In 1 Pet 1:18-25, we find three things that happened to you when you were saved. You were redeemed [1 Pet 1:18]. You were purified [1 Pet 1:22]. You were born again [1 Pet 1:23]. In this lesson, we will study these three. You were:
Redeemed by the precious blood of Christ – 1 Pet 1:18-21 – to redeem something is to buy it back. When Adam disobeyed God, “sin entered into the world, and death by sin,” [Rom 5:12]. Death has us all and the grave gets us all. When Jesus died and shed his blood, he redeemed us from death and the grave [Hos 13:14; Ps 49:15]. We sing, “Redeemed how I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the lamb…”
We were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. His blood is precious because it’s God’s blood Acts 20:28. It’s precious because whatever could redeem you from death is more valuable than anything else in all the world. Silver and gold are called precious metals, but they can’t redeem you from death [Ps 49:6-9]. It’s precious blood because it was shed by a spotless lamb; Jesus never sinned. Jn 1:29 he is the lamb that taketh away the sin of the world. And when his blood is applied to our sins, we are cleansed 1 Jn 1:7. By his blood our conscience is purged Heb 9:14. The church is made spotless like Jesus Eph 5:27.
The “vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,” [1 Pet 1:18] is any manner of living, based on the religious tradition of your fathers, that is supposed to grant you eternal life. The Jews had a tradition [Mk 7:6-13] that made the word of God of none effect. If they had left the law alone and not replaced it with their tradition, even keeping the law would now be vain because it can’t redeem them [Phil 3:6-11]. The law is the schoolmaster to bring you to Christ [Gal 3:24].
Jesus’ death was foreordained [1 Pet 1:20]. See Rev 13:8. God determined beforehand that the only way to redeem the lost was with his own blood [Acts 2:23-24]. Jesus was the only one who could defeat death [Heb 2:14-15]. He was manifest in these last times… after the ascension of Jesus Christ, the stage was already set for his return.
Resurrection – 1 Pet 1:21 – you know that death was defeated because God raised Jesus “up from the dead.” Therefore, we will rise [1 Cor 15:50-55]. Hence, our faith and hope are in God.
Purified in obeying the truth through the Spirit – 1 Pet 1:22 – when you obeyed the truth of the gospel, the Spirit purified your heart [1 Cor 6:9-11]. And when your heart has been purified by the Spirit, you truly love the brethren [1 Jn 4:19-1 Jn 5:1]. So, Peter exhorts us to love one another with a pure heart fervently. Paul says the same thing in 1 Tim 1:5. Certainly, if the law can be summed up as love God and love your neighbor as yourself [Matt 22:37-40], then the fulfillment of the law in Jesus Christ [Rom 10:4] would result in nothing less that these two.
Born again by the incorruptible word of God – 1 Pet 1:23-25 – in salvation, we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ and purified through the Spirit. However, to live forever, we must be born again by the incorruptible word of God, “which liveth and abideth forever.” Peter quoted Is 40:6-8. Our flesh is like grass and like the flower of grass. These live and look good for a little while, but they eventually wither and fall. The word of God “endureth for ever.” You find eternal life in the scriptures [Jn 5:39]. Jesus said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life,” [Jn 6:63]. The angel told Cornelius to send for Peter, “who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all they house shall be saved,” [Acts 11:14]. As the word of God endures forever, so those of us who believe the words of God, who are born again, will live forever.