I wonder if Peter was having flashbacks to a conversation he overheard between Jesus and Thomas.
It was a conversation about seeing and believing vs believing and seeing.
It was when Jesus said to Thomas, “Check out these holes, Tommy!”
Peter 1.8 is talking about you and me when Peter writes,
“Though you have not seen him, you love him.
Though you do not now see him, you believe in him.”
No doubt about it, there’s holes in them hands.
But we do not need to stick our fingers in, to believe.
We walk by faith.
It is an amazing way of walking.