The Reformation was about human rescue from death and its doom, and the divine donation of deliverance in accord with the determinations of the mighty and sovereign Deity which were formed in the Father's covenant agreement with His Son. Election was shaped in the mutual purpose of compassion between the members of the Triune team.

This eternal fact is at the core of salvation, individual and corporate. The core was uncovered and confessed as the phases and fruits of salvation became evident to Christian experience and research: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those who God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called, those he called, he also justified, those he justified, he also glorified"(Romans 8:28-30).

Salvation in all its glorious aspects is found in Christ and we are found in Christ because, in accord with the prior choice of the Father, we are placed in him: It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God - that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord"(1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

The believer, the recipient of grace, differs from the unbeliever through the choice and action of God's pure grace: For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? (1 Corinthians 4:7).

There is no synergy between God and the elect in the initial stages of the work of grace and Paul is emphatic about this because of the human tendency to boast of its capacities (rely on), even in the great matter of the re-creation and regeneration of the soul (Arminianism is the natural and instinctive inclination to claim some credit for oneself and rationalize it into a theological principle that reduces our dependence upon God and gratitude towards him). Core theology concerning grace, as exhibited at the Reformation, conserves correct thinking all the way through in our reflection upon the goodness of God and the blessings that accrue to us. New birth, reconciliation, holiness of life, and preservation until entrance to the kingdom all proceed from electing love. We trace all of the benefits of our redemption to the prior decision of the Lord - our calling and response in the gift of the new heart (God's call in Pauline terminology is more often meant as an "effectual call"), our justification and the gift of faith that unites us to the Saviour, our conformity to the likeness of Christ in our sanctification, our glorification and admission to heaven by virtue of his work for us and in us. Right thinking about sin and salvation press us to the recognition of the core principle of electing grace if we wish to trace our blessedness to its origin and bless the Originator.

In order to maintain a synergistic approach it has to be maintained that the differentiating factor between the saved and the unsaved ultimately lies somewhere within man - that there is some superior spiritual or moral quality within believers that enables them to make the right choice, an option for holiness actually, and this is a possibility ruled out by the Scriptural verdict on the moral condition of man since the fall and the dominion of Satan over human souls. The notion is that potential believers have this infinitesimal grain of goodness of which unredeemed souls are devoid. In brief, the Scriptural commands of God do not lead us to suppose that there is free choice in fallen man, but rather they serve to convince us of total inability, which mercifully leads through grace to appreciate that the Lord Jesus Christ is our only hope "for health and salvation".

The elements - the basic truths of our deliverance through Jesus - need to be supernaturally revealed to us: All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Matthew 11:27). This revelation concerning the Son is not simply to do with his identity but the whole scope of his saving mission. The recipients of this revelation will be guarded to the end: For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible (Matthew 24:24). Mark endorses this guarantee of preservation: If the Lord had not cut short those days no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them (Mark 13:20).

At the outset of Luke's gospel the great company of angels who heralded the arrival of the Messiah declare the sovereign intention of God: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests (Luke 2: 14). "There is an emphasis on God, not man. It is those whom God chooses, rather than those who choose God, of whom the angels speak" (Leon Morris, Luke, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1995). The principle of divine election is evident in Jesus' citation of Elijah's ministry to Gentiles in preference to needy people of his own nation: "Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed - only Naaman the Syrian" (Luke 4: 26-27 - we note the reaction of the people in the synagogue to the Saviour's words - and cf Romans 10: 20: And Isaiah boldly says, "I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me").

The theme of sovereign grace is strongly present in the Gospel of John: All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never drive away (John 6:37 - refer to rest of the chapter and also John 17). The elect are never cast out. Acts testifies to the fulfillment of the decree of election: So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life Acts 11:18) and "When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed (Acts 13:48). Romans, of course, is the extended explication of the plan of salvation in all its dimensions. Corinthians has already been noted in its references to the eternal purpose of God. The Lord's selection of Paul (he could only serve the cause of the gospel if he was himself a beneficiary of the gospel) and Abraham's justification by faith are sufficient testimony to the electing love of God in the lives of these men and those who are connected to them by similar trust in the promises (The logic of grace dictates that Abraham was not chosen because of his faith but in order to receive faith).

Paul's letter to the Ephesians abounds with the recognition of the fact of predestination in the divine association of the elect with Christ, and the warm pastoral tones of his message to the Philippians at its core assures these believers of the perfection of God's work within them from commencement to conclusion. Paul thanks God for the faith of the Colossians, which he could not do if it was up to themselves to generate it, and he exhorts them as God's chosen people to exercise the graces of the Spirit wrought in their hearts (Colossians 3:12). John Newton makes it clear that fallen men do not naturally move Godwards in the interests of his own salvation: Thus their own sin and obstinacy is the proper cause of their destruction; they will not come to Christ that they may have life. At the same time, it is true, that they cannot, unless they are supernaturally drawn of God (John 5:40; 6:44). They will not, and they cannot come. Of the sinner Newton remarks: He will not embrace it (the way of salvation) or seek after it; and therefore he cannot, till the grace of God powerfully enlightens his mind, and overcomes his obstacles. . . . For the rest, I believe no sinner is converted without his own hearty will and concurrence. But he is not willing till he is made so.

Paul is grateful to God for his choice of the believing and serving Thessalonians. Every good thing manifest within them is the result of grace received, "Because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief of the truth. He called you to this through our gospel that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:13-15). Paul speaks to Timothy of the breadth of divine mercy but of special favor to the elect angels and men: of men he says, "Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ with eternal glory" (2 Timothy 2 10). The Lord keeps his protective eye on his chosen ones in every situation of hazard, especially the corruption of his truth by such men as Hymenaeus and Philetus: They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his", and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness" (2 Timothy 218-19).

The letter to Titus' and its assertions and exhortations are in line with the Pauline core doctrine of salvation through exclusive and efficient grace: Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness (Titus 1:1 cf 3: 4-7). James refers to the sovereign means of our new birth - the all powerful word of God: He chose to give us birth through the word of truth (James 1:18). Peter writes to Gods's elect, "Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" (1:2) and exhorts us to "make our calling and election sure". John writes to the "chosen lady" (2 John v1), and Jude to "those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ" (v1).

A cursory review of the documents of the New Testament discloses that there is an awareness of electing love distributed throughout. Many will isolate statements from the New Testament and construe them in various ways, but accurately traced to the core concept of predestination, and then assembled, they will, in a cohesive way, support the notion that electing love is the determinative key to the understanding of grace expounded and enjoyed.

No one asserts that it is necessary to be a consistent Augustinian in order to be saved, though convinced Augustinians will always wonder why the light on electing love has not dawned universally upon all believers who possess the disposition of total reliance upon the Lord - it seems an inevitable deduction. "I believe the man who is not willing to submit to the electing love and sovereign grace of God has great reason to question whether he is a Christian at all, for the spirit that kicks against that is the spirit of the unhumbled, unrenewed heart", writes C.H. Spurgeon, and he continues to confess, "Whatever may be said about the doctrine of election, it is written in the Word of God as with an iron pen, and there is no getting rid of it. To me, it is one of the sweetest and most blessed truths in the whole of revelation, and those who are afraid of it are so because they do not understand it. If they could but know that the Lord has chosen them, it would make their hearts dance for joy."

John Newton adds concerning predestination: I am sure it is laid down in as plain terms, as that God created the heavens and the earth. I own but cannot wonder, that persons professing any reverence for the Bible should so openly and strongly declare their abhorrence of what the Bible so expressly teaches, namely, that there is a discrimination of persons by grace and good pleasure of God, where by nature there is no difference; and that all things respecting the salvation of these persons is infallibly secured by divine predestination (Collected Letters, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1989).

"To leave out election [from preaching], opines John (Rabbi) Duncan, "is to leave out the keystone of the arch" and he proposes, as does our Seventeenth Article, the safe way to approach this most consoling of truths, "The whole spring of salvation is in God's election; but this stream of salvation flows out before us in a free gospel; and we are to drink of the water, not at the fountain-head, but as it flows by us, yet acknowledging the fountain from which it flows."

The lament of a Reformational Anglican is that our Communion now lacks its anchorage in the solid foundation given to us earlier in the wise providence of God. Impressive truth has been exchanged for a limp, adulterated, presentation of the character of God and his dealings with mankind. Men no longer fear God but feel sorry for him as the human will nullifies what was once seen as the supreme will of God. And Arminianism only confirms this shameful attitude towards our Almighty Lord. It pares away his prerogatives and power. "It always seems inexplicable to me that that those who claim free will so very boldly for man should not allow some free will to God. Why should not Jesus Christ have the right to choose his own bride? (Spurgeon). And, to quote Newton again, "It is of grace that any are saved; and in the distribution of that grace he does what he will with his own - a right that most are ready enough to claim in their own concerns, though they are so unwilling to allow it to the Lord of all.

If there are moves to restore Anglicanism to a sound basis then the key Scriptural emphases of our forbears cannot be ignored. Our future is futile without them.

The Rev. Roger Salter is an ordained Church of England minister where he had parishes in the dioceses of Bristol and Portsmouth before coming to Birmingham, Alabama to serve as Rector of St. Matthew's Anglican Church