UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
By unconditional election, Calvin meant that some are elected to Heaven, while others are elected to Hell, and that this election is unconditional. It is wholly on God’s part and without condition. By unconditional election Calvin meant that God has already decided who will be saved and who will be lost, and the individual has absolutely nothing to do with it. He can only hope that God has elected him to Heaven and not to Hell.
This teaching so obviously disagrees with the oft-repeated invitation in the Bible to sinners to come to Christ and be saved that some readers will think that I have overstated the doctrine. So I will quote from John Calvin in his institutes, Book 111, chapter 23:
…..Not all men are created with similar destiny but eternal life is foreordained for some, and eternal damnation for others. Everyman, therefore, being created for one or the other of these ends, we say, he is predestined either to life or to death.
Calvin teaches that it is God’s own choice that some people are to be damned forever, and He never intended to save them. He foreordained them to go to Hell, and when He offers salvation in the Bible, He does not offer it to those that are foreordained to go to Hell. It is offered only to those that are foreordained to be saved.
This teaching insists that we need not try to win men to Christ because men cannot be saved unless God has planned for them to be saved. Therefore, if God’s plan for them is that they be eternally lost, there is no way that they will be saved.
There is the Bible doctrine of God’s foreknowledge, predestination, and election. Most knowledgeable Christians agree that God has His controlling hands in the affairs of man. They agree that according to the Bible, He selects individuals like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David as instruments to do certain things He has planned. Most Christians agree that God may choose a nation – particularly that He did choose Israel, through which He gave the law, the prophets, and eventually through whom the Saviour Himself would come – and there is a Biblical doctrine that God foreknows everything (Deut. 7:6-11).
I have often said, “did it ever occur to you that nothing ever occurs to God?” God in His foreknowledge knows all who will trust Christ and He has predestined to see that they are justified and glorified. He will keep all those who trust Him and see to their glorification. But the doctrine that God elected some to Hell, they were born to be damned by God’s own choice, is a radical heresy, not taught anywhere in the Scriptures.
I have a booklet entitled, TULIP written by Vic Lockman. In this booklet Mr. Lockman attempts to prove the five points of Calvinism. Under the point, Unconditional Election, he quotes Eph. 1:4, but he only quote the first part of the verse. “He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.” However that is not the end of the verse. Mr. Lockman like most other Calvinists; stopped in the middle of the verse. The entire verse reads: “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.” The verse says nothing about being chosen for Heaven or Hell. It says that we are chosen that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. The verse is actually addressing believers. Under the same point, Unconditional Election, Mr. Lockman quote:
By unconditional election, Calvin meant that some are elected to Heaven, while others are elected to Hell, and that this election is unconditional. It is wholly on God’s part and without condition. By unconditional election Calvin meant that God has already decided who will be saved and who will be lost, and the individual has absolutely nothing to do with it. He can only hope that God has elected him to Heaven and not to Hell.
This teaching so obviously disagrees with the oft-repeated invitation in the Bible to sinners to come to Christ and be saved that some readers will think that I have overstated the doctrine. So I will quote from John Calvin in his institutes, Book 111, chapter 23:
…..Not all men are created with similar destiny but eternal life is foreordained for some, and eternal damnation for others. Everyman, therefore, being created for one or the other of these ends, we say, he is predestined either to life or to death.
Calvin teaches that it is God’s own choice that some people are to be damned forever, and He never intended to save them. He foreordained them to go to Hell, and when He offers salvation in the Bible, He does not offer it to those that are foreordained to go to Hell. It is offered only to those that are foreordained to be saved.
This teaching insists that we need not try to win men to Christ because men cannot be saved unless God has planned for them to be saved. Therefore, if God’s plan for them is that they be eternally lost, there is no way that they will be saved.
There is the Bible doctrine of God’s foreknowledge, predestination, and election. Most knowledgeable Christians agree that God has His controlling hands in the affairs of man. They agree that according to the Bible, He selects individuals like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David as instruments to do certain things He has planned. Most Christians agree that God may choose a nation – particularly that He did choose Israel, through which He gave the law, the prophets, and eventually through whom the Saviour Himself would come – and there is a Biblical doctrine that God foreknows everything (Deut. 7:6-11).
I have often said, “did it ever occur to you that nothing ever occurs to God?” God in His foreknowledge knows all who will trust Christ and He has predestined to see that they are justified and glorified. He will keep all those who trust Him and see to their glorification. But the doctrine that God elected some to Hell, they were born to be damned by God’s own choice, is a radical heresy, not taught anywhere in the Scriptures.
I have a booklet entitled, TULIP written by Vic Lockman. In this booklet Mr. Lockman attempts to prove the five points of Calvinism. Under the point, Unconditional Election, he quotes Eph. 1:4, but he only quote the first part of the verse. “He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.” However that is not the end of the verse. Mr. Lockman like most other Calvinists; stopped in the middle of the verse. The entire verse reads: “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.” The verse says nothing about being chosen for Heaven or Hell. It says that we are chosen that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. The verse is actually addressing believers. Under the same point, Unconditional Election, Mr. Lockman quote:
John 15:16;
“You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it to you.”
The verse says nothing about being chosen for Heaven or Hell. But it says we are to go out and bring forth fruit (believers again). Fruit bearing has to do with the doctrine of the kingdom, and how one seeks after the salvation of his soul. Prov 11:30
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
Nowhere does the Bible teach that God wills for some to go to Hell and others to Heaven. Instead, the Bible teaches that God would have all men to be saved:
The verse says nothing about being chosen for Heaven or Hell. But it says we are to go out and bring forth fruit (believers again). Fruit bearing has to do with the doctrine of the kingdom, and how one seeks after the salvation of his soul. Prov 11:30
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
Nowhere does the Bible teach that God wills for some to go to Hell and others to Heaven. Instead, the Bible teaches that God would have all men to be saved:
2 Peter 3:9
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
1 Tim 2:4
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Those who teach that God would only have some to be saved, while He would have others to be lost, are misrepresenting God and His Word. Does God really predestinate some people to be saved and predestinate others to be damned so that they have no free choice? Absolutely not! Nobody is predestined to be saved, except as he chooses of his own free will to come to Christ and trust Him for salvation. And nobody is predestined to Hell, except as he chooses on his own free will to reject Christ and refuses to trust Him as Saviour:
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
1 Tim 2:4
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Those who teach that God would only have some to be saved, while He would have others to be lost, are misrepresenting God and His Word. Does God really predestinate some people to be saved and predestinate others to be damned so that they have no free choice? Absolutely not! Nobody is predestined to be saved, except as he chooses of his own free will to come to Christ and trust Him for salvation. And nobody is predestined to Hell, except as he chooses on his own free will to reject Christ and refuses to trust Him as Saviour:
John 3:36
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Nothing could be plainer. The man who goes to Heaven, goes because he comes to Jesus Christ and trust His as his Saviour. The man that goes to Hell does so because he refuses to come to Jesus Christ and trust Him.
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Nothing could be plainer. The man who goes to Heaven, goes because he comes to Jesus Christ and trust His as his Saviour. The man that goes to Hell does so because he refuses to come to Jesus Christ and trust Him.
2 comments:
You are leaving out so much scripture about God's wrath and never the less letting people know that they are born sinners and by their own sin deserve nothing but hell itself and that is not God's fault it is man's fault, man has no way of having total free will, that contradicts God's promise of God in Genesis to Abraham, that his seed would be saved. The question one should ask them-self is, Am I my own master? If you are not able to save yourself, it then proves that you need someone to save you, that someone is God, God loves whom he loves and chastens whom he chastens, saved or not, those choices are God's not man's, When people make whole web pages to try and use certain scripture to prove their one sided views base on only a few scripture I have found that they are only concerned with being right in their own beliefs instead of being right in line with the Word of God...
You are also by saying, "You can choose God or reject him." taking all of God's sovereign almighty power and saying I am more powerful than God, his Holy Spirit is so weak compared to my sinful nature, really think about what you are saying, God is the creator of all things, he knows not evil never the less he created Satan and the demons he even fashioned a place for them and they serve a different purpose than man, God's intent was for man to be good, he saw that they were tempted, why was that, is God fallible or perfect? So much more to it than a close minded view of, it is up to me, if it were solely up to man we are all going straight to hell, God's Holy Spirit in his timing moves upon a person and then and only then can one even have the ability to understand God and Jesus's work on the cross, it was not in vein, it was a direct act that was prophesied and promised to happen for a way to save the elect that God decided to save, or why else does Jesus say, I have come to seek and save the lost, Jesus never said, My lost have come to seek and save themselves if they so choose to do so...14“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” (John 10:1~18 )
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