NCJ

(A verse-by-verse study of First Peter from a NCT perspective.)

6  [A sure to come deliverance] in which you rejoice exceedingly, if now for a little while it is necessary that you are those distressed in manifold trials.

The prospect of an indestructible, eternal inheritance protected by nothing less than the power of the Almighty is something worth shouting about. And yet we must remember that it is a hope. We are not there, we're here; and while we are here, we should anticipate many griefs.

Peter calls these griefs trials (peirasmos). When a person is accused of a crime, he goes to trial so that his innocence or guilt can be determined by the evidence and the eye-witness testimonies. The apostle instructs us to view our struggles in a similar manner. When difficult circumstances come, our reactions to them prove, one way or the other, whether we have indeed experienced the new birth by God's Spirit or are simply pretending to be converted to Christ. To present the proverbial example, if a man walks up and puts a gun to your head and commands, "Renounce Christ or die!" you are not likely to stand firm if your Christianity has no more substance than the fish stuck on your bumper. The same test comes when following Christ causes you bodily pain or property damage or embarrassment, or costs you a promotion or a job or a spouse or money. The outcome of these hard experiences is proof of your sincerity. Or not. (Cf. Rom. 5:1-5).

These trials come in all shapes and sizes. Peter calls them "various" (poikilos), a word used of Joseph's famous polychromatic coat (Gen. 37:3), and of the assorted afflictions Jesus healed (Matt. 4:24), and of the multi-faceted lusts and desires that we had before our repentance (Titus 3:3), and of the differing miracles that God displayed to prove that Jesus was His Son (Heb. 2:4). Just as all of these things are quite diverse, so also we can expect the forms of our suffering to be varied. They will be different from time to time and from person to person.

Now, for a little while. Compared to the everlasting, unending, infinite amount of time we will spend in Paradise, the present suffering, no matter how severe, is brief. This is not to make light of any affliction, but simply to put it in perspective. Tomorrow will come, but it may not come tomorrow.

It is necessary. The test is not optional; we must take it. After being pummeled with stones to the point that his persecutors thought he was dead, Paul arose and began to teach the believers that, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). Christ's suffering was necessary (Acts 17:3) and so is ours. It has happened, is happening, and will happen to God's people. It is necessary because in God's benevolent wisdom, He will discipline and refine His people. Although it seems unlikely at the time, suffering is an act of God's grace. Therefore, we will rejoice because of our trials.

(A verse-by-verse study of First Peter from a NCT perspective.)

5  [You...] who are guarded by the strength of God by means of faith, into a sure-to-come deliverance, to be disclosed in the last time.

The believer's endowment is secure, but what guarantee is there that a believer will persist in his belief? Again, our surety is the Lord. God protects our inheritance and He protects the faith required to attain to it. We are guarded by the strength of God so that our trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ will continue until we reach the intended goal—salvation. ("Salvation" means 'rescue' or 'deliverance'.)

Christians usually speak in terms of being "saved" in the past tense, as though it were already accomplished. We speak this way because the Bible speaks this way (ex. Eph. 2:8; Titus 3:5). More precisely, however, we understand that our salvation is a deliverance from the eternal condemnation that is properly awaiting all who have sinned against their Creator; and since this eternal retribution has not yet been executed, our rescue from it has not yet occurred. We can talk about our salvation in the past tense because its certainty is absolute; it is, as we say, "As good as done!" But the actual experience will not be experienced until the last time, the time of universal judgment (see Matt. 25:31f; Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10).

To Ponder:

Our hope is not in our faith, but in God through His Son Jesus Christ. Strictly speaking, faith does not save; God does. If even our belief in the gospel is dependent upon our own strength to maintain, we are doomed.

(A verse-by-verse study of First Peter from a NCT perspective.)

1 Peter 1:4  [Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who birthed us anew] into an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading which has been protected in the heavens for you.

Do you remember when Jesus taught about the new birth in John 3:1-10? On that occasion, our Lord asserted that regeneration was absoluetly essential to receiving something. In fact, He went so far as to say that without a new birth, a person cannot even see it. What was it? The kingdom of God. We who are born a second time are promised God's kingdom. The kingdom was the great hope of the Jews as they eagerly awaited the arrival of the Messiah-King who would establish the kingdom. When John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Christ, his message was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Jesus proclaimed the same message when He began His ministry; and He instructed the twelve apostles to follow suit. The Christian's inheritance, given by his gracious Father, is the kingdom of God.

In addition to kingdom, the Scripture uses other words to describe our inheritance: eternal life (Mt. 19:29); the earth (Mt. 5:5); salvation (Heb. 1:14). Each of these comes at the promised blessing from a different perspective, providing a rich tapestry of the inheritance that awaits us.

Peter tells us three things that our inheritance is not—corruptible, defiled, and fading—which ought to energize our faith and zeal. And for Jewish converts, these adjectives would provide great confidence and joy as they compared this New Covenant hope with the Old Covenant promises.

First, the inheritance awaiting us is incorruptible (Gr. a-phthartos). This word is twice used in the NT to describe God, once when Paul contrasts the mortal creatures with the immortal God (Rom. 1:23) and again in a list of divine attributes (1 Tim. 1:17). Just as God cannot undergo decay and become less than He is, so also our inheritance will suffer no atrophy, no deterioration, and no destruction.

The Jews were promised an inheritance in the land of Canaan, a bequeathment subject to drought, famine, fire, hail, and any number of other threats to its prosperity. It could be taken away from them and destroyed by enemy nations. And it was. Not so, with the heavenly inheritance promised to those who are in Christ. It cannot be corrupted by anyone at anytime.

Second, our inheritance is undefiled (Gr. a-miantos). When something becomes defiled, it is now marred, sullied, dirty, or spoiled. When speaking in terms of moral agents, defilement connotes impurity or profanity (vulgarities used to be called "dirty words"). Religion can be defiled (Jas. 1:27), so can priests (Heb. 7:26). When one party of a marriage covenant is unfaithful, it stains the marriage bed (Heb. 13:4). And land promised to the people of Israel became defiled by their idolatries (Jer. 2:1f., especially v. 7). But the inheritance that awaits those who have been born again is incapable of any such ruination. Its purity is impervious to every kind of ugliness or degradation. It will forever be unmixed, unadulterated, undiluted, uncontaminated. Its sterling, flawless, perfect quality will endure without end. When we've been there ten thousand years, the bright shining sun will display the same brilliance as when we first begun.

Third, it is unfading (Gr. a-marantos). When the author of Hebrews spoke of the covenant God made with Israel, he referred to it as "obsolete," "growing old," "and ready to disappear." It had served its purposes of arousing sin in the Jews (Rom. 5:20) and demonstrating their desperate need of a Redeemer (Rom. 3:19-20; 10:1-5). But with the termination of the covenant came the end of the temporal promises to the nation of Israel. No longer would they remain the divine heirs of land, descendants, and world-illumination. Their inheritance faded off like the sunset after the death and resurrection of Christ (and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70 served as an exclamation point to its disappearance).

Those who are in Christ, however, are participants of the eternal covenant with God through the blood of Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:20). This covenant is the fulfillment of all which came before, the anti-type to all the types and shadows of the previous covenants of redemptive history. And this covenant will never drift off nor become obsolete.

Peter's optimism toward the certainty and perpetuity of our inheritance is because it has been protected in the heavens for you. Two grammatical aspects of this "protection" are profound. First, the tense of the verb is the perfect tense, which communicates an action that was begun in the past and its impact continues into the present and future. For example, if I say, "I have been married for fifteen years...," implied in whatever follows the ellipsis is that I am still married. ("I had been married," does not imply the current status.) My marriage began fifteen years ago and continues to the present day. Peter reveals that our inheritance has been protected from some point in the past and the protection remains true even to this day. Someone has been keeping watch over it. But who? That's where the other grammatical aspect comes in. 'Protected' is in the passive voice, meaning that someone other than his audience is doing the protecting. It's what theologians call a divine passive because the intended but unmentioned agent is God Himself (unmentioned, that is, until the next verse). God is the one who is protecting our inheritance; He is its guardian. Our heritage will remain pure and whole and be ours forever because it has been stored  in heaven under the watchful eye of the almighty, unassailable, everlastingly alert King of Heaven. Our (new) birthright is, therefore, certain and secure (cp. Mt. 6:19-20; Luke 12:33).

To Ponder:

How often do you consider your heavenly home? Are you living your life today more as a citizen of earth or as a citizen of heaven? 

(A verse-by-verse study from a NCT perspective.)

3  Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who birthed us anew, according to His great mercy, into an expectation that is alive by means of the resurrection of Jesus Christ out of the dead.

Three things are expressed of God in this verse. First, He is the God and Father of the Lord Jesus. It may seem strange to speak of God as Jesus' God because the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is God. So why would Peter describe God in this relation to Jesus? One answer is that the God of whom Peter speaks is the God of whom Jesus spoke. In other words, Jesus came to reveal the Father (Jn. 1:18), to make the Father known (Jn. 14:7f.). Therefore, Peter may be affirming that he is referring to the same God whom Jesus proclaimed. "Blessed be the God of whom Jesus taught."

Another answer is that Peter is focusing on the humanity of Christ. The God in heaven is the God whom the man—Jesus of Nazareth—served. From the cross, Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Mt. 27:46), clearly speaking out of His human nature, rather than His divine nature. So, Peter may be describing God as the one whom Jesus-the-man obeyed (Jn. 4:34; Phil. 2:8).

God is also the Father of our Lord Jesus. Two things are significant about this phrase. One is that the relationship expressed between God and Jesus is described as Father/Son. When theologians speak of the first and second persons of the Trinity, we gain an abstract, yet accurate, description of the biblical data regarding God. But this doesn't communicate very much about them. However, regarding them as Father and Son (which is the way the Scripture describes them) provides a much richer portrait of the roles and relationship among the members of the Godhead. We cannot relate to two distinctions within the divine essence, but we can relate to a parent and child.

The other significant word is Lord. Throughout the Old Testament, 'Lord' was reserved for God, Here, someone other than God is called 'Lord' (that is, someone other than God the Father). Granted, Jesus is God, but in this verse Peter makes a distinction between the two. Again, I believe, referring to Jesus the human who has been given authority over heaven and earth by God (Mt. 28:18).

Second, He re-generates believers, that is, He takes us through a new birth. In the same way that our first birth was not a choice we made, but was dependent on our father's "action," so also our second birth is the result of our Father's action. The father/Father is the cause; physical birth/new birth is the effect.

Third, this new birth flows from the deep waters of God's mercy. He was not obligated or compelled to give us new life, rather, He freely choose to do so because He is a God of great grace and kindness.

Furthermore, the new life so kindly given to us by our heavenly Father is an expectation that is alive. It impacts our now and our later. It contains a promised hope for the future (which will be described in more detail in the next verse). The apostle wants us to understand that this living hope is gained through the means of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus was dead but now lives, we who experience the regeneration of God will also live after death. As Peter's friend Paul put it, if our hope in Christ only has ramifications for our brief stay on earth, what a pity! (1 Cor. 15:19). But that is not the case. We hope for victory over death and eternal life with our Lord because He has already overcome the grave. His empty tomb secures our empty tombs.

What is the appropriate response to this gracious gift of living hope? Praise and adoration to the One who gave it. Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

To Ponder:

Does the resurrection of Jesus Christ provoke worship in you? Have you accurately estimated the significance of your new birth in light of His new life?

(A verse-by-verse study from a NCT perspective.)

2  According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the consecration of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

The apostle included one more adjective in his description of his audience in verse 1 (some translations transfer it to verse 2) when he called them elect. To be elected is to be selected, or chosen, or specifically picked out of a group. So Peter is indicating that out of all the people living in Pontus, Galatia, etc., the believers were specifically selected.

But on what basis and by whom was this selection made? By the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the consecration of the Spirit. God was the selector; He made the choice about who would follow Christ and who wouldn't. And He did it in agreement with His divine foreknowledge.

Peter spoke of God's foreknowledge on another occasion when he explained to the Jews how they had killed the Messiah (Acts 2:23). The death of Jesus, he said, was performed by the Romans at the request of the Jews. But even those causes were the outworking of an ultimate, prior cause—God. God is ultimately responsible for putting His Son on the cross, and He did so according to His predetermined plan and His foreknowledge. In the same way, those who would receive the gospel have been pre-determined by God's plan and foreknowledge. He knows the elect in a way that He does not know the non-elect.

Although their external appearance may not cause them to stand out from any other humans in Asia Minor, to be sure the Christians were different. Their uniqueness came from the fact that the Spirit of God had set them apart from unbelievers (cp. 2 Thess. 2:13). They were special to God, sanctified unto Him for a specific purpose—obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Again, the apostle borrows Jewish imagery to convey truth. Sprinkling the blood of sacrificial animals was an expression of consecration under the Old Covenant. In fact, at the very establishment of the covenant, as Moses read its stipulations, he took blood from the bulls and sprinkled it on the people of Israel (Exo. 24:7, 8). As a consequence, they had been set apart and made partakers of this special relationship to God. (See also the consecration of the Most Holy Place in Lev. 16; Heb. 9:18f.). Likewise, believers are made partakers of the New Covenant through the blood (Jesus') of that covenant, (Luke 22:20; Heb. 9:13f.) the everlasting covenant (Heb. 13:20).

The obedience spoken of here may be ongoing submission to Christ or initial submission to Christ at the time of repentance and conversion. Although I would not want to wrangle too much about this, I prefer the latter because of the tie with the blood consecration already spoken of. For a similar use of 'obedience' see Rom. 1:5 and 16:26.

Grace and peace to you is a standard greeting in the New Testament, but it must not be relegated to a place of mere formality. If there are two things all believers of all cities of all generations need, they are God's grace and peace. The words may be routine, but the sincerity of the request should not be questioned.

(A verse-by-verse study from a NCT perspective.)

1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to elect aliens of dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (my translation throughout).

Peter, one of the original followers of Jesus Christ, wrote this letter to Christians who were living in communities immersed in unbelief. The Roman empire of the first century was very much like the American empire of the twenty-first, only with less technology. It condoned the murder of unwanted babies; it encouraged sexual promiscuity, both hetero and homo; it regarded the government as its god and savior. One might even argue that the Roman culture was worse in that it attached a religious significance to much of its nefarious behavior (ex. temple prostitution and emperor worship). What Peter wrote to believers in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, and the rest, 2,000 years ago, is just as important for believers living in Las Vegas, San Francisco,  Washington D.C, and "Your City, USA," today.

Aliens of dispersion. This label derives its influence from the Jewish experiences of exile among the heathen nations into which the children of Israel were thrust after the collapse of their kingdom(s). When the Assyrians and Babylonians sacked the Israeli capitols, they dispersed the majority of the Jewish people throughout their territories as an attempt to destroy their unity and identity (cp. 2 Kings 17:6). This became a cause of sorrow and temptation for them (see Lam. 1:1f.; Ezek. 6:8f.; predicted in Deut. 28:64f). In a similar way, followers of Christ who live among the children of the devil must fight against disunity and disloyalty to their King.

So, Peter considers them aliens, pilgrims, or (to use a word my grandfather would have used) sojourners. They were pilgrims, not because they had no permanent mailbox, but because they were citizens of another country—a transcendent land beyond the Roman Empire, or any earthly empire (Phil. 3:20), whose designer and builder is God (Heb. 11:10). But until such time as they are granted transport to the Celestial City, they must wander in the regions of the Land of Destruction, remaining faithful to their Lord and committed to one another.

To Ponder:

Do I live as though exiled to a foreign land or have I become too comfortable in my country and culture? Do I feel like an exile longing for home (i.e. the new heaven and new earth)?

The Holy War: Made by King Shaddai Upon Diabolus, to Regain the Metropolis of the World, Or, The Losing and Taking Again of the Town of Mansoul 

by John Bunyan, published in 1682 (review by Robert L. Franck)

John Bunyan’s works should be favorites for readers of this journal based on his theological perspective alone. He was a Puritan and a Baptist. But he provides much more than good theology for lovers of the written word. 

He teaches not only through the reason gate—to borrow a Bunyanesque metaphor—to enter the mind but also through the imagination gate to enter the heart. Both destinations are essential if biblical truth is to take root in our lives. To illustrate, let’s consider Acts 14:22: 

[Paul and Barnabas were] strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

This verse is a remarkably concise summary of Bunyan’s two greatest works: Pilgrim’s Progress and Holy War. So why spend time reading these tomes now that you understand the point that Christians must struggle and face difficulties in this life? Because understanding a principle in abstract, general terms is not enough.  You must chew up the truth and digest it. You must consider its implications in relation to your own life. Christ has given gifted men to the Church to help you do just that. John Bunyan is one that is especially needed today.

Unfortunately, we most often define ourselves by our work. We maintain this perspective when we think about living for God. Our single metric of success is: “What good works have I produced for Him?” Anything that detracts from our labor for God is a distraction from what is most important in this life, our spiritual struggles included. They are worthless inefficiencies. But Bunyan’s perspective is different. He understands the importance of God’s working in us through our struggles.  He addresses external trials in Pilgrim’s Progress. He focuses on our internal struggle with sin in Holy War. We need to see through Bunyan’s eyes.

Holy War begins with the creation of man, or as Bunyan allegorizes, the town of Mansoul. Then comes the attack and fall of Mansoul to Diabolus. The last half of the book examines the rescue of Mansoul by Emmanuel and the continuing struggle with the Diabolonians. You will observe the officials of Mansoul—Understanding, Conscience, Lord Willbewill—through each of these stages. For example, during Diabolus’ reign over Mansoul, Conscience alternately forgets Shaddai’s law and becomes a raving lunatic when it is violated. (Chew on that for a moment.) Emmanuel’s forces include: Captain Conviction, Captain Credence, and Captain Good Hope. The nefarious characters are led by Diabolus and include: Lusting, Forget-Good, and Carnal-Security. The scheming of these Diabolonians rivals that of C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape, although they preceded Screwtape by nearly three centuries.

This is just a glimpse of what Bunyan sees. There is much more gold here, but you will have to dig it out yourself.

Read Bunyan. Read well.

Excerpts:

Now there is in this gallant country of Universe a fair and delicate town, a corporation called Mansoul; a town for its building so curious, for its situation so commodious, for its privileges so advantageous, (I mean with reference to its origin,) that I may say of it, as was said before of the continent in which it is placed, there is not its equal under the whole heaven. As to the situation of this town, it lieth just between the two worlds; and the first founder and builder of it, so far as by the best and most authentic records I can gather, was one Shaddai; and he built it for his own delight. He made it the mirror and glory of all that he made, even the top-piece, beyond anything else that he did in that country. Yea, so goodly a town was Mansoul when first built, that it is said by some, the gods, at the setting up thereof, came down to see it, and sang for joy. And as he made it goodly to behold, so also mighty to have dominion over all the country round about.

…the walls could never be broken down nor hurt by the most mighty adverse potentate, unless the townsmen gave consent thereto. This famous town of Mansoul had five gates, in at which to come, out at which to go; and these were made likewise answerable to the walls, to wit, impregnable, and such as could never be opened nor forced but by the will and leave of those within. The names of the gates were these: Ear-gate, Eye-gate, Mouth-gate, Nose-gate, and Feel-gate.

Well, upon a time, there was one Diabolus, a mighty giant, made an assault upon this famous town of Mansoul, to take it, and make it his own habitation.

…[Emmanuel] this Son of Shaddai, I say, having stricken hands with his Father and promised that he would be his servant to recover his Mansoul again, stood by his resolution, nor would he repent of the same. The purport of which agreement was this: to wit, that at a certain time, prefixed by both, the King's Son should take a journey into the country of Universe, and there, in a way of justice and equity, by making amends for the follies of Mansoul, he should lay a foundation of perfect deliverance from Diabolus and from his tyranny.

[Emmanuel says] “Nothing can hurt thee but sin; nothing can grieve me but sin; nothing can make thee base before thy foes but sin: take heed of sin, my Mansoul. 'And dost thou know why I at first, and do still, suffer Diabolonians to dwell in thy walls, O Mansoul? It is to keep thee wakening, to try thy love, to make thee watchful, and to cause thee yet to prize my noble captains, their soldiers, and my mercy. 'It is also, that yet thou mayest be made to remember what a deplorable condition thou once wast in. I mean when, not some, but all did dwell, not in thy walls, but in thy castle, and in thy stronghold, O Mansoul. 'O my Mansoul, should I slay all them within, many there be without, that would bring thee into bondage; for were all these within cut off, those without would find thee sleeping; and then, as in a moment, they would swallow up my Mansoul. I therefore left them in thee, not to do thee hurt (the which they yet will, if thou hearken to them, and serve them,) but to do thee good, the which they must, if thou watch and fight against them.”

Dear Dr. Solomon,

I have Acute Theological Fatigue Syndrome (ATFS). I’ve got all the classic symptoms – sunken eyes, listlessness, fingernail biting, I even stare blankly into the distance and drool on myself.  You see, I’ll read about one position, such as New Covenant theology from this site, and it will make perfect sense. Then I’ll read about other positions and they will make sense too! How can they all make sense if they are saying different things? I think that I’m losing my mind!

Losing It

________________________________________

Dear Losing It,

I am well aware of the devastation caused by ATFS in cases such as yours by the many hundreds of letters I receive each month from your fellow sufferers.  To begin with, let me commend you for your earnest desire to interpret the Bible correctly, which is most often the source of this condition. Next, you must realize that all theological systems make sense, that is, they are logical. Each position is based on certain assumptions and the interpretation of certain passages. Finally, the cure for ATFS is confidence in the meaning of Scripture. This is achieved by understanding passages in their own context (i.e., the intended sense of the writer) and interpreting difficult passages in light of clear ones. For example, a theme of the book of Hebrews is to explain the meaning of Old Testament content to New Covenant Christians. So lay your theological foundation here and your condition will begin to improve, and, after a time, by God’s grace and diligent study, you may be completely healed. Until then, wear a bib.

Craig has a new article with a timely message for this season of consumerism and pluralism. Here is an excerpt: