Unconditional Election
Because men are dead in their trespasses and sins due of the Fall and cannot believe due to their sinful hearts, it logically follows that if one is to be saved, it does not happen haphazardly. If one is to choose the Christ of the Scriptures, such a choice must come from God ultimately, not man. This truth is manifest in the Bible, and not just a logical inference. “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain…” (John 15:16).
The fact that this election is unconditional or not based on anything in man, seen or foreseen (including future decisions of faith) is evident in Romans 9:11, 16: “for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, ‘The older will serve the younger’…So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.” Spurgeon argued that such passages demonstrated the absoluteness of this election:
“If men can not be justified by the works of the law, it seems to us pretty clear that they can not be elected by the works of the law…Then the decree of election could not have been formed upon good works. ‘But,’ say others, ‘God elected them on the foresight of their faith.’ Now, God gives faith, therefore he could not have elected them on account of faith, which he foresaw. There shall be twenty beggars in the street, and I determine to give one of them a shilling; that I elected him to have the shilling, because I foresaw that he would have it? That would be talking nonsense…Faith is the gift of God. Every virtue comes from him. Therefore it can not have caused him to elect men, because it is his gift.”[1]
The implications of such a reality are clear to Spurgeon. This doctrine may frighten some, but it should embolden Christians for one and humble man since they have nothing to offer to God—even their faith is a result of the eternal purpose of God.
“But, I say, take courage, take hope, O thou sinner, that there is election. So far from dispiriting and discouraging thee, it is a very hopeful and joyous thing that there is an election. What if I told thee perhaps none can be saved, none are ordained to eternal life, wouldst thou not tremble and fold thy hands in hopelessness, and say, ‘Then how can I be saved, since none are elect?’…What though there is an allotted number, yet it is true that all who seek belong to that number.”[2]
Unconditional election was not a hindrance to the gospel calls of Spurgeon by any means. Instead he saw that belief was still a necessary requisite for salvation and those that were to believe would be the elect. God moves in and through the calls for trust in the Messiah to work His purposes and effectually call His elect. To this preacher, there was no reason to abandon the theological truth of election, thinking that it may cause some to be apathetic. On the contrary, this doctrine sent Spurgeon to show the complete failure of man, even with regard to decisions, and show the complete sovereignty of God, even as it relates to calling a people for His own treasured possession. By doing so, those who are truly elect will indeed see their sin as an abomination and turn to the Redeemer for forgiveness.
[1]Charles Haddon Spurgeon., Spurgeon’s Sermons Volume 2—“Election” (Baker Books: Grand Rapids, MI), 77.
[2]Ibid, 86.
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