Having paused to answer two core objections Arminianism poses to Calvinism, let’s continue working through where we disagree. We have seen that Calvinists believe God singlehandedly saves sinners by giving them new hearts that receive and rest in Jesus. In considering these things you’ll notice that Calvinists put the emphasis on God’s decision, not ours, which brings us to the idea of election.
All Christians believe in the reality of “election”. “And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night?“ (Luke 18:6). “Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.“ (Rom. 8:33). “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 Tim. 2:10). There is no arguing that the Bible identifies a certain people as the “elect”. Furthermore, Calvinists and Arminians (perhaps all Christians), agree that the elect are those who believe in Jesus. Do you believe in Jesus? You are elect. Are you elect? Then you either believe in Jesus now or you will. The elect are all believers, past, present, and future.
The question is: Does election cause faith or does faith cause election? This is precisely where Calvinists and Arminians disagree.
Arminians believe God elects those whom He knows ahead of time will believe in Jesus. Arminians “believe that God foreknows every person’s ultimate and final decision regarding Jesus Christ, and on that basis God predestines people to salvation or damnation” (Olson, 180). One becomes elect because they will choose to believe in Jesus one day. “[John] Wesley insisted that God’s foreknowledge is not determinative or causative. God simply knows because things are” (Olson, 188). Personal belief in Jesus is the condition for election. Election does not cause belief. For Arminians, election is conditional upon one’s future belief in Christ.
Calvinists believe God elects those sinners whom He elects. Belief isn’t the condition of election. One becomes elect because God elects them in Christ, by grace. Full stop. Therefore, because they are elect, they will believe in Jesus one day. Election comes first and causes personal belief in Jesus. For Calvinists, election is unconditional.
As you might see, the Arminian position on election protects and guards their understanding of the need for people to “freely” choose Jesus and thus preserve “genuine” love for God. If election is unconditional and a cause of faith, Arminians think this violates God’s character and our personal love for God. But if election is simply the acknowledgement of who will believe in the future then Arminians can maintain their position of God’s character and the nature of genuine love.
As you might also see, the Calvinist position on election makes perfect sense with everything else that has been said about Calvinism. If God singlehandedly saves people then He is choosing who to have mercy on. Welcome to election". Someone comes to faith in Christ because God elected to save them.
What is known as the “golden chain of salvation”, along with other biblical texts, convinces me of this. Rom. 8:29-30 says, “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.” To see what this is saying, let’s work backwards. If someone is glorified one day it is because they were justified. And if they were justified it is because they were called. And if they were called it is because they were predestined. And if they were predestined it is because they were foreknown.
At the “foreknew” step is where Arminians say this foreknowledge is God’s knowledge ahead of time. For God to foreknow is to simply have a “crystal ball”, so to speak (Olson, 188). However, the word used here is a word of personal knowledge. Think about how the Old Testament talks about when a man and a woman know each other. That man and woman don’t just have information about each other. They have a relationship that results in babies. Similarly, God’s foreknowledge here is a personal knowing, it is relational, it is not just having information ahead of time.
Romans 8:29-30 shows that eternal life in glory (i.e. glorification) is the logical conclusion of God’s electing foreknowledge. For the Arminian, however, the chain is interpreted like this, “For those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also foreknew and predestined…” His foreknowledge and predestining and electing work is all in light of those who would be justified through faith. But the text just does not read that way. Our glorification, justification, and calling is all rooted in God’s foreknowing us personally and predestining us.
In my understanding, election in Arminianism amounts to little to nothing. In the golden chain in Rom. 8:29-30, God is at work doing and causing things in our calling, justification, and glorification. But when it comes to what He is doing and causing in predestining, He is simply knowing something ahead of time. Predestining people does not actually do or cause anything. To be elect by God simply means God knew ahead of time that you would believe in Jesus. So, in the end, who cares if God elects you? You are going to believe in Jesus and be saved in Him one day! Election doesn’t add or take away from that reality at all. What I am trying to ask here is this: What exactly is election and why does it matter, if it does not actually do or cause or change anything?
Let me illustrate this. In Eph. 1 Paul goes on a tear praising God for His saving power and grace. Starting in verse 3 he writes, “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.” Paul is here praising the gracious choosing work of God before time began. His choosing work is the root of His people being “holy and blameless before him”. It is the root of our “adoption to himself as sons”. Why are we blessed with every spiritual blessing? Why are we holy before him? Why are we adopted? Because God, in his glorious graciousness, had a purpose of will to choose to unite us to Christ through faith, all by grace.
From my vantage point, Arminianism interprets this text like this: “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 knew who would believe in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he knew ahead of time who would experience adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…” It seems so odd to read Eph. 1 as though in the midst of this praise Paul would point out multiple times something like, “God knew this specific information ahead of time”.
Paul is here marveling at God actually getting things done, not just knowing what will happen in the future. He is marveling at the reality that we have been made alive, given every blessing in the heavenly places, united to Christ, and adopted by God. Furthermore, He is marveling that this all happened by God singlehandedly getting it done. It was God who “blessed us”, God who “chose us”, God who “predestined us”, God who had a “purpose of his will”, God who gets the “praise of his glorious grace”, and God who “blessed us in the Beloved.” Marvel more: this planned rescue and the execution of this rescue all started “before the foundation of the world” when he “chose” a bunch of sinners to have mercy upon. That wasn’t just God knowing something before the foundation of the world but God actually planning something according to the “purpose of his will”.
Romans 8 and Ephesians 1 do not chalk God’s choosing, predestining work up to merely having knowledge about redemption in the future. They speak about God’s choosing, predestining work as Him actually doing something that is moving forward His redemption.
