Alliteration

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Sally sells seashells by the seashore. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Trick or treat. Tough Talk. French fry. Hit the hay. These are all examples of alliteration (and tongue twisters).

Biblical writers, too, write in alliterations. Peter was a master at it.

He began the letter by saying,

“Praise be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who – according to his great mercy – birthed-again (anagennao) us into a living hope through setting-again (anaistimi) Jesus from the dead.” (1 Pet 1:3)

Peter used two identical-sounding verbs – anagennao and anaisthimi – to explain a great truth. The prefix in both verbs is ana, which means “again.” Jesus was once alive, but on that cruel Friday, he was crucified and died. But God, in his great mercy, resurrected him, that is, setting him alive again (ana). But it wasn’t a favor to Jesus alone. Through his resurrection, God renewed the Hebrew believers’ hope; he birthed it again (ana).

That hope was the possession of . . .

“unperishable (aftharton), undefiled (amiandon), and unfading (amaradon) inheritance that has been kept in the heavens for us.” (1:4)

Soon after the Hebrews escaped Pharaoh’s anger by fleeing through the Red Sea, Moses and the Israelites sang a song to YHWH, narrating how God had been their salvation and protection against Pharaoh’s chariots and army. In that song, they said:

“You will gather us, your people, and plant us, your inheritance, on the mountain you, YHWH, will dwell and in the sanctuary that your hands, YHWH, will build.” (Exod 15:17)

From that moment on, the Hebrews knew they were God’s inheritance, his people whom he delighted in protecting from any possible enemies. This was why Joshua divided God’s land to each one of the tribes, except for Aaron and the Levites – for they were God’s inheritance; they lived in the temple and ate sacrificial food (Num 18:20, 23).

The exiled Hebrews in the diaspora would have felt far from their homeland, inheritance, and temple. Peter assured them that through Jesus Christ living again, they had been birthed again into a new inheritance that didn’t perish, defile, and fade like the old inheritance. In fact, their new inheritance was kept in heaven safely for them.

In addition, just as God protected the Hebrews during the exodus, he protected them in exile.

“You who are being guarded by God’s power, through faith, for a salvation ready to be revealed in this last point in time.” (1:5)

On the Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell on his people, Peter declared that the last days had begun (Acts 2:17). Now, he assured them that salvation had been revealed and God had kept them safe to enter such salvation.

What about us – the nations, the Gentiles? Don’t we have an inheritance? Although Paul never mentioned that we have been “birthed again” to this inheritance, he said to the Colossian Christians, many enslaved to their masters:

“Whatever you do, you work – from your soul – as if you are working for the Lord and not people, knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the payment of an inheritance since you are enslaved to the Lord Jesus.” (Col 3:23–24)

Whether Israelites or Gentiles, we have an unperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance. God himself will guard us until we receive this great salvation.