As Icedaisey posted earlier:
[Eph 2:8 KJV]
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:
I think Fredo's prejudice against Calvinism has them seeing Calvinists everywhere he/she looks. Even to the point their bias abrogates scripture that was pre-Augustine, and pre-John Calvin.
"There are several common misconceptions about unconditional election. First, it is important to understand that the doctrine does not teach that God’s choice is capricious or arbitrary. It is not random or made without reason. What it does teach is that God elects someone to salvation not because of something worthy God finds in that individual but because of His inscrutable, mysterious will. He makes the choice as to who will be saved for His own reasons, according to His own perfect will and for His own good pleasure (Ephesians 1:5). And while some object to the doctrine of election as being unfair, it is nevertheless based upon God’s will and it pleases God; therefore, it must be good and perfectly just. "
Unconditional election - is it biblical?
Acts 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
Romans 9:11 Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls
2 Timothy 1:9 Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
Bold text is my addition to this excerpt.
Election in the Bible
Joel S. Kaminsky, Joel N. Lohr
- LAST REVIEWED: 11 August 2020
- LAST MODIFIED: 24 February 2021
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195393361-0250
Introduction
Election within the Bible is the notion that God favors some individuals and groups over others, an idea that finds fullest expression in the Hebrew Bible’s affirmation, supported in the New Testament, that Israel is God’s chosen people.
Election/chosenness is quite pervasive in the Hebrew Bible as evidenced by the recurring sibling rivalry stories in Genesis in which one sibling is specially favored. God’s granting Israel special status entailed both unmerited privilege as well as an expectation of a proper human response toward God. Genesis 18:19 states, “I have chosen him [Abraham], that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice; so that the Lord may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” Similarly,
Exodus 19:5–6 proclaims: “Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples.” Election is related to Israel’s status as a “holy nation” (e.g., Deut 14:2, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; it is you the Lord has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession”), and is grounded in an act of divine love and faithfulness to the divine promise
(Deut 7:6–9). Despite severe castigation of Israel’s failings, the prophetic corpus appears to assume the permanence of Israel’s election even while the prophets proclaim that Israel’s privileged status carried with it heavier responsibility than other nations and stricter standards of judgment (Amos 3:2). Some of the most profound biblical meditations on the implications of chosenness can be found in Isaiah 40–66, a collection of postexilic oracles, sayings that time and again declare God’s enduring love for his beloved people and his intention to restore them once more to a flourishing life in the land of Israel. The belief that the Jews are God’s chosen people is a central theological axiom within post-biblical Jewish tradition. The New Testament, building on Hebrew Bible antecedents, depicts Jesus as the beloved, or specially chosen, son of God. Certain New Testament texts, like the Gospel of John and Revelation, at times appear to equate those chosen by God with those who will obtain ultimate salvation, a notion that becomes amplified within those forms of Protestantism influenced by Luther’s emphasis on being saved by grace (through faith) and especially Calvin’s theology of double predestination.
Yet, within much of the biblical tradition the idea of election is neither dualistic nor directly linked with one’s salvation or damnation. One of the most central debates in New Testament studies is the question of the nascent church’s relationship to the historic people of Israel and whether Jewish resistance to the gospels meant they had forfeited their election, a topic discussed in great depth by Paul in
Romans 9–11. Ultimately, Paul concludes that God’s election of Israel stands, even for those who have become “enemies of the gospel,” something he calls a “mystery” (Rom 11:25–28).