Hey, Bible readers. I'm Tara Lee, Cabal, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

If you're doing our New Testament plan, we finished our 19th book today, and if you're doing the whole Bible, we finished Book 58. We haven't heard from Peter in a while. The last time we saw him was in Jerusalem, helping lead the church that was comprised mostly of Jewish Christians. But since then, he's expanded his ministry to include Gentiles, and that's the primary audience for this letter, specifically, Gentile believers who live in what is now Turkey. Rome is still running the show, and Nero is probably the emperor at the time. He's a renowned persecutor of the church. In fact, he uses Christians as torches at his parties. The Roman Empire is so wicked that Peter nicknames it Babylon, which was an evil empire from back in the Old Testament days. Rome is Babylon 2.0. Put a pin in that, we'll come back to it in a few days. Peter writes this letter to churches who are under severe persecution in the midst of a culture openly rebelling against God and his kingdom. How would you feel if you were those Christians? You'd probably feel confused and frustrated and maybe even lean toward despair. Let's see how Peter addresses them.

He starts out by reminding them that God has chosen them. This is probably important to hear if you're at a place where you question God's love. They are gods, Peter says. Right out of the gate, he's aiming toward comfort and hope. This also connects them to the language used about the Jews in the Old Testament. Peter spends a lot of time reinforcing that theme. He wants them to see the connection between God's relationship with them and God's relationship with the Jews. He speaks to their identity in Christ and reminds them of the gospel. He says, God caused you to be born again. He did this and he's keeping you forever. You're going through some trials right now, but that isn't a rejection of you. It's a purification of you. Even though it feels like you're growing weaker, these trials are actually strengthening your faith. Remember the prophets who came before you? They suffered, too, and they did it to produce the word of God so that you might be encouraged right now. Because of their identity as God's kids, Peter reminds them to be attentive to the things of God, to live fully for what's ahead, not for what's currently happening, and to be holy, which means set apart.

He continues this line of thought in chapter two, telling them how he wants them to mature in the faith. In fact, he tells them they have a high calling. They are a holy priesthood. He says it twice in this chapter. Verse 5 says, You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house. Yes, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In verse 9, he says, You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. First of all, remember that Peter is talking to a bunch of Gentiles when he's quoting these Old Testament passages. And second of all, he just said twice that we are all priests. So just to refresh a few of the interesting titles God has given to his kids, you're a saint, maybe an apostle, and definitely a priest. This doctrine is called the priesthood of the believer. In the days of the tabernacle and the temple, priests served as mediators between God and his people. They offered up sacrifices to God as a way of atoning for the people's sins. And now Peter says, Every believer is part of the holy, royal priesthood.

Every believer can go directly to God. We don't need another mediator because Christ is the great high priest of every believer, and he's the only mediator we need. We'll link to two articles about this in the show notes if you want to read more. Here, because of their unique position of representing God in a dark world, Peter wants them to stand out to be set apart. He says their honorable conduct will catch people's attention. And he's not just talking about avoiding R-rated movies and swear words. Peter isn't just angling for them to act like good moral people. He's urging them to trust God when the world is coming unhinged. Peter is talking about being gentle and kind to people who are persecution you. He's talking about honoring the wicked emperor who maybe killed your family. In verse 19, he says, This is a gracious thing when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. In your suffering, remember God. It will help you endure in a way that displays his worth to those around you, and it will strengthen your soul. Then he takes the same idea of submitting to authority and applies it in other areas, just like Paul did in his letters.

We've seen these themes repeated across multiple letters now. Peter encourages women about their appearances. He says, Look, there's nothing wrong with gold, jewelry, and braided hair, but I hope you know that's not the point. The most beautiful thing about you and the thing God wants people to notice about you most is your beautiful soul. Let people see what it looks like to trust in God in the midst of trials. A woman who walks into the room with that spirit, the kind that is at rest and not striving, she sets everyone at ease and shows God as glorious. This verse about the gentle and quiet spirit really used to bother me because I misread it as a quiet mouth, which I do not have. I'm so glad I studied this verse in context to see that Peter was pointing more to a heart posture, not a word count. Then he calls the husbands to be gentle with their wives. He describes the wives using the phrase weaker vessel, and some people take offense to this, but I can say with near certainty that to his readers this was a relief. The phrase is actually used to refer to porcelain.

He's telling the husbands to be tender, be careful, don't be aggressive and selfish and haphazard. It's not an insult or a derogatory term. It's more like the thing a protective father might say to his son in law, Treat her well, look out for her, treasure her. Peter is ascribing value to women and even telling husbands that God will hold them accountable for how they treat their wives. Again, this is revolutionary in a day when many women are treated as property. In the back half of Chapter 3, we encounter a verse that is really confusing if it gets taken out of context. Verse 21 says, Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you. But if we keep reading, Peter clarifies what he means by the word baptism. The next words out of his mouth are not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He's referring to the conversion experience, the baptism of the Spirit, where we are raised to new life with Christ. We've linked to two articles on this in the show notes if you want to read more.

Peter gets confusing again in chapter four, verse six, when he says, The gospel was preached even to those who are dead. Some say this refers to people who are spiritually dead, but most believe it's pointing to believers who were alive in the past and heard the gospel then and have since died, since Peter says they no longer have a body of flesh but that they are alive in the Spirit like God is. Regardless, Peter's point in this section is that we should live lives of holiness. And as he says in verse 19, Let those who suffer according to God's will, entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. Suffering isn't an excuse for disobedience. We can still do good and honor the keeper of our souls in the midst of trials. My Godshot was in Peter's parting words to these suffering Christians in 5:10. He says, After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. He reminds them. None of this suffering is eternal. It's pleading, and none of it is a sign that God has rejected you or forgotten you.

He has called you to his eternal glory, and he's going to be the one to rescue you from all of this. Personally, keep your eyes peeled. Be on the lookout for him to restore you, confirm you, strengthen you, and establish you. And whether that happens now or in eternity, he will not fail. He's where the joy is. Tomorrow, we start The Book of Hebrews. So check out the eight minute video overview and the show notes if you have a chance.

We have something new and exciting to tell you about. So many of you are already signed up for our monthly newsletter. We call it The NewsCap. And if you aren't, what are you waiting for? We have a very high open rate because it's such great content. It comes out the last day of each month. It's short, helpful, and it always has a freebie in there for you. But starting in 2024, we're going to have a brand new email you can sign up for. This one is a daily email. We're calling it the Precap email. Why Precap? Because you open it before you recap. Precap. It's a daily reminder sent straight to your inbox with links to that day's reading and recaps. So if you want a daily reminder, there you go. Sign up for the Precap. To get the daily Precap emails, check out the homepage of our website to sign up. That's thebiblerecap. Com or click the link in the show notes. It's not too late to start a new Christmas tradition. You probably know the story of a Christmas carol, but you've never heard it like the new Hope Nation rendition. Scrooge, a Christmas carol podcast will draw you into the powerful story of forgiveness and redemption.

It's an audio experience starring Hollywood prose like Sean Asten, John Reece Davis and Juliet Mills. Click the link in the show notes to listen.