B5-devotions

1 Peter 1:1-5

Devotions for Thursday 26th June

The beginning of Peter’s first letter is typical of many letters in the New Testament, but there is no doubt about the sense of joy and excitement with which it begins. Peter addresses a wide range of churches across the Roman provinces of Asia (what is now Turkey), and speaks expansively about the great salvation plan of God which has become real in their midst. In his introduction, he speaks about God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit (1:2) all in one sentence, which is something of a rarity in scripture, and he pours out praises to God for the great blessings of new birth found through the death and resurrection of Jesus (1:3) and anticipates the future glory of our complete salvation (1:4,5) when all things come to their timely end. This is a passage of scripture which can be read in church to lift the hearts of a congregation, and perhaps bring from them a shout of ‘Amen’!

Without taking anything away from this sense of wonder at God’s mercies, there is a great deal more within this text which is not simply interesting, but also very important. We will discuss who wrote the letter later on, but we will come to the conclusion that there is no strong reason to doubt that Peter’s hand wrote the letter. Why should a poor fisherman from Galilee not grow through the astounding life-changing experiences of being with Jesus throughout His ministry, and eventually be capable of writing good quality Greek about the Lord and God who had saved him? I write this because some have doubted this could be possible, but such a suggestion shows an unworthily superior attitude. Peter had a special commission to proclaim the Gospel from Jesus Himself (Matt 28:19), and this is why he began the letter; ‘Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ’ (1:1).

The letter of 1 Peter has an interesting structure. Peter begins with an introduction (1:1,2), but then launches into a long sermon-like explanation of the Gospel together with advice for general Christian living. However, you will discover that the sermon-like part of the letter continues only to 4:11, where Peter concludes; ‘may God be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ, To Him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.’ (4:11). But after this, Peter adds further personal comments and advice, ending with this explanation; ‘I have written this short letter to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.’ (5:12). This is an extremely helpful summary, because it tells us that Peter’s intention was to encourage the churches to remain faithful to ‘the true grace of God’; which for him meant the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. One interesting theory about the whole letter however, is that 1:3 to 4:11 is in fact a sermon by Peter preached on the occasion of conducting baptisms. When we get to the relevant passages, we will look at this theory further, including the possibility that the candidate was baptised after 1:21 and before 1:22, in the middle of the sermon!

Peter’s letter begins formally and correctly, addressing its recipients, giving glory to God, and offering greetings (incidentally the same greeting as used by Paul in almost all his letters; ‘grace and peace’, see Phil 1:1; Col 1:1 etc). It is nevertheless the energy of verses 3,4 and 5 which catch our eye, because they are solidly consistent with the whole New Testament teaching of the saving power of God at work in Jesus Christ and let loose within the world through the church. It is an ‘imperishable, pure and unfading inheritance’ (1:4) which is therefore no different for us now. Such words are a strong reminder of the glorious privilege we have in passing on the faith we have received. We have an ‘apostolic faith’ which means that our faith is consistent with what the first disciples found in the person of Jesus Christ. It can and must be nothing less.

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ:

To the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, chosen 2 by the prior intention of God the Father, by the consecration of the Spirit, by obedience to Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of His blood:

May grace and peace increase amongst you.

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in His great mercy has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an imperishable, pure and unfading inheritance, which is kept in heaven for you 5 who through faith are protected by God's power, for a salvation waiting to be revealed in the End Time.

To read more about this passage of scripture: go to the Bible study page

To read the questions and discipleship challenges for this text: go to the discipleship page

Inspire us, Lord Jesus, by the simple beauty of your life; lived so long ago but so powerfully close to us now, by grace. Lift our spirits to fly higher than they have flown before, so that on eagle’s wings we catch a vision of our world from Your eyes and live inspired by that sight. Then in all we do, may we be faithful, kind, confident and strong in our witness to the Gospel by which we were saved. We pray this in Your name, Lord Jesus; AMEN

Lord Jesus Christ, You are love ...

and our hearts are fed by Your compassion:

Lord Jesus Christ, You are peace ...

and we rest in the intimacy of Your care:

Lord Jesus Christ, You are joy ...

and our spirits are enthralled by Your presence!

Lord Jesus Christ, You are power ...

and we are privileged to serve in Your strength:

Lord Jesus Christ, You are wisdom ...

and our minds are thrilled by Your knowledge.

Lord Jesus Christ, You are God

And we are blessed to be called Your servants.

Weekly Theme: Justice

Pray for regions of the world where there is a lack of confidence in justice, and crime grows, creating a society of fear and violence. Pray for the victims of such violence.

On-going prayers

Pray for the people who live near you or in your street
Pray for local shops & businesses
Thank God for the good work done by Christian children’s workers

Going Deeper: (what you will find on the Bible study page)

There is much for us to value in this brief passage, and we will look at the introduction now in more detail (1:1,2) and then the opening of the ‘sermon’ (1:3-5). However, as with many passages of scripture, some interesting issues can be unearthed simply by looking closely at the words of the text and its translation. You should find the notes on the translation spiritually helpful and not merely a linguistic exercise.

For the full Bible study, click link above,

or for a brief review, scroll page down.