Election

“The overwhelming majority of professing Christians grants that God is sovereign over nature and that He is sovereign over human behavior. The affirmation of divine sovereignty starts to disappear, however, when Christians begin to struggle over the third area in which the Scriptures affirm God’s sovereignty — His grace. Somehow the idea that God reserves to Himself eternally and absolutely the right to manifest His saving mercy on some individuals and to withhold it from others is an act we adjudge to be unfair. The apostle Paul anticipated this human reaction to divine sovereignty in salvation when he raised the rhetorical question, “Is there injustice on God’s part?” (Rom. 9:14b). Such a question has never been raised about Arminian or semi-Pelagian schemes of salvation. The suggestion of unrighteousness in God comes only in response to the affirmation of the absolute sovereignty of God in His saving choice to elect some and not others.”

Dr. R.C. Sproul, emphasis mine.

HT: The Bororean.

Soli deo Gloria.

Set God on High & Lay the Creature in the Dust

“I feel persuaded that false doctrine, inasmuch as it touches God’s sovereignty, is always an object of divine jealousy. Let me indicate especially the doctrines of free-will. I know there are some good men who hold and preach them, but I am persuaded that the Lord must be grieved with their doctrine though he forgives them their sin of ignorance.

Free-will doctrine — what does it? It magnifies man into God; it declares God’s purposes a nullity, since they cannot be carried out unless men are willing. It makes God’s will a waiting servant to the will of man, and the whole covenant of grace dependent upon human action. Denying election on the ground of injustice it holds God to be a debtor to sinners, so that if he gives grace to one he is bound to do so to all. It teaches that the blood of Christ was shed equally for all men and since some are lost, this doctrine ascribes the difference to man’s own will, thus making the atonement itself a powerless thing until the will of man gives it efficacy. Those sentiments dilute the scriptural description of man’s depravity, and by imputing strength to fallen humanity, rob the Spirit of the glory of his effectual grace: this theory says in effect that it is of him that willeth, and of him that runneth, and not of God that showeth mercy.

Any doctrine, my brethren, which stands in opposition to this truth — “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,” provokes God’s jealousy. I often tremble in this pulpit lest I should utter anything which should oppose the sovereignty of my God; and though you know I am not ashamed to preach the responsibility of man to God — if God be a sovereign, man must be bound to obey him — on the other hand, I am equally bold to preach that God has a right to do what he wills with his own, that he giveth no account of his matters and none may stay his hand, or say unto him, “What doest thou?” I believe that the free-will heresy assails the sovereignty of God, and mars the glory of his dominion. In all faithfulness, mingled with sorrow, I persuade you who have been deluded by it, to see well to your ways and receive the truth which sets God on high, and lays the creature in the dust.”

Charles Spurgeon, from the sermon, A Jealous God

HT: Symphony of Scripture.

Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and Thou art exalted as Head above all

1 Chronicles 29:11

The Sovereignty of God is an expression that once was generally understood. It was a phrase commonly used in religious literature. It was a theme frequently expounded in the pulpit. It was a truth which brought comfort to many hearts, and gave virility and stability to Christian character. But, today, to make mention of God’s Sovereignty is, in many quarters, to speak in an unknown tongue. Were we to announce from the average pulpit that the subject of our discourse would be the Sovereignty of God, it would sound very much as though we had borrowed a phrase from one of the dead languages. Alas! that it should be so. Alas! that the doctrine which is the key to history, the interpreter of Providence, the warp and woof of Scripture, and the foundation of Christian theology should be so sadly neglected and so little understood.

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Do you believe that God saved you or do you believe that you yourself made a conscious decision to accept God’s free gift of salvation a la Revelation 3:20?

James White offers one of the best and most compelling summaries, in my opinion, on the issue of election and the Gospel in his closing comments to the debate with George Bryson on “Who Controls Salvation?”. If you’re interested in listening to the entire debate, the series can be obtained at Alpha and Omega Ministries for a mere US$4.13.¹

HT: Lane Chaplin.

¹ The author is not affiliated with Alpha and Omega Ministries and does not derive any benefits, financial or otherwise, from recommending the purchase of the recording of the debate.

Dr. Robert A. Morey addresses the question if God does indeed love everyone. He also gives an exposition on how it is not Biblical to say that God “loves the sinner but hates the sin”, which to my knowledge is a saying coined by Mahatma Gandhi and is not found in the Bible at all.

Is there anywhere in the Bible where God specifically said that He loves someone but hates another? Is the concept of election or pre-destination Biblical?

What’s your opinion?