Who are “the elect”?
Who are “the elect”?
Calvinist, Erwin Lutzer, writes: “When D.L. Moody quipped, ‘The elect are the whosoever wills and the nonelect are the whosoever wont’s,’ he was right. Calvinists could not agree more. Does this mean that God has violated man’s freedom? Again, I must stress that fallen man’s freedom is one-sided, that is, he is free only to choose various shades of evil.” (The Doctrines That Divide, p.192, emphasis mine)
However, Arminians do not agree.
Romans 8:33-34 states: “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”
This follows Romans 8:1 which states: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Calvinists believe that the reason why God created all living beings was for the purpose of making a demonstration of His various attributes, and in so doing, had eternally decided to create one Upper Caste of men and angels for the express purpose of demonstrating His loving attributes, while also creating a corresponding Lower Caste of men and angels to embody His attributes of hate, wrath an eternal condemnation. The Upper Caste is denoted by Calvinists as “the elect,” which I often clarify as the “Calvinistically elect,” since I do not believe that it accurately represents the biblical teaching of who God’s elect really are. Jesus is the Elect One, and His body, the Church, is “elect” insomuch that it is an extension of Himself, which is why Christians are referred to as being “in Christ Jesus.”
Lawrence Vance explains: “There is no such animal as an ‘elect unregenerate’ child of God.” (The Other Side of Calvinism, p.336, emphasis mine)
Consider two verses and then consider a revised definition of “The Elect”:
We must have a spiritual funeral in Adam in order to have a spiritual wedding in Christ.
Our spiritual funeral in Adam and resurrection in Christ is found at Romans 6:4: “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
At Galatians 2:20, Paul speaks of our spiritual enjoinment with Christ: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
For additional discussion on this subject, see also Romans 8:33.
The elect are not the whosoever-wills.
The non-elect are not the whosoever wont’s.
The elect are the whosoever-has. (Romans 8:1, 33)
The non-elect are the whosoever hasn’t. (John 3:18)
Question: Who are “God’s elect”?
Answer: Those who are “in Christ Jesus.”
Question: Can any unbeliever be “elect”?
Answer: No. They are mutually exclusive. The elect are in Christ, and free of condemnation, whereas unbelievers remain under condemnation. (John 3:18)
