Peter now shifts his focus back to the topic of suffering. He begins this section teaching on the qualities of Christian character needed by the church to maintain its witness in a hostile and unbelieving culture. Peter addresses relationships inside and outside the church body. Within the church, believers are to pursue a posture of […]

The previous passage in the second part of 1 Peter 2 gives context for the “likewise” at the beginning of this next section. As Peter gets into the practical implications of different relationships – people to the government, slaves to masters, and here wives to husbands – all of this is rooted in what he […]

Home. It’s something we deeply long for which is why we get homesick when we are not home. Yet our greatest homesickness can not and will not be cured on this side of heaven. For the people of God, as long as we are on this earth we are strangers and aliens here. Peter tells […]

Male or female. Rich or poor. Conservative or progressive. White, Hispanic, Asian, or African-American. Wahoo, Hokie, or Duke. Every day it seems that our culture becomes more focused on these types of labels that define our identities and lead to segregation and stratification in our society. Over 50 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. stated, […]

Peter finishes the previous section (1:22-2:3) talking about the word of God and how as believers in Jesus we should crave the word like newborns. Here, in verse 4, Peter moves us from the principle of scripture to the person of scripture. We can distinguish between the written word and the word in flesh, Jesus […]

As chapter one draws to a close, Paul transitions his attention to the relationships the exiles have with one another. In light of their faith in Christ, these first generation Jewish and Gentile believers are to relate in a specific way. As those who have been born again, they are to love one another deeply. […]

Peter spent the first twelve verses of this letter reminding the church about the living hope they had in Jesus Christ. To those that would receive this letter it was an encouragement and reminder of the truths they knew but were so easy to forget. Peter described them as “exiles of the dispersion” as a way […]

Peter, the apostle, the friend of Jesus and an eye witness to Jesus’ miraculous work, had a deep and abiding affection for the Christians; the elect exiles in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Those who received his letter of encouragement had never seen Jesus. They did not see Jesus heal. They had not listened […]

Peter launches into his letter with a bold encouragement for his readers doing the work to further support the concept of being comfortably elect yet uncomfortably in exile. There is great comfort in knowing God is altogether in control. His sovereign rule extends even to the regeneration and salvation of his church. Peter attributes the work […]