Topic : Election, cf. predestination

The idea of election goes back to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3). God chose to make a nation of that patriarch’s descendants. He chose Israel to be his people. He worked his purposes out through that one nation and in due course sent his Messiah as a Jew. After that, God continued to choose, or elect, people in accordance with his purpose (Rom. 9:11), grace (Rom. 11:5), love (1 Thess. 1:4), and foreknowledge (1 Pet. 1:2). The “elect” can rely on God’s concern for them (Luke 18:7) and on their sure salvation (Rom. 8:33). They are to live lives befitting their status (Col. 3:12-14). Mystery is inherent in the concept of election, because we also know that God desires the salvation of all persons (1 Tim. 2:4).

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• The Shaw Pocket Bible Handbook, Walter A. Elwell, Editor, (Harold Shaw Publ., Wheaton , IL; 1984), p. 349.
• Charts of Christian Theology and Doctrine, H. Wayne House, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publ. House, 1992), p. 97

“Paul begins here to extend as it were his hand to restrain the audacity of humans, in case they should clamor against God’s judgments. We cannot by our own faculties examine the secrets of God, but we are admitted into a certain and clear knowledge of them by the grace of the Holy Spirit. And just as we ought to follow the guidance of the Spirit, so where He leaves us, we ought to stop there and fix our standing.

“If anyone will seek to know more than what God has revealed, he shall be overwhelmed with the immeasurable brightness of inaccessible light. But we must bear in mind the distinction between the secret counsel of God and His will made known in Scripture.

“For though the whole doctrine of Scripture surpasses in its height the mind of man, yet an access to it is not closed against the faithful, who reverently follow the Spirit; but with regard to God’s hidden counsel, the depth and height of it cannot be reached.”

- John Calvin

I.H. Marshall, Jesus the Savior, IVP, 1990, p. 291ff

Those who are elect do follow Christ:

John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

Those who perish do so because they did not receive the truth:

II Thessalonians 2:10 “and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.”

God’s choice does not eliminate the need for man’s exercise of faith:

II Thessalonians 2:10 “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

I Timothy 6:12: “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

God’s choice does not eliminate man’s need to teach the truth:

II Timothy 2:24-5 “And the Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”

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Many people want to know their election before they look to Christ. But they cannot learn it thus; it is only to be discovered by ‘looking unto Jesus.’ Look to Jesus, believe on Him, and you shall make proof of your election directly, for as surely as you believe, you are elect. If you will give yourself wholly up to Christ and trust Him, then you are one of God’s chosen ones. Go to Jesus just as you are. Go straight to Christ, hide in His wounds, and you shall know your election.

Christ was at the everlasting council. He can tell you whether you were chosen or not, but you cannot find out in any other way. Go and put your trust in Him. There will be no doubt about His having chosen you, when you have chosen Him. - Charles Spurgeon

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“Elect” is always used of those who have already become believers, never of those who have not yet received the call.

J. Huther, Ed., Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy and Titus, Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament.

• The elect are the whosoever wills, the non-elect are the whosoever won’ts. - D.L. Moody

Source unknown

• Perspectives on Evangelical Theology, K. Kantzer, S. Gundry,
• Baker, 1979, “Predestination: A Calvinistic Note,” F. Klooster, p. 81
• Perspectives on Evangelical Theology, K. Kantzer, S. Gundry,
• Baker, 1979, “A Wesleyan Note on Election,” W. T. Dayton, p. 95
• Perspectives on Evangelical Theology, K. Kantzer, S. Gundry,
• Baker, 1979, “The Doctrine of Election: A Lutheran Note, D. P. Scaer, p. 105