Doctrines of Grace – Categorized Scripture List
Unconditional Election
God is Sovereign
Exo 15:18; 1Chr 29:11-12; 2Chr 20:6; Psa 22:28
1. He exercises that sovereignty in actively ordaining everything
Deu 32:39; 1Sam 2:6-8; Job 9:12; Job 12:6-10; Psa 33:11;
Psa 115:3; Psa 135:6; Isa 14:24; Isa 45:7; Act 15:18; Eph 1:11
* Including matters of "chance"
Pro 16:33; 1Ki 22:20, 34, 37
* The wicked actions of men
Gen 45:5; Gen 50:20; Exo 4:21; Jdg 14:1-4; Psa 76:10; Pro 16:4;
Isa 44:28; Amos 3:6; Act 2:22-23; Act 4:27-28
* The actions of evil spirits
1Sam 16:14-16; 1Ki 22:19-23; 1Chr 21:1/2Sam 24:1
* The good actions of men
John 15:16; Eph 2:10; Phi 2:12-13
* The actions of good angels
Psa 103:20; Psa 104:4
* The actions of animals
Num 22:28; 1Ki 17:4; Psa 29:9; Jer 8:7; Eze 32:4; Dan 6:22
* The operations of all creation
Gen 8:22; Psa 104:5-10; Psa 104:13-14; Psa 104:19-20; Mark 4:39
2. Man is not permitted to question his sovereign acts
Job 33:12-13; Isa 29:16; Isa 45:9-10; Mat 20:1-16; Rom 9:19-24
God elects [i.e. chooses, predestines, foreordains]
1. His angels
1Tim 5:21
2. His peculiar people, Israel
Exo 6:7; Deu 7:6-8; Deu 10:14-15; Psa 33:12; Isa 43:20-21
3. Individuals to salvation
Psa 65:4; Mat 24:24; John 6:37; John 15:16; Act 13:48;
Rom 8:28-30; Rom 9:10-24; Rom 11:5-7; Eph 1:3-6;
Eph 1:11-12; 1The 1:4; 1The 5:9; 2The 2:13-14
4. Individuals to condemnation
Exo 4:21; Rom 9:13; Rom 9:17-18; Rom 9:21-22; 1Pet 2:8
His motivation in election
1. His own good pleasure
Eph 1:5; 2Tim 1:9
2. The display of his glory
Isa 43:6-7; Rom 9:22-24; 1Cor 1:27-31; Eph 2:4-7; Pro 16:4
3. His special love
Deu 7:6-8; 2The 2:13
4. His foreknowledge
Rom 8:29; 1Pet 1:2
* Which means his special love
Jer 1:5; Amos 3:2; Mat 7:22-23; 1Cor 8:3; 2Tim 2:19; 1Pet 1:20
* But not:
he foresees in anyone
Deu 7:7; Rom 9:11-13; Rom 9:16; Rom 10:20; 1Cor 1:27-29;
1Cor 4:7; 2Tim 1:9
Total Depravity
Man is constituted a sinner by his relationship with Adam
Psa 51:5; Psa 58:3; Rom 5:18-19
He is therefore unable
1. To do anything good
Gen 6:5; Job 15:14-16; Psa 130:3; Psa 143:2; Pro 20:9;
Ecc 7:20; Isa 64:6; Jer 13:23; John 3:19; Rom 3:9-12; Jam 3:8; 1John 1:8
2. To believe in God (or come to him)
John 6:44; John 6:65; John 8:43-45; John 10:26; John 12:37-41
3. To understand the truth
John 14:17; 1Cor 2:14
4. To seek God
Rom 3:10-11
He is dead in sins
Gen 2:16-17; John 3:5-7; Eph 2:1-3; Col 2:13
He is blinded and corrupt in his heart
Gen 6:5; Gen 8:21; Ecc 9:3; Jer 17:9; Mark 7:21-23;
John 3:19-21; Rom 8:7-8; Eph 4:17-19; Eph 5:8
He is captive to sin and Satan
John 8:34; John 8:44; Rom 6:20; 2Tim 2:25-26; Tit 3:3; 1John 5:19
He performs actions freely according to his nature,
but his nature is wholly evil
Job 14:4; Mat 7:16-18; Mat 12:33; Mark 7:21-23; Jam 1:13-14
Limited Atonement
God purposed to redeem a certain people and not others
1Chr 17:20-21; Mat 22:14; 1Pet 2:8-9
[see "God elects individuals to salvation"/God elects individuals to condemnation"]
1. It is for these in particular that Christ gave his life
Isa 53:10-11; Mat 1:21; John 6:35-40; John 10:3-4, 11, 14-15;
Act 20:28; Eph 5:25
[we are commanded to love our wives in the same way
that Christ loved the church and gave himself for it; therefore, if Christ loved and gave himself for all people
in the same way, we are commanded to love all women in the same way that we love our wives];
Heb 2:17; Heb 9:15
2. It is for these in particular that Christ intercedes
John 17:1-2; John 17:6-12; John 17:20-21, 24-26; Rom 8:34
3. The people for whom Christ intercedes are the same as the
people for whom he offered himself up as a sacrifice
Heb 7:24-27; Heb 9:12
[note context, in which entering into the holy place is explicitly
for the purpose of intercession], 24-28
[For a fuller understanding of the indissoluble connection between
sacrifice and intercession, read Hebrews chapters 7-10]
The atonement of Christ is effective
1. To justify
Isa 53:11 [the single effective cause of justification in view
here is the bearing of iniquities; all whose iniquities Christ
bore must be justified];
Rom 8:34 [the argument here is that the fact of Christ's death, resurrection, and intercession is in itself an incontrovertibly
effective reason for non-condemnation; if this verse is true,
then no one for whom Christ died and was raised to intercede
may be condemned]
2. To redeem and cleanse from sins
Eph 5:25-27; Tit 2:14
3. To propitiate the Father
1John 2:2
["propitiation" means "the turning away or appeasement of
wrath"; therefore, by definition, the Father has no more wrath
against those whose sins have been propitiated]; 1John 4:10
4. To raise to new life
2Cor 5:14-15
[the argument is a simple "if/then" proposition: "if" Christ
died for someone, "then," with no other conditions, that
person died with him and was raised again]; 1Pet 3:18
[See also, "Jesus' death purchased for his people a new heart;
faith; repentance". Jesus died in order to establish the New
Covenant (Mat. 26:26-29, etc.); the New Covenant promised
faith, repentance and knowledge of God (Jer. 31:33-34, Ez. 36:26-27, etc.);
therefore, Jesus died in order to provide faith, repentance, and
knowledge of God, as the fulfillment of a unilateral promise. This
means that his death had a definite purpose which was intended
for some and not others. His death effectively purchased faith; not all have faith; and so his death had an effective intent that
was limited to certain persons.]
Those whom God purposed to redeem include all who believe
John 3:16
1. From every nation
Rev 5:9
2. From every class
Gal 3:28; 1Tim 2:1-6 [the first "all men" is explicitly tied to
all classes of men, which gives warrant for understanding
the second "all men" in the same way]
3. Therefore, Christ's saving work is commonly spoken of in
terms of "all," "world," etc.
John 1:29; Tit 2:11-14
[in the context of "all men" is the delimiting concept of a peculiar
people, zealous of good works]; Heb 2:9-10 [notice that the many
sons whom Christ brings to glory gives a contextual delimiter to
the term "every"]; 2Pet 3:9 [note that this desire is explicitly
limited to "us" (Peter was writing to fellow-believers) in the
context]; 1John 2:2 [propitiation means "appeasement of wrath";
either Jesus appeases God's wrath against all, and therefore hell
(which is the place where God's wrath resides) is non-existent;
or the "whole world" means something different than "every
individual who ever lived". See John 11:51-52, and "The word
'world' is often used in the sense of 'many,' or 'all of a set'"]
4. The word "all" is often used to indicate all of a set, or
even many representatives of a set
Mat 10:22; 1Cor 6:12; 1Cor 15:22; Mat 2:3; John 4:29;
Act 10:39; Act 17:21; Act 21:28; Act 26:4
5. Or, to indicate all "classes" or "nations," not all individuals
Mat 5:11; Act 2:17; Act 10:12
6. The word "world" is often used in the sense of "many,"
or "all of a set"
Luk 2:1-2; John 6:33; John 12:19; Act 19:27; Rom 1:8
Additional reasons that the atonement of Christ
is not for all the sins of all people
if their sins were atoned for
Mark 9:43-44
atonement is not applied because of unbelief," he fails to
realize that unbelief is likewise a sin
Heb 3:12
["The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son
underwent punishment for either:
1) All the sins of all men;
2) All the sins of some men; or
3) Some of the sins of all men.
In which case it may be said:
for, and so none are saved;
suffered for all the sins of the elect in the whole world,
and this is the truth;
from the punishment due unto their sins? You answer,
Because of unbelief. I ask, Is this unbelief a sin, or is
it not? If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due
unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder
them more than their other sins for which He died? If
He did not, He did not die for all their sins!" –
John Owen, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ]
means that his wrath against them has not been propitiated [appeased]
1The 2:16; 2The 1:6-9
Intentions of Christ's death other than atonement
1. To make a public display of demons
Col 2:13-15
2. To rule over everyone
Rom 14:9
3. To redeem creation
Isa 35:1-4; Rom 8:20-23
4. To lay the foundation for a genuine gospel call
John 6:39-40; John 7:37-38
5. To provide temporal mercies for the non-elect
Mat 5:45; 1Tim 4:10
Irresistible Grace
Faith and Repentance (as well as the new heart which
is able to produce them) are themselves gifts of God
1. A new heart
Deu 30:6; Eze 11:19; Eze 36:26-27
2. Faith
John 3:27; Phi 1:29; 2Pet 1:1; Act 16:14; Act 18:27; Eph 2:8-10
3. Repentance
Act 5:3; Act 11:18; 2Tim 2:25-26; 1Cor 4:7
The Father writes his own word upon (places the fear
of himself in, etc.) his people's hearts
Jer 31:33; Jer 32:40; Mat 16:15-17; Luk 10:21;
John 6:45; 2Cor 4:6
The beginning of salvation is the sovereign impartation
of spiritual life into a heart which had been dead, thereby causing it to exercise faith
1John 5:1; Eze 37:3-6, 11-14; John 1:11-13; John 3:3-8;
John 5:21; Eph 2:1-5; Jam 1:18; 1Pet 1:3; 1John 2:29
True offers of grace in the outward gospel call may be
resisted by men who do not have this new heart
Act 17:32-33
In fact, true offers of grace will always be resisted by such men
John 10:24-26; John 12:37-40
But there are some whom God causes to come to him
Psa 65:4; Psa 110:3; John 6:37-40; Rom 9:15
Perseverance of the Saints
What God begins, he finishes
Psa 138:8; Ecc 3:14; Isa 46:4; Jer 32:40; Rom 11:29;
Phi 1:6; 2Tim 4:18
Of all whom he has called and brought to Christ,
none will be lost
John 6:39-40; John 10:27-29; Rom 8:28-31;
Rom 8:35-39; Heb 7:25; Heb 10:14
God's preservation of the saints is not irrespective
of their continuance in the faith
1Cor 6:9-10; Gal 5:19-21; Eph 5:5; Heb 3:14; Heb 6:4-6;
Heb 10:26-27; Heb 12:14; Rev 21:7-8; Rev 22:14-15
However, it is God who sanctifies us and causes us to persevere
John 15:16; 1Cor 1:30-31; 1Cor 6:11; 1Cor 12:3; 1Cor 15:10;
Gal 3:1-6; Eph 2:10; Phi 2:12-13; 1The 5:23-24; Heb 13:20-21;
1John 2:29; Jud 1:24-25