Conditional election

In Christian theology, conditional election is the belief that God chooses for eternal salvation those whom he foresees will have faith in Christ. This belief emphasizes the importance of a person's free will. The counter-view is known as unconditional election, and is the belief that God chooses whomever he will, based solely on his purposes and apart from an individual's free will. It has long been an issue in Calvinist–Arminian debate.

The doctrine of conditional election is most often associated with the Arminian churches. The Arminians have defended their belief against the doctrine of other Calvinist churches since the early 17th century when they submitted the following statement of doctrine to the Reformed Churches of the Low Countries:

The doctrine of conditional election derives from the view that Jesus's death on the cross was for all humanity, not just the elect (a Calvinist view called limited atonement). Arminians and others who oppose unconditional election take it to be impossible for God to elect particular individuals, and then declare that the gospel is available to all, because of the question which then arises: does limited atonement offer a true call to salvation or is it only for the elect? Arminians charge that Calvinism does not account for the many Biblical verses that declare that the gospel is available to all humanity. Therefore, they answer with conditional election: God looked from eternity and foresaw who called on Jesus to be saved, and these people are those to whom He is referring, when speaking of the elect. In other words, when the Gospel is preached, every person has a real opportunity to believe, repent and receive forgiveness, not just the elect. Often Arminians point to verses such as Romans 8:29, saying that the verse means God predestined to save and sanctify everyone who He already knew would believe in Christ. Calvinists counter by saying that foreknowledge is not passive, but an active decision to "know" in a relational sense the elect, pointing out many.

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