1 Peter 1:21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Peter may be reflecting upon what Jesus said in John 14:6, ” “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” This concept is central to the Christian message. Why is Jesus the way to faith in God? There are many reasons. The richness of the atonement cannot be simply stated. One can look at this from a legal standpoint. Jesus is the only perfect sacrifice because he was without sin. He is the only one worthy to make us right before God (justification). Another perspective is relationally. Jesus reveals the very essence and character of God as the incarnation. In this verse, Peter points out the power of Jesus over death, which confirms his position as Messiah, as Paul writes in Romans 1:4 “ and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” There are many other reasons as well which I can’t take time to highlight here.
The resurrection and glorification of Jesus confirms our faith and hope in God. We need to put our faith in something if we are going to have any hope. Hope is built on faith. Why not put our hope in something that has been proven to be true, in this case, Jesus’ resurrection? Peter is appealing to simple logic and giving a simple defense of the Christian faith. This verse contains the gospel in a sentence.
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