Theology of the Church, Mentor's Guide, MG03

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T H E O L O G Y O F T H E C H U R C H

chosen one” (see Isa. 42.1; cf. Matt. 12.18). In the Synoptic Gospels (i.e., Matthew, Mark, and Luke) Luke alone names Jesus as the Chosen One (9.35; 23.35). In Peter’s first Epistle, he carefully associates Jesus with another Isaiah reference (Isaiah 28.16 in 1 Peter 1.20 and 2.4, 6, speaking in regard to Jesus as the Stone of stumbling, choice selected in Zion). God’s election of Jesus is the central theological idea in all of the Bible’s discussion about God’s choice, for through Jesus’ unique and unrepeatable act as God’s Messiah and our Mediator God enacts his salvific purpose through Christ for the sake of the entire world. As you will see, and should emphasize with the students, God’s choice of Jesus conditions and makes possible God’s choice of us in him. It is important that you emphasize during this session that election is “election in Christ”; it includes God’s act of delivering us from our own sinful bondage, the guilt we experience as a result of our own sinful conscience, and the wondrous deliverance from its power we experience through faith in Jesus Christ. That we are chosen in Christ is plain from such central texts as Ephesians 1.4-5, 11, and Romans 8.29. In some ways, it is not helpful to think of election in regards to individualism as the foundation of election; Jesus is not simply the footnote on which God demonstrates his sovereign choice of human beings to salvation. Rather, election should always be conceived as being in Christ and through Christ. God’s election of humankind occurs in the person of Jesus to salvation. Jesus is the Mediator for all humankind (1 Tim. 2.5-6), and those whom God calls effectually to himself all repent and believe in Jesus Christ to salvation (1 John 5.11-13). God chooses us in Christ, who is the foundation of all that God does in terms of human salvation. While it is not important to linger over the long-standing historical debate of the doctrine of election, it is critical to know some of the general outlines of the discussion in the Church on election. Much dispute has arisen throughout Church history over the precise meaning of the biblical doctrine of election. The most significant clashes probably have taken place over the ideas of Pelagianism (of the 5th and 6th centuries), and during the period of

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