Doctrine of Election

In the end, is faith
The doctrine of election has been highly debated within the church for centuries. Ryrie states that this doctrine alone is not the full basis of salvation but must be in combination with death of Christ, faith, efficacious grace, and regeneration. According to Ryrie, there are three major viewpoints of election. I will explain two debates that evolves out of these views and conclude with my analysis of both.
The first is considered “Foresight election”, which paraphrased is the view that God foreknew through omniscience who will choose to be saved and consider them His elect to salvation pre-temporally. Arminianism is developed within the scope this viewpoint.
The second is considered “Corporate Election”. This states that God elected the church of Christ to salvation and when an individual believes they are placed into this group and become an elect.
The third is “individual, pre temporal election” which Calvinism is born from. In this view, God has sovereignly chosen who will be saved. The choice is unconditional, pre temporal, and unmerited.
Two main views in the doctrine of salvation, as mentioned earlier, are Calvinism and Arminianism. These views have stark differences on the circumstances of an individuals salvation but also have some important similarities. The views try to answer the question: “Is salvation a free will choice or preordained by God?’” and both having stances on salvation security and possible ramifications if true.
Calvinism was originally formulated by a famous fifth century theologian, Augustine who formulated this idea from interpreting Paul’s letter to the Romans. This debate was later continued with: Reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin, revivalists George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards, and scholars R.C. Sproul and John Piper. Calvinism takes the stance that salvations is predetermined by God alone. All individuals that are saved are solely the choice of God because humans are completely void of the ability to choose God in their fallen state. This state is known as total depravity. Additional aspects of Calvinism are: unconditional election; not merited by any action of the individual, Limited atonement; Christ’s crucifixion was only to pay for the sins of those chosen by the Father, irresistible grace; God changes the will of the elect to keep them, and perseverance of the saints; because they are saved by God they cannot fall away. Supports for this view is God’s sovereignty and that only His will can overcome a humans depravity, all glory is God’s when all aspects of salvation originate from Him, and security of salvation is maintained by will of God. The setbacks however are issues about Gods fairness in election, it undermines free will, and can cause fatalism which discourages evangelism because it conflicts with one of the most used evangelical verses: John 3:16.
Arminianism is an opposing idea that was originally expressed by a monk who challenged Augustines perspective saying it removed too much of an individuals free will. A seventeenth century theologian, Jacob Arminius established Arminianism which was then furthered by revivalists John Wesley and Charles Finney and Christian thinkers like C.S. Lewis and Clark Pinnock. In this the view, God foreknows all who would choose to follow Christ and then considered them His elect to receive His promises and inheritance. The four aspects this argument follows is that God is perfect love; He offers salvation to all, Humans are contingent beings; we must choose to follow Christ, God does still work in our hearts for salvation (prevenient grace) and one must continue is consciously follow Christ for sanctification/security. This view ensures God loves the whole world and encourages evangelism. Objections to this view includes: turning faith into works (conditional security) and humans seem to be credited with salvation.
As for my perspective, the doctrine of election is a lot to unpack. Many verses in the Bible can be seen as to support or dispute either debate. One example is the election of Abraham, did Abraham have faith prior to God’s election or was it solely His choosing? Also, Israel is known as “God’s chosen people” but many have fallen away. What about Jesus’ choosing his apostles? Few didn’t even know who he was and yet Jesus chose them to become the pillars of faith. Then there is the known number of those who will receive the seal during the tribulation known as the 144,000, how is that number known if not preordained? These would be my questions leaning towards Calvinism.
As for Arminianism, “love your neighbor as yourself” supports this because one wouldn’t condemn to hell one that they love. We are commanded to do so, which then means God is the perfection of it and not of his being. What about Satan? He was a high ranking angel, if compared to an elect in Calvinism perspective, how did he fall from grace? Satan would not have been able to make the choice to rebel against God especially since he was not born through Adam. Another question is, if one is elect from the beginning when would the point of transformation happen? If their choice to be saved was ordained from God, what about the sin they committed prior to? Why wouldn’t God keep them from those sins if they are His elect from before creation? Lastly, I believe this an important aspect with regard to Romans 8:38 where Paul names all things that cannot separate us from the love of God. One thing that Paul does not name is ourselves. I believe that Paul left that out intentionally because we can remove ourselves from the love of Christ by choosing to turn away.
In conclusion, I can see both sides of this debate and take some aspects from each. I believe that God is holy and all loving which leans away from Calvinism and on the other hand, I believe that our salvation is secure in Christ once truly saved. Either way, the important similarity of the two is that Christ is the center of any debate and ultimately the glory is His and He is the source of our salvation. I believe that if either side of this debate had an ultimate impact on salvation, Jesus would have addressed it during His earthly ministry. These are deep thoughts that should only go as far as to debate and not divide. Once they are taken to the extreme of right or wrong, it’s hard to draw the line on which one determines salvation. Romans 14:22 is an important verse for these types of debates. If one believes He was chosen from the beginning and His eternal security rests solely in Christ, let him. If another believes they chose Christ, assisted by the Spirit, and they are to consciously continue to follow Christ, let him. “I don’t know how every road is paved, but any one that leads to God is worth the drive.” In the end, it’s faith.

Definitions needed to help understand these viewpoints include:
Omniscience: Gods foreknowledge of all things. Decree, design, or drawing: Gods choices of his plan. Decree is synonymous with foreordaining, design is less of sovereignty and drawing is almost neutral, according to Ryrie.
Sovereign, free: God alone is and how is the revelation of His plan. Supreme.
Election: God’s free choice of individuals and is made freely for His purpose.
Predestination: to preplan a destiny.
Foreknowledge: Gods knowledge of who will be saved not as much so as their faith

Relevant verses for discussion:
Gen. 12:3, Ezekiel 18:25,32; 33:11, Matthew 24:22, 28:18-20, John 3:16, 8:34, Acts 10:34-35, 17:30-31, Romans 1:26,24,28, 2:11, ch. 8-9, 2 Cor. 3:13-18, Ephesians 1:4-5, ch. 2, 6:9, 2 Tim. 1:9, 1 Peter 1:4-5, 17, 1 John 4:8, 16, 5:19

Sources:
Boyd, Gregory A., and Paul Rhodes Eddy. Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology. second ed., Baker Academic, a Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2022.
Ryrie, Charles Caldwell. Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth. Moody Press, 1999.