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.
He then goes on to greet them with God’s grace – something that came in great measure through Jesus Christ. John said in John 1:14 – “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” This gift of Salvation is the greatest expression of the grace of God, where we do nothing to receive it; Jesus paid the price on our behalf, and all we do is believe and trust in His work, and thereby, we appropriate it in our lives. Peter is blessing them with God’s grace, through which they have received all things freely – and unmerited at that, especially at a time when they were struggling in a land that was not their own. It’s a lot like the times the world is facing at the moment with this pandemic creative havoc. We need all of God’s grace in these difficult times.
Not only does He bless them with God’s grace but he also blesses them with God’s peace – something that Jesus came to bring as well. God made peace with man, who had rebelled against Him. We can now have a relationship with God like never before. Jesus also promised us a peace that was far different from the peace that the world offers us. Jesus said in John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” Again Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. This again was something they would have needed to experience a lot, since they were also suffering persecution on account of their faith in the places they lived. In the midst of those difficulties, he blesses them with a peace that the world would not be able to comprehend. Someone said, “Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of God, no matter what the conflict.”
Once again, this is the kind of peace we need today as well, when the world is going through turmoil as a result of this pandemic, but for those of us who know the Lord, we also get to experience this peace in a way that is unexplainable, and all because we have the Lord in our lives during these turbulent times.
1 Peter 1:3-5
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, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Peter then goes on to say that God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is blessed (a word used to praise God for who He is), and here are the reasons why he praises God.
Firstly, Peter praises God for His abundant mercy. When Jesus came into the world, He came to save us from God’s wrath on account of our sin, when He bore our penalty on the cross. Mercy is us not getting the punishment we deserve. Since this whole merciful plan of Salvation was God’s plan, Peter praises God for his mercy.
Peter goes on to say that God has begotten us (caused us to be born again into two things – a living hope and an inheritance. When he says that we’ve been born into a living hope (assurance), he means that we have now have the assurance that we will live forever with God – imagine that – what an amazing assurance that is.
When he talks about being born into, he’s referring to the rebirth Jesus talked about with Nicodemus in John Chapter 3:1-21. This hope (assurance) we possess is as a result of the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, then our faith would be in a dead person. But since Jesus rose from the dead, we have the assurance that we too will rise from the dead. (To read more about this amazing hope we have, read, 1 Corinthians Chapter 15). Jesus is alive again, and will be forever more. It’s because of this assurance we have, that we don’t fear death anymore, because it means that when the Lord returns, and we rise from the dead, we will forever be with the Lord thereafter. This is the hope with which we live, and that’s why Peter calls it a living hope.
Peter goes on to say that not only have we been born into a living hope but we’ve also been born into an inheritance that is both incorruptible and undefiled. This means that as believers in Jesus, and as children of God, we have this amazing hope that we will inherit something that will never spoil or fade or lose its beauty. This inheritance is also pure because it comes from God – it’s undefiled in any way. Worldly inheritances will fade and spoil with time, but the inheritance that the Lord has in store for us, is eternal and pure.
Peter goes on to say that not only is God preserving for us an eternal inheritance, but He is also preserving us by His power, until such time that we get to receive that inheritance, when the Lord Jesus will return, which he refers to as the last time. The salvation we have experienced till now will fade into oblivion when compared with the salvation the Lord will reveal to us on that day. Imagine us being welcomed into the amazing presence of God to live with Him forever. Who could ask for anything better?
