Matthew 22:11, the evil feast, the good feast, everyone feasts, which means the man who gets thrown out is not removed for wickedness, he is removed for something else entirely, something that has nothing to do with how good or bad he is, Matthew 22:14, this is where the most quoted line in the parable finally makes sense. Many are “called” kletoi, but few are “chosen” eklektoi, these Greek words mean in the English language called and chosen. Two categories, one group got the invitation, another group got selected by sovereign decree, as if God held a lottery and only some names were drawn, but the Greek is doing something English translations hide completely, kletoi comes from kaleo, to call, to summon, to invite, it describes the state of having been invited, the general call, everyone heard it, everyone in the hall was kletoi.
Eklektoi comes from a different verb entirely, eklegomai, to choose out, to select, to pick for quality, it does not share a root with kletoi, but Matthew places these two words side by side in the same sentence deliberately. The phonetic echo between kletoi and eklektoi would have landed immediately for a Greek-speaking audience, invited versus selected, summoned versus refined, a Greek hearer would catch the contrast instantly. Two different words, placed together on purpose, the invited versus the fitted and here is the part that demolishes the divine lottery reading. Every church teaches chosen as if God pointed at people and said you are in, you are out.
But Thayer’s Lexicon defines eklektoi not just as chosen, but as select, choice, pure, quality language, language describing what someone has become, not what was arbitrarily done to them and look at how Thayer draws the contrast in Matthew 22:14. The eklektoi are those who have become true partakers of the Christian salvation, the kletoi are those who have been invited, but who have not shown themselves fitted to obtain it. The many are defined by what they lack, fitness, readiness, the few are defined by what they carry. If the kletoi failed, because they were to fitted, then the eklektoi passed, because they were fitted, not randomly picked, not arbitrarily separated. The contrast Thayer draws, points to readiness as the dividing line and the parable proves it.
Eklektoi comes from a different verb entirely, eklegomai, to choose out, to select, to pick for quality, it does not share a root with kletoi, but Matthew places these two words side by side in the same sentence deliberately. The phonetic echo between kletoi and eklektoi would have landed immediately for a Greek-speaking audience, invited versus selected, summoned versus refined, a Greek hearer would catch the contrast instantly. Two different words, placed together on purpose, the invited versus the fitted and here is the part that demolishes the divine lottery reading. Every church teaches chosen as if God pointed at people and said you are in, you are out.
But Thayer’s Lexicon defines eklektoi not just as chosen, but as select, choice, pure, quality language, language describing what someone has become, not what was arbitrarily done to them and look at how Thayer draws the contrast in Matthew 22:14. The eklektoi are those who have become true partakers of the Christian salvation, the kletoi are those who have been invited, but who have not shown themselves fitted to obtain it. The many are defined by what they lack, fitness, readiness, the few are defined by what they carry. If the kletoi failed, because they were to fitted, then the eklektoi passed, because they were fitted, not randomly picked, not arbitrarily separated. The contrast Thayer draws, points to readiness as the dividing line and the parable proves it.