What is election?
Question 07033
Election is one of the most debated doctrines in Christian theology, and the stakes are genuinely high — because the way election is understood directly shapes how a person thinks about God’s character, human freedom, the gospel offer, and the basis of assurance. The word itself simply means choosing or selecting, and no serious reader of Scripture can deny that the Bible uses election language freely. The question is what that language means and what it does not mean.
Election in Scripture
The concept of election runs throughout both Testaments. God chose Abraham (Nehemiah 9:7). He chose Israel from among the nations (Deuteronomy 7:6). Jesus says “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). Paul writes that believers are chosen “in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). There is no shortage of election language in Scripture, and any theology that minimises it is not reading the Bible carefully.
What election means, however, requires careful attention to each context. Not all uses of election language refer to the same thing. Israel’s election was a national election for a specific purpose within redemptive history, not a guarantee that every individual Israelite would be saved — Romans 9-11 makes this distinction carefully. The election of individuals to salvation is a distinct category and must be treated on its own terms.
The Calvinist View: Unconditional Election
In Reformed and Calvinist theology, election is unconditional. God chose specific individuals for salvation before the foundation of the world, and this choice was not based on anything foreseen in those individuals — not their faith, not their response, not any quality or action. Election is entirely determined by God’s will with no reference to the creature. The Calvinist understanding requires that some are chosen and others are passed over or actively reprobated. Double predestination — the doctrine that God elects some to salvation and others to damnation — is the logical conclusion some Calvinists draw, though not all within the Reformed tradition follow the argument that far.
Election Based on Foreknowledge
The alternative reading, which is both biblically grounded and consistent with genuine human freedom, understands election as based on God’s foreknowledge. Romans 8:29 is the key text: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” The foreknowledge precedes and grounds the predestination. God, who knows all things including all choices that will be freely made, elects those whom He foreknew would believe.
1 Peter 1:1-2 addresses believers as those who have been chosen “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” The preposition kata (κατά) means “according to” or “on the basis of” — the foreknowledge is the standard by which the election is determined. This is not a rescue operation for a defective Calvinist system; it is the straightforward reading of the Greek text.
This view maintains that election is genuinely God’s act — it is He who elects, not the person who elects themselves — whilst also preserving genuine human freedom and responsibility. God’s complete foreknowledge includes perfect knowledge of who will freely believe, and His election is grounded in that foreknowledge without being caused by or dependent upon human merit. It is worth being careful here: this is not the same as saying God elected those He knew would be good enough, or that election is a reward for faith. Faith itself is not meritorious. It is the condition on which God freely and graciously grants salvation.
What Election Does Not Mean
Election does not mean that non-elect individuals have no genuine opportunity to be saved. The gospel is genuinely offered to all (Matthew 28:19). God’s desire is that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). These statements are not rhetorical gestures in a system where salvation is only ever possible for a pre-determined group; they mean what they say. The invitation is genuinely universal. Election does not mean God predestines people to hell. Scripture nowhere states that God foreordains individuals to damnation. Those who are lost are lost because of their own genuine choice to reject the gospel, not because God withheld what He would otherwise have given.
So, now what?
Election, properly understood, is a doctrine of assurance and humility rather than division and speculation. The believer who understands that God chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world — knowing all that they would do and be — has grounds for a confidence that rests on God’s eternal purpose rather than on the frailty of their own commitment. At the same time, it generates deep humility: there is nothing in the chosen one that made them preferable. Grace is exactly that.
“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.” Romans 8:29
