One of the principle characters in the book Darkened Doors is
Adrian Mallard, who is a brilliant but skeptical lawyer and
sportsman. He learns that he is the victim of a serious heart disease.
His friend, Professor Boyd, a distinguished psychologist, was one
day singing the praises of the open mind. "Is that good enough?"
asked Mallard. "An open mind doesn't get you anywhere. I'm
beginning to want certainty!" Boyd is amused by this hopelessly
unscientific desire. "Certainty!" he replied. "Certainty! I am
surprised at you! What do you want to be certain about?" Mallard
answers in all seriousness: "About life-about death-about what
happens afterwards. What's the good of your scientists if you can't
tell us that?
Mallard speaks the mind of the modern man who wants to be
sure of something ultimate in a world in a whirl of constant change.
It is hard to have any security in a world characterized by change.
Dr. Samuel Miller of Harvard Divinity School describes the rapid
acceleration of change in our society. "Regardless of whether it is
good or not, and article must be constantly changed in order to sell.
Professions disappear overnight; complex techniques become useless
with the twist of a knob. And M.I.T. Professor complains that the
instruction he gives will be obsolete by the time his students get a
degree for learning it. Everywhere continuity is in the shambles, cut
and chewed by the incessant chopping of the jaws of progress."
The result is that very few people can stand with the prophets of
old and say, "Here am I." They stand instead as bewildered and
asking, "Where am I?" They are uncertain as to where they are
and where they are going, and so they tend to remain in a rut and go
nowhere. This can happen to Christians also, and that is one of
Peter's concerns for the Christians of his day. He wanted to get
them out of the rut of complacency and to catch a vision that would
lead them on to fruitfulness for the glory of Christ and their own
happiness.
Certainty plays a major role in the success of this goal, and so
Peter urges them in verse 10 to make their calling an election sure.
Man does not have to certain about everything, but he has to be
certain about something. F. W. Boreham said, "There is no craving
in the human heart more persistent or more passionate than the
craving for certainty." Luther put it negatively when he said that
no more miserable state of mind existed than that of uncertainty.
Certainty concerning some value in what gives life meaning is
essential to happiness. Happiness can be measured by the number
and quality of a person's certainties. One of the most beautiful love
poems I ever read is that by Amelia Burr:
I am not sure the earth is round,
Nor that the sky is really blue.
The tale of why the apples fall
May or may not be true.
I do not know what makes the tides,
Nor what tomorrow's world may do,
But I have certainty enough,
For I am sure of you.
One solid certainty makes for many uncertainties. This is true
also in the spiritual realm. A know-so Christian is not a know it all
Christian, for Paul says that we only know in part, and any honest
Christian knows that he is ignorant and uncertain concerning many
of the mysteries of life. Luther wrote, "For although we may be
certain that we believe in Christ, nevertheless we are certain that we
believe in all the things that appertain to Him, and therefore what
we actually believe is uncertain."
Peter is not aiming for the goal of absolute certainty concerning
everything, for this would be, not to partake of the divine nature,
but to become God Himself. Peter's goal for Christians, and the goal
all of us are to aim for, is certainty concerning our election. In this
we can be sure and we say with Paul, "I know in whom I have
believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto Him against that day." In other words, I can be
certain of Christ and be certain of His promise of eternal life. We
can be unsure of many things and yet have the security that brings
us God's best if we are sure of this.
John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace, said in his declining
years, "When I was young I was sure of many things. There are
only two things of which I am now sure; one is that I am a miserable
sinner, and the other that Christ is an all-sufficient Savior." This is
the kind of certainty that all Christians should have, and it should be
even more specific than this. It should go so far as to say that He is
my Savior, and that I am sure I am one of the elect. Make sure of
your election says Peter.
He is not writing to a pack of politicians, but to a church of
common people. All of us are to have something in common with
politicians, however. The politician's big aim is his election. He
works, speaks, and drives himself on and on to the end of becoming
elected. What politician would not love to have a list of procedures
to guarantee the certainty of his election? Peter says he has given us
just such a list here so that if we follow it we cannot fail. If you do
these things you shall never fall is what he says. This is encouraging
enough, but then he goes on to say that on top of the certainty of a
lifetime office our election made sure will lead to an abundant
entrance into the eternal kingdom of Christ. Just think of it! The
winner of the coming election for the highest office of our land gets
only an entrance into the White House. It is a great honor indeed,
but not to be compared with the consequences of the election we
have in Christ. The president may be out of the White House in four
years, but our entrance into the kingdom of Christ is forever.
We see then why Peter is so concerned that Christians make
their election sure, for to be sure of this is to have certainty
concerning the highest value of life, and this leads to the best,
happiest, and most fruitful life. All kinds of questions arise out of
this challenge to make our election sure. It leads us into the depths
of the most complicated and difficult questions that theologians
struggle with. The problem with God's sovereignty and man's free
will are involved here, for how can we have anything to do with
making our election sure when it is God who elects? This then gets
us into the problem of the relationship of faith to works. Is our
assurance of salvation to be based on our faith in Christ, or upon the
doing of these things as Peter says? Is fruit taking the place of faith
here? Is man's will superceding the will of God here? These and
numerous other questions arise the deeper you probe into this verse
and the concept of election.
We cannot investigate every tunnel in the cave of this truth, and
so we will have to be selective. The first thing we need to do is to get
a grasp of just what it is we are talking about. What is election? We
are not running for anything, and our names are not on ballots to be
voted on by anyone. Someone tried to simplify the idea of election
by saying that God votes for us; the devil votes against us, and we
cast the deciding vote. There is a lot of truth in this over
simplification, but it is not what the Bible means by election.
Election has nothing to do with the devil's vote or ours. It is totally a
matter of God's vote.
Augustus Strong in his Systematic Theology defines it:
"Election is that eternal act of God, by which in His sovereign
pleasure, and on account of no foreseen merit in them, he chooses
certain out of the number of sinful men to be the recipients of the
special grace of His Spirit and so to be made voluntary partakers of
Christ's salvation." Misunderstanding of this doctrine has led to
many futile battles and much unjust criticism of God. He has been
labeled a tyrant and called unfair by those who have never taken the
time to investigate the purpose of God in election. They jump to the
conclusion that God elects some to be saved, and by not electing the
others He dams them. This cruel caricature of God has no basis in
the Bible. As we learn the purpose of God's election of some we will
also understand how we can give heed to Peter's challenge to make
our election sure.
God's election is teleological, and this means that it is for a
purpose. It is a means to a greater end. God chose Israel to be His
elect people, but not just so He could bless them and curse the rest of
the world. It was that through them He might bless all the rest of
the world. Abraham was chosen and his seed blessed that through
his seed all the nations of the earth might be blessed. Election is
God's way of making sure that His will is represented on earth. Just
as we elect a representative so that our voice can be heard in
congress, so God elects individuals and nations that His voice might
be heard on earth. We elect a president not just to be a blessing to
our party, but for all the people of the nation. The purpose of God's
election is also that through the elect the non-elect also might be
blessed.
God reaches down and in a dramatic way converted Paul. It was
not just so He could bless Paul, but because Paul could be an
instrument to communicate the Gospel to millions. God is not being
unjust and unfair in electing some, for His purpose in so doing is
that all may have the hope of salvation. God has no obligation to
save anyone, for all have sinned, and all are worthy of His judgment.
God loves man, however, and desires to save all that can be saved.
Election is the method by which He will be able to save the most.
Jesus followed this same procedure. He chose 12 to be with
Him, but not in order to discriminate against others, and to deny to
others the blessings of His teachings. His purpose in choosing them
was that through them His teachings might benefit all. He makes
this clear in John 15:16, "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and
that your fruit should remain...." The purpose of His election has
been fulfilled, and we are reaping the fruit of the Apostles today.
It is only when we get the mistaken idea that God arbitrarily
chooses some for salvation and special privileges as end in itself.
That we feel is unjust and unfair. But if we keep the biblical view in
mind, election is just another example of the marvelous grace of
God. Election carries with it great responsibility, and when this is
forgotten, and the elect see only the privileges and become proud,
then they are in danger of forfeiting their election. Israel was God's
elect, but when she continued to fail to fulfill the purpose of her
election and bore no fruit, she was cut off. She repudiated her
election and God's wrath fell. In His mercy He preserved a remnant
to form the basis for a new Israel and a new elect people. This new
Israel was founded by Christ, and the church became the new elect
and chosen race.
Paul makes it clear that the new Israel is under the same
obligations as the old Israel. The purpose of God's election is the
same, and that is that the elect are to be His servants taking His
good news to all men. If the new Israel fails to fulfill this purpose,
she has no more reason to feel she will be allowed to remain a
fruitless branch on the tree of God than did old Israel. This is not a
matter of speculation but of clear revelation. Paul in the context of
Israel being cut off writes to the church in Rom. 11:19-22, "You will
say 'Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.' That is
true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand
fast only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe.
For if ?God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He
spare you. Note then the kindness and severity of God; severity
toward those who have fallen, but kindness to you, provided you
continue in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off."
God's election is for the purpose of the elect being His servants
and bearing fruit. If the elect do not fulfill this purpose they
repudiate their election and fall. We must grasp this purpose of
election. It is the goal of the elect to be tools of God to reach those
who are not elected. God does not elect some so as not to elect
others, but that He might have someone to reach the others.
Henry Van Dyke said, "Election to service is the supreme saving
truth." Failure to see this is to be blind like Israel of old. When we
elect a president it is not for the sake of showering upon him great
honor and blessing. This happens, or course, but only as a means so
that he can in his place of honor and power be a servant to all of the
people. This is the principle behind God's election also, and now we
can see what Peter is driving at. To make our election sure is to
fulfill the purpose of it by adding all of these virtues to our lives that
we might bear fruit. This is the way to security and assurance and
certainty in our relationship with God.
No wonder Peter is so urgent and insistent on this matter. No
wonder he wanted it kept before Christians at all times. He did not
want to see the new Israel fail as did the old Israel and fall from
election. Here is a guide, therefore, that if followed guarantees you
will never fall. Elections will come and go, but here is an election we
must be concerned about constantly. Let us give heed to what we
have learned in this single tunnel of truth. Election is for a purpose.
Let us fulfill that purpose and so live with the confidence and
certainty that comes with the knowledge of a sure election.
