1 Peter 1:1-2

(1 Peter 1:1-2)

『Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.』

 

1 Peter is a letter written by the apostle Peter around 65 AD, when Roman emperor Nero began to persecute Christianity in earnest. This letter is called the Letter of Hope or the Letter of Encouragement. Through this letter, Peter encourages the Saints in trouble to overcome the great persecution that will soon come, and encourages them to have bold faith and hope that will not be shaken by any hardships and temptations. Therefore, this letter is a word of hope that tells them how to live personally and ethnically in affliction and how to overcome and endure this affliction.

 

『Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 』 We are all strangers scattered everywhere. It means that this land is a traveler. The traveler must return home. However, it is not simply scattered, but a scattered traveler sowing the seeds of the gospel. When the Lord scatters Christians, He has the will to scatter them, and He wants to sow the seed of the gospel. Therefore, the scattering of his people is done in the wonderful will and plan of God. The scattered traveler is because this is not our hometown. So Christians must live while longing for the heavenly home. Travelers cannot live the same life as a native.『Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 』

 

Because of Jesus' resurrection, those who believe are also born again. Many church people think of regeneration as a mental action. So they think they have to do something hard to reach the holy state. If they think so, they will only build their own righteousness. However, being born again means a body that was received as a parent, crucified with Jesus on the cross, and reborn from heaven. Being born again means a spiritual body. This body becomes the body of the spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:44. You cannot be born again unless you are united with Jesus' death. If you are not buried with Jesus, you cannot live in resurrection life. If there is no resurrection life, God's image, the spirit, remains dead, and the soul is the master. So Jesus is going to deny himself. The word "in Christ" does not apply unless buried with Jesus. Nothing is happening.

 

In James 1:18, 『Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures』. Truth means Jesus. Jesus was the first to die on the cross and was buried and resurrected in three days. It is to die with Jesus Christ and be born again in Christ. So, with the word of truth, it is born again as a new life. Before Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God said, "Be fruitful and multiply," but after they sinned and were expelled from the Garden of Eden, a spiny thistle emerged from the ground. How is the world different from the Garden of Eden? The first human Adam was created in the world. And God put him in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 2:7-8『And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.』

 

Eve was made in Eden in the East, where Satan was tempted, eating good and evil, and being driven out of the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3:23,『Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.』 The world means the land from which it was sourced, and the garden of Eden symbolizes the kingdom of God on this earth. However, even in the Garden of Eden, there was a tree to know good and evil. Even the old snake (Satan) appears. The old serpent was one of the archangels whom God called Gwangmyeongseong (Lucier in Greek), but through Isaiah, he wanted to be like God. Why is such a person in the Garden of Eden? It can be said that the Garden of Eden is an event that shows the things of the kingdom of God in the world.

 

The world that was first created was innocent. In Genesis 1:21『And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 』 However, because of the crime of the first man, Adam, humans were banished from the garden of Eden. Salvation is turning. So, we have to go back to the kingdom of God. Those who have sinned cannot go to the kingdom of God and cannot meet God. God told Moses on Mount Sinai to the people who came out of Egypt, "If you come up, you die." The first thing that God revealed to sinners is "Fear God." "Fear God" is a word that expresses fear.

 

Only in the place called, God shows that he is slow and kind. Only in the Ark shows God's kindness. So God gave the sanctuary and taught the people how to return to the kingdom of God. The sinner must die. In Romans 6:7, "For he that is dead is freed from sin." God is fearful. Sinners cannot meet God. The sinner must die. Those who are in Jesus Christ who died on the cross become dead to God. That is why Saints can meet God. Only those who take off the old man's clothes can enter the dead Christ on the cross.

 

Christ, who died on the cross, revealed the righteousness of God. Everyone sinned, and there is no remission without shedding blood. For God, sinners need to shed blood before they can be forgiven. If the sinner does not shed blood, he still has to meet him in the law. Sinners meet a fearful God in the law. God is afraid to be judged if any of the provisions of the law are broken. The blood of the beast was shed in the sanctuary, a model of the kingdom of God in the Old Testament. In the New Testament age, the Son of God, the Lamb, will take on the role of shedding Jesus Christ.

 

This is God's righteousness. The cross is the revelation of God's righteousness. Then Paul said, "The cross is God's love." Only when righteousness appears can God's love be applied. God's righteousness is that "the sinner must die." The sinner must die on the cross only when he is united with Christ who died on the cross. Only when the saints come from God to righteousness will they live in God's love.