Salvation: That’s The Word For This Whole Faith Thing!

“Although you have not seen^* him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  Vss. 8-9

So, this is what we call it.  The outcome of our faith, loving Jesus, believing in Jesus, the whole plan that God set into motion, the plan that Peter’s audience have undertaken trials on behalf of, it is all ‘the salvation of our souls.’  I say ‘our’ souls where Peter says ‘your’ souls, because this letter speaks to the Jews of the Diaspora but it also speaks to us.  If that were its purpose, it wouldn’t be in the Bible.

To the Jews in Peter’s audience, salvation of their souls is the fulfillment of the Messianic expectations.  There are so many perspectives to this.  The Messiah is the Second Adam and Eve, restoring the relationship with God that was messed up in Genesis 2 and 3.  The Messiah is the Son of David, Israel’s greatest king, coming to establish a perfect kingship.  The Messiah is Isaiah’s “Suffering Servant”,

⁴ Surely he has borne our infirmities
   and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
   struck down by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions,
   crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
   and by his bruises we are healed. (Is. 53:4-5)

So we spin back to the beginning of Peter’s words, giving us a new birth into a living hope, an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.  It is a salvation to be revealed in the last time, but one that begins in our lives now.

Pretty cool if you think about it.