Tuesday 1 August 2006

1 Peter – Chp1 Verses 2 – ‘Suffering but Secure’

  1. 1 Peter Chps 1 - Redemption by Christ

  2. 1 Peter Chp 2:1-10 – Relationship to Christ

  3. 1 Peter Chp2:11 – 3:12 – Responsibility to Live for Christ

  4. 1 Peter Chps 4 & 5 – Teality of the Resurrection Life of Christ


1 Peter Chps 1 - Redemption by Christ

Key verse: 1Peter1:18-19.

  1. Gods Plan for it (v1-2)

  2. Gods Power in it (vs3-6)

  3. Gods Prophetic Revelation of it (vs10-12)

That not only has implication for the past, pointing me back to Calvary and not only does it have implications for the future securing my salvation for eternity, it has primarily in chp1 of 1 Peter a very practical significance for the present.

Since I am Redeemed by Him – I belong to Him!

My life is no longer mine to do with as I please, to go where I please, nor to use as I please – this life belongs to Him – for He bought it, He purchased it, it belongs to Him! God purchased it with the “precious blood” of His dear Son, not with any passing commodity from earth.

Peter was a practical kind of Christian; always doing things:

  • building 3 tabernacles (Matt17:4)
  • cutting off Malchus ear (Jo18:10)
  • “I go a fishing” (Jo21:3)
But a word of warning for practical Christians, all of these were the wrong things to do! We must be in touch with the Lord through His Word (2:1-4), sensitive to His Will, to be sure of doing the right thing! All of these things were unproductive, it was only when he allowed his service to be brought into conformity to the Word of Christ, “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find,” (Jo21:6), that he saw blessing and purpose and fruit.


1 Peter Chp 2:1-10 – Relationship to Christ

  1. As Newborn Babes (2:2) – We feed upon Him.

  2. As Living Stones (2:5) – We’re founded upon Him (v6).

  3. As a Holy Priesthood (v5) – We enjoy Fellowship with God through Christ.

  4. As a Royal Priesthood (v9) – We carry a Fragrance of Him.


1 Peter Chp2:11 – 3:12 – Responsibility to Live for Christ

  1. Before sinners (2:12)

  2. Before sovereigns (2:13-17)

  3. Servants before Masters (2:18-25)

  4. Before Husbands (3:1-6)

  5. Before Wifes (3:7)

  6. Before Saints (3:8-12)


1 Peter Chps 4 & 5 – The Reality of the Resurrection Life of Christ:

  1. In Suffering (Chp4)

  2. In Serving (Chp4)

  3. In Shepherding (Chp5) – in caring for the people of God.

1 Peter & Zechariah :

The themes of 1 Peter parallel the themes of Zechariah:


  1. A Scattered People

  2. A Sacred Dwelling

  3. A Sanctified Priesthood

  4. A Suffering Shepherd


Why the parallel – because the Lord desires the same in the NT as He does in the OT.

The Lord desires the same for His heavenly people the Church as He did for His earthly people of old – Israel – that He might dwell in the midst of them! That His Glory might be manifest amongst His people.

The purpose of Zechariah:

  1. “After (the) glory hath he sent me…” (Zech2:8)

  2. “I will dwell in the midst of thee…” (Zech2:10)

  3. “I will dwell in the midst of thee…” (Zech2:11)

  4. They would be a people gathered to Glory (Zech2:5)

  5. They would be a people gathered to God (Zech 2:10-12)


1 Peter Chp1


1:1-2 The Pastoral Heart of the Apostle


And so in 1 Peter Chp1 verse 1 we read of a “scattered” people.

A scattered people of strangers as far as this world was concerned but to God they are a ‘sacred people’ – a ‘peculiar people’ (1Peter2:9)

Insignificant to men but precious towards God.

It is interesting that it is to the Lords scattered sheep that the apostle Peter ministers.

verse 2 – they were “elect” or chosen “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.”

The great truth of election. Sometime ago, maybe many years ago, you were saved, and when you were perhaps the preacher you listened to or believers that pointed you to Christ encouraged you to put you trust in the Saviour, as they did this perhaps they even exhorted you to ‘choose Christ.’ So you thought that you were saved because you chose Christ! Little did you know that ever before you made any such decision that in fact God had chosen you before the foundation of the world (Eph1:4). The truth of election!

You were chosen “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.”

Need to be very careful here and not make the mistake that some have made over the years! Gods ‘foreknowledge’ is not His ‘foreknowledge’ of mens plans but rather Gods ‘foreknowledge’ is the ‘foreknowledge’ of Gods purpose!

Lets just say for arguments sake that I were given the ability to know what was going to happen over the next 6 months. Then what I would have is the ability to know what God Himself has purposed and what God Himself will undertake over the next 6 months. So Gods foreknowledge is the foreknowledge of what He Himself will do.

When we think of Gods foreknowledge we are not thinking of something passive, as though God were sitting back in heaven and observing all that would transpire in time. It is His knowledge of Divine purpose. It is inseparable from Gods purpose. Gods foreknowledge is active, it is the backdrop against which Divine decisions are made.

Rom8:29 – “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”

Note here how foreknowledge is not passive, God is not sitting back and foreknowing who is going to make a decision for Christ in the gospel meetings.

God is active in His foreknowledge – He gives the elect a ‘destiny’ a purpose, He calls them, He justifies them and then He glorifies them.

Rom11:2 – Divine foreknowledge is active – it is not the foreknowledge of who would chose Christ: v4 “I have reserved...”,

v5 “election of grace” – it is by Divine choice

v6 - Not simply that God knew before who would come to Him! In fact it is the opposite (v7). “7What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded” – it is God knowing beforehand who He would save.

Just incase there are any lingering doubts, notice that the word is used again in 1Peter1:20

Let me ask you this: when the incarnate Son of God came into time, when Christ lived out His life in fulfillment of the scriptures, when Christ offered up Himself as a sacrifice for sin at Calvary, when Christ was raised again from the dead and seated at the right hand of God was all of this just something that God happened to know before hand that it would occur?

Far from it all of this was purposed in the heart of God in eternity. “Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1Peter1:20). The translators translate the word as ‘foreordained’ in this verse rather than ‘foreknew’.

The certainty that underpins Gods purpose in Christ, is the same certainty which underpins your salvation too!

Notice that: “sanctification of the Spirit” precedes “obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” – this is pre-conversion sanctification.

This pre-conversion sanctification – set apart by the Spirit prior to salvation – God already active in our life before we professed faith in Christ.

Same truth as 2Thess 2:13: “sanctification” – set apart by the Spirit – early influences, early experiences, the path and so called coincidences of our life – the Spirit operating in our life. Conviction of sin (John16:8), the stirring of a ‘seeking after God’ which none do by nature (Rom3:11), all evidence of a pre-conversion work of Gods Spirit in our life.

Once the Spirit has completed a work of pre-conversion sanctification the scripture speaks of a continuing work of sanctification:

  1. Practical Sanctification (1Thess4:3) – things I have to put into practice to live out the reality of what God has done in saving me.

  2. Positional Sanctification (1Co1:2; 6:11) – consider the moral / spiritual conditions at Corinth, sadly the reality of 1:2 is not seen in the lives of many but nonetheless that does not alter the fact that they are saved and belong to the Lord and are set apart for Him!

  3. Perfect Sanctification (Heb10:10,14; 1John3:2) – The ultimate and final goal of Gods work in us.

Why then this introduction to 1Peter with the truths of election and foreknowledge?

  1. Security is the Lords ministry during a period of suffering – we have Christians under attack (1:6,7; 2:20; 3:16,17; 4:1, 16ff.) During such times perhaps we begin to doubt our security and the sovereignty of God.

  1. Gods Plan is the Lords ministry to those who have lost their purpose – perhaps a hint of lost direction in 1Peter (1:13ff, ) and perhaps even a hint of sin creeping in (1:14-16; 2:1 – friction within the assembly; 2:11; 4:1ff). The particular sin of insincerity seems prominent:

    1. Guile (2:1) - deception

    2. Guile (3:10)

    3. Busybody (4:15) – apparently concerned but actually just interfering.

    4. Hospitality (4:9) – but for the wrong motive

    5. Lack of love (4:8)

    6. Service for Christ (4:11) but lacking a real commitment to Christ and lacking the power of the Spirit of Christ.

    7. Overseers and shepherds (5:2) – but only by coercion, not by conviction.


Christians are under attack in 1Peter!


Posted by JS Gillespie at 20:32

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
| Top ↑ |