Promises and Election

Some in the recent presbyterian debates have suggested that God has given us the covenant and the sacraments, and that it is not really our responsibility to search the secret things of God. We don’t have access to the list of the elect to glory. We have God’s Word. We have baptism and the Eucharist, and these are God’s sure promises to us. Bucer clearly taught similarly when he said regarding infant baptism, “It is the church’s task to follow God’s promises, not election, not attitude of the heart.” Elsewhere, in a marginal notation, he says, “In conferring sacraments, regard is to be had to God’s promise, not to election” (Wright, 101).