Studies in 1 Peter

1. Studies in 1 Peter Presentation 07

2. The Structure of the Book 1v1-2 Salvation: grounded in the Godhead 1v3-5 Salvation: accomplished in their hearts 1v6-9 Salvation: confirmed by their suffering 1v10-12 Salvation: anticipated through history 1v13-21 Salvation: outworked in their lives 1v22-2v3 Salvation: and the Word of Truth 2v4-12 Living Stones - Chosen People 2v13-17 Submission to the State 2v18-25 Submission to Superiors 3v1-7 Wives and Husbands 3v8-17 The Believer and Suffering 3v18-22 Christ’s Victory 4v1-6 Responding to Christ’s Victory 4v7-11 Living for God 4v12-19 Suffering for Christ 5v1-11 Elders and Young Men 5v12-14 Final Greetings

3. The Believer and Suffering Chap 3v8-17

4. Introduction We have seen the way in which Peter has been encouraging submission in a broad spectrum of human relationships and noted that it has been the context of suffering, which has generated this instruction. cf. 1.6... In Ch 3v8-22 he is concerned to help his readers experience the blessing of God in the midst of their suffering and he begins in v8 by identifying five important characteristics that aid us in this regard.

5. Five Characteristics & Suffering 1. The first characteristic is translated ‘harmony’ but is quite literally ‘like-mindedness’. Peter identifies the importance of right thinking because the way in which we think controls the way in which we act. It is foolish to say, 'I am not interested in Christian doctrine, I am a practical Christian and believe that doing good is more important that stretching my mind to understand doctrine.‘ For it is what we think that determines our behaviour. Peter has already encouraged us in this direction in 1.13 and will later in 4.7 will speak about the need of a ‘clear mind’.

6. Five Characteristics & Suffering Peter wants them to get their thinking on God's wavelength. Such a transformed mind helps us to cope with suffering. What did Jesus say to Peter after he had tried to prevent him from suffering on the cross? ‘You do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men.’ Matt 16.23. Because Peter's thinking was wrong, his attitude to suffering was wrong, and his behaviour in regard to the cross was wrong. The unity of mind which the church is called upon to share is the mind of Christ. When we do that and submit ourselves to others for Jesus’ sake we will cut through the misunderstanding and hostility that can divide the Christian community. ‘A man's character is … revealed by the things to which he gives his mind’. Richard Stibbs

7. Five Characteristics & Suffering The second characteristic we are to develop is ‘sympathy’ - a readiness to rejoice with those who rejoice and to mourn with those who mourn cf.. 1Cor 12.26. It is possible for someone to say, 'Oh I understand your problem', in a way that reveals a distant insensitivity and leaves the hearer crushed behind a door of indifference. The love that binds the body of Christ together not only seeks each others good but opens a door and enters sympathetically into the other's needs and concerns and sits where they sit. The sympathy to which we are called involves empathy.

8. Five Characteristics & Suffering There is such a thing as a psychology of abuse. It is concerned to enter into other people's feelings and needs in order to exploit them. This is seen in the way in which the advertising media addresses our feelings. It asks, “what images are most likely to engage the customers feelings and play upon or engage their sympathy and make them buy our product?” Christian’s must not enter into the sufferings of others in order to exploit them. Christian sympathy shares and supports. It goes beyond praying for people in need, it seeks tangible ways to express its concern.

9. Five Characteristics & Suffering The biographer and friend of the famous missionary Hudson Taylor writes this of him: “Another secret in his influence amongst us lay in his great sympathy and thoughtful consideration for the welfare and comfort of those about him. The high sacrifice of self-sacrifice and toil which he ever kept before himself, never made him lacking in sympathy and tenderness towards those who were not able to go as far as he did in these respects ... and was thus able in many cases to help them reach a higher plane of devotion”.

10. Five Characteristics & Suffering Thirdly we are ‘love as brothers’. This is much more than comradeship. This love arises from the knowledge that we are children of the one heavenly Father. This love is not blind. It is silly to pretend that the members of God's family are faultless, that there are no cracks in their makeup. That would make people impossible to live with and leads to a false assessment of one’s character. We need to be real but that realism should never be harsh. We will love those in the family of God despite their glaring warts and character cracks. Surely this is the least we can do in the light of what God has done for us. cf. Eph 4.25-5.2

11. Five Characteristics & Suffering “Love is difficult to sustain, not because it is a positive emotion, but because it is a complex one. Hate is easy to maintain for a lifetime because it is a simple one. Love might be compared to the building of a tall and elaborate sandcastle, taking many hours of painstaking effort, co-operation, balance, and persistence; and hate might be compared to the foot that comes along and with one vicious or thoughtless kick destroys in a moment what has been built up”. SYDNEY J. HARRIS

12. Five Characteristics & Suffering Fourthly, we are exhorted to be ‘compassionate’. The root meaning of the word refers literally to one’s ‘inner organs’ - in the ancient mind these were the seat of ones feelings. The Greeks linked the inner organs with ‘courage’ but in the Bible they are linked with ‘mercy and concern’. Jesus illustrates his understanding of compassion in the story of the good Samaritan [Lk. 10.25ff]. He contrasts the tender care of the Samaritan with the indifference of the priest and Levite. The Samaritan showed a love which could not be demanded or expected. His was a ‘merciful love’.

13. Five Characteristics & Suffering Some people after doing something helpful often humorously say, 'That must have added a jewel to my crown'. But we are to exhibit compassion not in order to gain heavenly reward but freely and graciously because we are moved by a particular need. Do not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion requires the inner disposition of spirit to go with others to the place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely and broken. This is not a natural or spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it. HENRI J. M. NOUWEN

14. Five Characteristics & Suffering The fifth quality we are called to is ‘humility’. Nietzsche and others have scorned this biblical virtue. Many have misunderstood it equating it with a fawning, grovelling, putting oneself down. But for this grace Christ is our model. He called his disciples to follow him as one who is gentle and humble in heart [Matt 11.29]. The word ‘humility’ is literally ‘lowly mindedness’. Peter would remember the pride in the disciple band when they argued about who was the greatest. They were unwilling to wash one another’s feet. And then Jesus rose and did the job. What an example of humility, which was then rolled out as an overture of a far greater act of humility - Jesus’ death on the cross for us.

15. Five Characteristics & Suffering Our world has had experience of the outworking of Nietzsche's philosophy! He ridiculed humility and advocated the promotion of a master race. A dominant class of individuals! A philosophy which inspired pride and underpinned much of the thought that lay behind the Nazi movement. We all know how they treated those they considered their inferiors – the gas chambers! Now when Christians are cursed they are to bless v9. cf.. Matt 5.44... This is the way they 'get even'. Christians can be freed from vindictiveness because they trust in God's justice and they are free for blessing because they know God's goodness.

16. Five Characteristics & Suffering How do we bless those who hurt us? We pray for their salvation and good. cf.. Stephen's prayer in Acts 7.60. Think what part his testimony and prayer may have played in Saul's conversion! The harm others do us cannot rob us of the blessing God intends for us. Peter cites Ps 34 to describe the blessing of the life to which Christians are called. Those who practice loving compassion will refrain from speaking evil and instead pursue peace. And it is they who are blessed by God. And this blessing not only culminates in eternal life but fills this life with ‘good days’.

17. Suffering and Witness v13-17 Suffering provides the opportunity to meet evil with good and cursing with blessing. Before seeing how Peter unfolds such a triumphant witness it is necessary to recognise that he is not suggesting that Christians have a better than average chance of escaping persecution, when he writes, ‘who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good’. Rather, he has in mind the same perspective of the Psalmist; “In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?” Ps 56.4

18. Suffering and Witness v13-17 Peter teaches that under God’s care and blessing no lasting harm can befall the believer. Jesus prayed that the Father would protect his own from the evil one. But he did not pray that they would be taken out of the world [Jn. 17.15] and he assured his followers that he had ‘overcome the world’ Jn. 16.33b. These truths are of particular importance to those, like Peter’s readership, who are experiencing increasing pressure from an unsympathetic society.

19. Suffering and Witness v13-17 Christians must never think that suffering is the opposite of blessing. Indeed, those who suffer for Jesus’ sake will not only receive blessing in heaven [Matt.6.11-12] they are already blessed. The blessing of Christ’s grace is given in the midst of their suffering. This forms part of the paradox of Christian experience expressed by Paul who writes ‘...when I am weak I am strong’. 2Cor. 12.10. So too when I suffer I am blessed cf. Matt.5.10-12 “The body is shut in, but all is open to the spirit, it may roam abroad on the way to God... The leg does not feel the chain if the mind is in heaven.” Tertullian

20. Suffering and Witness v13-17 Peter’s goal is to prepare the church not simply to endure persecution, but to find in persecution an opportunity for witness. Both boldness and humility are required. These come through a fundamental exchange. The fear of men is exchanged for the fear of God. Peter had experience of both. The first, in the courtyard of the High Priest, where he denied Jesus and the second, in the council chamber, where he confronted the Sanhedrin. The transformation of his response to threat was a result of the Spirit given at Pentecost enabling him to ‘set apart Christ as Lord in his heart’ v15.

21. Suffering and Witness v13-17 Peter quotes from Isaiah 8.12-13... in order to share his secret of boldness. The antidote to the fear of men is an awareness of the glory of the Lord himself. When we sanctify the Lord in our heart, we set him apart as holy. A praising heart with its focus upon God is immune to a fear of other people. This explains why so many martyrs have made their way to their execution with songs of praise on their lips much to the astonishment of their hearers. Peter had also heard Jesus say, ‘Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both body and soul in hell’ Matt.10.28

22. Suffering and Witness v13-17 Notice that Peter cites a passage from Isaiah that speaks of the exclusive devotion and worship which belongs to God and he unhesitatingly identifies that God directed worship with the person of Christ. Many sects and some world religions bend over backwards to deny the deity of Christ but a careful reading of the N.T. and the way in which it uses the O.T. builds up an irrefutable case against them.

23. Suffering and Witness v13-17 Suffering provides an opportunity for witness. We are to give a ‘reason for the hope than is in us’. Christian hope is not wishful thinking but a sure hope grounded in the redemption of Christ. “Hope is the form that faith takes under the threat of death”. When Emperor Valens threatened the frail and elderly Eusabius with the confiscation of his goods, torture, banishment and death because of his Christian profession, he replied: ‘I do not fear confiscation, I have nothing to loose, nor banishment for heaven is my only country, nor torments my body would be dashed with one blow, nor death which only sets me at liberty from sin and sorrow’.

24. Suffering and Witness v13-17 In affirming the hope that is ours as believers the word Peter uses, which is translated as ‘answer’, is in fact the word 'apology'. We tend to use the word today exclusively to express regret for a wrong that has been done. However, in the C1st it carried the meaning of ‘a defence’. It was a courtroom word. Remember, Jesus had promised the help of the Holy Spirit to his disciples to equip them to make their case, their defence! Cf. Lk. 12. 11-12.

25. Suffering and Witness v13-17 Peter seems to be thinking of how we defend our commitment to Christ before all who ask, at any hour of any day in the week. Unbelievers can become enquirers when they see something distinctive in the lives of God's people. However, Peter seems to be thinking of situations of conflict and confrontation. He is showing how these can be transformed into occasions for witness. How does setting Christ apart as Lord prepare Christians to make their defence? As we read through the book of Acts we discover that Christians defended their faith by proclaiming their gospel eg. Acts 26.6

26. Suffering and Witness v13-17 The other side to the coin of boldness of word is that of gentleness/ humility of life. This is the other result of setting Christ apart as Lord. Yes, we are bold to press home Christ’s claims but we do so as his servants. Nothing is more counterproductive in Christian witness than a ‘holier than thou attitude’. We need a ‘gentleness of humility’ which comes from a fear of the Lord. The NIV translates the Greek word 'phobos' as 'respect' while in v14 it translates it as ‘fear'. And so it is our reverent fear of God that enables us to bear witness in humility.

27. Suffering and Witness v13-17 Bold words will not honour God if they are not supported by a consistent life and so v16... The witness of a ‘good conscience’ is crucial for the witness of a ‘good word’ cf. Acts 24.16. The Christian patiently waits for truth to vindicate him. The shame of his detractor may not be evident in this life and may need to await the coming of Christ. Even if persecution and suffering does not come to an end, the Christian knows he is doing God's will and that to suffer for doing good can only bring God's blessing. To invite the scorn and hostility of others by doing evil is of course quite another matter.