David B. Curtis
David B. Curtis
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Good morning, Bereans. In our last study, we looked at verses 8-9 of chapter 5. These verses discuss the readers' need to be on guard, alert, and sober-minded because Satan, the enemy, was roaming around seeking whom he may devour. They needed to guard against temptation and to be aware of trials that they face and the persecutions that come upon them.
Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 1 Peter 5:9 ESV
Does this command to resist the devil apply to us? No, the devil was destroyed in AD 70 at the second coming of the Lord. We don't battle with spiritual enemies.
"Knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world"—Peter uses the common experience of believers scattered throughout the Roman Empire as an encouragement to these persecuted believers. Their experience was not unusual, but normative. Notice what Paul told the Corinthians.
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV
The word "temptation" is from the Greek word, peirasmos, which means " to test, and prove." It can mean a trial or test or it can be used of a solicitation to evil. A trial can become a solicitation to evil if we respond to it wrongly.
The Translation, God's Word, puts it this way, "There isn't any temptation that you have experienced which is unusual for humans."
Everyone deals with suffering. No one is immune. And the sufferings you face are not unique; others have faced the very same things. You see, the pressures that we experience are shared by everybody. You're not the only one who struggles with these temptations or trials. We're all frail, fallen human beings, prone to fleshly indulgence.
The "trials" we experience in life are common to all. I do not know anything that is harder to believe, when you are in a trial, than that. We all think, "Why is it happening to me? How come they have it so good?" Well, it is just your turn, that is all. Everybody goes through it.
So, Peter tells them, "You're not alone." Christians throughout the Roman empire are also suffering for their faith. Then he says the following:
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 5:10 ESV
"And after you have suffered awhile"—we almost want to ask Peter, "Why did you say that?" We wish we were called to His eternal glory on the "no suffering" plan. Let's face it. Nobody likes suffering but did you know that the early church actually viewed suffering as a gift from God. Paul, in fact, teaches that suffering is a grace gift from God:
For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, Philippians 1:29 ESV
The verse says, "It has been granted." This is the Greek verb charizomai, which comes from charis (grace). So charizomai is grace. The noun form is used for spiritual gifts. Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says, "Charizomai primarily denotes "to show favor or kindness." In Galatians 3:18, it is "to give freely, bestow graciously." Suffering is a grace gift from God.
"For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe"— he compares suffering with salvation. Both are grace gifts. Salvation is a gift, according to Ephesians 2:8-9, and so is suffering. He doesn't say that suffering is punishment or that it is something that has happened by chance. God gives suffering as graciously and lovingly as He gives the faith to believe in His Son. Does this make sense to you? Suffering and persecution are a gracious gift from God?
Believers, we must understand that whenever Christians live as they ought to live in this world, wherever they live righteous lives and aggressively seek to spread the Gospel and make disciples, and whenever they stand for righteousness, the natural outcome will be suffering.
Notice Paul's promise to those who were suffering.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Yeshua our Lord. Romans 8:35-39 ESV
Paul is telling believers that nothing will separate them from Yahweh's love—nothing. This is eternal security. Aggressive opposition would never separate them from the love of God, regardless of intensity or outcome. This is very comforting.
"A little while"—he says the suffering is only for "a little while." Peter uses this word earlier in this epistle.
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 1 Peter 1:6 ESV
So, the trials are only for "a little while." Now for some of us who have been going through a difficult situation for six months, a year, or ten years, the timing may not feel short at all. Maybe we have been in a bad marriage or dealing with a difficult boss or some type of persecution. In what way is this temporary? Our sufferings as Christians are relatively brief compared with eternity with our Lord. I see "a little while" as referring to this life.
It is all too easy to think that a God who would permit his children to suffer in this way is less than good and gracious. So, Peter quickly reminds his readers that Yahweh is "the God of all grace." What a title! Believers, our God is the God of all grace.
Grace is undeserved favor. How important is grace? Grace is at the very heart of the Gospel. To not understand grace, is to not understand the Gospel. Hopefully, you understand that we are saved by grace, and by grace alone. This is what the Bible teaches,
and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Yeshua, Romans 3:24 ESV
The word "justified" means "to declare righteous." It a legal act on the part of God. We see here that we are justified "by his grace as a gift" The word "gift" is the Greek word dorean. It means "for nothing, gratuitously, gift wise, or without a cause." The cause of our justification is in God and not in us. The word "grace" means "free and unmerited favor shown to guilty sinners who deserve only judgment."
"By his grace as a gift" is redoubled to show that the act of justification is all of God. Nothing in this act of justification belongs to or proceeds from man. Paul teaches this in his epistle to the Ephesians.
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—Ephesians 2:5 ESV
Verse 5 says that grace is the cause of our salvation, whereas, verse 8 says that grace, and nothing else, is the cause.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
The only way anyone ever gets into a relationship with God is by the grace of God. Yet the majority of people today who think they are in a relationship with God think they are in that relationship because of something they do or don't do. Men think that they can earn their favor with God, but the Bible teaches that our salvation is all of grace and only of grace.
Grace stands in direct opposition to any supposed worthiness on our part. Please understand that grace and works are mutually exclusive:
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. Romans 11:6 ESV
Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. Romans 4:4 ESV
Grace is God's free and unmerited favor. If you have to work for something, it is not free, and it is not unmerited—it is earned. Our relationship with God is not based on merit, it is based only and completely upon grace.
"Who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ"—because of His grace he has called you. What does it mean to be called? This is a major subject for Peter. He mentions our calling in 1 Peter 1:15, 2:9, 21 and 3:9.
This calling is an effectual saving call as it always is in the New Testament epistles. Notice what Paul tells us about God's calling.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Romans 8:29-30 ESV
The word "foreknew" is from the Greek word proginosko. The background of the term must be located in the Hebrew Scriptures where it teaches that for God "to know" refers not to simple knowledge but to covenantal love. To foreknow a person is to enter into intimate relationship with him and to choose him.
In this unbroken chain of salvation, we learn that all whom God "loved beforehand" (foreknew) He justified and glorified. Now, we know that everybody is not going to be justified, so this must mean that God does not love everybody, which is a truth taught in the Scriptures.
The Greek word translated predestined is proorizo; it is the word from which we get our English word horizon. This Greek word could be literally translated as "pre-horizon." The horizon is the great boundary between the earth and the sky, and the Greek word horizo means to establish boundaries. And to set the boundaries, to draw the lines, to establish the limits, is to determine what will be. And to do that ahead of time, in eternity past, is predestination.
The predestination in Romans 8:29 means that in eternity past, God drew some lines. He established a horizon around each person He had foreknown—a set boundary marking him off—a circle of destiny. What predestined means in its most elementary form is that our final destination, heaven or damnation, is decided by God, not only before we get there, but before we are born.
The Scriptures also call this "Election." It is the idea of God's choosing whom He loves—choosing them to be part of His family and choosing them to be in His presence. The Gospel is the Good News, not of man's act of choosing Christ, but of God's act of choosing man.
This calling is an effectual calling. God calls dead men to life. This is regeneration or a spiritual resurrection. Fallen man, in his natural state, lacks all power to commune with God because man is spiritually dead. Apart from God's giving life, man cannot even understand God.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV
Notice carefully what this verse says. Natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God—the Gospel. Who is the natural man? The word "natural" comes from the Greek word psuchikos. It conveys that the natural man is the man without the spirit of God.
God's effectual calling (regeneration) is absolutely necessary because apart from it, man has no ability to understand or desire the things of God. Hodge says that regeneration is: "The instantaneous change from spiritual death to spiritual life. Regeneration, therefore, is a spiritual resurrection, the beginning of a new life." Thiessen says: "Regeneration may be defined as the communication of divine life to the soul, as the impartation of a new nature, or heart and the production of a new creation."
When we believe in Christ, we are saved, that is, justified. The Scriptures are clear that faith in Yeshu the Christ is the instrumental pre-condition of justification. God justifies the ungodly who believe in Yeshua—in a word, believers.
The logical sequence is that faith precedes justification. Many Scriptures state that faith is the response of our heart and mind to the divine call to believe in Christ (Acts 16:31; 1 Cor. 1:9). Therefore, faith should be positioned in the broad outline between calling and justification. Therefore, in the application of salvation, this gives us the logical sequence of: foreknowledge, election, state of death, calling, faith, justification.
Roman 8:30 teaches that glorification is the last act in the application of salvation. Paul uses the past tense of glorified. But the transition saints were not yet glorified. So why does he use the past tense? Bruce suggested that perhaps Paul was imitating the Hebrew prophetic past tense in which a future event is spoken of as past because of the certainty of its coming. So certain and so effective was the redemptive action of Yeshua the Christ that God views glorification as final.
So, what is glorification?
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:4 ESV
Believers, Christ has been revealed, and we have been glorified! Being "glorified" is essentially being delivered from the damage inflicted by sin and being restored to the perfection of Adam's pre-fallen condition in the presence of God.
Peter goes on to say that God, "will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." Peter is saying, "God hasn't forgotten you in your trial. He is the God of all grace who called you to His eternal glory in Christ in the first place. Thus, you can trust Him to use the trial for His purpose in your life.
Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Nothing can change that. All the suffering that comes to us here is meant to strengthen us, to establish us, to confirm us, to perfect us, and to conform us more into the man and woman of God that we should be.
To "restore" is to repair whatever damage may have been inflicted. It was used of Peter's "mending" his fishing nets (Matthew 4:21). God will put you back together after the trial so that you will be useful to Him. To "confirm" is to establish immovable and immutable our relationship with him. Yeshua told Peter that after he was restored from his denial of Yeshua, he would "strengthen" [same word] his brothers. To "strengthen" (a verb used only here in the NT and rarely in extra-biblical Greek.) is to supply us with the power essential for endurance. And to "establish" is to secure us firmly on the foundation of our faith—Yeshua the Christ. Yeshua used it to describe the house founded on the rock that withstood the storm (Matthew 7:25). The overall idea is that the sovereign God will use the trials to establish you in your faith and to equip you to serve others in His cause. So, you can trust Him in the process.
To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 5:11 ESV
This is a doxology that refers to Yeshua in this context. The word "doxology" comes from two Greek words—doxa, which means "glory or praise" and legein, which means "to speak." It means "to speak of His glory." A doxology is a hymn of praise to Yahweh. Scripture is filled with doxologies.
The word "dominion" is from the Greek kratos, which means "strength." It's only used here in the whole New Testament. And it speaks of God's ability to dominate. He is the dominant one. Nothing is beyond His control, including our suffering. The point here is that God is Sovereign, and since Christ is the God man manifest, Christ is Sovereign. Whatever lies ahead, we face it in the power of Christ and in the knowledge that he has dominion over ALL things.
By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. 1 Peter 5:12 ESV
"By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you"— "Silvanus" is the Roman form of the Greek name "Silas." Peter's secretary, Silvanus, who has recorded Peter's letter, is believed to be the same Silas who knew Peter in Jerusalem. He was an important member of the Jerusalem Christian community. He also wrote several of Paul's letters.
"I have written briefly to you"— Peter may have taken the pen from Silvanus at this point in the letter's composition and written the conclusion himself, which was a common practice (cf. Gal. 6:11; 2 Thess. 3:17).
Silas had been entrusted by the church in Jerusalem to carry its letter to the church in Antioch after the meeting about circumcision known as the Council of Jerusalem.
Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, Acts 15:22 ESV
He was a companion of Paul on his second missionary journey which included the cities of Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens (Acts chapters 15 – 17). This, of course, included Silas' being thrown in prison in Philippi where He sang hymns with Paul at midnight in the Philippian jail, even though his back was laid open and his feet were in the stocks. He was no stranger to persecution. We know that he accompanied Paul on one of his trips to Corinth because Paul, in his second letter to them (2 Corinthians 1:19), related that Silas taught there.
"Exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God"—what is the true grace of God? The antecedent of "this" is probably the entire letter and not just the preceding context. Peter summarized his first letter as, Exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God.
The word for "exhorting" is the Greek word parakaleo, which has the basic meaning "to call to one's side." This verb can mean "to urge, to appeal to or beseech," or "to comfort." This book is full of the preacher's urging and declaring. Right from the start, Peter provided what we now refer to as "the Doctrines of Grace," in which he confirmed that rebirth or regeneration by the Holy Spirit is an initial requirement before a person can come to obedience in Christ. Before that, He affirmed the doctrine of election.
"This is the true grace of God"— He's saying, "I've been telling you about God's grace, His saving grace, His sanctifying grace, His grace through trials, and His grace through sufferings, and I want you to stand firm in His grace. Be faithful to it." Silas was faithful. Will you be faithful?
"Stand firm in it"—this is an aorist active imperative. This was significant in a day of persecution. "Standing" relates to "firm in your faith." It is an attitude towards God, towards Christ and away from sin, self, and Satan. It is a military term in Ephesians 6.
Peter explained that his purpose for writing this brief epistle was to exhort the readers to "stand firm" in God's "true grace," because suffering for the Savior is part of being a recipient of God's grace.
She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 1 Peter 5:13 ESV
"She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings"—"who is the she"? Some see this as a particular woman while others believe that is a reference to Peter's wife. I think it most likely refers to a local church. Churches were often personified as female (cf. 2 John) probably because of the concept of YHWH as husband and Israel as His wife.
What is Babylon? Most say that it is a reference to Rome. But like Babylon in Revelation, I see this as representing first-century Jerusalem as an apostate, persecuting power, symbolizing a "mother of harlots" that seduced Israel into idolatry. In times of persecution, writers exercised unusual care not to endanger Christians to whom they wrote letters.
At this time, Babylon was a ruined city with no influence in the world and the once great city was a symbol of pagan corruption. The ancient city of Babylon represented all that was evil.
Speaking of Babylon Revelation 18:24 says that
in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth (ESV).
This matches Yeshua's argument that Jerusalem, not Rome, murdered the prophets and saints (Matthew 23:34-38, Luke 13:33).
Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Matthew 23:34-35 ESV
Look also at Revelation 11.
and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. Revelation 11:8 ESV
"The great city" which is often referred to as Babylon is here called the place where "their Lord was crucified (i.e., Jerusalem).
I think Peter is sending them a greeting from the Church at Jerusalem who, like them, is chosen of God.
"And so does Mark, my son"— what do you know about Mark? This is a young man who crops up all over the place in the New Testament. Because Peter refers to him as "my son," we know that he is describing him as a spiritual son in the Lord.
He is also called John Mark. His mother's name was Mary. She owned a house in Jerusalem where Christians met on one occasion to pray for Peter when he was in prison.
When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. Acts 12:12 ESV
He was a teen at the time of Yeshua's crucifixion and resurrection. Paul and Barnabas take this young man on their first missionary journey with them.
And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark. Acts 12:25 ESV
Barnabas is Mark's cousin (Col. 4:10). For some reason, Mark left the missionary team and went home.
Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, Acts 13:13 ESV
Mark could not keep going. We don't know why. We know that he was young. He goes home and leaves the men. This didn't sit very well with Paul. Barnabas wanted to include him on the second missionary journey, but Paul refused to take him.
And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are." Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. Acts 15:36-40 ESV
There was a dispute between Paul and his friend and co-worker, Barnabas, over John Mark that led to a split. Barnabas took John Mark and they went together to Cyprus to minister there. After refusing to trust Mark at this stage, Paul took Silas.
But later when writing to his son in the faith, Timothy Paul says:
Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. 2 Timothy 4:11 ESV
Mark is mentioned as a co-worker with Paul in Philemon 24.
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Yeshua, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. Philemon 1:23-24 ESVIn his final days, we find that not only has he forgiven Mark but now considers him as a blessing to him in his situation. Mark is now fully restored. And, here in the text in 1 Peter, we see that Peter is calling him a son. What is the other endeavor that Peter and John Mark embarked on together? Tradition indicates that Peter helped him write the gospel of Mark and that when Mark wrote it, Peter was there to assist him.
Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. 1 Peter 5:14 ESV
"Greet one another with the kiss of love"— greeting with a kiss was a Jewish custom (Gen, 33:4; Luke 15:20) that was continued by Christians as a sign of their affection as brothers and sisters in the faith.
Does this command apply to us? I don't think that the "kiss" does. "A kiss of love" was the typical cultural greeting among family members. It was initially adopted by the family of God. But by the fourth century A.D., because of the abuses within the church and misunderstandings from outside the church, this kiss was to be given only to those of the same sex.
The holy kiss is mentioned only in the closing of letters along with salutations and other customary greetings. It is never discussed in any doctrinal part of any book like other regular ordinances that God has ordained for New Testament religious service. But I think that Christians naturally want to greet one another and show affection. For us it may be a handshake or a hug.
Greet every saint in Christ Yeshua. The brothers who are with me greet you. Philippians 4:21 ESV
"Peace to all of you who are in Christ"—The prayerful impartation of "peace" in the final sentence is probably due to the many references to the persecution, suffering, and turmoil that Peter's audience is facing.
Notice that this peace is for all who are in Christ. How do we get in Christ?
And because of him you are in Christ Yeshua, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV
for in Christ Yeshua you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Galatians 3:26-27 ESV
By faith and the baptism of the Spirit we are placed in Christ.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. John 3:36 ESV
The word translated "does not obey" in the ESV and "believeth not" in the KJV is not the common word for "not believe" (apisteo) but, rather, it is the verb apeitheo. The leading Greek Lexicon of the New Testament by Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, and Danker makes a very insightful comment about apeitheo which sheds light on John 3:36: "Since in the view of the early Christians, the supreme disobedience was a refusal to believe their Gospel, apeitheo may be restricted in some passages to the meaning: 'disbelieve, be an unbeliever'" (BAGD, p.82).
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, Ephesians 1:13 ESV
You heard, you believed, and you were sealed. When a person believed the good news of salvation, at that moment, they were sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit.
"In Christ." These words are used to describe the true reality of Christian believers. It is a doctrine theologians call "union with Christ." It is the idea that when someone comes to faith in Yeshua, he is united to him spiritually.
In the New Testament, the language of being "in Christ" comes up over 200 times. The Apostle Paul uses it more than 160 times alone.
In the midst of their persecution, Peter prayed that his readers might experience God's surpassing "peace" (Phil. 4:6-7).
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