Election

On what basis does God Choose to save people?

The simple answer to this question is threefold, but it all revolves around God’s freedom to choose. God choose to save some people by His grace, in His love, for His glory. There is nothing in man, because man is a depraved, unrighteous, being with an inability to do any good (Romans 3:10-12). First, as the Reformers declared (sola gratia), salvation and God’s election of some for salvation is by God’s grace alone. There are no works, good, or any condition or ability in man that would prompt God to choose them. It is implying His unconditional grace. Second, as 1 John 4:10 declares, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sin”. God’s love placed on the elect is also part of the basis for His election of the elect and saving them. Finally, the glory of God is not only the basis for His election of some for salvation, but it is the basis for everything that happens in the universe. As the London Baptist Confessions declares succinctly in chapter 3.3, “by the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated, or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ, to the praise of His glorious grace; others being left to act in their sin to their just condemnation, to the praise of His glorious justice”. This is a great summary pointing to the truth of Ephesians 1:5-6. This statement points to the glory of God alone in the election and concludes the answer to this question nicely.