Who is Getting Voted Off the Island? It’s a Secret!

When pressed, Calvinists have a very hard time explaining why they consider themselves among the Elect and not among those unfortunate souls brought into this world for no other reason than that the Sovereign God wanted to show how great and awesome He is by deciding from all eternity that He would be sending them to Hell.

John Calvin was not even sure about who is getting voted off the island. And so, when you point out to Calvinists that they make faith in their faith the ground of certainty for the salvation, they get a bit…exercised. But blame Calvin for the notion that it is finally our faith, not Christ crucified, that is our assurance of our election.

E.g., see Inst. IV, 1:2-3,8; 12:9; III, 21:2.

Also:

“The election of God is hidden and secret in itself . . . men are being fantastic or fanatical if they look for their salvation or for the salvation of others in the labyrinth of predestination instead of keeping to the way of the faith which is offered them . . . To each one, his faith is a sufficient witness of the eternal predestination of God, so that it would be a horrible sacrilege to seek higher assurance.”

(Commentary on John 6:40; in Francis Wendel, Calvin: Origins and Development of His Religious Thought, translated by Philip Mairet, New York: Harper & Row, 1963, 270)