WWUTT 301 An Introduction to 1 Peter?

Peter begins his letter, 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, when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Open your Bible to 1 Peter 1.

We are beginning a new study this week in the progression of the epistles. 1 Peter is the next letter that we are looking at.

So 1 Peter 1, we're going to read through the first dozen or so verses here. Peter introduces himself, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

According 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.

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.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so 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.

Though 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, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the

Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

It 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 have preached the good news to you by the

Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

And that's the section that we're going to be looking at this week as we begin our study of the book of 1

Peter. Peter the Apostle, the one who was closest to Christ, is the author of this letter.

Now, that authorship is debated, but goodness gracious,

I think every authorship of every book in the New Testament is debated by some scholar in some form or another.

There are those that try to say that Peter was writing at a later date, perhaps under the rule of Domitian or Trajan, but if that was the case, then it could not have been

Peter writing the letter because he would have been martyred prior to the destruction of the temple in 70

AD. Domitian was emperor beginning in 81, so it could not have been

Peter who was the author of this letter. But for a person to date the letter that late, they have already rejected

Peter as its author. So if Peter is the author, it would have been sometime during the reign of Nero, which puts the writing of this letter sometime between 54 and about 65

AD. So somewhere in that window was when Peter would have written this particular letter, and then his second letter would have come shortly after that.

There are significant differences between 1 Peter and 2 Peter, but the reason for that is likely because there were two different writers.

Peter mentions, and again, Peter still being the author, but he would have gone through somebody who would have been transcribing the letter as he was dictating it.

Toward the end of 1 Peter, 1 Peter 5, verse 12, he says, By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him,

I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that is the true grace of God.

Stand firm in it. She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does

Mark my son. Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ.

That's the very end of the letter. So Silvanus is mentioned as the one who is writing the letter as Peter is dictating it.

Mark likely would have been with Silvanus perhaps in the delivery of this letter to those particular churches in the places that are mentioned at the start of the letter, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the

Father. Now, oftentimes when we see that word dispersion, historians in particular will say, well, that's attributed to the

Jews who were dispersed among the Roman Empire. But Peter is likely using that word as a figure of speech, talking about how all

Christians have been dispersed among the Roman Empire, how we are all exiles in this world because this world is not our home.

Instead, we are fixed heavenward toward a glory that awaits us if we endure, if we continue in the faith in Jesus Christ.

And Peter even talks about that very clearly here in the introduction of this letter that we are looking toward a future glory with Christ.

So the dispersion is a figure of speech, not specifically attributed to the Jews. And we also know that based on the churches that are being written to here,

Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, which was a mix of different ethnicities, backgrounds, and languages, but yet still part of the

Roman Empire, so Greek would have been the common language and this letter would have been written in Greek and read and understood among the

Greco -Roman world. Another indication that we get here that Peter's audience is primarily

Gentile and not Jew is something that's mentioned here in the first chapter in verse 14.

Peter says, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

And whenever we see in the epistles a mention of passions of former ignorance, it's always in reference to Gentiles.

They did not have the laws of Moses. They did not have the Old Testament. They did not know of this

God whom they had rebelled against. And through Christ Jesus, they have been reconciled, both

Jews and Gentiles, who are followers of Christ, reconciled back to God. This was a former ignorance among the

Gentiles that now at the proclamation of the gospel, they have turned from their old sinful ways, the former passions of their ignorance, and are now in the truth of Christ, growing in the knowledge of Him.

So this is the audience that Peter is writing to and the intention of this particular letter.

Before we continue on here, what is the intention of Peter's writing? Peter means to encourage his readers to endure suffering and persecution for the cause of Christ, knowing that their future reward is not something that they will receive on this earth, but is the glorious kingdom of our

God and Savior. And we've already gotten a little bit of that here, even in the first dozen verses that we have read.

Now, most of the persecution that Peter will address over the course of this letter is not physical. And it's not that physical persecution wasn't happening, but it was not yet as common and as prevalent, at least in the regions to which

Peter was writing. Now, if you lived in Rome, that would have been a different story. There were people that were being put to death because they would not declare

Caesar as Lord, even within the capital city of the world. But in these places in particular that Peter is writing to, it's mostly mockery and ridicule and derision.

It's verbal assaults because of this faith that they have. And that's not to say that people weren't being killed because that was definitely happening, but they were isolated incidents and not necessarily this great huge charge that was being given by a district governor in some way that Christians needed to be put to death.

The burning of Rome had not yet happened and then Nero blaming the Christians for that. And then there was the Christian persecution that happened there in the mid -60s

AD that had not yet occurred. So Peter is mostly encouraging his readers to remain steadfast, even in the face of people ridiculing you for your faith.

And he talks about how Christ himself was mocked and yet he did not open his mouth, but went quietly to the cross and died for our sins.

And so by the example of Christ, we need to demonstrate our faith the same way in this world.

There are people who are going to make fun of us, who are going to ridicule us because of this faith that we have.

In the United States of America in particular, it is the most common form of persecution that we are going to face.

Very, very few people are being put to death in the United States because they are Christians. Not to say that it doesn't happen, those kinds of things may still occur, though not necessarily by the government, but somebody else may raise their hand against a person simply because they were a

Christian. I have personally seen assaults, physical assaults happen because a person was proclaiming the gospel.

So those kinds of things do occur, even though they're not necessarily common occurrences and they don't necessarily happen by the hand of the government.

But we will definitely face verbal persecution for our faith. Now, that's me speaking to those who are in the

United States of America. We do have listeners from all over the world. And Peter even says here in 1

Peter 5, 9, Be firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. We also have this encouragement previously in chapter 4.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

Have you ever considered that before? That if you are ridiculed because of your faith in Christ Jesus, you are actually blessed?

The apostles we read about in the book of Acts rejoiced in God when they were persecuted because they were considered worthy to be persecuted for the name of Christ.

God considered them worthy to share in the sufferings of Christ. So when we are being ridiculed, it is a blessing.

And we should in fact celebrate our God and Savior for being considered worthy to share in the sufferings of Christ.

Notice that statement that Peter makes there in 1 Peter 4 .12. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.

But rejoice. Very similar to the way that James started his letter. And we will see some things here over the course of 1

Peter that are similar to what we've read from the apostle Paul and also what we saw previously from James.

So let's come back to the start of the letter here having received our background and the intention of the letter a little bit and also being encouraged to remain steadfast in the faith when there are those who will ridicule and persecute us for our faith.

And make no mistake, being made fun of for your faith is a form of persecution.

It's not the same as being beaten or watching your families be put to death, which are happening in some parts of the world as well because someone would proclaim the name of Jesus Christ.

It's not that kind of persecution, but it's still a persecution. And the most common form that we will all share in because no matter where we live and no matter what kind of freedoms are afforded us by the governments under which we live, we are still going to be ridiculed for our faith.

Christ has promised it will happen. And the reason why it happens in this world is because the Bible says that it will.

It was prophesied to take place. And so we need to rejoice and celebrate God knowing that we are blessed.

We are blessed by God when there are those who revile us. As Jesus said in Matthew 5, following the

Beatitudes, blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

And it's based on that theme that Peter is writing this letter. And we'll see some of the words of Christ come about even in some of the things that Peter writes to these churches.

1 Peter 1, verse 1. Once again, Peter identifying himself an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect, exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia according to the foreknowledge of God the

Father. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God. This doesn't mean that God saw that a person was going to make a particular decision at some point in the future and so therefore they're elect because they made that decision.

Foreknowledge means that God had placed his covenant affection on his people before they were even born.

Before the foundation of the world was laid. Our God's affections were upon us even before our parents knew what they were going to name us.

This is the love and the compassion that God has had for his people from the foundation of the world.

I love what is said by Charles Spurgeon. I am so glad that God chose me before the foundation of the world because he never would have chosen me after I was born.

So we have a loving God who has placed his affections on us before the world was even made and that is what

Peter is addressing here. That's what's contained in that word foreknowledge that God's affections were upon us before we even came to the faith.

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.

That's Peter's greeting to this letter. So here's verse 3. 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.

Yesterday in church we've been going through essential doctrines and the doctrine that we were talking about yesterday was the doctrine of a new creation that in Christ we are a new creation the old is passed away the new has come.

So of course the passage of scripture that I referenced to talk about being a new creation was out of 2

Corinthians chapter 5. It is verse 17 where we read that verse I just quoted. Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old has passed away behold the new has come and it is said here by the apostle

Paul in verse 14 for the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this that one has died for all therefore all have died and he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

And when we see that word all here in this context we know specifically that Paul is talking about all who are in Christ not every single person on the earth it's very easy to discern the context there as being all who are in Christ Jesus.

The love of Christ controls us and here Peter uses very similar language 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.

This is totally doctrine of election stuff language that's being used here at the start of Peter's letter to those who are elect according to the foreknowledge of God 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.

Very regularly I'll get letters from somebody who is saying how do I understand this concept of predestination because I see these things that are written throughout the

Bible about commands that we're told to repent that we're told to turn from this that we're told to follow

Jesus Christ that we need to make a decision and we need to follow Jesus so how is it that all of these things are predetermined when it is still upon us to make a particular decision well as far as your experience is concerned as far as what you know and have experienced you made a decision you chose to follow

Jesus you turn from your sin and you are a follower of Christ you are growing in sanctification you're growing in the knowledge of him you are applying his principles his commands his words to your heart every single day that you open up your

Bible and you read them and so as far as your concern as far as your experience goes you are doing this but when we read the theology in the scriptures when we read about doctrine we find out that we're only able to do any of these things because God has caused them to happen we do not manifest our faith we do not just concentrate and decide we're going to believe in God it is

God who has changed our heart and our mind to be able to seek after him when previously we could not before the work of the

Holy Spirit in our lives we could not seek God that's stated very plainly in Romans chapter 3 no one does good no one is righteous so therefore we can't do a righteous thing like worship

God no one even seeks for God no one's even looking for him we are following the passions of our flesh and looking after our own desires and that's it until the

Holy Spirit comes into us and changes us giving us a new heart and a new mind and this is spoken several times throughout the scriptures most notably the passage that I tend to come back to on this is in Ezekiel chapter 36 verse 26

I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I will cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules so when we study theology that's when we come to realize according to what

God has said in his word that he has done this not because of anything that we have done but because of what he has done salvation is from beginning to end the gracious work of God it is not the work of any man so your by your experience yes you made a decision to follow

Jesus Christ but according to the theology that is given to us in the scriptures you only made that decision because God made you to make that decision reforming your heart and your mind to be able to seek after God and worship

God with all your heart soul mind and strength that has been transformed by his spirit that's what we learn about when we read the scriptures and this doctrine of election very prevalent here at the beginning of Peter's letter we've started on a very strong note and we're going to continue to study these things all the more as we come back to them tomorrow let us have a huge idea of Jesus Christ as deity as God as Lord and Savior and that's what

Peter sets out at the beginning of his letter is making Christ big and we're going to look at this all the more tomorrow our

Lord God as we wrap up this study that we have looked at today reading about in this theology that is being unfolded by the

Apostle Peter that we were elect we were chosen before the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God the

Father you placed your affections upon us according to your great mercy we have been caused to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead so I pray as we meditate on these things we praise you all the more may we go throughout our day thinking about how great and merciful and loving a