The Method of Election - John MacArthur

The Method of Election

John MacArthur

Paul describes the method when he says, “He chose us in Him” (Ephesians 1:4). God didn’t draw straws; by His sovereign will He chose who would be in the Body of Christ. The Greek root for “chosen” is eklego, which means “to call out” or “to elect.” God made His choice totally apart from human will and purely on the basis of His sovereignty. Since the Greek verb for “chosen” is in the middle voice and thus reflexive, the meaning is: “according as He has chosen us for Himself.” God acted totally independent of any outside influence. Paul’s heart overflowed at such a glorious thought as he blessed God for choosing unworthy sinners.

God wrote the names of every believer in the Book of Life before the world began: “The beast that you saw was and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth will wonder, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 17:8; 20:15).

Election is the first cause of all blessing. That is why Paul begins with it in Ephesians 1:4. In Scripture, God does everything according to His own will and mind. Israel was elect (Exodus 6). The angels were elect (1 Timothy 5:21). Christ was elect (1 Peter 2:6). Certain believers were elected for certain tasks (Acts 9:15). The forming of the Body is therefore by God’s choice.

Jesus said to His disciples, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you” (John 15:16). And in the same Gospel, John said, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (1:12–13).

Paul reiterated the election of God in his other epistles: “Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” (2 Timothy 1:9). “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10). “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

Rest assured, these statements defining God’s sovereign election of believers are not in the Bible to cause controversy. Election is a fact that does not exclude human responsibility or people’s personal response by faith. Jesus said, “The one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37). Admittedly the two concepts of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility don’t seem to go together. However, both are true separately, and we must accept by faith that paradox. But there is no paradox in the mind of God. Our faith and salvation rest entirely on God’s election of us, and yet the day a person comes to Jesus Christ, that person comes because he or she desires to. Yet even that desire is given to us by God, and He supplies the necessary faith so we can believe. If salvation depends on us, then praise to God is ridiculous. But, in truth, our praise to God is completely appropriate, because in forming the Body before the world began, He chose us by His sovereign decree apart from any of our works. How we must praise Him for that! The doctrine of election allows God to be God.

How God can choose some, offer salvation to everyone, and then hold responsible those who weren’t chosen is all a mystery to us. I don’t know how God resolves those tensions, but I am content to leave the resolution with Him. The Bible clearly teaches both election and human responsibility. I have heard some believers say the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Not so! Both doctrines are fully true. Therefore, we need to let God be God and man be man and praise the Lord for His secrets. I get excited knowing that God loved me before I was born.

 

 

The Body Dynamic ©1996 by John MacArthur.