STUDY THEME: PETER’S PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESSFUL LIVING. 8-08-04
“LIVE CONFIDENTLY.” 1 PETER 1: 1-2, 3-5, 6-9, 10-12.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO 1 PETER 1.
Last Sunday as we began this 5 lesson series of “Peter’s Principles for Successful Living” we learned that successful living begins with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, our Savior. It’s Who you know!
Today we will see that successful living includes living confidently in the resources God provides. The Biblical Truth of today’s lesson is that God makes His resources available to us so that we can live confidently even in the midst of trials.
There are so many circumstances beyond our control that we sometimes find ourselves fearful and uncertain, even though we know we are able to live with confident hope based on the resources and promises of God.
True Christian confidence is possible and desirable. It is the assurance that God---not self provides the resources needed to deal with every challenge. Believers who learn such confidence will inevitably experience God’s definition of successful living.
The theme of this first Epistle of Peter is HOPE. This is the key word. In the opening verses Peter explained the source of our hope.
Please read 1 Peter 1: 1-2.
In last Sunday’s lesson Jesus chose Peter to be one of His representatives. He was one of a unique group of men who were personally called and commissioned by Christ and who ministered with Christ after His resurrection. Peter exercised his authority in many ways. One way was to write letters to believers. He followed the normal letter-writing pattern of his day. Our letters today begin with the name of the one to whom the letter is sent. We reveal the writer’s name at the end.
Letters written in the first century began with the name of the letter writer. Peter was well known among Christians. He was an apostle, he had been with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry, was a witness of the resurrection and was appointed by Jesus in Acts 1:21-26.
In these opening verses of 1 Peter we have the apostolic salutation. He who had been commissioned by the risen Christ in John 2: 15-19 to feed and shepherd the sheep and lambs of His flock addresses Himself to those who in years gone by were as sheep without a shepherd, scattered on every high hill, but who now had come under the loving care of the Great Shepherd who appointed under-shepherds to minister to their peculiar needs.
Peter addresses his Letter, “To the strangers scattered.” In accordance with the Lord’s instruction, Peter seeks to feed and care for these scattered sheep of the house of Israel, dispersed among the nations.
The lands mentioned are all in what we call Asia Minor, north of Palestine and Syria, and south of the Black Sea. In these countries many Jews were living who had been brought to know Christ through the ministries of both Paul and Peter. They had lost their old standing as Israelites in the flesh, part of an elect nation, which however had failed so grievously. Now through infinite grace they belonged to a new country, all of whom were “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.”
“The elect” in the O.T. was used of Israel, indicating that sovereign God, had chosen Israel from among all the nations of the world to believe and belong to Him. Here in vs. 2 the word “elect” is used as Christians, those chosen by God for salvation. The word is also used in Matt. 24:22,24 for those who receive Christ during the Tribulation Time
There is nothing fatalistic or arbitrary about election as taught in the Scriptures. The gospel is to be preached to all, and all who believe it may be assured that they are numbered among the elect. Through the Spirit’s sanctification—that is, His separating work, men are awakened and brought to see their need of Christ. When in the obedience of faith they appropriate the privilege of finding shelter beneath the sprinkled blood of Jesus, like the people of Israel on the Passover night in Egypt, who were safe within the houses, protected by the blood of the lamb sprinkled on the door-posts and lintels, they are forever safe from the judgment which their sins deserve.
God said in Ex. 12: 13, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” So today, all who are sheltered by the blood of sprinkling may be assured that they stand where the wrath of God will never reach them.
It was to such as these that Peter wrote, wishing that to them grace and peace might be multiplied. It was not the grace that saves which he had in view, but the grace that keeps; nor was it peace with God of which he wrote, but the peace of God which garrisons the hearts of all who learn to commit their way unto the Lord.
Foreknowledge, as used in vs. 2 means God brought the salvation relationship into existence by decreeing it into existence ahead of time. Christians are foreknown for salvation in the same way Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world to be a sacrifice for sins. (Acts 2: 23.) Trace your salvation to its source, and that route will lead you back to the loving heart of the eternal God. He knew us and sought us long before we came to know Him.
Peter said, believers were chosen by God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit. As sinners are declared righteous through faith, believers are sanctified or set apart for holy living through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Sanctification includes all the Holy Spirit’s operations in setting sinners apart from sin, (including regeneration and faith) and purifying them for God’s service.
Obedience and sprinkling of the blood are familiar O.T. terms. When God offered His covenant to Israel, He demanded in Ex. 19:5 that they obey. The covenant was then sealed by the sprinkling of the blood of animals on the people (Ex. 24: 1-8). The new covenant, under which we live, is sealed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1: 18-19).
We have, therefore, the three steps taken by the three persons of the Triune God. God the Father chooses the sinner to salvation. God the Sprit brings the sinner thus chosen to the act of faith. God the Son cleanses him in His precious blood and imputes to him His righteousness.
By the time Peter wrote his first Epistle more than 30 years had passed since Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
While Jesus was on earth bodily, Peter had been able to follow Him constantly. Peter continued to follow Jesus after His ascension. The good news of Christ had spread out from Jerusalem to the far corners of the Roman Empire in an amazingly short time. House churches had sprung up in most major cities.
At the same time, many believers faced persecution because of their faith in Christ. Peter had learned about a number of disciples in the province of Asia (modern day Turkey) who needed hope and encouragement. His inspired letter has been enabling Christians ever since to live confidently even in the midst of trials.
Peter wrote to the Christian Jews of the dispersion who dwelt in various provinces of the Roman Empire. He praised God for endowing these children of His with living hope based on Christ’s resurrection. This hope is an inheritance kept for all believers. Although they were passing through fiery trials, they could rejoice. The prophets had foretold this good news.
Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5: 12 that he wrote the first letter to testify that, “this is the true grace of God where-in ye stand.”
Please read 1 Peter 1: 3-5.
Vs. 3 constitutes the introduction to the Epistle, and gives us the key to the understanding of all that follows. It is noticeable how closely the words of vs. 3 are linked to Eph. 1: 3. Both begin in exactly the same way, by blessing, or extolling the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter praised God before writing about Him.
But as the passages in the two Epistles continue they unfold altogether different aspects of truth. In Ephesians the believer is see as seated together in the heavenlies in Christ. This is the N.T. antitype of Canaan, the inheritance which is ours already.
On the other hand, Peter shows us the believer as journeying on to Canaan rest which is at the end of the way. Both aspects are true, and the one never contradicts the other. As to our standing we are in Christ in the heavenlies; as to our state we are pilgrims marching on to glory. “According to His abundant mercy” Christ emphasizes that salvation is based entirely on God’s loving initiative. “He is merciful!” Sinners need God’s mercy because they are in a pitiful, desperate, wretched condition as sinners.
Ours is a living hope, in contrast to Israel’s dead hope, because of their failure to fulfill the terms of the covenant entered into at Sinai. Our confidence rests not on any ability of our own to carry out certain promises, but in according to the abundant mercy which God has bestowed upon us, and which is assured to us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Hope is the key word to the Epistle.
We are not seen here as already in the enjoyment of our inheritance, but we are journeying on toward it. It is reserved in heaven for us. Our hope is not an uncertain or wishful thinking, but a confident expectation based on facts and promises. The basis for the Living Hope is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This is the most solid foundation for confidence.
Unlike Canaan our inheritance is incorruptible and undefiled, and shall never fade away.
Even after Israel entered the Promised Land they defiled it by their idolatry, and it became corrupted because of their gross wickedness, so that eventually they lost it altogether.
It is far otherwise with our heavenly inheritance. It is being kept for us, and we are kept for it—“Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation” in its complete and final sense which will be revealed in the last time---that is, when we reach the end of the wilderness journey.
As God’ children we are heirs. Peter used three words to describe our inheritance: incorruptible (imperishable), undefiled (uncorrupted), fadeth not away (unfaiding). This “inheritance…can never perish, spoil, or fade. This inheritance contrasts with earthly inheritances that for many reasons are far from certain. The giver of this inheritance is the eternal God who owns all things and always keeps his word.
Another reason for confidence is that the inheritance is reserved in heaven for you. Not only is the inheritance reserved but also each believer is kept by the power of God. “Kept” was used to describe being under military protection or guard. Christians are being protected by God’s power; shielded by God’s power. All of these facts build confidence in God and His promises: the inheritance is reserved, and we are protected by God’s power. Nothing could be more sure. It is not the salvation of the soul of which he speaks here. That is ours already, as we shall see in vs. 9. Salvation in its complete sense includes the redemption of the body.
The goal of the living hope is salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. “Last Time” refers to Christ’s return at the final manifestation of His power.
We often speak of salvation in the past tense. Here it means complete and final future deliverance from sin and full enjoyment of eternal glory. Christians have been saved from the penalty of sin. This is called justification or regeneration. But we are also still in the process of being saved from the power of sin. This is called sanctification. Peter was referring to the future consummation of salvation from the presence of sin. This is glorification. No one skips the earlier stages and receives the final stage. On the positive side, all who experience the earlier stages can be sure of the final stage. This is because each stage is based on God’s grace and power. Just a Paul wrote in Phil. 1:6, “I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Although scripture offers only glimpses of what life with Christ will be like after we die, they are enough to make us long for it. What a wonderful contrast to every earthly inheritance!
At Christ’s return, in the last time, believers will participate in the resurrection, receiving fully glorified bodies just like His. This is what Peter meant in 1 Peter 1:13 by “the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Although we ordinarily think of salvation as that which happened when we fist trusted in Christ, there is also a future aspect to it. Paul wrote in Rom. 13:11, “Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” This salvation occurs at the return of Christ, at which time we will enjoy the eternal blessings that come to those who are citizens of His kingdom by faith.
PLEASE READ 1 PETER 1: 6-9.
Two themes run through these verses---trials and joy. These two themes seem to be mutually exclusive. By secular standards, no sane person would rejoice in the midst of real troubles. Yet the Bible teaches that people of faith rejoice in the worst of times. This kind of joy is not based on changing, temporal circumstances, but is used of joy that comes from the unchanging, eternal relationship with God.
The last part of vs. 6 describes the trials as manifold temptations. Heaviness can be translated “distressed” or “suffer grief.” “Temptations” means a test. It can refer to a temptation to do evil or to a trial allowed by God for good. Only the context of a passage can determine which English word is better to use. Most translators think Peter was referring to “trials”. There is a “need to be” for every sorrow that the Christian is called upon to endure. The benefit is immediately for the Christian, not God.
Peter no doubt was thinking of the persecution his readers were experiencing. “For a season” or “for a short time” is true of all earthly trials when compared to eternity. Even if the trials last till death, Paul wrote in Rom. 8:18 “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
This might be a good time to ask, “Are we willing to trust the wisdom of God and to allow Him to plan our lives, as He sees fit?” Faith must be tested, otherwise it could not be verified. So we need not fear when our faith is exposed to trial that it indicates any displeasure on God’s part toward us. Rather it indicates His deep interest in and concern for us. For just as gold is tried in the fire in order to separate it from the dross, so faith, which is much more precious than gold that perishes, must be tested in order that it may be found unto praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ from heaven.
Peter told his readers they could greatly rejoice in their trials because God can bring good out of faithfulness in such times. The word trial in vs. 7 is not the same word as temptations in vs. 6. The word in vs. 7 refers to something that has been tested and “proved genuine.” Such faith is much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire.
Since faith in God’s sight is so precious, and has, when genuine, imperishable value, it is understandable that God should similarly use the fires of trial to discover and to demonstrate where true faith exists. So the trials of our earthly experience are not to be regarded as strange or surprising, but as providentially ordered for divine and eternal ends. Are we as ready to suffer for the sake of our blessed Lord as we are to profit by his sufferings on our behalf ?
Peter made sure that the focus not be turned on believers and our inheritance but on the Lord. As who is coming to complete His saving work. He is the One to receive praise and honor and glory.
As an apostle Peter had actually seen Jesus; but he knew his readers had never seen the Lord. Yet they responded to Christ with love. He wrote of them in 1 Peter 1:8. What rapture fills the heart that is really taken up with the unseen Christ, in whom we have put our confidence, so that even here and now we know we have the salvation of our souls! We know this on the authority of the Word of God.
Vs. 9 returns to the theme at the end of vs. 5, the future stage of salvation. The end or goal of their faith would be the salvation of their souls.
PLEASE READ 2 PETER 1: 10-12.
In this section Peter looks at the greatness of salvation from the viewpoint of the divine agents that made it possible: O.T. prophets, the Holy Spirit, the N.T. apostles and the angels. Our salvation through Christ was a fulfillment of what God had predicted through the prophets.
Isaiah, Joel, and Micah foretold God’s coming salvation and grace. How could the prophets know these things?
Peter described the prophets as more than passive recipients of divine revelation. They actively searched and carefully investigated as God gave them His revelation. The purpose of these actions presumably would have been to seek more revelation from God concerning the salvation of which they spoke.
Believers in Christ have received a richer, fuller experience of salvation than the O.T. saints received. For one thing, we live in a time after the price of salvation has been paid by Christ. This was a matter that the prophets who prophesied understood to a certain extent. They knew that grace would come in a more complete form than they had experienced it. They knew that salvation was to be based on the messianic sufferings described in Ps. 22 and Isa. 53. They also recognized that there would be glories that would follow the sufferings of Christ. Peter did not specify these glories, but he knew the ancient prophecies of Christ’s resurrection given in Ps. 16: 8-11.
In vs. 11 the prophets asked when their prophecies would be fulfilled? They wanted to know more of the circumstances of the Messiah and His sufferings and the glories that would come to Him afterward. This passage seems to refer supremely to Isaiah 53, which speaks of the suffering of the Servant of the Lord and the glory that would follow His sacrificial death.
Peter was also affirming that Christ has already modeled the very pattern that his readers were going through: suffering as the pathway to glory. Thus, believers of all centuries have been encouraged by observing that the One who saved them has Himself been “distressed by various trials”---and has come through them to rejoicing and glory.
Peter’s reference to the Spirit of Christ within them means the O.T. revelation was given by the preincarnate Christ, the Agent of God’s revelation. This comment unifies all of God’s revelation, both O.T. and N.T. The Son of God incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth has revealed the Father in history.
How could the prophets know these things? The Spirit of Christ within them was indicating the truth to them. To put it in modern terms, Peter was connecting the O.T. with the N.T. The same Holy Spirit of Christ who inspired the biblical prophets now works in believers. The focal character for both Testaments is Christ. There has always been one divine plan of salvation, and that is through Christ Jesus. The gospel fully revealed in the N.T. was no novelty: rather, it is something in harmony with O.T. revelation.
In vs. 12 the prophets recognized that their ministries were not limited to their own times. They learned that the fulfillment of their prophecies was for others who would come after them. The Spirit who inspired them to preach and write revealed to them that they were not only serving themselves, that is, the people of their own time. They were also serving those who would live after the fulfillment of their prophecies. Peter may have referred to prophetic statements that their prophecies would be fulfilled “afterward” (Joel 2:28) or “in the last days” Micah 4:1). Believers today are privileged to experience what the prophets did not live to see—the fulfillment of the prophetic vision of Messiah.
The Holy Spirit revealed to the apostles the meaning of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The gospel preached by the apostles and others following them was the Spirit’s work. Peter stood in awe of the fact that mere men were recipients of good news that not even angels were privileged to experience and proclaim.
Through the gospel, we have a clearer understanding of God’s redemption than the prophets ever had. The gospel enables us to live confidently in the secure knowledge that God has been acting redemptively on our behalf from all eternity. The gospel assures us that our inheritance from the Father is reserved in heaven for us.
Rom. 8: 9 proclaims that the same Spirit of Christ who inspired the biblical prophets has now become the permanent, indwelling gift to all who have believed in Christ. Thus the Holy Spirit’s ministry has helped Christian believers to have a clearer understanding of God’s plan of redemption than the prophets of old had. The Spirit indwells believers to live confidently, even in the midst of trials.
The gospel informs us that God planned our salvation from eternity, gives us an experience of salvation in the present, and promises an even greater experience of salvation in the future. Such promises as these enable us to act in the world and proclaim this gospel with joy and boldness. We have no reason for fear or timidity. We can proclaim the gospel and act in this world as people who are certain of God’s victory in both time and eternity. Praise His holy name for His abundant provision on our behalf!
NEXT SUNDAY PETER TEACHES US “SUCCESSFUL LIVING INCLUDES LIVING IN HOLINESS.” HOW SHOULD WE ACT AS CHRISTIANS?
A.V. DAUGHERTY altav@swbell.net http://www.theweeks.org/av/
PS: With this mysterious comment about angels in 1 Peter 1: 12, Peter highlighted the importance of the gospel as now revealed to believers. Because the holy angels of God have not sinned, they do not need a Savior as fallen humans do. Jesus taught, however, in Luke 15:10 that they rejoice over sinners who repent. They are intrigued by salvation and eagerly look into how God’s plan of salvation is being accomplished.
Angels were visibly present on the day of Jesus’ birth and resurrection. They appeared at strategic times in the early church. Their interest is apparently not limited to the earliest days, because the verb desire is in the present tense. Peter was reminding his readers---and therefore us---that there is an unseen heavenly host tracking our progress as we grow in the experience of believing, loving, obeying, and rejoicing in the Lord Jesus. God will not let His holy angels be disappointed. He will see to it that His people will “result in praise, glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1: 7.