Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through [the] resurrection of Jesus Christ from among [the] dead,
Read Full Chapter →Commentary for this Verse
Peter opens his letter with praise, not instruction: he blesses God for a new birth and a hope no grave can touch. Two questions follow: what makes a hope "living," and why does everything rest on the resurrection of Jesus Christ?
The name God now wears
Peter praises God by a name that Israel and the fathers did not know Him by.
It is not as Jehovah for Israel, nor as Almighty God for the fathers. For us Christians God worked more deeply for His glory and for those who believe... But now the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ worked in a more triumphant way in Him. As sin-bearer He entered the dark gates of the grave which closed on all others. He glorified God so fully that God had to raise Him from among the dead. So God, as revealed here, begot us again through Christ's resurrection out of the dead. No one could speak of this or know it until that mighty witness of redemption. It was not true, and could not be, until Christ was raised in this way.
Mercy as the starting point
Peter traces the new birth to mercy, not to anything in those who receive it.
Every other spiritual blessing would have been useless if God's mercy did not beget us again. That is what our letter declares. No blessing is more necessary for a sinner who is lost and ruined. His old life is corrupted by inborn evil, habitual self-will, and incurable alienation from God.
Mercy also reaches people one by one, not just a nation.
Israel had been begotten first as a nation. Now people had been born again. Mercy met them where they were, and there awakened a living hope in their souls, because the Lord Jesus had been raised from the dead.
"Begotten again" means life already given
Where the ESV says God "caused us to be born again," older translations read "begotten again." Either way, the words point to something that has already happened. One writer presses this against those who make it only a hope of life.
Should not "begotten again" have shown you that life — new life — was received, not hoped for? So, using this same word, he tells us Christ is a living stone. And we have become living stones built up on that great foundation. That is, the apostle's teaching is the exact opposite of what you make him say. He says they are living stones, as Christ is a living stone; you tell us they only have a hope of life.
A hope that had died, and rose
For the first Jewish believers the change was dramatic.
They had believed in Jesus as their promised, national Messiah. Their hope was in Him... They hoped He would be King and take the throne of His father David. Then He who was their hope died on the shameful cross, and hope died. But the third day came and Christ rose from among the dead. Hope revived — yes, they were begotten again to a living hope. His resurrection was a begetting again to a living hope, no longer the hope of the earthly kingdom.
Why call the hope "living"? Because of the One it rests on.
His resurrection brings in a whole new hope for the believer. The shadow of death can never fall on it. Risen from the dead, He dies no more; death has no more dominion over Him.
Why the resurrection carries everything
Remove the resurrection and this verse collapses. One writer shows how much rests on it.
Had His body remained in the tomb, what assurance could we have had that He had redeemed us? More than that, had He been held by death, we would have had no Saviour and no salvation. The resurrection of Christ is, therefore, the foundational truth of the gospel. To take away the truth of the Lord's resurrection is to remove all hope — to leave the soul without hope.
The man who wrote it
Peter writes as a man whose own hope had once collapsed.
He could hardly have thought that within a few weeks he would be able to say, "you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows!"... One thing, as a result, is certain: his despairing soul was begotten again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This he tells us, and for this he blesses God.
Summary
- Mercy starts it. Nothing in a ruined sinner supplies the cause; the new birth rests on God's abundant mercy alone.
- Birth, not wishing. "Begotten again" points to life already given — believers are living stones, not people hoping to live.
- Resurrection secures it. Take away the empty tomb and there is no Saviour, no salvation, and no hope left standing.
- The hope lives. It centres on One who dies no more, so no shadow of death can ever fall across it.
- Praise ends it. God is now known as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — and the man who once denied Him is the first to bless Him for it.