Tuesday, September 30, 2008

1 Peter 4:7-11

7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. 11 If you speak, you should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If you serve, you should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.



Dig Deeper

When Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate to have his fate decided upon, Pilate did something that is really quite common in the world in which we live. He called for a basin. How is that a common act you might wonder? It's not common in that he called for a basin, but what is common is why he called for the basin. He wanted to wash his hands. Far more important than the literal act of washing his hands, though, was the fact that he was symbolically cleansing himself, absolving himself from a difficult situation. He wasn't really concerned with the impact on others or the outcome, he only cared what it meant for him. He was looking out for himself and the easiest thing to do, then, was to entirely remove himself from the tumult and not get involved. He would serve only his own interests, refusing to put himself on the line, refusing to lay his life down in any way; he would, in short, do what most of us do if left to our own devices.

In contrast, however, just the night before that scene, Jesus was also confronted by a basin. Rather than shrinking back from the situation at hand and saving himself from the trouble ahead, Jesus took the opportunity to grab the basin and wash the feet of the disciples. He was not only serving them but was also teaching them about the importance of what He was about to do for them at the Cross. Jesus realized that every opportunity in life is an opportunity to serve God's will by putting the needs of others ahead of our own. He embraced that philosophy all the way to the cross. Look at the difference in impact between Pilate's and Jesus' choice though. Pilate had power that he could have used to serve others but instead served his own interest and had the only innocent man in the history of the world put to death. Jesus served the interests of others and made the way of salvation for the entire world. This is precisely the underlying attitude that Peter wants for the Christian community that he is writing. As they come to learn what it truly means to be part of the new family of the people of God they must learn that everything they have and every gift they have been given by God is an opportunity to serve others, not something to selfishly keep for themselves.

There is some debate as to just what Peter meant when he wrote that the end of all things is near. Did he he expect that Christ would be returning soon and so the Christian communities should order themselves with this imminent coming in mind or was he referring to the destruction of the Temple and the clear sign from God that Christ had been vindicated and the Old Covenant had been completely surpassed by the new phase of the New Covenant? The fact is that he likely had both things in mind as they were closely related in early Christian thought. The destruction of the Temple served as a clear sign of the judgment of God on Israel and vindication of Christ, serving as a guarantee of His Second Coming. Whether Peter expected the Second Coming to come very soon or understood that it would be some time is of little importance and does not change the meaning of his point which is for his readers to live in the context of the New Covenant community and the reality of the imminence of the Second Coming of Christ.

In light of God's reality they should be alert and of sober mind so that they might pray. They should not hold tightly to earthly commitments and concerns but be prepared to see God's reality in everything. People who have their mind cluttered with false priorities and deceptive living will, no doubt, have the clear lines of communication with God cluttered as well. Prayer is one of the primary ways, combined with the word of God, that God's people can keep in touch with His will. Focusing on the priorities and affairs of the world can take one's eye off of the importance of prayer which will eventually sweep away the relationship that one has with God and His people.

As far as Peter was concerned, the most important characteristic of the people of the Messiah was to love each other deeply, for Christ had declared that it would be the distinguishing marker of His people (John 13:34-35). This would be an especially difficult task for a community that was outcast and persecuted, but would be all the more vital under difficult circumstances. They should embrace this ethic of love because love covers over a multitude of sins, says Peter, quoting from Proverbs 10:12 His point is that being a community of love is a sure sign that they have put away other sinful behaviors that characterize the human will. It is also true that the community of love will be able to forgive one another quickly and move on to spiritual maturity through situations that might paralyze a people that have yet to embrace the true agape love of God as the standard of their community.

As a practical expression of that love, Peter urges them to offer hospitality to one another. Peter is always the realist and knows that this can be done begrudgingly without truly conforming their hearts and minds so he exhorts them to do it without grumbling. The type of hospitality that Peter refers to here goes far beyond throwing a nice mixer for your Christian friends or putting on a great dinner party for your small group leader and his wife, although it certainly includes that. He is urging them to adopt of lifestyle of open hospitality where their homes and resources are offered up to fellow Christians as a necessary service. Rather than keeping what little they might have for themselves, Christians are to follow the example of Christ in practical ways and be willing to serve their fellow believers in whatever they have. Sharing in tight circumstances, however, can cause irritations, so Peter reminds them that the way of Christ is to serve fellow believers in joy. True hospitality, after all, comes in generously opening your home when you wish your guest were at theirs.

Another expression of the love and self-giving ethos of the Christian family is to realize that each person should exercise the gifts that God has given to serve others. Gifts are not to serve one's self or to seek advancement or self-satisfaction but to edify and encourage the body of Christ. Using your gifts to serve the body as faithful stewards means both being willing to use whatever gifts one might have but also seeking humbly to use them rather than just sitting back and waiting to be asked. Being a faithful steward means being aware that God's grace is poured out to the body of Christ through the gifts that he has given us. If we fail to use those gifts, we deny the body the grace that God has apportioned to us to pour out on the believers.

Some have gifts of serving or encouragement, and some have gifts of speaking. Those who do should not be exalted above others or think of themselves as more important but should realize that they have a tremendous responsibility as one who speaks the very words of God. Whatever gift one has they should be exercised in such a way as to reflect the divine glory of God from which they came, for gifts come through the strength that God provides. This means also that God will use us, but we must always remember that it will often not be in the way that we might have chosen. God gives gifts and calls us to service whether we like it or not, or see it as a strength of ours or not. No one serves as a better example of that than the apostle Paul who called himself the "Hebrew of Hebrews" and was quite comfortable listing of the accomplishments that he could claim as an ethnic Jew (Phil. 3:4-6; 2 Cor. 11:22). He studied under Gamaliel, one of the pre-eminent Jewish teachers of his day (Acts 22:3). Yet, Paul was not called by God to preach to and serve Jews, in fact when he did shortly after his conversion, he was nearly killed (Acts 9:23). Instead, Paul was called by God to be His chosen instrument to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15); he would be the apostle to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:13; Gal. 2:8; 1 Tim. 2:7). This should serve as a challenging reminder that God will use us and the gifts He has given, but it may often not be in the way that we would expect or naturally want. We must remember that the gifts are God and He has called us to use them for the benefit of others not for our own satisfaction.



Devotional Thought

Do you truly use the gifts that God has given you for the benefit of other believers? Are you active in finding ways to serve and be used even if it's not something you would have first thought of or is not something you immediately enjoy, or do you tend to sit back and wait to be asked to serve? What portion of God's grace has He given to you that you have yet to unleash?

Monday, September 29, 2008

1 Peter 4:1-6

Living for God

1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because those who have suffered in their bodies are done with sin. 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.



Dig Deeper


When I first went off to college, it would be somewhat of an understatement to say that I didn’t really take it seriously. I was there for several reasons but none of the top reasons had anything to do with academics. I was much more concerned with playing basketball, making friends, having fun, and of course the girls. Because of this, I actually paid little attention to my grades or my classes in general, showing little respect for myself or my parents who were making possible my ability to attend college. After a couple of wasted years in which I dug myself quite an academic hole, I moved to a new university in Oklahoma. It was there that I finally woke up to the sacrifice that others had made for me to be able to go to college and I also came to the realization of the importance of my grades and actually taking the academic side of college seriously. I quickly understood, however, that not only did my attitude toward the future change, I also needed to view it in terms of the time I had wasted in the past. My graduation was coming up quickly and I only had a couple of years to make up, in a sense, for the time I had wasted.

In many respects, this is the frame of mind that Peter presents in the opening verses of chapter 4. The believers were now in Christ. They had demonstrated that they understood what life was about and that they had simply wasted their lives before becoming Christians by engaging in all sorts of selfish and pagan behavior. Not only did they need to be about living lives worthy of those in Christ, they should also be reminded that they did waste all sorts of time before they were Christians not doing God’s will. Why would they want to continue living like that? Their time was now limited and the last thing they needed to do now was to waste more time not doing His will or only half doing. They need to be about the business of living in the new creation.

Peter reverts to the death of Christ (1 Pet. 3:18) and the example that he set as the gold standard for Christian believers. The saints should, says Peter using military language, arm themselves with the same attitude that Jesus displayed consistently throughout His life. Christ is the prototypical human being who fully carried the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 3:10) and lived up to the high standard and design meant for human beings who retained that image and did the will of God (cf. Ps. 8). Because Jesus was the only true human being, He is the only one that should ever serve as our ultimate model of imitation (even when we imitate other Christians it should only be in so much as they imitate Christ). As Christ demonstrated, the only way to truly be fully human in this age of sin and evil is to take that evil upon oneself for the benefit of others. As James points out in James 1:2-4, trials and suffering work like hard exercise in the life of the Christian. They are the only way that we can truly get the resistance we need in order to change and grow and become complete in the life of Christ. Thus, those who embrace a life of suffering for the benefit of others as a way to follow the Master, demonstrate that they are truly done with sin, and will increasingly realize that proclamation of action as we are molded by the Spirit in the life of Christ.

Those who have clothed themselves with Christ, rejecting the way of sin, should increasingly reject and not be drawn by to their evil human desires, but rather they live for the will of God. This can only be done because Christ has repaired the bridge between us and God. Those separated from God by sin cannot do the will of God. Jesus promised that only His brothers and sisters could do God’s will (Mark 3:35) but this is an option that was made available by His willingness to perfectly do God’s will. Adam and Eve had failed, in the garden of Eden, to do God’s will, instead choosing to do their own will. This was a situation would no human being could reverse; no one could open the scroll of the New Covenant and do God’s will (Rev. 5:1-10). Jesus, in a very deliberate and significant act, went into another garden, the garden of Gethsemene and struggled with doing God’s will, but of course did it in the most severe of circumstances. He chose horrible suffering, according to the will of God, in order to benefit others. The call for those who belong to Him is to do no less.

In verse 3, Peter goes into a bit of a practical line of thinking. Not only should a life of sin be avoided for the reasons Peter has already detailed, but for the simple and pragmatic reason that Christians have already spent enough time in the past doing what the pagans choose to do—a list that could be summed up by saying "choosing to do our own will rather than God’s." Peter assumes that those in Christ will choose to do the will of God which will make them stand out among their fellow neighbors like a black panther in a snow storm. The change in lifestyle should be so obvious that those with whom these believers used to engage in sinful behavior will now revile them. Peter says they they will be so surprised that believers will no longer join in on their reckless, wild living, and that they will heap abuse on them.

These former friends now find themselves in the category of blasphemers (cf. 1 Pet. 2:12; 3:16), because what is true of God’s people is true of Him. This means that those who falsely accuse and malign God’s people will stand before God one day, guilty of blasphemy against His own children. They will, says Peter, have to give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. Peter goes on, in verse 6, to say that this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now died, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to what they did while in the body in the present age. A majority of commentators hold that by this Peter is referring to early Christians who had the gospel preached to them and have now since died. This doesn’t seem, however, to really sum up or cover the magnitude of Peter’s point. I believe the more thorough explanation is that Peter has returned to cover the other side of the thought he presented in verses 19-20. There Peter made the point that Christ had entered Hades upon His death to declare His exaltation and vindication as the holy one of God. Now Peter bookends that thought by informing us that Christ also went to Paradise to announce the salvation that had finally become available to those who had lived righteously before Christ (see Dig Deeper on 1 Peter 3:18-22). This view is, I believe, bolstered by the fact that in 3:19 Peter says Christ preached to the spirits in prison, but uses the Greek word keryssein, which means to proclaim (usually in victory or triumph). In 4:6, however, he says "the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead," but uses the Greek word, euangelizesthai, which means to preach good news. In other words, Christ declared His victory to the disobedient spirits awaiting resurrection and judgment, and preached the good news of the gospel to the righteous dead who were awaiting the resurrection of the righteous (Luke 14:14; Acts 24:15). His point, then, is that all will have to give account before God, this is the reason that the gospel was preached and made available even to the righteous who died before Christ died and was raised from the dead.

Those who died before Christ but were regarded as righteous by God had been judged according to human standards while in the body, but now they live according to God in regard to the Spirit, awaiting resurrection and the great reconciliation and renewal of all things (Matt. 19:28). This would have served as an incredible encouragement to Christians who were persecuted outcasts in their society. They too, were being judged by human standards and treated as refuse, but they must remember that Christ, the standard for their behavior had also been treated that way, as had the righteous throughout history, and now all of those people live with God, exalted and vindicated with their king. We may be mistreated in the present age, but we do so for three primary reasons: It is the example that Christ set, it will benefit others, and just like Christ and His people, we will be vindicated one day. This is something that we must never forget either in our beliefs or in our actions.



Devotional Thought

Peter says that the change in life that a Christian makes should be so dramatic and shocking that at least some people who knew us might be led to heap abuse on us. Whether you have experienced that extreme or not, the question still remains. Has the change in your behavior and attitude been so shocking that those around you who knew you are surprised and take notice. Do the people that didn’t know you before you were a Christian still take note of how radically different you are?

Friday, September 26, 2008

1 Peter 3:18-22

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19 In that state he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.



Dig Deeper

Water is an amazing substance. It can be a soft landing spot for someone jumping from a high dive, allowing them to enter into a pool from heights that would kill someone if they hit normal ground. Yet, it can be used at such pressures that it will easily cut through the hardest surfaces in the world. A drink of water can bring life to someone on the verge of death and it is possible for someone to drown in just a teaspoon of water. Rain can bring life to an entire region or it can rain too hard and bring floods and destruction.

The truth is when most people think of water baptism, they think of the life that it brings. And, in a sense it does bring Christians to a new life, but that is not really Peter’s point in this passage. As Peter continues the thought of Christ suffering an unjust punishment that he did not deserve for the benefit of humans who did deserve that punishment, he turns to the life-saving aspect of Christ’s suffering. In doing so, he will refer, in one sense to the life-giving qualities of the water of Noah’s flood, water that symbolized the baptism into the life of Christ. More importantly, however, he will stress the death that it brings. In fact this may shock Peter’s modern readers who think they understand what baptism is all about. In the fullest sense, Peter is not saying that the water brings life, in fact quite the opposite. It brings death. And it is only in understanding this that we can truly understand what Christ did for all of humanity.

This section has proven over the history of Christianity to be one of the most difficult passages to interpret. There are numerous difficulties and problems in determining the meaning of this obscure passage, most of which the space of this format precludes us from delving into. It will help though, if we keep in mind Peter’s underlying point in this passage. He basic point is that Jesus was a righteous man that suffered despite the fact that he didn’t deserve it, but was ultimately vindicated and exalted, and if the believers continue to act righteously as Peter has already described, then they too will be vindicated and exalted, despite the fact that they will also likely suffer, all the while acting righteously.

The fact is that Jesus was sinless (1 Pet. 1:19; 2:22) and so no one was less deserving of suffering than Jesus Christ, and yet we know that He suffered deeply. This would completely fly in the face of the erroneous belief that suffering is a result of sin (John 9:2) or that good people shouldn’t suffer. Christ certainly suffered, but He did so willingly for the sake of others and, in fact, God allowed Him to suffer death for the benefit of the entire world (John 3:16). Peter says that Christ suffered once for sins, meaning that he was the perfect sin offering that all of the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament had pointed to. He died once for all (Rom. 6:10) so that no additional sacrifice will ever have to be made (Heb. 9:26). This suffering was the ultimate and only true instance in the history of the world where the completely righteous suffered for the unrighteous. This was all done, says Peter, to bring the unsaved to God. This bolsters Peter’s continuing theme of sacrificing self and acting in out-of-this-world ways in order to reconcile people to God. The motivation for Christ suffering and dying then, was the same motivation for husbands and wives, slaves and masters, and believers in general to act in the best interests of others, using weapons that are completely foreign in the world’s economy.

Peter begins, in the second half of verse 18, his explanation (albeit one that is, at times, difficult to understand) of the vindication and exaltation of Christ despite the suffering he went through. Christ was indeed put to death in the body by the evil powers but things didn’t end there. He was glorified and vindicated by being made alive by the Spirit (Rom. 8:11). His resurrection, through the power of the Spirit, overcame the worst that evil could possibly do. While in that state of being liberated from the restriction of his earthly body so that he could act in the spiritual realm and presumably completely in the form of spirit through the power of the Spirit and before His resurrection, Christ went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits.

There are a few passages in the Bible that indicate that Jesus indeed went to Hades during His three days of death. In 1 Peter 3:19-20, Peter says that "he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built." Later, in 1 Peter 4:6 he says, "For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to the spirit." From these verses we can understand that Jesus went to Hades during those three days to preach. In Acts 2:27 Peter assigns these words of David to Christ, "you will not abandon me to [Hades], nor will you let your Holy One see decay." This verse could be interpreted to indicate that Jesus would go to Hades but would not be left there. It is important to distinguish that Hades is different from Hell or the Lake of Fire (Gehenna) which is the final death (cf. Matt. 25:41)

If Jesus was in Hades, what was He preaching and to whom was He preaching? There are certainly different interpretations of Peter’s words here and no one view can be proven conclusively. It seems very probable, however, that Jesus preached both to the unrighteous (represented by the spirits from the days of Noah) and the righteous (represented by "those who are now dead") in Hades. Hades was apparently split between the righteous and the unrighteous (Luke 16:26) at that time. It is very possible then, that Jesus went to Hades to preach the Gospel to those who lived before He did and take those who responded to heaven. Ephesians 4:8 could be referring to this when it says, "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." Whether the unrighteous were given the opportunity to exit at that time in response to Christ or not cannot be known definitively from the Scriptures.

Peter’s point in all of this is that Christ, despite his earthly sufferings, empowered by the Spirit, announced his victory and vindication. In a complex connection of thought, Peter describes Christ announcing this victory to those who were connected the flood, the very event that symbolized the moment of victory for believers to which they are now trying to announce to the world. The connection between the flood and the moment of Christ’s victory in the life of believers is water. But Peter’s point is not that the water saves people, quite the opposite. The eight people in Noah’s ark were saved through the water not by the water. In the same way, those who enter the water of baptism are now saved. Yet, it is important to note that the water does not save. The water killed in Noah’s day and it does for believers as well. In Noah’s day the water killed all except those that were saved in the Ark. Peter’s argument is that the water is not a ritual cleansing that only washes the body. It is the moment when one dies to self and is saved by entering into the ark of the life of Jesus Christ. The TNIV translation likely misses the boat here and shows some historical bias by translating eperotema as pledge. This is a word that clearly means "appeal" or "inquiry." Peter’s point, as he clearly stated in Acts 2:38, is that the baptism of entering into Christ is the time when one’s sins are forgiven and one appeals to God for a clear conscience, which is the forgiveness of sins and the promised heart of flesh (Ezek. 11:19; 36:26) for those in Christ.

Peter completes his thought in this passage when he says that this baptism that allows people to reconcile to God in Christ is made available through the resurrection of Christ, the very moment and act of His vindication. The vindicated Christ has now gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. His exaltation is complete as Christ sits in the highest possible position having suffered and died for the benefit of others and now waits in heaven (1 Peter 1:3-5). Because this is the clear example that Christ has set, Christians should do no less than be willing to suffer and put the interests of others ahead of their own, knowing that in the end, our God will exalt us in and with Christ.



Devotional Thought

If I’m honest, I can get pretty indignant about suffering or being mistreated if I haven’t done anything wrong. It is easy for me to think that I should be treated wonderfully especially if I haven’t done any wrong. How about you? What we must remember is that the opportunity to attract others to the gospel by acting in a godly and patient fashion despite mistreatment is far more important than being treated in a pleasing and pleasant fashion.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

1 Peter 3:13-17

13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened." 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.



Dig Deeper

Recently I watched a prime time news magazine show that chronicled the case of a woman who was accused of orchestrating the murder of her husband so that she could receive a large amount of insurance money. One unique thing about the case is that the trial was taking place over a decade after the murder had taken place. It wasn’t until a witness came out and said that this woman was involved in masterminding the murder that a case was brought against her. Before that she wasn’t a suspect in the case. As the show wore on, it became seemingly apparent that the woman had indeed played an integral role in the murder. It also became clear, however, that the evidence against her was almost all circumstantial. As the verdict came in, the jury found her not guilty, much to the dismay of the dead husband’s family. Things like this happen so often in our times that many people have given up on the concept of true justice in our world.

As Christians, we must never give up on our belief in justice. Yet, we also need to realize and embrace the fact that to truly believe in justice means that we must transfer our hope away from governments and the rule of law to God. This would include His actions in this present age and in the age to come. The Christian must train themselves to act according to God’s will and plan in this age, knowing that it may work out for us in this age, but whether it does or not does not determine our actions. This is to because we know that God’s reality is the only thing that will last for eternity. Even if we do not receive justice in this present age, we will do so in the age to come because God is just and will vindicate the righteous.

Peter begins this section with a question in verse 13 that will be answered very differently based on the perspective of the person answering the question. If you were to ask "who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?" the obvious answer would be that no one should, but the reality is that some people will harm someone who does good. This is the worldly perspective. Peter, however, asks the question, I believe, hoping that his readers will see it from a godly perspective. If they are truly doing good and doing the will of God, who can harm them from an eternal perspective? They may suffer from a temporal perspective at the hands of their fellow man, but in reality, they are blessed, because they do right in the eyes of the only One that matters. Suffering in the present age, no matter how horrible and unpleasant it can be, is not worth backing off from doing what is good. The fact is, there is no guarantee that righteous behavior will illicit a positive response. In fact, it often provokes anger and antagonism.

Christians very well may suffer for what is right, but says Peter quoting Isaiah 8:12-13, "Do not fear their threats, do not be frightened." This passage from Isaiah is a promise from God that He will protect and bring justice to His people despite the threat of a coming Assyrian invasion. Peter sees a parallel between that situation for the people of God and the situation that his readers were facing. They were staring down the barrel of persecution and hard-times but could take solace because God’s ultimate justice is what mattered. When they do have to endure suffering they need not respond in fear like the people of the world do; they can face it with courage and the knowledge that God is in control. Peter draws his motivation for this teaching because he knows that it will speak loudly to, and potentially help others, but also because this is what Jesus taught and lived (Matt. 5:10; 10:26-33).

Rather than being steeped in fear at the prospect of persecution, believers are to revere Christ as Lord, which will automatically set them down a different course of action. Christians need not be afraid like most non-believing counter-parts might. The question might arise why not? Peter has already answered that before he even finishes his sentence. Because Christ is Lord. Isaiah told the Israelites not to fear because God would take care of them in the end. Christians need not fear because they share in the common life of Christ, the very same God. So, rather than fear, be prepared to speak up. This might mean more persecution but it might also benefit those who are asking the questions. Christians should be able to answer why they have peace, faith in God, and the hope of resurrection in the face of constant trials and persecution.

Being prepared to answer, though, usually entails effort on the part of the believer. Christian saints must make a concerted effort to be able to defend the reason for their faith. This doesn’t mean every Christian needs an advanced degree in theology or apologetics but it does demand that we become students of the Word of God and of the truths that we claim to be the foundation of our lives. We usually don’t think of it in these terms, but being prepared through thought, discussion, and study should be done by the Christian for the benefit of others. We tend to think of Bible reading and study as something that only benefits us, but in this context we see that it can also benefit others. This is a stiff challenge for those of us for whom deeper Bible study does not come naturally. This, then, would be another area that falls under the category of acting out of the norm because of the example of Christ and for the benefit of others. And in considering that Christians are preparing to be able to answer others, it should not be done with a haughty spirit or out of frustration but with gentleness and respect, two characteristics that were not common or revered among the great pagan speakers of Peter’s day.

The Christian response with gracious words must be accompanied by authentic character or their words will shown to be a sham. They should speak with respect, giving them a clear conscience, but that will only fully come when their words about their faith are matched by their good behavior in Christ. Again, Peter matches idealism with a hearty realism. Christians should speak gently and respectfully and live lives that are above reproach, but the harsh reality is, there will still be people who speak maliciously against them. This is instructive for Christians who may not be facing difficult physical persecution but just difficult co-workers. Our behavior should be above reproach, which may well incite both honest questions as well as antagonism. We should be prepared to answer the questions about why our lives are so different (and ask ourselves some difficult and straightforward questions if they’re not) but also continue to act with good and godly behavior towards those who continue to speak or even act unjustly towards us.

It is, after all, better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. The reason for this should be obvious. If we suffer for doing evil, then we are not acting outside of the normal run of things. We are not standing out as signposts to the new creation, the Kingdom of God. At the same time, we are not doing that either if we do good and only receive good things (though that may happen at times). There are times, according to Peter, when it is God’s will to suffer for doing good. It is only through these kind of trials that we can truly grow, becoming complete in our transformation into the life and image of Christ (James 1:2-4). In that respect, then, suffering for doing good, not only establishes the character of Christ in us, but it is yet another way that Christians can act for the benefit of others by proclaiming with our lives, the power of the Kingdom of God to bring about the new creation in the lives of believers.



Devotional Thought

Peter describes a situation where the good behavior of believers will cause some to ask questions and incite others to persecution. The question to really ask yourself is this: Does your behavior differ enough from the people around you that it routinely brings about those two responses? Does your life stand out? If not, why doesn’t it?

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

1 Peter 3:8-12

Suffering for Doing Good

8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For,

"Whoever among you would love life

and see good days

must keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from deceitful speech.

11 Turn from evil and do good;

seek peace and pursue it.

12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous

and his ears are attentive to their prayer,

but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."



Dig Deeper

One of the first things that a basketball player learns as he starts to get into the higher levels of playing team basketball, such as high school or college, is how to post up. For those not familiar with the language of basketball, posting someone up is when you go down close to the basket, with your back to the hoop and try to get your defender behind you so that you can get the ball. What takes a little longer usually, however, is for defenders to learn how to properly guard someone who is posting up. Before too long, though, everyone has a pretty good understanding of how to post up and how to try to defend against it. Posting up and playing defense against someone posting becomes a rather physical contest of the offensive and defensive players using brute force, pushing against one another to try to get the right position under the basket. It can get very physical and takes a great deal strength to be effective. I had one coach, though, that taught a very different defensive technique. Rather than engaging in the physical pushing that always takes place, he taught us to engage initially in the contact and then quickly pull back. Because the offensive player would push backwards and be used to the defensive player pushing into his back, they would usually fall or stumble backwards. The technique was very effective because it was completely different from the normal operating procedure.

Peter, in writing to a church that is on the low end of the social scale and has been, and will continue to, suffer persecution from the community around them. The fact is, they will face trials. They will face trials as a community from the culture around them, as well as the normal trials that come from life situations, from their status as slaves or masters, from their marriages, in short, from every aspect of life. When these trials come, as they will for everyone in the present age, they have a choice. They can push back against them and respond the way that everyone does, using only the weapons of the world. Or they can respond in a completely different way. They can step back from the normal way of doing things and respond with the attitude and mind of Christ. They can either remain firmly a part of the present age or step into the new creation and introduce its way of doing things to the world around them.

This is the fifth separate aspect that Peter has addressed in the Christian community as he has already brought up the attitude that should be evident within their community regarding government, slaves, husbands, wives, and now he turns his attention to their general attitude. In each of the previous areas Peter’s exhortation has revolved around coming to terms with the reality that Christians live in the new creation and so should operate quite differently than the world around them. As Paul terms it in 2 Corinthians 10:4, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." At every turn, Peter is trying to teach the community of believers that they should live, think, and act differently from the normal way the world functions because as the people of God they have been called to lives that follow the self-giving pattern of the Messiah and to serve the interests of others.

Rather than breaking down into a normal human community of people serving their own interests, thinking of themselves, and generally doing what is best for them and their family, this community should be different. They should be like-minded, which means that they should be of the same attitude. This is not a call for uniformity but is instead an expectation that a group of people who all have a commitment to the attitude of Christ Jesus and doing the will of God will move in the same direction. This oneness in attitude means that they will share one another’s feelings and be truly sympathetic, displaying the very opposite of selfishness which so often characterizes human communities. Sharing the same attitude and being truly sympathetic are true signs of a community that is committed to loving one another, as all Christians are.

Peter continues the counter-cultural call by urging his readers to be compassionate and humble. This doesn’t seem that odd to us perhaps, but in the first century, virtues like compassion and humility were considered signs of weakness and they were simply not valued. Thus, Peter is calling the Christian community to live in a way that was completely novel and would have been considered weak by the outside world.

Where verse 8 seems addressed primarily at life within the Christian community, verse 9 seems aimed at Christian relations primarily with outsiders. It certainly could be applied to treatment within the community if necessary. It would be common for them to be treated with evil or insults from outsiders, but the fact is that can happen occasionally within the Christian community as well, although that should certainly not be the normal order of things. Rather than operating in the system of the world, in the economy of God’s people, evil and insults are repaid with blessings. Christians are to "get even" with those who treat us unjustly by blessing them. Rather than cursing, Christians bless because we seek the higher good of others. In so do we inherit the blessing of developing and manifesting the life of Christ and the inheritance that is due to those in Christ.

To demonstrate his point, Peter, as he often does, turns to a scriptural citation from the Old Testament to make his point. This time he quotes extensively from Psalm 34 where the overall point of the Psalm is that God encircles His people and works to bring about the best for them. Those who act righteously in the life of Christ will be protected as the people of God while His face (a common Old Testament term denoting a relationship with God) will be against those who do evil. His point is that the natural tendency is to act in our own self interests in order to get good things in our lives, but Peter continues his theme that Christians will act differently. They will act counter-intuitively by doing good, and by seeking peace and pursuing it. Christians will find the blessing of the Lord by actively doing his will. These are the ones that God will protect and bring blessing into their life. Yet, and this is a monumentally important point in our day of self-serving, prosperity-focused Christianity, the blessing that God wants to bring to His children is full attainment of the life of Christ. He is far more concerned with this than Christians achieving the world’s concept of blessing and prosperity. Individuals who are focused on such earthly things demonstrate that they do not have the mind of Christ. The blessing that God wants for His people is to be like Christ, re-made into the image of God. Being like-minded and obedient will result in this, getting rich and seeking human wealth will not.



Devotional Thought

How often do you live up to Peter’s challenge here? Do you actively seek to repay insults and evil with blessing? Or do you far more often repay evil with evil and insult with insult? What are the benefits of repaying evil with evil? What is the down-side? What are the benefits of repaying evil with blessing? What is the the down-side?

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

1 Peter 3:1-7

1 Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. 5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.



7 Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.





Dig Deeper

When I was not yet a Christian, I had been met by a guy in a grocery store that had invited me to come out and visit his church. I eventually did visit his church and after a bit of time agreed to begin studying the Bible with him and a couple of other guys. I had no idea what I was in for, especially when, at the beginning of one of the studies, one of the guys said that he felt that he needed to share something with me. He proceeded to tell me, admittedly in a very humble manner, that he saw a lot of pride in my life and character, and then went on to give several examples of my pride and arrogance. I wish I could say that I responded humbly and with grace but I did not. I was incredibly close in my heart to standing up and punching him. I completely shut down though and in my mind was done studying the Bible. What surprised me the most, however, was that he did not respond to my brashness and rudeness with similar behavior but with kindness, humility, gentleness, and was even apologetic. The fact that his response was quite different from what I would have expected made quite a lasting impression on me. In fact, it opened the door for me to become a Christian.



Peter continues to offer advice to different groups of Christians, this time to husbands and wives. He continues to approach things from the same perspective, however. Act with submission towards others, not the way that most people would act. The weapons that a Christian has are far different from those of the world. At every turn, Christians should act in a way that is quite different from the norm and can even be quite disarming and shocking. In many instances, the behavior that Peter calls Christians to is not just out of the norm, but the exact opposite of what would be expected. The purpose of this type of behavior isn't just for shock effect or to distinguish Christians from the rest of the world, though it will do that. The purpose is that this type of atypical behavior demonstrates to the world what it is like to be reconciled with God. It actually can guide people towards God as we show them what it looks like to live in peace in with God and others. This is difficult to do consistently in any situation or relationship, but quite frankly, there is no relationship in which this type of consistent behavior is more difficult than in marriage. But this is exactly what Peter calls Christians to do.



Peter has already called his readers to be holy (1 Peter 1:15-16) which only makes sense in the context of new creation. Those who have entered into Christ have entered into the new creation already (cf. 2 Cor. 5:16-21; Eph. 2:6). As citizens of the age to come, the new creation, Christians will live and operate differently from the normal operating system that the world is accustomed to. Just as this applied to the way they viewed governmental authority and the institution of Roman slavery, so the new creation would drastically effect their approach to marriage.



In the ancient world, women did not have many rights and were not considered very highly. It was expected that they would go along with whatever religion their husbands adhered to. Yet, it appears that there was a significantly sized group of Christian women whose husbands were not part of the faith. The worldly response to this situation would be to leave the pagan husband or to constantly nag him about their new faith. This, however, would only make matters worse in a world where a wife taking on a different religion from her husband would be seen as an act of insubordination. Rather than approaching matters from that angle, Christian women should act in a way that no one suspected. They should choose to submit. We must understand this properly so that we understand that Peter is not calling them to subservience. Rather he is calling them to do precisely what Christ had done for them. Christ humbled himself and submitted to death for the benefit of others. They, in turn, should humble themselves for the sake of Christ and submit themselves to their husbands as a means of bringing them to Christ. In doing so, their husbands would be able to see, not the cultic acts of purifying that might be part of Judaism or the pagan religions, but they would see the moral purity and reverence of their lives.



As a part of this, they should not resort to the sorts of things that women of the world use to give the illusion of beauty. Adornments such as elaborate hairstyles, the wearing of gold jewelry, and fine clothes were every bit as common in the ancient world as they are today as a means to attract attention and the affection of men. But Christian women need not resort to such empty and illusory efforts to attain a beauty that fades and withers. Rather it is a gentle and quiet spirit which is valued by not only God but also by their husbands. The reason for this becomes clear if we remember that, in context, Peter is addressing all wives, but primarily those whose husbands are not Christians. Outward beauty elicits lust and attractions that do not last and are predicated on the outward illusion of beauty. The problem is eventually that kind of beauty will fade, yet this is how the husband has learned to be attracted to his wife, and so will continue to seek that stimulation long after it has faded in his wife. Rather than appealing in such a worldly manner, Christian women will be far better served by attracting their husbands with their godly spirit and their attitude which is far more at place in the new creation than in the present age. This will not only attract their husbands to them but also to the very qualities and attributes of the people of the age to come. As their husbands find themselves attracted to this spirit and more at home with this kind of behavior, they will long for it and desire to be around not only their wives, but also find themselves desiring the company of others who act in a like manner. Thus, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives.



As a further reason for doing this, Peter points to the historic example of godly women who submitted to their husbands, not because they were forced to or because they were inferior or subservient, but because they put their hope in God. Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him her lord, because she obeyed God and called Him her Lord. This requires faith, not in one's husband, but in God. I've noticed that at nearly every spiritual women's retreat that is planned and taught by women, the main themes tend to center around dealing with fear, anxiety, and worry. Peter is well aware of this as he reminds wives that they will identify themselves with the godly example of Sarah if they put their faith in what God can do rather than giving into fear and worrying about what their husbands cannot do.



Submission is not the natural tendency of wives towards their husbands which is exactly why Christian women exercising their freedom in Christ by choosing to reverently submit to their husbands is such a powerful sermon of actions about the life of the new creation. The fact is, weak women do not submit, they are conquered. Only strong, godly women truly submit of their own free will and their commitment to the life of Christ. In the same way, treating wives with consideration and respect is not the default position of most men and speaks powerfully of the power of God in the lives of free people. When Peter calls husbands to be considerate, he literally tells them to "have knowledge" of their wives, meaning they should make an effort to get to know their feelings and needs and to treat the interests of their wives as more important than their own. It was the common view of Peter's day that women were the physically weaker partner and so should be dominated and dictated to, but Peter, once again demonstrating the upside-down nature of the life of Christ calls husbands to be thoughtful, considerate, and consider their wives as co-heirs in the life of Christ. This meant they were on equal footing, an incredibly subversive idea in Peter's day. This means that Peter called them to equally submit to one another, not for the husband to dominate as the physically stronger partner. In fact, what it means in practice is that wives should freely submit to their husbands, putting their husband's interests ahead of their own but their husbands (those that are also in Christ) should make sure that they are worthy of that submission. Submission should be chosen and earned rather than forced due to the husband overpowering the wife. Living in such a way ensures that believing spouses will live in such a way that they are right with others, lest their relationship with God be hindered by unjust behavior towards others (cf. Matt. 5:24; 18:15).




Devotional Thought

Peter consistently calls Christians to think differently and act differently than the norms of the world around them. The reasons for doing this is to follow the example of Christ for the benefit of others. What are some ways at your work, your school, or in your daily life that you could apply this principle and announce the shocking life of the new creation?

Monday, September 22, 2008

1 Peter 2:18-25

18 Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is commendable if you bear up under the pain of unjust suffering because you are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

22 "He committed no sin,

and no deceit was found in his mouth."

23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 "He himself bore our sins" in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed." 25 For "you were like sheep going astray," but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.



Dig Deeper

As most young boys with dads do, I grew up listening to and learning from my dad constantly. I heard what he said, I learned what he taught me, and probably most importantly, I learned from my dad how to think. As I grow older, I am constantly amazed at how many things I think are original to my own thinking that actually came from my father. I have long forgotten the specific moments when he might have said something, did something, or taught me something, but the overall impression has remained in my way of thinking. Thus, the things that my dad taught are constantly coming out in the things I say and do because his way of thinking has so deeply impressed itself on my mind. I often think that I have a new thought or new way of doing something only to find out later that my dad has been saying that for years. Once you learn to think like someone, their thoughts will continue to come out in your actions and ways of thinking for the rest of your life.

I don't think that Peter ever forgot about the specific writings of Isaiah but they have certainly permeated his mind to the deepest levels. Thus, it seems that when Peter talks about Christ and his dying on the Cross, he can't help but think of it in terms of Isaiah's prophecies, particularly Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah 53 became not just a prophecy or description of Christ, but a descriptive model of the suffering servant of God that should be emulated by all Christian believers.

It is estimated that up to one-third of the Roman world were slaves. Roman slavery was an intensely integral part of the economy and of life in general and it could be harsh, but it certainly wasn't as brutal as American slavery. Roman slaves would not necessarily be slaves there whole lives as they could earn their way, buy their way, or even marry their way out of slavery. Many slaves would receive Roman citizenship upon their release, so there were some people who would voluntarily enter into slavery in order to work for a time as a slave and then receive their citizenship. There really isn't an exact term in English for what these people in the Roman world were, so translators have used "slave" because it's the closest word we have. Ethical instructions to slaves were quite common, then, in the ancient world but they usually didn't go beyond exhorting slaves to obey their masters.

Peter knows, however, what becoming a Christian can do to someone's psyche. It is easy to deduce that if I'm in Christ and, in fact, I'm free from the bondage of the world in Christ, then I shouldn't have to subject myself to anything distasteful or unpleasant. It would be easy for new Christians that were slaves to immediately feel that they should no longer be slaves and to run away. Peter knows the disaster that that would bring, however, on the individual slaves, and on the new movement of the people of the Messiah. He certainly didn't want Christianity to devolve into a social movement that had little to offer anyone except the possible hope of feeling that you didn't need to be a slave anymore. Peter knew that social movements, no matter how positive, don't last, but the life of Christ, built on the imperishable Word of God, will last forever. Peter understood that the way to truly demonstrate the life of Christ, who took the deserved suffering of the world onto himself undeservedly for the benefit of the world, was and is to continue to act like Christ in unjust situations. Peter was a realist and was well aware that another reaction might be that some new Christians might be tempted to act insubordinately to their masters and then claim that the subsequent harsh treatment was part of that suffering for Christ. So, he not only reminds them that they should stay where God put them, so that God could use them in those circumstances, but he also urges them to submit to their masters, both good and harsh ones. Why should they possibly agree to do this? Because the job of Christians is to become for the world what Jesus was to the people of His day. He suffered for others so that they might benefit and that is exactly what Christians should do. This is particularly challenging for Americans, who have been raised in a culture that tells us that the very aim of life is comfort and ease.

Peter, beginning in verse 22, uses a string of quotes and allusions from Isaiah, demonstrating the deep influence that the writings of the great prophet had on Peter's understanding of Christ and His work. He has clearly so absorbed Isaiah's message that it has crafted and molded his own way of thinking. Peter's aim is to remind them of the model that Christ set so that his readers could model themselves after the perfect example of Christ.

Peter reminds his readers that Christ was free of sin in both in word and deed. He was innocent not only of the accusations of humans but also in the sight of God, a point made by many other New Testament writers (John 8:46; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:26; 1 John 3:5). Peter's primary point, though, is not the perfection of Christ, but the fact that His treatment was completely undeserved and unjust. When they hurled their insults at Jesus, he did not retaliate. This is the kind of behavior that bewilders and infuriates those who are treating someone badly. Jesus could have threatened or enacted divine judgment against them, but did no such thing. Instead, Christ entrusted himself to the judgment of God alone. Peter wants these Christians to understand that when they don't retaliate to mistreatment using the world's methods, they rob the world of their power and demonstrate their trust in the ultimate justice of God. It also has the added benefit of what Paul says in Romans 12:20 (quoting Prov. 25:22) results in heaping burning coals on the head of those who have mistreated you. This imagery does not mean that you will show up the person and make them feel stupid, rather it was a figure of speech that came from the Jewish world. When a someone's fire burned out, they would go and ask a neighbor for burning coals from their fire so that they could take it back and start their own fire again. They would then give a burning coal or two to do just that. The biblical imagery, though, is that of heaping burning coals in the basket that would be carried on their head. The point is that being kind or not retaliating in the face of injustice can assist the other person, you can, so to speak, help them start their fire again.

Christ took all of the injustice for the sake of others and Peter wants them to remember that they are the ones that have benefited from this. He bore our sins that we might die to our sinful selves and live a life that is in right standing with God. Jesus' actions of submission to unfair treatment has put them to rights with God, imagine what impact they might have if they were determined to follow His example. Peter stresses that Jesus died on a tree which emphasizes that Jesus took on the just punishment of a law breaker (Deut. 21:22-23), even though H was innocent, so that all law breakers might benefit. It is by the wounds of Jesus that all of those in Christ have been healed, which refers primarily to the spiritual reconciliation between God and man rather than strictly physical healing.

The final verse in this passage is striking because it shows once again that not only did Isaiah play a large part in developing Peter's thinking but so did the words of Jesus. The image of shepherd and sheep as being applied to the relationship between God and His people was used regularly in the Old Testament and picked up by most of the New Testament writers. But perhaps most influential in Peter's mind was the Messiah's call to take care of His sheep (John 21:15-17). In Peter's mind, these were the sheep of the Master and he was called by the Lord Himself to take care of them. That is exactly what He was doing. They were like sheep going astray, a paraphrase of Isaiah 53:6 and reminds God's people of their status before they entered into the life of Christ. They have, Peter says, returned to the Shepherd, an allusion to the fact that man was designed to be the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27) and can only be restored to that status by entering into the life of Christ (Col. 3:10)



Devotional Thought

What is your typical initial response to unjust treatment. Is it to become infuriated and seek immediate justice for yourself, or is it to follow the example of Christ of seek to discover how in submitting to the situation you might be able to serve the interests and good of others?

Friday, September 19, 2008

1 Peter 2:11-17

Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society

11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12 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.

13 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of the foolish. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God's slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love your fellow believers, fear God, honor the emperor.



Dig Deeper


A few years ago, while leading the campus ministry in Milwaukee, we had a young person who was having a particularly difficult go of things at their job. It seemed that they had a boss and some co-workers who acting quite unfairly to them. Their initial reaction was to get angry and quite frustrated with the whole situation and either fire back in an angry fashion or just quit and leave the whole mess behind them. The problem with both of those quite natural responses is that neither of them addressed the situation with the principles of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God plays by different rules (cf. 2 Cor. 10:4) and does not need to resort to using the same methods that the world does, nor should we just avoid situations. Either of this young person's inclinations would have been playing by the world's rules. Yet, and it is important to note, for them to stay and deal with the situation in a godly manner, proclaiming the kingdom of God through their actions, was not endorsing the behavior of the boss or the co-workers. It only seems that way if you are still viewing things from a worldly point of view.

Many have criticized this first epistle of Peter, saying that it could not have been written during Peter's lifetime, because of his call here to submit to worldly authorities and honor their rule. How, argue the critics, could it follow that this church was being persecuted in some form or another, while at the same time Peter is calling them to submit to their authorities? This only seems impossible to comprehend if we operate from a worldly perspective. The kingdom of God, though, operates with different weapons. The strongholds of the world are demolished by staying in the situation in which God has put us and living according to the principles of the kingdom of God. This doesn't mean that Peter was endorsing the Roman government. Quite the opposite. He was in fact, prescribing the very method through which the forces that were opposed to God would be torn down.

Many people read Peter's descriptions of Christians as foreigners and exiles and think that he is referring to fact that their lives should be unique and out of place from the people of the world that surround them because they should focus on their future life in God's presence. While that is certainly part of it, Peter's primary point is that they are the people of God. He calls them dear friends, which doesn't convey the full force and meaning of the word agapetoi, a word that carries the meaning of agape, the love of God. They are Jesus' people because they are characterized by the love of God, but they are also the people of God, which Peter demonstrates by using language that applied to the Israelites (Lev. 25:23). It is probable that the concept of being foreigners and exiles was quite literally true as well for these people that suffered socially and economically because of their status and identification with the people of God.

Peter not only urges them to live as the people of God, distinct from society, but to abstain from sinful desires, literally fleshly lusts. Peter's description of having fleshly lusts that constantly pull us to do our own will rather than God's is identical to Paul's battle between walking in the Spirit and the lusts of the flesh (cf. Rom. 8, Gal. 5). It is only through abstaining from our own will and doing the will of God that Christians are enabled to the positive behavior of living 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. Evidently the Christians communities that Peter was writing to had been accused of wrongdoings. The response was not to give into their fleshly desires and respond in a human manner. No, fighting with the weapons of the world such as violence, anger, or revenge would do no good and would certainly not announce the kingdom of God. It is only by submitting to the rule of society, loving one another with the love of God, and living exemplary lives that would make a difference. It is possible that Peter means that the people around them will be impacted and even converted by their behavior, but it is equally possible that Peter's point is that the way they will glorify God is through the judgment of the second coming, as the innocent people of God will be seen to be vindicated when He returns. It is likely that Peter meant both possibilities. Some non-Christians would be converted but the other would have to answer for their unjust actions and that would also bring glory to God.

In verse 13 Peter begins the real call to godly subversion. It isn't in rebellion or uprising but in submission. God gave mankind the institution of human authority and government to keep the rule of society. The intended purpose of those governments are to punish those who do wrong and commend those who do right. The fact that they are not upholding that God-given commission shouldn't insight Christians to a wholesale upheaval or rebellion, although there will be times when Christians have to actively disobey human governments. In general, the response should be to willingly submit to that authority and live such lives of love and upstanding order that it makes even their enemies and those who would engage in untrue, malicious, and ignorant talk would have little left to say. This might sound counter-intuitive but the constant biblical call is for Christians to live as Christians regardless of the behavior of others. In Luke 21, Jesus mentions a scene in which the un-godly actions of the Jewish leaders have oppressed a poor widow, causing her to have less money than anyone should be able to live on, yet He commends her for giving the last of her money to God. Jesus' point was that the leaders had acted unjustly but she is still praised for her actions regardless. This is a frame of mind that Christians must constantly return to. Even if we are being treated unfairly or unjustly, if Christians act in a godly manner and in good faith, our actions are not negated. It is the wrong-doers who will have to answer for their actions. It is through this counter-intuitive commitment to godly behavior that the strongholds of the world will be demolished. It is by doing God's will in this fashion that the false talk of the foolish will be silenced.

Christians don't live in this sort of submission and reverence because they are slaves to human governments, quite the opposite. Because Christians are God's people they should live as free people. Peter was not calling them to live in submission to the authorities because they had to or had no other options. He is calling them to make the choice to do so because it is the means through which God will advance His kingdom. There was perhaps a temptation for them to fight back and fight violence with violence or insult with insult, but to fight that way would be to use their freedom as a cover-up for evil. When one chooses to submit to others in dignity and out of their own free will, that is the true definition of freedom. To sum it all up, Peter urges them to show proper respect to everyone, love your fellow believers, fear God, honor the emperor. It is this kind of living which will slowly erode the very human authority that stands in opposition to God to which they are submitting.



Devotional Thought

Have you ever gotten so paranoid about being wronged that you refused to behave in good and godly behavior? Remember that the call of the Christian is to honor God with our lives and actions and realize that we cannot control the actions of others. In fact, it may be in acting in a godly fashion in the face of wrong that we bring an ultimate end to the wrong.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

1 Peter 2:6-10

6 For in Scripture it says:

"See, I lay a stone in Zion,

a chosen and precious cornerstone,

and the one who trusts in him

will never be put to shame."

7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

"The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone,"

8 and,

"A stone that causes people to stumble

and a rock that makes them fall."

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 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.



Dig Deeper

Symbolic associations are quite common in all cultures. Every culture has certain symbols which would be quite recognizable to anyone in that culture but rather foreign and difficult to discern for those outside of that culture. For instance, if an American were to look at a political cartoon of an elephant and a donkey trampling on an eagle who was holding a scroll that was partially open, reading "We the people," they would almost assuredly understand the point, while it might be a more difficult association for someone from South Africa, China, or Brazil.

In Exodus 28:15- 21, Moses is given instructions on the breastpiece of the priestly garment: "Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions. . . mount four rows of precious stones on it. The first row shall be carnelian, chrysolite and beryl; the second row shall be turquoise, lapis lazuli and emerald; the third row shall be jacinth, agate and amethyst; the fourth row shall be topaz, onyx and jasper. Mount them in gold filigree settings. There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes." It is common in the Bible to find the light of the presence of God with precious stones (Ezek. 1:16, 26; 10:1; Rev. 4:3, 6; 21:18-26). Thus, in the Jewish mind there was a common association between the presence of God, light, the priesthood, and stones.

One thing that the precious stones in the breastpiece of the Levitical priests robe symbolized was the ability to reflect the light of the divine presence of God, known in the Old Testament as the Shekinah glory. It was the Shekinah glory that inhabited the Holy of Holies in the Temple. When Peter begins to talk, then, as he does in this passage, of precious stones and the priesthood, it is likely that he was thinking of and intending to convey the concept of the light of the divine presence of God in the Temple. What Peter does that was so shocking, though, was not in the association between the priesthood, precious stones, and the presence of God but in the fact that he was clearly redefining the Temple of God. No longer was it a building built by human hands, but a living Temple made up of living stones.

Peter continues to draw a distinction between the Temple, the previous house of God and the new house of God. The Jews had a house of God with a priesthood, and physical sacrifices. Peter's point is that the church is now the spiritual house of God built with living stones. Rather than a priesthood of Levites, the church is comprised of a royal priesthood of all believers who offer up spiritual sacrifices of praise (Heb. 13:15); prayer (Rev. 5-8); our own lives (Rom. 12:1; Phil 2:17), benevolence (Rom. 15:27; Heb. 13:16), and giving (2 Cor. 9:12; Phil. 4:18).

In verses 6-8, Peter strings together a slew of quotations from Isaiah 28:16 (v. 6), Psalm 118:22 (v. 7), and Isaiah 8:14 (v. 8). The context of Isaiah 28 (which is part of a section that continues through Is. 37) has to do with the people of God not trusting in God's promises, so His justice will sweep them away as part of His work. Peter's point then, is that the cornerstone, which is the stone that determines the design for the building and holds it together, is none other than Christ. Just as the leaders of Israel of Isaiah's time had rejected God's stone laid in Zion, so have the people of Peter's time rejected God's saving offer of Christ.

Verse 7 literally reads "to you believers is the honor," rather than "to you who believe, this stone is precious." Peter's point is to balance the destruction and dishonor of those who reject the cornerstone with the honor due those who believe in Him. Translators, evidently, are hesitant to indicate that Peter is bestowing honor to believers but that is precisely his point. Because the people of God have been bought with the blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:19), what is true of the King is true of His people. Christians share in the family inheritance of Jesus (1 Pet. 1:4) as a result of entering the family of God through the life of Jesus Christ.

The phrase at the end of verse 8, they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for, is prone to misunderstanding. Peter's point is not that people who reject Christ were made for that very purpose and have no choice in the matter. Peter's point is that people stumble to destruction because they have rejected the cornerstone. Consistently rejecting Christ and in so doing, refusing to obey God, leads one to share in the fate of all who reject Christ. John brings this point out clearly in John 3:16-18: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." John's point (and Peter's here) is that all men have sinned, doing their own will and rejecting God, and stand condemned because of that. John says that men are in danger of eternal separation from God not because they reject Christ but because they have sinned. Christ is the door to salvation not the cause of condemnation. Thus, those that reject the cornerstone stand condemned already and are resigned to their destiny and fate as people who have sinned against a holy God. The only thing that could save people from what they are currently destined for is the very salvation that they reject when they reject Christ.

But that is not so for those in Christ. They are the new people of God, a point Peter makes abundantly clear as he uses four different monikers for the people of God that used to apply to Israel (Ex. 19:6; Isa. 43:20-21). It should be noted, however, that Peter is not referring to individual Christians, but is saying that the corporate people of God are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, and the people of God. Peter not only describes the identity of the Church in terms of the historic people of God, he also describes the purpose of church. It is simply to declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Peter doesn't mean that the Church should go around shouting sermons wherever they go, rather he is referring to the entire nature and existence of the people of God. The church announces the kingdom of God and the reconciliation between humans and the creator that is available to all people in the life of Christ. The Church is to demonstrate for the world what it looks like to live in the wonderful light and received the mercy of God. Peter again alludes to the light, the Shekinah glory, that reflected off of the stones on the breast plate of the high priests of the Old Covenant. That is now the job and purpose of the Church.



Devotional Thought

Do you go to church each week with the mindset of declaring the praises of God rather than just receiving things? Even more importantly does every area of your life declare praises of God and announce that the Kingdom of God has come to men?

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

1 Peter 2:1-5

1 Peter 2

1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to him— 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.



Dig Deeper

For many years the United States dominated international basketball. In 1992, they sent a team, forever known as the Dream Team, to the Olympics. That team was quickly hailed as the greatest team ever assembled, winning its games by an average of 37 points. In the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 World Championships, however, the tune changed quickly. The United States Found that it could no longer just send a bunch of individual players and overwhelm the rest of the world with their talent. They had to become something more. In 2007, they set about doing things radically different. The United States basketball committee set about finding players who understood that they needed to give up their own individual identities and become part of something much bigger than they could be by themselves. It soon became obvious in the 2008 Olympics, in which they won the gold medal, that they had succeeded in doing exactly what they had set out to do. They had joined together and become what no individual could ever become on their own, a team.

The popular concept of Christianity that most people buy into today, at least those in westernized cultures, is that being Christian is an individual venture. Our salvation, we assume, is an individual choice with individual effects and that joining a church is an individual decision based on what is best for the individual. In this view of things, church becomes little more than a convenient option, a gathering together of people of like minds. This is not the biblical view, though, and certainly not what Peter presents in his first book. Rather than just a gathering together of individuals that remain autonomous from one another, Peter sees something far grander for those in Christ. He sees them being joined together and becoming what no individual Christian could ever become on their own, the people of God.

Peter beings this section by saying, therefore, which tells us that what he is about to say, is based on his previous statements. Because they have experienced the new birth into a new sonship and new community through the resurrection and the imperishable word of the living God, this will effect their behavior. Someone who claims to know God but whose life looks no different than it did before, does not truly know God. Yet, Peter is a realist and knows that humans, including Christians still experience the misconduct of sin their lives. Because of their birth into the life of Christ, however, Peter reminds his readers that they have an opportunity that those who are still stuck in their empty way of life (1 Pet. 1:18) do not have. Christians have the power to rid themselves, or literally "put off" acts of the sinful nature like deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. This brings forth the image of putting off the old self like dirty, unwanted clothing. This is very similar to Paul’s theology in Ephesians 4:22-24 when he urges Christians to put off the old man and put on the new life of Christ. In Romans 6, where Paul recounts the common Christian experience of dying to self and entering through baptism into the death, burial, and resurrection of the life of Christ, Paul says that "our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin" (Rom. 6:6-7). Christians have the opportunity to rid sin from of our life by walking according to the leading of the Spirit rather than choosing to follow the desires of the sinful nature. This is why Peter urges them to put off the life of sin and Paul says that sin might be done away with. It is ultimately the choice of the Christian.

Because the ability to obey God by doing His will and living the life of Christ is within the choice and ability of the Spirit-led Christian, Peter urges his readers to crave pure spiritual milk the way that newborn babies crave their mother’s milk. Peter likely uses the analogy of the word of God being like milk, because milk is not only known for it’s life-building and life-promoting qualities but it also serves as an allusion to the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. It is in craving for and taking in the word of God that believers will put off the old man and experience spiritual growth. Growth is usually a sign of good health and is absolutely vital in one’s spiritual life. The individual believer that does not mature and grow is as much of a monstrosity as is a baby who never grew. Peter desires for individuals to grow, but his primary concern here is with the church as a whole learning to desire spiritual nourishment and growth. He is not referring, to numerical growth, which comes at the will of God. Peter here speaks of spiritual growth. Sadly, we must admit that often times churches have pursued numerical growth at the expense of church depth and nourishment.

Peter says they should desire to throw off the old and put on the new in increasing maturity because they have tasted that the Lord is good, a direct quote from Psalm 34:8. In Greek, this sentence becomes a nifty play on words, as the Greek word for "good" is chrestos, a play on Christ, which is Christos. The fact that he says they have tasted of the Lord would no doubt bring to mind an allusion to the Lord’s Supper, but continuing to feast on the word of God is Peter’s primary thought. It might seem unthinkable, now that they have experienced the divine love of Jesus Christ, that any believers would be tempted to slide back into their old way of life, but that is a very real possibility if they don’t continue to crave spiritual milk and experience the subsequent growth.

Peter seemingly shifts suddenly and without much connection from milk to stone, which is true unless we understand a bit of Hebraic thought. In the Hebraic mind, however, the shift is from babies to building, a common connection in Jewish thought. The Hebrews often spoke of having children as being built through them into a house, such as the "house of David." To become a house meant that you had been built through children, so Peter’s jump makes perfect sense.

Matthew (21:42), Mark (12:10), and Luke (20:17) all record that Jesus believed that Psalm 118:22 was a prophecy pointing to himself. In addition to this, in his commentary on 1 Peter, Norman Hillyer says, "A . . . christological application of the stone theme is based on the foundational cornerstone of Isaiah 28:16, cited by Peter in verse 6; it recurs in Paul (1 Cor. 3:11; Eph. 2:20; cf. Rom. 10:11). [Another] application is made on the basis of Isaiah 8:14, quoted by Peter in verse 8 (and also found in Rom. 9:33), and concerns those who reject God’s choice and so find that the Stone is to them one that ‘causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.’"

If Jesus is the living Stone, according to Peter, the One rejected by human beings but chosen by God, then it follows that His followers would be considered to be living stones like Him. In the Jewish mind, what was true of the king was true of his people, so if Jesus was the living Stone that was precious to God, then the same could be said of Christians because we have the life of Christ in us and are being remade into the image of Christ. It is God, then, who takes each individual and transforms him from an individual into a living stone that is being built into a spiritual house holy priesthood. It was Jesus himself who promised that out of stones, God could raise up children for Abraham (Matt. 3:9), and certainly Peter feels that He has done just that. It is vital that churches in Asia Minor, to whom Peter is writing (and all other churches for that matter) see themselves as living stones cast in the likeness of the living Stone and so unify themselves into a true spiritual house and royal priesthood. By using this language, Peter demonstrates that he clearly sees the church as replacing Israel in their function as the people of God (cf. Ex. 19:6).

Peter notes that the function and result of being a spiritual house and royal priesthood is that Christians, like the Levitical priests, offer spiritual, rather than physical sacrifices to God. But what does Peter mean when he says that these sacrifices are offered to God through Jesus Christ? His point is similar to Paul’s in Romans 12:1 in which Paul says "offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship." The Christian who has died to themselves and continues to constantly choose to sacrifice their lives, living the life of Christ can rightly be said to be giving an acceptable offering to God through Jesus.



Devotional Thought

The interesting marker of a living sacrifice is that it must willingly remain up on the altar in order to be a sacrifice. Do you continue to die to your self and remain a spiritual sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God? Or do you have a tendency to try to squirm off the altar and return to some aspect of your old life?

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

1 Peter 1:22-25

22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,

"All people are like grass,

and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;

the grass withers and the flowers fall,

25 but the word of the Lord endures forever."

And this is the word that was preached to you.



Dig Deeper

When I began teaching high school in Milwaukee, it was somewhat of a unique situation in a unique school. It was an expected part of the ethos of the teachers at the school that concern for students was paramount and was our primary concern. Thus, it was simply assumed by the fact that someone taught at this school that they would be willing to work extra hours into the night if need be or come in quite early, whatever it took to meet the needs of the students. Caring for our students was not something that needed to be instituted, it was assumed. At most, it was something that we might remind each other from time to time, but that was all that it took because we all knew that being a teacher at our school was synonymous with putting students first.

Peter does not question that his readers have become Christians; he is, in fact, quite sure of that. Because of that, he doesn’t need to tell them that part of the expectation is that they love one another. That’s part of the deal. The very nature of being a disciples of Jesus involves loving one another (Jn. 13:34-35). You simply cannot separate out one from another. That’s why the thought of being an isolated Christian simply doesn’t work. It’s a category mistake. Peter, in calling his readers to the fullness of the Christian life, does not call them to love one another. That is a given. He simply reminds them of who they are and their new nature of loving one another before he moves on to how that love should manifest itself in their lives. Love, then, is part of the very foundation of the Christian life. It is not something Christians do, it is part of who we are.

Again, Peter confirms that his readers are no doubt Christians and firmly in Christ, as he assumes that they have purified themselves by obeying the truth ("purified" here is in a tense in the Greek which describes a past one-time event with its effects extending into the future). This is, no doubt, an allusion to purifying and sanctifying blood of Christ with which they came in contact at their baptisms. Those who have entered into Christ have been cleansed in the sight of God and now have the signifying quality of those who belong to Christ: love for one another. Jesus stated quite clearly that the world would be able to identify his true disciples by the way that demonstrated their love for one another. This is a challenging and wonderful reminder for those of us who live in a world where markers of true discipleship so often include what church we belong to, what doctrine we confess, who our preacher is, or even how moral of a person we are. It is a striking reminder, however, that Jesus did not say that people would be able to identify his disciples by how much they prayed, evangelized, read the Bible, or even loved God, but by how much they loved one another. Peter stresses that this is not just a surface love either, it is deep and from the heart. True, genuine support and love of this nature would go a long way in strengthening and building up a young church to stand together in the face of mistreatment and persecution.

No one should think, though, that this is a love that can be put on through human effort or obedience. This genuine love for one another does not come from obedience, but it is our obedience that brings the word of God into our life. The imperishable nature and origins of the word of God couples with our obedience, allowing Christians to love one another and live the life of Christ in general. The fact is, for Christians in our day, that the word of God is available to us through the Scriptures. It is the Scriptures that give us the power and insight to love one another deeply, from the heart. Perhaps, the Christian who struggles with unity and love within the body of Christ should return to word of God and, as Paul says in Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." It should not be lost that immediately after this call to not conform to worldly thinking, Paul says "in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others" (Rom. 12:5). Paul understood what Peter confirms here. The identifying mark of Jesus’ disciples is our commitment to one another.

Peter quotes from Isaiah 40:6-8 to make an important point. The new birth, as Peter pointed out in verse 3, comes through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is accessible through the imperishable word of God. Those who have died to themselves and entered into the life of Christ are those who have heeded Jesus’ words that "whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it" (Matt. 16:25). This new birth into the life of Christ, Peter wants to stress, will last forever. Isaiah, in predicting the coming of the Messiah and the New Covenant, pointed out that people are like grass that withers and the flowers that fall. In other words, the promises and words of man aren’t something you can take to the bank, but, says Isaiah, "the word of our God endures forever," meaning he has applied the words of the prophet concerning the one, true God, to Jesus Christ. When Jesus said that those who would remain in his life would bear much fruit (John 15:5), he meant it because his love endures forever (Ps. 136).

Peter’s overriding point in this first chapter is that the new birth into which they have all entered has given them a new likeness, and a new family which provided them with the ability to love one another. They need not worry, however, that their love and commitment to one another was like all other human abilities and commitment that fade away. This ability to love one another finds its source in the imperishable, immutable word of God. This word lasts forever and will enable them to stand regardless of persecution that may face them. This would have been an important reminder for those that were willingly leaving behind any human claims to importance, status, and community, and banking on the love and community of the new people of God. Would this loving community last even in the face of persecution? The resounding answer was "yes" because the love did not generate from human effort but from none other than the word of God.




Devotional Thought

Have you put your time, your energy, your resources, your hope in things that are perishable? Peter says that the hope that comes through the word of God is imperishable. It is only the word of the Lord that endures forever. Remember that the next time you are deciding what to do with your time, energy, and resources.