I. What is being confessed in this article?⤒🔗

Here the church confesses how it is that some of the helplessly lost are nevertheless saved, namely, only because God elected them for that purpose.

1. The transgression or sin of Adam meant irrevocably the ruin of all people, but it was precisely in that situation that God showed and proved his mercy. That is why we say he is merciful. At the same time he continued to hold people responsible for their actions.
   For that reason, we confess that he is just.
2. In what way did he prove that he is both merciful and just?
   Already infinitely long ago, God made the definite decision to save certain people from destruction. And this was not because of their good behaviour but out of grace, because of Christ’s suffering and death that would one day take place. That is God’s mercy. But he also leaves others in their misery. And in that he is absolutely righteous, because they themselves have desired it that way and not otherwise.

II. What is meant by God’s election?←⤒🔗

1. This article picks up the thread of the previous one: that we are powerless to save ourselves. It is like standing in a graveyard: no surprising initiative can be expected from the dead who are buried there. Nor can we expect any good from ourselves. We are “dead in our trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). And dead is dead!
2. Within this state of affairs, God exercises his election. He made a choice from among these "dead." He chose some of them to rise from the dead. God made this choice once and for all and made this a decree. The article calls this decree God’s "counsel." God works or accomplishes everything “according to the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11). This counsel (or decision) is final, for God says, “My counsel will be accomplished" ( Isaiah 46:10).
   Long before we existed, God made this decision: “before the foundation of the world" ( Ephesians 1:4), “before the ages began" ( 2 Timothy 1:9).
   His election was not based on some who would stand out as those who excelled because there never would be any: “None is righteous, no, not one" ( Romans 3:10). There are only "dead" people — and dead is dead.
   In determining his choice, God has had his own reasons, but he has not revealed them to us: “How unfathomable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways" (Romans 11:33).
   Those elected by him would be saved by Christ, who would pay the debt in their place.
   The article summarizes it this way: that God “in his eternal and unchangeable counsel [he] has elected them in Jesus Christ our Lord by his pure goodness, without any consideration of their works.” The reverse of this is that he “leaves the others in the fall and perdition into which they have plunged themselves.” See also the Canons of Dort Chapter I, Article 7.

III. This election is a mystery that does need to be confessed←⤒🔗

1. God does not make known to us for what reason he chose some and not others to salvation. That is his secret. Besides, there is more that we cannot comprehend. When God has made a definitive decision about our final destination, we can never again change it. But then, what about our own responsibility? We are also unable to solve this question through logic.
2. Since God’s election presents us with more than one mystery, it may seem prudent to prefer to just keep quiet about it. Moreover, is it not superfluous to speak about this difficult matter? Is it not sufficient to simply confess that whoever believes in the Son is saved? After all, that is perfectly scriptural (John 3:16), and then we can leave this difficult matter — the doctrine of election — alone.
3. The decisive factor, however, is not whether we consider something difficult or superfluous, but whether the Bible speaks of it. And since this is clearly the case, it would be ungrateful and even impudent to the Lord if we then had the audacity to cover up what he himself has revealed to us. That is why we are bound to confess God’s election and to also reiterate the Scriptures on this point and to say "amen" to it.
4. But confessing implies also that we do not seek to uncover more than what the Scriptures make known to us. Its limits must never be transgressed in sinful curiosity. Whoever tries to do this is, according to Calvin, like someone who wishes to walk where there is no path. Therefore, on the one hand we must guard against too much curiosity by wanting to go beyond the Scriptures; but on the other hand, we need to watch for ingratitude by ignoring what God has made known to us. Moses put it accurately: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

IV. Election is an example of God’s mercy←⤒🔗

1. God elects from all men a fixed number to be saved. This proves that he is merciful. He shows them his pity and his concern for their lot. It is so deeply rooted in God that Zechariah even speaks of “the tender mercy of our God" ( Luke. 1:78). In his prophetic hymn of praise he expresses his astonishment at this. God’s mercy always causes happy surprise because it redeems people who were doomed.
2. The Remonstrants teach that God chooses those people of whom he knows in advance that they will come to faith. And this faith, foreknown to God, would be the basis upon which he made his choice. He would therefore choose unto salvation those from whom he could expect something good in the future, namely, faith.
   But the Scriptures teach that God does not find any future indication for his choice in fallen man — Not even in his faith, because it can only arise because and after God has determined his choice. We are chosen to believe and not because we believe. Notice the words “[so] that” and “for” in Ephesians 1:4 and Ephesians 2:10 (see also Canons of Dort Chapter I,  Article 9). Election is a matter of "mere grace."
3. The reason that God’s mercy is not at the expense of his justice is that Christ completely assumes the guilt of the elect. See Canons of Dort Chapter II, Articles 1 and 2. God’s electing choice  is made in Christ. The article states that God has elected us “in Jesus Christ our Lord.”

V. Election is an example of God’s righteousness←⤒🔗

1. Not all people are chosen by God for salvation. This clashes with our sense of justice, which judges that all people should be entitled to equal treatment. Why does God save the one and not the other? Is this even fair?
2. The error in this haughty reasoning is that it pretends that all men would be entitled to grace. But no man is entitled to God’s mercy, let alone all men! Then grace would no longer be grace. We need to realize in a profound way that all men are deserving of death, according to Genesis 2:17. God would not wrong anyone if he condemned all, for “the whole world is held accountable before God" (Romans 3:19; Canons of Dort Chapter I, Article 1).
3. That God, to our astonishment, saves some of them does not oblige him to save all.
   First of all, he is completely free to grant his grace and mercy to whom he wills: “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?" (Matthew 20:15).
   But in the second place we need to realize that it is not God who pushes these people into their perdition. They did so themselves and there they want to stay: in sin and death. So God is perfectly just when he passes them by and leaves them where they wished and still want to be.

VI. Election as a source of consolation←⤒🔗

1. Paul teaches us in 2 Timothy 1:8-9 how we can and may draw comfort from the doctrine of election. Timothy was his most valued partner. He was still young and experienced so much opposition that he could easily lose heart. Should he really be afraid of failing forever as a believer or as a preacher, today or at any other time? No, says Paul, for God himself has called you.
   a. He did so independently of your qualities and achievements. These did not count as factors in your election. These therefore do not count if they fail sooner or later. For God has called Timothy according to “the grace which was given us in Christ Jesus.”
    b. And that was already decided “before the ages began.” God is not going to change this decision. That is why Timothy can take heart. Paul himself says, “I know in whom I have believed” (2 Timothy 1:12).
2. Paul also shows in Ephesians 1:3-4 that God’s election can make us glad. Here we read of God’s blessings, which have their unshakable basis in the fact that God “has chosen us before the foundation of the world.”
3. This consolation is also abundantly clear in Article 16. It speaks of God’s eternal counsel. But first and foremost, God’s mercy comes into play. Election, after all, means that God saves people “without any consideration of their works." It is precisely in God’s election that his mercy carves its way. After all, the term "election" emphasizes that God saves people who have no right to salvation at all. This election unto salvation is the very surprising message of Scripture.

VII. How do we get certainty about our election by God?←⤒🔗

1. God’s election can only be a source of comfort if we can become personally sure of our election. Is that possible? Yes, it is: “The elect in due time, though in various stages and in different measure, are made certain of this their eternal and unchangeable election to salvation..." (Canons of Dort Chapter I, Article 12). But this is not the logical certainty of 1+1=2. Neither is this because of our sensory perception by which we are sure that the sun is present. It is the assurance of faith.
2. This faith finds its starting point and nourishment in the gospel. There it meets Christ and clings to him. Whoever, as it were, embraces Christ by faith, also comes to the increasing certainty that he is chosen by God. Why? Calvin calls Christ the mirror in which we see, so to speak, our election by God. Through his mirrors a driver can see what would otherwise remain hidden. The mirror broadens and deepens his view significantly. In this way Christ is the mirror in which we may see clearly and convincingly that God, not just today but already from eternity, had destined us for salvation.
3. The downside is that those who refuse to look into this mirror — Christ — will discover nothing of his election by God. Certainty concerning our election cannot be obtained outside of Christ and therefore not outside of the gospel where we meet Christ (Canons of Dort Chapter V, Article 10). We can see our names in God’s book, but not directly — only through the mirror! This mirror is the Christ of the gospel, who assures us that he was already destined from eternity to save us.

VIII. The doctrine of election and the notion of universal atonement←⤒🔗

1. According to the doctrine of the universal [or “unlimited"] atonement, Christ died for all men. That sounds amazingly generous, but it is only appearances that are deceiving. For, according to this, Christ has only opened up the possibility for us to be saved. He has opened the door of the prison, but whether the prisoners will come out is up to them. As if even one human being would want to leave the prison of his sinful existence of his own accord! No one would want that, even if Jesus would have left the door wide open.
   What this teaching assumes it gains in breadth (Christ giving all people the opportunity), it loses in depth (people need to make use of the opportunity offered in their own strength). See also Canons of Dort Chapter III/IV, Article 14.
   According to the Scriptures, Christ has accomplished not just the possibility but the reality of redemption by actually “rescuing and saving us from this perdition.”
2. What is decisive, however, is that the Scriptures clearly teach that Jesus did not die for all men, but for his own. “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11). And Jesus prays for those whom his Father has given to him (John 17: 6, 9, 24).
3. It is another matter whether the infinite value and worth of Christ’s death are sufficient to atone for the sin of the whole world (Canons of Dort Chapter II, Article 3). This does not imply that therefore his salvation is destined to all mankind, as we already noted in the previous point in this section.

Points to discuss←↰⤒🔗

1. Consider how Philippians 2:12-13 shows how God’s election does not make us passive but causes us to be extremely active. What is the encouragement and what is the warning of these verses?
2. Romans 8:29-30 lists five redeeming acts of God. Look these up. These five form the links of a chain. Yet it has no value for us until we know that this chain has indeed been placed in our hands. Through which link does the chain end up within our reach? And what is the comfort of these verses?
3. In an evangelistic sermon, can we say, “Christ died for you” or “Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient for you as well”? Carefully examine the difference between the two sentences.
4. Evaluate the objection that this article tears apart God’s mercy and his justice by dividing them into two very different divine actions, election and reprobation respectively. Point out from the article that there is no mercy without justice here.
5. Do we believe because we received a Christian upbringing "by coincidence"? What do election and nurture have to do with each other?