Who Are The Chosen In Matthew 22:14? (The Parable of the Wedding Banquet)

The kingdom of God was the dominate teaching of Jesus during his earthly ministry.

The kingdom of God was prophesied in the Jewish Scriptures (Isaiah 9:6-7; see also Luke 1:29-33).

It was the coming kingdom of God the Messiah/Christ would establish and rule in righteousness.

It would be a kingdom of justice, righteousness, joy, and peace.

Jesus told his disciples to pray for the kingdom’s arrival.

The Jewish people were very interested in this kingdom because they were taught the Jewish Scriptures since childhood.

They eagerly awaited this kingdom and wanted to enter it.

Jesus spent much time teaching on the kingdom of God.

The people knew righteousness was required to enter the kingdom of God.

Therefore, Jesus begins the beatitudes with, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God (heaven).

The poor in spirit are those who admit they do not possess any righteousness, and therefore, are unable to enter the kingdom; upon this confession and through trusting in Jesus, they are freely given the righteousness needed to enter the kingdom of God.

Jesus, in the form of parables or stories, explains much about the kingdom (see Matthew 13 for example).

One of these parables is the The Story of the Wedding Banquet in Matthew 22:1-14.

In Matthew 22:1-14, Jesus compares the invitation sent out to people to enter the kingdom of God to an invitation sent out by a King to people to enter his son’s wedding banquet. Jesus ends the story with these words:

“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
(Matthew 22:14)

The question is: Who are chosen to enter the wedding banquet?

By answering this question, we will see who God chooses to enter his kingdom.

In the story, invitations are sent out two times.

Those receiving the first invitation either refused to come to the banquet or ignored the invitation, even though the king sent out his servants to remind them.

Some who refused to come killed those the king sent to remind them.

The king then sent a second invitation, telling his servants to “…go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.” (Matthew 22:9).

In the parable, Jesus said, “So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.” (Matthew 22:9-10).

In these verses, we seeing people responding by accepting the invitation and attending the banquet.

However, there was one in the wedding hall who was not dressed in wedding clothes.

The King said, “Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

From a theological perspective, this is the judgment upon those who sought to enter the kingdom of the God dressed in their own self-righteousness, such as the Pharisees and teachers of the law.

Those who responded to the invitation are those who believed in Jesus as the Christ, and, as a result, were clothed in his righteousness, such as the prostitutes and tax collectors,

Therefore, they were chosen to enter the wedding hall.

Let’s look a little further into the invitations and the responses of this parable.

In the first invitation, Jesus is referring to the Jewish leaders and people who rejected or ignored God’s invitation to enter his kingdom.

Entrance into the kingdom was through the belief in Jesus as the Christ (see Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus).

Some ignored Jesus as the Christ.

Others rejected him as the Christ.

Some who rejected him also mistreated him and murdered him (Acts 3:14-15; Acts 7:51-53).

God then sent the invitation to enter his kingdom to people all over the world.

A few people, compared to all the people in the world, believe in Jesus as the Christ and are granted entrance into God’ kingdom.

This leads to Matthew 22:14, which says, “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

So, in context, who are the invited and the chosen?

The invited is everyone in the world.

Some of those invited ignore the invitation, others reject it.

There are a few who have accepted the invitation.

Those who accept the invitation are chosen to come into the wedding hall, meaning the kingdom of God.

They are chosen to come in because they personally accepted the invitation.

Calvinist theology says those who were chosen to come into the wedding hall (the kingdom of God) are individuals who are the elect of God, meaning they were preselected (chosen, elected) by God for salvation; therefore, they were chosen to come into the kingdom of God.

This is in direct contrast to the parable.

Those the King preselected and invited to the banquet rejected the invitation.

Those who accepted the invitation were not preselected by the King.

Those who were chosen to enter the wedding hall were those the King did not preselect.

The reason they were chosen to enter was because they personally accepted the invitation not because they were preselected to accept the invitation.

Again, those who were preselected to receive the invitation rejected the invitation.

However, those who were not preselected accepted the invitation and, as a result, were chosen to enter the wedding hall.

So the few who are chosen to enter the wedding hall are those the King did not preselect but those who personally accepted the invitation.

So who are chosen (elected) to enter the kingdom of heaven?

It is those who freely and personally respond to the invitation to trust in Jesus, not those who were preselected by the King.

They are chosen to enter the kingdom of God because they are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus after having placed their trust in him.

Righteousness is the requirement for entering the kingdom of God.

This gift of righteousness is freely offered to everyone (Romans 3:21-25), and everyone is free to believe, just as Jesus explained in the parable.