Concerning This Salvation

Peter’s dense and rich introduction sets the trajectory for his letter. Before jumping into the imperatives of the letter, Peter expounds on the nature of salvation: concrete, certain, and full of confidence.

When we hear salvation, we often think of the moment when someone professes faith, but the biblical authors use it much more broadly. It has past, present, and future dimensions based on an objective project of grace begun in the mind of God from eternity. Before salvation is ever personal, it’s historical. A subjective salvation is no salvation at all. The “Good News” that Peter says was preached came by the same Holy Spirit that spoke through the Prophets of old.

Roughly 30 percent of the Old Testament is prophetic in nature, and according to theologian J. Barton Payne, 191 prophecies have direct personal reference to Christ. If the suffering and death of Jesus were not an untimely accident or tragic mistake, but actually a necessity sovereignly brought about by God, then neither is the suffering endured by those who love Him. But as certain as the suffering, so too is the subsequent glory. This is the confidence of Christian salvation.