# Election just referring to Israel/Jews?



## thistle93 (Oct 22, 2012)

Hi! There is a person who I am in contact with that recently sent me a video about how election in Scripture is almost always referring to Israel/Jews and not the Church/Gentiles and never unto salvation. This is a clever way for people to try to write off unconditional election of salvation but I think falls horrible short and mutilates the Word of God from the true meaning of election. The majority of New Testament books were written to churches. Yes their were many Jews in these churches (which in itself opposes the dispensational theology of the distinctions of Israel and the Church) but there were also many Gentiles. The two become one in Jesus Christ. 
If want to watch vid to get more details here it is below:

The Jews Are the Elect, Election is Not Salvation (Why God Did Not Elect Calvinists) - YouTube

I do not know much about the guy on the video except that he is part of the Calvary Chapel network, which is defiantly not friendly to Reformed doctrine. 
Clearly the guy on the video comes from a dispensational premil pre-trib rapture view as is Calvary Chapel. 
Would his view be an extreme dispensational view or is this mainstream dispensational view? 
Is this a common view? I have heard a few people who claim this but the majority of Arminians I have had conversations with do not speak of election=Israel but rather say the God elects those who He knows will respond in faith. 
So is the issue here not a Arminianism hermeneutic but rather a dispensational hermeneutic?
Would you ever find this viewpoint before the coming of dispensationalism? Did any early Arminians have this view? 

I know where I would respond to this argument but curious what would your response to this type of argument be?
Also any videos or articles that you would recommend that I could send in response? Thank you! 


For His Glory-
Matthew


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## arapahoepark (Oct 22, 2012)

Calvary chapel (CC) wants a soteriology in the middle believing that Arminianism and Calvinism have some truth to each of them therefore why not incorporate those elements of both. In doing so they reject the whole truth of calvinism that must be taken as a whole. They believe they are compatiblists by thinking that God elects but we have 'free will' and it works in a way that we can't understand.
After what you said was in the video, I am unsure if that is normal for CC. Being that you know they are dispensationalists it does not surprise me that they would emphasize Israel as the elect.
They are also rabid anti-Calvinists despite what I said above. They are arminian in their soteriology and methodology of witnessing and evangelizing. Though I am sure there are many learned Calvary Chapel pastors, some aren't so learned especially in Calvinism and just reduce it to hearsay thinking it's a cult and makes God out to be mean. So the answer to your questions would be a little bit of both arminian and dispensational, because they seem to go 'nicely together' in their doctrines. I would take what the person in the video says with a grain of salt since both doctrines are at least in terrible error and at worst heresy.


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