Election

 December 20, 2021

“God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” —II Thessalonians 2:13 

“[You are] elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.”    —I Peter 1:2 

I have long been grateful for the doctrine of election. Were my salvation dependent upon my having chosen Christ, it would be no salvation at all. I was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the kingdom of God. And I am kept by the same election, or choosing, that God continues to exercise. Again, were it up to my strength and power, I would have been lost forever, long ago. 

I know—the doctrine of election is supposed to be anathema to Methodists, but enough of my Calvinistic Baptist upbringing remains, reminding me of the inexpressible grace of God in choosing and keeping me. The interesting thing to me about these two Scriptures is the means by which God chooses us. In 2 Thessalonians, it is “through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” In other words, there is both the divine and human aspects to God’s choosing: He chooses, but I must agree to it through faith. Peter tells us God’s choosing leads to our obedience, but also includes the element of what Christ has done for us on the cross.

The doctrine of election is Biblical and of absolute importance. If my salvation rests upon anything other than God’s work in Jesus Christ, it rests on shaky ground. I thank God that he isn’t depending on me to add any finishing touches to my salvation, but has taken it entirely upon himself. Even my faith is a gift from God, according to Ephesians 2:8 (“For by grace you have been saved through faith, no that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”)

The two verses above not only posit the fact of election, or God’s unwavering choosing of us; they also reveal the means he chooses to effect this election: sanctification of, or by, the Holy Spirit. What God the Father decided to do, he made possible by the offering of his Son on the cross for our sins, and makes effective through the continuing work of the Holy Spirit. Our part in it all is simply to believe, with all the resultant transforming effects in our daily lives. I am thankful tonight that everything of value in my life is a gift of the grace of God in choosing me from beginning to end. That grace lifts the burden, erases the guilt, establishes the foundation, and guarantees the ultimate victory in this life and the life to come.