Polls Do Not Tell the Story: A Reflection on 2 Peter 2:10-11

Imagine if our faith was determined by polling, a polling of our hearts that is.  I went into a doctor’s office once and on the receptionist’s desk was a sheet of paper that had a myriad of cartoon faces with different types of facial expressions.  Some were sad, angry, frustrated, depressed, and a person was to choose which one most represented him or her on that particular day.  Well, imagine if there was a spiritual poll that we took each moment to determine whether we felt “saved� or a “child of God� on a particular day.  To be a Christian with such a notion as a backdrop would be emotional torture.  We would all be nervous wrecks, as our salvation would be directly tied to our emotions.  Thank God that polling, like the polls of presidential elections and its far too whimsical data, do not determine our election in Christ.

We do not like to hear that word ‘election’ to describe any part of our faith because it sounds too draconian.  It sounds ‘Calvinist,’ and for those who do not appreciate the theology of John Calvin, to be Calvinist is to be draconian.  But John Calvin did not invent the word ‘election.’  Rather, it is a biblical word, used in 2 Peter 2:10.  It’s a word that tells us that God has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).  It’s a word that reminds us that we are not randomly selected by a tyrannical ruler.  It’s a word that teaches us that a loving Father chooses us as His own and that nothing can snatch us from His hand (John 10:29).  Election is not an evil word.  It is the Bible’s way of showing believers that they can be comforted in the fact that nothing can separate them from the love of God (Rom 8:31-39).

But imagine if our election was based on the condition of our goodness and acceptance of God as Father and Christ as Savior?  That might seem to be a more pleasant alternative because it places the responsibility of faith completely into our hands.  But is that truly a good thing, a better thing?  Given the capricious nature of all human beings, I would posit that this is not better at all.  Given also that human beings, left alone, are by nature not necessarily good at all, to have faith in our hands cannot be a good thing, and certainly not something that would make us feel more secure about our faith.  Faith than becomes subject to the vagaries of our lives, utterly dependent on the whims and fads of the moment.  That is surely not better than to trust in an unchanging, eternally and sovereign good God who always acts for His greatest good, which has to be a good thing since that is His nature as God.  The Bible’s view of election is certainly not something to repudiate God for, but instead, the doctrine of election is a wondrous reason to praise God.  This is why Paul does exactly this in Ephesians 1:11-12: “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.�  Election in the hands of a perfectly good God will always work to the greatest benefit of those who trust in Him.

But election is never an excuse for believers to be lazy in their faith which is why Peter writes this text.  Those who are assured of their faith in Christ should be the most diligent in making their election sure.  After all, if a person genuinely believes that Christ has purchased them with the price of His blood, that person will desire to be diligent in faith and long to make that calling sure.  This is not because the person doesn’t believe that calling is sure, but because their greatest priority and want is to be a person who lives as an assured, elect person.

Also, biblical theologian Douglas Moo notes: “Our effort in responding to God’s grace in our lives is essential if we are to confirm that God has truly chosen us as his people and if we are to receive God’s royal welcome into heaven.  As a Calvinist, I would add that those whom God has truly chosen will always, because he gives us His Spirit, so respond to God and thus confirm their election and get to heaven.  In faithfulness to Scripture, we face what here what some call an ‘antinomy’: truths that are not contradictory but what we cannot neatly reconcile either.  God chooses us and ensures that we can get to heaven.  We need to choose God and live godly lives so that we can reach heaven.� (Douglas Moo, The NIV Application Commentary: 2 Peter, Jude, 60).  Again, to have an election sure does not excuse believers from living the life of faith to the fullest.  A person who thinks about their faith in such a way undermines their very election and therefore, acts as a person who does not have their election sure.

As for me, I am glad that my faith is not in my hands, but in the hands of the Almighty.  And for that very reason, I want to diligently live to make sure of my calling and election so that I will never fall away from Him.  And there is assurance and peace to know that my feelings and the polling of my heart does not determine that election.