1… who are chosen 2according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.
Setting the theological foundation for his readers, Peter jumps into a wonderful, concise statement of the Trinity including our secure standing with the Father, the active work of the Holy Spirit, the lordship of Jesus Christ, and salvation through His blood. Although less formally educated than the apostle Paul, Peter was no less spiritually astute. His writing carries the truth promised him by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Upper Room:
“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” (John 16:13–14)
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (John 14:26)
He does not shy away from what today is theologically controversial, that we believers are “chosen” by God. He uses this in the same sense as the Lord said to the disciples, “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit . . .” (John 15:16a). Salvation is not ultimately a matter of our choosing to follow Christ, but of Christ’s choosing us. To be sure, there is a level in which we decided to receive Christ (John 1:12), but at a more profound level, it is Christ who has selected us. It is not one or the other, but one layered upon the other. By analogy, we are to love one another; that is our obedience. But at a deeper level, we can do that only because He first loved us (1 John 4:10, 4:19). So also, we choose to receive Christ, believing and following Him, because He first chose us.
We don’t have space to adequately treat this subject, which theologians have addressed in length. But we simply note and enjoy the fact that God’s choosing us is connected with His foreknowledge (see Eph. 1:4). You (if you are a believer) and I were in God’s thoughts from the beginning of time and the universe! Think about that! Further, what God chose, the Holy Spirit worked out by setting us apart to live under His lordship. This came at an enormous cost, the death of God’s Son. It is no wonder that Peter, as Paul writes in his letters, desires for his readers the full experience of God’s grace and peace; God has sought us out and continues to lean in toward us, though we are unworthy.
Lord, may I grow in understanding all You have done for me. Thank You.
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