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1 Peter 2:1-10

Verses 1-10

OBLIGATIONS OF HOPE UPWARD

“Wherefore” at the beginning of this lesson shows that as the result of what has gone before something is expected. They who have been begotten again to this living hope have obligations arising from it.

The first is Hope (1 Peter 1:13-16 ).

The difference between “hope” in 1 Peter 1:13 and that in 1 Peter 1:3 is, that there it represented the believer’s standing or position before God in Christ, and here his experience and exhibition of it. Having been begotten again unto a living Hope, he is now to hope for it with all sobriety and concentration of mind. As he does so hope it will affect his character and conduct (1 Peter 1:14 ), for no longer will his daily life be run in the mould of his former desires in sin, but will be holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16 ).

The second is Fear (1 Peter 1:17-21 )

Godly fear, of course, not the fear of a criminal before a judge, but that of an obedient child in the presence of a loving father. Two motives are given for it, one, the thought of judgment (1 Peter 1:17 ); the other, the cost of our redemption (1 Peter 1:18-19 ). The judgment is not to determine the question of salvation, which is settled for believers as soon as they accept Christ, but to determine their fidelity as disciples and the place of reward awaiting them in glory.

The third is Love (1 Peter 1:22 to 1 Peter 2:3 ).

Believers have “purified their souls,” not in an absolute experimental sense, but in the judicial sense that they now have a right standing before God. This they did “in obeying the truth” of the Gospel, which they were enabled to obey “through the Spirit”; in other words, by the aid of the Holy Spirit. Being in this position they are able to “love one another,” and being able to do it imposes the obligation to do it (1 Peter 1:22 ). The thought is extended in the next verse which reveals that believers are “brethren” in that they have all been “born again” by the one “seed,” which is the incorruptible Word of God. The “love” they are to exercise toward one another is defined in the opening verses of chapter 3, and in order to obtain the strength to exercise it they are to draw on the Word of God. That which instrumentally brought them into life will sustain them in it continually (1 Peter 2:2-3 ).

The fourth is Praise (1 Peter 2:4-10 ).

The Lord Jesus Christ referred to in 1 Peter 1:3 , is “a Living Stone,” Whose life has been communicated to believers, making them “living stones” (1 Peter 2:5 ). They thus form a spiritual temple, and, abruptly changing the figure, they are the “priesthood” in the temple. As such they have spiritual sacrifices to offer (1 Peter 2:5 ), the chief of which is to “show forth the praises of Him Who” redeemed them (1 Peter 2:9-10 ).

These four obligations of The Living Hope are referred to as the “upward” ones in the sense that, with one exception, they are due to God directly. The exception is that of “Love” which is due to God indeed, but exercised indirectly through the brethren. The obligations following in the epistle are for the most part outward toward the world, and inward toward one another as fellow-believers, fellow-members of the family of God or of the Body of Christ.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the significance of “Wherefore”?

2. Name the four obligations in this lesson.

3. Why are they called upward?

4. What is the difference between “hope” in verse 5 and in verse 13?

5. What are the two motives for godly fear?

6. Expound in your own words 1 Peter 1:22 to 1 Peter 2:3 .

7. Do the same with 1 Peter 2:4-10 .

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary

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James Gray
James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary

James Martin Gray (May 11, 1851 - September 21, 1935) was a pastor in the Reformed Episcopal Church, a Bible scholar, editor, and hymn writer, and the president of Moody Bible Institute, 1904-34.Gray was born in New York City as one of the younger of eight children. His father, Hugh Gray, died shortly after his birth. James Gray was raised in the Episcopal church, and probably after attending college in New York, he began training for a career as a priest. While preparing himself for the ministry, Gray experienced an evangelical conversion (mostly likely in 1873) after reading homilies on the book of Proverbs by William Arnot. In 1870, Gray married Amanda Thorne, who died in 1875 while giving birth to their fifth child, who also died.As Gray continued to prepare himself for the ministry in New York, the Episcopal Church was troubled by a conflict between evangelicals and Tractarians, who wished to emphasize ritualism. In 1873, Bishop George D. Cummins resigned from the Episcopal Church and helped found the Reformed Episcopal denomination. Gray sided with the seceders.Gray was ordained in 1877, and assumed the pastorate of the Church of the Redemption in Brooklyn, New York for one year. He spent another year at the Church of the Cornerstone in Newburgh. In 1879, Gray was called to assist an elderly pastor at the small Reformed Episcopal Church in Boston, which prospered after his arrival and grew from a handful of worshipers to a congregation of more than 230. The Boston church also managed to establish three additional churches during Gray's pastorate, all of which failed shortly after his departure.While in Boston, he also became involved with Adoniram Judson Gordon in the founding of the Boston Bible and Missionary Training School, later Gordon Divinity School, where he was a professor from 1889 to 1904. In Boston he married Susan G. Gray, who also served on the faculty. During this period, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, conferred on Gray an honorary doctor of divinity degree.Throughout the 1890s, Gray worked alongside D. L. Moody in the latter's evangelistic campaigns in New York, Boston, and Chicago; and Gray became connected Moody Bible Institute serving in a variety of positions from summer guest lecturer (beginning in 1892) to dean, executive secretary, and finally, president (the third, after D. L. Moody and R. A. Torrey) from 1904 to 1934. Gray also edited Moody Monthly and preached at Moody's Chicago Avenue Church (later known as the Moody Church).On November 1, 1934, he resigned as President of MBI at the age of 83, but continued to serve as President-Emeritus. He died of a heart attack on September 21, 1935. The Torrey-Gray Auditorium at the Moody Bible Institute is named in honor of Gray and his predecessor, R. A. Torrey.Theologically, Gray was an early fundamentalist who upheld the inspiration of the Bible and opposed the contemporary trend toward a social gospel. Gray was also a dispensationalist who believed in the premillennial, pre-tribulational return of Jesus Christ at the Rapture. Personally, Gray was conservative in dress and personal habit. A reporter remarked that he "cultivated gentlemanliness as a fine art." Male students at Moody were required to wear coats and ties in the dining room, and during a hot spell in July 1908, Gray admonished faculty members for taking off their coats and vests in their offices.Gray was one of the seven editors of the first Scofield Reference Bible in 1909. Gray wrote 25 books and pamphlets, some of which remain in print. He also wrote a number of hymns, perhaps the best known of which is Only a Sinner, Saved by Grace.... Show more

While many Bible commentaries strive for exhaustive treatments of Scripture, Dr. James M. Gray's Concise Bible Commentary instead endeavors to be succinct. According to Gray's own explanation of this work, it "represents the labor of eight years in the use of such spare hours as could be found in an otherwise well-filled life, but had the plan permitted its expansion into a series of volumes instead of one, it might have been completed earlier."... Show more
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