There are two possible bases or foundations for Divine election: foreseen faith based on a bare foreknowledge [prescience], or a covenant love grounded in the Divine prerogative and expressed in free and sovereign grace. The Scriptures reveal that the ultimate cause of Divine election rests in the depths of Divine love and prerogative. God is never moved or motivated externally to himself. He is ever motivated from within his own self– consistency. Should he be mutable due to external causes, he would cease to be God, and be relative to his creation and subject to some nebulous, external absolute force such as chance or some impersonal fatalistic principle. The Scriptures reveal that the Divine choice of sinners to salvation rests in God alone. This is for the assurance and encouragement of the believer in his present experience—that he might be assured of the certain and infallible nature of his salvation, especially in the context of present trials and opposition (Deut. 4:37; 7:6–7; 10:14–15; Eph. 1:4–5; Rom. 8:28–39; 9:13– 14; 11:33–36). What of foreknowledge? Divine election based on foreseen faith would be election by mere foreknowledge [prescience]. The biblical usage must determine the exact significance of the term. What is the biblical teaching concerning the foreknowledge of God? Foreknowledge is not synonymous with omniscience. It is concerned, not with contingency, but with certainty (Acts 2:23; 15:18; Rom. 8:29–30), and thus implies a knowledge of what has been rendered certain. Acts 2:23 would make foreknowledge dependent upon God’s “determinate counsel” by the grammatical construction which combines both together as one thought with “foreknowledge” referring to and enforcing the previous term. Foreknowledge is related to the Old Testament term “to know,” implying an intimate knowledge of and relation to its object (Cf. Gen. 4:1; Amos 3:2). The passages in the New Testament (Rom. 8:29; 11:2; 1 Pet. 1:2) all speak of persons who are foreknown, implying much more than mere prescience or omniscience—a relationship that is absolutely certain, personal and intimate. The only example of things being foreknown is clearly based on Divine determination (Acts 15:18). Because Divine election or foreordination to eternal life is grounded in the immutable character of God, it is infallible. Were it based upon foreseen faith, mere prescience, or human ability, it would remain fallible and mutable. Because of its infallible and immutable character, Divine election or foreordination to eternal life is the source of the greatest comfort, 125 encouragement and perseverance to the believer. This is exactly the way in which and the reason why this truth is revealed in Scripture! Note especially the great and glorious statement of the Apostle in Romans 8:28–39. Under inspiration, he puts this truth in the context of the present promise (v. 28), the eternal redemptive purpose (v. 29–34), the very worst that believers can experience (v. 35–36), the redemptive, covenant love of the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 37) and the infallibility of the Covenant of Grace (v. 38–39)
-----
taken from A Baptist Catechism...with Commentary, by W.R.Downing