11 – The Contrast
Between Calvinism & Arminianism – The Providence of God – Election
The Providence of God – Election
The word, “election” comes from the Greek
word “ekloge,” meaning “choice,” a “picking out”). It can be viewed as a positive choice that
God makes in eternity (past) to cause individuals, nations or groups to enter
into eternal life and fellowship with Him.
There appears to be three distinct uses of
this term in Scripture:
(1)
To
the divine choice of nations or communities for the possession of special
privileges with reference to the performance of special services. Thus the Jews were ‘a chosen nation,’ ‘the
elect.’ Thus also in the NT, bodies of
Christian people, or churches, are called ‘the elect.’
(2)
To
the divine choice of individuals to a particular office or work. Thus Cyrus was elected of God to bring about
the rebuilding of the Temple, and thus the twelve were chosen to be apostles
and Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles.
(3)
To
the divine choice of individuals to be the children of God, and therefore heirs
of heaven. The New Unger’s Bible
Dictionary. Originally published by
Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois.
Copyright © 1988
It is the third use
that has wrought the significant theological debate.
Calvinists hold that
the election of individuals to salvation is absolute, unconditional, by virtue
of an eternal divine decree. Arminians
regard election as conditional upon repentance and faith; the decree of God is
that all who truly repent of their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
shall be saved. But every responsible
person determines for himself whether or not he will repent and believe. Sufficient grace is bestowed upon everyone to
enable him to make the right decision.
Ibid.
One of the main areas of discussion is from,
the ‘falling from grace.’ That is,
Arminians believe that a person may lose his salvation because of sin. Falling from grace, though, seems to be
clearly a ‘works-based’ salvation. For
if one can lose his salvation, how is that accomplished? Certainly this must be from something man has
done. In other words, there must, then,
be a ‘work’ of man that causes salvation to be lost. It is a better view to understand that one is
kept in the same manner as he is saved.
Therefore, if one is saved by works, he is kept by works. Logically, then if one believes he is kept,
or that he stays saved by what he does, then he must also concede that he was
saved by works. For the evangelical
Christian, that should be a reprehensible thought!
Next we’ll look at “The Providence of God –
Reprobation.”
Doug
