1:13-25. Holy living


Peter now presents his readers with the consequences for day-to-day living of all that he has been saying. 'So then, have your minds ready for action. Keep alert, and set your hope completely on the blessing which will be given to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.' Peter, Paul and James all present the expected return of Jesus Christ as an important motive for holy living here and now in the world. Christians must be ready to meet their Lord at any time and in any place. Peter expects the Christian to put hard thought into what he does (Mark 12:30).

Like Paul (Acts 17:30), Peter thinks of the pre-Christian life as one characterized by ignorance of God's will (l :14). Obedience to what has been revealed of God's will in Jesus Christ is required of the Christian. 1: 15-16 quote Leviticus 11 :44-45 and 19 :2. The command of God to those he first called to be his holy People still holds for the new people of God. In the word 'holy' is the idea of being separated as well as morally good. Christians have been separated from what previously enslaved and controlled them so that they might become God's people both in a hostile world and in eternity. Jesus said, 'You must be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect' (Matthew 5:48).

In 1: 17 there is a reflection of the teaching of Jesus on prayer, Matthew 6:6-14. The holiness of God must never be forgotten when we pray to him, addressing him as Father. Nothing that we do in our daily life is hidden from him.

In 1: 18-21 Peter reminds his readers of the price that was paid so that they might be freed from their previous paganism and unholy life. The original Greek means that they were 'redeemed' or 'ransomed' and the verb used has the idea of a costly price being paid. The price that was paid so that the pagan Gentiles might be saved from all that enslaved them was not silver or gold but the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Christ is compared to the sacrificial lamb without a flaw which the Israelites were commanded to sacrifice on the night that they were to be liberated from Egypt (Exodus 12:5). Peter's understanding of the cost of mankind's salvation is the same as that of Paul in I Corinthians 6:20 and 7:23.

Peter, like Paul, refers to the pre-existence of Christ with God, before the creation of the world (1:20) and this makes the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross even more stupendous.

Through their acceptance of the preaching which they heard about Jesus Christ and the Resurrection, the Gentile Christians had been brought to a saving knowledge of God. They had come to see that God is at work in Christ and therefore had come to have faith and hope in God (1:21).

In 1: 22 Peter tells his readers that because their obedient acceptance of the truth (the Gospel) has enabled them to be purified and to have sincere love for their fellow-believers, they should love one another wholeheartedly. As the letter continues, Peter instructs how Christian love is to be demonstrated in very practical ways. Peter, James and Paul are all very concerned about this; the apostolic teaching that Christians should love one another is based, of course, directly on the teaching and example of Jesus.

In 1: 23-24 Peter teaches about spiritual rebirth, already referred t

In 1: 3, and the means by which God causes the natural man to be born again spiritually. It is the power of the living and eternal Word of God which effects spiritual rebirth. 'For through the living and eternal War of God you have been born again as the children of a parent who immortal, not mortal.' Peter quotes from Isaiah 40:6-8 to show the eternal nature of the Word of God. The Word of God which came to the Gentiles was the Good News of Jesus Christ. Peter's thought in t passage is close to that of John 3:1-10 and 1:1-14.