[sunday meditations]

INTERMISSION: 1 PETER 1.13-21

In 1.1-12, St. Peter gave a telescopic view of the Christian hope: resurrection, glorification, partaking in our inheritance. Now, in 1.13-3.12, he takes the Christian hope and shapes Christian living—both in thought and deed—around that hope. That all this eschatological talk is something to hope for can’t be missed, as St. Peter doesn’t just recommend or suggest that the Asia Minor Christians hope, but, rather, he commands it.

“Hope!” he shouts. This isn’t a polite request or friendly advice: it is an imperative, a command, a duty. This hope, when fully implemented, is a hope characterized by sober, thoughtful living and a constant preparedness to embrace the consummation. The manner of living characterized by hope is holiness: those whose faith and hope are in God reflect this faith and hope in the way that they live, not by pursuing foolish pursuits or pleasures but by living godly lives which are quite distinct from the selfish, greedy, self-indulgent, and indifferent lifestyles of those who love themselves over against God. St. Peter will have much more to say on the subject, but before doing so, he brings into focus Christ himself: as Christ suffered, so Christians may suffer; and as Christ had hope in the midst of suffering, so do his people; and as Christ was glorified, so Christians, too, will be glorified when God raises them from the dead. All this results in the classic refrain: “Hope!” Christian living has as a “leg to stand on” the Christian hope, which both sustains and informs how God’s people—people of the future living in the present—are to think and behave both individually and in community.

Now St. Peter will move in the same direction but on a different track. Having given Christians assurance of their hope in the midst of suffering in the example of Messiah, Peter now locates their hope and living in the realm of their true identities. Christians have been born again, are new creations, regenerate human beings, and they are, to put it quite simply, to live like it.