II. UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
A. Arminian Position: God's election is based on man's foreseen faith. Before the foundation of the world, God chose certain individuals for salvation based on His foreseeing that they would, of their own free will, choose Christ.
B. Reformed, Calvinism, or My Position: God's election is unconditional. God's choice of certain individuals for salvation was not based on any foreseen response of obedience on their part, but was based solely in His good and sovereign will.
C. Scriptural Support for the Position I Believe
1. God has an elect people whom He has chosen to grant salvation.
Deut.10:14 -1514 "Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it.15"The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.
Matt.24:22 - 2422 "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.23 "Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it.24 "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
Matt.24:31 31 "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
John.6:37 - 39 37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.39 "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
John.6:65 - John.6:65 (NKJ)
65 And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."
John.17:9 9"I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.
Rom.8:28 - And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren
.30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
Rom.11:5 -5 Even so then, at this you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,
1Pet.1:1 - 1Pet.1:2 an apostle of Jesus Cpresent time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Eph.1:4 - Eph.1:5 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
Eph.1:1111 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
1Thes.1:4 - 1Thes.1:5 4 knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God.5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.
1Thes.5:99 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2Thes.2:1313 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose hrist, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
- 1Pet.2:8 - 1Pet.2:9 8 and "A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
2.God's choice was not based upon any foreseen faith or good works.
- Deut.7:6 - Deut.7:86 "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.7 "The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;8 "but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Rom.9:11 - 13 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),12 it was said to her, "The older shall serve the younger."13 As it is written, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated."
Rom.9:16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
1Cor.1:27 -29 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
2Tim.1:9 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 given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,
Acts.13:48 Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
Acts.18:27 And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace;
Eph.1:12 -that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
Eph.2:10 - For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Phil.1:29 - For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,
Phil.2:12 - Phil.2:13 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
1Thes.1:4-5 knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God.5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.
2Thes.2:13 - 14 13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pet.1:5 - 11 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
4. The Biblical term foreknew (Rom. 8:29) means to forelove to set regard upon, to know with a particular interest, delight, affection or action, to foreordain.
Amos 3:2 - 2 "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities."
Jer.1:5 5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."
Mat.7:22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
1Cor.8:3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
2Tim.2:19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."
1Pet.1:20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
