Salvation in Three Tenses (Part Three)- 1 Peter 1:1-12

We continue our examination of salvation in 1 Peter 1:9, where we are told that their is a purpose to our faith, just like their is a purpose to the trials that build it. The purpose of this faith here is stated to be the “salvation of your souls”. This is something that we are “receiving”, here as the present middle participle of komizo-to receive or obtain. The use of the present here shows the continual nature of this receiving, of its being a continual process, an ongoing event. The use of the middle voice here (in which the subject acts upon itself) shows that we participate in this process, that as we live in faith, this salvation will increase. This salvation is portrayed here as continually growing as we walk in faith through the trials of life. We are also told here what the goal or purpose of this salvation is, the “salvation of our souls”. Salvation again here is sozo, to rescue or deliver from danger, and the danger we are delivered from is sin. This deliverance from sin is of our “souls”, psuche in Greek. The word soul is descriptive of our personalities, the means through which we interact with other souls, generally said to consist of mind, will and emotions. The saving of our souls here is then describing a process through which we are delivered from sin’s control over our thinking, feeling and acting, that our soul is delivered from sin as we obey Jesus Christ, and we will think, feel and act more like Jesus as this process continues. This is a process in which we participate, and its progress will be determined by the level of our obedience, we will be gradually rescued and delivered from the power of sin. This process is called sanctification, the gradual deliverance of our souls from the power and influence of sin, the conforming of our souls to the image of Christ. This verse then describes the present aspect of our salvation, that we are being delivered from the power of sin. We have now seen, in this passage, that believers are saved in three tenses, that we have been saved from the penalty of sin, that we are being saved from the power of sin, and that we will be saved from the presence of sin. May we learn to rest in the fact that we “have been saved”, grow in the fact that we “are being saved”, and hope in the fact that we “will be saved”.