Yahoo News, recently posted an article regarding a newly discovered letter written by famous scientist Albert Einstein to philosopher Erik Gutkind. What caught my attention was Einstein’s comment on Jews being God’s chosen people.
Albert Einstein described belief in God as “childish superstition” and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday.
The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954.
As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they “have no different quality for me than all other people”.
I think this is a good illustration for Christians who struggle with the Bible’s doctrine of election, where God chooses whom He will save. The Bible is clear that Israel, Jewish people, were God’s chosen “Israel my elect” (Isaiah 45:4). What is it about the Jewish people that God would choose them to be His people? What quality about Jews that would attract the God of the universe to choose them out of all the other people’s in the world? Absolutely nothing. If there were such qualities, God would no longer be free in His choosing. He would be then bound to choosing a particular people group due to something they’ve done or something they’ve inherited. God makes it clear that He is free in choosing whom He will save.
The patriarch to the Jews, Abraham belonged to an idolatrous family who ‘served other gods’. Notice what Joshua 24:2-3 states:
And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. The I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offpsring many.
There is a freedom to God’s choosing that needs to be noted. Abraham was not morally fit or qualified in any way to be the chosen father of the Jews other than God chose Him. Deuterononmy 10:14-15 states the scope of God’s election more emphatically.
Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all that is in it. Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.
Consider how God is first described as the one who created all things, the universe “heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all that is in it.” Why does the writer start there and sets that as the backdrop? Notice, after that sentence he goes on to say, “Yet the LORD set his heart in love..” It seems that the second sentence that begins with “Yet the LORD” is stating emphatically that of all the things God has created in this world, all the creatures, all the peoples, God was absolutely free in choosing and setting his heart to a particular people. That is the backdrop from which he then declares His choosing. That is to declare emphatically that he was not bound nor forced to choose Israel.
I’ve yet to read the letter between Einstein and Gutkind but what may have been missed is why would the Bible make election such a prominent doctrine and why does the Bible emphasize the freedom of God’s electing people to save?
One answer that is clear is it makes God glorious. Wait a minute.. is that true? Wouldn’t this make God some sort of kill joy or cruel god who chooses certain people to be saved while others perish? From the outside looking in that would be a very natural reaction. However, imagine if you were the one whom God has chosen how would you respond knowing that there was nothing in you, nothing of worth that would cause God to choose you? How would you respond? Isaiah 43:7 gives us an indication of why God chose Israel and it is for God’s glory, “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” The context in that chapter is God’s choice and love of Israel to be a people for Himself. He says later in verse 21, “the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.” God is glorified in that when a person is saved, they realize that God freely saved them, loved them, delivered them from the bondage of sin apart from anything they’ve done. Yes that person may have placed their faith in God, but God chose them that they may believe. So that in response they would be a people who “declare [His] praise.”
Lastly it must be noted that God’s election was not limited to the Jewish people. God offered salvation to the Gentiles (non Jewish people) again for the same reason: for His glory. One last passage to consider is the familiar verse Ephesians chapter 1.
1:4-6, “even as He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which which he have redemption through his blood.”
1:11-12 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we we who were the first to hope in Christ might be
to the praise of His glory.”
1:13-14 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,
to the praise of His glory.”
Three times we see that the purpose of God’s choosing to be saved would be to the praise of His glory.
Einstein was absolutely right. There was nothing in the Jewish people that would make them special in any way. However by God choosing them, by God choosing people to be saved is what brings people to praise God that He would do such a wonderful work towards undeserving people like us.
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