1 Peter 2:1-10

1 Peter 2:1-10

Analysis:—Exhortation of the regenerate to nourish themselves with the word of God, and to grow in Christ, to build themselves up on Him and to approve themselves a spiritual priesthood.

1Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings1, 2As newborn babes, desire2 the sincere milk of the word3, that ye 3grow thereby; If so be4 ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious5. 4To whom coming6, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God7, and precious,85Ye also, as9lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by10 Jesus Christ.116Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.12 137Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders9 disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient14: whereunto9 also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people15; that ye should shew forth16 the praises17 of him who hath called you out of darkness into18 his marvellous19 light: 10Which in time past were not a people20, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy21, but now have obtained mercy22.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1 Peter 2:1. Wherefore, laying aside.—The section 1 Peter 2:1-10. is connected, as are the exhortations in 1 Peter 1:22, with the idea of regeneration and the love out of a pure heart flowing from it. To brotherly love out of a pure heart are opposed guile, deception, hypocrisy, envy and slander; if that is to spring up, these vices must die. On this account Peter exhorts Christians to lay them aside, to put them off. If a new life is implanted, it must grow, and therefore save corresponding, wholesome nourishment; on this account Peter entreats them to long for that nourishment that thus they might be able to grow and to overcome temptations.—The construction is here as in 1 Peter 1:22. The Imperative reacts on the Participle. Laying aside is a figure taken from clothing and of frequent occurrence, Colossians 3:8; Ephesians 4:22; James 1:21. The old man is a garment, wholly surrounding, closely-fitting and forming a whole with us. “Take away the filthy garments from him—set a fair mitre upon his head,” was the direction concerning Joshua the high priest, Zechariah 3:3. The angel adding, “Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” The figures of laying aside and putting on clothes was peculiarly apposite because the early Christians were wont to lay aside their old garments and to exchange them for white and clean apparel when they were baptized and regenerated. It is necessary to observe that the exhortation to laying aside is only addressed to those who had the new man, while the unbelieving and unregenerate had first to receive another mind [μετάνοια, after-thought, after-wisdom, a change of disposition must precede baptism and new-birth.—M.]. The vices to be laid aside bear upon the relation to our neighbour and exert a deadly influence on brotherly love. κακία [nocendi cupiditas] denotes here, in particular, malicious disposition toward others, aiming at their hurt, injury and pain, and assuming various manifestations, cf. 1 Corinthians 13:5. The accomplishment of such evil intent necessitates lying, cunning and other artifices; its concealment requires hypocrisy and dissembling. The sense of dependence on those before whom dissimulation is practised, the sight of their happiness, the shame felt in the conscience in the presence of the virtuous—excite envy, and envy engenders all manner of evil, detracting and injurious speaking. [Malitia malo delectatur alieno; invidia bono cruciatur alieno; dolus duplicat cor; adulatio duplicat linguam; detractatio vulner at famam.—Augustine.—M.]. ‘Thus,’ observed Flacius, ‘one vice ever genders another.’ Huss says of κακαλαλιά that it takes place in various ways, either by denying or darkening a neighbour’s virtues, and either by attributing to him evil or imputing to him evil designs in doing good.

1 Peter 2:2. As newborn babes.—This goes back to 1 Peter 1:23. The connection is similar to 1 Peter 1:14. They had been addressed as children of obedience, now their young and tender state is mentioned as a reason why they should seek strength in the word of God. ‘Newborn babes’ was a current expression among the Jews for proselytes and neophytes. As the desire and need of nourishment predominate in the former, so they ought to predominate in babes in Christ. The expression so far from being derogatory, sets forth the tenderness of their relation to God, and implies the idea of guilelessness, cf. Isaiah 40:11; Luke 18:15, etc.

Long for—word.—ἐπιποθεῖν denotes intense and ever recurring desire. While the regenerate experience a longing after the word of God, by which they had been begotten, similar to the desire of newborn babes for their mother’s milk, Psalms 119:31; Psalms 119:72; Psalms 19:11, still the hereditary sin which yet cleaves to them renders it necessary that they should be constantly urged to the diligent use of the divine word in order to partake of it.—Milk, in opposition to solid food, 1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12; Hebrews 6:1, signifies the rudiments of Christian doctrine, not only its simple representation adapted to the capacity of the weak but also the more easily intelligible articles of Christianity. In this place, however, where no such antithesis exists, the figure comprises the sum-total of Christianity, the whole Gospel. Milk is the first, most simple, most refreshing, most wholesome food, especially for children; so is the word of God, cf. Isaiah 55:1. The most advanced Christians ought to consider themselves children, in respect of what they are to be hereafter. “Christ, the crucified, is milk for babes, food for the advanced.” Augustine. Clement of Alexandria suggests the partaking of the incarnate Logos.—λογικόν is best explained by the Apostle’s peculiarity to elucidate his figures by additional illustrations, cf. 1 Peter 1:13; 1 Peter 1:23. It is milk contained in and flowing from the word, spiritual milk, which, as Luther explains, is drawn with the soul. The rendering ‘reasonable’ is against the usus loquendi of the New Testament, and equally inadmissible in Romans 12:1. [Alford renders ‘spiritual’ after Allioli and Kistemaker.—M.] The nature of this milk is further defined by ἄδολον, which means unadulterated, pure, cf. 2Co 4:2; 2 Corinthians 2:17. [ἄδολον seems rather to be in contrast with δόλον in 1 Peter 2:1.—M.] It is consequently doctrine that is not compounded with human wisdom and thus rendered inefficacious. For the word of God has the property that it exerts purifying, liberating, illuminating and consoling influences only in its purity and entireness. Irenæus says of the heretics: “They mix gypsum with the milk, they taint the heavenly doctrine with the poison of their errors.”

ἐν αὐτῷ, receiving it into your innermost soul, making it your full property. Growth in holiness depends on the constant assimilation of the word. “The mother who gave them birth, nourishes them also.”—Harless.

1 Peter 2:3. If, otherwise ye have tasted.—A conditional statement is often by emphasis accepted as real. Grotius renders the sense well; “I know that you will this, as surely as you—cf. Romans 8:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:6.” This form of speech contains also an invitation to self-examination. Calov perceives a connection with 1 Peter 2:1. “The more you eradicate the bitter root of malice, the more also do you taste the sweetness of the goodness of the Lord.” Cf. Song of Solomon 2:3; Song of Solomon 5:13; Sir 23:27. The expression, to taste with reference to the figure of milk, and with full allusion to Psalms 34:9, denotes experience of the essential virtue of a thing as perceived by the sense of taste. It is transferred very properly to the experiences of the soul which enters into and unites with the object in order to know it in all its bearings. Cf. Hebrews 6:5; Hebrews 2:9. [Alford says, “The infant once put to the breast desires it again.”—M.]

[Wordsworth quotes the words of Augustine (Serm. 353), addressed to the newly baptized: “These words are specially applicable to you, who are yet fresh in the infancy of spiritual regeneration. For to you mainly the Divine Oracles speak, by the Apostle St. Peter, Having laid aside all malice, and all guile, as newborn infants desire ye the “rationabile et innocens lac, ut in illo crescatis ad salutem,” if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious (dulcis.) And we are witnesses that ye have tasted it. … Cherish, therefore, this spiritual infancy. The infancy of the strong is humility. The manhood of the weak is pride.”—M.]

That the deed is good.—[Friendly, Germ.] χρηστός applied to tender, pleasant-tasting solids and liquids, to the sweet flavour of old wine, Luke 5:39; then to persons, kindly, friendly, condescending, Ephesians 4:32; Luke 6:35. Ὁ κύριος is the Lord Jesus, 1 Peter 2:4, who invites us to Himself and commends to us the ease of His yoke, Matthew 11:29. He is here represented as the spiritual means of nourishment, the partaking whereof promotes the new life of Christians, and draws them to the word, which is His revelation, and in a certain sense identical with Him. “This is tasting indeed,” says Luther, “to believe from the heart that Christ has given Himself to me and has become my own, that my misery is His, and His life mine. Feeling this from the heart, is tasting Christ.” [The Lord, “quod subjicitur; ad quem accedentes, non simpliciter ad Deum refertur, sed ipsum designat qualis patefactus est in persona Christi.”—Calvin.]

1 Peter 2:4. To whom approaching.—The Imperative construction is best adapted to what follows, as it supplies an appropriate progress in the development of the thought. We had before: “Take nourishment from the word of God, and from the communion of Christ; this is followed by an exhortation contemplating the gathering of a congregation of God, to wit: Build up yourselves, as living stones, into a temple of God. Ever-renewed approaching Christ is the means and condition of building. The Apostle thinks of passages like the following, Psalms 118:22-23; Isaiah 8:14; Isaiah 28:16; Luke 2:34; Matthew 21:42; cf. Matthew 11:29; John 6:37. In the Old Testament, the priests are those who approach and draw near to God, Leviticus 16:1; Ezekiel 40:46; Numbers 9:13; in the New Testament access to God is opened to all through Christ, cf. Hebrews 9:1, etc.; Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 10:22; Hebrews 11:6; Hebrews 4:16. We draw near to Christ by prayer—(considering His person, His merit and His office)—by entering into His Word and drawing therefrom grace for grace by faith.

Unto a living stone.—The Apostle being about to speak of the sacred edifice of the New Testament, felt of course anxious to designate Christ as the corner-stone thereof. By the glory of the corner-stone, he desires to impress us with the glory of the edifice to be reared thereon. (Weiss). We do not decide upon the suggestion of Gerhard that Peter alludes to his own name. [Petrus a petra Christo sic denominatus metaphora, petræ delectatur, ac suo exemplo docet omnes debere esse petros, h. e., vivos lapides supra Christum fide ædificatos. Gerhard.—M.] Cf. Acts 4:11; Romans 11:11; Eph 2:20; 1 Corinthians 10:4; Zechariah 3:9. He is a stone or a rock, because after the manner of rocks, He remains ever the same, unchangeably powerful and invincible; because His word is firm and immovable, and because God has ordained and designed Him to be the foundation of His spiritual temple. But why a living stone? This predicate reminds us of the predicates Peter is wont to join to other images, 1 Peter 2:2; 1Pe 2:5; 1 Peter 1:13; it denotes not only a spiritual stone, but alludes to the circumstance that His rocky firmness is to His followers not hardness, but absolute reliability, truth and faithfulness, that in Him there is nothing of rigidity and death but absolute light and life. Calov.—“He is alive and makes alive.” John 5:28; John 6:48; John 14:19, etc.; 1 Peter 4:10; Acts 2:28. He penetrates and fills with His life the whole organism of believers, and causes it to grow. “Peter here tenders us the most urgent invitation to draw near to Christ, for those to whom Christ is as yet a mummy, cannot feel themselves drawn to Him.” Steiger.

Disallowed indeed of men, but…precious.—ἀποδοκιμάζειν—to reject on proof or trial, like useless coin, to reject for want of proper qualification. Heb. מָאַם. He was rejected not only by the builders, but by men of every kind, of every occupation, of every age and generation, by Jews and Gentiles. Hence the expression is quite general, rejected of men, of the whole world of unbelievers. Opposed to this human judgment, proceeding from enmity to whatever is Divine and depending solely on externals, is the alone decisive judgment of God. Before God, in His eyes, and according to His decree He is chosen out and acknowledged precious and excellent before many millions, (antithesis between ἐκλεκτόν and ἀποδεδοκιμασμένον) and had in great honour. Cf. 1 Timothy 5:21; Luke 9:35; Romans 16:13. Everything met in Him the exact fulfilment of what prophecy had foretold concerning Him, and God made even His resurrection the means of establishing His Messianic character. Peter alludes to Isaiah 28:16, and laying stress on His preciousness with God, omits several of the predicates used in that passage. His rejection, therefore, so far from being matter of reproach, is one of the chief signs by which Jesus may be known as the true Messiah.

1 Peter 2:5. Be ye also built up, etc. οἰκοδομεἴσθε cf. Judges 20:0, to be taken as a Middle in a reflexive sense. Christ being so excellent a corner-stone, on which rests the entire spiritual temple of God, be ye also inserted therein. Such being built up is something very different from a few ephemeral or passing flights of emotion; it starts from a solid foundation, includes continued and systematic activity, and demands in particular that every one, even he who is firmly and closely inserted in Jesus, should suffer himself to be put in that place and there to be inserted as a member of the whole, which the will of the great Architect assigns to him. As living stones, forasmuch as you are living stones and in the regeneration, 1 Peter 1:3; 1 Peter 2:2; have put on spiritual life emanating from Christ, cf. John 5:26; John 11:25; John 10:28; John 14:19. Calov specifies the following points of comparison: (a) the building upon the foundation-stone. “The stones of the building cannot stand without the foundation-stone. We do not carry Him, but He carries us. If we stand and rely upon Him, we must also abide where He is.” Luther. (b) The hardness and firmness in order to resist all assaults of enemies and all storms. Bernard, Serm. 60, on the Song of Sol., says: “Raised on the Rock, I stand secure from the enemy and all calamities; the world shakes, the body oppresses me, the devil pursues me; but I do not fall, for I am founded on a firm rock.” (c) The working, grinding, polishing and fitting of the stones, (d) The joining together with particular reference to the tie of love, (e) The mutual supporting. The lower stone supports the upper, this again the lower and the side stone, as Gregory says in Hom. on Ezek.: “In the Holy Church each supports the other, and each is supported by the other.” Cf. the vision of the building of the Church triumphant in Hermæ Pastor, vis. 3.

A spiritual house, not apposition, but effect and end of the building. Grotius rightly observes: In the spiritual building, individual believers are both living stones with reference to the whole temple of the Church, and a spiritual house or a temple of God, but this is inapplicable to this passage, which evidently treats of the founding of a people of God, (1 Peter 5:9). As a house is a whole, consisting of different parts, so is the Church of God; as one master rules in a house, so the Triune Jehovah rules in His temple; cf. Ephesians 2:22; 1Co 3:16; 2 Corinthians 6:16. Among believers each is not to aim at separating himself into a house by himself; they should be united in the commonwealth of God, and together should constitute a spiritual temple. It is called spiritual in opposition to the material temple, made with hands, and also because it is wrought and occupied by the Spirit.

For a holy priesthood, (Lachmann after Codd. A. B. C. reads εἰς ἱεράτευμα,—the end of building,) a holy community of priests. “Under the Old Covenant, Jehovah had His house and His priests, who served Him in His house; the Church fulfils both purposes under the New, being both His house and His holy priesthood.” Wiesinger. The expression alludes to Exodus 19:6.—2 Chronicles 29:11. “The Lord hath chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that ye should minister unto Him and burn incense.” This applies to all Christians. All believers of the New Testament are anointed priests by the Holy Ghost. The priesthood is called ἅγιον, because they are consecrated to God, cleansed by the blood of Christ and studious of a holy conversation. Their activity consists in offering spiritual sacrifice’s.

To offer up spiritual sacrifices, etc., Ἀναφέρειν to carry up to the altar; cf. 1 Peter 2:24; Hebrews 7:27; Hebrews 13:15; James 2:21, elsewhere προσφέρειν, to take to God, Hebrews 5:7. These sacrifices are spiritual, in opposition to the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament, and correspond to the Being of God, who is a Spirit, and to the spiritual house in which they are offered; they are wrought by the Spirit of God, and must be spiritually offered. This spiritual sacrifice necessitates voluntary surrender to the service of God, and approaching Him spiritually; and consists above all things in that believers should, according to Romans 12:1, present to the service of their God and Saviour, their bodies with all its members and powers, eyes and ears, mouth and tongue, hands and feet, and themselves, with all they have and are, and that not only once at their first conversion, but daily, Luke 9:23. Again, as the burning of incense was connected with the sacrifices of the Old Testament, so the incense of prayer, Revelation 8:3-4, and especially the lip-sacrifice of praise, Hebrews 13:15; Psalms 50:14, are integral parts of the sacrifices of the New Testament. They moreover include the sacrifices of love and charity; if Christians gladly communicate their temporal possessions, seek their neighbours’ good at the loss of personal advantage, and are prepared to give their life for the brethren. 1 John 3:16; Hebrews 13:16; Philippians 4:18. But since these sacrifices are always imperfect and affected by manifold infirmities, they cannot be acceptable to God unless offered through Him in whom God is perfectly pleased. Hence the annexed sentence, εὐπροσδέκτους, Θεῷ διὰ, which last word is not to be joined with ἀνενέγκα, but with εὐπροσδέκτους in the sense of taking through, through the mediation of Christ, that is, through His goodness, power, advocacy and merits, cf. Ephesians 1:6. [But, on the other hand, joining διὰ κ.τ.λ. with ἀνενέγκα is supported by the analogy of Hebrews 13:15; and preferred by Grotius, Aret., de Wette, Huther, Wiesinger and Alford, who consider the former construction inadequate to the weighty character of the words, and would seem to put them in the wrong place, seeing that not merely the acceptability, but the very existence and possibility of offering of those sacrifices, depends on the mediation of the great High Priest.—M.]

1 Peter 2:6. Because also it is contained in Scripture.—The Apostle again returns to the figure of the living stone, and supports it by a free and somewhat abbreviated quotation from Isaiah 28:16.—περιέχει for περιέχεται as some verbs are used both in a reflexive and a passive sense. Winer, p. 267, 2d Eng. edition. Steiger adduces a passage from Josephus.

ἀκρογωνιαῖος λίθον, a corner-stone of the foundation which unites two walls. Similarly Christ also is the connecting link of the Old and New Testaments, of Jews and Gentiles; ἐκλεκτόν see 1 Peter 2:4. In the prophetical passage, the primary reference appears to be to a king of the house of David, but the Spirit points to the Messiah, according to the all but unanimous opinion of ancient commentators; the New Testament also renders that opinion necessary. Isaiah 8:14, describes Jehovah Himself as a stone of stumbling to those who do not let Him be their fear; and at Matthew 21:42, our Lord applies to Himself the words of Psalms 118:22. ἐκλεκτόν, ἔντιμον is repeated by the Apostle in order to show how precious and valuable this corner-stone is to him.

ὁ πιστεύων; the idea of confiding predominates here; hence the preposition ἐπί instead of εἰς or ἐν. In Hebrew הֶאֱמִין to build on something, to stand fast. The passage Isaiah 28:16, reads, “he that believeth shall not make haste,” (i. e., fly like a coward who throws away his arms.) Peter expresses a more general sense, he shall not be ashamed; his hopes shall not make him ashamed. “The precious corner-stone assures an eternal state of grace and salvation.” Roos. It was laid at the incarnation, and especially at the resurrection of Jesus.

1 Peter 2:7. To you then, who believe, is the honour, etc.—The sense of ἡ τιμή is determined by the antithesis to the preceding καταισχυνθῇ, and at the same time refers back to ἔντιμος, while the part of unbelievers is nothing but shame, faith is to you honour and glory, cf. 1Pe 1:7; 1 Peter 2:9. This dignity is farther enlarged upon at 1 Peter 2:9 but the relation of unbelievers to Christ has first to be discussed.

ἀπειθεῖν relates as much to promises and facts as to precepts, cf. Hebrews 3:18-19; Hebrews 4:2-3; Hebrews 4:6; John 3:36; Acts 14:2; Acts 17:5; Romans 2:8; Romans 10:21; Romans 11:30; the contrast in this place gives prominence to the former relation.

λίθον, literally taken from the LXX. version of Psalms 118:22. Here also λίθος is in the Accusative. This case may have been retained with reference to τίθημι in 1 Peter 2:6. (Lachmann reads λίθος.)

οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, the chiefs, the dignitaries of the Jewish state are the builders, who tear up the foundation. “Whenever we see the dignitaries rise against Christ, we will call to mind the prediction of David, that the stone is rejected by the builders.” Calvin, cf. Romans 11:8; 1Th 2:15-16; 1 Corinthians 1:23.—οὑτος, emphatically just this one and no other.

εἰς expresses the destination and development towards the foundation-stone. Since His resurrection, He stands as the rock supporting His Church, but as a stone of stumbling and rock of offence to unbelievers, according to Isaiah 8:14.

1 Peter 2:8. A stone of stumbling—who stumble.—πρόσκομμα, a collision producing hurt or injury, נֶגֶף.—σκάνδαλον, properly the catch in the trap, holding the bait, then the trap itself; figuratively, whatever causes to fall, seduces and involves men in sin and calamity. The running and stumbling against a thing is followed by falling. Ruin as the consequence of unbelief stands in contrast with the honour in store for believers, cf. Luke 2:34; Luke 20:17; Matthew 21:42-44; Romans 9:32. The meaning is more than mere subjective taking offence and being vexed, as the sequel shows, not=ἀπειθεῖν.—οἱ προσκόπτουσιν, relates to ἀπειθοῦντες, who stumble while and because they do not believe the word.—προσκόπτουσιν must not be joined with λόγῳ, for it has already its object—i. e., Christ. Grotius erroneously confines himself to the temporal punishment of the Jews, whereas the reference is plain to whatever misery and ruin follows the rejection of Christ.

Whereunto they were also appointed.—εἰς ὃ καὶ ἐτέθησαν relates to the foregoing principal verb, to προσκόπτειν. Grotius rightly: “Unbelievers are appointed for this very thing that they stumble, endure the most grievous punishment for their unbelief.” τίθημι applied to the temporal acts of God, not to His eternal decrees and ordinances, cf. John 15:16; Acts 20:28; 1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11; 2 Peter 2:6; Psalms 66:9 in LXX.; 1 Thessalonians 5:9. It denotes placing, setting in a definite situation, in certain circumstances, which often carry great dangers along with great disadvantages. Roos observes: “Had those unbelievers died in infancy, or had they been born deaf, or among ignorant heathen, they could not thus stumble. Had Caiaphas, Judas Iscariot and others been born several centuries sooner, they could not have so wofully sinned against the Son of God. Man is not wronged in being thus set among inestimable benefits and awful dangers; he is only to seize the benefits, to believe the word; if he is unwilling to do so, his condemnation is perfectly just.” Having once voluntarily surrendered themselves to unbelief, their stumbling is neither accidental nor optional, but it contains besides the natural connection also a Divine and inevitable arrangement: “He that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption,” Galatians 6:8. Yea, God punishes sin with sin, unbelief with unbelief, if men wantonly repel grace and love darkness more than light. With this explanation we reject the expositions of the Calvinists, e. g., that of Aretius; “Satan and their native evil have set them not to believe,” and that of Beza: “That some are rejected not because of their foreseen sins, but because of the good pleasure of the Divine will.” Cf. on the other hand, Romans 10:11-18; Rom 16:26; 1 Timothy 2:4; Titus 2:11. The artificial exposition of Cornelius a Lapide is equally inadmissible, “They also were set (positi) to believe in Christ, but they refuse faith, just because they will not believe.” The parallelism, already noticed by Gerhard, ought not to be passed over, that God sets (appoints) Christ as the foundation and corner-stone of the τιμή for believers; while unbelievers are set (appointed) to stumble at this corner-stone, which is to them a stone of stumbling, vide Weiss.

1 Peter 2:9. But ye are a…people for acquisition.—With reference to 1 Peter 2:5, the Apostle describes the glory of the Christian state as contrasted with the lot of unbelievers, both because of their guilt and in accordance with the Divine appointment. The first and last of the predicates used are taken from Isaiah 43:20, in LXX.; the others refer to Exodus 19:6. γένος, denotes a whole united by natural relationship, community of origin among several parts of a people. Applied to the Christian Church, it signifies the totality of those begotten of the same incorruptible seed, and having one Spiritual Father, 1Pe 1:3; 1 Peter 1:23; 1 John 5:1.

ἐκλεκτόν, similar to the Jewish Church of the posterity of Abraham and Jacob, the Christian Church is a company chosen out of the great mass of humanity, destined to salvation and glory and resting on a foundation stone which is also ἐκλεκτός, 1 Peter 2:4. They constitute a royal priesthood just because they belong to the one family of the children of the great God. The Hebrew has “a kingdom of priests,” wherein God the King governs and animates all things. The priestly character is, however, the leading idea. You all may freely draw near to God, sacrificing, praying, and blessing, cf. Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:10. But because you have community of life with Him, and should be the image of Him who rules at the right hand of the Majesty, 1 Peter 3:22, you enjoy in Him also the prerogatives of royalty and government. Even now you must no longer serve the world, with Christ you may overcome the flesh, the world and the devil; your position as rulers will hereafter become more manifest to yourselves and to the world. In you shall be completely fulfilled what in the faithful of Israel could be realized only in feeble beginnings. Cf. Isaiah 61:6; Psalms 148:14. Grotius quotes the saying of Cicero that it is a royal thing to be the servant of no passion.

ἔθνος ἅγιον. As Israel was, among the many nations of the world, separated and consecrated to God, Exodus 19:6; Deuteronomy 7:6, so are you in a much higher sense a holy congregation in the midst of this sin-stained world, you are cleansed by the blood of Christ, sanctified by the Spirit of God, 1 Peter 1:2, and bidden to strive indefatigably for holiness by renouncing the world and growing in brotherly love, 1 Peter 1:22.

λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν=עַם םְגֻלָּה, a people acquired for possession, is the last title of honour, Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 7:6; Malachi 3:17. Titus 2:14; Isaiah 43:21. ὤν may be understood. λαός as exposed to ἔθνος may be designed to give prominence to the ideas of subordination to the King and of classification according to office and station, while ἔθνος suggests the idea of external relations and national habits. Some take περιποίησις actively for acquiring, as in 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; Hebrews 10:39, in the sense of the people destined, to acquire the glorious inheritance of God; but the reference to the Old Testament and the absence of an object in the passage under notice, which elsewhere uniformly accompanies it, forbids such an interpretation. As God had acquired the people of Israel by taking them from the Egyptian house of bondage, so He has acquired the Church of the New Testament by the blood of his Son.—Following Isaiah 43:20, the Apostle next specifies the end for which God did choose them as His own and accord to them such high immunities, not that they should seek therein their own glory, but that they should glorify God. Cf. Matthew 5:16. The construction is similar to that of ἀνενέγκαι in 1 Peter 2:5.

That ye should publish, etc.—ἐξαγγείλητε=to publish forth, to tell out, to give wide-spread publicity to what takes place within, cf. Titus 2:14; Ephesians 2:10. This must take place by word and deed, not only by called teachers but by the entire community of believers.

The virtues.—ἀρετή, although of frequent use in the writings of the Greek philosophers, occurs in the New Testament, besides this passage, only in Philippians 4:8; 2Pe 1:3; 2 Peter 1:5. The word used in the parallel passage of the Old Testament is תְהִלָּתִי, my praise, cf. Isaiah 48:8; Isaiah 48:12 in LXX. The ἀρεταί of God are, as Gerhard rightly explains, those attributes of God which shine forth from the work of our free calling and the whole contrivance of our salvation. The connection suggests more particularly His Omnipotence which removes every obstacle, and His mercy which condescends to the most degraded slave of sin. The last attribute, in particular, was expressed in the appearing of Christ. Believing congregations should be both the trumpets and mirrors thereof.

καλεῖν, elsewhere applied to the call of the Apostolate, Matthew 4:21; Mark 1:19; Romans 1:1; Galatians 1:15; 1 Corinthians 1:1; then to invitations to enter into the kingdom of God, Luke 5:32; 1 Corinthians 1:9; Revelation 19:9; Matthew 22:14; Matthew 9:13; Luke 14:24; Luke 5:32; Romans 8:30; Romans 9:12; Romans 9:24; 1 Corinthians 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; that is, the kingdom of grace and glory. 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 1 Timothy 6:12; Hebrews 9:15; 1 Peter 5:10. This invitation is mostly effected by the preaching of the Gospel, but sometimes also by God addressing men personally and calling them by their names, Genesis 12:1; Exodus 31:2; Isaiah 13:3; Acts 9:4, and by the efficient working of His Spirit in their hearts. God the Father, the God of all grace is here, as elsewhere, He who calls, 1 Corinthians 1:9; Galatians 1:15; 1 Peter 5:10. He thus realizes in time (in this present life) the antetemporal (the eternal) act of election.

The darkness is, according to Flacius, the kingdom of darkness and that most sad condition which belongs to all men before they come to Christ. It comprises both ignorance of God and the greatest unrighteousness, the slavery of Satan, and lastly, all kinds of punishment, the curse and wrath of God, and, we may add, the anxious unrest and torment of conscience. This figure being applied to the Jews in the Old Testament, Psalms 107:10; Isaiah 9:2, affords no clue, that Peter was addressing former pagans. Opposed to darkness is the wonderful light of God, who Himself is Light as to His Being. It translates believers into His holy and blessed communion of light; their understanding is therein enlightened, their will sanctified and their conscience filled with peace. It is a wonderful Light as to origin, nature and effect, since it makes of sinners the children of God. “It discovers wonderful things and cannot be seen by the worldly-minded.” Roos. “It is wonderful, just as to one coming out of long darkness the light of day would be wonderful.” de Wette.

1 Peter 2:10. Which in time past—but now compassionated.—The remembrance of what they had once been, must deepen the sense of gratitude on the part of the readers of the Epistle. Peter cites freely Hosea 2:23, where, of the people in their then condition, it is said that they were not the people of God, but that in the days of Messiah, God would say unto them, “Thou art my people.” The passage in Hosea manifestly refers to Israel. The prophecy met its fulfilment whenever a Jewish congregation joined Christianity. If the meaning were the substitution of a new Christian people, a people either composed of Jews and Gentiles, or mainly and by way of preference of Gentiles—for the people of Israel—those promises would either still remain unfulfilled, or be fulfilled in a way that needed, after the manner of Paul, to be more clearly defined and substantiated. Οὐ λαός not only no people of God but the very opposite. Ἐλεηθέν τες. “The Aorist denotes the historical fact, the act of Divine compassion to have really taken place.” Steiger.—οὐκ ἠλεημένοι, a long time before they had, under the Divine judgments, been given over to sin and its fruit of corruption.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. It would be erroneous to represent the nature of regeneration as a state out of which whatever is good is spontaneously flowing, as water flows from a strong fountain; the new man needs constant growth in all his powers. The light of his knowledge must deepen and increase; his will must become more firm and decided; he must grow in love, hope, patience and all other virtues, Hebrews 6:1; Ephesians 4:15; 1Th 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:10; Philippians 3:12. This necessitates exhortation on the part of others, and the regenerate must (of course in the spirit of the Gospel, for the flesh is ever warring against the spirit) coerce himself to do good. “A Christian is in process of being, not already completed. Consequently, a Christian is not a Christian, that is, one who thinks that he is already a Christian, whereas he is to become one, is nothing. For we strive to get to heaven, but are not yet in heaven.” Luther.

2. Christianity is not satisfied with partial and superficial improvements; it demands inflexible severity toward the old man, and insists upon it that impurity in every shape and form shall be exposed and struggled with, 1 Peter 2:1.—The progress of the Christian life corresponds every way to its beginning. He that in a first repentance has been awakened from spiritual sleep, must every day rise anew from sleep; he that has put on Christ in faith, must daily put Him on more thoroughly. This is necessary because the old man exists alongside the new, although the dominion of the former be broken.

3. The means whereby the new man is nourished and furthered is none other than that to which he owes his existence. He must grow out of (ἐκ) God, His spirit, and His word. It is a most dangerous opinion for any to hold that he has inwardly appropriated so much of the Divine word as to be able to dispense with the outward word. He that despises this may soon be punished by God, in that He will so effectually deprive him of His light and strength as to induce him to regard as Divine revelations his own vain imaginings and foolish dreams.—Wiesinger says: “The Christian may measure his love of God by his love of the word of God; it is his personal experience of the love of God that draws him to the word, and what he seeks is an ever-increasing, ever-deepening experience of the χρηστότης of the Lord. Inquiry led by such an impulse of personal communion with the Lord contains within itself its own rule and corrective, a power which gathers together into one centre of life all the varying phases of the Scriptures, and guards them from being shattered and alienated.”

4. A spiritual house, a temple, must also have a priestly people, 1 Peter 2:4. The priestly consecration of the New Testament consists in that we seize by the self-surrender of true faith the true sin-offering and atonement made on Golgotha, and offered and presented to us in the means of grace. First comes the sin-offering, then the burnt-offering, then the thank-offering; hence none can live in the service and to the praise of God unless he first have seized, by the true burnt-offering of faith, the true sin-offering of Christ, and unless his whole life become (working outwardly from within) one whole thank-offering, one whole and undivided act of worship. The real burnt-offering is thenceforth repentance and faith, wherein man dies daily with the right sin-offering of Christ, and daily revives, and suffers himself and his whole life to be possessed of God, by being refined, purified and consumed in the fire of the Holy Ghost.” Kliefoth. The general priesthood of Christians applies only to converted, believing and living Christians, and implies that there is no class or state of Christians privileged with exclusive mediation of salvation. Luther has powerfully brought out this doctrine in connection with justification, and Spener propounded it anew. But God has likewise instituted for the church an office for the administration of the means of grace, a clearly defined service to be committed to certain persons, which is evident from 2 Corinthians 3:11; Ephesians 4:11; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Matthew 28:19-20; James 3:1; 1 Corinthians 14:5.

5. The Divine pleasure rests on the spiritual sacrifices of the priests of the New Testament, only for the sake of Christ; where this truth is sincerely held, neither self-righteousness, nor despondency, its twin sister, can maintain their ground.

6. The nature of Christ reflects itself in believers. They are, 1 Peter 2:5, stones, temples, priests. Every stone is, as it were, a temple by itself; many houses of God constitute the One Church of Christ.

7. Holy Scripture is silent concerning the predestination of individuals to unbelief, sin and damnation, although it teaches that God has (temporally) concluded all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all, Romans 11:32.

8. With the Reformers, we should draw the true idea of the Christian Church from 1 Peter 2:9, although it applies only to a small fraction of the degenerate Christendom of the present. The ungodly are only in appearance and name, not in truth and in deed, members of the Church.

9. We learn from 1 Peter 2:9 that there is no antithesis between the New Testament and the Old, provided the latter be treated according to its kernel and substance; Peter comprises both as a unit, but at the same time gives uniform prominence to the spirituality and intrinsicality of Christianity, and specifies a spiritual house, spiritual sacrifices and living stones; so that the Old Testament is represented by him as the Divinely appointed threshold and porch of the New. The province of bringing out the contrast between the Old Testament and the New was left to St. Paul.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1 Peter 2:1. Which are the things that kill brotherly love and ought therefore earnestly to be fought against and laid aside?—Growth in Christian perfection: (a) its soil; (b) its necessity; (c) its means.—Love of the Divinely given means of grace both the mark and task of the new man.—The foundation, on which all Christian exhortations are resting.—The true Church is the mother, nourishing her children with the pure milk of the Divine word.—Jesus, the sinner’s cordial and delight in life, suffering and dying.—Christ, the living stone, ever living and animating His people.—Christians are living stones in the building of the kingdom of God: 1. What does it mean? 2 What is necessary to it? 3. What advantage does it bring?—The Christian state a holy priesthood: 1. Its dignity; 2. Its duties.—The two-fold destination of the Church’s corner-stone.—Of the vessels of wrath set (prepared) for condemnation.—The chosen generation of the children of God: 1. Their election; 2. Their destination.—Only God’s people is a people indeed.

Starke:—The punishment of sin is affected by regeneration, for this must supply us with the ability to avoid evil.—He that betrays attachment to some one darling sin to which natural naughtiness, habit, or manner of life render him peculiarly liable, gives proof that he is not yet in earnest as to his sanctification.—Sin is an arch-deceiver; let every man take care not to be deceived, and not to regard evil and harmful as good and harmless.—The longer and the more we partake of the sweet milk of the Gospel, the more do we increase in the spirit.—Faith gives us some taste of the grace, mercy and loving-kindness of God, Psalms 34:9.—He that tastes the goodness of God must show it in loving converse with his neighbour.—Well built on Christ; who can destroy this temple? Matthew 16:18. In this temple offer diligently the incense of your prayer and sacrifice.—Good works are well pleasing to God, not because of their perfection, but because of Christ the Beloved, for they are wrought in God, John 3:21.—Consider the cause and the order of salvation; Christ is the cause, faith the order; both must go together or salvation is impossible, John 3:36.—Those who reject Christ lose their life, but do neither hurt Him nor His Gospel any more than a well-secured corner-stone can be hurt by those who stumble at it.—The great glory of believers:—they have consolation and joy in life and death.—The unconverted are abominable to God, the converted precious and acceptable.

Lisco:—Sincere repentance: (a) its nature; (b) its motive.—The blessed communion with Christ Jesus.—The exalted dignity of the Christian Church.—The Christian’s life of faith.—The eternally immovable foundation of the kingdom of heaven.—Christ stands in a contrasted relation to man.—The Apostle’s exhortation that we should build up ourselves.

Leighton:

1 Peter 2:21; 1 Peter 2:2. The apostle requires these two things: 1. The innocency of children; 2. The appetite of children.—Epictetus says: “Every thing hath two handles.” The art of taking things by the better side, which charity always doth, would save much of those janglings and heart-burnings that so abound in the world.—There is none comes to the school of Christ, suiting the philosopher’s word, ut fabula rasa, as blank paper to receive His doctrine, but, on the contrary, all scribbled and blurred with such base habits as these—malice, hypocrisy, envy, etc.—These two are necessary conditions of good nourishment: 1. That the food be good and wholesome; 2. That the inward constitution of them that use it be so, too.—Iisdem alimur ex quibus constamus.—Pure and unmixed, as milk drawn immediately from the breast; the pure word of God without the mixture, not only of error, but of all other composition of vain, unprofitable subjects or affected human eloquence, such as become not the majesty and gravity of God’s word, 1 Peter 4:11.—“Desire the sincere milk”: 1. It should be natural; 2. earnest; 3. constant.

1 Peter 2:3. The free grace of God was given to be tasted in the promises, before the coming of Christ in the flesh, but being accomplished in His coming, then was the sweetness of grace made more sensible; then was it more fully broached and let out to the elect world, when He was pierced on the cross and His blood poured forth for our redemption. Through those holes of his wounds may we draw and taste that the Lord is gracious, says St. Augustin.—“If ye have tasted.” There must be, 1. a firm believing the truth of the promises wherein the free grace of God is expressed and exhibited to us; 2. a particular application or attraction of that grace to ourselves, which is as the drawing those breasts of consolation, Isaiah 66:11, namely, the promises contained in both Testaments; 3. there is a sense of the sweetness of that peace being applied or drawn into the soul, and that is properly this taste.

1 Peter 2:4-5; 1 Peter 2:1. The nature of the building: It is a spiritual building; having this privilege that it is tota in toto et tota in qualibet parte. The Hebrew for the word for palace and temple is one. 2. The materials of it. 3. The structure or way of building it.—First coming and then built up.—As these stones are built on Christ by faith, so they are cemented one to another by love.—“A holy priesthood”: 1. The office; 2. The service of that office; 3. The success of that service.—[Apparent paradox: God claims the heart whole and yet broken.—M.]

1 Peter 2:6. In these words are five things: 1. This foundation stone; 2. The laying of it; 3. The building on it; 4. The firmness of this building; 5. The greatness and excellence of the whole work.—What Seneca says of wisdom is true of faith: “Puto multos potuisse ad sapientiam pervenire, nisi putassent se jam pervenisse.”

1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 2:1. The estate of Christians; 2. Its opposition to the state of unbelievers; 3. The end of it. ‘Generation’: They are of one nation, belonging to the same blessed land of promise, all citizens of the new Jerusalem, yea, all children of the same family, whereof Jesus Christ, the root of Jesse, is the stock, who is the great king and the great High-priest, and thus they are a royal priesthood.—They resemble in their spiritual state the Levitical priesthood: 1. In their consecration: (a) they were washed, cf. Revelation 1:5; (b) The washing was accompanied by sacrifice [Christ’s blood was shed in sacrifice]; (c) They were anointed [Christians are anointed with the gifts of the Spirit]; (d) They were clothed in pure garments, Psalms 132:9; (e) They had offerings put into their hands. 2. In their services: (a) They had charge of the sanctuary [Christians have charge of their hearts]; (b) They were to bless the people [the prayers of Christians convey blessings to the world]. 3. In their course of life: [The life of Christians is regulated by a code of holy laws.—M.]

[Baxter:

1 Peter 2:2. Alas what a multitude of dwarfs has Christ, that are but like infants, though they have numbered ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, or even sixty years of spiritual life.—M.]

[John Glas:

1 Peter 2:9. “There is now no more any place on earth where the whole Church assembles for worship; but they all assemble in the heavenly Jerusalem, where Jesus is, the antitype of that on earth, in which the Church of Israel assembled, and toward which they worshipped from all corners of the land. Here they on earth have their conversation, Philippians 3:20; and unto that place the tribes of God go up now worshipping God, all serving in newness of the Spirit; and there are no worshippers now but spiritual worshippers. Thus there is an end put to all controversies about earthly holy places and temples of God made with hands.”—M.]

[1 Peter 2:2. The early Christians administered milk and honey, which was the ordinary food of infants, to such as were newly received into the Church; showing them by this sign that by their baptism they were born again, and bound to manifest the simplicity and innocence of infants in their life and conversation.—M.]

[Mosheim:

1 Peter 2:8. “The stone of stumbling and rock of offence,” as the prophet affirms, is the Lord of Hosts Himself; but this “stone of stumbling and rock of offence,” as asserted by the Apostle, is no other than Christ, the same stone which the builders refused. Therefore Christ is the Lord of Hosts Himself. If the Scripture, thus compared with itself, be drawn up into an argument, the conclusion may indeed be denied, and so may the whole Bible, but it cannot be answered.”—M.]

[Jones of Nayland:—“Whereunto they were also appointed.” Not appointed to be disobedient, but appointed, since they would be disobedient, to take their own course and the consequences of it; to stumble and fall at difficulties, of which they would easily have seen the proper solution, and so got over them unhurt, had they but modestly begged, and dutifully followed, the Divine illumination.”—M.]

[Abp. Secker:—Query: “What is the origin of the metaphor ‘living stones’, as applied to Christians?”—M.]

[Clarke suggests a common Hebrew root בָּנָה to build of בֵּן a son, בַּת a daughter, בֵּיח a house and אֶבֶן a stone. A house (בִּית) is built of stones (אַבָנִים), a house or family, also called בֵּית consists of sons (בָּנִים) and daughters (בָּנוֹת). The house of God is the Church which rests on Christ, the Living Stone, and Christians are members of Christ, drawing their life from Him and resting on Him, and therefore living stones.—M.].

Footnotes:

1 Peter 2:1; 1 Peter 2:1. [ καταλαλίας = slanderings, so German; backbiting; Wiclif, Tyndale, Cranmer, Geneva; detractions, Reims.—M.]

[2] 1 Peter 2:1. [ἐπιποθήσατε = long, yearn for, so German; covet, Wiclif.—M.]

[Cod. Sin. *πᾶσαν καταλαλίαν.—M.]

[3] 1 Peter 2:2. [λογικὸν ἄδολον γάλα = spiritual (Alford) guileless milk. Many important MSS. add after αὐξηθῆτε, εἰς σωτηρίαν.—M.]

[Cod. Sin. αὐξη. θ. εἰς σωτηρίαν—M.]

1 Peter 2:3; 1 Peter 2:3. [εἴπερ=if, otherwise, German; if, that is, Alford.—M.]

[5] 1 Peter 2:3. [χρηστὸς=good, Geneva; sweet, Wiclif, Reims, Vulgate; pleasant, Tyndale.—M.]

[Cod. Sin. *εἰ—M.]

1 Peter 2:4; 1 Peter 2:4. [προσερχόμενοι=nighing, Wiclif; approaching, Reims, Germ.—M.]

1 Peter 2:4; 1 Peter 2:4. [παρὰ Θεῷ=with God, i. e., before God.—M.]

1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:5. [οἰκοδομεῖσθε, Imper.=be ye built up.—M.]

1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:5. [λίθοι ζῶντͅες=living stones.—M.]

[10] 1 Peter 2:5. [διὰ=through, Germ.—M.]

[Cod. Sin. ἐποικοδ.—πνεύματος (**πνευματικ.)—ισ—Θεῷ without Article.—M.]

1 Peter 2:6; 1 Peter 2:6. [διότι=for the which cause, Reims; because, Alford.—M.]

[12] 1 Peter 2:6. [καταισχυνθῇ=ashamed, Germ., Tyndale, Geneva.—M.]

[Cod. Sin. ἐν γρ.—*ἐπ̓ αὐτόν.—M.]

[13] 1 Peter 2:7. [To you, then, who believe, is the honour,—so, substantially, Wiclif, Reims, Vulgate, Germ., Alford. See note below.—M.]

[Cod. Sin. *ἡμῖν—ἀπιστοῦσιν—**λιθοσ.—M.]

[14] 1 Peter 2:8. [And a stone of stumbling and rock of offence,—at which they stumble, Germ.—who stumble, Alford—being disobedient to the word, de Wette, Alford; who believe not on the word, Germ. At any rate ἀπειθοῦντες not προςκόπτουσι belongs to τῷ λόγῳ.—M.]

[Cod. Sin. **οἱ καὶ προσκόπτ.—M.]

1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 2:9. [λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν=a people for acquisition; of purchasing, Wiclif; of purchase, Reims; acquisitionis, Vulgate.—M.]

1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 2:9. [ἐξαγγείλητε=publish, literally, tell out; Alford.—M.]

1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 2:9. [τὰς =the virtues, Luther, Vulgate; the perfection, Kistemaker.—M.]

1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 2:9. [εἰς=to, unto, rather than into, German.—M.]

1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 2:9. [Θαυμαστὸν=wonderful, German.—M.]

1 Peter 2:10; 1 Peter 2:10. [No people, German.—M.]

1 Peter 2:10; 1 Peter 2:10. [Uncompassionated—compassionated, Alford.—οὐκ marks contrariety, unpitied and pitied.—M.]

1 Peter 2:10; 1 Peter 2:10. [Uncompassionated—compassionated, Alford.—οὐκ marks contrariety, unpitied and pitied.—M.]