Unconditional election is God's sovereign choosing of his people from before the foundations of the world, thereby effectively predestinating his children to everlasting life with him and condemning the reprobate to everlasting punishment. Election reveals the eternal and unchangeable love God has for his people. (Romans 8:28-Romans 9, Psalm 5:4-6, Psalm 11:5-7), while reprobation reveals God's wrath against the reprobate in the way of their sin, with the consequence of everlasting destruction in hell.
Unconditional Election is part of the Five Points of Calvinism and is represented by the letter U in the word TULIP:
Read more about the distinctive Reformed view of election in this excerpt from the third chapter of Saved by Grace by Ronald Cammenga and Ronald Hanko.
The doctrine of unconditional election is the second of the Five Points of Calvinism. It is represented by the letter U in the acronym TULIP. Election and reprobation are the two parts of the larger doctrine of predestination.
The doctrine of predestination has been called the heart of the gospel. This is true. The gospel is the good news of salvation, and those who are saved are those whom God has predestined unto salvation, namely, the elect. The gospel declares the suffering and death of Jesus Christ for unworthy sinners, but Christ died only for those unworthy sinners who have been chosen by God. The gospel calls men to faith in Jesus Christ, but faith is worked only in the hearts of the elect. The preaching of the gospel is the means to gather the church. Those who are members of the church - genuine church members in God's eyes - constitute the elect...
Predestination is God's eternal decision before the beginning of the world (pre-) with respect to the everlasting destiny (destination) of all His rational, moral creatures: men, angels, and devils. There are many who become uneasy when the word predestination is mentioned, but predestination is not some hideous monster invented by theologians gone over the edge. The Bible teaches predestination...
By election, we mean the eternal choice by God of certain definite individuals in Jesus Christ unto salvation...
If election is gracious, it follows that it must also be unconditional. If election is due alone to the grace of God, it is not conditioned of anything in man or that man must do. This is a crucial point! There are many who profess to hold to biblical election but who deny the truth of election by making election conditional, this was the false teaching concerning election propounded by the Armenians at the Synod of Dordt. The Armenians professed to believe in election, but the election they taught was a conditional election. According to this view, God in eternity looked into the future and saw who would believe in Him and who would choose Him. These, in turn, God chose and elected as His people. Election became God's choosing those who had chosen Him. However, this conception of election cannot stand the test of Scripture. Speaking of God's election of Jacob and rejection of Esau, Paul writes in Romans 9:11, "For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to electing might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth." The Lord Jesus teaches unconditional election in the clearest of language in John 15:16: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you," Jesus does not mean to teach here that we do not choose Him. We do choose Jesus Christ. We do desire Salvation. We do willingly follow Him as His disciples. But Jesus' concern here is who who chose first and whose choice is decisive...
