SIR ROBERT ANDERSON
Secret Service Theologian
ENTAIL OF THE COVENANT
APPENDIX
THE following are the passages where the
word eklektos occurs in the New
Testament:
Matt. xx. 16 for many be called, but few chosen (and chap. xxii.
14.)
for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened (and Mark xiii.
20).
if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect (and Mark xiii.
22).
(His angels) shall gather together His elect (and Mark xiii.
27).
Luke xviii. 7 Shall not God avenge His own elect.
Luke xxiii. 35 if
He be Christ the chosen of God.
Rom. viii. 33 Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect ?
Rom. xvi. 13 Salute Rufus, chosen in the
Lord.
Col. iii. 12 as the elect of God, holy and beloved (see p. 64).
1
Tim. v. 21 the elect angels.
2 Tim. ii. 10 I endure all things for the
elects sake.
Titus i. 1 according to the faith of God's elect.
1 Pet. i.
... to the elect who are sojourners of the dispersion (R.V.).
1 Pet. ii. 4 a
living stone . . . chosen of God, and precious (i.e. Christ).
1 Pet.,6 a
chief corner stone, elect, precious (i.e. Christ).
1 Pet.,9 ye are a chosen
generation.
2 John 1 The elder unto the elect lady.
2 John 13 the
children of the elect sister.
Rev. xvii. 14 they that are with Him are
called and chosen and faithful.
The study of these passages will confirm
the conclusion indicated on p. 63 as to the use and meaning of the word
eklektos. But the fact that in 2 Peter it is twice applied to Christ
ought to veto the view adopted by certain expositors that where the Apostle
uses it elsewhere it means no more than professing Christians. And such a view
is further discredited by the fact, brought to light by Luke xxiii. 35, that
the Jews employed it as a Messianic title.
The prophecy of Matt. xxiv.
relates to the people of God who will be on earth during the reign of
Antichrist, in a future dispensation ; and verse 31 refers, of course, to the
Lord's return to earth as " Son of Man " for their deliverance.
1 Tim.
v. 21 is of exceptional interest. For nowhere else in Scripture are Angels thus
associated with the Deity as witnessing the testimony and service of Christians
upon earth. May not "the elect Angels be that special section of the heavenly
host who stand in the immediate presence of God (Matt, xviii. 10. See p.
79).
2 Tim. ii. 10 is supposed by many expositors to refer explicitly to
the unconverted. But no other Scripture lends any countenance to such a view.
(See p. 64.)
In 1 Peter i. 1 the word is used as a descriptive title,
and not (as A.V. suggests) in a doctrinal sense. It is noteworthy that the
foreknowledge of God, which is associated with predestination in Romans viii.,
is here allied with election. My only comment is that there must be something
amiss with any theology which ignores it.
The following are the passages
in which the kindred word eklegomai occurs :
Mark xiii. 20 the
elect's sake, whom He hath chosen.
Luke vi. 13 He chose twelve, whom also
he named Apostles.
x. 42 Mary hath chosen that good part.
xiv. 7 they chose out the chief rooms.
John vi. 70 Have not I chosen you
twelve.
xiii. 18 I know whom I have chosen.
xv. 16 Ye
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.
,, ,, 19 I have chosen you out
of the world.
Acts i. 2 . the apostles whom He had chosen.
24 shew
whether of these two thou hast chosen.
vi. 5 they chose Stephen.
,, xiii. 17 God . . . chose our fathers.
,, xv. 7 God made choice among
us.
,, ,, 22 to send chosen men of their own company.
,, ,, 25 to send
chosen men unto you.
1 Cor. i. 27 God hath chosen the foolish things.
,, and God hath chosen the weak things.
,, 28 things which are
despised hath God chosen.
Eph. i. 4 He hath chosen us in Him.
Jas. ii.
5 Hath not God chosen the poor.
These passages give proof that
eklegomai is not a distinctively theological word, even when the Lord
uses it of choosing His Apostles. This appears from His words: "Ye have not
chosen Me, but I have chosen you ; for the word must have the same meaning in
both sentences.
And having regard to the fact that Eph. i. 4 is a part
of the "mystery" revelation of the Church, the Body of Christ, and that there
is nothing precisely akin to it elsewhere in Scripture, may we not assume (as
suggested at p. 53) that this heavenly election pertains peculiarly to the
Lord's heavenly people of this present dispensation?
2 Thess. ii. 13 is
in a category by itself. For the word there used (aireomai) occurs again
only in Phil. 1. 22 and Heb. xi. 25. Dean Alford calls it " a LXX expression,"
and Dr. Bullinger defines it (in contrast with (eklegomai) "to separate
rather by the act of taking than by showing preference, favour, or love." This
strengthens my belief that the "deliverance" (see p. 60, ante) of verse 13 is
from the Antichristian persecution of Matt. xxiv. 21, which is the special
subject of this chapter. This view might be accepted without reserve if the
alternative reading of R.V. margin were adopted ; God's people of this
dispensation being gathered home "as a first-fruits " before the era of that
last great storm of persecution. The passages in which eklege occurs are
Acts ix. 15; Rom. ix. 11, and xi. 5, 7, 28; 1 Thess. i. 4 ; 2 Pet. i.
10.
The truth of Election, as revealed in Scripture, I again repeat,
crowns the supreme revelation of the grace of God ; whereas the Augustinian
doctrine of Election implicitly denies the supremacy of grace. Though this may
be concealed by popular expositors, it is plainly manifest in our standard
theology. Here, ex. gr., are some typical sentences quoted from the Westminster
Divines, whose treatise on the subject is incomparably the ablest and best
accredited exposition of it :
"Elect infants dying in infancy are
regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when and where
and how He pleaseth. . . .
"So also are all other elect persons who are
incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.
"Others not
elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word . . . cannot
be saved."
The reader will observe that this implicitly adopts the
hateful dogma of "the damnation of infants"- a dogma which Rom. v. definitely
refutes. And while Scripture testifies that, wherever the Gospel is proclaimed,
it is the acceptance or rejection of Christ that fixes the destiny of men, this
doctrine teaches that idiots and imbeciles though wholly incapable of "being
called by the ministry of the Word," are nevertheless, if "not elected," to
share the doom of the impenitent; for they "cannot be saved."
"Cannot be
saved": these words admit of only one meaning, namely that God cannot save them
; for no one imagines that any sinner can save himself. And this is an explicit
denial of the most distinctive truth of Christianity - the supremacy of grace.
To say that though God has power to save them it is not His will that they
should be saved is no less a denial of that great basal truth, and it
explicitly impugns many of the plainest and most unequivocal statements of
Scripture. And worse even than this, it discredits the personal ministry of the
Lord Jesus and His attitude and words to those who rejected His appeals to come
to Him.
As already noticed, this doctrine is closely allied with the
error of regarding the work of Christ as being merely the antitype of the
sin-offering - a substitutionary sacrifice for the redeemed people of God. It
is this truly, but it is also the fulfilment of every type and every promise of
the Hebrew Scriptures. And it is infinitely more even than this; for the full
and final revelation of Christianity discloses wonders of Divine grace which
transcend everything of which Moses and the prophets wrote. Having made peace
by the blood of the Cross, God has reconciled "all things" to Himself by Christ
(Col. i. 20, ta panta, i.e. the whole universe).
And the ministry of
the reconciliation is the distinctive gospel of this Christian dispensation.
Here are the inspired words of the Apostle to whom it was specially committed:
"On Christ's behalf we are ambassadors, as though God were entreating by us :
we pray on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. v. 20, Dean Alford's
translation). Such was his appeal to the unsaved - not (as suggested by both
A.V. and R.V.) to the saints of Corinth. For here (as in 1 Cor. xv. 1-4) he is
describing his gospel testimony. Addressing the Christians, he adds: "we also
entreat that ye receive not the grace of God in vain" (vi. 1). Every
unprejudiced mind will recognise that, if the Augustinian doctrine were true,
such an appeal to a company of the unconverted would be illusory if not
dishonest. For, while that doctrine incorporates a Scriptural truth, it has a
negative side which is based solely on inferences from Scripture, inferences
which are proved to be false by the fact of their practically denying the grace
of God and the truth of the gospel. But in contrast with this, the truth of
election declares the blessedness and eternal security of the redeemed without
any negative reference whatever. This statement can be challenged only by so
misreading Romans ix. as to make it clash with the teaching of the earlier
chapters of the Epistle.
But someone may ask, What about the
twenty-first verse? "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump
to make one vessel unto honour and another to dishonour?" Both the context and
the tone of these words clearly indicate that they are not meant to instruct a
halting Christian, but to silence a caviller. And moreover, the antithesis in
the parable is not at all between life and death, but between honour and
dishonour. With the same clay the potter forms one vessel that perchance may
touch the hands and lips of a queen, while he designs another for base, albeit
useful purposes. But a potter who would make a vessel with the deliberate
purpose of destroying it must be a maniac of a dangerous type. And the words
which follow put to shame the profane thought that God is here compared to a
maniac potter! For though "the vessels of wrath" are fitted (i.e. made fully
fit or ready) for destruction, the "much long-suffering" of God still bears
with them. And their readiness for destruction is due entirely to themselves,
whereas, in marked contrast with this, it is to God that the vessels of mercy
owe their readiness for glory.
It cannot be denied that with respect
not only to election, but also to other transcendental truths of still greater
importance and difficulty, the Fathers, in their zeal for the suppression of
heresy, left themselves open to the charge of aspiring to "know the Almighty to
perfection." As regards election, indeed, it may be pleaded on their behalf
that the great truth of the supremacy of grace had already been lost in the
Primitive Church. But no such plea can be offered for those who in days of
fuller light identify themselves with these features of their teaching. Though
the difficulties which beset this subject are so very real, we cannot consent
to solve them at the expense of truth of still greater moment. Moreover they
are not peculiar to "election." They are found in every phase of the seeming
conflict between Divine sovereignty and human will; and indeed, if we allowed
our minds to be enslaved by them, they would put an end to all intercessory
prayer.1 The following sentence in the Apostle Peter's inspired words to the
Jews at Pentecost illustrate a special aspect of them : "Him being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain." The sheriff who kills a man in complicance
with "the determinate counsel" of a court of law does not commit a "wicked"
act. And if the men who crucified Christ were giving effect to the "determinate
counsel" of God, how could it be said they were "wicked" in doing so? Let this
be explained and we shall find a clue to the solution of our "election"
difficulties. As suggested on an earlier page, if we could view these truths
from the standpoint of the Infinite, we should discover that though they seem
to us to be incompatible, they are in fact inseparable.
1 To pray for the
salvation of relatives or friends would be, of course, ex hyp., to trifle with
God. Indeed a recent popular "book of piety," based on a misreading of John
xvii. 9, suggests a veto upon such a prayer.
My treatment of this
subject may leave me open to the taunt of slighting great teachers of the past.
But having regard to present circumstances, I do not fear that taunt. In time
of war, as we have been hearing of late, the order to "clear the decks" is
rigidly enforced in every warship ; and anything likely to imperil safety, no
matter how highly it may be prized, is ruthlessly thrown overboard. And in
these days of apostasy, when traditional exegesis is freely used to undermine
the faith by discrediting the Divine revelation on which it rests, it behoves
us to " clear the decks."
And the importance of the question here at
issue is not limited to religious controversy ; it concerns our national
warfare. Germany and Britain were twin sons of the Reformation; and in both
countries the character of the people was formed upon the Bible held in
reverence as the Word of God. And yet the course and conduct of this dreadful
war has raised the question whether Germany can any longer be deemed a
Christian nation. To what then can the astounding change which this indicates
be due? One cause alone is adequate to account for it. The Bible has been
dethroned in that land under the influence of the sceptical movement which
masquerades as " Higher Criticism."
And this again gives rise to the
question : How could such an essentially rationalistic movement gain the
mastery over a Godfearing people? The following dictum of
Adolf Saphir's may explain it
- for his words are as true as they are startling: "It is out of the arsenal of
the orthodox that the weapons have been taken with which the very fundamental
truths of the Gospel have been assailed." In other words, as he proceeds to
explain, the traditional interpretation of Scripture "paved the way for
Rationalism and Neology." If then our own land is to be saved from the apostasy
which has thus depraved the character of the German people, let us fearlessly
"clear the decks," and take our stand upon Holy Scripture, untrammelled by
Patristic theology. And with reference to the special subject of these pages,
let us refuse all teaching of the past which trenches upon the truth either of
Divine sovereignty or of Divine grace, or in any way discredits or tampers with
"the word of the truth of the Gospel."
THE END
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