Daily Bread

1 Peter 1:2 - "According to Father God's foreknowledge in sanctification of Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace be multiplied."

It was the plan or foreknowledge of the Father that we should be chosen by being set apart or sanctified by the Spirit. The foreknowledge of God in every case has to do with God's plan and not the individuals in the plan. We may be confident that it is God's will that all men be saved for, "He is not willing that anyone perish" and, therefore, "the grace of God has appeared to all men" (1 Corinthians 1 Peter 5; Titus 2:11). The Greek word 'prognosis,' was used by the ancients as a medical term which is still in use today; and may be defined as "a prediction about how a given situation will develop." This word, which is derived from the compound word 'pro-ginosko,' may be literally translated to "know before." It is only used twice in the New Testament, here and in Acts 2:23. The tragedy of the misunderstanding of God's foreknowledge cannot be said better than John Wesley said it so many years ago," but the doctrine of predestination is entirely changed from what it formerly was. Now it implies neither faith, peace, nor purity. It is something that will do without them all. Faith is no longer, according to the modern predestinarian scheme, a divine "evidence of things not seen," wrought in the soul by the immediate power of the Holy Ghost; not an evidence at all; but a mere notion. Neither is faith made any longer a means of holiness; but something that will do without it. Christ is no more a Savior from sin; but a defense, a countenancer of it. He is no more a fountain of spiritual life in the soul of believers, but leaves his elect inwardly dry, and outwardly unfruitful; and is made little more than a refuge from the image of the heavenly; even from righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

Blessings,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
www.abidingplace.org