Election

Christian teaching on election has drawn from a number of related biblical themes pertaining to God’s choice in salvation. Fundamentally, then, election is about selection (the English word “election” comes from the Greek verb to choose). Election is key for understanding the Bible’s grand narrative—the account of God’s plan to redeem and restore, through Christ, a holy people who had been lost in Adam. Unfortunately, election has also been at the center of considerable disagreement in biblical interpretation and theology.

Election to Salvation is Corporate and Individual

The Bible describes election as both corporate and individual. Following the account of God’s good and glorious creation, the Bible presents the story of human rebellion and alienation from their Creator (Gen 3). By Genesis 12, we see God’s strategy for redemption taking shape: God chooses Abram (Abraham) and promises that through him all the nations will be blessed (Gen 12:2–3). In doing so, God essentially embraces all of Abraham’s offspring (Gen 13:16); Abraham will be the father of the Israelites and, eventually, of all who trust in God as Abraham did. Numerous Old Testament references reiterate God’s gracious choice of Israel to be His people, such as: “You only have I chosen of all the clans of the earth” (Amos 3:2). Another example comes from Deuteronomy: “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you … but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers” (Deut 7:7–8).

Yet God’s election of Israel as His chosen people did not equate to the personal salvation of every Israelite. That required a heart commitment to God (Isa 29:13). Why might some ethnic Jews forfeit the salvation obtained by Abraham? In Paul’s words, “Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if by works. They stumbled over the stone that causes people to stumble” (Rom 9:32).

The New Testament’s teaching on election stands in continuity with the Old Testament, but with a crucial shift—one that was anticipated by the Old Testament prophets: God’s chosen are no longer identified by ethnic or national markers, but spiritually by faith. See how Paul defines a “spiritual Jew”: “For the Jew is not one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward, in the flesh. But the Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter, whose praise is not from people but from God” (Rom 2:28–29). Both Jews and Gentiles—non-Jews—who believe in Jesus are the true children of Abraham (John 8:38–40, 56–59; Rom 4:16–17).

Peter, for example, speaks of the election of the Church in terms equally applicable to Old Testament Israel. He says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s possession, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but now are the people of God, the ones who were not shown mercy, but now are shown mercy” (1 Pet 2:9–10; compare 1 Pet 1:1; 5:13).

Differing Interpretations of Individual Election

Historically, nearly all Christian interpreters have agreed that God’s electing choice flows entirely from His grace, that human beings are moral agents responsible for our actions, and that personal participation in the community of the elect is by faith. But interpreters fall into two major approaches to the question of how God’s electing purpose comes to expression in the salvation of individuals: what might be called election unto faith versus election in view of faith. Are people believers because they are elect, or are they elect because they believe?

Many interpreters (like Augustine and Calvin) have understood the biblical data on election to mean that God has chosen to save an unknown number of specific individuals from the deserved consequences of all humanity’s sin—a choice based solely on God’s undeserved mercy. Because people are dead in sin if left to themselves, they cannot and will not embrace God’s gift of salvation apart from God’s own enabling power (Rom 3:9–19; John 10:26–29). God supplies His elect with a gracious and undeserved capacity to believe; election is unto faith, since faith is a gift of God (Eph 2:4–9).

Many other interpreters (like Arminius and Wesley) have understood the biblical data differently, taking it to mean that God does not elect unto faith, but desires to give all people equally the ability to receive His offer of salvation (1 Tim 2:4; 2 Pet 3:9) Everyone who believes is (therefore) included among the chosen.

More recently, some interpreters (like N. T. Wright) have sought to refocus this traditional emphasis on the basis of the election of individuals toward the purpose of the election of the community: The people of God are called to be holy and to participate in His mission of reconciling the world to Himself (Eph 1:4; 2:10; 2 Cor 5:17–20).

Whichever approach is taken, the biblical theme of election should lead all believers to praise God, like Paul does, for graciously choosing—even before the foundation of the world—to love us and save us in Christ (Eph 1:4–5; 2:14–22).

William W. Klein

Further Reading

Election CLBD

Elohim as “Gods” in the Old Testament

The Hebrew word elohim lies behind the word “God” in the ot. Several instances of this word are plural, which may seem to indicate polytheism. For this reason, modern English translations often obscure the Hebrew text’s references to plural elohim. For example, the nasb renders the second elohim in Psa 82:1 as “rulers.” Other translations—more faithful to the original Hebrew—opt for “gods” or “divine beings.” However, this usage does not imply polytheism.

Several different entities are referred to as elohim in the ot. Considering this variety provides insight as to how the term should be understood. The Hebrew text of the ot refers to the following as elohim: Yahweh, the God of Israel (over 1000 times); the members of Yahweh’s heavenly council (Psa 82); the gods of foreign nations (1 Kgs 11:33); demons (see note on Deut 32:17); spirits of the human dead (1 Sam 28:13); and angels (see note on Gen 35:7).

This variety demonstrates that the word should not be identified with one particular set of attributes: elohim is not a synonym for God. We reserve the English “g-o-d” for the God of Israel and His attributes. Despite their usage of elohim, the biblical writers do not qualitatively equate Yahweh with demons, angels, the human disembodied dead, the gods of the nations, or Yahweh’s own council members. Yahweh is unique and above these entities—yet the same term can be used to refer to all of them.

All beings called elohim in the Hebrew Bible share a certain characteristic: they all inhabit the non-human realm. By nature, elohim are not part of the world of humankind, the world of ordinary embodiment. Elohim—as a term—indicates residence, not a set of attributes; it identifies the proper domain of the entity it describes. Yahweh, the lesser gods of His council, angels, demons, and the disembodied dead all inhabit the spiritual world. They may cross over into the human world—as the Bible informs us—and certain humans may be transported to the non-human realm (e.g., prophets; Enoch). But the proper domains of each are two separate and distinct places.

Within the spiritual world, as in the human world, entities are differentiated by rank and power. Yahweh is an elohim, but no other elohim is Yahweh. This is what an orthodox Israelite believed about Yahweh. He was not one among equals; He was unique. The belief that Yahweh is utterly and eternally unique—that there is none like Him—is not contradicted by plural elohim in the ot.

Michael S. Heiser

Further Reading

Divine Council CLBD

God, Names of ISBE

Names of God in the Old Testament AYBD