{"id":1518,"date":"2014-07-23T11:48:46","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T11:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christian-gospel.info\/?p=1518"},"modified":"2014-07-23T11:48:46","modified_gmt":"2014-07-23T11:48:46","slug":"doctrines-of-scripture-gods-foreknowledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiangospel.online\/?p=1518","title":{"rendered":"DOCTRINES OF SCRIPTURE: God&#8217;s foreknowledge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">When considering this important subject, we must be guided by the Scriptures alone.\u00a0 They have supreme authority, and disaster awaits those who ignore this fact.\u00a0 Just as the Scriptures were written by men who were borne along by the Spirit of God, and thus wrote the words of God, so those who seek to understand those words must do so by the help of that same Spirit of God.\u00a0 For no Scripture is of any private interpretation, as if the reader is able unaided to understand it.\u00a0 The Spirit-given Scriptures must be Spirit-explained.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">This is not to say that we should despise the thoughts of other men; rather, they, and we, must be subject to the Spirit in His role as the Spirit of Truth, who is able to take of the things of Christ and reveal them unto us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The apostle Paul warned the Corinthians against allowing worldly thinking to affect their thoughts of God and His truth.\u00a0 The world crucified Christ in ignorance- eloquent testimony to its failure to understand Divine things.\u00a0 And we believers have not received the spirit of the world, that attitude of heart and mind which led it to crucify the Lord of Glory, but rather, we have received <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God&#8221;, 1 Corinthians 2:12.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong> In the first instance these words refer to those who wrote the New Testament, but they have infallibly conveyed to us the truth the Spirit imparted to them, so that we may have at our disposal that which will guide us in our search for truth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">With these cautionary thoughts in mind, we consider the great and mysterious subject of Divine foreknowledge.\u00a0 As with the study of any Bible concept, all those Scriptures that have a bearing upon it must be taken into account.\u00a0 Any answer to an exam question which fails to take account of all the information contained in the question, is very likely to be wrong.\u00a0 In the matter before us, it will not take long to quote the Scriptures involved.\u00a0 They are as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and <em>foreknowledge<\/em> of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain&#8221;, Acts 2:23.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, <em>know<\/em> all the Jews; which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify&#8221;.\u00a0 Acts 26:4,5.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;For whom He did <em>foreknow,<\/em> He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren&#8221;, Romans 8:29.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;God hath not cast away His people, which He <em>foreknew<\/em>&#8220;.\u00a0 Romans 11:2.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;Elect according to the <em>foreknowledge<\/em> of God, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ&#8221;.\u00a0 1 Peter 1:2.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;Who verily was <em>foreordained<\/em> before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you&#8221;.\u00a0 1 Peter 1:20.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye <\/span><em><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">know<\/span><\/em><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"> these things <em>before,<\/em> beware lest ye also, being led away by the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness&#8221;.\u00a0 2 Peter 3:17.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The\u00a0 Greek word used where the text is in italics is based upon the verb &#8220;prognostiko&#8221;, meaning &#8220;to know first, or beforehand&#8221;.\u00a0 We may notice briefly the references to Paul, Acts 26:5, and a believer&#8217;s general knowledge, 2 Peter 2:17, for they will serve to remind us that the &#8220;knowing before&#8221; of unbelievers and believers alike, is general and gradual.\u00a0 General in the sense that men could not know Saul of Tarsus perfectly.\u00a0 They could only look at his life and come to an opinion.\u00a0 So is it also with the knowledge of believers.\u00a0 Peter writes in 2 Peter 3 of the fact that we know things that will happen in the future, but any discussion of prophecy will soon reveal that there are many matters of which we know very little.\u00a0 We are given the outline of future things, and the details await their fulfilment.\u00a0 God&#8217;s foreknowledge, however, is not general, but particular and detailed, for all things are open to Him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">God&#8217;s foreknowledge is also not general in the sense that it is able to be concerned with specific people, as we shall see from Romans 8:29.\u00a0 There is an element of involvement with particular people in God&#8217;s foreknowledge in that verse, but this is often absent from our knowledge of people and events.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The foreknowledge of man is also gradual.\u00a0 As events unfold, (in the case of Saul of Tarsus), or as we grasp the truth of Scripture more firmly, (in the case of future events in 2 Peter 3), then we advance in knowledge.\u00a0 Not so with God, who, being the Eternal God, is not dependent on the passage of time.\u00a0 To Him all is an eternal, present now.\u00a0 His grasp of all things is total and immediate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">With these reservations in mind, we concentrate now on the references to Divine foreknowledge in the remaining five passages, looking at them in the order in which they occur in the Scriptures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND CHRIST&#8217;S CRUCIFIXION<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain&#8221;, Acts 2:23.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">This passage makes clear that the Divine determinate counsel and Divine foreknowledge are not synonymous terms.\u00a0 God&#8217;s determinate counsel is His settled purpose with regard to events.\u00a0 God&#8217;s foreknowledge is not simply His prior and general knowledge of all things before they happen, but rather His prior knowledge of events and persons as they are included in His gracious purpose.\u00a0 It is clearly events that are in view in the passage, whereas in Romans 8:29 it is persons.\u00a0 It is not just people that are the subject of foreknowledge, as is sometimes stated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Peter is doing three things as he makes his statement.\u00a0 <em>First,<\/em> he is assuring the nation of Israel that even though they thought they had the upper hand when they crucified Christ, it was not so.\u00a0 God&#8217;s settled purpose was being carried out.\u00a0 Moreover, even though it was God&#8217;s will that was being done, the hands that did the work were still guilty hands.\u00a0 It was not God who was morally responsible for what had happened, but they.\u00a0 This establishes an important principle, that even when God&#8217;s permissive will is carried out by men, the blame for any evil done lies entirely with them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><em>Second,<\/em> the assurance to those who had believed on Christ during his ministry, that He had not been the victim of circumstances, but everything was under Divine control.\u00a0 They had great hopes that He would set up His kingdom, instead of which He was nailed to a cross!\u00a0 Does this mean He has lost control?\u00a0 Not so, the apostle is saying in effect, for the crucifixion was part of God&#8217;s purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><em>Third<\/em>, he is assuring all, saved and unsaved, that God&#8217;s interests lay with Christ, not just when He was being arrested and crucified, but all along, in time and in eternity.\u00a0 God had taken knowledge eternally of what His Son would do, and in accordance with that He allowed men to work out their plan.\u00a0 The objects of God&#8217;s foreknowledge are of special interest to Him, and any who attack those objects of interest place themselves in great peril.\u00a0 No wonder the apostle appealed to his audience to save themselves from the generation who had crucified God&#8217;s Son!\u00a0 Acts 2:40.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND THE BELIEVER (1)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren&#8221;, Romans 8:29.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">In Romans 8:26-39 the apostle is encouraging believers in a two-fold way.\u00a0 <em>First,<\/em> he shows that the sufferings they were experiencing, which often perplexed them, (so that they did not know what to pray for as they ought), were all working together for good.\u00a0 And if they were tempted to doubt this, then the apostle makes clear that the believer is totally secure within the bounds of Divine Purpose.<em>\u00a0 Second<\/em>, he encourages them with the thought that as far as the Courts of Divine Justice are concerned, there is no condemnation for them.\u00a0 If they are arraigned before the courts of men and unjustly accused, tried, and sentenced, they may rest assured that this cannot affect their standing in relation to Divine righteousness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Before time and space began God had them in His thoughts, for they are the object of His foreknowledge.\u00a0 Now clearly God would not be God if He did not know beforehand everything that would happen.\u00a0 But here there is a special knowledge which involves relationship; a relationship which God does not have with unbelievers.\u00a0 It is only those who are foreknown in this specialised way that can be described as predestinated, called, justified and glorified.\u00a0 (An example of this sort of knowledge can be found in Amos 3:2, where God says of Israel that &#8220;you only have I known among all the families of the earth&#8221;.\u00a0 Of course God knows about the other nations, but the nation of Israel was His peculiar treasure, and He knew them as such).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Notice that those foreknown are not just predestinated, but are also called, justified and glorified.\u00a0 The whole scope of God&#8217;s purpose is in view.\u00a0 Note also that it is not until the apostle has outlined that purpose that he begins to call the believers &#8220;God&#8217;s elect&#8221;, verse 33.\u00a0 The elect therefore are all those who are in the good of God&#8217;s foreknowing, predestinating, calling, justifying and glorifying activity.\u00a0 We shall have reason to look at this point again when considering 1 Peter 1:2.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Those thus known are predestinated, not to heaven, but to a particular status, that of conformity to the image of His Son.\u00a0 The word predestinate might give to us the false impression that destinations, (heaven or hell) are in view.\u00a0 But it is not so, for the word simply means &#8220;to mark out the boundaries beforehand&#8221;.\u00a0 That there are boundaries to the position is a great comfort to tried saints, but it is important to realise that it is moral position of which the apostle writes, even that of conformity to the image of God&#8217;s Son.\u00a0 This ensures that He will be represented and replicated by His people in an unhindered way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Those thus predestinated are now said to be called.\u00a0 Now this call is the call of the gospel, which, because it concerns &#8220;God&#8217;s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord&#8221;, Romans 1:3, is a matter of deepest interest to God.\u00a0 Any who are involved believingly with His Son are the objects of His care and concern.\u00a0 Note the apostle does not say that the predestinated ones believe, but are called.\u00a0 The fact that he goes on to speak of them being justified shows they did in fact believe, for justification is by faith, but the apostle does not introduce anything of man into the reasoning of this passage.\u00a0 He is skilfully turning the believers away from themselves and their troubles, so that they may concentrate wholly on God&#8217;s purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">There are those who believe in two sorts of gospel call, the general and the effectual.\u00a0 By this they mean that God calls all men indiscriminately in the gospel, but only in the case of some does He make this effectual, enabling them to believe.\u00a0 This is erroneous, and is a serious slur on the integrity and sincerity of God.\u00a0 It has led some to speak of a &#8220;tongue-in-cheek gospel&#8221;, a gospel that is made to sound as if it is for everyone, but which in fact is only for the elect few.\u00a0 It also makes those who hold this view insincere as they preach, for telling the audience that &#8220;whosoever will&#8221;, may &#8220;come and take of the water of life freely&#8221;, Revelation 22:17, whilst all the time believing that the majority of unbelievers present in the audience are not elect, and therefore cannot come, is insincere.\u00a0 The apostle was able to say <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile&#8221;, 1 Thessalonians 2:3.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The truth is that God has no hidden agenda.\u00a0 He is perfectly righteous in His dealings, not saying one thing while meaning another.\u00a0 He does not present the gospel to men to tantalise them, holding out to them something that He knows full well they cannot have.\u00a0 Cannot have, moreover, not because of some reason lying within them, but a cause lying within Himself, namely, His refusal to give faith to any but the elect.\u00a0 If it is impossible for men to believe, how is it the god of this world has to blind the minds of men so that they do not believe?\u00a0 The Calvinist says they cannot believe without Divine intervention- it seems the Devil does not believe that!\u00a0 He uses every tactic he can to prevent men believing, and needs to do so, because the ability to believe is part of man&#8217;s constitution as created by God after His image and in His likeness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">So in what sense is this call said to be of those who are predestinated?\u00a0 Does it not appear from the passage that the call is only to these in some way?\u00a0 After all, it is only the elect who are foreknown, predestinated, justified, glorified; is it not also the elect only that are called?\u00a0 When thinking of this we must remember that the apostle is not telling us of a process here, but is unfolding the moral order in which eternal purpose is described.\u00a0 It appears to us that the call comes before the justification, and in practice and experience it does, but in the context here it is not so, and for this reason.\u00a0 When God predestinates to a particular status, then it is done.\u00a0 This is seen when we omit the italicised words in Romans 8:29- &#8220;He also did predestinate conformed to the image of His Son&#8221;.\u00a0 Our view of things is that the predestination took place in what we call eternity past, and the conformity will be effected in what we call eternity future.\u00a0 But the fact is there is no such thing with God as eternity past or future, for the words &#8220;past&#8221; and &#8220;future&#8221; have to do with time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">So if what we think of as a process is really settled purpose, then it is no surprise that the apostle does not take account of the call of the gospel to those who do not respond to it.\u00a0 He is only interested in showing the way in which a soul becomes involved in God&#8217;s eternal plan.\u00a0 So when he states that God called the predestinated ones, he is in no wise implying that the call does not come equally to those not foreknown and predestinated.\u00a0 What he is definitely saying is that those who do respond to the call are certain to be conformed to the image of God&#8217;s Son, since that is the way God sovereignly decrees it should happen in practice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Summarising, we may say the following things about God&#8217;s foreknowledge as presented in this passage: 1. It is not general, but specific. 2. It is not gradual, but complete. 3. It is not temporal, but eternal in its nature.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND ISRAEL<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;God hath not cast away His people, which He foreknew&#8221;.\u00a0 Romans 11:2.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">When the boundaries of the nations were set after the scattering because of Babel, then the sons of Adam were divided up in relation to the people of Israel, even though as a nation they were not yet formed. They were in the mind of God, however, for <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;When The Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.\u00a0 For the Lord&#8217;s portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance&#8221;, Deuteronomy 32:8,9.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 When Christ rules as King of Israel, it will be a kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, Matthew 25:34.\u00a0 He has not cast away the nation utterly, for they are destined for greatness according to His foreknowledge.\u00a0 Note Leviticus 26:45, <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the Lord&#8221;.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 God&#8217;s foreknowledge in this passage has to do with His dealings with the nations before Israel became a nation.\u00a0 Paul argues that the God who displayed such interest in their formation and preservation, will not cast them away with the result that His purpose for them is not realised, especially since that purpose involves being ruled over by His Son, the Messiah.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND THE BELIEVER (2)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;Elect according to the foreknowledge of God, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ&#8221;.\u00a0 1 Peter 1:2.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Strictly speaking the word elect is connected with the word &#8220;strangers&#8221; of verse 1.\u00a0 However, to read- &#8220;to the elect strangers\u2026according to the foreknowledge of God&#8221; would not make good sense.\u00a0 For we might think that the specific reference is to being strangers according to the foreknowledge of God, whereas the point is that they are elect according to the foreknowledge of God.\u00a0 Noting this does serve to highlight a very important matter, which is this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><em>Believers, when considered personally, are not described as elect before they have become believers.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Of course Ephesians 1:4 does speak of believers, &#8220;us&#8221;, as being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.\u00a0 The operative words being &#8220;in Him&#8221;, which occur throughout the passage- &#8220;faithful in Christ Jesus\u2026spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ\u2026chosen us in Him\u2026in the beloved\u2026in whom we have redemption\u2026gather together in one all things in Christ\u2026even in Him\u2026in whom we also have obtained an inheritance.\u00a0 When, for instance, we read the expression &#8220;in whom we have redemption&#8221;, we rightly conclude that the redemption is totally Christ&#8217;s responsibility, and our only claim upon it is our claim upon Him.\u00a0 The redemption and its benefits lie entirely within Christ, and we have no input at all.\u00a0 So is it with being &#8220;chosen in Him&#8221;.\u00a0 God&#8217;s choice of His people is entirely dependant upon Christ, and only as men are linked to Christ upon believing are they personally in the good of what eternally has been vested in Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">As we observed when thinking of Romans 8, it is not until the whole range of God&#8217;s purpose has been set out that Paul calls the believers &#8220;God&#8217;s elect&#8221;.\u00a0 There is no such person in the Word of God as an elect sinner.\u00a0 Only when he has believed can he be described as elect.\u00a0 This is not to say that sinners elect themselves, for that is certainly untrue.\u00a0 Election is God&#8217;s prerogative alone, but we ought to be open to allowing Him to say how He does it, rather than formulating our own system and imposing it upon the Scriptures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">This verse is critical in seeking to understand election, insofar as that is possible for finite minds.\u00a0 (We should not hide behind our finiteness in order to avoid the issue, however).\u00a0 The apostle is describing elect persons, and he is saying that they are elect &#8220;according to&#8221; something, &#8220;through&#8221; something, and &#8220;unto&#8221; two things: They are elect according to the foreknowledge of God. They are elect through sanctification of the Spirit. They are elect unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. So these four things, (not just the first one), are constituent parts of their status as elect ones.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>They are elect according to the foreknowledge of God.<br \/>\n<\/strong>As we have noticed from Romans 8:29, God&#8217;s foreknowledge is neither general nor gradual, but personal and eternal.\u00a0 In His mind, and in eternity, God knowingly took account of certain specific persons.\u00a0 He purposed that those persons will be conformed eventually to the image of His Son- so His foreknowledge takes account of that.\u00a0 (That state of conformity to the image of His Son is another way of saying they are glorified).\u00a0 This state of glory is granted only to those who are justified- His foreknowledge takes account of that.\u00a0 That state of being justified is the portion only of those who have obeyed the call of the gospel- His foreknowledge takes account of that, too.\u00a0 The result is that the foreknowledge of God has taken account of all these parts of the Divine Purpose, and when those persons obey God&#8217;s call in the gospel they may rightly be described as elect.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>They are elect through sanctification of the Spirit.<\/strong><br \/>\nPeter is writing to those who had been brought up as part of a nation that God had separated to Himself.\u00a0<strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"> &#8220;Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation&#8221;, were His words to Israel in Exodus 19:6.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 But Peter&#8217;s readers have been saved, and now they are separated to God as individual believers, for sanctification is no longer national.\u00a0 Thus it was that upon believing the Spirit of God severed them from their natural connections, and they were joined to Christ.\u00a0 Now that they are believers, they may be described as elect.\u00a0 So they are elect through the sanctification of the Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>They are elect unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\nThe means whereby God formed a holy nation for Himself was by entering into a covenant with Israel.\u00a0 He stated, <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is mine&#8221;, Exodus 19:5.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 In other words, God is saying that He could choose any people wherever they are upon the earth, but He chose the children of Israel, to be a people for Him to have for Himself specially, His &#8220;peculiar treasure&#8221;.\u00a0 And what was to be distinctive about this people?\u00a0 Two things; first, obedience- &#8220;if ye will obey My voice&#8221;.\u00a0 Second, faithfulness to His covenant- &#8220;and keep My covenant&#8221;.\u00a0 Now that covenant of the law was ratified by the sprinkling of blood, for we read, <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, &#8216;Behold the blood of the covenant , which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words&#8221;, Exodus 24:8.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">So we can easily see that Peter is using this as a means of contrasting their present individual position with their former national position.\u00a0 God&#8217;s choice of the nation and their sanctification was closely connected with obedience and sprinkling of blood.\u00a0 So Peter&#8217;s readers, as believers, are God&#8217;s elect, for He had taken foreknowledge of them, separated them to Himself in the power of the Spirit, and done so in view of obedience and the sprinkling of blood.\u00a0 But whereas the obedience was to be Israel&#8217;s, as they attempted to keep the law, the obedience Peter refers to is Christ&#8217;s, (the words &#8220;Jesus Christ&#8221; relate to both obedience and sprinkling), as He committed Himself to being the covenant victim in accordance with His Father&#8217;s command.\u00a0 Before He left the Upper Room to go to Calvary, He spoke of<strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"> &#8220;the blood of the new covenant which is shed for you&#8221;,<\/span><\/strong> showing that for Him, the establishing of the new covenant in His blood was a foregone conclusion, so determined was He. It is this precious blood that has been applied to the hearts of His people, so that they are eternally bonded to Him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Summarising, we may conclude that God&#8217;s elect ones are those whom He has foreknown eternally; who have been set apart by the Spirit to be His own; who are in the good of the obedient submission of Christ to His Father&#8217;s will that He be the covenant victim for His people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">So we have seen in Romans 8 that all parts of God&#8217;s purpose, whether foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, or glorification, must come into view before men are described as God&#8217;s elect.\u00a0 Likewise we have seen in 1 Peter 1 that God&#8217;s people are described as elect in connection with foreknowledge, sanctification, obedience, and sprinkling of blood.\u00a0 That sprinkling of blood assumes our belief in Him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">At this point we may draw a very important conclusion.\u00a0 Since in both Romans 8 and 1 Peter 1 obedience to the call of the gospel is implied, and since all the elements of the purpose of God must be taken account of when considering the foreknowledge of God, we may safely conclude that belief of the gospel by men is part of that of which God takes foreknowledge.\u00a0 And since the believer&#8217;s election is in accordance with God&#8217;s foreknowledge, we are justified in saying that election takes account of the exercise of faith.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 When considering this important subject, we must be guided by the Scriptures alone.\u00a0 They have supreme authority, and disaster awaits those who ignore this fact.\u00a0 Just as the Scriptures were written by men who were borne along by the Spirit of God, and thus wrote the words of God, so those who seek to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctrines-of-scripture-gods-foreknowledge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiangospel.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiangospel.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiangospel.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiangospel.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiangospel.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christiangospel.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiangospel.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiangospel.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiangospel.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}