1 Peter 1:1 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

1 Peter 1:1

Comments

Peter, born ‘Simon son of Jonah’, was renamed ‘Peter’, a stone, by Christ to indicate the new character that the Lord would give him. In himself he was far from being a rock, but the Lord transformed in him a stable and strong character, his strength derived from the rock beneath him in which he trusted – the Lord Jesus Christ. His rock-like profession of faith, his belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, is shared by all believers and on this profession the church is built, making it stable, incapable of being defeated by all the strategies of the enemy of souls. He recovered from his denial of Christ, and was appointed to preach the first Christian sermon on the Day of Pentecost. It became evident that Christ was working in him to make him increasingly a rock for the faith. He is not the foundation of the faith, not the first pope, but an example, and he went to his ultimate martyrdom as one who was firm as a rock in his testimony to the risen Lord. Peter describes himself as an apostle, a sent one of Jesus Christ. The initial apostles – with the addition of the apostle Paul, the ‘one born out of due time’ – were the only people ever entitled to describe themselves as apostles. The office of apostle did not continue after this initial stage of the church, which is why, pastors and elders and deacons, there are no instructions in the New Testament for their recognition and appointment. An apostle was somebody who received his commission directly from the risen Lord. ‘To the strangers scattered’ – no doubt, to some extent, this is meant literally, because there were Jewish people who had been expelled from their land, because they were Christians. But Peter also uses the term figuratively (1 Peter 2:11). He says, ‘All of you Gentiles in those regions, who have been saved; although you are in your home country, you too can be described as foreigners, aliens, living in a strange place.’ Peter did not limit his ministry strictly to his own nation, but was also sent to Gentiles (Acts 11:1-18) and fellowshipped with them (Galatians 2:12).

Application

Nobody today receives a commission directly from the risen Lord. Anyone who calls himself an apostle is telling you that he doesn't fully understand the word of God, and he doesn't understand what he is saying. Peter was commissioned personally and directly by the Lord to be one sent by him. As special men, the apostles had to be authenticated, and so they received from Christ the power to heal. Not everybody received that, only the apostles, and it seems to have extended to several intimate members of the apostolic circle also, but it went no further. When the apostle Paul healed the lad who fell out of a window, nobody else could heal him, only an apostle. When many brought their sick and demon possessed to be healed, it was Peter who healed them: no one else. Only the apostles did the signs and wonders. Why? Because it was the apostles who had to be authenticated, so that the people knew they were inspired of God in their teaching. Once the Scriptures were complete and the age of the apostles passed, there was no fresh authoritative revelation from God. The canon of Scripture is complete. God speaks to us by the Spirit, reminding us of our duties and encouraging us and convicting us, but not to reveal to us authoritative doctrine. So we do not have to be misled by 1001 revelations received by men today. Somebody gets up and says, ‘God spoke to me, and he said such and such a thing’, and vulnerable, but well-meaning souls say, ‘Really? Did he? Oh! Well I must accept that. It is authoritative.’ No it isn’t. It is authoritative only if it is in the Scripture. That is God's complete and perfect revelation, the yardstick of truth, which settles all arguments and debates, delivered once for all.

It is the truth about Christian people. We are all strangers and foreigners and pilgrims and aliens in our own country, or our adopted country. We don't make roots here; we don't settle here. By God's blessing we try to do good works, and to be good citizens, and help as we can, but we’re always aware we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. We are the people of God; this earth is not our place. So we don't buy the top of the range car. We don't live in the absolute topmost houses. We’re not dependent upon material things and fulfilment. We are the Lord's, and we live modestly and reasonably. We don't make roots here so that this world becomes our all in all, because our eyes are fixed on heavenly things and eternal things.

What a tragedy it is that so many people who claim to be Christians today, you can’t tell the difference between them and worldlings. They think like worldlings, act like worldlings, even look like worldlings, behave, enjoy the things that worldlings behave. You have only got to look at some of the television channels – some so-called Bible-believing churches, with their entertainment and so on and their music and their whole culture. They are worldlings; they are not Christians, whatever they say. The apostle Peter addresses himself to Christians, who are people who are different from worldlings; they are strangers in this world. This separation from sin and the world is going to be stressed throughout the epistle.

Questions

Where were the places named by Peter? Here are churches in the north and east, and the centre – not the south – of modern Turkey. Pontus was a thin area on the north coast of central modern Turkey; Bithynia was another coastal region to the west of Pontus (into which Paul was forbidden by the Spirit to go – Acts 16:7); Galatia was a large central area in Turkey, south of Pontus and Bithynia; Cappadocia was another large central area to the east of Galatia; and Asia was a general name for the west of Turkey. They were all represented in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. People from these very places heard the gospel back then. Many were no doubt saved and took the gospel back to their provinces, where they lived. Maybe Peter was also the evangelist in these regions, which is why he writes to them; he is known to them. Paul evangelised so many places, but these places – Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia – were probably evangelised by Peter.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

1 Peter 1:1 Commentary and Bible Study