Question: Ever heard of a counterfeit? Perhaps it was a piece of paper currency (see below, e.g.). This is the way counterfeit is defined:

c. 1300, countrefeten, “pretend to be,” from countrefet (adj.), Old French contrefait “imitated” (Modern French contrefait), past participle of contrefaire “imitate,” from contre- “against” (see contra-) + faire “to make, to do” (from Latin facere “to make, do,” from PIE root *dhe- “to set, put”).

The Apostle Peter wrote to address, in particular, Christians dispersed across what is now present-day Turkey. Why? To encourage them to persevere. But there was a way they’d know if they were the real deal.

Text from 1 Peter 1:

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Pt 1:3-7, ESV).

Observations: Will we notice how understated Peter’s opening salvo is? These persecuted Christians, dispersed across Turkey, fearful of political persecution, might be grieved just a bit by “various trials.” Um, yes! We need to know our church history; we need to know what it cost to be a believer in their generation. It could easily have cost them their lives, and the lives of their families. In sundry cases, it did.

How different from our day! For that, we should be grateful, right? Or should we? A case could be made that fake Christianity (i.e., no Christianity at all) is a plague upon the house of professing Christianity in much of the West. That is, nothing stinks quite like hypocrisy.

Encouragement: This is what Peter’s teaching us, dear ones, namely, that our genuineness will be tested.

May we come forth like the man David described in Psalm 19:14, ESV: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart/be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”

Press on, Christian pilgrim, and prove you’re the real deal.