***1 Peter 1:2 (NLT) God the Father knew you and…

***1 Peter 1:2 (NLT) God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace.***

This verse mentions all three members of the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit. All members of the Trinity work to bring about our salvation and provide a threefold assurance to believers. Why would Pentecostal Oneness believes that Jesus manifest as the Father and Holy Spirit at the same time when this clearly mentions the three persons in one God. Why three person in one God? It is because the three—the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) have the same essence, nature and character working together. In ***Ephesians 4:11 ***which states: ***It is he (Jesus) who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers***. Each office compose of many persons but one office of the apostles. When your parents were married, they were considered “one flesh?” You see, if the word “one flesh” consists of two distinct persons, then why not God who is the author of that marriage? Therefore we should not limit “one” by saying that in that word one Person is involved. The Bible reveals there are three Persons in the one God, the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.

Although Christians are “foreigners” in this world (***1 Peter 1:1***), they take comfort in the fact that God chose them long ago. The Father chose us before we chose him (***Ephesians 1:4***). Jesus Christ, the Son, died for us while we were still sinners (***Romans 5:6-10***). The Holy Spirit brings us the benefits of salvation and sets us apart (makes us holy, sanctifies us) for God’s service (***2 Thessalonians 2:13***). God alone originates and accomplishes our salvation because of his grace. We do nothing to earn it. Being “chosen” does not remove the necessity for people to choose to follow him.

God makes his choice effective by the presence of the Holy Spirit in those who believe, resulting in obedience. Only the Spirit can draw people to a saving relationship with God. The Spirit comes to the chosen people to make them holy, meaning that God sees his children as holy because they have been cleaned by his Son’s shed blood. But believers also are becoming holy as they learn to live for God. This is called “sanctification”—the process of Christian growth through which the Holy Spirit makes us like Christ. The obvious result is that the believers obeyed. The constant cleansing from sin available to us because of Christ’s sacrifice enables us to obey God faithfully.