Hello, this is Pastor Steven Anderson from Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona.
And today I want to talk about another passage that uses the term elect, which is Romans
11.7.
The Bible reads,
What then Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained
it, and the rest were blinded.
So people who try to say that all of Israel, whether they're saved or not, whether they
believe or not, you know, they're all elect.
This verse just proves that that's false, because it says right here, Israel hath not
obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were
blinded.
Well, if those two groups are the same thing, that wouldn't even make any sense.
If Israel are the elect, then how could he say, well, Israel's blinded and the election's
not blinded.
It's because the election's not referring to Israel.
It's the election according to grace.
It's the election, meaning the chosen people are those who believe on Jesus Christ and
are saved by grace.
Now, was there an election or choosing of the Jews in the Old Testament?
Yes, there was.
In the Old Testament, God did choose Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Bible talks about them being beloved for the Father's sake.
You know, that nation of Israel was God's chosen people in the Old Testament.
But in the New Testament, the Bible said that the kingdom of God would be taken from
them and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruit thereof.
They're no longer God's chosen people.
According to Romans 11, 7, they're not the election.
They've been blinded.
Now, what does it mean to be blinded?
Well, listen to 2 Corinthians chapter 3, because the apostle Paul makes some similar statements
over here in verse 13, and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face that the children
of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.
But their minds were blinded, talking about the children of Israel.
It says, for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the
Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ.
But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
This is saying that even when the Israelites today read the Old Testament, they have a
veil over that.
They're blinded.
Basically, what the Bible is saying is that they're reading the Old Testament blindfolded.
Now, let me ask you this.
If according to the Bible, the Jews today that are not saved, that don't believe in
Jesus, if they're reading the Old Testament blindfolded, why would we go to them for help
on interpreting the Old Testament?
I mean, Christians today think, oh, well, let's see what the Jews think about this Old
Testament passage.
You know, let's get their opinion on what this passage means.
Hold on.
Why would you have someone who is blindfolded lead you?
I think Jesus talked about the fact that you're both going to fall in the ditch when the blind
lead the blind.
And so we should never go to the Jews to try to get interpretations of God's word because
the Bible is clear.
They're blinded.
They are reading the Bible blindfolded.
They're not going to interpret it for you correctly.
So again, this shows that the election, the elect in the New Testament is referring to
believers, not referring to unbelieving Israel.