THURSDAY
Yesterday we saw that trials refine our faith and we can even rejoice in them. In verse 8 it switches gears a little, but not much.
1 Peter 1:3–12 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.
These believers have not seen Jesus like Peter has, yet they love him. They are not currently seeing him but they still believe in him. Just as Jesus tells Thomas to do after he finally believed in Jesus’ resurrection, only after seeing him alive.
John 20:29 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
The three verbs in this section are the two instances of rejoice (v. 6, 8) and love here in verse 8. All the other words translated to English as verbs are actually participles. They can act as verbs, so not much is lost here. However, for the sake of studying the Word, they are the main ideas Peter wants to get across. He is commending them for loving Jesus and rejoicing even in the midst of suffering. This, again, is attained by faith in the gospel.
This joy is inexpressible and filled with glory. Perhaps it is inexpressible because it is filled with glory. Words simply fail to describe the joy believers have in our covenant relationship with God. Joy in suffering makes no sense to those whose hope is dead and empty and whose inheritance is temporal. I’ve heard Mark Sayers and John Mark Comer describe our culture as the worst culture in the history of the world at dealing with suffering. We have made happiness our ultimate purpose in life. In this framework suffering is at best a temporary pause to our purpose and at worst an outright destruction of it. How can one have joy in the midst of that? Suffering, which is all around us all the time, leaves people feeling hopeless, empty, and depressed. For the Christian, however, our purpose is in knowing God, loving God, being with God and glorifying God forever. In this framework, as Peter expresses here, suffering can produce a more pure faith that will be rewarded in the new creation. This is cause for rejoicing and nothing can take this joy from you.
In verse 9 Peter says that they are “obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Obtaining is in the present tense so it is a current lived reality for his readers. A few verses earlier he referred to our salvation as in the future, at the return of Jesus. This reveals the tension that theologians call the “already but not yet.” Believers have been saved but have yet to experience the fullness of that salvation. The inheritance example is a great picture of this. In the ancient world a son’s inheritance was thought of as legally theirs even while their father was living (daughters received an inheritance through their husband when they married). So although they hadn’t attained it yet, it is theirs now, in a sense.
Salvation here is likely speaking more broadly than just going to heaven when you die. Likely it refers to a deliverance from all the effects of sin on creation. Soul also likely doesn’t mean the ghost in the machine or just the spiritual aspect of the person. He is likely using it as the seat and center of life, both in our life now and in eternity. That being the case, Peter is referring to the deliverance of all of who we are from the effects of sin. Again, we experience this in part now but when Jesus returns we will experience it in full. This side of heaven we will never fully experience this, but we can experience it more and more through our life with Christ. In this born-again life, we can experience a conversion from the powers of sin to the goodness of God:
- hatred to love
- sickness to health
- lies to truth
- hostility to peace
- injustice to justice
- evil to good
- pride to love
- bitterness to mercy
- greed to charity
- anxiety to trust
- depression to joy
- hopelessness to a living hope
This is essentially the process of discipleship. Experiencing more and more the salvation of our souls which we already have, but not yet in full. Perhaps suffering allows us to experience that salvation more than we otherwise would be able to without it. So, we live in the tension of it now with the living hope that our inheritance is in heaven. We trust that when Jesus returns he will make all things new. There will be no more death, or mourning or pain. He will wipe every tear from our eyes.
Reflection
How are you feeling the tension of salvation that is here now but not yet in full? How does this tension produce a longing in you for the return of Christ?