1 Peter 1:1-5: The New Beginning

New Year's Day offers us the opportunity to pause and review the prior year as well as to preview the new year. For many, the start of a new year brings hope for a new beginning, an opportunity to start afresh. The Bible speaks of newness with such phrases as new mercies, a new spirit, the new covenant, new creation people, and God eventually making all things new (see Lamentations 3:22-23; Ezekiel 11:19; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 5:17, and Revelation 21:5).

Those who are born again understand the nature of ultimate newness, the very essence of a new beginning in this fallen world. In 1 Peter 1:1-5, the Apostle Peter writes to people suffering from growing persecution in the Roman Empire, desiring to remind his readership of what they possess. They have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1:3). As we venture into this new year, let’s remind ourselves that the ultimate new beginning starts with God’s mercy toward us, as we ponder what it means to be born again to a living hope.

Those Who Are Born Again Know That...
• We Have A Living Hope. (3)

• We Have A Permanent Inheritance. (4)

• We Have A Finished Salvation. (5)