3. God’s Sovereign Purposes

Ordains All Things for His Glory

From all eternity, God sovereignly ordained all that exists and all that occurs in his creation,[1] in order to display the fullness of his glory.[2] God’s plans are efficacious, always coming to pass,[3] and they are universal, encompassing all the affairs of nature,[4] history,[5] and individual lives.[6] These decrees are an exercise of his free,[7] unchangeable,[8]wise,[9] and holy will.[10] Yet God, in his foreordination, is not the author of sin,[11] nor do his decrees negate the will of his creatures, who act with the power of willing choice in accord with their nature.[12] His ordaining and governing all things is compatible with his creatures’ moral accountability[13] such that God never condemns a person unjustly.[14]Therefore, all persons are responsible for their actions, which have real and eternal consequences.[15]

 

God’s Grace in Election

God in his great love, before the foundation of the world, chose those whom he would save in Christ Jesus.[16] God’s election is entirely gracious[17] and not at all conditioned upon foreseen faith, obedience, perseverance, or any merit in those whom God has chosen.[18] His decision to set his saving love on the elect is based entirely on his sovereign will and good pleasure.[19] The number of God’s elect is fixed for eternity, and no one who has been chosen by God will be lost.[20] In the mystery of his will, God passes over the non-elect,[21] withholding his mercy and punishing them for their sins as a display of his holy justice and wrath.[22]

As God has appointed the elect to glory,[23] so has he foreordained all the means necessary to carry out his saving purposes.[24] Those whom he has predestined are redeemed by Christ,[25] effectually called to faith by his Spirit, justified, adopted, sanctified,[26] and kept by God’s power to the end.[27] God does all of this in order to demonstrate his mercy to the praise of his glorious grace.[28]

Although attended with mystery, the doctrine of election should not produce speculation, introspection, apathy, or pride[29] but rather humility, gratitude, assurance, evangelistic passion, and eternal praise for the undeserved grace of God in Christ.[30]

 

[1] Ps 33:11; Isa 37:26; Eph 1:11.

[2] Rom 11:36; Exod 14:17-18; Ps 19:1.

[3] Ps 33:11; Isa 46:9-10; 55:11.

[4] Job 37:6-13; Col 1:16-17.

[5] Ps 33:10-11; Prov 21:1.

[6] Prov 16:9; 20:24; Ps 139:6.

[7] Rom 9:15.

[8] Num 23:19; Heb 6:17.

[9] Rom 11:33.

[10] Eph 1:11.

[11] James 1:13; 1 John 1:5.

[12] Acts 2:23; Rom 9:14-24; Phil 2:12-13.

[13] Rom 3:19.

[14] Dan 4:37; Rom 1:20.

[15] Luke 10:28; John 3:16.

[16] Acts 13:48; Eph 1:4-5; 2 Tim 1:9.

[17] Eph 1:6; 2:8-9; Rom 11:5-8.

[18] Rom 9:11-18; 1 Cor 1:26-31.

[19] 2 Tim 1:9.

[20] John 10:25-29; Rom 8:29-30; 11:5-8.

[21] Rom 9:17-22; Jude 4; Rev 20:15.

[22] Rom 9:22; Rev 19:1-5.

[23] Col 3:4; Rom 8:29-30.

[24] Rom 9:22; Rev 19:1-5.

[25] 1 Thess 5:9-10; Titus 2:14.

[26] Rom 8:30; Eph 1:5; 2 Thess 2:13.

[27] 1 Pet 1:5.

[28] Eph 1:6, 12, 14.

[29] Deut 29:29; Ps 131:1; Rom 9:20.

[30] 1 Cor 1:26-31; Eph 1:5-6, 12; 1 Thess 1:2, 4; 2 Thess 2:13; 2 Tim 2:10.