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
The word “reserved” in the Greek is in a special tense called the Perfect Tense. The meaning is that at some time in the past, the believers received this reservation, a reservation which is a standing reservation. We can speculate when the believer becomes enrolled on this list such as before the creation of the world, at the cross, or when the believer accepted Christ as Savior. what is important is that the Christian is on the reservation list and remains on it. This should give the believer assurance of his salvation. Knowing this is important because the believer will face temptations and trials. the Christian is saved by the grace and mercy of God and has a place reserved for him which no devil can snatch away.
Who are kept by God’s power through faith — Peter wants his hearers to be doubly sure of the ground they stand upon. He has not to this point dealt directly to the issue at hand, that the believers in these churches were undergoing persecution. This is something the believers would think is contrary to expectations. If they were serving the true and almighty God through Jesus Christ, should they not be blessed with worldly blessings? Doesn’t coming to receive Jesus as Savior and having our sons forgiven imply that everything in the Christian life is all roses? Shouldn’t everyone in the world embrace the good news?
The first few verses of the epistle prepare the hearer to answer these obvious questions. Peter mentioned the sprinkled blood of Jesus Christ. Our Lord and Savior suffered. When He came unto His own people, one would think that they would have enthusiastically embraced Him. Indeed, many did at first. They thought Jesus would overthrow the oppressive Roman Empire which ruled over Palestine. So, Jesus was rejected by His own people and delivered over to the Roman government to be crucified, the same Roman government which was now oppressing them.
Peter also prepares them for the solution. Jesus Christ rose from the dead according to God’s foreknowledge. God had a plan for them as well to set them apart as His special people. This means that everything that was happening to the believers there was foreknown by God God has reserved for them a special place. Now He keeps them by His power. The power of God is set forward in the Greek sentence. It is literally “by God’s power kept.” This places extra emphasis upon the fact that it is by God’s power we are kept or guarded. How could God fail to achieve what He has purposed? Or as Jesus says in John 10:28-29. God the Father has granted the believer eternal life which no person or circumstance can stop.
The means by which God guards the believer is faith. The word “faith” is one of the very important words in the Bible. The word is by nature very abstract and open to a world or interpretations. It must be carefully defined or else one can easily fall into error For example, the monarchs of Britain since Henry 8th have used the title “Defensor Fidei” (Defender of the Faith). when Henry was first bestowed the title, He was a Roman Catholic in good standing. He wrote a venomous tract against Martin Luther and was given the title by the Pope. Then He became a nominal Protestant which changed to some degree what “Defender of the Faith” meant. Now Prince Charles wants to change the meaning to “Defender of Faith,” taking out the very important word, “the.” He wants to be the defender of believing. Believing in what? This has reduced faith to a warm fuzzy emotion. this reduces the original Christian meaning to a distinction without a difference.
Peter has a definite understanding of faith. The recipients would have been taught the basics of the faith. The faith was in the person and work of Jesus Christ to which the Scriptures (Old Testament) and the gift of the Holy Spirit give evidence to. They would have understood faith as being the gift of God and not something worked for or earned. (Ephesians 2:8) God who is the giver of faith is the sustainer of faith.
Unto salvation which is being prepared to be revealed in the last time — Our salvation is the ultimate goal of our existence. This is emphasized by being placed first in the phrase. the rest describes that this salvation is being readied and will be revealed at the Last Day. Salvation is a process. At one point, we were elected unto salvation. As I have noted before, not all agree on what “election” means. But God foreknew who His people would be from before time. At some point we were awakened by the preaching of Christ and received Him. We remain saved (reserved) for the ultimate realization of salvation which will be revealed. In that day, we will enjoy the benefits of salvation which have been deferred. But we were saved all along, even when we suffer for Christ’s sake.
Application
Peter speaks to us today as well. As an Apostle, His words speak with authority to us as well. In America, at least, and also in many parts of the world, many have a wrong understanding of Christianity. there are many “preachers” who preach a gospel like “Your Best Life Now” or the “Be Happy Attitudes.” There are “preachers” who preach health and wealth. The believer is to live up to his privilege as a child of God. They think they should lord it over the world. They believe that our work of “faith” opens the door to all of God’s blessing. Anyone who remains sick, poor, or rejected is so because he lacks faith. As a result, many have become discouraged by the realities they face. It is becoming increasingly evident that this kind of faith is not grounded in reality.
Christians are suffering all over the world today as they have since the time of Christ. Some have and are suffering to greater degree than others. No one who has honestly read the Gospels should have noticed how often Jesus promised that those who follow Him will be rejected and persecuted just as He was. We must realize that our ultimate hope lies elsewhere than this world which is quickly passing away. We think of Hebrews 12:1-2 where it describes our race (“agony” in Greek). We look unto Jesus who ran the race before us as well as many who finished this race and are with Jesus. He did not take joy in the things He suffered. He endured the pain and shame of the cross. Rather it was the joy on the other side of the cross which sustained Him through the trials. This we are to do also. We are His chosen. We have been set apart by the sprinkling of Christ’s blood. We take up our cross in obedience and follow Him, knowing we have a place reserved in Heaven for us and that God will keep us through the valley of the shadow of death, (Psalm 23:4) Because everything will work out for God for His people, we can remain strong and confident in Him, (Romans 8:28)
