“בחר.” In Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Among those listed, the entries Patrick 1992, Wildberger 1997, and Kaminsky 2006 deserve special attention.īergman, J., H. Ultimately, Paul concludes that God’s election of Israel stands, even for those who have become “enemies of the gospel,” something he calls a “mystery” (Rom 11:25–28).Įntries covered in this section represent good starting places into the topic, though some of the works now show signs of their age or suffer from the deficiencies that more recent scholarship has noted occur within certain types of word studies. One of the most central debates in New Testament studies is the question of the nascent church’s relationship to the historic people of Israel and whether Jewish resistance to the gospels meant they had forfeited their election, a topic discussed in great depth by Paul in Romans 9–11. Yet, within much of the biblical tradition the idea of election is neither dualistic nor directly linked with one’s salvation or damnation. Certain New Testament texts, like the Gospel of John and Revelation, at times appear to equate those chosen by God with those who will obtain ultimate salvation, a notion that becomes amplified within those forms of Protestantism influenced by Luther’s emphasis on being saved by grace (through faith) and especially Calvin’s theology of double predestination.
The New Testament, building on Hebrew Bible antecedents, depicts Jesus as the beloved, or specially chosen, son of God. The belief that the Jews are God’s chosen people is a central theological axiom within post-biblical Jewish tradition. Some of the most profound biblical meditations on the implications of chosenness can be found in Isaiah 40–66, a collection of postexilic oracles, sayings that time and again declare God’s enduring love for his beloved people and his intention to restore them once more to a flourishing life in the land of Israel. Despite severe castigation of Israel’s failings, the prophetic corpus appears to assume the permanence of Israel’s election even while the prophets proclaim that Israel’s privileged status carried with it heavier responsibility than other nations and stricter standards of judgment (Amos 3:2). Genesis 18:19 states, “I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” Similarly, Exodus 19:5–6 proclaims: “Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples.” Election is related to Israel’s status as a “holy nation” (e.g., Deut 14:2, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God it is you the Lord has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession”), and is grounded in an act of divine love and faithfulness to the divine promise (Deut 7:6–9). God’s granting Israel special status entailed both unmerited privilege as well as an expectation of a proper human response toward God. Election/chosenness is quite pervasive in the Hebrew Bible as evidenced by the recurring sibling rivalry stories in Genesis in which one sibling is specially favored. Election within the Bible is the notion that God favors some individuals and groups over others, an idea that finds fullest expression in the Hebrew Bible’s affirmation, supported in the New Testament, that Israel is God’s chosen people.