A Great Change Guarantees Change (1 Peter 1:22–2:3)

One of the current priorities of today’s world concerns personal identity and one’s role in life. People want to know who they are, what is significant about them, what effect does their experiences have on them, what contribution can they make? Christians should ask such questions of themselves. 

In this passage, Peter deals with the issues of who his readers are, what are the effects of their experiences, what others are meant to see about them, and what should be their priorities in life. It is striking that he does not mention what we might regard as most important, which is the difficulty of their circumstances that had been referred to earlier in the chapter by Peter. The implication is that the believer’s circumstances are never valid reasons not to be who they should be, nor are their circumstances reasons for not achieving what God wants them to be.

 

The reality of a life-changing encounter 

In verse 22, Peter reminds his readers of what happened to them when they were born again and says that three consequences occurred. First, they purified their souls; second, they obeyed the truth; third, they commenced a life of brotherly love. Here is Peter defining conversion.

 

It is important to realise that the experience of conversion can be described in different ways. For example, we could consider it from the point of view of justification or how we become right with God; when we describe it in this way, we will highlight the importance of faith in Jesus and the imputation of his righteousness to us. It is obviously very important for us to think about justification. Without this taking place, salvation is impossible. 

 

Yet Peter’s words indicate that it is also important to consider other ways of observing conversion. One is to remind ourselves that conversion is the onset of sanctification, which is how Peter considers it here. Conversion is the commencement of holiness. Will believers live a holy life? Peter here says that they will. Notice his emphasis on purification, which should not surprise us too much since a few verses later he says that believers are the new temple. Only purified stones can be used in this building project.

 

Perhaps we are aware of the emphasis on what is called positional sanctification – why believers are all regarded as saints. Thinking about it in this way reminds us that sanctification should be viewed from three perspectives: initial sanctification at regeneration, progressive sanctification throughout life, and completed sanctification at the end of our pilgrim journey.

 

So what happens at conversion? Sinners believe the gospel because they have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit – they now know that it is the truth. Their faith in Jesus is an expression of submission because they have obeyed the truth. They are also pardoned and purified, able to live in communion with God and in a way that pleases him. The way that pleases him is a life of genuine brotherly love, which is another way of referring to the doctrine of adoption.

So, Peter’s description of conversion here is not that different from other descriptions found elsewhere in the Bible. A radical change occurs in a sinner that means he or she has become a new creation. Nothing can ever be the same again for that person. Peter in his exhortation, basically tells his readers to continue as they started. But why did it start?

 

The source of the change (vv. 22-23)

Peter says that the change was brought about by the word of God. By the word of God here Peter means the gospel, as we can see from verse 23. What does he mean by the term ‘gospel’? By gospel, he does not mean what we might call the simple gospel that we might relate to a sinner wondering how to approach God for mercy. Rather, the gospel here is the message that is found in the Bible. 

 

Peter reminds them of the nature of this gospel, which he says is living and abiding. I suppose we could deduce from that description that the gospel will continue to do what it did at the commencement of their spiritual experience. A seed has been planted within believers which will produce spiritual life all the way throughout a believer’s time on earth. It is imperishable, which means that nothing can destroy it.

 

Peter uses a very graphic illustration here when he contrasts believers with unbelievers. The natural life only produces spiritual death. It does not matter who they are, cultured or uncultured, religious or irreligious. The outcome is the same. It all fades away like grass. In contrast, the spiritual life continues to show itself.

 

This description reminds us that we should have a bigger view of the gospel than what is normally meant by that term. For example, Paul says in Romans 1:16 that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. But what is the gospel he has in mind? It is the details of salvation that he explains in the Book of Romans. The good news of God in that New Testament book is not only that we shall be pardoned; it also tells us that we shall be sanctified and glorified. And Peter here tells his readers that because they are Christians they are being influenced and changed by a message from God that is living and remains with them.

 

The evidence of the change (2:1-3)

Peter uses a striking picture of faith here – it is like tasting a meal. The gospel is like a feast with many dishes that believers use to grow spiritually. This desire should mark all of them and should be like that of a young infant who longs for milk; believers should have an intense desire for the contents of the gospel. When he refers to infants, Peter is not suggesting that they are new converts. His point is that they should have the same desire for the spiritual truth of the gospel that an infant has for its milk.

 

But there are also sins that should not mark them as listed by Peter in verse 1. The sins that he mentions cannot exist alongside brotherly love, that is obvious. If they are ever practised, they are the opposite of brotherly love. It is hard to imagine that God’s people could have such thoughts or actions, yet sadly we know that has often been the case. But they need to be addressed seriously because if present they are denials of salvation. Peter does not seem to regard them as individual sins (although they are); rather he sees them as a garment that believers should take off and throw away because they are intertwined with one another.

 

The list of sins that Peter mentions is certainly an ugly one: ‘So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.’ I suppose we may wonder why such lists are contained in the Bible. One answer is that they help us regarding self-examination. Another answer is that they are heart issues that usually reveal themselves by speech. A third answer is that they identify what must be discarded by us if they are present.

 

So there are three challenges for us here: the first is delight in the word of God; the second is growth in brotherly love; the third is to discard the sin that is lodged in our hearts and which may come out at any time.