GROWING
"Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed." — 1 Peter 1:13
Faith Is Not an Intellectual Shortcut
Sometimes Christian faith is portrayed as the opposite of critical, careful thinking. “Just believe.” Or, “If you ask too many questions, it means that your faith is weak. Let me pray for you.” Or, “By faith, we should just keep things simple and accept what we are told.”
However, that is certainly not the picture we encounter in the first chapter of 1 Peter. Peter describes the prophets who anticipated God's coming salvation as extraordinarily diligent seekers:
"The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours made careful search and inquiry, inquiring about the person or time that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated…" (1 Peter 1:10–11)
Notice Peter's language. They searched. They inquired. They wanted to understand. These were people through whom God had already spoken, yet they continued seeking greater understanding of what God had revealed to them.
There is something wonderfully encouraging about that. Faith does not require us to stop thinking. Faith should make us want to understand more deeply.
Prepare Your Minds for Action
Peter then turns from the prophets to us.
"Therefore prepare your minds for action…" (1 Peter 1:13)
Older translations render the underlying Greek expression more literally: "gird up the loins of your mind."1
The image would have been understandable in first century Judea. Someone wearing a long garment who needed to work, run, or fight gathered the loose fabric and secured it around the waist. Peter applies that image to the mind. Gather up the loose ends. Become mentally prepared. Be ready to act.
At Our Church ...
For us, "gird up the loins of your mind" might mean something surprisingly practical: pay attention. Read God's Word carefully. Ask questions when you don't understand. Examine what you hear rather than simply accepting it. Notice the people God has placed around you. Think before you react. Then, when Scripture, prayer, and the Holy Spirit make the right course clear, act. Peter isn't asking every Christian to become a scholar. He is asking every Christian to become spiritually alert, mentally prepared, and ready to obey
1 King James Version, and the phrase is quite literal. 1 Peter 1:13 (KJV): “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Our walk with Jesus therefore encourages intellectual as well as spiritual growth. We study Scripture carefully. We ask questions. We test ideas. We seek wisdom. … Then, we allow what we have learned to shape the way we live. The prophets searched diligently for understanding. Peter tells Christians to do the same.
We Are Sojourners. However, Peter adds another dimension. A few verses later he tells believers to:
"…live in reverent fear during the time of your exile." (1 Peter 1:17)
The language is important. Peter's readers were living in real communities throughout Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). They had homes, occupations, families, neighbors, and responsibilities, yet Peter describes their earthly lives as a kind of sojourn, or, “itinerant journey.” They belonged here, and yet they didn't completely belong here. Their ultimate citizenship was somewhere else.
This is one of the great themes of early Christianity. The Christian travels through the present world faithfully – working, loving, serving, learning, growing, giving – but always remembers that the journey has a destination beyond the present age. That connects beautifully with the ancient pilgrimage imagery of Scripture: The road always leads up.
What Can We Learn from Church History?
Within a few generations of Peter, Christians were using remarkably similar language to describe themselves. The anonymous second-century (about the year 150) Epistle to Diognetus2 says that Christians live in their own countries, yet live there as sojourners. They participate fully as citizens while recognizing that their ultimate homeland lies elsewhere. That was not an invitation to withdraw from society. Quite the opposite.
Early Christians worked, raised families, cared for neighbors, supported the poor, and participated in the ordinary life of their communities. However, their identity was not ultimately determined by Rome, social status, possessions, a Jewish Council, or political circumstances. They belonged to Christ.
Early Christian thinkers also took Peter's intellectual challenge seriously. Justin Martyr searched philosophy for truth before becoming convinced that Christianity provided the fullest explanation of God and human existence. Clement of Alexandria argued that disciplined learning could serve Christian faith. Origen devoted extraordinary effort to comparing biblical manuscripts and interpreting Scripture.
The early Church did not always reach unanimous consent or even the correct conclusions – and Christians vigorously debated one another – but it certainly did not regard faith as an excuse for intellectual laziness.
They searched. They questioned. They studied. They prayed. Then, like the prophets Peter describes, they sought to understand more fully what God had revealed.
The American Standard Version (1901) similarly reads: “Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
2 Available here: https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/diognetus-lightfoot.html?
The Destination Is Trust and a Closer Walk with Our Savior
Where does all of this searching lead? Peter provides the answer near the end of the chapter:
"Through him you have come to trust in God…" (1 Peter 1:21)
That may be one of the most important lessons in the entire chapter. The purpose of Christian study is not merely information. The purpose of scriptural study, theology, or apologetics is not merely winning arguments. The purpose of studying Scripture and Church history is not simply knowing more than someone else.
The destination, our mission, is a closer walk with Jesus Christ our Savior and
sharing His Good News with our brothers and sisters.
We study because we want to know God more deeply. Like the “Armor of God” noted in Ephesians, we ask questions because preparation and truth matter. We prepare our minds because Christ has called us to live deliberately. Then, as our intimacy with Christ grows, so does our faith in Him.
Living It Today
Peter's challenge remains remarkably meaningful today. Christians live in a world overflowing with information but often lacking wisdom. We scroll. We skim. We react. We form opinions.
Peter offers another way.
- Search carefully.
- Prepare your mind.
- Remember that you are a sojourner.
- Place your trust in Christ.
Christian maturity requires both a prepared mind and a surrendered heart – led by a faith in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. It is helpful to ask serious questions because Christ always has an answer for us. A man once said, “It is good to ask questions of God; but, we should never question God.” Serious questions promote deeper study, yet never should intellectual inquiry become an end in itself.
The road leads somewhere. For Peter – and for us – it leads ultimately to Christ.
For Further Reading
In Scripture
- 1 Peter 1
- Hebrews 11:8–16
- Philippians 3:20–21
- Romans 12:1–2
- 2 Timothy 2:15