as children of obedience, not conformed to [your] former lusts in your ignorance;
Peter has just told scattered believers where to set their hope. Now he tells them what that hope makes them. The verse hands the Christian a name — "obedient children" — and points back to a life that no longer fits: the desires formed before they knew God.
The phrase is stronger than a description of good behaviour. Where the ESV reads "obedient children," other translations read "children of obedience." Either way it names what a person now is, in contrast to what they were once called.
The Christian is marked out as a child of obedience. That is far stronger than the "obedient children" of the Authorized Version. That same version rightly calls people in their unchanged state the children — or rather sons — of disobedience (Eph. 2:2; Col. 3:6). Fallen nature has a settled bent to disobey God. But now the opposite is true: when the Spirit sanctifies us, He sanctifies us for obedience — childlike obedience, seen in its perfection in our Lord Jesus.
One writer points out that the nation Israel never bore this name, and no law could produce it.
We are called to obedience. It may be a hard lesson to learn, but we are "children of obedience," and so we are called to walk that way always. No one could call Israel obedient, yet the apostle describes the believer as one of the "children of obedience." The law had no power to create this character. Yet to obey is the chief duty of a Christian — the very heart of Christianity.
The word "obedience" can sound like rule-keeping. Commentators insist that under grace it changes its whole character.
Legal obedience is one thing. The obedience that grace commands and produces is quite another. The first means carrying out a required duty, so as to live and stay in God's favour. The second rests on what God has done: He has worked a deliverance, set up a new relationship, produced a new nature — and obedience is the happy fruit of it. That obedience is not merely a servant's toward a master. It is a son's toward a father, taking its character from the obedience of Christ.
Freedom from law, then, is not freedom from direction — and knowing more only binds you closer.
They might have slipped into the false idea that all direction was gone because the law was gone... But Christ set them free from law only to lead them into a steady obedience that goes far deeper and reaches much further... The Christian denies his Master and his own standing if he claims to be independent of His authority and His word. The more he knows his privileges, the greater his duty to obey.
When someone doubts whether he belongs to God, obedience is the first thing to look for. It often shows before peace does.
If someone doubts his relationship to God, or if other people doubt him, the Spirit uses obedience as the first great test. Does that soul have the spirit of obedience as his own?... When the turning point of conversion to God comes, we become "children of obedience." From the very first this is the true expression of a heart purified by faith. From then on the settled, inward desire is to obey God — perhaps long before solid peace comes.
"Do not be conformed" warns of a pull back into an old pattern. The danger is less a fresh temptation than an old routine. It creeps back once faith loses its first freshness.
It is important also to watch out for old habits. When the Christian relationship is new, a person may not weigh them seriously enough. Habits tend to press their evil influence again once truth loses that fresh power over the soul which the ungrieved Spirit keeps up. So Peter adds here, "do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance."... They had all the more reason to guard against taking the shape of what dishonoured Christ, since the God and Father of Christ had given them new birth into a living hope.
Peter traces those desires back to a time of not knowing God. One writer presses that this was not innocent confusion.
"As children of obedience" — those who by new birth have gained that precious character — let them live in keeping with it, with an obedience of willing, devoted affection. That means refusing to be shaped by their former desires, which came out of ignorance. And ignorance here is not merely a misunderstanding. It is ignoring what can be known. The child of God knows there is no happiness in those desires, and he himself has something that infinitely surpasses them.
Another writer describes that time as a search that fed on itself.
The heart, unsatisfied with God, went out after what only produced more craving and never satisfied.
- Name. Once a son of disobedience, the believer is now a child of obedience. That is a family trait, not an occasional achievement.
- Source. The law could never produce this character. New birth does, and it takes its pattern from Christ's own obedience.
- Kind. Not a servant obeying to earn favour. A son obeys because the relationship is already settled.
- Test. Obedience is the first evidence the Spirit points to. It often comes before assurance and peace.
- Refusal. Old habits regain their grip when truth loses its freshness. The child of God refuses the old mould — desires formed while God was still unknown.
but as he who has called you is holy, be ye also holy in all [your] conversation;
Peter turns from what God has done for believers to how they must now live. But what does "holy" mean, how far does "all your conduct" reach, and is this a demand or a gift?
The call is not measured against other people or against our own past. One writer presses how far it reaches into ordinary, unwatched life:
"But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct" — in every kind of walk. When people go away on holiday, they sometimes think, "At home I would go to the meeting as usual, but nobody knows me here." That's the world. It is not a matter of putting on a formal collar on Sunday and taking it off every other day. The Lord would have Himself always before us, so that we should be consistent every day and be holy. Does God lower His holiness? He cannot give a standard less than Himself.
Peter does not aim this command at people trying to become God's. He aims it at people who already belong to Him. One writer notes that the same letter says both things:
Scripture speaks of holiness, like sanctification, in two ways: (1) as a position, which is absolute, and (2) as a practice, which grows… In the first letter of Peter we find just the same thing. He says, "Be holy" (1 Peter 1:15) to the very people to whom he says, "You are… a holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9).
So is this a rule we must keep, or something God gives? One writer answers that God supplies what He asks for:
God is dealing with us on the ground of grace, and also of holiness. For us, holiness is as much a part of grace as any other blessing. "Be holy; for I am holy" is the expression of intimacy, and does not come merely as a command. Grace must make us holy, "partakers of His holiness"… It is not God requiring man's holiness, but making us partakers of His. What more could we wish? Love does it. He makes us partakers of the very thing that separates God from all that does not match Himself — holiness, not mere innocence. Innocence is the ignorance of good and evil: you would not say that God was innocent, but holy.
Peter backs the appeal by quoting Leviticus, where God told Israel to be holy because He is holy. One writer roots the call in who the Father is, not in a rulebook:
And because the Father who has called us is holy, all His children should show that same character in every part of life. Even the Old Testament (Lev. 11:44) had said, "Be holy, for I am holy;" not "because the law requires it." If it was true then, how much more so for those who know the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ! This is loving conformity to a Person, not demanded conformity to a law. It involves loving what is good and hating evil.
Some might ask why a line first spoken to Israel under the law should govern people who live under grace. The answer given is that the command rests on something that never shifts:
Now, as children, we are told to be holy, that is, separate from evil. The Apostle quotes the law to insist on holiness (Leviticus 11:44). However much the character of the age may change, the nature of God cannot change. It was true under law, and it is still true under grace, that God is absolute in holiness. So everyone in relationship with God must be holy, whether under law or grace.
Yet the level is not the same in both eras. One writer ties it to the new place God gives believers:
It is now the children, not of the fathers, but of God the Father, whose standing is not in flesh, but in Christ. The holiness rises according to the place and relationship.
Holiness has two sides, and one of them must come first:
I have spoken only of the negative side — separation from evil; there is also the positive — holiness to the Lord. We are called from the one to the other. But as to practical holiness, the second is impossible without the first — separation from evil… "As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." If I am true to Him, I am leaving the one (evil) and reaching after the other.
- Called. It starts with God's act, not ours. He called you, and His own holiness sets the standard, because He cannot give anything lower than Himself.
- Made. Those He calls are already a holy people. Grace does not just demand holiness; God makes us partakers of His own.
- Like. The likeness He asks for is a child's likeness to the Father. It is love for a Person, not conformity to a law.
- Unchanging. The command goes back to Leviticus and still stands. The age changes; God's nature does not. The standard only rises, because our place with Him is nearer.
- All. It covers every part of life, holidays included. It means leaving evil behind and reaching after the Lord.
because it is written, Be ye holy, for *I* am holy.
God's call to be holy is not a new demand made only of Christians — Peter quotes a line already written in the law of Moses. So what does "holy" mean when God says it of Himself, and what can it mean when He says it of us?
Peter's "since it is written" points back to one place in the law. God first spoke these words to the people He had rescued out of Egypt.
So we read, "As He who has called you is holy, so be holy in all your conduct (literally, your manner of life)" (1 Peter 1:15). The next verse goes on to say, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." The quotation is from Leviticus 11:44, "For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy."
The words are old. But those who hear them now stand in a new place, and that changes what the words carry.
Was this an unheard of requirement on God's part? Far from it. When He ruled as the LORD over a people who were His by natural birth, it could be no other way: "You shall be holy, for I am holy." The apostle cites Leviticus 11:44… Now it is the children of God the Father, not the children of the fathers. Their standing is not in natural descent, but in Christ. The holiness rises according to the place and relationship.
One word covers both God and us in this verse. It does not mean the same thing in both halves.
Used of God, the word speaks of Him as holy. He knows good and evil perfectly, and wills good and no evil. Used of people, it marks them out as separated — set apart to God, away from evil and from common use.
Read as a bare order, the verse sounds crushing. One writer hears something else in it: the language of closeness.
God is dealing with us on the ground of grace, and of holiness too. For us, holiness is as much a part of grace as any other blessing. "Be holy, for I am holy" is the expression of intimacy, and comes not merely in the way of command. Grace must make us holy, "partakers of His holiness"… God is not demanding a holiness of man's own. He is making us share in His. What more could we wish? Love does it. He gives us a share in the very thing that separates God from everything unlike Himself — holiness, not mere innocence. Innocence is not knowing good and evil. You would not call God innocent; you would call Him holy… It is "His holiness" — knowing evil as He knows it, and being able to rise above it.
Notice what reason God gives. He does not point to a rule. He points to Himself.
The Father who has called us is holy. So the same character should show in all His children, in every part of life. Even the Old Testament (Lev. 11:44) had said, "Be holy, for I am holy" — not "because the law demands it." If that was true then, how much more for those who know the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ! This is loving likeness to a Person, not forced likeness to a law. It means loving what is good and hating evil.
Because the reason is a relationship, a believer's answer for a life set apart is short. It points to God, not to himself.
It is good to see where the personal holiness of God's people comes from. Their complete separation from every kind of uncleanness flows out of their relationship to Him. It does not work on the principle of "stand back, I am holier than you." It is simply this: "God is holy." So everyone He brings into association with Himself must be holy too… Someone may ask a Christian why he stays away from the ten thousand things the men of this world join in. His answer is simply to be, "My Father is holy." This is the true foundation of personal holiness.
The same writer separates two things people confuse: what every believer already is, and how much of it shows day by day.
All believers stand in the same condition of holiness, or sanctification. But how far that shows in practice may vary to any degree. The condition comes from our being brought near to God by the blood of the cross. How far it shows will depend on our keeping near, by the power of the Spirit.
- Written. Peter is quoting Leviticus 11:44. The call is old, but the standing of those called is new, and holiness rises with the relationship.
- Holy. Of God, the word means He knows good and evil perfectly and wills only good. Of people, it means set apart to Him, away from evil and from common use.
- Given. The words are the language of intimacy, not only of command. God does not demand a holiness of our own; He makes us partakers of His.
- Personal. The reason God gives is Himself. This is likeness to a Person, not the keeping of a rule.
- Practical. The believer's answer for a life set apart is "My Father is holy." All believers share one condition of holiness; how much of it shows depends on keeping near to God.
And if ye invoke as Father him who, without regard of persons, judges according to the work of each, pass your time of sojourn in fear,
Peter joins two things we rarely hold together. We call God Father, and He weighs what each person does. So a short stay on earth calls for care, not dread.
Is "Father" simply another word for Creator? Not here.
Jehovah was God's name for Israel; Father is His name for the Christian. This is not fatherhood in the ordinary sense, where every person comes from His breath, as with Adam and the whole race. It is the special and spiritual nearness into which the risen Christ brought the believer. "Go to My brothers and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God." Redemption was now accomplished and accepted as the new standing fact. His resurrection had purged sins and given life in abundance. So He could announce that His brothers enter the same relationships He Himself had as risen from the dead.
Many read this as a warning about the final judgment. It is not.
People often misunderstand this verse. Some have taken it to mean the future judgment — our appearing before the judgment seat of Christ. But that is impossible. The Lord Himself tells us plainly that "the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son." … The judgment Peter means is the one the Father carries on every day inside His family. It is present, not future.
In practice: a Father watching, and a child who wants nothing in his day to displease Him.
The Father keeps His eye on each child every day, watching what we do; and as we sow, so we reap. The obedient child says: I would like that there might be nothing in my path, day by day, that my Father would not be pleased to see. He is looking on, and He comes in too with restraining grace, and often with chastening. This is how the Father judges, and that judgment is good and wholesome for our souls.
To judge impartially rules out favourites. It also means the weighing goes deeper than looks.
He weighs actions with perfect accuracy. He does not see as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Only this way can we discover the true character of our works. On the outside they may often look good and beautiful. But if the motive behind them came to light, our view might change completely. The Father's eye rests on the inmost springs of our conduct, and so He is never deceived.
Does grace mean God stops governing how His children live?
Because God has shown such grace, does this mean that He relaxes His government? Many have assumed that this must be the case, but it is not so. The Father still judges impartially according to every man's work. Grace has saved us for eternity, yet Scripture still tells us what our works should look like. If they do not match our relationship to Him as His children, the Father will deal with us now, in serious discipline.
The discipline is real, but it is never the settling of a debt.
For a child of God there can be no penalty in the true sense. Chastening is his for that very reason.
What kind of fear does Peter mean? One that grows out of the relationship, not against it.
If this is so, then "conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile." That means a gracious fear of grieving the Father's heart. It springs from a sense of the holiness of His character. … It is good for our hearts to remember this. God has brought us into the most tender and intimate relationship with Him as our Father. Yet He is always the Holy One, and His government of His family is holy too. Confidence in His grace and love, and full liberty in His presence, should never keep us from the deepest reverence. It should lead us into it.
Peter calls this stretch of life "the time of your exile." Two ideas sit inside that phrase.
It is touching to consider the implications of these two expressions: one reminds us that, as Christians, we are only here for a short time (why do we often act as if earth were to be our home for many centuries to come?). The other tells us that the world we are in is not our real home. We have duties here, and responsibilities, but it is not where we belong.
- Father — the name. The risen Christ puts believers into His own relationship with God. That is why we can call God Father.
- Father — the eye. He judges now, daily, inside His family; He reads motives, not appearances, and plays no favourites.
- Father — the hand. Grace saves us for eternity, and God's government runs on alongside it. A child receives chastening, never penalty.
- Father — the fear. Not dread, but the care of a child who does not want to grieve a holy Father — and confidence in His love deepens it.
- Father — the journey. Life here is a short stay in a place that is not home. Walk through it; do not settle in.
knowing that ye have been redeemed, not by corruptible [things, as] silver or gold, from your vain conversation handed down from [your] fathers,
Peter has just told these believers to live in reverent fear as strangers here. Now he gives the reason: they already know what their freedom cost, and what it freed them from — an inherited way of religion, handed down and empty.
Peter's call to reverent fear can sound like worry about whether you are truly saved. The reason he gives here rules that out.
The fear that the saints were urged to live in during their stay here is as far as possible from doubt about their souls and distrust of God's grace. Those two go together. They may even be two sides of the same unbelief — the unbelief that leaves Christ out as the gospel reveals Him. The words that follow shut such dread out completely. They rest the fear Peter teaches on a comforting and settled fact: they have been redeemed. And they were redeemed by what is most precious to God of all things, and most effective for sinners.
The mention of money is not random. These readers came from people whose redemption really did cost silver and gold.
They knew, and so do we, that we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. Their fathers had been redeemed with silver and gold — a redemption in picture form, carried out under Jewish law. Sometimes they gave actual money, as in Exodus 30:11-16 and Numbers 3:44-51. Sometimes redemption came by sacrifice, as in Exodus 13:13-15. Even then silver and gold played a part, since they were needed to buy the animal for the sacrifice. Silver and gold are the least corruptible of metals, yet they are corruptible. The price of our redemption was incorruptible and precious.
The life left behind was not obvious vice. It was religion.
Notice this. Redemption has many wonderful results, and one named here is that the saints were redeemed from their empty course, or way of life, handed down from their fathers. It is hard to imagine words that fit more exactly. They do not describe Gentile idol worshippers. They describe the Jews since the Maccabees (Jewish leaders from the centuries before Christ), holding tight to tradition passed from father to son.
The problem was the source of their obedience.
The Jewish way of life had sunk into a matter of mere tradition received from their fathers. This was obvious in Isaiah's day (Isaiah 29:13), and the Lord Jesus pressed the charge home on them, quoting Isaiah's words, in Mark 7:6-13. Even the right things they did, they did not because God had commanded them, but because tradition ordered them. So their way of life had become corrupt and deeply offensive to God. Our Gentile way of life was pure darkness and lawlessness, and equally corrupt.
One contrast carries the whole verse: the Father, and the fathers.
There is a contrast here. On one side is the Father these converted Jews called on. On the other is the whole empty round of traditional ways passed down by their fathers. We are redeemed from religion that makes a fine outward show, as well as from what is immoral and corrupt… They were now calling on a Father who shows no favouritism. So their way of life, while they walk through this world as strangers, should be marked by fear. Not because they did not know their redemption, but because they did.
Older translations call the old life "vain conversation." The word covered far more than talk, and being freed from it makes a demand.
There you have vain conversation, which is connected with fleshly religion. We must not take it as merely the talk of the lips. I think Peter uses it in a much wider way than that. What is the first thing he says? You have been brought right out of that system of religion which suits man as he naturally is. You have been redeemed to God with the precious blood of Christ. So the first thing the soul grasps here is this: you are out of the old state. You are delivered from that vain conversation… What we have to do is shake ourselves clear of everything religious that does not suit God.
For the first readers, that break cost them the worship they grew up in. It gave them something better.
That which gave them peace would destroy every old association. They had learned how precious the blood is by finding forgiveness of sins through it. Now they had to learn that it is just as precious because by it they were redeemed from the futile ways inherited from their fathers. They would have access as worshippers to heaven itself — and as a holy priesthood too, there to worship the Father in spirit and truth.
- Known — the verse rests on certainty, not hope. The fear Peter urges grows out of a redemption you already have, never out of doubt about it.
- Not bought — silver and gold once ransomed Israel. Even the least corruptible metals decay, so the price of our redemption had to be incorruptible.
- Not only from sin — what is left behind is a way of life: inherited, religious, empty. Isaiah condemned it, and so did the Lord Himself.
- Fathers to Father — tradition handed down was the old trust. The redeemed now call on the Father instead, and that exchange is the heart of the verse.
- Break clean — knowing the cost, shake yourself free of any religion that does not suit God, however long it has run in the family.
but by precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, [the blood] of Christ,
Peter tells his readers what their rescue cost. Not money, but blood — the blood of a sacrifice. Two questions follow. Why does he call this blood precious? And why must the Lamb be flawless?
Peter's contrast is not random. Both metals already carried a settled meaning in Israel's worship:
There were two symbols of redemption in the Old Testament. At every census of Israel, God required each man to give a ransom for his soul. This ransom money was a half silver shekel, and it was "to make atonement for their souls" (Ex. 30:11-16)... Silver and gold, the two most precious metals, both stood as a figure of redemption. Peter alludes to this... He contrasts the blood of Christ with silver and gold. In God's eyes that blood has infinite value, because it comes from the whole truth of the person of Christ. And the point he wants us to notice is this: God's claims on His children match the preciousness of the blood that redeemed them.
So what gives this blood its value?
The precious blood of Christ is the foundation of redemption, and the means of it too. Only one thing measures its value: the infinite worth of His Person, as God perfectly judges it.
Peter sets this blood against things that decay. Another writer shows what that means for us:
That precious blood is the price of our redemption. Silver and gold decay and change in value; this blood does not. It stays in all its own preciousness. So the redemption it secures is eternal, and our relationship with the blessed God is sure for ever. But at what a cost! ... He laid down that precious, spotless life in death.
The words "like that of a lamb" point back to sacrifices these readers knew by heart. One writer names more than one:
The reference is plain in the words "like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." It may well point to the Passover lamb we have spoken of. They also had the morning burnt offering. And perhaps above all, there was the evening lamb, offered between the evenings, day after day.
The two terms are not just repetition. Each has its own root in the Old Testament and its own meaning:
Look at the Old Testament pictures Peter clearly has in mind. The first time "without blemish" comes up with a sacrifice is in Exodus 12. It involves that our Lord was perfect in sinless, subject, obedient Manhood... It is not until we reach Numbers 19 that we find the second word Peter uses here, "without spot"... We looked these words up some time ago. Without blemish means without a defect: nothing is missing. Without spot seems to have more to do with what is external, like a splash of paint on someone.
That flawless life raises a question: did His obedience itself pay for sin? One writer answers, and also names the kind of rescue this verse describes:
1 Peter 1:19 speaks more in the sense of redemption — of a ransom that takes us out of the hands of the enemy. Christ's obedience during His life worked toward the perfection of the sacrifice. That obedience did not pay for sin, but it was fully acceptable to God. What mattered was the acceptability of His Person, which His work required. But that obedience did not pay for sin.
Peter ties this price to how his readers now live. Notice what Christ bought them out of, and that their fear rests on certainty, not doubt:
We are redeemed from religion that is only a good outward show, as well as from what is immoral and depraved... They were now calling on a Father who judges each one without partiality. So their conduct should be marked by fear while they walk through this world as strangers. Not because they did not know their redemption, but because they did — and that redemption did not come by perishable things like silver and gold, which suited their old walk. That old walk was empty in other ways, and emptiest of all in its traditional religion. From all of it they knew themselves redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.
- Price, not metal. Silver and gold were Israel's own pictures of ransom. Peter names them only to rule them out.
- Price set by the Person. One thing measures the blood's value: the infinite worth of the One whose blood it is, as God judges it.
- Price that cannot fall. Unlike metals, it never deteriorates or shifts in value — so the redemption it buys is eternal.
- Price paid by a flawless Lamb. "Without blemish" means nothing missing; "without spot" means nothing staining from outside. His obedient life made the sacrifice acceptable. But that obedience was not what paid for sin.
- Price that reshapes the bought. Ransomed out of the enemy's hands and out of an empty inherited religion, the redeemed walk as strangers in reverent fear. That fear comes from knowing redemption, not from doubting it.
foreknown indeed before [the] foundation of [the] world, but who has been manifested at the end of times for your sakes,
God's plan to redeem was not a rescue improvised after things went wrong. Peter reaches back behind creation itself. The Lamb whose blood bought his readers was already in God's mind before the world existed. Then He came into view at a set moment in time — and He came for them.
The verse steadies believers who might think the gospel is something recent:
The apostle now takes up a comforting truth that steadies the believer. The gospel may have been new to them. But it was all settled in God's mind and counsel before man fell — yes, before creation. Redemption was no afterthought to repair the damage. Of course the Lord God implied it in the sentence He passed on the serpent in paradise, and every sacrifice afterwards pictured it.
Another writer draws out what this says about God when evil entered His creation:
If the "Lamb without blemish and without spot" was "foreordained before the foundation of the world," then redemption must certainly have been in God's mind that far back. The Blessed One did not have to pause and invent a plan to repair the terrible evil the enemy had brought into His fair creation. No, He had only to bring out the truth about the spotless Lamb from the unexplored treasury of His precious counsels.
Next to a law centuries old, the gospel could look like the newcomer. This verse turns that around:
It was no new thought. Though only newly brought out, it was in fact the oldest of all purposes. Did they boast about their law? The apostle can answer that Christianity was in God's mind before the foundation of the world. It is the present blessed revelation of grace in Christ. Therefore there could be no comparison on that score, not even for a Jew.
The verse says "before" the foundation of the world, not "from" it. One writer holds that the difference matters:
"From" the world's founding does not carry the same meaning as "before" it. Let us respect and learn from the very words of God… A Christian finds it easy to understand that Christ was foreknown before time began. But how wonderful the grace that God chose us for such an association, and for such a purpose! He was known before creation, since He had a glory of His own above it. We by grace are the objects of God's counsel, and His work matched it. So we may enjoy everything where He is, and with Him.
One writer links that earlier date to who is being blessed:
The introduction of the Lamb of God was no afterthought with God. He was pre-ordained before the foundation of the world. Why before the foundation of the world? Because the blessing of the heavenly saints — the church — was thought of before the foundation of the world.
Being foreknown was not enough; the Lamb also had to appear. The moment was chosen, not random:
"Foreknown" could not be enough. Christ was "manifested" in due time, and the due time was "at the close of the times." God's patience had been long. He dealt with man in many ways, governing him, to see if in some way there might be fruit from man that He could accept. The fall happened in one man, but it belonged to the whole race. And the sample of that race under God's special care proved the tree worthless.
He came to do more than redeem. He also showed us who God is:
The Lamb of God was ordained in eternity, but manifested in time… and that not only as the Redeemer but as the Revealer. God was perfectly revealed in Him, so that it is by Him that we believe in God. We do not come to believe in God through the wonders of creation, or through the law given by Moses, or through visions of angels. We believe through Christ — once dead, now risen and in glory.
The eternal plan ends up addressing the reader directly:
This Lamb — the Lamb of God — has been entirely of God's providing. He was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times for you. God had thought of His people from all eternity, and had told out all His heart for them in the gift of His beloved Son.
- Before — the Lamb was foreknown before creation, so redemption was never a repair job God improvised after the fall.
- Older — the plan came before the world, so the gospel is not the newcomer. It is the oldest purpose God has, older than the law men boasted in.
- Higher — "before" the foundation is not the same as "from" it. That earlier word marks out heavenly blessing, and grace puts believers inside it.
- Then — God made Him manifest at the end of the times, once His long testing had proved that man produced no fruit He could accept.
- Yours — the whole line of eternal counsel ends in two small words: "for you." There God tells out His whole heart in the gift of His Son.
who by him do believe on God, who has raised him from among [the] dead and given him glory, that your faith and hope should be in God.
Peter has been writing about Christ, the Lamb who bore our sins. Now he tells his readers where that leaves them. They are not only forgiven; they are brought to trust God Himself. The verse turns on three things. Our believing comes through Christ. God raised Him and gave Him glory. And the result is faith and hope resting in God.
The phrase "through him" rules out every other route to God. It points to one.
God had appointed the Lamb in His own purpose before the world was made. But He was revealed in the last days for believers. And here believers are presented as they truly are: they believe in God through Jesus — through this Lamb. They do not believe because of creation. Creation does testify to His glory, but it gives the conscience no rest, and it says nothing of a place in heaven. They do not believe because of providence. Providence directs all things, yet it still leaves God's government in deep darkness. Nor do they believe because of the way God revealed Himself on Mount Sinai, under the name Jehovah, with the terror that goes with a broken law. We believe through Jesus, the Lamb of God. And notice: it does not say we believe in Him, but "through Him" in God.
Notice where faith looks. It does not look at the believer's own state. It looks at something God did outside of him.
Faith does not rest on my being risen. It rests on Christ having been raised. That difference matters a great deal. Many a sincere soul keeps turning inward, trying to find out whether it is risen. But that is not the faith that God Himself works. … My confidence is this: God raised Christ from the dead, when Christ was there for me.
Peter's readers were in a hard situation. The verse answers a practical question for them: what is this God like?
Through Him, through Christ the lamb, they now believed in God. And that is the point made here: what God did they believe in? How did they know that they could trust Him, especially in their difficult situation? The answer lies in the verse quoted above: They believed in a God who raised Christ from the dead and gave Him glory. He had not left Christ in the grave. By raising Him from the dead, He had put on record that Christ had all His good pleasure. On top of that, He rewarded Him richly and "gave him glory".
How can we know God is for us? One writer answers with two facts and one question: where are our sins now?
The resurrection of Christ from among the dead, and the glory given to Him on high, are God's mighty and clear evidence. They prove that He is for the believer completely and for ever. If anything could have made this doubtful, it was our sins. But they were laid on another — yes, God laid on Christ the iniquity of us all. Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree. Where are they now? After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Not one sin did God leave on the believer; not one did Christ carry into heaven.
The same writer draws out what this removes from the believer's mind: Christ's resurrection "is to give him faith and hope toward God, delivered from all fear of judgment."
Faith and hope are not two words for the same thing. One looks at now. The other looks ahead.
For He shows us the very heart of God, and through Him faith and hope in God become fully real. Faith is present confidence of heart in His faithfulness. Hope is the precious expectation of future glory in His presence.
Peter puts our faith and hope in God Himself, not in anything else. One writer says that is why such faith cannot fail. He also thinks it is rarer than we assume.
What a blessed rest in Himself has God presented for our faith and hope! And surely nothing less than having them in God Himself will do. Everything outside of God changes and is uncertain. But He does not change. Faith and hope that rest in Him cannot fail or come to an end. I do think, in our own day, there is very little of faith and hope in God.
- Through Him — not creation, not providence, not Sinai. Christ is the one road by which a conscience comes to rest in God.
- In God — Christ is the means; God Himself is the object. Faith goes through Christ and rests in God.
- Raised — faith looks at what God did to Christ, not at what the believer feels has happened in himself.
- Given glory — the Son's reward is God's open proof that the sin question is closed. God left no sin on the believer, and Christ carried none into heaven.
- So that — here is the aim. Confidence now in God's faithfulness. Expectation of glory with Him later. Both rest on the One who never changes.