Riff's Christian Journal

Part Two: Unconditional Election

As we found out in the last post, no one can come to Jesus unless drawn by the Father. So, if no one can come to Jesus of their own will, who can come? The answer is simple – only those whom the Father draws.

In drawing one to Christ does the Father use a litmus test in doing so? There are those who will say that God chooses those whom He sees accepting Him, but that is not found anywhere in the Bible. What is seen is that in Romans 9 we are told that God chose to love Jacob and to hate Esau before they had done anything good or bad so that His purpose in election would stand. In other words God chooses whom He wills according to His purpose and for His own pleasure, and not because of what He sees that man will do or not do.

In Ephesians 1 we find that God chooses whom He wills according to the kind intentions of His will. So it is not of him who wills or runs but of God Who shows mercy. How then, does this fit in with John 6?

In John 6 we read the following, ⁴⁴ No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 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.

So, those whom the Father draws to Jesus, and He does so by making them alive in their spirit, He will teach them the sinfulness of man, their condemnation because of the sinfulness and the salvation that is found in Jesus.

Now we know from these verses, ³⁹ This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. ⁴⁰ And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”, that ALL whom the Father draws will come to Jesus. Because of that then, God chooses whom will be saved unconditionally because salvation is conditioned on what Jesus has done for us and not on what man has done to receive salvation.

God does not base this election on what He sees in man because man is nothing but dirty rags in the sight of God. Only when Jesus is in man does God accept Him based on what Jesus has done for man. Since man cannot come to Jesus unless drawn by the Father, there are no conditions that God puts upon man in order to be saved. Salvation is all of grace, and it is through faith that man is saved. However the faith by which man is saved is the faith of Jesus imputed to man. Man cannot generate any faith towards God for salvation.

So, man is totally depraved and un-able to come to Jesus of his own will in order to be saved, and because of that God unconditionally chooses whom He wills to save, and ALL that He draws to Jesus will come and will be saved.

If God did not do this for us there would no one be saved. That is what Unconditional Election is all about; God saving man when man cannot save himself.

In our next post we will take a look at the ” L ‘ of Tulip and that is Limited Atonement. Here we will see that the sacrifice of Jesus was only for those whom the Father has willed to be saved, and no one else.