1This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you 2that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts 4and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” 5For they willfully forget that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water by the word of God, 6by which means the world that existed then, being overflowed with water, perished. 7But the heavens that exist now and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8But don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat; and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11Therefore, since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness, 12looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
14Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent to be found in peace, without defect and blameless in his sight. 15Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, 16as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away with the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness. 18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
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.