Bible Commentaries
1 Peter 1

Verses 1-6

1 PETER

XVIII

INTRODUCTION TO 1 PETER

1 Peter 1:1-6

In the general introduction to his first letter, we have devoted two chapters to the New Testament life of Peter. So far, I have had nothing to say of Peter’s life according to tradition and legend, after giving the accounts in the New Testament. My reason for not going into that is that the whole business is so very shaky; there is a vast amount of it we know to be forgery, but I am impressed that this much of the legend is true: that Peter did finally go to Rome, and suffered martyrdom there.

We now take up the special introduction to 1 Peter, and answer the following questions:

1. Who wrote this letter?

2. To whom was it written?

3. Through whom was it written?

4. Where was it written?

5. What is its theme?

6. What is the letter?

7. When was it written?

8. What was the occasion of the letter?

9. What its relations to previous New Testament books?

1. Who wrote this letter? Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. There are three strong overwhelming arguments in favor of ascribing this letter to Peter:

(1) The letter so states. (2) The internal evidence is very strong that Peter wrote it. (3) The universal testimony of primitive Christendom is that Peter did write it.

Now opposed to Peter’s authorship are some objections by the radical critics that are hardly worth considering. I will tell on what ground they base their objections, but I am not going to discuss it, for I do not honestly think it is worth while. They first adopt this theory, that there was an antagonism between the teaching of Peter and the teaching of Paul, and that this first letter is so manifestly in agreement with Paul that therefore Peter did not write it. That is the ground of their objection, put in a few words. They assume a premise without a particle of evidence, and then on the ground of that premise deny Peter’s authorship.

2. To whom was it written?

(1) The letter says: "To sojourners of the dispersion" – Jews and proselytes. The Greek word diaspora, referring to a dispersion of the Jews has a signification in New Testament literature, and in the literature of the times, that does not admit of controversy. It means those Jews who were originally deported from the Holy Land by certain conquerors, as Sennacherib, the king of Babylon, Pompey and others, carried away into captivity and settled in foreign countries.

(2) Those Jews that for purposes of trade lived out of the Holy Land – and this constitutes a majority of the Jews. A certain writer states that they are in the whole world, and on every ocean; that certainly is not much of a hyperbole. Alexander the Great put a great many of them at Alexandria, and from that time until now that city has been a particular home of the Jews. They once had a temple in Africa. There were large settlements of these Jews in Babylon, from which place Peter seems to write, and we get an idea of the countries settled by the dispersion from Acts 2, which tells us that devout men came from every nation under heaven to the Passover and heard Peter’s great sermon. This is the first item: they were Jewish sojourners in foreign lands.

(3) This letter is addressed to these sojourners in five provinces of Asia Minor, as follows: Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. The order, on the map, in which these places are named, furnishes an argument as to where Peter was when he wrote this letter; for instance, from Rome we would have to reverse the order in speaking of it and say, "Bithynia, Asia, Cappadocia, Galatia, and Pontus." But as Peter is over in Babylon when he writes them the order is just as he says: "Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia."

But we still have not settled the question, "To whom?" We have found out two points; written to the Jews of the dispersion, and written to the Jews of the dispersion in five provinces of Asia Minor; third, written to the Jews who were Christians, or professed to be Christians. He says, "elect sojourners." Now, that settles the question, "To whom?"

3. Through whom was this letter written? 1 Peter 5:12, answers the question. By Silvanus or Silas, as he is sometimes called, which means the same person, and it is that very Silas who was with Paul on his second missionary tour described in Acts. He finally traveled with Peter, though he first traveled with Paul, and noting a little difference in the style of the first letter and second letter of Peter, we may infer that when it says that this letter was written by Silas, that Silas was Peter’s amanuensis, and something of the style of Silas crept into it. We see how the style of a document may depend somewhat on the amanuensis.

4. Where was it written? 1 Peter 5:13 says, "The elect in Babylon salute you," that is the elect churches in Babylon salute you. Here the question arises, Why does Peter say Babylon? In other words, does he use Babylon in its literal sense or symbolic sense, as John does in the book of Revelation? There, "Babylon" is a figurative or symbolical form. A great many of the early fathers – and of the later fathers – hold that, though Peter says Babylon, he means Rome, and they say, with all Roman Catholics, that Peter wrote this letter from Rome and called it Babylon, because at that time a great persecution was going on by Nero and therefore he used a symbolical word. If it were not for the great number of distinguished names that support this theory, I would certainly say I had no respect for it. This letter of Peter is not an apocalyptic book. An apocalypse is written in symbolical language. When it says "woman," it means something else not a woman; when it says "sea," it means something else, not the sea, etc. And so all the way through it is a symbolical book. But this is just a plain book of prose, and if Paul, writing near the same time, could have no hesitation in referring to Rome, I don’t see why Peter should, and so I don’t believe at all that it means Rome when it says, "Babylon." Peter, being an apostle, traveled a good deal. We notice in the Acts of the Apostles how he left Jerusalem and went to Samaria, and another time went to Lydda and Joppa and Caesarea, and another expression says he travelled through all parts. Now, it was a very natural thing that Peter, being an apostle of the circumcision, should follow the Jewish migration east among the Semite people, and so I take it that Babylon means Babylon. Mark, who also travelled with Paul, has joined Peter in Babylon.

5. What is the theme of the letter? 1 Peter 5:12 tells us the theme: "I have written unto you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God." That is his theme – the true grace of God. There are some people who talk a great deal about grace and claim to be the subjects of grace, and yet live a life contrary to the teaching of grace, and so this theme is a splendid one. There is a false idea of grace, viz: that a man can have grace and yet live contrary to the principles of grace. So the object of the letter is to give a true account of the grace of God.

6. What is the letter, i.e., what is its character? Here it is, "I have written unto you briefly, exhorting and testifying." The style of it is exhortation and testimony. He is going to speak as a witness of what is the true grace, and then he is going to deliver an exhortation based upon that true grace, and that exactly explains the letter.

7. When was it written? About A.D. 65, just after Paul’s last letter of the first Roman imprisonment was written. In other words, we would place 1 Peter right after Hebrews. The order is: Philippians, Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, Hebrews, then 1 Peter, A.D. 65.

8. What was the occasion of the letter? Two elements, judging by the letter itself, enter into the occasion. First, those to whom it is addressed were suffering very great persecution; and, second, they were much affected by teachers of false doctrine, who turned the grace of God into lasciviousness. Now in writing it his object is to strengthen and comfort these persecuted people, and to expose all false notions of the true grace of God.

9. What are the relations of this letter to previous New Testament books? The Gospel of Mark was the Second Gospel written, supposedly about A.D. 60, and as Peter was the virtual author of that, it is called Peter’s Gospel; it is easy to see the connection between this letter and Mark’s Gospel. He had been acquainted with the Gospel of Matthew and of Luke, but certainly not with the Gospel of John. We do know from the letter itself that there is a strong relation between this letter and the letter of James. James was the earliest New Testament book written. Now there is a very marked relation between this letter and all those letters of Paul, as follows:

1 and 2 Thessalonians. That is the first group.

1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Romans. That is the second group.

Philippians, Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, and Hebrews. That is the third group.

I am a little doubtful whether he had yet seen the letter to the Hebrews, but it is certain that he had before him the letter to the Romans and the letter to the Ephesians, but he had seen Hebrews before he wrote his second letter. The book is brimful of references to Paul’s arguments to the Romans and the Ephesians. In 2 Peter, he refers to Paul’s writing to them, the people to whom he is writing, that is, the Jews of the dispersion of Asia Minor. I think he makes a reference to Hebrews in his second letter. He refers to all of Paul’s letters and counts them scriptures. It is perfectly certain that on every doctrine of grace he stands squarely with Paul in his letters to the Galatians, Romans, Ephesians, and Colossians.

Now we come to the analysis of his first letter and I give what is called an expositor’s analysis. The first item of the analysis is this:

Peter’s doctrine of election illustrating the work of the Trinity in the salvation of men. 1 Peter 1:1-2 represents the Trinityin the work of salvation: "The elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." There we see he presents the whole Trinity – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That statement of the doctrine of election in a few words, when coupled with a part of 2 Peter I, gives Peter’s whole idea of the doctrine of election. As Peter states election, what is it? It means chosen to salvation. Who elects? God the Father. According to what does he elect? According to his foreknowledge. What does he mean by foreknowledge? The Greek word is "prognosis": "nosis" means knowledge, and "pro" (the "g" being for euphony) means before, or foreknowledge, and that word is a noun is used only by Peter in the New Testament. He uses it three times, as follows: Acts 2:23; the passage here, 1 Peter 1:1, and in 1 Peter 1:20. These are the only places in the New Testament where we have the word "prognosis," foreknowledge, which means to know beforehand. But both Peter and Paul use the verb "prognosco," which means to know beforehand. Peter uses that verb in 1 Peter 3:17, and Paul uses it in Acts 26:5; Romans 8:29; Romans 11:2. Both Peter and Paul use the verb once to talk about a previous happening, i.e., a happening before the time of which he is speaking. Paul says that the Jew had known him beforehand, and Peter uses it in a similar way where it refers to men knowing one thing before they know another thing. We have nothing to do with that foreknowledge. Paul uses that word with reference to God foreknowing his people, and all the other times Peter speaks of God’s foreknowledge. Now, then, the question is: What does foreknowledge mean? Foreknowledge is used by Peter, and "to foreknow" is used by Paul, referring to God. My reason for putting that question is, that when I was a young preacher, a Baptist preacher who was a good man, but Arminian in his theory, preached a sermon on election; and he said, "election is according to foreknowledge; God foreknew that certain men would repent and believe, and having before seen they would repent and believe, he elected them." When he got through I told him that the New Testament use of foreknowledge was just about equivalent to predestination, and that any Greek scholar would tell him so, and that election was not based upon any foreseen goodness in man or any foreseen repentance or faith in man, but that repentance and faith proceed from election, and not election from them. So that what Paul means by foreknowledge is just about the same as predestination; that in eternity God determined and elected according to that predestination.

Now we proceed with Peter’s idea of the election, viz:

1. This election is in sanctification of the Spirit. In other words, every man that God elects to be saved is renewed in regeneration and perfected in sanctification by the Holy Spirit. That is Peter’s idea of election.

2. He says, "elect unto obedience and unto the sprinkling of the blood of Christ." Every man who is elected has the blood of Christ applied to him and has in him the spirit of obedience to the commandments of God. God never elected a man to disobedience, but he elected him to obedience, and therefore the evidences of our election are to be sought for in the following facts: Have I any reason to believe that I have been regenerated, that I have by faith in Jesus Christ, had the blood of Christ applied to me? Have I in me the spirit of obedience to Christ? If I have, that is evidence to me that I am one of God’s elect, because these things are fruits of election. In other words, the order of the thought is this: The Father, in eternity, determined and chose those to be saved.

3. He chose them to be saved by the blood of Christ, and to be renewed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

4. He chose them to become obedient, so that election is evidenced by calling, and by faith in Christ, by regeneration, by a progress in holiness, and by obedience. Now, that is Peter’s doctrine of election.

To show you that I am correct in it, in his second letter he urges Christians to make their calling and election sure. What did he mean by it? He does not mean to make it sure to God, for God knows who are chosen, but he means to make it sure to themselves. "Make your election sure to yourself." He has just told them how to make it sure: "Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged of his old sins. Wherefore, make your calling and election sure."

Now by that use of it we can see how Peter could answer a question put to him on the question of election. Peter, who are the elect? He says, "I will let God answer that question from his side, for he knows, but when you ask me from the human side I will tell you how you may be sure that you are elected. If you have the evidence of Christian piety, that you have been converted, been renewed by the Holy Spirit, have in you the Spirit, and are making progress in holiness, that is evidence that you are one of the elect." And we can’t make it sure to ourselves in any other way in the world. Now, if we could climb up to heaven and open the book of life and see who are enrolled up there, we might look at that roll and see whether our names are on it; but we can’t get up there, and the doctrine of election does not say that God chose John Jones and his wife and one of his daughters and two of his sons. It does not speak that way, and so our only way of determining whether we are elected is as I have shown. Now, the doctrine of election in Pendleton’s Manual, as recorded in the "Baptist Articles of Faith" is the view of Peter. Now that is the first item of the argument.

Second item. The effect of Christ’s resurrection on the hope of his disciples. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." And so I make that the second item in the expositor’s analysis. What was the effect of Christ’s resurrection on the hope of his disciples? The last chapters of the Four Gospels show how depressed Christ’s disciples were upon his death. They all forsook him and fled. They thought that the battle was lost. The two on their way to Emmaus said, "We had trusted that this was he that should deliver Israel," but they now looked upon that as a dead hope. Now, after Christ rose from the dead, and they saw him and recognized him by many infallible proofs, their hope revived and it became a living hope, meaning a hope to live forever: "He hath begotten us again unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." In other words, if Christ had stopped at his death and burial, Christianity would have been absolutely dead according to his own words, for he gave that as the sign by which to establish all of his claims – that he would rise from the dead on the third day. To these depressed disciples the resurrection of Christ was startling. It had a tremendous influence. Listen to Thomas: "You tell me he is risen. You couldn’t make me believe unless I put my fingers in the print of the nails in his hands, and thrust my hand into his side." And yet when he met Jesus and was asked to do just what he requested, he fell at the feet of Jesus and said, "My Lord and my God!" And when Jesus stood before Mary, who was weeping, she said to him, "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." And he was already risen and she turned around and looked at him, and fell at his feet saying, "Rabboni," that is, "My master, my Lord!"

Easter Sunday is the Sunday according to some church calendars that commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and all over the Christian world we see and hear on that day such things as this: "He is risen! He is risen indeed." If we were in Russia, where they have a formula when they meet on this Sunday, we would hear one say to another, "Christ is risen," and the other would reply, "He is risen indeed." And every Roman Catholic country sets apart a holiday called Easter Sunday. It is a composite of blended Jewish, Christian, and heathen elements, but it certainly does exhibit the effect of the resurrection of Christ upon the hope of his disciples and upon nobody more than upon Peter. When Christ was risen, he said, "Go and tell Peter." Peter had denied him. When he appeared to James, his brother, James was converted.

Now, the third item is the great inheritance. Here it is: "Unto an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who by the power of God, are guarded through a faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

Now, let us analyze that inheritance; this living hope is unto an inheritance: First, what is the character of it? There are three characteristics named: (1) It is incorruptible. (2) It is undefiled. (3) It is fadeless.

If we inherit money, it is corruptible. Some men refuse to receive gifts from certain syndicates because they say the money is tainted, defiled. Riches take to themselves wings and fly away; but this inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeless. Now, when are they to get it? "Reserved in heaven." We have not got there yet. Where are they to get it? "In heaven."

Abraham did not get his inheritance here. He sought a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Hebrews II says that all people of that class, or kind, say they seek a country, a better country, which is heaven. Jesus said to his disciples when he left them: "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also." And the letter to the Hebrews describes that place, the New Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, and tells of its companionship : human, angelic, and divine.

Now the character of the inheritance, the time of the inheritance, the where of the inheritance, and for whom: "You are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." The inheritance is for those who are preserved unto the second advent of Christ, and whom he preserves through their faith. So I make the fourth item, preservation of the heirs. In Luke 22:31-32, Jesus says to Peter, this very man: "Simon, Satan hath obtained you apostles by asking that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art turned from thy error, strengthen thy brethren.’" Peter’s error was that he could keep himself: "Though all men forsake thee yet I will not; I hold on." When the devil went to sift Peter he shook Peter’s hold loose, and it didn’t take much to do it, but he did not shake Christ loose from Peter. Christ didn’t turn Peter loose, and Christ says, "Now when you are converted from that error, strengthen your brethren." Here he is doing it. "Who kept themselves?" nay verily, "Who are kept by the power of God through faith." "I have prayed that thy faith fail not." That is what we call the perseverance of the saints; perseverance explains our continuance through the help of God, and the preservation shows how God enables us to persevere.

Fifth item: The next item is the consummation of salvation. 1 Peter 1:5: "A salvation ready to be revealed at the last time." We say that a man reaches salvation when he is justified, that he is saved. Well, he is saved from the law, but the work of salvation has not been completed in him, and it will not be completed in him until Christ comes again, and hence it is here referred to as a salvation ready to be revealed; when Christ comes the salvation is consummated. It is consummated because then takes place the salvation of the body. That is part of ourselves. Our bodies are not saved now, but when our bodies are raised from the dead and glorified, salvation will be completed. The elevation of our souls is not complete now because we are not sanctified. I never saw anybody that was. Sixth item: The next item of the analysis: "Joy in grief," in 1 Peter 1:6: "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold trials." That is what we call a paradox. Dr. Crawford in that inimitable book of his called Christian Paradoxes, makes this one of them. "As sorrowing, yet rejoicing," rejoicing in grief. In the sufferings which come upon Christians they are put to grief, tears flow from their eyes many times. They feel their heartstrings snap; they are bowed down with heavy sufferings, and yet in all of it there is joy. Paul praised God while his back was bloody with the stripes received from the lictors of the Romans. He rejoiced in sorrow.

Take this for example. Suppose one who is a father should lose a little child. He can stand at the grave of that little child and weep and rejoice. He rejoices in the hope of meeting him again; in the assurance of God that he will see him again, and all around our Christian life there are those two, joy and sorrow. Joy in grief. There is no way to get around it. It isn’t best for us that we should get around it in this world. We must have tribulation.

QUESTIONS

1. What can you say as to the tradition concerning Peter?

2. Who wrote this letter, and what the arguments?

3. What objection by radical critics?

4. To whom was it written?

5. What the bearing on the "Where written"?

6. Through whom written?

7. Where written, and why do you think so?

8. What the theme of this letter?

9. What the character of the letter?

10. When written?

11. What the occasion?

12. What the relations to previous New Testament books?

13. On Peter’s doctrine of election answer. (1) What is it? (2) Who elects? (3) According to what? (4) What does he mean by foreknowledge? (5) In what? (6) What the meaning of "in sanctification of the Spirit?” (7) Unto what? (8) What the evidences of election to the individual? (9) Restate the work of each of the persons of the Trinity represented by the doctrine of elects.

14. What the effect of Christ’s resurrection on the hope of his disciples, and the important of the doctrine involved?

15. The Christian’s inheritance: (1) What the character of it? (2) Where? (3) For whom? (4) When received? (5) What the assurance that we shall realize this inheritance?

16. What the meaning of salvation in 1 Peter 1:5?

17. Explain the paradox "joy in grief. Illustrate.

Verses 7-25

XIX

UNDESERVED CHRISTIAN SUFFERING

1 Peter 1:7-25

We have considered in two chapters the New Testament life of Peter, all the passages referring to Peter in their chronological order, and we have had a chapter on the special introduction to the first letter of Peter, and in addition have proceeded in the expository analysis of that letter down to verse 6.

That brings us to the seventh item of the expository analysis. The preceding items were these:

1. Peter’s doctrine of election.

2. The effect of Christ’s resurrection on the hope of the disciples.

3. The great inheritance to which that hope points.

4. The preservation of the heirs of that inheritance.

5. The consummation of the salvation.

6. Joy in grief – that paradox.

The seventh item of the expository analysis, the one which we are to discuss in this chapter, is suggested by the following words: "Ye have been put to grief in manifold trials that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold that perisheth, though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." That declaration introduces the value and purpose of the Christian’s undeserved suffering in this life. Peter makes some references to the Christian’s suffering where it is deserved through his faults. But the problem is that of undeserved Christian suffering in this life. This is the problem of the book of Job, also the problem of Psalm 73. It is the old story of the burning bush and of the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar. But 1 Peter throws more light on it than all the books of the Old Testament put together.

The following passages in this letter continue to bring up the subject: 1 Peter 2:20; 1 Peter 3:14; 1 Peter 3:17; 1 Peter 4:1; 1 Peter 4:12-18; 1 Peter 5:10. So that in every chapter of this letter there is a discussion of the problem of undeserved suffering. If we were to gather all the statements in the letter bearing upon that subject, we would reach the following results:

1. One object of undeserved Christian suffering is to try our faith, and his illustration is "like gold that is tried in the fire." By fusing gold in the crucible the pure metal is separated from the alloy; the gold is not destroyed by being fused, but it is cleansed and purified. We find the same thought in the book of Malachi, where he says, "Jesus will sit as a refiner of silver." The refiner puts the silver in the crucible and keeps increasing the heat and watching it, and as soon as it is thoroughly melted, then there is a separation of the dross from the silver. Let us fix the thought in our mind that God’s object, or one of his objects, in permitting or sending undeserved trouble, is to refine us. It is the fiery trial of our faith. Peter did not understand that when he was subjected to the sifting trial at the request of the devil: "Simon, Satan hath obtained you apostles by asking that he may sift you as wheat." He could not have gotten the permission for another purpose, but he did get it for that purpose, for wheat ought to be sifted; it does not hurt it even if the devil shakes the sieve. We thereby get rid of the chaff.

2. These trials, no matter who the immediate agent, are by the will of God. The will of the devil was indeed in that trying of Peter, but so was the will of God. In other words, the devil’s will in the matter was permissive and limited. We may be slandered and the man or demon who slanders us may be prompted by envy, hatred, or malice, but if we are submissive to the dominant and benevolent divine will, great good accrues.

3. "Beloved brethren, think it not strange concerning this fiery trial that has come upon you." That is the first impression of the average Christian. He is amazed at what has come upon him. A strange, a very strange providence!

There are several reasons why he should not think it strange. One reason is that such trials are common to all of God’s people; always have been and always will be. Paul says, "No temptation hath come to you but such as is common to man." In other words, "It isn’t worth while to try to make a martyrD out of yourself by supposing that you are a special case." Another reason why we should not think it strange is that that is the only way to accomplish certain good results – results that are intensely beneficial. A good sister in the church in Waco when I was pastor, wanted me to join with her in prayer that she might have patience, and I asked her how she wanted that patience to come, handed down in a sealed package from heaven, or by God’s method? She said of course God’s method. "Then, my dear sister," I said to her, "there is only one mill that I know of that grinds the grist of patience, and that is tribulation." "Tribulation worketh patience," and desiring patience we must not complain of the antecedent and necessary tribulation.

If we want permanent relief from an incorrigible tooth, we must endure the ordeal of extraction.

4. Our patient endurance of affliction is a powerful means of convicting sinners of sin. A Christian who meekly endures, without murmuring, what God puts on him, and goes right on saying in his heart and in his life that the Judge of all the earth doeth right, that man convicts sinners. They know they can’t do that and that he has something they have not. And not only is it a way of convicting sinners, but it is an evidence, a token of our salvation, that we belong to the elect, that we belong to God’s people.

5. This endurance of undeserved affliction is acceptable with God. No matter what it costs us to bear a thing patiently, we have this consolation: "It hurts me, but it is acceptable with God."

6. The next thought he sets forth is, that we are called unto these things. Every man that is a Christian in some way received a call. Just as Jesus met Paul in the middle of the road, and said, "Saul! Saul!" So in a way through the gospel we are called. There was a time when we felt that call. Now that very first intimation to us that God’s Holy Spirit sent us, called us unto suffering. When Jesus called Saul he spoke to Ananias and said, "I will show him how great things he must suffer for my sake."

7. The next thought that Peter presents with very great force is the example of Christ. The servant should not seek to be better than his master; to be exempt from things that his master has to bear; it was in the mind of Christ to be a sufferer. It was a joy to him, as he looked to the recompense of the reward, and so Peter says that Christ suffered that he might put before us an example. True, there are some things in which the sufferings of Christ are not an example to us. We can’t follow Christ as a vicarious expiation for sin. But we can follow Christ in most of the sufferings that came upon him when he was in the flesh. "Can you be baptized with the baptism that I am to be baptized with?" And he answers the question: "Ye shall indeed be baptized with that baptism. The waves roll over you."

Then Peter makes this point that looks like it is too simple for a statement, yet when we keep turning it over in our minds, we get something out of it. He says, "It is better to suffer wrongfully than justly." Everybody in the world suffers; there is no escape from that. Some people suffer justly; they deserve it; and some suffer wrongfully. Peter says of the two, it is better to suffer wrongfully than to suffer justly. He then makes this capital point that whenever we have a trial as a Christian, when something that we didn’t deserve has come upon us, we then share with Christ; a partnership is established between us and the Lord.

When he was on his way to the cross, and it was heavy, and he had been subjected to great maltreatment and was hungry and weary and wasted, as he staggered under his burden, "Simon, a Cyrenian, they compelled to bear the cross" of Jesus. I don’t suppose Simon did it voluntarily, but somebody laid hold of this passer-by and compelled him to share that burden with Christ. And though unwilling to suffer voluntarily as a Christian, somebody will compel us to bear the cross of Christ; some outsider will take a hand in it, and so we might as well volunteer. Peter says that whenever we thus suffer, it is an evidence that the Spirit of glory and of God resteth on us.

Frequently he makes this point: That judgment must commence at the house of God. That is where it has to commence and there is a judgment in this world and a judgment in the world to come, and if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and the ungodly appear? We must take our choice: The judgment now or hereafter. Where will we have ours? We are wise to let the hand of God rest on us as heavy as it may in this life; that makes it easier in the time to come. They are exceedingly foolish who dodge suffering in this life; who shut their eyes to the fact that somewhere, some time, every man must render an account of himself to God and must be a burden-bearer. Let us take it as heavy as we can stand it in this life, and it will be all the better in the next.

Take the case of David to illustrate it: In that case it was deserved. God says to him, "I have put away thy sin," that is, so far as the future’s concerned. "When you get to heaven there won’t be the weight of a pin against you up there; but you sinned down here on earth and you must be chastened." But that is different from the problem we are considering here. He says, "If any man suffer, let him not suffer as a wrongdoer, for if when you are buffeted for your faults, what glory is it if you take it patiently? But if ye suffer as a Christian, the Spirit of glory and of God resteth on you." He winds up his letter with a climax on that problem. It is a precious text to me, and it was to Spurgeon: "The God of all grace" – grace in the daytime and at night; in sickness and in health; in good and evil report; in this world and in the world to come. "The God of all grace, after that ye have suffered a while, will perfect you himself; himself strengthen you; himself establish you, himself perfect you."

The eighth item of the expository analysis is based on this scripture: "Whom having not seen, ye love; on whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory; receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." What a theme for preaching! I have it this way in my analysis: Loving, believing, rejoicing, and receiving without seeing. In the first chapter on the life of Peter we were examining those experiences or observations on his own life that made the most impression on his own mind, and one of the things so noted was Peter’s presence when Thomas said, "Except I put my fingers in the print of the nails in his hands, and thrust my hand in his side, I will not believe." Peter was also present when Jesus came into the assembly and said, "Thomas, behold my hands, reach hither your fingers, thrust your hand in my side." And Thomas believed, but Jesus said, "Blessed are they who not seeing, yet believe."

That saying made a great impression on Peter, believing without seeing. Andrew Fuller in his works, has a sermon on what faith is contrasted with. He says faith is not contrasted with frames and feelings. If we feel good today and felt bad yesterday, that is what he means by frames and feelings, but faith is contrasted with sight. "We walk by faith, not by sight." Faith takes hold of the invisible. Moses endured as seeing him who is invisible. In other words, faith is the eye to the soul. Our carnal eye cannot see heaven, invisible to natural sight. To give an illustration: If we step out at night and throw our eyes up toward heaven, we see a splash across the sky called the Milky; Way. The natural eye cannot discern between the parts of the whiteness, but when we look at it through the big telescopes in the observatory, that splash of whiteness differentiates; it separates into millions of distinct worlds. What the telescope is to the natural eye, so faith is to the soul. It brings distant things near and outlines them so we can take hold of them. Peter says not only are we called on to believe without seeing, but we are to love without seeing, and we are to rejoice with joy unspeakable without seeing, and we are to receive the salvation of our souls without seeing. It is all visible by faith. Faith gives substance to things hoped for, and is the evidence of the things not seen.

The ninth item of the analysis is the unity and glory of the plan of salvation based on 1 Peter 1:10-11: "Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. To whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto you, did they minister these things, which now have been announced unto you through them that preached the gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven, which things angels desire to look into." Analyzing that compound sentence we get the following thoughts:

1. The unity of the two testimonies; they strike hands. What these Old Testament prophets foretold, our New Testament apostles proclaimed as facts and proclaimed them with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. The two parts fit into each other; one is the development of the other, so that there is a unity in the plan of revelation.

2. Wherever a revelation comes from God in the form of a prophecy, it becomes a subject of inquiry to the receiver of it. Imagine Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, looking upon that mysterious suffering servant of the Lord revealed to him: "Who hath believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? His visage was marred more than that of any of the sons of men. He was esteemed stricken and afflicted of God. All our sins were put on him." Immediately the question came up in his mind: "What time and what manner of time will this be?" Those prophets searched diligently. Searched on what point? As to the time and manner of time that the things they foretold would take place. But not only the prophets tried to look into it, but the angels tried to look into it. It attracted the attention of the angels: "Which things the angels desire to look into."

3. When they so searched, it was revealed unto them that these things which they were foretelling were not for themselves, but for us, to come long after they had passed away. God let them see that these wonderful things about Christ’s sufferings and those marvelous glories that would follow his sufferings, would not come in their time. Observe the analogy of the New Testament prophecy and notice how now, as well as then, men want to get at the time and manner of time of the second advent. When Christ predicted the destruction of the temple and the end of the world, Peter, with others, asked, "Lord, when shall these things be?" Notice that he had that inquiring spirit which the old prophets had, the curiosity to look into the question of time and circumstance, and every one of us is an interrogation point on the same things. A brilliant lady in the days of Queen Anne made this remark about Alexander Pope, the great poet: "Why is Pope like an interrogation point? Because he is a little crooked thing that asks questions." The witticism was brutally cruel in its reference to his small, malformed body. But every one of us is an interrogation point on the time and the manner of the second coming of Christ. "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom?" "Lord, will it be next week?" "Lord, can’t we figure it out as we do an eclipse, and make it known to the people, the day that all these things take place?" But how foolish, for when the wheels of time roll around they grind into powder all their mathematical calculations.

Our Lord would not answer that question. He would answer us just as he answered the prophets. He can reveal to us as he revealed to them, that these things are certain, that they are coming and that they are for somebody, but not for us. Peter was one of them. He knew the second advent was not for him, because Christ had told him that he would die by crucifixion; so he knew it would not come in his time. So the Thessalonians went wild until corrected by Paul. It is one of the most curious things in psychology – a man’s curiosity to know the very things of the least concern to him. Wouldn’t one rather be saved than to know the time of salvation? Wouldn’t we rather be sure of our salvation than of the time of it? "When Thou, home. 0! how can I bear the piercing thought, what if my my righteous Judge, shall come to take thy ransomed people name should be left out?" Had we not rather be sure of the fact that we will not be left out than to be sure of the day?

Let me assure you solemnly that the great power of the second advent, just like the first, is not in the day of its coming, but it is in the fact of its coming and what follows.

I once took up this line of thought: "Which things the angels desire to look into," and I followed it all through the Bible. When we get on an angel’s-trail, we are on a good trail. I followed it up all through the Bible to see, just as far as revelation would show, about the angels. I found them intensely interested in the affairs of this world from away back yonder when God made the world, and the sons of God shouted for joy. I found that from the time that he made it angels above, and angels below, angels of love, and angels of woe, concentrated their attention on the problems of man’s earthly and eternal life, and therefore, in those symbolical representations in Solomon’s Temple, the cherubim were carved as bending over the mercy seat and looking down there where the blood falls, intently looking down (that is what the word means). They were investigating the question of salvation by the shedding of blood.

Then their figures were represented on the veil, and when we come to the New Testament we find that they take stock in everything from the announcement on. They are not only at the cradle, but at the tomb, and a shining angel announced the resurrection. Paul says that whenever God’s people come together let the women have covering on their heads because of the angels; they are there. There are angels hovering round. They are students. They have not omniscience – they have to learn by studying, by looking, therefore, Paul says that the church is the instructor of angels. "It shall be made known unto the angels the manifold wisdom of God by the church." Newt here we have this plan of salvation with the angels studying about it and the prophets studying about it.

This brings us to the first exhortation in the book: "Wherefore," that is, the "wherefore" looks back at every preceding thing, "girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." In other words, "That is the thing to think about. Don’t you set your mind on the time when, but on the grace that is to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ." "As children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance, but like as he who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living, because it is written, ’Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.’ "

That is his first exhortation. Peter does not let the taste get out of our mouth when giving a doctrine until he has a practical use for it. Doctrine is not something to be debated about, but assimilated in the life. A man may be go sound in doctrine that he is nothing but sound. Doctrine must be applied. We must so apply every revelation of God; every truth of God. Peter was a practical man.

The next point in my analysis I call, "What prayer entails." "And if ye call on him as a Father who, without respect of persons, judgeth according to each man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear." If we pray, what follows? Let us pass the time of sojourning here in fear. In other words, Christian prayer is a lot of foolishness if it is like school children slipping along down the street, running up to the front door and ringing the bell, then running off before anybody comes. If we ring the bell, if we pray, there is an obligation entailed when we pray. If we call on him as Father, we should pass the time of our sojourning here in fear. That covers his thought so well we will go to the next.

Our next division is "The Cost of Redemption," and it covers a great deal of space. Let us read it: "Knowing that ye are redeemed, not with corruptible things) with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life, handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ."

So, in discussing redemption, the first thing presented is its cost. What does it mean? To redeem is to buy back. It is the buying back of a lost soul. What did it cost? He says, "You were bought back, not with money, silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ"; that is the price he paid for it. He then says, following his thought on redemption, "Who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of the times for your sake." This was the redeemer who, on the cross, paid the price of our redemption. But that was not the beginning of it. He was foreknown from the foundation of the world.

What took place on Calvary was the result of what took place before the world was made. It was not accidental, it was not an emergency prompted by the startled and surprised mind of God, seeing the devil had gotten away with the human race. At the beginning, and before God ever said, "Let the world be," Christ knew all about it, and Christ, the Redeemer, was then in covenant with the Father. While he was foreknown before the foundation of the world, he was manifested in those last times, the fullness of time. Think of it, four thousand years I That will give us some conception of God. A thousand years are with God as one day, or like a watch in the night. Four thousand years that purpose of the Redeemer seemed to be slumbering. Every now and then a star would flash out a prophetic light, coming yet nearer and nearer to the truth: through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, etc., he must come; he must be born in Bethlehem of Judea. Getting nearer and nearer, at last he was manifested. God was manifested. The Redeemer came. And so will be the next advent.

Continuing the thought of redemption, he says, “Who through him are believers in God.” We should stop to think where our faith came from, and how utterly unknowable God is without Christ; now we can get hold of him. My own heart leaped for joy at the revelation of God the Father, when my soul by faith-took hold on Jesus Christ the Son. I never before had understood God. Jesus revealed God to me. It was through him that I believed in God. I saw God now to be loving and near, tender, and compassionate.

The redemption proof. The next thought that Peter presents is, "God the Father who raised him from the dead and gave him glory." How calm was he at the last, when the three hours of darkness passed! Our Lord Jesus Christ, the only undisturbed soul in the universe, lifts up his eyes and prays, "Father, I have done what you told me to do; I have finished the work that you told me to do. Now, Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with you before the world was." And he went down to death in unshaken faith that God would raise him and take him back to glory.

The next thought on redemption is its method of application, as presented in this verse: "Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth." Now the application of the redemption – "having been begotten again" – we were begotten once of our earthly fathers and their seed, corruptible seed. That birth introduces us to the depravity of our sires. But when we get in touch with redemption we have a new birth, a birth from above and of a different seed, a different sire; the next time our sire is God. In the other case it was man, and since God is our sire in this regeneration we are born, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed, and the instrumentality employed is the word of God. "Of his own will he brought us forth with the words of truth," says James. Peter himself adds: "having been begotten, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth." ’Tor all flesh withereth, and the flower falleth, but the word of the Lord abideth forever." Some old-time Baptists contended that the word was not the seed, but the instrument of seed-planting, that the seminal principle of life was communicated through the word.

QUESTIONS

1. What the problem of the book of Job, of Psalm 73, and of this book?

2. What two symbolic representations of this problem in the Old Testament?

3. How does the discussion in this book compare with the Old Testament light on the subject?

4. On the undeserved suffering of the righteous answer: (1) What one of the objects? (2) By what are they permitted? (3) What usually the first impression made by them, and why should the Christian not think it strange? (4) What the effect of the patient endurance of them on the world? (5) What the consolation of undeserved affliction? (6) How is this subject related to the purpose of God? (7) What encouragement by way of example? (8) What distinction does Peter make on the subject of human suffering?

5. What great text for preaching? Give the author’s analysis.

6. What incident in Peter’s life brought forth this statement from him?

7. With what is faith contrasted, and what sermon cited?

8. Give an analysis of 1 Peter 1:10-11.

9. What is a more important question than the question of time?

10. What interest displayed in man’s salvation?

11. What the first exhortation in the book?

12. What does prayer entail?

13. What did our redemption cost?

14. What the meaning of "foreknown," 1 Peter 1:20?

15. How are we through Christ believers in God?

16. What is the redemption proof?

17. What the method of the application of redemption?