1 Peter 1:13 Commentary and Bible Study

Verses 2-12 have really been all doctrine, but Peter doesn’t apply it until verse 13. Now the application comes as a torrent, but first comes the doctrine which in the New Testament and the Epistles always precedes application. It is pretty obvious that this is an illustration set in those days, when they wore loose, flowing robes and if they wanted to get down to serious manual, physical work, they had to gather the folds of the robes up in the belt and gird themselves together. Well, we don’t dress like that these days, but it is an illustration. Gird up the loins of your mind. We know that reflection and believing produces joy and understanding and uplift, and this is now how Peter tells us to carry this out: ‘Think. Concentrate. Look diligently at the passage you are reading. Give time to this and then you will see Christ in the word.’He adds to this, ‘be sober.’ He means it again by way of illustration. Literally, don’t be inebriated, don’t be drunk. Why does he use that as an illustration? Well, when you are handling the word of God and when you are reflecting on what God has done for you and you are thinking about answered prayer and the blessings of God, swirling around you, you have got to be mentally alert and reflect on them and watchful and steadfast and clear in your mind. It is about sober conduct, in other words, reasonableness: denying ourselves the best thing, the most expensive thing, the most beautiful thing, and living modestly. There is a self-watch going on, watching for extravagance and over luxury. It keeps us separate from this world. The illustration is of a sentry guarding a camp and he is settled down with a bottle between his knees and the whole camp and its overnight safety depends upon him. But he has decided it’s a cold night and he is going to get himself half-drunk and he drinks and he drinks and he doesn’t see the enemy when they come stealthily up to the camp to cut down the people in it. Don’t be like that! As Christian people, be alert and keep your eyes open. Reflect on what you read; reflect on how God deals with you. Praise and thank him for it.‘…for the grace [the undeserved favour] that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.’ It’s another Greek word for appearing. The apostle Peter mentions this before – verse 7, the end of the verse, ‘at the appearing of Jesus Christ.’ He doesn’t say at the coming of Christ, though that would be legitimate. ‘At the appearing’ – what is he telling us? Christ, of course, is here all the time. He will appear but he has never been absent. He has always been with us, invisible, yes, but present with his people and with every believing church and seen with the eye of faith. One day he will reveal himself and we shall be amazed and filled with wonder, but will also say, he was there all along as our invisible Lord and now he has revealed his great glory.