One entire chapter in Paul’s letter to the Romans deals with the absolute sovereignty of God in election. We will look at that chapter in detail when we cover some objections to election. The following text cannot be understood except as teaching sovereign election unto salvation.
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. (2 Thess. 2:13)
Notice how the NIV translates the same verse.
But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. (2 Thess. 2:13)
You may have difficulty grasping this truth, but we dare not retreat and run away from God’s Word. Read these words carefully, think about them, and ask the Lord to help you see and believe what they mean. Don’t ever be afraid of looking at the Word of God! Don’t ever take an attitude that refuses to look at passages that are “controversial.” There are some who treat certain subjects in a manner that infers the Holy Spirit made a mistake by putting such “controversial issues” into the Scripture in the first place. Don’t run from any verse of Scripture even if you do not understand it! Let’s look carefully at this particular text.
First of all, Paul specifically states that election is “unto salvation.” In Bible school, I was taught that election was true but had nothing to do with salvation. You choose to be saved with your free will, and then God sovereignly chooses where he wants you to serve. You could not force that idea into this text with a sledgehammer. The Holy Spirit says that election is unto personal salvation. God chose us “unto salvation,” or as the NIV says, “to be saved.” What can be clearer!
Secondly, we are to give thanks to God for choosing us. Election is always mentioned in the context of joy. “Blessed be …God…he hath chosen us…” (Eph. 1:3, 4). “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee…” (Ps. 65:4a). If the truth of sovereign election does not thrill your heart, then you either do not have a clue as to what it really means, or your heart is spiritually dead! Nowhere are we told to praise man for making a decision. No, no, we are to give thanks to God for every man’s conversion, not praise to the man for his choice. Look at the text.
Thirdly, the text tells us why it is necessary that we preach election. People say to me, “Why do you preach about election when you know some people do not agree to it?” I always reply, “I do not have any choice. The Bible says I am “bound to.” I have to preach election and give thanks to God for election, or I am deliberately disobeying this text.”
Sometimes these people say, “But why do you have to preach about election so often?” Now, I really don’t preach on the subject often, but preaching election one time is too much for the person who does not believe it. Again, I refer them to this same text. Notice Paul says, “We ought always to thank God” for choosing you. I remember a man in one congregation who really disliked me simply because I believed and preached election. His daughter got converted, but he still disliked me. The boy she was dating got converted, and the man still did not like me. I had the joy of marrying this young couple and during the ceremony I asked them both, “Do you believe that God in his sovereign purposes chose you for each other, and do you confess that his sovereign plan brought about this event this day?” After the service, the man was livid with anger. He said, “You can’t even perform a wedding ceremony without talking about the sovereignty of God.”
I believe we should preach sovereignty, pray and thank God for sovereignty, sing about sovereignty, and practice our belief in sovereignty in all we do. What else can James mean when he says:
Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain…For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. (James 4:13, 15–16)
Is not James accusing us of actual sin when we speak about our wills controlling things by failing to acknowledge the sovereign control of God over all things? “Rejoicing in our boastings” in this text is nothing less than thinking, speaking, and acting as if the events of tomorrow are in our hands and are our choices alone.
The fourth thing to note in the verse (2 Thess. 2:13) is the rest of the verse plus the following verses. Let me quote the whole section:
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. (2 Thess. 2:13–15)
Paul tells us that God not only chose us to salvation, but he also explains the means that God used to accomplish his goal. We were saved “through, first of all, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.” That is talking about regeneration giving us a new heart, enabling us to sincerely want to believe. This is more properly covered under the doctrine of regeneration. Secondly, we were also saved through “the belief of the truth” (verse 13b). We must be born of God in order to be able to believe, and we must believe in order to be saved. In other words, the God who chooses us to be saved guarantees salvation will happen by his sending the Holy Spirit to quicken us in regeneration. He also sends the gospel so we hear and believe it. God ordains the means to the end as well the end itself. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 is truly a powerful text of Scripture.
Probably no verse teaching election is as well-known as Ephesians 1:3, 4. Let us examine it.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: (Eph. 1:3, 4)
This text is clear and shows that in whatever sense the nation of Israel was “chosen” to be God’s earthly nation, the church was “chosen” as the special spiritual people of God (cf. Ex. 19:5, 6 and 1 Pet. 2:9–10). Please note that God chose us in eternity, or before we were even born!
Peter taught the doctrine of election.
The following two verses both speak about the foreknowledge of God.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ… (1 Pet. 1:1–2a)
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you… (1 Pet. 1:18–20)
One of the objections to our view of election is that “election is all based on foreknowledge,” and then foreknowledge, as just mentioned, is defined as meaning “prior knowledge,” or God’s ability to “see into the future and make decisions based on that foreseen information.” God is said to have purposed to choose us because he foresaw that we would choose him. If you will do a careful word study of “foreknowledge,” you will see that the word really means “fore-loved” or “sovereignly chose.” For now, look carefully at the above two verses from Peter.
The NIV translates 1 Pet. 1:1–2: “To God’s elect…who have been chosen…” You can see that the NIV understands the word foreknown to mean fore-loved or chosen. We quoted both verses deliberately. We have a question for those who wish to argue that God’s reason for choosing us was based on his looking forward into history to see what we would do and then basing his action of choosing us on that foreseen information. Would anyone dare say the same thing about “the foreordination of Christ” in verse 20? Can anyone seriously believe that God purposed, or chose, to give Christ up to the death of the cross only because he, the Father, looked into the future and “foresaw” that Christ would be willing to die, and, on the basis of that prior information, he decided to send Christ into the world to die? No! No! That is nonsense. Acts 2:22–24 is crystal clear that the Father consciously and deliberately foreordained the death of his Son. Well, the idea about God choosing us because he foresaw our faith is just as much nonsense. In whatever sense Christ was “foreordained to die,” I was “foreordained to be saved!” It is just that simple.
God’s foreknowledge of the church is like an architect’s foreknowledge of a building. Would anyone say that a building is like it is because the architect had the ability to see into the future? He “foresaw” that Contractor A would get the brick contract. Since Contractor A liked white bricks instead of red ones, the architect put white bricks into the plan. He also “foresaw” that Contractor B would get the lighting contract and then used in the plans the kind of lights he “foresaw” that Contractor B would select. Because the architect had perfect foreknowledge of every contractor and exactly what specific thing each would use, he was able to design a building exactly like the one he knew all the contractors would build. You laugh at such an absurd idea, and so you should. You will say, “That architect knew exactly what that building was going to be like down to the last nail simply because he was the one who designed it.” The contractors built the way they did only because the architect designed it that way. My dear friend, the church is exactly the same. God had perfect foreknowledge of the church for exactly the same reason. God did not need any foreknowledge to design and plan the church any more than an architect needs foreknowledge to design a building. God knew who would be saved because he sovereignly chose them to be saved.
How God taught me sovereign election.
God used a Mennonite farmer in a small country church near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to open my eyes and heart to see and believe that sovereign election is a biblical truth. This man was in charge of the Wednesday evening Bible study and was going through the gospel of John. In the providence of God, he had started to study A.W. Pink’s commentary on that book. The following verses were being discussed that particular evening:
Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, ‘How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not! because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me…’ (John 10:24–27)
The teacher had two pieces of poster board which he set on separate chairs. On one poster board were written the words heard and believed, and on the other the words heard and believed not. The two chairs, thus labeled, represented the two groups of people spoken of in the verses being studied. Three questions were asked, and each one was answered by the words of Christ addressed to these Jews. The questions dealt with why some believed and why the others would not believe. The teacher’s primary concern was to show the real reason that made the difference between the two groups. Why did some “hear and believe” and others “hear and believe not”? What made the vital difference between the two groups?
First question: “Why did the first group refuse to believe the gospel?” The teacher turned the first card over, and written on the back was the word goat. The Savior’s words in verse 26 were unmistakably clear. “Ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep.” It was impossible to argue about the meaning of such a concise statement. Why did they not believe? Christ gave the answer, “Because ye are not of my sheep.” In other words, if they would have been his sheep instead of goats, they would have heard and believed. The fact that they would not believe proved they were goats and not sheep. Our Lord had earlier taught the same truth. In fact, his words in verse 25, “I told you, and ye believed not…” probably refers back to John 8 where Jesus said unto them, “…If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham….Ye do the deeds of your father….If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God;…Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my words….Ye are of your father the Devil.…” (John 8:39–44). These people not only did not believe, but Christ said they could not believe. Why? They were not “of the Father.” They were not “Abraham’s seed.” They were, in other words, not one of God’s elect. They were not one of his sheep.
This does not mean that they wanted to believe but Christ would not allow them to do so. One of the wicked caricatures of our view states, “Many people want to be saved, but God refuses to save them because they are not elect.” That is as big a lie as anyone ever told. We believe and preach that God has, does, and always will, save every sinner without a single exception that comes to him in the name of Christ! No, no, this verse means that they were totally unable to even want to believe because of their depravity, and God had sovereignly and justly chosen to leave them in that state. You can see in both John 10:26 and 8:39–44 the same “if” and “would have” relationship. Who and what these people were determined what they did or did not do. Our teacher reminded us that we all, without exception, were born with that same nature and into that same state of sin and unbelief.
Second question: “Why did the second group hear and believe?” The teacher turned over the second card, and it had the word sheep written on it. This question logically followed the first one, and again the Savior’s word gave a clear answer. Verse 27 said, “My sheep hear my voice…” The teacher kept contrasting the two cards representing the two groups. “The gospel came to all of them, but one group believed and the other group would not. Why? What made the difference in the two groups? Why did the group called “my sheep” hear and believe? Did they have better hearts? Stronger wills? Keener minds? No, they believed because they were sheep.
I got the message! The “heard and believed” group did so only because they were “sheep,” and the “heard and would not believe” group did not believe because they were not sheep; they were goats. Now I had always known the Bible divided men into two classes: sheep and goats. I also knew that the sheep were God’s people and the goats were not. However, I never knew until that night why some people were sheep and others were not, and more specifically, that I had believed the gospel only because I had been chosen to be a sheep in eternity. It was always clear, as the poster cards showed, that “sheep” and “hear and believed” belonged together, and likewise, “goat” and “would not hear and believe” went together. However, no one had ever shown me which was the cause and which was the effect. I had thought, as my free-will teachers had carefully taught me, that I had decided to change my goat nature into a sheep nature by an act of my “free will.” Oh, how those who love free will would like to make John 10:26 say, “You are not my sheep because you are unwilling to believe; if you would be willing to believe you would become one of my sheep.” Ah, my friend, the text clearly says the opposite. Jesus said, “You believe not because you are not my sheep!”
The farmer’s third question opened up the whole truth of God’s sovereign election and forever silenced the nonsense of free will as the decisive factor in my “hearing and believing.” The third question: “According to our Lord’s words in verses 26 and 27, does hearing and believing make you a sheep, or do you hear and believe because you have already been chosen to be a sheep?” In an instant, God assured my heart of the answer. I knew which was the cause and which was the effect. The words of Christ were clear as crystal. The Spirit of God assured me that I had heard the shepherd’s voice only because I had previously been chosen to be one of his sheep. I had willingly come to Christ only because I belonged to Christ by his sovereign election, and he was claiming, by his power, in time, what had been given to him in eternity. I was not a goat that had become a sheep by a decision of my so-called free will, but rather, I was a lost sheep that had been found! And I had been found only because I was a chosen to be sheep from eternity. A goat had not become a sheep; rather a lost sheep had become a found sheep.
Christ did not become my shepherd when he brought me to faith and repentance. He sought, found, and brought me to himself in salvation only because the Father, in eternity, had given me to him to be one of his sheep. That word “because” in verse 26 forever settled the reason of why some people reject the gospel. “My sheep hear” in verse 27 could only mean that I had heard and believed because I was a sheep from eternity. The texts can mean nothing else! Put down in your Book of Indisputable Facts these two things: (1) only those who have been eternally chosen to be sheep will ever come to Christ, and (2) every one of the sheep, without a single exception, will come when Christ draws them.
My mind was flooded with this amazing truth. I was one of God’s elect from eternity! Why had I heard and believed the gospel? I knew the answer. Only because I had been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. I was not redeemed because I had believed, but rather the One who had redeemed me before I was born had now found me and revealed himself to me. Christ had sought me because I was his property. I did not become his sheep when he found me, but he had sought me and found me because I was one of his lost sheep.
As I left that little church in Lancaster County, I looked up into the heavens with tears in my eyes. I knew that before a single star had ever shown a beam of light, God had sovereignly chosen me as a sheep and purposed to draw me to himself and give me faith. With a heart filled with amazement and praise, I gladly acknowledged that I owed every part of my salvation to God’s grace in sovereign election. I knew I was in possession of eternal life only because the Father had chosen me, the Savior had died for me, and the Holy Spirit had given me faith and a new heart.
Thus far we have covered the textual proof that the Bible clearly teaches the truth of God’s sovereign unconditional election, the precise points of difference among sincere Christians on this subject, the basic meaning of the word chose, the doctrine of election in both the Old and New Testament Scriptures, our Lord’s and the apostle’s uniform teaching on election, and lastly, how God taught me the truth of his electing grace.
We now want to clear away some gross caricatures or misconceptions. Some of these arguments demonstrate that many sincere saints have never heard the truth of election clearly taught, and unfortunately, some of the caricatures are deliberate, wicked, and willful distortions of God’s clear truth by people who really know better. The former group is often godly saints who need to be taught. The latter are wolves in sheep’s clothing whose hearts have never been changed by sovereign grace. These people need to bow to God in true humility and repentance and be converted.