Even though I am a Methodist, thus an Arminian, I can readily see how others could find instruction from passages like this that say "as they were destined to do" and "you are a chosen race."
Rather than argue the differences, today I am more interested in that spiritual building that we who are Arminian and we who are Calvinist comprise. We share a precious cornerstone.
We choose to believe or believe because we are chosen, but we share that cornerstone.
And chosen and believing, we share a function: to proclaim the mighty acts of the one who called us out of darkness into the marvelous light.
Peter was telling his listeners that they had not been included in Judaism, but now they could, like Jews, be part of God's family. Extending his message to our time, we can recognize that Christianity is inclusive of people whose backgrounds, whose behavior, whose appearance may be very different from our current congregation. And the message is still that they, like us, have received mercy.
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