2. 1 Peter Introductions Pt 2

We all believe that the Scriptures is inspired by God. As such there is no verse, phrase, or word from the original languages that is out of place or not significant. We understand that there is not always a word for word translation from the Greek and Hebrew as there are differences in syntax from language to language. But God powerfully preserves His word throughout the ages so that though there are difference in word order the integrity of what the Scriptures teach is unchanged.

2Ti 3:16-17  All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,  (17)  that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

It is therefore important as ministers of the gospel that we preach the whole council of God. Broader evangelicalism and the BMA of MS suffer from a hopscotch approach to the word of God passing over what the Bible plainly teaches either because those preachers don’t believe it or not wanting to offend some in their congregation. Our job is not to make the Word of God palatable to the masses but to preach and teach it clearly and accurately and let God do what He will.

Isa 55:11  So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

But brethren, let us hold fast to what the Word teaches as it is our only rule for our faith and practice. And let us be committed to what the Scriptures teach as we labor to bring ourselves and our churches in conformity to what God has ordered.

1Pe 1:1-12  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,  (2)  elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.  (3)  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  (4)  to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,  (5)  who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  (6)  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,  (7)  that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,  (8)  whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,  (9)  receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.  (10)  Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,  (11)  searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.  (12)  To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.

I.God’s elect Pilgrims

II.The God who procures, secures, and affects

Introduction: In the first verse, we saw the letter is written by Peter. Transformed from a poor fisherman to the fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy that he would be a fisher of men. From weak and wavering, denying that he even knew Jesus to preaching and suffering persecution at the hand of the Jews and finally, according to church history, martyred for his faith and love to Christ. We see in him another example of God’s transforming power, making the dead, alive and a new creation in Christ Jesus. We also see in Peter’s addressing this letter that it was to be circulated the region of Asia Minor.

In the study of 1 Peter it is important to establish themes and context to understand the unique place each verse has in relation to the whole. 1 Peter can be divided into 3 instructional units as he addresses specifically the brethren in vs 1 – pilgrims ; 2:11 – Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims and in 4:12 Beloved.

Within each of these instructional units is the command to be sober 1:13 in relation to salvation; 4:7 Be sober in relation to the times. ‘’The end of all things is near..” 5:8 be sober in relation to spiritual warfare. Through these instructional units the theme of suffering is pronounced 1:6, distressed by various trials, 2:12, 2:20; 3:14; 5:8

These Christians to whom this letter was written to were already in the pressure cooker of persecution and it would not be long before the Emperor Nero would blame Christians for the burning of Rome and the real persecution began. Peter does not tell them to be pragmatic in the faith. He does not tell them to compromise in what they believed or compromise in how they worked out their faith practically every day. What Peter does do is launch them into the security and safety of the Triune God’s work of salvation on our behalf.

There are 2 Points: 1) God’s Elect Pilgrims and 2) The God who procures, secures and effects

I.God’s Elect Pilgrim’s

In the NASB, KJV, NKJV the word for chosen/elect is placed in front of the word ‘according’ to emphasize that election in accordance with the foreknowledge of God, in the sanctifying work of the Spirit to obey Jesus and be sprinkled with His blood. The ESV and the NIV place the word order as it is in the Greek; ‘elect or chosen pilgrims. It is of vital importance that we understand the connection between election and the work of God. But, if under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Peter ordered the words as he did then there is deep spiritual significance to that same order. This letter that Peter has written is a deeply theological and doctrinal letter. Statistically speaking Peter names God every 9 words. There is no other epistle that comes close. It comes as no surprise that Peter, in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit presses election before he is through his introduction. This is not out of the ordinary for any of the NT. While the church today tries to bury the doctrine or at least speak of it in hushed tones as to not offend; the Scripture holds election up. Peter doesn’t hide it here, Paul doesn’t hide it in Ephesians 1, John, Matthew, and Jesus do not shrink away from proclaiming the doctrine of God’s election.

Peter’s word order gives us understanding. Why are they called pilgrims or sojourners in other translations? It literally means “one who comes from a foreign country into a city or land to reside there by the side of the natives.” These are people who in all likelihood spent all of their lives in the places named. They would be citizens, they would be known, they would have established lives and livelihoods. Peter emphasizes they are pilgrims/sojourners because of God’s election.

Being an alien, pilgrim or stranger in a foreign land can be painful. It means suffering, rejection, and hardship. Throughout Peter’s letter he repeats the theme of hardship and suffering from within and from without. Verse 6: "You are distressed by various trials." In 2:11: foreign "lusts wage war against your soul." In 2:21: you have been called to suffer. In 3:16: they revile your good behavior. In 4:4: they malign you for not running with them anymore. In 4:14: you are reviled for the name of Christ. Peter stresses to these readers their identify being an elect pilgrim whose citizenship is in heaven and members of the household of God.

Their election implies a change in status and a change in heart. They were no longer of the world but in Christ. They were no longer dead in trespasses and sins but made alive together with Christ and a new creation.

They are rejected because of who they are in Christ. Joh 15:18-19 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. (19) "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (Joh 17:14)  I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Those that are in the midst of persecution and suffering often come to the conclusion that God has rejected them, has forsaken them. But the opposite is true. They are persecuted because of God’s choosing them, and the world and the ruler of this world cannot bear it.

II.The God Who Procures, Secures, and Affects

God’s Choosing Us Immerses us in Himself. I have a Presbyterian friend and that is my favorite word to use around him. If we have tea I will ask him if he would like me to immerse the tea bag for him.

There are three phrases that Peter uses to define our lives in God.

1.Elect according to the foreknowledge of God

2.Elect in the sanctification of the Spirit

3.Elect for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus.

God’s choosing is all encompassing. It is behind us in God’s foreknowledge, it is in us by the sanctifying work of the Spirit and is before us as we obey Jesus and are sprinkled by His blood. Each of the Godhead is in our salvation, God the Father in His election, God the Son in His atoning work, and God the Holy Spirit, in the application of the Father’s decree and the propitiation Christ has secured for us. Procuring, securing, and affecting those whom He has set His affection on for the good purpose of His will.

1.Elect in the Foreknowledge of God.

What is God’s foreknowledge? Foreknowledge literally means to know something is going to happen before it happens. There is a passive foreknowledge and an active foreknowledge. Passive is when we are informed of an event that will take place. Active foreknowledge is knowing an event will take place based upon a plan I myself intend to carry out. For example: planning a vacation.

Some believe that God’s foreknowledge is passive in that He looks ahead to see who will believe in Christ and elects them based upon that. Logically that is nonsense. If, as some believe, man is absolute in his free will, then there is no assurance that the future is as God foreknows. Now we rest not on logic but in the infallible word of God. The testimony of Scripture is that God is absolutely active in His foreknowledge because He has foreordained all things.

Psa 139:14-16  I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.  (15)  My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  (16)  Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

In the promises God made in His covenants there was never the possibility of failure. It is in that full assurance that comforts and keeps us because of our condition. How can we as sinners, dead in our transgressions, enemies of the cross of Christ come to choose that which we hate? The Scripture over and over again testifies to this fact in Rom 3:10-18  as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;  (11)  no one understands; no one seeks for God.  (12)  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”  (13)  “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”  (14)  “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”  (15)  “Their feet are swift to shed blood;  (16)  in their paths are ruin and misery,  (17)  and the way of peace they have not known.”  (18)  “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Called enemies in Rom 5:10, aligned with Satan Eph. 2:2 along with the other sons of disobedience. Just as in this life the dead cannot choose life, those spiritually dead cannot choose life.

Rom 8:29-30 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; (30) and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

God’s foreknowledge and His foreordination are so intertwined that for all intents and purposes they are synonymous.

Act 2:22-23  "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—  (23)  Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;

This is the background from which Peter speaks in 2:9 ‘You are a chosen race’. It doesn’t mean that God chose a people that already believed in Him. It means that just as God sovereignly chose Abraham while he still was a pagan worshipping idols to be the father of Israel and the one who his seed would be a blessing to all the nations of the earth; He chose those to whom He would bring to faith in Christ Jesus.

The next question that those who are of the faith might ask is why did God foreknow me? The reason is simple. He chose to. There is nothing in us that merits God’s favor, His mercy or His love. We understand from the Scriptures that there is no quality in us that would turn God’s eye upon us. And it is in God’s choosing us as objects of His infinite love that make us precious in His sight, that set-in motion His predetermined plan to rescue His beloved from His certain terrifying wrath to come against sin and to make the way for us to enter into the unique relationship that we have to God our Father and Christ our brother.

2.Elect in the sanctifying of the Spirit.

The second phrase in verse 2 shows how the sovereign work of God in election comes to expression in us. Elect "in the sanctifying work of the Spirit." This is the same way Paul spoke of election in 2 Thessalonians 2:13 because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 

God the Spirit renews and regenerates, granting saving faith and turning that decree into practical holiness by his powerful work in your life. In uniting the hearing of the Word of God with faith, granting the grace of repentance and indwelling the believer as a sign and seal of God’s calling to the end of the age. It is the sanctifying work of the Spirit that separates the chosen from the dominion of sin, it is the ongoing, progressive sanctifying work of the Spirit that separates the chosen from the power of remaining sin, and it is in the sanctifying work of the Spirit that separates the believer, finally, from the presence of sin. And what a day that will be!

Throughout Peter’s letter we see the work of the Spirit in redemptive history.

1Pe 1:10-12  Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,  (11)  searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.  (12)  To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.

The continued work of sanctification of the Spirit in the believer’s life.

1Pe 1:22  Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

1Pe 4:12-14  Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;  (13)  but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.  (14)  If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.

3.In Obedience and the Sprinkling of Blood

In the third phrase we see salvation points to a purpose, and the purpose is obedience. The word used here conveys the attitude of submission in listening and following the instructions of those over you. There is no greater authority than God’s Word and it is to that Word Peter directs us that we should long for the pure milk of the Word that you my grow in respect to salvation. The application of God’s Word is implied here. What is included in the truth of God’s word? Instructions for living, instructions for the administration of Christ’s church. So that we as the people of God may pay careful attention that we are not merely hearers of the word but doers. That we must weigh our culture against the Scripture and judge ourselves aright and not allow our culture to infect the truth of the Scripture.

In sum, Peter is saying that the purpose of our election and salvation is obedience to Jesus Christ. Peter then goes on to use obedience two more times in this same chapter to help his readers understand what this obedience looks like in our daily walk

(1) 1Pe 1:14  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

(2) 1Pe 1:22  Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

for sprinkling with his blood

In the OT men are sprinkled with blood for three different reasons. 1) The establishment of the Mosaic covenant. Ex. 24:7,8 2) The consecration of the family of Aaron for the priesthood Ex. 29:21 3) and the ceremonial cleansing from leprosy Lev. 14:2-7. It could be that Peter is pointing to all three here.

It is in the blood of Jesus the New Covenant is established. Heb 9:13-15  For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,  (14)  how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.  (15)  Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

It is the blood of Jesus that believers are consecrated as priests 1Pe 2:9-10  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  (10)  Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

It is by the blood of Jesus that we are cleansed from our sin. Heb 10:12-14  But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,  (13)  waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.  (14)  For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Grace to you and peace be multiplied

Conclusion

Your life is immersed in God. You are plunged beneath the sea of God’s grace and mercy, enveloped in His unfailing, infinite love. Know that no matter what you are suffering at this point it is within the loving plan of God’s infallible choice of you and for you.