The mysterious choosing of the people...

The mysterious choosing of the people of Israel forms the imaginative backdrop to the New Testament concept of election. The mystery of the election of the church is not, as in Augustine’s framing, about who has been selected by God to escape judgment and get in the lifeboat to heaven called church. It is not about which individuals were chosen and which were left out. Like the choosing of Israel in Abram, this choosing is not really about the those inside the church but about being chosen by God to represent him for the sake of the world.