SHOW NOTES: - Head to our Start Page for all you need to begin! - Join the RECAPtains - Check out the TBR Store - Show credits FROM TODAY’S RECAP: - Video: 1 Peter Overview - Article: Is the Priesthood of All Believers Biblical? - Article: A Royal Priesthood in Christ - Article: Does 1 Peter 3:21 Teach That Baptism is Necessary for Salvation? - Article: What is Baptism and Does it Save? - Video: Hebrews Overview - 2025 Prep Episode - PREcap & NEWScap (sign up at the bottom of the homepage!) BIBLE READING & LISTENING: Follow along on the Bible App, or to listen to the Bible, try Dwell! SOCIALS: The Bible Recap: Instagram | Facebook | TikTok D-Group: Instagram | Facebook TLC: Instagram | Facebook D-GROUP: D-Group is brought to you by the same team that brings you The Bible Recap. TBR is where we read the Bible, and D-Group is where we study the Bible. D-Group is an international network of Bible study groups that meet weekly in homes, churches, and online. Find or start one near you today! DISCLAIMER: The Bible Recap, Tara-Leigh Cobble, and affiliates are not a church, pastor, spiritual authority, or counseling service. Listeners and viewers consume this content on a voluntary basis and assume all responsibility for the resulting consequences and impact. Links to specific resources and content: This is not an endorsement of the entire website, author, organization, etc.. Their views may not represent our own.
Full Episode
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, 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 God's, 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. And 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 2, 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, In verse 9, he says, So, 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.
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