All That is Past

Almighty God,Our heavenly Father,We have sinned against you in thought and word and deed,through negligence, through weakness, through our own deliberate fault.We are truly sorry and repent of all our sins.For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who died for us, forgive us all that is past;and grant that we may serve you in newness of life,to the glory of your name.Amen.

The Responsibilities of God’s People through Sin and Suffering

After a long break, I continue my series on the Epistle of 1 Peter with a discussion on 1 Peter 2:11-4:11 concerning to the Responsibilities of God’s People through Sin and Suffering.

The Responsibilities of God’s People

The second half of 1 Peter includes a paraenesis – a list moral virtues and vices, or collections of moral commands to practice specific virtues and avoid specific vices.  Peter gives specific moral instruction and exhortation for the believers’ relationship with the surrounding culture, the state, and fellow believers.  Appropriately gospel-centered, Peter grounds his exhortations in believer’s identity in Christ (2:4–10) – namely, that they are an elect people who have been markedly saved and set apart for gospel praise and proclamation (1 Pet 2:5, 9).  Henceforth, this gospel is the motivation for fulfilling our duties and roles as believers.

Role of Believers to the World

Toward the surrounding unbelieving culture (2:11–12).  In this section, Peter calls his readers to live a righteous life as exiles (cf. 1:1, 17) in a hostile world that rejects their message.  In order to bear witness to the gospel whey they live in a way that pleases God, they must abstain from fleshly lusts.  In order to have any impact in the world for God, believers should be disciplined in their private, inward lives by avoiding the desires of their depraved and fallen natures (cf. Gal 5:19-21).  The pleasures of the world are tempting and enticing, hence there is a great internal struggle and powerful spiritual warfare against such desires. Believers must abstain from sinful passions, for they wage war against your soul: holding on to sinful desires brings spiritual harm.  The notion here has a connotation of a military campaign in which fleshly lusts are personified as if they were an army of rebels or guerrillas who incessantly search out and try to destroy the Christian’s joy, peace, and usefulness (cf. 4:2, 3).

All That is Past

Almighty God,

Our heavenly Father,

We have sinned against you in thought and word and deed,
through negligence, through weakness, through our own deliberate fault.

We are truly sorry and repent of all our sins.

For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who died for us, forgive us all that is past;
and grant that we may serve you in newness of life,
to the glory of your name.

Amen.