Ep 339 – 1 Peter 1:3-12

In today's episode, we'll in verses 3-12 of 1 Peter 1. In this section, Peter spends some significant time talking about God Himself, the very one who chose the ones to whom Peter is writing. He wants them understand the incredible worthiness of God. He is sovereign over everything and everyone, and it was He who had made possible their salvation. Peter owed his apostleship to God. They owed their salvation to God. But how easy it is for us to forget the unprecedented role that God has played in our salvation and the redemption of mankind. We can take God for granted and begin to think our salvation was somehow our decision. But Peter won't let us go there. He refuses to allow us to treat God flippantly or to see His gift of grace through Jesus Christ as somehow our doing. No, Peter will go out of his way to make sure his readers understand that they did not deserve to be chosen by God. They had not earned His good graces or merited His favor. He had chosen them in spite of them, not because of them. And while they may be enduring some trials and tribulations in this life, they had no business turning their back on God just because it had gotten a little hot in the kitchen. Their having been chosen by God was a privilege, not a right. It was a blessing from God that should result in their grateful willingness to bless Him in return.