John Calvin-Life,Legacy and Theology

JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY -
PROF. M. M. NINAN
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"UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION"
THE CHOICE FOR HEAVEN AND HELL ARE DONE LONG BEFORE CREATION
AND IS ARBITRARY
"Unconditional election" asserts that God has chosen from eternity those whom he will bring to
himself not based on foreseen virtue, merit, or faith in those people; rather, his choice is
unconditionally grounded in his mercy alone. God has chosen from eternity to extend mercy to
those he has chosen and to withhold mercy from those not chosen. Those chosen receive
salvation through Christ alone. Those not chosen receive the just wrath that is warranted for
their sins against God.
"Those of mankind that are predestined to life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid,
according to His eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel of good pleasure of His
will, has chosen, in Christ, to everlasting glory, out of His mere free grace and love, without any
foresight of faith, or good works, or Perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the
creature, as conditions, or causes moving Him thereunto; and all to the praise of His glorious
grace." Westminster Confession of Faith III,5
In the midst of total depravity, the Deity did happen to nevertheless to hand-pick a minority of people,
by means of his loving grace, to be the beneficiaries of eternal salvation. Calvin’s unique spin on all
this was that none of the lucky beneficiaries (or the “elect”) deserved to go to heaven, no matter how
profound their piety or copious their good works. In other words, no amount of good faith or good
deeds could compensate for mankind’s utterly irredeemable nature. If one was “chosen” by God it was
not due to that person’s own individual merits, it was merely an act of divine grace.This means simply:
God chooses to give some people eternal life, without looking for anything good in them as a condition
for loving and saving them.
Before any man or woman is born -- in fact, before the world was made -- God decided who would go
to heaven and who would not. Before they did good or bad, God chose some to be His people and
rejected others.
“By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestined
unto everlasting life and others foreordained to everlasting death. These angels and men, thus
predestinated and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed; and their number is so
certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished. ... The rest of mankind, God was
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