He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
It is hard to know how to approach the text here. We just blasted through two whole verses with a story about a shepherd who was kidnapped to be a slave four millennia ago. We could have taken a week or more to parse those same two verses. Today’s passage is similar. Today’s verse hangs in the sky as if it were a neon sign. Each word is like a beacon of light that illuminates dozens if not hundreds of passages throughout Scripture.
The “He” Peter refers to is Jesus, of course. Peter referred to the “blood of Christ” in the prior verse.
Jesus, he says, was, “…chosen…”
Okay. What does he mean by “chosen?” This is where the art of translation becomes so critical. What if we decide to argue about whether Jesus was chosen by God or begotten of God? Does that help us in any way? Do we grow spiritually or do we erode the body of Christ by our disagreement? Didn’t Jesus say that people would know we are his by our love for one another? What do they think if we spend our time arguing?
So instead of arguing about whether Jesus was “chosen” by God or not, let’s take a different approach.
First, let’s agree that God is God and we are not.
Second, let’s agree that there are things we cannot know.
Are we good on those two? This is important! When we step into God’s shoes and pretend to “know” things that we cannot know, we look worse than silly. We risk eternal damnation. Jesus makes a point to say that “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6) Not a pleasant thought!
So if we love one another, we have to allow that we come to Scripture from different points of view. God made each one of us unique. We each have unique histories and we each have our own perspective. It is impossible for two people to see something in exactly the same way. So let’s make that another thing to agree on:
Third, let’s agree that two people can never see something from exactly the same perspective.
Okay, that is enough for now. If you love Jesus, if you want to be known as one of his disciples, then show love for others. Especially other believers. Let’s agree that there are things we cannot know except for what Scripture says and that people will always see things from their own perspective. Then let’s enjoy each other’s company in the presence of our King and praise Him together.
Application: Get off your high horse. You are not God. God is. Our job is to love our brothers and sisters in the Lord, not beat them into submission.
Food for Thought: How does the body of Christ benefit from the different perspectives each of us have?
Different perspectives can give us a fuller picture. The four gospels are four different eyewitness perspectives of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. They are in harmony. They do not disagree with each other. But they do compliment each other to give us a better understanding of Jesus as they look at his life from different perspectives.
Thank you, Rich!
I hope it was clear from the context of my post that I was talking about secondary theological topics rather than the plain meaning of Scripture.
When I first arrived at San Diego USMC boot camp. We were referred to as a gaggle. “ A disorderly or noisy group of people.” The Drill Instructors broke us down into squads and teams with specific responsibilities so we could operate effectively as a “team”.
If we look at any group of people, expected to accomplish a common task, whether military, work, or sports, we know they are most effective when organized and functioning as a team.
God empowered His Church to function as the Body of Christ on Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given to the followers of Jesus. The Bible teaches us that the Christian life is not to be lived in isolation. It is to be lived in the company and close fellowship with other Christians, functioning as the body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 1 Corinthians 12:20-27
All believers have been washed clean by the blood of Christ, clothed in righteousness of Christ by faith,
1 John 1:7: But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son washes us from all sin.
Romans 13:14 “Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.”
Ephesians 4:24 “and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
God does not create a worldwide bunch of robots. He loves variety ( look around at the animals, birds and ocean life ) and considers it important we each to retain the unique personality traits and mannerisms we formed in our time before Christ. If we live as a gaggle, we will have noisy disorder. As we accept and appreciate our differences we become a functioning team, “the Body of Christ” guided by the Holy Spirit and glorifying God as we minister to the world around us and to one another.
Ron,
Thank you for sharing! I really appreciate you pointing out that there is strength in joining our individuality together into a team.
Team Jesus!! Yay!
Thank you, brother!
Thank you for your service Ron semper fi. Fellowship helps encourage eachother to be more than what we think of ourselves. Helping each one of us grow spiritually together down this path of life in this world. Like a band of brothers caring eachother during a death march.
Timothy,
Your service is deeply appreciated, too. I really appreciate your comments here. I hope you will keep it up! 🙂
Semper Fi Timothy. You bring up a key point about encouraging each other.
God Bless Brother
👍🏻
Ron and Tim, I also appreciate your service. And I appreciate the fellowship and others minded mentality that I see in both of your lives.