(18-21) The motivation for godly living.
Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but 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.
a. Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things: The high call for godly living makes sense in light of the price that was paid for our redemption. The precious blood of Jesus did not save us so that we could then live as if we were garbage.
b. From your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers: Peter described the frame of mind which seeks to be justified by law as aimless conduct. It seems to have an aim – gaining merit before God by works – but it is in fact aimless because it cannot succeed.
c. A lamb without blemish and without spot: Peter here spoke in reference to the completely sinless character of Jesus. If He were not without blemish and without spot, He would not have been qualified to be our Redeemer.
d. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world: The work of Jesus was not a plan developed late in the course of redemption. It was foreordained before the foundation of the world, though it was made evident in these last times.
e. For you who through Him believe in God: The entire plan of redemption is for those who believe in God, though even their belief is through Him. Those who believe in God are not disappointed because their faith and hope has been substantiated by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
6. (22-25) The necessity for love among the saved.
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because
“All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
But the word of the LORD endures forever.”
Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
a. Love one another fervently: Holy living is incomplete if it is not accompanied by love. To be a Christian means to have a sincere love of the brethren, but we are encouraged to exercise that love fervently.
b. Love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again: Such love is only possible (and only to be expected) of those who have been born again by the eternal word of God.
i. Again, Peter did not use the same wording for born again as is found in John 3; but he did use the exact same idea.
c. Through the word of God which lives and abides forever: We are born again… through the word of God. But it doesn’t only give us new life. It also tells us to love one another. If the word of God is as Isaiah 40:8 says it is – the word of the Lord which endures forever, then we are both obligated by it and empowered by it, to live out the kind of love and holiness Peter speaks of.
d. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the LORD endures forever: Peter here quoted from Isaiah 40:6-8. The word of the LORD certainly has endured. It has survived centuries of manual transcription, of persecution, of ever changing philosophies, of all kinds of critics, of neglect both in the pulpit and in the pew, of doubt and disbelief – and still, the word of the LORD endures forever!
i. In AD 303 the Roman Emperor Diocletian demanded that every copy of the Scriptures in the Roman Empire be burned. He failed, and 25 years later the Roman Emperor Constantine commissioned a scholar named Eusebius to prepare 50 copies of the Bible at government expense.
ii. “A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow the corpse never stays put.” (Bernard Ramm, Protestant Christian Evidences)
iii. “God’s Word never dies, God’s Word never changes. There are some who think we ought to get a new gospel every few years or even every few weeks, but that was not Peter’s notion. He wrote, and he was divinely inspired to write, concerning ‘the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.’” (Spurgeon)
iv. Since this eternal, always potentially fruit-bearing seed is in us, we have both the obligation and the ability to have a sincere love of the brethren. Perhaps we could say that if we need more love towards others it begins with having more of the incorruptible seed set in our hearts and allowed to grow.
e. Through the word of God… Now this is the word: Some people try to draw a sharp distinction between the two Greek words most often translated word, which are the ancient Greek words rhema and logos. But here Peter used both words (logos in 1 Peter 1:23 and rhema in 1 Peter 1:25) to refer to the exact same idea. The two words sometimes have subtle differences, but often not significant differences.