This chapter has seven subdivisions.
I have a pastor friend whose relationship with his beloved pastor began to deteriorate when my friend began asking him questions on such topics as are covered by this chapter. My pastor friend and his pastor never had a falling out, but the relationship chilled over time because my pastor friend wanted to ask his pastor questions about such topics as this and his pastor was unwilling to discuss such topics. My first pastor displayed the same attitude. There were certain topics of importance in the Bible he was unwilling to discuss with anyone, including young Christians such as me. I find that appalling. Everything in the Bible should be on the table of topics a God called pastor is willing to discuss with members in the Church where he serves. My own opinion is that the wickedest of copouts is to say, “Well, that’s my stand.” If you cannot explain your stand, perhaps it is not the stand you should take but a matter mature believers should be allowed to disagree about.
Sovereign Election. Four paragraphs. “The Reformed doctrine of election can be summed up in three words: ‘He chose us’ (Ephesians 1:4). God did the choosing, not man. It does not say, ‘We chose Him,’ or ‘We chose ourselves.’ Man does not elect himself any more than a president elects himself (though they usually vote for themselves!). God is the only one who votes in this election. Not even the angels were given a vote. God is the subject; we are the object. God is active; we are passive. It is ‘your election by God’ (1 Thessalonians 1:4). The biblical order is absolutely critical.” “The subject – object relation is evident in Christ’s words in John 15:16: ‘You did not choose Me, but I chose you.’ Nothing could be more explicit. It is a waste of time trying to say that this only refers to His choice of the twelve to serve as apostles. This is a common Arminian misinterpretation. First, Jesus did not address these words to Judas, for he had already left (13:30). Second, it must be interpreted in light of 13:18 when Judas was still there: ‘I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen.’ Judas was never chosen to salvation, only to apostleship (cf. 17:12). Third, John 15:19 indicates that Christ is speaking of election to salvation, not to mere apostleship: ‘I chose you out of the world.’ This obviously did not include Judas, for he was always ‘of the world.’ The others were not of the world anymore (John 15:19; 17:14).
He Chose Us. Three paragraphs. “Why do some sinners believe, and others do not? It is because God sovereignly chose some and not others. The chosen will eventually believe; the unchosen will never believe.” Augustine is cited. “We know God because God first knew us, not vise versa as Arminianism says. First John 4:19: ‘We love Him because he first loved us.’ Would anyone dare reverse this holy order?”
Election By Grace. Six paragraphs. “God did not elect on the basis of foreseen faith, for as Calvin put it: ‘Election is the mother of faith,’ not its daughter.” “J. I. Packer commented: ‘Where the Arminian says, ‘I owe my election to my faith,’ the Calvinist says, ‘I all my faith to my election.’ The first produces pride and in gratitude; the second produces humility and thanksgiving.” “There is spiritual romance in this. Christ chose the elect to be His precious bride. He chose us in eternity and proposed in time, and she accepted. His choice was by sovereign grace, as Spurgeon commented: ‘It always seems inexplicable to me that those who claim free will so very boldly for man, should not also allow some free will to God. […] Why should not Jesus Christ have the right to choose His own bride?’”
Election by Sovereign Grace in Romans 9. Five paragraphs, explaining why some Jews are saved and not others, as well as why some Gentiles are saved and not others. Puritan Edward Polhill is quoted.
Election by Sovereign Grace in Ephesians 1. Three paragraphs. “Love is part of both election and predestination.”
The Book of Life. Seven paragraphs. Matthew Mead and Robert Peterson are quoted. Three erroneous theories are addressed, including that of Charles Hodge.
Conclusion. “Putting all this together, one might wax
theologically romantic and put it like this: Out of His infinite love and free
grace, the Lord of Love chose a bride to bestow His love on and have her return
it to Him in grateful love. When He chose her, He wrote her name down in the Book
of Love that belongs to the Lamb of Love.”
