Study Questions for 1 Peter 1:3-12

As previously mentioned, I am working on a study of the book of 1 Peter right now.  Here are six study questions from 1 Peter 1:3-12 that I have put together for small group or individual use.  If you are using these materials for personal or group study, let me know!  I would love to know how these materials end up getting used.

1.  Note the blessings God has given His people in 1:3-5.  To the best of your understanding what do each of these four blessings mean (in your own words):

• • We have been given a “new birth” (1:3)
  • We have a “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1:3)
  • We have an “inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.” (1:4)
  • Through faith we are “shielded by God’s power until the coming salvation is revealed.”  (1:5)

2.  Though believers have great blessing in Christ, they also will experience great difficult in this life.  In 1:6-9, Peter encourages us that we can “greatly rejoice” in our trials (1:6) and be filled with an “inexpressible and glorious joy” in our struggle (1:8).  This kind of joy is available even to those of us who have never seen Jesus face to face and who live life today without Him physically by our side.  In 1 Peter 1:3-9, Peter gives some indication how this kind of joy is possible for believers in Jesus Christ.  Based on what you see in these verses, how is this joy possible?
3.  What is the connection between knowing the blessings of 1:3-5 and having joy in trials in 1:6-9?

4.  What trials are you going through in life now or have gone through in your past?  Does this passage encourage you to experience joy in your struggle?  Why or why not?
5.  Even though people today do not have the advantage of seeing Jesus face to face (as Peter did during the earthly life of Jesus), they do have a huge blessing that the prophets of the Old Testament (who lived before the time of Peter) did not have.  According to 1 Peter 1:10-12, in what way are we more blessed today than the prophets of the Old Testament?

6.  In a larger sense (and beyond the scope of this passage), believers in every generation have experienced different advantages/disadvantages to their place in God’s timetable.  For instance, the Israelites during Moses time got to see the power of God pour out in the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea.  The disciples got to see Jesus feed the 5,000 and calm the raging sea.  Eventually one day, those living at the time of the return of Christ to the earth will get to see Jesus return from the perspective of those on the earth, a sight believers have longed to see since the ascension of Christ in Acts 1.  Take a moment and think about all the blessings WE have because we get to live today, in the 21^st century . . . at this point in God’s timetable with humans.