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Who are the elect?
"For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect." Matthew 24 : 24
Who are the elect?
Please reply... this is confusing me...
Who are the elect?
Please reply... this is confusing me...
Comments
Is this a right answer? it better be
God Bless!
I hope others reply too God willing
4. Predestination and Irresistible Grace
Augustine taught that God has predetermined some people to damnation whose wills He does not allow to turn toward Him, and some to salvation whose wills He does not allow to turn away from Him. For Augustine, election is absolutely gratuitous, and God's arbitrary will is impervious to foreseen merits and good actions. Concerning his perception of predestination, he says, I speak thus of those who are predestined to the Kingdom of God, whose number is so certain that none may be added to or subtracted therefrom ... while those who do not belong to this most certain and blessed number are most righteously judged according to their deservings. For they lie under the sin which they have inherited by original generation and so depart hence with the inherited debt [On Rebuke and Grace, XIII, 39 940, 42 942].
Although Augustine insists he is an advocate of free will, what kind of free will is he defending when one is powerless to choose between good and evil? He says that predestination to eternal life is wholly of God's free grace, and asks, ...who will be so foolish and blasphemous as to say that God cannot change the evil wills of men, whichever, whenever, and wheresoever He chooses, and direct them to what is good? [Enchiridion, Nicene Fathers, 1st Ser., Vol. 3, Ch. 98, Predestination to Eternal Life is Wholly of God's Free Grace] And if one should choose the good, it is due to overwhelming and irresistible grace. Augustine attempts to interpret Scripture when he defines the words of St. Paul, It is not therefore a matter of man's willing, of his running, but of God's mercy (cf. Rom. 9:16), saying not of man's willing or running, but God's mercy means precisely that the entire process is credited to God, Who prepares the will and helps the will thus prepared [Ench., 32 248.].
But according to this, one does not truly exercise free will, rendering salvation solely the work of God. We have no function or capacity in the decision. Augustine gives the example of the twins of Isaac and Rebecca, saying, Thus both the twins (Jacob and Esau) were born children of wrath, not on account of any works of their own, but because they were bound in the fetters of that original condemnation which came through Adam. But He Who said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy; loved Jacob of His undeserved grace, and hated Esau of His deserved judgment [The Enchiridion, Nicene Fathers, 1st Ser., Vol. 3, Ch. 98, Predestination to Eternal Life is Wholly of God's Free Grace].
The Bishop of Hippo wrote: God foreknew believers; but He chose them that they might be so, not because they were already so... He did not foresee that we ourselves would be holy and blameless, but He chose and predestined us that we might be so [On the Predestination of the Saints, XVII, 34 PL 44:985]. He maintained his theories till his death, towards the end restating that the elect cannot fall away, preserved not by their own strength, but only by the irresistible grace of God. The gift of God is granted to them ... that they may not fall into temptation. And, No saint fails to persevere in holiness to the end [On the Gift of Perseverance, 19].
Augustine's theory of predetermination and coercive grace cannot be reconciled with true free will. For Augustine, God's supreme and incomprehensible sovereignty does not confer with human choices. The elect are imposed upon by God with an irresistible grace. It is God, therefore, who makes a man persevere in the good, who makes him good; but they who fall and perish have never been in the number of the predestined [On Rebuke and Grace, XII, 36 938] Thus, according to Augustine, If you wish to be a catholic, do not venture to believe, to say, or to teach that they whom the Lord has predestinated for baptism can be snatched away from his predestination, or die before that has been accomplished in them which the Almighty has predestined [Book 3, Addressed to Vincentius Victor, Nicene, 1st Ser., Vol. V, Chapter 13 - His Seventh Error. In the Shape of a Letter Addressed to Presbyter Peter]
He postulated that all Christians have sufficient grace by which freedom is restored. All Christians receive grace to cooperate with God, and to choose between the good and evil. Nevertheless, only elect members of the Church shall be saved according to the eternal and hidden decree of God. Augustine thus said that all grace is prevenient (anticipatory) and cooperative. But sufficient grace, the grace of cooperation, or even anticipatory grace is insufficient to be elected. Augustine was the first to divide the faithful into those who possessed the common sufficient grace, and those who are predestined to glory and vouchsafed the more blessed efficacious grace that was imposed upon them. He then went on to say that the grace of perseverance — that is the irresistible and efficacious grace — is the grace of salvation.
Moreover, no one would be saved if God had not brought aid to the infirmity of the human will, so that it might be unchangeably and invincibly motivated by divine grace... Even though the will of the elect may be weak and incapable of good, God prevents their defection [Book 3, Addressed to Vincentius Victor, Nicene, 1st Ser., Vol. V, Chapter 38 940]. Indeed, for him all men are totally depraved, the elect and the non-elect. The Bishop of Hippo disagreed with the holy and great St. Cyprian when the latter compared the Church with the Ark of Noah. Augustine contended that only a few are saved by faith, a faith which they possess by virtue of their predestination to glory [On the Predestination of the Saints, XVII, 34 985].
The few that are saved by the irresistible grace imposed upon them is an idea outside the Orthodox Tradition. What about the poor hapless ones who are not on the rolls of the elect? Augustine explains, They have been made vessels of wrath, and were born to the advantage of the saved... God knows what good may be made of them... Yet, He leads none of them to the salutary and spiritual repentance by which a man in Christ is reconciled to God [Contr Jul V, iv, 14 PL 44:792,793] Thus, who may be understood as given to Christ? According to Augustine, These are they who are predestinated and called according to the purpose, of whom not one perishes. And therefore none of them ends this life when he has changed from good to evil, because he is so ordained, and for that purpose given to Christ, that he may not perish, but may have eternal life [Treatise on Rebuke and Grace, Ch 21].
Concerning salvation, our holy Fathers neither speak of compulsion nor fatalism, but always advance the part of the human will in the divine economy. All the Orthodox are synergists, meaning God and man working together, even though all were called, but not all obeyed [Comm. in Ep. ad Rom. XV, 1 541]. Saint John Chrysostom tells us that the heavenly call alone is not sufficient for salvation, not without the purpose of the called [Comm. in Ep. ad. XV, 1 PG 60:541]. Saint Makarios the Great adds that man has the freedom to make himself a vessel of the devil or a vessel of election and life [Spiritual Homilies, XV, 40 PG 34:604B].
Saint John of Damascus comments, We ought to understand that while God foreknows all things, He does not predestinate them. For He knows already those things that are in our power, but He does not predestinate them. For He does not will that there should be wickedness, nor does He impose virtue. Thus, foreordination is an act of the prescient divine command. On the other hand, God foreordains those things which are not within our power in accordance with His foreknowledge. In His foreknowledge, God has forejudged all things already according to His goodness and justice [Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, II, 30].
Is anything foreordained? What is foreordained was the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God foreordained before the ages unto our glory (cf. 1 Cor.2:7), the mystery of the Incarnation that as many as were placed in the ranks of eternal life believed (Acts 13:48). Saint Paul explains that we are His work, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Eph.2:10) What also is appointed is a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man Whom He hath ordained (Acts 17:31). When Saint Jude informs us that certain people slipped in secretly, who of old were proscribed unto this judgment, ungodly ones transposing the grace of our God into licentiousness, and denying the only Master, God, and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 4), Saint Bede the Venerable observes, They themselves deserved this judgment, this condemnation, because they themselves acted wickedly; as the Lord says that some shall come forth who have done good things to a resurrection of life, but those who practise mean things, to a resurrection of condemnation (cf. Jn.5:29). [Bede, Commentary on Jude]
Furthermore, if we were not granted our free will, but predestined, why should St. Paul urge the Romans, who once presented their members as slaves to uncleanness and to lawlessness, to now present their members as slaves to righteousness unto sanctification (Rom.6:19), if their ultimate fate is inevitable? Yes, in times past, we used to walk according to the age of this world, according to the prince of the authority of the air, the spirit now operating in the sons of disobedience (Eph.2:2). But Augustine's predestined numbers for bliss cannot evade judgment and condemnation if they have lived according to the flesh. The truth is, if we live according to the flesh, we are at the point of dying, but if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body, we shall live (Rom.8:13).
5. The Disavowal of Freewill
The Pelagianists were a group of heretics which Augustine fought against. They taught that salvation could be attained through one's own efforts, or through one's own will. They emphasized the human will. When Augustine tried to combat this heresy, he went to the opposite extreme, teaching that only God's will was operative, He is the Almighty One, He will even force or convert man's will to conform to His own. This, of course, falls in line with his other unorthodox ideas of predestination and irresistible grace.
Concerning the inescapability of God's predestination of some to damnation and others to compulsory grace, Augustine said, I think, too, that I have so discussed the subject that it is not so much myself as the inspired Scriptures which have spoken to you in the most vivid testimonies of truth; and if this divine record be looked into carefully, it reveals that God Himself converts the will of man from evil to good and that once it is converted, He directs him to good actions and eternal life; but also, that those who follow after the world are so at the disposal of God that He turns them wherever and whenever He wills — to bestow kindness on some and heap punishment on others, as He Himself judges rightly by a counsel most secret to Himself [On Grace and Free Will, 41] He thus defined a capricious deity akin to those of pagan myths.
Augustine said, God converts the will of man from evil to good. This concept or teaching is completely foreign to Orthodoxy. God has bestowed upon human beings the unique property of freewill and reason, which likens us to Himself, and to the angels. This also distinguishes us from animals, who have none of the above. If God converts our will, He is infringing on that image of God in which He made us, for it is said, God created man after His image (Gen. 1:26).
Saint John of Damascus believed that the phrase, after His image clearly refers to the side of human nature which consists of mind and freewill. In refutation of Augustine's notion, he said, It is to be understood that the choice of actions belongs to us, while the completion which is good takes place with God's just co-working with those of a disposition for the good and of an upright conscience, in accordance with His foreknowledge. [Saint John of Damascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book II, Chap. 29]
Moreover, he continues, Bear in mind, too, that virtue is a gift from God implanted in our nature, and that He Himself is the source and cause of all good, and without His co-operation and help we cannot will or do any good thing. But we have it in our power either to abide in virtue and follow God, Who calls us into ways of virtue, or to stray from paths of virtue, which is to dwell in wickedness, and to follow the devil who summons but cannot compel us. For wickedness is nothing else than the withdrawal of goodness, just as darkness is nothing else than the withdrawal of light."[Saint John of Damascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book II, Chap. 30]
Therefore, according to the holy Fathers, salvation is a matter of synergy, of cooperation — that of man with God, if man wills (actively chooses) the good, the right path, the virtuous life — then will God grant grace. To say that God infringes on the freewill of man is outside the Apostolic Tradition, and therefore, outside of Orthodoxy.
Well, the link didn't work. But, about a simple as answer I can give...Those whose names were put in the Book of Life before the foundation of the world. Those people who are to be saved. Election applies to angels as well, as the Scripture is pretty clear, but I don't know if the reasons behind the election are the same as it is with men. Augustine wrote some pretty good stuff regarding this subject. The subject was pretty hot around the Augustine vs. Pelagius controversy. At the council of Ephesus, Augustine's view was upheld, Pelagius was condemned. But, those that may not be very well learned in the Bible or tradition, may be tempted to buy into Pelagius' doctrine because of all the modernistic thought in this society. But, study the subject, and pray about it as well. Don't just take some priest's word for it. I have seen a priest wrong straight out on this doctrine, and was teaching almost directly in line with Pelagius.
I, by no means, believe in this or any other Protestant/Calvinist belief. My question was simply referring to the verse in Matthew, 24:24. I am not implying that this verse proves predestination or anything of that sort, but was simply asking for an explanation. Thank you.
Thank you for that link. It has helped me and answered my question. :D