1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.”
3Jesus answered him, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.”
4Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ 8The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?”
10Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things? 11Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness. 12If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. 14As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 18He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only born Son of God. 19This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil. 20For everyone who does evil hates the light and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. 21But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.”
22After these things, Jesus came with his disciples into the land of Judea. He stayed there with them and baptized. 23John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. They came and were baptized; 24for John was not yet thrown into prison. 25Therefore a dispute arose on the part of John’s disciples with some Jews about purification. 26They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, he baptizes, and everyone is coming to him.”
27John answered, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. 28You yourselves testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before him.’ 29He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore my joy is made full. 30He must increase, but I must decrease.
31“He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness. 33He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true. 34For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure. 35The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. 36One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
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.