Attempts to make individualistic election the absolute of a theological system finally succeed in doing so by backing away from the contingencies of grace for the certainties of decrees that people are helpless against. God’s love for the whole world is then called into question, and it becomes easy to conceive of him as a potentate like the Muslim God, who loves most to impose his will, and whose identity and image are conceptualized totally apart from Christ.
Moreover, it is a distortion of the doctrine of election to claim that God's will pertaining to salvation
still remains a mystery after he has “made known to us the mystery of his will” (Eph. 1:9), and after “God has revealed it [his secret wisdom, hidden since time began][1] to us by his Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:7–10). It is theological tyranny of the worst kind (because it distorts God’s image and Word) to assert that lying behind the open gospel of the grace of God there exists more important but inaccessible, supersecret [
sic] knowledge never revealed to anyone during this age. This “mystery” is alleged to be the composite of billions of eternal decrees by which God determined exclusively within himself and absolutely what he willed to become of every human being one at a time before he created them, assigning a destiny of damnation to the overwhelming majority, and grace to certain others, all the while keeping two things secret: (1) what is
in his nature that kept all his decrees from going in the same direction and (2) who the lucky ones actually are.
The God revealed in Christ can afford to lavish the riches of his grace on his church “with all wisdom and understanding” (Eph. 1:8). He knows how important it is for us as children to know that the adoption is valid and we are chosen to be holy sons and daughters with the certainty that adheres in Christ’s [
sic] being the chosen one. And in response to our faith in Christ we are marked with the seal of his ownership, the Holy Spirit, promised in the Old Testament when the mystery was still on, and given now as the initial confirmation of election. It comes
after faith (Eph. 1:11–14).
A certain man who believed that election remains a mystery today and that God’s will in election is inscrutable, once announced to me strange words, that no one, except a person of his theological background, would ever think of saying: “I will love God always,” he said, “even if it should turn out in the end that his eternal decree was to send me forever to hell.” There was no place for Christ in this statement, and not even Christ’s cross had any bearing on the haunting question of his destiny. Whether out of fear or self-deception, he “loved” one who might be fooling him as to his real intentions for him. It seemed that he considered the quality of the love he professed for God superior to any his kind of God might have for him. Others have not been so charitable toward such an unpredictable will-over-love God as that.
But our only concern should be this: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom. 8:35). It is ultimately a faithless question, arising out of false presuppositions about God, to ask,
“Am I elect?” Faith focuses on Christ, and asks oneself only if one is trusting Christ fully and is therefore obedient to him (2 Cor. 13:5). Our election, like “every spiritual blessing,” is secure “in Christ.” We should not try to look beyond him.
William G. MacDonald, ‘The Biblical Doctrine of Election’, in Clark H. Pinnock (ed.), The Grace of God and the Will of Man (1989; repr., Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 1995),[2] pp. 224–6, emphases in original
Copyright © Clark H. Pinnock, 1989. All rights reserved.
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Notes
1. The parenthetical elaboration contained in square brackets is in the original.
2. Prior to its republication by Bethany House Publishers in 1995, this volume was originally entitled
The Grace of God, The Will of Man: A Case for Arminianism (Grand Rapids, MI: Academie Books, 1989). —J. D. Gallé
Addendum (21 Sept. 2022). William G. MacDonald (1917–2007) died on Tuesday, 25 December 2007, aged ninety.
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Latest revisions: 19 November 2015 (note revised); 14 April 2016 (minor corrections made to citation); added one note, namely n. 1; converted what was formerly n. 1 to n. 2 (10 May 2022).
