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1 Peter 1:3–5
“Blessed 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, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
When we suffer tribulation, and especially persecution for the sake of Christ, being reminded again of what He has done for us helps us hold fast to our faith. Knowing what we will experience in its fullness if we persevere keeps us moving forward, faithful to our confession. The Apostle Peter begins his first epistle, written to those suffering for the faith, with a reminder of what we have in the Lord Jesus.
Peter focuses, unsurprisingly, on the blessings of salvation. He begins by noting that God “has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:3). This statement presents for us the essential truth that ultimately, salvation is the work of our Creator alone. He alone causes us to be born again. We do—and we must—place our faith in the Lord to be redeemed, but our faith results from God’s prior work of regeneration in us. He must take the sovereign initiative to give us eyes to see the kingdom of God so that we can believe and enter it (John 3:1–8). Since we have hearts of stone unwilling and unable to trust the Lord’s promises, God the Holy Spirit must take away these hearts and give us living hearts of flesh that are willing and able to believe (Ezek. 36:22–27). He alone regenerates us, and when He changes our hearts, we will inevitably believe. He cannot fail because the power by which He renews our hearts is the very same power that defeated death in the resurrection of Christ (1 Peter 1:3).
God rebirths us to “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (vv. 4–5). Peter refers here to the aspect of salvation called glorification, which includes the resurrection of our physical bodies at the last day (1 Cor. 15:20–57). We do not receive all of salvation’s blessings at once; some things will not be ours until Christ returns, at least not in their fullness. Our conversion and the declaration that we are righteous in God’s sight guarantee our resurrection, so in one sense we have already been saved. Still, as we await the resurrection, there is another sense in which we are not yet saved because until then we live in bodies that are subject to decay and death. Thus, as Dr. R.C. Sproul writes in his commentary on 1 and 2 Peter, “ultimately, we shall be saved when we enter into the fullness of the inheritance that is being reserved.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Besides reminding us of the fullness of salvation ahead of us, 1 Peter 1:3–5 includes praise to God. This, as Dr. Sproul comments, gives us an important goal for theology. He writes, “When theology does not begin and end with doxology, it becomes merely an abstract intellectual exercise in which the heart is not engaged and the soul is not properly moved.” As we explore Scripture, we should begin with praise to God and a desire to be led to even deeper praise.
For further study
- Psalm 66
- Daniel 12:1–2
- John 5:25–29
- Romans 11:33–36
The bible in a year
- Judges 11–12
- Luke 9:28–62