Part VII: The Positive Case Summarized. Twelve Pillars

From Sovereign Grace and the Scope of Election: A Comparative Examination of Attainment Theology and Grace Theology, with Particular Attention to the Question of Whether God's Elect Are Found Among All Nations and Religions

1. Election precedes and produces faith (Acts 13:48; Romans 9:11-16; Ephesians 1:4-5; 2 Thessalonians 2:13). 2. The elect are drawn from every nation without exception (Revelation 5:9; 7:9; John 10:16; 11:52, "gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad"). 3. Christ's death actually saves those it was for (Matthew 1:21; John 10:11, 15; Isaiah 53:11, "he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied"). 4. Regeneration is immediate, by the Spirit, without human means (John 1:13; 3:8; 5:25; 6:63; James 1:18; Ezekiel 37, breath enters the slain before the prophet's word is understood by them). 5. Infants and the incapable among the elect are saved without hearing, a point conceded by nearly all Christians, which surrenders the principle that hearing is essential (2 Samuel 12:23; Luke 1:15; Matthew 19:14). 6. Scripture records God-fearers outside the covenant nation and outside gospel hearing (Job; Melchizedek; the Ninevites; Cornelius before Peter; Lydia, whose heart "the Lord opened" before she attended to Paul's words, Acts 16:14, the opening preceded the attending). 7. God claims "much people" in cities not yet evangelized (Acts 18:10). 8. Creation and conscience are God's witnesses in every land (Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:20; 2:14-16), sufficient as the accompaniment of the Spirit's inward work, though never a substitute for Christ's atonement, which alone is the ground. 9. The preached gospel is for discipling, feeding, and comforting the living (Matthew 28:19-20; John 21:17; Isaiah 40:1; 2 Timothy 1:10; 1 Peter 2:2). 10. None of the elect can be lost by human failure (John 6:39; 10:28-29; Romans 8:29-39, no created thing, including a missionary board's budget shortfall, separates them). 11. Judgment of the unevangelized belongs to a righteous God, not to a denomination (Genesis 18:25, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"; Romans 2:16). 12. All boasting is excluded (Romans 3:27; 1 Corinthians 1:29-31; Ephesians 2:8-9), the final test of any doctrinal system. A system in which one's eternal tier reflects one's consecration performance produces boasting by design. A system in which the lowest publican and the unnamed elect of unreached lands stand in the same robe of Christ's righteousness as the most faithful elder leaves room for boasting in the Lord alone.