The Ohio Independent Baptist, April 1971

THE WORD OF ELECTION The familiar statement in Eph. l : 4a i often quoted, being well known by Chri tians, and constitutes a basic and bles ed truth in the great divine plan of salvation: "According as He hath chosen u in Him before the f ounda– tion of the world . . . " God has "c/1osen" us in Christ before t he world ' foundation-there is the un– alterable fact \Vhether we are able to comprehend it or not. That is the ba i of our redemption; all who are truly saved are chosen, and sealed for eternity. The great truth of our elec– tion is the highest possible source of assurance a nd encouragement· it honor and exalts the God of all grace; and it timulates rather than discour– age efforts to win the lost. The word translated "chosen" in Eph. l :4a i the Greek exelaxato, the aorist middle form of the ver b eklego ( ek, ~out"; Lego, "say, speak," hence literally: " peak out"). God declares a decree, summoning out of al l man– kind those who believe the message of life and receive Christ as their Saviour. It is tran lated in the New Testament: "pick out choose," carrying th e special sense with respect to God and those He saves, of His sovereign choice and selection of some out of the masses of mankind, as the par– ticular objects of His grace and favor, as His own treasured possession, and over whom He exercises His constant and omnipotent oversight. The use of the word in its several forms in the papyri may be illustrated by its occur– rence in a marriage contract (P Oxy l~I~ 49.6: 15, A.D. 127), where pro– v1s1on 1s made that in certain eventu– alities, the ~ choice' ' ( eklogeis) shall rest with the bride. In P Fay 102: 3, ~O~ A.D., a farm account appears, l1st1ng certain baskets of produce that had been 4 Selected" ( eglektoi), i.e. of a better quality than the rest. The v.erb .occurs in the Septuagint Ver– sion 10 several places, for example, Gen. 13: 11 states that Lot "chose" 12 APRI L, 1971 ( exelexato) all the plain of Jordan as his land. In the New Testament, Luke speaks of the fact that Mary "hath chosen ( exelexato) that good part" ( 10: 42 ) ; and again in Acts 1 :2, of the Apostles as those whom the Lord "had chosen" ( exelexato). Paul speaks of God's "elect" ( eklekton ) in Rom. 8: 33 among other usages; and James uses the verb in 2 :5, "Hath not God chosen ( exelexato) the poor of this world ...' ' John also has the word twice in his Second Epistle, vs. 1 13, ( eklektei, ek– lekteis). The verb form in Eph. 1 :4a reveals what God did in electing us to eternal alvation in Christ. The aorist mid– dle exelexato states that God selected u and appropriated us for Himself, once for all, as Hi very own, by a spec ific and determinate act, by means of Hi s own definite eternal decree. The whole act took place ' 'in Christ," in connection with Him and His re– demptive work-it could not have been otherwise-from the elective act onward to the glory in all eternity to come. This decree was made before the world's foundation, before a single human being ever existed, and of course it will always remain for us a matter of indescribable adoring praise and wonder. But it was not unfair, unreasonable, inequitable for God to do thi , as some protest that it was. To say this is to assert more than any human being knows. God is sovereign, eternal, and infinite, and has a total right to do as He pleases. Why He did not elect all men to eternal life ( as Karl Barth insisted He did) , is known only to God and belongs to His own secret counsels. It is certain that the reason He did not choose all to eternal life was not be– cause He did not desire to save all ( I Tim. 2: 4 ), but that for reasons which we, being finite and human, cannot understand or explain, a uni- ~er al choice would not have beer right or consistent with God's own perfect righteousness and plan. As ~overeign Ruler, and Judge God is at liberty to deal with a world of sinners a He sees fit to do, according to His own good pleasure. He can rightfully pardo~ some and condemn others; He can rightfully elect some to salva– tion and pass over the rest. Since all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, God can rightfully have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and leave the others in their disobedi– ence and sin. The unspeakable won– der in exelexato is not that God in His grace and love, has not chosen all of this guilty race to be saved but that He has elected any of us. The Apostle Paul in the great ninth chapter of Romans makes no attempt to explain how God can be fair and right and just in showing mercy to whom He will and passing by others. To those who object and say, "But God is unfair!"-and in answer to the question "Why doth He still find fault"? ( i.e. with those to whom God has not extended elective grace), the Apostle simply brings forward the sovereignty of God, and says: "Nay, but O man, who art thou that repliest against God?" (See Romans 9:14-24 ). Paul does not drag God down from His throne and push Him before our human reason which is imperfect and. limited to be questioned and exam– ined. The sovereign, secret counsels of God are left unexplained, except tha t they are said to be right, long– suffering, merciful, and full of grace, and according to His own good pleas– ure. And when Paul has done with this, he rather stretches forth his hand, as it were, to restrain us from going any further. We are not under obliga– tion to explain these great eternal verities but only to state what God has revealed in His Word and to vindi– ca te these statements from misinter– pretation, misconception, and doubting · objection. And lest we forget-take careful note that Eph. 1: 4 proceeds to point out that God has elected u in order that we should even now– be holy and without blame before Him. - THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST