The Power of Salvation

Growing up I was deaf for the first six years of life. Reading was difficult, and on top of that I was dyslexic but that would not be discovered until I was in my thirties. Great effort was given to language arts and over time I began to appreciate the structure and form of communicating through words. Consider with me the words which we will be looking at and considering today with some great thought… 1 Peter 1:1-9

1 Peter 1:1–9 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. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

The power of word structure…

What we just read is three sentences! Yet, as I read these three sentences in brevity I am confident that for some the depth of the power, meaning and emphasis was missed in simply hearing and seeing these words before us. Considering how we structure words together is important… let me illustrate:

Let’s eat grandpa.

Let’s eat, grandpa.

Commas save lives!

Your dinner vs. You’re dinner:

One will leave you nourished, the other will leave you dead.

“I take for granite people’s poor grammar: More pacifically, how there always thinking “for intensive purposes” is supposably correct.”

i before e...

Except when your foreign neighbor Keith receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters. WEIRD!

Good grammar is like personal hygiene - you can ignore it if you want, but don’t be surprised when people draw their own conclusions.

I don’t want us to ignore the power being stated here that Peter is writing to his readers. In order to avoid coming to wrong or weak conclusions I want us to take time to look closely and in depth at what is being stated here today… Three sentences… One powerful Salvation being proclaimed.

Peter here is laying the groundwork, the foundation, for the basis of who we are in Christ.

If we are weak in our understanding of the foundation of our salvation, the walls of our faith will be susceptible to crumbling away.

Peter is gong to be writing his readers about living in hope in the midst of trials… what is stated in these first three sentences sets the basis and reason we can and should live in this powerfully unique way before Christ!!!!

A note on translations here… I am preaching from the NASB a word for word translation(ESV, NKJV), some translations will be a thought for thought translation (NIV, NLT)

As a word for word translation we see it hold closer to the sentence structure of the original language

Peter’s sentence structure builds on itself to emphasis his main points! (show the structure)

Sentence One

The Trinity’s Work in Salvation

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

jlkjlkj

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:

kjhkjhjkhk

May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

hkjhjkhjk

Sentence Two

The Assurance of Our Faith Lived Out

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

hjkhkjhkjhjk

who according to His great mercy has caused us to:

be born again

to a living hope

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

mljlkjkljl

to obtain an inheritance which is:

imperishable

and undefiled and

will not fade away,

reserved in heaven for you,:

jhghjghjghj

who are protected by

the power of God

through faith

for a salvation… ready to be revealed in the last time.

,mnbnmbnmb

Sentence Three

Our Salvation Visibly Seen

In this you greatly rejoice,:

even though

now for a little while, if necessary,

you have been distressed by various trials,

khjkhjk

so that:

the proof of your faith,

being more precious than gold which is perishable,

even though tested by fire,

may be found to result in:

praise

and glory

and honor

hjkhjkhjk

at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

iuiouio

and though you have not seen Him,:

you love Him,

and though you do not see Him now,

but believe in Him,

hkjgkjghjg

you greatly rejoice with joy

inexpressible

and full of glory,

gjhgjhghjghjg

obtaining as the outcome of your faith

the salvation of your souls.