There are various questions that can be asked with respect to the covenant of grace, such as: Are we dealing with two or three covenants? When was the covenant of grace instituted? Who are the covenant partners, and what are the stipulations of this covenant?

With regard to election also we can ask an abundance of questions, such as: Who is doing the electing? Within the electing action of God, what is the position of the freedom and responsibility of man? What is the relationship between election and the covenant of grace? Is God’s absolute power in election not open to arbitrariness: why is the one chosen but not the other? How can we be certain that we are elected unto salvation? What are the connections between, on the one hand, the election as covenant people and covenantee, and on the other the election unto salvation?

On the basis of such insistent questions many people have concluded that the doctrine of election comes across as an irritation and an annoyance in the realms of Christian religion and worship. At times people have made a caricature of election and as a result have given a distorted view of certain aspects.

When we try to shed light on these matters, this light will not come about as a result of logical reasoning, sound evidence, etc., but from the revelation of our God who takes care of us; that is, from the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. For the fact that God is the God who elects constitutes a clear teaching in the revelation of himself. However difficult it may be to understand, or to grapple with this teaching of Scripture, or also how to put it in a proper framework, we may not and cannot ignore this teaching as if it should belong to the secret things. For God has not kept it hidden. It seemed good to him to speak to us about it. Therefore, it may not be silenced in the preaching, in pastoral work, in catechism instruction or evangelism, in theological reflections or publications. When the Scriptures speak about it – the prophets, Christ himself, and his apostles – then we too may not keep quiet about it. We will even come to see that the fact that God acts in election is at the heart of the gospel, and therefore it is an integral part of the church in all its teaching and activities. Yes, we will have to limit ourselves to the boundaries of revelation, and to guard ourselves from any speculation about the fact that we have an electing God.

We will again start by directing our attention to some aspects about election from the Scriptures, and afterwards we will learn how this teaching was embodied in the church’s confession, and how the biblical doctrine of “a God who elects” has played a role in theological considerations and confrontations from as early as the fifth century AD.

1. Biblical-exegetical data⤒🔗

1.1.    Election by the triune God←↰⤒🔗

The first and most important thing that we learn from the Scriptures about the subject of election is the fact that the triune God is at the source of election. Ninety-two times the Lord God is the subject of the Hebrew verb bachar (=to choose, to elect), and in thirteen cases the passive form of this Hebrew verb bachir is applied to God (=chosen by God).

These lines from the OT are continued into the NT. To mention just one instance, in Ephesians 1 we hear the song of praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be he! “He chose us in him (=Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Eph. 1:4). Whatever aspects there may be with regard to election, it is always God who elects. It is the Lord, the Almighty, the One who cares, who chooses Abram, Isaac, and Jacob and many after them (cf. Isa. 41:8ff.; 65:9, 15, 22; Deut. 4:37; 10:15; Jer. 31:3; Ps. 105:6).

Election is shown in Scripture to be God’s act, specifically an act of his will. Chosen ones are always elected by God (see e.g., Col. 3:12; Rev. 17:14; 1 Peter 1:2; 2:4, 9). The Old and the New Testament also speak of a book of life, wherein God himself records the names of his chosen ones (see Ex. 32:32; Ps. 69:28; 87:6; Isa. 4:3; Dan. 12:1; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5; 13:8). He has recorded their names since the foundation of the world. In this way the Bible indicates God’s sovereign act of election, the origin of which is found in his will and his pleasure.

Further, it must strike us that all three divine persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are closely involved in the decision and execution of this election. The election is divinely Trinitarian in nature. “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37, 38; cf. John 17:12); they are to be saved by him. Moreover, he does not just give them to the Son; he draws them to him (John 6:44). And how are the chosen ones given to Christ and drawn to him? It is through the Holy Spirit. The message of election is received by the Spirit of Christ, and this is proclaimed to believers (John 16:14). Even more, it is he who reveals it to man through the Word (1 Peter 1:23), he who grants faith in Jesus Christ, and who in this way assures us of his election.

So it is the triune God who elects!

1.2.    The dimensions in God’s election←↰⤒🔗

It is necessary to distinguish well between election and election. The Bible shows and teaches us that there are different dimensions or layers in the act of the triune God’s choosing.

In the first place we see God’s election of members and people of the covenant of grace. We emphasize this election of a people of the covenant, because there is an organic aspect in this election: God chooses people through generational and national ties, such that they belong together to his covenant and function within this covenant. This becomes conspicuous especially in the Old Testament. In it we find how God has chosen Abraham and his seed, that is, the people of Israel, and elected them to be his covenant people. God has willed to make them his possession, his holy nation. We think here of what we read in Deuteronomy 7:6, where God speaks to Moses after the law was given on Sinai and after having impressed upon the Israelites that when they would enter the land of Canaan they must not serve the gods of other nations: “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession” (cf. 14:2; Isa. 41:8). This is why God repeatedly describes himself to the people of Israel as your God, your Father, and also calls them: my people, my children, my possession, my favorite child. As such, of all the peoples on earth God has chosen Israel especially, has set them apart to be his covenant people, to have his covenant relationship with them. In the coming ages he wants to treat them as a father with his children, while this people is bound by this election to confess the LORD their God, and to keep his laws. The ground for this election of Israel as the people of the covenant is not found in this people itself, or in its merits or qualities, but only in God’s love.

The election of this people Israel as God’s own holy people is not abrogated with the start of the New Testament dispensation of the covenant. After all, God’s gifts of grace and calling are irrevocable (Rom. 11:29). God has not rejected his people, those whom he knew before. They have not stumbled that far in their rejection of God’s salvation in Jesus, the Messiah who had come, that they had to fall, to fail, to be shed like a leaf from a tree that swirls far from the trunk. Not at all (see Rom. 9:6, 11:1ff., 11). The NT does show, however, how God’s election now assumes ever-broader circles and that the peoples are also hearing and receiving the preached gospel. They will now share in God’s love and election that at first was exclusive to Israel. Out of the nations, others are incorporated, grafted into Israel (see Ps. 87:4ff.; Rom. 11:24). Therefore, Paul can write to the Galatian churches: “So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Gal. 3:9). Peter says of this nation called from the peoples, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9), and addresses them as “the elect … according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood” (1:2). According to how the Bible speaks, therefore, there is an election of God to belong to his covenant.

But there is yet another dimension in election. There is also the election to be a prophet, priest, or king among his nation of Israel. God chooses specific persons within his people, within the domain of the covenant, to charge them with special tasks. In that way the patriarchs, such as Abraham (Gen. 18:19), and people like Moses with Aaron (Ps. 105:26), were chosen to give leadership to the people of God. God chose the tribe of Judah to bring forth the Messiah (Gen. 49:8ff.). The tribe of Levi was set apart, chosen to fulfill the priestly office in Israel (Deut. 18:5; cf. 10:8; 21:5), and God chose Aaron to be the high priest (Num. 16:5ff; 17:20). This also holds true for the kings of his people Israel, persons such as Saul, David, etc. Also in the NT dispensation the Lord God chooses certain people to serve him in specific tasks, such as the disciples or apostles (see Acts 1:2; Luke 6:13; John 6:70; 15:16, 19; Acts 1:24ff.; 15:7; 9:15). It always deals with an election unto a specific service in God’s church and kingdom.

In the third place there is then also the election unto salvation, which forms the specific subject of this book. This election is not altogether separate from what we have seen previously. For it holds true for those who have been brought into the covenant, and God can assign special tasks to these chosen ones. They have their names written in God’s book (see Dan. 12:2; Ps. 69:28; Luke 10:20; 2 Tim 2:19). Paul speaks very clearly about this election of sinners unto salvation when he writes to the Thessalonians. In contrast to those who believe the lie and not the truth, who are lost because they have not accepted the truth by which they could have been saved, the apostle writes, “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:13-14). We read here of the election unto salvation through the Spirit, and faith in the truth of the proclaimed gospel. We read the same in Eph. 1:3-14:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

In this Bible passage many aspects of God’s election unto salvation are revealed, which will be looked at more closely in what is to follow; however, here we just mention these aspects briefly.

The first thing we notice is that election is from eternity. It says, “Chosen in him before the foundation of the world.” Time and again we hear that word “before.” The verb is put in the past tense: has chosen, has predestined us, has blessed us, we have obtained. The election is in parallel with his purpose, his plan, the counsel of his will. It is an election in Christ, the Beloved. The goal of election is described as: that we should be holy and blameless before God’s face, to the praise of his glorious grace, to unite all things in heaven and on earth under him, under Christ. In 1 Peter 2:9 it is added, “That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

1.3.    The source of God’s election←↰⤒🔗

We have seen that God’s election of fallen people unto salvation is an election in love. Love is the source, the origin of God’s electing activity. Love – no different and also no less – motivated the triune God to his decision to actually still save some of fallen mankind, and to execute this decision until it has been fully realized in drawing all the chosen ones to the Saviour of the world, and to take them into his future glory and victory. In mentioning this source the Bible underlines with the greatest emphasis the absolute undeserved character of it. For that reason “love” can also be understood as “pleasure”. In the people who were elected there is and was nothing in themselves, no reason why God wanted to specifically save them out of the totality of fallen mankind. This becomes evident also from Paul’s words to the congregation of Corinth in 1 Cor. 1:27–31,

“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’”

There is nothing within ourselves that would have made God decide to show his love, nothing that would have set his heart aflame to look for fallen people in order to save them. From beginning to end it originated entirely in him. The love that led God to election, that urged him on, arose in his heart and is altogether his initiative. Also the accomplishment of the sacrifice of atonement through the Lord Jesus on the cross at Golgotha was not the reason why God kindled his love and averted his anger. No, it’s the other way around: the love that arose in God before all ages was the driving force for sending his Son into the world.

The apostle John writes therefore, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10; cf. John 3:16). God sending his Son into the world was not meant to bring about a change in God’s disposition, that is, to turn wrath into love, but rather it was a declaration and proof of his love that had already been generated from, in, and through himself. God’s Son did not come to earth to capture God’s love, but to show and to prove this love. Nothing has moved God toward the salvation of the many, but he himself was the moving cause of that salvation. Out of God’s love came God’s will, God’s decree and the implementation of his plan of election, and from nothing or nowhere else.

The Bible is very clear and sure on this point. It is nothing from us, but totally from him; in no way whatsoever anything in us or from us, but from beginning to end it’s all because of his love, his pleasure. God did not want that all would be lost, but that there would be salvation. One-sided love is the source of God’s good pleasure to elect. That holds true in the election of God in all dimensions, to the covenant people, to certain individuals who were given a special task, and unto salvation. Moses has to address the people of Israel, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you” (Deut. 4:6, 7). There was no single inherent quality in the people of Israel itself, no reason why God cared for them and chose them to have communion with them (cf. Deut. 9:4, 6). No single quality in the chosen ones can therefore be the source for God’s electing mercy, but everything that sinners receive in the way of saving power is out of God’s marvelous, absolute, and sovereign love.

This also means that we’re not dealing with some random arbitrariness as basis of God’s love, but a love that has been motivated from the depths of his being. His love is his prerogative. God is not limited by anyone but himself in what he decides and does. That counts in the full sense for his act of electing, his compassion in eternity. We cannot go any deeper than this, and as to why God did not allow all people to be lost but in his discretion decided to save some, this question is not for us to answer. We have to leave this freedom to God himself and to accept the fact that in his greatness and wisdom he keeps this hidden from us. J.A. Heyns expresses these matters in the following way, “God’s election flows out of the depths of his trinitarian being, as the act of God’s grace to sinful, and therefore lost people. We cannot penetrate any deeper into this motive of grace. In sovereign freedom, God elects people by grace to be his children, where not a single quality is present in them that could be shown as the grounds for his acting.” In a similar vein, H. Bavinck attempts to express this with these words: “The Son did not move the Father to love, but the electing love has come from the Father himself. And so Scripture consistently teaches us that the cause of all decisions is not inherent in any creature, but is only in God himself, in his will and pleasure; see Matt. 11:26; Rom. 9:11ff.; Eph. 1:4ff. … Election is a source of comfort and power, of modesty and humility, of trust and certainty. The salvation of men is immovably anchored in God’s gracious and almighty pleasure.”

1.4.    The position of Christ in God’s election←↰⤒🔗

In the past we have spoken repeatedly of Christ and of what he accomplished through atonement and victory in connection with the electing love of our God from eternity. As yet, here we need to examine more closely his position and task in regard to God’s electing operation because the Bible reveals further connections to us. This makes up a separate component of this presentation about God’s election unto salvation.

In the first place we return to what was shown under 1.1., namely, that the Son of God is also the subject of election. He has been involved, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in setting forth the decree to choose fallen sinful people, to save and rescue them. He too is the electing God.

Secondly, we have taken note of expressions that showed that these sinners had been chosen in him, that is, Christ (Eph. 1:4). “Christ” points to God’s Son as he came into the world through the Father and the Spirit to do his work of reconciliation as decided by them. He was anointed and appointed to this task. He is the anointed one, the Messiah. The apostle Peter admonishes the believers in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, as chosen ones according to the foreknowledge of God the Father (1 Peter 1:1f.), to walk in fear knowing that they have been ransomed from their futile ways not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (vv. 20-21).

S. Greijdanus comments on this phrase, “He was foreknown, before the foundation of the world,” as follows, “He who was foreknown is namely Christ as the Lamb of God, destined in God’s foreknowledge unto reconciliation, but also intended and designated as such through divine decree, cf. vs. 2; before the foundation of the world, when as yet nothing had been created. He was already, because he is God from all eternity, and from eternity he was destined to sacrifice himself as ransom for those who are his. He, who gave himself as a ransom for his believers, is this great and eternal God. God already decided in his eternal counsel for his people, and purposefully guided and led everything in such a way that he, God’s Son, would ransom those who are his from their sins.”

Christ, God’s Son, is chosen from eternity, destined, foreknown to be Messiah, the Redeemer for all who believe in him.

In the Bible we read more often about the fact that Christ the Son has been chosen. At the mountain of transfiguration, after the discourse of the Master with Moses and Elijah, when finally a cloud overshadows them, a voice sounds from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One, listen to him!” (Luke 9:35; cf. Matt. 17:5, “My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased”; see also Mark 9:7). And when the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is hanging on the cross, the leaders scoff and mock, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” (Luke 23:35). The Jewish leaders knew that Christ, the Messiah, the Servant of God according to the prophets, was God’s Chosen One, in whom God delighted, as was written in Isaiah (42:1; 43:10)!

Jesus Christ, God’s Son, was chosen before all time by God to be his Servant, according to the witness of Scripture. It is not an election of God in order to achieve salvation but to acquire it instead. That also explains the expression “my Servant.”

In the words of Heyns, “The only and beloved Son of the Father has been destined by the triune God for a particular function, namely, the salvation of people, and already at his baptism where he clearly and historically proved his willingness to execute his task, the Father expressed his greatest pleasure in him (Matt. 3:17). In this voluntary obedience of the Son to his Father, where also was shown the Trinitarian character of election and reconciliation, our salvation is grounded.”

In this way Jesus Christ has been chosen as the means unto election of sinners. In him God’s justice is maintained: full payment needs to be made for the sins of lost and chosen people, and through Christ, through his blood, payment has been made for them. He is their guarantee in the election of the triune God. He took the place of his people and represented them before the face of God. That is grace, given to us in Christ Jesus before all ages, and revealed to us through the appearance of our Saviour to abolish the power of death and bring life and immortality to light (see 2 Tim 1:9ff.).

The only ground for God’s electing care for fallen sinners lies only in his pleasure; on account of it he sent us Christ his Son. Not on account of anything in us, not even on account of our act of faith in the Saviour of the world, but because of his readiness before all ages to give himself as ransom for our life, and because of his actual execution of God’s plan of election in history. This means that we are not elected on the basis of our faith in Christ and our obedience to him, but only because he worked redemption. He and his deeds are the only means of our election! Any potential human effort stays outside the foundation of God’s choosing and care, and is not taken into account. It remains “free grace alone.” That is the song of the Bible: music to our ears and our hearts. The triune God has accomplished it totally on his own, and accounted for everything. The triune God chose us – in Christ! It is his manifold wisdom, according to the eternal purpose, that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord (see Eph. 3:10ff.). Being an election in Christ, it is a gracious election, which should be accompanied by a grateful acceptance in faith. It fully embodies the gracious nature of our election.

Alongside of this it also becomes evident that our election in Christ contains a corporate aspect. In John’s Gospel the Lord Jesus makes abundantly clear that he does not pray to his Father for the world, but for “those whom you have given me, for they are yours” (John 17:9; cf. vs. 11ff.). A little later in this high priestly prayer we read: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (vs. 24). The believers are his, represented in him. He is their head– the head of all the chosen ones, of the new humanity. The Father gave the chosen ones to his Son as reward for his readiness and as realization of his work of reconciliation. The elect are then also comprised and seen in Christ. This comes to the fore beautifully in Ephesians 1, from which we learned earlier that God has chosen all the believers in Christ, his Son, from before the foundation of the world. But then it continues:

“In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:5-12).

The plurality of believers is already included in Christ before all ages. In the Chosen One are included all chosen ones; they are all represented and present in him. He is the Head of the body, the church (see Col. 1:18). In addition to being a Guarantee, Christ is Head in God’s election. He declared himself to be prepared to give himself unto redemption, and the Father has given him the chosen ones in joy and as reward.

Finally, Scripture announces clearly that God’s merciful election is concentrated without a doubt in the one person, Jesus Christ, and in what he has accomplished. It is found nowhere else but in him. The totality of election and all it implies is centred in Christ. There is no eternal mercy of God outside of Jesus Christ the Lord. He is the mirror image of God’s election. Only in him, through him, and with him can we find God’s electing mercy. Anyone who looks to Christ sees in his heart the electing God. Only through Christ, through our connection of faith to him, do we have part in this eternal love of God unto salvation. There is no other way.

1.5.    The goal of God’s election←↰⤒🔗

We have already heard several times from the Holy Scriptures that in the election it centres most profoundly on the honour and glory of God and his mercy. God wants to receive his glory from his chosen ones. In Isaiah we hear the voice of the Holy One of Israel: “The people whom I formed for myself [shall] declare my praise” (Isa. 43:21). It is all “to the praise of his glorious grace” (Eph. 1:6; cf. vv. 11, 14). The song of praise about God’s eternal mercy resounds throughout the Bible. After the in-depth declaration in Romans 9 to 11 about God’s electing and rejecting action (see Rom. 9:10ff.), Paul finishes with a song of praise, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ ‘For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen’” (Rom. 11:33-36). Even the inscrutability of God’s decrees constitutes material for Paul’s composing of this praise! He knows that they are gracious, merciful decrees. God’s election can, may, and must serve to his glory. We need to learn to sing of his eternal electing mercy!

At the same time the Bible teaches us yet another goal in God’s choosing. From Ephesians 1 we learn that God has chosen us in Christ from before the foundation of the world, so that “we should be holy and blameless before him” (Eph. 1:4). Peter calls the believers the chosen ones according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, “in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood” (1 Peter 1:2). The entire paraenesis (exhortation) of the NT is rooted in and built on the foundation of God’s election. We are elected in order to do good works, to dedicate our lives to God and our Saviour, and to be a blessing to others. In addition to the praise of God we see the sanctification according to his will. The election must direct us to walk and act according to God’s ordinances. No chosen person may fold his arms and consider himself to have arrived, or that he can continue to live in carelessness and godlessness. It is exactly the realization that a believer may know himself to be chosen in Christ that should stimulate him to find his strength in Christ and through him to produce fruits of thankfulness and obedience. God’s election envisions the sanctification through the Spirit. The Spirit brings to faith in Christ, connects us through this faith more and more to Christ, and so teaches us to live our lives fruitfully out of Christ and in accordance with God’s will. “For he has created us in Christ for good works, prepared by God beforehand that we should walk in them” (see Eph. 2:10).

This second aim is closely connected to the first. In performing our devotion to God in obedience to Jesus Christ, God’s glory comes to manifestation in our life. In that way he receives our actual praise and adoration for his electing mercy. Moreover, the good works also serve our neighbours, our fellow believers, to help them in following our Lord and Saviour, and in service to our fellow men to lead them to Christ and to show them how Christ moves us to do what is right. Yet also in this the focus is on the honour of God, for according to the gospel we should let our light shine in such a way that people will recognize our good works and glorify our Father in heaven (see Matt. 5:16).

The election arises from God’s immeasurable and unfathomable love for lost sinners, and results in their salvation, which is also to his glory!

1.6.    The call of God’s election←↰⤒🔗

God’s electing mercy has its foundation in Christ, God’s Son. But this electing mercy is also presented, revealed, and proclaimed to us in the gospel of God in Christ, the Saviour for Jews and Gentiles. God has not held back or hidden his eternal mercy, but has made it known. When we meet Christ on the pages of Scripture, we come face to face with God’s electing love. And this love demands a decision in faith. You may have heard about the imperative mode of the election, or the appeal of the election. The God of our election does not come to us simply with a statement of the truth of his eternal choosing and mercy, but with it he actively calls us to a choice, to determine our position in regard to him who elects. Man meets the truth of the electing love of God in Christ, precisely in its appealing stature and power. The electing God, precisely because he is the God who chooses, is the God who calls us, the God who searches for our hearts.

The apostle Peter writes to his readers who have obtained a faith of equal standing with his own: “[For] his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). A little later he urges them, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall” (vs. 10). This speaks of the call originating from God to faith and fellowship with his Son. This call is very closely connected with God’s electing love in Christ the Lord. With this call one’s election is confirmed. This strong bond between call and election is also evident in different places in Scripture, for instance in 2 Timothy 1:9, where we find that God “saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.” God’s call does not take place based on our qualities, but in accord with his eternal purpose and eternal grace in Christ.

For that reason the Bible is full of calls to faith on the part of the electing and merciful God. His election comes to us in the form of the calling, in the form of the presentation, the promise, with the demand to acceptance and faith; therefore, in the framework of the covenant of grace. The Bible says it in this way, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matt. 4:17); “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life! Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God!” (John 3:16, 18); “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Rom. 10:13).

Our electing and merciful God does not just announce to us an objective fact, some kind of eternal election and nothing more, no, he comes to us with his call and demand to believe in his Son Jesus Christ. By giving heed to that call, by responding to it does one confirm this calling, does one hold fast to the One who calls, so that one will no longer stumble or fall away from salvation, and in this way one is anchored more and more in God’s election. Whoever is rooted in Christ through faith will know himself safe in God’s eternal electing heart, and so his election is made sure and steadfast. The road is from calling to election, because God, who has elected before all ages, calls us in time to himself and to his Son. Nowhere do we read in the Bible an appeal to the hearers of the gospel, “You are chosen, just believe it!” No, God comes to us with his call, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will know in him that I have chosen you!” There is no separate way that leads to the safety of God’s eternal electing heart aside from faith and being united with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit, who is with the Father and the Son the God who elects, brings people to the Saviour through the call of the gospel, and impresses upon their hearts that in Jesus they are saved, secure in God’s love from eternity. God does not elect man because of his faith, but that he will come to faith. By way of accepting God’s promise of salvation in Christ Jesus does one come to the certainty of one’s salvation, also of the salvation of God’s election. In Christ God has declared himself for us, eternally. There is an inextricable bond between promise, calling, faith, assurance, and election. But it is always in the sequence of calling and election. You cannot turn it around. Perhaps an illustration may help: you first need to get into the car in order to look in the rearview mirror. First through faith in Christ does God allow us to look into his heart of eternal mercy. It is an irrefutable biblical fact that we cannot arrive at the certainty of our salvation, and therefore the comfort of our election, outside of faith, outside of the acceptance of God’s word of promise. For God, election is at the beginning. But for us he positions the promise and faith at the beginning, and after this he opens the gate to his electing heart. By faith we may know that as God’s children our salvation is anchored eternally in his immutable decree of election.

1.7.    God’s election and rejection←↰⤒🔗

Without any ambiguity or vagueness the Bible reveals to us that there are also many people who do not believe; that many are called, but that they do (or will) not accept this calling. God allows his call to go out to many and various people. He offers his call to all who hear the gospel. To them, through the Holy Spirit, he extends his grace in Jesus, his Son. But there are people who in their disobedience are offended by God’s Word and calling. Jesus said to the many in the multitudes that followed him that they did not want to come to him even though the Scriptures clearly testified about him (John 5:40). The Bible knows the terrible reality of people who refuse to believe in the Son (see Matt. 21:32; 27:42; Luke 8:12; John 3:18; 2 Thess. 2:11; etc.).

God’s Word informs us plainly that whoever does not believe has no part in the salvation, has already been condemned, and remains under God’s wrath. Their destination is eternal destruction. Without faith in God’s Son, no rescue or salvation is possible. Outside of Christ there is everywhere the raging anger of God, and only a prospect of an eternal catastrophe! Therefore, it cannot be said that all those who are called are also elected. The offer of grace and the promise of the covenant cover a wider circle than God’s election. When someone refuses to believe and hardens himself in that position, he confirms his rejection. God definitely rejects those who continue to reject him. In this way Samuel had to confront Saul and tell him, “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king” (1 Sam. 15:23, cf. vs. 26). Here we see the reason clearly displayed: God rejects because Saul rejects him. When Pharaoh in Egypt hardens himself, up to five times, and does not want to heed God’s command to let the people of Israel go, then you read that the Lord hardens his heart (Ex. 9:12). The hardening of Pharaoh was also foretold by the Lord God (see Ex. 3:19; 4:21) and God knows it beforehand. It is clear that whoever sets himself up against the LORD God and does not accept his words or act according to them, he will be rejected. God rejects Esau, but this only happens because and after he has shown his indifference by selling his birthright, while later on he still wanted to inherit this blessing (Heb. 12:16ff.). Paul and Barnabas turned away from some Jews in Antioch only after they had become angry and jealous because so many members of the synagogue, worshippers of God and fellow citizens followed Paul and Barnabas. Then we read that Paul and Barnabas boldly said to them, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46). Judas delivered himself to Satan, who entered into him, and he worked his own ruin. The son of destruction, who did not believe and who gave himself over to unrighteousness, was lost this way (see John 13:27; 6:64; 17:12; Acts 1:18).

When we speak of God’s election and his reprobation, we may not understand this to mean that the rejection forms a logical conclusion or accompaniment of the election. Based on what Scripture teaches us, we may not speak of election and rejection in a parallel manner. God’s rejection may not be taken as the automatic “no,” that would simply belong to the “yes” of his electing love, as a kind of parallel decision of predestination. Things are different with election than with rejection or reprobation. The source, the cause of election is God’s eternal mercy; the cause of rejection is the hardening of man, the fact that he does not want to believe in God’s grace for him, and continues to resist God’s immeasurable love. Nowhere do we read that God has pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live (Ezek. 33:11). On the basis of these words we may never make God out to be the cause or facilitator of sin or of unbelief. Rejection always follows on the (persistent) sin of man, while election always precedes faith. The rejection is the judgment of God on sin, which remains the responsibility of man by which he can never be excused. The LORD God endures with much patience the objects of his wrath, but at some point there is an end to his patience (cf. Rom. 9:22). By not accepting Christ, and by not looking for one’s salvation and life in him, one invokes God’s judgment and thus confirms God’s eternal and immovable decree that outside of Christ his Son there is no salvation, only an expectation of destruction. People who reject God’s mercy in Christ make themselves worthy of eternal rejection. God’s reprobation is his holy reply, his holy reaction to the hardening of man in his rebuttal of Christ’s love over him, a reaction that is established from eternity in God’s decree that whoever rejects his Son, is irrevocably rejected! This is rooted in God’s own righteousness!

This chapter was translated by Wim Kanis