Thankful for our Salvation

1 Peter 1:3-5

a. Thanking God for His mercy(긍휼) (1:3)

b. Thanking God for our assurance (확신) (1:4-5)

2. INTRODUCTION

3. BODY

a. Thanking God for His mercy(긍휼) (1:3)

i. The opening highlights God’s initiative and grace in the lives of believers, and vv. 3–12 continue that theme. The main theme is introduced immediately in v. 3. God is to be blessed and praised for his saving work. It is an inestimable privilege and joy to be the object of God’s mercy.

ii. Can we think about this really quick? God is the object of our praise in Peter’s opening. Peter is thankful to God for our salvation. We tend to forget this and the only time we really think about this is when we come to Church or if someone reminds us. But when we fill our minds with this type of reminder, we are reminded again and again that God is the one who is blessed and that it is His saving work. It is an absolute privilege and a joy to be the object of God’s mercy.

iii. Let us never forget this truth and I pray that this never gets dull. Everything that we have in this life is because of His goodness to us. Everything we have received in this life is a reminder of His mercy and grace to us. But most importantly of all, it is an absolute privilege to receive the goodness of His salvation.

iv. Peter begins this section by stating that God is to be blessed, better understood as praised for the salvation He has given to believers. The reason God is to be praised is now explained—“he has given us new birth.” The term anagennēsas actually emphasizes “rebegetting or begetting anew rather than being born anew,” though the latter idea is also implied. This idea continues to 1:23 where Peter writes where believers are said to be begotten (anagegennēmenoi) by the imperishable seed of God’s word. Begetting by “seed” directs our attention to the Father’s role in producing children, with the means used being the word of God.

v. This verb is used to show that we are His children and grafted into the family of God. The focus therefore is on God’s initiative in producing new life. No one takes any credit for being born. Again, if we understand the term beget correctly, it is that God is the one who initiates and nobody outside of God receives the credit. Therefore, we are the result of God’s work and believers are born anew and enjoy new life in Christ because of the work of God.

vi. Peter tells us how we are begot into the family of God. Peter writes according to His great mercy. If we understand that it was according to His great mercy, then it means that there was some type of judgment or punishment in which we deserved, but because of His mercy, we were spared from this punishment. But not only did He withhold the judgment that was due to us, we have been added into His family to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ in which we have hope and have been in the words of Peter, following His statement in verse 4, that we will receive the imperishable and undefiled prize which is reserved in Heaven for us.

b. Thanking God for our assurance (확신) (1:4-5)

i. In verse 3, Peter mentions the living hope of believers, then in verse 4, our inheritance, and in verse 5, our salvation. One of the greatest truths in all Christian doctrine is hope. It is not simply hope that we understand when we use this word. When we hope, we are asking in probability, hoping that the percentages stack in our favor. When people think of hope, they are basing their confidence on chance or some type of superstition. The contrast, Peter tells us is that we have a blessed hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

ii. It is a hope that is genuine and vital in contrast to a hope that is empty and vain. It is a hope that is exact and will happen just as Jesus Christ rose from the dead. It is the hope of resurrection, triumph over death and whatever happens in this life is nothing compared to the glory that is to be revealed (Romans 8:17).

iii. This is the essence of our thanksgiving, this is our hope and our conviction in Christ. We hope in this and give thanks to God for this because it is a gift that is imperishable and undefiled, it is not tainted and will not fade away like the things of this world, but it is reserved for us in Heaven.

iv. This idea of inheritance is important. In the Old Testament the inheritance is the land God promised to his people (Num 32:19; Deut 2:12; 12:9; 25:19; 26:1; Josh 11:23; Ps 105:11; Acts 7:5). The word is especially common in Joshua for the apportionment of the land for each tribe or family. This term deals with how a gift was divided for a tribe or family so with that in mind, for believers, the hope we have in Christ is divided to all believers in the end time.

v. We recognize that this hope is still physical as we learn from 2 Peter 3:13, we are waiting a new heaven and new earth. The Bible makes it clear it is not simply a spiritual kingdom, but a physical kingdom in which all believers will receive. Why is this important? Because the world today is not that kingdom. It is empty and vain compared to the undefiled and imperishable kingdom that is to come. This inheritance cannot spoil and will never become stained or filthy. We don’t understand what this means because everything in this life spoils. Everything has an expiration date.

vi. But how are we to understand this then? It is through the fact that this hope’s anchor is found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Paul’s point here is that just as Christ rose and was victorious over death, we too, all those in Christ, will also not fade and wither, but will live because of the life we have in Christ.

vii. This is why Peter finishes verse 4 by stating that it is reserved in Heaven for you. It should better be translated, kept in Heaven for you. Peter’s idea here is that it is God who reserves the inheritance for believers. God is keeping our salvation and as written in John 10:29, nothing can snatch our names from His hands. Peter is emphasizing here the strongest possible term of security and certainty of the reward that is awaiting for all believers in Christ.

viii. So what is kept for us? It is a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. It is the power of God through faith in which believers are kept. Salvation here can be understood as being rescued from God’s judgment or wrath on the last day.

ix. This central point separates all the religions in the world with Christianity. It is the hope we have received in and through the work of the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is what separates Christianity from all religions. It is that salvation is from God and is because of God. There is nothing that we can do to receive this salvation just as there was nothing we contributed to enter into this world.

x. Therefore, salvation begins and ends with God. This is why believers must be thankful. We can always thank God for the things He has provided for us such as our family and our health and our church, but the focus of our thanksgiving must always be upon the salvation in which we have received through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

xi. We must always have a fresh understanding of how great this salvation is. In times of joy and in times of strife, this must be where we draw our strength. Peter writes that this is our hope. Again, this is what separates Christianity with all other religions. The church is the only provider of hope in this world. Nobody else in this world can provide the hope that we receive in Christ. Why? Because nobody else apart from Christ can deal with the problem of sin and save us from this sin. Every religion might have an understanding of sin and problems in the world, but no religion can fix the problem of sin apart from the work of Christ on the cross.

xii. This is our hope and this is where Christianity either falls or stands. If we take away from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is no more Christianity. My prayer is that we would focus our attention on the finished work of Christ on the cross.

4. CONCLUSION