You do not have permission to edit this page, for the following reasons:

This IP address has been blocked from editing Wikipedia.
This does not affect your ability to read Wikipedia pages.
Most people who see this message have done nothing wrong. Some kinds of blocks restrict editing from specific service providers or telecom companies in response to recent abuse or vandalism, and can sometimes affect other users who are unrelated to that abuse. Review the information below for assistance if you do not believe that you have done anything wrong.

The IP address or range 44.201.0.0/16 has been blocked (disabled) by ‪ST47‬ for the following reason(s):

The IP address that you are currently using has been blocked because it is believed to be a web host provider. To prevent abuse, web hosts may be blocked from editing Wikipedia.
You will not be able to edit Wikipedia using a web host provider because it hides your IP address, much like a proxy or VPN.
We recommend that you attempt to use another connection to edit. For example, if you use a proxy or VPN to connect to the internet, turn it off when editing Wikipedia. If you edit using a mobile connection, try using a Wi-Fi connection, and vice versa. If you are using a corporate internet connection, switch to a different Wi-Fi network. If you have a Wikipedia account, please log in.
If you do not have any other way to edit Wikipedia, you will need to request an IP block exemption.

How to appeal if you are confident that your connection does not use a web host's IP address:
If you are confident that you are not using a web host, you may appeal this block by adding the following text on your talk page: ((unblock|reason=Caught by a web host block but this host or IP is not a web host. My IP address is _______. Place any further information here. ~~~~)). You must fill in the blank with your IP address for this block to be investigated. Your IP address can be determined here. Alternatively, if you wish to keep your IP address private you can use the unblock ticket request system. There are several reasons you might be editing using the IP address of a web host (such as if you are using VPN software or a business network); please use this method of appeal only if you think your IP address is in fact not a web host.

Administrators: The IP block exemption user right should only be applied to allow users to edit using web host in exceptional circumstances, and they should usually be directed to the functionaries team via email. If you intend to give the IPBE user right, a CheckUser needs to take a look at the account. This can be requested most easily at SPI Quick Checkuser Requests. Unblocking an IP or IP range with this template is highly discouraged without at least contacting the blocking administrator.

This block will expire on 23:54, 31 July 2024.

Even when blocked, you will usually still be able to edit your user talk page, as well as email administrators and other editors.

For information on how to proceed, please read the FAQ for blocked users and the guideline on block appeals. The guide to appealing blocks may also be helpful.

Other useful links: Blocking policy · Help:I have been blocked
Your IP address is in a range that has been blocked on all Wikimedia Foundation wikis. The block was made by ‪AntiCompositeNumber‬. The reason given is Open proxy/Webhost: Visit the FAQ if you are affected .
- Start of block: 13:55, 18 August 2022
- Expiry of block: 13:55, 18 April 2025
Your current IP address is 44.201.28.123. The blocked range is 44.201.0.0/16. Please include all above details in any queries you make. If you believe you were blocked by mistake, you can find additional information and instructions in the No open proxies global policy. Otherwise, to discuss the block please post a request for review on Meta-Wiki. You could also send an email to the stewards VRT queue at stewards@wikimedia.org including all above details.

You can view and copy the source of this page:

((Short description|Calvinist doctrine))
((too few opinions|date=July 2011))
((Calvinism))
'''Unconditional election''' (also called '''sovereign election'''<ref>((Cite web|last=Sproul|first=R. C.|date=April 1, 2017|title=TULIP and Reformed Theology: Unconditional Election|url=https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/tulip-and-reformed-theology-unconditional-election|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805035437/https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/tulip-and-reformed-theology-unconditional-election|archive-date=August 5, 2021|access-date=August 5, 2021|website=Ligonier Ministries|quote=''Unconditional election'' is another term that I think can be a bit misleading, so I prefer to use the term ''sovereign election''.))</ref> or '''unconditional grace''') is a [[Calvinist]] doctrine relating to [[predestination]] that describes the actions and motives of [[God in Christianity|God]] prior to his creation of the [[world]], when he predestined some people to receive [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]], the elect, and the rest he left to continue in their sins and receive the just punishment, eternal damnation, for their transgressions of God's law as outlined in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. God made these choices according to his own purposes apart from any conditions or qualities related to those persons.<ref>((cite book| author=John Calvin| author-link=John Calvin|title=[[Institutes of the Christian Religion]] |chapter=Of the Eternal Election (3.21.7) |year=1559 |chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.v.xxii.html#v.xxii-p19 ))</ref>

The counter-view to unconditional election is the Arminian view of [[conditional election]], the belief that God chooses for eternal salvation those whom he foreknows will exercise their free will to respond to God's [[prevenient grace]] with [[Faith in Christianity|faith]] in [[Christ]]. God's election was for a clear unalterable purpose, to elect those who will believe.<ref>((cite book |last1=Benson |first1=Joseph |title=Commentary of the Old and New Testaments |date=1857 |publisher=Carlton & Phillips |ref=Ephesians 1:3-6))</ref>

==Summary==
((more citations needed section|date=December 2012))

In [[Calvinist]] theology, unconditional election is considered to be one aspect of predestination in which God chooses certain individuals to be saved. Those elected receive mercy, while those not elected, the [[reprobates]], receive justice without condition. This unconditional election is essentially related to the rest of the [[Five points of Calvinism#Five Points of Calvinism|TULIP]] doctrinal outline and hinges upon the supreme belief in the absolute [[Sovereignty of God in Christianity|sovereignty of God]] over the affairs of man. God unconditionally elects certain people even though they are sinful as an act of his saving grace apart from the shortcomings or will of man. Those chosen have done nothing to deserve this grace.

In Calvinist and some other churches ([[Waldensians]], [[Catharism|Katharoi]], [[Anabaptists]], [[Particular Baptists]], etc.) this election has been called "unconditional" because his choice to save the elect does not depend on anything inherent in any person chosen, on any act that a person performs or on any belief that a person exercises. Indeed, according to the doctrine of [[total depravity]] (the first of the [[five points of Calvinism]]), the influence of sin has so inhibited the individual's volition that no one is willing or able to come to or follow God apart from God first regenerating the person's [[soul]] to give them the ability to love him and take part in the salvation process. Hence, God's choice in election is and can only be based solely on God's own independent and sovereign will and [not] upon the foreseen actions of man.

[[Reformed scholasticism|Scholastic Calvinists]] have sometimes debated precisely when, relative to the decree for the [[fall of man]], God did his electing &ndash; see [[supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism]] &ndash; though such distinctions are not often emphasized in modern Calvinism.

The Reformed position is frequently contrasted with the [[Arminian]] doctrine of conditional election in which God's eternal choice to save a person is conditioned on God's certain foreknowledge of future events, namely, that certain individuals would freely exercise faith and trust in response to God's offer of salvation. The Arminian doctrine agrees that the influence of sin has so inhibited the individual's volition that no one is willing or able to come to or follow God, but the Arminian doctrine of [[prevenient grace|prevenient (or "enabling") grace]] is considered sufficient to enable a person to repent and believe before [[regeneration (theology)|regeneration]]. Based upon God's foreknowledge of each individual human response to the gospel of Jesus Christ, God justly and sovereignly elects to salvation those he foresees exercising free will to repent, believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ and follow God.

==History==
The doctrine was first articulated and popularized by 4th century [[Church Father]] [[Augustine of Hippo]] during his debates with [[Pelagius]], and he taught that saving grace is bestowed by God on the elect according to his sovereign decrees. Few later theologians prior to the [[Reformation]] would take up this idea. However, prominent exceptions include [[Thomas Aquinas]].<ref>((cite book|last=Hägglund|first=Bengt|title=Teologins historia|language=de|trans-title=History of Theology|translator=Gene J. Lund|edition=4th rev.|year=2007|publisher=Concordia Publishing House|location=St. Louis, MO|orig-year=1968|pages=139–140|author-link=Bengt Hägglund|isbn=978-0758613486))</ref>

Unconditional election was first codified in the [[Belgic Confession]] (1561),<ref>Belgic Confession, article 16 ("The Doctrine of Election")</ref> re-affirmed in the [[Canons of Dort]] (1619),<ref>Canons of Dort, first head, chapter 1, article 7 ("Election Defined")</ref> which arose from the [[Quinquarticular Controversy]], and is represented in the various [[Reformed Christian confessions of faith|Reformed confessions]] such as the [[Westminster Standards]] (1646).<ref>[[Westminster Confession of Faith]]</ref> Today, it is most commonly associated with the Reformation teachings of [[John Calvin]] as one of the [[Five points of Calvinism|five points]] of [[Calvinism]] and is often linked with [[Predestination (Calvinism)|predestination]].

==Biblical passages==
((TULIP))((over-quotation|section|many=yes|date=February 2013))
A number of passages are put forth to support the doctrine, including (quotations are from the [[King James Version|KJV]]):

* [[Isaiah]] 42:1: "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect Chosen One, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles."
* [[Gospel of John|John]] 1:12,13: "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
* [[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] 13:48: "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed."
* [[Epistle to the Romans|Romans]] 9:15–16: "For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy."
* [[Epistle to the Romans|Romans]] 9:22–24: "What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?"
* [[Epistle to the Ephesians|Ephesians]] 1:4–5: "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,"
* [[Epistle to the Ephesians|Ephesians]] 1:11: "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:"
* [[Epistle to the Philippians|Philippians]] 1:29: "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;"
* [[First Epistle to the Thessalonians|1 Thessalonians]] 1:4–5: "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake."
* [[Second Epistle to the Thessalonians|2 Thessalonians]] 2:13: "But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:"
* [[Second Epistle to Timothy|2 Timothy]] 1:9: "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,"

Some biblical passages are put forth as evidence that human volition, not just divine action, plays a central role in salvation (see conditional election):
* [[Deuteronomy]] 30:19: "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:"
* [[Book of Joshua|Joshua]] 24:15: "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Calvinists generally understand the former passages as giving a window into the divine perspective and the latter passages as speaking from the human perspective in calling people to work out the salvation God has given them.<ref>See for instance, John F. MacArthur, [http://www.biblebb.com/files/mac/sg1905.htm "Divine Promises Guaranteed."]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Corporate election]]
* [[Predestination]]

==References==
<!--<nowiki>
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref> and </ref> tags, and the template below. 
</nowiki>-->
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://modernmarch.com/2009/11/22/does-god-have-two-wills/ "Does God Have Two Wills?"] or [http://modernmarch.com/2010/01/23/thoughts-on-sovereignty-and-love/ "Thoughts on Sovereignty and Love"] by Brandon Smith (Calvinist view)
*[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/boettner/predest.iv.iii.html "Unconditional election"], chapter 11 from [[Loraine Boettner]]'s ''Reformed Doctrine of Predestination'' (Calvinist view)
*[http://acharlie.tripod.com/election.html], Extensive biblical verse support, discussions of opposing views
(Calvinist view)

((DEFAULTSORT:Unconditional Election))
[[Category:Calvinist theology]]
[[Category:Salvation in Protestantism]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Five Points of Calvinism]]

Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page (help):

Unconditional election (edit)
Template:Ambox (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Calvinism (edit)
Template:Cite book (view source) (protected)
Template:Cite web (view source) (protected)
Template:DMCA (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Dated maintenance category (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Dated maintenance category (articles) (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:FULLROOTPAGENAME (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Hlist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:Main other (view source) (protected)
Template:More citations needed (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:More citations needed section (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Ns has subpages (view source) (protected)
Template:Over-quotation (view source) (semi-protected)
Template:Pagetype (view source) (protected)
Template:Plainlist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:Portal-inline (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:SDcat (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Short description (view source) (protected)
Template:Short description/lowercasecheck (view source) (protected)
Template:Sidebar (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Sidebar with collapsible lists (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Sp (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:TULIP (edit)
Template:Too few opinions (view source) (semi-protected)
Module:Arguments (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/blacklist (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/shared (view source) (protected)
Module:Check for unknown parameters (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1 (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/COinS (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Date validation (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Whitelist (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Disambiguation/templates (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/ambox.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Ns has subpages (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Pagetype (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/disambiguation (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Pagetype/setindex (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Pagetype/softredirect (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal-inline (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Portal/images/c (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:SDcat (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Sidebar (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Sidebar/configuration (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Sidebar/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:String (view source) (protected)
Module:Unsubst (view source) (protected)
Module:Wikitext Parsing (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Yesno (view source) (protected)

Return to Unconditional election.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconditional_election"