1 Peter 2
2:1-3. Since in Christ we are born into God’s family, we must put aside the old hatreds and lusts that separated us from our brothers. Newborns cry out loudly to be fed. We need to be that way in our longing for the pure milk of the word, that we may grow up in respect to salvation (cf. Eph. 4:13-16). “O taste and see that the LORD is good” (Ps. 34:8).
2:4-8. Since we are growing up together into the body of Christ, who is the living temple of God (cf. John 2:19-21), Peter uses the metaphor of a building. We are living stones (cf. Mt. 3:9), Christ himself being the precious cornerstone upon which we are built. Just as he was chosen of God, but rejected by the human builders, so are we also who believe in him. As living stones, not only are we the spiritual house of God being built, but are to be the holy priesthood of the house, to offer up through Christ acceptable spiritual sacrifices (5; cf. Heb. 13:15-16). But to those who disbelieve, Christ is a stone to trip over, an offending rock. All this is in accordance with God’s sovereign purpose. Just as those who hear and believe the word of life shall not be put to shame (margin), so those who disbelieve shall suffer the fall to which they were appointed (6-8). Those to whom the word of life brings life shall be brought by the grace of God into conformity to the precious chosen cornerstone. But those who remain conformed to the world shall stumble over him as an offending rock (and they shall be dashed to pieces; cf. Dan. 2:34-35, 44-45).
All Christians believe that Christ is the elect (chosen) of God from before the foundation of the world. But are Believers chosen because they have believed, or do they believe because the pure grace and kindness of God has chosen them, bringing a new birth to dead sinners (1:3)? And were unbelievers really destined to fall? Or, is that merely a general statement about what is bound to happen to those who chose to reject God’s word? Well of course believers were chosen because they believed, and unbelievers are rejected because they will not believe, and both do as they choose. But the issue is, how do any come to faith? And the answer lies not in themselves. It is not to be found in dead sinners (Eph. 2:1, 5), but in the grace and power and justice of God in Christ to give life to whom he desires, and to harden whom he desires (see Rom. 9:6-33, esp, vv. 18, 22 f. Cf. also John 10:26; 12:40 ff.; 2 Thess. 2:10-13; Jude 4). That being said, it is clearly Peter’s purpose to urge those who are Christ’s to exert every effort to lead a blameless life. God is an impartial judge. We are not to presume on grace, or we shall only prove that we were never truly his (1:13-17; 2:1-3, 11; 3:12, etc.). God’s sovereignty and preordination does not negate the fact that we live our lives making choices that matter, unforced yet determined by either a fallen or redeemed nature, proving to whom we conform, and proving that God is both gracious and just, and his purposes supreme.
2:9-10. Peter is teaching the gospel truth from the OT, now made fuller and plainer by the coming of Christ. He quotes from the Greek version (Septuagint): Is. 28:16 (6); Ps. 118:22 (7); Is. 8:14 (8); Is. 43:20-21 (9); and Hos. 1:10; 2:23 (10).
As vv. 9-10 show, God’s chosen people are now understood to be the Israel of faith, by God’s mercy a born again race of new men, taken from every people and nation. In union with Christ, who is both king and priest (after the order of Melchizedek, Heb. 5 & 7), his called ones, all his elect people, are a royal priesthood (cf. Jer. 33:22; Rev. 1:5-6; 5:10; 20:6). This holy nation is to be proclaiming to a dark world the marvelous light that has shown on us, that God saves sinners by grace alone.
2:11-12. Having been called into Christ’s kingdom, we have become aliens and strangers in a hostile world, the people of God living among “Gentiles”. See 4:3-4, which imply that Peter no longer considers any convert to Christ a Gentile in the old sense to mean any non-Jew. Believing Gentiles have been grafted into the Israel of faith (Ro. 11:17 ff.). Spiritual Gentiles are worldlings, those who live by the flesh rather than the Spirit. But Christ’s people must live by his law written on the heart. God’s people must not give credibility to the slanders of the enemy, but live before God and man so as to bring glory to God in the day of visitation. The Lord shall judge impartially (1:17). God will be glorified in the judgment, either by the vindication of his people in grace, or by his just wrath upon his and their enemies (cf. Ex. 14:17-18; Php. 2:10-11; Rev. 16:9).
2:13-17. This is an application of the fifth commandment principle of giving honor to whom honor is due. A son is equal to his father in his person, but not in the ordained position each holds, a principle of order necessary even in the perfect government of the trinity. Note that honor and due submission is something that the free man gives for the Lord’s sake (1, 16), not something that is a violation of his rights. We owe honor to all men as at least our equals. We owe love to our brothers in the faith (cf. John 15:17). We are to fear none but God (cf. Mt. 10:28), but under God we owe honor to human institutions of authority, for they are ordained by God (see notes at Rom. 13:1-7).
2:18-25. The above principle is not to say that in a fallen world the rights of the innocent will not be violated, nor power abused. But it is far better to suffer for righteousness sake than to suffer as an evil doer. Christ is our example in overcoming evil with good by patient endurance (cf. Php. 1:29; Jas. 1:2-3, 12). This finds favor with God. We have a judge who will judge righteously and knows what it is to endure injustice. He suffered not for anything he had done, but for us (21). He bore our sins on the cross, and by his wound (singular, margin, i.e., his death) he healed us to whom the stroke was due (24-25; cf. Is. 53:4-6, 11).