We are all probably familiar with the US President/State Governors granting executive clemency/pardons for some few individuals in prison, based on certain factors or conditions. In other words, the person occupying the highest office in a state or our nation, under certain conditions, has the right/power to pardon, and even expunge the criminal record of a limited number of persons in prison. This right/power is both limited and conditional. Through the years, there have been many spirited discussions concerning some who have been the recipient of executive pardons, as well as some who might have been more ‘worthy’ of a pardon. I am not aware of any serious debate concerning the right of an executive to grant clemency to whomever he decides based on the evidence/merits presented to him .
The salvation of lost sinners is also a kind of ‘executive pardon. By birth and by nature, men are all children of wrath (Eph 2:1-3), imprisoned by our own sin, completely unable to free ourselves from the death sentence over our heads. God, however, has the right and power to grant clemency to lost sinners, based on His own rules/conditions. In fact, God has done exactly that, having sent His own Son to bear the punishment of those to whom He grants ‘clemency’.
There are no human conditions that must be met, in fact no human conditions/actions could ever merit clemency. We are told that God unconditionally chose those whom He would save from the eternal death sentence before this world was even created (Eph 1:3-4), and that the reason God chose some was based solely on His mercy (Eph 2:4-6, Rom 9:14-15), and according to His own pleasure and purpose (Eph 1:5). That God’s choosing some for salvation is not based on human decision or works of any kind is seen in John 1:12-13 and Eph 2:8-9.
One form of clemency is conditional while the other is unconditional. Both are limited in a fashion, one by human laws regulating it’s execution, the other based on the Executive’s power and right. Why do we not have issues with the right of governors and presidents to decide who goes free and who serves their just sentence, yet we have issues with the biblical doctrine of election?
Food for thought . . .
The Battle Cry 
“Why do we not have issues with the right of governors and presidents to decide who goes free and who serves their just sentence, yet we have issues with the biblical doctrine of election?”
Good Point.
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This is not an idle question for me, and I really hope to get responses from those who do have issues. I think it has to do with a person’s elemental view of God.
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And a misunderstanding of themselves as well.
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Good point, Kit. I think when we have a biblical understanding of God and of our true fallen nature, the doctrines of sovereign grace fall into place.
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They do.
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There was a time when I was as at least as semi-Pelagian as Charles Finney, but that changed over time as I began to read and study scripture for what it actually said concerning God’s sovereignty in the salvation of men, as well as the discovery that much of what I believd (and wanted to believe) was read into scripture.
When I dawned on me that God did all the ‘work’ I did not have a problem because I had a high enough view of God that if God wanted to chose some and pass over others, that was His business and and He could arrange for the salvation of His people any way He wanted to.
I had actually obtained that view well before I had been told that He chose who he knew would choose Him, which is based on a faulty definition of ‘foreknowledge’. But since it was someone very close to me whom I trusted I swallowed it.
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There was a time when I was a “free-will” believer myself. I think that anyone who comes to know Christ thinks their decision was theirs in the beginning.
We don’t fully understand how sinful we are. It’s our entire being. Our actions, our thoughts, what we don’t do that we should do. We don’t understand that we care about ourselves. Period. When it comes down to it…we only care about ourselves. We don’t have room for God in that desire to please ourselves. We don’t need Him.
It takes time, and the work of the Holy Spirit to start to understand the sovereignty of God. Jesus saved me 31 years ago. I’m just now starting to understand that it’s about Him. Not me. He alone deserves all glory and honor.
AND, it wasn’t long ago that I also started feeling ok about disagreeing with people that…I trusted.
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When this prodigal came home he thought the decision was ALL his own until John 6:44 came along and taught differently. I think it was John Piper who almost screamed to God that is was HIS choice until Romans 9 came along. And yes, it’s a hard thing NOT to trust some of those who are closest to us. The only reason I had less difficulty with the sovereignty of God than many others is because in my early teen hears I was taught some of the doctrines of God in Lutheran Catechism. Many today have never even been exposed to the ‘high and lifted up’ God of Scripture. They only know a ‘lesser’ God for whom man is the center of the universe instead of Himself.
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This prodigal thought she WAS home and was just fine. Ha! What a crock that was.
You know, I didn’t have a problem with the sovereignty of God in anything, I just didn’t think about it at all. When I finally did start thinking about it…my whole world was turned upside down. For me, it wasn’t a matter of believing it…it was a matter of understanding and actually caring what that meant. Through some years of chastening, I finally started understanding what it meant…and I did finally come home.
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Oh…my upbringing was with the Southern Baptists…just incase I hadn’t mentioned that before.
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That’s an interesting journey, Kit. It would be interesting to hear about other such ‘journeys’! I can guess what some commonalities might be, but they would just be guesses.
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