(1 Pet 1:3 NKJV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
(1 Pet 1:4 NKJV) to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
(1 Pet 1:5 NKJV) who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
(1 Pet 1:6 NKJV) In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
(1 Pet 1:7 NKJV) that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
(1 Pet 1:8 NKJV) whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
(1 Pet 1:9 NKJV) receiving the end of your faith; the salvation of your souls.
Purpose of the letter:
Peter's warm pastoral exhortations are addressed to Jewish Christians who were scattered over a wide area.
(1 Pet 1:1 NIV) Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,
Strangers - English - Anyone with whom we are not acquainted; Greek - parepidemois - para (along side of) epi (upon) demos (people of a heathen city). Christians who have settled down alongside of the unsaved (2:11)
Scattered - diaspora, dee-as-por-ah'; dispersion, i.e. Israel. resident in Gentile countries:--(which are) scattered (abroad). Jewish Christians living outside of Palestine. Christians are to be like scattered seeds - winning the lost to Christ, producing fruit. Not like a Jim Jones or a David Kadesh, huddled up in a compound.
Elect - Chosen out from mankind people for Himself (Eph 1:4 - chosen before the foundations...).
This is an encouraging word, elect. The scriptures teach that God has hand-picked those who would be his and He didn't do it as a result of any thing good that He found in us. Like Israel, we had nothing that was worth saving…
(Deu 7:6 NKJV) "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
(Deu 7:7 NKJV) "The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;
(Deu 7:8 NKJV) "but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
God chose to set His love upon us. The amazing thing is that we were not worth loving (and still are not). If God has claimed us as His own with no coercion on our part, doesn't it make sense that God would keep that which belongs to him? Doesn't it make sense that God would provide for that which He has chosen? Don't you know that God is going to protect and keep those who He has delivered?
Jesus asks His disciples in Luke 18:7, "And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?
Paul asks his reader in Romans 8:33, "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies."
Jesus gives us the answer to these questions in John 10:
(John 10:27 NKJV) "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
(John 10:28 NKJV) "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
(John 10:29 NKJV) "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.
God takes care of His own. God provides for His own. God protects His own. We should all be able to say with David when he wrote the words:
"The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; The God of my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, My stronghold and my refuge; My Savior, You save me from violence. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.
'When the waves of death surrounded me, The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry entered His ears. "Then the earth shook and trembled; The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, Because He was angry."
In verse two Peter writes that they are the "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." This means that God has set apart the sinner from unbelief through the act of faith in the Lord Jesus and His finished work of redemption at the Cross.
This is the only way that God produces an "elect" one. It is through the setting apart of the person from unbelief through the act of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You don't become part of the elect by going to church.
You don't become a part of the elect by keeping the Golden Rule.
You don't become part of the elect by getting baptized or confirmed.
You don't become part of the elect because your mother, father or grandmother was a Christian.
You become part of the elect, who the Bible calls "the chosen of God," by faith in Christ Jesus.
Peter was writing to the "elect." These Jewish folk were Christians because of God's grace through faith. These Christians were suffering but were not alone in it. They shared a common faith with Christians everywhere and faced common problems.
Oh, if I could get some of the saints that I have ministered to see this point. Many of them think that they are the only one who have ever suffered. Many of them think that they are the only ones who are having problems in their marriage or having difficulty on the job. But God's Word tells us that we have a common faith with other Christians and share common problems.
(1 Cor 10:13 NKJV) No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
(1 Pet 5:8 NKJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
(1 Pet 5:9 NKJV) Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
(1 Pet 5:10 NKJV) But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
The basic problem of Peter's readers was how to live for God in the midst of a society ignorant of the true God. Because they were Christians, they were misunderstood and subjected to cruel treatment.
Peter's pastoral purpose was to help these early believers see their temporary sufferings in the full light of the coming eternal glory. He was trying to let them know that in the midst of all their discouragement, all their disappointments and all their pain, the sovereign God will keep them and enable them by faith to have joy.
(1 Pet 4:12 NIV) Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.
(1 Pet 4:13 NIV) But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
(1 Pet 4:14 NIV) If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
Peter was writing to a group of Christians who were suffering. They had just been run out of their homeland. But this wasn't his main concern. Peter knew that they hadn't really seen what suffering was about but they were about to. They were being run from Jerusalem into unfamiliar territories. For the next several years they would be settling in a foreign land, living next to foreigners and they would be the minority.
Peter knew that the immediate future for these people would be an increase in their conflict with the world (4:7-18). But Peter also knew that God's grace would enable the community of faithful believers to grow into maturity. He knew that true fellowship would provide the means by which God's flock would endure (9:8, 10; 5:1, 2; Acts 2:42).
(1 Pet 1:3 NKJV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
(1 Pet 1:4 NKJV) to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
(1 Pet 1:5 NKJV) who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In the first three verses Peter is eulogizing the Lord.
(1 Pet 1:6 NKJV) In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
(1 Pet 1:7 NKJV) that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
(1 Pet 1:8 NKJV) whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
(1 Pet 1:9 NKJV) receiving the end of your faith; the salvation of your souls.
