Nicole’s e-Pistle

August 7, 2024

Hello, friends!

This is part two of my look at the stereotype of Presbyterians being known as the frozen chosen. Last week, I focused on the fact that far from being “frozen” in our theology and tradition, we are Reformed and always being reformed by the Holy Spirit, who is still very much alive and active in our lives and in the church! This week, I’ll tackle something more difficult and complex… our being “chosen.”

Contrary to the idea that all Presbyterians believe in a strict “double predestination,” the idea that God chose some for salvation and some for condemnation before the dawn of human existence, the concept of our being chosen is far more complex. I will never hold to the type of Calvinism that was twisted to produce incidents in history, such as the Salem Witch Trials. People were so concerned with whether or not they or their neighbors were part of the chosen few who would reach salvation and eternal life, that any minor sin or error was considered witchcraft – a sign that the devil was viscerally active in their midst.

Instead, predestination (a word that is not in the Bible), election, the concept of being chosen, relates to the sovereignty of God. It is for God to save, as it says in Ephesians 2:8, “for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” We are chosen by the grace of God, not through anything we ourselves can claim on our own. Yet, as the PC(USA) said in a statement in 2002, “we do not presume to limit the sovereign freedom of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:3-4). Thus, we neither restrict the grace of God to those who profess explicit faith in Christ nor assume that all people are saved regardless of faith. Grace, love, and communion belong to God, and are not ours to determine.”

Therefore, as I contemplate my own faith, which seeks understanding, I believe that salvation is found in Christ alone, a gift of grace by our loving God. Yet, I cling to the image in Jesus’ parable of the benevolent landowner, who hired groups of laborers throughout the day, even to the last hour, and in his love and mercy, chose to pay them each a full day’s wage. My hope is that all of humanity – indeed all of creation – will come to experience true and eternal communion with their Creator, even if some come by this gift at the last hour.

May you each be frozen in your resolve to love as you are loved, confident in your being chosen by the God who created you, redeems you, and sustains you.

In Christ,