1 Peter offers essential advice for a Christian community living in the hope of Jesus’ resurrection in a pagan culture. Indeed, Peter writes to “exiles of the Dispersion” throughout Asia Minor who are “chosen and destined by God the Father” (1 Peter:1-2). In verses 1-12, Peter insists that his message is from Jesus Christ himself, and that his readers are a chosen people, made imperishable through faith while enduring hardships that will make them stronger. 

In verses 13-25, Peter advises the church on how to live into the strength of Christ. The whole passage is structured around three simple commands. First, the church must think carefully about its call and place all hope in the grace of Jesus Crist. Although the NRSV uses the phrase, “prepare your minds for action,” a more literal translation is gird “up the loins of your intelligence.” Peter envisions a strenuous intellectual struggle if the church is to place its hope in Jesus and not in the idols of a pagan world. Second, Peter tells his readers to conform their lives to Jesus Christ and his holiness, not to the world. Much like Paul in Romans 12:2, Peter knows the seductive power of the pagan world to disorder lives. Christian faith entails a necessary right ordering, always counter-cultural but also life giving. Finally, Peter insists that Christians love one another “deeply from the heart” (22-25).

Taken together, these three commands are like ingredients that, when received into the life of the church, liberate God’s people from bondage to a disordered and dying world, all the while binding us together in divine love through the Word of God, making us imperishable. 

The Very Rev. Cn. Dr. Bryan Hollon is the 8th Dean President of Trinity School for Ministry. He and his wife, Suzanne, met at Baylor in 1991 and have three grown children: Harrison, Claire, and John.