Elcection & Reprobation

Election

Election is the belief that God sovereignly chooses those who will be saved and go to heaven.

Scriptural basis for this doctrine

Acts 13:48 NASB95

When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

Luke alludes to the fact that the Gentiles were appointed to eternal life. This passage of scripture indicates that the Gentiles that were of the elect recieved eternal life there were some Gentiles that heard the same message that Peter preached and did not believe the gospel. Doctrine of election believes that they did not believe because they were not of the elect of God.

Romans 8:28–30 NASB95

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

Paul indicates in this passage that God foreknew and predestined the elect to be conformed to the image of His Son. This suggests that God knew before people were saved (foreknew) those that would be conformed into the image of His Son. This doctrine also suggests that only the elect are conformed to the image of Christ, called by God, Justified of sin, and glorified in heaven.

Romans 9:11–13 NASB95

for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Paul also demonstrates that God made a decision of who was going to serve and be a part of God’s sovereign plan before Jacob and Esau were born. God knew Esau would not serve God and Jacob would. The doctrine of election is that because God has a sovereign plan, He knows who will be saved and those who will not.

Ephesians 1:11–12 NASB95

also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

Paul writes in this passage that God works all things in order to accomplish His will. This includes salvation

2 Timothy 1:9 NASB95

who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,

Paul further states in His letter to Timothy that God’s salvation and holy calling is in accordance to His purpose. The doctrine of election uses this passage to show that God chooses salvation for us according to His will not ours.

1 Peter 1:1–2 NASB95

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

Peter states that God chose those in the scattered according to His foreknowledge to be sprinkled with the blood of Christ that brings salvation.

Objections to Election

Election removes our choice for Christ

People oppose to election argue that election removes our ability to choose Christ. This would mean that it is not honoring to God. People who believe in election agree that the choice for Christ is voluntary, but God sovereignly puts the desire in in a person’s heart to put their faith in Christ. They say God causes us to choose Christ voluntarily. The person opposed to the doctrine of election would argue that the choice to choose Christ is an absolute choice without any intervention from God.

Our Choices are not real choices

This brings up the argument of absolute free choice. Do the choices that we make have to be absolutely free in order for them to be honoring to God. Those who oppose election believe that our choices must be absolutely free in order to be genuine and real and honor God. The one who believes in election would say every choice we make is influenced by something that God is in control of. Therefore we must allow God to determine that which is real and genuine.

The Doctrine of election makes us puppets.

Those who oppose election will say if there is no such thing as absolute free choice, then we are nothing more than God’s puppets. They claim that the doctrine of election takes away our free will. Those who believe in election would counter this claim and say that we do have free will because we do have the ability to make choices that have real effect in our lives. For example, you had the choice to come to church tonight or stay at home.

The Doctrine of election means that unbelievers never had a chance to believe.

This statement is a about man’s responsibility. Those who oppose election say that God should not punish those who He chose to reject Christ. The person who believes in election would say Man willingly chose in his will to reject Christ.

Election is unfair

People who oppose election say that God should not choose who goes to heaven. They believe that this choice should be made individually. This is an argument for fairness.

The person who believes in election would say that if God was fair then no one would be saved because we all sin and deserve everlasting death.

On a deeper level God, Paul states in Romans 9:14-24

Romans 9:14–24 NASB95

What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.” So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

God decides what is fair and what is not. We don’t have this ability. God created us for His purpose. That purpose is to bring Him glory. Some he demonstrates mercy and grace which brings him Glory. To others He exacts justice on those who reject salvation.

Reprobation

Grudem defines reprobation as the sovereign decision of God before creation to pass over some persons, in sorrow not to save them, and to punish them for their sins, and thereby manifest His justice.

Jude 1–16 NASB95

Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.