1 Peter 1:1-25

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: 1 Peter

Rusty' Notes

Crisis in the Churches of Northwest Asia

• The Christians throughout the Empire are suffering severe persecution.
• Peter has received word that the churches in northwest Asia are suffering massive attacks.
• They are distressed and in great need of encouragement.
• The persecution has become so bad that the Gentile Christians are being tempted to revert to their past pagan lifestyles to lessen the heat.
• Some believers are rebelling against local authorities because of the mistreatment and slander they are receiving from them.
• There is conflict in the home; husbands and wives are bickering.
• In some of the churches, the elders are exercising too much control in their attempt to keep the believers faithful during the pressure.

PETER WRITES 1 PETER

• Year: A.D. 65
• From: Rome
• To: The churches in northwest Asia: Pontus, North Galatia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia.
• Provocation: Peter encourages his Jewish and Gentile brethren in their suffering, which is being shared by their fellow Christians everywhere (5:9).
• He exhorts the Gentile brethren not to revert to the lifestyle they lived as pagans.
• He exhorts the church to yield to their local authorities and gives practical instructions to family members about how to treat one another.
• Peter also charges the elders to lead by example rather than by force.
• Throughout the letter, Peter uses the general Greek word for suffer (pascho) twelve times—more than in any other NT letter.
• Given its excellent Greek style, the letter was scribed by Silas (Silvanus), who was with Peter in Rome.
• Peter is a Galilean fisherman. While he no doubt could speak and write a little Greek for business purposes, his Greek writing skills were minimal.
• Peter closes the letter by sending greetings from John Mark and the church in Rome.
• He calls Rome by its code-name “Babylon.”
• Peter sends the letter with Silas who reads it to each of the churches.[1]

 
GREETING
1 Peter 1
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ:

• Peter had quality time with Jesus.
• He was able to watch Jesus live and teach.
• This is the prerequisite for being an apostle.
• Even Paul, who never knew Jesus during His earthly ministry, is considered an apostle because he met Christ on the Damascus Road.

To those chosen,

• The letter of 1 Peter was circulated throughout various Christian churches or various groups whom God chose.
• Here, Peter is not speaking of election in a Calvinistic sense where God chooses some individuals to believe and others for eternal punishment.
• He is generally speaking about the church being God’s elect group. The New Testament clarifies that this group includes Gentiles (see also Romans 9:30). 

living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,

• God had a plan for salvation before time began. Peter has this in mind with his use of the term “foreknowledge.”
• He is not speaking of an individualistic view of election or foreknowledge.
• God had a plan of redemption, a foreknowledge of what He would do and what would happen.
• This foreknowledge was a call for all to obey Jesus.
• Christ by receiving the Gospel.

through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient

• In this context, obeying Jesus Christ is believing in the Gospel.
• All who believe are sanctified, or set apart, by the Holy Spirit for God.
• Believers are reserved to display God’s grace.
• This would be an encouraging truth for these believers to think about during the persecution they were experiencing under Nero. 

and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ.
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
 
A LIVING HOPE
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

• Believers are cleansed from their sins by the death of Christ but made new creations through the resurrection of Christ.
• Because of the resurrection, we are given new natures completely compatible with God (see 2 Peter 1:3-4).
• If the resurrection is not central to our theology, we will only have half of the Gospel.
• We will understand that Christ died for our sins, but we will not understand that the life of Christ saves us.
• Our inherent regeneration happens because of Christ’s resurrection.

4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

• Christians cannot lose their salvation because it is inherently imperishable.
• Christ’s work was so perfect that nothing we do can make it void.
• Furthermore, Christians have a new heart that inherently believes in Jesus (see Romans 6:17).
• As a result, our salvation is reserved in Heaven.

5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

• God protects His children, though not always physically.
• While we face trials and tribulations during life on earth, persecution that may even lead to our deaths, our spirits are kept safe and will be preserved into the afterlife.

6 You rejoice in this,

• Joy is the natural outcome of understanding God’s grace in Christ.
• If our beliefs are not producing joy, then we are misunderstanding the Gospel or forgetting our cleansing from sin (see 2 Peter 1:9).

even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials

• Christians are not immune to the negative impacts of the world.
• Christ did not die and rise again to somehow obtain earthly victory for His children.
• Instead, Christ gives us salvation forever untouched by persecution and other worldly trials.
• As we focus on this, we will find joy in our lives during the most distressful times.
• Peter is giving us a place to go in faith, allowing us to process life emotionally in light of the truth. 

7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

• The evidence and outcome of true faith is priceless.
• It may not amount to much in this life, but has eternal value and will result in praise, glory, and honor at Christ’s return.
• This is especially pertinent to Peter’s context.
• The church was experiencing a great deal of persecution, some of which resulted in death.
• In fact, Peter was likely killed under this persecution from Nero.
• Therefore, the Christians were to keep a heavenly perspective during earthly turmoil and find joy in the truths of the Gospel, which are forever untouched by the ways of the world. 

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him;

• Notice that Peter is not telling these believers to love God.
• He is recognizing that they have an inherent and natural love for God.
• This is the result of Christ’s resurrection and our new righteous natures.
• So, Christians do not need to love God more- we already love God from the cores of our beings.
• This is the beauty of the New Covenant.
• The people were not faithful to God under the Old Covenant, so God fixed the problem. 

though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy,

• The joy produced by the Gospel is inexpressible because human words fail to express the amazing truths of God.
• Even the Bible, God’s written word, is written in human languages.
• Therefore, we need power from the Holy Spirit to grasp the grand nature of God’s love in Christ. 

9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

• The salvation of our souls is the outcome of our personal faith.
• This is the plan God had before the foundations of the earth.
• He has elected the world to hear the Gospel.
• Our place is to respond and obtain salvation.

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and carefully investigated.

• The prophets from the Old Testament who prophesied of the grace to come were seeking wisdom from the Holy Spirit to know the details of God’s plan of redemption.
• They sought to know when the Savior would arrive and precisely how this Gospel would impact people.
• There were glimpses of the New Covenant in the Old Testament (see Ezekiel 36:26-27; Jeremiah 31:31-34), but not until the death of Jesus did the New Covenant become a reality (Luke 22:20).

11 They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified in advance to the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

• Most believe, based on the big picture of Scripture, that the Spirit of Christ came upon Old Testament saints but did not live in them permanently.
• Not until Pentecost did the Spirit of God dwell permanently within believers.
• Therefore, Peter is likely talking about not a permanent indwelling in the Old Testament but a temporary dwelling or anointing.
• The preposition within can be translated as both in or on.
• It makes sense, therefore, that in the Old Testament the Spirit of Christ was on people but not indwelling.

12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. These things have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—angels long to catch a glimpse of these things.

• The prophets were announcing that which was fulfilled in Christ.
• The prophets spoke of the New Covenant, something so beautiful that angels long to look at it.
• Thus, there was an immense amount of anticipation among the prophets and the heavenly beings for unleashing God’s grace upon the world.

 
A CALL TO HOLY LIVING
13 Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

• Grace is not simply a unique movement of God.
• It is the movement of God.
• Grace is not merely about being saved; we live by grace as saved individuals.
• It doesn’t matter what book of the Bible we study.
• Each book is pointing us to Jesus Christ and nothing else.
• This is what Christians are to focus on.
• We are to not return to our lifestyles pre-Christ.
• Instead, we are to live from Christ by focusing on grace.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. 15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. (Leviticus 20:7)

• The word holy is used primarily in two different ways.
• First, it speaks of believers as people.
• All believers are holy.
• We have all been sanctified and set apart at faith in Christ.
• But here, Peter has in mind a second use of the term.
• Christians are to be holy in behavior because we have been saved and equipped to live righteously.

17 If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers.

• God, our Father, is the judge of the universe.
• He will evaluate whether something is a work of the Spirit or the flesh.
• However, this does not mean that He will judge Christians.
• Peter is not encouraging believers to live as if they will be judged but rather in light of their Abba, who accepts them perfectly as judge of the universe.
• This is a genuinely humbling reality.

18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold,

• God’s enduring word, the Gospel, purifies the souls of all who believe in Jesus.
• This salvation creates a sincere, indwelling love for the family of God.
• Peter is also clear on the permanence of this salvation: It is imperishable.
• The salvation accomplished by Jesus and perfected in all who believe can never be lost.
• Whereas that which is of earth eventually fades and dies, that salvation which is of Heaven endures forever.

19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.

• Because God is the judge and has saved us in Christ, we can relax when we show up to the judgment.
• The precious blood of Jesus forever speaks in our defense.

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
22 Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly,

• Christians have been washed and cleansed from all sin and set free from its power.
• Therefore, we are to live lives of love towards one another with God's same love for us in Christ.

23 because you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God.

• The world cannot touch our salvation and cannot be interrupted by our actions.
• We are born again of unperishable seed, God’s seed.
• Because God is the author of our salvation, we can rest securely in all He has done for us in Christ.

24 For
All flesh is like grass,
and all its glory like a flower of the grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever. (Isaiah 40:6-8)
And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you.[2]

• God’s truth endures into eternity.
• In the context, Peter has in mind the Gospel.
• The Gospel is the eternal truth of God revealed in Christ.

Because the eternally finished work of Christ saves us, our salvation is permanent and secure.[3]

[1] Viola, Frank, The Untold Story of the New Testament Church. Destiny Image, Shippensburg, PA, 2004. 166-167.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Farley, Andrew. www.BibleCommentary.com. 1 Peter.