Is unconditional election biblical?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

Is unconditional election biblical?

  • Yes, unconditional election is biblical.

    Votes: 23 43.4%
  • No , unconditional election is not biblical.

    Votes: 27 50.9%
  • I don't know.

    Votes: 3 5.7%

  • Total voters
    53
Dec 9, 2011
14,131
1,803
113
If Jesus "bled out" His Blood to represent purging of sin, why would we be told to drink His Blood? I thought God/Jesus didn't have any Blood in His resurrected body?
I believe drink HIS blood Is like saying HE IS In us and we are HIM sharing the same blood sharing HIS blood so to speak (one)

JESUS the VINE and we are the branches/members of the body receiving nourishment from the VINE.
 

notuptome

Senior Member
May 17, 2013
15,050
2,538
113
Well all this is very nice, but NONE of it answers the question. You just recited what you believe. But you did NOT answer WHY you believe what you just wrote!
Oh come on! I was confronted with my sin by the righteousness of Christ and God told me I deserved eternal condemnation as a result. I could continue and be condemned or I could turn to Christ and be saved. I needed to accept that Jesus died for me and paid the penalty of my sin. I was no different that any other man for God said all men are sinners and under eternal condemnation.

Gods universal call for all men to be saved became a personal call to me. I had to submit my sinful will to His righteous will for my life. I wanted to live without change but I was shown from Gods word by the Holy Spirit that I was deserving eternal condemnation if I did not turn away from sin and turn to Christ. Daily I must by Gods strength continue to turn from evil to Christ. I am sealed unto the day of redemption but I strive to live for my Savior.

Do you really believe that you believe because you were chosen from the beginning of the world to be saved? Do you believe that your neighbor was chosen from the beginning of the world to eternal condemnation? How often has God shown His mercy to you? How often has God in His mercy aided your neighbor? God strives with us until we get saved or He turns us over to the reprobate heart and our condemnation is sealed.

Predestination is the result of salvation not the cause. If predestination is the cause then every step we take is predetermined by God. If you fall and break you arm it was Gods will and you could not avoid the fall.

For the cause of Christ
Roger
 
7

7seasrekeyed

Guest
Scripture says a vine tree. Google images, you’ll see.
some people seem to believe that, but IMO that's a stretch to connect grapes to blood and state Adam and Eve had no blood and had blood afterward

this seems like some kind of extra biblical teaching

IMO, waaay too much conjecture and not enough facts

whatever

the things you said about it, are online so I guess you just copied from that

google images? oh somebody took a picture of it?

whatever :LOL:
 

John146

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2016
17,131
3,689
113
Have you sinned? Can charge be held against you? The answer is yes. The context is plain.

The only one who has never sinned is God’s elect Jesus Christ (Isaiah 42). No charge can be held against Him because He knew no sin.
Again, Jesus is God’s elect. Believe upon God’s elect. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s elect.

1 Peter 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
 
7

7seasrekeyed

Guest
AMEN!

Remember too, Jesus said He was not sent not to the righteous but to the sinners. Not to the well, but to the sick, to call them to repentance.

The Book of Luke chapter 5:27 through 32 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, 28and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. 29Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" 31Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

The Book of Mark chapter 2 verse 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Could it be that when Jesus was speaking of and to His Father and referring to those He(God the Father) had given Him, Jesus, that Jesus was referring to the sick, the sinners? Rather than as some think, the predetermined elect whom He was only to die for? ;)
The throngs came to the mountain and listened to Jesus' sermon there. Were they all the elect?
And what of those Disciples that walked with Jesus for a time, and then departed? When Jesus had fed the 5,000, the Book of John chapter 6

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
John 6:65. Therefore said I unto you— "Because I knew that there were false-hearted pretenders among you, therefore, for your conviction and caution, and for distinguishing real from nominal believers, I told you before (John 6:44.) that no man can savingly believe in me, unless my Father draw him by his Spirit, and thereby give him grace and strength to come to me. But God commences and continues this divine drawing in every heart of man, till his influences be so resisted as to oblige him to withdraw himself from the soul; for he will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." See 1 Timothy 2:4 and the note on John 6:37.
well the thing is we are all actually in the same boat

no one is a 'not sinner' and Jesus died for all

no matter how hard someone may try to fit the entire Bible into the TULIP thingy, it just does not get off the ground

it is one of the most ridiculous teachings we have floating around IMO

and now we have people with no blood and people making up stuff bout that :rolleyes: smh

I don't know.
 

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
Matthew 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

So there was a kingdom God prepared from the foundation of the world.

Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Soooo, a kingdom was prepared for God’s people and hell was prepared for the devil and his angels (not man).

Why? Because God is not willing that any perish.
Scripture also said that Judas went to "his place" and called him the "son of perdition".

Additionally, it is inconceivable that God's will in regards to the Cross would not have been achieved.

I don't know how many times I've heard people say that things could have went differently for Judas..not true..the events were not mere predictions, but God caused them to happen exactly as they did.

Was Judas accountable for his sin, then? Of course he was. In his limited creaturely free will, he performed the actions even though God had predestined them to occur all along.

By the way, John 6 says Judas was a "devil" and did not believe in a saving sense. This was before the occurrence of the crucifixion. Jesus knew exactly his spiritual state.
 

PennEd

Senior Member
Apr 22, 2013
13,588
9,107
113
some people seem to believe that, but IMO that's a stretch to connect grapes to blood and state Adam and Eve had no blood and had blood afterward

this seems like some kind of extra biblical teaching

IMO, waaay too much conjecture and not enough facts

whatever

the things you said about it, are online so I guess you just copied from that

google images? oh somebody took a picture of it?

whatever :LOL:
Yes. I found it interesting as far as it went, but it had no Scriptural support. Might be right. Might be wrong. So as long as we treat it as supposition instead of fact I think it's an interesting idea.
 
7

7seasrekeyed

Guest
Yes. I found it interesting as far as it went, but it had no Scriptural support. Might be right. Might be wrong. So as long as we treat it as supposition instead of fact I think it's an interesting idea.

yeah

the thing is when people teach something like that as if it were a fact

you never know what someone can come up with round these parts :LOL:
 

PennEd

Senior Member
Apr 22, 2013
13,588
9,107
113
Oh come on! I was confronted with my sin by the righteousness of Christ and God told me I deserved eternal condemnation as a result. I could continue and be condemned or I could turn to Christ and be saved. I needed to accept that Jesus died for me and paid the penalty of my sin. I was no different that any other man for God said all men are sinners and under eternal condemnation.

Gods universal call for all men to be saved became a personal call to me. I had to submit my sinful will to His righteous will for my life. I wanted to live without change but I was shown from Gods word by the Holy Spirit that I was deserving eternal condemnation if I did not turn away from sin and turn to Christ. Daily I must by Gods strength continue to turn from evil to Christ. I am sealed unto the day of redemption but I strive to live for my Savior.

Do you really believe that you believe because you were chosen from the beginning of the world to be saved? Do you believe that your neighbor was chosen from the beginning of the world to eternal condemnation? How often has God shown His mercy to you? How often has God in His mercy aided your neighbor? God strives with us until we get saved or He turns us over to the reprobate heart and our condemnation is sealed.

Predestination is the result of salvation not the cause. If predestination is the cause then every step we take is predetermined by God. If you fall and break you arm it was Gods will and you could not avoid the fall.

For the cause of Christ
Roger
Why you yellin at me? "Oh come on!"

I really want to know why you believe. You are stuck on WHAT you believe. I get that. I believe the same. I'm asking WHY you believe.

You came an inch forward by saying GOD told you.... First, how did you know it was God, and second, WHY did you believe what He told you? KEEP digging Roger!
 

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
I believe unconditional election Is the same as saying that JESUS's sacrifice for mansake made coming to HIM unconditional meaning that anyone could choose to accept/believe HIM or reject HIM.

Because of the weakness of the flesh they would always come short of the glory of GOD so then GOD counted all that try to be perfect with their own strength will come short or not be perfect the way that HE IS perfect

FREE-WILLER RESPONSE


  • The free-willer response to unconditional election is conditional election.

I agree with this as far as when It comes to mans part..There Is no condition for GOD but Election IMO Is conditional for man.Conditioned on him (Any man) choosing to get saved or not by the grace of GOD through faith.
  • God’s choice of certain individuals before the salvation of the world was based on foreseeing that they would respond to his call.
  • GOD IS sovereign so then HE Would know who would CHOOSE HIM.GOD made Grace available but HE gave man a choice.
  • He selected only those he knew would freely accept the gospel.


  • That statement doesn't sound like HE really died for the whole world.Be honest If the bible says HE DIED for the whole world and you say HE decided to pick certain people over all people wouldn't that sound like someone that respects someone based on their personality or character or something
  • physical?


  • Election is determined solely by what the man would decide in regards to salvation.

I would agree with this statement If you are talking about the condition man must meet or conditional election.

  • The faith God foresaw was not given to the sinner by God and was not created by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit but resulted solely from man’s will.
☺️I think you mean CHOICE.

  • It is entirely left up to man who would believe and therefore be elected for salvation.

I agree that man can choose or reject the grace HE provided.

  • The sinner’s choice is ultimately the cause of his salvation, and not God’s choice.
As long as the understanding that GOD In CHRIST standard was unconditional but man had to believe Amen.
Free-willers believe in conditionalism...they believe that God's grace is conditional upon their acceptance ultimately.

Reformed believers are convicted that God causes the person's nature to be changed. A change in nature is the same as a change of the will. That is why they respond in faith and repentance.

Concerning unconditional election, we can't redefine terms. Conditional election means that God supposedly looks down the corridor of time and foresees that the person will place their faith in Christ. He elects them based on this foreseen faith. Unconditional election means that God elects individuals based on his grace, and not on their response. This is because Reformed theology, supported by Scripture, teaches that regeneration, or being born again, is the cause of salvation, and not the result.

The man cannot squeeze faith and repentance out of his stony heart. He must be regenerated in order to express faith and repentance. This occurs along with a preaching of the gospel message, leading to faith, repentance, and confession.

Free-willer theology basically claims that a man with a stony heart causes his own regeneration through a purely human act of faith and repentance. God isn't allowed to change their nature to enable this, either. This is off-limits in their defective theology.

Of course, their defective theology leads to boasting, as the man has something to brag about before God. "You couldn't have done it without MY 1%". Scripture doesn't teach that man has any basis for boasting.

By the way, I have heard free-willers say this explicitly. One guy said, yes, it is true that the only difference between me and the guy who loses his salvation is that I was smart enough to accept Christ. Others think it, they just don't say it.
 

ForestGreenCook

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2018
8,441
1,213
113
IMO,unconditional election Is true If you mean whosoever believes In the WORD of GOD might have Eternal Life.

JESUS sacrifice made It possible for whosoever believes the WORD of GOD might have Eternal Life.

So that would mean,there Is no physical condition that man could do with his own strength to Inherit Eternal Life but the question somebody might ask Is Is mans ability to repent unconditional or conditional and I would say every man has the right to choose to believe or you would HAVE to conclude this [someone who believes In conditional election] sounds like someone would be trying to make JESUS a respecter of some and not the other ACCORDING to their physical ability.
Of course we know that HIS sacrifice made It where coming to GOD IS unconditional not based upon anything man could do but based upon man choice to believe.
The "whosoever believes" would not include the natural man, before he has been born of the Spirit in the new birth because he thinks that things of the Spirit is foolishness (1 Cor 2:14) and he would never repent of breaking a spiritual law that he cannot discern.
 

John146

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2016
17,131
3,689
113
some people seem to believe that, but IMO that's a stretch to connect grapes to blood and state Adam and Eve had no blood and had blood afterward

this seems like some kind of extra biblical teaching

IMO, waaay too much conjecture and not enough facts

whatever

the things you said about it, are online so I guess you just copied from that

google images? oh somebody took a picture of it?

whatever :LOL:
Scripture also said that Judas went to "his place" and called him the "son of perdition".

Additionally, it is inconceivable that God's will in regards to the Cross would not have been achieved.

I don't know how many times I've heard people say that things could have went differently for Judas..not true..the events were not mere predictions, but God caused them to happen exactly as they did.

Was Judas accountable for his sin, then? Of course he was. In his limited creaturely free will, he performed the actions even though God had predestined them to occur all along.

By the way, John 6 says Judas was a "devil" and did not believe in a saving sense. This was before the occurrence of the crucifixion. Jesus knew exactly his spiritual state.
God’s calling and choosing are never for salvation but for service. One of God’s called and chosen became a traitor.

Luke 6:
13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;
14 Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes,
16 And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.
 

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
I would caution others against accepting re-definition of phrases and words.

For instance, I clearly stated what unconditional election was when I initiated the thread. These are the historical definitions and are not open to re-definition. I defined the historical differences between free-willer theology and Reformed theology clearly.

We can't have intelligent conversations when we are using phrases or words, and defining them in a different manner than they have historically been defined. You might come up with a third view, though, and label it in a different way. It really wouldn't be involved in the same discussion, though, because the ultimate question is whether God elects individuals (the Reformed view), or whether they elect themselves (the free-willer view), which in reality means God doesn't elect whatsoever.

One of the strongest sets of verses that proves otherwise is 1 Cor 1:26ff which says that God chooses, and that the characteristics of those he chooses is that not many are wise, rich, noble, strong, etcetera. In other words, he chooses people with negative characteristics, worldy speaking, in order to confound this world and to display his power more clearly in weak vessels.

I know this is true..therefore all free-willer theologies are cast into the garbage bin in my mind.
 

John146

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2016
17,131
3,689
113
The "whosoever believes" would not include the natural man, before he has been born of the Spirit in the new birth because he thinks that things of the Spirit is foolishness (1 Cor 2:14) and he would never repent of breaking a spiritual law that he cannot discern.
If you were in Christ before the foundation of the world, then why dou you need to repent and turn to Christ? You don’t need to be born again...you’re already in Christ.
 

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
God’s calling and choosing are never for salvation but for service. One of God’s called and chosen became a traitor.

Luke 6:
13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;
14 Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes,
16 And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.
OK..prove your claim.

If you can show me in Scripture where it says that God's calling AND choosing are never for salvation, but for service, you are required to prove it.

And, be aware that you can't prove this by showing me examples where callings are for service, because this wouldn't prove that individuals are not called or chosen for salvation.

If you claim it, then you have an obligation to PROVE IT from Scripture.

Certainly I am convicted that believers are called to service and holiness, as part of their salvation and the responsibilities that issue from it, but this has no impact on whether they are called or chosen for salvation, too.
 

Melach

Well-known member
Mar 28, 2019
2,055
1,524
113
One of the strongest sets of verses that proves otherwise is 1 Cor 1:26ff which says that God chooses, and that the characteristics of those he chooses is that not many are wise, rich, noble, strong, etcetera. In other words, he chooses people with negative characteristics, worldy speaking, in order to confound this world and to display his power more clearly in weak vessels.
looks like calvinists arent elect then. they are often very educated by worldly standards, very pseudo-intelligent and arrogant.

so yeah you arent elect no luck in grace lottery to you.
 

John146

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2016
17,131
3,689
113
If you can show me in Scripture where it says that God's calling AND choosing are never for salvation, but for service, you are required to prove it.
Lol, I just did! God called and chose Judas to serve Him as an Apostle.
 

John146

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2016
17,131
3,689
113
OK..prove your claim.

If you can show me in Scripture where it says that God's calling AND choosing are never for salvation, but for service, you are required to prove it.

And, be aware that you can't prove this by showing me examples where callings are for service, because this wouldn't prove that individuals are not called or chosen for salvation.

If you claim it, then you have an obligation to PROVE IT from Scripture.

Certainly I am convicted that believers are called to service and holiness, as part of their salvation and the responsibilities that issue from it, but this has no impact on whether they are called or chosen for salvation, too.
In all this thread there’s not been one verse stating that God has elected anyone for salvation.

Jesus Christ is God’s elect.
 

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
Lol, I just did! God called and chose Judas to serve Him as an Apostle.
No, that would not prove your statement.

You said that calling and election is ALWAYS for service and NEVER for salvation.

You haven't proved this logically.

Judas could be used as an example of someone who was called and elected for ignoble service of events leading to the crucifixion of Jesus, but you haven't proven this is ALWAYS the case.