The objective of this lesson: to allow the unique nature of salvation to verify the importance of people to God.
Peter is now challenging his readers to think rather than place their minds on "cruise control." A problem plaguing people in every age is this: people conclude that all understanding has occurred--"all we need to do is follow the thinking of those before us." Thus, they transform salvation in Jesus Christ into a "form" from their familiar past. If Peter's letter is to Jewish Christians, they interpreted salvation in Jesus Christ from the perspective of patterns and traditional procedures in Judaism. If it was to gentile Christians, they transformed salvation in Jesus Christ into forms and rituals of the type of idolatry they practiced. To use our words, "religion was religion--this new religion is just based in Jesus Christ."
Stress that it is easy to separate the importance of faith from the importance of thinking. One of the significant objectives of scripture is to make believers think.
Peter said, "No! That is not a correct assumption!" Note the things Peter had already stressed: (1) He called their attention to the fact the sacrifice was different (1:2). God sacrificed for the people instead of the people sacrificing for the deity. (2) God gave the gifts to people rather than people giving gifts to God (1:3-5). As an expression of His mercy, He gave them a living hope, an indestructible inheritance, and divine protection. (3) God paid an unbelievable price to make this happen (1:17-21). (4) Those humans closest to God knew He planned to do something incredible (1:10-12).
Emphasize the fact that Peter wanted his original readers to understand the religious uniqueness of salvation in Jesus Christ. If Christians do not grasp the uniqueness of God's salvation, they will not understand the uniqueness of the impact that salvation has on them as people. Christians will behave distinctively because their salvation is distinctive.
Their appropriate response was (1) to believe what God did through Jesus Christ (1:7-9) and (2) be as serious in serving God as God was serious about providing them salvation in Jesus Christ (1:13, 14). Their obedience would not be a "going through the motions so we can belong" type of obedience. It would be an obedience that recognized and rejoiced in the uniqueness of this new form of salvation. It would be an obedience that appreciated God's holiness and God's sacrificial nature.
Accepting God's salvation in Jesus Christ requires a human response. Obedience is the form (medium) of that response, but the response is much deeper than physical acts. Why a person obeys is as significant as what the person does in obedience. The obedient response comes from the conviction of faith in God's gift of salvation in Jesus Christ (it is a heart response as well as a physical response). If the inward conviction is absent, the outward deed is meaningless. It is impossible 'to go through the motions' and please God.
For some time, there has been a tendency to separate 'the truth' from Jesus Christ. That separation exists to (1) increase our comfort level and (2) distinguish us from other religious movements that appeal to Jesus Christ. The reasoning seems to be this: (1) we are unique because of what we believe. We believe 'the truth'--so it is our theological forms that make us religiously unique. (2) Anyone can believe Jesus is Lord. Such belief takes neither great insight nor understanding. To say Jesus is Lord means little today. (3) Therefore, 'what' you believe is more important than 'who' you believe in. Followed to its end conclusion, believing 'the truth' is more important than believing in 'the Savior.' Thus the truth and the Savior do not have to agree.
Stress that it is impossible to separate 'the truth' from Jesus Christ--for any reason! What a Christian believes and does cannot be inconsistent with who Jesus was (is).
The point is not that what one believes is unimportant. The point is that Christians must place their confidence in Jesus Christ through an understanding acceptance of what God did through him. There is a significant effort in Bible writers to create an unbreakable bond between Jesus and truth. Consider the gospel of John. Speaking of Jesus, the Word became flesh and lived among people, full of truth (1:14). Truth was 'realized' in (NASV) ['came by or through'--KJV, RSV, TEV, NIV, JB, NEB] Jesus (1:17). The person who practices truth comes to Jesus in order to make it evident that his actions are from God (3:21). Jesus heard the truth from God (8:40). With believing Jews, He associated discipleship, truth, and freedom with existing in him--and those people were offended (8:31-33). The night Jesus was arrested, he said he was the truth (14:6). That same night he said people who belong to truth listen to him (18:37).
The objective is not found in suggesting that what a person believes is unimportant. The objective of all Christians is to seek an increasingly accurate understanding of God's will in Jesus. The objective is to refuse to separate faith in Jesus from the existence of the truth.
Paul affirmed truth was in Jesus (Ephesians 4:21).
Divine truth does not exist apart from Jesus, and Jesus is the manifestation of divine truth. Thus an action or concept that is not in keeping with Jesus' character or words is not divine truth. That which is in keeping with Jesus' character and words is divine truth. When Christians look for truth, they begin with Jesus, and they never separate truth and Jesus. The truth that results in obedient salvation is not something that can be separated from Jesus Christ. In that understanding is comfort, and in it is fear--comfort when our practices are compatible with Jesus, fear when our practices are not.
As Christians continue their search for an understanding of 'the truth,' that search must include a continual commitment to better understand Jesus. Spiritually, truth is never inconsistent with the character and words of Jesus.
Peter wanted his readers to understand the uniqueness of salvation in Jesus Christ. What was the result of being 'born again' from a conception occurring from a divine process? What was the result of knowing that the physical was like the temporary grass and its flowers? What was the result of understanding that the salvation at work in them was eternal? What was the result of having Jesus Christ proclaimed to them?
The uniqueness of salvation in Jesus Christ is expressed in the behavior of the person, which includes his or her behavior in all relationships.
The result was this incredible bond that existed between all who were born again in Jesus Christ. The result was a love that linked such believers that was sincere, fervent, and from the heart. The result of the purification produced by obedience to the truth expressed itself in a love between those in Christ that was not seen in other human relationships.
Nowhere will that Christian behavior be more evident than in Christian-to-Christian relationships. There is a unique bond between Christians that exists nowhere else. That bond expresses itself in seeking each other's best and highest interests.
How unique this salvation is! Rather than honoring the God who made the salvation possible, it honors those remade in God's image (a second time!) with this uncommon love. Christians are to treat Christians with a form of caring not witnessed in any other human-to-human relationship. They learn that form of caring from Jesus Christ. He taught Christians how to care for each other through the sacrificial gift of his life! He did not die for perfect people, but for people in desperate need. Christians do not love each other because 'they have it all together.' They love each other because they are committed to allowing Jesus Christ to teach them what 'having it together' in God means.
Peter said the uniqueness of salvation in Jesus Christ is expressed in Christian-to-Christian caring for each other. This uniqueness is not dependent on perfection or agreement, but on being in Jesus Christ.
Incredibly, people are that important to God.
The fact that God willingly could make available to us this unique salvation in Jesus Christ stresses our importance to God.
For Thought and Discussion:
The continuing problem in every age is the need to grasp as fact that Christians continue to need to think and understand.
Their appropriate response was (1) to believe what God did in Jesus Christ, and (2) to be serious in serving God.
The tendency is to separate 'the truth' from Jesus Christ. The point is to encourage Christians to place their confidence in Jesus Christ by understanding what God did through him.
Examine John 1:14; 1:17; 3:21; 8:31-33; 8:40 ; 18:37. Place each scripture in context. The Gospel of John was the last of the New Testament gospels written. Is it not obvious in John's emphasis that the same basic problem of separating 'the truth' from Jesus Christ existed then?
The result is a form of love expressed in a mutual concern that is sincere, fervent, and from the heart.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 3