“Chosen”
Some of the most well-known popular entertainment contains the concept of a “chosen” person. This includes blockbuster franchises like Harry Potter and Star Wars. Someone is chosen by something transcendent to bring a kind of salvation to the world.
In the evangelical church the word can move from a person to a group of people. The Israelites in scripture are spoken of as a “chosen” people through whom the message of God’s love for all of humanity will be spoken. Some Christians then move that concept to Christians in an interpretation of verses like 1 Peter 2:9 (“You are a chosen race, a holy nation, a royal priesthood …” ) and Ephesians 1:4,5 "(“He (God) chose us in him (Jesus) before the creation of the world …”).
A huge amount of time and argument has been spent in Christian history arguing over what “chosen” and “elect” mean. Some traditions have interpreted scripture to mean that God has chosen some people and not others. A more extreme version argues that God has chosen some for salvation and some for damnation. Those who are chosen are sometimes referred to as “the elect”. Other traditions have placed the emphasis on human choosing, as if we choose God, we choose faith in Jesus. Somehow through this process, the people who do the choosing become the elect.
Karl Barth presented an interpretation of “election” that moved the emphasis from exclusion (some are chosen some are not) and human choice, to Jesus. For Barth, Jesus was both the elected and the rejected.
It is strictly and narrowly only in the humanity of the one Jesus Christ that we can see who and what an elect person is….But, again, it is strictly and narrowly only in the portrait of the one Jesus Christ that we may perceive who and what a rejected person is
-Karl Barth
Jesus takes on our humanity and in doing so becomes the rejected. He takes on all of the sin and rejection that ever was. Jesus is also the elected, he is the One fully chosen by God; and in him ALL are chosen.
This is a much healthier, more biblical, more hopeful view of election and rejection. Jesus is fully human and fully God. Jesus represents both the rejected and the elect, and in Jesus all are elect.
The energy of Christian faith should be directed not towards seeking to determine who is saved and who is not. This is a foolish game that divides the world up. The energy of Christian faith should be directed instead to focussing on how God’s love for all is fully reflected in Jesus, the One rejected, the One chosen, and the One through whom all may know God’s love.