According to 1 Peter, glory always follows suffering. Verses10 and 11 of chapter 1 say, “Concerning this salvation the prophets, who prophesied concerning the grace that was to come unto you, sought and searched diligently, searching into what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ in them was making clear, testifying beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glories after these.” The prophecies concerning Christ were made by the Spirit of Christ in the prophets of the Old Testament dispensation. Even before Christ came, His Spirit in the Old Testament was with the prophets who diligently did their best to seek out, to search, and to know what would happen to Christ. At that time the Spirit of Christ signified to them and testified how Christ would suffer and then be glorified. The Psalms and Isaiah in particular have many predictions concerning Christ’s suffering and glory (Psa. 22; Isa. 53). The Spirit of glory within us today gives us the understanding that if we suffer with Christ, we will also be glorified with Him.
First Peter 1:12 continues, “To them it was revealed that not to themselves but to you they ministered these things, which have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, which things angels long to look into.” The Holy Spirit in 1Peter is also the preaching Spirit. It is through Him that the gospel is preached, and it is through Him that we receive thegospel to be saved.
Verse 2 says, “Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of the Spirit unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.” In 1 Peter, the Spirit is also the Spirit of sanctification, the sanctifying Spirit. The gospel was preached and received through Him. Then after receiving the gospel and being saved through the Spirit, we are being sanctified by this same Spirit.
Verse 5 of chapter 2 says, “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” To be built up as a spiritual house is to be built up in the Holy Spirit and in our spirit. Moreover, the spiritual sacrifices we offer to God are both in the Holy Spirit and in our spirit. The gospel is preached through the Spirit, and it is by the Spirit that we received the gospel. Now the Spirit is doing a work to sanctify us and to build us up as aspiritual house, a body of priests, to serve God by offering spiritual sacrifices. Therefore, to be saved, sanctified, built up, and to serve God are all in the Spirit, who is with us as the Spirit of glory under God’s governmental dealing.
Verses 18 and 19 of chapter 3 say, “Christ also has suffered once for sins, the Righteous on behalf of the unrighteous, that He might bring you to God, on the one hand being put to death in the flesh, but on the other, made alive in the Spirit; in which also He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison.” Although many Bible scholars find these verses difficult to understand, the principle here is that genuine preaching is always carried out by the Spirit who makes alive. Christ was put to death in the flesh, but He was made alive in the Spirit as the essence of His divinity (Rom. 1:4; cf. John 4:24a), and it is in this Spirit that He went to proclaim the victory achieved by God. In the same principle, when we go out to preach the gospel, we also must proclaim in the Spirit who has made us alive.
First Peter also speaks of our human spirit. Verse 4 of chapter 3 says, “The hidden man of the heart in the incorruptible adornment of a meek and quiet spirit, which is very costly in the sight of God.” Because our heart surrounds our human spirit, our spirit is the hidden man of the heart. Such a spirit should be meek and quiet. This is the best adornment before God, especially for the sisters. The sisters should be meek and quiet, not merely outwardly but inwardly in their spirit, that is, in the hidden man within their heart. We usually consider that females are meek and quiet persons. In truth, though, it is difficult to be meek and quiet in the spirit. It is easier to be angry inwardly. The best adornment in the sight of God is a deep meekness and quietness from the innermost, hidden part of the heart. It is not only the sisters who need such a spirit; the brothers also need such a spirit.
Verse 6 of chapter 4 says, “Unto this end the gospel was announced also to those who are now dead, that they might be judged in the flesh according to men but live in the spirit according to God.” In order to live according to God, we must live in the spirit. We are made alive in the Spirit, weproclaim in the Spirit, and we live according to God in our regenerated human spirit indwelt by the Spirit of God (John 3:6; Rom. 8:10-11). Everything must be in the Spirit.