What gets you excited?
• Sports?
• Your home?
• Vacation?
• Shopping?
• Your job?
• Money?
• Hope?
The main topic of 1 Peter 1 is our hope through Jesus Christ. Chuck Swindoll said, “We can live several weeks without food, days without water, and only minutes without oxygen, but without hope—forget it.”
In 1 Peter 1, CELEBRATION comes first; COMMANDS come second.
“Therefore” – Peter is saying, “God has given us the amazing blessings of salvation (see vv. 3-12); therefore, think and act in the following ways.”
1. Live a life of HOPE (v. 13).
“Therefore, prepared your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed” (v. 13).
The GRACE of God is the source of our hope.
“Hope” – Hope is not simply a wish for the future, as the word is most often used in modern English (e.g., “I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow,” even though there can be no certainty about the weather). Rather, hope, as used in the NT, involves the idea of assurance that what is hoped for will certainly come to pass. This is because future hope in the NT is based on something that has already happened in the past, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
William Barclay wrote, “The Christian hope is the hope which has seen everything and endured everything, and has still not despaired, because it believes in God. The Christian hope is not hope in the human spirit, in human goodness, in human endurance, in human achievement; the Christian hope is hope in the power of God” (The Letter to the Romans).
“The grace to be given you” – “The grace” refers to the consummation of salvation (which is undeserved).
“When Jesus Christ is revealed” – When Christ returns to earth.
What should we do to stir up our hope?
a. “Prepare your minds for action.”
“Gird up the loins of your mind” (KJV).
CULTURAL BACKGROUND: The phrase describes the act of tucking up a long robe into a belt, allowing the legs more freedom of movement. Peter applies the expression to our thinking. In other words, get your minds ready for work, or roll up the shirt sleeves of your mind.
Peter possibly uses this expression because Jesus also used in His teaching about being ready for His return: “Let your loins be girded about” (Luke 12:35 KJV).
b. “Be self-controlled.”
“Be sober” (KJV). We can become “intoxicated” with the things of this world. God wants us to think clearly about our hope.
“Fully” – “Hope to the end” (KJV); this speaks of an undivided expectation. God doesn’t want us to be half-hearted hopers.
2. Live a life of HOLINESS (vv. 14-16).
“As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (vv. 14-16).
The HOLINESS of God is the source of our holiness.
“As obedient children” – Any commitment (or faith) that does not result in obedience is a misunderstanding of the gospel message and less than Christian faith.
“Do not conform to the evil desires you had” – The Greek word for “do not conform” (used also in Romans 12:2) means “to patterns one’s actions or life after.” God expects us to act and think differently.
What does it mean to be “holy”?
a. To be holy means to be separated FROM EVIL.
b. To be holy means to be separated FOR GOD.
“In all you do” – This refers to our lifestyle. The Greek word is used almost as much in 1 Peter as in the rest of the NT altogether. (It appears in 1 Peter 1:15, 18; 2:12; 3:1, 2, 16 as well as in 2 Peter 2:7; 3:11. It is found in James 3:13; Gal. 1:13; Eph. 4:22; 1 Tim. 4:12; and Heb. 13:7 elsewhere in the NT.)
(Verse 16 quotes Leviticus 19:2. The verse immediately following the charge to be holy in Lev. 19:2 reads, “Each of you must respect his mother and father” (19:3). Is it a coincidence that Peter’s next command is also expressed in terms of the father-child relationship?)
3. Live a life of REVERENT FEAR (vv. 17-21).
“Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear” (v. 17).
The JUDGMENT of God is the source of our fear.
“Judges each man’s work impartially” – Without favoritism (as opposed to taking bribes or considering the social standing of the plaintiffs); we may be God’s children, but our heavenly Father is an impartial Judge. Peter is saying to his readers: “Don’t fear your persecutors; fear God.”
“Live your lives as strangers” – The term is used to indicate those who do not have the rights of citizenship but are temporary foreign resident of an area. We are strangers (sojourners) in this world; our citizenship is in heaven. (If Peter’s readers are Jews living in Asia Minor, they are “strangers” in two ways.)
“In reverent fear” – Reverential awe of God; we are not to let our familiarity with our heavenly Father degrade His holiness.
What should we fear?
a. Fear living as though JESUS’ BLOOD is not PRECIOUS.
“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake” (vv. 18-20).
“Redeemed” – Peter’s readers would have been familiar with the concept of redeeming a friend or relative out of slavery.
“From the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers” – “Empty” refers to something that is worthless, futile, and empty of hope. This description of the readers’ life before Christ, especially when combined with Peter’s reference to their ignorance before coming to Christ (1:14), is considered by most commentators to identify Peter’s readers as primarily Gentiles. It is argued that the way of Judaism could not be so described. One need only think of Paul’s testimony in Philippians 3:4-9 to hear a Jew describe the heritage passed down to him as “garbage” (useless) compared with “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord.”
“The precious blood of Christ” – The word “precious” refers to something of high value. There is a contrast between the “precious” blood of Christ and “perishable things such as silver and gold.”
ILLUSTRATION: Imagine that you are $100,000 in debt. There is no way you can get free of that debt. But someone gives $100,000 to pay you’re your debts. If you immediately went back into debt, what would that say about yourself? How would your benefactor feel?
“A lamb without blemish or defect” – Peter is probably thinking of the Passover sacrifice, which could be a goat, but was most often a lamb. Like most sacrifices, it had to be without “blemish or defect.” Christ is greater than the Passover lamb since that animal was chosen on the tenth of Nisan (the Jewish month falling in the March-April period) and sacrificed on the fourteenth, while Jesus was “chosen before the creation of the world” and “revealed” a few decades earlier than this letter (“revealed” probably includes the whole complex of events—Jesus’ incarnation, life, death, and resurrection).
The Passover image is especially fitting because it was a central part of Israel’s redemption from Egypt.
b. Fear living as though your HOPE is not in GOD.
“Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God” (v. 21).
“Who raised him from the dead and glorified him” – Peter is assuring his readers that God is able to raise them if they are killed and give them glory no matter on that day now oppressed and shamed they may be now.
What I BELIEVE should affect how I LIVE.
• Do you believe that God has an amazing future planned for you? Then live in hope. “Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
• Do you believe that your heavenly Father saved you to live a holy life? Then live in holiness. “Be holy in all you do.”
• Do you believe that God is an impartial Judge? Then live in reverent fear. “Live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.”
A LIFE OF HOLINESS
LIFE.101
1 Peter 1:13-21
In 1 Peter 1, ___________________ comes first; __________________ come second.
1. Live a life of ______________ (v. 13).
The ______________ of God is the source of our hope.
What should we do to stir up our hope?
a. “Prepare your minds for action.”
b. “Be self-controlled.”
2. Live a life of __________________ (vv. 14-16).
The __________________ of God is the source of our holiness.
What does it mean to be holy?
a. To be holy means to be separated _________________.
b. To be holy means to be separated _________________.
3. Live a life of ___________________________ (vv. 17-21).
The __________________ of God is the source of our fear.
What should we fear?
a. Fear living as though ___________________________ is not _________________.
b. Fear living as though your _____________ is not in __________.
What I _______________ should affect how I _____________.
BOOKS USED
Peter H. Davids
“1 Peter” in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, vol. 4
Peter H. Davids
The First Epistle of Peter
The New International Commentary on the New Testament
Wayne Grudem
1 Peter
Tyndale New Testament Commentaries
Karen H. Jobes
1 Peter
Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament
Scot McKnight
1 Peter
The NIV Application Commentary
