Foundations of Faith -

In Layman’s Terms
Ryan James

Hello and welcome to Pastors Vox. In this series, we will be going through 1 Peter. My goal in this is to help establish what our foundation truly is. As believers, I am sure we all understand that our foundation is Jesus Christ and his saving grace. Through this series, I want to dive in and establish what that truly means. To those who may not yet be saved, I hope that this will also help you to understand why it is that we as sinners need a savior.

In this opening of the Book Peter starts by giving his credibility to be able to make the claims he is about to make through the book. Peter Identifies himself as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, making him qualified and giving him the authority to author this book of the bible. This means that we can be sure that what we are reading here in the scripture is not only true but that it is also the infallible word of God. Here Peter greets the chosen, which refers to God’s elect whose true citizenship is in heaven. Although we live in the world, we are foreigners in the land. the word used here is Parepidemois (par-ep-id’-ay-mos) meaning alien alongside, or resident foreigner. Philippians 3:20 says “For our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ”.

Peter helps to clarify that we are chosen by God with a few key phrases “According to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” This is made manifest in the Spirit’s sanctifying work in us through the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. Our being chosen by God to be citizens of heaven is based on God’s grace and love for us since before our creation. We were chosen so that we may serve God. This is accomplished by the sanctifying work of the Spirit so that we may be able to “obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood.” We can take comfort in the fact that as God’s elect, we have not earned this, but it is by God’s sovereignty. It is by his grace that we are saved through the blood of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. Paul makes this evident in Ephesians 2:1-5, 8-9, in verses one through three Paul establishes that we were dead in our sins and separated from God. While we were separated from God we were on our way towards God’s holy anger and punishment for our sins. In verses four and five Paul presents the good news of the gospel that while we were once dead we are now alive with Christ for we have been saved by grace. Paul elaborates on the claim made in verse five that it is “by grace you have been saved” in verse eight. Here Paul establishes that it is not by works that we are saved but by grace through faith. We as humans take pride in what we have accomplished through our efforts but, here Paul makes it clear that it is not our works but, it is a gift of God. Salvation is not something we have earned so we have no room for us to boast as though this was a result of our works.

Peter starts verse three by praising God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter makes it clear that it is by the hand of the Father and his great mercy that we have been born again. The statement “his great mercy” makes it clear that we do not deserve to receive God’s favor, but he gives it to us sinners anyway. It is made evident that we are born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The fact that we are born again through God’s underserving favor gives us a living hope. We as Christians find our hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have assurance in the fact that Jesus Christ is alive. We have hope in the knowledge that Jesus not only went to the cross to die for our sins taking the punishment that we so rightfully deserved but that he also rose from the dead on the third day. The term “living” here means that our hope is real, unlike the false hope that is offered by the world.

In verse four Peter presents that our hope is of an inheritance that will not perish, is undefiled, and will not be destroyed. These three modifiers point to the fact that our inheritance is not one of the world but, instead one of heaven. The phrase “reserved in heaven for you” or “kept watch on by God” lets us know that we can be assured that it is secure. Verse five deepens our assurance as in this inheritance as it is secured by the power of God. The phrase “protected (or shielded) by the power of God” Gives us peace so that we can know that the Almighty God himself is the protector of our inheritance. We as heirs have been given salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ that shall be fully revealed to us in the end times.

In these passages, we can see the repeated theme that it is by God’s will that we are saved not by our works. We can see that without God’s choosing of us, we would have no hope of salvation. But the fact that God sent his only son Jesus, the sinless and perfect man, to the cross to die a most painful and excruciating death that he did not deserve but, we as sinners separated from God deserved gives us true hope. But the story did not end at the cross, Jesus then rose from the dead defeating, death and giving us the gift of salvation. As established through these verses, we cannot earn this gift through our works it, is only by grace through faith that we have salvation.

I hope that this has helped to bring a greater understanding of where our faith comes from. If you have not accepted Jesus into your life and this does not apply to you, and would like to understand more about the gift of salvation please, reach out to us we would be more than happy to discuss this with you. Thank you for watching this has been In Layman’s Terms with Pastors Vox, God bless.

Bibliography

The bible Knowledge commentary New Testament edition – Walvoord & Zuck

The Moody Bible Commentary – Michael Rydlnik & Michael Vanlaningham

Strongs concordance – James Strong

Foundations of Faith

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