Love – Page 6 – Three Minute Bible

July 28, 2020July 28, 2020

1 Peter 2:15 — Doing Good

Picture: two hands holding a candle against a black background.

For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.

There are some words in the ancient texts that give translators trouble. If you look in the NIV it might say something different than the King James Version. Sometimes out of thirty or more English translations you might find as many as ten different English equivalents. “Ignorance” is not one of those troublesome words.

Except for one or two exceptions, every English translation uses the word “ignorant” to express the Greek, “agnōsia.” In English, the word “ignorant” is often confused with “stupid.” These are two very different words. The word “ignorant” means a lack of knowledge. The cure to ignorance is knowledge.

July 25, 2020July 27, 2020

1 Peter 2:13 (a) — The Meaning of Submit

Picture of man's silhouette kneeling before the cross.

Submit…

The word “triggered” has taken on new meaning in the English lexicon. It has always been around, of course, and used in the practical sense of activating something with a trigger. During the war, if a booby trap was set off you would say it had been “triggered.” These days the word is often used to describe a strong adverse emotional reaction to something. For example, “The student in the front row was triggered when the instructor mentioned that they had voted for the president.”

Words that set off an emotional reaction are “trigger words.” One of the oldest trigger words in the English language is the word, “submit.”

July 24, 2020July 24, 2020

1 Peter 2:12 — Smeared

Picture of brown and white and cream colors all confused.

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

This is another challenging text. Peter is starting a section of his letter that describes how to live among unbelievers. As I think about what he is teaching us, it feels like we are sitting in on a master’s class for Christian living.

In today’s passage, we are talking about neighbors or coworkers who accuse us of doing wrong. (Peter assumes we are innocent!) Has this ever happened to you? It has for me. It can be a terrifying experience. In an instant, everything you thought was solid ground can be swept away.

July 19, 2020July 20, 2020

1 Peter 2:8 — Obedience

Picture of a small dog being trained to sit.

…and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble

and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

What does it mean for a Christian to “obey” the message? The message is the offer of salvation through belief in Jesus Christ. But what does it mean to obey?

Each of us comes to the Lord from a different place. By that, I mean that you and I are very different. We have grown up in different ways, and have different opinions and experiences. Even in my own family my three brothers all experienced growing up from a different point of view.

July 15, 2020July 16, 2020

1 Peter 2:5 (c) — At the Foot of the Cross

Picture of the cross silhouetted against the morning sky.

…offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

This may be one of the most important verses in the Bible. Oh, I know…it looks benign. You can read it and think, “Nice verse…” and go on with your reading. But when I look at this verse I see all the threads in the Bible coming together into one place.

I can guess what you are thinking. You are probably thinking, “Okay, Jeff. Go ahead. Show me how this ties together all the threads in the Bible. But remember, this is ThreeMinuteBible.com, not TwentyYearBible.com, okay?” Okay. Fair enough. Since we are constrained on time, I will use large brush strokes again and see if I can paint a picture of what I see.

July 14, 2020July 15, 2020

1 Peter 2:5 (b) — The Priestly Function

Picture of a priest's hands serving communion.

… to be a holy priesthood…

What is the difference between a “priesthood” and a “holy priesthood?” That is the question that comes to mind today. Peter says that those who are chosen by God, who are being “built into a spiritual house,” are going to be a holy priesthood. What can he mean?

The answer to this question lies in the difference between what God intended the Old Testament priesthood to be and what it actually was.

July 4, 2020July 4, 2020

1 Peter 1:22 — Checklist For Love

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.

So far in these first few words of Peter’s letter to us, he has touched on a number of points:

We have been chosen by God (v 2)
God’s Spirit is sanctifying us
We are to be obedient to Jesus Christ

He continues with more insights into the Christian life:

July 2, 2020July 3, 2020

1 Peter 1:20 — Let’s Agree

He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.

It is hard to know how to approach the text here. We just blasted through two whole verses with a story about a shepherd who was kidnapped to be a slave four millennia ago. We could have taken a week or more to parse those same two verses. Today’s passage is similar. Today’s verse hangs in the sky as if it were a neon sign. Each word is like a beacon of light that illuminates dozens if not hundreds of passages throughout Scripture.

The “He” Peter refers to is Jesus, of course. Peter referred to the “blood of Christ” in the prior verse.

Jesus, he says, was, “…chosen…”

June 30, 2020June 30, 2020

1 Peter 1:17 — Boxes

A check box on a piece of paper next to the words, "I Agree."

Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.

The question today is what does Peter mean when he writes, “…a Father who judges each person’s work impartially…?”

Wait a minute…

Doesn’t Peter know about grace? Doesn’t he understand that if we believe in Jesus we get a pass on judgment? How can he say that God is judging our “work?” What is going on here?

June 19, 2020June 19, 2020

1 Peter 1: 11 (b) — The Value of Hindsight

A closeup view of a car's rearview mirror.

…when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah …

The suffering of the Messiah is the pivotal event in all human history. Without a willing Messiah, humanity would have eventually burned itself up. In the final analysis, after all the souls were counted, God would not have had much to show for his trouble. The rest of us would have ended up in the eternal garbage bin, languishing forever in the vacuum of rejection we had crafted for ourselves.

But that is not how it played out. Instead, the God who created us became our savior. More than that, our salvation was not an impulsive gambit. It was not a last-minute effort to save the day. Instead, our God knew from the very beginning that a savior would be needed. (See Genesis 3: 14-15) He also knew who that savior would be, and the point in history when salvation needed to occur.