Featured Five Points

The Double Election doctrine can be compared with the Arminianism articles of Remonstrance, and with the points of Calvinism (TULIP) using the acronym ELECT.

The five articles of remonstrance

1. God has decreed to save through Jesus Christ those of the fallen and sinful race who through the grace of the Holy Spirit believe in him, but leaves in sin the incorrigible and unbelieving. (In other words predestination is said to be conditioned by God's foreknowledge of who would respond to the gospel)
2. Christ died for all men (not just for the elect), but no one except the believer has remission of sin.
3. Man can neither of himself nor of his free will do anything truly good until he is born again of God, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit. (Though accused of such, Arminius and his followers were not Pelagians.)
4. All good deeds or movements in the regenerate must be ascribed to the grace of God but his grace is not irresistible.
5. Those who are incorporated into Christ by a true faith have power given them through the assisting grace of the Holy Spirit to persevere in the faith. But it is possible for a believer to fall from grace.​

The five points of Calvinism (TULIP)

1. That fallen man was totally unable to save himself (Total Depravity)
2. That God's electing purpose was not conditioned by anything in man (Unconditional Election)
3. That Christ's atoning death was sufficient to save all men, but efficient only for the elect (Limited Atonement)
4. That the gift of faith, sovereignly given by God's Holy Spirit, cannot be resisted by the elect (Irresistible Grace)
5. That those who are regenerated and justified will persevere in the faith (Perseverance of the Saints)​

The five points of Double Election (ELECT)

1. Elections - God chose His Redeemer individually (Christ) and all those Christ would redeem corporately before the foundation of the world, the elections before time; and then chooses believers individually during their lifetime based on crediting their wholehearted faith in Christ, the second election.

2. Love overcomes depravity - Mankind is depraved from conception, separated from God by being in a state of sin with a corrupt flesh and a corrupt human spirit. But God, who understands the heart, accepts the faith, as depraved as it may be, of those who love and trust in His Son.

3. Effective reconciliation - Christ’s propitiation is sufficient to save all men, but the available reconciliation is only received, when God credits our faith as righteousness and spiritually baptizes us into Christ, making us spiritually alive together with Christ.

4. Cultivated call - Turning to God and trusting in Christ occur when receptive people hear the gospel and believe. Thus faith in Christ is spread by an external call to those who receive the gospel wholeheartedly.

5. Trust in Faith - Only by persevering in faith can a believer be sure of salvation, because God protects the faith of His chosen ones. ​

In summary, Calvinists believe we were saved or condemned from all eternity for all eternity, nothing we do in our lifetime alters what God determined before creation. It is a form of religious fatalism. Arminians believe God foresaw who would choose to trust in Christ and elected them in eternity past. They assert that foreknowledge does not predestine the outcome of our freewill choice to accept the gospel or reject the gospel. Thus the opportunity for salvation is available to anyone who believes and God has not foreordained who can believe, making Limited Atonement false doctrine. The Double Election view generally agrees with the Arminian view, salvation is available to those who hear the gospel and choose to trust in Christ, thus total depravity is a false doctrine, and irresistible grace is a false doctrine. Additionally, God chooses folks that trust in Christ, therefore unconditional election is a false doctrine. On the other hand, the Double Election view accepts that once a person has been chosen and spiritually baptized into Christ and indwelt, sealed with a pledge to an inheritance of eternal life, the person’s faith is protected such that they will always love Jesus more than anything else, resulting in perseverance of those set apart.

 

Yes. And you are quite right, the Arminians and the Calvinists think we were individually elected before creation (misreading Eph 1:4) and ignore all the verses (i.e. James 2:5 and 2 Thess 2:13) that teach our individual election for salvation occurs during our lives after we have faith and devotion toward Christ.

 

Yes it seems sometimes double predestination has been called double election.

So when you look at it, it is a single election before time of individuals, with two effects, salvation for some, damnation for others.
Not the concept of two separate elections, corporate before time, and individual during our lifetime.

 

Silly Questions flow from Calvinists

This question has been asked and answered literally hundreds of times. They just repeat the question and ignore the answer.

ANSWER for the umpteenth time

Before we are born anew, all our works of righteousness are as filthy rags. Before God they have no merit and earn no rewards. This is Christianity 101 and all Calvinists and Arminians agree with it. Thus when we "receive" the gospel, and put our wholehearted (or half-hearted) faith in Christ, our action has no merit, our wretched faith has no merit, for all our works of righteousness are as filthy rags. This is pretty simple.

Next, let us examine the Calvinist claim we choose to be born anew. Did we? Or did we choose to trust in Christ? We chose to trust in Christ. Calvinists seem unable to get anything right.

God chooses us and puts us in Christ spiritually, and causes us to be born anew, spiritually alive together with Christ. Thus it is God alone who credits our faith, wretched and flawed as it may be, as righteousness or not. He turns our filthy rag sow's ear faith into a silk purse.

 

Calvinists simply post personal attacks (Van is confused) or offer up strawman - Claiming that our faith justifies us, thus it is God given, rather than addressing that if God credits our faith as righteousness, it is God that puts us in Christ and justifies us through the washing of regeneration in Christ Jesus.

 

Hebrews 12:2 teaches God is the author and perfecter of faith. What do we put our faith in? Christ, as we understand the gospel of Christ. Thus everyone agrees God is the author of faith. But, being fallen, all our works of righteousness, even faith in Christ, as as filthy rags. So God, when He credits our faith as righteousness, turning a sow's ear into a silk purse, is the perfecter of faith. "Justifying faith" is not mentioned in the verse. If "justifying faith" was instilled via Irresistible Grace, then God would not need to credit it as righteousness, it would already be righteous.

Ephesians 2:10 addresses our regeneration as a new creation, created for good works after God puts us in Christ. It does not address "justifying faith." Again, we are put in Christ after we believe, not before, Ephesians 1:13, which says we are sealed in Christ after having believed.

John 6:29 says the work God requires of us is to believe. Thus teaching the opposite of Calvinism. They take ambiguous verses, i.e. work of God, and claim it means work God does rather than work God requires, ignoring the context of Jesus telling men what they must do.

John 6:44-45 says we must be drawn to Christ (through the lovingkindness presented in the gospel of Christ who died for us) and then says everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Christ. Instilled justifying faith is nowhere to be found. Calvinists simply list a bunch of verses, hoping folks will accept the list as proving the assertion, rather than studying each verse in context.

Finally John 6:59-65 says no one can come to Jesus unless it has been granted by the Father. So no one can believe in Jesus unless drawn and have learned, and then if God credits their faith as righteousness, He puts them in Christ, and Christ will not cast them out. Really simple and instilled justifying faith is nowhere to be found yet again.

 

Folks, all we get is strawmen from Calvinists. To be the author of faith means to be the author of the object and content of that faith. If we believe in Him who justifies the ungodly, our faith in Christ is credited as righteousness.

Next we get twaddle, claiming something hidden in the Greek grammar indicates regeneration occurs before we believe. But verse 8 says were were saved (including regeneration) through faith. That means faith provided the access to the grace in which we stand. If you enter a room full of grace through a door, you have the open door of faith before you enter the room.

Anyone who denies Ephesians 1:13 says we were sealed in Christ after having believed is simply stonewalling.

Next Calvinism hides in the ambiguity of work of God, but Dr. Wallace (a Calvinist) has revealed that the idea is work God requires. See NET footnotes for John 6:29. The an appeal to the whole mistaken view of John 6 is made yet again, regurgitating one mistaken view after another.

Then we dive into absurdity with "no man can come" said to mean universal inability, but the idea is no man can come unless the Father draws Him meaning men may or may not come to Him after being drawn. So we cannot come to Him unless we have heard and been drawn by Christ's lovingkindness demonstrated in the gospel, and all who have heard and learned (putting their faith wholeheartedly in Christ as determined by God) come to Him.

And finally Calvinism is clueless as to John 6:59-65, repeating over and over the same mistaken view.

How did Abraham "see My day" (John 8:56)?It is certainly not spelled out in scripture, so the Calvinist again pours his invention into the text. Some scholars speculate when Abraham found the ram to replace his son Issac, that foreshadowed finding Christ to be our sacrifice. One thing is sure, Calvinism is without a clue.

 

Calvinism never actually addresses alternate views, it just posts strawman arguments, one after the other.

1) Is the basis of salvation in the actions of the man that wills to be saved? Of course not, it does not depend on the man that wills but on God. So a misdirection, a strawman, an obfuscation. That is all they have.

2) Christ provided the propitiation for the whole world, all mankind, but only those who receive the reconciliation are saved. We receive the reconciliation, the washing of regeneration, when God, based on His sovereign judgment, puts us in Christ.

3) More assertions of irresistible grace instilling faith. Total nonsense as demonstrated by Matthew 23:13.

4) The double election doctrine (ELECT) is god-centered, based on scripture rather than the invention primarily of men known as Calvinism.

 

Christ is the object of our faith.

Since scripture clearly teaches we are sealed in Christ after we believe, Ephesians 1:13, Calvinism evades the error of claiming regeneration before faith by saying they occur simultaneously. They still have no answer for the obvious, we are saved by grace through faith. Thus we have faith before we enter grace. Calvinism rewrites it to read we are saved by faith through irresistible grace. Nonsense over and over.

Next we get a denial of Dr. Wallace's view of John 6:29. Fine, most folks will stick with the author of Greek Grammar - Beyond the Basics.

Again the mistaken doctrine of Total Spiritual Inability is asserted, but no answer is provided for Matthew 23:13 which as unregenerate men seeking God such that they are entering heaven. Thus they had the ability but were blocked in this case by false teachers.

Calvinism rests of claiming ambiguous verses mean something out of context, and to hide this obvious problem, non-Cal's are said to exhibit "crass ignorance," and then are charged with all the actions of Calvinists.

 

Elections - God chose His Redeemer individually (Christ) and all those Christ would redeem corporately before the foundation of the world, the elections before time; and then chooses believers individually during their lifetime based on crediting their wholehearted faith in Christ, the second election.

As Dr. Wallace taught, corporate election can result from individual election. In the case of Ephesians 1:4, those to be redeemed were chosen corporately as the target group of God's redemption plan. Christ was chosen and foreknown before the foundation of the world, and therefore He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.

Our individual election for salvation occurs during our lifetime, after we have lived without mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10). We are chosen by being set apart in Christ, the sanctification by the Spirit and through or on the basis of faith in the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13).