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Note:  This article is a study through this passage of scripture using the SIDL model.  If you are unfamiliar with this, please read this summary, or this more in-depth walk through to understand what's being done here.

 

1st Peter 2:1-12  The Student 1st Peter 2:1-12  The Interpreter Did the church replace Israel? I Peter 2:1-12 The Disciple 1st Peter 2:1-12  The Lover

 

1st Peter 2:1-12  The Student

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Chapter two continues from the verses before without a break. Peter had just reminded his readers of the power of God's word, which had brought them salvation, and the fact that this power was present with them. This is both the source of their hope as well as the power that would enable them to live out this new kind of life.

 

The last passage ended with Peter's exhortation to love each other deeply. Here he takes one step further to identify some obstacles to that goal. (1:23-25) "Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, not that you have tasted that the Lord is good." If Christ-followers are to live in loving community it will require that they have no toleration for attitudes or behaviors in themselves that would undermine that. Here Peter tells his readers to "rid themselves" of these things that would get in the way of them living in love.

 

But these things have a root. They come from natural human cravings for power, influence, and security. We want to feel safe or important, and so we act out against others trying to find that feeling. This refers back to the "evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance"(1:14) Peter suggests a new desire that is fitting for people who have become a part of God's new family, the craving for spiritual growth. "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk..." The point of this metaphor is not the milk. It is the craving. New-born babies have an instinctual desire for food. Peter suggests that Christians ought to have a similar instinctual drive for spiritual things and the growth that comes from them. Christians who crave spiritual growth will find themselves less taken up with interpersonal disputes and distractions.

 

Choosing to be this kind of loving community is important. Without realizing it, these people are being shaped by God into a very important kind of community. (2:4-5) "As you come to him, the living stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptible to God through Jesus Christ."

 

Jesus, the living stone, the one who has been experienced and seen to be good (2:3), the one whose blood made possible salvation (1:19), has also been rejected by humanity. Just like the marginalized and out-of-favor Christians in Asia Minor, Jesus was set aside as undesireable. But He was also specially "chosen by God and precious to him." In the same way these Christians are also chosen by God and precious. Even though their culture doesn't see it, Peter suggests that it's still true. Not only are they precious to God, they have been appointed to a very important purpose:

 

(2:5) "...you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ..." They are a part of something bigger than themselves, a spiritual house. And more than that, a temple. We know this because of the language to follow. They are priests giving sacrifices. In Jewish religion only the priests could make sacrifices and this could only happen in the Temple. Here Peter is telling them that they are as important as the one and only Temple in Jerusalem and the priests.

 

Why? How did this come to be? Peter answers. (2:6-8) "For in scripture it says, 'See, I lay a cornerstone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.' Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,' and 'a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.' They stumble because they disobey the message--which is also what they were destined for..."

 

Peter says this value is placed on these simple Christians for one reason. They have chosen to believe in and accept Jesus as God's salvation. That's the whole cornerstone discussion. The disobedience described in v.8 is the act of not recognizing Jesus for who He is. Peter quotes Isaiah 28:16 showing God's intention to change the order of things through His chosen one, sent into Jerusalem. Then he quotes Psalms 118:22 and Isaiah 8:14 to demonstrate the polarizing nature of Jesus. People either accepted Him for who he was, or they rejected Him. There was no middle ground.

 

But these Christians in Asia Minor had accepted Jesus, at great cost to themselves, and so Peter tells them that they are precious and chosen by God, and appointed to an important task. (2:9-10) "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 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."

 

In powerful language that echoed with all the time-honored importance of the Jewish priesthood, Peter explaned to these Christians their identity in Christ. The world saw them as foreigners, illegal aliens, homeless, laborers, illiterate, uneducated, and irrelevant. But that was not the truth. They were chosen--like Jesus, like Israel. They were a royal priesthood, like the tribe of Levi, the decendants of Aaron the priest. They were a holy nation, and a people belonging to God, like Israel. Their purpose was to declare God's praises, like the ancient priests and temple musicians. Peter closes this section with two contrasts. Once these Christians were nobody--not a tribe, not a family, not a nation. Now the were a new family. Once they lived without mercy from man or God, now they live in the mercy of God.

 

Having stated so explicitly the new position of these Christians, Peter returns one more time to the life they are to live. Note the order. It's not that they are to live a certain way in order to become set apart. They live a certain way because--as a result of--being set apart. (2:11-12) "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

 

Peter is going to take the rest of the letter to flesh out what it means to "live such good lives," but here it is important to note the reason. The good lives are not to impress God. They are meant as a witness to tha pagans around them, both to ward off false accusations and also to give them an experience of a different way of life, and perhaps a portal into a conversation about Jesus.

 

 

 

1st Peter 2:1-12  The Interpreter

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Did the church replace Israel?

2:9-10 clearly applies language to the Christian church that the Old Testament uses exlusively to refer to Israel. One commentator made this remark: "Christians are the true people of God, who continue God's purposes that began with Abraham and Moses. There is no passage in the New Testament that more explicitly associates the Old Testament terms for Israel with the New Testament church than this one."^[1]  This raises the question of whether it is fair to identify Christianity as Israel in Biblical passages. This is another issue that has been debated and discussed vigerously for centuries. Whole schools of theology have been based on one premise or the other.

 

A full discussion of this issue will have to wait for another time, but here it will suffice to say that Peter clearly sees the church as the natural next step of Israel's development. Peter was a Jew who intimately understood the Old Testament's perspective on the nature and purpose of the nation of Israel. Peter was also a Jew who believed the the Jewish Messiah had indeed come, fulfilling prophecy, and inaugurating the day when all the gentiles would be welcome into the people of God. This began the last (and current) phase of human history. With this mindset it makes perfect sense that Peter would see all the Old Testament descriptions applying to Christianity, because for him there was no discontinuity between the two. Judaism had always been a religion looking forward to the Messiah. Once the Messiah came of course there would be some changes, but it was still the same religion, the same God.

 

As time passed, however, and Christianity became more and more differentiated from Judaism, this question became more stark. Had God abandoned His chosen people, in favor of a new group? What did that mean about God? About His people? About the relationship between Christians and Jews? But in Peter's mind, at least, this dichotomy doesn't seem to exist. Christians are Israel because they have been incorporated through God's grace, manifested in Jesus Christ, into God's family and God's purposes, and they now stand appointed to the same responsibilities that Israel had been given throughout history.

 

 

 

I Peter 2:1-12 The Disciple

Note: The Disciple role looks at the passage for what it says about how to live, and can only be done with a personal application. As I look at this passage, some of what I reflect on may be subjectively directed at me--since I'm looking at the issue of how to live my life. Hopefully much of this is transferrable to you, but please remember that this is an example of one follower of Jesus applying this passage to his own life. --Marc Schelske

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Have I "rid myself of all malice, deceit, hypocricy, envy and slander?" Certainly not! But am I moving in this direction? Am I holding on to the tools of personal power and position, or am I releasing these, forgiving and serving others and coming to love them?

 

Do I crave spiritual things? Are there times in my life where I truly desire God and times of worship? Do I long to know God better through His word? Am I willing to let God grow this craving in me?

 

Have I tasted that the Lord is good? This is a core question for any follower of Jesus. Have I had an experience of God and His life that is fundamentally good and compelling? Is my faith from first-hand experience? Or is it more the result of second-hand information? Peter suggests that every Christian can have this first-person taste-and-see kind of experience.

 

Do I let rejection by other people unsettle me? Do I need the approval of others to feel centered and on-track? Am I caught up in trying to prove to anyone my value? How much of my energy is spent trying to gain approval? Am I willing to let go of all these efforts and just rest in the knowledge that I am accepted by God and my value grows from that?

 

Is Jesus a stumbling block to me? Is Jesus a center-point for my faith, or something I have to explain away? If I am focused on the rational ethics of Christianity, but not caught up in the story of Jesus, I'm missing a significant revelation of God's character. Every generation has had to decide what to do with Jesus. That's something I must do as well. If I am already committed to Jesus, am I willing to let everything else become a side issue to knowing Him? If I don't have this commitment, why not?

 

Do I see myself as part of God's chosen people, His royal priesthood, given the important task of declaring His glory? Do I know that this is true of me? Do I let this inform my choices and attitudes? Do I continue to buy into the lie that only certain spiritual professionals have this responsibility, or am I willing to live out my calling as a priest--one who connects others to God and intercedes for them?

 

Do I live "such a good life" among the non-Christians around me that their perspective of God is changed? This is a powerful commission and seems overwhelming. But am I committed to living above the line, with integrity? Am I unwilling to compromise on love, compassion or truth? Or am I comfortable cutting corners, and allowing the acceptable standards of my culture to dictate what I am willing to accept from myself?

 

 

 

1st Peter 2:1-12  The Lover

Note: The Lover role looks at the passage for what God is saying to the reader directly, and like the Disciple role, can only be done from a personal perspective. In this role, the reader is listening and responding to what God is saying about Himself, about the reader and about the relationshi between them. As such, I will just reflect on my own experience in this area. Remember that this is only the example of one follower of Jesus trying to her God's voice in the passage. --Marc Schelske

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The words You are speaking to my heart from this passage, Father, are nearly overwhelming. The idea that You see me as a living stone to be used in building your kingdom, that I am a part of Your chosen people, in Your eyes a priest and a king, this is all hard to get my head around. You have a purpose for my life, and have given me mercy so that I can declare your glory and pass that mercy on to others.

 

Help me to live my life in the light of this truth. Help me to live out of the reality of my chosenness, giving up my need to justify my value to others. Forgive me for the times I act and speak in ways meant to prove that I'm right or good or better than someone else. Help me to release that need and accept Your value of me.

 

Help me to live as a priest, interceding for others, and connecting them to God. Give me a perspective of spiritual responsibility for the people around me and the compassion that allows them to experience You through me.

 

I am so humbled that You want to work through me, and that You include me in this amazing family of chosen people. I give You access to do whatever You need to do in me and commit my full participation to Your path. I am excited and humbled to be a part of what You are doing in the world.  Thanks. In Jesus' name and because of Him, Amen.