Digital Logos Edition
The book of 1 Peter could have been written for our times—a time of antagonism toward biblical ethics, and the marginalization of biblical Christians. Into that culture—our culture—Peter speaks of hope and offers joy as he points believers home to heaven. Juan Sanchez brings his experience of ministry in the US and Latin America, and his pastoral wisdom and insight, to this wonderful epistle—an epistle that every Christian needs to treasure today.
“In these hardening times, some of us will be tempted to compromise what we believe in order to ‘fit in’ or to avoid suffering, while others of us will be tempted to bemoan all that is wrong with our world and long nostalgically for a better time, long-forgotten (and that likely never actually existed).” (Page 16)
“Foreknow-ledge’ has covenant implications. Foreknowledge indicates that God freely chose to set his covenant love on certain individuals before the creation of the world, and foreordained that those whom he foreknew would come to salvation at the appointed time.” (Page 19)
“We need Peter to teach us how to face the reality that following Christ and obeying what he commands makes us different—we are aliens and strangers in a foreign land.” (Page 11)
“Peter promises us that will God guard us ‘by [his] power … through faith’ (1 Peter 1:5). In other words, while we must continue in faith in order to receive our future salvation, Peter reminds us that no matter how hard life may become, God sustains our faith by his power. When trials come and doubts arise, we are not left to sustain our own faith in our own power. By his power, God guards our faith such that no trial or suffering we may face will cause us to lose it. Here is a glorious promise for every Christian—the God who gave us saving faith as a gift will also sustain and strengthen our faith through suffering until that day when we receive our imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance.” (Pages 27–28)
“The elect of God, then, are set apart by the Holy Spirit so that they obey the gospel—repent of their sin and trust in Christ. But of course, this initial obedience frees us to continue obeying Jesus during the time of our exile.” (Page 20)
Expositions that simultaneously expound a biblical text accurately and apply it to the target audience tellingly are rare. This is one of the rare ones. It is all the more important because through it Peter speaks to the Western church in the twenty-first century: God is preparing his people for the privilege of suffering service in the light of the grace that has been revealed in Christ Jesus and of the glory that is yet to come.
D. A. Carson, Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School