2 Timothy 2:10 “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.”
A few years ago I joined a church that would be considered “reformed”. I’d never concerned myself with such a position because it was never a priority of mine. My wife and I decided to join because the people were genuine, the Word was being taught faithfully and the love of God was present among the people.
Since we’ve been members of the “reformed” church, I’ve learned a few things about what it means. A short search into reformed theology will give a quick answer: They see the Bible as the only source of truth, and they accept two sacraments—baptism and Communion, or the Lord’s Supper. Along with other Protestants the Reformed churches also believe that people are saved by having faith in God, not because of anything they do. The Reformed churches also believe in predestination.
Every church I’ve ever attended believes in reformed doctrine without calling themselves “reformed”. There must be something more that sets a reformed faith apart and upon listening to many of the teachers who give the Word from a reformed position, the doctrine of the “elect” is a primary point of focus.
Titus 1:1-2 “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.”
There is no shortage of scripture references regarding the election of God’s people. Paul wrote his letters to the elect, Jesus referred to the elect as His people (Matt. 24:31), and it is the elect and only the elect who will stand before God justified (Rom. 8:33-34).
There should be no question that God chooses or elects His people. Jesus made it very clear that no one can come to the Father unless the Father first draws them (John 6:44). The call of the Father is the crux of election. The question shouldn’t be whether God elects His people, the question is why He doesn’t elect everyone?
God’s Love in Election
What many proponents of election demand is that for God to love the whole world, He must allow everyone to come to Him. John 3:16 is difficult to reconcile against a doctrine that claims all who are not elected are simply destined for destruction.
How can God love the world and also breathe life into a particular group of people only to watch them die?
The reformed answer looks to God’s sovereignty.
A reformed answer: “Because God is sovereign, He has a purpose and plan for His people and those destined to die only serve God’s greater purpose”
God does use the world to fulfill His purposes and God is glorified among the Elect, how He does it is as vast as He is glorious.
It would make more sense if the people who are destined to perish would simply cease to exist…but they won’t…they will dwell in eternal torment forever. To claim a particular group of people are destined to exist for eternal destruction contradicts the nature of God.
1 John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
True love is manifest toward everyone, regardless of their response. Jesus gives the commandment to love one another, even our enemies. God’s love is manifest to the world through the Son and the Son demonstrated Agape love to all.
1 John 4:13-16 “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
The love of God is demonstrated in Christ, by His sacrifice at the cross, and that love was sacrificial and complete, lacking nothing.
The question isn’t whether God’s loves people, the question is whether He loves all people. There’s no question whether God’s loves the Elect, but does He love those “not elected”? The patterns of God’s election in Romans are brought into question when considering why God chooses some and not others.
Romans 9:14-16 “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”
Whether it is God hardening Pharaohs heart as Moses leads them to the promised land or God showing mercy only to those He wants to give mercy, we are told that to understand God’s sovereignty in these decisions is beyond our comprehension.
I don’t believe we are left in a state of confusion as to the ‘why’ of God’s purposes, what we wonder is how God does it.
Why don’t they Believe?
According to reformed doctrine, there are two types of callings, a general call to everyone and an effectual call only to His elect. The calling of God is both general, (the gospel call that goes out indiscriminately to all), and particularly, the effectual, spiritual call wherein the Father calls the elect to the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is said that the general call is described in John 3:16, and John 7:37. It is the effectual call of John 6:43 that describes the “Irresistible grace” illustrated in one of the 5 points of Calvinism. The reformed believe for this reason, the effectual call is one that cannot and will not fail in its mission to bring God’s elect into union with Christ. It is effective.
What is commonly brushed over is the myriads of useless evangelism efforts that would be occurring around the world toward those who will never receive the effectual call. Why would God lead His people to evangelize those who are destined for destruction? Some would say it is because they might find those who are the elect and will be given opportunity to present the gospel to them before they hear God’s effectual call. Others will say that Christians are to just be faithful and let God do the choosing.
Romans 8:28-30 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 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.”
Does this reference in Romans and in many others indicate exclusivity in God’s call? Is there really a disconnect between a general and effectual call or could it be that all people are effectually called and yet there are those who resist the call?
I believe the author of Hebrews gives a scenario for those who reject the effectual call.
Hebrews 6:4-6 “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.”
The description in Hebrews is not a scenario of a believer losing their faith and backsliding into a position of separation, it is a description of someone who has effectually heard the call of God by way of the Holy Spirit. They have tasted in part what the goodness of God is like, have experienced the effects of the Holy Spirit in God’s people and shared in those experiences as an observer, and have truly known who it is they have rejected. Once they have rejected the call, they can never be restored to the point of salvation.
The effectual call goes out to a person and if they reject the Holy Spirit, this is the definition of blasphemy against the Spirit. The general call can go out many times, and there are some who need to hear the message over and over again before they understand the decision they are to make. Only God knows when it is time to call them, some must be reduced to ashes, others need to lose their grip on what they worship apart from the true God…whatever that is, the Lord knows.
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit
There cannot be a blasphemy of the Spirit if people don’t hear the call of the Spirit and reject that call.
Matthew 12:31 “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.”
The work of the Spirit is the effectual call of God toward unbelievers. For someone to reject His call, there is no other way to be saved, therefore it is unforgivable. I hear people blaspheme Jesus’ name all the time, why wouldn’t that be unforgivable? Jesus is no less important than the Spirit within the Godhead neither is the Father.
It is the work of the Spirit that people reject and that is the calling of God. It is not a general call they reject, but it is an effectual call they are rejecting. I believe God often couples the general call through His people to deliver the effectual call. When the general call is kept to the Word of God, (Law and grace), the sinner hears the Word of God through God’s people and know they need the grace only Jesus provides. Believers aren’t relegated to some random set of instructions with the hope they might find the future elect, they deliver the Word of God faithfully because they are God’s ambassador’s as if God were speaking through them….be reconciled to God!
The True Calling
The way I try to describe God’s call is this: If there were 10 people who are unbelievers, the Spirit of God will effectually call them all to repentance, but the sad reality is that maybe 2 in 10 will respond to the call in faith and believe. The ones who believed were elected just as the ones who didn’t believe, God’s love was demonstrated to all but only those who accepted the call in faith and believed received His grace. No one can say they came on their own volition, the call to repentance is the call to election.
Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”
For those who reject His call, God is justified in bringing judgement against them. They weren’t created for destruction, they were created to know Him and enjoy Him forever…and yet they have condemned themselves by their unbelief.
No one comes to Father without His call and I believe that God can use any means to deliver this call, whether by angels or through dreams and visions that God shows to the lost. He has even used false teachers and wicked rulers who have taken God’s name in vain to reveal His plans and purposes—God always demonstrates His truth effectually.
God doesn’t need His church to get His message out, it is a privilege that He has bestowed upon her. With that being said, the Lord has chosen to use His people to glorify His name.
Romans 10:14-15 “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
I appreciate the reformed family of God, they stay true to God’s Word and many very strong teachers have been associated with this movement. Every biblical church has people who have believed and those who only pretend to believe, there seems to be no exceptions. Every denomination has broken people who have come to know the goodness of God, and also hypocrites, self-righteous, and legalists.
The elect of God are in the midst of these churches and they will one day be taken out of the world, raised up as God’s holy bride and glorified with Christ. God’s people are redeemed because God has called them, sanctified them, and made them holy. They know this, and they will worship the Lord forever.
U.T. 