His Marvelous Light

I Peter 2:9. “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light:”

Let’s take this verse phrase by phrase, and look at certain words carefully.

The first word, translated as but, points back to the previous verse speaking of those who refuse to believe. Peter is writing to believers, who are in contrast to those who rejected Jesus Christ. The Ye includes those in the various churches to which Peter wrote, that were filled with new believers who anticipated these letters from the Apostles as they studied and grew in the things of the Lord.

A chosen generation: The Greek word here is eklektos. It means chosen, selected by God to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ. The debate between election and free will has been raging for centuries, and has never been resolved. I am certainly not going to go there today. I will say, simply, that the people to whom Peter wrote had indeed been chosen by God, as have all believers since then. As such, they were also:

A royal priesthood. Royal indicates our standing with God as joint-heirs with Christ to all that heaven contains. Keep in mind that none of this is won by virtue of our own excellence, but is the gift of God to all who believe (Romans 6:23). We are also a priesthood. In the Old Testament, people came to God through the intervention of the priests whose responsibility it was to make proffered sacrifices in behalf of the people. Now, through the final sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the only perfect Lamb of God, we have direct access to God through Jesus Christ. We no longer need priests to go to God in our behalf.

An holy nation: In this context, holy is sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, consecrated). Remember that this is a process, not an event. Upon our salvation, we begin the process of becoming pure, blameless, and consecrated to God. If you are honest, you–like me–will acknowledge that you don’t always come up to the mark. We still have that human nature that too often directs our thinking and our behavior.

A peculiar people: I looked at several translations of this phrase. The translation that comes up the most often is that we are God’s special possession. Peculiar, in modern usage, is odd, different, quirky. It is often used in a pejorative sense. That is not the meaning here. It is simply that we stand apart from the world for the purpose of:

That ye should shew forth the praises of Him: We are set apart to proclaim His praise, to bring glory to Him by our words and deeds.

Who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light: God has separated believers out of the darkness of Satan’s realm of sin and death, and into the incredible, unimaginable light of His holiness and righteousness.

I love this verse. It is rich and bottomless in its meaning and encouragement for believers, whether they are new in the Lord or have known Him for many, many years. There is no end to His love, grace, and mercy.

Election, Foreknowledge, Sanctification

I Peter 1:2. “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”

Verse 2 is a continuation of Peter’s greeting to the “strangers” in the five provinces of Rome he mentions in verse 1. There are four words that deserve some attention today so that we can understand Peter’s viewpoint throughout his epistles.

Elect. You will quickly see that I am not a Reformed theologian. This one word, election, has created a great divide in Christianity for a very long time, and I do not venture to say I will resolve the problem. It has been debated for such a long time. All I can do is present what I believe it means to be one of God’s elect.

Keep in mind that Peter is writing to believers. He is warning them of coming persecution. These are people who have chosen to believe in God, and I believe that choice is what makes them elect. Stated in a different way: God chooses to elect those who have chosen to believe Him. Belief is a choice, an act of our will.

John 3:16, arguably the most well-known verse in the Bible, clearly states that whosoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life. It says that God SO loved the world; that is, every individual that ever did, or will, inhabit the earth. Jesus’ death and resurrection held pardon for all, but it is not an automatic pardon. One must choose Him, and yes, I believe in the second word I want to look at:

Foreknowledge. God knows everything. He is omniscient. Therefore, He knows who will choose Him and who will not. To be elect is to be chosen, selected by God to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ. God knows, has always known before the foundations of the earth, who the elect would be. He even knows when each soul will make the choice to trust in Him. But His election is never forced upon us against our will. His desire is that we love Him because He first loved us (I John 4:19).

If God chooses who the elect will be, then He also chooses by omission those who will be condemned to hell. If we understand and believe that it is NOT by any virtue of our own that we are chosen, then we can certainly take no pride in being elect of God. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5).

Does God draw us to Himself? Yes! He passionately loves us, every single one of us. His passion is that we return His love, and His most obvious sign of that great love was that He sent His Son to become the perfect sacrifice, in our place, so that we could receive salvation by faith in Him ((John 3:16–18; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 9:15).

Some who were present at His crucifixion believed in Him. Others did not. His love was the same for all of them, but not all of them chose Him. God’s message of redemption has gone out to the whole world. He has thrown open the doors of salvation, and whoever will may come (John 3:16; 12:46; Romans 1:16).

Sanctification of the Spirit: When I was young, I learned that sanctification was to be set apart for a specific purpose. Jesus, for example, was sanctified of the Spirit of God to be the atonement for all the sin of mankind. Strong’s translates it as being holy, consecrated, purified in heart and life for the service of God.

Salvation comes immediately upon belief in Jesus Christ. Sanctification is an ongoing process that will be complete in a believer’s life when his soul departs his body and goes to be with God the Father and the Son in heaven. Only then will we be like Him, and see Him as He is. The older I am, the more I yearn for heaven.

The Spirit of God is sometimes referred to by His personality: He is Holy. Sometimes, He is referred to by His work: He is the Spirit of Truth. He is coequal with the Father and the Son, part of the Trinity, and His absence from the earth will bring the onset of the Great Tribulation. What we’re seeing today in this world is, in my opinion, simply setting the stage for what is to come. When the restraining power of the Holy Spirit is removed, people will be blinded by the lies of Satan until they are entrapped and have no way out. The last 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation will be beyond our imagining, because there will be no restraining Spirit on the evil that will run rampant.

Finally, we are sanctified unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Obedience is compliance and, in the case of a believer, voluntary submission to the authority of the Godhead. But what is meant by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ?

i. There were three circumstances in the Old Testament where blood was sprinkled on people.· At the establishment of Sinai or Old Covenant (Exodus 24:5-8).· At the ordination of Aaron and his sons (Exodus 29:21).· At the purification ceremony for a cleansed leper (Leviticus 14:6-7).

ii. The sprinkling of the blood of Jesus on us accomplishes the same things. First, a covenant is formed, then we are ordained as priests to Him, and finally we are cleansed from our corruption and sin. Each of these is ours through the work of Jesus on the cross.

(David Guzik, BlueLetterBible)

Obviously, we cannot literally be sprinkled with Jesus’ blood. It is a figure of speech here that simply refers to our sanctification and consecration to His service, and the blood which He shed at Calvary.

Do I fully understand the election and foreknowledge of God? No. I would never presume to claim equal understanding with God. What I do understand is that He loved me; therefore, I love Him. I like to keep things pared down to simple terms whenever possible. I’ve read some of the lengthy writings on this topic, and have come away from them no more convinced than I was when I started. Maybe that’s because I already have an opinion. Maybe it’s because, in simple faith, I trust that we’ll understand it all when we meet Jesus face to face.

Holy and Without Blame

Ephesians 1:4. “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: ”

A continuation of verse 3, this verse leads us into the realm of election and predestination. I have to admit that I approach this passage with trepidation.  I remember the endless wrangles among the preacher boys in my Bible college concerning foreordination, predestination, free will, and so on.  You may have a different view than what I’m offering here. That’s fine. This is clearly a topic that has not been resolved since Paul penned the words, and I’m making no claims to resolve it now. You are free to comment. I would ask only that you be civil, kind, and brief.  No one is going to take the time to read a lengthy exposition.  And please, no name-calling.  We can disagree and still be brothers and sisters in Christ.  It will all be settled  one day, and it won’t be because of anything you or I have said.

God has chosen us. The truly important thing here is that our salvation is not because of anything we have done, but that God chose us before He created the world. I John 4:19 tells us that we love Him because He first loved us.  Our love for God is in response to His great love, and His sacrifice of His Son. God Himself purposed our salvation in eternity past. Jesus bought our salvation at Calvary. The Holy Spirit touches our hearts and brings us to Him.  There is no credit that we can take. It is all of God.

Before the foundation of the world  speaks of the doctrine of election. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “God certainly must have chosen me before I came into this world or He never would have done so afterwards.”  This concept is a problem to those who want everything about salvation to be logical and explainable in human terms.  I think where we miss the point is in forgetting that God does not operate by our human dependence upon time.  Eternity past, present and future are all one to Him. He is not bound by anyone’s clock. For God, the past and the future are all one eternal now. He looked across eternity and decided that the heavens and the legions of angels were not enough; He wanted to include redeemed, sinful humans to increase praise and glory to Himself, and to gift us with eternity in heaven.

Do I have to be able to understand this and make logical sense out of it before I accept it as truth?

No, of course not.  When is love ever logical?  This I do know, it all made sense to God, and because He is God He gets to make the rules.

Isaiah 55:8-9. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

To be holy and without blame before Him in love is the greatest gift humankind could ever receive.

We’re just getting started.  I’m going to move through this passage slowly and carefully.  Come back on Monday for the next verse.

Brethren Beloved of the Lord

II Thess. 2:13. “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.”

I always approach a passage that deals with predestination, foreknowledge, and so on with great reluctance.  There has been a resurgence of Calvinism, also known as Reformed Theology, in recent years.  I do not want to get into a debate with anyone about any of this.  It’s been debated since John Calvin preached in the mid 1500’s, and will probably continue to be debated until the Lord’s return.  I do not have the answers.  Apparently, no one else does, either.  So what I’m going to do today is pick through this verse as carefully and objectively as I can; and you will need to understand that  their are some points of Calvinism that I believe; others, I’m not so sure of.  This is not about Calvinism.  It’s about what God’s Word says. So here we go!

Bound: Paul says that he and the other missionaries feel a strong obligation to give thanks for the readers of their letter. Also, their thanksgiving is continuous, a matter of ongoing rejoicing for the steadfast endurance of the believers in Thessalonica. 

Beloved of the Lord: These believers are being encouraged to continue in their endurance and confidence in the righteous Judge, the Lord Jesus Christ.  They will be rewarded for their steadfast faith. When it seems that all others have hated them, the Lord Jesus Christ will always love them. That’s a promise for us to treasure, as well. 

From the beginning: God’s plan existed before the world was formed, before Adam was imbued with God’s breath, before there was sin in the world.  His plan has existed from eternity past into eternity present, and will exist into eternity future.  Can’t get your mind around that?  This is one of those concepts that needs to be trusted and accepted by faith, because God said it. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).  

Chosen you to salvation: Some want to interpret this passage as that God chose the Thessalonian believers from the beginning of the preaching there.  That makes no sense to me. I believe that the more clear and simple meaning is that God chose them for Himself from the beginning of all time. There are several little nuances of the language here that, in my opinion, make this the better meaning.  I believe Paul is speaking in theological terms here, not in his present time.   This view is also in full agreement with Paul’s teaching concerning the pre-creation beginning of the plan of redemption (I Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2).  He is reassuring the readers that they were chosen  and included in God’s plan from the timeless past. 

There is some controversy that from the beginning would be better interpreted  as firstfruits, which would be consistent with Paul’s habit of speaking of the first converts in a province as the firstfruits of their countrymen (Rom. 16:5, I Cor. 16:15).  However the true firstfruits in that province would have been the Philippians, so in the beginning seems to be a better translation. 

Isn’t it amazing how much there is to know about a tiny little phrase, or even one word?  And yet the message of God’s Word is so simple that a child can understand it. 

To salvation: God chose them with the purpose that salvation in its fullest meaning might be realized in them: The deliverance from sin and all its consequences, the opposite of the doom for those who reject truth. 

The salvation unto which they were chosen operates only in the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. 

Sanctification of the Spirit: Sanctification is not the state, but the process, of being separated from the world; of becoming increasingly conformed to the character of Christ. This separation is being worked in them through the Holy Spirit ( Rom. 5:5; 8:2, 9; I Cor. 6:11; Gal. 3:3; 5:16).

So, in this verse, we have all three parts of the Trinity:  Thanks to the Father for those beloved by the Son and sanctified by the Spirit.  While the word trinity is not mentioned in the Bible, the principle is certainly made clear over and over again. 

Belief of the truth:  The word belief here designates the habit of faith you develop when you believe truth.  It is what we think about, what we believe, that motivates our words, actions, and emotions.  If we confess Christ but we have no evidence of the character of Christ in our lives, then apparently we are not literally embracing truth. Proverbs 4:23 teaches us to keep our hearts with all diligence, because out of our hearts flow the issues of life. 

Someone has asked, “If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”