Election. Article 3

 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple Psalm 65:4.

Article 3 describes that those blessed persons who would dwell with God and partake of his goodness, were chosen by God for that blessing. We believe in the doctrine of election and that God chose his people before the foundation of the world. Let’s define this doctrine and place it in the context of an eternal purpose (covenant).

I will not try hard to prove the doctrine here, since I believe it comes out very strong by simply explaining it by the Bible. The difficulty comes from people who explain away the straightforward texts teaching election to harmonize them with texts that teach man’s duty. The harmony they miss comes in distinguishing the covenant of grace (eternal) with a covenant of service (temporal, discipleship) that we accept and obey in the church kingdom. Election is how we get into the eternal covenant and so for every single heir of heaven. The church kingdom is the current temporal phase of God’s kingdom and must be “pressed into” with effort and understanding (Lu 16:16). The heirs of the contemporary promise land—the church—are a small subset of the elect heirs of eternal heaven (Rev 5:9, 7:9).

Elect, as defined by Webster: “To pick out; to select from among two or more, that which is preferred. In theology, to designate, choose or select as an object of mercy or favor.” Articles of faith are in a sense negative. I mean they were written to distinguish our beliefs from specific errors which have brought confusion in trying to understand God’s Word. Article 3 repudiates the idea that we, sinners, make a choice that determines our eternal destiny.

Next, I want to separate us from the implication that the non-elect were unconditionally chosen for damnation. That is what Calvin taught, but it’s not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that we were chosen to be holy and without before him in love (Eph 1:4). God gave man a covenant of works and by His righteous standards, death is the sentence for those that break that covenant (Gen 2:17, Ez 18:4, Rom 6:23). The non-elect never had the benefit of the blessings the elect have in Christ (Eph 1:3) which included him being our surety (Heb 7:22), so they weren’t going to inherit Heaven and dwell with God intimately. But the only reason they die, and the only reason that in death they suffer everlasting fire (Mt 25:41) is because of their rebellion and iniquities that come from their will, not God’s (Mt 7:23).

Election teaches that the choice of God’s heirs (Ps 33:12) is by God and not by man. It is God’s sovereign choice. It’s not hard for us to understand that we didn’t choose to be created and live in the first place; we also didn’t choose the parents who gave us birth. It’s also easy to understand that in the process of adoption, it’s the parents that make the sovereign choice. I’ve never heard of an earthly adoption where a couple declared that whoever chose them would be adopted. The Bible describes us as being adopted into God’s family for eternal communion with Jesus Christ (Eph 1:5). Romans 9:11, 16 and 2Tim 1:9 all declare that election was based on God’s purpose and explicitly rule out any condition performed by the chosen as the basis for this choice.

Finally, I want to emphasize that we were chosen and secure before creation existed. God is not bound by time, so why would Paul in Eph 1:4 say that we were chosen before the foundation of the world? It has to be because it didn’t depend on anything that would happen in time. God providentially answers prayers and intervenes in our lives based on the circumstances we are in, but those actions are never described as before the foundation of the world. Ps 139:16 says that all the members of the body of Christ were known and written in his book when as yet there were none of them. These things couldn’t be unless God chose us completely independent of anything we ever say or do.