The Salvation of Your Soul in Relation to God and to the Brethren (1 Peter 1:13-25)

Summary

Grace in Focus – "The Salvation of Your Soul in Relation to God and to the Brethren"

Podcast: Grace in Focus
Host: Grace Evangelical Society (Bob Wilkin & David Renfrow)
Date: January 7, 2026
Scripture Focus: 1 Peter 1:13-25
Duration: 13 minutes

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Overview

In this episode, Bob Wilkin and David Renfrow delve into 1 Peter 1:13-25, exploring the concept of "the salvation of your soul" (psuke) and its application in relationships—first to God (vv.13-21), then to fellow believers (vv.22-25). They distinguish issues essential to justification from those regarding sanctification, emphasizing the distinct roles each plays in the Christian journey. The episode encourages listeners to embrace both holiness and mutual encouragement, especially in times of suffering, with an assurance grounded in God's enduring promises.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Salvation of the Soul in Relation to God (1:13-21)

• Call to Holiness (vv.13-16)

  • Christians are to "gird up" their minds and be "sober," setting their hope on grace (01:33).
  • Holiness is portrayed as living set apart for God, for His purposes and as a testimony to others.
  • Quote:
    "The word holy, what's the basic meaning of holiness? It's the idea of being set aside for a specific purpose.” (B & C, 02:28)

• Obedience and the Example of Israel

  • Like Israel, believers are set apart to both glorify God and witness to others about His grace.
  • Quote:
    “…not only that, but also to be a testimony to the other nations about the Lord and his grace and the offer of salvation…we are set apart to serve him." (C, 02:42–03:04)

• Godly Fear (vv.17-21)

  • "Fear of the Lord" is reframed as “reverential awe,” not terror (03:31–03:52).
  • Faith and hope in God are underscored as believers anticipate sharing Christ’s glory.
  • Quote:
    “If we retain that godly fear, it will result in sharing in the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (B, 04:40)
  • The suffering believers’ comfort rests in God’s eternal plan and the assured hope of resurrection.
  • Quote:
    “…it’s not happening to me by chance. And I can feel comfort in going through these trials because I am with Christ and I have this hope of resurrection.” (C, 05:20)

• Encouragement in Suffering

  • Suffering for Christ is seen as something that is rewarded, not random.
  • The hosts note contemporary and historical global persecution, urging readiness and faithfulness.
  • Quote:
    “We today are not immune to suffering for Christ. We experience a lot of it. And so as long as we are suffering in this world we're in, that's rewardable.” (B, 05:54)

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2. Salvation of the Soul in Relation to the Brethren (1:22-25)

• Transition to Brotherly Love (v.22)

  • Peter shifts to emphasize purification and fervent love among Christians—both "Philadelphia" (brotherly friendship) and "agape" (selfless love) (07:22–08:22, 10:06).
  • This mutual love supports the “salvation of the soul,” especially amid persecution.

• Assurance through God’s Word (vv.23-25)

  • Peter highlights the incorruptible, eternal nature of God’s Word as the foundation for hope and encouragement (09:55–10:46).
  • Quote:
    “The grass withers, the flower fades. But the word of God…is permanent. Therefore the promises are permanent.” (B, 10:38–10:46)
  • Eternal promises outlast the temporary sufferings and trials of the present world.

• Endurance and Comfort from Scripture

  • Old Testament quotations (from Isaiah) reinforce the message: the world is fleeting, but God’s blessings and Word endure (11:43–12:26).
  • Quote:
    “But you stay faithful to me because this stuff is not going to…the world is not going to last forever. But my blessings will last forever.” (C, 11:54)
  • Encouragement and mutual support among believers are vital for perseverance.

• Gospel—Broader than Initial Salvation

  • The "gospel" here is broader than "how I’m born again," encompassing all biblical teaching (11:26–11:32).
  • Quote:
    “This is one of many places…where the word gospel simply means Bible teaching…of various Bible doctrines.” (C, 11:26–11:32)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Holiness Defined:
  "The word holy…it's the idea of being set aside for a specific purpose." (B & C, 02:28)
• On Suffering and Hope:
  "We today are not immune to suffering for Christ…as long as we are suffering in this world we're in, that's rewardable." (B, 05:54)
• Permanency of the Word:
  "The grass withers, the flower fades. But the word of God…is permanent. Therefore the promises are permanent." (B, 10:38–10:46)
• Encouragement among Believers:
  “We need to encourage one another with those kinds of words that the Lord allows us to go through these difficult times, maybe even to the point of physical death. But it is a time where we can serve one another by encouraging one another and concentrating on the Word of God.” (C, 09:41)
• On the ‘Gospel’ in Context:
  “…where the word gospel simply means Bible teaching…of various Bible doctrines.” (C, 11:26–11:32)
• Lasting Blessings:
  “My blessings will last forever.” (C, 11:54)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:59] — Beginning discussion of 1 Peter 1:13–21
• [01:33] — Call to holiness and what it means
• [03:18] — Shift to godly fear and reverential awe
• [04:45] — Glory as the reward for perseverance
• [05:54] — Suffering for Christ and its purpose
• [07:16] — Transition to relationships with fellow believers (1:22–25)
• [08:22] — Love amongst brethren and mutual support
• [09:55] — The enduring nature of God’s Word
• [10:46] — Impact of the Word’s permanence on Christian hope
• [11:26] — The gospel as broad biblical teaching
• [12:27] — Comfort and lasting encouragement from Peter's exhortation

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Tone & Style

Conversational, encouraging, and pastoral. Bob Wilkin and David Renfrow blend theological precision with practical encouragement, addressing both doctrinal depth and the lived experience of suffering believers.

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Summary for New Listeners

This concise yet rich episode unpacks how believers are both set apart for God and called to love each other deeply, especially when enduring hardship. Anchored in the unwavering promises of God’s Word, listeners are encouraged to pursue holiness, exhibit brotherly love, and find their hope in Christ’s assured resurrection and glory. The conversation provides both theological grounding and practical comfort, making it a valuable listen for anyone seeking to understand 1 Peter’s call to perseverance and mutual care within the context of Free Grace Theology.

Transcript

[A]

The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society. How would you describe our responsibility relationally toward God and toward our Christian brothers and sisters? Could you list a few things? Well, we'll do that today here on Grace and Focus and we are glad that you are joining us. This is the radio and podcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Find us on the [e-mail] we especially want you to get on board, get signed up, get registered and come to our national annual conference happening next May. Not too soon to be planning for that. May 18th through the 21st. Our theme is believe in Jesus for life and it's also about discipleship. All you need to get registered faithalone.org events now with today's discussion, here are Bob Wilken and David Renfrow.

[B]

Alright David, let's wrap up verses 13 through 21 and then we'll begin looking, starting at verse 22 with the salvation of our psuke in relation to other believers. But verses 13 through 21 is dealing with the salvation of the Psuke, salvation of the soul 1, 9 in relation to God, right?

[C]

Correct.

[B]

And so what is 13 through 16? Basically about 11316 with our relationship with.

[C]

The Lord, we are to live a life of holiness. And I think these verses concentrate on holy living in front of our Lord. Notice it says gird up your loins. In other words, prepare to get to work clear headed, meaning sober. Rest your hope fully on the grace that's brought to you at the revelation. And so once again, he's dealing with the perspective of these believers that are going through these miserable times, giving them perspective and the salvation of the suche. It is no mistake that Peter starts, how do we work that out? The salvation of our suqay. He starts out with our relationship to God. That's what verses 13 through 21 are all about.

[B]

And he talks about being obedient children and then he quotes from Leviticus, Leviticus, be holy, for I am holy. And by the way, the word holy, what's the basic meaning of holiness?

[C]

It's the idea of being set aside for a specific purpose.

[B]

Okay, so we're set aside, we're set apart. Like Israel was a set aside nation. Correct. For a specific purpose which was to glorify God, right?

[C]

Well, not only that, but also to be a testimony to the other nations about the Lord and his grace and the offer of salvation. So yeah, the word holy there is very important. What are we set aside to do? Well, I think what Peter is saying in verse 16, we are set apart to serve him.

[B]

So in terms of the salvation of our psuke, first of all, we are to be obedient children. We are to be holy children in relation to God. But then in 1721, what is the emphasis there?

[C]

He starts now dealing with godly fear.

[B]

We should be people who have a godly fear, what the Old Testament would call the fear of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom. Right.

[C]

And fear does not mean I'm scared.

[B]

No. Instead it means like an awe, like in Isaiah 6, oh, woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips. Right?

[A]

Right.

[B]

I have this sense of awe in the presence of the holy, perfect God, the Creator, the one to whom I will give an account one day.

[C]

I call it reverential awe.

[B]

Reverential awe. I like that. And so 1721 is telling us about this and notice how it ends. In verse 21 it says, and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. It's emphasizing glory at the end of this section, but because the whole thing about the salvation of your psuke, your soul is that we would win the co heirship with Christ, to use the terminology of Hebrews, Hebrews 1:9, we would be partners with Christ or the language of Jesus in Matthew 16:27, I'm coming in the glory of the Father with his angels, and then I'm going to reward each according to his works. And, and so the idea here is, if we retain that godly fear, it will result in sharing in the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[C]

Right. And what happened to our Lord, meaning His resurrection, because we are part of that. We've been redeemed. We will share the same thing.

[B]

He has a glorified body. We will have glorified bodies.

[C]

And Based on verse 21, he raised him from the dead, gave him glory. Your faith and hope are in God. It's like take it to the bank. If it happened to the Lord and you belong to Jesus, this will happen to you too.

[B]

And by the way, David, this is a statement of the deity of Christ, right? Absolutely. Your faith and hope are in God. He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.

[C]

Absolutely. But it's just interesting how God planned that Christ would provide this redemption before the foundation of the world. Yeah, I don't know if I was going through super hard times like these believers were. That would give me a great sense of comfort knowing part of this whole plan was put together before the foundation of the world. Therefore it's not happening to me by chance. And I can feel comfort in going through these trials because I am with Christ and I have this hope of resurrection.

[B]

And we today are not immune to suffering for Christ. We experience a lot of it. And so as long as we are suffering in this world we're in, that's rewardable.

[C]

If we don't go along with our world, the world's not going to like us. You hear stories from missionaries and now you're hearing it in the news that there are Christians being killed a lot in other parts of the world. We're not going through it here in the United States yet, but the society is becoming more and more anti Christian and at some point we are going to suffer the same thing these believers did. And we need to have the same strength of faith in our God.

[B]

Amen.

[A]

Did you know that the Grace Evangelical Society offers an M. Div. Degree through our online seminary and tuition is free to those who maintain a 3.0 grade average. It is a three year degree program and you could submit your application now to gain acceptance. Then stay apprised of our registration periods for upcoming semester terms. Program and application details can be [e-mail] have a look at our MDIV degree. Become an approved workman. Find out how gesseminary.org well, look at.

[B]

Verses 22 through 25. Now this is beginning a new section, right? Yeah.

[C]

Well, he's starting out now and it's going to last in verse 22 all the way through chapter two, verse 12. He's now finished. How do I work out the salvation of the soul in relation to the Lord? That stopped in verse 21, right? In verse 22 he's now saying, okay, how do I work out the salvation of the soul in relation to my Christian brothers and sisters?

[B]

And he starts right out and he says, since you have purified your souls again in obeying the truth through the Spirit, in sincere love of the brethren. There it is, what you were talking about. Love of the brethren. Love one another fervently with a pure heart. And then he talks about the new birth again, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible. And then he mentions it comes through the word of God which lives and abides forever. And then there's this wonderful quote from the Old Testament about the enduring nature of God's word, right?

[C]

And once again, that whole idea that these things, they're going to happen, but they are part of God's plan. The suffering is temporary, but the joy that comes after that, that fullness, that salvation of the suqay lasts forever. The way we help that is we help our brothers and sisters who are going through that. We comfort them as well.

[B]

Yeah. We find the same thing in Hebrews 10:23,25. He says, Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves as is the man or some, but let's encourage one another and all the more as we see the day approaching. Right, Right. Well, isn't that more or less what Peter is beginning to talk about here? Yeah.

[C]

He's once again saying that that type of encouragement is going to have everlasting consequences in terms of our sharing in the glory of Christ and the enjoyment of that glory of Christ and the enjoyment of being with our brothers and s stuff in this world is not going to last. And that includes the suffering that you're going through. I'm not saying it's not fun and it's not, you're going to have some hard times, but it will not last. We need to encourage one another with those kinds of words that the Lord allows us to go through these difficult times, maybe even to the point of physical death. But it is a time where we can serve one another by encouraging one another and concentrating on the Word of God. Like one Peter saying, this suffering is not going to last.

[B]

So why bring up the incorruptible nature of the Word of God, that it's enduring forever? The grass withers, the flower fades. But the word of God. Why bring this up at this point?

[C]

Because the brethren are the ones that are going to be the ones suffering in the world. And once again it needs to be. And I think what Peter is doing here is we need to live our lives with our brethren. I call it here in my notes, a life of love. Here's the Greek word for that, Philadelphia. It's a friendship love that we have for our brothers. We have that. Plus we should have agape love for our brethren and sisters. But here we share in those sufferings.

[B]

And the Word of God because it's incorruptible, because it's permanent. Therefore the promises are permanent.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Therefore we know for sure Jesus is coming. We know we'll be with him. And we know if we persevere, then we will obtain this salvation of our psuke. We will obtain this future glory of sharing in his reign and rule and glory. And notice the very last of verse 25. Now this is the word which by the Gospel was preached to you. You mentioned how the word gospel is often misused as it's always the message of how I'm Born again. Right. Well here, isn't it broader than that?

[C]

This is one of many places I think in the New Testament where the word gospel simply means Bible teaching.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Of various Bible doctrines. I think it's ironic. Let me point this out. Notice how verse 24, it emphasizes how temporary this physical world is.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Look at verse 25. But the word of the Lord endures forever.

[B]

So the suffering is temporary, but God's word is permanent. And the promise is there.

[C]

Yeah. And what I think is interesting too, and Peter did this deliberately. Verse 24 is a quote of Isaiah 46, 7. And then verse 25 is Isaiah 40, verse 8. So in the same context he's showing Isaiah, the Lord is revealing his word to Isaiah, saying what's going on in this world is not going to last. But you stay faithful to me because this stuff is not going to in the world is not going to last forever. But my blessings will last forever.

[B]

Amen.

[C]

And I love that.

[B]

That is great.

[C]

It is so cool that First Peter comforts his readers with these incredible words.

[B]

All right, well we'll begin the next one with chapter two, verses one and following. I love especially one through three. I have a sermon on first Peter 2:1:3. Because it's just the power of God's word and how we're to take it in when we're in worship together with other believers. But we'll look at that next time. And in the meantime, let's keep grace in focus.

[A]

We invite you to check out our Monday, Wednesday and Friday five minute YouTube videos at YouTube Grace Evangelical Society. You will love the content and learn a lot. Maybe you've got a question or comment or feedback. If so, please send us a message. Here's our email address. It's radioaithalone.org that's radioaithalone.org Please make sure your question is as succinct and clear as possible. That would be a great big help on our next episode. Longing for God's Word. Do you have time for him? We will see you again next time. And until then, let's keep grace in focus. The proceeding has been a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.