Sermon: The foremost configuration (1 Pet 1:2)

WHAT IS FOREMOST?
The Foremost Configuration (1 Pet 1:2)
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—2013

(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to
each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted.)

Three is a simple number,¹ a number we associate with simple concepts and simple calculations... usually.

Three elderly men are visiting the doctor for a memory test. The doctor says to the first man, "What is three times three?" "274," the man answers. Turning to the second man, the doctor asks, "What is three times three?" "Tuesday," the man answers. Turning to the third man, the doctor asks, "What is three times three?" "Nine", the man answers. "Good," says the doctor. "How did you get that"? "Simple," the third man says.... "I subtracted 274 from Tuesday."

Three is a simple number, a number we associate with simple concepts and simple calculations...usually. Another use of three also involves a simple calculation but not a simple concept, that is The Foremost Configuration in its description of God.²

Peter was known as an "apostle to the Jews" (Gal 2:8),³ because his ministry was primarily to God's covenant people. Likewise, Peter intended his epistles for the Jewish community, and he addresses his first letter accordingly.⁴

1 Pet 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,

As with any New Testament document, even one of Paul's letters, the Christian today needs to keep in mind that he is reading someone else's mail and, although it is addressed to believers, some elements do not apply beyond the original recipients. For example, Peter writes in...

1 Pet 2:9 ...you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

The apostle is quoting God's address to the Israelites on the plains of Moab before they enter the Promised Land,⁵ reminding them of their unique role in His plan. That role did not change since God made the original statement, so it still applied to Jews in the first century, as it does to Jews today. At no point, however, did it ever apply to gentiles, even gentile believers. Therefore this is not a statement we, as gentile believers, can say is for us or about us. Nevertheless, other elements of Peter's letter are not so restricted, such as the apostle's description of God in...

* LXI. The Foremost Configuration⁶

...which presents...

• The plurality of God (1 Pet 1:2)

Please turn to...

1 Pet 1:2 [You] have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Again, Peter is addressing Jews, and he talks about their election, that they "have been chosen" by God to play an important role in His plan.⁷ It is a distinction afforded no other nation. God also elects gentiles,⁸ but their role is not in view here. By mentioning Israel's election, Peter is alluding to Old Testament passages that would be familiar to his Jewish readers, such as what Moses said to the Israelites....⁹

Deut 7:6b The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

Deut 26:19 He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.

Peter is reminding his readers that they have a unique position in The Drama of Redemption. Then the apostle offers an unusually detailed explanation of the divine effort to make that role possible: It is the work of the triune God, the One who is also our God.

Although the word "trinity" does not appear in the Bible, and does not even appear in Christian documents until the third century, the doctrine does have support in several New Testament passages, including Peter's statement, where the apostle says...

1. Your God is diversified in His person.

...as "the Father...the Spirit [and the Son] Jesus Christ"

God did not reveal Himself or His plan in one huge data dump, telling Moses everything the people would ever need know, all while they were camped at Mt. Sinai. That would have been overwhelming to the fledgling nation. Instead, God told them what He considered necessary at the time and revealed more over the course of the nation's history. For example, He said nothing at Sinai about the Messianic Age, leaving that information for the prophets to explain. Similarly, God revealed much about His divine nature in the Old Testament—that He is infinite and eternal—but He revealed other aspects in the New Testament, mainly that He is tripartite, three persons in one essence. While biblical support for the doctrine of the trinity, where all three persons appear together, comes only from New Testament references, it comes from a variety of individuals.

• Jesus mentioned the trinity in his Great Commission to the eleven.

Matt 28:19 ...go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

• Paul mentioned the trinity in his apostolic benediction to the Corinthians.¹⁰

2 Cor 13:14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

• Peter mentioned the trinity in his epistolary introduction to Diaspora Jews.¹¹

Here in the opening of Peter's epistle, the apostle reveals that God is diversified in His person, as "the Father...the Spirit [and the Son] Jesus Christ." Moreover...

2. Your God is diversified in His purpose.

...evinced in "the foreknowledge of...the Father...the sanctifying work of the Spirit, [and the atoning blood of] Jesus"

Each person of the Godhead has a different role in the divine plan. Peter mentions these roles, as do other New Testament writers, especially Paul.

• God the Father determines the plan, which He does, in part, by deciding ahead of time what we will become in the end. Here, Peter mentions this prescience of the Father, as does Paul in...¹²

Rom 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son....

This is the role of God the Father, who determines the plan by His foreknowledge about us.

• God the Son implements the plan, which he does, in part, by making possible the pardon for our sin.¹³ Here, Peter mentions this forgiveness through the Son, as does Paul in...¹⁴

Rom 3:25a God presented [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

This is the role of God the Son, who implements the plan by his atonement for us.

• God the Spirit manages the plan, which he does, in part, by ensuring that we stay on track. Here, Peter mentions our being set apart by the Spirit, as does Paul in...¹⁵

2 Thess 2:13b ...God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit....

This is the role of God the Spirit, who manages the plan by his sanctification of us.

Each person of the Godhead has a different role in the divine plan. So, in the opening of Peter's epistle, the apostle reveals that God is diversified in His purpose, evinced in "the foreknowledge of...the Father... the sanctifying work of the Spirit, [and the atoning blood of] Jesus."

This verse in Peter's letter is one of only a few New Testament verses that mention the three members of the Godhead together. Along with passages that depict each member, theologians developed the standard Trinitarian formulation in use today, which describes God as three persons in one essence, co-equal and co-eternal. That is easy enough to say, but it is difficult to understand, and people have offered several analogies with common elements in attempts to illustrate how there can be three persons but still one God. For example...

• The trinity is like the three parts of man—body, soul, spirit—three parts, yet all parts of the same man.
• The trinity is like three states of matter—solid, liquid, gas—three states, yet all parts of the same matter.
• The trinity is like the three tenses of time—past, present, future—three tenses, yet all parts of the same time.
• The trinity is like the three dimensions of space—height, width, length—three dimensions, yet all parts of the same space.
• The trinity is like the three legs of a stool, three means of support, yet all parts of the same stool.

While none of these analogies is perfect, they all illustrate the three-in-one concept and may be helpful in understanding the concept of the trinity.

Although the trinity is difficult for many to grasp, it is difficult for some to accept at all and, consequently, they reject it, instead adopting a different formulation. For example...

• Unitarian Universalism thinks there is one God who exists as a single person, that only the Father is deity and that Jesus was just a man.

• Oneness Pentecostalism thinks there is one God who manifested Himself in different forms at different times (Modalism) — as Father in the Old Testament, as Son in the New Testament, and as Spirit today.

• Church of God 7^th Day (a Sabbatarian group) thinks there is one God who exists in two persons: the Father (Jehovah) and the Son (the angel of the Lord), and that the Spirit is an impersonal force (Binitarianism).

• Jehovah's Witnesses thinks there is one supreme God (the Father), while the Son, a created being, is a lesser god, and the Spirit is an impersonal force (Arianism).

Orthodox Christianity, including Seventh Day Baptists, rejects all such formulations as heretical, believing instead what the New Testament presents¹⁶ and what the Church has affirmed. It is what our German Seventh Day Baptist doctrinal statement asserts: "We believe in one God, infinite and perfect, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, who exists eternally in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

The doctrine of the trinity is hard to comprehend. How can there be three divine persons and yet only one deity? This is not the only difficult concept in scripture, though. For example...

• How can God be sovereign and allow man free will?
• How can Jesus be both fully God and fully man?
• How can the Holy Spirit fall on man and dwell in man?

Even when such matters are confusing and the answers are unclear, one does not need a complete grasp of these issues to believe they are true.

• God is sovereign and allows man free will.
• Jesus is both fully God and fully man.
• The Holy Spirit falls on man and dwells in man.

So it is with the doctrine of the trinity, The Foremost Configuration. You do not have to understand the trinity fully to believe it is fully true. Again, the standard formulation is that God exists as three persons in one essence, co-equal and co-eternal.... Is that what you believe?

Having considered The Foremost Configuration, we will look next at The Foremost Consideration, which is the patience of God, in 2 Pet 3:9, 13.

For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.

(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted)