Imitating Christ 1 Peter 2:18-25
Notes
Transcript
Peter in this chapter exhorted Christians to holiness, and dwelt upon that branch of holiness which consists in the
Patient endurance of wrong
Patient endurance of wrong
Since the Lord Jesus is all our salvation, he is also all our desire, and to be like him is the highest object of our ambition. If, therefore, we find him patient under wrong, it is to us a conclusive argument that we should be patient too.
Which hour do you think of the sufferings of the Lord, from Gethsemane to Golgotha, would be most deeply engraven upon the memory of Peter? Surely it would be that space of time in which he was mocked and buffeted in the hall of the high priest, when Peter sat and warmed his hands at the fire, when he saw his Lord abused, and was afraid to own that he was his disciple, and by-and-by became so terrified that, with profane language, he declared “I know not the man.”
So long as life lingered, the apostle would remember the meek and quiet bearing of his suffering Lord; he alluded to it in the twenty-third verse, “When he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.”
I.
He is our Example in His life
He is our Example in His life
(vv. 21–23).
Ancient society was very status-conscious and they associated power with greatness—yet, Peter identifies Christ with unjustly treated slaves. He is our example in the way He responded to suffering. In spite of the fact that He was sinless in both word and deed, He suffered at the hands of the authorities.
“For even hereunto were ye called”- that is why you are here, filling the role. That is why this is happening to you. WHY? So that you might follow in the steps of Jesus who suffered for us.
Jesus proved that a person could be in the will of God, be greatly loved by God, and still suffer unjustly.
Jesus proved that a person could be in the will of God, be greatly loved by God, and still suffer unjustly.
There is a shallow brand of popular theology today that claims that Christians will not suffer if they are in the will of God. Those who promote such ideas have not meditated much on the Cross.
In this passage Peter described Christ’s death as “suffering,” one of the words characteristic of 1 Peter.
The verb is used four times in 2:19–23 (out of eleven occurrences in the epistle).
It is clear that the suffering in view was the agony Christ endured before and on the cross. Peter’s purpose in this description is seen in verse 21 and the wider context of instruction to Christian slaves: to present Christ as an example of innocent but patient suffering.
Christians are called (v. 21a) to suffer injustice without retaliation, and in this they follow in Christ’s steps (v. 21b). Peter emphasized the exemplary significance of Christ’s death (which will be developed further in the section on the Christian life). But the meaning of His death is not limited to this.
Peter’s basic statement in verse 21, “Christ suffered for you,” suggests the larger significance of Christ’s suffering, which is made explicit in subsequent verses.
Jesus died as a substitutionary sacrifice. He was not put to death for any guilt of His own, but bore the penalty of sin for others. Peter emphasized this point by quoting from and alluding to the description of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53 and showing that Jesus fulfilled that role in His death.
The Greek for “example” is ὑπογραμμός—(hypogrammos)a word which occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means a copy set by a writing or drawing master, which was to be exactly reproduced by his pupils.
Christ is our model.
Christ is our model.
In particular Peter urges us to imitate the Lord’s patience in suffering undeserved afflictions. In the last clause the figure is changed to that of a guide along a difficult route, so difficult that those who follow must put their feet in his footprints. We should follow his steps, one by one, closely following him, as the word ἐπακολουθήσητε means (comp. Mark 16:20; 1 Tim. 5:10, 24).
Ver. 22.—Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Peter is quoting the Septuagint Version of Isa. 53:9, almost exactly, the word ἁμαρτίαν sin, being substituted for ἀνομίαν, lawlessness (“violence” in our version).
“Guile”—deceit, deception, cunning
This signifies Christ’s absolute perfection, in that he did not offend so much as with his mouth,
For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
The sense is, Christ was free from all manner of sin, and yet he suffered patiently; and therefore well may we be content to suffer too, though wrongfully; seeing, though one may be innocent in your sufferings, yet you come so far short of Christ’s perfection.
We should notice that the Messiah, whose example is here set before Christian slaves, is called by the prophet “the Servant of Jehovah” (Isa. 52:13). Slaves were often tempted to deceit and guile; they must look to the Lord Jesus, and strive to copy his innocence and his truth.
Ver. 23.—Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not (comp.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
Yet he opened not his mouth:
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,
So he openeth not his mouth.
By Christ’s being reviled, we are to understand all those injurious words, reproaches, slanders, blasphemies, which his persecutors cast out against him.
Reviled not again;
When he suffered; when he was affected not only with verbal but real injuries, buffeted, spit upon, crowned with thorns, crucified.
He threatened not; he was so far from avenging himself, or recompensing evil for evil, that he did not so much as threaten what he would afterward do to them.
But committed himself; or his cause, as in the margin; neither is in the Greek, but either may be well supplied, and to the same purpose: the sense is, Christ did not retaliate, nor act any thing out of private revenge, but so referred himself, and the judgment of his cause, to his Father’s good pleasure, as rather to desire pardon for his persecutors, than vengeance on them, Luke 23:34.
To him that judgeth righteously: the apostle adds this of God’s judging righteously, for the comfort of servants to whom he speaks, as
Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.
Col. 3:24 4:1, and for the terror of masters, that the former might learn patience, and the latter moderation.
Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. The verb “committed” — He left them to God, to God’s mercy, if it might be; to his,judgment, if it must be.
There may be a reference to his prayer, “Father, forgive them.”
II.
He is our Substitute in His death
He is our Substitute in His death
(v. 24). He is our Atonement-
consider the substitute. “He his own self bare our sins.” And who was “He”? Beloved, I want you to feel a personal love to our dear Lord and Master-- remember that he lives, and is as real as you are, and at this moment bears in his body the scars of his sufferings for you
Spurgeon, C. H. (1873). Death for Sin, and Death to Sin. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 19, p. 652). London: Passmore & Alabaster.
Who his own self; not by offering any other sacrifice, (as the Levitical priests did,) but by that of himself.
Bare our sins; or, took up, or lifted up, in allusion to the sacrifices of the Old Testament, the same word being used of them,
Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
As the sins of the offerer were typically laid upon the sacrifice, which, being substituted in his place, was likewise slain in his stead; so Christ standing in our room, took upon him the guilt of our sins, and bare their punishment,
Surely he hath borne our griefs,
And carried our sorrows:
Yet we did esteem him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
The Lord laid on him our iniquities, and he willingly took them up; and by bearing their curse, took away our guilt. Or, it may have respect to the cross, on which Christ being lifted up, took up our sins with him, and expiated their guilt by undergoing that death which was due to us for them.
In his own body; this doth not exclude his soul, but is rather to be understood, by a synecdoche, of his whole human nature, and we have the sufferings of his soul mentioned,
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief:
When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin,
He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied:
By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;
For he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
And he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
Because he hath poured out his soul unto death:
And he was numbered with the transgressors;
And he bare the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.
John 12:27 but mention is made of his body, because the sufferings of that were most visible.
Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
On the tree; on the cross.
That we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; another end of Christ’s death, the mortification of sin, and our being freed from the dominion of it,
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
and being reformed to a life of holiness.
By whose stripes ye were healed; viz. of the wound made in your souls by sin: this seems to relate to the blows that servants might receive of cruel masters, against which the apostle comforts them, and to the patient bearing of which he exhorts them, because Christ by bearing stripes, (a servile punishment,) under which may be comprehended all the sufferings of his death, had healed them of much worse wounds, and spiritual diseases, the guilt of their consciences, and the defilement of their souls.
The Source. - "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16).
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for oar sins" (I John 4:9-10).
The title "God" in these texts refers specifically to God the Father. The love of God is differentiating in respect of its objects. It is the love of God the Father that Paul has in view when he speaks of Him who "spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all" (Rom. 8:32).
The Necessity. It should be understood that it was not necessary for God to redeem men. The purpose to redeem is of the free and sovereign exercise of His love.
Salvation required not only the forgiveness of sin but also justification. And justification, adequate to the situation in which lost mankind is, demands a righteousness such as belongs to no other than the incarnate Son of God, a righteousness undefiled and undefilable, a righteousness with divine property and
Sin is the contradiction of God and he must react against it with holy wrath. Wherever sin is, the wrath of God rests upon it
-The sins of God’s people were laid upon Him! Christ appeared with his people’s sin upon him so when divine justice came to punish sin and found it on Christ, it arrested him and bruised him.
Nature. The nature of the atonement is concerned with the ways in which the Scripture characterizes Christ's vicarious undertakings and accomplishments. The most basic and inclusive of these categories is obedience. And there are four categories that are more specific — sacrifice, propitiation, reconciliation, and redemption.
A.
Obedience
Obedience
. the capacity of Servant -The title "Servant" derives its meaning from the fact that He is the Lord's Servant, not the Servant of men
Isa52:13 He is the Father's Servant and this implies subjection to and fulfillment of the Father's will.
Servant defines His commitment, and obedience the execution. In Hebrews 5:8
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
that "he learned obedience from the things which he suffered." At no point was He disobedient.
B.
Sacrifice
Sacrifice
There is abundant evidence in the New Testament to show that Christ's giving of Himself is to be construed in terms of sacrificial offering .
The Old Testament sacrifices were expiatory of guilt. (Serving to put an end to it)
This is particulary true of the sin-offerings, and these are specifically in view in some of the New Testament passages The idea of expiation is the removal of the liability accruing from sin. Sacrifice is the provision whereby this liability is removed — it is the substitutive endurance of penalty and transference of liability from the offerer to the sacrifice.
C.
Propitiation
Propitiation
. - turning away of anger by the offering of a gift.
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Those whom God loved were the children of His wrath. The doctrine of the propitiation is precisely this that God loved the objects of His wrath so much that He gave His own Son to the end that He by His blood should make provision for the removal of this wrath.
—The satisfaction of the righteous demands of God in relation to human sin and its punishment through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ upon the cross, by which the penalty of sin is cancelled and the anger of God averted.
D.
Reconciliation
Reconciliation
. reconciliation is concerned with our alienation from God and the need of having that alienation removed. In the Scripture the actual terms used with reference to the reconciliation wrought by Christ are to the effect that we are reconciled to God
Rom. 5:10 and that God reconciles us to Himself —restoration of fellowship between God and humanity and the resulting restoration of human relationships. Reconciliation is the work of God.
Reconciliation basically means “change”—change of relationship
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
E.
Redemption
Redemption
“to buy back”-restoration of friendly relationships and of peace where before had been hostility and alienation.
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
Redemption has in view the bondage to which sin has consigned us, and it views the work of Christ not simply as deliverance from bondage but in terms of ransom. The word of our Lord settles this signification. "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28). .
III.
He is our Overseer in heaven
He is our Overseer in heaven
(v. 25). In the Old Testament, the sheep died for the shepherd; but at Calvary, the Shepherd died for the sheep (John 10).
Now that we have been returned to the fold and are safely in His care, He watches over us lest we stray and get into sin.
The word bishop simply means “one who watches over, who oversees.” Just as the elder-bishop oversees the flock of God, the local church (1 Peter 5:2), so the Saviour in glory watches over His sheep to protect them and perfect them
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Here, then, is the wonderful truth Peter wanted to share: as we live godly lives and submit in times of suffering,
He is our example in Life
Our substitute in Death
Our Shepherd in Heaven
Today, if we are to make a difference in this world we need to --
Follow Christ’s example and become more like Him.
Follow Christ’s example and become more like Him.