I felt led to do a study on the Epistle of Peter (also known as Simon Peter). I am going to take this Epistle verse by verse and share what I take out of it.
1 Peter Chapter 1
verses 1&2:
"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied."
Several things stand out in these two verses. First, Peter is writing to God's elect. This is important. When studying the Bible, we always need to keep in mind to whom the author is writing. Like all of the Epistles, this epistle is written to those who are already believers. Never is an epistle addressed to a non believer. This is crucial to know so that when we read the passages we do not misinterpret an "obedience" or "discipleship" verse with a "salvation verse".
Second, we are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God. I have talked about foreknowledge in other posts and it simply means that God knew ahead of time who would come to Jesus Christ for salvation and who would not. God is not bound by time as we are. Foreknowledge does not mean to cause in any way. The chosen or the "elect" are those that come to Christ. It is easy to remember it this way.. the elect are the "whosoever wills" and the non-elect are the "whosoever wont's".
Also notice in verse two that we are sanctified, or made pure and holy, through the work of the Holy Spirit (not through our work). Sanctified does not mean set apart, it means to make pure and Holy. By application, anything that is made pure and holy is set apart. Once we are sanctified, we should be obedient to Christ.
verses 3-9:
"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls."
In verse 3, two words stand out.. mercy and hope. It is only because of God's mercy that He sent Jesus to die for our sins.
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit."
Hope. The biblical definition of hope is much different than our modern definition. Today, hope means "anticipation", "wish", or "maybe". The biblical definition of hope is a rock-ribbed assurance based on the promises of God. In the bible, Jesus Himself is called the blessed hope in Titus 2:13 "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." I can assure you that the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ is not a "maybe" or a "wish".
Verse 4 talks about an inheritance. Another word for inheritance is a birthright. In the old testament, the first born son would be given the birthright of the father. In the account of Jacob and Esau, Esau sells his birthright over to Jacob for a mere bowl of soup. As believers in Christ, we are given this inheritance also or this birthright once we are "born again". Notice how our birthright is described... incorruptible, undefiled, will not fade away and is in reserve for us in heaven. We will see later in this chapter in verse 23 where Peter says "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides for ever."
This is yet another proof text of our eternal salvation. Another way of saying our eternal salvation is our eternal inheritance. If we have an inheritance that is incorruptible (which means even we can't corrupt it), undefiled and won't fade away, then we have to conclude it is forever. Sometimes you can make a motel reservation and if you don't confirm it within a certain amount of time, it is no longer valid. Our reservation in heaven is forever valid as long as we have trusted Christ as Savior. If that is not Good News, then I don't know what is.
Verse 5 two words also stand out... kept & power. We are not eternally secure because we keep ourselves by our own power or our own good works. We are kept by God's power. Look at John 10:28 "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." There is no being, spirit, devil, or anything that is stronger than God so therefore, nothing is able to pluck us out of His hands. It is His power that secures us and keeps us. The phrase in the scripture "they shall never perish" literally means "they shall not destroy themselves".
verses 6&7 In verse 6 Peter is talking about how we may have to suffer for a short time (not short in our eyes but during our mortal lives which is nothing more than a vapor). However, in this we rejoice or are glad to be counted worthy to suffer for Christ's sake. Romans 8:17 "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." In verse 7 Peter mentions how enduring through our suffering proves the genuineness of our faith. The result being glory and honor when we stand at the judgement seat of Christ to receive the rewards for the things we have done. 1 Corinthians 3:15 "If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." When we stand at the judgement seat of Christ our works will be tried by fire and if any of our works stand up to the fire, we will receive a reward. If our works are burned in the fire like wood, hay and stubble then we will suffer loss. We will not suffer loss of salvation, but loss of rewards that we could have obtained had we been living in the will of God and done those works to glorify Him.
verses 8&9 These verses are what separate us as Gentile believers from the Jewish believers in Jesus' day. In biblical days, Jews always required a sign for belief. This is why Jesus performed so many miracles. Even Thomas would not believe Jesus had risen until he looked at His hands to see where the nails had been. But verse 8 says we love Him and believe in Him even though we have not physically seen him (now this is true faith). It is this faith which brings us inner joy.
Verse 9 takes some examining. It says the goal of our faith is the salvation of our souls. On the surface, it appears this verse is saying that our goal in life is to be saved, but this could not be farther from the truth. A goal is something you hope to achieve. Salvation is a free gift, not something we work to achieve. So is it a contradiction? Absolutely not. The key to unlocking this supposed mystery is knowing how to define biblical terms. When the bible talks about "salvation of the soul" it is talking about our daily walk and guarding us from sin in our daily lives. The Greek word for soul is "Psuche" and it is where we derive the word psychology from. Roughly speaking the soul is our mind, emotion and will. This passage is saying that the goal in our faith should be to save our mind, emotion and will from the things of Satan, from sin, and have as our goal to set our mind, emotion and will on the things of God. Will we all reach this goal? Of course not. Many believers are carnal in nature and while their spirit is saved and on the way to heaven, their soul is caught up in the things of this world.
verses 10-12
"10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things."
These three verses reveal the fact that Jesus Christ was the main topic of the prophets' studies. The doctrine of the prophets, and that of the apostles, exactly agree, as coming from the same Spirit of God. Look at Acts 10:43 "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins." Some people think Jesus was only a New Testament figure but all the prophets spoke of His coming as they were inspired by God's Holy Spirit. The primary message of their findings is this: that Jesus would be delivered for our offenses and be raised from the dead for our justification. The only difference between what the Old Testament prophets said and what the New Testament apostles said was time. The prophets spoke about what would happen and the apostles spoke about what had happened.
The remaining verses in Chapter 1 have one theme .. Be Holy. This ties in with what Peter said in verse 9 about the salvation of our soul or the salvation of our mind, emotion and will to flee from sinful things by being holy.
verses 13-16
"13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
Look at the first few words of verse 13 and you see the word "mind" (remember mind, emotion and will?). In fact verse 13 is all over the soul here. It says to be self controlled. This ties directly into "emotion". Finally, verse 14 picks up with being obedient and this speaks about our will. Just before Jesus was to be crucified He agonized with God the Father and asked Him if there was possibly another way. In the end though, Jesus said "not my will, but thine be done". This, in a nutshell, should be our motto as Christians. We are not to conform to the evils of this world. When we are in God's will this is "saving our soul" from falling prey to the evil desires that are in the world. Finally, if we are obedient and are in God's will, we will be holy because God is holy.
verses 17-21
"17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 18For 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, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God."
It is interesting that the bible uses the word strangers in verse 17. This present day earth is not really our home. We are strangers or aliens here and we should live as though we were "just visiting" and not as though this world is the end all. The Bible says in Proverbs that "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". We ought to have this reverential fear or respect for God and the things of God.
Verse 18 & 19 talk about how we were redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christd Himself and not redeemed by our own efforts of keeping man made traditions and laws.
Verse 20 speaks of God's plan from the beginning of creation to send Jesus to redeem us. Not being bound by time as we are, God could foresee the fall of man before it happened and so He knew that Jesus would need to come on our behalf. As was mentioned in the preceding verses, the prophets revealed Jesus' coming as our only means of justification.
Verse 21 is interesting. It says through Him you believe in God. Remember before Jesus returned to heaven after His resurrection, He promised the disciples that He would send a comforter, the Holy Spirit. One of the functions of the Holy Spirit is to draw us to God for salvation.
Verses 22-25
22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.
Notice in verse 22 how we purify ourselves. It's not by works or upholding any man made tradition. It is by obeying the truth or the Gospel. What does it mean to obey the truth? it simply means to believe it, study it and meditate on it. The scripture that relates closely to this is found in Ephesians 5:25-26 "25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." The Word of God (The Bible) is a cleansing agent that helps to make us pure.
Verse 23 piggy backs on verse 22. Just like we are not purified with things of man (traditions, legal works, etc) we are also not born again due to these things for they are all perishable and corruptible. We are born again by the imperishable seed which is Jesus Christ. Remember in Genesis 3:15 where it says "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." God is talking to Satan and the 'seed of the woman' is a prohecy of the coming Jesus Christ. Jesus alone is the enduring and living word of God.
Verses 24 & 25 give a natural example of a spiritual truth that we can relate to. We can understand that grass and flowers will wither away over time. The Word of God is eternal and will not fade away. Men live and die but Christ lives forever at the right hand of the father.
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