Who are the Elect?

Here’s a question I have for the Jehovah’s Witnesses who knock on my door. “If you believe that only 144,000 people will go to heaven, why are you diminishing your chances of salvation by trying to save me?”

Turns out, the JW’s have an answer for that question: a two-tier salvation plan. The elites or “the elect” make it to heaven, while the rest of us remain earthbound for eternity.

Jesus and the apostles referred to “the elect,” and for 2000 years, people have been asking, “Who are the elect”?

I’m not here to criticize the JWs, but to illustrate that different groups offer different interpretations of “the elect.” The JW’s say the elect are the top 144,000 anointed believers, while Calvinists say the elect are those sovereignly chosen by God. Here’s John Calvin writing in Institutes of the Christian Religion (3:21:5):

All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation.

In other words, God chooses some to be saved and those lucky few are called “the elect.” I guess Calvin thought he was part of the elect, but what about the rest of us?

The elect = the chosen

Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? (Romans 8:33)

The original adjective eklektos, which is translated here and many other places as “elect”, means “chosen.” In fact, that is how the word is sometimes translated in Scripture: “Many are called, but few are chosen (eklektos)” (Matt. 22:14). So the verse above can be read as, “Who would dare to bring an accusation against those whom God chooses?”

Who does God choose?

Peter addressed his letter to those “scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen” (1 Pet. 1:1). Who are the chosen? Does God choose some and reject the rest, as the Calvinists say? Does he choose only a tiny proportion of the human race, as the JW’s say?

Saint, I have some good news for you. You have been chosen by God.

God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation… (2 Thessalonians 2:13)

If you have responded to the gospel call, you have been chosen.

But note: choosing you does not mean that God has rejected your neighbor, your workmate, or anyone. The kingdom of God is not some Ivy League college with a cap on admissions.

God’s salvation call goes out to the ends of the earth – no one is excluded. You can be sure that the Lord receives ALL who come to him.

… the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. (John 6:37)

Did God choose me or did I choose him?

Both! In a manner of speaking, “the chosen” choose themselves by responding in faith to the gospel call. But since the Lord initiates the call, it’s accurate to say we are God’s chosen.

What about this verse:

He chose us in him before the foundation of the world… He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself… (Ephesians 1:4–5)

Predestination does not mean that God chooses some and rejects others. It means God had a plan.

The original word for predestined (proorizo) is made up of two words: pro, meaning fore, and horizo, meaning horizon or boundary. The God who sees the end from the beginning knew who would respond to the gospel. Before time began, he wrote their names in the Book of Life (Rev. 17:8).

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom he predestined, he also called; and these whom he called, he also justified; and these whom he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:29–30)

Some say that we are unable to move towards salvation. “Being dead in sin, we can’t do a thing. It is all God.” Salvation is indeed all God, but it is still up to us to repent and believe the good news (Mark. 1:15).

Who qualifies to be included in the elect?

We are all qualified by grace. The only ones who are excluded are those who exclude themselves by rejecting the grace of God.

Formerly, you were without God in this world (Eph. 2:12), but the moment you put your faith in the Lord, you crossed over from death to new life (John 5:24). You became a new creation, part of the elect and God’s chosen people.

But you are a chosen people… Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9–10)

In the New Testament, believers are referred to as “the called of Jesus Christ,” “the chosen,” and “the elect.” These are all different labels for the family of God. They do not refer to top-tier performers or elite-level Christians.

We are all one in Christ.

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This month on Patreon: enjoy a classic sermon on grace from a man who trained over 1,000 missionaries, a video update on my next book (featuring a special cameo!), exclusive bonus materials for our series on the Patriarchs, and news on grace resources being shipped to Africa.