The Honor Of Christ’S People
THE HONOR OF CHRIST’S PEOPLE
1 PETER 2:4-10
How important is Jesus Christ to you?
There is a complete change of subject. In a theological article this would be strange, but not in a letter. There are many examples of this in Paul’s writings. Up to this point Peter has been thinking of his readers as individuals, but now he thinks of them as linked together in the church. A comparison of 2:6-8 with Romans 9:33; Acts 4:11; Mark 12:10f., will show that the New Testament wove together Isaiah 8:14f.; 28:15f.; Psalm 118:19-23, and applied them to Christ.
“That living stone” (2:4): the Greek word does not imply a rock, as in Matthew 16:18, but one that has been shaped; see Hebrews 2:10,18; 5:9. It is not merely to the eternal Son of God that we come, but to Jesus, the God-man. If he was shaped, so are we, so that all together we may form a spiritual temple; see also 1 Corinthians 3:16f.; 2 Corinthians 6:16-18; Ephesians 2:19-22. Here the temple enables God to live among people, even though they reject him. Not the church building, but the company of faithful Christians is the house of God.
Because the temple is built with living stones, they are at the same time the priests who minister in it. The “spiritual sacrifices” (2:5) are not that of Romans 12:1, which is individual. These refer to the work of the local church as an organism. They include the worship of the church, but surely also all those activities that reveal the character of God to people. The vagueness of Peter’s language indicates that he was not thinking of something limited and definite.
The quotations that follow do not link logically with 2:5, but with Peter’s thought as a whole. “He is precious” (2:7); it is doubtful whether this is the meaning. We should probably take it as “To you who believe he is honor,” ie belief ensures honor to those who believe. The NEB rendering, “The great worth of which it speaks is for you,” expresses this thought. The honor is the spiritual reality of the promise made to Israel (Exodus 19:5f.). “A royal priesthood” in the light of the Old Testament and Revelation 1:6 probably means a priesthood in the service of the king, ie God. “A holy nation”: both in Hebrew and Greek, the word for nation is that used for the nations in general, the Gentiles; it is holiness that makes Israel and the church different.