A friend and I have agreed to doing a "blog swap," where I will share a post of his here on my website, and he will share a post of mine on his blog, prior to us each having the opportunity to share our comments on each other's thoughts. Some may remember Randy Hardman from the exchange we had a while back. He is a friend, and a student at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. Below is the post that he has decided to have me share. I will follow it with my response soon.
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(*Note: All references are removed for the sake of space. Please see the fuller article on 'The Petrine View of the Elect for all references at www.theologyfromthexside.
Contrary to the Calvinist notion of perseverance of the saints, the threat of apostasy was critical for the biblical authors. As should be noted beforehand, though, this threat was contextualized within the promise of election. For the most part, when the biblical writers speak of election unto salvation, they are referring to group election, not individual election. The OT view of election is expressed in the Hebrew term rxb (bachar). In the Qal, rxb can have the meaning of 'test' (Is 48.10), 'select' (Gen 6.2; Jb 9.14; 2 Sam 6.21), 'elect' (Judg 58; Ps 135.4; 1 Kgs 8.16), or 'enter into covenant' (1 Sam 20.30). Like the term ekvlekto.n (election) ~yrxb ((bacharim), normally used in the plural, has the ability to function as a noun, thus being translated 'the elect ones' or 'the chosen ones.' This signifies a corporate election.
rxb never denies the sovereignty of God in the OT or other Jewish literature. In fact, it affirms it, giving God the ultimate authority to bring his elect into salvation or reject them (2 Kgs 23.27). God still has the power to elect or unelect a group at his choosing. But insofar as his election remains, the freedom to commit oneself to the elect or leave the elect is given to man. For example, Rabbi Akiba states, “Everything is foreseen (by God), and freedom of choice is given (to man), and the world is judged with goodness, and all depends on the preponderance of doing” (P. Abot 3.15). Or one can read in Sirach 15.11-17, “Say not it was the lord's fault that I fell away...say not, He led me astray...He made man from the beginning, and left him to his own counsel.” As I. Howard Marshall writes, an “examination of the usage in the OT and in Judaism shows that the phrase 'the elect' is used of those who have become members of God's people and never of individuals before they have become members of God's people,”
Thus, references in the NT to falling away are in reference to one's own removal from the group of the elect. The elect, no doubt, will be saved since this is what God has chosen to do. The will of the individual—to be part of the group or not—is not predestined (though it may be foreknown). How does one remain in the group or remove himself though?
Let's take 2 Peter for our example. 2 Peter pursues the ethical route. He focuses on the ethics of group unity by warning his readers against buying into the ai`re,seij (“divisions”) promoted by the false teachers. But Peter begins his letter with a focus on Christ, the one doing the calling by his “own glory and goodness” (1.3). V 5, however, turns around and places equal responsibility on the one who is called: “Make every effort.” R. Bauckham notes that the word spouda,zein (“to be zealous, to make an effort”) is “a natural word for moral effort.” In fact, it occurs two other times in 1.15 and 3.14, thus implying a moral imperative on the part of his readers. Though their election is made by Christ, they must ethically participate in it by certain ethical imperatives (1.5-7 ).
2 Peter 1.10-11 repeat the word spouda,zein, this time with reference to keeping one's election: “be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall away.” The implication made by Peter here concerning ethics is that they are necessary to complete salvation. The “therefore” in v 10 indicates that what lies prior (vv 5-7) is necessary to not fall away and forget “that he has been cleansed from his past sins” (v 9). Bauckham notes that this reference to “cleansed from past sins” is a reference to “purification at baptism.” The one who is forgetful of his purification is in danger of going back to his former lifestyle, hence the proverb in 2.22: “A dog returns to its vomit” and “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”
Of course, the question is what does ptai,shte (“fall away”) mean? L. Donelson suggests Peter is speaking of “sinning.” This is the classic reformed view. Thus, Calvin and Luther's assessment was that the ethics noted in vv 5-7 were essential towards an assurance of election and could not be taken to refer to apostasy. Bauckham however disagrees, noting that this interpretation would suggest that the virtuous life is a sinless life. Instead, he suggests that it carries the same meaning as Jude 24, referring to the “disaster of never reaching final salvation.” This may be closely linked with the following verse wherein the end result of not stumbling is a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom. Conversely, stumbling would lead to not receiving a welcome into the kingdom. And in Peter's eyes, it is better to have never entered election than to have entered it and left it for the sake of the old life (2.20-22).
Thus, the danger affirmed in 2 Peter is that of apostasy. As Coenen inquires, “Is it possible to fall from grace? Certainly the assurance of election must never be allowed to turn into a false sense of security...we find the reminder of the manifestation of God's grace linked with an imperative, an exhortation also to live in it, to prove oneself as one whom God has sanctified...” This, of course, is not to argue salvation by works but simply, as Wesley argued, proper ethical behavior as conditional given time and opportunity for them. According to 2 Peter, our actions have the ability to keep us in or will us out of the elect group. We must make sure this doesn't happen.