Study the prophets and be holy.

1 Peter 1.10-16.

There are a few popular, but greatly mistaken, Christian beliefs which Simon Peter debunks in today’s portion of his first letter. The first is obviously that we don’t need the Old Testament ’cause we have the New; that the only things we need to study are in the New Testament, and the Old is out of date, or even nullified.

The second is that the Old Testament prophets only prophesied about the events of their day. That whenever we say, “This Old Testament passage is clearly a Messianic prophecy,” we’re taking the passage out of context, because the OT prophet was only speaking of the king of Jerusalem in his day; he wasn’t at all thinking of the Messiah to come, the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus. We’re just reading Christian beliefs and wishes into his statements, instead of looking at the author’s actual intent.

Peter reveals nope, the Old Testament prophets were speaking of Jesus… because the Holy Spirit who inspired the prophets, is the very same Spirit of Christ who empowers us. These prophets foresaw, to varying degrees, a coming Messiah whose rule would never end. They wanted to know about him; they asked the Spirit about him; they foretold him because the Spirit answered some of their questions. Yes, they were totally talking about the events of their day, and totally speaking to the people of their day, but they still foretold of Christ Jesus, and the salvation he’d bring the world.

And this, among other things, is why we need to study the Old Testament—or “the Prophets,” as Jesus and the people of his day called the portions of the bible written after the Law of Moses. You want a greater picture of who Jesus is, and what he came to earth to do? Yeah, you read the New Testament; of course. But you also look at what the Spirit said through the Old Testament prophets.

1 Peter 1.10-16 KWL

10The Prophets search for and study this salvation—

those who prophesy of the grace God grants you,

11these investigators making clear what or when

the Spirit of Christ within them foretells

of Christ’s sufferings

and the glories after that.

12This is revealed to the prophets—

not just to themselves;

they minister these things to you.

They’re proclaimed to you

by those who share the gospel with you

empowered by the heaven-sent Holy Spirit.

God’s messengers set their hearts

upon looking into these things.

13So buckle up your minds,

sober up,

and trust till the end

in the grace being brought to you

in Christ Jesus’s revelation.

14Be like obedient children,

not falling back on your former ignorance and desires,

15but according to the holy One who calls you.

Become holy yourselves, in every way of life.

16This is why it’s written,

“You will be holy because I am holy.” Lv 11.44

I should note: In verse 12 I translated ἄγγελοι/ángeli, which is typically translated “angels,” by its literal meaning “messengers.” Popular Christian culture likes to claim the Holy Spirit revealed the mysteries of Jesus and salvation to us Christians, but not to the angels, even though they totally yearned to know it. Thing is, there’s no legitimate biblical basis for this belief; just misinterpreted verses. In fact the angel Gabriel totally knew about these things—and Gabriel’s the one who shared some of it with the prophets Daniel, Zechariah, and Mary. This angel knew the mysteries first; I wouldn’t be at all surprised if all of ’em knew it first. After all, darn near all of them appeared to the shepherds to announce our Savior had been born.

Anyway, for this reason I’m pretty sure Peter meant any messenger of God should wanna look into these things, whether angels or humans. You should wanna know. Every Christian should! So, as Peter continues in verse 13, buckle up!

One and the same Holy Spirit.

Another popular, but misbegotten, Christian belief, is that Old Testament prophets didn’t have the Holy Spirit in the same way Christians of today have the Holy Spirit. All my life I’ve heard Christians claim the Spirit only “came upon” people in the Old Testament, and empowered them for this or that, but then left. He never indwelt them. Whereas he indwells Christians—he remains in us, and never leaves.

Again, there’s no legitimate biblical basis for this belief. The Holy Spirit is described as “coming upon” Christians too. He’s described as coming upon Jesus, when John the baptist describes what he saw at Jesus’s baptism. Jn 1.32-33 Jesus himself talks about when “the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Ac 1.8 KJV True, he doesn’t leave or forsake us, unless we first reject him. His power can be said to come and go, but he abides in us as we abide in Christ.

Thing is, this continual presence of the Holy Spirit was not considered a new thing by the ancient Christians. The only new thing about it, is that it happened to all believers. Not just prophets. In Old Testament times, the Spirit had only come upon, and remained upon, prophets. He wasn’t poured out upon everyone. When he was, Simon Peter himself had stood up and explained this event was foretold in the Prophets:

Acts 2.16-21 KJV

16But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 17And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19and I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: 20the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: 21and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Jl 2.28-32

Previously the Holy Spirit only indwelt prophets; now he indwelt Christians. All of whom are now expected to prophesy. Yep, you included. (Surprise!) But seriously, why’d you think the Spirit of the Prophets was given to you? It’s not just so you can feel certain of your salvation. It’s so you can do as the prophets did, and proclaim the word of the Lord.

Same Holy Spirit, doing the very same thing as he had in the Old Testament, only on a much grander scale. Well… once Christians realize we have the same commission as those Old Testament prophets. Most of us are still in denial about that, which is why we don’t see anywhere near as much prophesying as we oughta.

All the more reason we need to study the prophets. We need to know how they foretold of Jesus; we need to know what they taught about salvation; and we need to mimic their behavior and warn our generation away from sin and death. We need to do that graciously; sometimes the OT prophets weren’t all that gracious, because they weren’t always prophesying in love, nor in the fruit of the Spirit. Jesus expects better of his Christians. We, like the LORD said in Leviticus, are to be holy like him. He’s gracious; we must be gracious. We’re saved by grace; we mustn’t preach any message about salvation which isn’t likewise infused throughout with God’s grace.

That’s why Peter told his audience to not fall back upon their old fleshly behavior. Too many Christians bollix the gospel by preaching it in fleshly ways. They preach it angrily, overzealously, divisively; too much “us against them,” too much “sinners versus saints.” Or they’ll preach it unethically, making ridiculous promises about how the only thing we have to do is believe, and nothing about becoming holy or fruitful or obedient. It’s no wonder there are so many carnal Christians, whose character and behavior and lifestyle is just as pagan as before they “turned” to Jesus—if not more, because they figure God forgives all.

Nope; God called us out of darkness. Become holy.