A LETTER FROM PETER

1 Peter 1 – Part 1

  

Greetings from Peter

1 This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. 2 God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

May God give you more and more grace and peace.

The pastoral letters from the Apostle Peter were written probably around 60 AD during his time as the Bishop of Rome. It may well have been that these churches were facing persecution and Peter is wanting them to hold on and remain firm in their belief in Jesus and his redeeming death and resurrection.

That Peter has taken time to write this letter is indicative of his deep, personal care and concern for these new Christians, scattered throughout the fledgling churches. He is well aware that pastoral care is crucial to the ongoing spiritual health of the community of believers; as true today as it was then. Right from the outset, Christianity has clearly understood that it was the authentic replacement for the physical presence of Jesus and as such it must follow the example of Jesus in its care for people. The church must ever be aware that it holds a sacred and holy trust, for behind the persona of the church stands the presence of the Good Shepherd. The church that has failed to fully comprehend this role is a church that is no longer true to one of its fundamental callings.

In his opening greeting, he nails his colours to the mast and declares his personal loyalty to Jesus. There are no shades of grey here, Peter is a committed and caring shepherd of the flock and his letter is aimed at helping them to authentically live the kingdom lifestyle.

There is an interesting terminology present here that has great significance. Peter refers to these scattered Gentile congregations as God’s chosen people, a term that had been exclusively used to describe only the Jewish nation. In the next chapter, Peter will go on to expand this concept in one of the most exciting passages in the Pastoral Epistles. 

In Acts 10 we read of Peter’s vision that radically changed his Jewish mindset, resulting in an understanding that all those who have accepted Jesus are God’s chosen people. “Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean.”  (Acts of the Apostles 10:28 - NLT)

This vision, and Peter’s comprehension of its meaning and significance unlocks our understanding and the total embrace of the Gospel, as William Booth understood it: the whole world redeeming. Peter comes to understand the universal totality of God’s offer of salvation that can be a reality for every man, woman and child, through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

When Peter calls them foreigners, what he is speaking about here is the dispersion of Christians to various countries and cities. Originally, the word, Diaspora, was only used to describe the dispersion of Jewish people through invasion or choice to other countries, Peter uses it here to address the Gentiles who had been scattered around throughout the Roman Empire. Where it was once the Jews who were seen as being different now, it is the Christians who stand out and whose allegiance is to a higher authority. There is a sense in which they are foreigners in this world.

When Peter says that God the Father knew you and chose you, he is referring to the responsive calling of the authentic obedience in the life of the called disciple. Discipleship is not a choice we make; it is an act of obedience to a call. When we totally understand this, it changes the whole dynamic of our lives. If it is simply a choice then it has more to do with my will, rather than an act of obedience, which has more to do with God’s will for me. Of course, choice is part of the process, but rather the choice to be obedient.

When we decided to follow Jesus and embark on the kingdom lifestyle, that was a choice, a decision of our own freewill. However, we cannot get stuck in that choice, for somewhere along the path of authentic discipleship we need to come to the complete understanding that this kingdom lifestyle is really about a calling. Choice may have got is started, but it is the act of obedience to the call of Jesus that has to be its mainspring.

We are left in no doubt as to how Jesus perceived this path of discipleship to be actioned: For many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:14 – NLT) You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, (John 15:16 – NLT). Perhaps we don’t totally understand this transition from choice, to the act of obedience to Jesus’ calling, and we stagnate in our spiritual life and it becomes dry, unrewarding and unproductive. 

Peter then goes on to highlight our total reliance on the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The reality is that in our own strength we are powerless and inadequate and always in need of a power greater than ourselves to walk the kingdom lifestyle. It is God’s Holy Spirit that provides for us. It is the Spirit that engenders that longing to know God. It is the Spirit that convicts us of sin and confronts us of the need for forgiveness through the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is the Spirit that provides us with the assurance of sins forgiven and the right relationship with God. It is the Spirit that gives us all that is necessary to live the kingdom lifestyle.

Underpinning all that Peter wants for his flock is founded on the necessity of obedience. Without implicit obedience, the kingdom lifestyle becomes difficult, if not impossible. That is not to say that at times even the most sincere pilgrim will stumble into areas of disobedience and it is then we experience the grace and mercy of a loving Father. The symbolic reference to blood looks back to Old Testament ritual found in Exodus 24:1-8 when Moses sprinkled the blood from the sacrifice as a symbol of the cleansing after the people had pledged their obedience.

Peter’s closing line of his greeting links grace and peace and these two characteristics are indelibly entwined. It is our understanding of, and security in God’s grace, that gives us real peace of heart, soul and mind. When we can comprehend something of the amazingness of God’s grace the outcome will be a real sense of transcendent peace.

Meditation: The wonder of His grace - words and music by Howard Davies
https://youtu.be/Q7wDPIt3cXs