Hi Valorie,
I haven't read through the posts thoroughly but Dave L is correct. athenken's opening statement is also correct.
1. How do I know if I am part of the elect?
I would encourage you to keep it simple. Don't get tied down by words like "elect." These are sometimes doctrinal terms and your inquiry is a heart issue. If I understand correctly then you'd simply like some sense of confidence that you are what you believe you are and do what you say you do.Think of "elect" simply as "chosen." God chose you. He loves you
.
And
that I would suggest to you is evidence of your salvation. If you'll give 1 Peter 3:21 then you'll note the pledge of a clear conscience is one of the purposes and results of salvation, of having been washed with the Holy Spirit. That doesn't happen to those still dead and enslaved in sin.
One part of your inquiry has to do with your ability to know something you cannot wholly know. You cannot know all that the Infinite Creator is doing in your life as a finite creature. You cannot know the future. The facts of scripture are that salvation is a past condition (you
have been saved), and a current condition (you
are saved), and salvation is a future condition not fully realized until you reach the other side of the grave (we
will be raised incorruptible and immortal).
This then is that tricky little part about faith. We are saved by grace through faith. In other words, we are saved by grace, not by faith. Faith is not causal. God is THE causal agent in salvation. This is fundamental Calvinism. Calvinism is a
monergistic doctrine of salvation. The alternative is synergism. Those are the doctrines that hold the sinners volition as causal in some way
prior to regeneration. In Calvinism we are converted from death to life solely by the work of God and it is entirely by grace. Undeserved. Unearned.
It is because we have been regenerated that we have faith, not the other way around. It is only because of regeneration that we can do goods works. So your faith is evidence of salvation.
You do not
know in the classic epistemological sense of human knowing but you have evidence.
Remember faith is the assurance of that which is unseen (Heb. 11).
The other part of this equation is the truth that it is God who works in us to save us. He is almighty. Nothing can defeat God. That means if God has hold of you then nothing can wrest you from his divine
almighty grasp. Synergists sometimes argue God may let go of you if you deny him but those whose lives He has purchased with His Son's blood are not ones who He lets go of. For Him to do so would be for Him to make worthless the purchase of your life. God is not Walmart. He does not take his purchases back. He paid an egregious price for you to demonstrate His love for you.
He loves
you, Valorie.
Just sit and feel that for a moment.
Know that nothing can remove you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Know it by faith.
2. I don't understand why Jesus had to die if the decision was already made
This is a somewhat more demanding question. One that goes beyond the matter of salvation. The short answer is that Jesus is the means of salvation so whatever decisions God made to save you or me they were decided in the context of Christ crucified and resurrected. According to John 14:6 he and he alone is the only way to the Father.
A longer answer covers a lot more terrain, but let's start with 1 Peter 1:19-20. There you will read a statement that says Jesus was foreknown before the foundation of the world as the perfect blemish-free sacrifice. So his sacrifice was decided upon before a single atom was spoken into existence. This was decided before a single human ever drew breath, before a single sin had ever been committed.
My apologies but I'm being summoned to dinner. I'll return when I can, but that might not be until tomorrow. In the interim if you have further questions do please ask.
You can have confidence you are saved because your life evidences change and God is almighty.