Greetings (1 Peter 1:1-2)

It is generally assumed that Peter wrote this letter in the early 60s. Things were becoming hotter for the believers and indeed it would not be long before Peter himself would become a martyr. So here we have a letter from a man who knows with certainty that he is going to die for the faith to people whom he knew would suffer for the faith. 

The sender

The sender as we can see from verse 1 is ‘Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.’ We can observe three details here. One is that Peter did not regard himself as the chief of the apostles. Rather he saw himself as one of the apostles, equal with the others, and that he did not have primacy over the other apostles. 

 

Second, Peter is here fulfilling the instruction and promise of Jesus that despite his fall he would yet strengthen his brothers. At the time Jesus made that announcement, Peter could not have imagined that his brothers would be Gentiles living far away from Israel. And by extension, he is strengthening us. 

 

Third, as an apostle, Peter had special authority in the church, so whatever he says in this letter is accurate and is to be accepted fully by God’s people and obeyed completely by them, as is the case with the other apostolic writings.

 

The recipients

Peter indicates where his readers live – they are areas in modern day Turkey. While his readers included Gentiles as well as Jews, Peter describes them in terms that would be familiar to Jews when he refers to them as ‘exiles of the Dispersion’. The allusion is to what happened in the history of Israel when they were taken away from their homeland and dispersed into other countries. The significance of the allusion is that they, as Christians, were exiles away from their homeland, which is heaven. Peter also describes them as elect, that they were chosen by God, which leads into what Peter says about the Trinity.

 

The Trinity

The obvious feature of references to the Trinity is that the three persons are not always mentioned in the same order. The reason for the difference in order is usually obvious from the context. Here the reason is the application of salvation, particularly in connection to the doctrine of election, of how it began and how it is worked out.

 

Peter writes that election is according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. This reference to foreknowledge is liable to be misunderstood. A common way of explaining it is that God looks ahead to see what people do, much in the way a person can role a marble down a chute and observe the way it moves, independent of the person. That is not what is meant by the Father’s foreknowledge here. 

 

Rather the emphasis is on the fact that the Father knew them beforehand, and not on merely knowing their actions. How could he know them before they existed? He knew them by loving them. Moreover, it is not foreknowledge from a certain date, as if there was a period in eternity before God knew them in this way. The amazing truth is that the heavenly Father has always loved them in this way.

 

What we have here is a reference to what is known as the eternal counsels of God or the covenant of redemption. The way the details are usually revealed in the Bible is by saying that certain activities are connected to each of the three persons of the Trinity.

 

The next detail that is mentioned is ‘the sanctification of the Spirit’. There are two ways in which the Spirit sanctifies believers. One is the form of sanctification that takes place throughout a believer’s life. The reason why that form can occur is because another expression of sanctification occurred before it at conversion. When a person believes in Jesus he or she becomes a saint, which means a person is separated to God as his possession. This is the aspect of the work of the Spirit that is intended here. Paul says something similar when he writes: ‘From the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth’ (2 Thess. 2:13).

 

So Peter has mentioned two steps in the process. Step one was the election of the Father and step two is the separating action of the Holy Spirit at conversion. Then Peter mentioned step three, which involves areas of the spiritual life of believers that are connected to Jesus. The apostle mentions two aspects.

 

First, the outcome of the sanctification of the Spirit is that those separated to God will obey Jesus as their Lord. Here we have a reminder of the outcome of regeneration. From the point of view of a believer, there is now an awareness in their hearts and minds that Jesus is not just the universal Lord but that he is also their personal Lord. Having trusted in Jesus and been forgiven their sins, they dedicate their lives to him wholeheartedly.

 

Second, although they have this desire to obey Jesus and endeavour to do so in their lives, they are acutely aware that their best efforts are spoiled by sin. It is not only them who are aware of those defects. God also knows that is the case with them, and that it will be the case throughout life. The people of God continually need the cleansing that comes from the work of Jesus.

 

The blessing

Having summarised what it means to be a Christian, Peter reminds them that they have divine resources available to them to a great degree. I suppose they could be stated as saying that grace is the wide provision of God’s favour in numerous ways and peace is the felt outcome in our souls of his favour whatever the circumstances. There is no limit, in a sense, to what the Lord can give, because whatever has been given can be multiplied.

 

Applications

There are three obvious applications from this brief greeting. First, there is the challenge of living as pilgrims in our current circumstances. We live in a culture in which there is much to make us earthly-minded. There is a fine gap between something being regarded as God’s provision at one level and being used in developing worldliness at another.

 

Second, the Christian life is centred on the Trinity. We should bear in mind that we are in contact in several ways with the divine Persons. It is good for us to reflect on what the Trinity does in our salvation. Here we have an example of how to do so by speaking of the election of the Father, of the sanctification of the Spirit, and of the cleansing given by Jesus. It is good for us to think in Trinitarian terms.

 

Third, it is our privilege to receive divine blessings that will help us where we are in our lives. It is the case that at all times we need divine grace and peace in our hearts. An obvious reason is that we are in a hostile environment in a spiritual sense, and it is inevitable that we will need encouragement at all times.

 

So Peter had a great deal to say in his greetings as he wrote to encourage believers who were facing difficult circumstances. His words are not limited to them, but are designed for Christians in all ages, and therefore for us today.