5. A Living Hope
Peter and James both address "trials" in their epistles, and if we read the first letter of Peter directly after the epistle of James we might think that there is some overlap between these two books. But Peter's readers faced a very different situation from the one described by James. While James was concerned with the proper response of Christians to difficult socio-economic conditions, Peter speaks to his readers about how to respond properly to the official persecution of Christianity that developed in the decades after the founding of the Church.
At the time Peter wrote, Christians were caught in the dilemma of whether or not to obey the government that persecuted them, and also of how to be a light to others while dealing with their rejection and abuse by the society around them. That is why Peter addresses his first letter to Christians as "exiles" or "pilgrims" who lived in the world yet were estranged from it (1 Peter 1:1; 2:11).
Despite these great difficulties, there is no hint of discouragement anywhere in Peter's letter. His message is not one of gloom, but of real hope in the face of suffering – hope strong enough to support his readers in their own lives and even enable them to confidently carry the truth to others. The apostle does this by stressing the "living hope" that every Christian has:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In 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 can never perish, spoil or fade… (1 Peter 1:3-4, emphases added here and below). What is this "living" hope Peter speaks of? It is likely that there are several meanings to the expression. First, Peter makes it clear that the hope is living in the sense of being alive and active. It is not something we must try to work up out of hopelessness – but rather something we are given (vs. 3) and which lives within us.
Peter also shows us that our living hope is based on both the past resurrection of Jesus and the future inheritance of the Christian who has become one with the death and resurrection of Christ. He expands on this repeatedly throughout his letter by stressing both the resurrection and the return of Christ:
… set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming … Through [Christ] you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God (1 Peter 1:13, 21, etc.). So the hope Peter speaks of is not just "living" in the sense of being alive and active, it is hope based in life itself – the life of the resurrected Christ and the future life to be given to the believer at his return.
But Peter's message of hope is not simply about positive ideas that might strengthen us in difficult times – it is, in fact, equally about using our hope to help others. That is why he writes:... Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have… (1 Peter 3:15). In this way, Peter's letter not only offers hope to Christians undergoing persecution by guiding them with practical instruction on living life in the midst of suffering, but also by turning the dark reality of persecution into an opportunity for evangelism – of reaching enemies despite their attitude toward us. But Peter shows that in such times of persecution our witness may not always be one of words. Instead, he is very clear as to how we can often influence others in these difficult circumstances:
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God … (1 Peter 2:11-12). Peter tells us that our living witness is rooted both in turning from sin (as we see in vs. 11, and in other verses such as 1 Peter 2:24), and also in our "honorable deeds" – our doing good – which he stresses throughout his letter (1 Peter 2:15, 20; 3:6, 17; etc.).
We can find shining examples of the effect of this kind of hope in the lives of many persecuted Christians and modern-day martyrs such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who had a tremendous effect on those who guarded him.
There are perhaps no greater lessons in this epistle: even in the worst of times we can portray hope in our lives, and even in the most difficult circumstances we can do the work of God by proclaiming the truth through our conduct. The witness of our own lives is perhaps the ultimate reason that the hope of which Peter speaks is a living hope.