Pastor Lyn Whitcomb
Reformed Baptist Church Riverside, California

My purpose this morning is not to prove the doctrine of election, but to answer several common objections to it. But before I answer objections to it, I must first state the doctrine.

(Paragraph 3): "By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated, or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ, to the praise of his glorious grace; others being left to act in their sin to their just condemnation, to the praise of his glorious justice."

• A.W. Pink:

"What does the word ‘Election’ mean? It signifies to single out, to select, choose, to take one and leave another. Election means that God has singled out certain ones to be the objects of His saving grace, while others are left to suffer the just punishment of their sins. It means that before the foundation of the world, God chose out of the mass of our fallen humanity a certain number and predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son."

• Biblical References
• John 6:65

And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."

• Rom 8:29-30

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

• Eph 1:4-6

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.

• Rom 9:9-19
• Objection answered: Rom 9:20
• Rom 11:33-36

• Job 38:1-4
  Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.

b. If God was "fair" to everyone, He would send everyone to hell

• Rom 3:23

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

• The doctrine of election, rather than condemning God’s justice, exalts His grace, that anyone would be saved at all.

Key: God is by definition righteous and just. We do not have the right or the ability to sit in judgment of God. We ought not to observe what God does and judge whether or not the acts of God are righteous; rather, we ought to observe what God does and assume that the acts of God are righteous. This is what trusting God means. And, indeed the God of the Bible can be trusted with election. So the objection that the doctrine of election is not fair, far from being an objection at all, is really evidence of a lack of trust in the God of the Bible.

2. It reduces man to a robot

1. The doctrine of election does not deny that man has a will, but it does deny that man’s will is the deciding factor in man’s salvation.

i. God is the ultimate First Cause of all things

Eph 1:11
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

Dan 4:35
All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; he does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, "What have You done?"

Ps 115:3
But our God is in heaven; he does whatever He pleases.

ii.  Man’s will is in bondage to sin. Therefore if salvation was up to man’s "free will", then no one would ever be saved.

John 8:34
…Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

Rom 8:7-8
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Eph 2:1-3
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

iii. Men cannot "choose" to obey the Gospel until God does a work of grace in their hearts

Ps 110:3
Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power; in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, you have the dew of Your youth.

John 6:45
It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.

3. It contradicts the free offer of the Gospel so clearly given in the Scriptures

1. Biblical commands are statements of moral duty, not implications of ability.

Luther: "Here is the matter in a nutshell: As I said, by statements of this sort, man is shown, not what he can do, but what he ought to do…

"Here is the very thing that I said of the arguments of human reason: reason thinks that man is mocked by an impossible command, whereas I maintain that by this means man is admonished and awakened to see his own impotence…So the words of the law are spoken, not to assert the power of t he will, but to illuminate the blindness of reason, so that it may see that its own light is nothing, and the power of the will is nothing…

"Gather together from the concordances all the imperative words into one chaotic heap – and I shall at once declare that they show, not what men can do, or do do, but what they should do!

"So I conclude thus: The passages of Scripture which you cite are imperative; and they prove and establish nothing about the ability of man, but only lay down what is and is not to be done. Your inferences, or appendages, and your analogies, if they prove anything, prove that ‘free-will’ can do all things without grace."

To summarize: commands or imperatives in the Bible – like the free offer of the gospel that all men every where ought to repent and believe the gospel – are statements of what men ought to do, and doesn’t imply that they have the ability to comply.

2. In the Scriptures, the doctrine of election is expressed alongside of invitations for sinners to come to Christ

• John 6:37

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

• Matt 11:25-30

Rev 7:9-10
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

b. The ultimate reason for preaching the Gospel is because Christ commands us to, whether people listen or not

Exod 4:21
And the LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

Isa 6:8-12

Mark 16:15
Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature…

c. Election by itself does not save

Suppose a certain man won the lottery…

Rom 10:14
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

• A.W. Pink: "Now, Election and Predestination are but the exercise of God’s sovereignty in the affairs of salvation, and all that we know about them is what has been revealed to us in the Scriptures of Truth. The only reason why anyone believes in election is because he finds it clearly taught in God’s Word. No man, or number of men, ever originated this doctrine. Like the teaching of Eternal Punishment, it conflicts with the dictates of the carnal mind and is repugnant to the sentiments of the unregenerate heart. And like the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and the miraculous birth of our Saviour, the truth of Election must be received with simple, unquestioning faith."

• Spurgeon:

"It is no novelty, then, that I am preaching; no new doctrine. I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines, that are called by nickname CALVINISM, but which are surely and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus. By this truth I make a pilgrimage into the past, and as I go, I see father after father, confessor after confessor, martyr after martyr, standing up to shake hands with me…taking these things to be the standard of my faith, I see the land of the ancients peopled with my brethren; I behold multitudes who confess the same as I do, and acknowledge that this is the religion of God’s own church."

• Rom 11:5-6

Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

We have the Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation! We don’t have the watered-down, man-centered, easy-believism false gospel which so many preach, but which cannot save…We are guaranteed success!

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