Jonathan Edwards on Election & predestination
Unconditional — grounded in God's free choice
That election is not from a foresight of works, or conditional, as depending on the condition of man's will, is evident by [2 Tim. i. 9.] ... [Rom. ix. 15, 16.]
THE POSITION
Election rests on God's sovereign good pleasure, not on anything foreseen in the creature — "love, not for any excellency, but merely God's good pleasure." He adds a causal argument: a decree grounded in foresight would make something that begins in time the cause of something eternal. And he presses a reductio against the conditional scheme — if God merely decrees that all who believe shall be saved, then "it is not election of persons, but of qualifications."
9 He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began.
16 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
New England pastor, revival theologian and philosopher of the First Great Awakening, dismissed from his Northampton pulpit in 1750 over who may come to the Lord's Table. This entry rests on Freedom of the Will (1754), Original Sin (1758), Religious Affections (1746), An Humble Inquiry (1749), Distinguishing Marks (1741), Some Thoughts on the Revival (1742), An Humble Attempt (1747) and A History of the Work of Redemption, read in the Hickman edition.
Cite this page
"Jonathan Edwards on Election & predestination", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/edwards/election (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/edwards/election).