Unconditional election is the teaching that God chooses those that He saves. There is no merit to those chosen by God and no characteristics required to be chosen. Thus, it can be said that election has no conditions. This teaching forms one of the five points of Calvinism.
It’s important to note that unconditional election does not exclude the necessary choice of believers to follow Jesus. It is not saying the elect are saved without repentance. It also does not suggest that evangelism and prayer are redundant.
Read my post about Calvinism to find out more on the five points, or, continue reading for more information on unconditional election.
Merits of Unconditional Election
Since unconditional election is based on the teaching that God chose the elect, and that they had no specific merit or characteristic; there needs to be compelling scriptural evidence.
Therefore the evidence for Unconditional Election can be broken down into three areas:
Evidence that we are elect
Evidence that believers lack merit
Evidence that election precedes repentance
Evidence that we are elect
The bible overwhelmingly supports that God chooses his people. This trend runs throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament.
The below verses demonstrate that God chose his people, that he acts for their benefit, and brings them salvation without merit:
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
John 15:16 ESV
And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.
Mark 13:20 ESV
And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
Luke 18:7 ESV
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Ephesians 1:11-12 ESV
Evidence that believers lack merit
Not only does the Bible say that God chose himself a people, the elect, but it also reveals that his people are sinful. All of them fall short of God’s glory, none seek Him, and none are righteous.
Furthermore, not only do they elect not deserve God as a result of their deeds, but election is a result of his sovereign will. The below verses demonstrate that it is not our own capacity to respond, but God’s mercy to act:
What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Romans 3:9-12 ESV
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
Romans 3:23-25 ESV So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
Romans 9:16 ESV
So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Romans 11:5-6 ESV
For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
Romans 11:30-32 ESV
Evidence that election precedes repentance
The bible also provides evidence that we are not only elect, but our election was based on God's will. We are not God’s elect because he saw our ability to receive him, or that we had responded to his message, but he chose us and so we respond.
The below verses demonstrate that God predestined us for adoption, and that it is his right to decide who will be saved and who will not.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Romans 8:29-30 ESV
Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
Romans 9:21-24 ESV
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Ephesians 1:3-6 ESV
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Galatians 3:7-9 ESV
Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Hebrews 9:15 ESV
Arguments against Unconditional Election
Clearly, there are many verses that support God’s election, their calling, their justification and their glorification. This plan preceded creation and results in the fulfilment of God’s sovereign will. However, the strength of the argument can also be tested by evidence against it.
There are several oppositions to unconditional election, particularly that it seems unfair for the non-elect.
In order to demonstrate that election is conditional, we must test whether God foreknew who would receive Him, but the choice was theirs. For unconditional election to stand, there should be no strong arguments that demonstrate election has a condition.
Evidence in opposition can be categorised as follows:
Evidence that salvation is for all
Evidence that that believers would always choose God
Evidence that it contradicts other doctrines
Evidence that salvation is for all
The claim of unconditional election is that all who are elect are called, and those called are justified, and those justified are glorified. But if the bible provides evidence that all people are called and that any can receive then election would be conditioned on free will to choose.
The below verses seem to show Jesus dying for the whole world, and that it is on the unbeliever to respond. However, these verses do not suggest that all could respond, only that all have heard and some will respond:
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:12-13 ESV
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
John 3:16-18 ESV
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
1 John 2:2-3 ESV
Evidence that believers would always choose God
The evidence above shows us that God calls and some respond. While this confirms that a response is necessary, it falls short of saying it is conditional.
The below verses put forward God foreknew those who would accept Him. While the reference in the first letter of Peter seems less definitive, the reference in Romans seems clear that God foreknew and predestined those that are his elect.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
1 Peter 1:1-2 ESV
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Romans 8:29 ESV
Final Remarks
When you way up the number of verses in favour and opposition of unconditional election, it's far easier to find examples of it than against it. That's because the difference between conditional and unconditional election is largely interpretative. The bible clearly teaches that the elect are chosen by God, but some prefer an interpretation that allows humans to choose God.
There's much that can be speculated about why a person might prefer this interpretation. On the one hand side, we like to consider ourselves as in control of the situation, autonomous and free agents. To accept that God is fully in control of our salvation, including who will and will not be saved, can be tough to let go. Another reason may be that we view it as unjust or unfair if God chooses some for mercy and others for wrath.
In answer of both of these points, Paul follows a theme that repeats itself in the Bible. We are the creature, and he is the Creator. Who are we to argue with the potter for what he does with the clay? That may make us feel uncomfortable, but that's not the same as saying it's unbiblical. For this reason, I fall on the side of unconditional election as being the more probably interpretation.
One criticism against unconditional election is that it makes evangelism and prayer redundant. Why would you pray for somebody unless you knew they were elect? The reality is that we don't know who is and who is not elect, but God wants us to pray. If the Lord Jesus would pray for us, why would we not pray for ourselves? There doesn't seem to be any logical connection between whether we know somebody is elect and whether we should pray for them. Indeed, Paul writes:
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
2 Timothy 2:10 ESV
Just because they are elect, does not mean we should cease our work for them. That seems to be the answer to whether or not it's redundant; no, it's essential to pray for others.
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