224 – The Inclusion of Election

SEMESTER 2

224 – The Inclusion of Election

BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE

COURSE:  SOTERIOLOGY II LESSON # 24
THE INCLUSION OF ELECTION

Read Rom 8:28-39.

INTRODUCTION:

1. While election and predestination are not the same, they are by and of the same, that is:

i. Those who are elected are predestinated.
ii. He who elects also predestinates.

2. It is proper both logically and scripturally to speak of election as including without excluding.
3. It is both reasonable and biblical to see predestination as being unto life without being unto condemnation.
4. To make these proper discernments will guard against:

i. The fatalistic view the Arminian has of election.
ii. The fatalistic interpretation the hyper-Calvinist has of it.

I. ELECTION IS UNTO SALVATION (2TH 2:13)

1. Election is not salvation, it is only “unto salvation.” (Act 13:48)

i. Both Arminianism and hyper-Calvinism think of “unconditional election” as equaling unconditional salvation.
ii. They both, in essence and in general, assert that “unconditional election” implies that the elect were saved in eternity.

2. This is shallow, but pure slander which no sound teacher of sover­eign election believes.
3. Ephesians chapters one and two set these doctrines concisely and precisely in perfect order.

i. Chapter 1, verses 4 through 11, unquestionably teach the absolute nature of predestination, thus sovereign and absolute election.
ii. Chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, just as clearly teach that the workmanship of God must be performed, that is:

a) We were lost, dead, by nature as others, children of wrath. (verses 2 and 3)
b) We were quickened by pure grace. (verses 4,5 and 8)
c) That this salvation implemented faith. (verse 8)

4. This doctrine is not to be a theological battlefield, but to the praise of the glory of His grace. (Eph 1:5,6)

II. ELECTION INCLUDES ALL THAT SHALL EVER BE SAVED

NOTE: This is, in essence, to say that God loves the saints, personal­ly and individually, having saved them personally and individually, and that before He saved them individually, He purposed to save them as individuals.

1. There are at least two erroneous shortages placed on election.

i. Only enough chosen out of each generation to propagate the gospel.
ii. That additional room must be made, in addition to the elect, for the “whosoever wills.”

2. Election is of everyone who will ever be saved. This is logically proven by:

i. The immutability of God. (Rom 11:29, Eph 1:11)
ii. The omniscience of God
iii. The fact that the elect (being predestinated) shall be glorified. (Eph 1:4-9 compared to Rom 8:28-30)

III. ELECTION IS NOT UNTO EXCLUSION

NOTE: The great caricature of election is God choosing some men to save and some to damn. This may be a logical inference on the surface, but it overlooks truth that should have dwelt in the heart, before the study of election began.

1. That divine justice condemns all of Adam’s race (righteously).
2. That the election is of grace, not justice and thus can purpose individual grace sovereignly.
3. That the choosing of one does not change the destiny of the other.
4. That those who perish do not desire election, union with Christ, or cleansing.
5. That in going to their doom and damnation they are fulfilling their own desires. (Eph 2:2,3)

Do you rationalize that God is obliged to treat all men equally?
Ask yourself simply: Does He?