This title is borrowed from a 1950's book by J.B. Phillips. He was a friend of C.S. Lewis and the translator of the first of the popular paraphrases of the New Testament, "The New Testament In Modern English" (1958). It is largely forgotten now but its literary qualities and forceful rendering of many passages have made it a favorite of mine ever since I bought my first copy as a senior in high school. I used this title because it sounded much better that the dry, technical heading of "Some Thoughts On The Meaning Of Predestination And Election". I'm sure these thoughts are not entirely original with me but I did not get them from any book, sermon, etc. They have come from years of reflection on the Scriptures.
This little essay should not be construed as a critique of 'Reformed' theology or any other system of interpreting Scripture, even though some may take it that way. It is not that I believe certain doctrines about predestination and election are completely wrong, it is just that their advocates have not always been careful to clarify some things. To 'cut to the chase' as they say, I will say right up front that it seems to me that the terms "chose", "elect", etc, are used in Scripture as anthropomorphic words. 'Anthropomorphic' is a word formed from two Greek words: 'anthropos' (man/human) and morphos (the form, essence or nature of someone or something). Most people are familiar with the anthropomorphic images in many cartoons when animals are portrayed as humans. Anthropomorphic terms in Scripture compare God to people so that we can better grasp things. Scripture speaks of the 'hand' of God, the 'eyes' of the Lord, etc. Just before the flood of Noah's time the Scripture says that God was "grieved" that he had made man. The King James Version renders it "repented" that He had made man. Now, of course, nothing takes God surprise. He knows eternally all things. (We need to let that sink in for a moment.) When anthropomorphic terms are used of God they are intended to help us at lest partially grasp things that are ultimately beyond total comprehension.
So it is with the words 'elect', and 'choose'. If we are not very careful how we define and explain these terms we make God out to be finite/limited. God is the Creator of space and time. That is what happened at Genesis 1:1. He is not bound by time or space. There is no time at which those who are called God's 'chosen ones' or 'elect' were not chosen. To give the impression that there was a point of time in the past when God said "I now choose _____ to be saved and I do not choose _____ to be saved is to put God into time and thus make Him finite/limited. Hence, the title "Your God Is Too Small". We can only grasp words like 'choose' and 'elect' in the way that we as humans use them. At a certain point in time we decide and act. We are finite/limited. Before that time we had not made the choice or elected.
But now comes the most important part of all. The words 'chose' and 'elect' must be defined in a way that fits how they are used of Jesus, He is "the living Stone -- rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him" and he is the "chosen and precious cornerstone". (I Peter 2:4-6 NIV) If the words 'chosen' or 'elect' are used of Christ the way that some people have defined them (as applied to believers) then Christ was chosen from among a larger group of beings to be the Savior of the world. This is, of course, exactly what some cults say about Christ. He is the highest of the angelic beings chosen by God to be the Savior. Now do you see why we cannot define 'chosen' and 'elect', when used of believers, as "God chose certain ones to be save and did not choose others". If you apply this definition to Christ you have denied his absolute uniqueness. Not to mention that you have also denied several explicit Scripture that declare God to be unwilling that any perish and that he would have all men to be saved. (I Tim. 2:4 and II Peter 3:9)
Now, we need a definition of 'chosen' and 'elect' that: 1) does not make God finite/limited; and 2) fits the words when they are used of Christ. We have that definition in Jesus' great High Priestly Prayer in John 17. Jesus said, "Father . . . you loved me before the Creation of the world" (vs. 24) That, my friends, is the biblical definition of what it means to be 'elect' and 'chosen' of God. It means: that the believer, like Jesus the unique Son of God, is eternally loved by God the Father. To go beyond this definition and portray God as 'choosing' in the way that humans choose, is to portray God as crudely arbitrary and to portray Christ as just one of a larger group of similar beings.
So now when you read these words in Scripture, or hear them used in a sermon, just think to yourself: "John 17:24"; I am eternally loved by the Father, just as Jesus, the unique Son, is eternally loved. It is supremely good to give God all the credit for our salvation but to do it in the way that some people have defined 'chosen' and 'elect' is, as we have seen, to portray God the Father and Christ the Son very poorly, even ugly. Stick with John 17:24 and ignore the theologians.
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