Hope in Resurrection
Seung-Chan Park
Lead Pastor, ICMC
(1 Peter 4:7)
“The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.“
In these verses, Peter says in 1 Peter 3:15-16 that we should always be prepared to provide an answer to every person who wonders about “our reason for hope”: “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander”. Here, Peter uses the word “Apologia” (απολογία), which combines “apo” and “logos”, meaning “from intelligent reasoning.” It basically means, according to Peter, our answer to the questioners should be “a well-reasoned or thought-out explanation” on a concerned issue or subject. Not a random babbling can suffice to be a “reasoned” answer. It seems, nonbelievers in Peter’s time asked the believers to explain their reason for their certain future expectation. This questioning does not look like a random phenomenon. Perhaps the nonbelievers could somehow see the presence of hopefulness in the believers’ faces, despite all kinds of difficulties, hardships, trials, mistreatment and persecution they were going though. The nonbelievers could be wondering then “how”: “How come so much hope and joy?”
When we say that our response should be “a reasoned one”, we are directed to the living hope in Christ. Peter says in 1 Pet. 1:3-6:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials”.
In verse 3, we see one clear “reason” for the hope in the phrase “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. We have the living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. In other words, if the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead does not really have any connection with my faith, then it is simply impossible for us to have the living hope. We can claim to have the living hope if we truly accepted the offer of forgiveness and salvation through the blood of Christ, and we truly accepted the truth that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the firstfruit of our own resurrection. Without the resurrection, there is no “reason” for hope. If my faith does not hold on to hope “in” the resurrection, then this verse means nothing to me.
Another aspect is a spiritual reality of the “new birth”. Jesus said in Jn. 3:5-8:
“…Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh give birth to flesh, but the Spirit give birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again’. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit”.
This spiritual rebirth is not an option for salvation, but “must” for anyone to be saved. And this is the work of the Holy Spirit. Those who are born of the Spirit no longer belong to the dominion of the flesh, but to the dominion of the Spirit. Before the new birth, they belonged to the flesh’s dominion, doing all kinds of things that gratify their sinful desires. They had no God in their heart, and they justified their sinful ways and justified others who were living just them, as Paul says in Rom. 1. But after they repented of their sinful ways and believed in Jesus Christ, they began to belong to the dominion of the Holy Spirit. As they belonged to the Spirit’s dominion, they started calling Christ “the Lord” and submitting to His words. In Christ, they started calling God “the Father in heaven”, living as His child here on earth. In this reality, we talk about “the hope”, the hope of the future resurrection in Christ. “The new birth” means, then, a life obeying God’s commands while rejecting idolatrous and fleshly ways. Peter says to his listeners: “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do – living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry”.
Scripture does not “negotiate” or “reason” with sin – not to mention “playing” with sin. Sin, in its vertical offence to God and in its horizontal damage and destruction to neighbours, is fundamentally irrational and utterly unreasonable. God calls it detestable and abominable. He made clear His verdict over evil and sin. Sin disconnects us with God and makes us objects of His righteous judgment. Knowing and loving God is essentially incompatible with disconnection from God nor offending God. Sin can “only” be blatantly recognised and repented. It exists “against” God and humanity in every possible aspect.
Our spiritual rebirth and the resurrection of Jesus Christ are the “grounds” of our hope. In this hope, we also “purify” ourselves, as Peter says in the main verse:
(1 Peter 4:7)
“The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray”.
Here, “the end” means the consummation of all things: the time of the divine reckoning and the time of the defeat of evil. Peter says this consummation of all things is near to us, and as we are living in hope, we should purify ourselves. Falling into all kinds of fleshly desires is simply out of question here. Instead, Peter mentions “being alert” and “being of sober mind” for prayer. Through prayer, we give ourselves to God, and God renews our hope. The Greek word “sophroneo” is used for “being alert”. It has the meaning of “to have self-control”. And the criteria for self-control come from God’s Word. Then, “self-control” is not a random or arbitrary attitude, but more of our obedience to God. “Being of sober mind” in God’s Word, we can then have the capacity to judge things clearly. In this state of heart, we are called to commit ourselves to God in prayer.
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