Introduction:

The Bible reveals some mysteries that are not totally understandable or explainable (Deut. 29:29).

However, by faith, the believer accepts the truth God has revealed, and waits till glory when the "secret things" will be revealed. Then our limited knowledge will be replaced by a perfect knowledge of all spiritual truth (I Cor. 13:12; I Jn. 3:2).

Examples of some inexplicable mysteries:

1. The Trinity (Lk. 3:22; Mt. 28:19; II Cor. 13:14; Gen. 1:26)
2. The two natures of Christ (totally God and totally man - Phil. 2:5ff)
3. The production of Scripture (Holy Spirit and holy men - II Tim. 3:16; II Pet. 1:21)
4. Prayer (God knows our needs in advance - Mt. 6:8; God expects us to pray - Mt. 6:11)
5. Living the Christian life (we must work, God must work - Phil. 2:12-13)

*Whenever the divine and human meet - there are workings that are higher than our finite minds can handle -- and election is one of them.

The Biblicist must take and believe what the Bible says about election and stop there; we cannot rationalize and logically formulate ideas and doctrines that are not specifically stated in Scripture.

Definitions:

The word "elect" or "election" (ekloge) simply means to be "picked out," to be "selected," to be "chosen."

The verb (eklegomai) occurs 21 times in the New Testament and means "to choose" (Eph. 1:4). In the middle voice, it means to "choose for oneself, not necessarily implying the rejection of what is not chosen, but choosing with the subsidiary ideas of kindness or favor or love" (Vine, p. 189).

The noun (ekloge) occurs 7 times and refers to a selection of God (Rom. 9:11, 11:5, 7, 28; I Thes. 1:4; II Pet. 1:10).

The adjective (eklektos) occurs 23 times in the New Testament and always refers to God's selected ones ("the elect" - those people chosen by God - Rom. 8:33; Col. 3:12) with one exception ("elect angels" - I Tim. 5:21).

Two other major terms:

The word "haireo" means "to take to oneself" (II Thes. 2:13).
The word "tasso" means to appoint, give a position to, or ordain (Acts 13:48).

Anyone who believes the Bible, must believe in "election" since the word occurs frequently in Scripture. The questions, however, are: "What is meant by 'election'?" "What did God elect?" "What did He select or choose?" "What is the basis for His selection?"

The Bible teaches that God elected (chose) both:

1. The plan of salvation
2. The people of salvation

God's marvelous plan of salvation was not an afterthought--after Adam and Even sinned--nor was it something that just happened by accident.

God sovereignly and purposely designed a just (righteous) plan of saving mankind before the world began.

1. He chose to send His Son (Is. 42:1; Mt. 12:18; I Pet. 2:6)

2. He chose to sacrifice His Son (Mt. 2639, 42; I Pet. 1:20; Rev. 13:8)

3. He chose to unite believers in His Son (Eph. 1:4ff)

The emphasis in Ephesians 1 & 2 is the believer's union with Christ. The phrases "in Christ" (1:3, 10). . . "in Him" (1:4). . . "by Jesus Christ" (1:5). . . "in the Beloved" (1:6). . . "together with Christ" (2:5), etc.

4. He chose to sanctify believers by His Son (I Pet. 1:2 - "...unto obedience..."; Eph. 2:10)

5. He chose to glorify believers through His Son

God predestined believers to be "conformed to the image of His Son" (Rom. 8:29).

God predestined believers to be "glorified" (Rom. 8:30; cp. Eph. 2:7)

Examples of God's specific selection of people:

1) Abraham (Gen. 12:1,2), Isaac (Gen. 21:12), and Jacob (Rom. 9:11-13)
2) Israel - Dt. 7:6; Is. 45:4)
3) Jeremiah (Jer. 1:5)
4) The Disciples (Jn. 15:16)
5) Paul (Gal. 1:15)

"Election is that eternal act of God, by which in His sovereign pleasure, and on account of no foreseen merit in them, He chooses certain out of the number of sinful men to be the recipients of the special grace of His Spirit, and so to be made voluntary partakers of Christ's salvation" (A.H. Strong).

Scriptures teaching personal, unconditional election:

1. John 6:37 - "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out."

2. John 6:39 - "...all which He hath given me..."

3. John 6:44 - "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him..."

4. John 6:65 - "No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father"

5. John 17:2 - "that He [Jesus} should give eternal life to as many as thou [the Father] hast given Him" (cp. v. 6, 24)

Note: The Father's selection of those who would belong to the Son perfectly corresponds to the metaphor of the "Bride of Christ" (Jn. 3:29; Eph. 5:23-32; Rev. 19:7, 9; 21:9; 22:17)

Basic teachings of the Bride metaphor -

a. Election - The Father chose a Bride for His Son (Jn. 6:37, 39, 44, 65)

b. Engagement - The downpayment of the Holy Spirit has been given to all believers with a promise of Christ's return to receive His purchased possession (Eph. 1:13-14)

c. Rapture - The Son is coming back to receive only His Bride unto Himself
(Mt. 25:1-13)

d. Wedding - Eternity with Christ (Rev. 19:7-9, 21:9)

6. Acts 13:48 - "...as many as were ordained to eternal life believed"

--The word "ordained" (tetagmenoi) means to appoint or enroll

--This verb is passive in voice - showing that God did the act of foreordaining.

--This verb is perfect in tense - showing that the time of the ordaining took place before (prior to) the time they "believed"

7. II Timothy 1:9 - "Who hath saved us...according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."

8. Romans 9 - Though the main thrust of this chapter describes national election, the illustrations and applications given do support personal election. The theme: God chooses whom He will save)

This chapter basically answers 2 questions:

a. If God does not choose everyone (all in Israel) to be saved: HAS GOD FAILED?
(v. 6-13)

Answer: No!
Reasons:

1) God's choosing was never based on physical descent (v. 6-9)

2) God's choosing was never based on personal merit (v. 10-13)

b. If God does not choose everyone (all in Israel) to be saved: IS GOD FAIR?
(v. 14-33)

Answer: Yes!
Reasons:

1) God is fair in showing mercy to whomever He chooses (v. 15-18)

2) God is fair in molding vessels for His own glory (v. 19-23)

3) God is fair in redeeming a remnant as He promised by His prophets
(v. 24-29)

4) God is fair in rejecting a people who attempt to be saved by their works
(v. 30-33)

QUESTION: Romans 9:18 - When God hardened Pharaoh, did He harden a heart that was previously soft?

No! When God hardened Pharaoh's heart, He was actually keeping hard that which was already hardened (cp. Ex. 8:15, 32 with Ex. 9:12, etc.)

QUESTION: Romans 9:22 - Does God form occupants for hell?

No! Rather, He does have the prerogative to take people who have "fitted themselves" (middle voice) for destruction and keep them on their path of doom.

Since no one deserves to be saved or even wants to be saved (Rom. 3:11)--unless God puts that desire in their hearts--God is perfectly just to give His salvation to whomever He chooses.

9. Romans 8:29 - "For whom He did foreknow, he also did predestinate"

10. I Peter 1:2 - "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father..."

QUESTION: What did God foreknow?

Conditional election - teaches that God's choice is based upon His foreknowledge of who would choose Him.

Unconditional election - teaches that God's choice was based upon His foreknowledge of whom He would choose.

The above verses give absolutely no hint as to exactly WHAT God foreknew.

The best answer is that God knew both whom He would choose, and who would choose Him (The Bible teaches both - God's sovereignty to choose men and man's responsibility to choose God.

Therefore, the Biblicist position is to believe in both election and free will.

God must choose you, and you must choose God. Your choice of God is a confirmation that He had already chosen you (Jn. 6:37).

Note how the following verses teach God's sovereignty to elect and man's responsibility to believe:

How did God choose you?

	God's Election	Man's Belief
II Thess. 2:13	"Through sanctification of the Spirit..."	"...and belief of the truth"
Acts 13:48	"Ordained..."	"...believed"
John 6:37	"the Father giveth..."	"...him that cometh"

QUESTION: If God selects those whom He will save, how do I know I am saved?

If I believe, I am saved! (Acts 13:48; II Thes. 2:13)

If I came to Christ, I am saved! (Jn. 6:37)

We need to understand salvation from 2 perspectives:

From God's Perspective	From Man's Perspective
"Who saved us...according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (II Tim. 1:9)	"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved..." (Acts 16:31)
Unconditional Election based on God's grace	Conditional Election based on man's faith

We need to understand the will of God. There are two sides to the will of God

THE WILL OF GOD
God's Desired Will (Boulomai) (What God desires to happen) II Peter 3:9 - "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."	God's Determined Will (thelema) (What God has decreed will happen) Eph. 1:11 - "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will" (Cp. Eph. 1:5, John 1:13)

Practical benefits of the doctrine of election:

It will produce:

1. Humility (I Cor. 4:7)
2. Thankfulness (II Thess. 2:13)
3. Glory to God (Eph. 1:3-4, 2:7)
4. Security (Eccl. 3:14)
5. Confidence in evangelism (Acts 18:10)
6. Holiness in life (Rom. 12:1-2)