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NASB | 1 Peter 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Peter 1:2 ¶ according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace [that special sense of spiritual well-being] be yours in increasing abundance [as you walk closely with God]. [John 14:27] |
Bible Question: I want so badly to understand. We were chosen, elected, predestined before we were born by God ??? Did we have a choice????? |
Bible Answer: ezoom, 1. First, lets think more in terms of belief rather than choice. Scripture says those who believe will be saved. This helps a person grasp the concept when they make this shift. You don't choose to accept or reject Christ so much as you either respond in belief/trust or respond with unbelief. To believe Christ is who He said He is and to trust on the finished work of Christ as opposed to our own righteousness in order to stand in the coming judgement is what it means to receive Christ. This is important because suddenly it makes the concept easier to grasp. I often have no "choice" in what I believe. I had somebody tell me something last night, which no matter how much I wanted to, I could not bring myself to believe I was being told the truth. On the other hand somebody could present a man with such evidence of something that no matter how much he wanted to pretend he didn't believe it, deep down he truely did. We are not ultimately masters of what we believe to be true or not true. 2.) God is the one who caused us to believe. We see in 2 Corinthians 4:1-6, that it is God who opens our eyes to the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Our response is to simply believe what He has shown us to be true! Here again we see God being the cause of us believing. Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." So God opens our eyes in such a way that we see sin for what it is, we see Jesus for who He is. After that whatever element of "choice" is involved is pretty automatic. In other words, once you see the real truth of it all it isn't much of a choice. To see Christ truely is to love and long for Christ. To see sin truely is to hate and be repulsed by it. So to answer your question: We had no choice in whether God opens our eyes to the truth of it all. After that our will freely and unavoidably embraces the gospel for life. So yes, you had free will, and yes it was unavoidable at the same time. This is because God changed what you desired by opening your eyes to the truth, then let you choose. I suppose I need not even say that there are many different views on this. I believe this one is faithful to scripture. In Christ, Beja |