrote, not of election but of predestination saying: 'Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate' (Rom. 8:29). An examination of the word 'foreknowledge' is therefore important. How are we to understand this word? The Greek word proginosko, to foreknow, occurs five times in the New Testament, and the noun, prognosis, twice, making seven references in all.

The passages are as follows: 'Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain' (Acts 2:23).

'My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; which knew me from the beginning' (Acts 26:4,5).

'For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate' (Rom. 8:29).

'God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew' ( 11:2).

'Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father' (1 Pet. 1:2).

'Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world' (1 Pet. 1:20).

'Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before' (2 Pet. 3:17). It will be observed that the usage subdivides this list into three groups: (1) God. It is used of God in connection with Christ and His sacrifice for sin.

(2) God. It is used of God in connection with His people who are called the elect, or the chosen.

(3) Man. It is used of man in the sense of knowing beforehand, or of having previous information.

The grouping of these occurrences may be made more evident if set out as follows:

A. Reference to Christ and His Sacrifice (Acts 2:23).

B. Reference to man and his previous knowledge of facts (Acts 26:4,5).

C. Reference to the elect people of God (Rom. 8:29; 11:2; 1 Pet. 1:2).

B Reference to man and his foreknowledge as a result of Scriptural testimony (2 Pet. 3:17).

A Reference to Christ and His Sacrifice (1 Pet. 1:20).

Commentators are divided in their treatment of the meaning of the foreknowledge of God. The Calvinist sees in the word a synonym for predestination. Others an indication of love and favor. Apart from theological necessity, the word means to know beforehand, without responsibility as to the event.

It is extraordinary that anyone should presume to say what "is" or "is not" possible to the Lord; nor can the same person avoid the logical conclusion of their own argument, that God must be, if they are right, the author of sin, a conclusion diametrically opposed by the Word of God, and repulsive to the conscience of His children.

Time is the measure of motion, and in our limited state, the idea of a timeless state expressed by the title, I Am, is beyond our comprehension. A simple illustration, however, may be helpful in arriving at some understanding of the matter. Suppose you are standing at a small table with books on it, also paper, ink and pens. As you stand there, you view and take in the whole table and the contents as one; there is neither a first nor a last item. The articles could be as well named from left to right as from right to left. Now, further, suppose that an ant crawls up one of the table legs, and that he visits each article in turn. To the ant there will be definite order of the articles on the table because the element of time is introduced, and so, there will be a first and a last. So, also, if a spider crawls up the opposite leg of the table, the order would be reversed. God, as it were, sees all at a glance; He knows the end from the beginning, but the future is hid from our eyes.

We shall be wise, therefore, to leave the word 'foreknowledge' to mean just what it says and no more. The infinite knowledge of God makes it possible that He knows who will preach and who will teach; where they will go, and when they will go; who will hear, who will reject, who will accept, and who will be left without a word of the gospel. The one great demand upon all who hear the gospel is that they believe the Word of God concerning His Son. Whoever so believes passes into all the blessings purchased by the blood of Christ. Whoever does not believe makes God a liar.

1 John 5:9,10. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

If there were any suggestion of preordination in this, someone who refused to believe would be as much a part of God's predetermination as someone who is election to glory, and it would not be possible to make God a liar by so refusing His testimony. Further, in the passage before us, Rom. 8:29 foreknowledge is differentiated from predestination, for we read: 'Whom He did foreknow He also did predestinate'. If we alter the word 'foreknow' to any word bearing the sense of predetermining or predestinating, the sentence ceases to have meaning, for example, if we read: 'Whom He did foreordain He also did predestinate'.

We therefore understand the passages before us to declare that God, Who is not under the limitations of time and space as we are, and needs no external evidence to attain to this knowledge, knows all things, past, present and future; knows them perfectly and completely, and can, therefore, act with complete certainty where, to us, all would appear in a contingent light.

The whole testimony of the Scriptures is to the effect that God has a purpose before Him, according to which He works and, in accord with that purpose of populating heaven and earth with the redeemed, He foreknew every one who would respond to the call of grace, and accordingly marked them off beforehand for the various spheres of glory that His purposes demanded. If we believe that God fixed unchangeably from all eternity whosoever should in time believe, then however much we may hedge and cover the fact, there is but one logical conclusion, a conclusion that in days gone by has driven many to the edge of despair. That conclusion is, that He Who absolutely and unalterably fixed the number of those who should believe, just as surely fixed unalterably the number of those who should not believe, a conclusion so monstrous that it has only to be expressed to be rejected:

'How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard?' (Rom.10:14).

Both 1 Peter 1:2 and 2 Thessalonians 2:13 speak not only of the Lord's election and choice of those who are saved, but His decision beforehand of the means to that end:

'Through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth' (2 Thess. 2:13). Paul has spoken very pointedly on the question of believing the Gospel, in Romans 10:14, saying, 'How shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?' which leaves no room for the intrusion of fatalistic decrees. Peter, writing to the dispersion, who were Hebrew Christians, uses a Hebrew figure saying, 'unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ' (1 Pet. 1:2). We give all the references to 'sprinkling' in the New Testament which will confirm this Hebrew attitude of Peter as distinct from the Gentile attitude of Paul (Heb.9:13,19,21; 10:22; 11:28; 12:24).

God knows beforehand the circumstances and conditions of our birth and upbringing, and His gracious purpose of election never can miscarry, for His understanding like His love is unsearchable.

God Bless you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ