Skip to main content
Click any section to view details
4.2 5.2
Study tools
BC 5.1 Election and Christ's Work
Search Topic

The Doctrine of Election

Section 5.1

We believe that- all Adam's descendants having thus fallen into perdition and ruin by the sin of Adam- God showed himself to be as he is: merciful and just. God is merciful in withdrawing and saving from this perdition those who, in the eternal and unchangeable divine counsel, have been elected and chosen in Jesus Christ our Lord by his pure goodness, without any consideration of their works. God is just in leaving the others in their ruin and fall into which they plunged themselves.

See also in WCF: 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8 See also in WLC: Q12, Q13, Q14 See also in WSC: Q7, Q8
Rom. 3:12
[12] All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
John 6:37, 44
[37] All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. [44] No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
John 10:29
[29] My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
John 17:2, 9, 12
[2] since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. [9] I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. [12] While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
John 18:9
[9] This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.”
1 Sam. 12:22
[22] For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself.
Ps. 65:4
[4] Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!
Acts 13:48
[48] And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
Rom. 9:16
[16] So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
Rom. 11:5
[5] So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
Titus 1:1
[1] Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,
John 15:16, 19
[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 abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. [19] If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Rom. 8:29
[29] For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Eph. 1:4-5
[4] even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love [5] he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Mal. 1:2-3
[2] “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob's brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob [3] but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”
Rom. 9:11-13
[11] though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad — in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls — [12] she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” [13] As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
2 Tim. 1:9
[9] who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
Titus 3:4-5
[4] But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, [5] he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
Rom. 9:19-22
[19] You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” [20] But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” [21] Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? [22] What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
1 Pet. 2:8
[8] and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
See also in WCF
3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8
See also in WLC
Q12 Q13 Q14
See also in WSC
Q7 Q8

Log in to save personal notes on this section.

4.2 5.2

Chapter 5: Election and Christ's Work

Election, the incarnation, atonement, and intercession of Christ

The Doctrine of Election

Section 5.1

We believe that- all Adam's descendants having thus fallen into perdition and ruin by the sin of Adam- God showed himself to be as he is: merciful and just. God is merciful in withdrawing and saving from this perdition those who, in the eternal and unchangeable divine counsel, have been elected and chosen in Jesus Christ our Lord by his pure goodness, without any consideration of their works. God is just in leaving the others in their ruin and fall into which they plunged themselves.

The Recovery of Fallen Humanity

Section 5.2

We believe that our good God, by marvelous divine wisdom and goodness, seeing that Adam and Eve had plunged themselves in this manner into both physical and spiritual death and made themselves completely miserable, set out to find them, though they, trembling all over, were fleeing from God. And God comforted them, promising to give them his Son, born of a woman, (Gal. 4:4) to crush the head of the serpent, (Gen. 3:15) and to make them blessed.

The Incarnation

Section 5.3

So then we confess that God fulfilled the promise made to the early fathers and mothers by the mouth of the holy prophets when he sent the only and eternal Son of God into the world at the time appointed. The Son took the "form of a slave" and was made in "human form," (Phil. 2:7) truly assuming a real human nature, with all its weaknesses, except for sin; being conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, without male participation. And Christ not only assumed human nature as far as the body is concerned but also a real human soul, in order to be a real human being. For since the soul had been lost as well as the body, Christ had to assume them both to save them both together. Therefore we confess (against the heresy of the Anabaptists who deny that Christ assumed human flesh from his mother) that Christ shared the very flesh and blood of children; (Heb. 2:14) being the fruit of the loins of David according to the flesh, (Acts 2:30) descended from David according to the flesh; (Rom. 1:3) the fruit of the womb of the virgin Mary; (Luke 1:42) born of a woman; (Gal. 4:4) the seed of David; (2 Tim. 2:8) the root of Jesse; (Rom. 15:12) descended from Judah, (Heb. 7:14) having descended from the Jews according to the flesh; descended from Abraham- having assumed descent from Abraham and Sarah, and was made like his brothers and sisters, yet without sin. (Heb. 2:17, Heb 4:15) In this way Christ is truly our Immanuel- that is: "God with us." (Matt. 1:23)

The Two Natures of Christ

Section 5.4

We believe that by being thus conceived the person of the Son has been inseparably united and joined together with human nature, in such a way that there are not two Sons of God, nor two persons, but two natures united in a single person, with each nature retaining its own distinct properties. Thus his divine nature has always remained uncreated, without beginning of days or end of life, (Heb. 7:3) filling heaven and earth. Christ's human nature has not lost its properties but continues to have those of a creature- it has a beginning of days; it is of a finite nature and retains all that belongs to a real body. And even though he, by his resurrection, gave it immortality, that nonetheless did not change the reality of his human nature; for our salvation and resurrection depend also on the reality of his body. But these two natures are so united together in one person that they are not even separated by his death. So then, what he committed to his Father when he died was a real human spirit which left his body. But meanwhile his divine nature remained united with his human nature even when he was lying in the grave; and his deity never ceased to be in him, just as it was in him when he was a little child, though for a while it did not so reveal itself. These are the reasons why we confess him to be true God and truly human- true God in order to conquer death by his power, and truly human that he might die for us in the weakness of his flesh.

The Justice and Mercy of God in Christ

Section 5.5

We believe that God- who is perfectly merciful and also very just- sent the Son to assume the nature in which the disobedience had been committed, in order to bear in it the punishment of sin by his most bitter passion and death. So God made known his justice toward his Son, who was charged with our sin, and he poured out his goodness and mercy on us, who are guilty and worthy of damnation, giving to us his Son to die, by a most perfect love, and raising him to life for our justification, in order that by him we might have immortality and eternal life.

The Atonement

Section 5.6

We believe that Jesus Christ is a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek- made such by an oath- and that he presented himself in our name before his Father, to appease his Father's wrath with full satisfaction by offering himself on the tree of the cross and pouring out his precious blood for the cleansing of our sins, as the prophets had predicted. For it is written that "the punishment that made us whole" was placed on the Son of God and that "by his bruises we are healed." He was "like a lamb that is led to the slaughter"; he was "numbered with the transgressors" (Isa. 53:4-12) and condemned as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, though Pilate had declared that he was innocent. So he paid back what he had not stolen, (Ps. 69:4) and he suffered- "the righteous for the unrighteous," (1 Pet. 3:18) in both his body and his soul- in such a way that when he sensed the horrible punishment required by our sins "his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground." (Luke 22:44) He cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46) And he endured all this for the forgiveness of our sins. Therefore we rightly say with Paul that we know nothing "except Jesus Christ, and him crucified"; (1 Cor. 2:2) we "regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus [our] Lord." (Phil. 3:8) We find all comforts in his wounds and have no need to seek or invent any other means to reconcile ourselves with God than this one and only sacrifice, once made, which renders believers perfect forever. This is also why the angel of God called him Jesus- that is, "Savior"- because he would save his people from their sins. (Matt. 1:21)