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After having reviewed the perspective of the relatives of Christ, and then His most beloved disciple John, our next perspective of Jesus would come from perhaps His most outspoken and boisterous advocate, a former fisherman named Peter. By all indications, Peter was a distinctly Jewish man, proud of the heritage and traditions of the Jewish faith. While Peter was never a part of the rabbinical schools, or leadership of the faith, he was ever cognizant of the hope of the Messiah. He longed for it. But like many of us, he reasoned that he must work to provide for himself and his family until that day arrived. Let Andrew, his brother, have the luxury of being a dreamer, and spending all of his days at the river listening to the words of John the Baptist. Andrew could afford to be the idealist, because the pragmatist Peter would catch the fish, and keep the family fed. Peter may have thought to himself that God knew where he was, maybe God should take the time to come find him if He ever arrived. Imagine what he thought when that very thing happened.
Later in life, Peter after having been so close to Jesus, did things a formerly illiterate man could never have accomplished. He preached the gospel with power and conviction, in allowing the Holy Spirit to work through him, great numbers of people were convinced of the truth. He stood alone before the Sanhedrin at least twice, to defend his beliefs. He spoke to civil leaders, kings, and Roman authorities. And likely with the assistance of John Mark, often called simply Mark, his observations became part of the book called the Gospel of Mark which we will examine in the course of this study. Peter retained his fishing skills throughout his life. Jesus invited him to become a fisher of men. In addition, with that loud and booming persona, Peter would have made a good choral director. The integration of music and lyrical themes to help the disciples understand the messages of Christ as they sang and moved along dusty roads would have been a great assistance in retaining these words long after the Messiah had returned to His Father. After having so many experiences, and working so hard to see the hope of the gospel reach the waiting world, Peter thought it was time to convey by pen, what he might not be able to say in person.
So he begins in his first letter and verse 1 writing … “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,” The self-identification of Peter is defined in only one phrase, “an apostle of Jesus Christ”. He no longer associates himself as being a fisherman. He accepts the forgiveness of having denied his Lord three times at the most critical point in His ministry. He does not claim to be the bishop of any particular church, nor of the church at large. This letter is not meant to be coming from a person who has formal leadership responsibilities of any hierarchical structure, but only, from an apostle of Christ. He addresses it, to the “strangers” throughout Asia Minor. From Peter’s very traditional and Jewish centric point of view, the gentiles who he will now address are “strangers” to the Jewish faith and traditions. They do not have 1600 years of bloodlines that trace back to Abraham and affirm the great hope of the Messiah. This will be new to them. Jesus will be a new idea to them.
So he continues in verse 2 saying … “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” Peter identifies his audience as “elect”, despite their lack of history, tradition, and knowledge of the Messiah, they remain “faithful”, or “upright”, or “in good standing before God”. Peter then gives the reason for this condition; it is because of the “foreknowledge of God the Father”. In this way, Peter expresses to them that God the Father Himself, wished for these readers to be saved. He loved them. He was not unaware of their lives or their value, instead He treasured them so highly, He planned for their personal salvation, as He does for our own. Peter tells them the method of coming to this condition is … “through the sanctification of the Spirit”. Notice Peter has now joined Jude and John who we have previously examined and in perfect consistency shows salvation to occur as a GIFT brought about by the Holy Spirit. The transformation of our hearts and desires is NOT something we do for ourselves by our will and our choices. Our will, and our choices, and our actions are brought into obedience by the sanctification work of the Holy Spirit as we permit Him to do so.
Notice the very next words expressed by Peter, the results of the work of sanctification is … “unto obedience”. Sanctification is not some mental exercise where a proclamation of belief is the end of the story in our lives. It is the beginning of that story. When once embraced, it leads us to obedience, a desire to obey rather than to sin, a way of living that avoids the pain of sin and disobedience that was our former and natural state. Sanctification is real. It has an impact. It can be evidenced by the results it brings to our thinking, our motives, our choices, and our actions. The blood of Christ is not reserved only for the Jewish people; it will be sprinkled all over the world. It will be sufficient for those who have never before heard His name. It will be enough to save those who formerly called themselves His enemy. There is no limit to the blood of Christ, in either its power to save, reclaim, or transform, any who would submit their hearts unto Him and His Spirit.
Peter then offers his greeting, or perhaps his blessing, and intentions to his reading audience throughout that region of the world. He begins with “Grace”. It is the “Grace” of our Lord, that has the patience to transform us, in spite of our stubborn refusal to be transformed. It is His Grace that has patience to forgive us after again we find ourselves refusing His victories, and engaging in the sins we have repeated from our youth. His Grace is sufficient to save in spite of ourselves, and forgive the damage we do to His work in our lack of love reflected to others. He follows Grace, with “Peace”. “Peace” is pronounced to cover our dissention, our paranoia, our quest for power and control over each other, and over the church itself. To have unity within the church, we must have “Peace” with each other.
Peace with the world is not the goal, or the intent. Satan will not permit that kind of peace. But Peace with each other is something that SHOULD already be in place, and so often it is not. We foster our differences and allow our own perspectives to become so rigid, they cannot bend to accommodate the view of another, until we would prefer dissention within the church to the humility required for unity. Peter knows this. He has seen it happen within the ranks of the disciples themselves. So he reminds his readers that Grace, followed by Peace, are needed even now within the ranks of those that call themselves believers.
He continues in verse 3 … “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” Peter now offers his gratitude directly to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For those to whom Jewish traditions will be unfamiliar, those who do not know the story of Abraham being tested in offering up his son on the altar of faith. This is what God the Father has done with His only Son. Jesus Christ does indeed have a Father God. But unlike Zeus and Apollo, or the similar mythical stories upon which Greek and Roman religions are built, this Father God has “abundant mercy”. Every other deity requires worship and sacrifice or bad things will happen, caused by the anger of a god ignored or disobeyed. Our God, instead offers MERCY to those who call themselves His enemy, and wishes ONLY to have their pain removed forever. It is through His mercy (not His demands or threats of punishment), that He offers to us a rebirth, a “lively hope” – that is, a hope that our existence, our lives, are intended to be beyond just this world of pain. We can take that hope, because He has already raised and resurrected Jesus Christ from the dead.
The readers of the gospel of Peter may face threats of persecution and death from those around them who cling to Greek, Roman, or even traditional Jewish religious beliefs. These threats are real. And many will have seen them come to pass in the pain and death of those who they love. Yet despite this seeming reality, Peter says that our Father God, through His mercy, offers us Hope, in a life beyond the grave, as evidenced by what He has already done in resurrecting Jesus Christ from the dead. Our God is a God of mercy. He delights in the removal of our pain, not in the infliction of pain. He delights in our redemption, not in our punishment. He delights in our acceptance of His mercy, love, and forgiveness. He does not resent us for obtaining a “get out of jail free” card. Instead He hopes that every single one of us, would take advantage of His forgiveness, and learn through submission what it is like to be saved from ourselves, the pain WE cause ourselves by what WE do, and how we love. Zeus could care less about that. Frankly, the Pharisees who have now rejected Christ, the cornerstone of their faith, could care less about that. Has it come to the point where modern Christianity could care less about that as well? It is a stark contrast, Peter calls our attention to.
He continues in verse 4 … “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,” This is the existence you can take your hope in. It is an eternal life that does not decay, in a city built for you to live next to our God. He continues in verse 5 … “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Peter here identifies his audience as maintaining or keeping their salvation by “the power of God”. Again our salvation is not left in our own hands. It is begun in us by the power of God. Here Peter reminds us it is preserved in us by the power of God, not us. It is through “faith unto salvation”. It is our submission of our own will to the Holy Spirit, that results in our transformation from love of self, to love of others. It is this new condition that is to be revealed in the last time.
Peter continues in verse 6 … “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: [verse 7] That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”. Peter reminds his readers and us, that our process unto salvation is something we can greatly rejoice in. If however, because of the hatred of others, we find our hearts heavy with the manifold temptations the world seeks to throw our way. The trial of our faith will be more important to us than all the wealth of this world which is subject to theft and decay. The perfecting of our faith within us is something that cannot be taken away. It is the evidence of the power and glory of God in our lives; what He does FOR us. And in this, it will be finally and fully revealed at the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Peter continues in verse 8 … “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: [verse 9] Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” This is the part that actually amazes Peter. Peter was a firsthand witness. He believes because he has seen it himself. He spoke with Christ. He watched him be tortured and die. And he talked with Him after His resurrection, and saw Jesus ascend into heaven. The people Peter is writing to have never seen these things. Yet they believe. He sees the joy alive in the lives of these people. He sees them being transformed by the power of a Christ, they have never met. He sees salvation alive and well in a group of “strangers” to the Jewish faith. He sees real results, and frankly Peter is astounded by it. It proves that God is real. It proves that Jesus Christ is real and died for everyone, not just those who saw it, or those of the bloodline of Abraham.
Peter continues in verse 10 of his preamble saying … “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: [verse 11] Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” Peter now points out to his readers, that these things they are experiencing were foretold long ago by prophets who had the Spirit of the Living God reflected in their words and predictions recorded in scripture. Those prophets of past searched for the time when the Messiah might come, suffer, and die. They longed to know when these things would take place. They died without seeing them come to pass, but their faith remained by the power of God. Peter points out to his readers, that they are blessed to see these long held hopes come to reality. They are experiencing the very salvation that was foretold centuries before their own birth. The analogy is well placed, as these reader who have hope in the second coming, will die before that event takes place. The process of salvation however, was alive in the days of the prophets of the past, and is alive in the days of the readers, and is alive in our own day. For salvation is alive by the power of a God who does not fail, and He will deliver upon His promises as He has already done, and continues to do.
Peter continues in verse 12 … “Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.” Peter concludes his preamble to this letter by calling the attention of his readers to the sacrifices made of the prophets of the past. The messages they received were intended for this audience, for his readers. They were to be blessings to the people of his day. Yet in their own, they were hopes that would accompany them into the graves. The second coming would be a hope these believers would also take with them into the grave. But the difference is that Jesus had already come once. The prophecies made long ago were indeed fulfilled. God had done what He said He would do, to those who prophesied before. Peter reminds us all that it is the same Holy Spirit who was alive in the Jewish faith before Christ, in the words of the prophets. He is alive now, and at work since the coming of the Messiah as well.
And salvation itself, is something even the angels long to see. It is an expression of the love of God, they will never fully understand what it feels like to receive. For angels have never required forgiveness, nor did they need to be remade from the evil choices we have made. Our transformation, and the forgiveness we have experienced, are a unique experience between us and God. The angels see it taking place, they know it is real, but they have not experienced it for themselves. Only we will ever truly know the depths of God’s love, as what He did to redeem us, is a definition of love the entire universe will forever marvel at. Perhaps even we will never fully understand it.
Peter concludes his opening remarks, and now begins his exhortation to his readers …
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