Ordo Salutis: Election
Ordo Salutis: Election
In any discussion on the order of salvation, we are faced with describing something that is overwhelmingly beautiful. It makes sense in trying to understand something so majestic, that we would start with the logical ground-floor and work our way up. As mentioned in the introductory article, the ordo salutis is not a chronological ordering of the events in time[i] nor is it primarily focused on how all of this is accomplished. It is more concerned with the logical ordering and how salvation is applied. God has revealed to us in his Word that before the foundation of this world, a plan was set in motion that involved his choosing of a people. It is a reality that is often referred to as the doctrine of election.
**In case you missed it, we recently recorded a discussion on this doctrine that can be accessed here.**
God’s Sovereign Choice
We see this doctrine of election long before it is spelled out for us. We see it in God’s choice of Abel’s sacrifice and not Cain’s (Gen 4:3-7). We see it in his calling of and covenant with Noah amongst the other peoples on the earth (Gen 6:11-22). The same could be said of Abraham. By God’s sovereign choice, Abraham would be the father of many nations and all the families of the world would be blessed through him (Gen 12:1-3; 15:1-16). His promise to Abraham and his sovereign choice of specific people is affirmed in the calling of Isaac and not Ishmael (Gen 17:15-21), Jacob and not Esau (Gen 25:23; cf. Malachi 1:2-3), and the raising up of Joseph despite his brothers’ evil intent to kill him (Gen 50:19-21). In that same generation, we see it in the blessing of a reigning king to come from the tribe of Judah and not any of the other tribes (Gen 49:8-12).
Fast forward a bit and we see a moment of clarity on this doctrine in Israel’s encounter with God at Sinai. In this encounter, God explained something of his sovereign choice. He told them what his choice means for his people and reminded them why he chose them…
6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” – Deut. 7:6-8
Notice what God is telling them about his sovereign choice. First, he has chosen them as a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples on the earth! Second, it had nothing to do with anything lovely ort appealing in them. Third, the Lord chose them because he loves them and is keeping his oath to their fathers. So, why did he choose them? Because he loves them. Why does he love them? Because he loves them. This is God’s sovereign choice.
A People for His Own Possession
We find similar language in the New Testament to describe the church. For example, 1 Peter 2:9-10 says, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” If we were to dig around, and we would not have to dig deep, we would find that God’s choosing is described in the New Testament in the very same way as it was in the Old Testament. God chooses not because of what he sees in us but because of who he is in himself.
I would be amiss here if I did not draw out two crucial points:
1) all of this is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, and
2) God has chosen us in him (Jesus) before the foundation of the world:
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 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” –Ephesians 1:3–6
This is what we mean when we use the term “doctrine of election.” We are talking about God freely choosing to save sinners like you and me. It is described in Scripture as a choice that he has made before the foundation of the world. If this is true (and it is) then we of all people are most to be envied. We are also most to be humbled.
God is not surprised by anything in all of human history. Neither is he impressed with our greatest accomplishments. Nothing in us would draw him to us but his love has drawn us to him. This is the result of his sovereign choice in election. This is grace! God’s own divine intervention in this messy, sin-ridden world by the incarnation of the Son was no Plan B. He did not look down into the future and pick the best among us to represent him. If anything, he has chosen some of the worst. He has chosen the fools and the rejects, the abnormal and the too normal. But if we are honest in ourselves, we are all the same. We are not all as bad as we can be, but we are as bad off as we can be.
Our sin has separated us from this Holy God and only a divine intervention can remedy the curse. He has provided that remedy in his Son, through his sinless life, death, resurrection, and ascension to the throne, and he has chosen to save sinners just like you and me. Turn and believe in Him for salvation and praise him for his sovereign grace in election!
[i] There is another area of theology concerned with this chronological history of salvation and it goes by the Latin phrase historia salutis (“history of salvation”).
