Divine Election

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Apr 19, 1906

The whole plan of salvation finds its center in Christ. In him there is salvation; apart from him there is no salvation. He is the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased. All who are in him and who reveal his character are through him well pleasing to God. Of his well-beloved Son the Father thus spoke through the prophet Isaiah: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.” And concerning him we have this wonderful assurance: “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.”

Jesus Christ, the Son, is the elect or chosen of God. And this is because he fully revealed the character of God. So also those who are identified with Christ and abide in Christ are the elect or chosen of God. This is clearly set forth in the following scripture: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved: in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say, in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will.”

Several things are here declared: we are blessed “in Christ;” we are chosen or elected “in him;” we have been foreordained unto adoption as sons “through Jesus Christ;” this is to the praise of his grace bestowed on us “in the Beloved;” his good pleasure was purposed “in him,” and this was “to sum up all things in Christ;” and “in him” we were made an heritage. It is thus plain that only in Christ, the elect or chosen, are we elect or chosen. The divine election is therefore not an election of certain individuals as distinguished from certain other individuals, but an election of character. Those who through faith in Christ have received the gift of righteousness are the elect of God. Those who through faith have been conformed to the image of Christ are foreordained unto salvation. This is the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus. But there is no election apart from character, and there is no foreordination apart from Christ.

Those who teach that a certain portion of the human family is destined to salvation, while certain others are by the same divine decree destined to be lost, irrespective of the character of either class, pervert the fundamental idea of the gospel. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth

shall be condemned.” “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed.”

The choice and faith of each individual determine whether or not he is found at last among the elect.