Commentary on First Peter (22)

The third implication from what we have established about the unity of biblical revelation is that we must reject the doctrine of dispensationalism. Especially dangerous is an extreme version that think the people of God in the Old Testament came to salvation in a way other than faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Or, in our context, we must reject any doctrine that says there were no "Christians" in the Old Testament.

We must never suppose that the people then were saved by works, or by a general faith in God, or by a special mercy that did not require conscious faith in Jesus Christ. Rather, we must insist that the only kind of salvation has always been Christian salvation, that the only true faith has always been Christian faith, and that it has been this way ever since the time of Adam, and not only since the time of Christ.

Nevertheless, Peter spells out at least one difference between the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament believers. And on this difference hangs Peter's point in this passage (see v. 13). As we have seen, the difference is not that God's people in the Old Testament believed another message, or that they knew nothing about the gospel of Jesus Christ; rather, the difference is that, although they knew and believed in the same gospel for salvation, they lived in a time of expectation while we live in a time of fulfillment. How we spurn the grace of God and insult the prophets, if we fail to appreciate this difference, and the privileged position that God has given us! If it had been their choice, the prophets would have gladly changed places with us.

Jesus says in Matthew 13:17, "For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it." This does not mean that these "prophets and righteous men" knew nothing about the coming of Christ or his work and message, for if this was the case, they would not have known to long to see and hear what those in the time of Christ would see and hear. But they knew enough about these things so that they could long to see and hear them, to live in the time when they would become true, in the time when their own prophecies would be fulfilled.

What Peter says is that the prophets spoke about "the grace that was to come," and they "searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing." They then received the revelation that "they were not serving themselves but you." So, as Paul writes, "These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come" (1 Corinthians 10:11). So this is the difference, and this difference is significant enough that Peter rests on it, or rather the implication drawn from it, the point that he is about to make in verse 13.

The implication drawn from the difference is that Peter's readers, and in fact all those who would believe since the coming of Christ, have the privilege of living in the time of the fulfillment of all that the prophets had said about this great salvation. The prophets longed to experience for themselves all that the Spirit had predicted, but this was not granted to them; rather, God has chosen us to live in these times. The statement that "Even angels long to look into these things" (v. 12) serves to reinforce this same point. Prophets searched and angels look, but on you has come the fulfillment of these things.