Deuteronomy 7:7-8 “The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye [were] the fewest of all people. But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers.”
Matthew 24:24 “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”
This word elect has baffled Christians for two thousand years. Does God really choose some to be saved and others to not be saved? Denominations have been built on the matter of election. It appears Scripture clearly teaches that God chooses some to be saved and others not to be saved yet that seems so unfair that we start to hedge our bets and explain it away by saying that all are called to be saved but man is so sinful that he will not accept Jesus unless God gives a special grace. Again that seems unfair because it is simply restating the same thing, some get that grace and others do not. That is certainly not fair if you happen to be the poor slob who doesn’t get that grace and those that do seem so arrogant about it that they seem hardly deserving of it. Finally many of us opt to bend Scripture and say that God has offered salvation to all and it is man’s decision to choose. Sure he is too sinful to choose, but God sends the Holy Spirit to convict man and he can choose to accept or reject that conviction. His Spirit will not always strive with man and if you reject the conviction of the Holy Spirit long enough he will leave you alone. But that line of thinking totally goes against the word elect as it is presented in the Greek text. The word elect in the Greek is eklektous which means chosen, elect or selected, all which conveys the idea of preferring one over the other.
If after 2,000 years the most brilliant minds, people far more intelligent and schooled than myself, cannot come to a conclusion on this matter of election, don’t expect one from me. I’m just a dusty old eccentric professor who has his IPOD set to the same song which repeats over and over. I am harping on one issue and that is that God loves all mankind. So beware, that what I am about to share is viewed through those rose colored goggles.
So let’s begin with the New Testament passage where all translations render the word eklektous as elect or chosen. This is a correct rendering for this word as it does imply a winner and a loser. However, Jesus was speaking in Aramaic and the Aramaic Bible, the Peshitta, uses the Aramaic word gavi’a from the root word gavi. This word does not mean the elect or chosen, but the ones doing the choosing or electing. The word in the Arabic is much clearer expressing the idea of the gatherers. I know as a Baptist I was taught that we are all called to be soul winners but there are those who are just more gifted in that area than others. Some just seem to have an evangelistic knack to their makeup. I have led some people to the Lord in my lifetime, but I was just never really good at it like others who have so many spiritual scalps around their necks they can hardly walk. Let’s face it, some are called to be teachers, some pastors, some evangelist. It doesn’t mean a pastor or teacher cannot be evangelistic, but that is just not the focus of their calling. I suggest one idea of gavi(s) (chosen, elect) is that they are the evangelist of this world, the ones who are out there gathering.
I recall a story about Billy Graham when he held a crusade in an African nation. There were missionaries who spent a life time ministering and preaching to the people in this nation and having only one or two converts after years of labor. Then this upstart of a preacher comes and suddenly all these people flock forward to accept Jesus as their Savior. A reporter asked a missionary if he was offended by this. The missionary replied: “We planted the harvest, Billy Graham merely came and gathered (gavi) the harvest together.”
So my take on this election business is more in the Aramaic sense. That is there are not winners or losers in this salvation business, the elect being the winners and non-elect being the losers, but there are simply gatherers. “Many are called but few are gatherers.” (Matthew 22:14).
However, I believe there is more to this word than that, let’s drill down further with this Aramaic word gavi to its Hebrew equivalent which is bachar (chosen). The Jews are the chosen (bachar) people. That does not make them any better than us, they just happen to be called to be the Billy Grahams of this world. They were chosen to bring the love of God into this world, to present to the world the message of God. That calling still stands today. After forty years of studying the works of Jewish sages and Jewish literature I am convinced that there is a lot of knowledge about God that has not yet filtered down into Christianity. I am not pointing a finger of blame, but as a Christian I would suggest that our Christian arrogance has a lot to do with it. You know the old attitude, well the Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah, and so what have they to teach us? Forget the fact that Jesus Himself was Jewish, the Old Testament and most of the New Testament is a book about Jews, the first Christians were Jewish and I do not see anywhere in Scripture where God revoked the bachar (choosing) of the Jewish people. I think it is high time we Christians take a close look at these bachars, and what they teach us of our relationship with God. It is time we start to examine the works of these guardians of the Holy Scriptures and the Hebrew and Aramaic language.
But there is something even more and richer buried deep in the word bachar (chosen, elect). In Deuteronomy 7:7-8 we learn that God did not bachar (chose, elect) Jewish people because they were great in number. Actually that great in number could also be rendered as great in achievements. The verse goes on to say God bachar (chose, elected) them because they were the fewest. That could also be rendered as the smallest in achievements. Is says in verse 8 He chose them because he loved (ahav) them. In verse 7 we learn He set His love upon them. Here the word used for love is not ahav but chasak which emphasizes the joy and pleasure of love. God took joy and pleasure in just loving them. You see a much richer meaning behind bachar or being chosen or elected is that that bachar also means He has drawn and bound you into His heart. The elect (bachar, gavi) of God are those who have allowed God to draw and bind them into His heart. Many are called but few are barchar(s), gav(s) those who allow themselves to be drawn into the heart of God.
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