1 Peter: Our Glorious Salvation, Part III

We’re lingering over 1 Peter 1:10-12, where Peter gives us five Christ-centered facts about our salvation to help us avoid the tendency to treat it so lightly. We’ve reached Fact Three:

THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST REVEALED IT.

…the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. (1 Peter 1:11)

The predictions that captivated the prophets (cf. the last post) were not just good guesses on their part. They were predictive promises from God Himself, given through the Holy Spirit. But notice how Peter refers to the Spirit: “the Spirit of Christ.”

Peter tends to do this. He portrays God as Trinitarian, but he makes Jesus Christ the focal point. The Father is “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:3), and here the Spirit is “the Spirit of Christ” (1:11).

Paul also uses the phrase “the Spirit of Christ,” and it’s clear he is speaking of the Holy Spirit:

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Romans 8:9)

When Peter calls the Spirit “the Spirit of Christ,” he draws our attention to the connectedness between these two members of the Trinity. As the Spirit speaks, Jesus speaks. It’s noteworthy because it means Jesus is not simply the one of whom the prophets speak; He is the one through whom the prophets speak (cf. Clowney, p 58). In other words, the Savior Himself spoke of His suffering centuries before it happened. He knew what was coming, He revealed it to these men, and He fulfilled His own promises through His death and resurrection. Think of it!

We see that it’s a glorious salvation when we consider that Jesus Himself has been mulling it over for a long, long time.

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