PETER'S EPISTLES

1 Peter: Living In Conflict With The Culture

II. Encouragement By Our Hope

(1 Peter 1:3-5)

I. Introduction

A. Several believers in different states of the nation have reported on the increasing difficulty they face in living in accord with Bible truth since doing so conflicts with the godless world's deteriorating culture around them.

B. "First Peter was written to Christians . . . whose stand for Jesus Christ made them aliens and strangers in the midst of a pagan society" (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 837), so we study 1 Peter for insight and edification.

C. 1 Peter 1:3-5 presents reasons for us Christians to be encouraged while facing a godless world due to our living, rich and secure future hope, so we study this passage for our insight and edification (as follows):

II. Encouragement By Our Hope, 1 Peter 1:3-5.

A. We believers living in this world can be encouraged by our LIVING hope in Christ, 1 Peter 1:3:

1. Beginning a doxology of praise to God in 1 Peter 1:3 that runs down to 1 Peter 1:12 (Ibid., p. 840), Peter praised God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who, according to His "plentiful, great" (polus, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 791; The Analyt. Grk. Lex., 1972, p. 335; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 694-696) mercy has "caused" us "to be born again" (anagennao, Ibid., p. 51) unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

2. The verb anagennao is used only in this chapter in all of Scripture (here and in verse 23, Ibid., Bible Know. Com., N. T.), what possibly recalled Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus in John 3:1-21, Ibid.

3. From 1 Peter 1:21, we know the "living hope" is based on the reality of the resurrection of Christ, that the believer's "assurance in Christ is as certain and sure as the fact that Christ is alive!" (Ibid.)

4. This "sure, certain, and real" hope contrasts with the "deceptive, empty, false hope the world offers," Ibid.

B. We believers living in this world can be encouraged by the INHERITANCE that awaits us in eternity, v. 4:

1. Peter's word for "inheritance" (kleronomian, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.) that awaits us believers is the same word used in the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament in Peter's day of "Israel's promised possession of the land," 1 Peter 1:4a; Ibid., p. 841. Thus, just as God gave Israel the Promised Land as her inheritance, He has given believers in Christ an inheritance in heaven, Ibid.

2. Three Greek words are used by Peter to describe the "cumulative . . . permanence" of this inheritance, and they stylistically start with the same letter and end with the same syllable (Ibid.) as follows:

a. Our inheritance is aphtharton, "imperishable" (Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 125); 1 Peter 1:4b.

b. Our inheritance is amianton, "undefiled," Ibid., p. 45; 1 Peter 1:4c.

c. Our inheritance is amaranton, "unfading," Ibid., p. 41; 1 Peter 1:4d.

3. Furthermore, this inheritance has been, is now being and will forever be being permanently kept by God in heaven for the believer, the verb rendered "reserved" (KJV) being teteremenen, the perfect passive participle of tereo, "preserve, shield, reserve" (Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Ibid., The Analyt. Grk. Lex., 1972, p. 402, 403), 1 Peter 1:4e.

C. We believers living in this world can be encouraged by the SECURITY of the hope we have, 1 Peter 1:5:

1. We believers are now being kept (phrouroumenous, present passive participle of phroureo, "guard, protect, keep," Ibid., p. 430; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 875) by God through faith unto the "salvation" that will be revealed in the last time, 1 Peter 1:5. Though we are justified now, the full application of God's salvation to the body (Romans 8:23) will occur at Christ's coming, Ibid., Bible Know. Com., N. T.

2. God's keeping us saved through faith can never lapse so that we might then lose our salvation, for the inheritance that God has permanently reserved (perfect passive of tereo, v. 4) in heaven for us we must obtain, so He must keep us unconditionally saved so we can possess what is permanently reserved for us!

Lesson: We believers living in a godless world can be encouraged by focusing on the reality of our salvation as based on the reality of our Savior's bodily resurrection, by focusing on the imperishable, undefiled and unfading inheritance God has permanently reserved in heaven for us and by noting that God now keeps us saved so we can never lose our salvation that we might possess that inheritance that He has permanently reserved for us!

Application: In living in the current godless world, may we be encouraged to keep living for the Lord by focusing on our living, rich and secure hope in the Lord.