A New Birth
1 Peter 1:13-25 (RCL 1:17-22)
Tony’s Overview Video
How to Use
Preparing to teach
- Read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge in this month’s issue of the Nurturing Faith Journal
- Watch Tony’s Video for this session
- Select either the Adult or Youth teaching guide and follow the directions
Click to read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge
Key Verse: 1 Peter 1:23 –
“You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.”
Have you ever messed something up and wished for a do-over? You can do that with an essay or a painting or even a casserole if you have adequate time and supplies. Relationships are another story: it’s hard to start over and pretend past offenses haven’t occurred.
In the most important arena, however, we do have a chance to begin anew. When our spiritual life has gone awry, Jesus offers the hope of salvation. What’s more, the experience of living a redeemed life leads us to share and receive mutual love.
Do you like the thought of living with confidence, of loving and being loved? Then read on. [DD]
Of hope and holiness (vv. 13-16)
The letter of 1 Peter begins with a prayer that praises God for the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, and for the readers’ acceptance of it (vv. 3-12). The writer was not satisfied to celebrate salvation as if that’s all that matters, however. The prayer is a call to action for believers, a mandate for a new and different kind of life.
“Therefore,” the author writes, “prepare your minds for action” (v. 13a). Right behavior begins with right thinking. “Prepare your minds” translates the ancient idiom “gird up your loins,” a reference to someone gathering up the skirt of his or her robe and tucking it into the belt in preparation for running or some other physical action.
Peter applies the idiom to mental rather than physical activity, adding a second modifier to suggest the need for a sober or disciplined mind.
To “gird up the loins of your mind” is to get mentally prepared for the challenge ahead. It means to tuck in the loose ends of things that would distract us and to focus on what is really important. Christians of every generation must wrestle with their faith, interpret the scriptures, and apply the gospel message to the culture in which they live.
With disciplined minds ready for action, believers learn to think for themselves. They don’t blindly accept everything they hear or read, whether it comes from a televised prosperity preacher, a popular book, or their own pastor. They think it through and reach their own understanding of what it means to follow Jesus.
In doing so, believers recognize that their ultimate hope lies in Christ alone. “Set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed,” Peter said (v. 13b). [DD] [DD]
Christ-centered hope and disciplined thinking leads us to become more like Jesus and less like those who are shaped by selfish interests and cultural pressures (vv. 14-15). As we become more like Christ, we fulfill the covenant command that “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (v. 16, quoting from Lev. 19:2). [DD]
Can we honestly say that we are shaped more by Christ than by our culture? What is the evidence for either?
Reverence and redemption (vv. 17-21)
Having called on believers to get their thinking right and their living straight, Peter moves to the subject of healthy associations: a right relationship with God (vv. 17-21) that relates to others in helpful and healthy ways (vv. 22-25).
Relating rightly to God begins with the understanding that God judges all people impartially “according to their deeds” – a statement that would leave all of us falling short, for none live without fault. But the judgment we all deserve – the fear of which should keep us living in humble reverence before God (v. 17) – is tempered and held in tension by the grace God has offered through Christ.
The author speaks of this atoning grace through the metaphor of paying a ransom, one of several images used in scripture and developed by the church to try and explain the mystery of how Christ’s earthly life, death, and resurrection reconciled us to God. (see “The Hardest Question” online for more on theories of the atonement).
No attempt at explaining the atonement fully captures a truth that only God can truly comprehend. The metaphor of Christ’s death serving as a ransom payment (v. 18) or sacrifice (v. 19) for our sins is an incomplete image, but a powerful one. It is a reminder that Christ died for us, and that in some way beyond our understanding, Christ’s death and resurrection opened the door for us to be reconciled and brought into a positive relationship with the Lord of all.
Peter’s purpose is not to elucidate the atonement, but to remind his readers that Christ is the means by which we have come trustfully to God, “who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God” (v. 21).
Love and loving (vv. 22-25)
The author of 1 Peter believed that loving God would naturally lead to loving others: “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply, from the heart” (v. 22).
God created us to live in community. From the creation stories of Genesis 1-2 to the Ten Commandments to the preaching of the prophets, the scriptures challenge God’s people to love and care for others, especially widows, orphans, and strangers. Jesus reflected this same ethic of caring for all, even “the least of these.”
Christ-followers, especially, are called to “have genuine mutual love,” to “love one another deeply from the heart” (v. 22). [DD]
Love is to be not only reciprocal and real, but fervent and heartfelt. “Love deeply” translates a verb that describes unconditional love with an adverb that means “earnestly,” “eagerly,” “intently,” or “constantly.”
Talking about love and demonstrating it are quite different things. A spiritual relationship grounded in God’s love inspires a community characterized by love in action, something more than high ideals or empty talk. It is a love that walks.
If we are to get our thinking straight, get our living straight, and get our relationships straight, we need each other. We need mutual support and unconditional love. We need someone to care, even when we are not acting very lovable.
This is why God gave us the church as a family of faith to encourage us, to inspire us, to hold us accountable, to love us in good times and bad times. We all need others who believe in us and love us deeply, from the heart.
Such love should come naturally to those who truly “have been born anew” through their response to the gospel message, Peter suggests (v. 23).
The author’s mention of “the living and enduring word of God” that brings us into relationship with God led him to a tangential quotation from Isaiah 40:6-8. Humankind and human glory are no more permanent than grass or flowers that grow and then fade, but “the word of the Lord endures forever” (vv. 24-25a).
This verse is often taken out of context and used as a reference to the Bible or in defense of an interpretation of scripture that someone claims to be unchanging. The verse is not about the Bible, however, or even the Old Testament.
When used in scripture, “word of God” commonly refers to a special revelation from God, a clear word that comes through a prophetic oracle or other means.
Lest we misunderstand – as many have done – Peter explained his meaning in the conclusion of the verse, a part that is rarely quoted: “That word is the good news that was announced to you” (v. 25b). [DD]
“Good news” translates a form of the Greek word euangelizo, “to proclaim good news.” It is the word from which we derive “evangelize.” It refers to the gospel message of Jesus, the good news of salvation for those who put their faith and hope in God through Christ.
That good news – that word from God – endures forever.
The love of those who live in relationship with God should likewise be as sure as it is sincere, both ardent and lasting. It is this kind of life that both experiences and lives out what it means to participate in the kingdom of God.
From the perspective of the last verse in chapter one, we should look back to the first, where Peter addressed his readers as “exiles of the dispersion.” The terminology would suggest an audience of immigrant Jews living in the northern reaches of Asia Minor. Some, no doubt, would have been members of the churches addressed in this letter.
The author’s use of the term “exiles” (vv. 1, 17) is not limited to Jews no longer living in Palestine, however. The churches would also have included Gentile believers, who may well have been in the majority. [DD]
The “exile” that Peter has in mind is a lifestyle so devoted to Christ that it puts believers at odds with the materialistic and pagan culture in which they live. As they love God and love each other with the kind of fervency that Peter described, they become, not “strangers in a strange land,” but strangers in their own land, people who live apart from the norms of polytheistic worship and self-focused living.
The language of exile should set all of us to thinking. Do we feel like a bit like outsiders in the overtly materialistic and morally misguided society that surrounds us, or do we feel perfectly at home in our culture?
As far as Peter is concerned, feeling too comfortable could be to our peril.
Adult Teaching Resources
Download the PDF of teaching resources for this lesson.
This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: 1 Peter 1:13-25
Youth Teaching Resources
Parent Prep
How many times do you wish you had a reset button to be able to redo something that just happened? What if we had a relearn button instead of a redo button. How would things change if we focused on what we learned from a situation instead of punishing for the situation? We have the opportunity to offer re-dos to our students. Be gracious in your offerings but also be gracious in your relearning.
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: 1 Peter 1:13-25
Download the PDF for youth teaching resources using the button below. This PDF contains the Teaching Guide for this lesson:
Video
Encourage youth to check out this video ahead of the lesson.
“Build Take a Terrible Tumble” from Lego Masters
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