Skip to main content

1 Peter

By

The New Testament teaches us that the ground of our right relationship with God is the finished work of Christ on our behalf, laid hold of by faith. We are not made right with God or kept right with God by our good conduct or good works. Nonetheless, the New Testament also teaches us that how we conduct ourselves is an important component of the Christian life. We are urged over and over again to ‘walk in a manner worthy of the Lord’ (Col 1:10).

We are called to a distinctive way of living in the world; Peter says believers are to ‘be holy in all your conduct’ (v.15), ‘conduct yourselves with fear’ (v.17), ‘love one another earnestly’ in ‘obedience to the truth’ (v.22).

But even in his explicit attention to conduct, Peter consistently anchors his call for Christian conduct in theological truth. Specifically, he urges us in our conduct to carefully ponder, and then take our cues from, four preexisting, God-anchored realities.

‘Grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ’ (v.13). Though the fulfillment is yet to come, God has given us the promise of this future grace and he intends that promise to wield influence and to translate into prepared, courageous and sober-minded conduct now.

Second, Peter reminds us of the very character of God. Rather than taking our cues from our ignorant or godless desires, we are to directly model our conduct after God’s holiness.

Third, Peter calls us to a certain conduct based on the inestimable price of our redemption: ‘knowing that you were ransomed...with the precious blood of Christ’ (v. 18-19). Consider Christ’s death on your behalf, Peter tells us, and let that amazing sacrifice shape how you live

Lastly, Peter speaks to us of the very source of our life – ‘since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God’(v.23). Then you should act in a way that reflects this source of life. Both the quality and content of God’s word shapes our conduct. Ultimately, what we need to see is that God is not calling for our obedience in a vacuum but in light of the richness of his goodness to us in the gospel.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Danger of Spiritual Infancy (Hebrews 5:11 - 6:12)

By
Have you met people who refuse to grow up? There are some adults who prefer to remain as children because they do not want to take on adult responsibilities. Not only is immature behaviour unpleasant to observe or deal with, the consequences are often destructive. In Hebrews 5:11-14, the writer expresses his frustration that some members of the church were refusing to grow into spiritual maturity. They were no longer trying to understand God’s word (v 11). Instead of taking on the responsibility of teaching others as they themselves had been taught, they needed to be taught the basics all over again (v12). Therefore, they were unable to take on “solid food” which is for mature Christians, and they were not able to distinguish good from evil (v14) or to understand teaching about righteousness (v13). Spiritual maturity is a necessary part of our walk with God. Remaining as a spiritual infant means that you are not good at discerning right from wrong and you will have a hard time maintain
Post a Comment
Read more

A prophet prophesies and the church fully obeys (Acts 11:27- 12:4)

By
During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. 12 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. When Jewish believers from Cyprus (Europe) and Cyrene (Liby
Post a Comment
Read more

THE BLESSINGS OF HIS NAME (Numbers 6:22 - 27

By
I find this interesting because I remember listening to Pastor Betty’s message for 2021, and it was on the same Benediction Blessing verses. And today’s Scripture reading is exactly the same, and I am sure the Holy Spirit wants to remind us of “The Blessings of His Name” for 2022. Today, our mobile phones are loaded with New Year wishes, TV and radio personalities wish into microphones and cameras – we hear them from so many different sources. Carefully note what God tells us: “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them, The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you; The LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.’ So, they will put My name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:23-27) In this way, God places His all-important NAME on us, His people. A comparison would be that of signing on a cheque. An unsigned check is void and worthless until the owner ‘s “name” has been pl
Post a Comment
Read more