1Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you, 5who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials, 7that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ— 8whom, not having known, you love. In him, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, 9receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought and searched diligently. They prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them pointed to when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow them. 12To them it was revealed that they served not themselves, but you, in these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from heaven; which things angels desire to look into.
13Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ— 14as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance, 15but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior, 16because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
17If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear, 18knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things like silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, 19but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ, 20who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake, 21who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God.
22Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently, 23having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever. 24For,
“All flesh is like grass,
and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass.
The grass withers, and its flower falls;
25but the Lord’s word endures forever.”
This is the word of Good News which was preached to you.
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
Peter begins this letter addressing the "chosen ones" of the dispersion. Some translations use the word the “elect”. The translation above says "chosen." This refers to all of us who are "in Christ" and "chosen" to be in Christ. In verse two, you'll see what our "election" is based upon. It is based upon the foreknowledge of God. You were chosen because God knew beforehand that you would come to Him and choose Him. If you've come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and decided to receive Him as your Savior, you are included in what the Bible calls His "elect" or “the chosen.” God knew that you would come to Him, and that is what Peter refers to as our election.
We have a hard time with this because we are trapped in time. God is not. While giving each of us a free choice to receive or not receive God, He simply knew beforehand whether we would respond to the Gospel, or not, and those who would choose to accept Christ are referred to in scripture as the "elect" or the “chosen.” Some take this to the extreme, saying that God will save some that He desires to save and will damn others whom He wishes to damn. That viewpoint just isn't harmonious with the entirety of scripture, which tells us in many ways that "He is not willing that any should perish" (2 Peter 3:9). How can He not be willing that any should perish, and then turn around and create some specifically to damn them? This writer finds that illogical and incongruous with the entirety of scripture and the message of the gospel. To understand the election, we must try to step outside our human perspective and focus on God's perspective of time. God sees us as His "elect" because He knew we would hear the Gospel and respond to it. He knew this before we even existed.
Predestined does not mean FIXED and arbitrarily damned or saved. Christians jump into these opposite camps and spend their lives defending their camps. They often do this at the expense of having a rich daily walk with Christ. They're so tied to their "camp" that they can't get outside it. Predeterminism basically holds that people are robots programmed to do this or that, with no choice in the matter. If Adam was predetermined to sin against God, then there could be no sin in what he did. It takes the personal responsibility of any human being to choose or reject Christ. Predestined means He knew beforehand what we would do, but we always had the choice of which way to go. He knew how we would respond to the Gospel. So, even though we are "chosen," we are responsible for whether we choose Him or not. Don't get too distracted by all of this.
I have observed that people who sit and argue about this often have little interest in changing their neighbor's tire or buying a bag of groceries for someone in need. It is easy to get distracted arguing theology instead of doing what Jesus said were the two Greatest Commandments. In fact, people who focus on all these arguments aren't usually doing much in sharing the Gospel. Why would someone waste time sharing Christ if some are just bound to hell and others are saved? Remember what the Word says, "16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." (John 3:16-17, NKJV).
Jesus saw in Peter what he was meant to be. He changed his name from Simon to Peter and changed his status from a fisher of fish into a fisher of men. As Peter spent time with Jesus, his heart changed, and he became everything that God always meant him to be. Let's do the same! It is a choice! Walk in whatever He has for you to do.