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redemption looks back to their redemption from the bondage of Egypt by the typical
Passover lamb, which was examined for any blemish before being sacrificed on the night
of the first Passover. Peter reminds his brethren that Christ the antitype had fulfilled this
rite by the outpouring of His precious blood.
Peter emphasizes to his brethren the great cost to the Father and His beloved Son of
His plan of salvation. Paul in Hebrews utters a similar warning to those who sinned
willfully after receiving knowledge of the truth:
"He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of
how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be worthy, who hath trodden under
foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith He was
sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" (Heb. 10: 28,
39).
"Who only was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in
these last days" (I Pet. 1: 20).
Here is another reminder that God's blueprint for the salvation and reconciliation of
man was amazingly prepared before He had created Adam and his environment! The
Son of God appeared on earth in the body that had been prepared for Him for the role of
Saviour and Redeemer at the absolute moment in time that God by the O.T. through the
prophets had testified.
"Who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him
glory; that your faith and hope might be in God" (1: 21).
The resurrection of Christ is the touchstone God has used to prove to man the truth of
His Word. God sent His Son. The Son spoke and claimed He spoke the Words of the
Father. Christ's fully witnessed resurrection by God must be sufficient endorsement to
many by God of the words of His Son. The endorsement by God of His Son's words
glorified the Son quite apart from His reassumption of glory at the Father's right hand at
ascension. Thus the whole tenor of verse 21 is to remind his brethren that by the witness
of Christ's resurrection, their foundation for the hope of eternal life and a robe of
righteousness had been extended from Christ Who they had seen, to God the Father Who
they had not seen.
"Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit into
unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which
liveth and abideth for ever" (1: 22, 23).
By hearing the word of God preached, Peter's brethren to whom he was writing, had
believed the message of salvation and had been born again. John in his first epistles
writes:
"Whoever is born of God doth not commit sin: for His seed remaineth (abideth) in
him: and he cannot sin because he is born of God" (I John 3: 9).