1st Peter 2

Renunciation of Evil;

Nourishment & Growth of Reborn through the Word

¹Therefore, rid yourselves of all evil and all guile and all hypocrisy and envying and all slandering. ²As newborn babies, hunger for the guileless milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up toward salvation ³since ‘you have tasted that the Lord is good.’

These verses command a change in behavior that from one’s life prior to conversion and baptism to one more appropriate for this new life. Peter uses baptismal symbolism here. Think of how a person would have to take off his clothes before descending into the water, and putting on a white robe after emerging from the water. This symbolizes the abandonment of old ways and the adoption of a new life.

Peter will repeat this exhortation in v. 11 and in 4:2-3, reminding readers that renunciation and renewal requires continual conversion. We sin and must seek continual forgiveness from God.

Peter warns Christians not to engage in any of the vices he lists so that they do not give unbelievers any basis for their accusations. The vices he lists include evil (desiring to harm others), guile (deliberately misleading others by lying), hypocrisy (saying one thing and doing another), envy (resentment from desiring something possessed by another) and slander (gossip, rumor spreading or anything that would ruin the reputation of another)

Of these vices, envy was the worst for it established this constant struggle between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots.’ Envy was associated with greed, miserliness and the refusal to share one’s goods with those in need. Envy dots Israel’s history with disastrous results (Cain and Abel, Sarah and Hagar, Joseph and his brothers, Saul and David). Jesus warned against envy (Mt 20:15), which was also the cause of his betrayal (Mt 27:18; Mk 15:10).  

Instead, Christians were to hunger or yearn for the milk of the word just as babies yearn for mother’s milk. Christians were to grow in faith as newborn babies mature into adults.

Election and Rejection: Christ, Believers, Nonbelievers – The Consolidation and Honor of the Household of God

⁴Continuing to come to him, a living ‘stone,’ ‘rejected’ by humans but ‘elect, honored’ in God’s sight, ⁵you, yourselves, also, as living stones, are being built up; you are a household of the Spirit to be a holy ‘priestly community’ to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶For it stands in Scripture: ‘Behold, I am setting in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, elect, honored, and whoever believes in him will not be shamed.’ ⁷To you therefore who ‘believe’ belongs this ‘honor’; but for those who do not ‘believe,’ ‘The very stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner’, ⁸and ‘a stone of stumbling’ and a rock of offense’; they ‘stumble’ by disobeying the word, as they were set to do. ⁹But you are an ‘elect stock,’ a ‘royal residence,’ a ‘holy people,’ a people for God’s possession,’ that you may ‘declare the praises’ of him who ‘called’ you out of darkness into his marvelous light .¹⁰Once you were ‘Not-people’; but now you are ‘God’s-people’: once you were ‘Not-shown-mercy,’ but now you are ‘Those-shown-mercy.’

This section ends as it begins – with a note on God’s mercy (1:3; 2:10). It also begins with the phrase ‘continuing to come to him,’ which describes the continued solidarity of Christian converts with their Lord.

The ‘stone’ texts underscore the divine honoring of Christ and believers on the one hand, and their distinction from the divinely shamed nonbelievers, on the other. Jesus, this ‘living stone’, mediates life for believers who are reborn through his resurrection (1:3), who now live in his righteousness (2:24) and possess a living hope (1:3).

Notice that in Peter’s speech (Acts 4:8-12) the ‘stone’ was rejected by builders. Here humans (v. 4) reject it. He shifts the focus of the indictment from the Jews to all nonbelievers who reject Jesus Christ.

The use of the word ‘stone’ is drawn from the Isa 28:16. Isaiah probably conceived of the stone as a reference to the kingdom founded on David (Psalm 2:6 and 110:2). Associating stone with a human being was established by the time Isaiah prophesied. Later, certain sects of Israel, the Qumran community, applied the text to itself. This paved the way to associate the term with Jesus as the Messiah. Paul used this in Romans 9:32-33: “Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling-stone, as it is written, ‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’” By the time 1 Peter is written, he could expand upon this understanding.

‘In Zion,’ here and in Isa 28:16, refers specifically to the mount on which the royal palace and the Jerusalem Temple were located (Isa 30:29).

Now, is the stone a keystone or a cornerstone? Isaiah speaks of a stone ‘for the foundations’ and clearly implies a cornerstone for the base or foundation of a structure. Since this stone was the one that gave the line of the building, it was carefully selected, dressed, squared and tested. ‘Cornerstone’ fits all the passages – Isa 28, 1 Pet and Eph 2:20-22. The description of Christ as the ‘cornerstone’ is used to develop the metaphor of the church as a building built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ serving as the cornerstone and base stone through which the entire edifice is joined together and supported. However, Peter is not interested in detailed specifics of architecture. He is interested in proclaiming the Gospel.

In v. 8, the stone over which people can stumble and fall can mean ‘offense’ or ‘obstacle,’ but ‘stumbling’ also fits. The phrase literally refers to a stone over which one stumbles, a stone that leads to a fall. This phrase is applied not simply to unbelieving Israelites, but to all humans who reject Jesus as the ‘living stone.’

Peter ties this ‘stone’ language to honor and shame. Those who are shamed in society, Christians who believe, will be honored. Those who are honored, but do not believe, will be shamed by God.

Peter continues to use the term ‘elect’ as a reminder that the election of Jesus and believers identifies them as demarcated and dignified, elite and exalted in God’s sight. Israel could once claim the term ‘elect’ for itself, but Christians (in union with God through Christ) claim it. Elect believers share in the suffering of the rejected stone, and share in His Life and are living stones and co-heirs of His inheritance.

Peter returns to his use of household. While there are several meanings of that word, for example, family, residence, clan or royal lineage such as the ‘house of David,’ here, it refers to people and not a building. Believers are children reborn, sharing brotherly love, who are obedient to their Father and live according to the Holy Spirit.

The term ‘priestly’ refers not to any hierarchy in the church but emphasizes believers’ divine calling to holy conduct or spiritual sacrifices, such as praying for their persecutors.

Next comes the use of the imagery from darkness to light, a graphic symbol that signifies the transition from death to life, or from alienation to community. Followers of Christ saw themselves as ‘children of the light’ (Luke 16:8; John 12:36; 1 Thes 5:5; Eph 5:8) who through baptism were delivered from darkness and given a share in the inheritance of the sons of light (Col 1:12-13).

The phrase recalls Israel’s deliverance from the darkness that enveloped Egypt prior to the Exodus. In Peter’s context, it serves as a metaphor for sharing in the glory of God and as an image for salvation.

Finally, Peter recalls language used in Hosea – that through the mercy of God and their belief in Jesus Christ, the believers are incorporated into God’s ancient covenant people and share the heritage of ancient Israel.

Live as Servants of God

¹¹ Beloved, I exhort you as resident aliens and visiting strangers to avoid the deadly cravings that wage war against life; ¹²Maintain honorable conduct among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as those who do what is wrong, from observing your honorable deeds, they may glorify God on the day of visitation.

These two verses summarize warnings that follow in the remainder of the letter. Christians are challenged to engage with society and present it with a superior form of moral and religious life. This is a practical strategy to gain new members and to preserve its distinctiveness. Members must live lives that, despite slanderous accusations of wrongdoing, move accusers to convert to a new way of life and give glory to God.

Honorable Subordinate Conduct in Civil and Domestic Realms

¹³Be subordinated to every human creature because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as supreme, ¹⁴or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do what is wrong and to praise those who do what is right; ¹⁵for thus it is God’s will that by doing what is right you silence the ignorance talk of the foolish. ¹⁶Do this as free persons, yet not using your freedom as a cover for wrongdoing, but as slaves of God. ¹⁷Honor everyone; love the brotherhood; revere God; honor the emperor.

This unit takes up the issue of the honorable conduct of free persons in society. From here, we encounter language and concepts that are typical of the Greco-Roman environment. Conventional concerns of morality deal with order in the private and public spheres, i.e., respect for authority, the doing of good, honor versus shameful behavior, reward and punishment, and conduct appropriate to one’s role and status.

Societies in that era were most concerned with order. At the apex of Roman social order stood the emperor. Below the imperial house stood senators, equestrians, lesser nobles, and then provincial officials. All of these comprised 3-5% of the population. The 95-97% of the lower class ranked in this order: urban and rural free plebeians, freed persons, slaves, the destitute, and finally foreigners at the very bottom.

Within the household were husbands, fathers and masters/owners, then wives, children and slaves respectively. Children were subordinate to parents, and younger persons to their elders.

All of this and Christ’s subordination to His Father served as a model for Christian subordination. This was to encourage Christians to do what is right and as a means to silence detractors. So, the issue is not the validity of social structures and authority, but how Christian believers as children of God conduct themselves in relation to these unquestioned structures of social life.

Honorable Subordinate Conduct in the Domestic Realm: Household Slaves and the Servant of God

¹⁸You, household slaves: Be subordinate to your masters with all reverence, not only to the kind and reasonable but also to the cruel; ¹⁹for this is creditable, if one, mindful of God’s will, bears up under pain while suffering unjustly; ²⁰for what credit is it, if, when you do what is wrong and are beaten, you  patiently endure? If, however, when you do right and suffer, you patiently endure, that is creditable in God’s sight. ²¹For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps;

²²He ‘did no wrong,’ ‘nor was guile found in his mouth;’ ²³he, when insulted, did not insult in return; when suffering, he did not threaten, but rather committed his cause to the one who judges justly; ²⁴he ‘himself bore our wrongdoings’ in his body on the tree, so that we, having abandoned wrongdoing, might live for doing what is right. ‘By his bruise’ you ‘have been healed.’ ²⁵For you ‘were straying as sheep’ but now ‘have been returned’ to the Shepherd and Overseer of your lives.

This passage (21-25) reminds readers to emulate Jesus. As a servant of God, He freed sinners through His suffering and death. Now, believers can live justly.

 The slaves of 1 Peter share the situation of slaves in general – they were considered outsiders. Uprooted from home and without the support of family, they are exposed to the whims and abuse of their superiors. They suffer even when doing what is right. They typify the entire Christian community’s vulnerability in a hostile society.

Exalting lowly slaves as an example powerfully illustrates Peter’s conviction that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble (5:5), a conviction fully consonant with the Lord’s teaching concerning the reversal of status of the first and last (Mt 19:30; 20:16; Mk 10:31), the servants and the served (Mk 9:35; Lk 9:48; Mt 20:26-28; Jn 13:1-15).

 

Discussion and Reflection Questions

(1-3) Peter points to 5 appalling attitudes or behaviors that have no place in a believer’s life. What are your plans for discarding evil (desiring to harm others), guile (deliberately misleading others by lying), hypocrisy (says one thing and does another), envy (resentment from desiring something possessed by another) and slander (gossip, rumor spreading or anything that would ruin the reputation of another)?

(4-10) Why is it important for you to be a vital part of the household of God, that is, your church? What goal can you set this week to put away sin, join in love, and offer up a spiritual sacrifice alongside others in your church?

(11-12) Is my faith authentic enough to attract unbelievers to the church? If not, what step will I take this week to set an example for those who do not believe in Christ?

(13-17) Regardless of our opinions of government officials, what is God asking of us? Can you think of ways and areas of daily life where you can, do and must submit to your country, state and local leadership?

(18-25) How do you react when treated badly by others? If you react un-christianly, what plan can you adopt to change how you react in the future?