Commenting on 1 Thessalonians 1:4-7 Fee’s position on the Pauline usage of the word “election” is that of the whole body (i.e. corporate), rather than individual.
The noun “election” itself is found elsewhere in Paul’s letters only in Romans 9-11, all having to do with Israel. Elsewhere Paul uses the verb (Eph 1:4) or the adjective “elect.” Although this language does not occur frequently in his letters, its occurrences in a passage like the present one indicates that it is presuppositional for him. It should be noted that in the present case Paul is thinking of the whole body of Thessalonian believers as elect, not individuals believers. Indeed, although he refers once to an individual as “chosen” (Rom 16:13), his understanding of such election is presuppositionally related to a person’s incorporation into the community of believers. Moreover, for Paul “election” is always a referent to believers, and thus, reflects a reality after the fact, not before; and as here it is always seen as an action of God’s love, and thus it becomes a dynamic force in the life of the believing community. – Gordon Fee “The First Letter and Second Letters to The Thessalonians”, NICNT p31
I have mixed emotions after reading this. On one hand I agree that Paul grounds election our corporate identity in Christ. On the other hand, he uses examples of individuals like Jacob and Esau. I know Jacob and Esau stand for Israel and essentially everyone else, but he still uses individuals to make a point about election.
So we have individual > corporate > individual.
It seems there is still some sense in which an individual experiences election, no?
Pardon this off-subject question, but does anyone know if Fee’s commentary will be updated soon? I know it’s over 20 years old and I thought I read somewhere that is would be updated…
Brian, I’m still thinking about your question.
Mike, are you referring to his commentary on Corinthians? I was reading at Nicks blog and that came up as well, but I have no clue if they are.
Brian, did you read Dan Wallace posting on this subject? At some points it seems that he is referring to election in terms of calling. I do believe that certain individuals were chosen for a particular task (e.g Paul). But it seems that Fee has Salvation in mind when he makes his comment, and not calling. We are all called and gifted by God (individual election) to serve the body in different ways. Again corporate election is new to me but something I’m leaning towards just need to understand it more fully.
Also it becomes clear that Wallace is commenting through the filters of Calvinism, although he says in one of his comments “I’m just an exegete, not a philosopher.” not sure if he is just an “exegete” sounds like a lot of theology to me. It is very difficult to leave our presuppositions but if we want to understand something that is new to us, we have to make our best effort to do so.
Anyhow you can read
Wallae full post here