I Peter
1:3
(A
Bible Study Led by Dr. Larry Reynolds)
April
25, 2013
In our initial session in I Peter we saw
that this letter was directed toward Christians scattered throughout northern
Asia Minor. The letter was written
shortly after the Neronian persecution of Christians began in Rome in the
mid-sixties of the 1st century. Peter wrote to warn Christians of the coming
persecution and to remind them of the resources available to them to help them
through difficult times. We saw that in
the opening verses Peter identifies himself (“an apostle”), his
readers (“aliens … scattered … chosen”), and offers a salutation (“grace…peace”)
It seems to me the main
theme which is interwoven throughout this paragraph, the theme which is the
stack pole around which everything else is built is the theme of salvation. In my opinion, the thesis statement around
which this paragraph is built is v.9 where Peter speaks of “...obtaining
as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.” And three times
in this paragraph the word “salvation” is used in the ten verses
of this paragraph.
According
to survey conducted by the Barna Research Group:
·
More than one-half of people in our
nation believe if a person is good enough or does enough good things for other
people, that person can earn his/her way into heaven.
·
More than one-third of those who
identified themselves as born again Christians expressed the belief that a good
person can earn his/her way into heaven.
·
44% said all people, regardless of their
religious beliefs, experience the same outcome after they die.
Those
opinions are nowhere near what the Bible teaches about salvation. From I Peter 1:3 I want to point out several
basic biblical principles about salvation.
I know that you have heard these principles many times, but they cannot
be over-emphasized.
I.
SALVATION
IS GOD’S WORK, NOT OURS
1. Notice
the opening phrase of verse 3 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ…” The word
translated “blessed” is not the same word used in Matthew 5 in those
sayings of Jesus known as “The
Beatitudes.” That word is makarios and it essentially means
fulfilled or prosperous, and in the context of Matthew 5 it means spiritually
prosperous. The word in I Peter 1:3 is eulogetos. Our word eulogy comes from his word. The first part of the word (eu) means well or good, and the last
part of the word (logetos) means to
speak a word. So the word “blessed”
essentially means to speak a good word about someone, as we would do in a
eulogy.
2. Why
are we to speak a good word about “…the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ…?” Because He has done an
extraordinary thing. He “…has
caused us to be born again…” How
that is worded is extremely important.
We did not cause ourselves to be born again; God did it!
3. Actually
this entire paragraph stresses the activity of the entire godhead—Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit—in the salvation process.
God the Father is the central figure in verses 3–5, God the Son, in
verses 6–9, and God the Holy Spirit, in verses 10–12. [1]
4. And
because salvation is the work of God, it necessarily follows that it is not our
work. Our salvation does not depend on
what we do. We are not saved by being
good or going to church or by abstaining from certain things. We cannot in anyway achieve salvation. All we can do is receive the salvation God
has made available to us through Jesus.
And if we fall into the trap of believing that we must do something to
earn or merit salvation, we will never feel secure because we will never be
sure if we have done enough.
II.
SALVATION
IS ROOTED IN THE MERCY OF GOD
1. Notice
the verse says that “…according to His great mercy…” we’ve been “…born
again…” There are several significant
things about that phrase:
·
“…according to…” – One writer
(Wuest, Kenneth) suggests this should be translated “impelled by” rather than “according
to…” God’s mercy was the driving
force that caused Him to provide for our salvation. His mercy compelled Him.
·
“…great…” – The root of the word
means much or many. Our word abundant would capture the idea behind
this word. His mercy is overflowing,
extravagant, more than enough.
·
“…mercy…” – This is one of the great
words in the Bible. In the Old Testament
the word is hesed and it is often
translated kindness or loving kindness. It carries the idea of doing something for
another that the recipient does not deserve.
The motivation for the act is not in the worthiness of the recipient but
in the heart of the one doing the acting.
In the New Testament this word is used in Luke 10:37 to describe the
actions of the man who has become known as “the good Samaritan.” He bound up the wounds of and tenderly cared
for another person, expecting nothing in return.
Taken together the
phrase “…according to His great mercy…” can be paraphrased “…compelled by His abundant loving
kindness…”
2. There
is a very important theological truth to be gleaned from that. The biblical message is that God’s basic
stance toward us is one of mercy and grace, not condemnation and judgment. That is engrained into the very nature of
God. God created us to live in relationship with Him. However, the Scripture makes it clear that
every one of us has chosen our way over God’s way. The Bible calls that choice sin and our sin
has created a barrier between us and God.
Our fellowship with God, our relationship with God has been broken
because of sin.
3. However,
it is important to understand that our sin did not cause God to move away from
us or give up on us. The separation
between us and God occurred because we moved away from Him. And the wonderful news of the gospel is that
God’s heart toward us has remained consistent.
He is ever the loving father yearning for us to return to Him. We come into judgment and condemnation only
if we reject God’s mercy and grace.
4. God
loves us and wants us to have the best life we can possibly have. He’s not some mean, angry monster up in the
sky just waiting to pounce on us. He is
a loving Heavenly Father who genuinely desires the best for us. The starting point of salvation is the understanding
that God is a God of mercy and grace and love to whom we can entrust our lives
with confidence.
III.
SALVATION
INVOLVES A RADICAL CHANGE IN OUR LIVES
1.
Twice in
this brief letter, once in the verse on which we are focusing in this session
and again in 1:23, Peter describes Christians as those who have been “born
again.” He also speaks of Christians as being “like
newborn babes” in 2:2. Now Peter didn’t
just make-up that concept. No doubt, he
learned it from Jesus, Himself. For it
was Jesus who said to Nicodemus in John 3, “Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
2.
Using the analogy of birth to describe the
salvation process tells us, among other things, that salvation involves a
radical change in us. One writer put it
this way: “The Christian is a [person] who has been reborn; [a person]
who has been begotten again by God to a new and a different kind of life. Whatever else this means, it means that, when
a [person] becomes a Christian, there comes into his/her life a change so
radical and so decisive that it can only be described as being born again.”
[Paraphrase of Barclay, p.202]
3.
Salvation inevitably involves change in our
lives. It’s not that we have to change
ourselves. But when God takes up
residence in our hearts, He begins to change us. He changes us from the inside out. The old desires, old loves, old priorities
are gradually replaced by new desires, new loves, and new priorities. The Apostle Paul put it this way in II
Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore,
if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away;
behold, new things have come.”
4.
Notice that Peter says we’ve been “…born
again to a living hope…” We are
going to explore that phrase in more detail in the next session, but at this
time I want you to notice the word “living.” That is one of Peter’s favorite words and is
a recurring theme of this letter. It is
used in 1:3, 23; 2:4, 5, 24; and 4:5, 6.
Salvation is the process of moving from spiritual death to spiritual
life. There is no greater change than
that!
IV.
SALVATION
IS BASED ON THE WORK OF JESUS
1.
At the end of this verse Peter tells us that it
is “…through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...”
that we have “…been born again to a living hope…”
2.
What want you to see in that is God accomplished
our salvation through Jesus. While Peter
mentions specifically the resurrection of Jesus, it is impossible to get to the
resurrection apart from the other significant historical facts about Jesus’
life.
3.
From earliest days of Christianity has been a
dangerous tendency by some to de-emphasize the historical events in the life of
Christ. The tendency is to think of
Christianity in broad, philosophical terms and to de-emphasize its historical
basis. It is important to understand
that our salvation does not rest on a philosophy or a creed or a code of ethics
or a set of rules. Our salvation rests
squarely on the acts of God in Jesus---
--Jesus was born of a virgin in
Bethlehem of Judea...
--He lived a sinless life...
--He died on the cross for the sins of
the world...
--And by the power of God he rose from
the dead...
Those
are facts of history, not assertions of philosophy. Our salvation is based on what Jesus did in
history.
I
Peter 1:3 – “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…”
·
SALVATION
IS GOD’S WORK, NOT OURS
·
SALVATION
IS ROOTED IN THE MERCY OF GOD
·
SALVATION
INVOLVES A RADICAL CHANGE IN OUR LIVES
·
SALVATION
IS BASED ON THE WORK OF JESUS
It is no wonder the
writer of Hebrews exclaimed, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great
a salvation!” (Hebrews 2:3)
[1]
Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest's word studies
from the Greek New Testament: For the English reader (1 Pe 1:3). Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans.
