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1Peter 3:18-4:6 includes one of the more difficult passages in the New Testament.  However we understand this section, the context suggests that the main point should be related to patiently enduring suffering for the sake of another.

Review

¹⁸For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, ²⁰because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. ²¹Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. ^4:1Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, ²so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. ³For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. ⁴With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; ⁵but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. – 1Peter 3:18-4:6 ESV

The (relatively) Clear

• Jesus Christ suffered to the point of death for the sins of others.
• Jesus’s suffering had a redemptive purpose.
• Jesus’s suffering was temporary.
• Jesus Christ willingly suffered for the sake of sinners who were persecuting him and we are called to follow the same path.
• Like Noah, Peter’s readers live in a hostile world.  Like Noah, they need to be saved from the coming judgment.  Christ is the means of their salvation from judgment just as the Ark was the means of salvation for Noah and his family.
• Peter says the ark was a “type” of baptism.  A shadow is a type of the person casting the shadow.  It is an image of the real thing, like or corresponding to the real thing.   A type is NOT a hidden symbol.  It foreshadows a truth to come.
• In general Peter’s main point is: God intends to save His people from the coming judgment like He did for Noah. But the means of salvation is not an ark, it is the suffering of Christ.  And the salvation secured is not rescue from drowning, it is the forgiveness of our sins.
• The one who has “ceased from sin” has stopped pursuing a sinful lifestyle.  The more we become like Christ, the more the world grows hostile toward us and suffering will result.

The Problem Verses

¹⁸For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, ²⁰because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. – 1Peter 3:18-20 ESV

The problems in this text center around 4 main questions.  The chart gives the main interpretative options, although there are many nuances and variations on these answers. I have simplified and condensed the interpretative options into their main categories.  Granted, I may be guilty of oversimplifying.

Putting these options together, here are the 3 most popular views.  You are more likely to find options 1A & 1B in older commentaries.

Option 1

Option 2

You are more likely to find option 2 in modern commentaries.

Option 3

You are more likely to find option 3 in modern commentaries. This is the option I lean toward at this time because I think it best fits the context.

How do I decide?

• Give more weight to clear passages of Scripture.
• Avoid building doctrine on a single verse or a single passage.
• Context is always the determining factor.
• The more confusing or obscure the passage, the more we ought to hold our conclusions lightly.

Please listen to the podcast for more detail and explanation.

Next : 09 1Peter 4:7-19 The Right Perspective

Previous: 07 1Peter 3:8-17 Who is there to harm you?

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Review

In the first major section of the book (1Peter 1:1-2:10),  Peter explains how the gospel gives the right perspective on life.  In His great mercy, God sent His son Jesus to pay the penalty for our guilt and to buy us out slavery.  We need only trust in him to be saved.

While we have been rescued from God’s wrath and our guilt, we are still need rescue from the power and presence of sin.  In the future, death will be completely defeated and our rescue will be completed.  This future rescue is our great inheritance which we set our hope on.

In the second major section (1Peter 2:11-3:17), Peter encourages his readers to keep their behavior excellent even when they are being mistreated.  He gives 3 examples of socially binding situations where believers are often mistreated: 1) citizens to a government that is persecuting them; 2) slaves with unjust masters,  and 3) believing wives with unbelieving husbands.

In each case his advice is the same: Communicate with your behavior that you love God and respect the person treating you unjustly.  Trust that God has a bigger plan and “turn the other cheek” so that you might win them to the gospel.

1Peter 3:8-17 closes this section of the book.

Passage

⁸Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. ⁹Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. ¹⁰For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; ¹¹let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. ¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” ¹³Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? ¹⁴But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, ¹⁵but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. ¹⁷For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. – 1Peter 3:8-17 ESV

“Finally/To sum up” – The relationships he’s talked about so far:

• 1:22-2:10 – how believers should get along with each other
• 2:11-13 – how believers should get along with a pagan government
• 2:14-18 – how believers should respond to treat an unfair boss
• 3:1-6 – how believers should treat a non-believing spouse
• 3:7 – how to treat a believing spouse

Notice that the virtues in 1Peter 3:8-9 are also relational.

• The virtues in 1Peter 3:8 are implications of the gospel.
• If I’m truly looking to God for blessing and I believe He will keep His promise, that changes how I see others.  It gives me the freedom to give up demanding my rights and my “fair share.”
• Peter quotes Psalm 34 which teaches in part that the one who finds life and blessing is the one who is right with God, because God is at work in his/her life.
• Who is there to harm you? If God has granted you an inheritance in His kingdom, no one in creation can do anything really terrible to you.
• The more we embrace the truth of who Jesus is and what he did for us, the less we have to fear.
• The more we know where life, hope and blessing are to be found,  the freer we are to let go of this world.

Please listen to the podcast for more detail and explanation.

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Review

Peter introduced the concept of submission to those who have authority over us in 2:11.  In 1Peter 2:11-12 he states a principle.  Then he applies that principle to 3 situations where someone in a binding social relationship is being treated unfairly:  1) a citizen under an unjust government, 2) a slave under an unjust master, and 3) a wife married to an unbelieving husband. This is the third of his 3 examples.

With his first 2 examples, he gave two reasons why we should submit to others:

1)   God calls us to respect the authority structures He has put in our lives.

In Peter’s first 2 examples, the government and the master have limited authority because of their positions of responsibility.  Similarly, I think the bible teaches that the husband –in a limited way — has a unique responsibility in the marriage that the wife is called to recognize.  (For a discussion of husband headship see Marriage God’s Way.)

2) The second reason God ask us to submit to someone is what I call the “turn the other cheek reason.”  When I turn the other cheek, my submission communicates that I will act in your best interest even though your actions were wrong.

I believe it is this second type of submission Peter discusses when he addresses wives.   He picks examples where people who are stuck in a binding social relationship which they cannot easily escape.  His advice in all 3 situations is the same:  As much as possible show the unbelievers that you are a person of virtue by behaving in a submissive and respectful way.

Passage

¹Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, ²when they see your respectful and pure conduct. ³Do not let your adorning be external–the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear– ⁴but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. ⁵For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, ⁶as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. ⁷Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. – 1Peter 3:1-7 ESV

• In this situation the husband — described as disobedient to the word —  is most likely not a believer.
• Peter does NOT say submit because he has the right to boss you around.  Peter says submit so that you might win him to God.
• Three times Peter uses the phrase conduct ourselves in fear in the face of unjust treatment (1:17; 2:18; 3:2).  In each case he means respectful deference.
• Being a Christian wife to an unbelieving husband in the Roman empire was a fearful thing.  He had all the power and all the rights.  He controlled how and what religion would be practiced in the household.  By claiming faith in Christ, a wife would be going against his decisions.
• Peter says, if you can not communicate with words, communicate without them.  Rather than using physical beauty to attract his notice, use your a gracious respectful attitude.
• Sarah is an example of a woman of faith who trusted God and voluntarily submitted to her husband’s limited authority even when her husband proved untrustworthy.
• In 1 Peter 3:7, he turns to believing husbands, warning them that while they may have cultural permission to treat their wives unfairly, God calls them to treat their wives with the honor and respect they deserve as equals.
• In each example his advice is the same:  Love your oppressor so that your faith is not interpreted as rebellion and hostility, and they may see God’s grace through you.

Please listen to the podcast for more detail and explanation.

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Previous: 05 1Peter 2:11-25 When you’re treated unjustly

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My last boss was so bad, she inspired me to start my own business.  About two weeks after I started my job, my boss stopped showing up for work.  Then my only remaining co-worker stopped showing up for work.  In their absence, I did my best to keep our project on track.  My boss would appear at crucial meetings to take credit for my work.

I’d like to say that I handled this situation as a gleaming example of submission to an unfair master.  But, truthfully, I grudgingly did what was right with gritted teeth and seething hostility.  And I only managed that thanks to the wise counsel of my pastor at the time.

In 1Peter 2:11-25, Peter addresses this very situation: How should you respond when you are being treated unjustly?

Review

Peter is writing to give his readers the right perspective on life.  In 1:1-12 Peter presents that right perspective:  the good news about the work of Jesus the Messiah.

Coming to faith in Jesus is such a profound change Peter calls it being born again.  We have been rescued from God’s wrath and from our guilt but there is more that we need to be rescued from.

The future rescue is what he calls our living hope of an eternal inheritance guarded for us in the kingdom of heaven. In the future, death will be completely defeated and our rescue will be completed.  Meanwhile, we live in a world that looks at things differently than we do and may even hate us. We are faced with choices about how to live and act, and we should make them based on our hope in the gospel.

Then in 1Peter 2:1-10, he encourages us to long for the word the way a newborn longs for milk. Wisdom and understanding nourish our faith the way milk nourishes a baby and causes growth.  He then ended that section with several quotes from Isaiah and Psalms to inspire us that as God’s people we are part of the sweep of redemptive history and are being built into a living temple with Christ as the cornerstone.

1Peter 2:11 begins a new section of the book.  He’s finished laying the groundwork of our hope, our inheritance and our status as God’s people.  Now he’s going to  apply it.

The Principle

¹¹Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. ¹²Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. – 1Peter 2:11-12 ESV

• Peter gives us the principle in 1Peter 2:11-12.  Then he applies that principle to 3 situations where someone is being treated unfairly in a binding social relationship: a citizen under an unjust government, a slave under an unjust master and a wife married to an unbelieving husband.  This talk examines the first 2 examples.
• He gives us the principle in both a negative and a positive– a “don’t do this” and “do this instead.”
• On the negative side, resist and reject desires fueled by your own selfishness.
• On the positive side, strive to keep your behavior excellent and above reproach among nonbelievers,  In doing so, you reflect God’s grace to them.

Applied to citizens of an unjust government

¹³Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, ¹⁴or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. ¹⁵For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. ¹⁶Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. ¹⁷Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. – 1Peter 2:13-17 ESV

• Peter is aware of the dangers faced of living under an oppressive government.  Nero is on the Roman throne as he writes.
• In 1Peter 2:13, he tells us submission is for the Lord’s sake and in 2:15 he tells us that this is the will of God and that we are submitting as free people.
• We do not submit because the king is our master, but rather because God is our master and that is the way He wants us to behave.
• The goal is to silence the ignorance of foolish people.  His concern is the message we send to unbelieving neighbors.
• As a citizens of the kingdom of God, we have a right to see ourselves as free from all human institutions but we are to conduct ourselves such that we communicate we stand for justice.  As far as we can in good conscience, we should lives that communicates that we are not exempt from the demands of justice and public order.

Applied to servants of an unjust master

¹⁸Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. ¹⁹For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. ²⁰For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. ²¹For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. ²²He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. ²³When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. ²⁴He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. ²⁵For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. – 1Peter 2:18-25 ESV

The interpretative question:  Is telling a slave to submit to his master like blaming the victim?  Why not talk to the unjust master?

1. Roman slavery was not like American civil war slavery. Roman slaves were paid and had most of the rights of free citizens.
2. In the context in each of his examples, the people in power are wrong.  That’s a given in his argument.
3. He is writing to believers who find themselves in a bad situation which they cannot easily escape.

Why would God call a believer to submit to an unjust master?

• Peter is encouraging believers to submit when God takes them through suffering just like we trust God in every circumstance.
• Christ modeled this for us.  He trusted God in the midst of truly unjust suffering because he knew God had a purpose for that suffering.
• Peter quotes Isaiah 53 to emphasize that Jesus did not strike back when he suffered unjustly so that we might be rescued.
• Just as Jesus’ suffering had a clear redemptive purpose, so our suffering might have a redemptive purpose.
• Peter’s advice does not mean the difficult situations will comes out better for you (the one suffering).  Rather like Jesus sacrificed himself to save us, we ought to be concerned with the destiny of others to the point of taking costly burdens and unjust treatment.
• Act in such as way that others see your hope and maybe they will come to share it.

Please listen to the podcast for more detail and explanation.

Next : 06 1Peter 3:1-7 When you’re treated unfairly

Previous: 04 1Peter 2:1-10 Living Stones

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Have you ever seen a map of the universe taken from space, so you can actually see the billions and billions of stars?  First, they impress upon you how there are too many stars to count, then they point to 1 tiny insignificant pinpoint of light and label it “you are here.”  The purpose is to make you feel insignificant.

In 1Peter 2:1-10, Peter does the opposite.  He cites the Old Testament to explain the God’s majestic plan for redemptive history and insists believers are part of it. Rather than demoralize us with how insignificant we are, Peter is seeking to inspire us with the plan of God and how we are a part of it.

Review

• In 1Peter 1:1-12, Peter explained the living hope we have as believers and the inheritance we have in the kingdom of God.  While we have been rescued from our guilt by the blood of Christ and the Holy Spirit has begun his sanctifying work in us, in the meantime we are in the process of testing and strengthening our faith.
• In 1Peter 1:13-25, he gave 3 examples of how faith changes us:  1) We now strive to be holy (1:14-16);  2) We love God (1:17-21); and we love our fellow believers (1:22-25).

Passage

¹So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. ²Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation– ³if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. ⁴As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, ⁵you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” ⁷So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” ⁸and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. ⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. – 1Peter 2:1-10 ESV

• 1Peter 2 starts “Therefore” (since we have this hope and inheritance and our faith will be test), long for a deeper understanding of God’s word the way a newborn longs for its mothers milk.
• Just like milk is life to a newborn, coming to a deep understanding God’s word is the milk that nourishes wisdom and maturity in us.  The more we understand wisdom, the more our lives reflect it.
• Peter gives his conclusion first in 1Peter 2:4-5, then he quotes 4 different Old Testament passages.

• God has this great redemptive purpose for His people, which began 1000s of years ago.
• Jesus Christ is at the center of everything God is doing.
• By believing in Jesus, you are part of His people and plan.
• But you have a choice. You have to decide if you will reject or accept the cornerstone: Jesus Christ.
• God is building on this foundation of Jesus Christ.  Those who will stumble on it will be destroyed.  Those who stand securely on that foundation will be built into something glorious.
• Once you had no hope, but now you have a hope that will not disappoint.
• Therefore, stand firm and be strong in your faith.

Please listen to the podcast for more detail and explanation.

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In 1Peter 1:14-25, Peter explains that the gospel gives us a living hope that ought change every aspect of our lives.  Just as the Olympic athletes change their values, their goals, their actions, their words and their daily routines in light of their Olympic goals, so the gospel ought to change us.

Review

Trials force us to ask the basic life questions like:  Who or what am I counting on?  Where will I find life?  What is the right thing to do?  What do I value?  Trials test our faith – that is whether we believe the promises of the gospel.  Peter said in 1Peter 1:3-13 that persevering in faith and remaining steadfast through trials is more precious than gold.  Now, in light of the fact that we have this hope and we live in this time after the resurrection, he explains how our lives change.

Peter makes this connection between how what we believe changes our lives 3 different ways:

1. As believers we understand God is morally holy and we are called to be like Him (1Peter 1:14-16).
2. Since our salvation came at the great cost of Christ’s blood, we should take our salvation seriously and love God with all our hearts (1Peter 1:17-21).
3. We should commit ourselves the project of loving the people of God and longing for more of His word (1Peter  1:22-25).

Passage

¹³Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” – 1Peter 1:13-16

• 1Peter 1:13 transitions from what we believe to the difference it makes.  He says: get serious, soberly remember what you are hoping for and let that hope fully inform your daily choices.
• Faith teaches us that God is holy and we are to be like Him in holiness. Things that are holy are set apart to belong to God and marked as His.
• Peter quotes a phrase that shows up in Leviticus 11:44-45 and Leviticus 19:2.
• God gave Israel rituals in the Old Testament laws that illustrate the difference between clean and unclean, holy and profane.
• The rituals reminded the Jews that not everything is clean and what belongs to God ought to be clean.

¹⁷And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, ¹⁸knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you ²¹who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. – 1Peter 1:14-21 ESV

• As believers, we now understand the atoning work of Christ. That knowledge changes the way we live.
• In this context, the one I fear is the one who’s opinion I care most about and value above all others.
• The mercy God showed His people came at great personal cost. Sin is a big problem that required a costly solution.
• To realize where we stand with God is the most important thing in this life and we ought to live and act as if that is true.
• To live in fear of God is to take the gospel seriously and understand that we were bought at great cost and respond accordingly.
• From the beginning, God intended that Christ would come and we are privileged to live in the time after that has happened.

²²Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, ²³since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; ²⁴for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, ²⁵but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you. – 1Peter 1:12-25 ESV

• If I believe the gospel, then I ought to recognize I am bonded to other believers in a profound way. We share the same hope, the same Father and we strive toward the same things in this life.
• Loving God means loving what He loves which includes His people.
• In 1Peter 1:22, “love one another earnestly” is not to love emotionally, but to make it endure and remain steadfast, even when it’s not easy.

Please listen to the podcast for more detail and explanation.

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In the field of psychology,  “locus of control” refers to the extent to which a person believes they can control the world around them.  People with a strong internal locus of control tend to attribute the outcome of events to factors under their own control. People with a strong external locus of control attribute outcomes of events to external circumstances.  But both have a perspective which influences and predicts their actions.  The book of 1 Peter is about that big perspective.  In a sense, Peter is writing to explain a “gospel locus of control.”

¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. – 1Peter 1:1-2 ESV

• 1 Peter follows the typical format for a New Testament letter:  author, recipient(s), greetings, body of the letter, close.
• Peter identifies himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
• The cities named are in a large part of Asia Minor (modern Turkey).
• This theme of being “aliens who are chosen” runs throughout the letter.
• This letter is from Peter, as apostle with the authority to speak for and about Jesus.  It’s written to God’s people who are living among unbelievers as “exiles,” because their lives have changed as a result of belonging to God.  They have a new “locus of control.”

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷so that the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, ⁹obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. ¹⁰Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, ¹¹inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. ¹²It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. ¹³Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. – 1Peter 1:1-13 ESV

• When Peter wrote this letter, Nero’s was beginning his persecutions of Christians.
• In sending Jesus Christ to die for us, God has given us new birth.  We were spiritually dead but now we are spiritually alive and therefore we now have a living hope.
• Hope is a confident eager expectation that something will happen.  It is not a wish or desire.
• Based on the mercy of God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we confidently eagerly look forward to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, and kept secure by the power of God.
• The trials we face now test the genuineness of our faith; knowing we have genuine saving faith is valuable.
• Therefore, Peter says, free your mind from the distractions and desires that would entangle you and focus on the hope that is coming.

Please listen to the podcast for more detail and explanation.

Next : 03 1Peter 1:14-25 Hope makes a difference

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