Chosen By God

In this passage I mentioned that Jesus Christ announced to the peasants in rags.

I used “You did not choose me, but I chose you”.

It’s not the special “choosing” because everyone is chosen by Jesus Christ.

There are a few layers of meaning here.

“The chosen”, choosing, historical context and more.

Let‘s break it down.

“The Chosen” (Israelites and Jews)

The choosing and “the chosen” have historical context.

The covenant God made with humanity (which many refer to as “the law”), which is from Abraham, Moses and so forth is for “the chosen” or people of Israel.

So, us (Gentiles) or people who don’t belong to “the chosen”, could not be justified through the law.

So, really us (Gentiles) couldn’t really “choose” God.

But there is an oath that God made to Abraham which is:

“and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Genesis 22:18

Family of faith

The one quality that made God give Abraham the oath above is his faith.

Which is why Abraham is often referred to “Father of Faith” or “man of faith”.

Not his physical appearance, status or the fact he was “chosen”.

There was no “chosen” or “the law” back then.

It was his faith in God. What God valued was his faith.

And us (Gentiles), are also added into the family of faith through our faith in God.

Choosing by faith

It’s not our choice to choose God.

We do not choose to have grace and mercy with God.

It’s the other way around, he makes a way for that to happen.

God grants that as a gift to us through our faith:

He makes the way for that to happen:

Faith in Jesus Christ represents faith that we are saved by the mercy and grace of God.

Jesus Christ emphasizes this

When Jesus Christ was speaking with a Samaritan woman at the well.

He says:

Jesus Christ chooses (his disciples)

Then we arrive at the original text which is from John 15:16, where I got the inspiration for “You did not choose me, but I chose you”.

In the sense, this is a literal choosing where Jesus Christ addresses his original twelve disciples.

He says:

But really He addresses all of his disciples, who have faith in him and follow him.

We are all chosen by Jesus Christ, and we don’t choose him.

And that‘s by grace and mercy of God.