1 Peter 1:5 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Peter 1:5

Comments

This verse is packed with ideas which are brought together in a single clause, as evidenced by the number of prepositions: ‘by power’, ‘through faith’, ‘unto salvation’, ‘in the last time’. Peter identifies the agent of God’s power, the instrumentality of faith, the outcome of salvation, and the proximity of that outcome. But we are kept ‘by the power of God’. Only the power of God could keep us in such a battle as this, because only God is a match for such an enemy. It is because God knows our weakness and the intransigence of our enemy that he has provided for us; he has no intention of losing one of his children. By his power he keeps us in the midst of the battle, but this power does not operate directly against Satan. The Lord could destroy Satan instantly with a word the moment he chose, and he will do so at the end of time, but his power instead works in each believer so that it becomes our struggle that prevails against the devil through the power of God working in us. We are given the privilege of defeating the devil ourselves and this is to the glory of God who triumphs over one so powerful by those so weak, to the shame of the powers of darkness. Therefore, God’s power is made perfect in weakness because it brings such a victory through such unlikely material as weak human nature. The battleground is the believer’s faith. It is because faith is the means of obtaining the victory that Satan’s attack and God’s defence is focused on the believer’s faith. This is the instrument that wins the battle and therefore the Spirit must create and maintain faith from start to finish. Christ prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail and though he denied his Lord, he afterwards repented in deep sorrow and faith reasserted itself over all his shame and fear. This faith is put within us by the Spirit, but it our faith and it is we who do the believing not the Spirit for us. Faith is called a shield by Paul in Ephesians. If Satan’s onslaughts did not meet the shield of faith, they would reach parts of the soul which are far less resilient and would do real damage, but when they strike this shield their power to do harm is quenched. Faith exposes the devil’s attacks as a lie and robs him of any credibility on which he depends for success. An attack that is a lie is no attack at all, for it has no reality and the Christian can dismiss it as nothing. It is when a person believes the devil’s lies that they become effective and score deeply against him. He then allows that lie to enter his heart and from there it quickly infects his whole thinking and spreads to all parts of his being. But we will only see Satan for the liar that he is if we are convinced of the truth of God’s word and if we know which part of God’s word to turn to in order to withstand each specific attack. The shield is then dependant on knowledge and the more knowledge we have of the Bible, the broader is our shield and the better we are protected. We are kept for salvation which is the end of God’s work in us. Peter speaks here of the final visible enjoyment of salvation when all enemies will have been destroyed. Salvation was given to us when we first repented and exercised faith in Christ and it was no less certain then than it will be at the end, but it was given as a promise and not as a present experience. We have salvation but we know we must reach the end of our journey, for without holiness no one will see the Lord. Sensing our fallibility and weakness we are tempted to feel that our goal is out of reach after all, but Christ has promised to keep us and behind our weakness is the power of God which cannot be frustrated, and all the power of the Spirit to uphold us with a willing spirit. This inheritance is ready to be revealed in the last time. It is like a present already wrapped and waiting for the day to arrive when we can open it. It must wait until the day of Christ’s return, the day of resurrection and of the final judgment, when he will appear to be glorified among his people, when we will be finally delivered from sin and see our adversary finally put down defeated forever even though he has been allowed to do his worst.

Application

Believers are kept and it is vital that they are, for their struggle is against opponents that are too strong for them, whom they could not hope to defeat if left to struggle alone. The devil is intent on the destruction of every single believer and he goes about his work with relentless persistence. The fact that he has never yet once succeeded in destroying a true child of God does not in any way discourage him for he is driven by a hatred so intense that it will never let him rest. And he possesses powers which dwarf the power of man so that the most brilliant of human beings that has ever lived could not defeat him in single combat. Left to ourselves we would be overcome by his subtlety and deceitfulness.

Through faith he will keep you. Does that mean that faith can never fail? No, faith can fall, so what then has happened to the power of God? Faith can fall because of our sin and our foolishness but the power of God will one day re-vitalise it. He may have to discipline us very firmly. He may have to mete out some chastisement, to bring us to our senses, but he will do it and he will restore our faith. It is a sad thing to become backsliders, to allow faith to wither. How terrible a thing to lose touch with our Saviour and with the blessing and the power of God, even for a season!

It starts when you neglect your daily prayer. A day or two or three or four and you are on dangerous ground. Or you stop reflecting. You reflect on all sorts of things but you stop reflecting on Christ and his goodness to you and all that he has done and reading his word. When you fail him, perhaps you begin to lose your temper. Or you begin to think of yourself all the time. You begin to think of your possessions and what you have got and what you want and these things fill your horizons.

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1 Peter 1:5 Commentary and Bible Study