1 Peter 2 Verses 1 to 10 The Living Stone January 29, 2023

1 Peter 2 Verses 1 to 10 The Living Stone January 29, 2023

Class Presentation Notes AAAAA

Background Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:11, Psalm 118:22, Matt. 16:17

· 1 Corinthians 3:11 (NASB) 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

· Psalm 118:22 (NASB) 22 The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone.

· Matthew 16:17 (NASB) 17 And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

Main Idea: Jesus in the only foundation upon which to build your life.

Teaching Aim: To lead adults to understand that Jesus is both the foundation (Cornerstone) of your life and the crowing achievement (Capstone) of your life.

Create Interest:

· Love for and delight in God’s Word always mark the truly saved. Jesus said, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31–32). The apostle Paul echoed those principles when he said, “I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man” (Rom. 7:22). The Old Testament saints also expressed a strong desire for the Word of God.

o Job declared, “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12).

o The opening psalm declares that the godly man’s “delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night” (Ps. 1:2; cf. 19:9–10; 40:8).

o The prophet Jeremiah cherished God’s revelation in a difficult time: “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart” (Jer. 15:16).

· Peter wanted Christians to be faithful to that same kind of Spirit-prompted longing for the Word of God. Therefore, this passage suggests five perspectives in our focus verses that, if followed, will lead to a stronger, more consistent desire for the Word: believers should…………

o remember their life source,

o eliminate their sins,

o admit their need,

o pursue their spiritual growth, and

o survey their blessings.[1]

· Let’s enjoy this journey together as we learn from Peter’s work😊

Lesson in Historical Context:

· Peter’s letter began in a typical first-century fashion with a salutation that identified the writer and the recipients. The date and location for the writing cannot be precisely determined. Peter may have written from Rome in the mid-60s A.D., not too long before being martyred.

o The recipients were Jewish and Gentile believers living in various regions of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Though Christianity was not officially illegal at the time, the letter’s recipients were aware that the potential existed for persecution and discrimination against them. Bible expositors differ as to whether Peter wrote to prepare the believers for a coming persecution that had already started in Rome and was moving toward them, or whether he wrote to give instructions to believers who had already been enveloped in the dark cloud of persecution.

§ Whatever the exact situation, he encouraged them to remain strong in their faith and to strive toward maturity in Christ.[2]

· In our lesson today we are in a continuation of Chapter 1 (note that when the Bible was written there were not chapters and verses) remembering that the Word of God endures forever and the redemption and regeneration processes through which we have passed should encourage us to action. Key into the word “therefore” in verse 1as it points us backward to what we have just studied in Chapter 1.

Bible Study:

1 Peter 2:1 (NASB) (“Therefore” remember their life source) and (eliminate their sins) 1 Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envyand all slander,

· Since God has reached out and effected their regeneration and it is an enduring act of His, they should live accordingly, rather than returning to wallow in corruptible life.

o So Peter looks back to the point of conversion when they repented from and renounced their old life and were baptized into the new, the point of their new birth, and, using a word that often refers to taking off and laying aside clothes (e.g., Acts 7:58), pictures the believers as having cast aside or “gotten rid of” the vices of the old life, as if they were a soiled garment.

· What has been gotten rid of, however, is not the grosser vices of paganism, but community-destroying vices that are often tolerated by the modern church.

o Here Peter, like James and 1 John, shows his concern for community solidarity. Especially when a community is under pressure there is a tendency to begin bickering and division, which only makes the community that much more vulnerable to outside pressure.

§ Discuss

o Peter reminds them that they renounced these vices in conversion, naming five types, which are typical of those condemned by Paul and by Jewish communities as well.

· “malice.”While in some contexts this term simply means “evil,” “depravity,” or “vice,” in contexts like ours it indicates “ill-will,” or “the force that destroys fellowship” and is therefore hostile to Christian community. As it is here, it is frequently joined with grumbling, bitterness, and envy (1 Cor. 5:8; Eph. 4:31; Col. 3:8; Tit. 3:3; Jas. 1:21). In this term we find the inner problem of the heart that will show up in the behaviors mentioned in the context. (Romans 1:29-32)

· “deceit” and “insincerity”. The first term is found three times in 1 Peter (2:1, 22; 3:10). It indicates speaking or acting with ulterior (usually base) motives, that is, anything less than speaking the full and honest truth from the heart.

o This is how opponents treated Jesus (Mark 14:1; Matt. 26:4) and Paul(Acts 13:10). It is a vice rooted in our twisted hearts (Mark 7:22; Rom. 1:29).

§ Therefore, it must not characterize the presentation of God’s truth (2 Cor. 12:16; 1 Thess. 2:3; cf. 2 Cor. 4:2; 6:4–7), nor can it be allowed in the Christian community.

· “hypocrisy” which is defined as “any type of pretense or deception before God or man,” or any inconsistency between doctrine and

o practice, inward thought and outward action, behavior in the church and behavior at home or in the marketplace (e.g., Matt. 23:28; Mark 12:15; Luke 12:1; Gal. 2:13; 1 Tim. 4:2; cf. the use of “hypocrite” in the Gospels, especially Matthew). None of this is consistent with the standard of truthfulness and honest speech and action demanded by the gospel.

· “Envy” is an inward attitude behind much deceit and insincerity. It appears frequently in the vice lists in the NT as characteristic of the old life (Rom. 1:29; Gal. 5:21, 26; Phil. 1:15; 1 Tim. 6:4; Tit. 3:3), and it was one of the motives of Christ’s crucifixion (Matt. 27:18; Mark 15:10).

o It is often associated with community strife and party spirit in the vice lists. Obviously, if one has the mind of Christ that seeks the good of others (Phil. 2:1–5), envy would be an impossible contradiction.

§ Envy often works itself out in “slander.”

· Slander: The Christians, of course, were victims of this (1 Pet. 2:12; 3:16), but that does not necessarily stop a community from practicing it.

o Deceit is practiced to a person’s face, when one speaks only nicely of him or her, but for the person with envy and malice within, the insincerity will come out as he or she criticizes the person to others in that person’s absence.

o Whether this criticism is cloaked as “sharing a problem,” a “prayer request,” or a “concern,” it makes little difference. Paul includes this activity in a vice list (2 Cor. 12:20), and James points out that it is a usurping of the role of God (Jas. 4:11).

· Therefore, in his list Peter has neatly cut the ground from any practice other than open truth and love among members of the Christian community.

o It may be the “tough love” of a rebuke, but Christians should be able to trust that no ulterior motives lie behind fellow-believers’ actions and that nothing is said in their absence that has not already been said to their face.[3]

1 Peter 2:2 (NASB) (admit their need) 2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,

· Like newborn babies. The phrase here used would properly denote those which were just born, and hence Christians who had just begun the spiritual life. 2 Tim. 3:15. It is not uncommon, in the Scriptures, to compare Christians with little children. (Note: Timothy’s mother felt it her duty to train him in Scriptures so by age 5 he could converse with his father about the sacred language and the law). Writings confirm this was common in that time😊. Discuss why this is not common today…………………………

· Long for the pure milk of the Word. On the meaning of the word sincere,. The Greek word here (ἄδολον) means, properly, that which is without guile or false hood; then unadulterated, pure, genuine. The Greek adjective rendered ‘of the word,’ (λογικὸν,) means properly rational, pertaining to reason, or mind; and, in the connection here with milk, means that which is adapted to sustain the soul. Comp. Notes, Rom. 12:1.

o There is no doubt that there is allusion to the gospel in its purest and most simple form, as adapted to be the nutriment of the new-born soul.

o Probably there are two ideas here;

§ one, that the proper nourishment of piety/devoution is simple truth;

§ the other, that the truths which they were to desire were the more elementary truths of the gospel, such as would be adapted to those who were babes in knowledge.

· So that by it you many grow in respect to salvation. As babes grow on their proper nutriment. Piety in the heart is susceptible of growth, and is made to grow by its proper nourishment, as a plant or a child is, and will grow in proportion as it has the proper kind of nutriment. From this verse we may see,

o First, the reason of the injunction of the Savior to Peter, to ‘feed his lambs,’ John 21:15; 1 Pet. 2:1, 2. Young Christians strongly resemble children, babes; and they need watchful care, and kind attention, and appropriate aliment, as much as new-born infants do.

§ Piety/devotion receives its form much from its commencement; and the character of the whole Christian life will be determined in a great degree by the views entertained at first, and the kind of instruction which is given to those who are just entering on their Christian course.

📷 Discuss why states/schools allow the indoctrination of children against their parents, nation, for racism, against morality……And the list goes on.

o Second, that it furnishes evidence of conversion, if we have a love for the simple and pure truths of the gospel. It is evidence that we have spiritual life, as really as the desire of appropriate nourishment is evidence that an infant has natural life. The new-born soul loves the truth. It is nourished by it. It perishes without it. The gospel is just what it wants; and without that it could not live.

o Third, that the truths of the gospel which are best adapted to that state, are those which are simple and plain. (Heb. 5:12–14.)

o It is not philosophy that is needed then; it is not the profound and difficult doctrines of the gospel; it is those elementary truths which lie at the basis of all religion, and which can be comprehended by children.

o Religion makes everyone docile and humble as a child; and whatever may be the age at which one is converted, or whatever attainments he may have made in science, he relishes the same truths which are loved by the youngest and most unlettered child that is brought into the kingdom of God.[4]

1 Peter 2:3 (NASB) (pursue spiritual growth) 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

· Believers should long for the Lord if indeed they have tasted or experienced His kindness. Longing to grow spiritually comes from a taste of the beauty of the Lord, an experience of his kindness and goodness. Those who pursue God ardently have tasted his sweetness. Christian growth for Peter is not a mere call to duty or an alien moralism. The desire to grow springs from an experience with the Lord’s kindness, an experience that leaves believers desiring more.[5]

· Peter’s perspective or motivation for desiring the Word of God echoes the psalmist’s words, “O taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:8). If is a first-class conditional participle introducing the facts or conditions necessary for a proposition to be true. Since his readers had tastedor experienced the kindness—goodness and grace—of the Lord in their conversion, they already knew how blessed and wonderful it was.

· Therefore, they should have desired more of that goodness through feeding on His Word. Believers ought to regularly survey the blessings of their salvation, remembering the many times God has answered their prayers (cf. Pss. 40:1; 116:1; 138:3; Jer. 33:3; Matt. 7:7; John 15:7; 1 John 5:14–15), and all the times He has touched their lives with His kindness and mercy (cf. Pss. 17:7; 26:3; 36:7; 103:11; 106:1; 117:2; 118:29; 138:2; Lam. 3:22–23; Luke 1:50; Gal. 6:16; Eph. 2:4).

· The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts” (Jer. 15:16).

· Peter’s simple analogy comparing a newborn baby craving for its mother’s milk with a believer of any maturity level passionately longing for the Word of God concludes the apostle’s series of exhortations that began at 1:13.

o First, as a result of their salvation, Christians are to respond to God by pursuing holiness (1:13–21).

o Second, believers must respond to others in the church by loving them as brothers and sisters in Christ (1:22–25).

o Third, believers must respond to their essential need for the Word by continually desiring it (2:1–3).

§ With the psalmist all should affirm, “Your word is very pure, therefore Your servant loves it. I am small and despised, yet I do not forget Your precepts. Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth”(Ps. 119:140–142).[6]

TO THINK ABOUT AND DISCUSS

1. What would you say about your personal experience of God’s goodness?

2. What can help us in the ongoing process of purification in our Christian lives?

3. What examples of hypocrisy have you come across in the media? Can you think of other examples in the church and in your own life?

1 Peter 2:4 (NASB) (survey their blessings)…from this verse to verse 10 4 And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,

· When we come to Christ we become part of a building project, and our Savior has plans for us! He is building a new kind of temple—a spiritual one—of which each believer is a stone. And, like the original temple, it’s to be a place for worship and witness.

· Jesus had said many years before, ‘I will build my church’, and now Peter tells us how. First of all, we have to come to Jesus (v. 4); then the work of construction really gets under way.

· The project, though, is a spiritual one, and the blueprints are found in the Old Testament. The priesthood at that time offered animal sacrifices to point forward to Christ; the priesthood Peter is talking about here offers spiritual sacrifices. The acceptability of those sacrifices depends upon the ‘once for all’ (Heb. 9:12, 26; 10:10) sacrifice of Calvary. In fact, everything depends upon Christ. He is the stone without whichthere is no building and no salvation.[7]

1 Peter 2:5 (NASB) 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

· You also are as living stones, and so possess a family likeness to Jesus Christ, a likeness that was brought into being by rebirth into the divine family through the power of Christ’s resurrection (1:3). These living stones are not left uselessly scattered about, forgotten. God has a grand design for them.

· This is none other than their being built into a spiritual house. Two coincidental stages are in view here.

o Each believer is being built up personally in the faith, as individual spiritual growth takes place.

o At the same time, each believer is being fashioned to fit into a predetermined and unique place in the overall divine blueprint.

§ Thus each is being built into and made part of God’s house.

· Although Peter is making use of ot “stone” symbolism, was he prompted by recollecting some words of the Baptist? John had bluntly warned the Pharisees and Sadducees that salvation was not a matter of having the right family tree: “I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham” (Matt. 3:9).

· The house is to be no ordinary dwelling but a temple, for it exists for the sole purpose of worshiping God. In it a holy priesthood is to be constantly offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

o Peter implies a pointed contrast with the Israel of the ot. They had a house of God, the temple in Jerusalem, but that was built of dead stones.

o We Christians, Peter is saying, are a spiritual house of God, built with living stones. The Israelites approached God through a special priesthood, composed only of Levites.

o Now all Christians, claims Peter, are that holy priesthood. Levites offered up material sacrifices; Christian sacrifices are purely spiritual sacrifices. Peter is taking over the language of Exodus 19:6 (“You will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”), and he will make the allusion clear in verse 9.

· Peter’s call for spiritual sacrifices was by no means novel. The subject is mentioned in the ot.

o The letter to the Hebrews is devoted to the argument that the perfect and conclusive sacrifice of Jesus Christ has rendered the ot sacrificial system obsolete.

o There are still sacrifices for Christians to make, but they are spiritual in nature. Examples are mentioned by other ntwriters, such as:

§ sacrifice of praise (Heb. 13:15),

§ prayer (Rev. 5:8),

§ self-consecration (Rom. 12:1; Phil. 2:17),

§ benevolence (Rom. 15:27; Heb. 13:16),

§ and giving (2 Cor. 9:12; Phil. 4:18).

· Such sacrifices are acceptable to God, not on account of any merit in the one who offers them, but because they are made through Jesus Christ, that is, on the grounds of His perfect sacrifice and in response to the prompting of His Spirit, i.e., “in His name.”[8]

1 Peter 2:6-7 (NASB) 6 For this is contained in Scripture: "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." 7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, "THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,"

· Peter now supports his affirmation in verses 4 and 5 with several Old Testament quotations. He says, For this is contained in scripture, indicating that what the Old Testament said was conclusive evidence in an argument, able to be trusted completely.

· Scripture translates the word graphē, which was used as a technical term by the New Testament authors to refer to the writings of our present canonical Old Testament (all fifty-one of its New Testament occurrences refer to the Old Testament scriptures, and never once is it used to refer to any writings of the Apocrypha or any other writings outside the Bible; however, in 1 Tim. 5:18 and 2 Pet. 3:16, some New Testament writings are included along with the Old Testament under this term.

· The first quotation is from Isaiah 28:16, where God promises that he will reject the rebellious leaders in Jerusalem and establish as a ‘sure foundation’ a cornerstone chosen and precious.

o The fact that it would be the cornerstone, the first stone laid as the corner of the ‘foundation’, indicates that the original prophecy was a prediction of the beginning of a new work by God which would stand in opposition to the leaders rejected by Him (Isa. 28:14–15, 17–22).

o The fact that the stone is laid as a foundation stone in Zion, the location of the Jerusalem temple, hints at the idea that this new work would in fact replace the Jerusalem temple, something Peter has already made explicit in verses 4 and 5.

· Though rejected by men, Christ is in God’s sight chosen and precious. ‘Rejected’, ‘chosen’, and ‘precious’ are all taken from the vocabulary of the lxx (Ps. 118:22 and Isa. 28:16).

o The Septuagint (sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy, often abbreviated as LXX) is the earliest existing Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Hebrew.

· The sentence contrasts the world’s estimate of Christ with God’s estimate, and warns the readers that while coming to Christ is to side with God, it will mean being opposed by ‘men’ (Peter appropriately speaks of ‘men’ generally here, allowing a wider application in these churches in the Gentile world, whereas Jesus had made specific application to unbelieving Jews: Matt. 21:45).

o The term chosen echoes Peter’s use of the same term to apply to Christians in 1:1.

o Precious means ‘highly valued or esteemed’, an apt term to describe God’s evaluation of his Son and also to suggest how believers should always esteem their Lord.

· Peter follows the lxx text (most manuscripts) but not the Hebrew text in including in Him after he who believes, but once this ‘stone’ is understood to be a person the idea is not foreign to the context. Paul also includes ‘in Him’ in quoting the same passage in Rom. 9:33 and 10:11, and similarly applying it to Christ.

· The fact that ‘he who believes in Him’ will not be put to shame indicates that there will be no ultimate disappointment or embarrassment (at having one’s faith shown to have been in vain) for those who trust in this sure cornerstone, Christ himself.[9]

1 Peter 2:8 (NASB) 8 and, "A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doomthey were also appointed.

· A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Quoted from Is 8:14. To every human being, Christ is either the means of salvation if they believe, or the means of judgment if they reject the gospel.

· He is like a stone in the road that causes a traveler to fall. disobedient to the word. Unbelief is their disobedience since the call of the gospel to repent and believe is a command from God.

· These were not appointed by God to disobedience and unbelief. Rather, to this doom they were also appointed,

· because of their disobedience and unbelief. Judgment on unbelief is as divinely appointed as salvation by faith.[10]

1 Peter 2:9 (NASB) 9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

· As “living stones” (v. 5), believers are placed in a new and significant relationship to Jesus, the “chief cornerstone” (v. 6):

o They are members of a “chosen generation,” i.e., an elect race.

o Furthermore, all believers are “priests,” a word indicative of privilege in access to God but also of ministry to others in Christ’s name.

§ This priesthood is a royal priesthood as a result of the relationship of sonship which the believer possesses.

o As a member of an elect race, the believer is also a part of a “holy nation.”

o The designation “special people” may be rendered more literally, “a people to be around,” stressing that God’s people are a possession of God Himself.

o The function of this believing community is to “proclaim the praises” of God.

· The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers is a significant N.T. revelation.

o The old dispensation featured a Levitical priesthood, offering sacrifices for the people, interceding with God in their behalf, and on the Day of Atonement entering before God with sacrificial blood for the people.

o The new dispensation makes each believer a royal priest. This means:

§ every believer has immediate access to God in Jesus Christ.

§ the approach to God has been made forever open by a perfect sacrifice in Jesus;

§ the saints of God have the privilege and responsibility of interceding for one another before God;

§ each Christian has the responsibility of a meaningful priesthood, representing God to the people in witnessing and teaching.[11]

1 Peter 2:10 (NASB) 10 for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

· Once believers were “not a people,” but now they are the “people of God” (see Hosea 2:23). Hosea’s words originally dealt with the Jews and their restoration, but Peter applied them to all believers (as Paul did in Romans 9:24–26). Once believers (when disobedient, like the Jews) “had not obtained mercy,” but “now have obtained mercy” (nun de eleēthentes, now have received compassion).[12]

· Peter reminds us here of what we were like before salvation. Before we were saved, we were corrupt, walked in darkness, and were destined to Hell. By trusting in Christ, however, we became something that is very special. We became the people of God. We are God’s children.

o John 1:12—But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

· Without Christ, we had no mercy because we had rejected it or did not know about it.

o By putting our faith in the Lord, however, we accepted His grace, forgiveness, and mercy.

o Receiving God’s gift of salvation drastically alters the life of any sinner. He goes from death to life, from Hell to Heaven, from darkness to light, from weakness to power, from turmoil to peace, from corruption to incorruption. Jesus Christ impacts the life of every sinner who puts his faith in Him.[13]

TO THINK ABOUT AND DISCUSS

1. What, generally, do people find most offensive about the gospel today? In what ways can we sometimes be unnecessarily offensive in the way we present the good news?

2. What do you immediately think of when somebody mentions ‘holiness’? How does it differ from the Bible’s teaching about what constitutes holiness?

3. How good do you think the church today is at proclaiming God’s excellencies to unbelievers? How might it improve?

4. Which of God’s excellencies do you think you are in a particularly good position to explain to others, because of your own experience?[14]

Thoughts to Soak on as we close

· This new and exalted identity is held out for all who come to believe that Jesus is God’s Ruler. Conversely, anyone who rejects Jesus as God’s cornerstone shall stumble and fall.

o Put simply, what you and I do with Jesus will mean everything to our standing and identity before God.

o Jesus alone is the full expression of God in the world, and by His sacrifice He has brought us close to God. What will you do with Jesus? The Bible says that when He stood outside Jerusalem, He wept for the people of his own day. From the distance He could see the stone city gates. He also saw the temple mount. And yet He knew that He would be rejected by many.

o May it not be so for you. May you come to Jesus as God’s “living stone.” And may you experience in fresh ways your new and treasured identity in Christ.

· When a person comes to faith in Christ, his or her identity is not the only thing that changes. Our text says that one’s calling in life does too.

· The latter half of verse 9 says all this occurs so “that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness, into His marvelous light.” What an exalted calling!

o We now exist to proclaim the excellencies of God. Could anything be better? Precisely what this new calling entails and how we are to go about it is what Peter will begin to tell us next (2:11–3:7).

Dear Lord, we come to You. And though the world may reject You, we receive Your rule with humble thanksgiving. We are honored to be called Your people, and we ask that our lives would proclaim the excellencies of Your name, Amen.[15]

Bonus for each of you if you have not gone to sleep by now in your study….

Note: For the scholarly among our readers, I submit the following history lesson for those who are still soaking on the concept of the Priesthood of the Believer😊

· Some people think that what is called the First Epistle of St. Peter is not a letter but an address given by the leader of the first Christian bishops to a group of men and women who had just been baptized. Certainly, a good deal of it is devoted by St. Peter to an explanation of what it means to have become a Christian:

o You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were no people but now you are God’s people … [1 Peter 2:9–10.]

o The converts who listened to this would have recognized that St. Peter’s words are based on a famous passage in the Book of Exodus. He is comparing the new community to which they belong to the community of Israel:

· Yahweh called to Moses out of the mountain saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:

o You have seen what I did to the Egyptians.

how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

Now therefore if you will obey My voice and keep My covenant,

you shall be My own possession among all peoples;

for all the earth is Mine and you shall be to Me a kingdom

of priests and a holy nation. [Exod. 19:3–6.][16]

· As children of the same family, stones in the same building, priests in the same temple, we are also citizens of the same nation. People look at us and say, “What a peculiar group you are.” Any nation that would heavily fine a person for destroying an eagle’s egg, yet actually encourage the destruction of a human embryo is peculiar indeed. Therefore, I’m glad they look at us as being strange![17]

[1] John F. MacArthur Jr., 1 Peter, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2004), 95–96. [2]Ronald K. Brown, Bible Studies for Life, Winter 2017-18, Herschel Hobbs Commentary (LifeWay Christian Resources, 2018), 108–109. [3]Peter H. Davids, The First Epistle of Peter, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), 79–81. [4]Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: James to Jude, ed. Robert Frew (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885), 134–135. [5]Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 102. [6] John F. MacArthur Jr., 1 Peter, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2004), 101–102. [7]Andrew Thomson, Opening Up 1 Peter, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster, England: Day One, 2016), 52–53. [8]Norman Hillyer, 1 and 2 Peter, Jude, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011), 61–62. [9]Wayne A. Grudem, 1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 17, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 107–108. [10]John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), 1 Pe 2:8. [11] W. A. Criswell et al., eds., Believer’s Study Bible, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991), 1 Pe 2:9. [12]Ralph W. Harris, ed., Hebrews–Jude, The Complete Biblical Library: Study Bible (World Library Press, 1989), 275. [13] Rod Mattoon, Treasures from First Peter, Treasures from Scripture Series (Springfield, IL: Rod Mattoon, 2011), 128–129. [14]Andrew Thomson, Opening Up 1 Peter, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster, England: Day One, 2016), 60. [15]David R. Helm, 1 & 2 Peter and Jude: Sharing Christ’s Sufferings, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008), 77. [16]Herbert McCabe, The New Creation(London; New Delhi; New York; Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2010), 139. This The New Creation originally appeared in 1964 and is certainly one of McCabe’s best works[16] [17] Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 1554.