Gospel Outreach International

Have you ever wondered whether your past failures could disqualify you from being used by God? Or perhaps you have felt that faith is something reserved for people who seem more certain, more steady, more together than you? This bible study opens with one of the most remarkable figures in the New Testament, a man who got it spectacularly wrong more than once and yet became one of the great pillars of the early church. As you open your Bible to 1 Peter, you are stepping into a letter written in the shadow of real danger, to real people who needed real hope. What you will discover is not a list of things to do to earn God’s favour, but something far more surprising and far more freeing.

who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:5

• Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, wrote this letter to encourage Christians who were facing violent persecution, particularly under the Roman Emperor Nero, who had Christians burned alive and torn apart by animals.
• Although some have questioned Peter’s authorship due to the quality of the Greek, the letter was dictated by Peter and written down by a man called Silvanus, a common practice in the ancient world.
• Peter was not the very first disciple but was brought to Jesus by his brother Andrew, and went on to become one of the inner three alongside James and John, witnessing the Transfiguration and preaching the first sermon after Pentecost.
• Despite dramatically denying Christ three times in a single night, Peter was restored and remained faithful for over thirty years, demonstrating that no matter how great the fall, repentance always leads to forgiveness.
• Believers are described as chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, meaning God, who knows the end from the beginning, has called those who place their faith in Christ to be his children and to reflect his character.
• We are not chosen for salvation in a way that condemns others to hell; rather, God loves all people and makes the gospel available to all, and everyone who trusts in Christ is chosen by him.
• The sanctifying work of the Spirit is what brings people to Christ; our role is to faithfully preach and teach the word, and the Spirit’s role is to convict and convert.
• Faith is not a mysterious force but belief in the word of God acted upon in obedience, and it is the Spirit who sets people apart and draws them into a living relationship with Christ.
• The image of sprinkling with blood points back to the Day of Atonement, when the high priest sprinkled blood on the mercy seat, covering the broken law within the Ark of the Covenant, picturing how Christ’s blood covers our sin and identifies us as God’s own.
• Believers are promised an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven, in contrast to earthly wealth which can be lost or corrupted.
• Salvation operates in three tenses: we have been saved from the penalty of sin, we are being saved from the power of sin, and we will be saved from the very presence of sin when we are finally brought into glory.
• Every believer has been given a gift from God to be used in his service, and faithful use of those gifts here is a training ground and preparation for eternal service in glory.
• Even though we have never seen Jesus physically, we can love him genuinely, and this is presented as one of the beautiful marks of the Christian in every generation since the first.

obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:9

Everything in this study points in the same direction. From Peter’s own story of failure and restoration, to the image of blood sprinkled on the mercy seat, to the promise of an inheritance that nothing in this world can touch, it all comes back to Jesus. He is the one who chose us before we chose him, the one whose blood covers what we could never clean up ourselves, and the one in whom we have a hope that neither suffering nor death can take away. You may not have seen him, but you can love him, and that is enough to build a whole life on.

Bible References

• 1 Peter 1 1-12:
• 1 Peter 5:12
• John 1
• John 3
• Matthew 6:19-20