Marvelous (2298) (thaumastos from thaumazo = to marvel, to wonder at) describes that which causes one to marvel.
Synonyms include wonderful (that which excites the feeling of wonder), extraordinary (very unusual or remarkable, outside the normal course of events, going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary), astonishing.
Marvelous speaks of the highest kind or quality (splendid), of that which is notably superior or of that which causes or excites great wonder or surprise.
Thaumastos is used to describe God and/or things relating to God and thus which are beyond human comprehension (See some of the representative uses in the Lxx below)
Thaumastos refers to what is unexpected and worthy of notice the amazing thing
pertaining to being a cause of wonder or worthy of amazement, wonderful, marvelous, remarkable
Thaumastos is used 6 times in the NT
Matthew 21:42 Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone; This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes '?
Mark 12:11 This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes?
John 9:30 The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.
1 Peter 2:9 (note) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light
Revelation 15:1 (note) And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.
Revelation 15:3 (note) And they sang the song of Moses the bond-servant of God and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the nations.
Thaumastos is used 26 times in the Septuagint (LXX) (Ex 15:11; 34:10; 9" class="scriptRef">Deut. 28:58-59; Joshua 3:5; Jdg 13:18; Est. 5:2; Job 42:3; Ps. 8:1, 9; 42:4; 65:4; 68:35; 93:4; 98:1; 106:22; 118:23; 119:129; Pr 6:30; Isa. 3:3; 25:1; Dan. 8:24; 9:4; 12:6; Amos 3:9; Mic. 7:15)
Exodus 15:11 "Who is like Thee among the gods, O LORD? Who is like Thee, majestic in holiness, Awesome (Hebrew = yare' = fearful, dreadful; Lxx = thaumastos) in praises, working wonders?
Deuteronomy 28:58 "If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome (Hebrew = yare' = fearful, dreadful; Lxx = thaumastos) name, the LORD your God,
Joshua 3:5 Then Joshua said to the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders (Hebrew = pala = surpassing, extraordinary, marvellous, wonderful; Lxx = thaumastos) among you."
Psalm 68:35 O God, Thou art awesome (Hebrew = yare' = fearful, dreadful; Lxx = thaumastos) from Thy sanctuary. The God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to the people. Blessed be God! (Spurgeon's Comment)
Psalm 98:1 A Psalm. O Sing to the LORD a new song, For He has done wonderful (Hebrew = pala = surpassing, extraordinary, marvellous, wonderful; Lxx = thaumastos) things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him. (Spurgeon's Comment)
Psalm 118:23 This is the LORD's doing; It is marvelous (Hebrew = pala = surpassing, extraordinary, marvellous, wonderful; Lxx = thaumastos) in our eyes. (Spurgeon's Comment)
In his pithy introductory remarks in his sermon Marvellous Light, Spurgeon says that...
Everything about a true Christian is marvelous. He is a marvel to himself, and a marvel to all who are round about him. Mere professors-men-made Christians-people who have made themselves Christians by their own free will apart from the Spirit of God, have nothing marvelous about them. You can make professors of that sort by the score, and you can see them dissolve by the score, for what man made, man can unmake, and what is merely natural has its season, like the leaves on the trees; and, by-and-by, it withers away because its time to fade has come.
But a true Christian is a God-made man, a twice-born man; and he is a partaker of the divine nature. He is a mass of marvels, for he is dead, and yet he is alive; he is one who lives here, and yet his life has gone away up yonder; he is one who is a citizen of earth, and yet his citizenship is in heaven. He is a true man, but he is more than a man, for God has lifted him up above the level of other men, given him a life which other men do not possess, revealed to him secrets which others do not know, and prepared for him a place into which the ungodly can never enter. The longer he looks at himself, the more he wonders at God’s grace, and at what God’s grace has done, is doing, and will yet do for him.
He is a riddle to himself,-an enigma made up of a thousand enigmas. Probably, he does not fully understand all that has happened in any single day of his life, and there are certain days in which God’s dealings with him quite stagger him; and though faith seeth all things to be plain, yet, to mere human reason, things often appear to be in a snarl, and intertwisted, and he knows not what to make of them.
Everything about a true Christian is marvelous, as angels know, who often desire to look into the things which concern them., and as he knows who is our Leader and Commander,-who was a Man wondered at, and whose faithful followers are all wondered at still He himself is the greatest marvel of all; and among the many marvels that surround him is the marvelous light in which he dwells. Those of us, who are now in Christ, lived at. one time in the gross darkness of ignorance. I mean even those of us who were brought up in Christian families, and knew the letter of the gospel well. We did not know its inner meaning, and we never felt its power. We were in darkness; though, indeed, there was a certain measure of light which had come to us, which made us responsible for our wrongdoing; yet, still, our heart remained in gross darkness.
And, by-and-by, this darkness was attended with much misery. There came to us a little light, just sufficient to make our darkness visible; so that we perceived the darkness in which we dwelt, and we began to sigh and cry, like prisoners shut up in an underground dungeon, to whom light and fresh air cannot come. Then everything about us seemed to blacken, and the gloom around us deepened. We were in the dark as to our apprehensions of the future. We knew that we must die, yet we feared to die. We clung to life; yet, sometimes, we did not desire even life itself, but said, with Job, “My soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.” The prospect of annihilation would have seemed almost like heaven to us, if we could, thereby, have got rid of our sinful, sorrowful being, clouded with apprehensions of the wrath of God, and of judgments yet to come upon us. I know that I am talking about something, which many of you understand. It was a thick Egyptian night in which you were then enveloped, a darkness that might be felt; and you tried your utmost to escape from it, but you could not, for it was in you. Your soul was in darkness, the light within your spirit was quenched, and all around you seemed to darken, and darken, and darken, as though an eternal midnight were surely descending upon you.
Well, at that time, it happened unto me, and I know that it also happened unto some of you, as it did to Peter, that the angel of the Lord suddenly smote us on our side, and a light shone into our prison-house, and we arose, scarcely knowing what we were doing, but we girded our garments about us, and followed our angelic leader, while the prison gates, which had formerly shut us in, opened before us of their own accord, and we found ourselves to be free, and in broad daylight, too; although, for a time, we. could scarcely realize those blessed facts. We saw what we had never seen before; we enjoyed what we had never even hoped to enjoy. Ay, as in an instant, we possessed what we thought must for ever be denied to us, and we scarcely knew how to contain our joy; but we made our way, as fast as we could, to the house of Christ’s disciples who had prayed for us aforetime. And how we gladdened them as we told them the story of God’s delivering and enlightening grace, and so showed forth the praises of him who had called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Truly, it was marvelous light to us at that time. Many day have passed since then with some of us, but it is marvelous light still; and as we look upon it now, it is not any less marvelous than it was at the very first. It is of that marvelous light that I am going to speak; and as I tell of my own experience of it, I pray God to grant that some of you, who have never known its power in your own souls, may be made to rejoice in it.
Spurgeon then goes on to explain why the God's light is marvelous...
I have already touched upon the first point., of which I want now to speak somewhat more fully; that is, This Light Appears Marvelous Because Of Our Former Darkness. Out of darkness, light comes not. Out of our dark nature no marvelous light ever shone. This light came from above; but how marvelous it was! Imagine, if you can, the condition of a man who has lived all his lifetime in a coal mine. Suppose him never to have had a brighter light than his flickering candle; and then, after a while, to be brought up the shaft, and to see the brightness of the sun at mid-day. I can scarcely picture his amazement; you may fancy what it would be like, but you can hardly realize it. Or suppose a worse case still, that of one born blind, who had heard of a thing called light, but who could never imagine what it was like till a skillful oculist took away the film that was blinding him, and his eye was opened so that he could perceive the light. It would be very difficult to describe all the emotions of one who had never enjoyed the light before; but, certainly, such a person would be full of wonder and amazement. It would be, indeed, marvelous light to him...
Secondly, we perceive that it is marvelous light When We Consider Its Origin. Our text tells us that it is God’s light: “who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” What is God’s light? Can you imagine how that light existed before he made the sun or the moon?...
Thirdly, this is marvelous light, Because Of Its Excellence Over All Other Light, this light, which God gives to his people, is far superior to the light which comes of education, or of meditation, or which can be produced by any human effort....
Fourthly, this is marvelous light Because Of What It Reveals, for that man, who has the light of God shining in his soul sees that which is invisible....
Fifthly, this light is marvelous, Because Of What It Produces. I have already shown you its marvelous character in that it reveals a new world to a man, a world he once despised,-and it makes him value it, and live worthy of it. Thus it produces a great change in that man, for it makes him love the things he once hated, and hate the things he once loved...
Lastly, it is marvelous light, Because It Will Never Go Out. As it is the light of God, the devil cannot blow it out. If all the devils in hell were to try to blow out one single spark that is in a true believer’s heart, they might puff till they died of puffing, but they would never put that spark out. God has lit it, and they cannot quench it...
(I encourage you to read Spurgeon's discussion of each of these four points in Marvellous Light - then you will indeed marvel beloved!)
Pastor Steven Cole's Sermon
THE PRIORITIES OF GOD’S PEOPLE
1Peter 2:4-10
Life can be hectic. I thought you might enjoy this story: “It all began when the dental hygienist, who was scraping tartar off my teeth, asked, “Do you spend about four minutes each time you brush your teeth?” With a gurgling tube hanging from my lip, I responded, “A liddle lessth than that.”
“You really should,” she said, “or you will lose your teeth.” I vowed to myself that I would floss, pick, brush and rinse as instructed.
“At my annual physical examination the doctor asked, ”How often do you exercise?” “Do you limit your salt intake?” and “Does your diet contain much cholesterol?” I thus began an intensive fitness program, which I checked off on the daily “Personal Maintenance Schedule” on the refrigerator door. “I then made an appointment for a beauty makeover. “When is the last time you had a facial?” the cosmetologist asked. “Never” didn’t seem like the right answer so I hedged with,
“It’s been a while.”
“You should have a facial more often. You’ve already got some wrinkles around your eyes,” she warned. Mentally I added “Get facial!” to my personal maintenance schedule.
“I soon learned personal maintenance was not all that I had to worry about. At the appliance-repair shop, the clerk examining my coffee maker asked, “Do you run white vinegar through it each month?” This began my “Home Maintenance Schedule,” which took its place next to my personal maintenance schedule.
“Several other appliances, too, began demanding my attention. When I discovered that the tape deck in my car, the VCR and the disk could keep up this rigorous program. I was sleeping four hours a night, had lost touch with my husband and children, and had no social life, not to mention no room left on the refrigerator door.
“It all came crashing down one night when I was reading an article entitled: “Are You Endangering the Lives of Your Loved Ones by Failing to Dust Your Smoke Alarms Regularly?”
“I ran to the refrigerator and tore the schedules to shreds. In their place I have established a policy in which I respond to all questions about my behavior by taking the Fifth Amendment.” (Lynne F. McGee, Reader’s Digest [2/89], p. 198.)
In the rush of modern life, it’s easy to lose sight of our priorities. Under pressure, we tend to focus on the urgent, but not always on the important. So it’s good to be reminded occasionally of our priorities as God’s people.
The believers to whom Peter wrote were under pressure-- probably not from being busy--but pressure from persecution. Scattered as aliens in a pagan world (1Pe 1:1), it would have been easy for them to lose sight of their priorities as God’s people. The pressure easily could have
driven a wedge between the Jewish and Gentile members of the church, leading to church splits. Peter wanted them to see their priorities clearly so that they could fulfill the glorious purpose to which God had called them. Thus he closes this first major section of his letter by showing that our salvation must be lived out by being built upon Christ, in Christian community, with witness to the world: God’s people must keep God central, be built together as His people, and proclaim His excellencies to others. You will hear me emphasize these three priorities often. They sum up the Great Commandment (to love God and neighbor) and the Great Commission (to win and disciple the lost). They help keep us in focus when pressures build.
1. God’s people must keep God central.
Our relationship to God must be at the center of all we do, both individually and corporately. If God is not central, we are off track.
If our devotion for Him is lacking, we’re just playing church. You will recall how the Lord rebuked the church at Ephesus (Rev 2:1-7). They worked hard for the Lord. They had persevered through trials and had not grown weary. They had stood for the truth against some false teachers in their midst. They were doctrinally sound. And yet the Lord said, “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”
Love for Christ must be central! Peter mentions two ways to do this:
A. We keep God central by continually coming to Christ and building upon Him.
“And coming to Him” (1Pe 2:4). Of course we come to Him in salvation when we first put our trust in Him. But that is not what Peter has in mind here. The present tense participle means coming to Christ repeatedly. It does not refer to our conversion, but to our daily communion with Him. We must come to Christ repeatedly and build our lives on Him.
Peter calls Him a “living stone.” That is an oxymoron, a seeming contradiction in terms (like “efficient bureaucracy”). But the dissonance of the term should grab our attention. That Christ is a stone means that He is a solid foundation on which to build our lives. As Peter goes on to state, He is the cornerstone of the church. Just as when you build a house or building, you want to make sure the foundation is solid, since everything else rests on it, so with our lives. Jesus Christ is the only solid foundation for time and eternity. Thus you can put your trust in Him and know that you will not be disappointed or “put to shame” (1:6).
But Christ is not just the stone on which you can build everything in life. He is a living stone. He is living in that He died for our sins, but was raised from the dead, triumphant over sin, death, and hell. He is the author and giver of life, able to impart spiritual life to all who believe in Him. That He is living means that Christianity is not a religion of going through dead rituals. It is a relationship with the living Lord of the universe! We come to Him and commune with Him daily,
building everything in our lives on who He is and on what He has provided for us in His death and resurrection.
Verse 6 (a quote from Isa. 28:16) shows that we build on Christ by believing in Him. To believe in Christ, I must let go of my own works as the means of my salvation. I must not trust in myself or what I do as the way to approach God. Rather, I rest completely on who Christ is and on what He did for me when He died on the cross in my place. Once you’ve trusted Christ as Savior, the entire Christian life is a process of discovering all that He is to you. As Peter puts it (2Pe 1:3), God “has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.” Christ is our sufficiency. As we commune continually with Him by faith, we learn that our primary need in life is to “know Him” (Phil. 3:10). Because I love you I’m going to tell it to you straight: If you are not consistently taking time to come to Christ in personal devotion to build your life on Him as revealed in His Word, then your priorities are wrong. You’re building your life on the sand. If we as a church do not keep God central by continually coming to Christ in all we do, then our priorities are wrong. We’re building a work on the sand. Christ is choice and precious in God’s sight. He must be choice and precious in our sight as well.
B. We keep God central by offering spiritual sacrifices to Him through Christ.
As we come to Christ, we also, “as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1Pe 2:5). This is the central text on the great doctrine of the priesthood of every believer.
There is no such thing as a Christian priesthood of just a few who are ordained to ministry. In the Old Testament, only the priests could draw near to God by offering sacrifices and incense on His altar. Only the High Priest, and that only once a year, could enter the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the people. But now, Christ our High Priest has offered Himself once for all as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. As believer priests, we all have direct access into God’s presence through Christ, our mediator (1Ti 2:5). We need not go through any human priest. We need not bring a bloody sacrifice, since Christ’s offering of Himself once for all is sufficient. But we offer up to God other spiritual sacrifices as priests.
What are these sacrifices? Romans 12:1 tells us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God. This means that everything we do can be done to God’s glory (1Cor. 10:31). In Romans 15:16, Paul says that he was “ministering as a priest the gospel of God, that [his] offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable.” Thus sharing the good news of Christ is a sacrifice we can offer to God. The Philippian church took up a collection and sent it to Paul to meet his needs. He calls their service “an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God” (Phil. 4:18; also Phil 2:17). Hebrews 13:15-16 instructs us, through Christ, to “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
This relates to all you do in your Christian life. Everything you do should be a thank offering to Christ. Do you work with our young people? Help with socials? Help at a church work day? Usher? Call on or take a meal to the sick? Give money? Sing? Pray? Lead a Bible study? Counsel? Whatever you do should be done as a sacrifice to Christ. It ought to be done by asking yourself the question, “Lord, does this please You?” Your motive is not human recognition, but gratitude to the Lord.
Our first priority is to keep God central by continually coming to Christ and by offering spiritual sacrifices to God through Him.
2. We must be built together as His people.
When I do weddings, I usually explain that marriage is like a triangle, with God at the apex and the partners at the other two points. As the partners each grow closer to God, they grow closer to one another. What is true in marriage is also true in the local church. As the members grow closer to God, they grow closer to one another. Our text has a distinctively corporate flavor. Peter wants his readers to see that Christianity is not an individualistic thing, where we each have a relationship with God, but not with each other. We are being built together into a spiritual house or temple in the Lord.
This truth is especially important in our increasingly fragmented, mobile, impersonal society. If you’re like me, you’ve got relatives that you haven’t seen in years. I probably wouldn’t know some of my cousins if I saw them on the street. It’s not uncommon for grown children to move thousands of miles from parents. With the high divorce rate, some children rarely see their own fathers or mothers. Since God made us to be connected with other people, there’s a high felt need for community. God designed the church to meet that need. Much could be said, but I must limit myself to two observations:
A. We are built together to the extent that every believer exercises his priesthood under the headship of Christ.
The church isn’t a building; the church is God’s people. The church may meet in a church building or in homes or outdoors. But Peter pictures God’s people, the church, as a building (or temple) in which each member is a living stone, being fitted and built together upon and by the living corner stone, Jesus Christ. How do you think this church building would look if the builder had left out a few stones here and there? I wouldn’t want to stand under the roof! And God’s church, which is His people, will only be complete and strong as every member fits in and functions in the way that the Builder designs. There ought to be no such thing as a believer just “attending church.” We don’t go to church; we are the church! We must minister one to another in the church.
It’s a mistake to think of ministry in exclusively formal terms: teaching Sunday School or serving on a church committee, etc. These are ministries. But ministry is the overflow of a life that is full of Jesus Christ. If He is central in your life (Priority One), then you will be ministering to people when you have contact with them. Ministry takes place through relationships. Thus we should gather as believer priests, looking to build up one another because Christ is filling our hearts to the brim. Ministry is Christ slopping over from you to me and from me to you.
B. We are built together to the extent that we live in line with our identity as a distinct people.
Note the terms that Peter piles up to paint a corporate identity for his readers as the people of God. All these terms come from the Old Testament: A chosen race (Isa. 43:20); a royal priesthood (Exod. 19:6); a holy nation (Exod. 19:6); a people for God’s possession (Exod. 19:5). In verse 10 Peter draws from Hosea 1:10 & 2:23 to remind his scattered readers that formerly they were not God’s people, but now they are. Formerly they had not received mercy, but now they had. Peter wrote this because his readers were scattered fledgling churches under persecution. To keep from falling apart, they needed to see their identity as God’s people. Since they had come to the Living Stone who, though choice and precious in God’s sight, was rejected by men (2:4), they could expect that they, too, though chosen and precious in God’s sight, would be rejected by men. But in the long run, they would not be put to shame, but rather would share the honor with Christ (1:6b-7a). Thus the way to endure rejection by men is to see our new identity as the chosen people of God. God never intended that we live as Lone Ranger Christians. (Even he had Tonto!) I was in a gathering of Christians from different churches. We were going around the room telling what church we were from. One woman described herself as “a Christian at large.” I thought, “What a violation of biblical truth!” There’s no such thing! We all must be connected with a local church where we are being built together with other believers.
Thus, we must keep God central and be built together as His people. Finally,
3. We must proclaim the excellencies of God to others.
God has called us out of the world as His people so that we can go back into the world and proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (2:9). Gathered as the church, we worship our great God by proclaiming His excellencies to one another and we build up one another. Scattered into the world, we proclaim God’s mercy and light to those who are still in the darkness. It would be great to think that everyone who doesn’t know God would be responsive--just waiting to hear and believe. Some are; but the Bible is clear that we can expect some to reject not only the message, but also us. The temptation is to tone down the message so that people will not reject it (or us). In fact, evangelicals are going out of their way to present an unoffensive Christ to the world. Often Jesus is marketed as a nice, non-judgmental man who wouldn’t upset anyone, who will meet a person’s every need and desire. He makes them feel good about themselves. He helps them to be successful in whatever they choose. I’m not suggesting that we be rude and insensitive in presenting Christ to people. We shouldn’t blast people with God’s judgment. Our Savior was kind to sinners and yet He spoke plainly about sin and judgment. We should always be gracious (Col. 4:6). But having said that, we must remember that the biblical Christ is going to offend many people, for at least two reasons: First, the cross of Christ is offensive (1 Cor. 1:23). The cross humbles human pride. It tells people that their own good works will not get them into heaven. It tells them that they are sinners who have offended a holy God. People don’t like that. Second, Christ’s lordship offends people. Everyone likes the idea of an Aladdin’s genie-Jesus, who will fulfill their desires. But a Christ who is Lord, who confronts sin and demands obedience--that’s another story! If you proclaim Christ crucified and Christ as Lord, some will believe and be saved. But others will reject Him and you. Be prepared!
Note that the dividing line is belief versus unbelief (1Pe 2:7).
Believing or not believing in Jesus Christ separates people into two distinct camps. Believers are joined to God and His people and one day will be exalted with Christ in heaven. Unbelievers who do not repent are in the darkness, headed for God’s judgment. Jesus Christ is the central issue in belief or unbelief. Either He is the corner stone on whom a person puts his faith and builds his life; or, He is a stone of stumbling and rock of offense over which a person falls.
What does Peter mean when he says that unbelievers “stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this they were also appointed” (2:8)? Are some appointed to perish? Peter’s purpose here is to encourage believers under persecution. Thus his point is that the raging of the wicked is under God’s sovereign control, so that believers need not fear (Ps 2:1-6). Those who disobey God will not somehow thwart His eternal purpose. He will someday be glorified in His saving His elect and in justly condemning the reprobate. We are assured that
the wicked will be punished.
And yet, those who are disobedient are responsible for their sin, even if it is in line with God’s predestined plan (Acts 2:23)! But, they need not remain in disobedience and rebellion. God offers them mercy and forgiveness if they will turn to Christ. He has “shut all up in disobedience that He might show mercy to all” (Rom. 11:32). No one has piled up more sin than God’s mercy can cover. Christ’s death is sufficient for the chief of sinners. All may come and receive mercy at the cross.
Conclusion
I would ask each of you to examine your priorities. First and foremost, have you truly believed in Christ as Savior and Lord? Is He and His death on the cross precious to you? If so, is He central in your life? Are you coming continually to Him and building your life on Him? Are you offering your life as a spiritual sacrifice to Him? Second, are you seeking to be built together with His people or do you just attend church? You may need to commit yourself to this local church. Third, are you seeking to proclaim His excellencies to those in darkness, that they, too, may come to know the Savior? Those are our priorities as God’s people who have received His mercy.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What has helped you most to make God central in your daily life?
2. How can a Christian know where he/she is supposed to serve in the church?
3. Why are we more comfortable with “formal” rather than “relational” ministries? How can we change this?
4. Is it wrong to “sell” Jesus to lost people? How confrontational must we be to remain true to the gospel?
(Used by permissions - see Pastor Cole's sermons by Book)
1 Peter 2:10 for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY. (NASB: Lockman)
Greek: hoi pote ou laos nun de laos theou, hoi ouk elehmenoi (RPPMPN) nun de eleethentes. (APPMPN)
Amplified: Once you were not a people [at all], but now you are God's people; once you were unpitied, but now you are pitied and have received mercy (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
Barclay: you, who were once not a people and are now the people of the Lord, you who were once without mercy and have now found mercy. (Westminster Press)
Phillips: In the past you were not "a people" at all: now you are the people of God. In the past you had no experience of his mercy, but now it is intimately yours. (Phillips: Touchstone)
Wuest: who at one time were not a people but now are God’s people; who were not subjects of mercy, but now have become objects of mercy (Eerdmans)
Young's Literal: who were once not a people, and are now the people of God; who had not found kindness, and now have found kindness.
FOR YOU ONCE WERE NOT A PEOPLE: oi pote ou laos:
Spurgeon...
Who were you, and what were your ancestors when the apostle wrote these words Our forefathers were, in Peter’s day, uncivilized and barbarous tribes at the utmost end of Rome’s dominions. We “were not a people,”
Look back to what you were before your conversion. Whenever you are tempted to be proud of your present standing, remember the horrible it and the miry clay out of which sovereign grace alone has plucked you. When you are on the throne, recollect the dungeon from which the grace of God uplifted you. When you are in full possession of your spiritual faculties, and are rejoicing in the Lord, do not forget the time when you lay sick, even unto death, until the Great Physician passed that way, and healed you.
What a great change conversion is! And how great a change conversion Works! HOW wonderful is the effect of regeneration! We had not obtained mercy, but now we have obtained mercy; we were not a people, but now we are the people of God.
How the apostle delights to set forth these contrasts between the past and the present of the Lord’s chosen people! By remembering what we were, we are made to appreciate and enjoy more what we now are. We may well praise him who has wrought this wondrous change in us. We were not his people, we were sinners of the Gentiles, not the chosen Hebrew race. In times past, we were not worthy to be called a people, but we are now the people of God. We had not obtained mercy, we had not even asked for it; some of us were so blinded by our self-righteousness that we did not know what we needed God’s mercy, or did not want it; but now we have obtained mercy.
We may well leap for joy, we who once had not obtained mercy. We sinned against the Lord, but he was long-suffering, and now we have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2 Commentary)
In Hosea we read of God's temporary rejection of Israel for...
"the LORD said, "Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God. (Literally "I will not be ‘I am’ to you") Yet (this judgment on Israel was only temporary for) the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered; and it will come about that, in the place where it is said to them (this will take place at the Second Coming of Christ), "You are not My people," It will be said to them, "You are the sons of the living God." (Hosea 1:9,10)
If Hosea 1:9 were the only verse in the Bible, one would be force to agree with the amillennial teaching that says that God is through dealing with the nation Israel. But Hosea 1:10 makes it very clear that God is not through with Israel. God applies this truth to the Gentiles. So while in Hosea it is Israel who is not God's people; in (see notes Romans 9:25; 9:26) Paul applies Hosea's words to the Gentiles. Here in 1 Peter Hosea's words could apply to either unsaved Jews before they met their Messiah or pagan Gentiles before the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
What an incredible salvation Peter is unfolding. Before we were saved, we live a "futile way of life inherited from our forefathers" (see note 1 Peter 1:18) and without any eternal significance, for as Peter says here we once were absolutely not people (ou laos = literally "absolutely not people"). But once again the Holy Spirit again mercifully inspires one of those great soteriological but now's that takes us from the brink of the pit of utter, eternal destruction to the bright day and delight of those now recognized as citizens of God's glorious kingdom.
To paraphrase Jim Elliot we are just a bunch of nobodies who can now praise and magnify the only One Who is Somebody.
This truth also would have been germane to Peter’s initial addressees, for many of his readers were "second class citizens" in the Roman Empire, but now they had a "citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (see note Philippians 3:20) and this new found citizenship infinitely transcended the Roman citizenship that had been their highest aspiration before the Spirit drew them to salvation.
Directing similar comments to the Gentile believers at Ephesus, Paul explained...
"Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands--remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity." (see notes Ephesians 2:11; 2:12; 2:13; 2:14; 2:15; 2:16)
BUT NOW YOU ARE THE PEOPLE OF GOD: nun de laos theou:
Because of their unfaithfulness to Him, He said He would no longer have pity on them and that they would no more be His people (Hosea 1:6,10). But the casting aside of Israel was not final, for the Lord also promised that in a future day, Israel would be restored in Hosea recording Jehovah's promise that...
I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, and I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they will say, 'Thou art my God!' (Hosea 2:23)
No one should conclude from this passage in Peter that because the church is now God’s people, He is through with Israel as a nation.
Neither should one assume that the church is now the so-called "Israel of God".
Nor should one falsely conclude that the promises made to Israel have been "forfeited" and now apply to the church.
Israel and the church are separate and distinct entities, and an understanding of this distinction is one of the most important keys to accurately interpret prophecy.
Israel was God’s chosen earthly people from the time of the call of Abraham (Ge12:1) to the coming of the Messiah. The nation’s rebellion and faithlessness reached its awesome climax when Christ was nailed to the cross. Because of this crowning sin, God temporarily set aside Israel as described for example in Hosea. And so during the present age, God has a people represented by the true believing church, the body of Christ. The Church age forms a "parenthesis" in God’s dealings with Israel (as shown from study of Hosea 2:23 where church is not described - see study of Daniel's Seventieth Week). Most conservative commentators feel the church age will culminate with the rapture of the Church, at which time God finalizes His dealings with Israel during the seven year period known as Daniel's Seventieth Week. The last three and one-half year of this seven years Jesus referred to as "the Great Tribulation" ("then [when antichrist is revealed - see Matthew 24:15] there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall." Matthew 24:21 ) or as described in the OT, as the time of "Jacob's distress" ("'Alas! for that day is great. There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob's distress, But he will be saved from it" Jeremiah 30:7). Then one-third of Israel (alive at that time and who put their faith in Messiah) will become God’s people again and enter into the Messianic Age, the Millennial reign of Christ.
The final fulfillment of Hosea’s prophecy is therefore still future and will take place at the return of Christ to earth. Israel that rejected the Messiah will
“look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10).
Then repentant, believing Israel will receive mercy and will become God’s people once more. The complete and final fulfillment will take place when
“the Deliverer will come from Zion” and “remove ungodliness from Jacob” (see note Romans 11:26).
YOU HAD NOT RECEIVED MERCY BUT NOW YOU HAVE RECEIVED MERCY: oi ouk eleemenoi (RPPMPN) nun de eleethentes (APPMPN): (Hosea 2:23; Romans 11:6,7,30; 1 Corinthians 7:25; 1 Timothy 1:13; Hebrews 4:16)
The Greek text has a subtle nuance, for in its fullest sense the last clause reads,
You had not permanently received mercy, but now you have started receiving continuing mercy.
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