Tucker Carlson and the Chosen People
Tucker characterizes the belief of Israel being the chosen people as “God loves people more because of their DNA.” He says that’s wrong. That’s not what “the chosen people” itself means though, that God looks at someone’s DNA and rewards it. Israel was not chosen because of its DNA.
Some of Carlson’s problem with the choice of group also relates to his presuppositional support for individual rights, not group ones. He prioritizes individual rights and accountability over collective or group-based privileges. Tucker frames his antagonism to the chosen people Israel in his rejection of any ideology that elevates group identity above personal responsibility. He views group-based rights or privileges as corrosive to society, fostering division, entitlement, and authoritarianism. I would join him in asserting God giving individual rights. Israel as chosen people does not contradict this — it buttresses it.
Foremost in Carlson’s Aversion to Chosen People
Carlson’s opposition, therefore, to the “chosen people” doctrine is a logical extension of his anti-group-rights philosophy. He sees it as an archetype of tribal supremacy. A collective claims divine favor that grants it moral and political impunity, at the expense of individual accountability and the rights of others. He rightly says that no one inherits salvation through group status but through personal salvation and choice.
Many, if not most, of those Tucker Carlson platforms on his program reject that idea that God chooses those who choose Jesus. They say, no one in fact chooses Jesus. Just the opposite, God chooses these individuals unconditionally. Just like many say God unconditionally chose Israel, they say that God unconditionally chose the church. From the perspective of these guests of his, faith itself is seen as a gift enabled by God’s electing grace, rather than a precondition for it. They say, no one can choose God, so they don’t. Only God chooses.
From the perspective of most claiming Christian nationalism, recently welcomed by Carlson, the freedom to choose God for salvation—understood in the libertarian sense of an innate, autonomous human ability to do so apart from divine intervention—is an illusion. In other words, humans enter the covenant not by their choice but by God’s electing grace, underscoring that only God chooses and not them. Once God chooses, they can’t and won’t resist choosing Him. Again, they hold that the popular notion of an unfettered human will freely selecting salvation is illusory.
Chosen People One, National Election
The Bible in fact presents two different variations of chosen people or elect people, both of these according to the doctrine of election. The teaching of Israel, “the chosen nation,” does not contradict God choosing those individuals who choose Him. In the end, individual Israelites, who choose God, will make up the nation of Israel God chose. Paul makes this clear in Romans 9. One variation of choosing is national election or choosing. God chose a nation, Israel, whom Paul calls “Israelites” in verse 4. Then He writes in verse 11:
(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
God chose Jacob, who is later called Israel, before he was born, not because he had done any good or evil. He did this, as He says, so that the election of those people was not because of the works of the people, but because of God Himself, “him that calleth.” Genesis 25:22-23, which Paul quotes in Romans 9, also explain this:
And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
The Choice of Israel
Jehovah talks about two nations in Rebekah’s womb, two manner of people, a point validated by the later mention of Jacob and Esau long after they died in Malachi 1:2-3, also quoted by Paul in Romans 9. He also cites Exodus 33:19 in Romans 9:15. The Exodus text refers to God’s merciful and compassionate choice of the nation Israel over the other nations of the earth. God could have destroyed the nation after they built the golden calf, but instead He lead them and protected them into the promised land, the nation, not the individuals.
National election is unconditional. God sovereignly chooses entire nations or groups, like Israel as a covenant people, for specific purposes, such as blessings, land, or role in redemptive history. This does not depend on the merit or actions of the group but on God’s decree. For instance, Israel’s election as a nation (Deuteronomy 7:6-8) ensured privileges like the Abrahamic covenant, but it was not tied to universal personal or individual salvation.
Israel’s Unique Status as a Chosen Nation
Election of the nation Israel proves the faithfulness of God to His promise. Israel did not merit this status. Despite the blessings promised the nation Israel and those who would bless them, God also elected other nations. For instance, He elected Esau, the nation Edom (Genesis 25:21-26 and Romans 9:10-13). God elected Esau to father a nation, Edom, that would exist alongside Israel but in a subservient role—”the older shall serve the younger.”
God did not exclude Esau from fruitfulness; instead, He purposed him to multiply into a great people. Genesis 36:1–43 detail Esau’s extensive genealogy, paralleling Jacob’s in Genesis 35–36. That chapter (36) notes Edom’s kings and settlements in Mount Seir. This was an act of sovereign election, as it occurred before the boys were born or had done anything to merit it (Romans 9:11). In God’s design, His choosing of Esau for this purpose highlighted Israel’s distinct calling. God’s focus on Edom, proceeding from His omniscience, is vocational/national, not predestining Esau’s soul to hell.
God also had temporary elective plans for nations such as Babylon, Assyria, and Persia. Described as the rod of my anger (Isaiah 10:5), God summoned Assyria to punish the northern kingdom of Israel for its sins, leading to the fall of Samaria in 722 BC. God chose Nebuchadnezzar as His “servant” to execute judgment on Judah, destroying Jerusalem and the temple in 586 BC (Jeremiah 25:9; 27:6). None of this precluded individual salvation from Nebuchadnezzar or Assyria, even as God sent His prophet Jonah to preach salvation to the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. One could easily write multiple volumes on God’s election of nations, their rise and their fall.
Chosen People Two, Individual Election
The second variation of divine choosing or election in scripture is personal or individual, not national. In general, that is the New Testament doctrine of election, which is under the umbrella of soteriology or the greater doctrine of salvation. Personal salvation requires genuine, saving faith as a response to God’s call. Physical descent or national affiliation alone does not guarantee it. Romans 9 illustrates this through examples of Ishmael, Esau, and Jacob—not as proof of eternal destinies being fixed at birth, but as warnings that national election does not override individual responsibility.
God elected Israel as a chosen people for covenant blessings and revelation, but personal salvation requires an individual’s belief, making election to eternal life conditional on that faith. This corresponds to what Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 2:13:
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
Chosen through Belief of the Truth
God chose to salvation through belief of the truth. Physical descent from Abraham does not guarantee personal salvation; individuals within the elect nation must still believe. Romans 9 warns Jews against presuming eternal security based on national privilege alone. Romans 9:30-33 say:
What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith . . . . And whosoever shall believe on him shall not be ashamed.
Gentiles attained righteousness by faith, while many, an actual majority of, elect Jews rejected it through unbelief. This shows personal salvation hinges on believing, not national status. Only a faithful remnant—those who believed—were truly saved, constituting the true seed of Abraham who received everlasting life (Romans 9:6–29).
How God Chooses Individuals
How are individuals elect or chosen by God unto salvation if conditional upon faith? Peter explains this in 1 Peter 1:2:
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
God knows everything. Nothing occurs to Him. He knows ahead of time, the meaning of “foreknowledge” (including the Greek word), and elects based on that omniscience. This fits with what Paul writes in Romans 8:29:
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Election According to Foreknowledge
God foreknew whom He would justify and He predestined those He foreknew to conform to the image of His Son. Another place, where Paul explains how God’s personal or individual election or choosing works, is Ephesians 1:4:
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
Before the foundation of the world, God chose at once all those (whom Paul calls the plural, “us”) who were in Christ. He chose no one outside of Christ, only those in Christ. How does someone become in Christ? Philippians 3:9 explicitly says by faith in Jesus Christ.
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
Paul was found in Christ through the faith of Christ. This is the “belief of the truth” of 2 Thessalonians 2:13. Personal or individual election refers to God’s individual, eternal choice of believers for salvation through faith in the gospel, extended universally to both Jews and Gentiles without distinction (Romans 9:24, 30–33; 10:1–21). This is not limited by national boundaries or privileges but is indiscriminately offered to all humanity.
More to Come