Royal Priesthood. Do you cringe from Peter’s using language appropriate for the Jewish people of the Old Testament and applying it to us today? Are you proud to be a “Gentile believer in Jesus”? Or do you think of yourself as a person with a Jewish theological background who has accepted Jesus as Saviour? What key responsibility … Continue reading –>
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 –>
Satan knows our salvation is found in the love of God. Therefore he does his best to misrepresent the love of God that shines from the cross. One horrendous way he does that is by presenting a “gospel” in which the unbeliever, instead of perishing, is burned and tortured throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. Another way he skews … 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 –>
I recently had a conversation with a man that I greatly admire by the name of Pastor T. Marshall Kelly. Not only is he a world renowned Christian singer (Youtube Video Here); he is a man that exudes love and encouragement. During our talk, he told me, “Curtis, if you are doing what God wants … 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 –>
You can view an in-depth discussion of “An Inheritance Incorruptible” in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. (Adobe Flash Player version.) A Youtube version of this week’s lesson at Hope Sabbath School is below. You can download the video, the MP3 audio, and the lesson outline from the HopeTV Sabbath School … 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 –>
To the Exiles. What were Peter’s credentials for writing the two books in the New Testament that bear his name? Does Peter identify “exiles” as his primary audience as your lesson guide does? Scholars still debate whether Peter was writing to a Jewish or to a Gentile audience. What do you think? As a modern-day … Continue reading –>
