Choosing To Believe Biblical Election

Choosing Calvinism’s doctrine of Election is what devoted Calvinists do and they do so without any clear passage of scripture that fully explains the doctrine they believe in. The Calvinist’s choice to believe Unconditional Election is really a mystery especially for those that teach such a notion.  How can someone who teaches others not see how absolutely void of scriptural foundation Unconditional Election is?  Even the revered Calvinist author, A. W. Pink wrote that Calvinist election is based on “scattered statements” and has to be built “a little here and a little there.”                             

The facts are these.  Election does exist in the Bible.  However, the key to understanding “Election” in the Bible is to understand that God makes different kinds of elections (choices) in scripture according to his purposes. There are at least four uses of "election" that I find in scripture and there could be more than four.  A scriptural example is included below for each kind of election that I see in scripture:

Our first usage of election is God's choice to send Jesus to the world that he might save the world:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16                         

Secondly, God has elected that all men have an opportunity to be saved and this is backed by many clear scriptures.  This is God’s second election.  Here are just two of many of these passages found in scripture:

1 Timothy 2:4-6
This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.                                                                               

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Thirdly, God elects different people and even nations to fulfill his many purposes on earth.  These purposes include gifting, calling and ministry.  For instance, God chose an entire people group to become a nation to show forth his goodness and he called this nation “Israel”.

God also chose certain men to be his leaders and prophets in the Old Testament.  For example, God chose Jacob to be a father of Israel while not choosing Esau (Romans 9:13).  God chose Christ's disciples specifically to build his church upon (John 17).  God chose some to be apostles and others to have other kinds of specific ministry callings (1 Corinthians 12:29).  There are hundreds of scriptures that depicts God choosing folks for his purposes and most of these are conditional in nature.  An example of God choosing for a purpose is:        

“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 
Deuteronomy 7:6                                                                    

Fourth, God has elected that those who have been born-again will have access to participate in all the glorious promises of God.  Those who do not believe in Christ and his completed work will never have access to these promises.  God has chosen only those who believe to experience his marvelous promises.  These passages are usually the ones that Calvinists try to make about salvation but this is clearly erroneous.

The fact remains after all the rhetoric that there is not even one scripture where one finds that election is tied to language about salvation.  However, there many election passages which speak of God’s purposes for those who have been born again.

The passage below is often used by Calvinists as proof of election for salvation but this is simply faulty exegesis of the passage.  The passage below is written to those who are already saved and speaks of God’s election for those who are born again to apprehend God's awesome purposes for them:                                                                                                                                      

Ephesians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. (This passage is written to the “holy and faithful” and is about the purposes that God has for all those who are saved already.)

These four elections are what I see about election in scripture.  The various mentions of election are sprinkled about scripture according to the purpose of the passage.  One should never make take every use of the words "election" or "chosen" as having the same purpose because they clearly do not.  The context of the passage must be considered and this is Calvinism's greatest error because they do not take into account the actual context of the passage when exegeting scripture.

There is no justification for Calvinism’s Unconditional Election in scripture!
   

For as convincing as the above explanation of the uses of "election" in scripture, the greatest argument against Calvinism’s Election is the fact that there is not even one passage that states that God has chosen some for salvation and some to be damned---NOT ONE!   

Darrell Brantingham                        

(Check out my Twitter account @confrontcalvin)