We Christians often speak of our salvation as merely a personal and inward miraculous phenomenon. However, the story of salvation in the Bible is much larger than a single event in the life of an individual. Our salvation, God’s work of grace in us, is also a journey of a lifetime as we are being saved. The story won’t be complete until we see justice done not only in our own hearts, but throughout the entire world.
1
Peter 1:13-16 (ESV)
Therefore,
preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on
the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As
obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former
ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in your conduct,
since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'
Peter
writes to a persecuted church in exile, encouraging them to remain holy, to
continue to resist their old nature, to walk according to the salvation that
has been purchased for them. Peter is speaking about the action that follows
their faith, a present salvation, the
life they now live in imitation of Jesus. He is describing a grace as something
that has not yet come, a future grace in which they should set their hope. It
is for this grace, a future salvation,
that they are to prepare their minds, and be holy. Peter is writing to people
who are already believers. He is not describing a salvation by works. These
believers were already saved by grace through faith, according to God's power
at work in them, not by works or merit at all.
1
Peter 1:17-19 (ESV)
And
if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s
deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing
that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers,
not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood
of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
So, in
one passage, Peter is speaking of the grace of God as a past, present, and
future grace. In the life of the Christian, we call this past grace our
justification, our present journey of faith our sanctification, and the future
grace for which we hope, our glorification.
Past Grace – Our Justification
We have
been ransomed. We belong to God, purchased from the clutches of death that
owned us by the blood of Jesus Christ. Our salvation is in Christ, completed by
God, and not us, an unalterable condition made sure by the total
incorruptibility of the price paid, Jesus' imperishable blood. We belong to
God.
1
Peter 1:1-5 (ESV)
Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus
Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to
you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his
great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is
imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s
power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in
the last time.
We have
been elected, chosen by God, according to his foreknowledge and his great
mercy. This is the work of our salvation. It is entirely the merciful work of
God, not our merit or strength or action. We are saved by grace. When Peter
speaks of this salvation, he calls us "born again". God has caused us
to be born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, we are ransomed,
purchased by God through a trade of Christ's blood for our lives, and then once
given the death of Christ, we are united with him, and receive the power of his
resurrection for new life for that moment onward.
Present Grace –
Our Sanctification
Something
of the "futile ways inherited by (our) forefathers" remain with us
though we are saved. If Peter needs to command the believers not to "be
conformed to the passions of (our) former ignorance", then it must be
possible for us to do otherwise. Disciples of Christ are to remember that we
have been ransomed, made holy as Jesus is holy, and act accordingly, in faith,
as though we believe that it is so. This also is a gift, not a burden of works
we must carry, any more than was our initial salvation.
It is
in the present that we are guarded through faith for our future salvation. We
belong to God, and as God's children we are now guarded by our Heavenly Father
until we experience the fullness of our salvation. This present, daily
salvation is called our sanctification. God has called us holy when he ransomed
us by Christ's blood. Now he is making us holy every day as we obediently pick
up our cross and follow after Jesus (v2). This is the sanctification of the
Spirit, the reason we were filled with the Spirit of God at our salvation. Our
present salvation is experienced by the gift of the Spirit in us, when we put
our faith in the past work of Christ, and the future hope held for us by our
Father in heaven (v13).
The grace to follow after Jesus daily is received by faith, just as was our initial justification. We are given the grace to resist temptation, to live contrary to the selfish patterns of the empires of the world, and to forgive those who have sinned against us.
The grace to follow after Jesus daily is received by faith, just as was our initial justification. We are given the grace to resist temptation, to live contrary to the selfish patterns of the empires of the world, and to forgive those who have sinned against us.
Future Grace – Our
Glorification
God’s
act of saving grace is a past event, but it is also a future event. We are born
again to a living hope. We hope for what we do not yet see. Our hope is for a
future inheritance. We have not yet received the fullness of our salvation. We
belong to God, but we still have an inheritance coming to us.
Our
past salvation is our ransom by Christ's blood, and the resurrection of our
beings, according to the power of God. Our future hope for salvation is the
inheritance we share because we have been united with Christ. We receive both
by grace through faith. It is for this reason that we may remain unsatisfied
with the condition of the world as it is. In our hope for Jesus’ return, and
the fullness of salvation we will receive, we also hope for the salvation of
all things, the redemption of Creation according to God’s original purpose,
that we have bent and corrupted so much by our sin.
Romans
8:18-25 (ESVUK)
For
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing
with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager
longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to
futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the
creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the
freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole
creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And
not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the
Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption
of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not
hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we
wait for it with patience.
We are
given grace to endure the suffering that comes with our daily obedience, our
sanctification as we follow after Jesus, by the hope we have that all
suffering, not just our own, will end at the return of Jesus. In that hope we
may live by the grace of God in the power of God to live out the love, freedom,
and justice of God now, declaring the gospel and ministering the freedom of the
gospel to any and all who are bound by the corruption that still remains on earth.
We set
our hearts firmly on our future hope, and daily walk in obedience after the
footsteps of Christ, by whose blood we have already been ransomed and born
again, and all of this is entirely the work of God, by grace, received through
faith.
☠
Next Thursday: 1 Peter 2 - Living Lights In A Land Of Death
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