When our relationship with Jesus changes, our relationship with everything else changes too! Nothing about us stays the same. We can’t simply add ‘christianity’ to our life whilst leaving everything else untouched. In coming to Christ, we are by definition being built into the life of the Church. Whether we strengthen or weaken the structure of the Church life is another question. We are part of the life of the people of God. As such we are part of something that is holy (in this passage see: I Pet.2:5 & 9, but also I Pet.1:15-16). It’s a much misunderstood concept, often equated with moral purity. That is in fact part of what holiness is about, but it cannot be reduced to this. ‘Holiness’ is much more about be set apart. In Leviticus – which unsurprisingly is where we are taught about such things – many things can be designated as holy that have no intrinsic moral quality: food, time, a house, oil, an animal, a field, and so on. People, things, time, are all ‘set apart as holy’. What that means will look different depending on what it is that has been set apart. When people are set apart as holy (Lev.20:26), that will carry a moral connotation – but also much more. A people set apart for the Lord’s purposes is a glorious thing. And this is what we are reminded of in our creed: We believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
When Peter speaks about our priesthood, he is reminding us of the privilege the Church has in holding forth the Gospel to the world. That is one of the things we are set apart to do (so Paul in Rom.15:16). To be set apart from the world is not to withdraw from it in such a way as to leave it unaffected by our presence. Our being God’s special possession, a holy nation is not to hermetically seal ourselves away from ‘the darkness’ (2:9) in a ‘holy huddle’. That sort of idea is a counterfeit holiness, not at all what the Lord has in mind when He calls us holy. To retreat is to misunderstand the heart of God, and the identity of the Church. We are set apart not geographically, but spiritually. We are set apart in order to be different, in order to transform that which we have been set apart from.
I’ve always found the description of Christians in the Epistle to Diognetus inspiring stuff to read. It may well have been written to one of Emperor Marcus Aurelius' tutors, somewhere in the mid-second century! In it we find this brilliant description of Christians:
“For Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by country or language or custom. They do not live in cities of their own; they do not use a peculiar form of speech; they do not follow an eccentric manner of life... although they live in Greek and barbarian cities alike, as each man’s lot has been cast, and follow the customs of the country in clothing and food and other matters of daily living, at the same time they give proof of the remarkable and admittedly extraordinary constitution of their own commonwealth. They live in their own countries, but only as aliens. They have a share in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their fatherland, and yet for them every fatherland is a foreign land. They marry, like everyone else, and they beget children, but they do not cast out their offspring. They share their board with each other, but not their marriage bed. It is true that they are ‘in the flesh,’ but they do not live ‘according to the flesh.’ They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, but in their own lives they go far beyond what the laws require.
They love all men, and by all men are persecuted. They are unknown, and still are condemned; they are put to death, and yet they are brought back to life. They are poor, and yet they enjoy complete abundance. They are dishonoured, and in their very dishonour are glorified; they are defamed, and yet vindicated … They are treated by the Jews as foreigners and enemies, and are hunted down by the Greeks; and all the time those who hate them find it impossible to justify their enmity”.
Questions:
Why do you think that Peter particularly draws attention to the fact that Jesus was ‘rejected by humans’ (2:4)? From what you know of the rest of the epistle, why might that help and encourage the Churches Peter is writing to?
How does the Church offer ‘spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God’ (2:5)?
Peter links 3 passages from Isaiah and Psalms to speak of Jesus and of the responses people make to Him. When you look back to those passages, how can you tell they were written about Jesus? ...or is Peter bringing a meaning to those passages they didn’t originally have?
How does Jesus cause people to ‘stumble’ and ‘fall’? What does Peter mean when he says that this is ‘also what they were destined for’ 2:8)?
In 2:9, Peter draws four Old Testament descriptions of the Church forward to the New Testament people of God? What does that teach you about how Peter sees the relationship between the two?
Take each of those descriptions: Chosen People; Royal Priesthood; Holy Nation; God’s Special Possession. What do they communicate about the life and mission of the Church? How well do you think MIE fits those descriptions... or do those descriptions fit MIE? What would you need to do for us to grow into a better fit?
Why is it wrong to argue that because we are all a ‘royal priesthood’, the Church shouldn’t have recognised and ordained leaders?
What does Peter mean when he talks about our declaring the praises of God?
Do you think of the Church as a distinct people? How does your belonging to that people shape you (see also e.g. Acts 4:23)? What do you do when the claims of belonging to different people are in tension? Can you give examples?
What does Peter want us to understand about being ‘foreigners and exiles’? How does that status affect our abstaining from sinful desires? In what ways do those desires wage war against our soul?
Do you live sucha good life that even people who disagree with Christianity and see it as a problem, are impressed by your good deeds? How canw e ensure that it is God who is glorified, rather than us (you’re such a good person)?
