An Exposition Of 1 Peter, Part 2: Kept By God's Power

An Exposition of ! Peter, part 2: Kept By God's Power

Introduction

In the last study, we covered some of the background issues such as authorship, date, occasion, and recipients of the epistle. Although there is not agreement among scholars, it seemed to me that Peter wrote it between 64-67 AD to house churches in five Roman provinces of what is modern day Turkey. The general occasion was that Christians there were starting to undergo persecution for their faith. We do not know whether this was a local persecution or part of a greater persecution, such as that which occured after the Christians were blamed for the burning of Rome in 64 AD. But persecution is persecution which means that what Peter tells the Christians there also speaks to us in times of persecution. This is one reason why God had this letter preserved for posterity.

We also covered the introduction of the epistle in the last session. The greeting desire of grace and peace was common in the early Christian church and was a combination of the Hebrew greeting of “peace” and the Gentile greeting of “grace.” This tells us that the unity of both Gentile and Jewish believers was an important doctrine of the faith.

We also know that God has it all planned in advance. The recipients are addressed as the “elect” which was based upon the foreknowledge of God. God also set His people apart from the world, what we call sanctification. The Christian lives in the world but no longer belongs to the world. Christians are commanded to follow Christ in obedience. This sanctification was accomplished by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus upon us. We are consecrated to His service as Aaron and the sanctuary were made holy by the sprinkling of less precious blood of animals.

Exposition of the Text

Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ —Peter begins the main part of his letter by calling God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ blessed. The Greek word for blessed is similar to our word “eulogy” which has the meaning “to speak well of.” When we normally think of blessings, we think of those blessings which come down from God to us, that the greater blesses the lesser. (see Hebrews 7:7 for example) But here, Peter, who is obviously the lesser, blesses God. Perhaps what we should understand is that this causes us to look upward to God who is the source of all blessing. When we bless God, we are realizing how great He is. It would be similar to “hallowed be Thy Name” in the Lord’s prayer. We certainly want to speak well of God and revere Him. What is more, our lives ought to speak well of our Creator.

Who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead — Peter reminds his audience why we are to bless God. It is because He has shown them great mercy. The Greek word here has the meaning of “to pity.” It is similar to grace which is God’s free gift which cannot be earned. Mercy even goes further. One might be graced with a gift for which they did not earn. But mercy is something we receive when we have acted totally contrary to God. It emphasizes our total unworthiness to be saved. Our works deserved eternal punishment. But God has shown mercy. He showed it in his begetting us anew (born again or from above). The believer now has a living hope that is based upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We heard in the last lesson that we were sanctified by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus died for our sins. The Christian is baptized into Christ’s death. But Christ’s death cannot be considered apart from His resurrection from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is God’s approval of His Son’s sacrifice on the cross. In fact ,the Book of Hebrews relates that he brought the blood to the heavenly altar when He ascended before the heavenly altar. Because He lives, we too shall live. Christ died and rose again. He ascended to the Father. If the Lord does not return during our earthly lives, we will die. But like Christ, we shall rise and come into His presence for ever. The Christian looks beyond death unto eternal life. This is why it is a living hope.

To an inheritance that is immortal, undefiled and unfading reserved in heaven for you — Peter reminds the hearers of the goal of our new existence. We are heirs of a great inheritance. This tells us that we are His children. Peter uses three similar adjectives beginning with the sane Greek letter to describe this inheritance. This might seem to be piling up the adjectives when one of them might be sufficient. The fancy term for this is “tautology.” But Peter wants the churches to clearly understand the surety of this inheritance. Unlike earthly inheritances which can decay due to corruption, heaven is beyond corruption and decay. In other words, it will remain forever. If will not diminish in any way over time like earthly inheritance which can fade away. The heir can waste it like the prodigal son did. Even with good management, the money and goods might spend down or wear out over time. But not so with this inheritance