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First Peter Studies: Suffering and Glory (2)

The Purpose of Christian Suffering                                                           1 Peter 1:6-12

The “in this” refers to the word “time” not “salvation” (v. 5). The saints will rejoice in the last time when they receive their glorified body. We will have extreme, exuberant joy, the kind that is not possible now in our mortal bodies. In our glorified bodies we will be able to fully appreciate all the boundless joys of the Saviour’s presence.

The suffering we may have to endure is only for “a little while.” Compared with eternity it is very little time. Remember how many trials Paul suffered for the sake of the gospel. Yet when Paul asked for healing three times, God said to him, “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). Paul’s sufferings prepared him to be a greater witness to Christ, as our sufferings may also be. Peter was martyred in Rome after emperor Nero accused the Christians of starting a fire in AD 64 that destroyed two-thirds of Rome. Tradition has it that Peter asked to be crucified upside down, as he did not consider himself worthy of dying in the same way that Jesus had.

Sometimes God sends sufferings to believers who are not living close to God and his Word as a form of discipline to purge their lives of sin and draw them closer to the Lord. Trials and testings may come from God, but also under his permissive will from Satan, or may be the result of our own wrongdoing. If you have an accident after drink or drug driving, it is illogical to blame God for it, or to say, “It’s not my fault.” We can think of many instances where people have brought misery and grief on themselves and others by their choices and actions. The trials are of “all kinds.” Not all Christians suffer the same kind of trial.

In verse 7 we come to the reason and purpose of suffering and trials. They are to put us to the test with a view of determining whether we are worthy of being approved, or not. Testing times put our faith to the test. If we are faithful to God and are ready to be taught the lessons that he would have us learn through them, we demonstrate that our faith has met the test and is genuine. This faith and its outworking in our lives will be to the glory of God.

The approval of our faith is compared to the approval of gold after it has been refined in the fire. The purification in the fire of trials and suffering results in the reflection of the face of Jesus Christ in the character of the Christian. This is what God desires to see. Christlikeness is the ideal for a child of God. Christian suffering is a powerful means to that end.

The people to whom Peter was writing had not personally seen the Lord Jesus. They were converts of the apostles. Yet, they loved him, for the Holy Spirit had painted a vivid portrait of Jesus in their hearts. On the road to Damascus Paul had seen the glorious light of the Lord with his physical eyes, in his physical body, but he wrote, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view [literally: after the flesh]. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer” (2 Corinthians 5:16). We now see Jesus as the glorified and ascended Lord. Many artists have attempted to paint Jesus as they imagined him to be as he walked this earth, but we should depend on the Holy Spirit and the Word to reveal to us the likeness of our Lord Jesus as he is in his glorified state (Revelation 1:13-16).

Peter’s scattered believers had not seen the Lord with their physical eyes, but they loved him all the same. In order to really love someone, we must know that person; we can’t love in the abstract. We can be charitable towards people far away by sending money to cover their needs, but we don’t really know them personally. The Greek agape word for love (v. 8) refers to a love that is called out of one’s heart by the preciousness of the person loved. But even the preciousness of the Lord Jesus would not have made these believers love him if God by his Spirit had not produced in them that divine love which he himself is, with which to love him.

The way the New Testament uses the term “hope” is not a vague expectation that something good will happen; it is a firm expectation. Amy Lively points out the difference between the words “hopefully” and “hope fully”: “Oh, what a difference a space makes! … Hopefully is just an expression of my desired outcome for my current circumstances based upon my feelings. … To hope fully means your confidence, trust, and reliance is perfectly, completely, entirely, and steadfastly established and rooted in Jesus Christ. Hope isn’t an escape from reality; it’s a real person.”

“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). It refers to our ultimate destiny in Christ: to live with him forever. It is the certain, assured confidence of something laid up in heaven for us and ready to be revealed at the last time (1 Peter 1:5). In Ephesians (1:11, 14), it is the “inheritance” that we have already been promised. Similarly, in Colossians 1:5, “the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel.” The realisation of our hope requires patience. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance/patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

We must be sharers of God’s nature to appreciate and love the Lord Jesus. “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these [things] he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4). To know him is to love him. To know him better is to love him better.

In verses 8b and 9, Peter contrasts the sufferings he wrote about earlier with the “inexpressible and glorious joy” that we will have when we see him face-to-face at his return in glory.

The mention of their salvation (v. 9) leads Peter to mention the Old Testament prophets and writers. They tried to find out what kind of salvation was predicted (by them, through the Holy Spirit) and what time and in what circumstances it would occur. They realised that it was not to happen for them, but for future generations. The great event that ushered in the new order, the new covenant, the New Testament, was Pentecost. Paul had likewise explained it with respect to the gathering of the Gentiles: “In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:4-6).

There are many references in the OT, especially in the Psalms, about salvation coming to the Gentiles, but the wall of separation was rigidly held in OT times. This wall was broken down at the cross, but this was not seen or understood by the OT prophets. Peter himself did not understand it until about eight years after Pentecost (Acts 10)!

Peter says that even angels desire to look into these things. The word for ‘desire’ is very strong; it is a passionate desire. The angels look carefully into and inspect with curiosity. They peer into the mysteries of Church truth from beside it; they are not participants in the salvation, but spectators of it. Paul wrote about the mystery, “this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:8-11).

The truth of the mystery is to be proclaimed to the holy angels by means of the Church. The Church is the teacher of the angels. Paul wrote that the apostles “have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings” (1 Corinthians 4:9). The angels are watching the saints who once were totally depraved and are now being transformed, living holy lives to the glory of God.

Questions:

The so-called ‘Health, Wealth & Prosperity Gospel’ does not allow for trials and grief. What else do adherents of this ‘gospel’ miss out on?

Paul wrote, “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). When suffering or troubles come, do you find it hard to give thanks? What is the remedy for this situation?

– Alida Sewell