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Read for This Week’s Study: 1 Pet. 3:8-12; Gal. 2:20; 1 Pet. 4:1, 2; Rom. 6:1-11; 1 Pet. 4:3-11; 2 Sam. 11:4.

Memory Text: “For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers;

But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil” (1 Peter 3:12, NKJV).

The Bible writers knew the reality of human sinfulness. How could they not? The world reeks of it. Besides, they knew their own sinfulness, as well (see 1 Tim. 1:15). They knew just how serious it was, too; after all, look at what it took-the cross of Jesus Christ-to solve the problem of sin. That’s how deep and pervasive the reality of sin really is.

But the Bible writers also were greatly aware of the power of Christ to change our lives and make us new people in Him.

This week, Peter continues on this same track: the kind of new life that Christians will have in Christ after they have given themselves to Him and have been baptized. In fact, the change will be so great that others will notice it. Peter doesn’t say that this change will always be easy; indeed, he talks about the need to suffer in the flesh (1 Pet. 4:1) in order to have the victory that we are promised.

Peter continues a theme that pervades the Bible, the reality of love in the life of a believer in Jesus. “Love,” he writes, “will cover a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8, NKJV). When we love, when we forgive, we are reflecting what Jesus has done and still does for us.