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at first obvious how this word can
have such a variety of meanings. The root
meaning of the word is 'to mix, or
mingle' as in Ezra 9:2, and in Leviticus
13 in nine verses it is translated
'the woof', a word meaning the threads
that cross 'the warp', the threads
running the long way of the fabric. In
all its varied renderings, the one
idea of 'intermingling' is present. Take
the word 'surety'. Judah realized
the serious implications of suretyship
saying:
'For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I
bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for
ever. Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide Instead Of the
lad' (Gen. 44:32,33).
The surety is so mingled with the one for whom he becomes pledged as to
be practically inseparable. (See Surety7). All these features enter into
the thought of the 'earnest' in Ephesians 1:14. Whether the pledge be
a penny or a pound it is equally binding. Whether the earnest include the
confirmation of supernatural gifts, including even the raising of the dead,
or whether it be but the possession of that faith which is the substance of
things hoped for, whether it be the 'manifestation of the spirit' or whether
the witness of the spirit be so simple, so quiet, so unobtrusive as to
exclude all apparent 'evidence', one thing abides, the earnest has been
given, and those who have been thus sealed have received the pledge of the
God of truth, Whose promises in every dispensation find their Yea and their
Amen in Christ.
Election. In ordinary usage, election means to choose or to select, and thus
to act is the everyday experience of all rational beings. When we choose a
house in which to live, we elect so to do. No fatalism enters into the
scheme, and the fact that by choosing one house, we do not choose
all the millions that are left, cannot be construed into reprobation,
condemnation or the like. If man, made in the image of God, is free to
choose, how much more shall God possess and exercise that right. This He
claims to do with regard to Israel (Deut. 7:6,7), Jerusalem (Zech. 1:17),
Aaron (Num. 16:5,7), David (2 Sam. 6:21), the twelve (John 6:70; Acts 1:2),
Paul (Acts 9:15) and others.
Coming nearer to the bearing of this term on doctrine, we read that
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians:
'God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth' (2 Thess. 2:13),
and Peter wrote to the Dispersion:
'Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ' (1 Pet. 1:2).
It will be observed that in both of these passages the means as well as
the end is included. We must return to them later. In both Old and New
Testaments, and regarding members of the several different callings, the
redeemed are called 'the elect'; 'Israel Mine elect' (Isa. 45:4); those on
the earth at the time of the Second Coming (Matt. 24:31); those who came
under the first ministry of the apostle Paul; 'Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect?' (Rom. 8:33); those who came under the second or
'Prison ministry' of the apostle Paul, 'Put on therefore, as the elect of