1 Peter Study Summary

It has been a great blessing to me to lead a Bible study through the book of 1 Peter with Rachael and one other young lady from my church.  This Friday is our last time together when we'll share our summaries of what we've learned the last several months.  Just thought I'd post what I learned.  It has indeed been a rich time in God's Word!

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This has been an incredibly rich study over the last two years.  I never knew so much was packed into this little letter that is so applicable to me and to the church today.  Peter wrote to believers scattered over a large area who were beginning to experience small forms of persecution, all of which were a precursor to Nero’s horrific actions against Christians just a few years later.  So the context of his words are suffering, specifically suffering unjustly for the name of Christ.

Throughout his letter, I see a man who was profoundly impacted by the teachings of Christ.  Peter was one of Christ’s disciples, and the exhortations he gives the church through this writing in many ways mirror what Christ taught him and instilled in him by life example.

Peter summarizes his own words at the conclusion of all he has said in chapter 5:  “…I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God.  Stand firm in it.”  (vv12)   What is this “true grace of God”?

I have to begin in chapter 1 where Peter lays the foundation for everything he says.  “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.”  (vv 3) 

This living hope is my heavenly inheritance, all that God has given me in my salvation through Christ.  Not only is it being kept in heaven for me, but I am also being preserved for it.  Not only is it sure, but it is also secure.  Therefore, Peter is telling me that my whole being should be oriented toward eternity.   My salvation is complete, yet it awaits a glorious future final consummation when Christ returns, when I experience the full glory of being with him forever.

This is why I can rejoice in the midst of suffering, not because of my circumstances but because I’m convinced that my life on earth with all its challenges and difficulties is preparing me for the inheritance I will receive in heaven.   This is the intended purpose of trials, to refine my faith so that it is to the praise of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If my perspective is fixed toward eternity and my hope truly rests in what Christ has done for me which can never be taken from me, my life on earth will look different even as I walk through hardship and persecution.  

·       I will recognize who I am in Christ (a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession) and seek to proclaim the excellencies of Christ in a dark and broken world. 

·       I will submit to unjust masters and seek to win my persecutors over to the Gospel by my life example. 

·       I will love the church, use my gifts for her edification, and exercise humility in my relationships. 

·       I will submit myself under God’s hand of providence (even if it includes difficulty) and cast my anxieties on him because I know he cares for me. 

·       I will be vigilant and on guard because I know I have an enemy who is out to destroy my faith. 

·       I will take encouragement in knowing that my brothers and sisters all over the world experiencing suffering are yet remaining steadfast in their faith.

Throughout his letter, Peter constantly sets before me the example of Christ.  Christ as the Suffering Servant entrusted himself to the Father as he fulfilled the work of redemption.  Because Christ suffered in the flesh, I am to arm myself with the same way of thinking.  I am to look to Christ as my example as well as to remember what his suffering accomplished, namely victory over all evil powers.  Because of his resurrection and because I am in Christ, I, too, am victorious and have the joy of knowing that I will one day reign with him.  I persevere because of the victorious power of Christ crucified and resurrected.

“This is the true grace of God.  Stand firm in it.”   Peter exhorts me to stand firm.  And yet at the conclusion of all he has said, he reminds me of a beautiful promise:  The One who called me by grace is the One who will sustain me by grace to the very end.  So the grace I remain steadfast in is coming from the same God who is strengthening me to endure.

Trials of various kinds are challenging and wear me down in both body and spirit.  But my hope is secure in Christ, and God himself is sustaining me to persevere to the end.