2:7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
Reiterating that for those who believe that Jesus, the chosen and precious cornerstone (see verse six), the honor of being a holy priesthood whose spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God (see verse five) are truly for those who believe. Jesus bought us with His blood (see 1 Corinthians 6:20), and not only did He save us from eternal damnation; He has also made us children of God (see Romans 8:12-17). So in response we should be continually offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God (our daily obedience, remember Romans 12:1-2).
But for those who do not believe, “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (from Psalm 118:22). Peter is reminding the reader that one of the primary purposes of a cornerstone is to provide a true horizontal and vertical line so that the building that is built on it remains straight and strong. If another angle is chosen, the building will eventually collapse. Those who follow a direction other than the one Jesus provides, they will stumble.
2:8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
Peter then quotes Isaiah 8:14 pointing out that unbelievers will stumble over Jesus, not physically but spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally. A “stone of stumbling” and a “rock of offense” would have been familiar idioms meaning essentially someone tripping over a large rock and then landing face down on another rock, one might say today “adding insult to injury.” The term “rock of offense” points out that the rock is offensive. Isn’t it interesting that the message of Jesus is considered by so many today to be offensive? One cannot open a newspaper or watch the evening news without hearing about some person, or group, that is offended! I guess we have no other choice than to offend them to heaven!
Peter continues by saying unbelievers stumble because they disobey the Word. The Greek word used for ‘disobey’ essentially means that they once heard the Word and then refused to believe. Just as they were destined (Greek ‘etethēsan’, appointed) to do, as God knew from the beginning of time who would reject Jesus (see also Jude 4).
2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Talking to the “elect exiles of the Dispersion” (Jews that believe in Jesus, see 1 Peter 1:1), Peter calls them a ‘chosen race’. But we need to remember that even though not all Scripture was written to every believer, it is for every believer’s benefit. Does that mean that the ‘category’ of being called ‘chosen’ applies to all believers? Yes, the Greek word ‘eklekton’ can also be translated as ‘elect’, and we see in the New Testament that the word is used to describe not only the Jews and believers, but also Jesus (see above) and his mother Mary (see Matthew 22:14; 24:22, 31; Mark 13:20, 22, 27; Luke 18:7; Romans 8:33; 16:33; Colossians 3:12; 2 Timothy 2:10; Titus 1:1; 2 John 1, 13; Revelation 17:14). The Greek word translated as ‘race’ can also be translated nation, offspring, or family[1].
Peter then drops a bombshell; he says that we are a “royal priesthood!” In the Old Testament God established the Aaronic Priesthood through the tribe of Levi, or more specifically the sons of Aaron (see Numbers 25:7-13), but royalty was to be through the tribe of Judah and the sons of David (see Genesis 49:8-12; 2 Samuel 7:12-17). So what’s a royal priesthood? The author of the book of Hebrews explains that Jesus abolished the physical priesthood (the one based on mankind) and replaced it with one based on Himself as the High Priest, one that will last forever (see Hebrews 3:16-5:10). It is He who makes us royal priests (see Genesis 14:17-24, Psalm 110:4, read Hebrews 7:1-8:13 to learn about the concept of the eternal priesthood known as the order of Melchizedek, not to be confused by other groups today that use the same name).
Peter next states we are a holy nation, a group of people that are to be separated from the world (see Romans 12:1-2; 1 Peter 1:14; 1 John 2:15), to be a people for His own possession (Jesus purchased us with His blood, see 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Acts 20:28). So that we may proclaim (declare boldly and loudly) the “excellences” of Jesus, or in other words, tell others about the greatness of God and His plan for salvation. After all, He is the one that called you out of darkness (read Ephesians 2:1-2; 2 Timothy 2:25-26; Jesus explains in John 3:16-21) and placed you in His “marvelous” (or amazing, the Greek word only appears six times in the New Testament) light (see also Colossians 1:13; Psalms 119:105; 2 Corinthians 4:4).
2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Peter possibly borrowing some phrases from the Book of Hosea, like Paul did in Romans 9:14-29, he states that we were once not a people (a nation not belonging to anyone, especially not to God) but now we are God’s people. This is true for both the Israelites and Christian believers. Previously we had not experienced mercy but now we have received mercy. Often confused with “grace,” mercy is best described as not getting what we deserve. God did all the work and He is offering salvation (something we don’t deserve) in place of eternal damnation (something we do deserve). God freely offers salvation to all believers (see Ephesians 2:1-10). It is interesting to note that Peter earlier in this epistle expounded about the concept of God’s grace (see 1 Peter 1:10) and now he tells us of God’s mercy.
2:11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
In response to God’s mercy, Peter tells us that we should abstain from the passions of the flesh. He says even though we are foreigners and temporary residents of this world (see also Philippians 3:20) we should not fall for this world’s temptations (see also Romans 8:6-9), especially those that appeal to our lusts. Using military terms to help us understand that the enemy is committed to a long-term engagement, Peter says those lusts of the flesh are waging war against our souls, a war that continues every day (see Romans 7:13-25; Galatians 5:17-18; Ephesians 2:1-6). We will be successful in winning some battles, but the war continues on!
2:12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
While we are temporary residents of this world, we are to always keep our conduct around non-believers honorable. Knowing the value of our never-ending witness to others, Peter reminds us that our behavior (what we do, what we say, etc.) is something we need to be constantly aware of. Apparently Peter understood that if we behave godly, we will at some point in our lives will receive, or will be the subject of, some form of slander from unbelievers. If our actions glorify God, they will see the truth and that our faith is genuine and possibly later in life they will get to know God for themselves and accept Jesus as their Savior. Then they too can glorify God when Jesus returns.
The Priesthood of All Believers
The origin of the phrase, “The Priesthood of All Believers,” according to most scholars, is thought to be derived from this section of Peter’s writing. Martin Luther clarified the concept of a universal priesthood by saying that every believer is a priest, a prophet, and an ambassador for Jesus Christ.[2] Okay, now before you go out shopping to purchase a new outfit to wear during your priestly duties, let’s take a quick look as to what this priesthood is all about. First of all, God is not calling on us to sprinkle blood on any altar (such as an Old Testament priest would do, see Leviticus 1:5; 2 Chronicles 35:11; Hebrews 12:24) or serve communion wine to a church member (like a pastor might do). So what does a priest-prophet-ambassador supposed to do?
In the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul urges all Christians to, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called…according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Ephesians 4:1b and 4:7b) Paul is saying that God has called us to work for Him and has appropriately gifted us so that we can be effective in our jobs. Wait, what? We work for God? Yes! We may all have different professions, livelihoods and occupations, but God’s calling overrules all of that, our vocation begins with Jesus. Interestingly, the word ‘vocation’ comes from the Latin word ‘voca’, meaning “to call.”
Paul also wrote later in the same chapter that the purpose of the church is to, “equip the saints for the works of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12a). Notice that Paul is saying it is our job (the saints, referring to us), regardless of our ‘vocation’, to be ministers for God. The current model of a “clergy-centric” church leadership is actually not presented in the Bible. Luther saw the direction of the church was heading during his day by pointing out that there were no “second class” callings by God and that we are all on equal footing. As a result, the Reformation, for the most part, removed the wall between clergy (vocational ministers) and laity (all other believers). Sadly, many denominations and church groups have rebuilt those walls leaving nearly all forms of evangelism and Bible teaching strictly in the hands of “trained professionals.”
Our primary vocation is to serve God; simply stated, He places us where He wants us to be. For example, He guides us to get the education we need, sees to it that we are at the right place at the right time, and He also makes sure that we cross paths with people that will influence us as well as cross paths with those that we will end up influencing. We are to be, “as Christ” to others. What we do at our jobs or anything else we do (hobbies, shopping, driving, etc.) will always be secondary.
How do we do that? Here again Martin Luther may offer some insight. When teaching on Psalm 147:13-14, Luther asked a similar question. The text from the book of Psalms reads: “For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you. He makes peace in your borders; he fills you with the finest of the wheat.” Luther asked, how exactly does God do these things? He responded that God does these things through people such as city planners, architects, politicians, teachers, police officers, farmers, factory workers, restaurant owners, well you get the picture. In other words, Luther believed that God worked through people.[3] God calls each believer to reflect the love of Christ in all that they do. He is using us where we are, as we represent Him, regardless if we are at home, at work or on the freeway.
Understanding this role of ours, our God-given vocation, will help us understand 1 Peter 3:15b (see Chapter 18) where Peter writes, “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” Why would anyone ask about the reason for the hope that is in you, unless of course they saw something in you so outrageously loving and so unselfish (contrary to the world) that they would want to know why you are different. He is the difference!
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[1] Strong, J. (2001). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software. Strong’s Greek No. 1085
[2] Martin Luther (1523-4), The Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude: Preached and Explained. Translated, with preface and notes, E.H. Gillett. New York, NY: Anson D.F. Randolph, (1859)
[3] Luther, M. (1999). Luther’s works, vol. 14: Selected Psalms III. (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, & H. T. Lehmann, Eds.) (Vol. 14, p. 115). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.