1-2 Peter - St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary Series

R.C. Sproul

(Drs, Free University of

Amsterdam) is the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries and can be heard

Recommendations

About the Series:

for the St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary Series

Scholar and teacher R. C. Sproul has given his life to the ministry of the Word of God.

teaching daily on the Renewing Your Mind radio broadcast on more than 300 radio outlets in the United States and

world. It promises to have all of Sproul’s hallmarks: clarity and liveliness, humor and

throughout sixty countries. Dr. Sproul

pathos, always expressed in application to the mind, will, and affections. Sproul’s

has written more than sixty books and

ability to focus on the big picture, his genius of never saying too much, leaving his

has authored scores of magazine articles

hearers satisfied yet wanting more, never making the Word dull, are all present in

for evangelical publications. In addition,

these expositions. May they nourish God’s people well and serve as models of the kind

he has taught at numerous colleges and

of ministry for which we continue to hunger.”

seminaries. Currently Dr. Sproul serves as minister of preaching and teaching at

Bridging the gap between the academy

“The St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary series will be welcomed throughout the

Sinclair B. Ferguson

and everyday life, Dr. Sproul’s wisdom and insight as a prominent teacher has been widely sought. While much of his career has been spent writing and teaching in classrooms, in 1997 he was called to preach from the pulpit of a local church.

Upon arriving at St. Andrew’s in Sanford,

SENIOR MINISTER, FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA

Florida, Dr. Sproul determined that he

Saint Andrew’s in Sanford, Florida.

would practice expository preaching as

“Sproul, well-known as a master theologian and extraordinary communicator, now

he worked his way through books of the

In 2007 Sproul was awarded the Charles

shows that he is a powerful, insightful, helpful expository preacher. This collection

“Kip” Jordan Lifetime Achievement Award

of sermons is of great value for churches and Christians everywhere.”

Bible. At the urging of his congregation,

W. Robert Godfrey

into volumes for a wider audience.

by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. Among his books are Truths

Dr. Sproul has now turned these sermons

PRESIDENT, WESTMINSTER SEMINARY CALIFORNIA

We Confess (in three volumes); Scripture Alone; What Is Reformed Theology?

The St. Andrew’s Expositional

“Sproul is a legend in our time. His preaching has held us in awe for half a century,

Defending Your Faith; The Invisible Hand;

and these pages represent the fruit of his latest exposition, coming as they do at the

Commentary series is the result of years

Saved from What? The Holiness of God;

very peak of his abilities and insights. I am ecstatic at the prospect of reading the St.

of careful preparation and Bible-centered

Willing to Believe; and Faith Alone. Other

Andrew’s Expositional Commentary series. It represents Reformed theology on fire,

preaching. Dr. Sproul explores important

volumes in the St. Andrew’s Expositional

delivered from a pastor’s heart in a vibrant congregation of our time. Essential reading.”

theological terms and themes in each

Commentary series include Romans, John,

Derek W. H. Thomas

and Acts.

Bible passage, offers his perspective JOHN E. RICHARDS PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC AND PRACTICAL THEOLOGY,

REFORMED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY; MINISTER OF TEACHING, FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

0.91 in

from his own wisdom and experience, and engages in practical application. Delivered from a pastor’s heart for his congregation, the sermons in these volumes are

COMMENTARY / NEW TESTAMENT

readable, applicable, and thoroughly Bible-centered. Here is an opportunity to sit at the feet of an eminent scholar and teacher, encountering the Word of God.

1–2 Peter Copyright © 2011 by R. C. Sproul Published by Crossway 1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Cover illustration: Typesetting: Lakeside Design Plus First printing 2011 Printed in the United States of America Scripture quotations are taken from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.

Hardcover ISBN: PDF ISBN: Mobipocket ISBN: ePub ISBN:

978-1-4335-2289-5 978-1-4335-2290-1 978-1-4335-2291-8 978-1-4335-2292-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sproul, R. C. (Robert Charles), 1939– 1–2 Peter / R. C. Sproul. p. cm.—(St. Andrew’s expositional commentary) ISBN 978-1-4335-2289-5 (hc) 1. Bible. N.T. Peter—Sermons. 2. Bible. N.T. Peter—Commentaries. 3. Sermons, American— 20th century. I. Title.

BS2795.54.S67 2011 227'.92077—dc22

2010036243 Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

SH 14

22 21

20

19

18

17

16

15

14

13

12

11

13 12 11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 6

1/27/11 11:32:03 Am

Con t e n t s

Series Preface Preface 1 Peter 1. Greeting to the Elect Pilgrims (1:1–2) 2. Heavenly Inheritance, Part 1 (1:3–5) 3. Heavenly Inheritance, Part 2 (1:6–12) 4. Living before God Our Father (1:13–19) 5. The Enduring Word (1:22–25) 6. A Living Stone (2:1–8a) 7. A Royal Priesthood (2:8b–10) 8. Honorable Conduct (2:11–17) 9. Servants and Masters (2:18–25) 10. Wives and Husbands (3:1–7) 11. Christian Virtues (3:8–9) 12. In Pursuit of Peace (3:10–17) 13. Apologetics (3:15) 14. Suffering (3:15–20) 15. Through the Resurrection (3:20–22) 16. Life in the Spirit (4:1–6) 17. The End of All Things (4:7) 18. Cover of Love (4:8–11) 19. God’s Glorious Self-Existence (4:11)

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 9

11 13

17 25 33 41 49 57 65 73 81 89 97 105 113 123 131 139 147 155 163

1/27/11 11:32:03 Am

Contents

20. Suffering and the Goodness of God (4:12–19) 21. Faithful Shepherds (5:1–4) 22. Humility (5:5–14)

171 179 185

2 Peter 23. The Authority of 2 Peter (1:1) 24. Make Your Calling Sure, Part 1 (1:1) 25. Make Your Calling Sure, Part 2 (1:2–4) 26. Giving All Diligence (1:5–11) 27. Eyewitness of His Majesty (1:12–18) 28. A Light That Shines (1:19–21) 29. False Prophets (2:1–7) 30. Judgment (2:4–11) 31. Balaam Rebuked (2:12–17) 32. Entangled and Overcome (2:18–22) 33. The Promise of His Coming (3:1–9) 34. The Day of the Lord (3:10–18)

195 203 209 217 225 233 241 251 259 267 273 281

Index of Names

289

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 10

1/27/11 11:32:03 Am

Se r i e s Pr e face

W

hen God called me into full-time Christian ministry, He called me to the academy. I was trained and ordained to a ministry of teaching, and the majority of my adult life has been devoted to preparing young men for the Christian ministry and to trying to bridge the gap between seminary and Sunday school through various means under the aegis of Ligonier Ministries.

Then, in 1997, God did something I never anticipated: He placed me in the position of preaching weekly as a leader of a congregation of His people—St. Andrew’s in Sanford, Florida. Over the past twelve years, as I have opened the Word of God on a weekly basis for these dear saints, I have come to love the task of the local minister. Though my role as a teacher continues, I am eternally grateful to God that He saw fit to place me in this new ministry, the ministry of a preacher.

Very early in my tenure with St. Andrew’s, I determined that I should adopt the ancient Christian practice of lectio continua, “continuous expositions,” in my preaching. This method of preaching verse-by-verse through books of the Bible (rather than choosing a new topic each week) has been attested throughout church history as the one approach that ensures believers hear the full counsel of God. Therefore, I began preaching lengthy series of messages at St. Andrew’s, eventually working my way through several biblical books in a practice that continues to the present day.

Previously, I had taught through books of the Bible in various settings, including Sunday school classes, Bible studies, and audio and video teaching series for Ligonier Ministries. But now I found myself appealing not so much to the minds of my hearers but to both their minds and their hearts.

11

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 11

1/27/11 11:32:03 Am

12

Series Preface

I knew that I was responsible as a preacher to clearly explain God’s Word and to show how we ought to live in light of it. I sought to fulfill both tasks as I ascended the St. Andrew’s pulpit each week.

What you hold in your hand, then, is a written record of my preaching labors amidst my beloved Sanford congregation. The dear saints who sit under my preaching encouraged me to give my sermons a broader hearing.

To that end, the chapters that follow were adapted from a sermon series I preached at St. Andrew’s.

Please be aware that this book is part of a broader series of books containing adaptations of my St. Andrew’s sermons. The title of this series is St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary. As you can see, this is more than a convenient title—it is a description. This book, like all the others in the series, will not give you the fullest possible insight into each and every verse in this biblical book. Though I sought to at least touch on each verse, I focused on the key themes and ideas that comprised the “big picture” of each passage I covered.

Therefore, I urge you to use this book as an overview and introduction, but if you desire to enhance your knowledge of this book of Scripture, you should turn to one or more of the many excellent exegetical commentaries (see my recommendations in the back).

I pray that you will be as blessed in reading this material as I was in preaching it.

R. C. Sproul Lake Mary, Florida April 2009

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 12

1/27/11 11:32:03 Am

Pr e face

I

magine what it would be like to receive a letter from someone who was a personal friend of Jesus’ during his earthly ministry. Beyond that, imagine receiving two letters from such a person. That’s exactly what we have in the New Testament correspondence known as 1 and 2 Peter.

Peter is known as a thundering paradox of a man. On the one hand he is known for his impetuosity, for his vacillating between faith and doubt, for his treachery of public denial of Jesus at the time of Jesus’ greatest peril. On the other hand he is known for his magnificent confession of faith at Caesarea Philippi where, without hesitation, he declared his confidence that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. He is known also for his heroic acts of sacrifice and of suffering for the faith after the ascension of Jesus, even to the point of his martyrdom in Rome.

When Peter writes to the church about faith and trust in the providence of God in the midst of suffering, he is speaking not in abstract terms but from the vantage point of one who has been called personally to endure such sufferings himself. He is one who testifies beyond speculation, as one who was an eyewitness, testifying not to cleverly devised myths or fables but to what he had seen with his eyes and heard with his ears. This is the testimony of a man who not only was part of the entourage of Jesus during his earthly ministry but was an eyewitness of the resurrection and part of the inner circle of disciples in the great triad of Peter, James, and John. These three were present on the Mount of Transfiguration and were able to see with their own eyes the glory of the transfigured Christ.

A letter from a man such as this is a treasure for the church. His letter, beyond the value of his own eyewitness testimony and his intimate friendship 13

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 13

1/27/11 11:32:03 Am

14

Preface

with Jesus, carries with it the weight of the divine inspiration of God the Holy Spirit. What Peter says to the church is merely an extension of what his Lord and Master, Christ, says to the church, so that we receive his apostolic testimony as from the Lord Himself. It is an enormous privilege and blessing for us to take the time to consider line upon line and percept upon percept the teaching set forth in these two majestic epistles, 1 and 2 Peter. I commend to the reader a careful and devout reading of these letters.

R. C. Sproul Orlando, 2010

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 14

1/27/11 11:32:03 Am

1 Pe t e r

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 15

1/27/11 11:32:03 Am

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 16

1/27/11 11:32:03 Am

1 Gr e e t i ng to t h e E l ec t Pi lgr i m s 1 P e t e r 1:1–2

> Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace be multiplied.

W

hen we study a book of the Bible, we begin by asking basic questions of prolegomena or introduction: Who wrote the book? To whom was it addressed in its original composition? At what time in history was the book written? What were the circumstances or occasions that generated such a book? Asking such questions is customary, whether we are studying a Gospel, an epistle, or a book of the Old Testament. Knowing who wrote a book, for whom it was written, the time it was written, and the circumstances that provoked it assist us in understanding the book.

The Author of 1 Peter The author is identified immediately as Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ (v. 1). The book of 1 Peter claims to be authored by the Apostle Peter, one of the two most important apostolic pillars of the early church. The basic 17

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 17

1/27/11 11:32:03 Am

18

1 Peter

distinction made in the early church was between Paul as the Apostle to the Gentiles and Peter as the Apostle to the circumcised, the Jews. Critics have waged war against this book, as they have virtually all the books of the Bible, and have challenged its Petrine authorship for several reasons.

The first reason that Peter’s authorship is questioned is that at the end of the epistle, when the final greetings are given, there is a greeting to the people from Silvanus, which indicates his involvement in the production of the letter. As a result, people say that the letter was not written by Peter but

by Silvanus.

The second problem we encounter is that the Greek of this particular epistle is highly elegant. We think of Peter as an unschooled fisherman who, in all likelihood, would not have had the command of the Greek language displayed in this particular epistle.

Third, the epistle is addressed to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (v. 1). Traditionally, pilgrims or sojourners was the term used by the Jews to describe Gentiles.

For the most part, the churches established in Asia Minor in the apostolic age were established among Gentiles, and since Peter was the Apostle to the circumcision, not to the Gentiles, it seems unlikely that this Apostle would address his letters to a Gentile community.

Additionally, the circumstances that prompted the writing of this letter presumably involved suffering under persecution. We know from history that the persecution by the Roman Empire against Christians did not extend beyond the city of Rome until much later, toward the end of the first century and into the second century, with the persecutions of Diocletian and Domitian. Since the occasion of the letter was to comfort people in persecution, the critics say it could not have been written during the lifetime of Peter because Peter was martyred in Rome in a.d. 64. Peter and Paul were martyred, according to tradition, during the vicious persecution of Nero.

Emperor Nero blamed the Christian community for the fire that wreaked havoc in the city of Rome, and many think the fire was set by Nero himself.

Tradition holds that he played his fiddle while the city was burning. His fury against the Christians was, for the most part, confined to the city of Rome and did not reach into the provinces, particularly not as far out as the northern and western regions of Asia Minor.

Much of the content of 1 Peter sounds almost identical to the teachings of the Apostle Paul. We know from the book of Acts that Paul and Peter did not always see eye to eye, yet this epistle reads almost like a carbon copy of Paul’s letters. That too has raised questions about whether this epistle was

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 18

1/27/11 11:32:03 Am

Greeting to the Elect Pilgrims (1 Peter 1:1–2)

19

actually written by Peter or by someone associated with the Apostle Paul.

It also reinforces the theory that the letter was actually written by Silvanus.

That name, Silvanus, is just a longer version of the name Silas, and the only Silvanus or Silas that we know of in the New Testament is Paul’s companion on the missionary journeys. So, there are several reasons for which questions have been asked about the authenticity of the Petrine authorship.

Those who conclude that 1 Peter was not written by Peter, and then not until the end of the first century or into the second century, also assume that the epistle was not apostolic in origin but had its basis in the Gnostic literature of the second and third centuries.

As we seek to understand the authorship of a book in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament, we must look at two things. We must look at the internal evidence and then at the external, historical evidence. The internal analysis includes an examination of the literary style, the level of Greek used. That notwithstanding in this case, the letter claims to have been written by the Apostle Peter.

This is where your view of Scripture virtually controls your interpretation of Scripture. If you think the Bible was errantly produced by authors without the supervision and superintendence of the Holy Spirit and therefore reflects diverse, even contradictory, theologies, that gives some license to compromise the internal claims of Scripture. However, if you come to the text already persuaded that it is the Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, then God has to say only once that this letter was written by the Apostle Peter. The argument is settled. So, the most important internal evidence is the specific reference to Peter as the author of the epistle.

Concerning external testimony, the testimony of the early Christian church is universal and unanimous. This epistle was received in the very earliest times of Christian history, in the middle of the first century, as having come from Peter. That testimony is seconded by the greatest minds of the early centuries. It was affirmed by Irenaeus in his dispute against heresies, and

by Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and the historian Eusebius.

These are the most respected authorities outside of the Bible in the early centuries of Christendom. Not until the nineteenth century in the throes of higher criticism did anyone seriously suggest that the epistle was not written by the Apostle Peter. Both internal and external evidence agree that Peter the Apostle was the author.

What about the problem of the Greek language and the references to Silvanus at the end of the letter? Natives of Galilee in ancient Palestine were bilingual. They spoke Aramaic and Greek. Therefore, Greek was a

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 19

1/27/11 11:32:04 Am

20

1 Peter

native language of Peter’s. Even though he had no formal schooling under Gamaliel, Hillel, or any rabbi in Jerusalem, he was certainly not unintelligent, and he was articulate, as we see in the record of his speeches, particularly on the day of Pentecost. The role of Silvanus in the production of this letter was, in all probability, that of an amanuensis or secretary. The Apostle Paul customarily had a secretary to whom he dictated the substance of his message. We do not know what language he used to dictate it, but it was inscribed by the amanuensis in Greek. If Silvanus was Silas, he would have been capable of writing at a high level of the Greek language, and if he wrote the epistle under the supervision and even the dictation of the Apostle Peter, that would account for the eloquence of the Greek without denying Petrine authorship.

The final greetings of 1 Peter 5 were written from Babylon, which was biblical code in that day for Rome or Jerusalem, in this case almost certainly Rome, and the one giving greetings along with Silvanus is Mark. Mark was not an Apostle. He was part of the apostolic entourage. He had traveled with Paul on a missionary journey but was sent home following a dispute between Paul and Barnabas. We know from church history that John Mark became Peter’s spokesman, and the apostolic authority that stands behind the Gospel of Mark is the authority of the Apostle Peter. So, the fact that Mark sends greetings here in this epistle is further evidence that the book was authored by Mark’s principal mentor, the Apostle Peter.

To the best of our knowledge, the imperial persecutions against Christianity did not reach the outer parts of the Empire until late in the first century and early into the second century, long after Peter was martyred by being crucified upside down in Rome. However, local persecutions were constant in every decade and in every place, such as Paul suffered while on his missionary journeys in Asia Minor. People converted to Christianity in those areas constantly faced local hostility and persecution, which were keenly felt, even though not delivered by the sword of Rome.

As we noted, this epistle matches marvelously with the content of some of Paul’s epistles, even though at one point Paul had opposed Peter over an issue concerning the Judaizers. That debate had been so significant that the Council of Jerusalem was called to settle the problem. The Apostle Paul had rebuked Peter publicly for falling away from the purity of the gospel by being seduced by the Judaizing heretics, but the issue was resolved long before the middle of the sixties. There is no reason to think that any ongoing dispute in perspective continued between Peter and Paul. Although Paul and Peter were separate men and had separate emphases in their ministries, they both

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 20

1/27/11 11:32:04 Am

Greeting to the Elect Pilgrims (1 Peter 1:1–2)

21

wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the message they communicated was the same gospel, the same ethic, the same truth. Therefore, to see striking similarities in their teaching content is exactly what we would expect from men writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Recipients of 1 Peter Concerning the issue of the epistle being written to a Gentile audience, we can assume that Peter was not writing to Gentiles but to Jewish converts numbered among the Diaspora. Those were Jews who had fled from ­Jerusalem, expelled under the Emperor Claudius, and they had settled in little communities in Asia Minor. On Paul’s missionary journeys he went to the synagogue in places such as Ephesus or the Galatian territories.

Often the first converts were from the Jewish community. These Jewish Christians, members of the Diaspora, are addressed here as pilgrims or sojourners, a common label for Jews expelled from Israel, from the holy city, and living in a pagan environment that was not their sacred heritage.

Jewish Christians living in a pagan community were pilgrims and sojourners in a foreign land. Therefore, the fact that this letter is addressed “to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” does not necessarily mean that it was addressed to Gentile converts in Asia Minor.

My wife, Vesta, and I were traveling from Hungary into Romania right after the breakup of the Soviet Union. We were warned about the great dangers of going across the border, as the border guards tended to be overtly hostile toward Americans. We were riding in an old train from Budapest to Cluj-Napoca in Romania, and we came to the border between Hungary and Romania. Two burly border guards got on the train where there were four of us: Vesta, me, and another couple. In gruff and broken English, the guard told us to empty our suitcases. Just as we were about to follow his command, their leader looked at our friend, who had her Bible in a brown paper bag on her lap. He grabbed the Bible from the bag and said in broken English, “You no Americans.” We had our passports that identified us as Americans, but he questioned us about our citizenship.

He pointed his finger at the Bible text and said, “Look what it say.” We are pilgrims and citizens of heaven. He was a Christian. He turned to the other guards and said, “These people okay. Leave them alone.” We made it through the checkpoint, but we experienced what it means to be pilgrims, sojourners, in a foreign land yet members of the kingdom of God and citizens of heaven.

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 21

1/27/11 11:32:04 Am

22

1 Peter

The Gnostic Heresy Finally, there is the argument that 1 Peter was written in the second century under the impetus of the Gnostic heresy. Although the concepts of Gnosticism are not found in the letter, the fact that it was written in the second century and named Peter as its author were grounds to consider that it was originally composed by one of the Gnostic heretics. We have seen products of ancient Gnosticism in recent years such as The Da Vinci Code, which features an ossuary that supposedly contains the bones of Jesus. Scholars appeal to the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Thomas, and the Gospel of Judas, claiming these as extrabiblical proof of gnostic teachings.

The Gnostics took a variety of religions and philosophies and sought to blend them to produce a new religion or philosophy. There was Oriental dualism, Platonism, and elements of Neoplatonism, and they tried to bring in elements of Christianity. In their zeal to win converts, they targeted the early Christian community. The word gnostic comes from the Greek word gnosis, which is Greek for “knowledge.” When you get sick and go to the doctor, you are seeking a diagnosis. When the doctor explains that you will recover from the illness, he is giving you a prognosis. Prognosticators are those who think that they have knowledge of future events. The term Gnosticism is rooted in the Greek word for knowledge. Gnostics believed that truth was not discovered by reason, sense perception, or scientific inquiry, but only through direct mystical apprehension, and then only by an elite few.

The only way the Gnostics could seduce Christians to believe their heresy was to undermine the authority of the Apostles, so they suggested that the Apostles lacked the higher knowledge that only Gnostic practitioners could achieve. Many books have been written in the last several years about neoGnosticism, or New Age thinking, but there is nothing new about it.

Their strategy to undermine apostolic authority was somewhat ironic.

They wrote their fanciful literature and tried to pass it off as apostolic by giving it titles such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter, and the Gospel of Judas, but this literature denied the content of apostolic Christianity.

This is why some critics say that, if 1 Peter was written later, Peter’s name was attached to it as a Gnostic ploy to undermine the actual New Testament canon.

I have no doubt that this letter was written by the Apostle Peter, one of the most fascinating characters of the New Testament. Peter the impetuous; Peter the bold; the one at Caesarea Philippi who made the great confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16); the big fisherman who gave his life being a fisher for men; the one who paradoxically refused to

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 22

1/27/11 11:32:04 Am

Greeting to the Elect Pilgrims (1 Peter 1:1–2)

23

acquiesce to Jesus’ teaching immediately after the Caesarea Philippi confession, saying, “This shall not happen to You!” (v. 22). In a matter of minutes, Peter went from being the rock to being the spokesman of Satan; from the blessing that Jesus gave him, saying, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (v. 17) to a dreadful rebuke from the lips of Jesus (v. 23). This is the same Peter who said he would follow Jesus to the death, and when Jesus told him that he would deny Him three times, Peter protested with all his might, only to prove Jesus’ prophecy accurately. This was the one who vacillated but nevertheless, over the course of the early church history, did become the rock, a leader who remained faithful to Jesus until his death.

It is ironic that Peter writes to those suffering persecution and tells them, as we will see, that they ought not to think it strange that they should have to suffer. He once had thought it impossible that this would be the course of Christianity, but as the years passed, he understood what Jesus had said about the cost of discipleship. Peter’s intimate knowledge of persecution for the gospel comes across with a pastor’s heart in this epistle.

Sprinkling of the Blood Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ (v. 2). We do not have to wait to get to the doctrine of election; it is at the beginning of the epistle. He reminds his readers that, even though they are pilgrims and exposed to suffering, pain, and persecution, they ought not to forget who they are. They are the elect by the providence and eternal appointment of God. When we talk about the work of redemption, we talk about it as a triune activity. There is the Father’s work in election and His sovereign plan to save His people. That redemption is accomplished by Christ and applied to people’s lives by the Holy Spirit. The Father sends the Son, the Son accomplishes the work, and that work is brought home to the lives of individuals through the intervention and the power of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit brings us to faith in Christ, He does not stop with the initial work of regeneration or rebirth; He is also the chief architect of our sanctification, of our being brought into conformity to Christ. All that is contained in this verse of introduction.

Peter uses an interesting image in verse 2 to speak of the work that Christ has accomplished for us: the sprinkling of His blood. We see in the New Testament that we are purchased by the blood of Christ and that Christ’s blood

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 23

1/27/11 11:32:04 Am

24

1 Peter

has been poured out, but the sprinkling of Christ’s blood is clearly a reference to the Old Testament. On the Day of Atonement, when reconciliation was made for the people of God, the blood of slain animals was taken by the high priest into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on the mercy seat. That sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifices served as a blood covering on the throne of God. It was a symbol of the covering of our sins by the blood of the sacrifice. All the symbolism carried out on the Day of Atonement pointed beyond the Old Testament to the sacrifice that was made once for all in the atoning death of Jesus Christ, who effects our reconciliation by shedding His blood. When Jesus was on the cross, His blood was not sprinkled but poured out, yet the same principle is in view here. What took place on the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament points to the accomplishment of our redemption by Jesus with the pouring out of His blood on the cross.

Grace to you and peace be multiplied (v. 2). “Grace and peace” was the usual greeting, and here Peter is asking that such grace and peace be multiplied to his readers, elect, sanctified, and reconciled by the grace of God, and who therefore have peace with God as a result of that reconciliation won for them by Jesus Christ. Peter is asking that this grace and peace would be multiplied—not just multiplied to other people, but in them—as the Apostle Paul said in Romans, from life to life, faith to faith, and grace to grace. We do not believe that the grace of justification can be augmented or diminished, but the grace of sanctification can be augmented or diminished, so the prayer of this Apostle with the heart of a pastor is that the grace of God would increase and multiply in their lives.

It is important to know, before we get to the body of the epistle, the heart’s desire of the author, the Apostle Peter, the one chosen by Christ to be an Apostle, who now bears witness to the ministry of Jesus in this epistle.

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 24

1/27/11 11:32:04 Am

2 H e av e n ly I n h e r i ta nce , Pa r t 1 1 P e t e r 1:3 –5

> Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

D

uring the first lecture I attended in the Netherlands at the Free University of Amsterdam, Professor G. C. Berkouwer made a comment that I have never forgotten: “Gentlemen, all sound theology must begin and end with doxology.” When theology does not begin and end with doxology, it becomes merely an abstract intellectual exercise in which the heart is not engaged and the soul is not properly moved. The Apostle Paul, in the middle of his teaching of the weightiest theological matters, breaks spontaneously into doxology: “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33).

25

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 25

1/27/11 11:32:04 Am

26

1 Peter

Doxology Peter, at the beginning of this epistle, starts with a doxology: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope (v. 3).

A doxology is a hymn of praise. The word comes from the Greek doxa, which refers to glory that is ascribed to God, because it belongs eternally and intrinsically to Him. The concept of glory in the Bible refers to the weightiness of God, the depth of His character.

At St. Andrew’s we sing the doxology at the conclusion of the giving of our tithes and offerings as those offerings are brought forth and dedicated to God. Singing praise to God is a central significance of worship; the primary dimension of godly worship is not the offering of our money, time, or body but the sacrifice of praise. Doxology is at the very heart of true worship, and this is how Peter begins.

Although this sentence of doxology introduces the main body of the content of the epistle, it is not unrelated to the greeting by which Peter begins the epistle. Peter wrote this letter to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in “Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (v. 1), and he identifies its recipients as those who are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (v. 2).

Predestined In his epistle to the Romans, Paul mentions predestination in close proximity to God’s foreknowledge: “Whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). Christians who seek to be biblical in their thinking must have a doctrine of election and of predestination. These concepts were not invented by Augustine in his debate with Pelagius, or by Luther in his debate with Erasmus, or by Calvin in his debate with Pigius, or by Edwards in his debate with Chubb. These concepts of election and predestination are found in the text of Scripture. If you really want to be biblical as a Christian, it is incumbent upon you to hold to the biblical doctrine of predestination and of election and not some other construction.

Throughout church history one of the most popular views of election or predestination has been the prescient view. Prescience means “pre-science” or “foreknowledge.” According to this view, since Paul in Romans speaks first of foreknowledge and then of predestination, obviously God’s action of election or predestination must somehow be constructed upon His foreknowledge. The prescient view says that God looks down the corridor of

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 26

1/27/11 11:32:04 Am

Heavenly Inheritance, Part 1 (1 Peter 1:3–5)

27

time and knows that some people will say yes to the offer of the gospel and some will say no; in other words, some will cooperate with the grace God makes available while others will reject it. On the basis of this prior knowledge, God then chooses or elects unto salvation those whom He knows in advance will respond to the gospel. That view cannot possibly be squared with Romans 8, not to mention Romans 9, nor can it explain the doctrine of election. It basically denies it or tries to get around it. The doctrine of sovereign election is odious to us by nature.

The word “foreknowledge” comes before the words “election” and “predestination” in Romans 8 because God never elects nameless, faceless ciphers—He elects people. Therefore, those whom God elects, He knows.

Predestination must be related to that divine foreknowledge as the basis upon which God knows what He intends to do.

How does God, even in His transcendent majesty, have the ability to know the end from the beginning? How is it possible for God to have knowledge of future things? God does not have a crystal ball into which He gazes so that He can know in advance what decisions we will make; rather, God knows the future because He ordains it. He knows His own plan in advance, and He knows it certainly, because He has decreed it. Those decrees are not based on any human condition that God foreknows. Indeed, if God did look into the future to examine the responses that people will one day make, the only response of fallen human beings to His grace would be that of unbelief.

People are not elect because they have faith, but they are elected to have faith. Faith itself is the result of God’s electing grace.

We are beginning to examine Peter’s doxology, which is not to be ripped out of his earlier salutation. Whenever the Apostle Paul deals with the doctrine of election, he does not do so with anger or hostility, but he rejoices in it and gives glory where glory should always be given—to God alone.

Therefore, it is not without reason that Peter begins his epistle with this statement of doxology, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He begins by describing God as being the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Monogenēs The New Testament concept of Christ’s being the Son of God is central to biblical theology. Not only is Jesus the Son of God, but also He is what the Apostle John described as the monogeneˉs, the only Son of God. We have a tendency to miss the significance of that today, where we hear repeatedly that we are all God’s children. People today believe in the universal fatherhood

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 27

1/27/11 11:32:04 Am

1 Peter

28

of God and the universal brotherhood of man. In biblical categories God, naturally speaking, is the Father of One. He is the Father of the Son, the only begotten Son. Christ is the Son of God by nature. Scripture tells us that by nature we are children of wrath, children of Satan, so we must never take for granted the privilege of speaking of God as “Father.” In the first instance He is the Father only of Christ and, by extension, of us only when we are adopted into His family. We are not by nature the children of God. Jesus is by nature the child of God; we are by super nature the children of God. The object of the benediction and of the doxology is the first person of the Trinity, who is called “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

There is supreme irony in Peter’s saying that God is “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The title “Lord,” the Greek word kyrios, is the translation of the Old Testament title Adonai, which was reserved for God alone. It is the supreme title of God that calls attention to His sovereignty.

Elsewhere Paul writes: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name. (Phil. 2:5–9)

The name above every name in that text is not “Jesus.” People often jump to that conclusion because the next name mentioned is the name of Jesus, but when the Father bestows the name that is above every name upon Jesus, the name He bestows is “Lord.” He bestows upon Jesus this title, that at the name of Jesus every knee would bow.

The bowing of the knee means to the Jew not just submission to an earthly king but an act of worship. In the New Testament, people are rebuked for bowing to angels and offering them adoration, because, as high as the angels may be, they are not divine or worthy of worship. At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Adonai, Lord. This does not detract from the glory of the Father but, as the Apostle says, is unto the glory of the Father. The first confession of faith in biblical days was the shortest and simple creed that simply declared, Jesus ho Kyrios, “Jesus is Lord,” which means that Jesus is sovereign—our sovereign. He shares with the Father the

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 28

1/27/11 11:32:04 Am

Heavenly Inheritance, Part 1 (1 Peter 1:3–5)

29

fullness of deity and sovereignty, and it is the Father Himself who is pleased to bestow the title Kyrios upon His only begotten Son.

Regeneration We find in the opening statements of this epistle not only a reference to election but also a specific reference to regeneration or rebirth. This is commonly distorted in our culture by the idea that we have to have faith in order to be reborn or elect, but the sovereign God, from all eternity, decrees those to whom He will give the gift of faith, which is the fruit of regeneration, not the cause of it. The Reformation church declared that regeneration precedes faith, which is a distinguishing article of Reformed theology. We tend to get that backwards and think that our faith is what causes us to be reborn.

Unless we are born of the Spirit, as Jesus said to Nicodemus, we cannot see the kingdom of God, let alone enter it. Regeneration is what provokes and plants faith in our souls. The very condition that God requires for justification is by His grace sovereignly supplied.

If we try to place faith before regeneration, we expect the impossible: the natural to rise up to the supernatural. We expect those who are dead in sin and trespasses to exercise spiritual life. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians that God “even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Eph. 2:5). Every pregnant woman knows the human experience called “quickening,” which happens when she first feels life in her womb. That is the metaphor Paul gives to the Ephesians of what the Holy Spirit does to people while they are dead. We are as passive in our rebirth as we were in our natural birth. We had nothing to do with causing the conception in our mother’s womb.

Even Jesus was generated supernaturally in His humanity. When the angel Gabriel came to the young maiden Mary and announced that she would have a baby who would save people from their sins, she said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” (Luke 1:34). She understood the basic biology that virgins do not have babies, so she questioned the announcement of the angel, and the angel explained it to her: the Holy Spirit would come upon her and overshadow her, so that the baby generated in her womb would be holy and of God. The language in the annunciation is the same that we find in Genesis 1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep” (vv. 1–2).

The deep was powerless to conquer the darkness until the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. “Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 29

1/27/11 11:32:04 Am

30

1 Peter

light” (v. 3). No life originated from some kind of cosmic accident; life came through the generating power of God, who alone has the power of creation.

That same power is what Gabriel described to Mary about her conception.

The child in her womb was generated not by nature but by super nature.

In like manner, your spiritual birth is by the same Spirit and power; you are absolutely powerless to effect your rebirth. Only God in His supernatural power can cause you to be born again. You did not generate it or seek after God. He sought after you. In His mercy and grace, the Spirit of God invaded your soul and changed that heart of stone to a heart of flesh. He gave you the desire for Christ and brought you to Christ as a gift to Christ.

You happened to be one of those whom the Father was pleased to give to the Son, not because there was anything pleasant about you but so that the Son might see the travail of His soul and be satisfied. How can that elicit anything from us except doxology?

In biblical categories, the word hope means something different from its common usage in our secular culture. In our culture hope reflects our subjective desire. I hope that something will take place in the future, but I don’t know for sure that it will. In biblical categories, this hope is the certainty and the fullness of assurance that God will do in the future everything that He says He will do. We have been born again to a hope, a living and lasting hope. This hope is inseparably related to the resurrection, because it is grounded in the reality that when God raised His Son from the dead, He raised Him as the firstborn of many brethren, and that all who are in Him will share in that resurrection life. We have been born again not just to have a better quality of life in this world, not simply to be given a second chance, but to live a life that goes on forever, sustained by the power of the resurrected Christ.

Inheritance All this language is tied up with family terminology—children, fathers, birth, rebirth—and now Peter introduces the concept of inheritance: . . . to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you (v. 4). Sometimes we dream of receiving a telegram from an attorney that says, “Congratulations. We just read the will of your deceased uncle, and he has left to you his entire estate of five million dollars.” Recently, my two grandsons were having a dispute, and as a way to settle it, one of them jokingly said to me, “Can I have his share in your will?” I said, “It’s too late. I’ve already written you out of my will.”

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 30

1/27/11 11:32:04 Am

Heavenly Inheritance, Part 1 (1 Peter 1:3–5)

31

That is the stick I use to get them to behave. We think of an inheritance as a kind of serendipity.

Here, however, Peter is talking about another inheritance, one not received in this world. We cannot cash in on this inheritance like the prodigal son did (Luke 15:12). The inheritance Peter has in mind is part of this living hope “reserved in heaven for you.” The reservation of that inheritance is not restricted to the believers in Asia Minor who received this epistle. It is for you and me, as well. If we have been reborn in the power of the Spirit, we have been reborn to a living hope and to an inheritance that is reserved for us. It is the inheritance that first belonged only to the Son of God. Having been adopted and reborn into the family of God, we become heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. Whatever inheritance God the Father has reserved for His Son, He now shares with all those who have been adopted in the Son. Peter does not tell us the exact content of the inheritance at this point, but he does describe it, and he does so in negative terms, telling us three things that it is not. First, it is “an inheritance incorruptible.” The inheritance cannot be destroyed, which is the meaning of “incorruptible” here. When we make an investment for the future in stocks of some venture, we are taking a risk because the investment might fail. The inheritance reserved for us in heaven is not subject to the vagaries of the stock market. This inheritance is incorruptible, which means not only that it will not be corrupted but that it cannot be corrupted.

This inheritance is also “undefiled.” It is not dirty money. It has not been laid up and reserved as a result of criminal enterprises but has been won through perfect purity and is so protected by God in heaven that nothing ever can spoil or defile it. It is undefiled because it cannot be defiled.

Additionally, this inheritance “does not fade away.” An advertisement on television depicted a man receiving a call from his wife on a cell phone. She is upset because he failed to do what he was supposed to do. When he hangs up, he places a call to order flowers for his wife. He knows he had best not go home unless he has an offering of flowers. What is it about flowers that women seem to love? They are beautiful and vibrant when they first come, but the colors begin to fade and the flowers to wilt in just a few days. They lose their luster and finally must be consigned to the garbage can. The flower fades, the grass withers, but the Word of the Lord and the inheritance of the saints never fade away (Isa. 40:8).

When I was in grade school, General Douglas MacArthur was recalled from Korea by President Truman and removed from his office. When he addressed Congress upon his retirement, we schoolchildren were recessed

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 31

1/27/11 11:32:04 Am

32

1 Peter

from our regular classes to gather in the school auditorium and listen to him.

During the speech he said, “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” Yet Douglas MacArthur did fade away and die. The inheritance secured and reserved for us in heaven is incorruptible. It is undefiled and does not fade away because it cannot fade away.

This inheritance is reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (v. 5). Here Peter speaks of salvation in the future. In Christian jargon we talk about “being saved.” I received a letter from someone who told me, “I was saved five years ago.” He meant that he had come to faith, that he had been justified and had entered into his salvation. In a certain sense he was saved, because the Bible uses the verb to save in every tense of the Greek language. There is a sense in which we were saved from the foundation of the world. We were being saved, we are saved, and we are being saved, but ultimately we shall be saved when we enter into the fullness of the inheritance that is being reserved.

While it is being kept for eternity, the same power that keeps the inheritance reserved for us is the power that keeps us reserved for the inheritance.

It is the power of God that keeps us to receive the full and final measure of salvation. Do you see why Peter gives a doxology? Peter could have given the benediction after this opening statement, because in these few lines he communicates to these Christians of the Diaspora the heart and soul of the Christian faith.

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 32

1/27/11 11:32:04 Am

Sproul1-2peterBook.indd 296

1/27/11 11:32:15 Am

R.C. Sproul

(Drs, Free University of

Amsterdam) is the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries and can be heard

Recommendations

About the Series:

for the St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary Series

his life to the ministry of the Word of God.

teaching daily on the Renewing Your Mind radio broadcast on more than 300

“The St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary series will be welcomed throughout the

radio outlets in the United States and

world. It promises to have all of Sproul’s hallmarks: clarity and liveliness, humor and

throughout sixty countries. Dr. Sproul

pathos, always expressed in application to the mind, will, and affections. Sproul’s

has written more than sixty books and

ability to focus on the big picture, his genius of never saying too much, leaving his

has authored scores of magazine articles

hearers satisfied yet wanting more, never making the Word dull, are all present in

for evangelical publications. In addition,

these expositions. May they nourish God’s people well and serve as models of the kind

he has taught at numerous colleges and

of ministry for which we continue to hunger.”

seminaries. Currently Dr. Sproul serves as minister of preaching and teaching at

Scholar and teacher R. C. Sproul has given

Sinclair B. Ferguson

SENIOR MINISTER, FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA

Bridging the gap between the academy and everyday life, Dr. Sproul’s wisdom and insight as a prominent teacher has been widely sought. While much of his career has been spent writing and teaching in classrooms, in 1997 he was called to preach from the pulpit of a local church.

Upon arriving at St. Andrew’s in Sanford, Florida, Dr. Sproul determined that he

Saint Andrew’s in Sanford, Florida.

“Sproul, well-known as a master theologian and extraordinary communicator, now

would practice expository preaching as he worked his way through books of the

In 2007 Sproul was awarded the Charles

shows that he is a powerful, insightful, helpful expository preacher. This collection

“Kip” Jordan Lifetime Achievement Award

of sermons is of great value for churches and Christians everywhere.”

Bible. At the urging of his congregation,

W. Robert Godfrey

into volumes for a wider audience.

by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. Among his books are Truths

PRESIDENT, WESTMINSTER SEMINARY CALIFORNIA

Dr. Sproul has now turned these sermons

We Confess (in three volumes); Scripture Alone; What Is Reformed Theology?

“Sproul is a legend in our time. His preaching has held us in awe for half a century,

The St. Andrew’s Expositional

Defending Your Faith; The Invisible Hand;

and these pages represent the fruit of his latest exposition, coming as they do at the

Commentary series is the result of years

Saved from What? The Holiness of God;

very peak of his abilities and insights. I am ecstatic at the prospect of reading the St.

of careful preparation and Bible-centered

Willing to Believe; and Faith Alone. Other

Andrew’s Expositional Commentary series. It represents Reformed theology on fire,

preaching. Dr. Sproul explores important

volumes in the St. Andrew’s Expositional

delivered from a pastor’s heart in a vibrant congregation of our time. Essential reading.”

theological terms and themes in each

Commentary series include Romans, John,

Derek W. H. Thomas

and Acts.

Bible passage, offers his perspective JOHN E. RICHARDS PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC AND PRACTICAL THEOLOGY,

REFORMED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY; MINISTER OF TEACHING, FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

from his own wisdom and experience, and engages in practical application. Delivered from a pastor’s heart for his congregation, the sermons in these volumes are

COMMENTARY / NEW TESTAMENT

readable, applicable, and thoroughly Bible-centered. Here is an opportunity to sit at the feet of an eminent scholar and teacher, encountering the Word of God.