Lesson 69
Study of
First Peter Chapter 4
Review
But to
the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ,
Rabbit
trail Phil 3:10
The emphasis now shifts to Ph-2 our life as a
believer.
"that I may know Him" > ginwskw (aor pass inf) inf expresses purpose
- It is Paul's stated purpose to know
Christ as it should be for every believer.
- ?? is what does
knowing, ginwskw, emphasize.
- Paul wanted to know Jesus Christ in the
deepest and truest Biblical sense and that is personally and experientially.
And he wanted this relationship then to affect his day to day living.
The rest of verse 10 actually pinpoints the
particular experiential knowledge of Christ Paul has in view.
#1 -
"...and the power of His
resurrection"
> dunamij - speaks of power that
overcomes resistance
- It is this power that enables us to
"live a new life, "to walk in a newness of life" that
he speaks of in Rom 6:4
The Jew was proud of his religious heritage.
The Greek was proud of his wisdom.
But the Roman was proud of his power.
But Paul knew that at best it was only the third
strongest power in the world.
It was this knowledge of the resurrection power of
Christ and the reality of it in the life of the believer that prompted him to
write. Eph. 1:18-20;
Second
aspect of the knowledge of Christ
#2 "...and the fellowship of His sufferings,"
-
During His ministry he endured great suffering and hostility as a consequence
of His message.
- We
as believers as we are identified with Christ experientially, we will incur a
measure of the sufferings and afflictions that Christ would experience if He
was still here.
-
Three passages to fill in some principles.
#1 - 2 Tim. 3:12 [in life]
#2 - 2 Cor. 1:5
[sufferings of Christ do not exceed the comforts of Christ]
#3 - 1 Pet. 4:13 [motivated by
the ultimate goal]
- obedience
to the will of the Father is the key to dealing with this type of suffering.
- If we are to know Him, to
really know Him, we must be willing to obey Him completely.
"...being conformed to His death,"
- Being conformed to His death, pres. tense, speaks of the
ongoing process of sanctification; being set apart in ones life to
Christ.
How
are we to be conformed to his death?
What is this process?
Those who have died with Him
and have risen with Him are to reflect this truth in their life. To live out our new
paternity in Christ daily. Col. 3:1-4
Back to 1
Pet 4:13
But to the degree that you
share in the sufferings of Christ, What are we to do?
keep on rejoicing, pres act imp of (cai,rw) to
rejoice; to have inner happiness
This indicates that the one
undergoing the UNDSF has not become disoriented by the suffering, whatever it
is, remembering the objective in life to honor God in all things; always keeping in
mind the final objective to stand before Him irreprehensible at JSC.
so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice
with exultation.
Peter in this purpose clause
indicates that ultimately he is oriented to f3. Its always in his thinking/motivation as it should be for
us!
Peter is saying that our
motivation when facing the suffering or tests of life that we should do so with
the view that our decisions in dealing
with them has an impact on the future that is at the revelation of His glory which brings us to a reference to the rapture
and the subsequent JSC.
His point here is that when
you get to the revelation of His glory in a resurrection body at the JSC you may
rejoice with exultation.
- subjunctive is a
potential, that is, whether your able to rejoice at the JSC is based on your f2 application of BD, living
out the truth
- The coupling of this ptc with the pres. imp makes the rejoicing emphatic and
intensive
- The
present tense indicates that the exultation is enduring.
Point is that whenever there is an eschatological
hope and its a living reality in the life of the
believer, it inspires a loyalty to the Lord and promotes a readiness to suffer
for Him now.