1 Peter 5 Verses 7 to 14 Standing Firm in the Faith April 2, 2023

1 Peter 5 Verses 7 to 14 Standing Firm in the Faith April 2, 2023

Class Presentation Notes AAAA

Background Scripture:

· 1 Peter 1:8 (NASB) 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

· 1 Peter 2:11-12 (NASB) 11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them,glorify God in the day of visitation.

Main Idea: The grace of God enables you to stand firm in the faith even though you experience temporary suffering.

Study Aim: To understand that the grace of God enables you to encourage others who suffer.

Create Interest:

· Imagine the anxiety, the pressure, tension, and stress being experienced by the early believers. Yet there was great help: God was available to help them. Note that the exhortation is not only clearly stated; it is a command: “cast all your care [Greek, anxiety] upon Him, for He cares for you.” God’s mighty hand will …

o save and deliver you

o look after and care for you

o strengthen and secure you

o provide and protect you

o give you assurance and confidence[1]

· Hebrews 13:5-6 (NASB) 5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU," 6 so that we confidently say, "THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?"

· Psalm 40:17 (NASB) 17 Since I am afflicted and needy, Let the Lord be mindful of me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.

· Isaiah 41:10 (NASB) 10 'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'

· Matthew 6:25 (NASB) 25 "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

· Romans 8:35-39 (NASB) 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

· Philippians 4:6 (NASB) 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

v Comforted with these Scriptures in your heart, let’s look together at Peter’s final exhortations and encouragement to the scattered church in his book….and think of who you could share this lesson with to encourage him or her….It is only a key stroke or so away from helping someone have a better day and life😊

Lesson in Historical Context:

· With this section we arrive at the end of Peter’s powerful letter of hope in hurtful times. This is a good time to do a quick review of how the final section fits within the whole letter.

· Peter began his letter by informing us of our living hope.He introduced the possibility of peace in the midst of difficult times as we embrace God-given hope, walk in holiness, and grow in our faith (1:1–2:12).

· Peter then exhorted his readers to hopeful living in spite of their strange life of suffering. By humbly submitting to earthly authorities and arming ourselves with endurance, we will glorify God and bring a light of hope to our otherwise dark world (2:13–4:11).

· In the final section, Peter comforts us in the midst of our fiery ordeal (4:12–5:14). The dramatic climax of his letter sounds like a general rallying his troops before leading them into battle.

o He began by reminding them of the fiery ordeal that will test and strengthen their faith (4:12–19).

o He then turned to the appointed commanders—elders of the churches—and exhorted them to lead their battalions as noble examples of Christlike leadership (5:1–4).

o Peter then addressed those who are younger in the faith, urging them to submit to their commanders’ authority and leadership.

§ They need to follow their examples with humility, entrusting themselves to the great Commander-in-Chief, in whose service the battle can never be lost (5:5–7).

· Finally, Peter sounds the battle alarm (5:8–14).

o He draws the army’s attention to their spiritual opponent who is planning his evil strategy behind their fiery trials (5:8).

o He tells the soldiers of Christ how the adversary can be defeated (5:9).

o He reminds us that the fierce conflict will soon be over and that we will one day emerge as victors (5:10).

o Finally, before his dramatic ending in (5:12-14), he points to Christ, who will ultimately triumph and exercise dominion over all (5:11).[2]

Bible Study:

1 Peter 5:7 (NASB) 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

· Note that the word casting is in the present tenseconnecting it with the previous verse. Don’t miss this! Peter is not changing direction here. He is continuing with the same thought. In verse six we are commanded to humble ourselves and in verse seven he tells us how to humble ourselves. We attain humility by casting all our care upon the Lord. The main thing that hinders our humility is the take care of old number one mentality.

o If I don’t take care of myself who will?

o Prideful people are always exalting themselves, they are trying to lift themselves up while humble people are lifted up by God.

o The idea here is just stop worrying about all of that and give it to God. He will take care of it because He care for you.

o The Psalmist said, Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. (Psalms 55:22)[3]

· This use of epirrhiptō (cast/casting) signals a need for commitment to God’s rule as a corporate entity. It is the community of believers which casts all its care on the Lord and in so doing sees its burden lifted and given over to the Lord. Of course, it must be remembered that the community of believers is made up of individuals, so each person may apply the promise to himself.[4]

· The Father wants to do something bigger than merely taking our burdens from us. He wants to develop a relationship with us. Thus, the burdens and struggles that repeatedly come upon us cause us to become linked to Him in continual prayer.

o That’s infinitely more important than the solution to the burden for which we were praying in the first place. So cast your care upon Him—and keep doing it over and over and over again, knowing how deeply He cares for you.[5]

· We are to cast all of our care upon him. The word is “anxiety or worries.” It comes from the word merizo {mer-id’-zo} which means “to divide or cut into pieces.” It has the idea of those things that slice into our lives or distract us. Give your distractions and worries to the Lord because He cares for you.

· Why is this so important in dealing with the Devil?

o The answer is the fact that distractions and worries tend to sift our energy and strength and they get our focus off the Lord. When this happens, our worries and problems get magnified, and the power of the Lord gets minimized.

o For example, consider Elijah that got distracted and worried about Jezebel and her death threats. He told the Lord to go ahead and kill him. He was deeply depressed.

· Trust and delegating our troubles to the Lord does not come easy for us. We tend to be a bunch of worry warts, but we must learn to grow in our faith and trust in the Lord if we are going to be conquerors for Christ. The writer of Hebrews stated that we must lay aside our weights if we are going to run a good race for Christ.[6]

1 Peter 5:8-9 (NASB) 8 Be of sober spirit,be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 But resist him, firm in yourfaith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

· Worry is condemned but watchfulness is commanded. Be sober (self-controlled), be vigilant; sound the true shepherd’s alarm against a dangerous foe. These verses reflect Peter’s personal encounter and bitter experience with Satan (cf. Luke 22:31–46).

· Satan’s true nature is vividly described as;

o your adversary, the opponent of God, His eternal purpose, and all that is good. Satan is the adverse party, or prosecutor, in cases before the Judge. He is the “accuser of the brethren” (Rev. 12:10), charging false and calumnious things against the saints. Any lapse into sin, however produced, enables him to convict them and secure their punishment; therefore perpetual vigilance and earnest effort are imperative (cf. 1:13; 4:7).

o He is also called the devil, who accuses, slanders, tempts, and seduces. His wiles vary from appearing as a subtle serpent or an angel of light,

o a roaring lion, bloodthirsty, violent, insatiable for prey, always on the prowl, seeking whom he may devour.This crafty foe is not vaguely stalking for prey; he “is eying all the Christians in turn to see which he has the best chance of” swallowing up, both soul and body.

§ Lions were common in the ancient Middle East, as is seen in the account of David killing the lion and the bear (1 Sam. 17:34–36), and Samson killing the lion (Judg. 14:5–6). Lion bones were found in the archaeological excavations in the 1970’s at Heshbon, Jordan. In Palestine lions would be found in the tropical vegetation of the Jordan Valley (Jer. 49:19: ‘like a lion coming up from the Jordan’s thickets’), and also in the mountains of Lebanon (Song 4:8), as well as in the Negev (Isa. 30:6).[7]

· The Christian’s attitude toward this diabolical personality must be steadfast/firm resistance in the faith. He who plagues the saints and stops at nothing in his opposition to God, truth, and holiness may be overcome by the power of God and spiritual armament (cf. Eph. 6:11–18).

o Orthodoxy is not enough.

o Human wisdom is insufficient (cf. 1 Cor. 10:12),

o cowering fear leads to man’s defeat.

§ But he may be overcome by complete reliance on God as the great Deliverer (cf. vv. 6–7), by maintaining unshaken trust in divine aid, and by undeviating loyalty to Christ (cf. Rev. 12:11).

· The extent of these Satan-inspired afflictions (cf. Job 1–2) knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

o The entire Christian brotherhood experiences the same sufferings and persecutions. Therefore, we must not consider our afflictions as indications of God’s disfavor or proof that He has forgotten us (cf. v. 7).

o The fact that other believers were experiencing tribulations proved that the readers were not singled out for exceptional sufferings (cf. Acts 14:22; 1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Thess. 1:6; 3:4),

o and that their troubles were no more severe than those of Christians in other parts of the world.

o Being part of a brotherhood of sufferers should encourage them to resist the devil, and thereby “shew forth the praises of him who hath called” them “into his marvellous light” (2:9).[8]

1 Peter 5:10-11 (NASB) 10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. 11 To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

· Having put forward divine commands accompanied by encouragement for us to follow through, Peter now repeats the general principle of true grace at work. He writes:

o And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (v. 10)

· True grace looks like this: present sufferings are intimately connected to eternal glory. And the one always precedes the other.

o Peter repeats this here in summary fashion to fix it forever in our mind and heart—and to encourage us with the promise that God will see us through. God will one day bring us home.

o We will suffer for a little while—that is, this whole life through—but then we will gain eternal reward and glory.

o Therefore, Peter has chosen to end his letter not with suffering and submission but with our salvation. We are to go forward each day in the light of his promise. Our prayers should mimic those of St. Patrick, who prayed:

§ I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me: God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me, God’s hand to guard me, God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me, God’s host to save me from snares of devils, from temptations of vices, from everyone who will wish me ill, afar and anear, alone and in multitude.

· Peter finishes his letter with a forceful flurry of verbs—all actions that are taken by God to ensure our safe arrival on Heaven’s shore. He writes:

o The God of all grace … will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

· Four marvelous verbs. We will be completely restored, confirmed, strengthened, and established.

o The word translated “restore” is in other places translated “mend.” In fact, it is used when Jesus approaches His disciples and finds them mending their nets. Peter the fisherman, more than most, knew what this term meant. And now he uses it to speak of what God will do for each one of us. He will mend us. He will attend to us. He will make us whole.

o He will stand us upon our own two feet, for that is what “confirm” means.

o He will “strengthen” and “establish” us.

§ Those final verbs, architectural by nature, are terms that echo Peter’s earlier teaching that we are being built up into the spiritual house of God (2:3–8). When we arrive at Heaven’s gate, we will be his dwelling.

· Is it any wonder that the words that tumble forth from Peter’s pen next are those of singular and eternal adoration? Verse 11says:

o To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

· What else could possibly come from the lips of those who have received so much? In all our sufferings, in all our trials,

o His eternal glory is manifest,

o His grace is truly known, and…………

o His dominion will carry on forever. The dominion of God will never be extinguished. It will never be snuffed out.

§ Throughout the centuries Christians have understood their sufferings in light of what is being accomplished for his eternal dominion.

· The Reformer Hugh Latimer and Nicolas Ridley were burned at the stake in Oxford for their faith in October 1555. As the flames of this final trial rose around them, Latimer cried out:

o “Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”

§ These were the final words of a suffering man who wanted nothing more than to die in adoration.

§ It was enough for him to know that what happened to him on that day would accomplish the purposes of God’s unextinguishable and everlasting dominion.

§ As it was for Latimer, so it also was for Peter, and so it must be for each one of us.[9]

1 Peter 5:12-14 (NASB) 12 Through Silvanus, our faithful brother (for so I regard him), I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it! 13 She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ.

· Through Silvanus … I have written to you: This portion was probably written by Peter’s own hand, after he (according to the custom of the day) had dictated the bulk of the letter to Silvanus. This man Silvanus was probably the same one known as Silas in many of Paul’s letters.

· this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it! Peter summed up his message as an exhortation to understand and recognize the true grace of God in which you stand. We must understand not only what God’s grace is, but that grace is our place of present standing before Him.

· She who is in Babylon … greets you:

o She probably refers to the church,which in the ancient Greek is in the feminine.

o Peter apparently wrote from Babylon. This may be the literal city of Babylon (which still existed in Peter’s day), or it may be a symbolic way of referring to either Rome or Jerusalem.

§ These were two cities that in Peter’s day were famous for their wickedness and spiritual rebellion, just like ancient Babylonwas. In any regard, this was one church greeting another.

· There was of course the literal city of Babylon on the Euphrates. There was also a place known as Babylon in Egypt, and it was a Roman military fortress near the present city of Cairo.

o Yet many think that Peter meant “Babylon” in a symbolic sense to represent the city of Rome. As a Biblical concept, “Babylon” as the city of this world stands in contrast to “Jerusalem” as the city of God. He may have meant Rome as Babylon as “the center of worldliness.”

· So does Mark my son: This verse connects Mark with Peter, apparently the same Mark of Acts 12:12, 12:25, and 15:37–39. When the style and perspective of the Gospel of Mark are taken into account, many believe that Peter was Mark’s primary source of information for his gospel.

· Vs. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. The greetings by those in Rome are finished. They had reached out through the letter to touch the believers in Asia Minor. Now that the letter was ended, it was appropriate for the readers to greet one another in their customary way, with “the kiss of love.”

o In calling it the “kiss of love” Peter not only brings out the meaning of kiss (“kiss,” philēmain Greek, comes from phileō, a verb indicating familial and friendly as opposed to erotic love), but also expresses the proper relationship among the members of the Christian community (“love” here is the typical Christian term for love, agapē, used also in 1:22; 4:8).

§ “It should be noted that the apostles did not originate that form of greeting; the custom already prevailed. They sanctioned its use as a sincere expression of Christian love.” (Hiebert)[10]

· Paul mentions the “kiss of love” at the end of four of his epistles (Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:26), evidently expecting that it would follow in the service in which the letter was read. Peter uses the less formal “kiss of love,” which expresses the meaning of the act.

o In the ancient world kisses were normally exchanged among family members (parents and children; brothers and sisters; servants and masters) and at times between rulers and their clients.

o The erotic kiss is secondary and not stressed in the literature. The familial kiss probably forms the background to the NT practice, for all fellow-Christians were considered brothers and sisters. This affectionate kissing was normally on the cheeks, forehead, or hands.

§ We can assume such to be the practice here.

o While we are not sure when in the service it was done, it is probable that it was a mark of greeting (Luke 7:45; 15:20) or parting (Acts 20:37), stemming from its apparent use among Jesus’ band of disciples (Mark 14:44–45 and parallels; it is unknown in the synagogue), although it is possible that it already had a more formal place in the service just before the eucharist, signifying the reconciliation among the “family” of God.

· The greetings finished, our author ends with a simple blessing. Rather than Paul’s usual prayer for grace (Rom. 16:20; 1 Cor. 16:23; 2 Cor. 13:13; Gal. 6:18; also at the end of the nine other letters in the Pauline corpus; Peter mentioned grace in 5:12), this one is for peace (3 John 15; Paul also can use peace, Rom. 15:33; 2 Cor. 13:11; Gal. 6:16; Eph. 6:23; 2 Thess. 3:16, but none of these is the final blessing).

o This is a command to greet and display God’s love to one another, and by pronouncing a blessing of peace. These two things—love for each other and peace—are especially necessary for those who suffer and live in dangerous times.

· By this blessing he probably means the same as the Hebrew wish šālōm, the fullness of health and good relationships both among them and with God. It matches his wish in 1:2and fits well in their troubled situation.

o This peace is for “all of you who are in Christ”—not assuming that some of them are not in Christ, but that it is for them because they are in Christ. Their good lifestyle (3:16), their future hope (5:10), and their present peace are all due to their relationship with Christ, their identification with Him.

o Their peace, then, is not the peace of this world, but the blessings of the coming age and its ruler, experienced in His “family” in foretaste in this life.[11]

v Grace and peace to all who read and share this work….Pray about who could benefit from this lesson and forward it to them if you feel led😊

[1]Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 1 Peter–Jude, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 1996), 127. [2]Charles R. Swindoll, Insights on James, 1 & 2 Peter, vol. 13, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentar (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2014), 270. [3]Glen Spencer, First Peter, Expository Pulpit Series (WORDsearch, 2005), 132. [4]Thoralf Gilbrant, “Ἐπιῤῥίπτω,” The New Testament Greek-English Dictionary, The Complete Biblical Library (WORDsearch, 1991). [5]Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 1577. [6]Rod Mattoon, Treasures from First Peter, Treasures from Scripture Series (Springfield, IL: Rod Mattoon, 2011), 343. [7]W. Harold Mare, New Testament Background Commentary: A New Dictionary of Words, Phrases and Situations in Bible Order (Ross-shire, UK: Mentor, 2004), 396. [8]Roy S. Nicholson, “The First Epistle of Peter,” in Beacon Bible Commentary: Hebrews through Revelation, vol. 10, Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1967), 1 Pe 5:8–9. [9]David R. Helm, 1 & 2 Peter and Jude: Sharing Christ’s Sufferings, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008), 172–173. [10]David Guzik, 1 Peter, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), 1 Pe 5:12–14. [11]Peter H. Davids, The First Epistle of Peter, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), 204–206.