1 Peter

AUTHOR:

Peter

AUDIENCE:

Jewish Christians scattered throughout Asia Minor

PURPOSE:

To offer encouragement to suffering Christians.

Peter understood that trials are inevitable, and he certainly experienced his fair share of them. The way he navigated through those trials revealed the extent to which he had matured spiritually since his earlier years. At a time when some followers of Christ were tempted to give up in the face of many hardships, Peter urged them to see their difficulties as a platform for highlighting the grace, power, and absolute love of God. Peter’s tested and true confidence in Jesus strengthened the faith of these Jewish Christians, and it can do the same for us today. His letter reassures all those who struggle with intense sorrows and strife that God’s Kingdom is real, heaven is real, and in the end, confusion and conflict will be replaced with genuine hope and eternal joy.

SUFFERING AND DISABILITY THEMES

  floral bullet  Our heavenly birthright. Disability and disease can make us feel like foreigners. Rejection and isolation tempt us to think that we don’t belong. Peter declares that despite any diagnosis of disease, illness, or disability, we are chosen heirs to God’s throne, and with that distinction comes a heavenly birthright. We have a priceless inheritance—one “kept in heaven for [us], pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay” (1:4).

  floral bullet  Better than fair. When suffering doesn’t make sense, we may cry out, “This isn’t fair!” Or when we experience hardship, we may feel that we have already had enough. But God, in his divine power, has “given us everything we need for living a godly life” (2 Pet 1:3). Often, the very things we need in order to live more faithfully come as a result of suffering. By suffering with Christ, we gain much better than fair treatment; we gain an intimacy with him that lasts for all eternity.

  floral bullet  A different choice. Patiently enduring suffering in a manner that is pleasing to God differs from what people typically expect. The world waits for Christians to turn their backs on God in times of suffering. But when we cling to Jesus and the hope of a life with him, we show others the goodness of God, the one who called us “out of the darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet 2:9).