Study of First Peter                                       Lesson 4

Review:

 

 

1:3   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

This phrase does 2 things for us; 1st,  it tells us who is the "Blessed" and secondly deals with the relationship of the Father to the Son.

 

-  "Blessed  =  euvloghto,j;  verbal adjective; indicates one who is worthy of blessing, based on their character!

 

- This word is only, and I stress only, used of God, of deity!

 

God is not only the source of blessing as we will find but He is the only one who is worthy of ascribing praise, honor to. 

 

-  As believers we are blessed by God NOT on the basis of our personal merit;  but on the basis of our position IN CHRIST and our application of the full knowledge of Christ from the word!

 

 

"Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,"

-  What relationship is meant when Jesus is spoken of as having a God and Father? That God is both His God and Father?

 

- But what about Father? God being referred to as His Father?

Note carefully what it says in  Jn 20:17.

 

- The point that He is making is that there is a unique relationship that I have with the Father that you do not have!    Its a distinct, different relationship!

 

- For Jesus to call God His Father was a claim to deity.

 

- There is another aspect, the designation of Father points to the establishment of order in the Trinity.

 

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit exist as co-equal in nature, but there is a subordination in the Godhead as to function. 

 

 

This in no way is a depletion of equality, of character at all, it is equality with leadership!      

 

who according to His great mercy  has caused us to be born again 

Peter at this point is emphasizing the extent to which God went to redeem us and to provide us with our salvation. He describes it as God's great mercy!!

 

- mercy  =   refers to God's grace in action, here includes everything related to the 1st Advent of Jesus Christ and the provision of Salvation.

- In the flow of the context it indicates the emphasis Peter is making on the provision for the removal of the barrier that stands between God and an unbelieving mankind, that of man's physical birth.

 

 

Some Observations

1. Everyone is born physically alive but spiritually dead separated from God.  Eph 2:1

 

2. This results from the imputation of Adam's original sin to its genetically prepared home, the sin nature at the point of physical birth.   Rom 5:12

 

- Need to think in terms of         cause         and              effect;

                                              sin nature    à   Imputation of Adam's original sin  (IAOS)

                                                IAOS          à  Spiritual death

 

3.  We have on our own absolutely no ability to acquire spiritual life which is required to have a relationship with God.  1 Cor 2:14

 

4.  God's integrity, that is, His holiness will not permit Him to have a relationship with unrighteousness, that is sin and evil.  Hab. 1:13

 

5.  For mankind to acquire and maintain a relationship with God we must acquire God's life which is both spiritual and eternal.

 

6.  At the point of faith in Christ, that is salvation, we acquire a human spirit plus the ministry of the Holy Spirit who now indwells to enable us to have fellowship with God.

 

7.  At the same time, that is the point of salvation,   we also acquire eternal life which enables us to have fellowship with God for eternity.

 

8.  We should note that spiritual life and eternal life can only be imparted by one who possesses this life.  John 1:12-13

 

 

9.  Many attempts to avoid or reject the problem of our being born in Adam and the ramifications of the barrier it raises between God and man.

a. the idea of the brotherhood of man, we're all children of God. Argument of the Pharisees in John 8:31-59

 

b. have the substitute of religion, that is ritual for spiritual life.

c. have today the rise of cults, mysticism and other Satanic counterfeits with all there attendant solutions to the problem of the barrier of human birth.  (human works)

 

10.  God's simple solution to the problem of our physical birth is regeneration, being born again.

 

has caused us to be born again  

This takes us to the work of the Holy Spirit in Salvation.

 

So Peter here is describing salvation as a new birth, a second birth!  It's a spiritual birth.  Ties to being a new creation in Christ 2 Cor 5:17.