HIS SERVANTS' MINISTRY

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The Book of 1 Peter

Introduction

I will do the First Peter Commentary similar to my other Commentaries . . . in that I will bring the verse or verses in the KJV, followed by what it is saying to me. What I write will be a personal comment, it is NOT Scripture.

Peter wrote this letter. He was one of the 12 apostles. His name was Simon, but Jesus changed it to Peter (John 1:42). ‘Peter’ means ‘a rock’ or ‘a stone’. In New Testament times many people could speak and read the Greek language. Peter wrote this letter in the Greek language. This meant that the good news about Jesus could spread easily.

A man called Silas (sometimes the Bible calls him Silvanus) helped Peter to write the letter (1 Pet. 5:12). In those days, some men were expert writers. They helped people to write their letters in the proper way. Peter wrote this letter about 30 years after Jesus returned to Heaven.

Who received this letter?

In the first verse, Peter lists 5 countries. Most of these are in the country that we now call Turkey. On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) people from three of these countries were visiting the city of Jerusalem. Some of these people may have become Christians there. Perhaps they went home and started new churches. Peter wrote to Jews and Gentiles who became Christians. Gentiles are people who are not Jews. Gentiles did not believe in the TRUE God. Peter gave the letter to someone who traveled to the main churches in these areas. This person read the letter aloud to the Christians. Then people copied it and sent it to all the smaller churches near to them.

Why Peter wrote this letter.

Peter wants to encourage Christians who are suffering for Christ. Although Christians might suffer in this life, they will not suffer for ever. This world is not their real home. Heaven is their real home. One day they will live with God in Heaven and share God’s glory.

Peter also wants his readers to understand the grace of God. He wants every Christian to know what God has done for them. He wants them to learn more about God.

This letter is very practical. When a person becomes a Christian, his life changes. Peter tells his readers how to live a good Christian life. Peter was with Jesus for about three years. He saw all that Jesus did. He heard all that Jesus said. Peter is writing to encourage Christians to live like Jesus.

This Letter is addressed to believers in general, who are strangers in every city or country where they live, and are scattered through the nations. These are to attribute their salvation to the love of the Father, the redemption of the Son and the sanctification of the Holy Ghost . . . and because of this, they are to give glory to one God in three Persons, into whose Name they had been baptized.

Hope, in the world's eyes, refers only to an uncertain good, because worldly hopes totter on the sand, and the world's hopes of Heaven are blind and groundless guesses. But the hope of the sons of the living God is a living hope. It enlivens and comforts in all distresses, enables us to meet and get over all difficulties. Mercy is the springboard of this well-grounded hope of salvation, and is an active and living principle of obedience in the soul of the believer.

The TRUE Christian's joy is the happiness laid up for him by the Promise of Almighty God. Our inheritance is incorruptible, it will never come to nothing, it is an estate that cannot be spent, and it is undefiled and fadeth not away. 1 Peter 1:4-5 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (KJV)

Happy are those whose hearts the Holy Spirit sets on this awesome and indescribable inheritance. God not only gives His people grace, but He preserves them unto glory. May you strive to believe Christ's excellence and His love to us; for this will rise up in you a tremendous love for Him. The certainty of this hope of eternal life is as if believers had already received it. (John 5:24).

The place from whence it seems to be written was Babylon (5:13), which is to be understood not symbolically as either of Rome or Jerusalem, but Babylon, the metropolis of Chaldea, or Assyria. The persons to whom it is written were mainly Jews.

All worldly riches and possessions are stained with sin, either in getting them or in using them. Worldly possessions are uncertain and soon pass away, like the flowers and plants of the field. But, eternal life is of the greatest worth, which is laid up in the highest and best place, in Heaven. Matthew 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (KJV)

Bible Commentaries

First Peter

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