Guarded (1 Peter 1:1-12)

Monday, March 31, 2008

Psalms 1,2,3; 1 Peter 1:1-12


Due to a little bit of demand (as opposed to popular demand) I'm going to continue with the Restoration Project beyond Matthew. I'm going to give a try at commenting devotionally on the epistle readings for the Daily Office lectionary this Easter season. Already I see that I would much rather break 1 Peter up into smaller sections, but we'll give it a go.

[Secondly, what a disappointment that Davidson could not overcome Kansas. It came down to the very last shot, which is saying so much for the little Presbyterian school from just north of Charlotte, NC - but what a great and fun story! ]

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"you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
(1 Peter 1:5)

Leading up to Peter's comments about the necessity of being grieved through various trials, he first speaks of a series of truths about God's people scattered around Asia. It's important to hear and hold onto these before we mull over the reality and necessity of fiery trials.

First, they are elect, or chosen, exiles according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood. To begin with, in his salutation, Peter invokes the "Trinity" and uses covenantal language - election, exile, sanctification (being "set apart"), obedience, blood - as he addresses these believers, sprinkling themes he will refer to throughout his letter to them.

These first two verses are so rich, and deserve much thought and meditative prayer. But we move on. Peter blesses God that, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus, to an imperishable inheritance kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Peter will immediately move on to speak of trials and their strengthening, purifying effect on our faith. But first he says we are guarded by God's power. The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, the power of the sanctifying Holy Spirit who implants the life and hope of God within us, this power guards us. There is a sense here that those of us who are not safe at home in God's eternal city, the new Jerusalem, who are scattered as exiles in this world, nevertheless are still guarded by God for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. We who have been chosen, set apart and cleansed, will be saved.

Whatever trials we face - pain, confusion, questioning; the loss of people or what seemed so promising; difficulty, persecution, even death - we are being guarded by God's power to the end that we will be saved through the trials and from the trials. And whatever "fire" we do pass through has been permitted past the guardianship of the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit, as a necessity, in order that we might trust him more deeply and fully, and know more and more of him, and through it all, in the end, that our faith in its fired purity and brilliance will result in praise and honor and glory to him who

• chose us
• set us apart for himself and for obedience to Jesus
• bought and cleansed us with his blood
• gave us new birth through Jesus' resurrection
  
• gave us a living hope
• gave us an imperishable inheritance
• guards us by his power
  
• purifies our faith through our trials

Yes, faith is a big factor in these opening verses. But clearly, it is trust/belief in someone who has done some things on our behalf totally apart from our ability, nobility, goodness, power, or even desire to do so. It is neither blind, nor generated by us as a way to cope. It is the result of having been chosen and sanctified and sprinkled with the blood of the covenant; it is the amen of the great mercy and the new birth and the living hope and the imperishable inheritance and the guardianship of God. It is a gift and a grace.

This whole section concludes with Peter saying that angels "long" (or lust, literally) to look into this message of the gospel of God in Christ. This too is how our faith is purified and strengthened to his honor and glory - it is as we consider again and again the beauty of the Lord and all he has done. As we remember the story for which we have been captured. And as we look at him who loves us so much he went through the ultimate fiery trial on our behalf, and who promises to be with us in ours (Isaiah 43:2; Daniel 3; Hebrews 12:5-6).

[ cf. Psalms 1, 2, 3]