The other day, I was thinking about our faith, about how we come about to having faith, grace, what that all actually means. I've now dwelt on one thought for a few days, something that just kind of struck me, and it is as the title of this blog: election is actually necessary.
When I say election, this is what I'm meaning: God elects those whom He saves, and He does all the saving: no human can save themselves. I will refer to it as predestination too, likely, as Scripture tells us that God made this choice before we are born. He knows, not whether we will choose Him, but whether He will choose us.
Scripture teaches us that the default nature of mankind, since Adam, has been to reject God. Not a single person is for God all on their own. This, I believe, is affirmed all throughout the Bible, in the new testament most notably: Romans 3:10-11 (actually the first three chapters of
Romans), Romans 8:7-8, 1 Corinthians 2:14, and Ephesians 2:1-3. Many famous men have also written on this subject… Martin Luther, John Wesley, C.H. Spurgeon, John Piper, Jonathan Edwards, Arthur Pink. No one, of their own, natural desire, chooses God.
Simply enough, that is the reason that election is necessary. No one in the history of mankind has been free from sin, and so no man was exempt from the punishment of sin, and that is death, physically and spiritually. No one can be saved because of their own actions, because all men have a fallen nature.
If God did not choose some whom He would save, no one would be saved at all!
That, my friends, is the amazing part. We all had rejected Christ… we were all working against God. He chose us, to save us, based on no quality of ourselves that we can know, no action we committed… but based on His won will and Purpose. “He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called…” (Romans 9:23-24). God purposed our predestination to demonstrate His mercy and goodness!
Friends, I do not find this offensive in the least, I find this deeply joyous. Instead of leaving me to my own desires, dying from birth in the futile throes of my own free will, by the will of God I have been transformed from the inside out, having been reborn. Regenerated. Renewed. Made “a new creature.”
So… I know this is no exhaustive examination of this subject, it isn't meant to be. But I sure hope I caught the essence of it: we're hopeless and completely and utterly dependant upon God to save us, which is the necessity of His election, not that He has to choose us, but that He must in order for any of us to be saved. I hope you find this as encouraging as I do!
If you have any questions, I'd love to hear them…
