Hot Topics!

“I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Yeshua, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Yeshua. May everything good from God be yours!” 1 Peter 1:1-2

Peter starts off his letter with a song of praise for what God has done, so we can express our gratitude and worship to Him (Eph. 1:2-14). Then he gives us a litany of loaded theological words, filled with power and meaning, showing us who our God is and what He has done for us. We have a Hope Who is real for us now and eternally. He gives us kindness, protection and understanding beyond what we can fathom. God’s love and forgiveness goes beyond comprehension and the ultimate gift of our salvation will never decay, even when we totally do not deserve nor could ever merit it. We have a precious inheritance, expectation, privilege and power in Yeshua, our loving Savior and Lord. We have HOPE!

• Apostle – The word, Apostle (Apostolos), means emissary or sent one, as in Yeshua personally commissioned representatives (Matthew 10:40; 15:24; Mark 6:7-13; 30; 9:37; Luke 9:1-6; 48; John 4:34; 5:24, 30, 36-38; 6:38; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 9. 1-2; 2 Corinthians 8:23; Galatians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; Hebrews 3:1). Apostles had to be an eye witness of the resurrection (Acts 1:22; 1 Corinthians 15:8), and they governed the early church (1 Corinthians 14:37; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 4:8, 15; 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14; 2 Peter 3:15-16).

• Representatives/messengers – Also used for apostle in a broader sense (2 Corinthians 1:1; 8:23; Philippians 2:25). Today, all Christians are Kingdom representatives (2 Cor. 5:20). The original Apostles started the church and the Elders today continue to run the church.

• Elect here means to be eternally called in Christ, that our salvation is secured by God’s grace alone and received by our faith alone (1 Peter 2:9-10). Elect or election in biblical theology means “to select” or “to choose”, that God chose us by His purpose and nothing else. Divine election is a continuous theme in Paul’s Epistles (Romans 8:29-33; 9:6-26; 11:5, 7, 28; 16:13; Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Titus 1:1).

• Foreknowledge refers to God as sovereign and omniscient, meaning He is all-knowing, crossing time and space. This is where “predestination” comes from, (Genesis 4:1; Psalm 90; Amos 3:2; Malachi 1:2; Matthew 1:25; 1 Corinthians 1:9) that God’s plan is sovereign and eternal. We have a personal plan and agenda to follow, a purpose that is God’s.

• Grace/peace – A standard greeting meaning a pronouncing of a blessing or God’s favor upon someone. These would be cool, quenching words for Christians in distress! The blessing is that we are right with God no matter what happens, when we are in relationship with Christ our Redeemer (Isaiah 44:6; Jonah 4:2; John 14:27; 20:19; Romans 5:1-2; Galatians 1:3; Ephesians 1:2)!

• Suffering/Glory – The greater our suffering, the greater we become in Him. We shine in His glory when we endure trials then learn and grow from them.

• The key words of chosen, elect, foreknew and predestined have been topics of hot debate among many Christian groups over the centuries. The principle theme is agreed upon, that God does choose us and makes us holy. If He did not, we could never obtain salvation on our own (Genesis 45:8; 50:20; Job 14:5; Psalm 33:13-14; 115:3; 147:5; Proverbs 5:21; 15:3; 16:1, 4, 9, 33; Daniel 4:33-34; John 1:13; Acts 2:23; Romans 8:29-30; 9:9-18; 1 Peter 1:1, 20).

A popular debate among Christians today is whether God chooses by His Sovereign purpose (which the Reformers believed) or by His foreknowledge (as many Evangelicals today believe.) Such debates, although invigorating and insightful to know more and establish a position, sometime cause us to ignore the main thing, that God is God. He loves us, He chooses us, He makes us holy, and now, because of what He did for us, we are to spend our energies growing and serving Him.

What we are not to do is make a nuisance of ourselves by spending all of our energies in prideful debate, ignoring what Yeshua did so it does not impact our lives. Our obedience and faith development must take utmost precedence, it is far more important in God’s eyes than getting the particulars of theology correct. Correct theology is very important because it teaches us who God is! But, our faith development is even more important, because it is our response to what God did! Furthermore, love is most important; to obtain these things without love is a meaningless pursuit.

“If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:2

We cannot fathom this true implication, meaning or reasoning. We have to trust that God is God and we are not. We have no idea of His plan or purpose. All Christian groups who use the Bible teach election. The division is in its meaning and purpose, which God has not revealed to us and about which we can only speculate. We only know what He has revealed, which is that He does elect us. Our call is to trust and obey (1 Cor. 1:8-9; Phil.1:6; 1 Thess. 1:3-6; 5:23-24; 2 Tim. 1-12; 4:18; 2 Pet. 1:10). Our purpose is not to argue over this, but to accept His amazing grace.

Questions

1. How scattered is your family and how often do you have reunions?
2. Have you ever felt disconnected from your home and all that you know?
3. Do you have a better understanding of these hot theological topics once they are explained?
4. Have you realized that when we are in Christ, we are all foreigners? This world is not our real or permanent home; rather, our true home is to come!
5. What does this mean for your trust and grow in Him?
6. A lot of Christians today do not see the importance of theology. Why is that?
7. Why is correct theology very important?
8. Why is responding to what God did even more important? How do these two go together?
9. To know, grow in, and worship Christ, we have to know Him and His theology. What do you think of this truth?
10. Have you realized the incredible, theological wonder of what Christ did for you? Who He is and what He is?
11. What are you going to do about theology?
12. Some misguided Christians think they are “apostles.” Why do you suppose that a person would make that claim when Scripture tells us clearly what an apostle is?
13. How does it make you feel that the greater our suffering, the greater we become in Him? Does this scare you? What can you do to take comfort in this and not be scared?