1st Peter 1:1-5 Series

Study # 1 - 1 Peter 1:1-5

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1 Peter 1:1-2

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

The author of this letter is the Apostle Peter, one of the 12 apostles chosen by Jesus. The letter is addressed to the believers in Jesus who, owing to the persecution that broke out against them in Jerusalem, were scattered across many cities, and hence referred to as pilgrims, as they were no longer able to live in their own hometown.

Peter goes on to say that these people were chosen by God. That’s something none of us should ever forget – we did not choose God, but He chose us. In fact, Peter was echoing the very words of Jesus, who said to His disciples in John 15:16 – “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”

He then uses another phrase - ‘foreknowledge of God the Father’ – a phrase that can be misunderstood if it’s not understood. God the Father knew who would respond to the Gospel, and believe in His Son Jesus, though He did not decide who would respond. He knew it because He was God – that’s what is referred to as foreknowledge. All were invited, but only those who responded were chosen to belong to His Family.

He then says that after we were chosen by God, we were then given God’s Holy Spirit to help perfect the work of sanctification (the process of becoming holy), in our lives. We’ve been set apart to live lives that are very different from the world around us – lives that reflect the nature of Christ Himself – a life of love, purity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc. And to help us live this new life, God has now given us His Holy Spirit to live inside of us, to help us in this process. None of us can live the life the Lord wants us to live, in our own strength, because by ourselves we don’t have the power to live this new life – we need the help of the Lord. Imagine the best-looking, smartest mobile phone with a battery that has no charge. No matter how good it looks, it’s useless unless it has a charged battery inside of it. So also, we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, to fulfil, and complete the work of sanctification in our lives.

The Holy Spirit teaches us how to obey Christ’s teachings, and eventually become a reflection of Christ in every way. We are not only called to believe in all of Jesus’ teachings on how to live this new life, but we are also called to obey His teachings, else the teachings are of no use to us or anyone else, and we’ll find that over time there’ll be no change in our character, and we will not become the reflection of Christ, that God intended for us to become.

He then uses a phrase that could be understood only when the background is first understood. The phrase is, ‘sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.’ God had decided a long time back that Jesus would come into the world, and establish a covenant with those who believe in Him, and as if to create a shadow of coming events, God established a covenant with the people of Israel many centuries ago, when He delivered them from the bondage to slavery in Egypt. To establish this covenant with His people God asked Moses to sacrifice bulls and to sprinkle some of its blood on the altar and some on the people of Israel. So the sprinkling was an act to symbolize the covenant that God was entering into with the people of Israel.

With the old covenant in the background, Peter then makes reference to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, meaning that Jesus shed His blood to bear the penalty of the sins of the whole world. The blood of bulls and goats and birds could never take away the sins of the world, they were only pushing it forward to the day when people could really find forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus on our behalf. God has now entered into a new covenant with those who put their faith in His Son Jesus Christ. This is an everlasting covenant that God will remain faithful to, and we should also remain faithful to.