1 Peter 1:7 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Peter 1:7

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True faith survives the trials of this world just as gold survives the refining process and emerges as an object of enduring beauty, but faith has a far higher value than even the most enduring and valued items of this world. The refining process which is used to purify gold is compared to the far greater refining process that purifies faith. Even though gold survives when tested by fire, it will not survive when tested by God’s final judgment and the destruction of all physical things, but faith survives all tests and endures to eternity. Faith has value in the world to come where gold has no value. Faith is not a dead item like gold but is woven into the character of God’s children so that it does not exist except in living souls. It is a habit, a predisposition, an active power within us. There is a mysterious continuity between the faith that we gain in this world and the faith which will be in us in the world to come. This life is the nursery of faith, and the faith that we have in the world to come will somehow be related to the faith formed in us here, otherwise it would not be so important that we learn faith now. Gold can be stolen, but nobody can steal your faith.Why does faith have value in heaven where the rule is sight and not faith? Because faith is always appropriate between God and his creatures. Trust is always required, for God cannot show us all of himself at once. The rule is sight not faith, for we shall see God face to face, but we shall not see all of him at once. Trust will continue to eliminate in our minds all possibility that God is capable of evil, or betrayal, or advantage taking. Faith fixes on the character of God and will not shift from that foundation. Faith will add much joy to us even when we can see face to face, for it will assure our hearts that nothing can change in the future and that the joys that we have entered into will last for eternity. At present faith must work much harder. It has enemies to deal with and false arguments to overcome. It must work hard to contradict the lies of the devil and of the world and to hold on to the truth of God. This is the Lord’s training ground, the perfect school for faith. Such a school could not exist in heaven from which all evil will be excluded, and no voice of rebellion can be heard. The believer on earth, surrounded by those still in rebellion against God, is required to uphold the cause of truth. He is not alone, but he knows this only by faith. From the perspective of sight he is alone, and therefore God commends him all the more. ‘Might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.’ We take that both ways. When you enter the palace of the King there will be praise for you all. ‘Oh, but I never deserved it.’ There will be praise for your faith. ‘Oh, but that wasn't mine; it was given to me by God in his kindness in the first place.’ Maybe so, but there will still be praise for your faith and honour and glory, and it will redound to Christ and the Father also at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

Application

God delights in great reverses and this will be the reverse of all reverses. Christ will not come before the world has reached such a state that evil appears to have triumphed and its cause justified. The church will not be completely destroyed for there will be those still alive who are changed in the twinkling of an eye, but other Scriptures picture the church as lying dead in the street of the great city. All human skill and learning will be focused on the one great aim of denying God and his Christ. The church will be counted as nothing and as the dregs of the earth. The world will deride believers as obscurantists and disdain them as powerless, without influence, and yet objectionable for their convicting testimony which awakens a conscience that the unbelieving world can never entirely divest itself of. But Christ, who forgets nothing will avenge all that has been done. Where the believer has passively submitted to injustice and turned the other cheek, he will not be passive. Where the believer has been unable to find an answer to silence the conceit and disdain of the world, Christ will triumph. The world has used great force against the church, but Christ will use Almighty power against the world, and where the world conducted a long campaign to wear down the people of God, Christ will overcome in an instant. On that day, faith will receive its reward, the reward of being vindicated.

There is such a thing as false faith – I believed in Jesus Christ; I put my trust in him but it turns out I didn’t really do it with all my heart; I didn’t really mean it as I should have done; I didn’t really repent of my sin and give him my life; I only half did it; I wasn’t really converted. Soon I will fall away. Faith needs to be proved and a trial comes. Perhaps somebody goes to college and is bombarded with intellectual doubts and temptations and he cannot answer them. The people who bombard him with these things are intellectually superior and they seem to be armed with so many facts but faith, even if it is overwhelmed by its attackers, it has a tenacity and a determination and it says, ‘I don’t care what they say. I have proved Jesus Christ and I trust in him and I believe in him and I know him and I have walked with him’ and it cannot be overcome. The only thing that can undermine faith for a time is my own foolishness, or sin, but all the attacks of Satan and doubt, they cannot overwhelm my faith.

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1 Peter 1:7 Commentary and Bible Study