1Peter 1:19-21 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
‘As of a lamb without blemish and without spot’ He came as a man – a lowly servant of all to set the right example of how men can be like God. He came and lived as God would live among men so that men could learn to live like God. He literally “emptied Himself” (Php. 2:5-8) and took the form of a servant instead of the form of a sovereign. He humbled Himself from deity to humanity and from humanity to infamy, taking on Him the sins of the world and redeeming fallen man to His original dominion.
‘Foreordained’ the Greek word proginosko meaning to know beforehand (Rom. 8:29). It refers both to God seeing ahead that He would have to send a Saviour to redeem man from the fall (Rom. 8:29-30). No single individual is chosen, elected, foreknown, or predestined to be saved or lost without his personal choice and responsibility in the matter (John 3:16; 1Tim. 2:4; 2Pet. 3:9; Rev. 22:17). It would be cruel impartiality – unjust regard for one and an unjust disregard for another – and not divine justice for one to be chosen by God to be saved and another to be damned. God offers grace to all alike. His invitations, promises, provision, and warnings of punishment are general. All people are invited to choose life and are warned of eternal punishment if they do not do so. It is inconsistent with man’s probation for God to elect some to be saved and some to be lost.
‘Before the foundation of the world’ before the disruption or overthrow of the pre-Adamite world (Matt. 13:35). ‘Foundation’ the Greek word katabole means to cast or throw down (note the verb kataballo translated “cast down” in 2Corinthians 4:9 and Revelation 12:10). Katabole should have been translated “overthrow” or “casting down of the world” in Matthew 13:35; 25:34; Luke 11:50; John 17:24; Ephesians 1:4; Hebrews 4:3; 9:26; 11:10; 1Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8; 17:8. With the exception of Hebrews 11:10, katabole is used with kosmos meaning social world, and refers to the overthrow of the pre-Adamite world by the flood of Genesis 1:2; 2Peter 3:5-7; Psalms 104:5-9; Jeremiah 4:23-26 and the defeat of Lucifer and his earthly kingdom before Adam (Isa. 14:12-14; Eze. 28:11-17; Luke 10:18).
‘Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God’ four things Christians believe: They believe in God through Christ, in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, in the ascension and exaltation of Jesus Christ and that their faith and hope are based upon the work of Christ.
To fully belief means: To believe that all the promises of God are yea and amen to all (2Cor.1:20); to believe that all things are possible to the believer (Mark 9:23); to believe that all things we ask in prayer we receive (Matt. 7:7-11; 21:22); to believe that even all of our desires will be granted (Mark 11:22-24); to believe that we can ask what we will, and it will be given (John 15:7); to believe in those things that be not as though they were (Rom. 4:17); to believe that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6); to believe that God gives liberally and that he does not upbraid or rebuke when we come to him for anything (Jas. 1:5-8); to believe without ever a question or a waver that what is asked is done (Jas. 1:5-8); to believe that it is the will of God to give what He has promised (1Jn. 3:22); to believe that Christ took all sickness and sin in His own body on the cross and that we do not have to bear them one minute after we accept His vicarious work (Matt. 8:16-17; 1Pet. 2:24; Isa. 53:4-5). To believe that every believer can do the same works of God that Christ did and that God’s power in the baptism of the Spirit is the same today as when Christ and the early believers received it (John 14:12-15: Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8; 2:38-39; 5:32).
Living the Word 