I Peter 1:1-9
So today we leave Paul’s letters and move on to Peter. We are still working chronologically, according to The Chronological Study Bible authors. You may be imagining (as did I) that we covered Acts, then began with Paul’s letters. In fact, however, we had both Galatians and James interspersed with Acts back in March, during chapter 15, in conjunction with the Jerusalem Council. Then we read a number of Paul’s other letters in conjunction with stops on his missionary trips. But, now we leave Paul completely and have only two letters from Peter, three from John, Jude, and Hebrews to finish out the year.
If you read introductory remarks about I Peter, most of the commentators talk about I Peter as being a letter about persecution and our Christian response to those trials. Already in today’s first nine verses Peter focuses twice on that topic: …you have been grieved by various trials… (v. 7b) and …[you] are being guarded through faith… (v. 5b) We’ll see many more mentions of these difficulties as we move on.
…[God the Father] He has caused us to be born again to … an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, (vv. 3b-4a) Our inheritance cannot be destroyed or taken away from us; it is free from any and all vestiges of sin; and it is our forever guarantee. That’s what we can look forward to, folks! It’s pure, inconceivable GLORY!!
Slava Bohu!