1 Peter

Joshua P. Howard
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1 Peter is a New Testament letter by the Apostle Peter, encouraging Christians facing persecution in Asia Minor to remain steadfast in their faith by focusing on their secure hope in Christ's resurrection, living holy lives, submitting to authority, and doing good to glorify God, even as "strangers and exiles" in a hostile world, following Jesus' example of suffering. The core message is enduring hardship through godly conduct, recognizing this suffering as a way to share in Christ's glory and grow in character.

  1. 3 DAYS AGO

    At the End of All Things

    This Sunday we're picking back up in our study of 1 Peter—which is a fitting moment to jump into a Bible reading plan for 2026 and begin the year grounded in God's Word!

    38 min

  2. 14/12/2025

    Following God's Will and Not Our Own

    1 Peter

    1h 36m

  3. 23/11/2025

    The Gospel in Baptism

    It has been a tremendous joy to have several baptisms this month, and we are looking forward to more next month as well! I love seeing baptisms in our church, and it is the sort of thing we should look forward to and pray expectantly for (including for adult converts, which should be our constant prayer!). But it is also a great time for us to be reminded of who we are as baptized Christians. I will likely never forget this phrase in our Standards, because it was an unfamiliar phrase to me at the time that tripped me up during my theological examinations (upon my entrance into the PCA)… yet one that I have grown to love: How is baptism to be improved by us? To me, this sounded strange, since we cannot "add value" to our baptism—but that's not the meaning of the question. This is the older sense of the word "improved," and it is asking how we can "profit from" our baptism, or "make use of" the weight of our baptism. It asks what the continuing effects are from our baptism. If you have never read Larger Catechism #167, I encourage you to do so! It will undoubtedly encourage you as much as it has for me. Since this Sunday's message will be focusing on the theme of baptism, we will be considering what baptism is, and reminding ourselves along with Shorter Catechism #94: Q: What is Baptism? A: Baptism is a sacrament, wherein the washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, doth signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord's.

    43 min

  4. 02/11/2025

    When You Suffer While Doing Good (Part II)

    One of Peter's admonitions to us in this passage is to always be prepared to "make a defense" to anyone who asks us for a reason for the hope that is in us. This word for "defense" (apologia) is where we get the word for "apologetics," which is the study of how to defend the Christian faith. I find it fascinating that Peter – a man who knew all too well the feeling of being unprepared to defend the faith – writes to believers with the encouragement to learn from his example. To be faithful, and even in times of suffering!

    41 min

  5. 19/10/2025

    When You Suffer While Doing Good - Part 1

    In the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation, the city of Geneva (where John Calvin ministered) adopted the city motto post tenebras lux, meaning "out of darkness, light." There are good biblical roots for this phrase (Isa 9:2; John 1:5), but this was how those Christians viewed what God had done during the Reformation—it was a time of great darkness, yet God used faithful Christians to shine a great light into that darkness. That's what we celebrate every October: it's not a veneration of men, but it is a celebration of the work God accomplished by using faithful Christians to bring gospel light into great darkness. This is an ongoing task of the church. In our passage this week, we will hear Peter speak of honoring Christ in your heart as holy, and being always prepared to make a defense for the hope that is within you (1 Pet 3:15). This is an ongoing part of the task of the Christian Church until Christ returns: holding fast to our historic and ancient faith, guarding against error that frequently rises, and doing so with joy and faithfulness.

    39 min

  6. 12/10/2025

    Pursuing Unity and Responding to Evil

    We are in a section of 1 Peter that discusses unity, which should make a lot of sense if you consider where we have been thus far in our text. Peter has gone through several categories of submission, and he now leads into a passage about unity. When we do not submit to the authorities that God has placed over us, we will not find unity. Unity is something that is so precious to the Church, and it is something that is so fragile when we allow our sin to fester and threaten it. It's important to note that unity is built on truth, which is why Peter mentions turning away from evil. Unity is not the "end goal," in other words, nor is unity achieved for its own sake—unity is supposed to be the fruit of us following Christ while anchored in truth! That is one of the reasons we cannot only exegete passages, but we actually have to apply those passages. As a spirited Puritan named Matthew Henry observed about this passage: "The business of a faithful minister is to apply general truths to the particular condition and state of his hearers." Application is always where the offense can come in, but it is always worth it. We want to pursue unity, which means we want to pursue truth, and we want to faithfully apply that truth in our lives.

    46 min

  7. 05/10/2025

    Marriages That Honor Christ

    We are tackling one of the more controversial passages in Scripture: 1 Peter 3:1-7. But notice that it's not a controversial passage because of the history of interpretation or the nuances of the original languages… in fact, this passage is actually pretty straightforward. Rather, this passage is controversial for the same reason passages like Romans 9 or John 6 are controversial at times—we simply struggle with what it says. That makes my task straightforward, which is simply to faithfully exposit and apply Scripture to the best of my abilities. But I think it also makes our task straightforward, which is to let God's Word abide deeply in us, and not to chafe against God's good and kind instruction. There are a great many other passages that speak about husbands and wives. We could look to Ephesians 5, Colossians 3, 1 Corinthians 7, Hebrews 13… and there is a very good reason that Scripture speaks of husband and wife so often! The family is the building block of culture—think of the household as that most basic building block of human society, and the dynamic of husbands and wives is at the core of it. So much so that Christ describes Himself as a bridegroom to His bride the Church—Christ is reconciling all of creation to Himself, and He is doing so in union with His bride (2 Cor 5:17-19). So, let's make our application of this passage start with the household of God—one of the best ways you can encourage the Bride of Christ is to be hospitable to others, starting with those in fellowship here at New Covenant.

    48 min

  8. 28/09/2025

    The Suffering Servant and His Servants

    This Sunday we have something truly unique on the calendar—an event that none of us will want to miss or take for granted. It's the sort of significant moment that we should be preparing ourselves (even now) to celebrate together. This Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be playing against the Minnesota Vikings in Dublin, Ireland. I'm also told that this is the first NFL game to be played in Ireland, which is quite historic as well! Dublin is certainly a beautiful place—I have never seen the stadium, but Marci and I were able to visit Dublin early in our marriage while visiting family in Germany. Now, just to be clear—the football game isn't the event I had in mind. In fact, it doesn't even come close. What I was pointing to is this: on Sunday, we get to gather as the people of the almighty God, hear His Word, sing His praises, and celebrate the infinite love that He has promised to shower upon us for all of eternity. The setup here was a bit playful (corny even?), but I am so very serious about the point—this Sunday, we get to fellowship with God. That is what makes every Sunday so incredibly special.

    35 min
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About

1 Peter is a New Testament letter by the Apostle Peter, encouraging Christians facing persecution in Asia Minor to remain steadfast in their faith by focusing on their secure hope in Christ's resurrection, living holy lives, submitting to authority, and doing good to glorify God, even as "strangers and exiles" in a hostile world, following Jesus' example of suffering. The core message is enduring hardship through godly conduct, recognizing this suffering as a way to share in Christ's glory and grow in character.

Information

  • Creator
    Joshua P. Howard
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © New Covenant Presbyterian Church
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    1 Peter