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Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 1:2-4, 11, 18-19, 22-23; 2:2, 5; 5:10; 2 Pet. 3:15-16, 18; Jude 1:20-21
In this message I would like to give a further word concerning the basic structure of the Epistles of Peter and Jude.
In 1 Peter 1:2 and 3 we can see the operation of the Triune God: “According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead.” In these verses we have the foreknowledge of God the Father, the sanctification of the Spirit, and the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Here we have the Triune God the Father, the Spirit, and Jesus Christ, the Son. In verse 3 Peter also tells us that the Father has regenerated us unto a living hope through Christ’s resurrection. Here again we see the Father’s operation. The Father not only chose us in eternity, but in time He also regenerated us. In verse 2 Peter says that the Spirit sanctifies us, applying to us what the Father decided concerning us in eternity past. Then in verse 11 Peter speaks concerning the witness of the Spirit of Christ in the prophets of the Old Testament. In verses 18 and 19 Peter says, “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.” Now that we have been redeemed with Christ’s precious blood, we need to have our souls purified by obedience to the truth unto unfeigned brotherly love (v. 22). This purification of the soul is based upon the Father’s regeneration. We have been regenerated by the Father with an incorruptible seed, a seed that is the living and abiding word of God (v. 23).
As we consider chapter one of 1 Peter as a whole, we can see that this chapter reveals the operation of the Triune God. Here we have the Father’s regeneration, the Spirit’s sanctification, the blood of Christ, the incorruptible seed, the living hope, and also the inheritance kept for us in the heavens (v. 4). In this chapter we have not only the basic structure of the first Epistle of Peter, but we also have the basic structure of our Christian life. The Christian life is constructed of all the items related to the operation of the Triune God.
The basic structure of the Christian life revealed in 1 Peter 1 is something far different from our natural concept. In our natural mind we do not have the kind of thought presented in 1 Peter 1. Our natural thought is to do good, to love others, to worship God, and to work for God. This concept is religious and traditional.
A person who is far from God may not care for God at all. But once such a person repents and begins to care for God, he will immediately have the desire to do good in order to glorify God. He will also have the desire to be more considerate of others. He may even decide to give a tenth of his income to the Lord. Although these things are good, they are religious, traditional, and natural.
You may have heard many messages telling you that the Triune God has been processed to become the life-giving Spirit in order to be everything to you. But in your daily life you may not care for the processed Triune God. Instead, you may try to be a good husband or wife and a good parent. In your effort to improve yourself, you may not have the realization that you are not living the Triune God, that you are not one with the life-giving Spirit. Instead of putting into practice the word concerning being one spirit with the Lord in your daily living, your desire may be to be victorious or to improve yourself.
The reason we fail to put into practice what we have heard is related to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In our fallen being there is the tendency toward this tree. The thought of doing good belongs to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Before you repented and believed in the Lord, you may have had the knowledge of evil. But now that you are a believer, you may turn to the knowledge of good. However, the knowledge of both good and evil are of the same tree.
Throughout my years in the ministry, I have come to realize that although the saints may listen to messages on the Triune God as life, in their daily living they care for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But whenever we come back to the Triune God as the life-giving Spirit, we are immediately feeding on the tree of life.
There are only two sources in this universe — God and Satan. After God created man, He placed him in front of two trees signifying these two sources. God is signified by the tree of life, and Satan is signified by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God is the source of life. If we contact Him, we contact life. Satan is the source of death. If we contact him, we contact death. Therefore, God clearly told Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for the result of eating that tree is death. God’s intention was that man would contact Him in order to receive life. If we contact the tree of knowledge instead of the tree of life, we shall contact death. God’s intention is that man would contact Him to receive life. But in the fall Adam turned to Satan, the other source.
Satan is not honest or straightforward. Rather, Satan wears a cloak and pretends to be something he is not. For example, when he first appeared to Adam, he appeared in the form of a serpent. Satan lurks behind the knowledge of good and evil. The result of the knowledge of either good or evil is death.
Today unbelievers and many times believers as well are under death because they daily contact the good aspect of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In religion, people are taught to know what is good and what is evil, and to do good and stay away from evil. This kind of teaching is common among Christians today. However, this teaching is natural and religious, and according to our fallen nature.
In the Bible we have two sources, two lines, and two results. First we have the tree of life, the line of life, and the New Jerusalem. The tree of life will be found in the New Jerusalem. Without the tree of life, the New Jerusalem would not have any enjoyment. The unique enjoyment in the New Jerusalem will be the tree of life.
Then in the Bible we have the second source and the second line: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the line of death. The result of this source and line is the lake of fire.
We need to have our eyes opened to see the tree of life in the Bible. Many Christians read the Bible, but they cannot see the tree of life. Because this is mysterious, unless our eyes are opened we shall not be able to see it.
The crucial point in what we have been saying concerning the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is that the structure of the Christian life as revealed in chapter one of 1 Peter is very different from our natural concept, which is according to the knowledge of good and evil. I am very happy to see that, according to 1 Peter 1, the basic structure of this Epistle, and of the entire Christian life, is the Triune God.
In verses 20 and 21 Jude says, “But you, beloved, building up yourselves in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” In these verses we have the Triune God for our experience with a view to eternal life. First, Jude charges us to pray in the Holy Spirit. Then he tells us to keep ourselves in the love of God as we await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is “unto eternal life,” that is, unto the enjoyment and increase of eternal life.
When I was young, I could not understand what Jude meant by the words “unto eternal life.” Someone might say that this means to go to heaven and enjoy everlasting blessing. However, this interpretation does not satisfy us. Apparently these words indicate that we do not yet have eternal life, that eternal life is something that we shall have in the future. But this is not the meaning. John 3:16 tells us that whoever believes in the Son of God has eternal life. When we believe in Christ, we receive eternal life. Since we already have eternal life, what does it mean to say that we are awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life? Yes, we already have eternal life within us, but we may not enjoy this life very much. Some Christians enjoy eternal life hardly at all. They do not even know that it is possible to have the enjoyment of eternal life. Furthermore, we may not have the increase of eternal life. God has given us eternal life with the intention that we would enjoy this life and that it would increase within us forever. Therefore, the words “unto eternal life” mean unto the enjoyment and increase of eternal life now and in eternity.
According to Jude 1:20-21, we need to pray in the Holy Spirit, keep ourselves in the love of God, and wait for the mercy of Jesus Christ so that we may have the enjoyment and increase of eternal life forever. This is a description of the experience of the Triune God.
Chapter one of 1 Peter and the Epistle of Jude both speak concerning the Triune God. Peter’s word concerning the Triune God is profound, and Jude’s word is somewhat simple. We may say that Jude gives a word to “elementary students,” and Peter gives a word to “graduate students.” However, many Christians are not even able to understand Jude’s elementary word concerning the experience of the Triune God. We thank the Lord that He has enlightened us to see the meaning both of Peter’s word in chapter one of his first Epistle and Jude’s word toward the end of his Epistle. In both 1 Peter and Jude we see that the Triune God is to be our portion, enjoyment, and experience.
In our study of the Epistles of 1 and 2 Peter and Jude we need to see the central focus of these books. Although the subject of 1 and 2 Peter is God’s government, especially His government shown in His judgment, this is not the central focus of these books. Neither is the divine government the basic structure of the Epistles of Peter. What is the focus of these Epistles? What is their basic structure? In order not to be distracted by the many precious matters in 1 and 2 Peter, we need clear answers to these questions.
In 1 Peter actually only one and a half chapters are crucial in relation to life. These one and a half chapters include all of chapter one and the first eleven verses of chapter two. In addition, we need to regard Peter’s word in 5:10 as crucial. In this verse Peter says, “But the God of all grace, who called you into His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground you.” We have a similar situation in the Epistle of 2 Peter. In this book the first half of the first chapter and the last verse of the last chapter are crucial in relation to life. In these vital portions of 1 and 2 Peter we have the central focus of these Epistles.
In chapter one of 1 Peter we see the operation of the Triune God for His full salvation. In verse 2 we see the foreknowledge of God the Father, the sanctification of the Spirit, and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. This verse reveals the Father’s foreknowledge, the Son’s redemption, and the Spirit’s application. This is the operation of the Triune God to carry out God’s full salvation. In verse 3 Peter says that the Father has regenerated us unto a living hope. The full salvation of God is composed of three elements: the Father’s regeneration, the Son’s redemption, and the Spirit’s application. When we experience this salvation, we have a life that is characterized by holiness and love. We are holy in our manner of life, and we love the brothers. Therefore, holiness and love are the issue of God’s full salvation. Furthermore, in this salvation there is a seed, the incorruptible seed, which is the living and abiding word of God. This is a simple sketch of chapter one of 1 Peter.
Let us now go on to consider 1 Peter 2:1-11. Having been regenerated, we are now newborn babes longing for the guileless milk of the word so that by it we may grow unto salvation (v. 2). In chapter one we see that we have been regenerated and that the full salvation of God is our portion. Now we need to partake of and enjoy this salvation. For this, we need to feed on the milk of the word.
By feeding on the guileless milk of the word and by growing unto salvation, we shall be transformed into precious stones. Therefore, Peter refers to the believers as living stones (v. 5). These stones are for the building up of a spiritual house, and this house is a holy priesthood: “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, into a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (v. 5). On the one hand, this spiritual house is God’s dwelling place; on the other hand, it is something that tells forth the virtues of God, that expresses what God is.
This spiritual house, of course, is a corporate matter. We are being built up together in a corporate way to afford God a dwelling place and to tell forth God’s virtue, that is, to express Him.
In these two portions of 1 Peter, including 5:10, we have the central focus of this book. We need to be fully captured by this focus. Then we shall not be in danger of being distracted from this focus as we pay attention to the other matters in this book.
We may compare the central focus of 1 Peter to the heart in the human body. We should not take care of the other members of the body at the cost of damaging our heart. We may lose a toe, an arm, or a leg and still live. But we cannot live without a heart. In a similar way, we need to care for the “heart,” the central focus, of 1 Peter.
The heart of this book is the operation of the Triune God to carry out His threefold salvation, which includes regeneration, redemption, and application. We have become God’s children through regeneration, and now we need to feed on His word in order to grow unto full salvation. Then we shall be transformed in order to be built together to provide God a dwelling place and to be His expression. For this purpose, the God of all grace will perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us. Furthermore, according to 2 Peter 3:18, we need to grow in God’s grace and in the knowledge of Him. This is the focus of 1 and 2 Peter and the focus of the book of Jude.
This central focus is also the basic structure of these Epistles. In the books of 1 and 2 Peter and Jude there are many matters, but not all of these matters are part of the basic structure. We may use a physical building as an illustration. The basic structure of the meeting hall in Anaheim consists of steel beams and columns. Many things can be removed from this building without affecting its basic structure. However, the beams and columns cannot be taken out of the building without destroying the basic structure. Just as the meeting hall in Anaheim has a basic structure, so there is a basic structure to the Epistles of 1 and 2 Peter and Jude.
My concern is that the saints may be distracted from this basic structure by the various matters covered in these books. I am not saying that we should not pay attention to these matters. We need to pay attention to them and even emphasize them, but in doing so we must be certain that we have not been distracted from the basic structure of these writings. This basic structure is the Triune God operating to accomplish a threefold salvation so that we may be regenerated, that we may feed on His word, and that we may grow, be transformed, and be built up in order that He may have a dwelling place and that we may express Him.
This basic thought can also be seen in the Epistles of Paul. For this reason, Peter says, “Even as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these things” (2 Pet. 3:15-16). Paul also reveals that we may feed on the Lord and grow in order to be built up into a spiritual house so that God may have a corporate expression. Therefore, these two apostles ministered the same thing, but with somewhat different terminology. Both Peter and Paul had the same focus. I hope that none of us in the Lord’s recovery will be distracted from the central focus and the basic structure of the apostles’ ministry revealed in the New Testament.
