I appreciated David Robertson's article "Pentecostal Spirit—Natural Today!" (June Journal, p. 10) for its thoughtful analysis. However, I must disagree with his statement that the replacement for Judas Iscariot was "democratically elected ... by secret ballot." Not at all!
In Acts 1:25, 26 the Greek word kleros appears three times. Kleros means lot, not ballot. To people of the first century BC, the casting of lots was an expression of appeal to divine agency; God would determine whose lot would leap out. The decision would be completely removed from human considerations that might influence an election by people. Eugene Peterson, in The Message aptly translated the passage as "they drew straw."
I fear Mr. Robertson has imposed modern standards upon people whose ideas were quite different.
