While all believers acknowledge God is omnipotent and omnipresent, the Lord’s involvement in the spiritual regeneration of Christians separates those in the Reformed faith from Arminians.

The doctrine of election is frequently criticized, with people often attacking those in the Reformed circle for denouncing free will, the need for evangelism, or providing a sense of superiority.

Such accusations are, of course, false. Election underscores the majesty, sovereignty, and providence of the Lord. In fact, election bestows the grace of God. It likewise humbles the soul and places the elect into a state of humility and benediction, realizing they have obtained salvation at the mercy of the Lord. Loraine Boettner wrote, “By that supernatural act God Himself, through His Holy Spirit, sovereignly takes us out of the kingdom of Satan and places us in His spiritual kingdom by a spiritual rebirth.”[i]

Those familiar with the teaching rightly ascertain that if one is dead in sin, how can they awake themselves from spiritual death? Boettner further commented, “A spiritually dead person can no more give himself spiritual life than a physically dead person can give himself physical life. That requires a supernatural act on the part of God.”[ii]

While the doctrine is not a salvation issue, it is pertinent in theological matters and accentuates a Christian worldview, including how they approach theology and the Lord Himself. People today label John Calvin as the mastermind of such tenets. However, those of us in the Reformed faith vehemently believe the principle of election is in the Scriptures and often associate Paul and Augustine as two of the key figures in establishing the importance of election. Yet greater than all that are the remarks from Jesus on election. Richard D. Phillips writes, “What about Jesus? Did he have anything to say about election? Yes, in John 15:16 he made one of the plainest statements of election, saying, ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you.’”[iii]

Phillips later cites the following verses to support his argument:

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. (John 6:37-39)

And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. (John 6:65)

Calvin too stressed the humbleness that election provides to the soul. “The fact is that this is how God desires to test our humility. It is true that every doctrine taught by Scripture has this as its aim, but there is no doctrine more calculated to humble us than this: the knowledge that God has chosen us in his unmerited kindness, since such was his good pleasure.”[iv]

Former President of the Southern Baptist Convention (1863-1871, 1880-1887), Calvinist Patrick Hues Mell agreed with Calvin writing:

It tends to produce humility (election). When we feel that we shape our own destiny – that our own power or wisdom has procured for us our advantages or successes, we are attempted to entertain exalted conceptions of our own importance, but when we believe that God rules above and rules below and works all things after the counsels of His own will – that He not only called us into being, but selected according to His sovereign pleasure, the time and place and circumstances of our existence – circumstances too, that exert a controlling influence upon our destiny – that He chooses out our changes for us and directs our steps – that He accomplishes His own purposes in our lives, working in us, and by us, for the manifestation of His own glory; we feel that, in the presence of God, we are nothing and less than nothing and vanity.[v]

The idea of election should not be controversial. For all the criticism it receives, those who accurately practice and portray the theological teaching know it places the believer in a life of thanksgiving, humbleness, and submissiveness. It further encourages the elect to share the Gospel of Christ as commanded in the Scriptures. We of the Reformed faith know the Lord works miraculously and will use His sheep to share the Good News with those who do not believe.

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[i] Loraine Boettner, The Reformed Faith, (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 1983), 10.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Richard D. Phillips, What Are Election and Predestination, (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2006), 10.

[iv] John Calvin, The Doctrine of Election: Translated from French by Robert White, (Edinburg: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2022), 16.

[v] Patrick Hues Mell, A Southern Baptist Looks at Predestination, (1851; reprint Harrisonburg: Sprinkle Publications, 2003) 48.

 David T. Crum holds a Ph.D. in Historical Theology. He serves as an Assistant Professor of History and Dissertation Chair. His research interests include the history of warfare and Christianity. He and his family are members of Trinity Presbyterian Church (ARP) in Bedell, New Brunswick.  He is an individual member of the WRF.