1 Pet. i. 1,2. Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge, of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ : grace unto you, a?id peace, be multiplied.
CONTEMPTIBLE as Christians often appear in the eyes of men, they are of high estimation in the sight of God. Many glorious descriptions are given of them in the inspired volume : but in no part of it have we more exalted views of them than in the words before us ; where, at the same time that they are represented as treated by man with all manner of cruelties and indignities, they are spoken of as most dear to every person in the Godhead, having been elected by God the Father, redeemed by the Lord Jesus, and sanctified by the operations of the Holy Ghost. This is a great mystery, — the union of the Sacred Three in the redemption and salvation of fallen man. But the consideration of this mystery is of peculiar importance ; not only as establishing the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, but as shewing the connexion of that doctrine with every part of our salvation ; which originates with God the Father, is carried on by God the Son, and is perfected by God the Holv Ghost.
Let us, under a deep sense of our own ignorance, and with a humble dependence upon God for his guidance and direction, proceed to a calm, dispas- sionate, and candid consideration of this all-important subject.
I. The Father elects —
The doctrine of election is here, as in many other passages, plainly asserted —
[Christians are " elect, according to the foreknowledge of God." By " the foreknowledge of God" I understand, God's infallible discernment of future things, how contingent soever they may appear to us. That he possesses this perfection is unquestionable : for if he did not, how could he ever have inspired his prophets to foretell such distant and improbable events ? It is not possible to read the life of our Lord, and to compare the predictions concerning him with the events by which they were fulfilled, and not to say, " Known unto God are all his works from the foundation of the world a." Indeed a man who denies this truth must " think God to be even such an one as himself," ignorant of the future, and made wiser by the occurrences of every succeeding day ; — a supposition from which the mind revolts with utter abhorrence.
Considering then the foreknowledge of God as comprising every thing relating to the salvation of man, we are constrained to view all that relates to man's salvation as ordained of God. For though we may easily distinguish in idea between fore- knowledge and fore-ordination, we cannot separate them in fact; since if God foreknow every thing, he foreknows it, not as probable, but as certain ; and therefore certain, because it has been fore-ordained by him " before the foundation of the world," and is " wrought by him in time according to the counsel of his own willV'
Hence to God's electing love we refer all the grace and mercy that we have ever experienced ; and thankfully acknow- ledge, that " by the grace of God we are what we arec:" and that, if ever we be saved at all, it will be, " not according to our works, but according to his purpose and grace which were given us in Christ Jesus before the world began d."]
The objections which are usually brought against this doctrine, by no means disprove its truth —
[Many affirm, that, if the doctrine of election be true, that of reprobation, of absolute reprobation, must be true also. In
a Acts xv. 8. b Eph. i. 4, 11.
o 1 Cor. xv. 10. d 2 Tim. i. V.
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1 32 l PETER, I. 1,2. [2379.