Articles
Irony of the Chosen Ones
In the early days of the church, many Jews were furious that salvation was offered to the Gentiles. In Acts 10, after Peter preached the gospel to Cornelius and ate with his household, the Jews “took issue with him” (Acts 11:2-3). Later, when Paul preached to the Gentiles, the Jews became jealous, incited persecution against him, and determined to destroy his ministry (i.e. Acts 13:44-52; 14:2; 18:2-3). To many Jews it was preposterous that Gentiles could become God’s people. After all, it was the Jews God called His “own possession among all the peoples... a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). The Jews were the chosen ones. They entered a covenant relationship with God by means of circumcision and were entrusted with the Law of Moses (Gen. 17:9-12; Ex. 20). The Gentiles were unlawful, unclean, uncircumcised and unchosen.
Unfortunately, the Jews misunderstood why they were chosen. They thought their chosen position before God automatically made them righteous. Thus, they took great pride in having Abraham as their father (Matt. 3:9), boasting in physical lineageas the source of righteousness. They tookpride in being people special enough to be entrusted with the Law of Moses and the rite of circumcision. These were indeed great blessings for the Jewish nation (Rom. 3:1-2), but there were a few problems: they did not act anything like Abraham their father (John 8:39-44), they did not keep the Law, and they lived just as immorallyas the uncircumcised Gentiles (Rom. 2:1725). Being chosen by God did not make them righteous, but holy (Ex. 19:6). Being a Jew did not make one right, but simply set apart from other nations. The irony is found in the purpose for which they were set apart.
The Jews were set apart to be the avenue through which all the descendants ofthe earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3). It was through the Jewish nation, Abraham’s seed, that Christ would come and bring salvation to all nations (Gal. 3:16). It was Israel “from whom is the Christ accordingto the flesh” (Rom. 9:5). Do you see the irony?
The Jews were upset that the Gentiles received salvation because they were not the chosen ones – yet salvation to all nations was the very purpose for which the Jews were chosen! As Christians today, we are spiritual descendants of Abraham (Gal. 3:29). We too have become “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession...” (1 Pet. 2:9). Why? Not so we can look down on others for not being Christians, but so we can proclaim God’s excellencies, and bring those who are “not a people” into this holy nation the way God did for us (1 Pet. 2:9b-10).
