An Exposition of 1 Peter, part 9: Living Stones

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

Introduction

In the last study, we learned that our faith shapes our conduct. There are tings we are to put off from the past as well as things we are to do. One of the things we are to do is to be nourished by the pure mile of the Word of God. We have tasted the goodness of the Lord. Why should we desire anything less. Or taste of what is coming is like preparing spaghetti sauce. The cook tastes the sauce. The cook then can imagine what the final product will be like. It is true taste, but in part, of the fuller fulfillment.

In today’s text, we are given further encouragement unto good conduct. Paul reminds us that the Holy Spirit in the believer is the down payment of what heaven is like. The taste is a pure one unlike the spaghetti sauce in which the cook might want to add more of this or that ingredient to make it taste better. God’s Word does not change and neither does the Holy Spirit. What needs to change is us. The biggest adjustment is our attitude. We need to realize who we really are and not to be sorrowful because we have lost friends and family. We live in a new reality. So let us not examine the text from 1 Peter 2:4-6.

Exposition of the Text

Coming to Him as a living stone —Peter uses and interesting metaphor here when he calls the church a living stone, Stones are considered inanimate objects. They just do not move of themselves. But it not only says that we are living stones, but stones that are moving towards Him. The “to whom” is placed at the beginning of the Greek phrase for emphasis. It is Jesus who makes us alive, and because we are living stones, we come to the author of life Himself.

Having been rejected by men — The resurrection and life are repeated throughout the epistle. So is the theme of rejection. To be accepted in christ and by christ means that the believer will be rejected by the world. the believers to whom Peter addresses were suffering persecution for their faith in Jesus and were greatly troubled. They believed in the greatest news ever proclaimed, and it seems natural that everyone else wants to hear it too. The sad reality is that they usually don’t. If the believers are living stones, then the unbeliever is a dead one, a typical rock which is incapable of response. Even worse is that these dead stones are hurled at the believer by Satan. In a way, they should rejoice in the very fact that the world rejects them, Peter experienced this in Acts 5 when he and john were beaten by the Sanhedrin for the faith. Even though they were wounded, they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for His name. (Acts 5:41) What should concern the believer is when they are not rejected by the world because it shows a deficiency in one’s faith and service. Remember what it says in 2 Timothy 3:12 “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Being persecuted for Christ’s sake should be reliably seen as the badge of one’s election.

But before God, (you are) chosen (and) precious — Peter says on the one hand, believers are rejected by man. On the other hand, believers are His precious elect. The sharp contrast is set up by the Greek use of the construct“men” and “de”. But it is also emphatic in that in the first phrase, “by man” is placed first and “before God” is first in the second phrase. Peter wants the believer to look at the latter phrase. We are not to wallow in sadness because the world rejects us. We are no longer relevant to the world: therefore, we must not even make the attempt. We are most relevant to God who has the final vote on what is relevant. Earlier, Peter conceded that the Christian must suffer for a little while 1 Peter 1:6). This is in contrast to the eternal inheritance the believer has in Christ which shall never fade away (1 Peter 1:4). Jesus in his parable of the sheep and goats talks about two types of people. the first group is humble and surprised by their Lord’s commendation. “What did we do? They got to enter into the joy of the Lord. The second wanted to display their mighty works, which even though they were done in the name of Jesus, were actually done to gain the glory of men. they had relevance in the world, but when it really mattered, they were not relevant before God. “He tells them, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” (See Matthew 25:31-46)

And these, as living stones, are built into a spiritual house — In the verse before, the use of “living stone” is singular. Here, Peter refers to the plural “living stones.” So does the singular use of “living stone” refer to the church as a whole or to the individual believer. both are true, but it is hard to determine whom he is addressing. But the plural use of “living stones” talk about all of the individual members. The believers are to be built together into a single house. There are many believers who serve various roles, but there is only one church. As precious as each individual is to God, the church is even greater than the sum of its parts. As Peter stresses throughout the epistle, the unity of believers is important. We have mentioned that this served the purpose of mutual comfort and support in the time of persecution. The church is the believer’s new world, and the members his new family. The other was the power of church unity as a means of witness to a world which is starved for true acceptance.

To the end that (you all together) might serve as a holy priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices, well-pleasing to God through Jesus Christ --

The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers is supported by this verse. It is also taught in the Book of Hebrews as well as in the Book of Revelation. This shows the value the apostolic church put on the priesthood. In turn, the priesthood of all believers has its roots in the Old Testament. In particular, we can read in Exodus 19:6 “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”” Even though there was a special priesthood which offered up animal sacrifices as well as other offerings, all of Israelites were priests as well. We note that Peter emphasizes that the sacrifices to be offered are now spiritual. This is contrary to the Roman Catholic concept of priesthood and the non-bloody sacrifice of the mass. Hebrews is abundantly clear that Jesus Christ offered Himself up once, a sacrifice that need not be repeated. So just as the believers are built up as a living Temple made of living stones to be a spiritual house, the priesthood of this Temple, the body of Christ is also spiritual. When the Book of Hebrews talks about the sacrifice we now offer, it is a sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15) It is this sacrifice in which God is well-pleased. We might imply the sacrifice of prayer as well which is shown in Revelation 5:8. Here the prayers of the saints rise as sweet-smelling incense before God. This is the spiritual service of Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” So Paul also speaks about the spiritual nature of our sacrifice.

These sacrifices are offered through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus is our Great High Priest before the Father. So when we look at the priesthood of all believers, we are all priests because we are part of the spiritual body of Christ. As part of the body, we share in His priesthood. Apart from Jesus Christ, there is no priesthood at all.

So what does the Scripture say — When Peter says Scripture, he is referring to what we call the Old Testament. Certain parts of the New Testament were already in writing, but not all these books were available everywhere like the Greek translation of the Old Testament called The Septuagint. The words of Jesus are also the inspired Word of God also, breathed out by God the Son by the Holy Spirit just as the Old Testament. The Gospel of Mark and perhaps Luke and Matthew had already been written, but we do not know whether these churches had copies of them. But whether Old or New, the Scripture has ultimate authority for the believer.

Behold I place in Zion a precious and chosen cornerstone — Peter is quoting Isaiah 28:16 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily.” There has been much discussion whether Jesus is the cornerstone or the capstone. Here, the Greek makes it clear that the text refers to “cornerstone.” The cornerstone is laid first, and it serves as a guide for the rest of the building. In a sense,we, the church, serves as the capstone. This is not to say that Jesus isn’t the capstone as well, but we are His body. The capstone is the glory of the building. When we serve faithfully as the church, we show forth the glory of God in Jesus Christ. ( 2 Corinthians 4:6) So Jesus can say “I AM the light of the world” (John 8:12) and also say “You are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). this is because we are one in Christ Jesus.

We should also note that the words “elect” and “precious” were used back in verse 4 (1 Peter 2:4). If we are living stones that are chosen and precious, how much more precious is our Lord Jesus Christ? We are chosen and precious because we are built in relation to the precious and elect cornerstone.

The one who believes in Him will never be put to shame — It has been said that the Ancient Greco-Roman as well as the Ancient Middle East were examples of an honor-shame culture as though these are ancient and not in existence today. This is an act of hubris on the part of modern man.There are few who do not feel the shame of having their evil deeds exposed. Those who are shameless have seared their conscience to the point of being total sociopaths. The believers to whom Peter addresses were being treated shamefully by people who were family members as well as by former “friends.” The idea of “shaming” can be used in the attempt to bring the errant to their senses. But it can also be used to make one feel superior to those who they shame. This idea of shame has a long and sordid history. However, when we orient our lives to God’s cornerstone, we realize that we derive our values from God through Jesus Christ and not the world. The world shames us. but God holds us to be honorable, chosen, and precious. This is all that matters.

Application

We should understand that the world has changed very little if at all since the time that Peter wrote. The world still has a great deal of animosity against us, especially if we try to radically live out our faith in conformity to the Scripture. At various times and places, there had been some sort of grudging tolerance. There have been those who have tried to use Christianity as a means to control the masses. As Edward Gibbon, the writer of “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” showed the utility of religion including Christianity. He noted that the common people will believe that all religions are equally true, the philosophers, equally false, and to the leaders, equally useful. Of course, we should severely criticize such a skeptic as Gibbon. The Christian emphatically denies that all religions are equally true. Only Jesus is the “way, the truth, and the life.” Neither do all philosophers consider all religions to be equally false. There have been many philosophers who have been Christians. Even though we have leaders like President Eisenhower, the one who added “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance, and said in America we worship Christ because we are a Christian nation, implying that if America were an Islamic nation, we would worship Allah, there have been Christians in government with a less utilitarian and cynical attitude.

We are living in that people call “Biblical times.” what is meant by this is that it appears that we are now hurtling toward the end of the world, as prophesied by Jesus, the Apostles, Daniel and the other prophets, as well as the Book of Revelation. This may very well be true, but only God knows for sure. History is full of examples of what appeared to be the end. This was commonly held during the Reformation period. One can also read of the times of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian some 1400 years ago. A volcano on the other side of the world (Krakatoa?) exploded filling the sky with thick dust. The light of the sun was diminished and the moon was blood red. The cooler temperatures made it possible for the Bubonic Plague to spread. To the people of Constantinople, it looked like the end. Islam soon arose and threatened them as well. But the end was not yet.

So we need to exercise some caution about the times today. What is important is that Christ is going to return. We may suffer for a while. We may well die before He returns, but that does not matter. We shall be raised to rule and reign with Him. We are special and chosen to Him, and He will not forget us. So let us bear patiently the tribulations of this world, whatever they may be. our suffering is transitory. But the Kingdom shall be for ever.

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