John MacArthur on Election & predestination
Unconditional — grounded in God's free choice
"God's election of totally depraved sinners is unconditional, grounded only in the sovereign freedom of God's own will... It is not grounded in God's anticipation of what sinners might do by their own will, nor even in response to their foreseen faith."
THE POSITION
Unconditional, grounded solely in God's sovereign will — explicitly not in foreseen faith or anticipated human response. Paired directly with an affirmation that election doesn't remove human responsibility to repent and believe; the statement holds both without resolving the tension philosophically.
11 Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand, 12 not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” 14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not! 15 For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
16 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Pastor of Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, from 1969 until his death in July 2025. Expositional preaching, hard cessationism, dispensational premillennialism. Researched from the church's own Doctrinal Statement, covering all 15 loci in one document.
Cite this page
"John MacArthur on Election & predestination", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/macarthur/election (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/macarthur/election).