1 Peter: A Pilgrim’s Progress
1 Peter is a letter from Peter to the believers who had been dispersed throughout the ancient world and were under intense persecution. If anyone understood persecution, it was Peter. He was beaten, threatened, punished, and jailed for preaching the Word of God. He endured without bitterness, without losing hope and in great faith living an obedient, victorious life.
1 Peter 1a: “To those who are elect exiles….”
- Grammatical Usage: “elect” or in the Greek, “eklektos” meaning, “chosen of God”; “exiles” or “parepidémos” meaning, “sojourning in a strange place.”
- Literal Interpretation: To all the children of God, living in obedience to God and laboring to represent God to those who are not yet His….
- Contextual/Comparison: God keeps His Word: God continually uses His Word. The Gospel of John then tells the story of Jesus’ last recorded miracle, when he overwhelmed his disciples’ fishing nets. He then speaks privately with Peter. Just as Peter had denied Jesus three times, Jesus asks him three times: “do you love me?” It is here that Peter is restored, having denied his master in his hour of need, and is called to “feed my sheep” and “follow me” (John 21:17, 19). After redemption and reinstatement, he writes:
- Back in eternity, before time or creation, he and we were ‘ELECT(ED)’ and chosen by God. Peter gives a description of the people to whom he is writing ( 1-2) using seven key-words which, re-arranged, are:
- elect: chosen
- foreknowledge: like Peter, despite knowing all about me, my sin, my failure, my weakness, the Lord chose me
- blood (below)
- sanctifying: setting a person apart for holiness
- obedience
- strangers
- scattered
- God the Son, the Lord Jesus, shed His precious ‘BLOOD’ to redeem us and to make us His own. Our salvation was planned in eternity, but it was purchased at Calvary 2000 years ago (v. 2). In this letter Peter gives great prominence to the doctrine of the atonement (see 1:18-20; 2:21-24; 3:18). In the fullness of time, the Lord Jesus came, and by His death and atoning sacrifice He provided a righteous basis upon which those elected according to God’s foreknowledge were brought back into fellowship with God.
- God the Holy Spirit performed the work of ‘SANCTIFYING’, setting us apart from the rest of mankind to be the recipients of His grace. The Holy Spirit has sought us, identified us and set us apart to be the Lord’s. This is what the Holy Spirit is doing today. He is seeking and setting apart those God the Father has chosen, that they might be washed in the blood of Jesus and brought into the family of the redeemed (Acts 15:13-14). How was it you became interested in spiritual things and in the Lord Jesus? It was only because the Holy Spirit was at work in your heart (John 6:65).
- We were given the gift of faith, the power to believe and to render ‘OBEDIENCE’ to the truth. Notice the words ‘for obedience’ (v. 2). The work of the Holy Spirit was not only to set us apart but to give us the gift of faith (John 3:5-8; compare Romans 10:17). Through faith the life of God is imparted and the soul, once dead, becomes regenerate; notice the last part of 1 Corinthians 12:3, “no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.” Christians have been saved for obedience. This means that we not only obey the Lord when we hear the gospel, yield to Him and trust Him as our Savior, but we should go on to live a life of obedience as an act of praise.
- Having saved us we are now ‘STRANGERS’, Pilgrims. In v. 1 Peter speaks about ‘strangers’, ‘scattered’…these first Christians to whom he was writing were Jews (and Gentiles) – ‘pilgrims of the dispersion’…as are we. We are not to settle here, for this earth is not our home; we are ‘exiles’ on earth but citizens of Heaven: “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3:20-21).
- We have been ‘SCATTERED’ abroad to be God’s witnesses to all nations.
Just as the Jews have been scattered all over the world, so we Christians have been scattered that we might be His witnesses to the nations. The Greek word means ‘scattered alongside the people of…’, which means He has placed you in your home, your office, your town, your country to be a witness just there: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
- Our call to praise. “Praise be to God for giving us through Christ every possible spiritual benefit as citizens of Heaven! For consider what he has done—before the foundation of the world he chose us to become, in Christ, his holy and blameless children living within his constant care. He planned, in his purpose of love, that we should be adopted as his own children through Jesus Christ—that we might learn to praise that glorious generosity of his which has made us welcome in the everlasting love he bears towards the Son” – Ephesians 1:4-6. Our spiritual blessings include:
- God’s love
- God’s forethought
- God’s provision
- God’s constant care
When we see what God has done for us and our privilege to be His witnesses, surely our hearts are moved to love Him more and to obey Him fully.
- Conclusion: Peter…impetuous and prone to many mistakes…focused on God instead of himself proving mightily used. Wish to be used of God too? Where is your focus?
