We first encounter the concept of “choosing” in Genesis 6:2, but there it is not about God choosing someone. It states there that the sons of God took wives from all whom they “chose” (bachar). We encounter this normal use of the word “choosing” much more frequently thereafter (Gen. 13:11; Ex. 17:9, 18:25; Josh. 8:3, etc.)
The first time the concept is used in the sense of Divine election is with Abraham.
Nehemiah 9
7 You are YAHWEH, the God, Who has chosen Abram…
The Hebrew word here is also: bachar (בחר): to choose, to elect. Historically, God’s electing action naturally began earlier — for example, with:
– Abel over Cain
– Seth instead of Abel
– Noah among his generation
– Shem over his brothers
But Scripture does not yet explicitly use the word “elect” there. That is significant: the concept is explicitly linked for the first time to Abram, the man through whom God would carry out His plan for the nations.
From that moment on, “election” becomes strongly connected with:
– a calling
– a promise
– a task
– and God’s purpose for others
elect with a purpose
So not primarily: “elect to be saved”, but: chosen to fulfill a role within God’s plan of salvation.
Genesis 12
1 And YAHWEH said to Abram: Go out from your land and from your kinship and from the house of your father to the land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and become a blessing!
3 And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you,and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
exclusive
Abram was chosen by God from among the nations and promised him a land where he would become a great nation. Abram’s selection is exclusive; the others were excluded from it. But God has everyone in mind with the election of Abram. For in him all the families of the earth would be blessed.
fulfillment
The promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 has multiple layers of fulfillment. First of all, Abraham literally became a blessing to many nations. After all, from him came the people of Israel and with them the covenants, the promises, and the Scriptures.
The people of Israel would serve as a priestly people to bless all other nations. In practice, not much came of this, for the Jewish people were generally an unbelieving people and did not fulfill their task and function as a priestly people. But in the future, on a new earth, this promise to Abraham will be fulfilled nonetheless.
the seed of Abraham
Later, the promise to Abraham is supplemented, and God tells him that God’s promises will be fulfilled in his seed (Gen. 12:7, 13:15, 22:18, etc.). This promise is repeated many times. Superficially, “the seed of Abraham” is the son of God’s choice, not Ishmael, but Isaac.
But at its deepest level, “the seed of Abraham” speaks of Christ, as Paul later declares (Gal. 3:9). In Christ, all generations of the earth will be blessed.
In Genesis 12, in the promises to Abraham, we already find the seed of what Paul was later allowed to make known: the reconciliation of the world and the salvation of all people! (Rom. 11:15; Col. 1:20; 1 Tim. 4:10).