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Put another way, "Election is the corporate choice of the church 'in Christ.'" [2] Paul Marston and Roger Forster state that the "central idea in the election of the church may be seen from Ephesians 1:4": [3] "For he [God] chose us [the Church] in him [Christ], before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight." William ...
Unconditional election (also called sovereign election [1] or unconditional grace) is a Calvinist doctrine relating to predestination that describes the actions and motives of God prior to his creation of the world, when he predestined some people to receive salvation, the elect, and the rest he left to continue in their sins and receive the just punishment, eternal damnation, for their ...
In that view, God, before Creation, in his mind, first decreed that the Fall of Man would take place, before decreeing election and reprobation. So God actively chooses whom to condemn, but because he knows they will have a sinful nature , the way he foreordains them is to simply let them be – this is sometimes called "preterition."
According to Calvinist theology, before the foundation of the world, God chose certain individuals, known as the "elect", to receive his saving grace and be predestined for eternal salvation; Calvinists view this election as unconditional, based not on human merit or works but solely on God's sovereign will and purpose.
St Paul, instead, speaks of God's great plan and says: "even as he (God) chose us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him" (Eph 1:4). And he was speaking about all of us. At the centre of the divine plan is Christ in whom God shows his Face, in accord with the favour of his will.
In corporate election, God does not choose which individuals he will save prior to creation, but rather God chooses the church as a whole. Or put differently, God chooses what type of individuals he will save. Another way the New Testament puts this is to say that God chose the church in Christ (Eph. 1:4).
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That is, some are chosen to be elect (foreknowledge) but not created elect. Many Calvinists reject both lapsarian views for various reasons. Herman Bavinck rejected both because he sees the entire system of God's plan of salvation as organic, with each part mutually dependent and determinative, rather than some parts "causing" others. [3]