Romans 1:16-17 Part 5
The Gospel is Unto Salvation–Present Tense
God’s Eternal Purpose in salvation is manifested in human history by His Church which is rooted in and anchored by a future hope.
I Peter 1:1-25
Vs 1-2 Peter is writing to those believers who were scattered from Jerusalem by persecution, primarily believing Jews. But notice Peter’s acknowledgment of salvation being from Eternity.
1. “Elect according to the Foreknowledge of God the Father.” Remember our previous look at II Timothy 1:9–our salvation is “according to His (the Father’s) Own Purpose & Grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus–BEFORE TIME BEGAN.”
Ephesians 3:11 “According to the Eternal Purpose which He (the Father) ACCOMPLISHED (past tense!)in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Note again Peter’s words: “Elect according to the Foreknowledge of God the Father.” Our Father’s Foreknowledge isn’t His knowing all things in some random future (that exists or possibly exists by some “eternal potential”). He doesn’t elect His Chosen Ones because He sees in the future that some are more pliable, have a softer will or heart. NO, NO. His Knowledge is before any human history, before any human possibility. No, It is His Perfect Knowledge before time that establishes history. Ephesians 1:9 makes it plain that He has revealed to us the “mystery of His Will, according to His Good Pleasure, which HE PURPOSED IN HIMSELF.” Our election as adopted children of the Most High God finds its source in the Good Pleasure, Purpose and Will of the Most High God, our Father. Period.
2. And remember, no One Member of the Glorious Triune Godhead works independently, that is separately. Therefore, in that Eternal Symphony of Redemption, we see the Father’s Election is in the sanctification (setting apart) of the Holy Spirit. Any idea of a salvation that is merely a fire escape from hell and leaves “saved souls” looking the same as before, is not rooted in Eternity. It is earthly and sensual. Those set apart by the Holy Spirit in the Foreknowledge of the Father behave differently, uniquely and progressively in each one. Romans 8 makes this plain. This is established in Eternity and worked out in time. The Spirit’s role in redemption is from and out of the Will of the Father, from Eternity into time, is always the harmonious setting apart, birthing a Holy distinct behavior, in the Elect ones.
3. And to seal this truth of the behavioral change of the chosen, Peter completes the Trinitarian Harmony by saying, “for obedience and sprinkling of the Blood of Christ.” We usually think of the Work of our Savior before the Work of the Son, but remember, sequence is only a thing of time! Peter is, however, speaking to time bound people. And he again stresses the “behavior change” of the Father’s Elect. The Elect are Foreknown, Set Apart, FOR obedience. To what? The Will and Purpose of the Father. And it is not a begrudging obedience, but is the same as our Savior Who prophetically says in Psalm 40:8, “I delight to do Your Will, O my God, and Your Law is within my heart”. The Goal of the Father’s Foreknowledge and the Spirit’s setting apart is the delighted Obedience which is the Family Likeness of the adopted children of God. And this is assured by the “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 13:8 speaks of our Jesus as the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” In 1:18-20, Peter declares that we are redeemed, “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him Glory, SO THAT YOUR FAITH AND HOPE ARE IN GOD.”
The Precious, Foreknown Sprinkling, is effectual in time to bring us to Eternity! In Hebrews 10:22, we see that this “evil conscience clearing” sprinkling on our hearts is the foundation to our “DARING TO DRAW NEAR” the Most High God Who, because of the blood and sprinkling, is now our Father. Hebrews 12:24 impresses upon us the Eternity of our Jesus, our Great High Priest, Who mediates the sprinkling of His Own Perfect Blood upon His People for all Eternity, unlike the temporary nature of those OT priest who kept dying! And this is the assurance of the Inheritance that Peter will speak of in verse 4.
Never forget, the Triune God is always harmonious in all He Does. As the Father Foreknows, the Spirit is sanctifying–setting apart, and the Son is “Sprinkling the Foreknown and Set Apart ones with His purchasing and purifying Blood!!! And the Goal is , that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him for we shall se Him as He IS.” (I John 3:2) And there you have Eternity again!
Vs 3 Notice Peter’s second acknowledgment of our God and Father as the origin of our salvation.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, WHO (the Father) according to His abundant Mercy (Remember His Name is Mercy!!! (Exodus 34:6-7) has begotten (that’s a birth term, a term of belonging–this is a family thing! (Ephesians 1:5; 3:14-15) to a LIVING HOPE through the RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD.”
1. The Father has begotten us to a LIVING HOPE! Notice that the Eternal future is the first thing on Peter’s mind when he speaks of the Father’s will and purpose and His Abundant Mercy. His first thought isn’t any earthly benefits. It isn’t that there aren’t any, but they are clouded into the background by the Glory of the Father’s ETERNAL will and purpose in salvation,
2. Vs 4 Following Peter’s thinking a bit further, we see in vs 4 that this “begetting” of the Father is “to an INHERITANCE incorruptible (margin imperishable–the wonderful contrast that is Eternity) and undefiled (unlike everything that exists in time) and that does not fade away. RESERVED IN HEAVEN FOR YOU.” Surely in some measure at least, this is what the Lord had in mind in Matthew 6:19-21, “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Do you see the practical point of our Lord’s and Peter’s thinking, and why salvation must be understood in this Eternal context? If we start our understanding of salvation from the human side only (What Jesus did, or will do for me in the here and now), we will end up with a materialistic, anchored in moth and rust salvation!!
a. Now notice that this is an Eternal INHERITANCE. Inheritances usually go the surviving family members of the deceased. In this Glorious case, the Deceased rose from the dead and thereby assured the Eternal Inheritance of His children. This is the reason for the incarnation as Hebrews 2:10-17 makes plain. There is no squabbling over this Inheritance. The rightful heirs are the chosen who bear the Father’s Name on their foreheads. (Eph. 3:14-15; Rev. 14:1)
3. Vs 3 This is what we see back in verse 3, that all of this Eternal inheritance, this Living Eternal Hope, is made ours through the “RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD.” In reality, this Lively Hope is Eternal Life, and that Life is in the Son, and is the Very Son. The Apostle John attests to this in I John 1:1-4. The Apostles were witnessing this very truth to us, “That Eternal Life which was with The Father and was manifested to us.” In Titus 1:2, Paul plainly states that this Lively Hope is Eternal Life. “.....In acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness (remember the Mystery of Godliness study which is all about Jesus), IN HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE, WHICH GOD, WHO CANNOT LIE, PROMISED BEFORE TIME BEGAN!!!”
a. I Corinthians 15:1-19 Paul is declaring to the Corinthians the Gospel which he preached to them (vs 1) and exhorts them to hold fast that word which he preached to them, by which they were saved. (vs 2). And what was that word, that Gospel? THE RESURRECTION!!!
1) “First of all that Christ died for our sins–according to the Scriptures”. Paul is speaking of the Old Testament prophesies, the OT being the only “scriptures” at this point. (Ps. 22:15; Isa 53; I Peter 1:10-12)
2) Secondly, “and that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day–according to the Scriptures.” (Ps 16:8-11/Acts 2:25-28; 68:18-19, 110:1-4; Hosea 6:2) Pay attention to Paul’s detail in Vs 5-9 of the witnesses to the Resurrection of our Lord. According to the Law, only two or three witnesses were needed. (Deut. 17:6, 19:15; Matt. 18:16) The Resurrection is verified by over 513 witnesses!!!
3) Vs 11 “Therefore, whether it was I or they (the 12 or any of the 513 witnesses for that matter), so we preach and so you believe.” The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is “Core Gospel” because It is through His Resurrection that we have a Living Hope and an Eternal Inheritance absolutely secure in heaven!!!
4) Vs 19 “If in this life only, we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable”. Without an Eternal Hope, and a Glorious Heavenly Inheritance, Eternal Life ministered to us continually by the Ever Living High Priest at the Father’s Right Hand (Hebrews 7:20-28), a dead and buried Jesus would be sufficient!!! He would be a nice moral example and if we follow his example and teachings, we might be saved from the worst of the mess that is this world. But there is no guarantee of that because bad stuff happens to good people. But we would be of all men most miserable for the rule of life without an Eternity would be “eat and drink for tomorrow you may die.”
5) Phil. 3:10a “That I may know Him and the Power of His Resurrection–(Vs 11) if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” But this is our confidence. Our Man did raise from the dead by the Glory (Spirit) of the Father (Rom. 6:4-5) and this Belief is the Gospel Root out of which our Life in God on this fallen earth grows. (Rom 6:6-14) As Romans 6 states, this belief in our Jesus’ Resurrection and our identification with Him in it is the source of the change of behavior His children long for.
6) Titus 2:11-15 Our “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts” is in the context of a continual “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” And again in Titus 3:4-7 “that having been justified by His Grace, WE SHOULD BECOME HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE.”
The Gospel is Unto Salvation–Present Tense
God’s Eternal Purpose in salvation is manifested in human history by His Church which is rooted in and anchored by a future hope.
I Peter 1:1-25
Vs 1-2 Peter is writing to those believers who were scattered from Jerusalem by persecution, primarily believing Jews. But notice Peter’s acknowledgment of salvation being from Eternity.
1. “Elect according to the Foreknowledge of God the Father.” Remember our previous look at II Timothy 1:9–our salvation is “according to His (the Father’s) Own Purpose & Grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus–BEFORE TIME BEGAN.”
Ephesians 3:11 “According to the Eternal Purpose which He (the Father) ACCOMPLISHED (past tense!)in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Note again Peter’s words: “Elect according to the Foreknowledge of God the Father.” Our Father’s Foreknowledge isn’t His knowing all things in some random future (that exists or possibly exists by some “eternal potential”). He doesn’t elect His Chosen Ones because He sees in the future that some are more pliable, have a softer will or heart. NO, NO. His Knowledge is before any human history, before any human possibility. No, It is His Perfect Knowledge before time that establishes history. Ephesians 1:9 makes it plain that He has revealed to us the “mystery of His Will, according to His Good Pleasure, which HE PURPOSED IN HIMSELF.” Our election as adopted children of the Most High God finds its source in the Good Pleasure, Purpose and Will of the Most High God, our Father. Period.
2. And remember, no One Member of the Glorious Triune Godhead works independently, that is separately. Therefore, in that Eternal Symphony of Redemption, we see the Father’s Election is in the sanctification (setting apart) of the Holy Spirit. Any idea of a salvation that is merely a fire escape from hell and leaves “saved souls” looking the same as before, is not rooted in Eternity. It is earthly and sensual. Those set apart by the Holy Spirit in the Foreknowledge of the Father behave differently, uniquely and progressively in each one. Romans 8 makes this plain. This is established in Eternity and worked out in time. The Spirit’s role in redemption is from and out of the Will of the Father, from Eternity into time, is always the harmonious setting apart, birthing a Holy distinct behavior, in the Elect ones.
3. And to seal this truth of the behavioral change of the chosen, Peter completes the Trinitarian Harmony by saying, “for obedience and sprinkling of the Blood of Christ.” We usually think of the Work of our Savior before the Work of the Son, but remember, sequence is only a thing of time! Peter is, however, speaking to time bound people. And he again stresses the “behavior change” of the Father’s Elect. The Elect are Foreknown, Set Apart, FOR obedience. To what? The Will and Purpose of the Father. And it is not a begrudging obedience, but is the same as our Savior Who prophetically says in Psalm 40:8, “I delight to do Your Will, O my God, and Your Law is within my heart”. The Goal of the Father’s Foreknowledge and the Spirit’s setting apart is the delighted Obedience which is the Family Likeness of the adopted children of God. And this is assured by the “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 13:8 speaks of our Jesus as the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” In 1:18-20, Peter declares that we are redeemed, “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him Glory, SO THAT YOUR FAITH AND HOPE ARE IN GOD.”
The Precious, Foreknown Sprinkling, is effectual in time to bring us to Eternity! In Hebrews 10:22, we see that this “evil conscience clearing” sprinkling on our hearts is the foundation to our “DARING TO DRAW NEAR” the Most High God Who, because of the blood and sprinkling, is now our Father. Hebrews 12:24 impresses upon us the Eternity of our Jesus, our Great High Priest, Who mediates the sprinkling of His Own Perfect Blood upon His People for all Eternity, unlike the temporary nature of those OT priest who kept dying! And this is the assurance of the Inheritance that Peter will speak of in verse 4.
Never forget, the Triune God is always harmonious in all He Does. As the Father Foreknows, the Spirit is sanctifying–setting apart, and the Son is “Sprinkling the Foreknown and Set Apart ones with His purchasing and purifying Blood!!! And the Goal is , that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him for we shall se Him as He IS.” (I John 3:2) And there you have Eternity again!
Vs 3 Notice Peter’s second acknowledgment of our God and Father as the origin of our salvation.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, WHO (the Father) according to His abundant Mercy (Remember His Name is Mercy!!! (Exodus 34:6-7) has begotten (that’s a birth term, a term of belonging–this is a family thing! (Ephesians 1:5; 3:14-15) to a LIVING HOPE through the RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD.”
1. The Father has begotten us to a LIVING HOPE! Notice that the Eternal future is the first thing on Peter’s mind when he speaks of the Father’s will and purpose and His Abundant Mercy. His first thought isn’t any earthly benefits. It isn’t that there aren’t any, but they are clouded into the background by the Glory of the Father’s ETERNAL will and purpose in salvation,
2. Vs 4 Following Peter’s thinking a bit further, we see in vs 4 that this “begetting” of the Father is “to an INHERITANCE incorruptible (margin imperishable–the wonderful contrast that is Eternity) and undefiled (unlike everything that exists in time) and that does not fade away. RESERVED IN HEAVEN FOR YOU.” Surely in some measure at least, this is what the Lord had in mind in Matthew 6:19-21, “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Do you see the practical point of our Lord’s and Peter’s thinking, and why salvation must be understood in this Eternal context? If we start our understanding of salvation from the human side only (What Jesus did, or will do for me in the here and now), we will end up with a materialistic, anchored in moth and rust salvation!!
a. Now notice that this is an Eternal INHERITANCE. Inheritances usually go the surviving family members of the deceased. In this Glorious case, the Deceased rose from the dead and thereby assured the Eternal Inheritance of His children. This is the reason for the incarnation as Hebrews 2:10-17 makes plain. There is no squabbling over this Inheritance. The rightful heirs are the chosen who bear the Father’s Name on their foreheads. (Eph. 3:14-15; Rev. 14:1)
3. Vs 3 This is what we see back in verse 3, that all of this Eternal inheritance, this Living Eternal Hope, is made ours through the “RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD.” In reality, this Lively Hope is Eternal Life, and that Life is in the Son, and is the Very Son. The Apostle John attests to this in I John 1:1-4. The Apostles were witnessing this very truth to us, “That Eternal Life which was with The Father and was manifested to us.” In Titus 1:2, Paul plainly states that this Lively Hope is Eternal Life. “.....In acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness (remember the Mystery of Godliness study which is all about Jesus), IN HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE, WHICH GOD, WHO CANNOT LIE, PROMISED BEFORE TIME BEGAN!!!”
a. I Corinthians 15:1-19 Paul is declaring to the Corinthians the Gospel which he preached to them (vs 1) and exhorts them to hold fast that word which he preached to them, by which they were saved. (vs 2). And what was that word, that Gospel? THE RESURRECTION!!!
1) “First of all that Christ died for our sins–according to the Scriptures”. Paul is speaking of the Old Testament prophesies, the OT being the only “scriptures” at this point. (Ps. 22:15; Isa 53; I Peter 1:10-12)
2) Secondly, “and that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day–according to the Scriptures.” (Ps 16:8-11/Acts 2:25-28; 68:18-19, 110:1-4; Hosea 6:2) Pay attention to Paul’s detail in Vs 5-9 of the witnesses to the Resurrection of our Lord. According to the Law, only two or three witnesses were needed. (Deut. 17:6, 19:15; Matt. 18:16) The Resurrection is verified by over 513 witnesses!!!
3) Vs 11 “Therefore, whether it was I or they (the 12 or any of the 513 witnesses for that matter), so we preach and so you believe.” The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is “Core Gospel” because It is through His Resurrection that we have a Living Hope and an Eternal Inheritance absolutely secure in heaven!!!
4) Vs 19 “If in this life only, we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable”. Without an Eternal Hope, and a Glorious Heavenly Inheritance, Eternal Life ministered to us continually by the Ever Living High Priest at the Father’s Right Hand (Hebrews 7:20-28), a dead and buried Jesus would be sufficient!!! He would be a nice moral example and if we follow his example and teachings, we might be saved from the worst of the mess that is this world. But there is no guarantee of that because bad stuff happens to good people. But we would be of all men most miserable for the rule of life without an Eternity would be “eat and drink for tomorrow you may die.”
5) Phil. 3:10a “That I may know Him and the Power of His Resurrection–(Vs 11) if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” But this is our confidence. Our Man did raise from the dead by the Glory (Spirit) of the Father (Rom. 6:4-5) and this Belief is the Gospel Root out of which our Life in God on this fallen earth grows. (Rom 6:6-14) As Romans 6 states, this belief in our Jesus’ Resurrection and our identification with Him in it is the source of the change of behavior His children long for.
6) Titus 2:11-15 Our “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts” is in the context of a continual “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” And again in Titus 3:4-7 “that having been justified by His Grace, WE SHOULD BECOME HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE.”