We won’t shy away from the doctrine of election when we teach the Bible. Why? Because it’s what the Bible says. Every human being is deserving of the torment of Hell, but God mercifully chose some from before the foundation of the world to be saved. Paul tells us this in his letter to the church in Ephesus, “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.” Ephesians 1:3-6
The more you read the Bible cover-to-cover, the more you see the doctrine of election all through the text. The other reason we won’t teach anything less is because it makes all the difference in the world to the believer once they understand it. It’s our desire that Scripture will pry every finger open that is holding onto “works” of any kind, even the notion that you “made a right decision” to follow God, something the Bible says we’re powerless to do unless God regenerates our dead hearts first, which Jesus says in John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. “
Why is it important? Because we want those we teach to stand before God someday totally empty-handed and clinging to the cross. Until a believer realizes he or she’s got absolutely nothing to offer of their own, they will always partly worship self.
It’s only when a believer truly “gets it” – that God is sovereign over everything, even over salvation – that everything changes. It gives the believer a whole new perspective. Here are a few more of the many verses on the subject, but we hope you’ll read the Bible cover-to-cover, searching diligently for truth as you do.
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” Romans 9:6-13
“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, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. – Deuteronomy 7:6-8
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. – Romans 8:28-30
And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. Mark 13:26-27
And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, andwill show mercy on whom I will show mercy. – Exodus 33:16-19
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. – Colossians 3:12-13
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 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: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. – 1 Peter 1:1-2
“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. – John 17:1b-3
#doctrineofelection #chosenbyGod #freewill #christianity #reformed
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