1 Peter 1:10 “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.” (ESV)
Peter, like Paul, thinks in redemptive-historical categories.
The third reason Peter gives for blessing God is that we have a time-place of privilege and advantage above the prophets and angels. This place of privilege is redemptive-historical – that is, we are at an advantage because we live after Christ’s death/resurrection/Pentecost event-complex. The apostles, including Peter, are the ones Peter mentions when he says “those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven” (1:12b). Peter’s audience is at an advantage because the apostles preached the good news to them. Old Testament heralds : Old Testament Audience :: Apostles : Peter’s Audience and us. Except the Apostles are at an advantage compared to the Old Testament heralds (prophets and angels) and the apostle’s audience is at an advantage compared to not only the Old Testament audience but also the Old Testament heralds (prophets and angels).
This is perhaps clearest with regards to the prophets. The Old Testament, to summarize, is about the sufferings and the subsequent glories of Christ. The prophets were searching and inquiring carefully trying to discover what the Spirit of Christ within them was revealing. What person or time was the Spirit of Christ indicating? The answer was that the prophets were serving the people who would live in this time – the time after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and giving of the Spirit on Pentecost. People may think nostalgically as if it would be great to live in the time of the prophets but that can only mean that they do not appreciate just how privileged they are to live in this time. All of the Old Testament prophets would have preferred to live and proclaim the gospel today. They were looking forward to the accomplishment of redemption in history whereas the apostles were able to announce that it is finished. So those who hear the message of the apostles are in a better position compared to the prophets.
The reason Peter’s audience is in a better position compared to the angels is that the angels gave the law (according to tradition) whereas the apostles gave the gospel. Those given the gospel are in a far better place in the history of salvation than those who were given the law (Israel). And those given the gospel are in a far better place than those who gave the law (the angels).
That the angels gave the law is a tradition also assumed by Stephen’s speech in Acts 7:53 “you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it” and Paul in Galatians 3:19 “Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.”
So then the prophets and angels were associated with the Old Testament dispensation and were thus looking forward to hear the message that the apostles were able to deliver. Therefore, Peter’s audience is at a time-place of privilege compared to the Old Testament audience and the Old Testament heralds (the prophets and angels). The difference between the prophets and angels being that the angels would still be able to look into these things and hear the announcement of the apostles.
This difference might lead someone to object because the implication is that the prophets inquired (in the past) but the angels long to look (in the present). So perhaps I am reading into the text a redemptive-historical contrast with regards to the angels to the apostles when the passage only means to highlight the redemptive-historical contrast of the prophets to the apostles. Nevertheless, reading into the text a redemptive-historical contrast with regards to the angels and apostles is the natural next step to take (a reader at the time would associate the mention of angels with the giving of the law). The reason the angels are longing to look in the present is that they were the ones who gave Israel the law. Regardless, the apostles are in a better position than the angels because the apostles proclaimed the gospel and the angels listen. The redemptive-historical contrast helps us to explain why Peter’s audience is in a better position than the angels even though they get to hear it too. Some may even wish to object and somehow identify the prophets of the passage as New Testament prophets, but this objection has been adequately addressed by other commentators.
Thinking redemptive-historically is the greatest advancement in biblical interpretation in Reformed circles in the Twentieth Century. Our Bible is not flat – it was not dropped out of heaven all at once. God has engaged us in history. Thanks be to God for Biblical Theology opening our eyes to such great truths.
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