Odd thing: John’s gospel has more references to God’s will and choice and election than any other gospel. But in two cases, Jesus insists that He chose the disciples in the context of talking about Judas. John 6:70: “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” And 13:18: “I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats my bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’” It’s not as if Jesus chose the twelve, and then some “accidentally” fell away; He knew whom He had chosen, and He chose Judas among them purposefully. Apostates, it appears, are as “elect” as anyone, and even in a sense special objects of election. “Chosen people” must somehow be integrated with the reality of “chosen devils.”
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