John Calvin: "We say, then, that Scripture clearly proves this much, that God by his eternal and immutable counsel determined once for all those whom it was his pleasure one day to admit to salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, it was his pleasure to doom to destruction. We maintain that this counsel, as regards the elect, is founded on his free mercy, without any respect to human worth, while those whom he dooms to destruction are excluded from access to life by a just and blameless, but at the same time incomprehensible judgment." (Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 3, Chapter 21, Section 7) John Calvin makes it very clear concerning Predestination by his statement, "that Scripture clearly proves." John Calvin is stating that the Bible teaches the following: "God by His eternal counsel determined all those who would be saved by His own decision and for His pleasure; God by His eternal counsel determined those who would be damned to destruction by His own decision and for His pleasure; those who are doomed are judged by God on a just and blameless judgment. These are the teachings of John Calvin concerning the eternal determination of God and that His decisions in this are just without any respect to human worth.

 

The Canons of Dordt agree with what John Calvin taught concerning Unconditional Election known as the doctrine of Predestination: "By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and accordingly, as each has been created for one or the other of these ends, we say that we have been predestinated to life or to death" (Canons of Dordt, First Head of Doctrine, 3:21:5) "We say, then, that the scripture clearly proves this much, that God by his eternal and immutable counsel determined once for all those whom it was his good pleasure one day to admit to salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, it was his good pleasure to doom to destruction." (Canons of Dordt, First Head of Doctrine, 3:21:7) These quotes are in complete agreement on the teachings of Calvinism on the doctrine of Unconditional Election.

• Scriptures Discussed From Our Study

Jesus said:  33 "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.   34 "When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce.   35 "The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third.   36 "Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them.   37 "But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, `They will respect my son.'   38 "But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, `This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.'   39 "They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.   40 "Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?"   41 They said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons."   42 Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, `THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'?   43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it.   44 "And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust."   45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.   46 When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet. (Matthew 21:33-46 New American Standard Bible)

 

---> Mathew 21:42 states a prophecy from Psalm 118 and Isaiah 28 which says: 

22 The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone.   23 This is the LORD'S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. (Psalm 118:22-23 New American Standard Bible)

 

16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. (Isaiah 28:16 New American Standard Bible)

Jesus said:  2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.   3 "And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.   4 "Again he sent out other slaves saying, `Tell those who have been invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast."'   5 "But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business,   6 and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them.   7 "But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.   8 "Then he said to his slaves, `The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.   9 `Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.'   10 "Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.   11 "But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes,   12 and he said to him, `Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?' And the man was speechless.   13 "Then the king said to the servants, `Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'   14 "For many are called, but few are chosen." (Matthew 22:2-14 New American Standard Bible)

 

---> The Apostle Paul identifies the Gentiles being a fulfillment of what was taught by Jesus in Matthew 21:33-22:14, Psalm 118, and Isaiah 28. 

 

30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;   31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.   32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,   33 just as it is written, "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." (Romans 9:30-33 New American Standard Bible)

 

1 Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.   2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.   3 For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.   4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.   5 For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.   6 But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: "DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, `WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN ?' (that is, to bring Christ down),   7 or `WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS ?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)."   8 But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart"--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,   9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;   10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.   11 For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."   12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;   13 for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."   14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?   15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS !"   16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, "LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT ?"   17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.   18 But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have; "THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD."   19 But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says, "I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION, BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER YOU."   20 And Isaiah is very bold and says, "I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME."   21 But as for Israel He says, "ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE." (Romans 10:1-21 New American Standard Bible)

 

• Context Context Context

We discussed these Scriptures extensively and stayed with what the text said.  There are some who say where you have to read the Bible as a whole, not just a piece here and there.  This is true, however when the context is clear and understandable within the texts in which we are discussing we don't have to jump all over the place to make it say something it does not!  This is common among many groups who use what David Hocking (sure he got it from someone, if not then it is from him) calls, "cut paste and delete theology".  Another way to put, in my words, "people like to look at the Bible like a buffet, they pick and choose what they want, and avoid the rest".  The importance of inductive studying is to look at the text and study it within the context there, and to ask questions like:  What does the text say?  How does the text apply then and how does it apply to us today?  Why is this important to understand?  These are just some basic examples of questions and the point is to examine the verses within there context. 

 

Looking at Matthew 21:33-22:14 with Psalm 118:22-23 and Isaiah 28:16, and Romans 9:30-10:21 it is clear that God's seeks people out to be saved and they can either accept or reject that invitation.  We also learn from these verses that man dos have a choice, and is not forced to believe.  The doctrine of Unconditional Election is a doctrine based upon the traditions of men and according to these Scriptures we have examined it is not Biblically accurate.  God does not desire for people to be lost, God does not choose people for His own pleasure to be doomed to destruction!  We will be continuing this series will on Unconditional Election and examining other Bible texts within their context and see if this doctrine is truly Biblical or not.  You are welcome to share your comments and questions with us from this study by email or at our blog.  God bless you and may you grow in your understanding of the Christian faith.