MANY ARE CALLED, BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN

In Matt. 20:16; 22:14 the words of Christ are "For many are called, but few are chosen." These two terms are coextensive, as two aspects of the same process, kletos, the called ones, having special reference to the goal, and eklektos, the chosen ones, referring to the starting point. The same persons are "called" to Christ and "chosen” out from the world. This call is an invitation to all, "Come unto Me, all…”, to “whosoever will.”  None is excluded, but not all who are called accept the call, and those who accept are the eklektos, the chosen ones whom the grace of God puts at the starting point of the newly regenerated life, giving them from that moment on a sense of responsibility and fulfillment of the divine purpose to which they are called.  No one can be a chosen one unless he is a called one. The initiative always comes from God. The “called” of Romans 8:30 is translated from the Greek word kaleo and carries the sense of the call of a shepherd to his flock, an effectual calling that has been responded to and accepted. This is the call of God to those whom God foreknew and predestined, a conditional call synonymous with the “chosen” of Matt. 20:16 and 22:14.  It is the call of the chosen,   the “drawing” Jesus spoke of in John 6:44, “no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them ....” When the Apostle Paul preached for the first time to the Gentiles at Antioch of Pisidia, we read "as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48). Paul preached to all who would listen, even as Jesus Christ invites all to come to Him, but only a few appointed ones, chosen ones, heeded the call and believed. It is noteworthy eklektos is used 23 times in the New Testament being translated “elect” 16 times and “chosen” 7 times. The chosen are the elect of God, predestined before the foundations of the world to be His (See Election Blog dated Jan. 27, 2010).  Many are called, but few are the chosen ones, those who enter the narrow difficult way that leads to eternal life.