At a Bible study that I attended when I was in high school I first learned about a concept believed by some Christians called election – this is, the idea that “before the foundation of the world, by sheer grace, according to the free good pleasure of his will, God chose in Christ to salvation a definite number of particular people out of the entire human race, which had fallen by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin” (Canons of Dort 1.7). I’ll be honest with you — I didn’t like this idea. It sounded arrogant to believe this, as it means that people think that God chose them but not others. It seems unfair, as it meant that some people would be saved while others would not and that was nothing any of us could do about that. While those were my initial thoughts, they were not my final thoughts, as after doing more reading and studying of Scripture for myself and in dialogue with Christian thinkers through the years, I came to the conclusion that while this doctrine might be difficult to comprehend in some ways, it reflected what we see in Scripture. In fact, it is something found in many different places in Scripture (unless otherwise noted, all quotes are from the ESV translation).

Election in the Old Testament
While we often turn to various passages in the New Testament to establish and explain the doctrine of election, it is also found in the Old Testament. After humans had fallen into sin (and judgment) because of the sin of Adam and Eve, Deuteronomy 7:6-8 tells us that God chose to bestow His grace on a particular family (Abraham) and then through a nation of his descendants (Israel):

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

God makes it clear here that He did not choose them because of any sort of merit in themselves – Abraham himself seems to have been an idolater – but out of His goodness and grace. Therefore, this idea of choosing is not something that should lead to them thinking that they are better than the other nations (also see Deuteronomy 9:4-7 on God’s reminders to Israel that he did not choose them because of their righteousness or merit). In addition, this election is one that comes with responsibility. One responsibility is to be the people who display to the world the glory of God (and through whom would come salvation to all nations) and another would be to obey the Lord, as this passage even goes on to say, “You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today” (Deuteronomy 7:11).  

This is not the only place we see God choosing the people of Israel. For example, when Solomon requests wisdom from the Lord, he says: “And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude” (1 Kings 3:8). Solomon believes in God’s election of a particular people, but also notes that this group is a large number. God’s election does not encompass all peoples, but does encompass many people, with a reminder that it is to a great number of people (more than we would ever be able to count) that He has chosen to lavish His grace and goodness upon.

Other passages in the Old Testament that draw upon this theme of God choosing a particular nation include:

• Deuteronomy 14:2: “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” 
• Isaiah 45:4: “For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.”  
• Amos 3:2:“You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth” (NIV translation). 

The principle also appears in the stories of Isaac and Jacob and Esau, as the Apostle Paul notes in Romans 9:6-12. God chose the promise to Abraham to go through Isaac and then  to Jacob, not Esau — a choice that was made when they “were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad” (Romans 9:11). Paul also points out in this passage that the promise to choose this nation out of all the nations did not mean that each and every person then experienced His grace – as He would save a remnant. Thus, throughout the Old Testament we see this concept of God choosing to redeem a particular people, not based on their merit, and then called them to exercise faith and belief.

Election in the New Testament
There are a variety of places in the New Testament that also affirm this idea that God chose to save particular people out of His own pleasure from the human race that had fallen into sin. However, we see that this has expanded so it is neither contained nor focused upon one particular nation; the description of the “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9-10, recalling Exodus 19:5-6) is now one that includes Jews and Gentiles.

Jesus tells his disciples that he has chosen them in John 15:16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” He also notes that no one is able to come to faith “unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44), pointing to the idea that God is the one who starts the work of faith. When discussing why people do not believe, Jesus also makes statements that reflect the teaching that God has appointed some, as he tells his opponents in John 10:26, “they do not believe because you are not among my sheep.” His sheep come from multiple folds (nations) and will listen to his voice (John 10:16). This teaching of Jesus is not confined to the Gospel of John:

• “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14)
• “And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days…And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven” (Mark 13:20, 27; also see Matthew 24:22 and 31)
• “And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?” (Luke 18:7)
• “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 10:27 and Luke 10:22)

The idea of election also pops ups in the ministry of the early church in Acts. Acts 13:48 says, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” This shows that those who believed were those who had been already called out and selected by God. In another instance, we see that someone only came to faith because the Lord had “opened” her heart to pay attention and be able to hear God’s Word (Acts 16:14). When Paul ministers in Corinth, God says to him in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people” (Acts 18:9-10), showing that God had called out people in that town.

The truth of election shines in many of the epistles. One of the most famous is Ephesians 1, as it says in verses 4-5, “Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” and verse 11, “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” Romans 8 is another key chapter which talks about the fact that “to those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:28-30) pointing to God choosing and then drawing people to Himself.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:4 we read, “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,” and 2 Thessalonians 2:13, “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” Paul discusses his ministry as seeking to reach and build up the elect in Titus 1:1, “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness” and 2 Timothy 2:10, “Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” Paul reiterates that this calling is all out of God’s grace in 2 Timothy 1:9: “Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.” The idea of being chosen by God should prompt new living, as Paul says in Colossians 3:12 “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.”

The language is not just used by Paul, as we see Peter address his epistle in 1 Peter 1:1-2: “To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.” 2 John is written to “to the elect lady,” who is likely a church. Peter also speaks about being “all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). Revelation speaks about the fact that there are names that “have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world,” implying that there the writing of the names within that book is before the foundation of the world (Revelation 17:8).

Election and Other Passages
The doctrine of election thus seems to be well founded in Scripture; it is not something that was made up by some arrogant people who sought to be lazy in their faith because they are God’s “elect.” This idea comes from Scripture – and when discussed in Scripture, it points to people obeying God and seeking to follow Him. Just reading these verses, however, may not counter other objections or concerns people have about the doctrine. In the next couple of weeks we will address some common concerns such as: the idea that this teaching seems incompatible with passages that speak about Jesus dying for all; God wanting everyone to be saved; and how the doctrine would seem to make people robots and violate any sort of free will or moral agency.

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