Archive May 2006

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.

Commentary on First Peter (20)

All the way back in Genesis 3:15, God had already preached Christ, as the seed of the woman, to Adam and Eve, and at the same time declared the serpent's defeat. Although the serpent would "strike his heel," God tells the serpent that the seed of the woman would "crush your head."

Galatians 3:8 says that the Scripture "announced the gospel in advance" to Abraham, saying, "All nations will be blessed through you." The verse specifically refers to the gospel of justification by faith, and through this gospel God would justify even the Gentiles. It is by this message that God would make Abraham's descendants as numerous as the stars. And it is by believing in this same message, then still in promise form, that Abraham was counted as righteous before God (Genesis 15:5-6).

So of course Abraham knew and believed in Jesus Christ. As Jesus himself remarks in John 8:56, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." Note: He saw it and was glad. By this it is clear that he had some definite information about the person of Christ, the significance of his work, and the circumstances surrounding his ministry. In addition, he "was glad" about what he knew – he rejoiced at the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is not to say that he knew everything that we now know, but however vague and partial his understanding was, it was enough to be described as "seeing" the day of Jesus Christ.

In Luke 24:26, Jesus mentions that the prophets had predicted that Christ would "suffer these things and then enter his glory," as if to refer to these two phases of his ministry is an adequate summary of his redemptive work, and as if these things were what the disciples were supposed to believe from the Scripture concerning himself. So the prophets had received the content of the gospel message.

Peter says that "all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days" (Acts 3:24). Turning back to 1 Peter 1:12, there he says that the prophets "spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you." In other words, the prophets spoke of the same things that those who preached the gospel had now told Peter's readers. The prophets spoke of the very contents of the gospel message.

In addition, verse 11 says that these prophets spoke by "the Spirit of Christ," the same "Holy Spirit" (v. 12) that now inspires and energizes those who preach the gospel. To be precise, the verse says that it was "the Spirit of Christ" that "predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow." The prophets spoke the same message as those who now preach the gospel because they spoke by the same "Spirit of Christ," or rather, the same Spirit of Christ declared the same message through them both.

Thus it is clear that the Old Testament prophets had received major and detailed revelations regarding the sufferings of Christ, the glories that would follow, and also the time and the circumstances in which these things would happen. In fact, they knew much more than what today's professing Christians know or would care to learn. Moreover, what they knew and what they believed was called the "gospel," and explicitly described as an advanced knowledge of what Christ would both perform and experience, as well as the spiritual purpose of his work.

Therefore, we conclude that the people of God in the Old Testament, ever since the time of Adam, were aware of and saved by the same gospel that we now know and believe. They had less information than we do, their picture of the work of Christ was not as clear and detailed, and perhaps they did not realize all that his redemptive work entailed, or perhaps they did not have a full revelation of the magnitude of the blessings that would follow. Nevertheless, it had always been the same gospel in essence, the same message about the grace of God, sovereignly decreed and executed for our salvation. And insofar as, by God's sovereign control and enabling, they believed what God had revealed – whatever the extent of the revelation was when they lived – they were saved from their sins and righteousness was imputed to them.

It follows that, since they knew and believed the same gospel as we now know and believe, in this sense we can very appropriately call them "Christians" – they were believers, followers, and disciples of Jesus Christ. In fact, once we have obtained this biblical perspective, we now see that God's people have always been "Christians" in this sense, and "Christians" have always been the only kind of people whom God has saved. The only true faith – the only faith revealed by God and wherein lies salvation – has always been the Christian faith, whether in the Old or New Testament. Abraham, Moses, David, Jeremiah, Daniel, Malachi, John the Baptist, and so on, were all Christians – yes, with some differences compared to us, but Christians nonetheless.

Commentary on First Peter (18)

But there is more, for second, Peter writes that the prophets also knew and spoke about "the glories that would follow" the sufferings of Christ. These would include his resurrection, ascension, and exaltation to the right hand of the Father over all of creation. Even in Isaiah 53, we notice something about the glories that would follow his sufferings: "After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied…Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong."

There is Psalm 45:7, which says, "You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy." The verse addresses "God," and then says, "your God, has set you…." This can only be a reference to Christ, who is God and man, the eternal Son of God and also the natural Son of David.

Similarly, Psalm 110:1 says, "The LORD says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'" Jesus used this verse to challenge the people: "How is it that they say the Christ is the Son of David? David himself declares in the Book of Psalms: 'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.' David calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" (Luke 20:41-44). Again, the answer is that Christ would be the eternal Son of God incarnate, following the line of David in terms of his human nature. And the Lord God says to this Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." The New Testament says that this has been fulfilled in the person of Jesus (Acts 2:34-36; Hebrews 1:13).

Then, there is Daniel 7:13-14: "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed."

The New Testament writers refer often to Old Testament prophecies about the glories of Christ and their fulfillment in him. John 12:41 says, "Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him" (see Isaiah 6:11). Concerning David and Psalm 16, Peter says, "But he was a prophet and knew…Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay" (Acts 2:30-31).

Remember, the point here is that the prophets knew and spoke about both the sufferings and the glories of Christ. We have been looking at the prophecies that they gave in the form of explicit statements, but if we will also take account of the Old Testament figures of Christ, such as Moses, Joseph, David, Jeremiah, and so on, we will see that even through the lives of these prophets, God had been telling the story of Christ over and over again to his people, through his many servants, in different words and in various ways. This is why when Christ came, the Jews had no excuse to fail to recognize him, or to reject him once it was evident that he was the one foretold (John 5:39-40).

Commentary on First Peter (16)

We must follow Peter's thinking when we are facing hardship and persecution. And that means we must think of ourselves as the chosen ones, resident aliens in the world and scattered throughout the earth, foreknown, foreloved, and foreordained by God, in the sanctification of his Spirit, and to the obedience of Jesus Christ and the sprinkling by his blood.

Then, we recall God's sovereign actions of mercy, which he has performed and is even now performing to save and preserve us. We understand that trials come to refine our faith, which is of greater worth than gold, and so we greatly rejoice, with a joy that is inexpressible and glorious. Of course, this joy is stirred up only in those who have been truly born again and given a living hope (v. 3).

This line of thinking should also govern our approach to pastoral ministry, in preaching and counseling, and so on. We must build upon an understanding of the biblical system of truth, especially as it relates to salvation. This would include the sovereign nature of God, the depraved nature of man, the two natures of Christ, God's election and foreordination, God's great mercy toward us, Christ atoning and redeeming work, and the Spirit's power and sanctifying operation. Preach these things to your people. Tell them to think about them.

An understanding of these biblical doctrines concerning God's mercy and our salvation will naturally produce an inexpressible and glorious joy, but only in the elect people who have been given new birth and living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Although a few translations and commentators take "rejoice" (v. 6) as an imperative – that is, as a command to rejoice – it is most likely in the indicative, a description of the joy that the believers are already enjoying. The joy is a natural product of an understanding about God's works in salvation.

Thus an approach is in error that focuses on commanding our people to exhibit joy and confidence by sheer willpower. They cannot do it, since spiritual things do not come in such a manner. But these will arise naturally as the knowledge of Jesus Christ stimulates and awakens the spiritual life in the elect, implanted into them by God when he gave them the new birth through faith. If there is spiritual life in them, truth will stir it up and the people will rejoice. If there is no life in them, truth will harden them, and perhaps even drive them away. Either way, the church will be preserved and strengthened.

Many approaches that are supposed to comfort and encourage believers are in fact unbiblical, but they are derived from false doctrines, misapplications of Scripture, and erroneous theories of psychology.

By now, there should be no need to mention that the biblical approach to comfort and encourage Christians is to remind them about the reality of God's sovereignty in our salvation, and in the actions of mercy that he has performed and is now performing for them. It follows that any approach that hinges on the existence and exercise of man's free will is unbiblical, misguided, and futile.

But there are other false approaches that are even practiced by those who supposedly affirm God's sovereign actions in our salvation. For example, a pastor might say things like, "We might not understand why these things happen, but…"; however, we do understand why, since Peter tells us why. He says that these trials happen so that our faith may be proved genuine and may result in praise, and that this faith is of greater worth than gold. How much plainer can you get? Yet some people outright deny what Scripture says, and insist, "We do not understand," when the truth is that they reject God's explanation. And when they do this, they are truly left by themselves. How can comfort come when we reject the source of all comfort? God has spoken, and we do understand.

Or, a pastor might say, "We can't understand how a good God can do these things, but…"; however, the Bible itself has no problem saying that a "good" God can do "these things." The truth is that the pastor is judging God by his private standard, and the question arises as to how God can call himself good when the pastor thinks that he does evil. In other words, his thinking goes, "How can God be good when I disapprove of his actions?" But then the pastor has just lost his God, or he thinks that he himself is God. Now, if God is God, then for God to be wrong, he must judge himself to be wrong; it is not up to the pastor. As it is, he blasphemes at least by implication.

Then, some pastors advocate practicing prayer as some sort of psychological release. According to their reasoning, God is our "father," and an angry and frustrated child should be permitted to sit on his lap and beat on his chest to receive the father's comfort and assurance. But our earthly father is not God, and we should never assume that our relationship with one is automatically analogous to the other. Otherwise, what is to prevent us from worshiping our earthly father, just as we do the heavenly father?

They say that the Old Testament characters complained all the time. But they fail to notice that God rebuked them almost just as often. And the Old Testament also contains God's answers to their complaints, doubts, and fears, recorded for our benefit. Now the pastors and counselors want us to pretend that God has not spoken so that we could ask him the same questions all over again. Perhaps there are not many better examples of what it means to tempt God than this. No, Peter has written verse 7, and we must not pretend that it has not been written: "These have come so that your faith…may be proved genuine and may result in praise."

So, we not only endure but we thrive because of God's mercy, which he has already extended to us, and which continues to nurture us. We rest in his foreordination, as he has already taken action, and he has already decided all things for his glory and for our good. Meanwhile our faith is being refined as by fire, being of greater worth than gold, as we are receiving the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls. Because of this, we are filled with an overcoming and triumphant joy, one that no amount of persecution can dampen or destroy.

On the other hand, unbelievers live and die in despair, whether or not they are persecuted for anything. The most miserable soul is one who is a Christian in name only, but who is not one in reality. Because of his profession, even if it is a false profession, at times he might be persecuted for being a Christian, but he lacks the reality, the faith, the life of a Christian. Therefore, he is crushed and downtrodden, without hope and without joy. Heaven's joy sustains the Christian, but hell's despair grips the heart of the pretender. Some sink so low that they eventually betray the faith that they once pretended to profess. Then they turn around and lash out against it, becoming its enemies, and thus reveal their true reprobate nature.

Commentary on First Peter (14)

We turn to Matthew 28 to further buttress our point: "Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted" (v. 16-17). They saw, they even worshiped, and they still doubted. Those of us who hold to a biblical rather than an empirical epistemology do not stumble over this. I find nothing surprising or puzzling here, but some commentators go through great pains to muster up an explanation.

There are those who suppose that, instead of just "the eleven disciples," there must have been a larger group there. But the text does not say this, and if one would accept that a person can see and still doubt, then he would not sense the need to suggest that there were many others present besides the eleven. And so what if there were? The text still says that they saw him, they worshiped him, and then some doubted. In fact, to suggest that there were many more people there besides the eleven only strengthens our case, since it shows that one can doubt something that many other people are supposedly seeing at the same time also. Then, there is the verse that says, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead" (Luke 16:31).

The conclusion is that sensation has no necessary relationship with knowing and believing. For two things to have a necessary relationship means that when you have one, you will always have the other. Sometimes this might include a reference to proportion as well, so that when you have more of one thing, you will also have more of the other. If a person can see and still doubt, or if he can believe and not see, then there is no necessary relationship between seeing and believing, or knowing. Just because you see something, or think that you see something, does not mean that it is really there. Faith is based on reality, but reality is not known by the senses.

Rather, if there is to be any relationship at all between seeing and believing, or knowing, it is established sovereignly by God at the moment of seeing, but in fact apart from the seeing itself, but only on the occasion of the seeing, since one can see and not believe or know. This is especially important when it comes to saving faith. You can see whatever you want for as long as you want, but you can still doubt just as much, or even more than before. Faith is something that is generated in your heart at God's pleasure and by God's power. It comes through revelation, and not through any of the senses (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

One of the greatest blunders in the history of philosophy, and in the history of Christian thought in particular, is a form of the "presuppositional" approach to apologetics that claims to take Scripture as its starting point, when in fact it places the reliability of sensations as the epistemological prerequisite for even attaining information about Scripture.

But as Spurgeon once remarked on the subject of assurance, "Let me say now, before I turn from this point, that it is possible for a man to know whether God has called him or not, and he may know it too beyond a doubt. He may know it as surely as if he read it with his own eyes; nay, he may know it more surely than that, for if I read a thing with my eyes, even my eyes may deceive me, the testimony of sense may be false, but the testimony of the Spirit must be true." We cannot say that he had a fully developed biblical epistemology, and we cannot say that he was altogether anti-empirical, but he knew enough to say something like this.

On the other hand, advocates of this "presuppositional" approach presume to be teachers and defenders of the faith, but they cannot grasp even this simple point. Among other things, they have tried to integrate revelation with sensation, not to say intuition as well. Some of the proponents of this school of thought even suggest that we can derive a naïve "I see, therefore I know" epistemology from the Bible. Besides abusing the verses that they cite for support, they proceed without taking account of what the Bible itself asserts and illustrates about the unreliability of sensation, without showing the validity of inferences from sensation, and without defining a standard to show how one might know when a sensation is accurate or when it is inaccurate. At the root, this is just another form of anti-biblical irrationalism. It fails from the start, and in this sense it is no better than any non-Christian system of philosophy.

We have a saving relationship with our Lord through faith. This faith includes a genuine belief in certain historical facts, namely, in what God has done in history through Jesus Christ. However, our belief in these historical facts is not in turn based on sensation or empirical testimony, but on revelation. It is true that part of this includes revelation about the empirical, yet it is not itself empirical, but a divine testimony about the empirical. There is an infinite distance between the two. One is the fallible testimony of man; the other is the infallible testimony of God.

Faith is not a denial of reality, but it is an affirmation of reality. By standing on revelation instead of man's speculation, sensation, and intuition, faith also represents a rejection of an irrational epistemology, an irrational way to ascertain reality, such as one that is based on mere sight and sound and smell.

Commentary on First Peter (12)

Now that we understand why we can rejoice in the midst of hardship and persecution, the question remains as to why they come at all. Christians are accustomed to saying that we cannot know the answer to this question in our lifetime. In fact, they insist on their ignorance on this issue so much that some interpreters make this very assertion – that we cannot know the answer – while commenting on verse 7: "These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." Of course, the verse does not say that we cannot know why hardship and persecution come, because it tells us precisely why they come, or it gives us at least one reason why they come.

What is it that people do not understand about the words, "These have come so that your faith…may be proved genuine and may result in praise"? They have already ruled out the possibility that any answer can satisfy them about human suffering and the persecution of the elect, and so even God cannot tell them otherwise. This is also related to the so-called problem of evil. They outright refuse to believe that any explanation that is offered to them in this lifetime can perfectly cohere with God's goodness and righteousness. They suppose that they will obtain the answer and will be satisfied only when they reach heaven. There, they say, they will be able to see things from God's perspective.

To put it plainly, in heaven they will finally believe what the Bible has been telling them all along, and there they will finally stop resenting God and accusing him of injustice. But even though more information will become available, they are not going to get a different or opposing perspective in heaven than the one that God has already revealed in Scripture. With their evil attitude, if they reach heaven at all, the only reason why heaven will satisfy them is because there they will finally abandon their false assumptions and accept the biblical explanation concerning their suffering and persecution. There they will stop hating God for being God.

Meanwhile, they want to use their false and sinful standard to hold even God accountable for his actions. If that cannot be done, then they suppose there is no good explanation for anything at all! This is not an example of the inability of a finite mind to comprehend the thoughts and purposes of the infinite, although this is often how these people present the issue. Rather, it represents a blatant rejection of what the Bible says about why hardship and persecution come to us. The truth of the matter is that although we do not know everything regarding why and how certain things happen, we do know a great deal, and more than enough to put all general uncertainties to rest, so that there is never an excuse for unbelief, defiance, or resentment against the Lord.

Not long after my conversion, I was speaking with someone about the Christian faith when the conversation turned to the fall of man, the initial sin of our first parents. He asked, "If God knew that they were going to sin, then why did he put the tree there?" Among other things, I said to him, "…but I do love God, and to the extent that I truly love him, I would very much like to know that this love is pure and real. I would like to remove all illusion about how faithful I am to him, and to build on what is actually there. I care about that more than anything else."

At that time, I was not nearly as clear in my understanding about God's exhaustive sovereignty (that controls all things, including human thoughts and actions), his absolute righteousness (that is judged by no one, but by which every person is judged), and his supralapsarian eternal decree to glorify himself through Christ's redeeming work (because of which he would first cause the fall of man to occur). So I could not offer him a fuller response, since my weak grasp of these truths prevented me from answering him in a way that consistently had God as the reference point.

Nevertheless, in my limited but heartfelt reply, I had stumbled across a valuable truth, a truth that Peter is teaching us here. He says in verse 7 that trials happen so that our faith may be "proved genuine." A large block of unrefined gold may feel heavy in your hands, but not all of it is real gold. Then, when it is heated, the impurities float to the surface, and the gold that is left is pure. That is the actual amount of gold that you had at the beginning – less than it looked, less than it felt, less than you thought.

New converts sometimes think that their faith and zeal are especially strong, and they even look upon the seemingly sluggish faith of their elders with disdain. They think, "Surely God has called me for such a time as this! God is raising up a new generation, and I am it!" But when the time comes, they cannot even stand up to their in-laws, but cringe in terror. They are like how Peter was at first. Hurrah, hurrah, he went, and said things like, "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will" and "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you" (Matthew 26:33, 35). But when the time came, his faith could not even stand up before a servant girl (Matthew 26:69-75).

Then, some who are not incinerated by the heat of persecution are nevertheless smothered by the ordinary, and slaughtered by the mundane. Their spiritual aspirations are melted away by nothing other than time, the silent killer. As Proverbs says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick" (13:12). A strong emotional high can go through the fire and withstand the heat, but since it is not true faith, it dies in the cold.

More often than not, they are not "it" at all, and even if they are, their faith still needs to be tested and refined, so that all that is false and impure may be removed. Their faith is as unrefined gold, and it is not nearly as strong and weighty as their feeling suggests. There is an intense feeling in them because they are on an emotional high, but feeling is not faith, and a little persecution still slap them right down to their level. In fact, it will bring to the surface so many weaknesses and impurities they might feel as if they have apostatized.

Thus they must finally learn to stop measuring the spiritual by the emotional, and realize that a deep and enduring faith has to do with a mature understanding of God's ways, leading to confidence in his will, his power, and his timing. Of course, the problem is not limited to new converts, for many have been believers for years and still retain a heavy mixture in their faith. Yet it is not for us to invite hardship and persecution, but to apply the word of God for our sanctification. The Father will purify and refine us according to his will and his time.

As for those who are not true converts, they will fall away altogether when persecution comes, or when the troubles of life make it too much of a burden to feign faithfulness. As Jesus says, "Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away" (Mark 4:16-17). At any point in time, it may be God's will to cleanse his church in such a manner, lest it be overwhelmed by false converts and imposters.

Strong and sincere faith is precious in the sight of God. How much is it worth to you? Peter says that it is "of greater worth than gold." As difficult as it is for outsiders to understand, we as Christians truly love the Lord, and true faith that is free from impurities is precious to us as well. We would rather know that our faith is real, than to avoid the agony of hardship and the humiliation of failure. Christians are not just looking for a way to avoid trouble and discomfort as much as possible on our way to heaven, but we truly love God and wish to serve him well.

So if our faith must pass through the fire to be refined, then so be it. If our faith must withstand the cold to be revealed, then we accept. "But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). Our faith refined and proved genuine will "result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (v. 7).

Commentary on First Peter (10)

Much of contemporary preaching portrays divine mercy as a dependent mercy, so that God is helplessly waiting for the creature's permission before he could sweep the person into the kingdom of heaven. On the contrary, the Bible describes divine mercy as sovereign and effective, so that God is merciful to whomever he wishes, and to those whom he has chosen, he pours out his mercy in great power and with great effect.

But his mercy is also a righteous mercy. It does not bypass but fully satisfies God's own standard of justice, of good and evil, and of right compensation. This is why he sent Jesus Christ, his own Son and the second member of the Trinity, to take on human flesh, to suffer, and to die for the sins of the chosen ones, and as their head and representative. Then, just as he was raised from the dead, we also have been made alive in him. Thus God extends mercy to us not by overlooking his own justice, but his mercy toward us involves sending Jesus Christ to bear our guilt and punishment, so that we now share in his life and his righteousness.

God's mercy toward us is generous. It involves more than mere pardon, but as Peter writes, "In his great mercy he has given us new birth…into an inheritance." Unlike a natural inheritance, or even the Promised Land of the Old Testament, this inheritance "can never perish, spoil or fade," and it is "kept in heaven." Reprobates are destined for hell, and bound for endless agony and torment. In contrast, the chosen ones are made joint-heirs with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17).

Finally, God's mercy is an enduring mercy. There are some people who say, "I believe in divine election, but I do not believe in eternal security." Now these people have no idea what divine election means. God chooses us to win the race – to finish it, not just to enter it. So if a person enters, or appears to enter the race, but fails to finish it, then he has never been chosen by God in the first place. But these people suppose that God's choice has to do with who could enter the Christian walk, and then the rest is up to them. And some even think that people can walk in and out of the race whenever they wish, and as often as they please.

No, God's mercy endures forever, both in terms of its disposition and its effect. And again, it is not a dependent mercy, as if it requires the creature's power to uphold it – any power that the creature has would be from God in the first place. Rather, it is divine mercy that upholds those to whom it is given. Thus, Peter says that our inheritance is kept in heaven, and God's power actively guards it for us through our faith. That is, God guards for us that which he has given to us, not regardless of our faith, as if we can renounce him and still be saved, but in conjunction with our faith or through our faith, which he upholds by his power. Once God causes a person to be born again and to believe the gospel, he protects this person's spiritual interests by upholding his faith, and thereby also his heavenly inheritance.

Jesus said to Peter, "I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail" (Luke 22:32). He did not ask Peter to maintain his faith so that God could continue to favor him, but it is up to God whether a person's faith fails. Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus "always lives to intercede" for those who come to God through him, and this is why genuine faith will never truly and finally fail. Christ is ever present before our Father, interceding on our behalf, so that God's power will ever continue to uphold our faith, just as his mercy endures toward his chosen ones.

Our enduring faith is a product of his enduring mercy. We are indeed conscious of our perseverance, but we persevere not because we have free will or because we exercise this free will, but because we do not have free will – because his power is at work in us, causing our faith to endure.

From its beginning to its consummation, it is God who designs, produces, and maintains all things that pertain to our salvation. In his great mercy, he has given birth to us in the spirit, and has given us a heavenly inheritance. He guards this inheritance by giving us faith and keeping that faith, and then by honoring that faith which he gives and keeps. Our inheritance is forever secure because his sovereign mercy forever endures.

Commentary on First Peter (8)

Peter begins his letter by describing the kind of people that he is addressing. They are elected by the Father, sanctified by the Spirit, redeemed and purified by Christ. What is a Christian? A Christian is the object of the combined saving work of the Trinity, and who is related to each member of the Godhead in the way described by Peter in these verses. How, then, can anyone be a Christian who rejects the doctrine of the Trinity? Christianity is defined by this doctrine, and there is no salvation in any creed or religion that denies it.

The Trinity has performed a precious work in their lives, but it has also made them "strangers in the world." A better translation is "temporary residents" or "resident aliens." The Christians are now citizens of the kingdom, and heaven is their true home. Just like travelers in a foreign country, they are in but not of the world. Their allegiance belongs to their homeland of heaven, and it is to heaven that they look forward to return. As Paul writes, "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body" (Philippians 3:20-21).

Some Christians tend to forget this. This is especially true in nations that have deep Christian backgrounds, and also where there is relatively little persecution. They tend to merge their national identity with their spiritual identity, and to confuse favorable political progress with spiritual advancement. Some of them begin to settle comfortably in the world and proceed to explore all the options that it has to offer.

There is a proper applicable for the truth, "everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected" (1 Timothy 4:4), but this is often distorted to be used as an excuse to justify worldly attitudes and practices, as well as questionable associations. Some people believe that "there is no distinction between the sacred and the secular," and they implement the idea to every aspect of life. The result is not that their lives have become holy, but that they have become profane. However, since they do not make a distinction, this is easy to fix. Now they just call everything holy.

Notice the amount of effort that Christians devote to justify their participation in culture, in entertainment, and even in things like alcohol consumption. After all, we are supposed to "enjoy" God's creation, are we not? While the New Testament is against hermitism and extreme asceticism (1 Timothy 6:17), it never stresses the positive indulgence in culture, entertainment, food and alcohol consumption, and many other such things to any great extent. It may be permitted and acknowledged, but not hammered on constantly, again and again and again.

So they eventually lose the otherworldliness taught and exhibited by the New Testament Christians. Now when they preach, their message is no longer a word from heaven, but it is little more than a "Christian" perspective on politics, music, commerce, and sometimes even religion. And so what if they talk about salvation? There is no thunder, no prophetic power. Nobody would think that they are ambassadors from another world. They stress that Christians are to be in but not of the world, but they emphasize the "in" part so much that now fewer and fewer people notice that they are "not of" the world anymore.

Jesus said, "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one" (John 17:15). As long as we are physically still in the world, then the "in" part is already taken care off, since Jesus' prayer is only that God would not remove us from the earth and take us to heaven right away. The part that requires constant vigilance is to live in the world, which we are already doing, and still remain unpolluted by it, "hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh" (Jude 23).

Right at the beginning, Peter assumes a rich theological foundation, and he will go on for a number of verses to build it up even more. This is essential for the rest of his letter. He is telling the Christians that they have been chosen and separated. But just as this separation brings them into a saving and loving relationship God, it also changes their relationship with the world. It has made them different, as strangers to the unbelievers, and even as a stench to their nostrils.

For this reason, Christians will face opposition and persecution in this world. These may range from the mild to the harsh, and sometimes even the violent and the deadly. By beginning with God's sovereign choice of the believers, Peter has already laid the groundwork for unshakable confidence and ultimate triumph.

God has chosen us in eternity. He has already shown us favor. As the church, we are indestructible because we have a foreordained destiny. And even though our bodies may perish, our spirits belong to heaven. We have been saved through the blood of Jesus Christ, and now the Spirit works powerfully in our midst to carry out God's plan for our lives.

On this basis, we find grace and peace in abundance.