ELECTION, in Theology, signifies the choice which God, of his good pleasure, makes of angels or men, for the objects of mercy and grace.
The election of the Jews was the choice God made of that people to be more immediately attached to his worship and service, and for the Messiah to be born of them. And thus particular nations were elected to the participation of the outward blessings of Christianity.
ELECTION also, in the language of some divines, signifies a predilection to grace and glory, and sometimes to glory only. And it has been enjoined as an article of faith, that predilection to grace is gratuitous, merely and simply so; gratia, quia gratis data. But the divines are much divided as to the point, whether election to glory be gratuitous, or whether it supposes obedience and good works, i. e. whether it be before or after the provision of our obedience. See GRACE and REPROBATION.