The primary objectives of these studies are a) to get you to read the Bible and b) to take in what you have read. At the end of each page of studies (normally a chapter) there will be a 'Recap' to remind you of what you have read. At the end of every 'set' (see the front Contents page) there will also be a 'Summary' and a 'Conclusions' that cover the pages in that set.

INTRODUCTION to Peter

The Author

Both letters are clearly identified by writer. In the first letter he describes himself as “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ” (1:1) and in the second letter as “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ” (1:1). It is suggested he wrote the first letter some time between 60 and 68AD and the second letter sometime between 65 and 68AD.

Purpose of Writing

In general terms Peter is quite specific as to why he writes. In 1 Pet 5:12 he says he has written to encourage them and in 2 Pet 1:12-15 he says he wants to keep on reminding them of the basics so they will remember them after he is gone.

More specifically, when we examine the letters we find he is declaring basics again and again. In the first letter his readers are Christians scattered over Asia Minor (1:1), who need his encouragement and reminders. The reason for this becomes obvious when he covers the subjects of persecution (1 st letter) and false teachers (2 nd letter). His frequent call is to persevere with a holy lifestyle in the face of these.

Outline

a) First Letter

- The wonder of our salvation

- The lifestyle that flows from it

- A life of submission & right relationships

- Living righteously, even if suffering for it

- Living for God, and accepting Christ's sufferings

- Encouragement to leaders and young men

b) Second Letter

- Certainty and basis of our calling

- Warnings against false teachers

- Reassurance that the Lord will come, and call to be ready

Part One : "Secure in Your Salvation"

In this first set of studies we will see Peter declaring who we are, the wonder of our salvation, and the life that flows out of it. It is both encouraging and challenging. Be thrilled by the wonder of it and provoked by the call to a holy lifestyle as children of God.

Chapter: 1 Peter 1

Passage: 1 Peter 1:1-2

A. Find Out:

1. How does the writer describe himself? v.1a

2. What two designations does he first give his readers? v.1b

3. Where are they? v.1c

4. What was the Father's part? v.2a

5. What was the Spirit's part? v.2b

6. What was Jesus' part? v.2c

B. Think:

1. What does Peter's description of his readers in respect of their

relationship with God tell us about what is in his mind?

2. What does his comment about their relation to the world suggest?

C. Comment:

Very often the opening words of the New Testament letter writers gives a clue to what is on their heart to say in the main body of the letter, and Peter is no exception.

He describes his readers as “strangers in the world, scattered”, indicating a people in an alien environment, often isolated, people in need of a lot of encouragement. Christians often wonder why they have difficulties because they forget they ARE in an alien environment and ARE often isolated, a minority in a non-Christian situation!

But Peter also uses words of encouragement. First, “elect” and “chosen”. We are what we are because God chose us, so first and foremost HE is on our side. God knew us even before He made the world, He looked into the future and saw that we would respond (see Eph 1:4). We are part of His long-term plans and purposes, and we can be secure in that. We sometimes need to take our eyes off the short-term or immediate events and get a new focus on God's long term purposes that include us.

Then there is the “sanctifying work of the Spirit”. It is God who is working in us to change us on a long-term basis to become more like Jesus (see 2 Cor 3:18 ), and this is all possible because Jesus shed his blood to redeem us - all HIS work, for us. Wow!

D. Application:

1. We do live in an alien, hostile world.

2. God is for us, working in us. We are part of His plans. Rejoice.

Chapter: 1 Peter 1

Passage: 1 Peter 1:3-9

A. Find Out:

1. What has God the Father given us? v.3b

2. What two things has that opened up for us? v.3c,4a

3. How are we shielded by what until when? v.5

4. What may we have to cope with now? v.6

5. Why? v.7

6. What do we do and with what results? v.8,9

B. Think:

1. What part does faith (v.5,7,9) play in our lives?

2. What “hope” have we got?

3. How do our lives bring glory to God according to these verses?

C. Comment:

So much in these verses! Pray you can take it in!

First of all, WHAT GOD HAS DONE: He has given us new lives through a new birth (also Jn 1:12 ,13) and that has opened up a new future for us. It has given us “hope”.

Biblical hope is a sure confidence in what will be. When we are younger we may “hope” that we reach the age of sixty say, but in fact we may not reach it; that is not Biblical hope. As a Christian we hope we will see God face to face in heaven. That IS Biblical hope, for it is a sure confidence that we have, that is built on God's declared word.

We've been given this hope through the word and that was confirmed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What God did for Jesus He can do for us. At the end of our lives we are sure we will go to heaven to receive our inheritance, what God has promised for us, life eternal with Him, and nothing can spoil that or take it away.

For the moment that may seem far away, as we face the trials and tribulations of life in this sinful world, yet it WILL be!

This is where “faith” comes in, that response to what God says. It's by faith that we hold on, it's by faith we persevere, it's by faith that we receive our salvation from God, both here and in eternity. Faith is believing and keeping on believing what God has said.

D. Application:

1. In the face of trials, remember our origins, born of God.

2. In the face of trials, remember our future, an eternal destiny!

Chapter: 1 Peter 1

Passage: 1 Peter 1:10-12

A. Find Out:

1. Of what does Peter now speak? 10a

2. What two things had the prophets done? v.10b

3. What were they trying to do? v.11

4. What were they shown? v.12a

5. When was this applicable? v.12b

6. How had this come & who longed to understand it? v.12c

B. Think:

1. Of whom or what had the prophets spoken?

2. Who was prompting them?

3. What was he doing?

C. Comment:

Peter has been speaking about salvation, directly (v.5,9) and indirectly (v.3 new birth, v.4 inheritance) and now goes into the foundation of our salvation. God had declared His means of salvation, centuries before through the prophets of Israel. When we look at the prophecies that had puzzled the rabbis over the centuries, we find there are over 300 that were fulfilled by Jesus!

As these men spoke, they were being prompted by the Holy Spirit, and therefore in the midst of their words for the present were reflections from heaven as to the future purposes of God, yet to be worked out. Both they and the rabbis realised that they were saying things that had clear future import, yet they were unable to get a coherent picture of what God had in mind.

This, says Peter, was all pointing to Jesus, and now that He has come and the Gospel has been preached, we can now see how all these things pointed to what has recently happened.

We should never think of Jesus' coming as a last desperate act of God to redeem a fallen world. It was part of the clear strategy of God, formulated even before He formed the world, to be brought into being at the appropriate time in history (see v.20 and Rev 13:8b, Eph 1:4. Jn 17:24, Tit 1:2, 2 Tim 1:9). The Gospel did not originate 2000 years ago but before Creation!

D. Application:

1. The Old Testament declares God's long-planned intent.

2. The New Testament reveals God's fulfilment of His intent.

Chapter: 1 Peter 1

Passage: 1 Peter 1:13-21

A. Find Out:

1. What 3 instructions does he next give? v.13

2. What are they not to do? v.14

3. What are they to do instead and why? v.15,16

4. How are they to live and why? v.17

5. How weren't they and how were they redeemed? v.18,19

6. How is Jesus described and what does he enable us to do? v.20,21

B. Think:

1. How are our past lives described?

2. What motives are given for living differently?

3. What guidance is given on how to live?

C. Comment:

There is enough here to meditate upon for a week! However…. Note first of all Peter's CALL TO HOLINESS.

Initially it is the call to look to the future - consider what we will receive as Jesus

is revealed in us and in the age to come.

Then there is a call to forsake the past : don't let your old wrong desires prevail.
Then come instructions on how to live in the present: be self-controlled, be holy

(different, separated to God), consider yourselves strangers in this world.

Second, see the MOTIVATIONAL ENCOURAGEMENT that Peter gives: there is:

a) the hope (sure confidence) of meeting and receiving from Jesus (v.13)

    that should spur us on, then

b) there is to be obedience to the written command in the Law (v.15), to be

     holy, then

c) we are to consider our home is in heaven (v.17) so that the pull of the

     earth is not so strong, then

d) we are to remember what we had before was an empty way of life

     (v.18), then

e) we are to be moved by Christ's death for us (v.19), then

f) we are to remember we are just part of God's long term plans (v.20) and

    finally

g) we are to remember that God raised Jesus from the dead and glorified

     him in heaven.

All these things are to act as a spur, as an encouragement to help us leave the past, look to the future and press on in the present.

D. Application:

1. The call to us is quite clear: be holy!

2. Consider each of the encouragements to that.

Chapter: 1 Peter 1

Passage: 1 Peter 1:22-25

A. Find Out:

1. What have we done? v.22a

2. So what are we to do? v.22

3. Why, what has happened to us? v.23a

4. How did it happen? v.23b

5. What are men like? v.24

6. Yet what is God's word like? v.25

B. Think:

1. How did we “purify ourselves”?

2. How were we “born again”?

3. What is the connection between the two expressions?

C. Comment:

We need to pick up each of the phrases here.

First “you have purified yourselves”. How? When we came to Christ. We have been “purified” when we were forgiven and cleansed by the blood of Jesus (see 1 Jn 1:9).

Second, “by obeying the truth”. The truth here was God's word, the Gospel, and the prompting of the Spirit of Jesus as he led us into salvation. As we obeyed what he put before us, so we received what God gave, His salvation.

Third, “You have a sincere love”. We do love one another because the Spirit of Christ now dwells within us (e.g. 1 Cor 6:19 ). God is love (1 Jn 4:8), so His love is in us for one another.

Fourth, “love one another deeply”. God's love is in us but we have to express it and let it flourish from deep within us, not a mere surface, token love.

Fifth, “you have been born again”. Peter echoes what John told us in his Gospel (Jn 1:13 , 3:3). Being a Christian means God has enabled you to start all over again with a new life-power source within. You are a new person.

Sixth, “not of perishable seed”. What God has put in us will not shrivel and wither away, it is His very own word which will go on and on, the truth, and that endures. The truth came to us and changed us and will continue to change us. Yes!!!

D. Application:

1. God's word came to us and convicted us and brought us to Him.

2. God's word keeps on changing us, until we see Him face to face.

Chapter: 1 Peter 2

Passage: 1 Peter 2:1-3

A. Find Out:

1. Of what 5 things are we to rid ourselves? v.1

2. What are we to be like? v.2a

3. What are we to do? v.2b

4. So what may happen? v.2c

5. What has already happened? v.3

B. Think:

1. What is the connection between his passage and the previous one?

2. How would you sum up the characteristics we are to avoid?

3. What is to be our outlook?

C. Comment:

Where a passage starts with “therefore” it means “Because of what has gone before, this follows…”. Because we have been born again, obey the truth, and love one another, there is therefore no room for these things that all indicate hostile relationships. Each one of the listed things only can occur where there is absence of truth, absence of love.

But the Bible isn't a book just filled with negatives like “you must not…”. It always comes up with a positive alternative. (The lesson for us in that is that we should never just be negative about people or ideas unless we can come up with equal positives about them as well!)

Here Peter goes on positively: “crave pure spiritual milk”. Now this doesn't mean doctrine as it is in Heb 5;12,13, but the context indicates, in contrast to the previous verse, that Peter means utter goodness and love.

The more we take in (God's) utter goodness and love AND express it through our lives, the more we will grow up and mature. Some people think that spiritual maturity is being able to quote Scripture, but the Bible itself indicates that it is all about character change, lifestyle being lived out, and the way we relate to and respond to other people.

That is what Peter has been speaking about, living in truth and love, practically working it out in good relationships. An inability to have good relationships indicates a failure to mature in Christ.

D. Application:

1. We are called to live in truth and love. This is maturity.

2. Children of God yearn for goodness.

Chapter: 1 Peter 2

Passage: 1 Peter 2:4-10

A. Find Out:

1. How is Jesus described here? v.4

2. How are we and our activity described? v.5

3. How was Jesus described in Scripture? v.6

4. How is he considered by believers and non-believers? v.7,8

5. What 4 ways are we described and what is our purpose? v.9

6. How is our past and present described? v.10

B. Think:

1. How is Jesus role described in this passage?

2. How is that role a stumbling block to some?

3. How is our role described?

C. Comment:

Peter goes to describe our encounters with the Lord but finds himself simply describing the Lord. First, then, let's simply consider Jesus' role.

He is described as a living capstone or cornerstone, laid in Zion (Jerusalem), who is chosen and precious. Now a cornerstone acts as the base line from which all other stones are built. A capstone holds the other stones of a building in place, being the top or final stone that locks all the other stones of an arch in place. The picture is of Jesus who is the base line for all Christianity, and all other Christians are to align themselves to him. He also holds us in place. For people who don't believe in him, they just stumble over him, he is a problem to them.

Next consider our role. We offer “spiritual sacrifices to God”, we are a priesthood, declaring God's praise. That is every Christian, all called to bring signs of our love to God, offerings of prayer, praise and other people.

We are also described as “holy” and “royal”, both describing our relationship with God, a people set apart to God and part of His royal family. We are what we are because of what He has done. He exercised His mercy and called us out of the darkness we were in, into His wonderful light. It is all as a result of His wonderful work, that we can be this sort of people.

D. Application:

1. Jesus is our base line and holds us in place.

2. We now bring glory to God by our lives of praise and thanksgiving.

RECAP: "Secure in your Salvation" - 1 Peter 1:1 - 2:10

SUMMARY :

In this first group of 7 studies we have seen Peter writing about :

- his readers, Christians scattered through Asia Minor

- our calling, according to God's purposes

- our new birth that brings:

- a living hope, through Jesus' resurrection

- an inheritance kept in heaven for us

- trials that test our faith

- the origins of our salvation in God:

- spoken about through the prophets

- now fulfilled through Jesus

- the working out of our salvation

- being holy, living as aliens in the world

- obeying the truth, living in love

- Jesus as a cornerstone and capstone

- us as royal priests, offering sacrifices of love

COMMENT :

Peter is seeking to encourage these scattered Christians. He does so by reminding them that they are called according to God's eternal purpose, and the wonder of their salvation through Christ. But part of the “who we are” also includes “what we do” and he gives clear instructions on the sort of people we should be.

LESSONS?

1. We are called according to God's purposes

2. We are born again with a living hope

3. We are to respond in faith to all we learn

4. Our lives are to be holy, truthful, loving.

PRAY :

Thank God for the wonder of your salvation.

PART 2 : "Strong in Suffering"

In this next Part, Peter develops his theme of encouragement in the face of difficulty and being a holy people, different from all others, by our lives in Christ. Watch for these differences.