1 Peter 1:10-25.
You must open your Bible at the passage indicated and follow this article with the Scripture before you, if you would get any real help. Space forbids quotations of any length from the passage so, as you read, refer to the Scripture and THINK.
If consequently fresh light begins to break in upon you do not lightly turn from it, but pursue your searching of the Word on the point. It may open up to you a fruitful field of Truth and you can resume your reading of the article on another occasion.
THOSE to whom Peter wrote were quite familiar with the idea of a salvation which consisted of temporal deliverance, such as the deliverance of their fathers from Egypt, and they had expected a supreme salvation of that kind at the advent of their Messiah, as promised through the prophets; but by faith in the risen Christ (verse 3) a salvation of a spiritual sort affecting their souls had reached them, though they were externally still under the iron heel of Rome. Of this salvation the prophets had also spoken, for the theme of their testimony was twofold—first, the sufferings of the Christ, and second, the glories that were to follow. As the immediate result of His first advent to suffer there is a soul-salvation for those who believe. As the direct result of His second advent to reign in glory the bodies of the saints will be saved from the power of death and public and universal salvation will be established for those who enter His kingdom.
Three very important things should be noted in verse 10 to 12.
(1). The reality of inspiration, and its remarkable character. The prophets mistered, but the source of their prophecies, whether oral or written, was the Spirit. The Spirit in them testified through them, and He was so really the source of their utterances that they had to search diligently their own words and inquire as to their real force, only to discover that their full meaning was beyond the apprehension of the age in which they lived, and that they were really writing for the instruction of saints in a coming age—even for us.
(2). Though in the bygone age Christ had not been manifested, yet the Spirit in the prophets and speaking through them, could be spoken of as “the Spirit of Christ.” Christ was accordingly the Speaker by His Spirit even in Old Testament days. We shall see the bearing of this when we consider verses 18-20 of chapter 3.
(3). The strong difference drawn between the age before and the age after Christ. The soul-deliverance, which is the common possession of believers today, was for even the prophets of the bygone age a subject of inquiry; it is spoken of as “the grace that should come unto you,” i.e., it was not come in the previous age. Further, the things now reported to us by the apostles and others who have preached the Gospel by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven are the things which were only prophesied before. Then predicted by the Spirit; now reported by the Spirit. Then the Spirit was in the prophets for the purpose of inspiration, but now the Spirit is sent down from heaven. The present age is marked by the sufferings of Christ having been accomplished and consequently by grace having come, soul-salvation being realized, things that angels desire to look into being reported, and the Holy Ghost having been sent down from heaven.
Having unfolded these great and blessed facts, the apostle turns aside to exhortation in verse 13 to 17.
The great advance which marks Christianity as compared with Judaism entails a corresponding advance in the character of Christian life and behavior. We are now children and call upon God as our Father, but we are to be obedient. On the one hand, we are to be braced up mentally, marked by sobriety and confident hope; on the other hand, we are to avoid the old desires which mastered us when we were in ignorance of God, and to be holy in all our conduct as God Himself is holy. What God has revealed Himself to be sets the standard for all our conduct. Moreover, the One whom we call Father is the impartial Judge of the work of each, hence, reverential fear becomes us. He is Judge, but He is our Father, and we are before Him, therefore, in filial fear.
These exhortations, which spring out of the truth unfolded in verse 1 to 12 (notice the word “wherefore,” commencing verse 13), are reinforced by the further details of truth expounded from verse 18 onwards to verse 10 of chapter 2, as witness the word “Forasmuch” with which verse 18 starts.
They knew, and so do we, that we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. Their fathers had been redeemed with silver and gold—a typical redemption carried out under Jewish law. Sometimes actual money was given as in Exodus 30:11-16; Numbers 3:44-51. Sometimes it was by sacrifice, as in Exodus 13:13-15; still, even then, silver and gold were involved, since they were needed to purchase the animal used for sacrifice. Silver and gold are the least corruptible of metals, yet they are corruptible. The price of our redemption was incorruptible and precious.
The Jewish manner of life had degenerated into a matter of mere tradition received from their fathers. This was quite manifest in Isaiah’s day (Isa. 29:13), and the Lord Jesus charged it home upon them, quoting Isaiah’s words, in Mark 7:6-13. Even the right things they did, they did not because they were enjoined of God, but because ordered by tradition. Thus their manner of life had become corrupt and most offensive to God. Our Gentile manner of life was pure darkness and lawlessness, and equally corrupt. Whether, however, it was we or they, we have been redeemed out of our old manner of life by the precious blood of the One who was typified as the unblemished and spotless lamb of Exodus 12:3-6; only He was ordained not a mere matter of four days before sacrifice, but from before the foundation of the world. Our redemption, therefore, was according to the eternal counsels of God.
The Lamb of God was ordained in eternity, but manifested in time. He appeared “in these last times”— the “end of the world,” or the “consummation of the ages” of Hebrews 9:26. and that not only as the Redeemer but as the Revealer. God was perfectly revealed in Him so that it is by Him that we believe in God. We do not believe in God by the wonders of creation, nor by the law as given through Moses, nor by visions of angels, but by Christ, once dead but now risen and in glory. Our faith and hope repose in God who is known to Its as He who raised Christ up from the dead and gave Him glory. How wonderfully this fits in with Paul’s testimony in Romans 4:23-25, and 10:9.
From this it is clear that if we desire to win the faith of men for God we must present Christ to them—Christ once dead; Christ as risen; Christ now in glory. Every other theme is useless. We may possibly find subsidiary matter elsewhere. Useful illustrations may abound in the fields of creation and providence. They may be furnished sometimes by the facts, or even the speculations of science—though as to the latter, the greatest caution must be exercised as they are mostly wrong, as witnessed by the ease with which the oncoming generations of speculators dispose of the hypotheses (or, guesses) of their predecessors. Still, the fact remains that if men really believe in God it is by Christ that they believe in Him. Let us therefore preach CHRIST, whether by life or lips or pen.
Redemption is, of course, a work accomplished for us. We need also a work wrought in us. Of this the apostle proceeds to write.
The truth of the Gospel had brought their souls into subjection and obedience in the energy of the Spirit. This had wrought a mighty work of purification. The purifications of the law had consisted in “divers washings” of water (Heb. 9:10), purely external. This was a soul-purification, a moral renovation with love as the outcome, for love is as native to the new nature as hatred is to the old.
If verse 22 presents the work wrought in them and us as it-might be observed and described by man, verse 23 lets us into the real secret of it all, from a point of view impossible to man and only to be known because revealed by God. We are born again.
The necessity of this new birth for Israel was alluded to, though in veiled terms, in Ezekiel 36:25-27. The Lord Jesus yet more strongly enforced its necessity when speaking to Nicodemus in John 3. Nicodemus should have known the passage in Ezekiel, hence the Lord’s words, “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?” The teaching of the Lord is based upon Ezekiel’s words, though He greatly expands and clarifies them. Even so, the Lord did not language and still spoke of “water.” In the main, however, He stressed the Spirit’s sovereign action in new birth. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Peter’s epistle was written in the full light of Christianity. It was not now the Lord Jesus on earth speaking to a Nicodemus, but the same Jesus risen and glorified after the accomplishment of redemption, speaking through His inspired apostle to Christians. Hence, figures are, dropped and the matter stands out with full clearness. Here the energy of the Spirit is only alluded to in verse 22 and the main stress is laid on what we are born of and by.
The life of Adam’s race, to which we belong, whether Jews or Gentiles, is utterly corrupted; its nature wholly evil. We must be not only redeemed, but purified. The Spirit of God works to this end and we obey the truth. The real inwardness of the matter, however, is that the Spirit uses the Word of God in such a way that we are born again of incorruptible seed. Consequently, we possess a new nature, springing from a divine source and beyond the taint of corruption. Here, then, is a purification of a most profound and fundamental sort brought about through the Spirit of God by the agency of the Word of God—the “water” of John 3 and Ezekiel 36. It is not difficult to see how apt a figure “water” was.
You will find it helpful to glance at 1 John 3:9, which carries the matter a step further. The expression “born of God” emphasizes the divine source whence we spring. The seed of God remains in us and the born-again one is positively sinless, for the “seed” is incorruptible, as Peter has told us. This is the essential character of our new nature, as will be plainly manifested when the last trace of the old nature is eliminated from us at the coming of the Lord.
Returning to our passage we note that the Word of God by which we are born again is living and it abides forever, and in this it is directly in contrast with ourselves as the children of Adam. All flesh is as grass which grows up and speedily withers. All man’s glory is as the flower of grass, which falls away and disappears even more rapidly than grass itself. Man’s glory speedily fades, and man himself passes away into death. The Word of the Lord lives and abides forever, and by it we are born again.
How wonderful this is! That which is born partakes of the nature and character of that which gives its birth. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” It is equally true that that which is born of incorruptible seed is incorruptible, and that which is born by the living and abiding. Word of God is living and abiding.
And that enduring Word of the Lord has reached us in the gospel message that we have believed. We shall not be surprised therefore when in the next chapter we find ourselves spoken of as “living stones” and as connected with a “house” which is incorruptible and abiding.
F. B. HOLE.