FIRST PETER 1:16

Peter has been encouraging Christians who are “strangers scattered” to not give up hope and to not return to the ways of the world. In First Peter 1:16 Peter gives one of the reasons that believers should always do the right thing. The Bible says, “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” God wants us to be like Him. The logic is very straight-forward. God is holy, and therefore every child of God should aspire to be like Him. That is one of the values of the life of Christ. Yes, Jesus came to die for the sins of the world. But Jesus also came and showed us how life should be lived. Jesus was the union of God and man. Jesus was the God-man. Because Jesus lived a perfect and holy life, His life is the pattern and the example to follow. We are without excuse. We have the commandments and the Word of God to tell us how to live, and we have the life of Christ to show us that it can be done.

First Peter 1:17 gives another reason for Christians to live a holy life. It says, “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.” This is a warning that every Christian would do well to take heed to. Notice two phrases, “without respect of persons,” and “judgeth according to every man’s work.” In relation to what happens in my life and in your life, God is Judge. God judges the affairs of men and women. God is holy, God hates sin, God judges sin, and God punishes sin. This is true in the life of every human being, and it is especially true in the life of believers. “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.”

God wants believers to live holy lives, and therefore God brings judgment into the life of every believer in order to help bring this sanctification about, but also God brings judgment in order to satisfy His own holiness and moral indignation against sin. We can be assured that Jesus Christ does not take lightly His responsibilities as Judge of the universe. The Bible says in First Corinthians 11:30-32, “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.”

First Peter 1:17 says that God judges “without respect of persons.” This means that God is not going to make exceptions for your case. You had better “fear” God, and to fear does not mean reverential respect. Fear means fear. It means fear in reference to His judgment; should you do something that violates His holiness. It does not mean that you live in fear all of the time. Hopefully, most of the time; you will live in peace and in fellowship with Christ. But you should fear doing anything that brings God’s judgment into your life. If you fail and you are wise, you will do what First Corinthians 11:31 says to do: “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” This is the same principle that First John 1:9 is speaking of when it says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

This a good time to be reminded of why we can be assured that we will be forgiven whenever we confess our sins, no matter how many sins we have committed and no matter how great they are. First Peter 1:18-19 says, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” These verses make a very vivid contrast between material things and spiritual things. The precious blood of Christ which was given so that you could be forgiven is contrasted to silver and gold. You may not have silver and gold in this life, but if you have faith in Christ who shed His blood for you, then you are far better off. If you have faith in Christ, you have been given something that is far better than anything you might possibly receive “by tradition from your fathers.” Some people put way too much emphasis on human lineage or human tradition and the value of them. Some people will go to hell because they trust in their human lineage. Others will be condemned because they relied on human tradition. Entire religions are based upon human lineage and human tradition.

Those who truly believe in Christ have not relied upon anything human: they have relied upon Christ Himself, who is “a lamb without blemish and without spot.” This statement says many things. It emphasizes the contrast between Jesus and human beings. All human beings are sinful. Jesus is “without blemish and without spot.” Jesus is the final sacrifice. He fulfills all prophesies about Christ that were presented in the Old Testament. Lambs were killed in sacrifice in the Old Testament. In order to be an acceptable sacrifice, they were innocent and they were without blemish. Jesus is the sacrifice for sin that is well-pleasing to the father. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world.”

Concerning Jesus Christ, First Peter 1:20 says, “Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” In a way this Bible verse restates two things that the Holy Spirit has already pointed out here in chapter one of First Peter. The first is that God has a plan. God has a perfect plan. God’s perfect plan came from Him before He even created the world. God’s plan had everything to do with Jesus Christ coming into the world to die for sinners. God’s plan included suffering. The second thing that this verse states is that we are very privileged to know the things that we know about Jesus Christ the Savior. How blessed we are to be alive and to be involved in this period of time when God’s plan is being unfolded. Prophets of old wanted to know what we now know, but they were not allowed to know them.

First Peter 1:21 says, “Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.” This verse says that we believe in God “by him.” In other words we believe in God by Jesus Christ. To believe is to trust, to rely upon, and to commit oneself to. No one truly believes in God unless they do it by Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ is the only means by which a human being can be brought into a relationship with God. Human beings do not have this kind of real belief in God except through Jesus Christ.

Notice what happened to Jesus. Jesus died. But then He was raised up from the dead and was given glory. Those who believe in Jesus will have the same things happen to them. Each of us will die. “It is appointed unto men once to die.” Some will die by the hand of persecutors such as what happened to many of the believers in the first century. But no matter when or how you die, if you are a believer in Jesus you can have the assurance that you will be with Him forever. Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am ye may be also.”

It is important to notice the last phrase of First Peter 1:21: “that your faith and hope might be in God.” How sad that some people who call themselves Christians put their faith and hope in someone or something other than God. Maybe one reason that we have less joy than we could have is because we are hoping in the wrong things. If our hope is in our God whose name is Jesus Christ, we can have joy looking forward to what He will do for us in the next life.

The Bible says in First Peter 1:22, “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.” This is a tremendous Bible verse. Several things are said that are an essential part of salvation, and then it also emphasizes what should be called the most important evidence of salvation. If you have been saved, then your soul was purified because of the precious blood of Christ. God is holy, and nothing sinful can stand in His sight. God wants us to be able to stand in His sight, so He has devised a means by which our souls can be purified. This is what takes place at salvation. Jesus called it being born again.

Notice that First Peter 1:22 describes salvation as “obeying the truth through the Spirit.” True belief is “obeying.” “God commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” Jesus said in John 6:29, “This is the work of God: that you believe on him whom he hath sent.” Those who do not believe are disobeying the Spirit. The Spirit calls us to believe, the Spirit leads us on a path that ends in belief, and the Spirit commands us to believe. Belief and obedience go together. There is no such thing as believing without also having a heart that wishes to obey. That is why repentance is a part of the salvation experience. A person who repents turns to Jesus and believes on Jesus with a desire to obey the commands of Jesus. If there is no desire to obey the commands of Jesus, then there never was any true repentance or true faith; and therefore such a person is not saved. Of course, that was not the case of the ones to whom Peter was writing because he said of them, “ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth.”

It is important to note that they had obeyed the truth “through the Spirit.” Salvation is the work of the Spirit. No one gets saved unless the Spirit works in their heart to bring them to repentance and faith in Christ. Water baptism does not save you. Water baptism does not purify you. No one gets saved by simply repeating certain words in a prayer that some other human being told him to say. Salvation is the work of the Spirit. Jesus said in John 6:44, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” Until the Spirit of God works in someone’s heart, they are not saved.

Once someone is saved through faith in Christ, what should be the result? First Peter 1:22 makes that very clear. It says, “unto unfeigned love of the brethren.” The word “unto” is used to declare the result that is supposed to take place when someone is really saved. If someone does not love the brethren, then there is no evidence that they are truly saved. You either love the brethren, or you hate them. Who hates the brethren? The devil and the antichrist hate the brethren; that is for certain. If you do not love the brethren, then that demonstrates clearly whose side you are on. The Bible says in First John 3:14, “We know that we have passed form death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”

Just like the Apostle Peter, the Apostle John knew the importance of loving the brethren. They knew that it was one of the things that Jesus emphasized, and they were followers of Jesus. The true followers of Jesus emphasize the same things that Jesus Himself emphasized. Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” The Apostle John referred to this teaching by Jesus when John wrote in First John 2:8-9, “Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you; because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.” When we look at the emphasis upon Christians loving each other in the manner that Peter wrote it, it is interesting to note that the word “love” is used twice in First Peter 1:22. In the Greek language both the word “phileo” and the word “agapao” are used. You should love other Christians with the love you would show to a friend and with the deepest love that humans can express. If you have obeyed the truth and have a pure heart because of the Spirit’s work, then you should have a fervent love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. If you are not doing so, then you are not serving Jesus Christ.

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