1 Peter 1:21 - Printer Friendly

ESV: who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

NIV: Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

NASB: who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

CSB: Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

NLT: Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.

KJV: Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

NKJV: who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Continuing his thought from verse 20, that Jesus had been revealed as God's Son and the sacrifice for sin for our sake, Peter writes that it is through Christ that we have become believers in God. Peter heard Jesus say the same Himself in John 14:6–7: Nobody comes to the Father except through the Son. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Many may say they believe in God, but only through trusting in Christ do we truly put our faith in the Father.

God's plan didn't stop with the sacrifice of His only birth Son as the payment for sin. Peter says that God also raised Christ from the dead and gave Him glory. Describing that glory given to Jesus by the Father, Paul wrote that God "…highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name" (Philippians 2:9).

So our faith and hope are in God. In the same way that God had a plan for Christ's life and death and resurrection and glory, He has a plan for our life, death, resurrection, and glory. We trust the God who did all of that in and through Christ and know He will do the same in and through us. Our hope is in exactly the right place.

1 Peter 1:13–25 describes how Christians—those God has caused to be born again—should live now. We must mentally engage in setting all of our hope in God’s future grace for us. We must choose to act as those who are God’s own people, rejecting the evil desires that drove our actions before we knew better. Our choices matter. Our God placed a high value on our lives, paying for them with the blood of Christ. Since God has made us able, we must now strive to earnestly give love to each other.

Peter, the apostle of Jesus, writes a letter to Christians facing persecution to comfort them with the truth of who they are in Christ—children of God with every reason to rejoice in their salvation and future glory in eternity. Next, he urges them to live like the holy ones of God they already are by obeying God now, loving each other earnestly, and placing all of their hope in the endless life to come.

This beautiful, profound, and challenging first chapter of 1 Peter lays the foundation for the rest of Peter’s letter. In spite of whatever suffering we may face, God Himself has already shown us great mercy in Christ by including us in His family! Jesus is our living hope. Our future is secure and endless and perfect. As the children of God we have every reason to rejoice, even in this present darkness. Peter then calls us to prepare ourselves to live as the holy people God has made us to be.

Some 30 years after the resurrection of Jesus, Christians are facing greater persecution for their faith. How should they respond? How should we respond to suffering today? The apostle Peter writes this letter both to comfort believers and to encourage them to stay strong. He urges them to put all their hope in their perfect future with Christ, and to obey and trust Him in the present, even in their suffering. Christ suffered greatly; now the Christ-followers have the opportunity to follow Him even in this, showing His grace and power in their hopefulness, obedience, and faith.