1 Peter Bible Study 1: God’s People Have a Living Hope

Introduction

Tonight is exciting as we kick off a new year, semester, and a new book study: 1 Peter! Several years ago, I received a few questions from friends about this book and through those discussions I felt like it would be a profitable study for our whole church, and teaching through this book was awesome. I truly believe that this letter is one of the most timely and necessary books for Christians in the 21st century because it addresses so many of the themes and concerns that we face today, especially in the United States specifically. We know that there are Christians around the world who face life and death danger for being Christians, but we aren’t there… but just because we aren’t there, it doesn’t mean that this isn’t happening. Christians have always suffered, from the book of Acts until now. Voice of the Martyrs shares that on a monthly basis

322 Christians are killed for their faith

214 Churches are destroyed or damaged

722 forms of violence are committed against Christians

These things are happening right now all around the world. There are Christians in countries like Nigeria who have had to evacuate their homes and move because radical Muslims have killed thousands and thousands of Christians in recent months. Christians in China and Iran meet underground because they could be thrown in jail if they were caught owning or reading a Bible. Suffering is something that has united Christians ever since the days of Christ… but the suffering that we experience is much closer to the context of 1 Peter than the suffering that we see in places like Nigeria, Iran, or China. These Christians are experiencing that following Jesus is costly. Not life and death costly. Not being thrown in jail costly. But being accused of false things. Being excluded from society. Being slandered, misunderstood, pressured to fit in. Bigger suffering is coming, but it isn’t their reality yet.

And in this sense, we can relate with these Christians well. We aren’t thrown in prison. We aren’t facing life and death persecution… but we are facing exclusion, misunderstanding, and societal pressure to fit in and stop standing on the Bible. In this cultural moment, 1 Peter will remind us how we can endure suffering without being fearful or hateful.

Tonight, you see this outline on the back of your notes that will help you as we walk through this book together over the next 15 weeks. If you miss a week, you know what you’re going to miss this way and can catch up! Tonight, we’re looking at the first 12 verses of chapter 1 to see how we as Christians have a living hope in Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:1–12 CSB

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ: To those chosen, living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. 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 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 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. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and carefully investigated. 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. 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.

Before we dive into this text, we need to do a little homework together to learn about the situation that we just read together!

Who Wrote 1 Peter?

Peter (1 Peter 1:1)

Peter was a disciple and walked with Jesus and saw Jesus do the things that He did! He also suffered and learned through suffering. Peter dropped the ball several times. He wasn’t perfect. He made mistakes, big ones even! Yet, he also experienced God’s grace and Jesus’ forgiveness in those moments. So, he was willing to stand on what was right, even when there was a cost. He had walked through the fire with Jesus, and he wants others to do the same.

Who Is 1 Peter written to?

Audience is in verse 1 - Elect (Chosen) Exiles in the Dispersion

Chosen Exiles are crucial words for us. Even though these people were suffering, they were chosen by God. Not forgotten. Not mistakes. Exiles - this world wasn’t their home. We will always struggle to fit in here, because we’re exiles.

Context

Not good! They are finally experiencing some persecution in their culture. Not from Rome, but from their neighbors. They are insulted, slandered, excluded. Temptation to think that God is displeased with them, but in actuality, Peter will preach that they are following after Jesus!

Major Themes:

Living Hope - tonight’s text! Suffering doesn’t get the final word in our lives because our Savior is alive

Live a Holy Life - because this world isn’t our home, we stand out from those around us. We are to be holy as God is holy and one way that we do this is by being joyful and kind under pressure and persecution

Suffering Leads to Glory - We don’t have to fear suffering. We can worship during it!

God Loves His Church - This book is addressed to Christians. They are called living stones, a chosen race, royal priesthood, and a holy nation

1 Peter teaches Christians how to live with hope, holiness, and courage as exiles in a world that doesn’t share their faith—because Christ suffered for us, Christ rose for us, and Christ will return for us.

This is our intro - let’s dive into this text and see why we can have this hope today

Our Salvation Story (1-2)

Whenever you were growing up, what day or event was the hardest to wait for—and why?

Christmas usually wins

Was it worth the wait? Of course it was!

And that’s a helpful way to frame the Christian life. Because as Christians we are waiting for something far greater than Christmas morning—we are waiting for the day when we will worship our Savior face to face. But waiting isn’t always easy.

Waiting gets hard when suffering enters the picture. Waiting gets hard when life is unfair. Waiting gets hard when it seems like God is silent. So Peter writes to Christians who are waiting… and hurting… and confused… and pressured… and tempted to compromise. And before Peter tells them what to do, he reminds them who they are—because when suffering hits, identity is everything. You can’t endure trials if your identity is fragile. That’s why Peter opens with two verses that are packed—almost like a compressed theology of salvation.

v. 1 — Your identity is in God, not culture.

Peter addresses his audience as: “the elect exiles.” Again, these words are important because they remind us that these people are chosen by God and they are also outsiders in this world. Peter does this strategically. If we just see one of those words our brains can go different places. If we just see “elect” then there might be a temptation to get prideful… but if you only see the word exile then there might be a temptation for that to be painful. He is saying this: As Christians, you are strangers here… but you aren’t abandoned! You’re outsiders on earth, but you are adopted sons and daughters of God!

Juan Sanchez says that this is Peter’s way of teaching believers to interpret suffering through salvation. Not salvation through suffering. Think about this. We all know what it’s like to suffer - believers and non-believers, yet God’s Word tells us in James 1 that we can consider it a joy whenever we experience these trials. How is this possible? How can you choose joy when you suffer?

Remember that you might be rejected by others, but you are chosen by God. The world might hate you, but the Creator loves you and has saved you!

Why are we tempted to place our identity in the wrong things?

Because we tend to define ourselves by whatever is loudest in our world:

achievements

opinions of others

politics / tribe

comfort

success

reputation

approval

And when our identity is built on those things, suffering doesn’t just hurt… it threatens who we are. But when identity is grounded in Christ, suffering doesn’t remove our foundation—it reveals it. Peter’s opening words are like a Gospel reorientation: “Christian, your life may feel unstable… but your salvation is not.”Peter’s first move: suffering Christians need theology, not platitudes. Peter knows suffering isn’t theoretical. This word “suffering” shows up repeatedly in this letter because it’s the air they’re breathing. But here’s the key: every time suffering comes up in 1 Peter, it’s tethered to Christ.

Peter connects:

our identity to Christ

our endurance to Christ

our holiness to Christ

our hope to Christ

and our suffering to Christ

That matters because Peter is not saying “try harder.” He’s saying: look deeper.

v. 2 — Your salvation story is Trinitarian

Peter says you are:

chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father

set apart by the sanctification of the Spirit

for obedience and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ

That is a full salvation story in one verse. Some commentaries basically call it a “Trinitarian map” of redemption. You’re not saved because you had a religious moment. You’re saved because God—Father, Son, Spirit—acted to rescue you. And that gives suffering Christians deep security:

If God planned it, purchased it, and applied it… then suffering can’t undo it.

This isn’t dry doctrine. It’s oxygen for suffering saints. Warren Wiersbe once said “We have been chosen by the Father, purchased by the Son, and set apart by the Spirit.”

Think of your spiritual birth certificate like this:

Father - before the foundation of the earth

Son - when He died for me on the cross

Spirit - when I was 5 and received Christ as Lord and Savior

Spiritual Birth Certificate

Father: His eternal plan (before time)

Son: His atoning blood (at the cross)

Spirit: His regenerating power (in my life)

Now, important nuance (that Schreiner and Grudem emphasize): “foreknowledge” isn’t just God looking down the hallway of time to see what you’d do; it is God’s covenant love set upon His people. It’s the language of God’s deliberate saving initiative. That doesn’t remove human responsibility. Peter will call us to obedience constantly. But it roots obedience in grace. So you might add: “We respond in repentance and faith, but even our response is the fruit of God’s grace.”

Peter starts this letter pastorally by reminding these Christians that they are saved and in Christ. No amount of suffering can change that reality. No amount of pain can alter Jesus’ work in our place on the cross. As Romans 8:1 reminds us

Romans 8:1 CSB

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,

This is great news and this book begins by reminding us of our Salvation Story, and I trust that you have this story that you can look back on and think about what God did to save your soul!

Our Seated Savior (3-5)

As we remember our salvation story, our minds should drift to the source of salvation—Jesus Christ. And in verses 3–5, Peter erupts in worship. In Greek it’s one long sentence—a doxology. That alone tells us something: Peter doesn’t merely explain salvation. He praises God for salvation. One of the great truths that we see in the Bible is that our salvation isn’t a result of our perfection, but the perfection of Jesus. Think about how that secures us

If your works could save you, what could your works also do?

Unsave you! If we are saved by our works, then our works could also do the opposite! This would mean that we have no hope and that there is always more work to do. But this isn’t the picture of the New Testament.

The picture 1 Peter paints is that whenever we are saved by Jesus, we are a new person. We have a new birth. Literally, we experience resurrection - death to life.

Look at the text because of His mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This is incredible news - this isn’t the result of ourselves, this is God’s work in us. This removes selfishness and provides us with security. We needed it, but we couldn’t earn it. Again, mercy is God not giving you what you do deserve based. God isn’t just a little merciful, He is rich in mercy. He is great in mercy. Abounding in mercy. And this reality gives us living hope. We have living hope because we have a seated Savior. One of the images of Jesus is that He is our Great High Priest

Hebrews 4:14 CSB

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to our confession.

For these early believers, though, they knew that there was always work for these priests. They always had another sacrifice to offer. Always another offering to prepare for. Always another holiday or feast on the calendar. But Jesus is different. Look at Hebrews 1:3 at His work

Hebrews 1:3 CSB

3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

He too offered a sacrifice, but this isn’t where His story stopped. Jesus rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. Here is why this is good news according to 1 Peter 1:4 - because we have a seated Savior whose work is finished, we have a hope that is untouchable

Imperishable - can’t be destroyed

Undefiled - can’t be corrupted

Unfading - can’t change

What Peter is doing is he is stacking negatives in order to say that there is nothing, no person, no power, no demon, no empire, nothing can snatch this hope away from you… because it is kept in heaven, and that’s where you and I are headed.

What are some things that can take our eyes off of this hope?

Circumstances

People

Health

Relationships

Look at what Peter says at the end of this - we don’t have to lose hope when things change. Our inheritance, our hope, is guarded… but verse 5 says that not only is this being guarded, but we are being guarded by the power of God Himself! The news goes from great to greater… our inheritance is safe and our souls are kept!

The reason that we get up whenever life knocks us down as Christians is because we persevere (faith in the Lord), but even more so because of God’s preservation in our lives. The reason we have this hope of heaven and know that we will make it to our true home is not because of our strength, but because of our Savior’s! We have a living hope because our Savior is seated in heaven, and He will bring us there.

Our Sanctification Process (6-9)

We’re really good through these first 5 verses - we are God’s chosen people, adopted into His family through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, we have a living hope that no one or thing can take away, our home is heaven, and God will see that we get there through His power! I love this book. Of course we agree with verse 6, we rejoice in this!

Verse 6 marks a noticeable shift in the letter, though. Now Peter brings up suffering. Suffering can seem like a mountain that we cannot climb, but the joy of Jesus is of such magnitude that our joy generates enough strength and power in our lives that we can endure even great suffering. These believers were experiencing present suffering. We don’t rejoice about suffering - suffering is a result of the presence of sin in this world… but we can rejoice while enduring suffering because we know that suffering is sanctifying. What is one reason to rejoice in suffering?

God is accomplishing something through the suffering

Consider all the reasons we have to rejoice in our text:

God has chosen us

God has given mercy to us

God has made us alive

God has given us a living hope/future inheritance

We can rejoice at all times

Sadly, we don’t always display joy in times of suffering often times because our focus is more on our temporary circumstances than it is on our eternal security and identity. Whenever we fail to consider Jesus and His call for our lives, we will forfeit our joy. We don’t always know why suffering is happening, but we can always rest in this:

One of the purposes of suffering is our sanctification which means to grow to become more like Jesus. 1 Peter 1:6 says “If Necessary” this means that God has a purpose in our suffering. The purpose here is like a fire. A fire hurts and is hot and is dangerous… but it has a purpose for those metals as it refines the impurities out of them in order to remove what doesn’t need to be there so that what does need to be there is magnified. A refining fire is what suffering is like in our lives. As we suffer, God weeds out things that don’t need to be present in our lives so that we will trust and depend even more on Him and less on self and our sinful world.

What is something you learned in suffering that has aided your sanctification?

That I’m not as powerful as the world tells me that I am - that I must rely on Jesus for literally everything in my life because without Him I’m nothing

We know that gold is valuable, but approved faith is said to be even more valuable because gold eventually will be destroyed but faith will endure whenever Jesus Christ comes for the second time (revelation - literally apokalypis)

The end result of faith in Jesus Christ is salvation. We haven’t seen Him, but we love and believe in Him. So many in our world view suffering wrongly and fail to see the good that God does in the midst of suffering, that they fail to rejoice and give thanks at all times as God’s Word instructs of us

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 CSB

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray constantly, 18 give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

This isn’t to say that everything is good… but we know that our God works all things for the good of His people. This is our sanctification process - growing to be more like Jesus one day at a time.

Before moving on, I want to share this quote from Juan Sanchez, “With this exuberant joy, we can face Christian suffering, knowing that God is using these trials to prepare us to obtain our future salvation. Suffering has taken nothing that you need, because Christ is who you need. As we endure faithfully, we are encouraged that our faith is real. As we keep loving and believing in Jesus through trials, we are encouraged that our faith is authentic.” So, we persevere in our suffering because suffering can’t take what we truly need, because what we need is Jesus, and He is with us even in our suffering.

Our Sweet Message (10-12)

The dominant doctrine of Christianity is salvation and this is what sets Christianity apart from every other major religion out there as we celebrate our God coming to save sinners who could not save themselves whereas other religions celebrate what mankind has done to get to God. The whole of the Bible is a story of salvation as God creates, redeems, and restores sinners to Himself. We see this story in the Old Testament and as 1 Peter 1:10 tells us, the prophets even knew that there would come a Messiah - a Savior - who would redeem God’s people. We can think of this in Isaiah 53 with the Suffering Servant. Daniel 7:13-14 and his vision of the coming Son of Man. But we can even go back to Genesis 3 and see this promise of a Snake-Crushing Savior. These Old Testament people longed for the Messiah’s coming. They couldn’t wait for Jesus to come and change everything… but they didn’t get to experience those things. They knew that salvation was coming. They knew that glory was coming. But, they lived on the other side of the cross while we live on this side of it and can look back with certainty at all that Jesus has done. We can look back at all they prophesied about and see how in Christ all of God’s promises are YES and AMEN. We can say it like this: What the prophets predicted, we proclaim!

What we see in verse 12 is that the prophets proclaimed the Messiah would come and suffer and save His people. The prophets spoke about this. But look at verse 12, the prophets aren’t the only people who shared this message of salvation… this is cool. Peter introduces those who preached this message to these believers - Peter will talk more about these pastors/elders in the chapters that follow, but here he reminds these people that God graciously sent them prophets, pastors, and finally angels who proclaimed this message about Jesus.

And this is the message that we are called to proclaim today as well. We are called to share this glorious message that there is a redeemer named Jesus Christ who provides the hopeless with hope, the fatherless with a family, the purposeless with purpose, and the suffering with certainty. This is the best message of all to share and it’s all because our Lord Jesus Christ lives today - we have a living hope - we serve a living Savior. While we may not have answers to all the questions in our brains concerning Jesus and His return, we do know that He has saved us, changed us, has a purpose for us each day of our lives. The angels know a little bit about this - they rejoice whenever a sinner repents (Luke 15:10) but they will never experience this salvation. So many wrongly think that humans become angels whenever they die - that’s not an upgrade, that’s a downgrade! Angels wish they could be humans. They wish they could be in the position that redeemed sinners are in as we can proclaim of the mercy and grace and forgiveness of our Savior - we have a joyous message to share!

This is Peter’s introduction: God’s People have a Living Hope. He begins this letter by lifting our eyes above our circumstances and rooting us in God’s eternal salvation plan. We are elect exiles—outsiders in the world but chosen by God. We have been given new birth through mercy, living hope through the resurrection, and an inheritance that cannot be touched by decay, death, or darkness. And even when suffering comes—and it will—suffering is not proof that God has abandoned us. Suffering is often the furnace God uses to refine our faith and strengthen our joy. The same gospel the prophets longed to see is now the gospel we proclaim. So as we begin 1 Peter, we learn to live with courage and holiness in exile, because Christ has saved us, Christ is keeping us, and Christ will bring us safely home.

How should our identity with Christ impact our interactions with others in this life?

How does this text provide you with unshakeable hope and enduring joy?

What is the ultimate result of faith in God according to this text?

How does this text encourage us to worship Jesus in the good and difficult days of this life?

In the weeks to come we’ll continue walking through this book and be encouraged and challenged to find hope while living in exile and to share this hope with a hopeless world.