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 privileges 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. They 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. xi, 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 transferred 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.
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 privileges 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. They 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. xi, 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 transferred 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.