EPISODE 2: A FIRST CLASS SALVATION

…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

In our first episode, we briefly examined 1 Peter 1:1-2 and learned that Peter, a sent one or apostle, a disciple of Jesus, wrote this letter to believers who had been forced to flee persecution for their faith and were now scattered throughout the biblical world of their day. Peter had spent time in prison, sharing that experience with many other believers, including women. We read about one such woman, Junia, named in Romans 16 as one of the sent ones who, no doubt, had been imprisoned because she was significant to the spread of the Gospel—something the authorities feared and wanted desperately to stamp out.

In this post, we look at 1 Peter 1:3-7.

In this passage, Peter refers to the persecution that his audience has had to endure and will have to endure, but only as a passing thought, as he addresses the hope that believers then, and now, have in Christ. And it is that salvation, that hope, that I want to explore a little bit in this post, specifically as it relates to women.

Remember that Peter addresses all believers. He doesn’t distinguish between men and women in his remarks, except when he reaches Chapter 3.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer in various trials so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

What Peter describes in his first statements is the reversal of Genesis 3:14-19, the reversal of the curse. Remember? God assigned the serpent a punishment for being a tool of Satan’s deception of Eve. The serpent lost its legs and any admiration it had among the other creatures, and Satan learned of his fate—He would ultimately be crushed and defeated. Dr. Ingrid Faro, author of Redeeming Eden and professor of Old Testament at Northern Seminary, explains that the consequences of sin for the woman included not only the pain of having and raising children and seeing them die, but also the pain she would suffer because the man from whom she had been taken, would be in conflict with her, just as he would be, from this moment, in conflict with the earth from which he had been taken. Ultimately, all are sentenced to the worst curse of all—death and separation from God. As an informational aside, take a look at the explanation of the Genesis passage from the original Hebrew text at https://www.jtsa.edu/torah/minding-our-words/

Ever since that day, God has been working on a plan He designed before eternity began, a plan to restore what was lost in Eden. Jesus was that plan. The cross was where the plan was executed. The empty tomb was the evidence that the plan to redeem Eden had begun.

Four things strike me in these first verses: “new birth,” “a living hope,” an indestructible “inheritance,” and being “shielded” by God from anything that would affect any of these mercies from God. For these believers in Peter’s day, this was reassuring good news as they faced threats, imprisonment, the loss of family and possessions, and even death. This was good news for all believers, men and women alike.

We are only going to pause briefly at that first plus for us, this “new birth.” What does that mean for us as women? Is it the same for us as it is for men?

Your first reaction would be, “Of course, why wouldn’t it have the same meaning for us as it does for men?”

And you are right. There are no second-class believers in God’s kingdom. And that, as I hope to show you, is important.

Paul, writing to the church in Corinth, said, “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!” (See 2 Corinthians 5:17.) He reinforced this truth in many places in his letters. One of the best-known passages is, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!” (See Ephesians 2:1, 4, 5.) Then, just in case there was any thought that this grace, this mercy, was restricted by social standing, gender, or race, Paul added this: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female, for you are all one in Christ.” (See Ephesians 3:28.)

The kingdom of God, the kingdom Jesus died to establish and the kingdom His Spirit is in the process of restoring to its “Eden” state, is a kingdom of equality, or, better said, a kingdom where equilibrium has been restored. The unredeemed world may say otherwise, and some within the redeemed community may even agree with the world, but that is not God’s divine design.

Return briefly to 2 Corinthians 5:17. After Paul states that when a person comes to faith in Jesus, what they were before is gone and something completely new has begun, he commissions these new “creatures” to deliver the message and ministry of reconciliation—no social status, gender, or race qualifiers.

That’s why we see what the Spirit of God did on the day of Pentecost and continues to do to this day. In speaking of the restoration of the true kingdom, the prophet Joel said this, “…I will pour out My Spirit on all people, Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on My menservants and maidservants, I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” (See Joel 2:28, 29)

The beginning of the fulfilment of this prophecy and others was seen on the day of Pentecost, as described in Acts. The believers, 120 of them, men and women, were gathered for prayer when the Spirit of God came and rested on them. They were empowered and gifted so they could go out and proclaim the Gospel to the many people from many nations and language groups in a way that was understandable. (See Acts 1:12-2:12)

For these refugees Peter’s reassurance that, though they were suffering, their salvation was secure and their trials had a divine purpose, would have encouraged them to persevere in their faith and commitment to following Jesus.

What is our takeaway from this (we certainly have not exhausted even the smallest teaching in these verses)? But what “bite” can we see here? A woman’s salvation is equal to a man’s. God plays no favourites. There are no second-string Christians in His kingdom. In Christ, everyone is equal. The commission to engage in the ministry of reconciliation that follows that moment of one’s own reconciliation is the same for everyone and is gifted accordingly by the Spirit of God.

We will return to these themes as we progress, but consider what this takeaway might say about you, a woman, and your value to God.