An Incorruptible Inheritance Text: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Introduction: The Logic of Our Salvation
The Christian faith is not a series of disconnected platitudes or sentimental feelings. It is a robust, logical, and glorious system of truth, rooted in the historical work of God in Jesus Christ. The apostle Peter, writing to scattered and persecuted believers, does not begin with a pep talk. He does not offer them three easy steps to a happier life. He begins with a doxology. He begins with a thunderous declaration of what God has done, because what God has done is the unshakeable foundation for who we are and how we are to live, especially when the pressure is on.
Peter is writing to Christians who are being squeezed. They are exiles, strangers in the world, and they are beginning to feel the heat of affliction. In such a time, the temptation is to look inward at your own meager resources, or outward at the threatening circumstances. Peter will have none of it. He immediately directs their gaze upward, to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the objective realities of their salvation. He is reminding them that their identity is not defined by their present troubles, but by their eternal inheritance. Their hope is not a flimsy wish, but a living reality, secured by the single most important event in human history: the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
This passage is a tightly woven argument. It moves from the great mercy of God, to the new birth, to the living hope, to the incorruptible inheritance, to the divine protection, to the refining fire of trials, and finally to the inexpressible joy of a faith that sees the unseen. It is a cascade of grace. Each truth flows logically and necessarily from the one before it. If we are to stand firm in our own trials, we must learn to think like this. We must learn to preach this gospel to ourselves, to reason from the bedrock of God's mercy all the way down to our present difficulties, seeing them not as random misfortunes, but as part of the very process by which our faith is proven genuine, to the praise and glory of Jesus Christ.
The Text
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
(1 Peter 1:3-9 LSB)
The Fountainhead of Mercy (v. 3)
Peter begins with an explosion of praise, tracing everything back to its ultimate source.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," (1 Peter 1:3)
All of Christian theology begins and ends with blessing God. We do not invent this; we are responding to what He has first done. And what has He done? He has acted "according to His great mercy." Our salvation is not a response to some foreseen goodness in us, some potential He saw that was worth cultivating. It is a response to His own character. Mercy presupposes misery. It presupposes guilt. We were spiritually dead, children of wrath, and God, being rich in mercy, made us alive. This is the fountainhead from which everything else flows. If you get this wrong, everything that follows will be distorted.
Because of this mercy, He "has caused us to be born again." This is not a decision we made after weighing our options. This is a sovereign act of God. It is a spiritual resurrection. Just as we did not contribute to our first birth, we do not contribute to our second. God causes it. He speaks, and dead men live. This new birth is not a metaphor for turning over a new leaf; it is the implantation of a new nature, a new life. It is a creative act, as miraculous as the first creation.
And what are we born again to? "To a living hope." This is not the flimsy, cross-your-fingers kind of hope our world deals in. Biblical hope is a confident expectation of a guaranteed future. And it is a living hope because its object is alive. It is anchored not in our feelings or circumstances, but "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." The resurrection is the linchpin of history and the bedrock of our hope. Because Christ walked out of His tomb, we know that death has been defeated, sin has been paid for, and God the Father has accepted the sacrifice. If Christ is not raised, our faith is futile, we are still in our sins, and our hope is a dead thing. But because He is risen, our hope is alive, pulsating with resurrection power.
The Secure Inheritance (v. 4-5)
This living hope has a specific object: an inheritance that is utterly secure.
"to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:4-5)
Peter piles up three magnificent adjectives to describe this inheritance. First, it is "incorruptible." It cannot rot, decay, or be destroyed by time. Earthly inheritances get eaten by moths, rust, and inflation. This one is eternal. Second, it is "undefiled." It cannot be stained by sin or evil. It is morally perfect and pure. Third, it is "unfading." It will never lose its beauty or its glory. It will not be a nine days' wonder. Its glories will be forever fresh.
And notice the double security. The inheritance is "kept in heaven for you," and you "are protected by the power of God" for the inheritance. It is a double-guard. The inheritance is reserved under lock and key in heaven, and you, the heir, are being escorted by an invincible bodyguard on earth. The inheritance is kept for you, and you are kept for it. What is this bodyguard? It is nothing less than the "power of God." We are not holding on to God through sheer grit; He is holding on to us by His omnipotence.
The instrument through which this power operates is "faith." This is not to say that faith is our contribution. Faith itself is a gift. But it is the appointed means. God's power guards us as we continue to trust in Him. And what are we being guarded for? For "a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." This points to the final consummation of our salvation. We have been saved from the penalty of sin (justification), we are being saved from the power of sin (sanctification), and we will one day be saved from the very presence of sin (glorification). That final deliverance is as good as done, ready to be unveiled at the return of Christ.
The Refining Fire of Faith (v. 6-7)
It is in the context of this glorious, certain future that Peter now addresses their present troubles.
"In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:6-7)
Because of all this, "you greatly rejoice." Christian joy is not based on the absence of trouble, but on the presence of these unshakable theological realities. But this joy is not a giddy, superficial happiness. It coexists with grief. We rejoice, "even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials." Notice the qualifications. The trials are "for a little while" when compared to eternity. And they are "if necessary." They are not random. They are appointed by a wise and loving Father. God is a perfect physician who never prescribes a needless pain.
And what is the purpose of these necessary, temporary griefs? "So that the proof of your faith...may be found to result in praise and glory and honor." Trials are not meant to destroy our faith, but to prove it. They are the furnace that burns away the dross and reveals the genuine article. Peter compares faith to gold. Gold is the most precious metal on earth, yet it is perishable. It will be consumed in the final judgment. But genuine faith is even "more precious than gold," because it is eternal. Just as a metallurgist uses fire to test and purify gold, God uses the fire of affliction to test and purify our faith. The end result is not our glory, but His. A proven faith brings "praise and glory and honor" to Jesus Christ when He is revealed.
Joy in the Unseen Christ (v. 8-9)
Peter concludes this section by grounding their joy and love in a person they have never met face to face.
"And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:8-9)
This is a remarkable description of the Christian life. Our relationship with Christ is not based on sight. "Though you have not seen Him, you love Him." This is a direct refutation of the modern demand for empirical proof for everything. We love a Christ we have never seen with our physical eyes. How is this possible? Because faith is the evidence of things not seen. The Holy Spirit has made Him real to us through the Word.
And this faith in the unseen Christ produces a supernatural joy. "You rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory." This is not ordinary happiness. It is a joy that cannot be fully articulated in human language. It is "inexpressible." It is a foretaste of heaven, "full of glory." This is not something we work up; it is the natural result of believing in the glorious truths Peter has just laid out. It is the overflow of a heart that knows its salvation is secure and its inheritance is incorruptible.
And this faith has a present and ongoing result. We are "receiving as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls." The verb "receiving" is in the present tense. While the final consummation of our salvation is future, we are experiencing its reality and its benefits right now. Every day that we walk by faith, we are receiving, we are laying hold of, we are enjoying the salvation that Christ has won for us. Faith is not a leap in the dark; it is the instrument that receives the tangible, soul-saving grace of God, day by day, until that day when faith gives way to sight.