Reproduced from Twelve Baskets of Fragments by J.Q. Depoyster.

The type of election discussed in this work will primarily be that election which means the selection or choice by divine sovereignty of certain individuals to eternal life. More than one type of election is taught in the scriptures, but we are especially interested in that which pertains to us as individuals. The meaning given here is that God did select, or choose, part of the human race for His own peculiar possession. These chosen individuals are people from every nation, kindred, tongue and people. Some people of every nationality are a part of God's chosen people.

God purposed to save every one of His chosen people. Election is absolutely God's doing, and man has nothing whatsoever to do with it. This is one election in which men do not vote. God chose His people before He ever created man, and even before He created the world. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will - Eph 1:3-5. Nothing can be found in these passages to indicate that a sinner has anything at all to do with his being chosen of God. But the text does prove without a shadow of doubt that God did choose a people for Himself from among the human race. According to 1 Peter 1:2, God made His choice according to His foreknowledge. In this time world, all of the elect of God will be called and saved. None except the elect will ever be called and saved.

Salvation of sinners is not according to a chance system. There was a definite number of the human race of people elected, or chosen, and God has promised to save all of them with an everlasting salvation, according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began (2 Tim 1:9). His elect people were not saved before the foundation of the world, except in the mind and purpose of God, but they did receive this grace, in Christ, before the world began. But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel - 2 Tim 1:10. When Jesus came into the world, the grace did appear and was manifest. It is the purpose of the gospel to bring this life and immortality to light. It's purpose is not to bring life and immortality, because Jesus did that.

There are those who insist that man does his own electing by accepting Jesus Christ as his Saviour, and that God wants to save the whole human race of people. If God desires to save everybody, then all will be saved, because God does His will. What He desires to do, He does. Job 23:13, But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. Again, He has said in Daniel 4:35, And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? According to the above scriptures, God does His will and none can hinder Him; thus if He wills to save every human being and does not do it, something has hindered Him, and stayed His hand.

But, in the face of all this, some still insist that God is pleading with sinners, wanting to save them - has a desire to save them - and they won't let Him. Are you satisfied to worship a God who can do only that which men will allow Him to do, even if it is His desire and will to do more? Are you willing to worship a God whose hands are tied, as some men tell us, and can do no more unless He has the sinner's consent? Yes, there are those who teach that God's hands are tied, but those who really believe that God is sovereign and does all His pleasure do not believe this. We believe that God is sovereign - omnipotent and supreme, and had the right to choose all of the human race to salvation, or choose none if it be His pleasure.

We are glad that He saw fit to choose some. He did not predestinate all the others to go to hell, but He left them in their sins, and could have left all in their sins and still be a just God. He was obligated to none. We do not question His motive or His actions, because we are the clay and He is the potter, and the Bible teaches that He chose a part of the human race and predestinated them to eternal glory. None were better than others - all were under sin - Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned - Rom 5:12. All are under sin because Adam, the one man, our federal head sinned, and we remain in that condition unless God delivers us from our state of death in sin. All are born in sin for we are just Adam multiplied. All were by nature the children of wrath (Eph 2:3).

One theory is that God looked down through time and saw those who would accept Him and elected them, but if this be the case, then grace is no more grace. Grace, by which we are saved, is an unmerited favor bestowed upon individuals who are not worthy of it. The only answer as to why God chose some and left others in their sins is that God is the one who created us and has a right to do as He pleases, and since He saw fit to choose only a part of the people, we accept and believe it. We should admit that it is the truth of God's word, humbly confessing that He does all things well according to His own will and purpose.

Surely none who have had an experience of grace in the heart, and have been made to feel the Holy Spirit of God witnessing to their spirit that they are His children, would say, as some do, that God would be unjust by choosing whom He willed to choose. There are those who say, "If that is God's way, then I will just live a godless life, because I might not be one of the chosen," but one whom God chooses and causes to approach unto Him (Psalms 65:4) will not have that kind of attitude.

Believing in election and teaching the same according to the plain word of God is not to say that we understand the mind of God, but rejoice in the fact that it is an eternal truth. In fact, it would appear that a poor in spirit soul, who has learned about this truth and has experienced the grace of God in his life, has unspeakable joy in his heart. When we can see ourselves as God sees us; corruptible, sinful, rebellious creatures, yea worms of the dust, we are made to wonder why God would choose and save anyone. We are amazed and stand in awe and wonder that He would save a wretch like me. "Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me." The Apostle Paul was made to cry out, "O wretched man that I am, less than the least of the saints and chief of sinners."

There are no spiritual blessings apart from election. Eph 1:3-4, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS in heavenly places in Christ: ACCORDING AS HE HATH CHOSEN US in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. To deny election is to deny spiritual blessings, predestination, calling, justification and glorification. They are inseparable.

Those who are uninformed in the word say that the doctrine of election means that only a few - a handful will be saved, but this is not the case. The Bible teaches that the chosen of God are an innumerable number, as the sand of the sea, etc. They are many, not a few.

Some will admit that the Bible does teach election, but that it means when and if a sinner accepts Christ as His Saviour, he then becomes an elect. This might, by human reasoning, sound good, but human reasoning cannot annul or take the place of "Thus saith the Lord." The scriptures say that God did the choosing, and that before the world began; yes, even before we were born into this world. (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated - Rom 9:11-13. Now the scriptures here plainly teach that God chose and loved Jacob before he was born and before he had done any good or evil, so God did not choose and love him because he had done good to merit it. It also teaches that He neither chose, nor did He love, Esau, but hated him before he was born also; and he had no evil. If you wonder as to why God did this, the answer is given here, that the purpose of God according to election might stand. This indicates that God's purpose would be thwarted and mean nothing if Jacob and Esau could have had anything at all to do with their destiny. If God had loved Esau as He did Jacob, or if He had hated Jacob as He did Esau, it would annul His purposes, and would prove Him to be mutable. It is up to us to either accept what God says about it, or use our own reasonings, rejecting the truth.

The next verse, Rom 9:14, asks a very interesting question, namely, What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. It surely was anticipated that some would say this, and there are multitudes who say this very thing. In the verse following, God explains why He is not unrighteous just because He loved Jacob and hated Esau. The reason is that it seemed good in His sight, and no one is to question His sovereignty. Romans 9:15 says, For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. You see, He does as He pleases and whether it suits our ego or not, He does just as He pleases, yet He doesn't change, it being His eternal purpose.

To those who say that election depends upon the will of the individual, we would cite the next verse, Rom 9:16, So then it is not of him that WILLETH, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. Some will say, why does he yet find fault? for who has resisted his will? God's answer in Rom 9:20 should seal their lips, Nay but, 0 man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? This amounts to clay assuming authority over the potter. Who dares reply against God, the Potter - the dust of the earth questioning the authority of the creator of the universe. Romans 9:21-24 speaks of the sovereignty of God, Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make know the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom lie hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?