Are You a Candidate for Election?
When someone positions themselves as a candidate for political office, there is an immediate scrutiny into their life, by both advocates and enemies. What merits a vote of approval? What deficiencies must be brought to light? Candidates are told they must earn each vote. They must win media attention. They must garner voter approval. They must have remarkable rhetorical skills, and they must know how to lead. Not only that, they must be emotionally impervious. Most people do not run for political office for these and many other reasons.
There is another election. Most people are unfamiliar with it. It is the election of God. No, we are not voting for or against God, as a candidate for political office. Rather, God has chosen some people to be in His family, to be His people for eternity. The ramifications of this election are great.
God’s election of people occurred long ago. In fact, election took place before the Creation. Some peoples’ names were written into the Lamb’s book of life (Rev 13:7–8), and other peoples’ names were not written in His book (Rev 17:8). Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29). He is the eternal Son of God, who has always existed. Paul affirmed this in writing to the Ephesians, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…(Eph 1:4).” God the Father is the One who chose (Gk. eklekato). Clearly, “us” represents the distinguishable group elected. “In Him” is God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul also wrote to the Thessalonians about election, “God chose you from the beginning to be saved (2 Thess 2:13).” Here we understand the relationship between election and salvation. Salvation is where God saves some people from sin, death, judgment, punishment, hell and the lake of eternal fire. Election teaches us that God selected a chosen people. This is significant because of the timing. Election Day was before Creation, from the beginning, before the foundation of the world. The implication is that merit was not an issue. God did not save a people because they were good or because they did meritorious good works.
“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated,” is what God says about Isaac and Rebekah’s twin sons before they were born (Rom 9:13). Clearly, God is revealing a truth, Paul had already expressed to the church at Rome, “…and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Rom 8:30).”
From the beginning, Jacob was predestined to election and Esau, his brother, was not chosen. One brother was a vessel of mercy prepared for glory (Rom 9:22), and the other brother was a vessel of wrath prepared for destruction (Rom 9:23). One might object that Jacob was a liar, a deceiver. We must agree. Jacob, later called, “Israel,” had many character flaws. The point is made that he did not merit election, but God set His love upon him, for His own purpose and by the grace which He gave him in Christ Jesus ages ago (2 Tim 1:9).
The apostle Peter addressed the church members of northern Asia Minor as God’s elect (1 Pet 1:1) and a chosen race (1 Pet 2:9). The church, God’s called out ones, in every age represent those destined and appointed to live for the praise of His glory (Eph 1:12). Clearly, God foreknew everyone He would create into persons, and He predestined some to be conformed to the image of His Son, Christ Jesus (Rom 8:29), that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love (Eph 1:4). It is these, both Jews and Gentiles, who were ordained to life and who believed (Acts 13:48) the Gospel call.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the message of the church, preached to all Creation. It is the Word of God that calls all men to repent from darkened sinful lives. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, and some men fully experience that conviction and turn in faith to Jesus Christ. They place their trust in His sacrificial work on the Cross.
This redemptive work has paid the penalty for all sin, and it is the means by which God can justly forgive His people of their sins. The will of man must come into alignment with the will of God in this matter. Man is not willing, nor able, in his own power, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. He must be made willing. The Holy Spirit grants the gift of faith to God’s elect by graciously indwelling the people He regenerates (causes to be born again, from above, of God, of the Spirit).
It must be noted that unelect, unregenerate, unbelievers despise and protest against this Christian doctrine. They claim that God is unfair because He creates some men for eternal damnation in hell. This is not unjust. God is the Maker of all people. He gives all men a will. God made man a free moral agent, which means man is fully responsible for his decisions. Man’s will is not free, however.
Each person’s will is influenced by entities outside of the person. Sin controls fallen creatures, both men and angels. The power of sin and Satan prevents man from seeing the Gospel truth (2 Cor 4:4). Left to his own will, man would never choose God, nor God’s salvation for himself. For God’s chosen people to be saved, God has to over-ride man’s sinful will, with a divine will for that person to be saved. God did not make man a robot. He made man a free agent, who subsequently was enslaved by the adversary of God. Man needed a Savior to set the captives free. This was all by God’s design, for His eternal purpose.
The fact that God imposed His greater will on a hopeless situation is not an abuse of sovereignty. It is a pure act of love and mercy. Man did not get what he truly deserved…hell. The power of God is displayed. The wisdom of God is displayed. Grace, too, is there. While the unbeliever balks, the believer in Jesus Christ, appointed to life, rejoices with much gratitude.
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “We give thanks to God always for you all…for we know, brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen you (1 Thess 1:2, 4).” Thanksgiving for God’s election is accompanied by praise of His glory (Eph 1:12) and to the praise of His glorious grace (Eph 1:6). In this, elect people join elect angels (1 Tim 5:21) in the issuing of praise and worship to our God.
Men often ask in political elections, “Was it a fair election?” We might ask if God’s election is fair? The foolishness of man is that he thinks he can simply choose or not choose God and His salvation. When a man does not choose God and finds himself in hell, the protest is raised that God is not fair. The double-minded reasoning cannot stand.
God foreknew that fallen man would never be able to choose to accept God’s resolution to man’s sin problem. Therefore, God initiated salvation, by election. The Gospel call goes out to all men. God is not hiding salvation in Christ, from anyone. “Come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” is an open invitation from Jesus Christ to all people. Men will not come unless they are dragged (Gk. elkuse) by God the Father to His Son (Jn 6:44, 65).
The key in the dispute is man’s ability or inability to respond. The gift of salvation is free. It is infinitely valuable. A man would have to be deaf, blind, foolish, stupid, hardened, insane, etc. to shun the salvation from God through Christ Jesus. This is exactly what the natural man does, when He hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached. It is foolishness to him. Man worships himself at the idolatrous altar of his own free will. We can clearly see man is not free to do the logical, rational, practical thing. Take God at His Word.
God has made salvation a reality. The Holy Spirit brings salvation to elect sinners. The Spirit fills men, to preach the Good News of what God has done for sinners. The Spirit indwells other men to hear and receive the Word that gives them faith in Christ. The Spirit opens their hearts to respond to God and His Word. This is a demonstration of power and the Spirit, in the foolishness (according to the world) of preaching Christ Jesus, as the only way of salvation.
Sinful men do not have a choice of whether they will be saved or not, they are condemned already (Jn 3:18). But the Lord knows those who are His (1 Tim 2:19). He told Paul to stay on at Corinth because He had many yet unsaved, elect people in that city (Acts 18:9–10). Paul later wrote Timothy, “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, that they also may obtain the salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, and with it eternal glory (2 Tim 2:10).” Paul knew the elect must hear the Word of God preached, in order to believe in Christ.
The Bible clearly teaches that salvation never comes to a man by the will of man (Jn 1:12–13; Rom 9:16). God never looks through the portal of time to see who will believe in Him, for the Bible clearly teaches that God appointed men to believe (Acts 13:48), and then gives them faith they receive (Phil 1:29; 2 Pet 1:1). God’s providence appoints a time for the Holy Spirit to come to a person to hear the Gospel. At this appointed time, God opens the eyes and ears of the spiritually blind and deaf, to know the truth that is Jesus Christ, who has the only name under heaven, given among men, where they must be saved.
God the Father decrees election. God the Son, Jesus Christ, was sent into the world to die on the Cross, to save His chosen people from their sins (Mt 1:21). God the Spirit was sent into the world to appropriate the gift of God, in His elect people. This is all according the purpose and free will of God. It is a sovereign will and work of God, for His own glory.
In summary, we have introduced the Christian and biblical doctrine of election. God chose to save a people for His own purpose, using His own free will, before the foundation of the world, to the praise of His glory and grace.
His purpose in election continues, today, as more and more people hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, to add people to His church. These join with others who have shared in this grace, throughout history and around the world. Together, they form the church militant and victorious, on earth and in heaven, being put together as living stones, in the Temple of the Holy Spirit, until the work is done.
If you have not yet experienced the joy of knowing election, you must continue your investigation into this vital doctrine of Christianity. The facts remain. You need salvation from sin and its consequences. You are not free to choose, nor are you able because of your slavery to sin and Satan.
In conclusion, we have also seen our task is to proclaim this salvation, including election, to all people everywhere. In gratitude, we must not be ashamed of what God has done, for us sinners and our salvation. It was always the kind intention of His will, to set His love upon us, so that we might live to the praise of His glory, as vessels of mercy prepared for glory. God cast the deciding vote in this election. We were chosen for victory, as successful, albeit unworthy, candidates in His election. His was, is, and always will be a great campaign!
David Norczyk
Hillsboro, Oregon
December 6, 2020
