The promise of salvation gives us a reason to rejoice even in the bad times.
Bible Study Ideas and Commentary for 1 Peter 1:1-12
Peter starts his letter by telling his audience that their salvation gives them a living hope—a real, eternal, divine, powerful hope—by God’s mercy through our faith that results in love and joy. That mattered to them because they were starting to face tough times for their faith. How about you—how is your faith?
You are being protected by God’s power through faith. (1:5)
Editor's Note
This post started life as a printed handout for Bible study leaders. It has been edited and formatted to work better online.
Getting Started: Things to Think About
The “Upper” Icebreaker.
Have your group define “faith” “hope” and “love”. Most importantly, have them give examples of what each looks like in their life and family. (I.e. we know we like faith, but when was the last time we demonstrated it?) Here are some Bible dictionary definitions of each if you need them:
Faith. According to the Bible, faith is the trustful human response to God’s self-revelation in action and word. It is an action—like believing and trusting.
Hope. According to the Bible, hope is the trustful expectation that God will fulfill His promises. It is actual confidence, not some wistful feeling.
Love. According to the Bible, love is unselfish, loyal, and benevolent intention and commitment toward another. It is not a feeling but committed action.
This is a good start because the theme of the lesson (and 1 Peter) is hope—his recipients needed hope that they were doing the right thing while society was starting to turn the heat up on them. Which leads us to . . .
The “Downer” Icebreaker.
Peter’s audience was living in a culture that increasingly didn’t like them. Below, I give you a little more detail about this. What are examples of the way our culture is growing hostile toward the church or toward Christians? For starters, they really don’t like our stance on the GLBT issue. And . . . what else? What challenges do you run into as a Christian out there in the world?
And then take it to the next step. Pressure from the outside often causes people to change their position. This is certainly what the NBA and NFL are trying to do in North Carolina (and what the NCAA did in Indiana). It works in churches, too. What beliefs have some “Christians” been willing to compromise to keep in step with the outside world? Here’s your application: Peter wrote to his audience to stand firm in their faith in the face of growing opposition and hostility. They needed encouragement and they needed to be reminded what was truly important.
Speaking in Code.
Peter mentions “Babylon” in this letter, leading some smartypants to say that the author of this letter was a moron. It’s pretty clear that Peter was using a code so as not to get his recipients in trouble with the authorities. Do you remember any “code words” you used with friends while around teachers or parents? In what way do people speak in code about politics today? (That might not apply to you so much, but if you know someone who’s way radical in politics and also paranoid you’ll pick up on code words he uses.) If you know anything about missionaries in dangerous places, you know that speaking in code is still a very common thing. One missionary agency requested that emails not include the words church, missionary, converts, evangelism, Bible, believers, worship, evangelism, or the names of prominent Christian leaders and institutions — why? Because those words can be quickly spotted by surveillance programs (email or even audio). Staying off the political radar is important, even for people who know that our eternal soul is secure. Jesus doesn’t always want us to go picking fights.
This Week's Big Idea: Christianity and Culture, Then and Now
A main theme we will see over and over in 1 Peter is how the church is at odds with the culture. One of my recommended icebreakers is to talk through different ways our current culture doesn’t like true Christians, but the fact is that Peter’s culture hated Christians even more. Peter wrote his letter right before the first big outbreak of persecution against Christianity in 64 AD, but problems had been stirring.
(1) The biggest “problem” was the fact that Christians would only worship Jesus. Rome, especially under the madman Nero, had an emperor cult—Romans were expected worship the emperor. Because Christians would not, they were seen as unpatriotic and maybe even treasonous. (And actually, because they rejected Rome’s gods, they were even seen as atheists.)
(2) Looking in from the outside, a number of Christian practices were seen as suspect. The “worst” one was the Lord’s Supper, in which Christians ate the body and drank the blood of Jesus. In all seriousness, Christians were accused on being cannibals.
But (3) they were also seen as incestuous and sexually immoral. Why? Because they called one another “sister” and “brother” and kissed each other. You might remember from my aside on David and Jonathan that kissing had to be done in very specific ways in that day to be socially acceptable.
And then (4) just as John the Baptist lost his head because he was willing to call Herod’s immoral relationship with his brother’s wife, well, immoral, Christians were extremely unpopular for speaking out against large swaths of immorality in the Roman Empire.
Persecution broke out when Nero needed a scapegoat for the great fire of Rome (people were accusing him of setting it himself, which is probably what happened because he wanted to build a bigger palace). Christians were an untrusted minority and thus fit the bill. Nero killed thousands of Christians in Rome (although many more escaped), not a few by burning them as torches as his dinner parties.
Project that to today. Why are true Christians unpopular? Well, let’s not hide from the fact that lots of hypocrites masquerading as Christian have made a mockery of the name of Jesus and meddled in things that were probably not their business. But set that aside for now. Christians are unpopular because we dare to say that only Christians go to heaven. Sounds rather self-absorbed and self-important, doesn’t it? Christians also dare to say that Jesus teaches the only right way to live. More than a little condescending, huh? And we dare to tell people when their choices are sinful. What gives us the right?? People don’t like being told that they’re wrong, that they need to change. And Christians push that a notch further—people go to hell for their bad choices. Of course, if we were saying that on our own, we would deserve every ill will. But if we’re simply being the messenger from God, then we are in our right heart and mind.
Indeed, when you stop and think about it, the true church today (I mean “true” in the sense that we are not willing to compromise the teachings of God just to make us more appealing to the culture) is facing many of the same challenges that Peter’s church did. The difference: we aren’t facing death. Let’s be grateful that as rough as things seem they could be worse. And let’s pray and work that things don’t get worse.
Introducing 1 Peter: Author and Date
Your leader guide gives a great summary of how 1/2 Peter and Jude were likely written. I’m not going to reproduce that because I think it’s extremely reasonable and fits the data we have.
We have no good reason, outside of pure skepticism, not to believe that Simon Peter the Apostle was the author of this letter. In honesty, writers would commonly put a fake famous name on their letters so people would take the letter more seriously, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Truly, this letter was accepted as genuine by the turn of the first century.
Christian tradition says that Peter was martyred in Rome by Nero in 64 AD. The simple description of church leadership in 5:1-2 lines up with an early church. Thus this letter was likely written during the window between the initial outbreak of persecution initiated by Nero and Peter’s death. However, a number of scholars say that the persecution had actually been building for a number of years leading up to 64, which would mean that Peter could reasonably have written this letter earlier and still had the same situation in mind. If tradition is accurate, Peter was in Rome when he wrote the letter. But we don’t know that for certain. He actually could have been anywhere, although we get the sense that he was at least with Christians from Rome when he wrote it.
It is very reasonable to conclude that Silas (5:12) helped Peter physically compose the letter, explaining its very polished Greek style.
Introducing 1 Peter: Purpose and Themes
You might remember when we went through Hebrews that I kept taking us back to the main theme over and over again in order to understand each section. I will do the same in 1 Peter. He says some things that might sound strange or harsh until we remember his context: living under persecution. Some Christians might be tempted to back down on their personal ethics so as not to attract attention to themselves. Some Christians might wonder if perhaps they made some wrong choices. Peter’s reaction is to double-down on living a no-compromise Jesus life.
His main themes are the reality of suffering—not for wrongdoing but for doing the right thing! And Peter emphasizes the “church” aspect of Christian living. Those believers needed to be “all-in” together. Why? First because of the support system that anyone needs when under persecution. But second because of the importance of a united front. As with any vessel, pressure only has to rupture the weakest spot and the whole vessel implodes. If pressure from the outside could tear down a couple of church members, it might seriously damage the entire church. The whole church needs to remain faithful in persecution.
Part 1: Hope Discovered (1:3-4)
Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.
It’s hard to skip those first two verses. We have the author, the audience, and the greeting. Peter is writing to a whole circuit of churches in Asia Minor, where there would have been a healthy mix of Jews and Gentiles. And he wants them to know up front that God has a plan and purpose for them (see the sidebar for my thoughts on “elect” and “chosen”)—that’s really important when talking to people who wonder if God is paying attention to their situation!
I actually think this would be a good spot for an opening discussion: have you ever felt like a stranger in this world because of your faith in Jesus? Assuming that to be true, there’s a great followup: have you ever experienced that you are closer to a “stranger” who is a Christian than to a family member who is not? That’s one of my great appreciations as a Christian. People I would have thought of as strangers are actually my brothers and sisters because of Jesus. I am very cynical about “Christians in name only” in our country, and that has prevented me from really enjoying some random encounters with other Christians. I have found that when I simply accept a Christian “stranger” at his/her word, I have a great and sweet time of fellowship with him.
Moving on, Peter opens his letter with common ground: praise for God. This is based on the Hebrew concept of berakah and the Greek concept of eulogy. Jews would use a similar praise when a Gentile converted to Judaism; now Peter uses it for both Jews and Gentiles who convert to Christianity. This phrase is only applied to God: God gets all the credit for salvation. Even though I do not believe the Bible teaches a fatalistic predestination like we hear in some Calvinist circles, I wholeheartedly declare that God is the only one who gets the credit for my salvation, even though He called on me to cooperate in some way in it.
God alone made salvation possible. Jesus paid the price. The Spirit empowered the disciples to announce the gospel with power. The new birth (Peter is the only author to use this specific term; it means “regenerated”) is something that happens by the Spirit, not the will of man. It’s all about God.
Our hope is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. A common response I have to those who don’t believe some of the supernatural occurrences in the Old Testament is the resurrection (which is by far the most outlandish miracle in the Bible); if we don’t believe Jesus physically rose from the dead, Christianity is meaningless. Not only did Jesus claim it to be the proof of His authority (John 2:19), but Paul realized it to be the proof of God’s promises (1 Cor 15). Peter simply takes the next step: not only in the resurrection the proof, but it is truly the means of our salvation. The resurrection leads to the sending of the Spirit; the resurrection appearances lead to the first true believers; the resurrection is hope.
And it is true eternal hope: when Jesus rose from the dead, He had a new body; then He ascended into heaven, a place where there is no decay or destruction. Jesus will never die again. And when we join Him in heaven, we will obtain that same mercy. Our inheritance will be imperishable. There are lots of ways you can illustrate this. Bring in an opened can of food and ask how long it will last. Bring in a facsimile of a famous painting and put your coffee mug on it (while wet). Bring in a tool or a toy that got left out in the rain. Show a picture of flood damage. The things we have here are so perishable that it is hard for us to imagine anything that will never, ever corrupt or fade. “Imperishable” means “undying,” “uncorrupted” means “unsoiled,” “unfading” means “not withering,” and “kept” means “guarded carefully.” What a great word picture!
Aside: Elect? Foreknowledge?
Christians who lean toward Calvinism love to point out these verses as proof that “predestination” is biblical. Well, of course it is. But does that word mean what you think it means? The idea of election (that God made certain decisions about us before we were born) is found throughout the Bible, but not necessarily in the same sense that our individualistic and self-obsessed culture today thinks. Peter is using a Jewish motif by referring to his audience as those who have been scattered. In the Old Testament, Israel was God’s chosen people (God’s “elect”) in a corporate sense. God had elected Israel, that people group whose ancestors were by no choice of their own, because He had chosen Abraham as the man through whom He would bless the world. We can have a long debate as to why God chose Abraham, but we cannot deny that it was “luck” (divine choice) that those Jews were born into that family.
That’s the sense in which Peter uses these terms. In the strictest sense, the grammar means that God has “chosen” that His people be obedient to Jesus. Hopefully none of us would fuss with that! And those people are also chosen according to His “foreknowledge.” Again, none of us should fuss that God knows everything there is to know, past, present, and future. This could simply mean that God has chosen that everyone He can see will trust in Jesus to be a Christian. But I think it’s more of a corporate sense: God has chosen/elected to build a people out of the followers of Jesus Christ. And He will do so by cleansing us with Jesus’ blood and sanctifying us by His Spirit. Nothing too objectionable in that.
Bonus Aside: Regeneration
A term that literally means “to re-create”; it is used in the natural world of creature that can regrow certain body parts. Our skin regenerates, for example. This is a fascinating biblical concept that is difficult for many people to accept because it implies that a person is somehow dead. Well, yes. Essentially, the Bible paints the picture of human beings as being both alive and dead at the same time. We are physically alive, but spiritually dead. By definition, something that is dead cannot “act.” Therefore, regeneration is completely passive on the part of the person. John describes it as being “born again” (think Jesus and Nicodemus); we had been physically born, but now we have been spiritually reborn. Furthermore, something that is dead cannot “relate” (as in have a relationship with God). Paul says that we were dead in our sins, but God has made us alive in Christ. When we’re dead, we cannot respond to God, so God makes us alive and then we enter into a relationship with Him and have eternal life.
So how does this align with my assertion that we have a responsibility in our salvation? If God alone makes us alive, then how can we not say that we were predestined to salvation? Great question. The best I can answer is that God has been showing mercy on all of humanity (prevenient grace), looking for a spark of a response. Perhaps we might call it the “candle test” for a chicken egg. Those fertile eggs are then treated differently. Whether a person is saved at 6 or 90 makes no difference to God who sees and knows all. I know that’s a stretch, but I have to admit that I don’t truly understand how salvation works.
Part 2: Hope Assured (1:5)
You are being protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
There are some great textual notes to point out. “Being protected” is a verb tense that means an ongoing action; connecting it specifically to God means that God is actively, continuously protecting His people. And the only thing we need to gain access to this mighty power is our faith. This is the human side of being born again (see the sidebar)—somehow our faith plays a role in this relationship. God does all the work, but we must have faith in Him. Now, does this mean that we are protected from all physical harm? Peter certainly doesn’t think so (remember what Jesus said to him in John 21:18). So what about “us” is being protected? Our eternal soul. Jesus said not to fear the one who can kill the body but the one who can cast the soul into hell (Matt 10:28). God’s protection is to bring our soul into eternal salvation. We know that’s what Peter means because he ties it to “the last time” which for Jews meant the last battle and God’s final victory over His enemies on earth (remember what we talked about in Revelation). After the final victory, when sin and death and hell have been destroyed, God unites His people’s eternal souls with a new, incorruptible body, to live and reign with Him forever in the new heavens and earth. Peter probably didn’t know some of those details (John hadn’t received his Revelation when Peter wrote this), but he knew and trusted that whatever God’s plan was, it was for Christians’ salvation and it was secure. When you’re feeling overwhelmed or discouraged, what motivates you to keep on? What convinces you that it’s worth persevering? How about when it becomes evident that you’re not going to “win”?
Aside: Inheritance in the Bible
The idea of inheritance was quite a big deal in ancient cultures because possessions of value (land, gold, livestock, homes) were not bought and sold quite like they are today. They were passed on from father to son. Selling one’s inheritance was very much looked down upon (cf. the prodigal son), and generally one could not get that inheritance back. In Israel, every living son received some portion of the father’s estate, but the first-born received a double portion. Those could be forfeited (Reuben) or given away (Esau).
In the New Testament, the emphasis was no longer on the physical descent from Abraham, so the idea of inheritance shifted from one’s physical father to a Christian’s eternal Father. Jesus Christ became recognized as the perfect heir, and once Christians became understood as His brothers and sisters, we realized we were co-heirs with Him. That inheritance then immediately becomes infinitely greater than that of the Jews, but in what way? They inherited the land (the Promised Land) and the law. Great and wonderful, but only useful in this life! Once dead, you passed the land on to your descendants, and the law no longer applied to you. Therefore a Christian’s inheritance must be eternal and incorruptible. As the disciples thought about what Jesus said on this matter, they realized that the inheritance of God was an eternal kingdom for their eternal soul. Not gold or silver, but perfect relationship with God in heaven.
That’s why there’s such a big shift in talk about inheritance from the Old to the New Testaments.
Part 3: Hope Celebrated (1:6-9)
You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials so that the genuineness of your faith—more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. You love Him, though you have not seen Him. And though not seeing Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Remember that Peter’s main purpose is to convince his readers not to give up and not to back down from the opposition they are facing. He takes a “bad news/good news” approach. The bad news is that Christians have to face trials (remember from a while back that “trial” and “temptation” are from the same word; ultimately, God allows both, so we can view every such trial as a test allowed or arranged by God). The good news is that every trial we pass brings praise to God and further refines our faith. The word Peter uses for “various” is also used to describe leopard skin, implying that we will face a wide variety of trials. The verb tense he uses means that his readers have already been facing such trials, and they have been “grieved” or “distressed” by those trials. But some further good news is that those trials are temporary (a “short time”)!
I think we can say with confidence that God does not want His children to suffer harm (no loving father does). However, in a world filled with sin, all people will suffer harm. The difference between Christians and non-Christians is that Christians can see a redemptive element in our trials, temptations, and tests. As Peter might say, a piece of gold probably doesn’t like being subjected to intense heat! But the result is much greater purity and beauty. The word Peter uses for “genuine” is the same used of the metallurgy process. The irony Peter wants to point out is that gold, no matter how pure, eventually perishes (after millions of years or 2,000 degrees)—but our faith will never perish, making it even more valuable than gold. With one big difference. Pure gold attracts praise and glory to itself. Pure faith directs praise and glory to God!
Here, faith and love join the conversation. Faith means more than to believe; it means to trust actively. It’s the difference between believing that a bridge can hold you and actually walking across the bridge. (You might remember the story I told you a while back of the man who asked for volunteers to be carried across a long tightrope.) These are some of my favorite words in the Bible. Peter had known Jesus, lived with Him. But the people he writes to had not. They had to take his word on Jesus. And they did! And the very thought of Jesus filled them with joy. Imagine how hard it would be for someone to suffer for a cause they were only indirectly connected with, for something they took on faith. Would I go to prison based on somebody else’s word? If it’s the word of Jesus, yes.
The cause of all of this is not only faith; God gives us something to go along with our faith: the salvation of our souls. Jews and Greeks both had the idea of a soul that inhabits a body. Greeks eventually went to the extreme of saying that the soul was good but the body was bad, and so the sooner we can get rid of our body, the better. But God actually gives us a body back at the last day, an eternal “home” for our soul. You see, salvation is an eternal process. We were “saved” the moment we trusted Jesus. But we are continuing to be saved in multiple senses, and that’s what Peter talks about here.
Our right standing before God (justification) has been secured by Jesus and can never be revoked. However, as the Spirit continues to work in our lives, purifying us in the heat of trials for example, we enjoy the fullness of God more and come to be more like Jesus (sanctification). That’s something we can “feel”—in prayer and in conscience, we should definitely have a sense of our growing relationship with God. That’s a gift of God, a little proof of our salvation. That leads to the completion of our salvation, the moment we stand before God and hear His words of welcome (glorification). For most of us, that won’t happen until after our death (and resurrection depending on how you understand Revelation). But God forbids us from hastening our own death, so the completion of our salvation is something that we wait for patiently. Peter tells us not to be discouraged and not to lose heart in our trials because we know our salvation will be completed.
What tests or trials or tribulations are you facing right now that are trying your faith? What encouragement do you need from your Sunday School group right now that will help you run a stronger race? And if you are confident and secure in your faith, what do you think will be the greater reward for your faithfulness: hearing a commendation from God, or learning how your life brought glory to God?
For your closing illustration, show an out-of-focus picture, or one of those pixelated pictures. Ask group members what they think it is. Say that rookie photographers often run into problems of focus. Then say this (I take no credit for this illustration): “Hope is the camera that produces our image of salvation.” As we go through life with all of its tests and trials, our understanding of salvation will slowly but surely become clearer. And the clearer it becomes, the easier it will be to endure trials because we will better understand how it all works to our good. Ask: Would you describe your faith as a living hope? Pray that all of your group members would have the hope to stay firm in their faith.
Comments