Overview of 1 Peter

1 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.

Dorianni says that he reminds the believers here of their status, privelage and responsibility. That essentially outlines the letter, though there really is no outline. This is who you are, these are the riches you have, this is what you’ll experience, and how you ought to live.

The Greeting sets the tone for the entire letter. He begins with a trinitarian blessing. To be God’s elect, to be called by triune grace into God’s family is the greatest privelage on earth. It is inestimable and words can’t speak it.

Elect

in sanctification

for obedience

Yet while privileged in this way, at the same time “and for the same reason”, the church stands in a non-privileged state in this world. We are no longer at home here. The world is at enmity with God and so with his church.

Now Peter is well qualified to discuss the grace of God. Who could expound on it like Peter, who was set apart by God, in order to explain and proclaim God’s grace. But who like Peter experienced God’s grace. He betrayed and denied the Lord Jesus Christ. What do you think would happen to you if today, you were to deny any association with the Lord Jesus Christ, even to sware that you did not associate with him on three separate occasions. You might expect to be struck down on the spot. Yet Peter did just that, he swore rashly that he would never forsake him, and then swore that he didn’t evern know him. And what was the result? The Lord was gracious to him. The abundant grace of God restored him. The grace of God covered his sins. That melted his heart. That also set his heart aflame for the gospel, for the grace of God to be told far and wide.

Your only hope today and into the this week is not that you have been faithful, but that the grace of God has kept you and will keep you. The grace of God has birthed you, it sustains you throughout your time as aliens and sojourners, through the firey trials that await, the suffering that is promised, it is the grace of God that will bring you home at last. How long would it take to recount the ways God’s grace sustained you during your first week as a Christian, your first year……This is the grace we’ll praise for all eternity. What better figure to expound upon it than the apostle Peter. What better way than to begin our study with than the multiplication of grace and peace. Peter loves the grace of God in Christ. He loves it so much that he under the Spirit wrote a whole epistle on it. 1 Peter 5:12 “12 By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.”

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,”