First Peter (GCBI 110.06)

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One Year. One Book. One Goal. Make Disciples!
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Video edited by Kristina McKinney

Set design by Meredith Seymour and provided by Grace Church of Sebring

Mics provided by Gabriel Colladay

Edited using Edius 6.0

[thangelad]

@14:30
Study starts after the irreducible minimum.

[houstonvanhoy]

FIRST PETER

You may want to start at 14:06.

1. Holiness and Struggles 1:1 - 3:12

a. In the world. You are not a mistake. Look long. Trust God. You can celebrate now for future victory. James 1:2-4.
Recognize the value of present suffering. Love + belief = salvation. The Gospel was meant for you (Gentiles).
Therefore, how should you act? Don't walk backward into lust; walk forward into distinctiveness (holiness).
Your salvation was paid for with an inestimable price. You should love one another.
The flesh dies, but the Word lives on.

b. In the heart. Get hungry for the Word. You were saved in order to proclaim Who God is and how God is.

c. In our witness. (Again, ) put away lust. Keep an eye on your testimony. Respect human institutions. (This will guard
against false accusations.) Be known as people who honor others. Tolerate wrongs (respect your master).
Honor your spouse. Do not return evil for evil - revenge is not Christian. Remember the sufferings of Christ;
suffer for doing right, not for doing wrong.
The flood was like baptism.
Expect that former friends in the world will not understand your new priorities and behavior.
Various admonitions about behavior.
Study 3:18 - 22 carefully. It is often misunderstood. Genesis 6, Jude, 1 Peter. Sons of gods and daughters of men.
Led to the idea of the "harrowing of hell" by Jesus (look it up). Randy does not embrace this notion, explains the
differing timepoints implied. In short, this is a difficult, confusing and therefore problematic short passage of
Scripture. I would guess that some contemporary (early church) teachers understood this and would have taught it carefully,
but I was not present to witness same. Randy's teaching makes sense, but it does take some re-thinking about this passage
to grasp the intended meaning. I wonder whether the church fathers who established the canon worried about the ease of
failing to understand this passage, and decided to just leave it as stated, hoping that believers would hear clarifying
teaching. Once more, I wasn't available for those discussions. (I wonder what Paul would say about this, if anything.) In any
case, Hebrews 10:12-14 is clear and more helpful. (Not Paul's letter, as you probably know.)

2. Holiness and Suffering 3:13 - 5:14.

Don't be surprised when your worldly friends don't understand your new priorities and lifestyle.
Persecution of believers is not weird - it is to be expected. (I'd like to hear more explanation of verse 4:17.)
Elders: shepherd the flock, voluntarily, by example, not by pressure, humbly.
Flock: Check your ego. Don't worry, but be alert. Flee temptation and resist the devil. Not the opposite, which is the
usual teaching.

3. Wrap-up greetings.

Recap:

Holy behavior. Grace under pressure. As you live in the world, conduct yourselves in fear of the Lord.
Crave the Word.
Relationships in the Body of Christ.

This book is not simple from beginning to end, so it bears repeated study.