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First Peter Studies: Suffering and Glory (1)                           

1 Peter 1:1-5

Writer and Addressees

Peter introduces himself as “an apostle of Jesus Christ.” Jesus gave him the Aramaic name “Cephas.” The Greek equivalent is petros, meaning ‘a detached but large fragment of rock.’ In answeringPeter’s great confession of Christ’s deity, Jesus said: “I tell you that you are Peter (petros) and on this rock (petra, meaning the massive living rock) I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew16:18). The foundation of the Christian Church is that massive living rock, the Son of God seen in his deity, acknowledged as such by Peter. Peter is but a fragment of that massive rock in the sense in which he speaks of believers as “living stones” (2:4-5), deriving their eternal life from the Great Living Stone himself.

In calling himself ‘an apostle,’ Peter designates himself as someone who is sent on a mission with the necessary credentials, like an ambassador.

He is writing to ‘God’s elect, strangers in the world.’ He uses the same word in 2:11. The word for strangers indicates that the believers are living alongside the unbelievers in the places mentioned (Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia). Some of these places were also mentioned in Acts 2:9-11 on the day of Pentecost, suggesting that some were converted on that occasion.

The believers are ‘scattered’ from the word diasporas. In the Greek Old Testament, it is used by Moses: “then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you” (Deuteronomy 30:3). This ‘scattering’ has the connotation of sowing seeds. God sowed them so that when the apostles travelled to preach the gospel of the risen Messiah, they found fellow-Israelites and synagogues. It is probably the earliest example of its use as a technical designation of the Jews who for whatever reason lived outside of Palestine. Prior to AD 70, the dispersed Jews had migrated mainly for business reasons. After the fall of Jerusalem, it was because of God’s judgment on the people who had rejected the Messiah.

Three Steps in a Sinner’s Salvation

First, God has ‘elected’ or ‘chosen’ us. This verb means ‘to pick out’ and ‘to select out of a number’ as also used in Ephesians: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (1:4). Election and foreknowledge go together. This word is used as a noun in this verse and in Acts 2:23, “This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” Here, in the Acts verse, the word ‘foreknowledge’ and ‘plan’ or ‘counsel’ together, refers to that counsel of God in which, after deliberative judgment, the Lord Jesus was to be delivered into human hands to be crucified.

As a verb it is used in Romans 8:29, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” and Romans 11:2 “God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew” and again in 1 Peter 1:20, “He was chosen [literally: having been foreknown] before the creation of the world but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” Christ is the One who was foreordained before the foundation of the world to be the Lamb who was to take away the sins of humankind.

Second, the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, sets us apart. God the Father chose the sinner to be the recipient of the setting apart work of the Spirit, i.e. the Holy Spirit sets the sinner apart from his unbelief to the act of faith in the Lord Jesus. The act of faith is spoken of here by the word ‘obedience,’ which is not the obedience of the saint, but that of the sinner to the faith. This act is answered by his being cleansed in the precious blood of Christ. In Acts 6:7 we read, “a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.”

In the third step, God the Son cleanses the believer in his precious blood, the “sprinkling by his blood.” Peter uses the phraseology and typology of the Levitical ritual where the priest sprinkled the people with the sacrificial blood. See Hebrews 9:19 “When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people.” In Isaiah 52:14-15 we read of the Messiah: “so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him.”

It is the triune God who works to save us: the Father chooses us, the Spirit brings us to the act of faith, the Son cleanses us in his precious blood.

The greeting at the end of verse 2 says, “Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” Grace here refers to the enabling grace for daily Christian living, which is given to the believer who is submitted to and dependent on the Holy Spirit. Peace here is peace of heart produced by the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer.

The Inheritance of the Saints

Peter continues by blessing, or praising, or eulogising the Name of God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek word eulogetos means, to praise, to celebrate with praises, to bless by speaking well of someone, here, of God. Peter relates God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. During his earthly life, Jesus addressed and worshipped God as Father. Peter also names him Jesus (Jehovah-Saviour) and Christ (Anointed One, Messiah). In the beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12), a different word is used where the English has ‘blessed’: makarios, meaning ‘spiritually prosperous’ NOT ‘happy.’

This God, whom Peter worships, is impelled by his abundant mercy to give us new birth. In turn, this gives us a lively hope in our heart. This hope is both an attitude of expectancy as we look forward to the inheritance awaiting us in heaven, as well as a hopefulness of present blessing from God in this life, as we look toward eternal blessedness in the next life. A child of God can look for the best to come and look on the bright side of things. “The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble” (Proverbs 4:18-19).

This lively hope is made possible by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. If Jesus had not been raised, we would not have hope. As Paul said, “For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:16-19). The phrase “from the dead” literally means “out from among the dead” as Peter will refer to in chapter 3.

As children of God, we become his heirs. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17). We have an inheritance that is incorruptible (can never perish) because it belongs to the future life which the risen saints will share with God himself. It is undefiled (hamianton cannot be spoiled) as our Great High Priest is undefiled: “Such a high priest truly meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure (hamiantos), set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26). It is non-fading, not able to wither away like a flower. It is kept, preserved, set aside for us. It has been laid up and is now kept guarded by God’s power in safe deposit.

The “coming salvation” is the glorification of our bodies at the last day. We received justification when we believed. We are receiving sanctification, i.e. victory over sin and growth in the Christian life, now. Our glorification awaits us “in the last time.”

Questions:

How are we to understand Peter’s reference to “the last time”? (c.f. Hebrews 1:1-2 ‘these last days’)

How is the notion of a “scattered people of God” already anticipated in the Old Testament?

 – Alida Sewell