DISCOVER
1 Peter

Imagine what it would be like to receive a letter from someone who was a personal friend of Jesus during his earthly ministry. That’s exactly what we have in the New Testament correspondence known as 1 and 2 Peter. Peter is known as a thundering paradox of a man. On the one hand he is known for his impetuosity, for his vacillating between faith and doubt, for his treachery of public denial of Jesus at the time of Jesus’ greatest peril. On the other hand he is known for his magnificent confession of faith at Caesarea Philippi where, without hesitation, he declared his confidence that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.

This is the testimony of a man who not only was part of the entourage of Jesus during his earthly ministry but was also an eyewitness of the resurrection and part of the inner circle of disciples in the great triad of Peter, James, and John. These three were present on the Mount of Transfiguration and were able to see with their own eyes the glory of the transfigured Christ.

A letter from a man such as this is a treasure for the church. His letter, beyond the value of his own eyewitness testimony and his intimate friendship with Jesus, carries with it the weight of the divine inspiration of God the Holy Spirit. What Peter says to the church is merely an extension of what the Lord and Master, Christ, says to the church…

—R. C. Sproul

Source: 1-2 Peter: An Expositional Commentary by R.C. Sproul. © Ligonier Ministries 2019. Used by permission of Ligonier Ministries. All rights reserved. 

The book moves in a fluid manner between two poles: the riches that believers have in Christ and the duties they need to shoulder, within the implied situation of their living in a hostile surrounding culture. First Peter is exuberant in tone and exalted in language. Virtually every paragraph contains vivid imagery and a skillful use of figurative language. The tone of the book is urgent and intense, as signaled by the presence of more than 30 imperative verbs (an average of one command in every three verses). The content and style are thus elevated and elevating.

—ESV Study Bible

Source: Taken from the ESV® Study Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright ©2008 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Making sense of suffering, most especially the suffering we experience just because we are Christians, is going to be one of our main takeaways from Peter’s first letter. Peter wants us to be firmly convinced that our suffering doesn’t mean that God has abandoned us or that he expects us to bear hardship in a teeth-gritting sort of way. To the contrary, suffering is an instrument God uses to produce hope in our hearts and to purge out the miserable contamination of sin. And the hope we get isn’t just about our final home in heaven—it’s for blessings in this life too. We are invited to enjoy God’s saving promises here and now through our union with our Savior Jesus Christ.

—Lydia Brownback

Source: Content taken from 1-2 Peter: Living Hope in a Hard World © 2021 by Lydia Brownback. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

The notion of being sprinkled with blood, and the sacrifices required to produce such blood, can sound archaic or crude to modern ears. Yet the Bible frequently mentions the manipulation of blood sacrifices in order to make atonement. The term atonement, which expresses the thought of “making at one,” refers to bringing two estranged parties together. Atonement law in Exodus 24 required the death of an unblemished, spotless, “perfect” animal to bring God and man back together. In this ritual, the person was sprinkled with the blood of the perfect sacrifice. Why? Because the reason for the estrangement, the crime, had to be dealt with, or “atoned” for. The death of the sacrifice was a substitute for the punishment and death of the sinner. These sacrifices pointed forward to Jesus, who died the death we deserved and sprinkled us with the proof that we do not have to die. This is a deep grace that brings two estranged parties, God and man, back together so that we can live “at one” with God. In this profound display of mercy, we receive grace while God receives glory.

—Jonathan K. Dodson

Source: Content taken from 1–2 Peter and Jude: A 12-Week Study © 2017 by Jonathan K. Dodson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

And then Peter adds that salvation includes being sprinkled with Christ’s blood. Writing about blood in the greeting of a letter might seem to us a bit, well, in poor taste. But to the contrary, Peter includes it to spread joy. He’s saying that all our sin—past, present, and future—has been taken care of by the blood Jesus shed for us on the cross. That’s how we are sprinkled. It’s symbolic, but by the power of God it’s also very real. The point is, because we’ve been sprinkled with Christ’s blood, we don’t have to shed our own blood and die to pay for our sin.

—Lydia Brownback

Source: Content taken from 1-2 Peter: Living Hope in a Hard World © 2021 by Lydia Brownback. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 

In 1 Peter 2:4, Peter turned to another metaphor for Christ, calling him “a living Stone—rejected by humans but . . . precious to [God]” (NIV). Everyone in this world has to do something with this “Stone,” Christ Jesus. He is in every person’s path. We can put him in as the chief cornerstone of our lives, which is God’s will. If we do not, we must stumble headlong over him, tragically, to our death. To many people in the first century, Jesus was a stumbling block and a rock of offense. To many today, he is that same thing. What have you done with this precious cornerstone? Is he in his rightful place in your life?  

—Henrietta Mears  

Source: This content is from What the Bible Is All About, written by Henrietta Mears. Copyright © 1953, 2011 by Gospel Light. Copyright assigned to Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.