1 Peter 1:3 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
After the greeting in a typical ancient letter would follow some type of thanksgiving, or in Christian letters, a prayer. Paul’s letters follow this pattern. Verses 1-12 serve as Peters’ prayer for the recipients of his letter. Verses 3-5 focus on the salvation predetermined by the Father. Verses 6-9 focus on Jesus who has provided this priceless salvation. Verses 10-12 explain how this salvation comes through the Spirit, who spoke through the prophets about this hope. These verses are all one sentence in Greek, indicating their thematic unity. The three persons of the Trinity share in each part of salvation but have unique contributions to the overall plan. God’s identity as Father is connected to the coming of Jesus as the Messiah and Lord, two terms that would speak to both Jews and Gentiles.
Peter begins by praising God for the new birth available through Jesus Christ. This new birth comes through God’s great mercy (eleos). God as merciful is a core theme of the Bible from the first pages to the last. God’s mercy extends to both sinners and righteous. The difference between the two is whether or not one receives God’s mercy in faith. Faith will be an important theme in this letter. God’s mercy is unconditional but is experienced in two ways. For those who receive it in faith, it leads to a living hope. For those who reject its free offer, mercy becomes judgment and condemnation because of God’s holiness. Peter writes to those who had experienced this mercy because of their belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Receiving God’s mercy brings a new birth. Jesus talked about being born again in John 3. Being born again is like a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) that transforms us from sinners into Christlikeness. The reason we need to be “born again” is because our old life has many problems and will lead to death (Romans 6:23). We need a fresh start. This begins as a spiritual change within us, first in our relationship with God (being “born from above”). This new life then affects our thinking as we being to take on “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16), which filters out to our attitude and actions. How persons live is determined by their inward disposition and thoughts (one’s “conscience”). As we change within, our behavior begins to match our thought patterns and people begin to see a difference in us.
Our experience of God’s mercy leads us to a living hope. This hope is living because it grows and affects how we live. It is not static. Static things are passed up because they do not move. They are eventually forgotten. This hope continues to grow stronger the more we are changed and the re-creation process continues. The basis for all this is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which brings the hope that there is something new beyond our own deaths. Our hope in Jesus’ resurrection 1) confirms that our hope in eternal salvation is based on a true historical reality—we can count on the promises of the Bible; and 2) it provides the basis for our own resurrection from the dead, that there is something after death and that eternity is real.