This Week's Study

1:1 In his opening remarks, Peter establishes a paradoxical relationship between God’s people and their suffering. They were ‘exiles,’ yet they were ‘elect.’ Great tribulation had scattered them across the world, but their identity remained firm. Peter acknowledges their difficulty while reaffirming their unshakable identity.

1:2 Verse 2 highlights three powerful truths about their suffering that offer meaning to our own. First, their suffering was strategically ordained by God Himself. It occurred according to God’s foreknowledge, meaning ‘to know beforehand. This was no surprise to God, and he was fully prepared for it. Secondly, it was in the sanctification of the Spirit. This trial was part of the sanctification process. God makes us holy through difficulty. It also reminds us that His Spirit is ever present with us in our suffering. Lastly, the purpose was obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood. Suffering teaches us obedience. The sprinkling of blood is found throughout Scripture, symbolizing cleansing and covenant. Blood was sprinkled to declare something clean and to signify the covenant between God and His people. It gave God’s people the confidence to approach Him. (See Hebrews 10:22) Our suffering reminds us of our cleansing and our covenant with God. Amid our suffering, grace and peace can be multiplied to us. We never have to lose our peace in struggle; instead, it can grow.

1:3 As Peter ponders God’s goodness, he blesses Him for what He has done and gives us cause to rejoice. God’s work is in alignment or according to His great mercy. What has He done? He has caused us to be born again to a living hope, accomplishing this through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Death is the ultimate end of hope, yet Jesus conquers it by rising from the dead. His resurrection was not just for Him; as He rose, we rose with Him, and all whose hope is in Him will rise after death as well.

1:4 In all of this, we have something to look forward to: an inheritance. This inheritance is unlike anything on earth. It is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. Our hope is living and firm because the enemy cannot touch our inheritance. It is kept in heaven for us.

1:5 While we wait for this beautiful inheritance, we are being guarded by God’s power. This is through faith, so that we may experience salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

1:1-5 The Confidence of Salvation

We can seldom place complete confidence in anything on earth. Things fail. People fail. We fail. Yet Peter beautifully illustrates God’s intricate involvement in our salvation, giving us full confidence. While it is tempting to lose hope when we feel like exiles, Peter calls us ‘elect,’ and he has good reason to do so. God’s power is evident in every step of our salvation—past, present and future. Before we took our first breath, God foreknew the troubles He would use to sanctify us. As we suffer now, we are assured of His constant presence, for He gave us His Holy Spirit. God is so passionate about our salvation that He willingly pays the price Himself by giving up His most precious relationship—His Son. As we fade from this earth, God guards both our souls and our future inheritance, as we experience new life through a new birth. The greater understanding we have of God’s power in our salvation, the greater confidence we can walk in as we wait for his salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

1:6-7 All of this gives us reason to rejoice. This does not mean that we won’t suffer. We will be grieved by various trials. Our suffering, however, is only for a little while. Our faith is likened to gold, but it is far more precious. Gold is tested, and even it perishes. Our faith is tested, but it flourishes. When Jesus Christ appears again in the last days, our faith, having been tested will be found to result in praise and glory and honor. God is beautifying our faith for the last days.

1:8-9 Our faith is confounding because, although we don’t see Jesus, we love Him and believe in Him. This produces a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, which ultimately gives us the outcome of our faith: the salvation of our souls. Most people rejoice in what they see; God’s people rejoice in what they cannot see. Our greatest joy does not come from what we have, but from who we are waiting for.

1:10-12 Even the most important figures in scripture marveled at this salvation. They knew it was promised and searched and inquired about what person and at what time that person would suffer so greatly and produce immeasurable glories. These great prophets realized that what they prophesied about was serving us. Those prophecies aligned with the announcement of the gospel, or good news. This is so remarkable that even angels long to look into it.

1:13-14 In light of this wonderful salvation, Peter urges us to set our hope fully on the grace to come, by preparing our minds for action and being sober-minded. While we wait, God calls us to action. We are to be like obedient children, not conforming to the passions of our former ignorance. Obedience is deeply connected to a transformation of our minds.

1:15-16 The ultimate passion for obedience comes from the one who calls us to be holy—the Holy God. Holiness itself calls us to be holy. The example for how we ought to live is God Himself. We are called to be imitators of God. He is self-sacrificing and purposeful, and we are to be the same. In the past, this would have been intimidating and daunting, but this is the same God who went to great lengths to save us. If He strives for our salvation, He will certainly give us the power to be holy.

In scripture, we are considered holy because of Jesus’ sanctifying work, yet we are also being sanctified. It’s like a piece of marble being sculpted by a masterful artist. The image is locked inside the stone, and God is slowly chiseling away the excess to reveal it. God can see what we cannot.

1:17-19 Peter bolsters his exhortation for changed conduct by reminding us of two things. First, that God judges impartially according to each one’s deeds. Therefore, we should walk with a reverential fear as we experience exile. Secondly, what and how we were ransomed. We were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from our forefathers. Ransom implies an exchange for a price. This price was not silver or gold, which Peter calls perishable. The price was precious, unblemished, and spotless blood. God is both judge and savior, providing both fear and confidence—both of which are necessary for a changed life.

1:20-21 Much like our suffering, this spotless Lamb was foreknown before the foundation of the world. He was made manifest for our sake. Jesus appeared for our benefit, and through Him, we are believers in God. God did not want us to place our hope in things that would fail us, so he raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him glory, so our hope would be in God.

1:22 Salvation doesn’t just make you right with God; it makes you right with others. Peter urges us to love one another earnestly from a pure heart, because obedience to the truth—the good news of our salvation—purifies our souls for the sake (or purpose) of brotherly love. ‘Earnestly’ conveys intensity and is also translated as fervently. Its root word means to stretch out or extend. Our faith should lead us to love others with great energy and effort.

1:23 Peter reinforces this call to brotherly love by reminding us once again of our new birth. He uses the image of a seed to illustrate it. We were born again of an imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God. He quotes Isaiah 40:6, 8, which reminds us that flesh is like grass, and the glory of the flower of the grass. Both wither and fall. The Lord’s word, which births us anew, remains forever. This abiding word is the good news of Jesus and all He has done to save us.