Sappy Love Song or True Doctrine?
A bite-sized lesson in doctrine: 1 Concept, 2 Definitions, 3 Passages...
Welcome back to Theology Thursday!
Here is your bite-sized lesson in orthodox biblical doctrine in 3 simple steps:
ONE concept explained
TWO concise definitions that must be kept distinct
THREE Scripture passages to meditate on
Concept: Election or Predestination unto life
Believers in Jesus are described as many things. One is that they are chosen by God. The Doctrine of Election teaches that out of God’s sheer mercy, before there were ever stars in the sky or fish in the sea or humans on the earth—before time itself—God chose to save and adopt a multitude of guilty sinners with nothing about them serving as a condition or cause moving Him to do so. He chose His children merely out of His free grace and love, for His own glory. The Bible says this is according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, and for obedience to the Lord Jesus and sprinkling with His blood.
What comes to your mind when you read that? Some think of it like a black hole of mysteries that is to be avoided, while others treat it as a battering ram to beat down their opponents. But what should come to your mind? When Peter wrote to a group of struggling, persecuted, and suffering Christians, what did he want them to know as soon as they received his letter? “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s Elect…” (1 Peter 1:1 NIV). Our minds should ascend to God’s majestic plan of salvation, and we should be humbled as well as comforted. In light of our sinfulness, it’s a wonder that God would choose anyone at all. Additionally, we must marvel that one of the many reasons God won’t forsake us in our suffering is that long before there were stars in the heavens, He set His love on us. These may sound like sappy love song lyrics. But rather, this is a literal doctrinal truth to rejoice the heart.
Definitions/Distinctions
Foreordination or Decree: This is an umbrella term that refers to what God determined before creation would take place in time and history. This refers generally to all that comes to pass, but it is tied to predestination, which includes (among other things) God’s election of His church.
Foreknowledge: In the Semitic world, to foreknow means to forelove. Adam knew Eve, which speaks of a deep, intimate relationship. When God’s sovereignty in salvation is attributed to the foreknowledge of God, this does not refer to mere events that God knows will happen; the object is people. God foreknows and set His distinguishing relational love on a specific people whom He has determined to show mercy.
Passages:
“To those who are elect exiles…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…”
1 Peter 1:1–2
“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”
Ephesians 1:11
“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
