1 Peter 1:2

Introduction

What are the first questions that come to mind when you suffer?

Review 1:1: greeting, sets the tone

From Peter

Could fall off the horse two ways: authority (listen to me!) or relatable (I know how you feel…)

Just a simple intro, they already know he can speak with authority and can relate

To chosen, sojourners, dispersed

Three attributes, carefully chosen, to remind his readers of their spiritual, mental and physical positions in this life.

Now, Peter introduces the major themes and the tone of the rest of his epistle. This is the theme of this message this morning:

No matter the circumstances the Father, Son and Spirit have use carefully secured by their actions in the past, present and future.

Read 1 Peter 1:1-2

Interpreting this verse

Two main ways of interpreting this verse, reflected in translations and commentaries.

Difficulty stems from there being no verb, but three prepositional phrase.

Many translations make it sound like there’s a verb to help it make sense in English. But, literally, it’s:

1 Peter 1:1 YLT

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the choice sojourners of the dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

“Choice” (or chosen, elect) is an adjective, “sojourner” (or residing temporarily) is an adjective to and “dispersed” (or scattered throughout or “in the Dispersion”) is just a noun.

To illustrate the difficulty in translating this verse think about a simple example:

“Hey man, your child in the room.” My child what "in the room”? Walked into? Ran into? Sang? Tripped? Threw up? The prepositional phrase “in the room” needs a verb to modify to make it clear.

So, what is “according to the foreknowledge of God” and what is “in the sanctification of the Spirit” and what is “for obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ”?

1. Chosen

Many translations and commentaries take this view. Some translations go so far as to move the word to the end of the verse or repeat it in verse two.

1 Peter 1:1–2 NASB95

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

1 Peter 1:1–2 NIV

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Personally, I found the commentaries agreeing with this view unconvincing.

Most of them used some variation of, “it just makes the most sense that it goes with ‘chosen’” without giving much backup for why it makes the most sense.

2. The whole, current status of these believers as chosen sojourners, scattered among unbelievers.

Wayne Grudem makes a very convincing argument, in my opinion, for this in his commentary on 1 Peter in the Tyndale New Testament Commentary series.

He makes a few points that I’ll summarize.

1. With no verb, it’s most natural to let the prepositional phrase describe the whole situation of the readers

2. Interpreting it this way allows the second prepositional phrase to more naturally make sense.

Consider this, if they modify “chosen”:

“according to the foreknowledge” would place the choosing in the past—God chose before the beginning of time.

But, the sanctifying work of the Spirit is in the present.

How could our choosing be both accomplished in the past, but be taking place in the present?

Some try to interpret this phrase to avoid this, but do to so they have to introduce ideas into this verse that are not present.

I find Grudem’s explanation the most convincing.

For one, because of his arguments

Also my own observation—it fits with the tone and content of the rest of Peter’s epistle

If modifying “chosen”, Peter is only talking about salvation in this verse

But, Peter goes much more beyond that in his epistle to

Remind them of their salvation

Steady them in the present

And remind them of their hopeful future

Past Foreknowledge of the Father

Comforting to know God is prepared for this

Camping in bear country and you hear a growl. What’s more comforting: your friend who says they knew bears were here or your other friend who asks, “Are bears dangerous??”

Your friend who expected bears may or may not have used that foreknowledge to prepare. He may or may not use that foreknowledge to help you. Depending on the type of friend he is, he might just run off with his bear spray and watch out for number one!

Not so with God. His foreknowledge has the tone of a loving, providing Father who not only knows the facts ahead of time but lovingly provides for his children according to that knowledge.

I especially like Romans 8:28-29:

Romans 8:28-29 “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brothers.”

Present Sanctification by the Spirit

Comforting to know the Holy Spirit is with us, doing his job of sanctification in our life

Two observations on why this is comforting

1. The Spirit is with us, we are not alone

From the beginning, loneliness was never God’s plan on any level

Genesis 2:18 “Then Yahweh God said, “it is not good that the man is alone. I will make for him a helper as his counterpart.””

He has promised to always be with us

Matthew 28:20 “teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the age.””

Grace and I celebrated our 9th anniversary on Friday. We tried to reflect a little bit on our marriage and talked about the best thing about being married. I thought one of the best things was companionship. I remember just being lonely before getting married. Having someone to walk through life with, side-by-side is wonderful and a gift from God.

2. His sanctification gives purpose to the present situation

We are not just accompanied during suffering, we are growing, being taught and purified under the careful watch of the Spirit

Purification is a painful process, but the result is worth it

Hebrews 12:11 “Now all discipline seems for the moment not to be joyful but painful, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who are trained by it.”

Raise your hand if you exercise or workout on a regular basis. Keep your hand up if you do it because you love the pain of it for its own sake. Why do you work out then?? It has good reward and it’s worth it to you.

Future Obedience and Cleansing For the Son

Comforting to know this is all leading to a deeper relationship with Christ.

Three aspects to why I think this is comforting:

1. Growth in obedience leads to greater understanding of Christ, a deeper relationship with Him

He obeyed His Father

The more we learn to obey the Father in the same way, the more we become like Christ

John 4:34 “Jesus said to them, “My food is that I do the will of the one who sent me and complete his work.”

John 5:30 “I am able to do nothing from myself. Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.”

John 6:38 “because I have come down from heaven not that I should do my will, but the will of the one who sent me.”

2. Great reward for obedience

You can’t escape the concept of God’s desire to reward those who faithfully obey Him in Scripture.

Christ is rewarded with rulership

Psalm 2:8 “Ask from me and I will make the nations your heritage, and your possession the ends of the earth.”

Christ shares His reward with us when He comes

Rev 22:12 ““Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to repay each one according to what his deeds are!”

3. We will fail, but the blood (cleansing from sin, failure) is always ready and available

Hebrews 4:16 “Therefore let us approach with confidence to the throne of grace, in order that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Think for a minute how different the process of growing in obedience would be without the cleansing blood of Christ always available.

Some of the most discouraging times for me and Grace are when the days feel like they’re not leading anywhere. It’s just one day after another and the same thing happens each day. When we see we’re feeling this way, the way out is always found when we remember the Lord’s goodness in the past (we’ve made progress from past days—those days had a future—in our own growth and the growth of our family) and we can look forward to the present days leading in that direction too.

Conclusion

As if Peter is showing them the loving, fatherly arms of the godhead wrapped all around them—past, present and future.

All of history has been leading up to the point that they are now living in. But, more specifically, God knew and lovingly planned for their specific situation now.

The Spirit is walking beside them each day, sanctifying them, preparing them to be with Christ.

Likeness with Christ and obedience to Him is ever our goal, set before us as a joyful future to look towards. Just like the joy set before Him helped him endure the cross, so the joy of being like Him helps us endure each day.