"...Now Act Like It!" - 1 Peter 1:22-25 Commentary

[22] Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, [23] since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; [24] for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, [25] but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:22-25 ESV)

      The emphasis of much of 1 Peter chapter 1 is identity - specifically, our new identity as heirs of the heavenlies.  We have already discussed how we have traded the death we were once due for the life that only Christ can offer.  But does it end there?  Do we just sit in that assurance that we now belong to life and will live it forever.  No.  Eternal life is coupled with eternal purpose.
      We are born with a soul-  It is within us and it is where all of our actions are birthed, and from childhood, those actions are tainted by the curse of Adam- our earthly inheritance of sin.  But this natural bend and tendency towards sin is put to death along with Death, it's ultimate penalty, when we first hear of, and later respond to, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This is the "good news" or the Gospel.
      There is a moment in every Christian's life when the document is signed in a way... when the adoption becomes legal... when we respond to what Christ has done for us and his offer to make us his children (and simultaneously also his bride- we don't have an equivalent human relationship that fully encapsulates our relationship to the divine, so He uses many pictures.)  It begins in us with a dawning of the truth, "Christ died for me- for all of us- to free us from sin and death."  Then we respond by having faith and accepting his invitation for adoption, not by some magic prayer or mantra, but by sincere intention of the heart.  But then what?
      There is more to our response than just acknowledging we have been adopted-  Does a kid adopted from a life on the street by a suburban family return to the sleep in the gutters?  No!  He acts in a way consistent with his new family-  The focus here is not that his old ways were somehow wrong, but that it is not appropriate for him to continue to act like an orphan.  He does not need to beg on the street corner for food when the family that has lovingly adopted him is home lovingly preparing a delicious celebration feast!           And here Peter counsels that the way in which we act now that we are a part of Christ's family is to love.  We are free from only ever knowing the soul's inward bend to sin, and indwelt now by the Holy Spirit, and surrounded by the assembly- the rest of our new family- who spur us on to good works, our lives reflect that of Christ.  Sincerely and earnestly love from a pure heart is what the text says.  Let your love flow from the deep wells within that have been transformed by the power and revelation of the truth of who Christ is and what he has done.  If I may paraphrase the close of the first chapter of 1 Peter, "You've been made a son, now act like it!"

"The Resurrection is Essential" - 1 Peter 1:20-21

[20] He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you [21] who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1:19-21 ESV)

      Christ was always part of the plan.  As a lamb is raised and protected intended for a sacrifice, or the fattened calf is so fattened in preparation for a feast, Christ was, before any of creation, planned to be the mode by which God's perfect will would come to pass.
      This was written just after the time of Christ's manifest human life.  This was written in a time where Christ's physical "footprints" were still fresh; many who had seen him face to face were still alive and could recall moments and conversations with him never recorded by biblical scribes.
      Christ enables us to believe in the Father - and particularly, Christ's resurrection is the crux on which it all sits.  Without the resurrection from the dead, Death would still be victorious- it would have succeeded in silencing Christ in the same way that it had countless prophets before him as they eventually each succumbed to the grave.  Only in the resurrection are the prophecies fulfilled and God proven to keep his word.
      And because Christ was able to lay claim to victory over Death, we are then able to partake in that victory as well via our status as heirs- via the inheritance.  Faith and Hope can remain in God because the resurrection shows that he has the power and authority over both life and death, and that he follows through on his word.
   

"A New Father" - 1 Peter 1:17-19

[17] And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile*, [18] knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, [19] but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (1 Peter 1:17-19 ESV [footnote added])

      The Father in Heaven is a righteous judge and He knows each of our deeds.  He is able to keep a perfect tally of just what we are owed as a result of them.  Peter here counsels to be mindful of the price on our heads, and approach our Lord humbly, with fear, or "reverential awe" as I think it is better translated.  Once we recognize how great of a debt we owe, we can recognize how greatly we have been forgiven, for in the following verses we are given a promise of absolution.
      The main message here is the contrast between our former and future stock in eternity.  Peter makes reference to two vastly different inheritances, and the means of our transference from one to the other.  The "futile ways of our forefathers" from verse 18 is the first inheritance.  It's our birthright and lot in life- every son of Adam will inherit the struggle of sin and the promise of Death.  I read "futile ways" as our attempts to deal with this sin on our own, and since human power alone is never enough to defeat sin and Death, it is indeed an exercise in futility.  Even the Levitical sacrificial system was not enough to absolve man forever, it merely existed to point the way to the future solution, to give man a frame of reference with which to recognize it's appearance.
      Peter speaks of that solution in Christ's blood, using Levitical sacrificial imagery equating Christ with the passover lamb which must always be "without blemish or spot."  (This section is yet another strong case for the argument that Peter's intended readers were jews.)  In the sacrifice of Christ we are ransomed to a new inheritance.  There is a transference of ownership.  No longer are we bound to sin and Death (I speak of Death here as the Death of the soul in Hell forever, as we will all still succumb to the earthly grave, but it no longer has the power to hold us thereafter as it once did.)  Our inheritance now is life everlasting and the Holy Spirit, and hope and freedom from sin's death-grip on our lives.
      And so you see, from our forefathers we once stood to inherit Death, but now, from our Heavenly Father, we are set to inherit Life Eternal.  It is a story of adoption.  We have a new inheritance because we have a new Father.

*v17: It is worth noting that the phrase "the time of your exile" is understood to be used metaphorically as "your time of stay on earth," "your life," etc. and how it in many ways parallels a journey and is not intended as a direct reference to Jewish Diaspora.