Chosen One or Chooser?
By Anthony Casperson
9-27-25

It wasn’t even the YouTube presenter’s main point. He’d been talking about an entirely different topic on the subject of story. But when he said these two words, I had to pause the video. I required time to consider.

What were these two words that struck me enough to want to write a blog about them? What could cause me to think about it for days and want to discuss? The words are: Unchosen One.

Don’t get me wrong, the friction against the idea of the Chosen One trope has been around for a long time. Plenty of people during my life—and a little before it—questioned why the idea of a special person who is chosen by some cosmic entity is often the central figure of stories. And this is especially questioned because of the idea that most of us who hear the stories don’t feel like we fall under the same special status—and possible plot armor.

The fact that none of us are the one special person around whom the world seems to reshape itself leaves us doubting the entire idea of a Chosen One.

And this is where the Unchosen One steps in. The idea is that this character wasn’t chosen for some special purpose. They had to choose to step up themselves. No prophecy predicted that they’d exist. The stars didn’t have to be in alignment for their birth. And any scar or birthmark they bear is nothing other than a fact about their epidermis.

The Unchosen One is a protagonist of opposite quality to the Chosen One.

Part of me wants to question if that’s just a way of saying, “I am special, because unlike all of these Chosen Ones, I’m not chosen.” But I wonder if there’s not something deeper going on here. Something spiritual in the lives of those who roll their eyes at the idea of a Chosen One while welcoming the Unchosen One.

As the presenter explained deeper, he spoke of how the Unchosen One chooses themselves. It’s a self-made appointment of office. One born out of self-prompted ambition, rather than some external force. But to my mind, is that not a rejection of a Chooser instead of the idea of a Chosen One?

Ultimately, the Unchosen One is chosen, just a self-made one.

The question, when it comes to story, is not about whether or not the protagonist has been chosen by someone—even if by themselves. Rather, it comes down to whether or not an external cosmic entity of some kind is actually in control of the story of life. Essentially, it’s a question of, “Is there anybody out there to choose, other than us?”

With this thought brewing in my mind, I started to think about why so many Chosen One stories exist throughout the history of humanity. I’m not going so far as to say that all stories have a Jungian type of Chosen One, like Campbell did. But you do have to admit that quite a number of stories from around the world speak to the idea of something or someone choosing the story’s protagonist.

And yet the desire to reject Chosen Ones has found prevalence only recently, by measure of the history of story, at least. It’s not until atheistic worldviews have expanded throughout a culture that the idea of Chosen Ones lost its pervasive quality in our stories.

Chosen Ones became cliché after many stopped believing in a Chooser.

Much like how a person becomes their own god when they reject the concept of true divinity, they become their own chooser instead of being chosen. An Unchosen One instead of a possible Chosen One.

If we do this, we follow the sin of Satan. We take the same pride as the angel Lucifer. We choose to bear our own light instead of the light of God.

And fall.

We fall for the lie that it’s unfair to not be chosen, and thus there is no Chooser greater than ourselves. For the lie that we can be the central character, without concern for anyone else’s choice. For the lie that we can shape not only ourselves, but the world around us too.

Thus, becoming clay that thinks it can become pottery without the hand of a Potter. (And I don’t mean Harry.)

Paul speaks of the ridiculous nature of a lump of clay crying out against the unfairness of a Potter’s hands in Romans 9:19-24. While dealing with the divine sovereignty side of the Concordant Election that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Paul speaks of his opposition’s dislike of God not choosing them.

“How is God’s mercy fair,” they ask, “if we can’t resist his will?” If God’s choice to create this version of reality leaves us making the choices that we do, how is that our fault? How can it be fair if I’m not a Chosen One who chooses him back in return?

To this, Paul shakes his head. Who are you, o lump of clay, to question what kind of shape that the Potter forms you into? And besides, his work still deals great patience toward the vessels of wrath, while he makes known the glories of his riches to the vessels of mercy.

The focus isn’t supposed to be on the unchosen vessels of wrath, but instead on those whom he called. On the fact that his mercy exists at all for us. That he chooses any.

Look at the back half of Romans 9. We see a quote from the book of Hosea that rejoices in the fact that God called those who were not his people to be his people. And from Isaiah, Paul quotes a passage that says, if not for God’s great mercy, then even the vast numbers of Israelites would’ve come to total ruin like Sodom and Gomorrah.

The fact that some are not Chosen Ones magnifies the mercy of God in a way that isn’t possible if everyone is chosen. To use Paul’s examples from the earlier parts of Romans 9, God’s choice of Jacob—Israel himself—is meant to be juxtaposed to his rejection of Esau. And God intended his work through Pharaoh to be the contrast for God’s mercy to Moses and the Israelites.

We should never look at the mercy of God, which extends to certain Chosen Ones, and question how that’s fair to the unchosen. He is the one in control. And so we have no basis on which to claim anything other than amazement at the God who extends mercy to fallen humanity at all.

The fact that there are any Chosen Ones at all should lead us to praise him.

And before we wrap this up, let’s talk about a certain moment of misunderstanding that might be rolling around our heads. How human freewill works in this passage? Does this passage deny the Concordant Election understanding I discussed before?

No. Verses 30 and 32 of Romans 9 both speak of the act of faith. In the first of those verses, he writes of a righteousness that is by faith. And in the latter, he speaks of those who did not pursue righteousness by faith. These verses show that there is still an element of human freedom, despite the fact that God chose to create a world where certain people didn’t choose him. So, there is no discrepancy between the bible and Concordant Election.

With that quick theological speed bump over, let’s get back to the main point of the blog. We members of the human species have no right to claim unfairness for some not being chosen, while others are his Chosen Ones. And yet, many among us still claim from our little clay mouths that it’s not fair.

And those of us who claim such things start to deny the fact that a Chooser exists. They rebel against the Chooser so much that they turn their noses up at the idea of Chosen Ones. Because of this, they figure that if there is no Chooser and no Chosen Ones, then they get to lay claim to the role of chooser and choose themselves.

Perhaps this tendency to balk at Chosen One stories isn’t because of the overuse of the trope, as many claim. But rather, it’s a rebellion against the Chooser who’s mercy wasn’t good enough for them. It’s a rebellion of the Unchosen Ones who never chose the Chooser who did offer them mercy.

But what do we do with these words and ideas? Is there anything that we can do?

The end of Romans 9 has already shown us. Let the riches of the glory of God’s mercy overwhelm you. Praise him for the fact that he’s chosen to be anyone’s God. And pursue righteousness by faith.

A Chosen One must be chosen by someone. That much is clear. But the only one with the power to be a Chooser is God himself. Let’s stop falling for the lie that Satan fell for. Stop letting our pride make us think that we can shape the world around us to how we see fit.

We are clay in the hands of the greatest Potter ever. It’s best for us to be shaped by him. Lean into his molding hands. Choose him back as he has chosen us.