The order of the 5 elective decrees - lapsarianism; John 15:16.

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Title: The order of the 5 elective decrees - lapsarianism; John 15:16.

 

John 15:16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you.

 

I chose you - election.

 

/ “chose” - aorist middle indicative of evkle,gw[eklego] = to pick out, to elect, or to choose. This is election in Christ for every Church age believer.\

 

/The plan of God cannot be executed in the energy of the flesh, so from the start, God had to choose, in eternity past, those who would have non-meritorious faith in time.\

 

/ Election is the sovereign expression of the will of God for the CA believer in eternity past in which He willed the highest and best for every believer. \

 

His highest and best, the blessings that result from sharing the happiness of God, have been previously deposited it in escrow and will be conveyed when the conditions of the escrow are met.

 

The condition of the escrow is the capacity gained from reaching spiritual maturity. Like Abraham, God’s word must become more real to you than anything else in life. That doesn’t mean you ignore everything else in life, but it does mean that in your conscience, in your norms and standards, God’s word has #1 priority. If it doesn’t then it is impossible to have rapport with God.

 

In fact, what was the first thing that God ever did for you?

 

EPH 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

 

EPH 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love

 

/The action of the aorist participle, blessed us, precedes the action of the main verb, chose us, so God first blessed us with our portfolio of invisible assets before He elected us.\

 

God did both simultaneously along with the rest of the decrees, but He gives a chronological order to this so that we may understand that the first thing that God ever did for us was to bless us, before we could do anything, or perform any works. This begins God’s acts of grace towards each believer.

 

EPH 1:5 He predestined [God’s provision] us to adoption as sons [adult sons] through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

 

EPH 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

 

That is what election means to the believer. He knew that you would believe in Christ in time, prepared for you your very own portfolio, and in the preparation He expressed His will through election. He wills the highest and best for you as a believer. And if He wills the highest and best for you as a believer, count on it, He will provide it. He has provided it, He provided it first.

 

An unbeliever rejects the +S of God by rejecting the gospel. This is displeasing to God yet they exist in the decree under the category of the fall of man. The loser believer rejects the +S of God by rejecting BD. This is also displeasing to God, but it exists in the decree as a memorial to free will.

 

There exists a lot of confusion concerning election, and so we will sort out the confusion.

 

/The 5 elective decrees. Lapsarianism.\ 

 

/Supralapsarianism [heresy]

1. The decree to elect some to be saved and reprobate all others (double predestination)

2. Provide salvation for the elect through a limited atonement.

3. Create mankind, both elect and non-elect.

4. Permit the fall

5. Apply salvation to the elect. \

 

It is impossible to elect someone who isn’t created. We were all created in the mind of God in eternity past.

 

This is hyper-Calvinism which took America by storm decades ago.

 

Electing some based on an arbitrary system ignores the justice of God and insults God’s character.

 

God decreed to elect you in eternity past because He saw your volition in time. God applies election to you in time.

 

/John 15:19

I chose you out of the world\

 

/Unbelievers are not predestined. John Calvin taught that they were.\

 

/Institutes of the Christian Religion; John Calvin, Book 2, Chapter 5, Section 3

We have not the least hesitation to admit what Paul strenuously maintains, that all, without exception, are depraved and given over to wickedness; but at the same time we add, that through the mercy of God all do not continue in wickedness. \

 

Therefore, while we all labour naturally under the same disease, those only recover health to whom the Lord is pleased to put forth his healing hand. The others whom, in just judgment, he passes over, pine and rot away till they are consumed. And this is the only reason why some persevere to the end, and others, after beginning their course, fall away.\

 

To Calvin, just judgment results from the fact that the predestined reprobate is a sinner; however, to this sinner, no salvation is offered. He is arbitrarily chosen by God to perish in the LOF.

 

Perseverance is the gift of God, which he does not lavish promiscuously on all, but imparts to whom he pleases. If it is asked how the difference arises — why some steadily persevere, and others prove deficient in steadfastness, we can give no other reason than that the Lord, by his mighty power, strengthens and sustains the former, so that they perish not, while he does not furnish the same assistance to the latter, but leaves them to be monuments of instability.\

 

/2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.\

 

Their reply:

/ROM 9:20

 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?\

In this verse Calvin and those who follow his teaching have induced within it an arbitrary nature that simply is not there. In other words, we cannot quarrel with God who does what pleases Him and who does not take counsel from man. That is true. But where in this verse or the whole context of Rom 9 does God arbitrarily condemn anyone. He condemns those, like Pharaoh and Esau, given as examples in Rom 9, who have rejected His grace offer of salvation. It was their choice to refuse God’s offer. No where does the word of God say that He forced them to.

 

Is there something guiding the will of God or is it just arbitrary? What is guiding the will of God always is His integrity. His integrity is comprised of His Righteousness and Justice.

 

/The Justice of God is the source of all blessing, but the free-will of man must adjust to His Justice through faith in the gospel for salvation, and then faith in His word for escrow blessings.\

 

It seems that Calvin was uneducated in the doctrine of the Angelic Conflict and so he could not understand that the sovereign will of God and the free will of man co-exist in human history.

 

/The hyper-Calvinist fails to understand that the sovereign will of God and the free-will of man co-exist in human history. God has a sovereign will, a permissive will, and an overruling will.\

 

 

Insipient in Calvin’s doctrine is evidence that you have in fact been chosen. Much confusion has arisen in Calvinists who have their eyes open to the continued evil and sin of their OSN, which if observed in light of its depravity, causes them to doubt they have been elected. This breeds legalism of the worst kind. These are people who ignore their depravity or people who have a trend towards moral degeneracy and who feel superior to all others based on their false belief of being God’s favorites. One false premise on such a foundational doctrine as election leads to great evils in false doctrine.

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