John Mark Hicks

Elect exiles, scattered across the Roman provinces of modern Turkey, are the heirs of Israel’s story, which means they participate in the trajectory of not only Israel’s history but also its hopes. Significantly, the “salvation” in which believers rejoice is what Israel, through its prophets, anticipated.

The living hope and future inheritance—“this salvation”—in which believers rejoice amidst their suffering is the subject of prophetic imagination in the Hebrew Scriptures. The present experience of believers in Christ is a privileged status because they are the heirs of Israel’s traditions and the recipients of the grace about which Israel’s prophets spoke. Peter assumes a radical continuity between Israel and present believers—they participate in the same story. But the story has moved into a new moment because history has now realized, at least in part, the prophetic word.

Christians are exiles, but they are graced and blessed exiles because of “this salvation.” They are privileged to experience that for which Israel in the past could only hope. Though marginalized by their culture and oppressed by Roman authority, they are the advance guard of new creation within the world as they anticipate their future inheritance—an inheritance promised to Abraham long ago.

What did Israel’s prophets “witness beforehand” (promarturomenon)? To what did they testify before it happened, even without fully understanding the reality to which they bore witness?

Peter describes this as “the grace that would come to you” (tes eis humas charitos) as well as the “the messianic sufferings and the glories that would follow” (ta esi Christon pathemata kai tas meta tauta doxas). Essentially, the two phrases are describing the same reality (e.g., notice their similar grammatical structure as if in parallel).

Grace is an important word in 1 Peter (occurring in 1:13; 2:19; 3:7; 4:10, 13; 5:5, 10). Most importantly, the word describes the content of Peter’s letter in 1 Peter 5:12. Peter characterizes his letter as a “witness” or testimony to the “grace of God” in which the elect exiles stand. Peter’s topic, in a word, is grace!

Peter, however, is not the first to declare this grace. Israel’s prophets also spoke of this grace. This affirms the continuity between Israel and the church—they have the same message, the grace of God.

In what does this grace consist? It, no doubt, is inclusive of “this salvation” (1 Peter 1:10), which is expressed in the doxology of 1 Peter 1:3-5. But Peter is more specific about that “grace” or “salvation.” Israel’s prophets also testified concerning the “messianic sufferings and the glories” to come, and that is the grace of God.

The plural nouns, “sufferings” and “glories,” are rather curious. One might expect—as is common in Christian parlance—“suffering and glory.” And precisely for that reason, the plurals are intentional and thus intend to say more than simply the “death and resurrection” of Jesus the Messiah.

The sufferings of the Messiah (cf. 1 Peter 4:13; 5:1) encompass the whole of his life and not simply his death. They are the sufferings of a servant who serves the mission of God in the world, which is the kind of suffering that elect exiles endure as well. Peter reminds us that Isaiah 53 provided just such a picture (cf. 1 Peter 2: 21-25).

The “glories” include the resurrection of Jesus, but much more. We can add the exaltation of Jesus to the right hand of God, which is the inauguration of the kingdom of God within a new creation. Further, “glories” includes the fullness of the kingdom that is part of the Messianic mission, and this points to the inheritance yet to come (1 Peter 1:3-5). The glory of the Messiah is a renewed and remade world that fully mirrors the will of God in heaven. Hebrew prophets saw this future however imperfectly they understood it (e.g., Isaiah 2:1-4; Micah 4:1-5).

How were the prophets able to speak of this future before it happened? They saw it through the “Spirit of Christ” in the past, which parallels the “Holy Spirit” in the present. Their vision was empowered by divine movements in their life, or what we might call divine inspiration.

What is the “Spirit of Christ”? Is it the Messiah himself in some kind of pre-incarnate state? It seems to me the parallel with the “Holy Spirit” unites these two rather than differentiating them. There is more continuity than discontinuity here. The Spirit, known to Christians as the “Holy Spirit,” announces the message to Christians, and this is the same Spirit who stirred up the prophetic imagination. In her commentary, Karen Jobes summarizes it well: “The Spirit who had inspired the prophets was the same Spirit who descended on Jesus at his baptism, identifying him as the Messiah who would experience the foretold sufferings and glories that would follow. Peter thereby shows a continuity of the presence of the Spirit with the prophets and with the Christians.” In other words, the “elect exiles” share the same “Spirit” with Israel’s prophets.

Did the prophets fully grasp this? They did not understand the timing or the specific circumstances (or person) that would usher in the “grace.” The prophets sometimes asked, “how long” before their hopes would be realized (Jeremiah 12:6-13; Habakkuk 2:1-4). The prophets waited for the realization of their message, and—as Hebrews 11:39 says—they waited and often “did not receive what was promised.” They spoke, but they did not know the full ramifications or the ultimate fulfillment of their own words. They prophesied hope, but they did not fully comprehend how that hope would be realized and what form it would take.

The grace that Israel prophesied by the “Spirit of Christ” is the gospel now preached through the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit who revealed the future sufferings and glories of the Messiah to the prophets is the same Spirit that announces “this salvation” to believers in Christ as both fulfilled but not yet fully realized. And just as the prophets searched and investigated the meaning and future fulfillment of their prophecies, even now the angels sit on the edge of their seat in wonder as they hope to know more about what is happening.

The point is the privileged status of the “elect exiles of the Diaspora.” We occupy the back end of God’s story. Believers see and understand more than the prophets, and they experience more than the angels themselves. Though the surrounding culture marginalizes and oppresses them, they are graced with honor and glory in God’s story. The grace in which believers stand, the salvation they experience, and the messianic reality of suffering and glory are things into which the angels “desire to look.”

Charles Wesley’s hymn “Hosanna in the Highest” (cited by Allen Black from Selwyn) expresses the wonder of 1 Peter 1:10-12:

Angels in fix’d amazement

Around our altars hover

With eager gaze

Adore the grace

Of our Eternal Lover

The doxology that began in 1:3, “Blessed be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” ends with the wonder of the angelic hosts. The Triune God–Father, Son, and Spirit–have fulfilled the hopes of Israel’s prophets. This is praiseworthy, and the angels join in the praise even as they are–as are we–filled with wonder and amazement.

Look at what God has done, is doing, and will do.

Blessed be God the Father who has rebirthed through the suffering and glory of Jesus the Messiah and revealed it by the Holy Spirit.

This entry was posted on June 4, 2015 at 7:10 am and is filed under Biblical Texts. Tagged: 1 Peter 1:10-12, Angels, Church, Israel, Narrative, Prophets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.