Transcript I Peter - Add To Your Learning

I Peter
Choice, Values, Reasons
Agenda
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Background
What’s is all about?
Outline
Key Concepts
Motivation
Choice
Obedience and Freedom
Identity
Suffering
Church Life
Difficult Verses
Practicals
Background
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Author: The apostle Peter
Place of writing: Rome (Babylon 5:13)
Date: ~62 AD
Audience: God’s elect… scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia…
(1:1) – Roman provinces in Asia minor (Turkey).
 Form: letter. Possibly a circular letter, carried by
Silvanus along the route suggested in 1:1.
Locations
Political Background
 Roman empire.
 Nero (54-68 AD)
 Localised persecution in Rome at this time.
Empire wide persecution came later.
 Strong Greek (Hellenistic) influence in these
parts.
 Diaspora Jews would have existed as well.
Religous Background
Paul’s 1st MJ – Southern Galatia 46-48 AD
Paul’s 2nd MJ – Asia 50-52 AD
Peter preached in Antioch (Gal 2:11)
Cappadocia, Bithynia, Pontus churches planted
from Asia and Galatia? Maybe from Acts 2:9.
 At time of writing, the oldest possible church in the
region would have been ~15-30 years old.
 Christianity still seen as a Jewish sect, although
was becoming more distinct.
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Purpose of Writing
Why?
Purpose of Writing
 Clues:
+ 1:1 strangers in the world, scattered..
+ 5:12 I have written to you briefly, encouraging
you and testifying that this is the true grace of
God. Stand fast in it.
+ Glory of future salvation.
+ Trusting God in difficult times.
= Encouragement, instruction and reasons for
longterm faithfulness to God even when life is
hard.
Key concepts
Salvation
Revealed
Perishable/Imperishable
Self Control
Good
Prominent Themes
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Suffering
Submission
Salvation
Holiness and purity
Choice
Outline
1:1-2
Greeting
1:3-12
Salvation Glory
1:13-2:3
Sanctified Lives
2:4-11
Spiritual Stones
2:12-3:12
Submissive Heart
3:13-4:19
Suffering under God
5:1-11
Serving for Eternity
5:12-13
Close
Key Concepts
 Reasons
 Value
 Choice
for salvation
of salvation
of salvation
VALUE
Why
Reason
Now
This Happened
Therefore
Situation for us
Do This
Choose
Imperishable
Why
Revealed for your
sake
Now
Redeemed from
empty way of life
purified yourselves
by obeyng the truth
Therefore
Rid self of all
malice etc.
1 Peter 1:18-2:3
Choose to crave
pure spiritual milk
Salvation
Why
Only a few saved,
but still justice.
Now
Jesus died but was
preached
Saved by baptism &
resurrection
Therefore
Have same
attitude as Jesus
1 Peter 3:18-4:6
Choose to live for
the will of God
Motivation
 Which is more motivating for you?
 Don’t do x because it is wrong.
 You have a choice to do x or not. As you
make your choice, understand the spiritual
results of your choice. Also bear in mind,
that you are building a spiritual life for the
long term as you invest in your salvation.
 Now will you do x or not?
Motivation - Sin
 Call to be Holy – because God is Holy.
(1:14-21)
– Am I playing on the same team?
 Abstain from sinful desires which war
against your soul (2:11)
Making Choices
 God wants us to give us reasons so we can
make our choices.
 A reasoned choice is a much stronger
choice and it is more ‘you’.
 A choice is best made when you understand
the reasons behind your choice and the
impact (value) of your choice.
Examples
 These have come so that your faith … may
be proved genuine… (1:7)
 .. You love him … for you are receiving the
goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls
(1:8-9).
 Therefore, prepare your minds for action
(1:13)
 Since you call on a Father who judges each
mans work impartially… (1:17)
Examples
 .. And so, your faith and hope are in God
(1:20)
 For you have been born again, not of
perishable seed, but or imperishable (1:23).
 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and
all deceit.. (2:1)
 …crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you
may grow up in your salvation (2:2)
Examples
 They stumble because they disobey the
message (2:8)
 Abstain from sinful desires which war
against your soul (2:11)
 Submit yourselves…. for it is God’s will that
by going good you should silence the
ignorant talk of foolish men. (2:15)
 Many others!
Reasons
Why Do I ?
Choice
 God chooses us:
– 1:1
– 1:4
– 2:9
God’s elect, strangers in the world.
Inheritance kept in heaven.
Chosen people, royal priesthood, holy
nation – cf. aliens and strangers in the
world.
Choice
 God chose Jesus
– 1:20
– 2:4
Chosen before the creation of the world,
but revealed in these last times for your
sake.
Jesus – rejected by men but chosen by
God. God understands rejection
Choice
 Christ’s Choices
– Choice of response to suffering 2:23-25
– Committed no sin. Did not retaliate.
– Instead entrusted himself to him who judges
justly.
– Example for us.
– Sacrifice for us.
Choice
 Our Choices:
– Choosing righteousness, not sin (1:13ff, 2:11,
4:1-4).
– Choosing to serve. (4:8-11, 5:2-3)
– Choose humility with one another (5:5-6)
– Choose to stand fast in the faith (5:12)
Obedience and Freedom
 1:2 chosen … for obedience to Jesus Christ…
 1:14
As obedient children, do not conform to
the evil desires you had when you lived in
ignorance.
 1:22
Purified yourselves by obeying the truth
so that you have sincere love for your brothers.
 4:17
What will be the outcome for those who
do not obey the gospel of God?
Obedience and Freedom
 Opposites or complementary?
 What we desire v what God desires?
 Recognise the realities: we operate in an
environment of cause and effect, choices and
consequences, actions and judgment.
 The world says: Freedom means doing whatever I
want.
 The truth about that: Our choices are often flawed,
and sin enslaves.
 God says: Freedom means being able to make the
choice to do what God wants for us.
Obedience and Freedom
 Ps 119:44f I will always obey your Law for
ever and ever. I will walk about in freedom
for I have sought out your precepts.
 Ps 119:34 Give me understanding and I will
keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
– Obedience and understanding.
 Eg. Obey road rules : free from fear,
improved freedom from danger.
Obedience and Freedom
 Obedience = God’s Protection
 Godly obedience = personal choice based on
understanding.
 Recognise the true spiritual dynamics about obedience:
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God created the world.
God has revealed how to live in it.
Our choices have consequences in this world.
True Freedom is being ‘in step’ with God and his creation by
choosing to live life the way God designed it.
– God’s commands are not burdensome (1 Jn 5:3-5,Mt 11:28-30)
 Further study: Galatians 5
Identity
 Being a Christian is being different.
 Aliens and strangers. (1:1, 2:11)
 The world “thinks it strange that you do not
plunge with them into the same flood of
dissipation” (4:4)
 Swimming upstream…
 Prompts questions of ‘who am I’, and ‘why’
Identity
 God’s answers
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Identity is a valid need.
Born into an inheritance. Child of God (1:4,14,2:2)
God’s family planning! (1:2, 1:10-12)
Chosen people, royal priesthood, holy nation, a people
belonging to God (2:9-10)
– Spiritual relationships
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One another (3:8,4:8)
Family of God (4:17)
Brothers around the world (5:9)
Greetings and affection (5:13-14)
Suffering
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A key topic in 1 Peter
How much of an issue for them?
How much of an issue for us?
What forms does suffering come in?
Age-old question.
Suffering
 Be Prepared
– Predicted by the prophets 1:11
– Prepare your mind 1:13
– To give an answer/reason 3:15
– Deal with sin (4:1)
– Don’t be surprised (4:12)
Suffering
 Be Submissive
– Submit to authorities 2:13
– Slaves and masters 2:18
– Wives and husbands 3:1
– One another 3:8
– Suffering has the potential to strain your best
source of support – your relationships.
– A submission problem is a fear problem
Suffering
 Be conscious of God
– Through faith are shielded by God’s power (1:5)
Set your hope fully on the grace to be given
(1:13)
– Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake. (2:13)
– It is commendable if a man bears up under the
pain of unjust suffering if he is conscious of
God. (2:19)
– No retaliation: …Instead, he entrusted himself
to him who judges justly (2:23)
Suffering
 Be Spiritual
– Scriptures serve us. (1:12)
– For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his
ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord
is against those who do evil. (3:12-13)
– Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that
you can pray. (4:7)
– Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
– Be self-controlled and alert (5:8)
Suffering
 Be Proactively Righteous!
– 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)
– Those who speak maliciously against your good
behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander
(3:16)
– So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should
commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue
to do good (4:19)
Suffering
 Draw strength from relationships
– Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one
another, be sympathetic, love as brothers, be
compassionate and humble. (3:8)
– Above all, love each other deeply, because love
covers a multitude of sins. (4:8)
– Shepherding and submission (5:1-5)
Suffering – Don’ts
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Don’t retaliate (2:9)
Don’t turn to sin (4:1-3)
Don’t be surprised (4:12)
Don’t be ashamed (4:16)
Don’t fall away (5:9)
Church Life
 Making it great while we wait…
– Above all, love each other deeply (4:8)
– Love, not war.
– Each one should use whatever gift he has
received to serve others, faithfully administering
God’s grace in its various forms. (4:10)
 Your service to others either promotes or blocks the
flow of God’s grace.
– Speak and serve as if from God (4:11)
 Quality, attitude, excellence.
Church Life
 1 Peter 5
– Elders and young men : examples and
submission.
– Potential area of conflict.
– Godly attitudes are the key! Humility.
– Trust God.
1 Peter 4:8
 Love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of
sins (4:8)
– kalupto (Gr): to hide, cover up etc.
– Mt 8:24, 10:26, Lk 8:16, 23:30, 2 Cor 4:3
– My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and
someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a
sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover
over a multitude of sins. (Jas 5:19-20)
– Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs (Prov
10:12)
– Positive.
– Context: loving help to remain faithful, seeking the good.
– Context: Sin treated seriously in other parts of 1 Peter.
– Sense of ‘overlooking’ offences. Promoting love not friction.
1 Pet 3:18-22
 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the
unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in
the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also
he went and preached to the spirits in prison who
disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days
of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few
people, eight in all were saved through water, and this
water symbolises baptism that now saves you also – not
the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good
conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of
Jesus Chris, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s
right hand – with angels, authorities and powers in
submission to him.
1 Pet 3:18-22
 Questions:
– Who are the spirits in prison?
 Unbelievers who have died?
 OT believers who have died?
 Fallen angels?
– What did Christ Preach?
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Gospel message?
Second chance for repentance?
Completion of redemptive work?
Final condemnation?
– When did he preach?
 In the days of Noah?
 Between his death and resurrection?
 After his resurrection?
1 Pet 3:18-22
 View 1: Christ was ‘in spirit’ preaching repentance through Noah to
unbelievers who were on earth then but are now ‘spirits in prison’.
 View 2: After Christ died, he went and preached to people in hell,
offering them a second chance of salvation.
 View 3: After Christ died, he went and preached to people in hell,
proclaiming to them that he had triumphed over them and that their
condemnation was final.
 View 4: After Christ died, he proclaimed release to people who had
repented just before they died in the flood, and led them out of their
imprisonment (in Purgatory) into heaven. (Harrowing of Hell)
 View 5: After Christ died, he travelled to hell and proclaimed triumph
over the fallen angels who had sinned by marrying human women
before the flood.
1 Pet 3:18-22
 Evaluation
– Rule out #2 and #4 : No second chances (Heb
9:27, Lk 16:26
– View #5 relies on interpreting Gen 6:2 as ‘sons
of God’ being ‘angels who sinned’. But angels
do not marry (Mt 22:30). Also influenced by
extra-Biblical writing such as Enoch (6:2),
Jubilees, Philo etc.
1 Pet 3:18-22
 Context
– 1 Peter is about encouragement in the face of
suffering.
– 1 Pet 3:18-21 is bracketed by suffering (3:17
and 4:1).
– So we should ask : What is the point of this
passage? How does it relate to the contextual
theme?
– Ideas????
1 Pet 3:18-22
 Christ suffered in his body, but was made alive by the
Spirit.
 The time of Noah:
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Judgment on disobedience (also 2 Pet 2:4)
Preaching (cf 2 Pet 2:5)
God’s patience
Salvation of a (very) few.
 Audience situation:
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Suffering in their body
Preaching to the disobedient
Salvation secured.
Therefore: since Christ suffered, arm yourself with the same
attitude. Deal with sin (don’t be disobedient), and keep on
preaching! (4:1-2)
1 Pet 3:18-22
 Possible interpretation:
– Christ preached a message of repentance through Noah
(a preacher of righteousness 2 Pet 2:5). We have
already seen that the prophets spoke of salvation by the
Spirit of Christ (1 Pet 1:10-11).
– God was patient, gave opportunity for repentance in the
days of Noah, and he provided a means of salvation
(the ark).
– Now, God is also patiently providing (a better and
extended to more) salvation through baptism and the
resurrection of Jesus.
– Therefore learn the lessons from Jesus and Noah. Keep
on preaching, even against opposition, and seek
righteousness.
1 Pet 3:18-22
 Questions:
– Who are the spirits in prison?
 Unbelievers who have died?
 OT believers who have died?
 Fallen angels? (2 Pet 2:4)
– What did Christ Preach?
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Gospel message?
Second chance for repentance?
Completion of redemptive work?
Final condemnation?
– When did he preach?
 In the days of Noah?
 Between his death and resurrection?
 After his resurrection?
Practicals
 Embrace the spiritual world:
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Eternity, sanctification, glories of salvation.
Understand the effects of sin and how Satan works.
Godly attitudes towards the world.
Prayer life.
 Develop a reasoned faith:
– Prepared to answer.
– Grapple with the issues.
– No ‘pat’ answers.
 Strategies for suffering:
– Be prepared.
– Gravitate to God not towards sin.
– Relationships.
Practicals
 Church Life
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Deepening of love at a practical level
Utilise gifts, serve others.
Serve well.
Shepherding, examples, submission
Clothe selves with humility toward one
another
Conclusion
 Figure out the Reasons to be
faithful
 Appreciate the Value of salvation
 Make your Choice to live a life
leading to salvation