Resurrection Life in a World of Suffering

“He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
—1 Peter 1:3

The book of 1 Peter offers a gospel perspective on our short lives. Originally written to Christians facing intense suffering, Peter’s message is one of hope and grace—all centered on the resurrected Christ. Featuring contributions from six popular Bible teachers, this volume will help you better understand the hope-filled message of the book of 1 Peter and experience the resurrection life Jesus offers us today.

The recently published volume of TGCW16 conference talks contains more than just edited plenary addresses on 1 Peter. As in the TGCW14 volume, the chapters are presented along with various helps for those interested in the process of preparing these sorts of expositional talks. We pray that these conferences will present not only good, solid teaching but also some encouraging, lasting guides and goads for growing teachers of the Word.

The volume opens with an extremely helpful introductory chapter by Juan Sanchez, pastor and TGC Council member, presenting “Peter the Expositor.” Many of the subsequent chapters refer rather quickly to Old Testament passages quoted or referenced by Peter; Pastor Sanchez shows how Peter consistently expounds the Old Testament Scriptures even as he writes the New, setting forth Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s eternal purposes.

Each chapter ends with reflection questions and a short section called “Think Like an Expositor,” in which the speakers comment on various aspects of their expositional study and preparation. Just as in the conferences themselves, the blend of speakers’ voices is harmonious and encouraging. Here are a few excerpts from the speakers’ personal remarks:

The real, true hope of this passage really seeped into my soul. The reality of the risen Christ and this inheritance that is kept in heaven for us seems like such a present reality to Peter as he writes, and it became a more present reality to me through studying these verses.

—Kathleen Nielson (on 1 Pet. 1:1–12)

I enjoyed exploring the imagery that occurred in my particular section. The garment analogies and the newborn-infant imagery presented an added dimension to the teaching that was interesting to explore. I found myself asking, “Do I crave the Word as the text describes or merely show up to teach it?”

—Jen Wilkin (on 1 Pet. 1:13–2:3)

We never study God’s Word in a vacuum. We are always in a particular stage of life and health (both physical and spiritual), and our relationship with the Lord is never static. My mother died a few months before I gave this talk, so I was grieving her loss as I prepared. She was a huge part of my life and the hub of our family life, so, while I know she is now safely home with the Lord, her absence has left a big hole. This passage was a real encouragement to me as I grieved, because it reminded me that I belong to another family, to God’s family, and we are treasured by him and precious to him.

—Carrie Sandom (on 1 Pet. 2:4–10)

I needed God to keep me focused on Peter’s aim so that the goal and manner of my teaching would reflect the goal and manner of his instruction…. Peter aims to help specific believers understand and live out their new identity in Christ, even in this unbelieving and unjust world. He is lovingly pastoring his flock with ethical instructions that are Christ-centered, gentle toward the weak, explicit in their evangelistic intent, sober-minded, full of hope, and specific to the life situations of his readers. So I asked God to help me follow Peter’s lead. I posed this question to every major section of my exposition: Am I addressing God’s people in their places of need, showing them concretely how their new identity in Christ transforms everything, and how God gives them what they need to live out this new identity for his glory and the good of their unbelieving neighbor?

—Mary Willson (on 1 Pet. 2:11–3:12)

Probably the most striking challenge in the text is the comprehensive antithesis Peter draws between those who are genuinely believers and those who have not been redeemed. This not only bears on our attitudes toward suffering (which, after all, surfaces throughout the entire letter, and not just in this passage), but touches the use of our tongues, fighting off sin (spelled out pretty graphically in 4:3b), the primacy of loving other believers and showing hospitality, the ways in which we should discharge our varied responsibilities, and the sheer joy of being identified with Christ (not least in his sufferings) and of awaiting without fear the consummation to come. In other words, we Christians are not, in Peter’s mind, just like the rest of the world but with a little something extra, but radically different from the world.

—Don Carson (on 1 Pet. 3:13–4:19)

Few texts in all the Bible are as precious as the promise from the Creator of the universe that he cares for me. To believe this with all my heart is the great challenge of my life. Of course, I do not deserve this, and so Jesus’s blood is the key to my hope that it could be so. But it is so! He says it! “He cares for you” (v. 7). But Peter says that the great challenge is not whether I feel worthy of that care but whether I am humble enough to receive it. “Humble yourselves . . . casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Pet 5:6–7). That is the great challenge: Am I humble enough to receive the all-supplying care of God?

—John Piper (on 1 Pet. 5:1–14)