Systematic Theology -- Salvation

Election

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Systematic Theology

Lesson: Government

Genre: Speech

Track: 09

Dictation Name: 09 Election

Year: 1970’s

Our subject this evening is Election. One of the very interesting facts about election is that the word election, in the Greek, appears in several forms and one of the Greek words translated into English as “chosen, elect,” or the like, is “heresis,” which is the source of our word heretic. Now, how in the world did the word heretic come from the word chosen, or elect?

Now, this is a rough generalization, but all the same there is an important fact here. A covenant man, a true believer, is one whom God has chosen, whereas a heretic insists that he is the chooser. He chooses. There’s a world of difference between the two. The chosen are chosen by God. The heretics insist that they are the choosers.

For the elect of God, thus, God is the chooser. God ordains the way, the time, and all things else. For heresy, man’s choosing is always basic.

This idea is very clearly set forth in John 15:16 where our Lord says, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it.” Here again, we see that the meaning of election is very plain. Our Lord does the choosing. This passage tells us first, that our election is not our choice, therefore, but God’s choice. St. Paul, again and again, tells us that, but for God’s choosing, we are dead in sins and in trespasses. Dead men cannot make choices. The sinner, insofar as any ability to save himself is concerned, and insofar as his legal and moral standing before God is concerned, is a dead man. In the eyes of the law, he is a man under sentence of death, given over to death and to hell. His salvation is a miracle, and miracles are certainly not made by sinners or dead men.

Second, our Lord tells us in this verse that we are not only chosen by himself, by God the Son, but we are ordained by him. To ordain means to appoint to a particular form of service. Now, it is a very serious distortion of scripture to limit the meaning and scope of salvation and ordination to our rescue from reprobation. Such an emphasis is unhappily true of Calvinists and Arminians alike, and we are told too often that men are saved from wrath, from hell, and are redeemed for heaven. This is a very dangerous partial truth, and the result is humanism. It puts all the emphasis on man’s salvation, rather than God’s choice of us, God’s decision to call us, separate us, ordain us to his service. We cannot reduce the goal of salvation to man and man’s security. Our Lord says it is greater than us. It is in terms of his ordination.

Then third, our Lord tells us that we are ordained, appointed to bear fruit, to be productive. We are compared by our Lord here and elsewhere to fruit trees. A good tree bears good fruit. Somewhat earlier, our Lord compared us to branches of a vine, with himself as the true vine. The emphasis is not on being in the Lord or in the vine, but on bearing fruit. Too often, John 14:1 following is preached in terms of being in the Lord, or in the vine, but that again is half a truth. The point of the branch being in the vine is that is bear fruit. “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he (God) taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit, he (God) purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit.” In other words, when we are saved, we are ordained, appointed to be productive to the Lord. If we are not, we are cut off and cast out. If we are productive, we are purged, we are pruned. We undergo experiences that, to us, may not be pleasant, to the end that we might bring forth more fruit.

Thus, God either casts us as dead branches into the fire, John 15:6, or else we are pruned to be more productive. Very plainly, all of God’s dealings with us are designed, not to give us comfort in our salvation, but to make us more productive. If we resist the purging and the pruning, if we complain about the experiences that try us, we are resisting God. Of course, our desire is to have a comfortable corner, and an easy life, free of problems and the like, but such a desire has no standing before the Lord.

Then fourth, our Lord tells us that his purpose is that our fruit remain, that is, that our productivity be sound, that it be of service to his kingdom. In other words, our Lord has made it here very clear that the goal of God’s election and electing activity with us is not our salvation, but our place of work in his kingdom.

People who go to Christ for salvation from hell and for a place in heaven, are going to him as though he were a life and fire insurance salesman. They are revealing their humanism.

Now, the saints of God in the new creation do not spend all eternity indulging in pious gush about the joy of salvation, as some people do in church, and apparently plan to do through all eternity, although they may be in for some surprises, but we are called to serve him, to bear fruit, and Revelation 22:3 tells us that we shall spend eternity in his service, his servants shall serve him. The chief end of God thus is not to glorify man and enjoy him forever. Rather, man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

Then fifth, our Lord speaks of prayer, not only at the conclusion of John 15:16, but also at the conclusion of his declaration about the vine and the branches. In John 15:7-8. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” Here and in the following verses, the emphasis is, again, on bearing fruit. This makes clear to us what is meant by prayer. When we pray in terms of our calling and election, in terms of our place in God’s kingdom as working members thereof, then our prayers are heard. Then, we are abiding in him as working and productive members of Jesus Christ, and our prayers are related to our election. How many of our prayers are related to bearing fruit unto Christ?

Sixth, to become productive, we must obey our Lord’s commandments, according to John 15:4. To be productive in Jesus Christ is not a vague nor a gushy fact. It is the reality of taking the every word of God, God’s law-word, seriously, and of applying it to every area of life and thought.

Now, it is an interesting fact that the word “election,” which in scripture, is a doctrinal term, has gained a political meaning in the modern age. There is a very interesting fact in this. A man who is elected to office is chosen by others, although the political candidate has an element of choice lacking in the theological meaning. He, at least, chooses to run. Moreover, political election is not for the sake of election, but to fill an office. A man does not run for congress because he enjoys running for office. He runs for congress to fill an office, to do a duty. If he fails to fill that office faithfully, it can lead to his defeat at the next election. It can, in fact, lead to impeachment, recall, and sometimes in the case of some officeholders, assassination. The elected official is a fool if he treats his election as an end in itself. He is elected to fulfill a calling, to discharge a responsibility. Now, this is what biblical election is all about. God elects us. He ordains us to a calling, to an office.

We cannot say we were elected just to have the honor. We are elected to do a job, and if we make the focus of election simply our salvation and nothing more, we have humanism and not the Gospel. We then also have, according to John 15:6, the certainty of judgment, of being cast into the fire of judgment, and reprobation. We are elected to an office of God’s choosing, and we are accountable to him.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, thou hast elected us and chosen us, ordained us to an office, a calling, in terms of thy kingdom and thy word. Give us grace day by day to be faithful to our calling, to meet the responsibilities of our place, our work, in terms of thine every word, to rejoice in salvation and in our calling, to know that we are to serve thee both in time and in eternity, and that we are thy servants, thy people, appointed to do the work of thy kingdom. Bless us to this calling in Jesus name. Amen.

In our next section, we shall deal with predestination.

End of tape