1. What is “this”, or, in this verse, what is the cause of the Christian’s rejoicing?

 

1. Why are trials necessary? Is it because faith in verse 5 is the active agent for blessing?

1 Peter 1:7

1. What is the proof of your faith?

 

1. What is more precious than gold which perishes? Note: it must be something which does not perish even if tested by fire (l:7b).

 

1. How does faith result in “praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ”? See v. 9.

Assignment Questions

1 Peter 1:8

1. Where is faith found in this verse?1 Peter 1:9

 

1. What is salvation in this verse? Is it the same as salvation in Isa 35:4–7?

 

1. What is the relationship of verse 9 to the first eight verses of chapter one?

 

1. What causes the great rejoicing in verse 8?

 

1. In verse 9, and in the message of the preceding verses do you have a soul, or are you one? Note also 1 Peter 2:11, 25; 4:19.

 

1. What is the soul which by faith you obtain the salvation of?

1 Peter 1:10

1. What is “this salvation” in this verse?

 

1. Who are “the prophets” of verse 10?

 

1. When the prophets “prophesied of grace that would come to you” in v. 10, of what were they prophesying?

 

1. When was this grace prophesied to be available? Note: The Greek reads “concerning the grace for you.”

 

1. What is the relationship between “this salvation” and “grace” in verse 10?

Assignment Questions

1 Peter 1:11

1. In the context of verses 1–10 what are “the glories to follow” the sufferings of Christ?

 

1. What did the prophets seek to understand?

1 Peter 1:12

1. To whom or for whom are the prophets’ messages; the ones pointing forward to “the glories to follow” the sufferings of Christ? Is this the primary application?

 

1. Compare the content of the prophets prophecy in verse 11 and the content of the apostles preaching, according to verse 12. Why does Peter say “who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit”?

 

1. What is the specific content that the angels desire to look into, according to verses 1–12?

Assignment Answers

1 Peter 1:6

1. “This” in verse 6 is the salvation and inheritance of verses 1–5, the cause of the Christians’ rejoicing, which as we have seen includes:
   1. being chosen by God (v. 1).
   2. being sanctified by the Spirit (v. 2).
   3. being sprinkled with His blood (v. 2).
   4. receiving grace and peace (v. 2).
   5. being born again (v. 3).
   6. having been chosen to receive a reserved inheritance (v. 4).
   7. being protected by the power of God for a salvation yet to be revealed (v. 5).

 

1. Trials are necessary because they are God’s workmen. When properly received they result in the restoration of the damage sin has made. Trials cause us to exercise faith, and faith activates grace, and grace restores the soul. Faith is the active agent for blessing.

   Here it is easy to see that when we have adequate faith, trials are not longer necessary. Note: “When we really believe that God loves us and means to do us good we shall cease to worry about the future. We shall trust God as a child trusts a loving parent. Then our troubles and torments will disappear, for our will is swallowed up in the will of God.

   “… like the manna given in the wilderness, His grace is bestowed daily, for the day’s need.

   “If you will seek the Lord and be converted everyday; if you will of your own spiritual choice be free and joyous in God; if with gladsome consent of heart to His gracious call you come wearing the yoke of Christ,—the yoke of obedience and service,—all your murmurings will be stilled, all your difficulties will be removed, all the perplexing problems that now confront you will be solved” (Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 101).

1 Peter 1:7

1. Faith works by love and purifies the soul. Therefore, the saving of your soul is the proof of your faith.

 

1. Your soul (v. 9).

 

1. Faith activates the grace which results in the saving of the soul. The salvation of those for whom Christ died brings Him glory and honor. The salvation of the soul is the goal of God’s work for fallen man. It is Christ and Satan contending and the prize for which they contend is the soul of man. See quotation #4 above.

1 Peter 1:8

1. In the expressed joy over that which is not yet seen; the love expressed to Him who is not yet visible.

1 Peter 1:9

1. Salvation in this verse is the work of God for your soul. In Isa 35:4–7 being saved is a physical miracle, the healing of the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, the legs of the lame; even dry places are healed—the scorched land will become a pool.

 

1. Verse 9 is the expression of the implied subject of verses 1–8. All that God has done to produce faith in verses 1–7 is for the purpose of having faith result in the salvation of the soul of the one chosen, born again, etc., the subjects of vv. 1–7.

 

1. The knowledge of the purpose of God’s plan for fallen man—the salvation of souls (v. 9).

 

1. I have a soul.

 

1. That portion of man which stays in the grave when man’s spirit returns to God who gave it, and his dust returns to dust never to be resurrected; it is a much nicer material God makes the resurrected body out of. As such the soul is that portion of man that contains the elements of eternal life.

1 Peter 1:10

1. “This salvation” in verse 10 is that which is the subject of verses 1–9; the salvation of your soul.

 

1. The writers of the Old Testament.

 

1. Of “this salvation.” The phrases “this salvation,” and “the grace that would come to you” are in parallel construction.

 

1. The beginning point is not stated by Peter but he does say that there is “grace for you”(grk), the reader.

 

1. Grace brings salvation when it comes to you.

 

1 Peter 1:11

1. The “glories to follow” the sufferings of Christ in v. 10 is the result of “the grace that would come to you.” In the context of verses 1–10 the glories to follow are “the salvation of your souls” (v. 9).

 

1. The person involved—was Isaiah 53 to be applied to a divine Savior?, and such questions. Was Isaiah predicting a suffering Messiah, and, who would fill the role predicted?

   They also sought to understand the time portion of the material they prophesied; as we ask, will it be in my day?

   Note: In the opinion of this writer the prophets were less concerned with the suffering aspects of the life of the One to come than they were with the results to follow; the glories “after these” (grk).

1 Peter 1:12

1. To “you”; primarily, the apostle Peter’s contemporary readers, and, secondarily, to anyone who reads and has experienced verses 1–9 of this chapter.

 

1. Past prophets presented to Peter’s hearers the same things Peter and his associates proclaimed to his hearers. Peter sets forth the fact the prophets and “those who preached the gospel to you” were spoken through by the same Holy Spirit in order to base the hearer’s faith in the work of the Holy Spirit and the consistency of His message. One can hear echoes here of the verse which we know so well—we have not proclaimed to you cunningly devised fables. The message we have faith in has its foundation in the inner witness of the Holy Spirit; not in the reasonableness of the message, Peter declares, nor in the fact that it is Peter who declares it.

   These verses support the following statement appearing in the Spirit of Prophecy.

   “Of Christ’s life and death and intercession, which prophets had foretold, the apostles were to go forth as witnesses. Christ in His humiliation, His purity and holiness, in His matchless love, was to be their theme. And in order to preach the gospel in its fullness, they must present the Savior not only as revealed in His life and teachings, but as foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament and as symbolized in the sacrificial service” (Christ’s Object Lessons. 127).

 

1. What Peter proclaimed by the Holy Spirit, and what the prophets prophesied by the Holy Spirit; the sufferings of Christ, and the salvation of the soul following after (cf. vv. 10, 11).

   “In Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead. But the only way in which He could reach men was to veil His glory by a garb of humanity. The angels beheld the hiding of His glory, that divinity might touch humanity. Christ ever retained the utmost hatred for sin, but He loved the purchase of His blood. He suffered in the place of sinful men, taking them into union with Himself. “This is the mystery into which angels desire to look. They desire to know how Christ could live and work in a fallen world, how He could mingle with sinful humanity. It was a mystery to them that He who hated sin with intense hatred felt the most tender, compassionate sympathy for the beings that committed sin (ST Jan. 20, 1898)” (7BC904, par. 3, 4).

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