Featured Doctrine of Unconditional Election

Agreed and well-said.

 

@Brightfame52,
I greatly enjoy and agree with many of your posts, but I have to take issue with you here.
The saved are those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.' Not, 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because you are saved.' Justification from Eternity was the view of John Gill and others, but it is not correct. Election from eternity is absolutely true, but it is not the same thing.
All people, including the elect, are under the wrath of God until they come to faith (Isaiah 12:1-3). The elect are, by nature, objects of wrath (Ephesians 2:3).
That they will inevitably come to faith and salvation is absolutely true, but they are not saved until they do so. The sinner's warrant to come to Christ is not that he thinks he is elect, but because he is a sinner and Christ came into the world to save such (1 Timothy 1:15).

 

People cannot stand to give God the glory in salvation. They have to steal and share some of it with their carnal mind by turning "whoever believes has eternal life" into a condition for the self-righteous to meet instead of leaving it as a characteristic of those whom God saves.

 

I agree with all that, my friend. Have another read of my post, If I've not been clear, I apologize.

Let me write the two texts I referenced out in full.
Isaiah 12:1-3. 'And in that day you shall say, " O LORD, I will praise you; though You were angry with Me, Your anger is turned away and You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He has also become my salvation."
Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.'
Ephesians 2:3. '......Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.'

It is not impossible for someone to be angry with someone, yet be intending to be reconciled with him. I don't know if you are a parent, but if so, you might have sent your child to his room for some misbehaviour. You fully intend to be reconciled with him, but not until he repents and apologizes. So God is angry with sinners (Psalms 7:11) - all of them. With His elect, He has already devised that He will be reconciled with them through the blood of Christ, but not until they are united to Christ by faith. That is why Paul writes, 'Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ' (Romans 5:1). that this faith and repentance is the gift of God is not at issue between us. My only problem is with Justification from Eternity, which you seem to be implying. If I am wrong about that, please let me know and I will apologize and withdraw my criticism.

 

”Justification from Eternity, which you seem to be implying.”

Oh, they aren’t implying it.

 

This is where John Gill got accused of being Hyper Cal, due to seeming to support eternal Justification!

 

Gillites and Fullerites

Was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world or not?:

6 For while we were yet weak, in due season Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: for peradventure for the good man some one would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God through him.
10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life; Ro 5

'Our faith', let alone 'our faith alone', had zilch to do our eternal justification from eternity.

 

[QUOTE="kyredneck, post: 2741747, member: 9690]'being now justified by his blood',[/QUOTE]
Just so. Not 'being justified from eternity by His blood.'

 

Just read the texts, brother. Moreover, God is 'of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon wickedness.' Just as an earthly father does (should) not accept wickedness in his children, so God will not accept wickedness in His sons and daughters. They are elect from eternity, but justified when they believe.
As for Romans 5:10, it comes after Romans 5:9 as well as Romans 5:1. See my reply to @kyredneck above. The elect are united to Christ by faith (e.g. Ephesians 1:13).

I am trying to avoid getting involved in long discussions here as I find they lead to strife, so I will leave it there unless you want specifically to address some of the texts I have quoted.

 

There is no such thing as unconditional election. It has always been and always will be conditional.
MB

 

While I agree somewhat with the underlined, I'd have to say that I also agree with the fact that He chose them in Christ from the foundation of the world...
To me, that makes them saved at that point, as that is when their names were written ( Revelation 13:8, Revelation 17:8 ).

The sinner's warrant ( justification for an action ) is the fact that they are "of God" per John 8:43-47 and they are His elect...even though they have yet to realize it.
That's why I'll side with Gill if that is what he said about a person being saved before they were born, because that is what I see in the Scriptures when I read them for myself.

I see nowhere that God's people were under His wrath; only that they were, by nature, the children of wrath...
That is, before they were born again, they were exactly the same in their minds and in their hearts as those that the Lord never wrote in the Book of Life.

According to John 3:36, the believer evidences that they have eternal life because they believe...
the unbeliever evidences that they are under the wrath of God by their unbelief, and according to John 1:18, the unbeliever is condemned already.
IMO, God's wrath was never towards His children, or they would never have believed...

In other words, His wrath towards someone is absolute, and includes their reprobation.

 

I also see that justification was not actually accomplished until the cross, but was already viewed by the Lord as having been "a done deal" for His elect:

" Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you," ( 1 Peter 1:20 ).
and:
" And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." ( Revelation 13:8 ).
as well as:
" But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." ( Romans 5:8-10 ).

...are both in view.

The mission of His Son to save His people from their sins was planned and carried out and had no chance of not succeeding.
That's why the Lord Jesus said, "It is finished", and, " I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." ( John 17:4 ).

That work was always in view from the start, and the results were always in view, from the start.
His works were finished from the foundation of the world ( Hebrews 4:3 ).
What works?
All of them.
Justification from the foundation of the world had to be a sure thing, or the Lord could have never told David through Nathan:

" And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die." (2 Samuel 12:13).

How could Nathan tell David that his sin was put away, when the Lord Jesus had yet to be crucified?
Sin cannot be put away but by a worthy blood sacrifice, and the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin ( Hebrews 10:4 ).
Therefore, it was put away in God's eyes by the death of His Son...a sure thing that had yet to be carried out.

Even so, I'll post no more about it in this thread, because as @Brightfame52 has pointed out, this is one is about unconditional election.

 

There is no such thing in the word of God as unconditional election. At best that notion is an interpertation.