Peter says that God has called us into His eternal glory in Christ. “In Christ” indicates that the God of all grace has gone through all the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to accomplish the complete and full redemption so that He may bring His redeemed people into an organic union with Himself. Thus they may participate in the riches of the Triune God as their enjoyment. All the steps of the divine operation are in Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God becoming the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the bountiful life supply to us. It is in this Christ, through His all-inclusive redemption and based on all His achievements, that God can be the God of all grace to call us into His eternal glory and to perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us in the Triune God (1:1-2) as the solid foundation, thus enabling us to attain unto His glorious goal. What a miracle that fallen sinners can be brought into God’s eternal glory! And how excellent is His perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and grounding work in us! This is all accomplished through His “all grace” which is the “true grace” (5:12).
According to what Peter says in 5:10, our sufferings are only for a little while, but God’s glory is eternal. After we have suffered a little while, the God of all grace will personally perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us.
The word “Himself” indicates God’s personal activity in the work of grace. The Greek word rendered “perfect” literally means restore. It implies repairing, adjusting, putting in order again, mending, perfectly joining together, thoroughly equipping, well furnishing, and, thus, perfecting, completing, educating. In Greek the word “establish” literally means to set fast, to confirm. The same word was used by the Lord in His charge to Peter in Luke 22:32. The meaning of “strengthen” is very close to that of establish. Literally, the Greek word rendered “ground” means to lay a basis for. It is a derivation of the word that means foundation. Hence, it is to ground solidly, as in Matthew 7:25, Ephesians 3:17, and Hebrews 1:10.
There is a progress in the four divine acts of grace. Perfecting leads to establishing, establishing to strengthening, and strengthening to grounding in the God of all grace—the Triune God in His dispensation (1:1-2) as the solid foundation.
First God perfects us. Through the suffering of persecution we are perfected. Then after perfecting us, God establishes us. When we are established, we no longer wander, and we are no longer changeable. After God establishes us, He strengthens us, empowers us, and eventually, He grounds us in Himself as the Triune God.
In 5:11 Peter says, “To Him be the glory and the might unto the ages of the ages. Amen.” To the God of all grace, the One who perfects, establishes, strengthens, and grounds us, be glory and might.
In 5:12-14 we have the conclusion of this Epistle. In verse 12 we have the testimony of the true grace of God, and in verses 13 and 14 we have Peter’s greetings.
First Peter 5:12 says, “Through Silvanus, the faithful brother, as I account him, I wrote to you briefly, entreating and fully testifying that this is the true grace of God; in which stand.” Peter was an eyewitness (5:1), testifying what he had seen and experienced. He testifies that what he has written in his Epistle as an account of God’s grace is true.
Peter wrote this Epistle to pilgrim believers in order to entreat them and testify to them of the grace of God. In 5:12 he indicates that what he has written positively concerning God’s doings is the true grace. We have seen that Peter speaks of grace being multiplied, of varied grace, of all grace, and here, of true grace. Furthermore, regarding the excellent manner of life, Peter twice says that this is the true grace of God (2:19-20). In 5:12 Peter entreats the believers to stand in the true grace. We need to stand in the true grace of God and withstand the Devil.
The true grace in this verse refers to the “all grace” in verse 10, in which the apostle charged the believers to stand. This book was written mainly to show the persecuted believers God’s governmental purpose in their sufferings. That they may pass through those sufferings, God will supply them with all the multiplied, varied, and true grace (5:10; 1:2; 4:10), which is sufficient to enable them to participate in the sufferings of Christ and for Christ (2:21; 3:14-17; 4:12-16), and will perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground them in the Triune God and bring them into His eternal glory.