1 Pedro 1

ARC · Chapter 1/5

1Pedro, apostolo de Jesus Christo, aos estrangeiros dispersos no Ponto, Galacia, Cappadocia, Asia e Bithynia;

2Eleitos segundo a presciencia de Deus Pae, em sanctificação do Espirito, para a obediencia e aspersão do sangue de Jesus Christo: graça e paz vos seja multiplicada.

3Bemdito seja o Deus e Pae de nosso Senhor Jesus Christo, que, segundo a sua grande misericordia, nos gerou de novo para uma viva esperança, pela resurreição de Jesus Christo d'entre os mortos,

4Para herança incorruptivel, incontaminavel, e que se não pode murchar, guardada nos céus para vós,

5Que pela fé estaes guardados na virtude de Deus para a salvação, já prestes para se revelar no ultimo tempo.

6Em que vós vos alegraes, estando agora (se é que assim importa) por um pouco contristados com varias tentações.

7Para que a prova da vossa fé, muito mais preciosa do que o oiro que perece e é provado pelo fogo, se ache em louvor, e honra, e gloria, na revelação de Jesus Christo:

8Ao qual, não havendo visto, o amaes; no qual, não o vendo agora, porém crendo, vos alegraes com gozo ineffavel e glorioso;

9Alcançando o fim da vossa fé, a salvação das almas.

10Da qual salvação inquiriram e examinaram os prophetas que prophetizaram da graça que vos foi dada:

11Indagando que tempo ou que maneira de tempo, o Espirito de Christo, que estava n'elles, indicava, anteriormente testificando os soffrimentos que a Christo haviam de vir, e a gloria que se lhes havia de seguir.

12Aos quaes foi revelado que, não para si mesmos, mas para nós, ministravam estas coisas que agora vos foram annunciadas por aquelles que, pelo Espirito Sancto enviado do céu, vos prégaram o evangelho: para as quaes coisas os anjos desejam bem attentar.

13Portanto, cingindo os lombos do vosso entendimento, e sobrios, esperae inteiramente na graça que se vos offereceu na revelação de Jesus Christo;

14Como filhos obedientes, não vos conformando com as concupiscencias que d'antes havia em vossa ignorancia;

15Mas, como é sancto aquelle que vos chamou, sêde vós tambem sanctos em toda a vossa maneira de viver;

16Porquanto escripto está: Sêde sanctos, porque eu sou sancto.

17E, se invocaes por Pae aquelle que, sem accepção de pessoas, julga segundo a obra de cada um, andae em temor, durante o tempo da vossa peregrinação:

18Sabendo que não com coisas corruptiveis, como prata ou oiro, fostes resgatados da vossa vã maneira de viver que por tradição recebestes dos paes,

19Mas com o precioso sangue de Christo, como de um cordeiro immaculado e incontaminado,

20O qual, na verdade, já d'antes foi conhecido ainda antes da fundação do mundo, porém manifestado n'estes ultimos tempos por amor de vós

21Que por elle crêdes em Deus, o qual o resuscitou dos mortos, e lhe deu gloria, para que a vossa fé e esperança estivessem em Deus;

22Purificando as vossas almas na obediencia da verdade, pelo Espirito, para caridade fraternal, não fingida; amae-vos ardentemente uns aos outros com um coração puro;

23Sendo de novo gerados, não de semente corruptivel, mas da incorruptivel, pela palavra de Deus, viva, e que permanece para sempre.

24Porque toda a carne é como herva, e toda a gloria do homem como a flôr da herva. Seccou-se a herva, e caiu a sua flôr:

25Mas a palavra do Senhor permanece para sempre; e esta é a palavra que entre vós foi evangelizada.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Peter writes to scattered Christians facing persecution, reminding them that they have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus. He urges them to live in holiness, knowing they were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.

Explanation

The recipients were Christians scattered across several provinces of what is now Turkey, many of them likely facing suspicion and social hostility because of their new faith. Peter encourages them by reminding them that their inheritance is kept in heaven, imperishable, which gives meaning to temporary sufferings that prove the authenticity of their faith, just as gold is proven by fire. The quotation 'be holy, because I am holy' comes directly from Leviticus, showing continuity between Israel's calling and the church's calling. The practical application for today is that hope in something eternal and secure can sustain someone in the midst of present difficulties.

Fun facts

  • The quotation 'be holy, because I am holy' (1:16) originally appears in Leviticus 11:44-45, and Peter applies it directly to Christians, showing how he connects Israel's calling to the church's vocation.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Pedro 1:1The word “scattered,” or dispersion, refers to Jewish and Christian communities spread outside their homeland, living as a minority among other peoples — in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, all regions of what is today Turkey. The letter is addressed to these groups who lived as strangers wherever they were.
  2. 1 Pedro 1:2The opening greeting already sums up the Christian faith in one sentence: chosen by God the Father, set apart by the Spirit, and cleansed by the blood of Christ — the three persons of the Trinity working together in the believer’s life.
  3. 1 Pedro 1:3Begins the letter with praise, not complaint, even though writing to people suffering persecution: the resurrection of Jesus is the concrete basis for this “lively” hope — not a vague wish, but something grounded in a historical fact.
  4. 1 Pedro 1:4Describes what awaits Christians as an inheritance kept in heaven, proof against everything that destroys an ordinary inheritance: it does not decay, does not become defiled, does not fade away — unlike any earthly wealth.
  5. 1 Pedro 1:5Assures that this inheritance does not depend only on personal effort: it is God’s own power that keeps the believer, through faith, until the complete salvation is revealed at the end of time.
  6. 1 Pedro 1:6Acknowledges joy and sorrow at the same time: even with this strong hope, it is normal to feel real sorrow because of present difficulties — and the text treats this as temporary, “for a season.”
  7. 1 Pedro 1:7Comparing “the trial of your faith” to gold refined by fire, and saying it is far more precious than gold itself, is an image of how difficulties can work as a purifying process, not as punishment — without denying that going through them is hard.
  8. 1 Pedro 1:8Describes a faith that loves and rejoices in someone never seen in person — readers had not known Jesus physically, but the love and joy described here don’t depend on that.
  9. 1 Pedro 1:9Calls salvation the “end,” meaning the final goal that all this faith, joy, and patience have been pointing to the whole time.
  10. 1 Pedro 1:10Says that the prophets of the Old Testament themselves studied this coming salvation with great care — they announced something they did not yet fully understand, but that readers today already live out.
  11. 1 Pedro 1:11Saying that the Old Testament prophets “enquired and searched diligently,” trying to understand the sufferings and the glory that would come to Christ, suggests that they themselves did not have full clarity about how their own prophecies would be fulfilled — a detail that acknowledges limits even in the prophets’ understanding.
  12. 1 Pedro 1:12Says that the prophets realized the messages they were announcing were for a future generation, not for themselves — and that even angels, according to the text, are curious about this plan of salvation.
  13. 1 Pedro 1:13“Gird up the loins of your mind” was an expression of the time for getting ready for action, like someone tying up long robes in order to run — here applied to the mind, calling for clarity and discipline of thought.
  14. 1 Pedro 1:14Calls for a break with the lifestyle that came before the faith, described here as driven by desires lived out in a time of “ignorance” — not deliberate wickedness, but simply not yet knowing another way.
  15. 1 Pedro 1:15The standard for Christian living is not a list of isolated rules, but God’s own character: His holiness should be reflected in every area of daily behavior.
  16. 1 Pedro 1:16Cites Leviticus, showing that this call to holiness isn’t a Christian novelty: it was already the standard given to Israel in the Old Testament, now extended to the new community of faith.
  17. 1 Pedro 1:17Reminds that calling God Father doesn’t remove responsibility: He judges without favoritism, weighing each person’s actions — hence the call to live with reverence throughout this “sojourning” on earth.
  18. 1 Pedro 1:18Contrasting being “redeemed” not with silver or gold, but with “the precious blood of Christ,” uses the language of ransoming slaves or prisoners, common at the time, to describe liberation from a way of life inherited from earlier tradition.
  19. 1 Pedro 1:19Contrasts with the previous verse about silver and gold: the true price of the ransom was the blood of Christ, compared to a lamb without blemish — an image that points directly to the sacrifices of the Old Testament.
  20. 1 Pedro 1:20States that Christ’s plan already existed even before the foundation of the world — it wasn’t a last-minute solution, but something planned from the beginning, revealed at the right time.
  21. 1 Pedro 1:21Explains where Christian faith should rest: not on an abstract idea, but on the concrete fact that God raised Christ from the dead — it is this event that sustains both the faith and the hope of readers.
  22. 1 Pedro 1:22Links obedience to the truth to a practical result: genuine, unfeigned love among brothers in the faith — inner purity should show up concretely in how people treat one another.
  23. 1 Pedro 1:23Speaking of being “born again... of incorruptible [seed]... by the word of God” echoes an idea also found in John’s Gospel about being born again, here explained as something that happens through the Christian message, not through family line or inheritance.
  24. 1 Pedro 1:24Cites Isaiah 40 to recall human frailty: all of people’s achievements and glory wither like grass in the heat — an image used to highlight what comes next, something that does not wither.
  25. 1 Pedro 1:25In contrast to the grass that withers, the word of God is described as enduring forever — and the text identifies that word directly with the gospel readers had already received.

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