1 Peter 1:20-21

1 Peter 1:20-21 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God (NIV).

   Twenty verses into this epistle by the Apostle Peter and suddenly there is revelation that gives insight into that whole election issue that came up at the beginning of this epistle when Peter addressed “God’s elect.” If Jesus was the One chosen before the creation of the world, whereas people were “chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…” (1 Peter 1:2 NIV), then taking this Scripture in the context of the epistle supports Karl Barth’s explanation of Jesus being both the Elector and the Elected, which I discussed in the commentary writing on 1 Peter 1:1-2. And I reiterate that going with this doctrine does not mean you need to accept universalism which Barth seemed to slide into.

   Concerning the use of the term “last times” by Peter, that is a term which is often misinterpreted as a synonym with “end times,” but that is not accurate. The “last days” is the normally the period between the time of Jesus being on this earth and the glorious return of Christ which will take place. The “end times” are the period between the second coming of Christ and the final judgment. Last times seems to be similar with the term “last days.”

   Currently I am reading a book called Learning Theology with the Church Fathers by Christopher Hall (1), who is the Chancellor of Eastern University. I think the book is superb. He presents the material in an extremely clear manner, which is quite the accomplishment considering he deals with some folks who often wrote in a different style so long ago. I strongly recommend this book.

   In reading this book, I have made what I consider to be an important deduction which includes other reading of early Christian writings. Early Christian church leaders had their disputes, there were Christians whose teachings went across certain boundaries and thus were not approved by institutional church leaders, and then there were also “Christians” who had doctrines which a majority of church leaders considered heresy. Yet overall, the resurrection seemed to be broadly accepted. The subject was included in the Nicene Creed; “On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures…” This is support of the early acceptance of the Biblical revelation of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

   And going back to the time of the Apostles, many Apostles died as martyrs because they were proclaiming and staying steadfast in the Gospel. When I was a young Christian, at the age of around twenty-six, either the second or third Christian book I read was More Than A Carpenter by Josh McDowell. Riding the subway into Washington, D.C. on my way to work one morning, I read the chapter where Josh McDowell made the argument for the legitimacy of the resurrection based on this fact that the Apostles, people who saw the resurrection, were willing to die for being a follower of Jesus. If they had made up the resurrection, they would be dying for a lie. I was convicted by that excellent logic.

   Swinging back to the post-apostolic period, regarding people refuting certain Biblical revelations, one example was a certain Menander, who said he was the Savior. You would think that folks like Menander would not adhere to the resurrection of Jesus if he was claiming that people needed to follow him for salvation, so this might be an example of someone refuting the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Yet Eusebius, who is the writer from whom I learned about Menander, even tells of the Ebionites who stated that Jesus was simply a man, not deity, and that His birth was not of the Holy Spirit. Yet even these Ebionites “…celebrated the Lord’s days very much like us in commemoration of his resurrection” (2). Even the Ebionites believed Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead!

   Today, Christians have plenty of disputes. In an Introduction to Theology course, there are Christians who take different views. Do not take my word for it. Go to a library and read some of the books that are popular now on theology. In recent years when I was working in the CCU library, we kept getting books with the first two words of the title being two views, three views, or four views, and whose second phrase of the title was on baptism, on the Lord’s Supper, on woman as clergy, on the rapture, or on some other theological topic. Debate on Biblical doctrines; such was a part of the discussions in many of my theology classes as CCU. Disagreement is a reality if you have Christians from a variety of denominations or a variety of communities, since they are interpreting the Bible differently, or in some cases ignoring the Bible. I think it is important to discuss such matters, so we can keep learning more about these critical theological subjects. Yet the resurrection is still a staple!

   Common among Christians on Easter is for a person to say, “The Lord is risen,” and for another Christian to respond, “The Lord is risen indeed.” And many add on, “Alleluia.” Now there are some people in this day and age who claim to be Christians who do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and the academic area has a number of folks with such convictions. And the resurrection is probably refuted by more people who are active in churches at this time than at any other time in the past two thousand years. Yet the resurrection of Jesus remains a foundation of the Christian faith.

   I close by saying if you want to read a superb explanation on the validity of the resurrection of Jesus, read the classic book Basic Christianity (3). I add that though John Stott is my favorite author, I have some serious doctrinal disagreements with him, yet we have many agreements.  John Stott answers theories which dispute the resurrection in chapter four. The clear yet encompassing writing of John Stott is great, and if I could only chose one book in addition to the Bible to use as a textbook to teach people about the Bible, that single short book would be my choice.

   One time I recommended Basic Christianity to someone in the CCU library who was a student at a local seminary who had never read a book by John Stott. Wanting more information about the book and author before accepting my recommendation, she asked me to summarize the theme of the book in one sentence. I responded, “Christ.” And Peter is saying here our hope and faith are in God because of Christ.

+: Thank You Jesus for giving us reason for hope and faith!!!
Hunter Irvine

(1) Christopher Hall, Learning Theology with the Church Fathers
(Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2002).
(2) Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, trans. C.F. Cruse
(Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998), 93.
(3) John Stott, Basic Christianity
(Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1958).