Doubting if You’re Elect?

by Jon Buck

A common struggle with assurance of salvation is to doubt based on God’s unconditional electing grace.

The doctrine of election teaches that God elects, or chooses, those who will be saved. This places the cause of salvation on God, rather than man, since God is the one who must regenerate the sinner’s heart, and open his or her eyes to the gospel. This makes sense, because Paul teaches us that no one seeks after God on his own, and that there is no good in anyone—it must be God who does this work (Rom 4:5, Eph 2:8-9).

Since this is the case, someone might have a concern that God has not elected them, even though they would desperately want to be Christians. They might have thoughts like, “It is true that Jesus saves. It is also true that Jesus could save me. But He only will if I’m elect, and so I can never be sure if I am saved.”

This type of doubt is actually an issue of perspective. Election is a doctrine that provides God’s perspective on our salvation—we have been saved because God has chosen us for salvation from eternity past. Apart from Him, we would never have come to Him, and therefore it was His election that has led to our salvation.

However, from our human perspective, salvation is based on faith in the promises of the Word of God. For that reason, this type of doubt is actually a doubt about the promises of the Scripture. The Bible is full of promises for salvation to anyone who believes (For example, Romans 1:16-17). The one who has faith—that is, who believes the promises that the Bible expresses—IS elect. Therefore, the question that should rise up in our hearts is not whether we are elect, but whether we trust the promises of the Gospel.

To that end, consider 1 Tim 1:15—“It is a trustworthy statement deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” Christ came into the world to save sinners, Paul says. A person who acknowledges that they are a sinner in need of a Savior has the freedom to trust this promise—that Christ came into the world to save them! To pause here and say, “Yes, that is true, but only if I am elect” is to beg the question. The one who has faith in this truth is the one who is elect.

Consider this in your own heart: Did Jesus Christ come into the world to save sinners? And are you aware that you are a sinner in need of a Savior? If you can answer yes to both of those questions, then you can simply trust that He has come into the world to save you, and you can rest in this promise from Him.