Context No. 3666 of 4322 · 1 Peter

1 Peter 1:17-25: in context

17If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear, 18knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things like silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, 19but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ, 20who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake, 21who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God. 22Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently, 23having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever. 24For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls; 25but the Lord’s word endures forever.” This is the word of Good News which was preached to you.

Peter reminds believers of the immense cost of their redemption: you were ransomed from the futile ways of your fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. Gold and silver, the treasures the world prizes, are nothing beside the price paid for our salvation, the blood of Christ himself.

This should make us live in reverent awe, knowing what our freedom cost. And Peter points to the enduring foundation of our new life: we have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. All flesh is like grass that withers, and its glory like the flower that falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Our new life is rooted not in anything passing but in God's eternal, living word. What redeemed us was the precious blood of Christ; what sustains us is his imperishable word. Both are beyond price and beyond fading.

Do I live in reverent awe of the price of my redemption, the precious blood of Christ, and do I root my life in God's living word, which endures forever when all else fades?

Sources

1 Peter 1:18-19: "You were redeemed, not with corruptible things like silver or gold... but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ."
1 Peter 1:23: "Having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever."
1 Peter 1:24-25: "All flesh is like grass... The grass withers... but the Lord's word endures forever."