1 Peter 2:5

ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Ye also, as living stones ... The figure of the spiritual temple of God is continued in this; just as Christ is the living stone, so also are the Christians. And why "living"? Because the Lord is the living One, and the life-giving One, the same yesterday, today, and forever. As members of Christ's spiritual body, Christians partake of the same nature as their Lord, and they too are "living stones," endowed with a measure of the Spirit which shall raise them up at the last day. Nicholson was correct in seeing here a contrast between a spiritual temple of born-again believers with the stone temple in Jerusalem."[17] The words "living stone" and "living stones" are to be understood as "distinguishing the Christian church, the spiritual temple of God, both from the temples of the idols and the temple in Jerusalem, which were built of dead materials."[18] It is not enough, then, to see the spiritual temple of God, which is the church, as merely attaining a higher glory than the Jewish temple; the true temple is of a totally different kind, the same being the only kind God ever wanted.

Are built up a spiritual house ... It is important to note that house here bears its ecclesiastical sense of temple. Jesus himself used the word in that same sense when he declared, "Behold your house is left unto you desolate" (Matthew 23:38). In this statement, Peter gave the same teaching that Paul gave, who said, "Ye are a temple of God" (1 Corinthians 3:16f), and "being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone" (Ephesians 3:20).

THE TRUE TEMPLE OF GOD

This was never the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. True, God permitted that temple to be built and accommodated himself to it in exactly the same manner as he did the secular kingdom of the Jews; but neither that secular kingdom nor the temple was ever, in any sense, a fulfillment of God's will. It was the rejection of God's government that led to the formation of the secular kingdom (1 Samuel 8:7); and it was the rejection of the tabernacle that led to the building of the temple (2 Samuel 7:13).

That this is true regarding the temple is apparent from a number of considerations.

(a) It is called in Scripture Solomon's Temple, and that is exactly what it was; and who was Solomon? He was a debauchee whose life was the scandal of ten generations. As the martyr Stephen sarcastically put it, "Solomon built him a house" (Acts 7:47); that remark coming after Stephen had just recounted all the glories of Israel that had come to them while they were worshipping in the tabernacle, "even as God appointed," a tabernacle that had been constructed after the pattern that God gave Moses; and it was followed by the key declaration that "The Most High dwelleth not in houses (temples) made with hands." Did God dwell in Solomon's temple? Of course not.

(b) Every statement Jesus ever made concerning the temple corroborates this view. "My house (the true temple) shall be called a house of prayer; but ye made it a den of robbers" (Matthew 21:13). "Behold your house is left unto you desolate" (Matthew 23:38). "Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise" (John 2:16). This is not an endorsement of the temple as God's house, but a condemnation of their house of merchandise. Matthew has, "Jesus entered into the temple of God"; but even if the text is valid the passage must be understood as Matthew's use of a common popular name for Solomon's temple (rebuilt by Herod the Great); but as the margin indicates (ASV), "Many ancient authorities omit of God."

(c) The very idea of building a temple for God was David's idea, not God's (2 Samuel 7): and Nathan's prophecy that after David's death one of his seed should rise up after him and build God a house, whose kingdom would be established for ever (2 Samuel 7:13), refers to the kingdom of Christ and the true spiritual temple of which Peter was writing in this passage. The whole chapter reveals that any thought of a secular temple was no part of God's purpose.

(d) When the apostles and elders in Jerusalem sent out that letter to the churches, they quoted Amos 9:11,12, which records God's promise of rebuilding again "the fallen tabernacle," not the ruined temple.

(e) All of the typical material in the book of Hebrews has reference to the tabernacle, not to the Solomonic and Herodian temples. While true enough that the temple had been constructed after the general pattern of the tabernacle, the writer of Hebrews ignored it (Hebrews 9:2), which under the circumstances is tremendously significant.

(f) God permitted the destruction of the Solomonic temple, which he would not have done had it been God's true temple. The Herodian temple, which in time replaced it, was also destroyed by divine flat, Christ himself pronouncing the doom of it, and decreeing that "not one stone shall be left on top of another" (Matthew 24:2), an inconceivable fate if that temple had indeed been the true house of God.

(g) The early church found the Jewish temple to be the center of enmity and hatred against the church. It was the masters of the temple who bribed witnesses to lie about the resurrection of Christ; they imprisoned, beat and threatened the holy apostles; they forbade them to preach in the name of Christ; and, as for the character of the temple establishment, it was as corrupt as anything that history records.

(h) The apostle Paul, upon his conversion, went to the temple; and while there he saw a vision of the Lord, but the Lord commanded him to get out of the temple and even out of the city of Jerusalem (Acts 22:17ff); but Paul had difficulty understanding this, and seemed to think that something could still be accomplished in the temple. Although expressly forbidden to go back to the city of Jerusalem (Acts 21:4), Paul, through some misunderstanding of the Spirit's message, even though it was reinforced by the entreaties of Luke (Acts 21:12), nevertheless went to Jerusalem and even into the temple, where, except for God's repeated intervention, he would have suffered death. The temple establishment organized a mob to slay Paul; through the duplicity and reprobacy of the high priest himself, they set up a phony trial in the hope of assassinating him; a group of brigands under the direction of the high priest bound themselves with an oath neither to eat nor drink until they had slain Paul. After those wicked events, there is never any record of any child of God subsequently entering that temple again; but it was tragic that they were compelled to learn the hard way the truth that Jesus had spoken, namely, that the temple was a "den of thieves and robbers."

(i) It was the secular temple that, more than anything else, blinded Israel to the recognition of the Messiah. Jesus plainly spoke of himself as the true temple, even from the first: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19); and "One greater than the temple is here" (Matthew 12:6); but the religious leaders were so blinded by their own ideas of a temple that they were never able to understand the nature of that holy institution which Jesus came to establish. It was Stephen's stress of the spiritual nature of the true temple that unleashed the full fury of the temple mob against himself and which issued in his martyrdom.

(j) The fundamental error of David himself in planning to build God a temporal house was evidently the same identical error that led to the formation of the secular kingdom, the desire to be like the nations around him. There were great idol temples all over the world in David's day; and, in the last analysis, Solomon's temple was exactly like all the rest of the human temples, a beautiful edifice enshrining the nation's vanity, and controlled by an unscrupulous band of pirates.

To be a holy priesthood ... The original purpose of God was that all of the Israelites should be a nation of priests (Exodus 19:6); and the subsequent development of a special priestly class came about as a result of the weakness and sins of the people. God's purposes are eternal; and therefore the same goal of having a "holy nation" a "kingdom of priests" still prevails. The priesthood of every believer in Christ (that is, obedient believers) is evident in a statement like this. This conception is also in the book of Hebrews and in Revelation 1:6, where it is written that God made Christians to be a "kingdom and priests unto God." It should be noted especially that it is a "holy" priesthood to which Christians are ordained. All wickedness must be put away, stripped off, renounced by all who would participate in the priesthood mentioned here.

To offer up spiritual sacrifices ... This is a continuation of the thought, in which the type of sacrifices to be offered by God's nation of priests is given, "spiritual" sacrifices. A closer look at this is necessary.

CONCERNING SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES

Under the old law, sacrifices were dead, bloody, burned with fire, smeared with fat, carnal, temporal, and salted with salt (Leviticus 2:13; Mark 12:49). By contrast, in the church, sacrifices are spiritual, living, clean, pure, holy, and acceptable to God. They are described as "better sacrifices" (Hebrews 9:23).

Although Christians must offer sacrifices to God, such are always "lesser sacrifices," the one true, great and efficacious sacrifice already having been offered, namely, Christ himself. "Now once at the end of the ages hath he (Christ) been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:26). This was the "one sacrifice for ever" (Hebrews 10:12). Christ's blood alone is the blood of the everlasting covenant (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 13:20; Hebrews 10:29).

Nevertheless, there are sacrifices which God's holy nation of the new Israel, which is the church, must now offer according to the will of God. And what are these?

(a) Our faith is our sacrifice. "Even if I am to be poured out as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all" (Philippians 2:17).

(b) The love of God is our sacrifice. "And to love ... is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices" (Mark 12:33).

(c) Our repentance is our sacrifice. "Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; and say unto him, take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; and so will we render the calves of our lips" (Hosea 14:2). It is safe to assume that if repentance, even under the old covenant, was a "sacrifice," so it still is.

(d) Our confession of faith in Christ is a sacrifice. "Through him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips which make confession to his name ... with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Hebrews 13:15,16).

(e) Our baptism into Christ is our sacrifice. "I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service" (Romans 12:1). See also Hebrews 10:19-22.

(f) Our praise of God is our sacrifice. "Let us offer up a sacrifice of praise unto God, that is, the fruit of our lips" (Hebrews 13:15). There are also important Old Testament glimpses of this same truth. "Bringing sacrifices of praise unto the house of God" (Jeremiah 17:26). "Sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing" (Psalms 107:22; Psalms 116:117).

(g) Our contributions are our sacrifices. Paul spoke of having received a contribution brought by Epaphoditus thus, "an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God" (Philippians 4:18).

(h) Our songs are our sacrifice. "Singing with grace in your hearts unto God" (Colossians 3:16). By virtue of these songs being "unto God," they are understood as sacrifices.

(i) Our prayers are our sacrifices. "Having golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints" (Revelation 5:8). "My name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering; for my name shall be great among the heathen" (Malachi 1:11).

(j) The whole life of honor and love on the part of devoted Christians is their sacrifice. Paul wrote, "I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand" (2 Timothy 4:6). "Even as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell" (Ephesians 5:2).

Faith, love of God, repentance, confession, baptism, praises, contributions, songs, prayers and a total life of devotion - these are our sacrifices; no wonder they are called "better sacrifices."

Those sacrifices in view in the above passages did not easily lend themselves to the type of exploitation so dear to the Jewish temple concessioners, and the inevitable result was a bitter hatred of the new faith. Mason observed that "The substitution of something else in lieu of the Jewish temple was one of the greatest stumblingblocks to the Hebrews from the very first."[19] However, it was not the true spiritual temple which was "substituted for" the Jewish temple, but that temple itself had been "substituted for" the true temple God had promised.

Acceptable to God through Jesus Christ ... "Through Christ alone are these spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. They are offered through Christ, and only through him."[20]

[17] Roy S. Nicholson, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 279.

[18] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 451.

[19] A. J. Mason, op. cit., p. 401.

[20] B. C. Caffin, op. cit., p. 70.