Sermon Romans 11:2-5 “The Doctrine of Divine Election”
Presbyterian Church of Easton
June 27, 2021
Today we will be concluding our celebration of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s trial before the Diet of Worms.. As we have seen, Martin Luther became one of the great reformers of the church. His study of scripture and knowledge of theology led him to develop important doctrines for the church. The doctrine of the Sovereignty of God gives us great comfort knowing that God is in control of our lives. The doctrine of the Total Depravity of Humankind leads us to total dependence on God for our salvation which is assured through Jesus Christ. Human suffering is a mystery which cannot be fully understood, but God has given us worship, prayer and anointing oil to help us through it. Today we will be looking at the doctrine of Divine Election where we find that God has chosen us as his children before we were even born. But before we get to this important work, let's pray.
Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen. (John Calvin)
Romans 11:2-5 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life." 4 But what is the divine reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal." 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
Ephesians 1:3-6 3 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, 4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
The Doctrine of Divine Election was not a central theme in the 16th century protestant reformation. It did not even appear in Calvin’s, Institutes of the Christian Religion, until its final edition. And even there it is just a short paragraph. In Calvin’s thinking Divine Election was based on the scriptures that you have heard this morning. It is also the logical conclusion to the doctrines of the Sovereignty of God and the Total Depravity of Humankind. If you believe that God is totally in control and if you believe that we are so stained by sin that we are unable to know God or even believe in Jesus Christ without God’s help, then you have to conclude that it is God and not us who chooses who will be saved. It is greatly comforting to know that our experience of calling and our faith are clear indications that God has chosen us as his children before we were even born. The doctrine states that God knew our destiny before we were even created, in other words we were predestined.
This doctrine of predestination created problems for the theologians who followed Calvin, and was the central topic of discussion in the 17th century. The problem they faced was known as the doctrine of double predestination. Everyone loves the idea that God chose us as his people before he laid the foundations of the world, but we are troubled by the idea that God may have chosen others for eternal damnation. How could a loving creator God choose some people to suffer for eternity? This just doesn’t make any sense to us.
A 17th century theologian, James Arminius, offered a solution. He said that it is not God’s selection but our decision to believe that determines whether or not we are adopted as God’s children. But given Total Depravity, how could we ever come to this decision?
Arminius agreed with Calvin and others that because of Total Depravity we are unable to make this decision. So what God has done is to give us just enough grace to give us the ability to choose to believe or not. Arminius called this “prevenient grace”. God, who desires everyone to be saved, gives us a little prevenient grace, not saving grace, prevenient grace, which allows us to believe in Jesus Christ. If we choose to believe then we are adopted as God’s children, but if we choose not to believe then we are damned. This doctrine of prevenient grace was extremely controversial in the 17th century and led to gathering of Reformed theologians in an assembly called the Synod of Dort.
The Synod of Dort disagreed with Arminius and developed what has been called the Five Points of Calvinism. These are:
The Total Depravity of Humankind, where the effects of the fall extend to all aspects of human existence,
Unconditional Election, where God and God alone chooses who will be saved,
Limited Atonement, where Jesus’ death was solely for the elect,
Irresistible Grace, where the elect cannot resist God’s offer of grace,
and Perseverance of the Saints, where the elect are assured that they will continue in the faith for a lifetime. These Five Points of Calvinism form an acronym: TULIP
The 17th century saw a hardening of the differences between the Calvinists on the one side and Arminians on the other. Theologians argued over whether someone could reject grace or not. Some theologians suggested that a loving God would never choose some people for destruction therefore all people must be saved. Evangelists wondered how people could be converted if they had already been chosen by God. And ethicists complained that some people could be so bad that the idea of the perseverance of grace was troubling, certainly, they thought that evil doers could lose their salvation. All of these debates splintered the Protestant Church. This accounts for the diversity of churches here in Easton. Our tradition, as Presbyterians, was to follow the Calvinist doctrines, but even we were divided over the doctrines of Divine Election and especially Double Predestination.
When thinking about these issues which divide the church even today we have to remember the reformed principle that the foundation of our faith rests in the Word of God. Doctrines are only true if derived from scripture. So if we have problems with doctrine it helps to return to scripture to see where we stand.
As we read the Bible we see God interacting with his people. God directs, encourages and corrects those who follow the wrong path. God wants all to believe and worship him and grieves over those who fall away. The God of Scripture is a personal God who is with us, not an impersonal transcendent God who decided what was to happen before we were born and then sits passively watching it all play out. God prefers to be a participant and has given us freedom to make interaction between God and us possible. This God of Scripture is very different from the God of the philosophers.
The Doctrines of the Sovereignty of God and Divine Election are ways that theologians combine the god of Greek Philosophy and the God of the Bible. Greek philosophers talked about a transcendent God who is all powerful, all knowing, and all loving. Christian theologians have taken the concept of an all powerful God and developed the Doctrine of Sovereignty, but as we have seen the God of scripture gave away some of his power so that we may have freedom to love him as he loves us. Theologians have also taken the concept of an all knowing god and developed the Doctrines of Predestination and Divine Election, but as we have seen the God of the Bible gives us limited freedom to act which has led to our disobedience that in some ways thwarts God’s plan. We have to remember that we worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and who was the Father of Jesus Christ, not the supreme god of Aristotle and Plato.
Let’s turn to Genesis and see how all this works out.
Genesis 25:19 These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. 21 Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
the elder shall serve the younger.”
24 When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. 30 Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom.) 31 Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
It is clear that God ordained, before they were even born, that Esau, the older son, would serve the younger son, Jacob. So Jacob’s inheritance of the family blessing was predestined by God. But it still had to be worked out in life. Jacob developed a scheme to steal the birthright from his older brother Esau. And it worked,
Jacob’s life was not determined by God. In fact Jacob’s behavior was often at cross purposes with God. God even changed Jacob’s name to Israel which means the man who wrestled with God. So even though we have been chosen by God as his people we have also been given the freedom to struggle with God in that process.
So when we think about the Doctrine of Divine Election we must remember certain things.
First, the Doctrine of Divine Election is a statement of the wonder of God’s grace for us expressed through Jesus Christ. You have been chosen by God for a purpose. You worship and pray that God will use you in the advancement of his kingdom. But we must never speculate on who has been chosen and who has not been chosen. We just don’t know the extent of God’s grace.
Second, Divine Election is an affirmation of the Sovereignty of God which is really good news because it tells us that salvation comes to those who are in Christ. So we know of our election because we have received the gift of faith. Our faith assures us that we have been saved. But we can’t speculate on others. We can never know from someone's behavior if they have the gift of faith or not. All we can do is encourage people to nurture their faith and experience that transformation that comes from it.
Third, the appropriate response to our election is gratitude for all Christ has done for us. We have been richly blessed by God. God has chosen us to receive these blessings. What is the appropriate response? Nothing short of thanksgiving will do. And we are thankful for all Christ has done for us.
Fourth, the Doctrine of Divine Election reminds us that we have received an overwhelming gift, adoption as God’s own people. And as God’s people we live lives of service and discipleship. We deliver meals to Talbot Interfaith Shelter. We attend worship, Bible studies and prayer services. We grow in faith.
So the Doctrine of Divine election is really good news. We who profess our faith in Jesus Christ have been chosen by God for redemption and everlasting life. And God is right here walking with us as we lead our new regenerated lives. Remember that God loves us and this allows us to love one another. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for choosing us as your people before we were even born. We thank you Lord for giving us a purpose and gifts to achieve it. We thank you for forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life. And we promise to reach out to your people in our community so that their faith will be nurtured in worship, Bible study and prayer services. All this we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen
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