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FIGURE 1 ‐ 1 PETER RELATIONSHIP MAP – CREATED BY GERRY PETERS
1 PETER MAP DESCRIBED
1. 1 Peter 1:1‐12
a. Relationship: God and Man
b. It’s all about: Our Belief
c. The emphasis is on: God’s Dominion and Provision for our Salvation.
2. 1 Peter 1:13‐21
a. Relationship: Man and God
b. It’s all about: Our Belief (2)
c. The emphasis is on: Our Destiny, which is our Salvation
3. 1 Peter 1:22‐3:7
a. Relationship: Man and Others
b. It’s all about: Our Behavior
c. The emphasis is on: Our Duty, which is Submission
4. 1 Peter 3:8‐4:19
a. Relationship: Man and Circumstances
b. It’s all about: Our Buffet
c. The emphasis is on: Discipline, which will include Suffering
5. 1 Peter 5
a. Relationship: Mature Believer and Seekers / New Believers
b. It’s all about: The Banquet
c. The Emphasis is on: The Disciple, which means being a Servant
1 PETER MAP EXPLAINED
The book of 1 Peter is a story of relationships beginning with God.
1 Peter 1:1 begins with an explanation of God’s relationship with Man1 including His love and provision for man’s
eternity. It is only as man understands God’s love for him, is he able to embrace and join into that relationship,
Man to God2. In this relationship we seek to live holy lives, separated unto God in all our ways, thereby bringing
glory to God and demonstrating our love to Him. This is the primary purpose of man’s relationship with God.
The relationship story continues with Man and Others.3 In 1 Peter, we are reminded that this new relationship will
only become what God intended as we understand and embrace God’s love for us and then grow in our
relationship with God, the spirit filled life. With the Holy Spirit alive in us, the initial evidence will be seen in our
behavior toward others. We will have no ambition to satisfy our ego but look to the needs of others and do good
as God directs us. We will be known for our cooperation and submission among to others to the glory of God. We
will be known for our love for the brethren.
Peter now opens the door to the next relationship within the Christian experience, Man and his Circumstances4.
Before every believer, the Lord places or allows circumstances to be placed before us; our buffet so to speak. As
Christ suffered, we too may be called upon to suffer since we have made a “break5” from the way of sin and
chosen rather the will of God in all matters of our life.
This is the great discipline of the believer, to walk circumspectly before the Lord, seeking God’s glory in all our
ways. It may be that your buffet includes some wonderful blessings. These too must be observed with God’s glory
and His will in full view. This relationship may be the most difficult and so it is rightly said that this portion’s
emphasis is on the discipline of the believer as we make a break from the way of sin and our personal desires. It is
often much easier to choose the will of God when we suffer than when we live with an abundance of blessing.
The final relationship that Peter brings before us is the relationship of the Mature Believer and the Seeker.6 This
added component will allow the relationships of 1 Peter to be perpetual and progressive. Perpetual means that
the relationships will be ongoing, and with each season with a greater passion. Progressive means that we bring
someone new with us as we shepherd them with care. Without this relationship dynamic, we will begin to see the
light growing dim and powerless. All previous relationships have prepared us for this one, to bring new life into
the kingdom of God.
Christian maturity has nothing to do with the number of years a person has attended the Church or the age of the
believer. Maturity has everything to do with the believer’s personal God‐relationships7; the eagerness for holiness
and his love for the brethren. You can see the maturity in how he weathers the buffet of life, the blessings and the
sufferings, and how he endured as a believer in Christ. This person is an Elder. This Elder shepherds new sheep
into the fold of God and walks with them as they grow and experience all that God has set before them.
1
1 Peter 1:1‐12
2
1 Peter 1:13‐21
3
1 Peter 1:22‐3:7
4
1 Peter 3:8‐4:19
5
1 Peter 4:1
6
1 Peter 5
7
The combined relationships as described in 1 Peter.
1 PETER PRIMARY SCRIPTURE VERSES:8
1. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a
living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that is, into an inheritance
imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. (1 Peter 1:3‐4)
2. Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober, and set your hope completely on the
grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Like obedient children, do not comply
with the evil urges you used to follow in your ignorance, but, like the Holy One who called you, become
holy yourselves in all of your conduct, for it is written, “You shall be holy, because I am holy.”
(1 Peter 1:13‐15)
3. You have purified your souls by obeying the truth in order to show sincere mutual love. So love one
another earnestly from a pure heart. (1 Peter 1:22)
4. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim
the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You once were not a
people, but now you are God’s people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy.
(1 Peter 2:9‐10)
5. Be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether to a king as supreme or to governors as
those he commissions to punish wrongdoers and praise those who do good. For God wants you to silence
the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. (1 Peter 2:13‐14).
6. In the same way, wives, be subject to your own husbands….Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives
with consideration (1 Peter 3:1, 8)
7. So, since Christ suffered in the flesh, you also arm yourselves with the same attitude, because the one
who has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin, in that he spends the rest of his time on earth
concerned about the will of God and not human desires. (1 Peter 4:1)
8. For the culmination of all things is near. So be self‐controlled and sober‐minded for the sake of prayer.
Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins. Show
hospitality to one another without complaining. Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one
another as good stewards of the varied grace of God. Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words.
Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified
through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:7‐11)
9. Dear friends, do not be astonished that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as though something
strange were happening to you. But rejoice in the degree that you have shared in the sufferings of Christ,
so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice and be glad. (1 Peter 4:12‐13)
10. So as your fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings and as one who shares in the glory that will be
revealed, I urge the elders among you: Give a shepherd’s care to God’s flock among you, exercising
oversight not merely as a duty but willingly under God’s direction, not for shameful profit but eagerly.
(1 Peter 5:1‐2)
8
All Scripture portions taken from the NETBible by permission.