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1 Peter 1

Led to be a Marvelous Light by a Merciful God
(God's builds His house of faith, holiness and love)

 

 

Chapter One Outline 

Next Chapter

 

1   


3 -4

5 -7

8 -9

10 -12

13  

14 -21

22 -25

God Chooses His House

How God Works

Before and After God's Mercy

Testing and Refining Faith

The Flourishing Seed of Faith

Servers of Seed

Battle Ready Believer

A Helmet for the Girded Walk

Thy Word Returns to Thee in Praise

 


 God Chooses His House

VERSE 1   (1)Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, (2)who are chosen.
Throughout the scriptures, God's work of salvation is often described as His house and as His plantings (for example, a vineyard). These two metaphors are weaved throughout Peter's letter as he describes how believers reside on earth both as building stones and little seed plantings. God is at work!

Strangers in the world; at home in heaven

 


VERSE 2   (2)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:

"according to the foreknowledge of God the Father"
God the Father is the architect of salvation. His plan is being executed through history by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. (click on "foreknowledge")

 

The Father is the Architect

 

"by the sanctifying work of the Spirit"
The Holy Spirit is the tool or nameless servant that sets apart and fastens the heart of fallen man to the word of God; The progression is: first conviction by the word (the gospel), followed by being born-again of that word and then growth in the word. (click on "sanctifying" above)

The Spirit is the Fastener

 

"to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood"
Jesus is the builder of the Father's plan. He carried the Father's word into the world and became the blood sacrifice by which the way has been made open for man to be re-created in Christ as the Father's house, with Christ as the Cornerstone.

      The Son's Role of Builder and Blood Provider is seen in New Testament
      He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.
      For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house...but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house-- whose house we are..." Heb 3:2-3,6 [Both Moses and Jesus are viewed as builders of the Father's house plans. Moses was the O.T. earthly shadow of which Jesus and New Jerusalem are the heavenly realites]

      "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption" Heb. 9:11-12

      Old Testament Shadow of the Son's Role as Builder and Blood Provider
      For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, "THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT WHICH GOD COMMANDED YOU." And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood.  And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
      Heb 9:19-22

      [Moses was a type of Christ; He followed God's plan for building the Tabernacle and applied the blood to cleanse its vessels]

       

The Son is the Builder and the Cornerstone

       

"May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure"
"Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied"
(kjv)
All of God's favor toward man is supplied by His grace. However, when grace and peace are mentioned separately as a package, the grace component refers to that which God provides---accentuating the positive---primarily eternal life, fruits of the Spirit and our heavenly inheritance. The peace component eliminates the negative by removing and protecting us from the spiritual harm that comes to us because of sin---our sin and the sin of others. It is the Father's plan that His grace should abound in us by the fruits of the Spirit---and His peace by the cleansing of our conscience and peace of mind amidst our spiritual battles.

God's grace grows in us


 How Mercy Works

VERSE 3-4   (3)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, (4)to {obtain} an inheritance {which is} imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"
Jesus Christ is God, but He referred to the Father as His God because the Father was and is the Head of Christ, just as Jesus is the Head of the Church. (1Cor.11:1-2)

"who according to His great mercy has caused us to be..."
The Father's mercy is extolled because salvation of fallen man is His plan.  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." (John3:16)

 

Before Receiving Mercy

Fallen man is born dead to God (Eph 2:1-3)

Mercy on Earth

"born again"

After Receiving Mercy

In Christ, we have become new creatures---born of His word and Spirit. (Eph 2:4-5)


 


Without Christ, fallen man is on the road of destruction and can only look forward to death and hell. It's a dead hope! (prov 14:12)

"to a living hope"

Having received life by the Sprit, the earnest of our inheritance, we look forward to a living hope, the fullness of that inheritance (Eph 2:6-7)


Heart of Fallen man


Heart of the New Man

 

 

Fallen man inherits a body of death from Adam. And from an earthly Father he inherits possessions that pass away (Jas.1:11)

Inheritance in heaven

"to obtain an inheritance"

 

 

Believers will share in all the promises of inheritance given to Christ through Abraham. (Gal 3:14, 16, 27, 29). Scripture mentions three major parts of this inheritance that await us in heaven:

1) Heavenly body (Eph. 1:13-14)  (1Cor.15:37-38, 48-50)
2) Heavenly home
(Heb 11:8-10)
3) Reward of heavenly crowns
(Col.3:23-24)

 

Perishable bodies are inherited from Adam

 

"which is imperishable"
 ä'-fthär-tos = incorruptibe, immortal, as opposed to earthly bodies that decay

We have been born again of the imperishable word of God and the Holy Spirit.  Upon our arrival to heaven, these new hearts will have the same imperishable body that Jesus has. (1Jn 3:2)

Inherits a place in a world that stains its inhabitants (James 1:27)

 

"and undefiled"
ä-me'-än-tos = unsoiled, unspotted or unstained from the world and sinners

The promised city of our inheritance, New Jerusalem, will be undefiled. (2 Peter 3:13)

 

The rich man and his ways will disappear (Jas 1:11). And ultimately, earth and everything in it will melt away at the end of time (2Peter 3:10-11)

The Hope and Inheritance of Fallen Man

"and will not fade away"
ä-mä'-rän-tos = does not disappear

 

"reserved in heaven for you"

 

 

 

In heaven, we will be given crowns as rewards for our service (1Peter 5:4)

 

The Hope and Inheritance of Believers

 

God's mercy to man is through the cross

 


Testing and Refining Faith

 

VERSE 5-7  (5)who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (6)In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials (7)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;

 

 

Led through trials for greater heavenly glory


 How Faith Works
 (the flourishing seed of faith)

 

VERSE 8-9    (8)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, (9)obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

The seed of salvation


VERSE 10-12   (10)As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that {would come} to you made careful searches and inquiries, (11)seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. (12)It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven--things into which angels long to look.

 


VERSE 13 (13)Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober {in spirit,} fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

This passage along with 1Peter 4:7 and 1Peter 5:8 are three parts of Peter's explicit exhortation to a battle ready mind against our spiritual enemies whose aim is to cause us to sin.

VERSE 14-21  (14)As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts {which were yours} in your ignorance, (15)but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all {your} behavior; (16)because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." (17)If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay {on earth;} (18)knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, (19)but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, {the blood} of Christ. (20)For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you (21)who 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.

The Father's likeness is carried in his seed

Consider we are free indeed

We are to bear our Father's likeness

To reject God's word is to choose futility

Fallen man walks according to perishing ways handed down from earthly fathers 

The Priceless Blood of Christ

God's plan of salvation: Sinner ---> saved on earth ---> 'caught up' in the heavenly glory of Christ

God offer to fallen man:   Blood for our sins  +  Spirit for new life  +  Promise of heavenly inheritance

Christ is the evacuation route from a cursed and perishing world


 Thy Word Returns to Thee in Praise

 

Verse 22 - 25 (22)Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from a pure heart, (23)for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, {that is,} through the living and enduring word of God. (24)For, "ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF, (25)BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER." And this is the word which was preached to you.

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