To review our last session, there are four very important facts about the Bible teaching of election: 1. Election is an absolute. In other words, it is positive and definite, with no element of degree. You may have several candidates for a political office, but only one can hold the office. 2. Election must be personal. One cannot elect without choosing something or someone. 3. Election can only be one way. I cannot choose God if God chooses me, nor can God choose me if I have chosen Him first. 4. Election must have an end or goal. There must be an object involved. One cannot choose without choosing for a purpose.
Because of depravity, by nature we disapprove of God being sovereign, and working all things after the counsel of His own will. The most popular interpretation is to say that election does not really mean election; rather, it means accepting something after the fact. God only chooses the sinner after the sinner has chosen God; but does a man or woman choose to be President before the people vote? If this is true, then God is helpless to help man until man has done something to help himself. I will quote some Bible verses, you examine them carefully within their context and decide what you think they mean. Jesus speaking, 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.” John 6:39 “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” John 6:44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Now, let’s read what the apostle Paul has to say; Romans 8:29-30 ¶ “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Finally, we shall consider the Apostle Peter’s statement; 1 Peter 1:2 “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”
The same is true about predestination. The popular belief is that predestination is limited. It applies to everything except salvation and man’s free will. Is that really true? The apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:4-6; “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” There is a misconception about the free will of man. Most of the modern “theologians” teach that man is a free, moral agent; notwithstanding, the Bible teaches that man is not free but in bondage to sin, neither is he moral: for he is by nature depraved and a sinner against God. The problem with man’s free will is that it too is depraved; therefore, man, on his own and by himself, will not choose God to save him.
Are these teachings really that important? Yes, and for the following reasons: (1) God’s sovereignty is not relevant, but absolute. Sovereignty cannot be limited to just certain things. So, without these teachings Divine sovereignty is not possible. (2) Unconditional election is consistent with the true principle of absolute sovereignty. (3) Without election and predestination, the work of redemption would have been for naught. The principle of human depravity demands that one who is divine, having a desire to fellowship with His human creation must choose either some or all; that He might draw them to Himself. The Bible clearly shows in Romans 3:11 Psalms 14:2, Jeremiah 17:9, Isaiah 64:7, (do your homework); that no one would ever come to God on his own. Absolute sovereignty establishes that God has the right to choose some or all according as it pleases him. The fact that there are some who are in hell today proves that God did not choose all of mankind to go to heaven. We shall continue this study in the next issue, the Lord willing. E-mail, johnpruitt@frontiernet.net.
