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1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 [+/-]1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 [2]We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, [3]remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. [4]For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5]because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. [6]And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, [7]so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. [8]For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. [9]For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, [10]and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (ESV)

The precious and sacred doctrine of election rooted in the absolute sovereignty of God over all things, resting in the all-inclusive omniscience of God and recognizing the radical sinfulness of humans as we are describe in the Bible as being dead in our trespasses and our sins has been declared by the church from the second century through the middle of the twentieth century as one of the core components of Christian doctrine that is solidly Scriptural. I suppose one of the realities that really shook me several years ago when God showed me through His Word with such crystal clear clarity the absolute truth of this doctrine was what the church had said from the second century forward about those who were where I was. Those that believe that the initiative for salvation is with us and not with God, that we can choose whenever and wherever and however we please, that we are in control so that when the great God who created the universe and gave His one and only Son as the sole and supreme sacrifice for sin invades our lives with His grace, we can say “yes” or “no” because at the end of the day it is all about us and it is entirely up to us. Whether it was Arias or Pelagius, hyper Arminians or modern day deists and open theists, the church in every age until the mid twentieth century clearly and convincingly condemned such views as heresy (if some names in the above statement are foreign to you, then I encourage you to come on Sunday nights and learn these names and what they represent as we examine carefully and closely the core convictions of Scripture).

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