Peter is writing very much from an Old Testament perspective. And central to this perspective is the idea of covenant, a theme so central to Jewish and Christian theology. What is the covenant? “Covenant” (Hebrew, berit) is a word that describes a treaty or formal agreement between two parties. It could be made between two … Continue reading –>
Read 1 Peter 2:4-8 (see also Isa. 28:16; Ps. 118:22; Isa. 8:14-15). What crucial truth is Peter referring to here? What is he saying to us about how we should act in response to Jesus? After telling his readers to seek spiritual nourishment, Peter immediately directs their attention to Jesus Christ, the Living Stone, most … Continue reading –>
First Peter 2:1 begins with “therefore,” meaning that what follows results from what came before. First Peter Chapter 1, we saw, was a tour de force in regard to what Christ has done for us and how we should respond to what He has done for us. In the next chapter, Peter picks up this … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: 1 Pet. 2:1-3; Heb. 4:12; 1 Pet. 2:4-8; Isa. 28:16; Exod. 19:3-6; 1 Pet. 2:5,1 Peter 2:9-10. Memory Text: “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His … Continue reading –>
Read Ellen G. White, “Christ the Way of Life,” pp. 365-368, and “Perfect Obedience Through Christ,” pp. 373-376 in Selected Messages, book 1. It’s amazing how rich and deep this first chapter of Peter is and how much ground it covers. Peter begins his epistle with a meditation on the character of the Godhead, bringing … Continue reading –>
Peter next steers Christians to the ultimate expression of what living a holy and faithful life will be like. Read 1 Peter 1:22-25. What crucial point is he making here about what it means to be a Christian? Peter’s starting point is that Christians are already purified (“Seeing ye have purified . . .”), and … Continue reading –>
Read 1 Peter 1:13-21. According to this passage, what should motivate Christian behavior? The word therefore, which begins 1 Peter 1:13, NKJV, shows that what Peter will say next grows out of what he had just said. As we saw in yesterday’s study, Peter just had been talking about the grace of God and the … Continue reading –>
Read 1 Peter 1:3-12. What is Peter’s main message in these verses? In his greeting to his readers in 1 Peter 1:1-2, Peter has already mentioned the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (1 Pet. 1:2). The three members of the Godhead form the subject of 1 Peter 1:3-12. The Father and the Son are the … Continue reading –>
Read 1 Peter 1:2. What else does this tell us about those to whom Peter had been writing? What does he call them? Whether writing to specifically Jewish or Gentile believers, Peter was sure about one thing: they were “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Pet. 1:2). Here, though, one needs … Continue reading –>
If you were given a piece of paper that began, “Dear Sir,” you would realize that you were reading a letter. And you would assume that the letter came from somebody you probably weren’t close to. Just as modern letters have a standard way to begin, so do ancient letters. First Peter begins as any … Continue reading –>
