Peter, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
(1Pe 1:1)
OK, think about this.
Peter, under the power of the Holy Spirit, wrote this to you and
me. So, in some way his address to them
back then must apply to us now (and tomorrow).
We, believers, are “those who are elect exiles of the
dispersion.” Peter uses a phraseology
more familiar to Jewish folks than to Gentile so his original audience was
probably a mixture of Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus. Two words are important for us (ok - not just
two but I’m focused on two).
Elect and Exiles
What’s up with this “elect” thing? Well, take a look at this –
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even
as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we
should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption
as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with
which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
(Eph 1:3-6)
Now how that works, I’m not sure. Can I “explain” it? Probably not well. But Paul writes it as fact – not fantasy or
fiction, not metaphor or hyperbole, a fact.
So instead of worrying about “how,” what if we just accept it
as the truth? No bells, no whistles,
just a truth.
“Us” of course refers to believers and Paul writes that
believers were chosen before the foundation of the world.
OK – a little thought on “time.” With God there is no before or after. With God there is no yesterday, today or
tomorrow. “Time” is a part of His
creation intended to aid us – not Him.
We see time progressively. God
isn’t limited to that – as He says, He Is.
So when Paul refers to, “the foundation of the world,” it is to help us
understand God’s sovereignty as well as the assurance we have in Him.
If being “in Him” was dependent upon me – I’d be in real
trouble.
Yes, this idea of “the elect,” is a tough one to chew
on. Thousands of books, sermons,
lessons, etc. have been produced addressing it, and appropriately so. But even though I’ve heard them and read them
(just some), I still come back to, “God said that through Paul to me.” What a blessed assurance!
We can struggle in this verse by asking, “Why me?” or “Why
not xxxx?” Well, I may have assurance of
my faith but it isn’t for me to have assurance of someone else’s. Not that the spiritual condition of another
is of no consequence but rather that leads me to questions in which I can get
lost. When, in the last chapter of
John’s gospel, Peter asks Jesus about John's future, Jesus basically tells
Peter that John is not his (Peter’s) concern rather Peter has a calling he is
to fulfill as John has his.
“Why” is not a question for which we always find an answer and
that can really obsess us. The danger
there is that we become so focused on the whys we get unfocused on our calling
and growth.
A couple of good works to address this issue are:
Chosen By God by R.C. Sproul
Election and Free Will: God's Gracious Choice and Our
Responsibility by Robert A. Peterson
Next we will explore the idea of “exiles.”
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