1 Peter 1:5

‘Who by the power of God are being guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.'

And all these things are guaranteed to us because we are ‘being continually closely guarded' (a direct military term) by the power of God, (compare John 10:27), Who has our salvation always in view, so that we will be made ready to be manifested and openly revealed ‘at the last time'. This is a security enjoyed by us ‘through faith'. But it should be noted that it is not the faith that ensures the guarding. It is not saying that our being guarded is dependent on our faith. Rather the faith receives it, and rests in it, and rejoices in it. It is a reminder that, while not being dependent on our faith, God's work never goes on without man's involvement (compare Philippians 2:12), for once God has begun to work it must eventually become apparent to all.

The fact that we (or our salvation) must be ‘revealed at the last time', that is, at the consummation of the age, is a reminder that it is His purpose to present us before Himself, holy, without blemish and unreproveable (Colossians 1:22). It is a reminder that salvation not only involves our being made acceptable in His sight, but also involves our being made like Him (Romans 8:29; 1 John 3:2). That is why we must be changed from glory into glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). That is why He is at work within us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). It is because He intends to make us like Himself. It is because He has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). But there is no salvation without the intention of, and desire for, transformation on our part. It is all a part of God's working, but we must nevertheless ‘work it out' with greatest care (Philippians 2:12).

‘Unto salvation.' Salvation is a primary thought of this passage, compare 1 Peter 1:9, although there our present salvation is more in mind. Behind all God's activity it is our ‘salvation', our being redeemed to obedience and eternal life, which is in view. And here in this verse in Peter it is specially the final full salvation which is in view, when all is completed and we are presented in His image (Rom 8:29-30; 1 John 3:1; Colossians 1:22).

Note On Salvation In The New Testament.

Salvation in the New Testament is in fact presented in four tenses. In Titus 3:5; 2 Timothy 1:9 Paul speaks of ‘having been saved'. This is in the aorist tense, and indicates something that has happened once for all when a person genuinely responds to Christ. At that moment the person who believes enters into the sphere of Gods salvation. He becomes a sheep in the flock of the Good Shepherd with his future guaranteed (John 10:27). He becomes a patient of the Great Physician (Mark 2:17).

He also speaks of ‘having been saved and therefore now being saved' (Ephesians 2:5; Ephesians 2:8). This is in the perfect tense which indicates something that has happened in the past the benefit of which continues to the present time. This is what is in mind when we say a person has been ‘saved', and is therefore now ‘saved'. This salvation has begun and is on its way to certain completion because the saving is done by Him. Such a person is being daily fed and cared for by the Good Shepherd (John 10:4; John 10:27).

But the Bible also speaks of us as those who “are being saved” (1 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 2:15) in the present tense and thus as being part of a process which is going on as God ‘works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure' (Philippians 2:13). We enjoy and experience continually His saving work. This is probably what is in mind in 1 Peter 1:9, ‘receiving continually the salvation of your innermost beings'.

And it speaks of those who will be saved (1Co 3:15; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 2 Corinthians 7:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:13), the future tense and its equivalents (as found here in 1 Peter 1:5) reflecting something yet to be brought to full completion. In other words, when God ‘saves' someone they are saved once and for all, and it is fully effective, but if it is genuine it means that it will then result in a process by which they are being ‘changed from glory into glory' by God (2 Corinthians 3:18), with the final guarantee of a completed process, when they are presented before Him holy and without blemish. It is ‘unto salvation' (1 Peter 1:5). If our salvation is not progressing, even though slowly, then its genuineness must be questioned. The Saviour does not fail in His work.

Consider a man drowning at sea, in a fierce storm, clinging to a life raft with one hand, his other arm broken and trailing behind, and both his legs paralysed, having been many hours in the freezing water and suffering from hypothermia, more dead than alive. Then along comes the life boat and drags him out and he gasps, hardly able to speak because of the seriousness of his condition, “I am saved”. Well, it is true. He is no longer doomed. But he has a long way to go. He would not have much confidence in his salvation if they put him to one side in the bow of the boat, with the waves lashing over him, and said to him, “Well, you're saved now”, and then went off and played cards and then practised turning the lifeboat over. His confidence and dependence lie in a fully trained and capable crew who are dedicated to warming him up, treating him and getting him to hospital so that he can be fully restored.

So as they get to work on him, wrapping him in a blanket and gently warming his frozen limbs, trying to set his broken arm and doing everything else necessary to restore him to some kind of normality, he can begin to have hope and think gratefully to himself, “I am being saved”. But he may well still be aware of the winds howling round, and the boat heaving in the heavy seas, and the pain and agony of his limbs, and he may then look forward to the comfort of the hospital and think, “I will soon be saved”. If those crewmen, and the ambulance waiting for him on shore on that terrible night, can be so dedicated, can we think that the One Who died on a cross for us on an even more terrible night, can be less dedicated? And His lifeboat is unsinkable. But He does not just want us in the lifeboat. He wants us fully restored. And that is what He is determined to have. And we can be sure that the Good Shepherd and Great Physician will not fail in His task. But if we want to be saved it is full salvation that we must want! We cannot say, ‘Lord, save me, but leave me as I am'. And that is what Peter is stressing here.

End of note.