If I was to tell a girl she is looking good, and she responds by saying “it is the glory of God” instead of “thank you”, I see this as a sign of someone who speaks Christianese.
When a new believer joins some Christian communities he/she is bombarded by words that sound good even though the one speaking them may not understand what they mean. By the way, it is usually not long before you learn how to speak Christianese.
I want to us to explore words commonly used in Christianese. I couldn’t think of anything richer than exploring the words used in reference to the order of salvation.
The predominant order of salvation in Christian-entities (Christianity) is a linear conversion based on the following order;
Election-Gospel Call-Regeneration-Conversion-Justification-Adoption-Santification-Perserverance-Death-Glorification
Am sure you have heard one of these words if you have been in a circle that speaks Christianese. Granted theology has a poverty of words. These words therefore have unique meanings when applied in reference to the knowledge of God. Their interpretation will result to different views of the grace and majesty of God and role of man in the mission of God to save humanity.
I’ll briefly attempt to expose each word then summarize with a diagrammatic representation of what I consider a proper picture of the order of salvation away from the linear model.
1) The doctrine of election
That is, in Christ, he chose us before the world was made so that we would be his holy people-people without blame before him Ephesians1:4 NCV
The predominant interpretations of this scripture is
1) God has made a sovereign choice in eternity past to save certain individuals to be called Christians for himself
2) The blessings pertaining to heaven talked about is bestowed upon Christians in accordance with an eternal purpose
An exposition of the words in the verses reveals;
In Christ
The gospel is Jesus Christ is Lord not “you can be saved and this is how”. If we therefore consider Christ is Lord, then we are chosen by him. We are chosen in him and not for him. As in, the verse does not begin by saying, “for Christ”, but rather it says” in Christ”. This is coz it is the goodness of God that he chose us. William Burkitt says it best, “the death of Christ was the fruit and effect, but not the cause of our election”. This brief reflection therefore shifts the Christian world view from an exclusive-certain individuals have “it” and others will not because God has used his sovereignty to choose “them”-entity to an inclusive-everyone can have “it” entity if they choose to because God has used his sovereignty to choose so.
He chose
God would have refused to choose even with his foreknowledge of how the world would turn out before he created it because he has freewill and is sovereign. He however chose to favour us (every human being) that with all the infinite possibilities of how peoples’ life would turn out, they can willingly join his will of turning the world to a better place of how he intended it to be.
Us
Paul was a Jew who became a Christian. He wrote this letter to Ephesians (Gentiles) who had become Christians. This “us” therefore refers to both jews and gentiles communities. It does not mean that God has chosen some individuals and rejected others, but rather God chose to have covenant with people not confined to one “tribe”. Some theologians interpret it to mean the “us” refers to gentiles as the jews had previously referred themselves as the chosen people of God. A better exposition to include both is to differentiate the “chosen people” Jews from “the Israel of God” (Gal6:16, Rom4:11-12) as some have rightly done.
Before the world was made
This phrase refers to the eternity of Christ.
Summary
Election from a thesaurus refers to choice, determination , appointment, selection, voting…All through the bible we see God choosing people for an office eg Abraham, selecting a nation eg Israel to be his own and even individuals such a s Peter and John, you and I.
What if we used the word voting when referring to election?
A believer is therefore an eligible voter for he has met the conditions God has set.
A non-believer is an un-eligible voter.
This makes me understand the doctrine of election in a whole new way.
