Richard Watson

In his own words

The THIRD kind of election is personal election; or the election of individuals to be the children of God, and the heirs of' eternal life. It is not at all disputed between us and those who hold the Calvinistic view of election, whether believers in Christ are called of God with reference to their individual state and individual relation to God as his "people," in the highest sense of that phrase. Such passages as "the elect of God;" "chosen of God;" "chosen in Christ;" "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father;" and many others, we allow therefore, although borrowed from that collective election of which we have spoken, to be descriptive of an act of grace in favour of certain persons considered individually. The first question then which naturally arises, respects the import of that act of grace which is termed choosing, or an election. It is not a choosing to particular offices and service, which is the first kind of election we have mentioned; nor is it that collective election to religious privileges and a visible Church state, on which we have more largely dwelt. For although "the elect" have an individual interest in such an election as parts of the collective body, thus placed in possession of the ordinances of Christianity; yet many others have the same advantages who still remain under the guilt and condemnation of sin and practical unbelief. The individuals properly called "the elect," are they who have been made partakers of the grace and saving efficacy of the Gospel. "Many," says our Lord, "are called, but few chosen."

Quoted verbatim from the library, as an answer would quote it.

What we hold of him

• Theological Institutes

  Classic

Others in the library

• Charles Haddon Spurgeon
• John Calvin
• John Gill
• Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch
• Albert Barnes
• Jonathan Edwards