For the Audio Version on YouTube, click here – https://youtu.be/88Y4oixNriA
For the Audio Version on Spotify, click here – https://open.spotify.com/episode/2JkU0luk7HGtlmpWBlpC70?si=4f3e5b9936ac4a9d
1 Peter 1:22-25
22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, 24 because “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, 25 but the word of the LORD endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
After telling the believers to live their time on earth in fear (reverence / respect) for God, Peter then says that we need to have sincere love one another, and he gives a reason for that. He reminds us that our souls, which were marred by sin, have now been purified when we responded to the Gospel that was preached to us through the Holy Spirit.
When referring to the kind of love we need to have for one another, he says that it needs to be sincere, fervent and pure. It’s easy for us to fake love and concern with mere words, and that’s perhaps why the Apostle John says in 1 John 3:18, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” Peter says that our love needs to be sincere as opposed to insincere. None of us likes to receive insincere love from people, so let’s not give that kind of love to others either.
The second thing he says about the love we share with one another as believers, is that it should be fervent, as opposed to lacking in fervor, warmth or emotion. When we love people fervently, it deeply impacts them, in fact, that’s the kind of love we ourselves like to receive from others. So let’s ensure that our love for one another is fervent, and not unpassionate or unemotional.
The third thing he talks about the love that we are to share with one another, is that it needs to come from a pure heart. When the word, ‘heart’ is used it refers to the seat of our desires, intentions, and motives. So Peter seems to be saying that if we love someone, we need to ensure that our love has clean, sincere and genuine desires and motives. It means that the motive behind the love we show for people should not be selfish, but rather have the other person’s best interests in mind. Here again, it seems like he’s telling us that our love should be real and not fake or with ulterior motives, else the only person we’d be loving would be ourselves and not the other.
He continues to give reasons why we should love one another sincerely, fervently and with a pure heart. It’s because we’ve been born again – something we should never forget. We’re no longer the same people we were before we came to know Christ – we’ve been born again through the Holy Spirit, when we put our faith in Jesus. The Apostle John said in John 1:12-13 – “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” He goes on to mention how we were not born again, and how we were born again. He says that we were not born again by the seed of man – which he refers to as corruptible, meaning that physical birth is corruptible, and will end in death, but we were born again by seed that is incorruptible, meaning that the life that we now have will last forever and never end.
When Peter uses the word, ‘seed,’ he’s referring to Jesus, who was “The Word made flesh.” (John 1:14). The Apostle Paul refers to Jesus as the seed in Galatians 3:16, which says, “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.” Peter goes on to say, “Through the word of God which lives forever and abides forever.” This again is a reference to Jesus, who lives and abides forever. Jesus was never created, and will never die either – He is eternal.
Peter goes on to quote from Isaiah 40:6-8, which compares human life with the Word of God. He says that human life is as temporal as the grass of the field, and man, in all his splendor, is merely like a flower that blooms and then fades away, but the Word of God endures forever. So in other words, he’s saying that putting our trust in man or in the splendor of riches is futile, because it will all fade away one day, but putting our faith in Jesus is the best thing we can do in life, because He will never fade or perish, and so our hope is in Someone solid and firm forever. He goes on to say that the Gospel message that was preached to them, and us is all about Jesus.
1 Peter 2:1-3
“Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
After telling us to love one another sincerely, fervently and with pure hearts, Peter then goes on to tell us how we should not live. He tells us to change the way we live, and to turn away from certain ways that are not conducive to loving one another, and he actually mentions a few sinful ways of living that we should turn away from.
The first thing he tells us to turn away from is malice, which is a desire to harm someone. When we love someone, we don’t seek to harm them in any way – verbally or otherwise. The second thing he says we need to stay clear of is all deceit, where one seeks to make believe what’s not true as though it was. Deceit can be in words, actions or attitudes and that’s why he uses the words, “all deceit.”
He adds to the list of things to avoid, by including hypocrisy – pretending to possess a higher standard of Christian living that’s not really true, but a mere pretense. When we truly love someone, we don’t deceive them or pretend we’re someone we’re not – we remain true to who we are with them. He goes on to add envy as something to stay away from. We never envy someone we truly love – we rejoice with them instead. Envy is an evidence of the lack of love for the person we envy. The final thing he says we need to stay away from is evil speaking. Speaking evil of others is certainly not an evidence of love for that person, and so if we claim to love one another, speaking evil of them should not even cross our minds, let alone our lips.
He then adds a suggestion that will certainly help us in our endeavor to lay aside these unhealthy practices, and instead to put on love for one another. He says that just as a new born infant desires or craves its mother’s milk, which is pure, (unadulterated), we too need to have a craving and a desire for God’s unadulterated Word, so that we may grow in our new-found faith in Jesus. He adds that if we have tasted and found that the Lord is gracious then we need to seek to listen to, read and obey His word, so we may grow in our relationship with Jesus. We were called, not to remain stagnant in our faith in the Lord, but to grow in maturity, so we may reflect Him in every area of our lives.
1 Peter 2:4-5
4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Peter then encourages us to come to Jesus, whom he refers to as the living stone, who was rejected by the builders. In fact Jesus Himself referred to Himself as such when in Matthew 21:42, he quoted verbatim from Psalm 118:22, which says, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes”? Jesus is not just the stone, but the living stone, because though He died, He rose from the dead, and is alive forevermore.
He goes on to add another detail about Jesus – the fact that He was rejected by men. When Jesus came into the world to live among men, He first came to God’s chosen people, the Jews, but instead of welcoming Him and putting their faith in Him, they rejected Him, and did not consider Him the Messiah who was to come into the world. John 1:11 says, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” Not only was Jesus rejected by men back then, but sadly, even today, while millions put their faith in Him, there are several more millions who reject Him as the Messiah, and so don’t put their faith in Him, to get saved from God’s wrath and eternal separation from God.
Peter goes on to say that though Jesus was rejected by men as the Messiah, He was chosen by God, and precious. People might have thought Jesus to be an impostor and not the real Messiah, but God had chosen Him to be the One through whom the whole world would have an opportunity to be saved from a lost eternity. He was not only the chosen One, but He was precious to God. In fact on two occasions (at the Baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3:17, and in Matthew 17:5, at the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain) God the Father spoke in the hearing of people when He said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased…”
Peter then goes on to then make a connection between us as believers in Jesus and with Him, the living stone. He says that we too are living stones, and adds that we are being built up into a spiritual house. In this spiritual house, Jesus is the most important living stone – the capstone, and we are also living stones, because we now believe in Him who is alive, and so now we have a new life that will never end. Though our bodies will die, our souls are born again and will never die. By including this detail about us as believers, Peter is reminding us that we need to live a new life that reflects Christ in every way.
He then goes on to say that the purpose behind us being included in this spiritual house is that we might be a “Holy Priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” In the days of the Old Testament, dead animal or bird sacrifices were offered to God in various ways. But now after Jesus offered Himself up as the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, we who believe in Him, no longer need to offer up sacrifices to God. But in gratitude to God, we now live our lives as living sacrifices unto God, where we please the Lord in the way we live our lives. Our living sacrifices are acceptable to God, only through Jesus Christ, not any other man or woman. In fact, that’s exactly what the Apostle Paul also said in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Paul encourages us to live our lives in ways that are pleasing to God, and he calls this a reasonable service, meaning that this should be the appropriate response for all that God has done for us through His Son Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:6-8
6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
Peter goes on to quote from Isaiah 28:16, which says in effect, that God has placed in Zion (referring to the people of Israel) a chief cornerstone, elect (chosen) and precious, and says that whoever puts their faith in Him (referring to Jesus), will by no means be put to shame. God is faithful and will never promise something and go back on His word, and put us to shame. Jesus has promised salvation to all those who put their trust in Him, and He will not disappoint us – He will deliver what He promised.
Peter goes on to say that not only is Jesus precious to His Father, but He is also precious to those of us who have put our faith in Him. Now that we realize who Jesus is, we should never trade anything for our relationship with Him. But to those who refuse to put their faith in Jesus, and who are disobedient to Him - the Cornerstone (most important person) in the spiritual house (The Church), He will come across to them as one who causes them to stumble over (rather than a stepping stone) into the family of God. Instead of Jesus being the One through whom they enter the family of God, He will be the One who will be like a rock of offense to them. The reason they stumble, is because they chose to disbelieve and disobey God’s Word when the Gospel was preached to them, and they therefore forfeited their own Salvation. Peter goes on to say that they were appointed to stumbling, meaning that if one disobeys God’s Word or rejects the Gospel, then there’s no other option available to them but to stumble and forfeit their own Salvation.
Website: https://www.thelifetransformingword.com/
