… and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life …
Peter has packed a lot of instruction into this one passage we have been studying. He began by telling husbands to be considerate of their wives. Then he adds, “treat them with respect.” Before we, his readers, can even begin to form the question, “Why?” in our minds, Peter offers the answer. Because your wife is your partner, and because she is physically weaker, you must take extra care to show that you respect her. Oh yes, Peter adds, there is one other reason. Because she is an heir with you of the gift of life.
A few days ago, in response to our post, “The Cost of New,” Ron included an interesting phrase in his comment. He wrote, “We are eternal beings walking among the dead.” This struck me as profound. Wherever there are people unless they have accepted the gift of life that comes through Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23) they are without life.
This duality of existence is puzzling but very real. God defines “life” differently than we are used to seeing. Our normal definition of life has to do with whether a person has a heartbeat. God’s definition is whether a person is in a spiritual union with God. The body of flesh dies after a time. The spirit does not.
Genesis 2: 7 relates how man was created. “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
Once again the original language conveys much more meaning than can be easily translated into English. The Hebrew word for “breath,” “neshamah” refers to the spirit. The Hebrew, “chay,” the word used for “life,” refers to the flesh. With these two words, God explains that we are created as a spirit within a living body of flesh.
In Genesis 2:15-17, God tells Adam that if he eats from the tree God has forbidden he will die. The serpent tells Eve the opposite, “You will not certainly die.” (Genesis 3:4) Who is correct? Between you and me, if I were a betting man I would put my money on God being right. As it turns out, people are still arguing about it. Since Adam and Eve didn’t fall over dead, maybe God meant that they would eventually die. But that is not what God said. The original text is very clear. The day it was eaten would be the day that they died.
The rest of Genesis 3 details the things that changed after eating the forbidden fruit. No longer innocent, they are aware of their nakedness. No longer alive in God, they are afraid of him. Even though the body and spirit still exist, what God considers being alive had been snuffed out. Only through the gracious gift of God, are we able to be reunited with our Father. Only then does God consider us ‘alive’ again. (Romans 6:3)
“Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives … as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life …”
Each of you, husband and wife, have been given the gift of life. This is not a small thing. This is the most precious gift in all the universe. It was bought and paid for with the life of God’s own son, Jesus. How could one who has received such a gift dare disparage someone else who has been given the same gift? Would we not be making a mockery of the gift that was given to us?
Application: Husbands, guard your words and your attitude. Respect what God has given you.
Food for Thought: Why does Peter refer to believers as ”heirs” of the gift of life instead of recipients?
Inheritance.
Tim,
Good morning! You get a gold start today for brevity! 🙂
⭐️
I like Tim’s one word response. An heir inherits something often through familial relationships – like being a child. There are many blessings we inherit when we become His children through receiving Jesus’s gift of life by faith. Those who place their faith in Christ were predestined to an incredible inheritance. We see a good description of our blessings in Ephesians 1: 3 – 14.
Rich,
You point out something I had not thought of before. By becoming God’s children, we literally inherit his family characteristics. Wow! That is a powerful and beautiful thought. Thank you!
Why does Peter refer to believers as ”heirs” of the gift of life instead of recipients?
Galatians 4:7, Says believers are heirs of God through Christ. Romans 8:17, And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;
An HEIR is a relative who is legally entitled to be the RECIPIENT of an inheritance.
A RECIPIENT is someone who has been selected for and received a gift.
John 3:16, John 16:8, Romans 2:15, God has given His only begotten Son for the sins of the world, Sent His Holy Spirit to convict all of sin, righteousness, judgement and written His word in the hearts of all men.
THIS WORLD IS A RECIPIENT OF GOD’S GRACE.
A gift freely given, not earned, not merited, not deserved by the recipient. This is a grace of God given to all, whether they realize it or not.
By the grace of God we have our life, and the whole universe in which we live. If at any moment He decided to withdraw His sustaining power, we the universe, and all that it contains would cease to exist.
God has allowed human existence beyond the flood only because of His grace.
Common Grace is a gift from God and all mankind are RECIPIENTS
David wrote, “The Lord is good to all; his compassion is over all that
he has made” Psalm 145:9.
The Apostle Paul wrote, God “wants all men to be saved and to come
to a knowledge of the truth” 1 Timothy 2:).
Through common grace God restrains both sin and his wrath against sinful mankind. Without common grace, redemptive, saving grace would be impossible because there would be nothing left of the human from which children of God could come. Either we would have been destroyed by God, or else we would have destroyed ourselves.
Saving Grace is given to those who choose to become HEIRS through Jesus Christ.
ALL HAVE BEEN RECIPIENTS OF GODS GRACE, BUT ONLY A FEW WILL CHOOSE TO BECOME HIS HEIR.
Ron,
You present an interesting case. We become heirs by becoming part of God’s family. We are adopted in to the family. It is as if we are all orphans, and the wealthiest man in the universe drives up in an old car and offers anyone who wants to accept his offer to be an adopted member of the family. Some people look at the car and reject the idea that this man, Jesus, has anything to offer. Others look into the eyes of Jesus and find themselves drawn in by the love. They are the ones who couldn’t care less about the car but like what they see in Jesus.
Jeff,
Tim said it well with one word. I did a search and could not find recipient in my online concordance. But as you say, some of us choose Christ and find they have become a child of God. Others don’t want to be seen in the car.
Blessings Brother
Until I met Jesus life to me was an heir of error’s,..
John,
Nice! You remind me of the story of the tortoise and the heir. In the story the tortoise become the heir, and the heir becomes a hare who loses the race by a hair! 🙂
Ha ha ha that’s Punny.
Ugh 👍🏻