“…But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”                                                                                                                                               (1 Peter 3)

 

When providing an exposition of a passage from Scripture one  (1) must follow rules. Before I provide you with the rules and then an exposition of the passage above let me explain a bit about exposition and the spirit of exposition. Expositional preaching and teaching means unpacking a passage or examining or expositing or removing or mining the gold from the passage of Scripture. This expositing differs from topical preaching or teaching as topical means providing a topic and expanding on that topic from many passages. This type of preaching is valuable and has it’s place no doubt. Expositing from Scriptures is sticking to a passage of Scripture and examining that specific passage line by line, word by word, chapter by chapter verse by verse.

Exposition of Scripture requires more labour over the Word, it requires purity and honesty, it does not allow the minister to teach opinion or what he wants to or to preach from a hobby horse. Exposition requires the Text to speak for Himself. An analogy would be the difference between reporting the news and opining upon the news. The reporting of the news of the news and commentating or providing opinion upon that news.

To provide exposition the expositioner must look at the verse, the chapter, the context, and all things regarding the passage being exposed or mined, or exposed. False teaching avoid this type of preaching, an exposition of Scripture should limit one’s ulterior motives, in other words, the refusal to exposit a passage exposes the minister and his intentions.

Now onto our passage of Scripture:  The first word of our passage is But.  When one comes to a verse and one reads the word, but or therefore, wherefore, and, thence, or hence or and or if, one is required to look in the verse(s) prior to the one at hand. The words listed tell the reader or examiner or expositer that s/he must look to the verse(s) prior to the one in hand. In our text the word But is written and requires us to look at the verses prior to obtain the context.

When we investigate the prior  verses we find the passage is set forth in the context of evil, persecution, and troubles in the world. The verses prior to our text speak to how the believer should live in this world as this world is an evil word., the verses prior to our text speak to unity in the family and how the believer should converse or walk or live or compose himself or herself in this evil world. In the verse just before our text we find that Peter is writing about suffer or enduring terrors or troubles in this world for the sake of living the righteous life Christ spoke of in the sermon on the mount. In verse fourteen (14) Peter, a man that was with Christ from the beginning, tells us, “…be not afraid of their [the world’s] terror, neither be troubled.

Notice now, if we did not explain the context of our specific verse, we could define the word, “their” in anyway we desired.  If we were blasphemers like those on TBN or other (s)atanic ministries that exploit the ignorance and Biblical illiteracy of their hearers, we might define “their,” as being theologically sound expositers of Scripture or persons who picket outside their theatres of cultic and false teaching and preaching as the false teachers do.

Joel Osteen could pervert our text and use the word “their” for the men and women who stand outside his temple of deception warning the fifty-two thousand (52,000) persons that file in for their own spiritual slaughter in anyway he wanted. If we were like Farrakhan, Sharp (formerly two) ton, or J. Jackson, we could define “their” as being racist and bigoted. But being true expositors of Scripture we define, “their” as the world or those who are persecuting the Christ-like persons and people of God. The Christ-ian should not be afraid of their (The world of persecutors or persecutor in, of, and from the world) terrors or the troubles caused by them.

Therefore, the context of our chosen passage is Christ-ian persecution or the troubles Christ-ian face and will face in their time upon this earth. In expositing this verse we could then point out how Christ and His prophets and saints have foretold of this persecution as fact. How those before us have proclaimed, promised, prophesied, predicted, and pronounced a time of troubles, tribulations, and persecutions; the like this world has never and will ever experience again. These hours, these days, these times were foretold before they come so that we would understand the times and so that we would be comforted, and have confirmation from God in these times. The saints will not be confounded or troubled as the worldlings will be confounded and troubled when the foretold tribulation and troubles come upon them and for them and because of them.

These times of tribulation are yet to come, I believe the signs that these times are coming have been and are being observed and experienced in our/their world today. The Christ-ians, during this time, will demonstrate graces from God: hope, peace, knowledge, and understanding. The knowledge or Hope we have from Scripture will beget our understandings and expectations of the times and that  begets a peacefulness within us. This peace will pass the understanding of those without that peace; this peace will be peculiar and particular to those with the Christ-likeness…

In this setting, in this context, under these circumstance, the world without peace will look at and will look to the persons with hope and these hopeless persons will ask the Christ-ians about the hope and peace that is beyond the understanding of the inquirer’s natural mind and worldview. Some will look to the hopeful as having answers, yet others will look at them with hatred and great envy. These envious and hate-filled persons are envious because God did not choose them as He had chosen us; God has chosen His people out of this world (John 15). Of course the hate-filled and envious know not the why of the why they hate the elect as they do and why they hate us so much as they do.

What is hope? Is hope a wish for what is possible or a hope in what may be? “I hope it does not rain on the parade,” This is one (1) way hope is used. It is used as a wish, wishing for something that cannot be controlled. This is not the hope as is defined in Scripture. Hope is defined as an expectation that is well founded and is grounded in something that is substantial.  Paul tells us we are saved by hope. How then does hope save us when we have been told we are saved by faith?

Faith begets hope. Romans five (5): “By [our Lord Jesus Christ: …we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations (plural; this does not speak of the tribulation of the end times) also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience (endurance, perseverance); And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed. because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given us.”

We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We are saved by God’s grace, in that He hath gifted us with faith, allowing us to believe, and this faith grants us an expectation, an expectation that is well founded and grounded in the truth of Scripture. The Christ-ian has a hope that drives, that inspires the Christ-ian into patience and endurance and perseverance in times of trouble and tribulation. Troubles today and the tribulations that are to come. Thusly is hope defined by Scripture.

Christ is called, “the [B]lessed [H]ope.” Therefore, Christ is our Blessed Expectation and this expectation is warranted by the Foundation and well grounded-ness of Scripture.

As this article has grown quite long, let us to end here, having defined hope.

Godspeed.