Am I Elect?
Winter 2024
Young people who are raised under Reformed doctrine can be troubled with the question, “Am I one of God’s elect?” It’s a legitimate question because a simple search of words like “elect” or “chosen” in a Bible app will show you how prevalent the concept is in the Bible. One writer states: “No other doctrine has been so central in theology and so ignored in the pulpit.”
The doctrine of election is looked upon with fear and suspicion—a doctrine that might belong in a seminary but not in the mind of the regular Christian. Such thinking is inconsistent with the truth of the Scriptures. Our Lord Himself spoke to His hearers, “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). Paul covers the subject many times, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).
The issue at stake is not if there is election but rather why? Why did God choose to save some out of humanity—all of whom deserved His wrath and condemnation? In the simplest terms the God of heaven chose to save some because He chose to save them. Paul says it was out of God’s “good pleasure” (Ephesians 1:5). The Lord teaches that it was because it was “good” in God’s sight (Matthew 11:26). The election of sinners to salvation occurs before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), before men did “good or evil” (Romans 9:11). The choice occurs in the free and unconstrained will of God and all for His glory (Ephesians 1:6,11). Considering the depth of our sin and the evil of our rebellion, it is not a marvel that God chose some, but that God chose any. God did not choose us because we were lovely but because He loved us.
My answer to the one who wonders, “Am I elect?” is not, “Don’t concern yourself with that!” Paul shows us that such can be discerned. Yet no one knows his election until they respond to the gospel. Paul knew the “election of God” of the Thessalonians because the “gospel came not unto [them] in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance” (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5). Young person, it is not your duty to figure out if you are elect or not. Your duty is to repent and believe the gospel. Such faith arises in those chosen of God. In obeying the duty to repent and believe the gospel you evidence God’s gracious election. Then in humility and gratitude you sing with the hymn writer, “Tis not that I did choose Thee, for, Lord, that could not be; this heart would still refuse Thee, hadst Thou not chosen me.”