a choosing: the act of picking someone out for a purpose, used in the New Testament of God choosing people for himself
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
The word names a choosing that has already been made, and in every New Testament use the one doing the choosing is God. Paul is blunt about what the choice does not rest on: God's purpose was set "according to choosing" before Jacob and Esau were born or had done anything good or bad (Romans 9:11), and the faithful remnant of Paul's own day exists "according to a choosing of grace" (Romans 11:5). The point of the word is not that some people are better candidates. It is that the initiative lies with God.
From there the word stretches in three directions, and this is where readers usually stumble:
It can name the act itself, God's decision to take certain people as his own (Romans 9:11;1 Thessalonians 1:4).
It can name the people that decision produced, so "the choosing obtained it" simply means the chosen people did (Romans 11:7).
It can mark out one person as picked for a job, as when the risen Jesus calls Saul a vessel of choosing, which English versions render "a chosen instrument" (Acts 9:15).
The words around it fill out the picture. The verb "to choose" (ἐκλέγομαι) is what God does, the word "chosen" (ἐκλεκτός) is what the person he picked then is, and this noun is the choosing itself, spoken of as something you can point to and give thanks for. Peter sets it beside "calling" (κλῆσις) and tells his readers to make both of them sure (2 Peter 1:10), so the word is not sealed off from the way a person actually lives. And Paul can say of unbelieving Israel that "as far as the choosing goes, they are loved because of the fathers" (Romans 11:28), which means a choice God has made is not something he later abandons.
Nuances
1aGod's act of choosing people for himself, made apart from anything they have done
Rom 9:11Rom 11:5Rom 11:28*1Th 1:42Pe 1:10
1bthe people God has chosen, spoken of together as a group
TranslatabilityDirect
Rom 11:7
1cchosen for a task: marking out one person as picked by God for a particular job
names an act of choosing in which God is the one doing the choosingRom 9:11
can stand for the people God chose rather than for the decisionRom 11:7
can describe a single person picked out for a particular taskAct 9:15
Both
both name the deliberate picking out of some from a larger numberRom 11:5
Only election
in ordinary English an election is a vote, which puts the choosing in the hands of the voters rather than of God
the English word has become the name of a doctrinal position, so it arrives carrying arguments the Greek noun does not itself make
“choice”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“choosing”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“chosen”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How eklogē differs from similar Greek words
ἐκλέγομαιthe verb for picking someone out, used of Jesus choosing the Twelve and of God choosing the poor, so it always shows the choosing being done at a particular moment rather than naming it as a thing
Treats the choosing as a standing arrangement that can be discussed on its own, apart from any moment of picking: God has a plan that works by choosing, Israel is loved with respect to that choosing, and readers are urged to make their own choosing certain.Rom 9:11Rom 11:282Pe 1:10
Can stand for the chosen people themselves, as a body: Paul says that the chosen obtained what the rest of Israel reached for and missed.Rom 11:7
Works as a describing phrase hung on another word to say what someone is: Paul is a vessel "of choosing", that is, a man picked out to carry the name of Jesus.Act 9:15
Both
Both are used for God taking people for himself before and apart from anything they have done: he chose us before the world was founded, and the surviving remnant of Israel stands by a choosing that is sheer grace rather than earned.Eph 1:4Rom 11:5
Both can single out individuals for a task and not only a whole people: Jesus picks twelve out of the wider crowd of followers and names them apostles, and Paul is the picked instrument sent to the nations.Luk 6:13Act 9:15
Both are applied to Israel's long standing with God: he picked the fathers of the nation and brought them out of Egypt, and the nation is still loved in respect of that choosing for the fathers' sake.Act 13:17Rom 11:28
Names the act of picking and the one doing it, so it can be asserted and even denied: Jesus tells the twelve that the choosing ran from him to them and not the other way, and the praying church asks God to show which of two men he has already picked.Jhn 15:16Act 1:24
Covers ordinary human picking as well as God's: dinner guests take the best seats for themselves, Mary takes the better thing to do, and the Jerusalem congregation picks seven men to handle the daily food.Luk 14:7Luk 10:42Act 6:5
Usually says in the same breath what the chosen were picked for, or what made them unlikely picks: the foolish and the weak are chosen to shame the strong, and the poor are chosen to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom.1Co 1:271Co 1:28Jas 2:5
Can harden into a title for a single person: the voice from the cloud calls Jesus "my Son, the Chosen One".Luk 9:35
ἐκλεκτόςthe word for the one who has been chosen, used of Christ, of angels, and above all of God's people, describing the person rather than the act that produced them
Names the ones who are chosen, a label for the people God has marked out as his own.Mat 24:22Col 3:12Rom 8:33
Can single out one honored individual as chosen, whether Christ himself, a named believer, or even an angel.Luk 23:35Rom 16:131Ti 5:21
Describes a thing set apart as choice and precious, such as the chosen cornerstone laid in Zion.1Pe 2:41Pe 2:6
κλῆσιςthe call God issues, which reaches a person in time through the gospel, where a choosing looks back to the decision that lies behind that call; 2 Peter 1:10 sets the two side by side
ἐκλογή centers on the act of picking out, the choice that separates some from the rest. In Romans it names the selecting by which God set apart a believing remnant of Israel while the others were passed over.Rom 9:11Rom 11:5Rom 11:7
ἐκλογή can also stand for the person or people chosen, marked out as God's own for his purpose. Paul is named a vessel of choice, and a whole community can be addressed by its election.Act 9:15Rom 11:281Th 1:4
Both
Both words name God's saving initiative toward believers, and Scripture pairs them as the twin ground of assurance, urging readers to make their calling and election sure.2Pe 1:10
κλῆσις is God's summons, the call addressed to a person to come and belong to him. The weight falls on the invitation itself, which God does not take back.Rom 11:292Th 1:112Ti 1:9
κλῆσις also names the vocation a person is called into, the hope and destiny bound up with it, and even one's station in life. Believers are told to live worthy of it and to press toward its upward goal.Eph 1:18Eph 4:1Php 3:14Heb 3:11Co 7:20
πρόθεσιςGod's settled plan or intention, the wider purpose within which a particular choice is made; Romans 9:11 speaks of the purpose that works "according to choosing"
Names a settled plan or intention, the aim a person has resolved on, whether God's or a human's.Rom 8:28Eph 1:11Act 11:232Ti 3:10
Has a concrete sense unrelated to choosing: the bread set out before God in the holy place, the loaves laid forth.Mat 12:4Mrk 2:26Heb 9:2
eklogē in the other biblical languages
בָּחַרHebrew“to choose”the standard Hebrew verb for choosing, used of God choosing Israel, Jerusalem, and David, and the background the Greek noun is drawing on
Names the choosing itself as a settled reality that can be spoken about on its own, rather than an act someone carries out at a moment. Paul can speak of God's choosing purpose as already fixed before Jacob and Esau were born or had done anything good or bad, and Peter can urge readers to make their calling and their being chosen certain by the way they live.Rom 9:112Pe 1:10
Can stand for the chosen people themselves, so that one word names the group rather than the act: a remnant left in Israel by God's gracious choosing, the ones who obtained what the rest missed, and Israel still loved by God on account of that choosing.Rom 11:5Rom 11:7Rom 11:28
Works as a description attached to a person or a congregation, naming them as the outcome of God's decision: Paul is an instrument of God's choosing, set apart to carry his name to the nations, and Paul tells the Thessalonians he knows they are chosen from the way the message took hold among them.Act 9:151Th 1:4
Both
Both name God's sovereign choice of a people, resting on his own love rather than on anything the chosen had to recommend them: Israel is told the LORD did not choose them because they were numerous, since they were the fewest of all peoples, and Paul says the remnant that remains is there by a choosing that runs on grace.Deu 7:7Rom 11:5
Both make being chosen a lasting shared identity rather than a one-off decision: Israel is a holy people chosen out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, chosen in their ancestors and in their descendants after them, and generations later Paul says Israel is still loved on account of that same choosing.Deu 7:6Deu 10:15Rom 11:28
The Greek noun belongs to the same family as the Greek verb that Greek-speaking Jews used to render the Hebrew verb, so the Old Testament vocabulary of God choosing passes straight into the New: what the Old Testament tells as something God did, loving the ancestors, choosing their offspring after them, and bringing Israel out of Egypt, the New Testament can name as a thing in its own right, God's choosing purpose.Deu 4:37Rom 9:11
Covers ordinary human choosing between live options, including the decision the covenant puts to Israel: Joshua tells the people to choose whom they will serve and then calls them witnesses that they have chosen the LORD, Moses sets life and death before them and says choose life, Lot chooses the whole Jordan plain for himself, and the sons of God take whichever women they choose.Jos 24:15Jos 24:22Deu 30:19Gen 13:11Gen 6:2
Handles the practical work of picking the best out of a larger pool for a job or a battle: Moses picks capable men from all Israel to lead, Joshua picks thirty thousand fighting men and sends them out at night, Pharaoh takes six hundred picked chariots, and David picks five smooth stones out of the streambed.Exo 18:25Jos 8:3Exo 14:71Sa 17:40
Is the word for God choosing a PLACE, not only people: the one site out of all the tribes where he will put his name and to which offerings must be brought, and Zion, which he chose as his seat.Deu 12:5Psa 132:13
Names God's choosing of particular individuals for an office, one man singled out of his family or tribe: Aaron's line taken out of all Israel's tribes for the priesthood, Levi picked to stand and serve, Saul held up before the people as the man the LORD has chosen, David taken from the sheep pens, and Zerubbabel made like a signet ring.1Sa 2:28Deu 18:51Sa 10:24Psa 78:70Hag 2:23
Slides into plain preference and worth, so the word can rate one thing above another with no election in view at all: a good name is preferable to great riches, getting understanding is worth more than silver, an honest person's words are like the finest silver, people are blamed for not preferring the fear of the LORD, and Job says he would sooner have strangling than the life he has.Pro 22:1Pro 16:16Pro 10:20Pro 1:29Job 7:15
בָּחִירHebrew“chosen”the Hebrew word for the one God has chosen, his "chosen ones", which lines up with the group sense rather than with the act of choosing
Names the choosing itself rather than anyone who was chosen, so it can be spoken of as settled before the people involved even existed: God's purpose stood "according to choosing" before Jacob and Esau were born or had done anything, and the faithful remnant of Paul's day exists "according to a choosing of grace".Rom 9:11Rom 11:5
Because it names an act and not a title, it can be set beside another act of God and made the object of a command about how a person lives, as when readers are told to make their calling and their choosing sure.2Pe 1:10
Can be argued from as the standing ground for God's continuing love toward people who at present refuse him: so far as the choosing goes, unbelieving Israel is still loved on account of the fathers.Rom 11:28
Both
Both keep the initiative entirely with God and refuse to rest the choice on the merit of the one chosen: Israel is God's chosen for the sake of God's own servant and purpose, and the Greek word is used precisely to say the choice came before anyone had done good or bad.Isa 45:4Rom 9:11
Both can stand for the chosen community as a body, and this is where the two words come closest: the Greek noun sometimes means the people the choosing produced rather than the act, which is exactly what the Hebrew word means when God calls Israel "my people, my chosen".Rom 11:7Isa 43:20
Both attach the choosing to a job to be done rather than to privilege alone: the servant God delights in is chosen to carry out God's work, and Saul is a vessel of choosing, rendered "a chosen instrument", picked to carry God's name to the nations.Isa 42:1Act 9:15
Both give a congregation something to give thanks for rather than to worry over, naming the choosing as a settled kindness of God toward those addressed: Paul thanks God for the choosing of the Thessalonians, and the psalm blesses God for what he has given his chosen ones.1Th 1:4Psa 106:5
Works as a title fastened to a named individual, so that a person can be called God's chosen one outright: David, with whom God makes a covenant; Moses, who stands in the gap for a rebellious people; and Saul, called "the chosen of the LORD".Psa 89:3Psa 106:232Sa 21:6
Marks the covenant nation by its descent, tying the choosing to ancestry: the offspring of Abraham and the children of Jacob are addressed as God's chosen ones.1Ch 16:13Psa 105:6
Points forward to a surviving remnant who come through judgment to inherit land and long life in it, a future group God keeps for himself while others are left as a curse.Isa 65:9Isa 65:22Isa 65:15
Belongs to the language of worship, where the chosen are a company whose blessing the worshipper asks to share and whose rescue from Egypt is sung about with gladness.Psa 106:5Psa 105:43
What scholars say about eklogē
The lexica treat ἐκλογή as a verbal noun from ἐκλέγομαι with two closely related uses: the act of selecting, and by metonymy that which is selected (BDAG; LSJ, whose classical range covers a selected extract and a levy of troops). All seven New Testament occurrences are theological with God as the one choosing, and five of the seven are Pauline, four of those in Romans 9 to 11, where the term carries the argument about the remnant. Romans 11:7 is standardly read as the abstract noun for the concrete group, the chosen set over against οἱ λοιποί who were hardened, and Acts 9:15 σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς is a Septuagintal genitive of quality with adjectival force, "a chosen instrument". Schrenk's TDNT treatment and EDNT both locate Paul's usage in the Septuagint's language for God's choice of Israel, rendering בָּחַר in Deuteronomy and Isaiah, and read ἐκλογή in Romans 11:28 as the divine act by which Israel became God's people rather than as the elect remnant; Cranfield and Moo argue the same for that verse. The heavily debated questions attached to the word, whether the choosing is corporate or individual and how the βεβαίαν ποιεῖσθαι of 2 Peter 1:10 relates to a divine choice, belong to theology and to the exegesis of Paul's argument, not to the lexical sense, which is not itself in doubt.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. ἐκλογήlexicon
LSJ, s.v. ἐκλογήlexicon
G. Schrenk, "ἐκλέγομαι, ἐκλογή, ἐκλεκτός," in TDNTdictionary
EDNT, s.v. ἐκλογήdictionary
C. E. B. Cranfield, The Epistle to the Romans, ICCcommentary
Douglas J. Moo, The Letter to the Romans, NICNTcommentary