Is God's Election Unfair?

Isn’t the blood of Jesus Christ so precious that it is more than enough to save all humanity – past, present, and future – from Hell?  Then, why would He just elect some people for salvation and not all? Isn’t that unfair?

Hmmm. First let us make it clear what is fair. Fair means getting what we deserve. So, what do we deserve? Do we deserve to be saved? No! Because of our sins, we deserve eternal damnation in Hell.

There is this parable in Mathew 20:1-15…
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’
“So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to is who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’”

Clearly, it is the right of the landowner to do what he wants to do with his money, his right to show favor to those he wants to. Likewise, God has the right to do what He wants with His grace. All deserves God’s wrath anyway, so who are we to question Him why He chose others and saved them while leaving the rest to go to Hell.

Election and grace could not be separated. Denying election is denying grace. Discounting God’s gracious privilege to elect those he wants to show mercy is an insult. Christians are not saved because of any good deeds they’ve done or who they are, but because they are chosen by God to experience his glory, grace, love, and mercy.

You might accuse me that I can comfortably say that God elects those He saves and allow others to destruction because I am selfish and arrogantly satisfied that I am saved. You are right, my personality is selfish and does not have much amore for my fellow men (but God enables me to “love others as myself”). But, that is not so. I am comfortable in saying that God elects because it is a biblical truth and I had appreciated grace and my salvation more because of it.

We really cannot question God why he elects and why there are still those who will go to Hell. Paul wrote in Romans 9:18-21: “Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: ‘Then why does God still blame us? For who resists His will?’ But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes ands some for common use?”

Charles Spurgeon, the legendary British evangelist, said, “What amazes me is not that God did not choose everybody, but rather he chose me.” My sentiments exactly. Sometimes, the thought that I was meant for Hell, to burn for all eternity, still gives me the chills. But I was saved from that fate. Not because I am a good person (I am definitely not… I am evil as evil can be), but because God elected an undeserving insignificant sinner like me to have my sins washed away by Christ’s blood and to enjoy ultimate pleasure and happiness in Him for all eternity.

That is grace. Amazing – and outrageous – grace.