1 Peter: Set ApartSample

Imperishable Hope

In this passage, we have an amazing reminder of hope and trust. We can have hope in the midst of suffering because we can trust God with our past, present, and future. God is a gracious Father who has given us everything we need to be sustained in this life. We have imperishable hope, bought by the precious blood of Jesus. In this passage, we are going to see how it shapes our every day!

Peter addresses the doctrine of glorification in that we will one day be completely fulfilled in eternity with Jesus. This is a day that Peter instructs all believers to long for, prepare for, and set their minds on. As we begin to look at all of the commands God has given us, we realize that they are all rooted in grace. What Jesus has done prompts us to live a certain way. It is because of grace that one day we will be made fully new.

Therefore we set our hope not on ourselves or what we do, but on what Christ has done for us.

Peter then turns our attention to the doctrine of justification. Justification is the truth that we are justified or made righteous before God because of the sacrifice of Christ alone. In response to this gift of grace, we are encouraged to live holy lives as representatives of our holy God. But we all know that none of us are holy 100% of the time.

This is the good news of what Christ has done; he has made a way when there was no way. We were not bought with perishables like silver and gold, but rather the blood of the sacrificial lamb, Jesus.

Just as we were chosen before the foundation of the world, God planned in eternity past that he would send Christ, and he chose to reveal him at the moment in history in which the believers receiving this letter lived.

Peter explains that ultimately everything will fade away. Everything under the sun will one day perish except for the Word of God. God has graciously given us a Word in which we can understand the truths of the gospel (i.e. glorification and justification). The Word of God looks to challenge us, change us, and ultimately sustain us until that day of glorification. It can be trusted and it will last forever.

Today’s reflection

How does being justified by what Christ has done and not by things you do (trying to be a good person, giving money away, forgiving people, etc.), allow you to actually do all these “good” things out of a sense of freedom and not out of obligation?