Col 3:12:
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long- suffering;
Paul is speaking to those who are believers and live in Colosse. The first impression is that he is speaking to Gentile believers here, but by reading the whole book and watching exactly what he is saying, it becomes clear that these are converted Jews he is speaking to. Look - for example - at the following verse where he speaks of them at one time being alienated from God. The Gentiles were never 'alienated from God', for they never recognized God. To be alienated from someone, you first had to be joined to them in some manner.
Col 1:21:
And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.
God reconciled them to Him through the blood of Christ, of course and they choose to accept salvation. No 'predestination' was involved.
Your problem and others who believe this false doctrine is that you are so intent on finding the word 'elect' in scripture in order to justify your doctrine that you see the word, get all giddy and immediately offer it up as a 'proof' of your belief, without doing the hard work of reading the scripture, understanding the context and the real meaning of this common word. Because you choose to follow a man-made doctrine that claims 'only' the 'elect' will be saved, doesn't mean that every time the word appears in scripture it validates your premise. far from it. Careful and clear research into the use of the word shows that Paul was not speaking of a 'elect' as you define it but those who were now saved, through grace.
Since you choose to use the apostle Paul as an example, let us look at more from this great servant of God, shall we?
Romans 3:21:
But now a righteouness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteouness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.There is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justied freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
'All' have sinned, 'All' are justified that accept Christ. No 'elect' mentioned by Paul because there isn't any.
Seems pretty clear to most, but no, you'll probably attempt to convince folks that the saved were predestined to be saved, that's all. It pains me to know that you will cling to your foolish, error-filled man-made doctrine and ignore God's Word on this matter. Is it just stubborn pride that drive otherwise sensible and religious people to embrace heresy - a lie? Whatever the motivation, you are so very wrong, you are disparaging God and you should be ashamed. Your doctine simply cannot stand the light of day or the truth of God's Word.
That is the verse you are claiming refers to Jews....apparently, only some humans were alienated in the fall according to you since the only people alienated from God were the Jews.
Commentaries etc. agree with my interpretation of 'elect' in this case. In some cases it is used to refer to the Jews, but not here....the obvious and easy to understand meaning (since Paul is speaking to Christians from the beginning of the book) is that Christians are the elect that is being spoken of.
You argue my pride is keeping me from seeing your view...I argue that yours is keeping you from seeing God's power and glory.
Yes and then there is not real great need to preach the Gospel of salvation to the world since all who are predestined will be saved no matter what........
Preaching the Gospel to those who cannot be saved would be to give them a false hope. You would be a liar.
Those who don't respond to the Gospel can just say it's not their fault because God predestined it..if they go to Hell it's because that's what God wanted, and nothing they do could make any difference anyway.......why should they bother themselves?