1 Peter 1:1-2—Greetings
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. 1 Peter 1:1-2
I have a confession to make: Whenever I start one of the New Testament letters, I zip right through the opening part, scanning until I land on the “meat” of the section.
If you’re anything like me, you do the same thing. And, like me, you run the risk of passing over some life-changing, mini-explosions of truth.
Take Peter’s first letter, for example. His salutation is loaded with power-packed nuggets.
To those who reside as aliens, scattered…
The very minute these folks opened their hearts to the redemptive touch of Jesus Christ, they became branded as enemies of the state and of traditional religious concerns. As a result, new converts were forced to go underground or to pull up roots, scattering in all directions from the epicenter of anti-Christian persecution. They were now aliens in their own land…and foreigners in the lands to which they escaped.
Not only were they displaced physically—making them aliens in a natural sense—but as Peter pointed out later in his letter, by their faith in Jesus, they had also become spiritual aliens to the entire world system:
“Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11).
Like them, you, too, are an alien to this current world system if you have received Jesus as your Lord. As uncomfortable or uncool as that may seem, it is the rock-bottom, sober truth. You have been born from above; never again are you to take your cues or calling from the course of this world—your directives and identity from here on out are from the Father and His Word.
… who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…
You may have been chosen last on every team; you may have always sat home on prom night, dateless; you may still experience being overlooked or dismissed by your peers. But there is One—the only One who really matters when all is said and done—who searched through the annals of time and found you…and chose you—from among the cream of the crop—to be His own. And now, through faith in His Son, you are His. You are chosen. You will always be His chosen one.
… by the sanctifying work of the Spirit…
There is so much that degrades and defiles on this earth. None of us have remained unaffected by the downward spiral of this world’s fallen system. From gloomy depression to fiery rage; from uncontrollable lust to uncontainable greed; from insatiable violence to inconsolable self-pity—each of us has experienced the tyranny of sin. Whether you are stuck in the perpetual role of the defeated underdog, or you find yourself groping blindly in unending invisibility, or you’ve become bloated with the heady hot air of perceived self-importance—none of us have emerged entirely unscathed.
Enter the Spirit of God upon the cry of a man when he first recognizes his need for a Savior. From that very moment the sanctifying work of the Spirit begins—setting the man apart as God’s child and continuing with the man for the rest of his days. Though the man falls a time or two, the Spirit of God will pick him up and dust him off and will continue to guide him and help him throughout life. On the day the man takes his last breath, the Spirit of God will be with him and will usher him to his eternal home.
… to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood…
The Holy Spirit sets us apart; the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Because of this, we are free agents—no longer bogged down in the quagmire of sin and destruction—liberated to obey Jesus, the Shepherd of our souls, and to be His disciples.
May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.
This is the heart of the New Covenant. Grace has been poured out upon you for the taking. Peace—depth of peace in the midst of the world’s turbulence—has been reserved for you in Christ. Grace and peace are stored up to your account, ready to be accessed, never running out, fully supplied for you in this life and throughout the span of eternity. In the fullest measure, grace and peace are yours…in Christ Jesus.
Dorothy
© 2015, Dorothy Frick