THE THEORY OF NATIONALISM

John Locke (1632-1704), was a strong supporter of this theory. According to Locke the doctrine of election is: "the choice of certain whole nations into the pale of the visible Church Catholic, which choice, however, relates purely to their privileged condition in this world extending not to their collective eternal state in another world" (Boyce, page 341). This doctrine states that God elects nations, not individuals. He elects them for some special purpose and to be his chosen nation. The only Scriptural evidence for this is that God chose Israel to be His people. The Puritans believed that God had chosen them, and the emerging United States, as He had the nation of Israel. This doctrine is still strong in our nation. Many believe that this nation is safe, because they are "God's Elect" and He will not allow its destruction.

 

In the New Testament, we see that election is the election of individuals and not nations. God chose the nation of Israel to be his representative on earth, as shown in 1 CH 16:13, 2 CH 6:6,, PSA 135:4, ISA 44:1, ISA 41:8, and EZE 20:5. There is no evidence that He has chosen one nation above another for this purpose today. His Church is to be His representatives to the world in this dispensation. He may chose a nation for a particular task, but He does not single out nations to be the only recipients of salvation.