Election is perhaps one of the most difficult and contentious doctrines in Christianity. To be told that, in the final analysis, we did not choose Christ, but that he chose us (John 15:16) is insulting to our self-determinative, individualistic mentalities. In our society we are lead to believe that it is our power to choose that makes us who we are (typically this is by marketing campaigns that want us to "choose" their product). Human autonomy does not like to have things out of its control. Despite all this, however, as Christians we must have a doctrine of election because it is so clearly taught in Scripture. Furthermore, I would argue that a proper understanding of election affords the Christian with unspeakable comfort as well as gratitude for godly living.
Contrary to those who think that election is a doctrine we should believe but not talk about all that much, the apostle Paul opens up his famous "blessing" (berakah) in Ephesians 1 extolling our heavenly Father first and foremost for the blessing of election. Neither does he stop talking about God's eternal purposes throughout the book (cf. 1:11; 2:10; 3:11). Clearly, this is something that we should not shrink from proclaiming, even if its not that popular. At this point, I'd like to answer some questions that will help us better understand the doctrine of election.
Who chose whom? Surely the credit for the decision making in election goes to God and God alone. Nowhere in Scripture are we told that Christians are "elect" because of decisions that they made. In all of our endeavors to protect the free will of mankind, we must be careful not to deprive God of his free will. This is, I suggest, what the vast majority of Evangelicals do when they seek to explain how it is that God chose the elect and speak as if God "looked down the corridors of time, and saw who would believe in him, and then, chose those people." In this very rational scenario, who is it that is making the crucial decision? Who chooses the deciding factor? Is not God's choice relegated to a mere confirmation of a "good decision"?
This is why Reformed theology seeks to understand Scripture by saying that election is "unconditional," that is, there were no conditions found in the elect (e.g. making a decision) that caused or even influenced God's choice. Surely this is Paul's intent when he tells us in Eph 1:4 that God's choice took place "before the foundation of the world." I don't know about you, but I certainly wasn't around at that time.
Why did God choose? This is a very important question to ask because if God did not choose us because we were the brightest and the best or because we possessed good decision-making capabilities, then why on earth would he elect us, filthy, rotten sinners that we are? I don't think we will ever even begin to comprehend ultimately why God chose us because it is due to the unfathomable riches of his grace, but we can see what God's attitude was towards his decision to do so. First of all, Paul tells us in Eph 1:4-5 that God chose us because he loved us. Contrary to the notion that God's election was completely arbitrary and capricious, we find here the notion that election was based upon a personal and affective choice of individuals that God loves. This is the true meaning of the Biblical notion of "foreknowledge." In the Old Testament, to "know" someone, was to have a personal and intimate relationship with someone. In the New Testament, we are told that God "knew" us even before we were born (Rom 8:29)! Another thing that Paul says concerning election is that it was according to "the good pleasure of his will" (Eph 1:5; NKJV). The Greek word used here is eudokia, which means, "that which pleases someone." In other words, God decided to choose us because it was pleasing to him; it made him happy to do it!
How did God choose? When discussing the blessing of election (as well as all the other Spiritual blessings) in Eph 1, Paul never ceases to tell us that it comes to us "in Christ." This term, which is so prevalent in Paul's writings, speaks of the union that a believer has with Christ as his or her covenantal head. So, in a real sense, Christ is the location in which we receive all the blessings of God, election being one of them. Paul tells us that we have been blessed "in the Beloved" (Eph 1:6). The only way that we can obtain the status of being elect and beloved, is because of the Elect and Beloved one, Jesus Christ. This notion should not lead us to deny individual election in favor of an indeterminate, corporate election (a nameless, faceless mass of people termed: "elect"), but rather, is the source and bedrock for every elect individual. Because we are in Christ by faith, we share in all of his blessings; as Christ, so the church.
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