MONDAY
Last week we started our new campaign called Resilient Christianity. As our culture progresses into more of a post-Christian culture, our faith must become more resilient. The book of 1 Peter was written to help Christians be resilient in the face of cultural pressures.
Peter introduces his letter by reminding his readers who are exiled to distant regions of the Roman Empire that they are chosen by God. They are elect exiles who have been brought into covenant relationship with God through Christ, God’s foreknowledge and the sanctifying work of the Spirit.
Now he begins the body of his letter. The theme of 1 Peter 1:3-2:10 is the believers Peter is writing to are the covenant people of God. He uses a lot of Old Testament language identifying Israel as God’s people to describe the church now.
1 Peter 1:3–9 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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. 8 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, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
We will go through verse 12 this week but we are going to spend most of our time on verses 1-9. These are some of the most wonderful words in all of Scripture.
He begins by prescribing a blessing to God, i.e., a doxology. It could also be translated “Praise be to God…” God is the Father of Jesus Christ (cf. v. 2) and Jesus Christ is our Lord. Lord is often used in the Septuagint (LXX), Greek translation of the Old Testament to refer to God. So when New Testament authors describe Jesus as Lord, it likely conveys his divine nature as well.
God has caused us (Peter is lumping himself in with his readers) to be born again. Born again is a churchy phrase that can easily lose its meaning because we use it so often. This word is unique to Peter but he is adopting it from the teaching of Jesus (see John 3 in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus). What could possibly be a more dramatic change in life than to be reborn? The idea is similar to Paul’s “new creation” language (2 Cor. 5:17). Tomorrow we will see what we have been born again into.
God has caused us to be born again “according to his great mercy.” These believers were chosen and brought into covenant relationship with God because God chose to be merciful. This again is similar to Paul’s teaching in Ephesians 2:4.
Ephesians 2:4–5 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Reflection
Take some time today to praise God for his mercy in how he has caused us to be born again.