Election and Reprobation

Election/Predestination John Calvin “the doctrine of predestination is so mysterious that it must be treated with great care and humility because it can be easily distorted so as to cast a shadow on the integrity of God.”

What is Election? Election is an act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any unforeseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure.

New Testament teaching on Election Romans 8:28-30 Romans 9:11-13 Romans 9-11 Romans 11:7 Ephesians 1:4-6 Revelation 13:7-8

What Did Jesus say about Election? John 10:29 John 6:65 John 12:32

Three Ways the NT Presents the teaching of Election As a Comfort As a Reason to Praise God As an Encouragement to Evangelism

Misunderstandings about Election Election is Fatalistic or Mechanistic. Fatalism is a system that human choices and decisions do not matter In a mechanistic system, an impersonal universe in which all things happen to have been inflexibly determined by an impersonal force long ago and that the universe functions where humans act as merely robots than genuine persons.

Misunderstandings about Election Election is based on God’s Foreknowledge on our Faith.

Grudem’s Reasons why Election is not based on God’s Foreknowledge of our faith Foreknowledge of persons, not facts Scripture never speaks of our faith as the Reason God Chose us Election Based on Something Good in Us (Our Faith) Would be the beginning of Salvation By Merit Predestination Based on Foreknowledge Still Does Not Give People Free Choice

Prescience: An alternative view Prescience - ”beforehand” or “in advance of” This view holds that God’s election is based ultimately on His prior knowledge of what people will do or not do. God looks down the corridors of time and saw who would embrace Christ and who wouldn’t and on the basis of that prior knowledge, He chose to adopt those would make the proper choice.

Prescience: An Alternative view This does not explain predestination biblically. Why? We chose him because he first chose us and Scripture teaches that predestination is based solely on the good pleasure of God’s will.

Objections to Election Election means that we do not have a choice in whether we accept Christ or Not. Election is Unfair

Reprobation Reprobation is the sovereign decision of God before creation to pass over some persons, in sorrow deciding not to save them, and to punish them for their sins, and thereby to manifest his justice.

Scripture References Romans 9:17-22 Jude 4 1 Peter 2:8

Quotes about the Doctrine Wayne Grudem, “If we are convinced that these verses teach reprobation, then we are obligated both to believe it and accept it as fair and just of God, even though it still causes us to tremble in horror as we think of it.” John Calvin, “The Decree is dreadful indeed, I confess.” R.C. Sproul on looking at reprobation in the Bible, “God is not the initiator of sin. In Exodus 7:2-5, God says that he will harden Pharaoh’s heart. God does not create new evil in his heart, but merely his holy hand of restraint and lets him do as he wills.”

Practical Application Election tells us that we are Christians simply because God in eternity’s past set his love on you and me. It squashes all pride. It makes us realize that we have no claim on God’s grace whatsoever