LAWSON: It is if you're God. I would have to have clarification for what does "primary" mean. You
do not have to believe in the doctrine of election in order to be saved, in order to be a Christian.
I was converted when I was 17 years old. I did not come to embrace the doctrines
of grace and specifically election until I was twenty-eight years old. So, there's an entire
decade there in which it was not primary, though I was still saved,
but I think it is primary as you read the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. It's not
a doctrine that is just tucked away in the corners of books. What's interesting when
you read the New Testament is where you find the doctrine of election
and where you find the doctrines of grace. Where are they found in the Gospel of John?
Where are they in Romans? Where are they in Ephesians? Where are they in 1 Corinthians?
Where are they in 1 Thessalonians? Where are they in 1 Peter? Where are they in 2 Peter?
You will find them in chapter 1 verse 1. You will find them in chapter 1 verse 2, chapter 1 verse 3,
which presupposes how well the early church was taught in the doctrine of election that
that could be the front doorstep to enter into the weight of either that gospel or of that epistle.
So it was a primary doctrine in the first century church under the apostolic teaching
that it would be positioned in such a prominent place, not hidden at the back of a book.
And even in Romans, where the weight of it doesn't come until chapters 8 and 9, nevertheless,
in chapter 1 verse 6 he talks about those who are called and obviously that introduces
who is called and why are they called. And the reason they are called is because they
have been chosen by God. But Ephesians 1 verse 4, 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 4, 2 Peter
1 verse 1, 2 Peter 1 verse 1 and 2. I mean, it's just so frontloaded. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 2
and throughout the entire opening chapter of 1 Corinthians.
And so, I think that it is a primary doctrine in that sense, not necessary to be converted,
but necessary to understand how it is you are saved and to understand
really who the God is who has saved you. So, it would depend on how you define "primary."
NICHOLS: I find it interesting as you look through church history
and as people recall their conversions, even those who would not as they proceed in their Christian
life, to identify as confessional Calvinists and maybe even identify as against Calvinism,
but when they speak of their own testimony and they recall their own conversion,
they speak of God choosing them. They don't speak of them choosing God. And so,
even in their experience they are testifying to the primary notion of the doctrine of election.
PARSONS: Well, just to add this to what has already been stated I think a lot of it depends
on what someone does after having studied the doctrine of election, and what they do with it,
and what they make of it, where they land. If they study it in some depth biblically
and reject it or try to come up with some fanciful contortion of what Scripture must otherwise mean,
I think then they'll either wind up with a very shallow theology and a very shallow understanding
of salvation if indeed they are saved at all. I think that's part of the difficulty and the
complexity of this question and our forefathers have wrestled with this throughout the ages,
because it's not that simple because you may not need to understand it or grasp it
in order to be saved. We certainly would agree on that, but if one lives his Christian life
or her Christian life for many years and studies this and then rejects it,
I don't know how someone could truly understand the grace of God in their salvation.