(6)
Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 1:13-17
The first twelve verses of 1 Peter 1 are deep and full of complications. These verses cover matters on the divine side, whereas verses 13 through 25 cover matters on the human side. An example of the profound matters covered by Peter in 1 Pet. 1:1-12 is the foreknowledge of God. According to 1:1 and 2, we were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God. Can you explain what the foreknowledge of God is? This matter of God’s foreknowledge is deep and profound.
In 1:3 Peter says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is Himself God. How, then, can God be His God? This is another profound matter in these verses.
In the first twelve verses of this chapter the points concerning the divine side are deep and profound. The matters on the human side covered in 1:13-25 are more detailed. This chapter, therefore, can be divided into two portions: verses 1 through 12 covering the divine side, and verses 13 through 25 covering the human side.
Verses 13 through 25 cover two main points: a holy manner of life and brotherly love. Verse 15 says, “But according to the Holy One who called you, you yourselves also become holy in all your manner of life.” Verse 22 says, “Having purified your souls by obedience to the truth unto unfeigned brotherly love, love one another from the heart fervently.” In these verses Peter is concerned that the believers would have a holy manner of life and brotherly love.
We have emphasized the fact that the first twelve verses of this chapter unveil profound matters on the divine side. Some of these matters are the foreknowledge of God the Father, regeneration unto a living hope, and an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, unfading, and kept in the heavens for us. Verses 13 through 25 are mainly concerned with the development of a holy manner of life and brotherly love. These are the issues, the results, of the full salvation of the Triune God.
Let us now consider verses 13 through 25 one by one. Verse 13 says, “Wherefore, girding up the loins of your mind, being sober, set your hope completely on the grace being brought to you at the unveiling of Jesus Christ.” Verses 3 through 12 are one long sentence of blessing, of well-speaking, of God the Father, disclosing to us His marvelous and excellent salvation, beginning from the regeneration of our spirit (v. 3) and consummating in the salvation of our soul (v. 9), accomplished through the sufferings of Christ and His glories (v. 11), and applied to us by the Holy Spirit (v. 12). Based upon this, verse 13 begins an exhortation to those who are participating in the full salvation operated by the Triune God according to His economy.
To gird up the loins of our mind means not to be loose in our thinking. However, most of us are very loose in our thinking. Our thoughts jump from one thing to another. In a few seconds, in our mind we can travel around the world. We may think about one thing and then suddenly think about something else. For example, while praising the Lord at the Lord’s table, we may suddenly begin to think of something we have just purchased from the store. Because our thoughts can travel so fast, we need to gird up the loins of our mind.
Here Peter seems to be saying, “Brothers, I have just presented you a number of marvelous, divine items. You have read my well-speaking concerning the Triune God. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has regenerated us unto a living hope. I have spoken of God’s selection according to His foreknowledge, of Christ’s redemption, and the Spirit’s application. Now I urge you to gird up the loins of your mind. Don’t let your mind be loose.”
In verse 13 Peter also speaks of being sober. To be sober is to be calm and clear in mind, able to realize God’s economy in His salvation, as revealed in verses 3 through 12, without being disturbed by fear, anxiety, or any care.
In verse 13 Peter also charges us to set our hope completely on the grace. This hope is the living hope which has issued from regeneration (v. 3). We need to set our living hope completely on the grace that is being brought to us at the unveiling of Jesus Christ. Surely this grace is not merely unmerited favor. It refers to the salvation of the soul (vv. 5, 9-10), which will be the consummation of God’s full salvation. The grace has been brought to us by the Lord’s first coming (John 1:17). It will be consummated by His second coming. On such grace we should set our hope.
Whatever we enjoy of the Lord today is, comparatively speaking, a small portion. In the Bible this is called the foretaste; it is not yet the full taste. This age is an age of foretaste. But when the Lord Jesus comes back, we shall enjoy the full taste. While we are enjoying the foretaste, we set our hope on the coming full taste. The nature, the essence, and the reality of the foretaste are the same as that of the full taste. The difference is one of quantity. Today we are enjoying a small portion as a sample, a foretaste. Eventually we shall enjoy the full portion and experience the full taste. Therefore, on the one hand, we are now enjoying grace; on the other hand, we are expecting the coming full taste. This means that as we are enjoying the foretaste, we are expecting to have the full taste. This causes us to set our hope on the coming full taste. The coming full taste will be the consummation of this unique grace.
This grace is not merely unmerited favor. It is the Triune God as our full salvation for our full enjoyment. Today we have only the foretaste, the enjoyment of a small portion, but the full taste is coming. Let us set our hope on this coming full taste, which will be the consummation of grace.
Toward the end of verse 13 Peter speaks of the unveiling of Jesus Christ. It is significant that he uses the word “unveiling” and not advent or some other word. At present, we are enjoying the Lord Jesus as a foretaste under the veil. But the time is coming when the veil will be taken away. Then we shall be able to declare, “Hallelujah, I am enjoying the Lord Jesus outside the veil!” Today we are enjoying grace; however, we are enjoying this grace under the covering of a veil.
Because we are under a veil with the Lord, others may not be able to understand what we are doing. We may try to tell them that we are enjoying Christ. However, they may say that this is nonsense. Our enjoyment is concealed, and others who do not share the same experience cannot know anything about it. But one day the Lord Jesus will be unveiled. Then others will be able to understand that we have been enjoying the Lord Jesus. This unveiling will be the coming grace as the consummation of the full salvation of the Triune God.
If we are not enjoying the Lord Jesus as the foretaste, we shall not have the hope that He will be unveiled as our full taste. I can testify that daily I enjoy the Lord as the foretaste and always have an earnest expectation concerning the full taste. I may pray, “Lord Jesus, unveil Yourself, and let my enjoyment of You be in full.” When we enjoy the foretaste, we have such a hope. We need to set our hope completely on the grace being brought to us at the unveiling of Jesus Christ.
In verse 14 Peter goes on to say, “As children of obedience, do not be conformed to the former lusts in your ignorance.” The Greek word rendered “conformed” is the same as that used in Romans 12:2. It is used here to denote a state as the path in which God’s elect as sojourners walk. We should not be conformed to the former lusts. This means that we should not shape ourselves according to them. Formerly, we were ignorant. But now, having become children of obedience, we are knowledgeable.
Verse 15 says, “But according to the Holy One who called you, you yourselves also become holy in all your manner of life.” The Holy One is the Triune God — the choosing Father, the redeeming Son, and the sanctifying Spirit (vv. 1-2). The Father has regenerated His elect, imparting His holy nature into them (v. 3); the Son has redeemed them with His blood from the vain manner of life (vv. 18-19); and the Spirit has sanctified them according to the Father’s holy nature, separating them from anything other than God, that they, by the holy nature of the Father, may become holy in all their manner of life, even as holy as God Himself.
We become holy in all our manner of life through the sanctification of the Spirit. This is based on regeneration, which brings us the holy nature of God and issues in a holy life.
We ourselves need to become holy. This is not merely a matter of wearing a certain kind of clothing or of not wearing makeup. That concept of holiness is too outward. Our being, our disposition, our entire person, should become holy. This is for us to become holy in all our manner of life.
In verse 16 Peter gives us the reason we need to become holy: “Because it is written, You shall be holy, because I am holy.” This is a quote from the Pentateuch. In the Pentateuch we are told at least a few times that God’s people should be holy because God Himself is holy.
In verse 17 Peter continues, “And if you call upon as Father the One who without respect of persons judges according to each one’s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear.” In this verse Peter comes to the matter of God’s government, the particular point that he covers in his Epistles. The judgment of God is for the carrying out of His government.
The Holy One who has called us as the Father has regenerated us to produce a holy family — a holy Father with holy children. As holy children, we should walk in a holy manner of life. Otherwise, the Father will become the Judge (4:17) to deal with our unholiness. He begat us with life inwardly that we may have His holy nature. He disciplines us with judgment outwardly that we may partake of His holiness (Heb. 12:9-10). His judgment is according to our work, our conduct, without respect of persons. Hence, we should pass the time of our sojourning in fear. If we call upon Him as our Father, we should also fear Him as our Judge and live a holy life in fear.
In verse 17 Peter “is not speaking of the final judgment of the soul. In that sense ‘the Father does not judge anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). The thing spoken of here is the daily judgment of God’s government in this world, exercised with regard to His children. Accordingly it says, ‘the time of your sojourning’ here” (Darby). This is God’s judgment on His own household (1 Pet. 4:17).
Since these two Epistles are concerned with the government of God, the judgment of God and of the Lord is referred to repeatedly (1 Pet. 2:23; 4:5-6,17; 2 Pet. 2:3-4, 9; 3:7), as one of the essential items. It began from the angels (2 Pet. 2:3-4) and passed through the generations of man in the Old Testament (2 Pet. 2:5-9). Then in the New Testament age it begins from the house of God (1 Pet. 1:17; 2:23; 4:6, 17) and continues until the coming of the day of the Lord (2 Pet. 3:10), which will be a day of judgment on the Jews, the believers, and the Gentiles before the millennium. After the millennium, all the dead, including men and demons, will be judged and perish (1 Pet. 4:5; 2 Pet. 3:7), and the heavens and the earth will be burned up (2 Pet. 3:10b, 2 Pet. 3:12). The results of the varied judgments are not the same. Some judgments result in a disciplinary dealing, some in a dispensational punishment, and some in eternal perdition. However, by all these judgments the Lord God will clear up the entire universe and purify it so that He may have a new heaven and a new earth for a new universe filled with His righteousness (2 Pet. 3:13) for His delight.
God judges according to each one’s work without respect of persons. The work in verse 17 refers to conduct, behavior, as in Rom. 3:20 and Gal. 2:16.
In verse 17 Peter urges us to pass the time of our sojourning in fear. This is a holy fear, as in Philippians 2:12. It refers to a healthy, serious caution for us to behave in a holy manner. Such fear is mentioned a number of times in this book because its teaching is concerning the government of God.
To pass the time of our sojourning in fear means to walk in a holy fear of God all the time. The words “pass the time” include every minute of our daily life.
Years ago I visited some saints in Las Vegas. Certain of them suggested that I visit a gambling casino just to see what it is like. I replied, “No, I shall not go. If it were not for your invitation, I would never come to this evil city. Because you have invited me, I am now here with you. But I will not go to see a gambling casino.” If I had gone to such a place, then a certain amount of time that day would not have been passed in fear.
Every minute of our sojourning must be in fear. This is related to the holy manner of life. In all our manner of life we need to become holy, separated from the world.
Verses 18 and 19 explain why we should pass the time of our sojourning in fear: “Knowing that you were redeemed not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ.” Why should we pass the time of our sojourning in fear? Because we know that we have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. It is because we know this that we now pass the time of our sojourning in fear. The point here is that the holy manner of life should issue out from the dear and precious redemption of Christ.
Paul tells us that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of sin and from this evil age. Peter, however, tells us that Christ has redeemed us from the vain manner of life. It is vain to indulge in worldly entertainments or to purchase worldly clothing. The vain manner of life may also be related to the way we do our shopping. Some sisters very much like to go shopping. Every week they go to the department store at least to look around even if they do not buy anything. Do you not know who you are? You are sons and daughters of the King. As children of the King, you should not go to a department store in a light way. On the contrary, you should be stately and dignified even in your shopping. I use this as an illustration of being redeemed in a practical way from the vain manner of life.
