I do believe in the doctrine of election but not as an autocratic process used by an unfair sovereign; and that God allows us to have a desire to serve Him without coercion.
Why is election important? Because some believe that once
elected always elected. That is an unsafe perspective, so it must be refuted. (More
about “eternal security” in a later commentary.)
ABOUT JESUS:
Speaking of the future Savior, Isaiah wrote God’s word; “Behold My servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles” (Isa 42:1).
When testing the veracity of scripture, I consider the Hebrew pre-eminent to either the English or the Greek. There is evidence of which I have written before that Hebrew is the first alphabet, albeit the Greek added the first vowels.
The key word of interest therein is the “elect” given that “Mine”
in that passage is Yahweh God Himself.
ABOUT US:
The general accepted meanings are both “chosen” and “selected,” according to most lexicons. Likewise, the “elect” in the Greek is similar:
(Christians) Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do you; and above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness” (Col 3:12-14)
Elect, therein is “eklektos” in the Greek language, meaning the “choice” or “select.” In both cases, the Hebrew and the Greek, “somebody” chose the righteous to be righteous.
Election is not how it is thought of in contemporary times. Webster
agrees with the translators; Election is “carefully selected; chosen.” There is
no voting nor even an interview!
ELECTION PROCESS:
In this age, election is thought of more as a contest wherein the majority democratically pick and choose. On the other hand, kings early in history picked and chose because they were the sovereigns. Likewise, the LORD GOD is sovereign… having supreme power. Only God chooses and he uses His own criteria.
According to God from the Book of Isaiah, God’s criteria
was “the one in whom His Soul delights.” The Elected One was Jesus in
whom, “I have put My Spirit upon Him.”
Simply put is that the Invisible God chose who He
wanted to choose to put His Spirit upon. There was no election at all in
a political sense.
THE FIRST ELECTION: (ADAM)
Where have we heard that firstly?
26 God
said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps
upon the earth.”
27 So God created man in His own image, in the image
of God created He him; male and female created He them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. (Gen 1:26-28)
Adam was the “elected” in the beginning, even before the foundation of the world, and in my opinion, before time began with the advent of sin. However, “Adam” was two beings, one male and one female. They were mankind and their seed, or progeny, would be the chosen ones.
God had put His Spirit upon the male Adam and the male put
the Spirit of God into the female. The mechanism of that is unknown but rest
assured that it was done.
JESUS ELECTED:
That was for the first Adam. The “last Adam” was chosen in the same manner. God “blessed” Jesus with His Image at the baptism. Luke said it best; “The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a Voice came from heaven, which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).
God told Isaiah of that coming event, “I have put my Spirit upon Him.” It was God’s plan all along, long before Jesus came, that the Person of Jesus would be the elected one: Speaking of Jesus Paul wrote to Peter, “Who (Jesus) verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you… (1 Pet 1:20)
Just like Adam, Jesus was ordained (blessed) at the same time
as Adam; hence Jesus was the “last Adam” and the “quickening Spirit” in the first
Adam that gave life to him.
THE UNCHOSEN:
Christ was in Adam from the beginning. Who was chosen? Not
the angels nor the beasts, but Adam’s kind. Both the male and the female were
made alive by the quickening Spirit of Christ.
THE CHOSEN ONES:
Mankind, and mankind alone, were chosen. The angels had been chosen but failed. God would not allow that to happen again! He had mercy on mankind and preserved them for the time when Jesus would come to quicken them again. It is now Jesus above that quickens the Spirit onto mankind; it is Jesus who has the authority of God, sitting as His right hand in power.
God, because of His foreknowledge, used divine selection to determine the dominant species (Darwin called it “natural selection.”)
His criteria for election were these: Those who He knew would, ““Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” God was not talking about biological reproduction but spiritual replication.
Jesus said to the eleven of the twelve chosen apostles, “Go you into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). The eleven were among the first of the twelve “elect.” God knew that they would “be fruitful and multiply,” and they did so!
The Spirit of them has been replicated billions of times since then. God knew who would perform and who would not, so Jesus did not just pick and choose just any person but went where he needed to find them for the occasion.
Judas was an “elect” one as well, but although elected, he failed. God did not make him fail but chose Judas because He knew that he had the love of money in him.
With that said, the “elect” can fail! God calls everyone but
many fail Him! God called Judas to multiply living souls but he multiplied
money.
THE ELECT CAN FAIL:
“There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Mat 24:24).
God knows who is capable of what, but because of free will, they may not go with their calling.
We all know of people who are called to preach. God
chose them. However, look at the many who were called but do not perform. Judas
was one of those.
FRIENDS CAN FAIL:
God said in the 41st Psalm: “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me” (verse 9).
The LORD GOD picked a friend to perform. — a safe
peaceful person. Judas once had affection for Christ but although one of
the “elect,” Satan entered him because of his love of money, and the friend of
Jesus defected. He was elected but failed to perform according to the standards
for the elect: with holiness, love, merciful, kindness, humbleness, meekness,
longsuffering; forbearance, and forgiveness.
APOSTASY:
Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. (1 Tim 4:1-2)
“Depart” in there is “aphistemi” — “to withdraw oneself
from”
Not God departing but us withdrawing.
If that is not enough, consider “falling away” (Heb 6:6)… “apostasia”
— defection (ibid) from once having affection.
The “familiar friend” of Jesus — Judas — defected. One of the first elect defected from Jesus and went to Satan.
SECURITY VS. SAFETY:
Election, therefore, is not eternal security.
Who is the elect? Because God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), then everyone is elected. John wrote about that, “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Again, all “persons” are elected but it is conditional; it
requires belief (pisteuo) — one who trusts God (ibid).
SUMMARY:
·
God
is LORD; He calls whom He calls and no other.
·
God
called all mankind.
·
Those
called must respond.
·
Those
that respond must conform and carry on.
·
The
elect are safe but security depends on them.
No comments:
Post a Comment