1 Peter 1:13–25: Passion and Patience
Introduction
In John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, the Interpreter (who trains pilgrims in doctrine) takes Christian to a room where he sees two children, one named Passion, and the other Patience. Passion is discontented, but Patience is quiet and content. When Christian asks about the reason for Passion’s discontentedness, the Interpreter explains, “The governor of them would have him stay for his best things till the beginning of the next year, but he will have all now; but Patience is willing to wait.” Then, when Passion suddenly receives a bag of treasures, he rejoices and laughs at Patience. Only a little while later, though, those treasures were gone, leaving Passion in nothing but rags. Passion, the Interpreter explains, is like the men of this world: “They must have all their good things now; they cannot stay till the next year, that is, until the next world, for their portion of good.” All too soon, however, they lose that portion of good, without anything left to show for it.
Patience, however, is willing to wait, so that he may have his treasure “lastingly.” While Christian readily understands that “it is not best to covet things that are now, but to wait for things to come,” the Interpreter adds an important lesson about how difficult it is to control our appetites for temporary, worldly things, and to cultivate an appetite for eternal, heavenly things: “You say truth: for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. 2 Cor. 4:18. But though this be so, yet since things present and our fleshly appetite are such near neighbors one to another; and again, because things to come and carnal sense are such strangers one to another; therefore it is, that the first of these so suddenly fall into amity [friendship], and that distance is so continued between the second.” While Bunyan does not explicitly quote 1 Peter 1:13–25 in this portion of Pilgrim’s Progress, he nevertheless echoes the themes we find in this passage. Here, Peter urges us to gird up your mind to pursue Christ.
Discussion Questions
1. How does the word “therefore” connect this passage with what we read in the previous passage (v. 13a)? What does the literal imagery of the phrase “prepare your minds for action” (v. 13b; ESV) convey to us? What is the meaning of “sober-minded” (v. 13c)? What are our “passions” and what would it mean to be conformed to them (v. 14a)? Why does Peter tie our passions to our “former ignorance” (v. 14b)? How ought we to live instead?
2. What makes the blood of Christ “precious” (v. 19a)? Why is it so important that he was “without blemish or spot” (v. 19b)? What does it mean that Christ was “foreknown before the foundation of the world” (v. 20a)? How does this idea connect with God’s foreknowledge of us (1 Pet. 1:2)? What does it mean that Christ was “made manifest in the last times for the sake of you” (v. 20b)? What is the ultimate purpose of Christ’s redemptive work (v. 21)?
3. How are our souls “purified” (v. 22a)? What is the result of our souls’ purification (v. 22b)? What role does our regeneration play in this purification (v. 23)? What does it mean for the word of God to be “imperishable” (v. 23)? How does the living and enduring word of God contrast with the perishability and fading nature of this world (v. 24–25a)? What role does preaching play in implanting God’s imperishable word of God in our souls (v. 25b)?
4. Are the loins of your mind girded up for action, or are you drifting along reactively to every impulse you encounter in life? Are you sober-minded, or are you driven by the passions arising in your body? How attentive are you to the preached Word of God as the means of grace that God has appointed for your salvation and for your purification in holiness? What is one way to give yourself more fully to the good news that is preached to you?
