What is…
election of grace

also known as: election by grace or the elect

Scripture speaks of the election by God of…


Individuals to leadership or privilege

This is the election (or selection) by God of individuals to office or to honor and privilege.

For example, Abraham, Jacob, Saul, David, Solomon, were all chosen by God for the positions they held; so also were the apostles.

Nations

There is election of nations to special privileges. For example, the Hebrews were chosen by God.

For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. —Deuteronomy 7:6 NASB

…Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, 5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. —Romans 9:4-5 NASB excerpt

Individuals to eternal life

God has elected (chosen) individuals to eternal life.

…God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation… —2 Thessalonians 2:13 NASB

…He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world… —Ephesians 1:4 NASB

…who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, [a]to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood… —1 Peter 1:1-2 NASB excerpt

I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen… —John 13:18 NASB

The grounds for this election to salvation is the good pleasure of God, in his full, eternal knowledge and wisdom.

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will —Ephesians 1:5 NASB

…we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will —Ephesians 1:11 NASB

You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit… John 15:16 NASB

…I chose you out of the world… John 15:19 NASB

God claims the right so to do.

…it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. —Romans 9:16 NASB excerpt

…does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? —Romans 9:21 NASB

It is not conditioned on faith or repentance, but is of soverign grace.

…there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. —Romans 11:5-6 NASB excerpt

…He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. —Ephesians 1:4-6 NASB

All that pertain to salvation, the means (Ephesians 2:8; 2 Thess. 2:13) as well as the end, are of God (Acts 5:31; 2 Tim. 2:25; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 2:5; 2:10).

Faith and repentance and all other graces are the exercises of a regenerated soul; and regeneration is God’s work, a “new creature.”

Men are elected “to salvation,” “to the adoption of sons,” “to be holy and without blame before him in love” (2 Thess. 2:13; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:4).

The ultimate end of election is God’s glory—eternal praise of His grace (Ephesians 1:6; 1:12).

More information

Article Version: June 8, 2021