Monthly Archives: September 2013

Feedback

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What-Abouts-Cover-LgAn author is always grateful to receive positive feedback concerning something he has written. I wrote the “Twelve What Abouts” book with the hope that those new to the subject of Sovereign Election, would be able to grasp the concepts clearly. If that goal was achieved then I give great thanks to the Lord.

I just received this letter today from a gentleman named William.

Pastor Samson,

I wanted to thank you so much for you latest book ‘Twelve What Abouts.’ I just finished reading it and I was so blessed by it.

I am a Reformed Baptist with an MDiv from Southern Seminary and I found your short book to be one of the best responses to objections to Reformed Theology. Not that you have new information, but that you package it in a small, quick book that is to the point.

There are many books on Reformed theology, but most of them are very technical and are not accessible to the average layperson. I loved that your book is very easy to read and your arguments are very easy to follow.

I especially appreciated your chapters on 2 Pet 3:9 and 1 Tim 4:10. I had always heard the two wills theory and just found it somewhat lacking. Hearing your explanation fits the context so much better than other ones. Your explanation of common grace in 1 Tim 4:10 was good as well.

I really like the way you address traditions throughout the book, challenging the reader to consider whether their tradition matches what the text really says.

While I know your book will be read by many within the Reformed community, I hope that its brevity and style might appeal to those on the “other side”.

Thank you again for your work and I pray that God will continue to bless your ministry.

Grace be with you,

William Sandell

Elect According to Foreknowledge

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storms-sScripture makes it clear that Divine election is based on the foreknowledge of God. That is not a matter of dispute. The question is ‘what exactly what does this mean?’

In Dr. Sam Storms explains:

In an earlier post we were looking at how Peter identifies his readers (and us). The first thing he said is that we “elect exiles.” But he doesn’t stop with that. He proceeds to define election both in terms of its basis and goal.

(1) We are elect, says Peter, “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.”
The first thing this tells us is that divine election was an eternal, pre-temporal act of God before the foundation of the world. According to Paul in Ephesians 1:4, God “chose us” in Christ “before the foundation of the world”; he “predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ”. In 2 Timothy 1 Paul says that God “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” (v. 9).

If that weren’t enough, in Revelation 13 and 17 John speaks of God’s elect as those whose names were written in the Lamb’s book of life “before the foundation of the world.”

“Foreknowledge” does not mean that God merely observes the elect or sees them or is aware of them or has knowledge of who they are or has information concerning their lives. Nor does it mean that God simply predicts our conversion or knows about it in advance.

Many times in Scripture know has a pregnant meaning which goes beyond that of mere cognition. It is used in a sense practically synonymous with “love,” “to set regard upon,” “to know with peculiar interest, delight, affection, and action” (cf. Gen. 18:19; Exod. 2:25; Psalm 1:6; 144:3; Jer. 1:5; Amos 3:2; Hosea 13:5; Matt. 7:23; 1 Cor. 8:3; Gal. 4:9; II Tim. 2:19; 1 John 3:1 Continue reading →