Spurgeon on Doctrine - Election
Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost. — 1 Thess. 1:4-6
- Sermon text: Election: Its Defenses and Evidences
As a Reformed Baptist pastor Charles Spurgeon had much to say about the doctrine of election. And in modern day there is much debate about the doctrine itself. For Spurgeon, the doctrine is clear in the Word of God and because of that it must be preached. Spurgeon also believed that preaching on the doctrine was necessary because “men do read the Scriptures and think about these doctrines.” And because men will think about these things there are mistakes in belief that could come about, so the Word must be preached to help dispel any mistaken thinking about them. For Spurgeon, there is such a thing as election. It is not a false belief, or a fool’s errand. Let’s take a look at what Spurgeon preached about this doctrine.
The doctrine of election is simply God’s intention to make the difference between people which you know exists. While he gives mercy to all, he gives more mercy to some so that the mercy already received shall be made effectual to their eternal salvation.
- Election:Its Defenses and Evidences
Man is free and God is sovereign
It is a grand mystery of how mankind can be free in his will and actions, but God be fully sovereign in His power and will.
How these two things are true I cannot tell. It is not necessary for our good, either in this life or the next, that we should have the skill to solve such problems. I am not sure that in heaven we shall be able to know where the free agency of man and the sovereignty of God meet, but both are great truths.
- Election: Its Defenses and Evidences
God is the universal agent in the world and His will is fully and perfectly good. But still, man is free in his actions, which makes him responsible for his sin. Each true believer will acknowledge that something has taken place internally that is done by God. God has made the difference and He is not impeachable for making it so. It is His own distinguishing love that makes the difference. His choice is made through His own sovereignty. It is free and because it is His decision it is irreversible.
Election is true
For Spurgeon, the doctrine of election is truth. Throughout the history of the church within various articles, creeds, and statements of faith the doctrine of God’s sovereign predestination of His people is found. But it is not simply these old declarations that teach it as truth. The Bible itself teaches it. The passages that confirm God’s election are almost too numerous to list in one place.
Methinks, my friends, that this overwhelming mass of Scripture testimony must stagger those who dare to laugh at this doctrine.
- Election, September 2, 1855
The truth of God’s election does leave the question of why some are chosen and others are not. It is a question put to God’s justice and since His will is the supreme agent there is no reason to question it. Spurgeon would point out that there are those who desire to be holy, loved by God, and to leave sin behind. Those are elect. Those who do not desire to leave their sin behind, pursue God, and all the rest are not elect. Why should God give His election to someone who does not want it?
If you desire it, he has chosen you to it. If you do not, what right have you to say that God ought to have given you what you do not wish for? Supposing I had in my hand something which you do not value, and I said I shall give it to such-and-such a person, you would have no right to grumble that I did not give to you. You could not be so foolish as to grumble that the other has got what you do not care about.
- Election, September 2, 1855
Election is absolute
It does not depend on what we are, we do, or any of our virtues.
If men cannot be justified by the works of the law, it seems to us pretty clear that they cannot be elected by the works of the law: if they cannot be justified by their good deeds, they cannot be saved by them. Then the decree of election could not have been formed upon good works.
- Election, September 2, 1855
Other virtues, such as faith, cannot be the grounding of God’s choice because all good virtues are gifts from God. God does not elect His people based on gifts that only He can give. Election comes first and the virtues are gifted afterwards. The hope of man hangs only on the grace shown in the person of Jesus Christ. God saves because it is His choice and desire to do so.
Election is eternal
God’s choice of election predates all of creation to the time when only He existed. Because of that it is eternal.
Until we go to the time when all the universe slept in the mind of God as yet unborn, until we enter the eternity where God the Creator lived alone, everything sleeping within him, all creation resting in his mighty gigantic thought, we have not guessed the beginning. We may go back, back, back, ages upon ages. We may go back, if we might use such strange words, whole eternities, and yet never arrive at the beginning. Our wing might be tired, our imagination would die away; could it outstrip the lightnings flashing in majesty, power, and rapidity, it would soon weary itself ere it could get to the beginning. But God from the beginning chose his people; when the unnavigated ether was yet unfanned by the wing of a single angel, when space was shoreless, or else unborn when universal silence reigned, and not a voice or whisper shocked the solemnity of silence; when there was no being and no motion, no time, and nought but God himself, alone in his eternity; when without the song of an angel, without the attendance of even the cherubim, long ere the living creatures were born, or the wheels of the chariot of Jehovah were fashioned, even then, “in the beginning was the Word,” and in the beginning God’s people were one with the Word, and “in the beginning he chose them into eternal life.” Our election then is eternal.
- Election, September 2, 1855
Election produces good results
The elect are not people who claim to be so and then pursue worldly lusts and sins. The call of God is a call to sanctification and faith. Not wickedness. God chooses His people to holiness.
Oh, beloved! never think you are elect unless you are holy. You may come to Christ as a sinner, but you may not come to Christ as an elect person until you can see your holiness. Do not misconstrue what I say—do not say “I am elect,” and yet think you can be living in sin. That is impossible. The elect of God are holy. They are not pure, they are not perfect, they are not spotless; but, taking their life as a whole, they are holy persons. They are marked, and distinct from others: and no man has a right to conclude himself elect except in his holiness.
- Election, September 2, 1855
The elect are those who believe in Jesus Christ and in God’s truth. It is a faith that strips away all other things. The elect cannot put their trust in their own workings.
Friends, if you want to be humbled, study election, for it will make you humble under the influence of God’s Spirit. He who is proud of his election is not elect; and he who is humbled under a sense of it may believe that he is. He has every reason to believe that he is, for it is one of the most blessed effects of election that it helps us to humble ourselves before God.
- Election, September 2, 1855
Disclaimer: These articles are not meant to argue a point of doctrine as true or not. For many doctrinal beliefs there is breadth in how to interpret and understand it. There are certain ones that are non-negotiable and those will be accepted as understood by the reader. These writings are summaries of what Charles Spurgeon taught, preached, or communicated about various doctrines within the church. They are provided for informational purposes.