Election, the "Bad" Doctrine

There is no small number of Christians who have heard of the doctrine of "election" ... and don't like it. God chooses us? Seems wrong. So they abuse the doctrine until they're blue in the face. "What makes you better than the rest who aren't chosen?" "If God chooses, then we don't have to do anything at all, do we?" "God doesn't choose us; we choose Him." Oh, and the ever popular "He chooses us after we choose Him." And on it goes. This all goes fine ... until you run into Scripture.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. (Eph 1:3-4)

There are lots of uses of "elect," "chosen," and the like, especially in the New Testament. In the Old, of course, Israel was God's "chosen people," and He was very specific about that. "The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt" (Deut 7:7-8). It wasn't because they were the best; it was based solely on God's choice. In the New Testament, then, the idea simply carries beyond the Jews. But in that text from Ephesians it says that He "chose us in Him before the foundation of the world." Before the world began, those who were going to be chosen were already chosen. If you are a member of the elect, you were a member before you were born. And it wasn't because of your foreseen choices. "So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy" (Rom 9:16). Not your will; not your efforts. God alone.

The concept is biblical. It may seem to elevate some, but that's a mistaken impression. God has chosen for His own purposes and not because of who we are. Oh, we still have to act. We still have to come in faith, still must be born again. But it is first and foremost an act of God's will that gets you saved, and that was fixed before the foundation of the world. If you think about it, that should give you some measure of assurance. If He started it and brought it about and chose you, there is nothing you can do to end it or lose it. That's a relief.