God's Free Mercy

A Biblical and Theological Study

of the Doctrine of Election & Predestination

Andrew Johnson
 Abbreviations
Institutes John Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Library of Christian
Classics. 2 vols. Edited by John T. McNeil. Translated by Ford
Lewis Battles. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox), 1960, 2006.

BST Ephesians John R.W. Stott. The Message of Ephesians. The Bible Speaks
Today. NT Editor John R.W. Stott. (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP),
1979.

BST Romans John R.W. Stott. The Message of Romans. The Bible Speaks Today.
NT Editor John R.W. Stott. (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP), 1994

Muller Richard A. Muller. Christ and the Decree: Christology and

Predestination in Reformed Theology from Calvin to Perkins. (Grand
Rapids: Baker Academic), 1986, 2008.

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 Prefactory Essay

Few doctrines stir as much heated controversy and sharp division like that of
predestination. Indeed, John Calvin remarked in his Institutes, “If it is plain that it
comes to pass by God's bidding that salvation is freely offered to some while others are
barred from access to it, at once great and difficult questions spring up, explicable only
when reverent minds regard as settled what they may suitably hold concerning election
and predestination. A baffling question this seems to many. For they think nothing
more inconsistent than that out of the common multitude of men some should be
predestined to salvations, others to destruction.”1 However baffling or disconcerting the
doctrine of predestination may be, it is nevertheless a doctrine which should not be
neglected or repudiated in the church; rather it is a doctrine that profits Christians to
understand. Rather than being a point of debate amongst theologians it should be a
soul-stirring truth that inspires praise to God for the glory of His grace.

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In approaching the doctrine of predestination in his Institutes, Calvin gives two

caveats that we must heed as we conduct our study. On the one hand it is against our
better interest to remain ignorant of predestination and on the other we must avoid

1 Institutes, 3.21.1

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being too curious about predestination so that we go beyond what the Lord reveals in
Scripture about His election.
“We shall never be clearly persuaded,” Calvin argues, “as we ought to be, that
our salvation flows from the wellspring of God's free mercy until we come to know his
eternal election.” Thus, he further observes, “How much the ignorance of this principle
detracts from God's glory, how much it takes away from true humility, is well known.”
The free mercy and gracious election of God means that “our salvation comes about
solely from God's mere generosity” and not because of anything in us that commended
us to him, such as works or even faith. If we have any part in our salvation, then God's
glory is detracted and we have cause for boasting rather than for humility. However,
since our salvation flows from God's free election, He is glorified and we are humbled,
for the salvation which He bestows freely on whomever He chooses is undeserved. This
is what the apostle Paul meant when he wrote, “by grace you are saved through faith,
and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one
can boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9 NET)
Not only does ignorance of predestination detract from God's glory and prevents
us from being as humble as we ought, moreover ignorance of this doctrine robs
Christians of any true security in their salvation. For, “as Christ teaches, here is our only
ground for firmness and confidence: in order to free us of all fear and render us
victorious amid so many dangers, snares, and mortal struggles, he promises that
whatever the Father has entrusted into his keeping will be safe.” Calvin is referring here
to John 10:28-29, where Jesus, speaking of His “sheep” says, “I give them eternal life,
and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. My Father, who has
given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father's
hand.” (John 10:28-29 NET) Calvin infers from this that “all those who do not know
that they are God's own will be miserable through constant fear.” For this reason, those
who would suppress any inquiry or teaching on predestination “very badly serve the
interests of themselves and of all other believers.”
In addition to this charge, Calvin also writes that ignoring or repudiating
predestination is to “wickedly defraud” believers “of the blessing of their God or to

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 accuse and scoff at the Holy Spirit for having published [in Scripture] what it is in any
way profitable to suppress.”2 Moreover, “Whoever, then, heaps odium upon the doctrine
of predestination openly reproaches God, as if he has unadvisedly let slip something
hurtful to the church.”3 Finally, Calvin argues that if we should keep predestination a
secret because “profane men...abruptly seize upon something to carp, rail, bark, or scoff
at,” then we would have to keep secret “the chief doctrines of the faith.” Indeed, what
“chief doctrine” of the Christian faith has not been subject to scoffing by skeptics?
Would we wish to then be ignorant of the Trinity or of creation. Would we repudiate the
statement of Jesus that He is the only way to the Father; that it is only by calling on His
name that one can be saved and have eternal life?
If it is folly to neglect or repudiate the doctrine of predestination, there is danger
also in being too curious. “Human curiosity renders the discussion of predestination,
already somewhat difficult of itself, very confusing and even dangerous.” Thus Calvin
warns:
First, then, let them remember that when they inquire into
predestination they are penetrating the sacred precincts of divine
wisdom. If anyone with carefree assurance breaks into this place, he will
not succeed in satisfying his curiosity and he will enter a labyrinth from
which he can find no exit. For it is not right for man unrestrainedly to
unfold from eternity itself the sublimest wisdom, which he would have us
revere but not understand that through this also he should fill us with
wonder. He has set forth by his Word the secrets of his will that he has
decided to reveal to us. These he decided to reveal in so far as he
foresaw that they would concern us and benefit us.4
Calvin stresses, therefore, that our inquiry and knowledge of predestination should not
exceed the limits of God's revelation in Scripture. “For we shall know that the moment
we exceed the bounds of the Word, our course is outside the pathway and in darkness,
and that there we must repeatedly wander, slip, and stumble. Let this, therefore, first of

2 Ibid. 3.21.3
3 Ibid. 3.21.4
4 Ibid. 3.21.1

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 all be before our eyes: to seek any other knowledge of predestination than what the
Word of God discloses is not less insane that if one should purpose to walk in a pathless
waste, or to see in darkness.”5 Calvin indeed refers to Scripture as “the school of the
Holy Spirit, in which, as nothing is omitted that is both necessary and useful to know, so
nothing is taught but what is expedient to know.” So where Scripture speaks on
predestination, Calvin entreats, “permit the Christian man to open his mind and ears to
every utterance of God directed to him.” However, where Scripture is silent, Calvin
requires “such restraint that when the Lord closes his holy lips, he also shall at once
close the way of inquiry.”6 Calvin's concern, in sum, is that “we should not investigate
what the Lord has left hidden in secret, that we should not neglect what he has brought
into the open, so that we may not be convicted of excessive curiosity on the one hand,
or of excessive ingratitude on the other.”7

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John Stott writes similarly to Calvin that, “Scripture nowhere dispels the mystery
of election, and we should beware of any who try to systematize it too precisely or
rigidly.”8 Peter Vermigli, a contemporary (1500-1562) of Calvin (1509-1564), also wrote
to the effect that,
The doctrine of predestination is obscure and unprofitable to any who
would seek out the divine reason for the election of one man and the
rejection of another. Nor should anyone refer to the doctrine of
predestination when inquiring concerning the propriety of an act.
Rather, we ought to seek out God's will as revealed in scripture:
predestination is not at all obscure as it is stated in scripture.9
However, the “anti-speculative thrust of early Reformed doctrine in no way militates
against detailed discussion of predestination, election, and reprobation.”10 Thus while
5 Ibid. 3.21.2
6 Ibid. 3.21.3
7 Ibid. 3.21.4
8 BST Ephesians, 37
9 Muller, 63
10 Ibid.

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 we should not, on the one hand, seek an overly precise systematization of predestina-
tion, we should seek to know whatsoever God has revealed to us in Scripture concerning
His act of election.
In our study of this doctrine, we will seek to heed Calvin's caveat to not exceed
the bounds of Scripture and thus inquire into predestination beyond what the Lord has
revealed. However, the purpose of this book is to demonstrate that predestination is a
doctrine of Scripture and not the theological speculation of men like Augustine, Martin
Luther, or John Calvin and their successors. John Stott observes that:
[The doctrine of election] was not invented by Augustine of Hippo or
Calvin of Geneva. On the contrary, it is without question a biblical
doctrine, and no biblical Christian can ignore it. According to the Old
Testament, God chose Israel out of all the nations of the world to be his
special people. According to the New Testament he is choosing an
international community to be his 'saints', his holy or special people. So
we must not reject the notion of election as a weird fantasy of men, but
rather accept it (even though we do not fully understand it) as a truth
which God himself has revealed.11
Therefore, our discussion will be founded on God's revelation in Scripture. In this way
our study will be first and foremost a biblical examination of the doctrine of election.
This means that much of this book will be composed of a series of essays exegeting
relevant passages of Scripture. In this edition we will focus on the teaching of the New
Testament, while looking at important Old Testament cross-references (a fuller
treatment of the OT may be given in a later edition). In our theological treatment we
will address the questions and objections that the doctrine of predestination often
inspires as well as explore more fully the benefits of this doctrine.
It should also be stressed here that this doctine in not merely for the Reformed or
the Calvinist; predestination is a biblical doctrine and is therefore a Christian doctrine.
While we would not go so far as to say that belief in predestination (or any particular
expression of the doctrine) is required for one to be saved, silencing this doctrine, as

11 BST Ephesians, 37

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 Calvin observed, “very badly” serves the interests of Christians—for the doctine of
election means what Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-9: that our salvation is not from
ourselves but that it is all the gift of God by grace and that we did not make ourselves
acceptable to God but we are His work of creation in Christ, created for good deeds. It
also means what Christ Himself said, that all who come to Him will not be cast out,
because they were chosen and given to Him by the Father (John 6:37-44).

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To be sure, many books have been written on this subject. Much exegesis has been
done, many debates have been conducted; I am not attempting in this book to advance
some new position. I am not seeking something independent of Arminian or Calvinist
theology (I am not ashamed to say that I am a Calvinist). I am not even trying to settle
the disagreement between these two schools of theology. I do, however, hope that this
study will be read by the non-Calvinist and that in reading he or she will as least begin
to appreciate that Scripture plainly teaches that his or her salvation is all by the grace of
God; that indeed, as Calvin wrote, it flows from the free mercy of God and is not based
on works or even human will.
It is for the fact that a predestinarian view of salvation says that salvation does
not depend on human will that many objections are raised. Calvin mentions those who
said “that this whole discussion is dangerous for godly minds—because it hinders
exhortations, because it shakes faith, because it disturbs and terrifies the heart itself.”12
And, Calvin dismisses these as nonsense. John Stott gives five chief objections to the
doctrine of predestination.13 First, predestination is said “to foster arrogance, since (it is
alleged) God's elect boast of their favoured status.” Second, predestination is said “to
foster uncertainty, and to create in people a neurotic anxiety as to whether they are
predestined and saved or not.” Third, predestination is said “to foster apathy. For if
salvation is entirely God's work and not ours, people argue, then all human responsibility

12 Institutes, 3.21.4
13 BST Romans, 250-252

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 before God has been underminded.” Forth, predestination is said “to foster
complacency, and to breed antinomians. For, if God has predestined us to eternal
salvation, why should we not live as we please, without moral restraint, and in definance
fo divine law?” Finally, predestination is said “to foster narrow-mindedness, as the elect
people of God become absorbed only in themselves.” Stott summarizes his
counterpoints thusly: “So the doctrine of predestination promotes humility, not
arrogance; assurance, not apprehension; responsibility, not apathy; holiness, not
complacency; and mission, not priviledge.”14
It is also objected that predestination, if true, means that God violates the free
will of human beings. This is because, it is argued, God saves some against their will—
dragging them into heaven kicking-and-screaming—and condemns others who
otherwise would have chosen Christ and been saved—throwing them into hell without
giving them the opportunity to choose salvation. It is also objected that predestination
means that God is not all-loving since He only chooses to save some, but apparently
does not care about (or even hates) the rest. Moreover, it is objected (and Paul deals
`with this in Romans 9) that predestination is unjust. However, as we will see when we
go to the text of holy Scripture, these objections are not based on what is understood
from the Word of God, but from the philosophies and traditions of men.

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14 Ibid. 252