1 Peter 1:3

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” – 1:3

Blessed be – this word ‘blessed be’ in our modern English might seem like Peter is somehow able to bless God – not so. In other renderings of this phrase it is put “praise be to God, even the Father” this is the idea that God’s creation gives Him glory, because of Who and What He is, and What great things He has done. This is an important point as it shows what our FIRST response to our God and Father ought to be – praise Him, give Glory to Him. The question might arise as to HOW, how do we praise Him and how do we bless Him?

Abundant mercy – we are now being introduced to why Peter is ‘blessing/praising’ God the Father. Because of His display of ‘abundant mercy’. This word is also translated as ‘plenteous’ – the idea being that God’s mercy is not hard to find, its freely available. (“Whosoever should believe in Him, should NOT perish, but have everlasting Life! – John 3:16)

Mercy – From Greek, this literally has the meaning of “kindness or goodwill towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them.” And so now we see why Peter is praising and giving glory to God the Father – because He has abundant kindness or goodwill towards us who are miserable and afflicted, but it doesn’t stop there – with this kindness is joined the strong desire to help!

Begotten us again – Because of this abundant mercy – something has changed. We are begotten again. And what does that look like? It brings a living hope. So being begotten again is evident in our life when we see the presence of this hope, a hope that is living. So what or how does this “begotten again” take place? This word in Greek means “to produce again, be born again, born anew” Peter is talking about the New Birth, the change that takes place once we accept Jesus as Lord, and Saviour. (See John 3:1-6, Galatians 6:15)

Living hope – this is an expectation of good, a living expectation. How can our hope be living? It must be (Greek: “active”), how can our hope be “active” it must be moving, visible. Hope is the great force that continually moving the Christian forward (active) in facing and overcoming life’s problems. Peter is talking to a people who are facing persecution, their hope would be living, active, visible in comparison to these circumstances.

Through the resurrection – it is because of the resurrection that we have the active hope, it is because of the resurrection that we have the born again experience, and this is all only possible because of the abundant mercy we have from God.

An application:

Father, thank you for having abundant mercy towards me – a miserable and afflicted soul. Thank you for desiring to help me. Please let it bring forth this new life, which can be seen because of this active hope for the future. Thank you, Lord, for the resurrection of Jesus. May my life be transformed because of it. Amen.