In past blogs we have discussed how important Peter’s introduction is to understanding the content of his entire first letter. To add a bit more to this discussion, we can further notice that in 1Peter 1:3-5, Peter says that the “elect,” the “exiles”… those who have been “born again” (1:23, 2:2) into “God’s family” (2:17, 5:9) have received an inheritance, referring to SALVATION.
We see from those verses that Peter describes this SALVATION-inheritance in three different ways. 1. It can never perish, spoil or fade. 2. It is securely deposited in heaven. 3. It is shielded by God’s power through faith until the coming of the SALVATION that is about to be revealed in the last time.
As a result of these three verses, we understand that SALVATION has great worth, (it never perishes, never decays, never decreases) and that through living a life of faith, God’s power will protect that SALVATION to the end of time, until Jesus returns to complete our SALVATION experience. He tells us that we have inherited A Salvation Worth Living For.
In my last blog, we discussed Peter’s desire to prove to his readers that Salvation is Worth Writing About. We demonstrated that the first two chapters of Peter's first letter oozed with salvation-experience concepts. Peter wrote and wrote and wrote to highlight the value and worth of the salvation-experience. Peter saturated these first two chapters with salvation-experience concepts in order to help his readers understand that their salvation was very precious, knowing that they had been bought with “the precious blood of Jesus.” (1:19)
Also, three other times in the second chapter, we see Peter using the word “precious” in regards to estimating the value of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, i.e., SALVATION-for-man.
In this blog, we will discuss how Peter invests the worth of salvation into the lives of his readers to help them understand that Salvation Is Worth Living For. Three times in the first nine verses of Peter’s letter, Peter refers to how important living a life of “faith” is to his reader’s salvation. He tells his readers that by a lifestyle of “faith” God’s shields and protects their salvation. (1:5) He also tells them that their lifestyle of “faith” is of “greater worth than gold.” (1:7) Then he tells them that their lifestyle of “faith” “results in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1:7) And finally, he tells them that “the end result of their faith is the salvation of their souls.” (1:9)
Peter tells his readers that living a life of faith results in the fulfillment of “the salvation that is about to be revealed in the last time” (1:5). The question for us is “What does Peter think this life of faith looks like?” He has already told us that it’s a life of holiness, but what exactly does that mean?
What we think "holiness” is may not necessarily be what we think God thinks “holiness” is.
On the one hand, Peter seems to think some people “stumble” through life “because they disobey the message,” i.e., to “be holy as God is holy” (1:16). They do not value their own lifestyle because they do not value God’s lifestyle. They deny how precious salvation is and they deny how precious is the sacrificial blood of Jesus.
On the other hand, those who do believe the message that Jesus is the “precious cornerstone,” Peter encourages them to live a life just as precious as the cornerstone. He encourages them to,
“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (2:12)
Peter’s message here is similar to Paul’s message to the Ephesian Christians, when he encouraged them to “live a life worthy of their calling” (Ephesians 4:1) and similar to Paul’s message to the Philippian Christians when he encouraged them to “work out their salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12)
Peter’s message here is that those who, through faith, possess a “salvation worth living for” ought to live a life equal in worth to the salvation they have inherited. In doing so, observers who “see their good deeds” will equate those “good deeds” with a holy God; (be holy as I am holy). And those observations of a life of faith will "result in (people giving) praise, glory and honor (to God) when Jesus Christ is revealed," (1:7) or, as Peter says in chapter 2, "they will glorify God on the day he visits us" (in the person of Jesus).
So, what specifically does Peter think this life of faith looks like? What does the day to day, down to earth holiness look like? Peter’s answer may surprise us, and we may not like his answer!
Beginning in the middle of the second chapter (2:11ff) Peter begins to explain to his readers that one’s value of their salvation should equal the value they place on their lifestyle in the form of submission to others in daily life.
Peter connects his reference to his readers as God’s “elect” and “exiles” in his introduction (1:1) to the main focus of his letter here in 2:11ff when he encourages his readers to “live good lives…”
“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (2:11-12)
Peter seems to be saying to his readers that they have been “elected” and “exiled” for the purpose of living good lives full of good deeds in full view of their daily contemporaries so that those contemporaries would see those good deeds and glorify God as a result.
Peter then goes on to explain to his readers in the remainder of chapter 2 to the end of chapter 3 that submitting to “every human authority,” (2:13) submitting to “employers,” (2:18) and submitting in “marital relationships” is the explanation of what those good deeds are that people would see, and then as a result, glorify God.
It seems that Peter understands “holiness” as performing good deeds of submission to others in our daily lives.
Then to seal this argument, Peter points out to his “elect” readers that they ought to be in submission to others in their daily lives just as “—angels, authorities and powers are in submission to Jesus who has gone into heaven and is now sitting at God’s right hand.” (3:22)
It is to this lifestyle of submission that Peter encourages his “elected” readers to submit.
Peter tells them in 2:21,
“To this (lifestyle of submission) you were called,-(elected) because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”
To answer the question, “What is it that Peter expects his elected readers to do, that when evidenced by people, the people would “glorify God?,” the answer would be, “Live in submission to others in our daily lives” just as Jesus did.
“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”
This is a salvation Jesus thought was worth dying for. Because Jesus submitted himself to the Father and learned to live obediently through submission to Him, we are encouraged to follow his example.
“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal SALVATION to all who obey Him…”(Heb 10:8-9)
And because Jesus was raised from the dead, he has given us “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1:3) Peter repeats himself saying, "SALVATION comes by the resurrection of Jesus Christ...” (3:21)
This is A Salvation Worth Living For.
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