Gifts from the Father
Today, we are going to move on from the salutation (1 Peter 1:1-2) and into the promises with which Peter begins the meat of his missive. God, through His great mercy, has given us many gifts. In the following verses Peter covers the greatest gifts of all, salvation through grace and eternal inheritance. I hope to get through the verse below. But, as you tend toward distracting me with non-sequiturs and various goat paths unending, we will, as they say, see just how far we get.
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.
1 Peter 1:3-5
A recap, for mercy’s sake
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
1 Peter 1:1-2
A short recap
Over the last three days we covered the first two verses of 1 Peter 1. Briefly, the topics are broken up like this:
- The elect…according to the foreknowledge of God – Day 18.0: Called
- The sanctification of the Spirit – Day 19.0: Sanctification
- Obedience to Jesus Christ and…sprinkling with his blood – Day 20.0: Obedience and Blood
Please feel free to go back and tarry amongst those excellent concepts. I promise the majority of what you will read in those articles will be scripture. I do make some comments and some connecting points. But, in the main I let the word of God do the talking.
Salvation and hope of inheritance
Let’s explore the promises I mentioned above. Peter praises God for the wonderful gift of hope – a living hope. Peter writes that we have this living hope because we have been born again because of God’s great mercy, and later that we are guarded through faith for this salvation. He writes that our hope is for an eternal inheritance, and that it is through Christ’s resurrection.
Living hope
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Romans 8:22-25
Born again through His great mercy
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
John 3:1-8
All this is from God
117 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Jesus says we must be born again. He says we must be born of both water – our natural birth from our mother’s womb – and of Spirit. Peter and Jesus agree on how this is initiated within us: Peter says God caused it according to his great mercy. Christ says the Spirit moves where he wishes. Both of these statements, God has caused and (my own paraphrasing here) The Spirit moves where he wishes have an unmistakable flavor of election – of calling. I have covered election largely in the studies on Day 1.0: Steadfastness and Day 18.0: Called, but here’s a short quote from Christ himself:
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:44
So, God caused us to be born again. He calls us, or draws us. We know that being born again means being born of the Spirit. This gives us a living hope that we will be united with Christ after death. But, how can we hope such a thing?
A living hope through the resurrection of Christ
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
John 11:25
13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
Colossians 1:13-18
Imperishable inheritance through His great mercy
Jesus is the first born from the dead. Thanks to the will of God, we are the first fruits of the Spirit. Our hope is not in what we see, but what we know is to come. We hope in our Lord, trusting that like him, as Christ said, though we die, yet shall we live. Where? In the kingdom of God. Will we be slaves there? No. We will be adopted as sons and daughters. 2 Timothy 2:12 says, if we endure, we will also reign with him.
Immeasurable richness of His grace
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— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:4-7
Children of God
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:12-13
Heirs according to the hope
3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:3-7
In summary
Peter tells us that we have a living hope of resurrection and inheritance through Christ, and that it is all from the great mercy of God. I think it is important to see all of this as gift. Let us recognize it and be glad.
But, before we part…
If you believe you have merited any of the gifts outlined above, you are denying the will and mercy of God and the power of Christ. You are adding yourself to an equation in which you were not a factor. Our obligation is to respond in thankfulness to God’s mercy and obedience to Christ.
Pride is at the heart of all human sin. It is the reason we think we ought to be saved, or we ought to be recognized for what we see as our valorous choosing of Christ. It is also the reason so many believe they have no need of Christ, religion, the Bible, even God.
Are you an atheist denying the very existence of the God who, by His mercy, gave you the mind with which you deny Him? Beware your pride. Maybe you are a diligent do-gooder working for the wage you know you’ve earned? Beware your pride. If you are reformed, and your doubt about the will of man has lead you to a laissez faire faith – confident that whatever your abominations, your election is secure and His grace is sufficient. Beware your pride. God’s grace is sufficient, and it covers a multitude of sins. But, we cannot lean on this like a crutch as we hobble down blind alleys of sin and disobedience.
Oh, no, he’s claiming proof!
I hesitate to use the expression, but there are proofs:
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-10
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[b] is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
James 2:14-20
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
John 15:4-6
Obedience with gratitude is the cure for pride
So, let us be thankful for the gifts of mercy and an inheritance. Let us be obedient, proving our faith alive by bearing much fruit in those works which God prepared for us to do before we were even born. We have a living hope, a resurrected savior to imitate, and a kingdom to inherit.
