"Many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt. 22:14).
and exhorting us to proud independence. Self-will is the essence of anti-Christian religion. Self-will is the root of bitterness that is springing up in the church — and it is not from above, it is from beneath. It is earthly, sensual and devilish.
5. ELECTION
"Many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt. 22:14). "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48).
You know what a prominent place in Scripture the doctrine of election holds. It meets us everywhere, both in the Old and New Testaments. Whatever may be the meaning of the word, one cannot help feeling that the truth which it expresses must, in God's sight, be a vitally important one. But how can this be the case if it means no more than God's choosing those that choose Him? If it means no more than God's choosing those whom He foresaw would believe of their own accord and by their own power, it is not worthy of the prominent place it holds in Scripture. Nay, it is not worthy of a separate name, least of all such a name as election. If there is any election at all in such a case, it is plainly not God's election of man, but man's election of God. So that the question comes to be simply this:, Does election mean God's choosing man, or man's choosing God? It cannot mean both. It must be either the one or the other. Which of the two can any reasonable being suppose it to mean?
As the right understanding of this word is of great importance, I think it well to note down a few passages which will help to shed light
on the meaning of the word: "The man's rod whom I shall choose shall blossom" (Num. 17:5). "Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose" (Deut. 17:15). "The place which the Lord thy God hath chosen, to put His name there" (Deut. 12:21). "For them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto Him" (Deut. 21:5). Jerusalem "the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel" (1 Kings 11:32). "The Lord God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel" (1 Chron. 28:4). "For the elect's sake whom He hath chosen" (Mark 13:20). "He is a chosen vessel unto Me" (Acts 9:15). "I know whom I have chosen" (John 13:18). "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you" (John 15:16). "According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1:4). "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation" (2 Thess. 2:13).
These are but a few out of the many passages that might have been selected. But they are quite enough to show the meaning of the word. No one who wishes to take words plainly, as he finds them, can find any difficulty in understanding what choosing or election means, after reading such passages as these.
I would ask, What does the word election mean in common speech? When we speak of the election of a member of Parliament, do we mean that he first chose himself, then the people chose him because he had chosen himself? Or when we speak of the election of a minister, do we mean that he first chose himself, then the people chose him because he had chosen himself? No such theory of election would be listened to for a moment in such matters. Election has but one meaning there. It means the people's choosing their representative by a distinctive act of their own; or the congregation choosing their representative by a distinct act of their own will. And
shall man have his will, but God not have His? Shall man have his choice, but God not have His?
But let us take an instance from the Bible. What does God's choosing Abraham mean? He is a specimen of a sinner saved by grace, a sinner called out of the world by God. Well, how did his election take place? Did not God think of him long before he ever thought of God? Did not God choose him long before he ever thought of choosing God? Were there not thousands more in Chaldea that God might have chosen and called and saved if He had so pleased? Yet He chose Abraham alone. And what does the Bible call this procedure on the part of God? It calls it election! "Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees" (Neh. 9:7). Does anyone say, Oh, but God chose Abraham because He foresaw that Abraham would choose Him. I answer, the case is precisely the reverse of this. He chose Abraham just because He saw that otherwise Abraham would not choose Him. It was God's foreseeing that Abraham would not choose Him that made election necessary.
And so it is with us. God chooses us, not because He foresees that we would choose Him, or that we would believe, but for the very opposite reason. He chooses us just because He foresees that we would neither choose Him nor believe at all, of ourselves. Election proceeds not on foreseen faith in us, but on foreseen unbelief?
The truth is, election has no meaning if it is not the expression of God's will in reference to particular persons and things. He says to each, You shall be thus and thus, not because you choose to be so, but because I the infinite God see fit that you should be so. To one creature He says, You shall be an angel. To another, You shall be a man. To one order of beings, You shall dwell in Heaven; to another,