1 Peter (Theology)

Blessed assurance! Holy Spirit will complete the good work that your salvation in Jesus started for you!

We are refined in the furnace of afflictions how thankful I am that He never takes His eyes off of us in the process.

The Purifier of Silver has been printed and hung in my houses  for over 20 years…

He sits as a Refiner and Purifier of Silver

The story is told of a group of ladies who met together every week to study the Bible. When they got to the book of Malachi in the Old Testament, they came upon the third verse of the third chapter, which says that the Lord “will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. Curious about what this verse was saying about the character of God, one of the women volunteered to find out more about the process of refining silver before their next meeting.

Later in the week, this woman arranged with a local silversmith to go and watch him at work. She didn’t explain the reason for her interest, but merely said that she was interested in the process. As she watched the silversmith working on a particular piece, he explained that the only way to purify and refine silver is to hold it in the middle of the fire where the flames are the hottest so that all the impurities are burned away.

The woman thought back on Malachi 3:3, and remembered that it specifically mentioned that God sits as a refiner and purifier of silver. She asked the silversmith if it was important for him to stay there the entire time the silver was being refined, or if he could walk away and come back later.

The silversmith told her that he not only had to stay there, he had to keep his eyes on the silver every second, because if it was left in the flames even a moment too long, it would be damaged.Intrigued, the woman asked how he knew the exact moment the silver was fully refined.

The silversmith smiled knowingly and said “That’s easy. I know it’s refined when I see my image reflected in it.”

When we feel the heat of the Refiner’s fire throughout our day to day trials and heartaches, what a precious comfort it is to know that our God is still fully in control, His eyes never leave us, and there is purpose in the struggle. And what strength and confidence we gain from the knowledge that we are “predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son” (Romans 8:29). Whoever—God’s wonderful word of welcome. We lose much in life—jobs and chances, we lose at love. We lose youth and idealism. We lose much, but we never lose our place on God’s “whoever” list. Max Lucado

1 Peter (Theology)

Peter blended five different themes in this letter. (1) He emphasized that Christians can expect suffering as a natural part of a life dedicated to Christ. Suffering was God’s tool to shape godly character within them. (2) He went on to exhort Christians to live righteous and holy lives in the face of the evils they were experiencing. No matter how tempting it was, Christians were not to return evil for evil. That is a worldly and not a Christian response to persecution. (3) No matter how much suffering they experienced, Peter assured the Christians in Asia Minor they did not deserve it. Their suffering was a part of their service to God and His kingdom. Although Christians would suffer injustice on this earth, there would come a time when God would right every wrong and reward those who have endured persecution for His name. (4) In light of this, Peter encouraged Christians to submit themselves to others for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of harmonious interpersonal relationships. Christ would eventually judge their actions, and the difficulties they were experiencing would not be an excuse for rebellion and dissension. (5) 

Finally Peter used this letter as an opportunity to drive home the central truth of the gospel, that Jesus endured the agony of the Cross to save us from our bondage to sin Christ’s example—His sinless life, His quiet endurance of suffering, and His commitment to the truth—should be our model in all the difficulties of this life.

For Peter, Jesus is the basis for our living hope and inheritance. What is more, the love relationship that is available with Him is a source of inexpressible joy. Peter is quick to convey what Paul and the Gospel writers have already established—that Jesus’ suffering and death provide redemption for all who trust in Him “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed”.  The NKJV Study Bible 

1:1-11 

To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls. 10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

1:1-17-21

17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

2:21-24

 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 22 “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.

3:18-22

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. The New King James Version