Election

VIEW:48 DATA:01-04-2020

ELECTION.?The idea of election, as expressive of God?s method of accomplishing His purpose for the world in both providence and grace, though (as befits the character of the Bible as peculiarly ?the history of redemption?) especially in grace, goes to the heart of Scripture teaching. The word ?election? itself occurs but a few times (Act_9:15 ?vessel of election,? Rom_9:11; Rom_11:5; Rom_11:7; Rom_11:28, 1Th_1:4, 2Pe_1:10); ?elect? in NT much oftener (see below); but equivalent words in OT and NT, as ?choose,? ?chosen,? ?foreknow? (in sense of ?fore-designate?), etc., considerably extend the range of usage. In the OT, as will be seen, the special object of the Divine election is Israel (e.g. Deu_4:37; Deu_7:7 etc.); but within Israel are special elections, as of the tribe of Levi, the house of Aaron, Judah, David and his house, etc.; while, in a broader sense, the idea, if not the expression, is present wherever individuals are raised up, or separated, for special service (thus of Cyrus, Isa_44:28; Isa_45:1-6). In the NT the term ?elect? is frequently used, both by Christ and by the Apostles, for those who are heirs of salvation (e.g. Mat_24:22; Mat_24:24; Mat_24:31||, Luk_18:7, Rom_8:33, Col_3:12, 2Ti_2:10, Tit_1:1, 1Pe_1:2), and the Church, as the new Israel, is described as ?an elect race? (1Pe_2:9). Jesus Himself is called, with reference to Isa_42:1, God?s ?chosen? or ?elect? One (Mat_12:18, Luk_9:35 RV, Luk_23:35); and mention is once made of ?elect? angels (1Ti_5:21). In St. Paul?s Epistles the idea has great prominence (Rom_9:1-33, Eph_1:4 etc.). It is now necessary to investigate the implications of this idea more carefully.
Election, etymologically, is the choice of one, or of some, out of many. In the usage we are investigating, election is always, and only, of God. It is the method by which, in the exercise of His holy freedom, He carries out His purpose (?the purpose of God according to election,? Rom_9:11). The ?call? which brings the election to light, as in the call of Abraham, Israel, believers, is in time, but the call rests on God?s prior, eternal determination (Rom_8:28-29). Israel was chosen of God?s free love (Deu_7:6 ff.); believers are declared to be blessed in Christ, ?even as he chose? them ?in him??the One in whom is the ground of all salvation??before the foundation of the world? (Eph_1:4). It is strongly insisted on, therefore, that the reason of election is not anything in the object itself (Rom_9:11; Rom_9:16); the ground of the election of believers is not in their holiness or good works, or even in fides pr?visa, but solely in God?s free grace and mercy (Eph_1:1-4; holiness a result, not a cause). They are ?made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will? (Eph_1:11); or, as in an earlier verse, ?according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace? (Eph_1:6). Yet, as it is axiomatic that there is no unrighteousness with God (Rom_9:14); that His loving will embraces the whole world (Joh_3:16, 1Ti_2:4); that He can never, in even the slightest degree, act partially or capriciously (Act_10:34, 2Ti_2:13); and that, as salvation in the case of none is compulsory, but is always in accordance with the saved person?s own free choice, so none perishes but by his own fault or unbelief?it is obvious that difficult problems arise on this subject which can be solved, so far as solution is possible, only by close attention to all Scripture indications.
1. In the OT.?Valuable help is afforded, first, by observing how this idea shapes itself, and is developed, in the OT. From the first, then, we see that God?s purpose advances by a method of election, but observe also that, while sovereign and free, this election is never an end in itself, but is subordinated as a means to a wider end. It is obvious also that it was only by an election?that is, by beginning with some individual or people, at some time, in some place?that such ends as God had in view in His Kingdom could be realized. Abraham, accordingly, is chosen, and God calls him, and makes His covenant with him, and with his seed; not, however, as a private, personal transaction, but that in him and in his seed all families of the earth should be blessed (Gen_12:2-3 etc.). Further elections narrow down this line of promise?Isaac, not Ishmael; Jacob, not Esau (cf. Rom_9:7-13)?till Israel is grown, and prepared for the national covenant at Sinai. Israel, again, is chosen from among the families of the earth (Exo_19:3-6, Deu_4:34, Amo_3:2); not, however, for its own sake, but that it may be a means of blessing to the Gentiles. This is the ideal calling of Israel which peculiarly comes out in the prophecies of the Servant of Jehovah (Isa_41:1-29; Isa_42:1-25; Isa_43:1-28; Isa_44:1-28; Isa_45:1-25; Isa_46:1-13; Isa_47:1-15; Isa_48:1-22; Isa_49:1-26)?a calling of which the nation as a whole so fatally fell short (Isa_42:19-20). So far as these prophecies of the Servant point to Christ?the Elect One in the supreme sense, as both Augustine and Calvin emphasize?His mission also was one of salvation to the world.
Here, however, it will naturally be asked?Is there not, after all, a reason for these and similar elections in the greater congruity of the object with the purpose for which it was designed? If God chose Abraham, was it not because Abraham was the best fitted among existing men for such a vocation? Was Isaac not better fitted than Ishmael, and Jacob than Esau, to be the transmitters of the promise? This leads to a remark which carries us much deeper into the nature of election. We err grievously if we think of God?s relation to the objects of His choice as that of a workman to a set of tools provided for him, from which he selects that most suited to his end. It is a shallow view of the Divine election which regards it as simply availing itself of happy varieties of character spontaneously presenting themselves in the course of natural development. Election goes deeper than grace?even into the sphere of nature. It presides, to use a happy phrase of Lange?s, at the making of its object (Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, etc.), as well as uses it when made. The question is not simply how, a man of the gifts and qualifications of Abraham, or Moses, or Paul, being given, God should use him in the way He did, but rather how a man of this spiritual build, and these gifts and qualifications, came at that precise juncture to be there at all. The answer to that question can be found only in the Divine ordering; election working in the natural sphere prior to its being revealed in the spiritual, God does not simply find His instruments?He creates them: He has had them, in a true sense, in view, and has been preparing them from the foundation of things. Hence St. Paul?s saying of himself that he was separated from his mother?s womb (Gal_1:15; cf. of Jeremiah, Jer_1:5; of Cyrus, Isa_45:5 etc.).
Here comes in another consideration. Israel was the elect nation, but as a nation it miserably failed in its vocation (so sometimes with the outward Church). It would seem, then, as if, on the external side, election had failed of its result; but it did not do so really. This is the next step in the OT development?the realization of an election within the election, of a true and spiritual Israel within the natural, of individual election as distinct from national. This idea is seen shaping itself in the greater prophets in the doctrine of the ?remnant? (cf. Isa_1:9; Isa_6:13; Isa_8:16-18 etc.); in the idea of a godly kernel in Israel in distinction from the unbelieving mass (involved in prophecies of the Servant); and is laid hold of, and effectively used, by St. Paul in his rebutting of the supposition that the word of God had failed (Rom_9:6 ?for they are not all Israel that are of Israel,? Rom_11:5; Rom_11:7 etc.). This yields us the natural transition to the NT conception.
2. In the NT.?The difference in the NT standpoint in regard to election may perhaps now be thus defined. (1) Whereas the election in the OT is primarily national, and only gradually works round to the idea of an inner, spiritual election, the opposite is the case in the NT?election is there at first personal and individual, and the Church as an elect body is viewed as made up of these individual believers and all others professing faith in Christ (a distinction thus again arising between inward and outward). (2) Whereas the personal aspect of election in the OT is throughout subordinate to the idea of service, in the NT, on the other hand, stress is laid on the personal election to eternal salvation; and the aspect of election as a means to an end beyond itself falls into the background, without, however, being at all intended to be lost sight of. The believer, according to NT teaching, is called to nothing so much as to active service; he is to be a light of the world (Mat_5:13-16), a worker together with God (1Co_3:9), a living epistle, known and read of all men (2Co_3:2-3); the light has shined in his heart that he should give it forth to others (2Co_4:6); he is elected to the end that he may show forth the excellencies of Him who called him (1Pe_2:9), etc. St. Paul is a ?vessel of election? to the definite end that he should bear Christ?s name to the Gentiles (Act_9:15). Believers are a kind of ?first-fruits? unto God (Rom_16:5, 1Co_16:15, Jas_1:18, Rev_14:4); there is a ?fulness? to be brought in (Rom_11:25).
As carrying us, perhaps, most deeply into the comprehension of the NT doctrine of election, it is lastly to be observed that, apart from the inheritance of ideas from the OT, there is an experiential basis for this doctrine, from which, in the living consciousness of faith, it can never be divorced. In general it is to be remembered how God?s providence is everywhere in Scripture represented as extending over all persons and events?nothing escaping His notice, or falling outside of His counsel (not even the great crime of the Crucifixion, Act_4:28)?and how uniformly everything good and gracious is ascribed to His Spirit as its author (e.g. Act_11:18, Eph_2:8, Php_2:13, Heb_13:20-21). It cannot, therefore, be that in so great a matter as a soul?s regeneration (see Regeneration), and the translating of it out of the darkness of sin into the light and blessing of Christ?s Kingdom (Act_26:18, Col_1:12-13, 1Pe_2:9-10), the change should not be viewed as a supreme triumph of the grace of God in that soul, and should not be referred to an eternal act of God, choosing the individual, and in His love calling him in His own good time into this felicity. Thus also, in the experience of salvation, the soul, conscious of the part of God in bringing it to Himself, and hourly realizing its entire dependence on Him for everything good, will desire to regard it and will regard it; and will feel that in this thought of God?s everlasting choice of it lies its true ground of security and comfort (Rom_8:28; Rom_8:33; Rom_8:38-39). It is not the soul that has chosen God, but God that has chosen it (cf. Joh_15:16), and all the comforting and assuring promises which Christ gives to those whom He describes as ?given? Him by the Father (Joh_6:37; Joh_6:39 etc.)?as His ?sheep? (Joh_10:3-5 etc.)?are humbly appropriated by it for its consolation and encouragement (cf. Joh_6:39; Joh_10:27-29 etc.).
On this experiential basis Calvinist and Arminian may be trusted to agree, though it leaves the speculative question still unsolved of how precisely God?s grace and human freedom work together in the production of this great change. That is a question which meets us wherever God?s purpose and man?s free will touch, and probably will be found to embrace unsolved element till the end. Start from the Divine side, and the work of salvation is all of grace; start from the human side, there is responsibility and choice. The elect, on any showing, must always be those in whom grace is regarded as effecting its result; the will, on the other hand, must be freely won; but this winning of the will may be viewed as itself the last triumph of grace?God working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php_2:13, Heb_13:20-21). From this highest point of view the antinomy disappears; the believer is ready to acknowledge that it is not anything in self, not his willing and running, that has brought him into the Kingdom (Rom_9:16), but only God?s eternal mercy. See, further, Predestination, Regeneration, Reprobate.
James Orr.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

(See ELECT.)
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Of a divine election, a choosing and separating from others, we have three kinds mentioned in the Scriptures. The first is the election of individuals to perform some particular and special service. Cyrus was “elected” to rebuild the temple; the twelve Apostles were “chosen,”
elected, to their office by Christ; St. Paul was a “chosen,” or elected “vessel,” to be the Apostle of the Gentiles. The second kind of election which we find in Scripture, is the election of nations, or bodies of people, to eminent religious privileges, and in order to accomplish, by their superior illumination, the merciful purposes of God, in benefiting other nations or bodies of people. Thus the descendants of Abraham, the Jews, were chosen to receive special revelations of truth; and to be “the people of God,” that is, his visible church, publicly to observe and uphold his worship. “The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.” “The Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you, above all people.” It was especially on account of the application of the terms elect, chosen, and peculiar, to the Jewish people, that they were so familiarly used by the Apostles in their epistles addressed to the believing Jews and Gentiles, then constituting the church of Christ in various places. For Christians were the subjects, also, of this second kind of election; the election of bodies of men to be the visible people and church of God in the world, and to be endowed with peculiar privileges. Thus they became, though in a more special and exalted sense, the chosen people, the elect of God. We say “in a more special sense,” because as the entrance into the Jewish church was by natural birth, and the entrance into the Christian church, properly so called, is by faith and a spiritual birth, these terms, although many became Christians by mere profession, and enjoyed various priviledges in consequence of their people or nation being chosen to receive the Gospel, have generally respect, in the New Testament, to bodies of true believers, or to the whole body of true believers as such. They are not, therefore, to be interpreted according to the scheme of Dr. Taylor of Norwich, by the constitution of the Jewish, but by the constitution of the Christian, church.
2. To understand the nature of this “election,” as applied sometimes to particular bodies of Christians, as when St. Peter says, “The church which is at Babylon, elected together with you,” and sometimes to the whole body of believers every where; and also the reason of the frequent use of the term election, and of the occurrence of allusions to the fact; it is to be remembered, that a great religious revolution, so to speak, had occurred in the age of the Apostles; with the full import of which we cannot, without calling in the aid of a little reflection, be adequately impressed. This change was no other than the abrogation of the church state of the Jews, which had continued for so many ages. They had been the only visibly acknowledged people of God in all the nations of the earth; for whatever pious people might have existed in other nations, they were not, in the sight of men, and collectively, acknowledged as “the people of Jehovah.” They had no written revelations, no appointed ministry, no forms of authorized initiation into his church and covenant, no appointed holy days, or sanctioned ritual. All these were peculiar to the Jews, who were, therefore, an elected and peculiar people. This distinguished honour they were about to lose. They might have retained it as Christians, had they been willing to admit the believing Gentiles of all nations to share it with them; but the great reason of their peculiarity and election, as a nation, was terminated by the coming of the Messiah, who was to be “a light to lighten the Gentiles,” as well as “the glory of his people Israel.” Their pride and consequent unbelief resented this, which will explain their enmity to the believing part of the Gentiles, who, when that which St. Paul calls “the fellowship of the mystery” was fully explained, chiefly by the glorious ministry of that Apostle himself, were called into that church relation and visible acknowledgment as the people of God, which the Jews had formerly enjoyed, and that with even a higher degree of glory, in proportion to the superior spirituality of the new dispensation. It was this doctrine which excited that strong irritation in the minds of the unbelieving Jews, and in some partially Christianized ones, to which so many references are made in the New Testament. The were “provoked,” were made “jealous;” and were often roused to the madness of persecuting opposition by it. There was then a new election of a new people of God, to be composed of Jews, not by virtue of their natural descent, but through their faith in Christ, and of Gentiles of all nations, also believing, and put as believers, on an equal ground with the believing Jews: and there was also a rejection, a reprobation, but not an absolute one; for the election was offered to the Jews first, in every place, by offering them the Gospel. Some embraced it, and submitted to be the elect people of God, on the new ground of faith, instead of the old one of natural descent; and therefore the Apostle, Rom_11:7, calls the believing part of the Jews, “the election,” in opposition to those who opposed this “election of grace,” and still clung to their former and now repealed election as Jews and the descendants of Abraham; “But the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.” The offer had been made to the whole nation; all might have joined the one body of believing Jews and believing Gentiles; but the major part of them refused: they would not “come into the supper;” they made “light of it;” light of an election founded on faith, and which placed the relation of “the people of God” upon spiritual attainments, and offered to them only spiritual blessings. They were, therefore, deprived of election and church relationship of every kind: their temple was burned; their political state abolished; their genealogies confounded; their worship annihilated; and all visible acknowledgment of them by God as a church withdrawn, and transfer red to a church henceforward to be composed chiefly of Gentiles:
and thus, says St. Paul, “were fulfilled the words of Moses, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish,” ignorant and idolatrous, “people I will anger you.” It is easy, therefore, to see what is the import of the “calling” and “election” of the Christian church, as spoken of in the New Testament. It was not the calling and the electing of one nation in particular to succeed the Jews; but it was the calling and the electing of believers in all nations, wherever the Gospel should be preached, to be in reality what the Jews typically, and therefore in an inferior degree, had been,—the visible church of God, “his people,” under Christ “the Head;” with an authenticated revelation; with an appointed ministry, never to be lost; with authorized worship; with holy days and festivals; with instituted forms of initiation; and with special protection and favour.
3. The third kind of election is personal election; or the election of individuals to be the children of God, and the heirs of eternal life. This is not a choosing to particular offices and service, which is the first kind of election we have mentioned; nor is it that collective election to religious privileges and a visible church state, of which we have spoken. For although “the elect” have an individual interest in such an election as parts of the collective body, thus placed in possession of the ordinances of Christianity; yet many others have the same advantages, who still remain under the guilt and condemnation of sin and practical unbelief. The individuals properly called “the elect,” are they who have been made partakers of the grace and saving efficacy of the Gospel. “Many,” says our Lord, “are called, but few chosen.” What true personal election is, we shall find explained in two clear passages of Scripture. It is explained by our Lord, where he says to his disciples, “I have chosen you out of the world:” and by St. Peter, when he addresses his First Epistle to the “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus.” To be elected, therefore, is to be separated from “the world,” and to be sanctified by the Spirit, and by the blood of Christ, It follows, then, not only that election is an act of God done in time, but also that it is subsequent to the administration of the means of salvation. The “calling” goes before the “election;” the publication of the doctrine of “the Spirit,” and the atonement, called by Peter “the sprinkling of the blood of Christ,” before that “sanctification” through which they become “the elect” of God. In a word, “the elect” are the body of true believers; and personal election into the family of God is through personal faith. All who truly believe are elected; and all to whom the Gospel is sent have, through the grace that accompanies it, the power to believe placed within their reach; and all such might, therefore, attain to the grace of personal election.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

God is a loving and merciful God, and in his grace chooses people for purposes that he has planned. This exercise of God’s sovereign will is called election.
In the Old Testament God’s election applied particularly to his choice of Abraham and, through Abraham, to his choice of Israel to be his people (Gen_12:1-3; Neh_9:7-8; Isa_41:8-9). From this people he produced one man, Jesus the Messiah, chosen by him before the foundation of the world to be the Saviour of the world (Luk_9:35; Act_2:23; Act_4:27-28; Eph_1:9-10; 1Pe_1:20; 1Pe_2:4; 1Pe_2:6). All who believe in Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile, are the true people of God, the true descendants of Abraham (Rom_9:6-9; Gal_3:14; Gal_3:26-29). God has chosen them to receive his salvation, and together they form God’s people, the church (Joh_6:37; Joh_6:44; Joh_15:19; Joh_17:2; Joh_17:6; Eph_1:4-6; 2Th_2:13-14; 1Pe_2:9). ‘The elect’ is therefore another name for the people of God (Mat_24:22; Luk_18:7; 2Ti_2:10).
God’s activity in determining beforehand what will happen, particularly in relation to people’s destiny, is sometimes called predestination. This predestination originates in God himself, who acts according to his own will and purpose (Psa_139:16; Isa_14:24; Isa_37:26; Isa_46:9-10; Mat_25:34; Act_2:23; Act_4:27-28; Eph_1:5; Rom_8:28-30; 1Th_5:9; see PREDESTINATION).
The gracious work of God
Election has its source in the sovereign love of God. No one deserves to be chosen by God, but in his immeasurable mercy he has chosen to save some (Rom_9:15; Rom_11:5; Eph_1:5). God’s choice of people does not depend on anything of merit in them. It depends entirely on his unmerited favour towards them (Deu_7:6-8; Deu_9:6; Rom_11:6; 1Co_1:27-29; 2Ti_1:9; Jam_2:5).
Neither does God choose people because he foresees their faith or their good intentions (Rom_9:11; Rom_9:16). Salvation is not a reward for faith. Faith is simply the means by which people receive the undeserved salvation that God, in his mercy, gives (Rom_9:16; Rom_9:30; Eph_2:8-9; see FAITH). Or, to put it another way, faith is the means by which God’s eternal choice becomes a reality in their earthly experience (Act_13:48; 1Th_1:4-9). By coming to believe in Jesus, they show that God has chosen them. Eternal life is not their achievement, but God’s (Joh_6:37; Joh_6:40).
All the merit for a person’s salvation is in Jesus Christ, whose work of atonement is the basis on which God can forgive repentant sinners (Rom_3:23-26; see JUSTIFICATION). They are chosen only because of their union with Christ, and they are to be changed into the likeness of Christ (Eph_1:4; 2Ti_1:9; cf. Rom_8:29; 2Th_2:14).
No one can argue with God concerning his work of election, for the entire human race is guilty before him and in no position to demand mercy from him. God is the sovereign Creator; human beings are but his rebellious creatures. The amazing thing is not that God shows mercy on only some, but that he shows mercy on any at all (Rom_9:14-23).
Election and calling
Sometimes the Bible speaks of God’s choosing as his calling (Isa_41:8-9; Isa_51:2; Rom_9:11), but other times it makes a distinction (Mat_22:14; see CALL). God chose his people from eternity (Eph_1:4; 2Ti_1:9) and determined to save those whom he had chosen (Rom_8:28-29; Eph_1:5; Eph_1:11). The historical event when each chosen person repented, believed, and accepted God’s salvation is sometimes spoken of as the call of God to that person (Rom_8:30; Rom_9:23-24; 1Th_2:12; 2Th_2:13-14; 2Ti_1:9).
Side by side with the truth of the sovereign and divine will is the truth of human responsibility. The gospel is available to all, and those who refuse it have no one to blame but themselves (Rom_10:13; 1Ti_2:3-4; 2Pe_3:9).
The knowledge that God has chosen sinners to receive salvation is a great encouragement to those who preach the gospel. It urges them on in their preaching, so that people might hear the message of grace that is God’s means of bringing his chosen to himself (Joh_10:14-16; Joh_17:6-8; Act_13:48; Act_18:10; Rom_10:13-14; 2Ti_2:10). And the salvation of those who respond in faith is eternally secure; for it depends not upon their efforts, but upon the sovereign choice of God (Joh_6:37-40; Joh_10:27-29; Rom_8:33-39; Rom_11:29; see ASSURANCE).
Responsibilities of the elect
Although believers may feel secure because their salvation is centred in God, they deceive themselves if they think their behaviour is unimportant (2Pe_1:9-11). There is nothing mechanical about election. Human beings are not lifeless robots manipulated by some impersonal fate. They are creatures made in God’s image, whose lives reflect their relationship with him. Those who have truly been chosen by God will show it by lives of perseverance in the faith he professes. The Bible often links statements about election with warnings and commands concerning the necessity for steadfastness, watchfulness and perseverance (Mar_13:13; Mar_13:22-23; Mar_13:27; Mar_13:33; Act_13:48; Act_14:22; 1Th_5:23-24; 2Th_2:13-15; 1Ti_6:11-12; see PERSEVERANCE).
Those whom God has chosen to be his people are, by that fact, chosen to be holy (Deu_7:6; Eph_1:4; 1Pe_1:15). Since they belong to God, they are to be separate from sin and uncleanness, bringing praise to him (Isa_43:21; Eph_1:12; 2Th_2:13; see HOLINESS). They are to reflect the glory of Christ now, and will one day share in that glory fully (Rom_8:29-30; Rom_9:23; 1Co_2:7; 2Th_2:14). Part of God’s purpose in choosing them is that their lives might bear fruit for God, as they develop Christian character and do good for others (Joh_15:16; Eph_2:10). God has chosen them to be his channel of blessing to an ever-increasing number of people (1Pe_2:9-10; cf. Gen_12:1-3).
Awareness of their election should not lead Christians to complacency. Rather the opposite, for God requires a higher standard of conduct in those who are his chosen people (Amo_3:2; Mic_3:9-12; 1Pe_4:17). The way people live is the proof or disproof of their election (2Pe_1:9-11; cf. Tit_1:1; 1Jn_2:29; 1Jn_3:10).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

ē̇-lek?shun (ἐκλογή, eklogḗ, ?choice,? ?selection?):
I. The Word in Scripture
II. The Mysterious Element
III. Incidence Upon Community and Individual
IV. Cognate and Illustrative Biblical Languange
V. Limitations of Inquiry Here. Scope of Election
VI. Perseverance
VII. Considerations in Relief of Thought
1. Antinomies
2. Fatalism Another Thing
3. The Moral Aspects
4. ?We know in Part?
5. The Unknown Future
I. The Word in Scripture
The word is absent from the Old Testament, where the related Hebrew verb (בּחר, bāḥar) is frequent. In the New Testament it occurs 6 times (Rom_9:11; Rom_11:5, Rom_11:7, Rom_11:28; 1Th_1:4; 2Pe_1:10). In all these places it appears to denote an act of Divine selection taking effect upon human objects so as to bring them into special and saving relations with God: a selection such as to be at once a mysterious thing, transcending human analysis of its motives (so eminently in Rom_9:11), and such as to be knowable by its objects, who are (2 Pet) exhorted to ?make it sure,? certain, a fact to consciousness. It is always (with one exception, Rom_9:11; see below) related to a community, and Thus has close affinity with the Old Testament teachings upon the privileged position of Israel as the chosen, selected race (see under ELECT). The objects of election in the New Testament are, in effect, the Israel of God, the new, regenerate race called to special privilege and special service. From one point of view, that of the external marks of Christianity, they may Thus be described as the Christian community in its widest sense, the sense in which the sacramental position and the real are prima facie assumed to coincide. But from 2 Peter it is manifest that much more than this has to be said if the incidence of the word present to the writer's mind is to be rightly felt. It is assumed there that the Christian, baptized and a worshipper, may yet need to make ?sure? his ?calling and election? as a fact to his consciousness. This implies conditions in the ?election? which far transcend the tests of sacred rite and external fellowship.
II. The Mysterious Element
Such impressions of depth and mystery in the word are confirmed by the other, passages. In Rom_9:11 the context is charged with the most urgent and even staggering challenges to submission and silence in the presence of the inscrutable. To illustrate large assertions as to the liberty and sovereignty of the Divine dealings with man, the apostle brings in Esau and Jacob, individuals, twins as yet unborn, and points to the inscrutable difference of the Divine action toward them as such. Somehow, as a matter of fact, the Eternal appears as appointing to unborn Esau a future of comparative disfavor and to Jacob of favor; a future announced to the still pregnant mother. Such discrimination was made and announced, says the apostle, ?that the purpose of God according to election might stand.? In the whole passage the gravest stress is laid upon the isolation of the ?election? from the merit or demerit of its objects.
III. Incidence upon Community and Individual
It is observable that the same characteristic, the inscrutable, the sovereign, is attached in the Old Testament to the ?election? of a favored and privileged nation. Israel is repeatedly reminded (see e.g. Dt 7) that the Divine call and choice of them to be the people of God has no relation to their virtues, or to their strength. The reason lies out of sight, in the Divine mind. So too ?the Israel of God? (Gal_6:16) in the New Testament, the Christian community, ?the new, peculiar race,? holds its great privileges by quite unmerited favor (e.g. Tit_3:5). And the nature of the case here leads, as it does not in the case of the natural Israel, to the thought of a Divine election of the individual, similarly inscrutable and sovereign. For the idea of the New Israel involves the thought that in every genuine member of it the provisions of the New Covenant (Jer_31:31 f) are being fulfilled: the sins are remembered no more, and the law is written in the heart. The bearer of the Christian name, but not of the Christian spiritual standing and character, having ?not the Spirit of Christ, is none of his? (Rom_8:9). The chosen community accordingly, not as it seems ab extra, but as it is in its essence, is a fellowship of individuals each of whom is an object of unmerited Divine favor, taking effect in the new life. And this involves the exercise of electing mercy. Compare e.g. 1Pe_1:3. And consider Rom_11:4-7 (where observe the exceptional use of ?the election,? meaning ?the company of the elect?).
IV. Cognate and Illustrative Biblical Language
It is obvious that the aspects of mystery which gather round the word ?election? are not confined to it alone. An important class of words, such as ?calling,? ?predestination? ?foreknowledge,? ?purpose,? ?gift,? bears this same character; asserting or connoting, in appropriate contexts, the element of the inscrutable and sovereign in the action of the Divine will upon man, and particularly upon man's will and affection toward God. And it will be felt by careful students of the Bible in its larger and more general teachings that one deep characteristic of the Book, which with all its boundless multiplicity is yet one, is to emphasize on the side of man everything that can humble, convict, reduce to worshipping silence (see for typical passages Job_40:3, Job_40:1; Rom_3:19), and on the side of God everything which can bring home to man the transcendence and sovereign claims of his almighty Maker. Not as unrelated utterances, but as part of a vast whole of view and teaching, occur such passages as Eph_2:8, Eph_2:9 and Rom_11:33-36, and even the stern, or rather awestruck, phrases of Rom_9:20, Rom_9:21, where the potter and the clay are used in illustration.
V. Limitations of Inquiry Here. Scope of Election
We have sought Thus in the simplest outline to note first the word ?election? and then some related Scriptural words and principles, weighing the witness they bear to a profound mystery in the action of the Divine will upon man, in the spiritual sphere. What we have Thus seen leaves still unstated what, according to Scripture, is the goal and issue of the elective act. In this article, remembering that it is part of a Bible Encyclopedia, we attempt no account of the history of thought upon election, in the successive Christian centuries, nor again any discussion of the relation of election in Scripture to extra-Scriptural philosophies, to theories of necessity, determination, fatalism. We attempt only to see the matter as it lies before us in the Bible. Studying it so, we find that this mysterious action of God on man has relation, in the Christian revelation, to nothing short of the salvation of the individual (and of the community of such individuals) from sin and condemnation, and the preservation of the saved to life eternal. We find this not so much in any single passage as in the main stream of Biblical language and tone on the subject of the Divine selective action. But it is remarkable that in the recorded thought of our Lord Himself we find assertions in this direction which could hardly be more explicit. See Joh_6:37, Joh_6:44, Joh_6:45; Joh_10:27-29. To the writer the best summary of the Scriptural evidence, at once definite and restrained, is the language of the 17th Anglican art.: ?They which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God's purpose by His Spirit working in due season; they through grace obey the calling; they be justified freely; they be made sons of God by adoption; they be made like the image of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ; they walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God's mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity.?
VI. Perseverance
The anxious problem of PERSEVERANCE will be treated under that word. It may be enough here to say that alike what we are permitted to read as revealed, and what we may humbly apprehend as the reason of the case, tend to the reverent belief that a perseverance (rather of the Lord than of the saints) is both taught and implied. But when we ponder the nature of the subject we are amply prepared for the large range of Scriptures which on the other hand condemn and preclude, for the humble disciple, so gross a misuse of the doctrine as would let it justify one moment's presumption upon Divine mercy in the heart which is at the same time sinning against the Divine love and holiness.
VII. Considerations in Relief of Thought
We close, in view of this last remark, with some detached notes in relief, well remembering the unspeakable trial which to many devout minds the word before us has always brought.
1. Antinomies
First in place and importance is the thought that a spiritual fact like election, which belongs to the innermost purpose and work of the Eternal, necessarily leads us to a region where comprehension is impossible, and where we can only reverently apprehend. The doctrine passes upward to the sphere where antinomies live and move, where we must be content to hear what sound to us contradictions, but which are really various aspects of infinite truth. Let us be content to know that the Divine choice is sovereign; and also that ?his tender mercies are over all his works,? that 'He willeth not the death of a sinner,' that ?God is love.? Let us relieve the tension of such submissive reliance by reverently noting how the supreme antinomy meets one type of human need with its one side, and with its other another. To the ?fearful saint? the Divine sovereignty of love is a sacred cordial. To the seeking penitent the Divine comprehensiveness of love opens the door of peace. To the deluded theorist who does not love and obey, the warnings of a fall and ruin which are possible, humanly, from any spiritual height, are a merciful beacon on the rocks.
2. Fatalism Another Thing
Further, we remember that election, in Scripture, is as different as possible from the fatal necessity of, e.g. the Stoics. It never appears as mechanical, or as a blind destiny. It has to do with the will of a God who has given us otherwise supreme proofs that He is all-good and all-kind. And it is related to man not as a helpless and innocent being but as a sinner. It is never presented as an arbitrary force majeure. Even in Rom 9 the ?silence? called for is not as if to say, ?You are hopelessly passive in the grasp of infinite power,? but, ?You, the creature, cannot judge your Maker, who must know infinitely more of cause and reason than his handiwork can know.? The mystery, we may be sure, had behind it supreme right and reason, but in a region which at present at least we cannot penetrate. Again, election never appears as a violation of human will. For never in the Bible is man treated as irresponsible. In the Bible the relation of the human and Divine wills is inscrutable; the reality of both is assured.
3. The Moral Aspects
Never is the doctrine presented apart from a moral context. It is intended manifestly to deepen man's submission to - not force, but - mystery, where such submission means faith. In the practical experience of the soul its designed effect is to emphasize in the believer the consciousness (itself native to the true state of grace) that the whole of his salvation is due to the Divine mercy, no part of it to his merit, to his virtue, to his wisdom. In the sanctified soul, which alone, assuredly, can make full use of the mysterious truth, is it designed to generate, together and in harmony, awe, thanksgiving and repose.
4. ?We Know in Part?
A necessary caution in view of the whole subject is that here, if anywhere in the regions of spiritual study, we inevitably ?know in part,? and in a very limited part. The treatment of election has at times in Christian history been carried on as if, less by the light of revelation than by logical processes, we could tabulate or map the whole subject. Where this has been done, and where at the same time, under a sort of mental rather than spiritual fascination, election has been placed in the foreground of the system of religious thought, and allowed to dominate the rest, the truth has (to say the least) too often been distorted into an error. The Divine character has been beclouded in its beauty. Sovereignty has been divorced from love, and so defaced into an arbitrary fiat, which has for its only reason the assertion of omnipotence. Thus, the grievous wrong has been done of αἰσχρόν τι λέγειν περὶ τοῦ Θείου, aischrón ti légein perı́ toú Theı́ou, ?defamation of God.? For example, the revelation of a positive Divine selection has been made by inference to teach a corresponding rejection ruthless and terrible, as if the Eternal Love could ever by any possibility reject or crush even the faintest aspiration of the created spirit toward God. For such a thought not even the dark words of Rom_9:18 give Scriptural excuse. The case there in hand, Pharaoh's, is anything but one of arbitrary power trampling on a human will looking toward God and right. Once more, the subject is one as to which we must on principle be content with knowledge so fragmentary that its parts may seem contradictory in our present imperfect light. The one thing we may be sure of behind the veil is, that nothing can be hidden there which will really contradict the supreme and ruling truth that God is love.
5. The Unknown Future
Finally, let us from another side remember that here, as always in the things of the Spirit, ?we know in part.? The chosen multitude are sovereignly ?called,... justified,... glorified? (Rom_8:29, Rom_8:30). But for what purposes? Certainly not for an end terminating in themselves. They are saved, and kept, and raised to the perfect state, for the service of their Lord. And not till the cloud is lifted from the unseen life can we possibly know what that service under eternal conditions will include, what ministries of love and good in the whole universe of being.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

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