1Pe 2:1
Lists of vices such as this were common in the ancient world
and also in the NT (Mar 7:21-22; Rom 1:29-31; 13:13; 1Co 5:10; Gal 5:19-20; 2Pe
2:10-14).
MALICE: From “kakos”, meaning simply “bad” or “evi”;
sig vice of any and every kind.
DECEIT: As in Joh 1:47.
1Pe 2:2
CRAVE PURE SPIRITUAL MILK: “Above all, throw away your
toys, and grow up to reality. Pray God that you may develop and mature mentally
and spiritually. The vast majority never grow up; it’s always toys and games,
under all sorts of rationalized names. But to what end? Look at all the tired,
empty-minded, worn-out old people: half-dead, waiting to die — and they never
even learned how to live, or what life is all about. It is the world’s greatest
tragedy. Such criminally wasted opportunity!
“What is more wonderful than the knowledge of God, and the
prospects of eternity? None of us is immune from the toy complex. We can make a
toy out of anything. The work of the Truth is especially susceptible to this,
because it is the flesh trying to cope with and rise to the things of the
Spirit. Never get so immersed in the activity itself that it obscures the
purpose and motive. There’s no law against enjoying the work of the Truth. In
fact, it’s inevitable. But be sure the joy is of the Spirit and not of the
flesh. You are doing it for God and man: not for pride and amusement and the
gratification of personal accomplishment. Forget yourself in the joy of service
and love” (GVG).
SPIRITUAL MILK: “The time is short. The scene will
suddenly be changed in a short time; and all these matters will appear in their
true light to everyone. Many will discover that they have been wasting their
time and hurting their brethren by bootless and embittering controversy, instead
of redeeming the evil days by the consolations of the truth. They will see too
late that instead of imbibing the sincere milk of the word, they have been
feeding on ashes; that instead of dispensing a portion of meat to the household
in due season, they have been giving them gall and vinegar; that instead of
strengthening the hands of fellowlabourers, they have been casting stumbling
blocks in the paths of the weak, and discouraging the hearts of the strong; that
instead of rejoicing in the Lord, they have been fretting their souls with
barren contentions; that instead of filling up a good account with works of
humility and mercy and faith, they have been sowing a harvest of envy and strife
and every evil fruit; that instead of helping to purify a peculiar people,
zealous of good works, their influence has been only mischievous, and that
continually — obstructing the work of the Lord, pulling down the work already
done, and throwing clouds and darkness over the beacon intended to guide the
feet of the stranger to life eternal. Let us aim to be out of the ranks of this
number, that the Lord at His coming, may approve our faithfulness in small
things and give us work to do” (SC 215).
PURE: That is, “without guile”, in ct to v 1. Unmixed
with the corrupting influences of erroneous doctrines and
philosophies.
MILK: Simple nourishment, esp for “newborns”, in ct to
the “meat” of the word (Heb 5:13–6:1).
1Pe 2:3
Citing Psalm 34:8: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” In
the psa, the “LORD” is Yahweh. In his writings, Peter applies “kurios” (“Lord”)
to Jesus. Once a person has come to taste the graciousness or goodness of the
LORD, or Lord, he should have a continuing appetite for spiritual
food.
1Pe 2:4
THE LIVING STONE: Now Peter presents Christ not as food
but as a rock or a stone. The “rock-stone” imagery is common in Scripture. There
is, for example, the stumbling stone of Isa 8:14, the foundation-stone of Isa
28:16, the parental rock of Isa 51:1,2, the rejected but vindicated
building-stone of Psa 118:22, the little stone that smites the image of Dan
2:34, and the burdensome stone of Zec 12:3.
REJECTED: The “rejection” of Christ is, first, the
valuation of Jesus by the nation (Mat 26:14-15; Act 2:22-24; 3:13-15; 4:10-11)
and, second, the current rejection of him by the disobedient in every
land.
1Pe 2:5
YOU ALSO… ARE BEING BUILT…: Jesus’ great prophecy
to Peter (Mat 16:18,19) concerned Jesus’ building of his church. Peter sees, in
the coming of individuals to Jesus the Rock, the building of a new spiritual
edifice. Solomon was amazed at the thought of God’s gracious condescension in
dwelling among his people and in a house (temple) that Solomon built (1Ki 8:27).
Now the localized manifestation of God’s presence on earth is replaced by his
indwelling of all believers (1Co 3:17, 6:19). God’s spiritual “temple” is no
longer bound either by place nor time.
LIVING STONES: Even the least weighty and most
insignificant “stones” are useful in the building up of the wall — and if even
the least of them were removed, the strength of the wall would be
compromised.
ARE BEING BUILT: As Eve was “built up” from Adam (Gen
2:22), the “bride” or ecclesia is built up from the “Rock” of Christ.
A SPIRITUAL HOUSE: The material sacrifices and temples
that were shadows of the reality to come are now superseded. The OT spoke of the
offerings of prayer, thanksgiving, praise, and repentance (Psa 50:14; 51:19;
107:22; 141:2) in addition to the material sacrifices and offerings. The NT
speaks of the offering of “faith” (Phi 2:17), gifts as “a fragrant offering”
(Phi 4:18), “your bodies as living sacrifices” (Rom 12:1), “a sacrifice of
praise” (Heb 13:15), the conversion of the Gentiles as “an offering acceptable
to God” (Rom 15:16), and Paul’s coming death as “a drink offering” (2Ti
4:6).
A HOLY PRIESTHOOD, OFFERING SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES: Every
believer is a member of Christ’s “priesthood” (cp v 9; Heb 5:1,2; Rev 5:9) —
having a service to perform and “sacrifices” to offer in God’s temple (Heb
13:10; Rom 12:1).
Think of the priest’s work: it was… dirty, sometimes
disgusting, bloody, difficult work. The priest and his garments would become
soiled by the sacrifices, and the lepers, and the unclean ones with whom he had
to do. The priesthood was about blood, sweat, and tears. The priest was involved
in the most desperate difficulties of the lives of sinners. Such was the priest
in Israel (cp God’s love for the small baby Israel: Eze 16:3-7). And so it
should be with us today: willing to get involved with sinners and their lives,
willing to be discomforted and unsettled by their troubles, seeking to change
lives for the better, and always… struggling and falling short and being
oneself defiled by the associations.
1Pe 2:6
A CHOSEN AND PRECIOUS CORNERSTONE: (1) The quotation of
Isa 28:16 refers to God’s foundation stone, carefully chosen and very costly,
placed in position in Zion. The picture is from the building of a temple. At
great cost and care the corner foundation stone was obtained, moved, and laid.
One stone in a quarry was sixty-nine feet by twelve feet by thirteen feet (EBC).
Isaiah uses this figure to encourage his people to build on the Lord himself,
the one who is immovable and unchangeable, rather than on lies and falsehood.
The applications of Peter’s use of the figure are self-evident. God has set
Jesus forth in Jerusalem as the foundation of the new temple. Whoever builds on
this foundation will be established and will never be ashamed (1Co 3:10; Eph
2:20).
Or… (2) “The unbudgeable rock in the Temple area where
Abraham had prepared to sacrifice Isaac, and which later became the foundation
stone of the great altar of burnt offering (cp Isa 8:13-15)… To find a place
of prominence and glory for the Assyrian altar which he had brought in, Ahaz had
removed Solomon’s altar, but had found himself baffled by the grand solidity of
its rock foundation. Now, in the more wholesome days of Hezekiah, the former
arrangement of the true altar founded on the Eternal Rock had been restored. So,
in the impending crisis, let men put confidence in the God whose redemption of
His people was symbolized there” (WIsa 288).
Peter’s “precious” things: trials (1Pe 1:7), blood of Christ
(1Pe 1:18,19), the cornerstone (of Christ) (1Pe 2:4,6), Christ himself (1Pe
2:7), faith (2Pe 1:1), and the great promises (2Pe 1:4).
TRUSTS IN HIM: Or builds upon him, the Rock (Mat
7:24-27)!
1Pe 2:7
Peter’s “precious” things: trials (1Pe 1:7), blood of Christ
(1Pe 1:18,19), the cornerstone (of Christ) (1Pe 2:4,6), Christ himself (1Pe
2:7), faith (2Pe 1:1), and the great promises (2Pe 1:4).
BUT TO THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE…: But for unbelievers
two other “stone” citations from the OT (vv 7,8) are strong warnings. The first
is from Psa 118:22, where the builders rejected a building block that later
turned out to be the final stone in the building (Mar 12:10-12). In the same
way, Jesus, who was rejected by men, has been exalted by God.
1Pe 2:8
AND A STONE THAT CAUSES MEN TO STUMBLE…: The second
warning quotation is from Isa 8:14, where the disobedient are portrayed as
stumbling over the stone. This is also a ref to the foundation stone under the
altar in Solomon’s temple: see 2Ki 16n. But the solid rock outcropping on which
the great altar had originally stood remained as an “eyesore” (from Ahaz’s point
of view) and an obstruction. So here Peter warns that those who refuse to
believe in Jesus as Messiah stumble over the great Rock which they cannot cover
up or remove!
WHICH ALSO THEY WERE DESTINED FOR: What is “destined”?
The unbelief of men or the stumbling that is the result of the unbelief? Prob
the latter. Peter seems to say that the appointment of God embraces both the
setting forth of Christ and his work and the rejection by men. Peter’s preaching
in Act 2:14-40 makes the same emphasis (esp v 23).
1Pe 2:9
The church, or ecclesia, is the “Israel” of God, and terms
descriptive of the nation are now used of the ecclesia (Exo 19:5,6; Deu 4:20;
7:6; Isa 43:20,21).
A CHOSEN PEOPLE, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION:
“During the American Civil War of 1860-61, Dr Thomas rightly claimed that
Christadelphians were part of ‘an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people for God’s own possession to show forth the excellencies (virtues) of
Him who called them out of darkness into His marvellous light.’ Believers tend
to forget the nobility of this high and heavenly honour of God’s call, and often
overlook the fact that their primary duty in life is to manifest His name and
purposes to the people around them. By teaching and example Jesus showed three
ways in which it can be done: Resist not evil, love the world as God loved it,
and preach the Gospel. He had little time for anything else — and neither have
we” (TNL 75,76).
Four “callings” in 1Pe: “out of darkness into his wonderful
light” (1Pe 2:9); “to suffering for well-doing” (1Pe 2:20,21); “to render
blessing for evil” (1Pe 3:9); “to his eternal glory” (1Pe 5:10).
HIM WHO CALLED YOU: God visited the Gentiles to take
out of them a people for His name, or praise (Act 15:14).
OUT OF DARKNESS INTO HIS WONDERFUL LIGHT:
Light/darkness is a common dualism in the Bible to describe God/evil, good/bad,
revelation/ignorance, new age/old age (eg, Isa 8:21–9:2; Joh 1:4,8-9; Eph 5:8;
1Jo 1:5–2:2). Christ is the Light of the world (Joh 8:12).
1Pe 2:10
ONCE YOU WERE NOT A PEOPLE, BUT NOW YOU ARE THE PEOPLE OF
GOD; ONCE YOU HAD NOT RECEIVED MERCY, BUT NOW YOU HAVE RECEIVED MERCY: Cited
from Hos 1:6,9,10; 2:23. In their original context the words of Hosea describe
God’s rejection of disobedient Israel, followed by their future restoration to
grace. Here Peter applies them to the salvation that has come to the Asian
Christians. Cp Rom 9:25.
1Pe 2:11
Vv 11,12: A number of allusions to Lot and his experiences in
Sodom (Gen 19): aliens, strangers, sinful desires, living among the pagans, who
accuse you of wrongdoing, the day he visits us!
ALIENS AND STRANGERS: Sojourners, with no rights of
citizenship. These titles are rich in content, going back to Abraham (Gen 23:4;
cp also Psa 39:12; Heb 13:14; 1Pe 1:1,17). Christians may live in the world, but
they do not belong to it, and they do not derive their reason for being out of
it, for their true destiny is the renewed and redeemed earth in which
righteousness will dwell. Therefore, they are not to derive their values from
what is transitory. See Lesson, Politics and voting.
SINFUL DESIRES: // Rom 6:13.
1Pe 2:12
THOUGH THEY ACCUSE YOU OF DOING WRONG: What kind of
charges did non-Christians make in Peter’s time? Some of the more common were
disloyalty to the state or Caesar (Joh 19:12), upsetting trade or divination
(Act 16:16-21; 19:23-28), teaching that slaves are “free” (cp 1Co 12:13; Gal
3:28), not participating in festivals because of “hatred of mankind” (cp Col
2:16), holding “antisocial” values, and being “atheists” because they had no
idols (cp Act 15:29).
ON THE DAY HE VISITS US: (1) The second coming of
Christ(?), or (2) when any particular Gentile, as referred to here, may be
“visited” by God and accept the gospel faith.
1Pe 2:13
SUBMIT: Gr “hupotasso”: lit to be under military rule
or order (used in 1Pe 2:13,18; 3:1,5,22; 5:5).
KING: The “king” (Gr ‘basileus’) is the title used in
the East for the emperor who had the “supreme authority” among people.
1Pe 2:14
GOVERNORS: Gr “hegemones” = the legates, procurators,
or proconsuls charged with carrying out the imperial will of punishing the
disobedient and rewarding the good.
1Pe 2:16
LIVE AS FREE MEN: Christians are free because they are
children of the absolute Ruler of the Universe (Mat 17:25,26), and because the
service of God is freedom (Joh 8:32; Rom 6:15; Gal 5:13). It is freedom from
bondage to sin and selfish desires.
BUT DO NOT USE YOUR FREEDOM AS A COVER-UP FOR EVIL Christians
are not to misuse their freedom in Christ and invoke “freedom” as a covering for
wickedness. Christ himself said, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a
slave to sin” (Joh 8:34). Plato asked, “How can a man be happy who is the
servant of anything?” The Christian response is that the service of God, who is
the source of joy, is indeed perfect freedom, because Christ frees us from the
bondage of sin.
SERVANTS OF GOD: Purchased by God: 1Co 7:22.
1Pe 2:17
SHOW PROPER RESPECT TO EVERYONE: The respect or honor
is the recognition of the value of each man in his place as the creature of
God.
LOVE THE BROTHERHOOD OF BELIEVERS: Special love is due
to others within the family of believers because they are brothers and sisters.
FEAR GOD, HONOR THE KING: God is to be feared, but the
emperor was only to be honored. Christ taught, “Do not be afraid of those who
kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one [ie God]
who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna” (Mat 10:28). Normally duties to
God and Caesar do not conflict, and Christians can obey both (Mat 22:15-21); but
in special cases their higher loyalty is clear: “We must obey God rather than
men!” (Act 5:29).
KING: Lest we forget or fail to give due weight to
this, let us remember that the “king” Peter had in mind — in the first place —
was… Nero, sick, demented, insane, murderous, hateful, calculating, evil,
abominable Nero!
1Pe 2:18
1Pe 2:18-25: The exhortations to slaves about serving their
masters well (vv 18-20) has as its foundation and rationale… the atonement (vv
21-25)!
“No subject has occasioned more tears, and more rage, than the
meaning of the Lord’s sacrifice. Christ died, in love and obedience, for us. Oh,
some would hack with semantic knives at every nuance, every syllable of God’s
resonating words on this subject. Would God we would struggle, with equal
determination, to learn its meaning for our daily living, for how we treat other
people. And this, in the end, is the greatest source of heartache for each of
us: the multiplicity of ways in which we fail to live the atonement, HIS
atonement. Peter writes, with all the hollow-eyed wisdom of a man who has
persevered through his own moral frailties, in his first letter, to a
demoralized and disoriented brotherhood. He writes of the Lord’s death, knowing
he himself will die soon. And he teaches us, this man who denied Jesus as he
walked through the valley of death, that the Lord’s dying must be our own, every
day…
“I must serve my employer as if I am working for God. And the
common injustices and indignities I suffer must be filtered through, and borne
in light of, the suffering and death of my Lord. It is not always so with me.
What a shock the full force of these words can be for us all. We ‘do the
atonement’ in our cubicles, transport trailers, construction sites and executive
suites. How intrusive and invasive Scripture is. It leaves no area of our lives
unsinged; there are no private matters its searing edge will not cut and wound.
These are hard words for people raised in the obsessive privacy of Western life.
God does not ‘mind His own business’, but walks right into every locked room in
our hearts and looks steadily into our reddened faces. Surely, none of us has
escaped that feeling. Your place of labour is an atonement workshop”
(DevRam).
1Pe 2:18-20: // Eph 6:5-7; Col 3:22-25; 1Ti 6:1-3; Tit
2:9,10.
SUBMIT: Gr “hupotasso”: lit to be under military rule
or order (used in 1Pe 2:13,18; 3:1,5,22; 5:5).
HARSH: “Froward” (AV). Gr “skolion”: crooked or twisted
(cp Engl scholiosis); also in Luk 3:5; Act 2:40; Phi 2:15.
1Pe 2:19
See Lesson, Military and police.
COMMENDABLE: Gr “charis” = worthy of grace or favor
(from God), an exceptional service. God is pleased with those who patiently
suffer wrong treatment (as did Christ: Mat 26:67).
1Pe 2:20
To endure a well-deserved beating is nothing extraordinary.
The word “beating” (Gr kolaphizomerloi = “strike with the fist”) is used in Mat
26:67; Mar 14:65 of Christ’s treatment at his trial. However, it is
“commendable” (charis) in the sight of God to do good and to endure suffering.
The “commendable” thing is not the suffering but being so committed to God’s
will (the “good”) that devotion to Him overrides personal comfort.
1Pe 2:21
TO THIS YOU WERE CALLED: The “calling” (Gr ‘kaleo’) is
God’s grace that brings them to salvation (cf 1Pe 1:15) and includes the divine
ordination in all aspects of their life (Rom 8:28-30).
Four “callings” in 1Pe: “out of darkness into his wonderful
light” (1Pe 2:9); “to suffering for well-doing” (1Pe 2:20,21); “to render
blessing for evil” (1Pe 3:9); “to his eternal glory” (1Pe 5:10).
EXAMPLE: Gr “hupogrammos”, lit an “underwriting”, a
line of script for the student to copy out. Only here in NT. Clement of
Alexandria used the wd as the copy-head at the top of a child’s exercise book
for the child to imitate, including all the letters of the alphabet
(RWP).
THAT YOU SHOULD FOLLOW IN HIS STEPS: Servants are to
follow their Master’s tracks (Mat 10:38; Mar 8:34; Joh 13:15; 1Jo 2:6). Christ
as the yokefellow (Mat 11:29,30).
1Pe 2:22
Cited from Isa 53:9. Throughout his ministry, Jesus was
reviled (Mat 11:19; 26:67; 27:30,39-44; Mar 3:22). In all these situations, he
was ever the patient sufferer who was able to control his tongue. At his last
trial, Jesus remained silent before the HiPr (Mat 26:62,63) until bound by the
HiPr’s oath to speak (Mat 26:64).
1Pe 2:23
“He is not truly patient who will suffer only as much as he
pleases or from whom he pleases. A truly patient man gives no heed from whom he
suffers, whether from his superior or from his equal or from someone below him”
(Thomas a’ Kempis).
1Pe 2:24
HE HIMSELF BORE OUR SINS: The sin-bearer (isa 53:4-6).
A ritual bearing of the sins of the community, as done by the scapegoat on the
Day of Atonement (Lev 16:7-10; cp Heb 9:28). The sins of the community were
confessed over the animal, which then bore them away into the wilderness (cp Psa
103:12).
TREE: Gr “xulon”, lit “wood”; Deu 21:23; Gal 3:13; Col
1:22. It was on the cross that God condemned sin in the flesh (Rom 8:3) of a
sinless bearer of our nature. A sinless man, made subject to the consequences of
sin: 2Co 5:21.
SO THAT WE MIGHT DIE TO SINS AND LIVE FOR
RIGHTEOUSNESS: The purpose of the death of Christ is to produce new life in
the believer. By means of Christ’s death on the cross, whoever comes to him ends
his old life and begins a new one devoted to righteousness (Rom 6:1-14,18-19;
2Co 5:14-15; Gal 2:20; 6:14).
“All my life I have only heard this passage expounded to mean
that Jesus bare our sin nature and nailed it to the cross, that the sins he bore
in his body was but the sin-prone nature of the flesh he shared with us.
Although Jesus certainly did share our sin-prone nature, and was tempted through
the flesh like all of us, this is not what this verse is telling us. I want to
make this clear; Peter is not talking about Jesus bearing sin nature, he is
talking about Jesus bearing our SINS. Peter is saying that when Jesus was nailed
to the tree, he bore in his body the marks of the sins which we committed
against him, the stripes by which he later says ‘we were healed’. It was we
sinners who physically abused, brutally tortured and cruelly crucified
Jesus.
“Paul warned the Galatians not to trouble him any further, for
‘I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.’ It was in the cities of Galatia
that Paul had been stoned and left to die. Paul rose and went back to the city
and continued to preach, but his body was now a complete mess. His appearance,
says the prophet Isaiah in a passage Paul appropriates for himself, was
disfigured more than any man. Paul carried his injuries as marks on his body for
the rest of his life. Paul marveled that the Galatians had forgotten his
suffering, which he reminded them was as though Jesus had ‘before their very
eyes been crucified amongst them.’ Paul appeals to them through his battered
body, which they, the Galatians, had brutally stoned. It was the crucified Paul
that had converted them by preaching to them in his battered condition, and
their sympathy with him was so strong that they would have plucked out their
eyes for him if that could have helped him.
“Peter, on the day of Pentecost, cut the conscience of the
Jewish hearts when he pointed out that it was they who with wicked hands had
taken the Lord’s Messiah and crucified him. This is the great power of Peter’s
argument with us; we are responsible, we have killed the Lord’s Messiah, it is
our sins that bruised his body, it is our sins that made him suffer. We don’t
need to have been there in that day to be guilty; we are guilty because even
today we commit the very same sins that lead those men to reject and crucify the
Son of God. Every atrocity committed against Jesus was the outworking of normal
human sin; selfishness, pride, envy, hatred, wrath, bigotry, deceit,
stubbornness, carelessness, arrogance, ignorance, hardness of heart and
indifference; all of which are perfectly normal behaviors of the flesh common to
all of us. All these sins matured into violence and abuse, which when they were
finished brought about his death. Ordinary human sinners, committing the same
ordinary sorts of sins that we ordinarily commit against each other inflicted
every mark on Jesus’ body. In this sense we can take responsibility for the sins
that lead to our Lord’s death because ‘inasmuch as ye have done it to the least
of my brethren you have done it unto me.’
“Realizing this simple truth is meant to have profound and
salvational consequences. We are the guilty men, but when we face our sins and
repent, God pours out His grace and appeals to us to change our ways. Thus, says
Peter, quoting Isa 53, ‘by his stripes we are healed.’ In Zec 12:10 God says he
will pour out the spirit of grace and supplication, ‘and they will look upon me
whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only
child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves bitterly for a firstborn son.’
In this way we are reconciled to God; finally we understand and appreciate how
God feels about us, how our attitudes and behavior humiliate God. It is as
though God has reached into our heart through the suffering of His Son, and
through our heart has revealed the truth about Himself. Through a heartfelt
repentance we are reconciled to God because we now understand His suffering, we
now share sympathy with Him, and we now care for God’s feelings. This is exactly
where God had always wanted us; in His bosom where we are conscious of every
nuance of His every breath. It is from the bosom of the Father where God
breathes into our nostrils the breath of life. This is the New Covenant, this is
the Spiritual creation, this is how God writes His laws into our hearts and into
our minds. This is the reconciliation of our relationship with God, the doctrine
of the atonement which we have received through the life and sacrifice of Jesus
Christ our Lord” (JP).
1Pe 2:25
Formerly they were straying sheep (Isa 53:6; Luk 15:3-7) but
now they “have returned”.