What Does 1 Peter 1:3 Mean and Why Does It Give Us Eternal Hope?
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People need hope. We need to have a confidence in a future good, that what we currently go through is worth enduring, a connection between the actions of today and the results of a distant tomorrow. To work, this hope must be real and secure. It anchors our soul. Without it, we tumble into despair. A hopeless people become destructive to self and others.
Thanks be to God for a true hope, a living hope mentioned in 1 Peter 1:3. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of the Jesus Christ from the dead.”
This verse from the apostle Peter shares deep and rich truths with us. Exploring a bit further, we find meaning to give us a living hope.
What Is the Father’s Mercy?
To begin with, we deal with the reality that people deserve punishment and wrath. Due to rebellion and disobedience, humanity forfeits the proper relationship with God. Instead, individuals earn punishment.
The Father doesn’t leave us there, however. His mercy flows from his response to human weakness, sin, and suffering. God’s mercy isn’t only withholding the punishment. He reaches out to help, heal, and redeem. God’s mercy chooses grace over condemnation and hope over hopelessness.
The Old Testament word for “mercy” is the Hebrew word chesed. Chesed means more than removing a deserved punishment. It includes love, kindness, and covenant. Chesed points to God’s covenant-bound and undeserved love in action. The Old Testament uses another term for mercy as well, rechamin, which comes from the word for a mother’s womb, speaking to God’s tenderness and nurturing. Rechamin describes God’s mercy like a woman caring for and seeking to help her suffering child, whether they deserve it or not.
Eleos is the Greek word for mercy in the New Testament, expressing the idea of compassion in action, not passion. Jesus showed this eleos mercy through healing the sick, forgiving sinners, and reaching out to the marginalized.
Sin requires judgment, but the Father’s mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13). God’s heart seeks to redeem, not to condemn, because that’s a greater justice. Giving negative consequences for sin, truly earned, is one type of justice, but it is punitive. God’s greater idea of justice is redemptive, seeking to deal with sin and death in a way that fulfills and restores his original design. God doesn’t give up on the ideas of Eden or the purpose of humanity because his ideas are best. So he acts with mercy for the greater redemptive justice.
This mercy doesn’t deny justice but satisfies it through the cross for redemption. God’s mercy isn’t soft or weak but powerful, breaking the bondage of sin, canceling debts, and transforming hearts. At the cross, the Father proved his love, where mercy and justice kissed (Psalm 85:10).
Upon understanding the Father’s mercy, we stop hiding from his punishment and embrace him for his compassion and care. Like the prodigal son, he welcomes and restores us. In addition, we can show the same mercy to others.
What Is the New Birth?
Again, the Father’s mercy doesn’t simply forgive and rescue from death; God empowers us to live a new life. When we repent, turn to him to follow and obey in submission, our core being is renewed by the indwelling Holy Spirit. We are “born again” (John 3:3). This is a spiritual rebirth that later manifests in the resurrection at the end of the age (1 Corinthians 15). From God’s redemptive justice, he defeats the sin of our hearts and shares his divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) so we can live in the eternal Kingdom of God.
We need more than a behavior change, which the Law proved impossible if we retain our selfish hearts. The new covenant of Christ promises and provides a new heart (Jeremiah 31:33). God’s Spirit lives in us and renews our mind, empowering us to live right and follow God’s voice. We change from being created in God’s image to begotten spiritual children of God, as the verse above says, “begotten again.”
The apostle Paul also describes this as a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old passes away and the new has come, a finished work. This new identity defines us by grace, sonship, and righteousness. We live from this identity, not to attain it. God gives it to us freely upon repentance. This new-creation life changes everything, living the Kingdom of Heaven on earth now and in the eternal future.
What Gives Us This New Birth?
God gives us this new birth, and he first achieved it through the death and resurrection of Christ. Jesus, being both human and divine, accomplished an eternal work on the cross and through his resurrection, conquering death and sin forever. Therefore, the New Testament tells us to be “in Christ,” the person, to enjoy this new birth.
Jesus rose from the dead because he is the resurrection (John 11:25), which he stated before his physical resurrection. His physical resurrection simply lived out his identity and nature. When we choose to believe and have faith in him, his life becomes ours. His death paid the price for our sin. The resurrection destroyed the power of death, opening the way for new life. We live anew because of this finished work.
Christ’s work on the cross happened in eternity, long before it happened on earth. Revelation 13:8 says, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Amazingly, we find a mystery. Jesus was both slain as the Lamb and the resurrection before he lived it out on earth two thousand years ago. And in Revelation, eternity future still identifies him as the sacrificed Lamb and conquering king.
God accomplished and finished all of this through his Son so we could believe and have eternal life (John 3:16). Because of his love and power, we have such a living hope.
What Is Our Living Hope and Inheritance?
Now we have hope, a confidence in the future based not on our ability or power but God’s. We live in this hope — active, enduring, and anchored in the eternal reality, not in this fleeting world. This hope isn’t a wish or desire but a sure and secure expectation in the Father.
Reading 1 Peter 1:3, the sentence continues in the next verse. Remembering our grammar school, a sentence is a complete thought. Verse 3-4 say, “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 — kept in heaven for you.” Hope in Christ keeps our vision forward. No matter what we might face or endure, God works all things together for good for those who love him and follow his purpose (Romans 8:28). “All things” includes our trials and the pains we encounter. Those are temporary. His goodness wins out.
Our inheritance in Christ is more than just living in heaven. In fact, the Bible clearly reveals how our eternal future will be part of the Kingdom of God on a new earth. And as his children, we will rule and reign with the Father and the Son. Romans 8:17 tells us we are “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” Born of the Spirit, we will share in his glory and dwell with the Father without any veils. Our hopeful future isn’t only to escape Hell but to fully live in God’s presence and be stewards of the Kingdom on earth (Revelation 21).
Such a secure and awesome hope for the future empowers us to have motivation and perseverance today. We endure with joy, meaning, and love. Our story won’t end with sorrow but in glory. Too often, when dealing with struggles and trials, we treat the middle of the story like the end of the story. God calls us to fix our mind on things above (Colossians 3) and the kingdom which can’t be shaken. With this focus, we will not be shaken either. One day we will fully possess it.
What Should Our Response Be to This Living Hope?
We conclude with the first phrase of 1 Peter 1:3. Through his mercy, his love, the new birth, the living hope available through the work of Christ, we praise him and give him all the glory.
First, we don’t simply acknowledge him. We exalt him, celebrating his mercy, love, faithfulness, and gifts of eternal life. As humans, we naturally want to complain at a perceived lack, but by the Spirit we train our renewed minds to thank and praise him continually. As Paul commands us: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). Praise is a continual attitude of our heart flowing into every prayer, song, word of testimony, even when we express grief, which is also godly. We praise the Father in the common, the amazing, and the painful. He is worthy no matter the situation.
Secondly, from this heart posture, our whole life becomes a worship. Living hope changes how we live moment by moment. We make different choices when we have a secure hope. We walk in the Spirit, obedient, out of love not religious duty. We love others freely, not to get something out of them, because we already have all wealth in the Father through the Son. We give and serve with joy and generosity because God promises to always provide. Since God works all things for good, we can consider every situation — including the difficult ones — an opportunity to worship God and give him glory.
Our hope keeps us anchored when the world shakes and wants us to freak out. We don’t. Instead, we lift our vision to God and the Kingdom. Christ’s resurrection declares that death won’t win and suffering won’t last forever, despite how we might feel in the moment. God’s truth and plan prevails. With this foundation and anchoring, we face life with courage and love.
We give God all the glory. We could never accomplish any of this, so we don’t take pride in our strength or wisdom. Every blessing, victory, and opportunity proves his grace. Our lives point to Christ and the Father, not ourselves.
As Revelation also shows us, this constant praise and glory to God is what we’ll be doing forever (Revelation 4:8-11, 5:11-13, 7:9-12, and 19:1-7). Let us live this eternal reality today through lives of worship for our living hope.
Peace.
Photo credit: Unsplash/lmtrochezz
