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Introduction
The men who penned the New Testament were eight unique
voices. Luke wrote with the detail of a doctor and
historian. Paul’s writing showcased his understanding of
the Jewish law, the Old Testament and Roman culture. John,
though an insider to the ministry of Christ, penned his
efforts as an outsider looking in. Peter, the
quick-tempered fisherman shows great growth and
understanding as the years pass before he undertakes
writing. In First Peter, he seems to jump from subject to
subject, as if he believes he’s about to run out of time and
must get more events recorded. He’s not keen to give the
kind of detail on each subject as Paul or Luke might, but
travels rapidly from one important point to the next. Some
historians point out that Peter may have dictated this first
letter to Silvanus, giving him license to word the message
comfortable to the Greeks. The 2nd Epistle of Peter is
closely linked to the letter penned by Jude and is discussed
and compared following the commentary.
1 Peter 1:1-3
1Pe 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus
Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
Peter identified himself as the author immediately,
establishing his credentials and authority as an apostle.
Peter pens only two short letters in the New Testament but
he opens with great force, as if he wants to condense all
his knowledge of God’s grace into this small effort. Peter
shows great boldness later in his ministry; a far cry from
not wanting to leave Joppa to preach to foreigners in the
Italian band at the house of Cornelius.
to
the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
When Peter says strangers scattered, we know it’s directed
to children of God – friends he knows and friends he hasn’t
yet met. The scriptures are written to God’s children. Paul
uses the same ‘stranger’ terminology to describe Gentiles.
Eph 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from
the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in
the world: The Gentile nations were strangers in Peter’s
viewpoint. They weren’t of Israel, they knew little about
grace, and they had no knowledge or hope. Until the gospel
went forth, as far as anyone knew, the covenants of promise
pertained only to the Jews. Gentiles were and are saved the
exact same way as the Jew, but the Jews had the law, the
sacrifices, the daily offerings and the feasts of the Lord
to practice to bring them to the knowledge of Christ. It
all pointed to someone, and the Jews had that expectation
while the Gentiles were strangers to these things. Paul
summarizes: Eph 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the
saints, and of the household of God;
And Peter tells this good news to the strangers:
1Pe 1:2 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.
Three parties are at work in 1Pe 1:2 God the Father, the
Spirit and Jesus Christ. Man is not one of them. He is
passive. His election in Christ is according to the efforts
of the Godhead and none of his own. The works salvation
doctrine the world promotes should see here their help is
not wanted or needed. Paul concurs: 2 Th 2:13 But we
are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth: 2Th 2:14 Whereunto he called you by
our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Peter and Paul are complimentary in their letters. Each
seems to bear out something the other has expressed. Peter
opens his epistle with not just good news, but great news,
explaining the office work of the thrice holy God in the
covenant of redemption. He details their election, through
foreknowledge (before the foundation of the world), their
eternal setting apart via sanctification and then reveals
the obedience and particular redemption that is by
sprinkling and the precious blood of our savior, Jesus
Christ. It’s quite the opening line, followed by his
personal greeting or blessing: Grace unto, and peace, be
multiplied.
1Pe 1:3 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,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
– Peter begins with a prayer of thanksgiving for the
things that follow. According to
his abundant mercy which Peter has experienced
firsthand, with the Lord in his ministry and at many times
since. Begotten us again
– born again – born from above, born of God, born
spiritually, the circumcision without hands, circumcision of
the heart, made alive, quickened, regenerated, carried
through the tree of life, made a new creature. All of these
descriptors are the same event: the new birth. The first
time we are begotten into this world, it’s as sinners, by
birth (inheritance) by nature, which makes us sinners by
practice. But to be born again everything changes and we
are begotten unto lively hope. (Eph 2:12 above).
This lively hope is all thanks to a living Christ and his
sacrifice, blood, and righteousness.
There is hope and redemption and salvation for the elect
strangers – and each of us – whether we learn about it or
not. From a legal standpoint, from a practical standpoint,
from a covenant standpoint, Peter is about to assure these
strangers they are included in that covenant, that God made
with himself before the foundation of the world, and
revealed to Abraham. And Peter is the gospel angel that
carries these gentiles, through his preaching, to the bosom
of Abraham and the comfort of the everlasting covenant.
God’s people get doctrinally twisted when they try to parse
what happened to saints in the Old Testament against our
understanding of how the new birth is explained in the New.
But there should be no confusion. Adam, David, Jonah,
Moses, Noah were all born of God the same way Peter, Paul,
Stephen and you are. Some will say there’s a difference and
that those folks couldn’t have been given eternal life until
the resurrection of the Lord. But examined from a legal
standpoint, in the mind and purpose of God and his absolute
confidence in his Son to fulfill the law and the
requirements of justice to a jot and a tittle, we see he
legally stood as surety, as a lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Viewed from either side of the cross, it’s a
guarantee that complete and sure.
Rom 4:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of
many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who
quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not
as though they were.
Man fails to see the requirements of the new birth, but
Peter expounds on them here.
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…
The new birth requires God, the Lord Jesus Christ, abundant
mercy (which man does not have to give), a method of
begetting us, and of course, the legal requirements in the
sacrificial death, burial and resurrection.
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