Unconditional election (also called sovereign election or unconditional grace) is a Calvinist doctrine relating to predestination that describes the actions and motives of God prior to his creation of the world, when he predestined some people to receive salvation, the elect, and the rest he left to continue in their sins and receive the just punishment, eternal damnation, for their transgressions of God's law as outlined in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. God made these choices according to his own purposes apart from any conditions or qualities related to those persons.
The alternative view to unconditional election is the Arminian doctrine of conditional election, the belief that God predestinates for eternal salvation those whom he foreknows will respond to God's prevenient grace with given faith in Christ's atonement. God's election was for a clear unalterable purpose, to elect those who will believe.
