(7)
Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 1:15, 18-19
Before we go on to verses 18 and 19, I would like to say a further word concerning the matter of becoming holy in all our manner of life (1:15). The phrase “manner of life” is a literal translation of the Greek. According to 1:15, we should not merely be holy and live a holy life; we should become holy in all our manner of life. Others should be able to see a certain manner in our living, and this manner should be holy. This does not mean that we are holy occasionally or that we are holy in certain things. For instance, it is not that in the morning we are holy in one matter, and then later in the day we are no longer holy in that matter. No, we need habitually to have a holy life. This is what constitutes a holy manner of life. If we would have a holy manner of life, we need to be habitually holy in our constitution. This means that we need to become a certain kind of person, a person who is holy in constitution.
We may use fruit trees as an illustration of what we mean by a holy manner of life. An apple tree produces apples according to the apple-tree manner of life. Likewise, an orange tree produces oranges according to its manner of life. The producing of apples by an apple tree and oranges by an orange tree is not accidental. On the contrary, it is altogether according to the manner of life characteristic of each tree.
The same should be true of our becoming holy in our manner of life. Some Christians who emphasize a so-called holiness may sometimes act holy, but at other times they may be very worldly or fleshly. This indicates that they do not have a holy manner of life. To have a holy manner of life is to have a life that is the expression of God. It is to have a living that is the expression of the holy nature of God.
When we were regenerated, the holy nature of the Father was imparted to us. This holy nature that is now within us is the basic factor for us to live a holy manner of life. Once again we may use fruit trees as an illustration. If an apple tree did not have the life of an apple tree, it could not possibly have the manner of life of an apple tree. Suppose someone tried to attach apples to the branches of another kind of tree. After a short period of time, the apples would fall down. But an apple tree, having an apple-tree manner of life, expresses the nature of the apple tree that is within it. The principle is the same with becoming holy in all our manner of life. The Father has imparted His holy nature into us, and this is what makes it possible for us to have a life that expresses the holy God.
Second, concerning a holy manner of life, the Holy Spirit is doing a sanctifying work within us. The Greek word for sanctify is the verb form of the adjective holy. When the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, He makes us holy. With the Father’s holy nature within us as a basis of operation, the Holy Spirit is working in us to make us holy.
Third, because we are often disobedient, we need God’s discipline. For this reason, Hebrews 12:10 says that God the Father disciplines us so that we may partake of His holiness.
To have a holy manner of life, we need three things: the impartation of the Father’s holy nature into our being, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit to make us holy, and God’s discipline so that we may participate in the holiness of our holy God. These are the three factors for us to live a life of holiness. Our living should not only be holy to a certain extent, but our very manner of life should be holy. This means that we should have a living that is the expression of our holy God.
Verse 18 says, “Knowing that you were redeemed not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers.” According to grammar, verse 18 is related to “pass the time of your sojourning in fear” in verse 17. This indicates that in order to pass the time of our sojourning in fear, we need a deep realization concerning the redemption of Christ. Today many Christians are living in a loose way because their understanding of Christ’s redemption is shallow.
When I was a child studying in the elementary school of a Baptist mission, I heard much about the cross of Christ and Christ’s redemption. However, nothing that I heard touched my heart, for that teaching regarding the redemption of Christ was shallow. I do not know why the missionaries and the Chinese ministers did not say something weighty from 1:18 and 19. I cannot recall hearing any teaching from these verses while I attended that school. All the preaching concerning Christ’s redemption that I heard there was very shallow.
Peter’s way of speaking about redemption in these verses is far from superficial. I believe that anyone who would read these verses by concentrating his entire being on them would be touched when Peter says, “Knowing that you were redeemed...with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ.”
According to verse 18, the blood of Christ has redeemed us from our vain manner of life. This vain manner of life is in contrast to the holy manner of life in verse 15. According to most other references in Scripture, the blood of Christ redeems us from sins, transgressions, lawlessness, and all sinful things (Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:15; Titus 2:14). Here is an exception: Christ’s blood has redeemed us from our old, vain manner of life, because the emphasis here is not on sinfulness, but on the manner of life. The whole chapter emphasizes the holy manner of life which God’s chosen people should have in their sojourn. Not only is the Spirit’s sanctification for this; even Christ’s redemption is for this — to separate us from our vain manner of life handed down from our fathers. Knowing that this was accomplished with the highest price, the precious blood of Christ, we pass the days of our sojourning in fear.
Our old manner of life, a life in lusts (1 Pet. 1:14), had no meaning and no goal; hence, it was vain. But now to live a holy life, to express God in His holiness, is our goal (vv. 15-16).
Many precious biblical terms, terms which are very important in the Word, have become common and religious. We may even say that they have been spoiled. The word “redeemed” is an example of a biblical term that has become religious because of the way it is commonly used. Therefore, when we read this word in the Bible, we may not have much feeling within us concerning it. However, when Peter wrote 1:18 and 19, he was full of feeling.
I prefer to translate the Greek word for “redeemed” as purchased. Actually this is the meaning of the Greek word. We have been purchased by the precious blood of Christ.
As fallen human beings, we were in a dreadful situation before we experienced Christ’s redemption: we were merchandise up for sale in an unclean marketplace, the marketplace of the vain manner of life. If the spiritual feelings within you are tender when you are in a shopping center, you will realize that such a place is unclean. Outwardly, it may be very clean; however, spiritually speaking, it is very dirty. Furthermore, nearly everything in a shopping center is related to the vain manner of life. Formerly, we were merchandise up for sale in Satan’s shopping center, in his unclean, worldly market. Today all of human society is an unclean market.
Although we were items on sale in Satan’s shopping center, Christ came to purchase us, to redeem us. He paid a very high price to buy us — the price of His precious blood. Satan did not want Christ to buy us. Satan’s plan was that we would be bought by someone else. Therefore, when Satan realized that Christ had come to purchase us, he caused a great deal of trouble. Unwilling to release us, to let us go, he raised up many obstacles and barriers to frustrate Christ from purchasing us. Nevertheless, Christ died on the cross and shed His precious blood to redeem us. From our side, we were purchased, but from Satan’s side, we were redeemed.
The blood that redeemed us was an extraordinary kind of blood — the blood of the God-man, Jesus Christ, the Man whose life reached the highest standard. The Lord Jesus is a Man mingled with God. Therefore, when this Man died on the cross, God also passed through death. No human words are adequate to explain this.
Only the blood of Christ was qualified and sufficient to redeem us, to purchase us. We had been put on sale by the enemy Satan, our usurper. But Christ, our Redeemer, paid the highest price to purchase us. Peter speaks of this in verses 18 and 19.
In verse 18 Peter says that we were redeemed “not with corruptible things.” The blood of Christ is a material substance, yet its effectiveness, function, worth, power, and authority are eternal and incorruptible.
The blood of Christ, by which we are sprinkled and thus marked out from common people, is more precious than silver and gold. The highest price has been paid for our redemption, that we might be redeemed from the vain manner of life to the holy (vv. 18, 15). For this we should have a holy fear, a healthy, serious caution before God that, as God’s elect, redeemed with such a high price, we would not miss the purpose of this most high redemption of Christ.
In verses 18 and 19 we have a comparison between gold or silver and a lamb. Gold and silver are valuable, but they are lifeless. They are not organic, but a lamb is living and organic. Through this comparison, Peter indicates that the price paid for us by Christ was related to something of life and to something organic.
In chapter six of John the Lord Jesus fed the multitude with five loaves of barley and two fishes (John 6:9-12). Barley in typology signifies resurrection life. In Palestine barley ripens earlier than wheat does. For this reason, barley signifies Christ in resurrection.
Using the miraculous feeding of the multitude as a basis, the Lord Jesus went on to give a message to the people, a message telling them that He is the bread of life. In John 6:35 He said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger, and he who believes in Me shall by no means ever thirst.” Again, in John 6:48 He said, “I am the bread of life.” Bread, of course, is made of materials of the plant life. Who would use something of animal life to make bread? Nevertheless, after telling the people that He is the bread of life, the Lord Jesus went on to say, “I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread which I will give is My flesh which I will give for the life of the world” (v. 51). Then the Lord Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves....For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink” (vv. 53, 55). First the bread is barley bread; eventually, this bread becomes the Lord’s flesh. Barley, of course, is of the vegetable life, but the meat of the flesh with the blood is of the animal life.
I refer to John 6 in order to point out that we cannot understand or explain in full the things of Christ for the accomplishing of God’s redemption. Furthermore, biblical truth cannot be systematized. How can you systematize barley bread and meat in John 6? According to this chapter, the barley and the meat are mixed, blended together as one. On the one hand, the life of Christ is represented by the vegetable life; on the other hand, His life is represented by the animal life. This can be compared to saying that Christ is both divine and human. Christ’s divine nature is mingled with, blended with, His human nature. When He died on the cross, He died as a man. Nevertheless, God was involved with this death. It is beyond our ability to explain this.
Because Christ is both God and man, represented by both the animal life and the vegetable life, His Person is unique, and His blood also is unique. No other blood can redeem us. Only the blood of Christ is sufficient for this. His blood is unique because His Person is unique. Because He is precious, His blood is precious. The Bible even tells us that today the blood of Christ still speaks for us in the heavens (Heb. 12:24).
Verse 19 says, “But with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ.” It is important to understand what Peter means by “blemish” and “spot” and to know the difference between them. Blemish is a term often used for impurities found in precious stones and gems. Suppose you have a precious stone in your hand. If this stone is pure, it does not have any mixture; that is, it does not have any foreign body mixed in with it. However, sometimes a precious stone or a gem does have a foreign body in it. That foreign body, that element of mixture, is a blemish.
A spot is a scar that comes from a wound. If you have a wound on your hand, eventually that wound may develop into a scar. Such a scar is a spot on your body.
God created us pure, but the fall has brought many foreign bodies, blemishes, into us. All these foreign bodies are of the Devil, Satan. Furthermore, in our natural life we have been wounded.
We can see from the typology in the Old Testament that the animal sacrifices were to be without blemish and without spot. For instance, suppose a sheep was to be offered as a sin offering. That sheep had to be without blemish, without mixture; it also had to be without spot, without any wound. The sheep offered as a sin offering had to be pure and perfect.
Among all the human beings who have ever lived on earth, there has been only one Man — the Lord Jesus Christ — who is without mixture or blemish. Furthermore, He is the only Man who has not been wounded morally and ethically. I would ask you to consider your situation. Even though you may still be young, have you not received many wounds to your ethical and moral being? You must admit that you have not been preserved perfect. There are some who have developed the habit of gambling. Being addicted to gambling is a serious wound to a person’s character. We also wound ourselves whenever we tell a lie. I do not believe that there is anyone among us who has never told a lie. Every lie is a wound. If a wife lies to her husband or a husband to his wife, such a lie will be a wound to their married life. Most of us have also been wounded by stealing. Very few people have never stolen anything from others. Sometimes children steal things from their parents, or wives from their husbands. Stealing always wounds us.
Our person and character have been wounded in many ways. As fallen human beings, we have many blemishes and wounds. Anyone who has been divorced has experienced a serious wound. The Samaritan woman in John 4 had been wounded in this way. Because she had changed husbands six times, she had been wounded in many ways. She was full of spots.
Jesus Christ is the only person without mixture and without spot. He does not have any blemishes or wounds.
Actually, the words “without blemish and without spot” are Old Testament terms used with respect to sacrifices offered to God. Any Jews reading the First Epistle of Peter would realize this. Because Peter was writing to Jewish believers, he used terms that were familiar to them. In other words, this verse indicates that Jesus Christ is the real sacrifice to be our sin offering and trespass offering. Christ is the real Passover lamb.
The lamb sacrificed at the time of the Passover had to be without blemish and without spot. Furthermore, this lamb had to be kept for four days in order to be carefully examined. Before the lamb could be sacrificed, it first had to be examined to prove that it was without blemish and without spot. This is what the Lord Jesus experienced in Jerusalem during the days before He was crucified. Day by day He was examined by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the elders, and the priests. They did their best to find a fault of some kind in Him. However, according to their law, they could not find fault with Him. Then they handed the Lord Jesus over to the Roman rulers, to Pilate and Herod. But neither could these Roman rulers, according to Roman law, find any fault in Him. For this reason, Pilate declared, “I find no fault whatever in him” (John 18:38). Therefore, according to both divine law and secular law, the Lamb of God was examined and found to be without mixture and without spot. Only this unique Person is without blemish and without spot.
On the one hand, Peter refers to the Old Testament typology; on the other hand, simultaneously he indicates that Christ is the real Passover lamb. He is our sin offering and our trespass offering, the One offered for the atonement of the sins of God’s people. As the Lamb without blemish and without spot, He shed His precious blood to redeem us. We all need to know that we have been redeemed from our vain manner of life by the precious blood of Christ.
I would encourage you to spend an hour alone with the Lord to consider the precious blood of Christ shed for you on the cross. This will give you the desire to have a holy manner of life in fear. You will want to become holy in all your manner of life and to pass the remaining time of your sojourn in fear. If we would live in this way, we need to realize that we have been redeemed, bought, purchased, with the high price of Christ’s precious blood. This realization will cause us to have a living in a holy manner of life, for we shall realize that Christ’s precious blood has redeemed us from the vain manner of life. No longer will we want to live in a way that is vain.
A vain manner of life is not necessarily sinful. Rather, in certain respects it may be quite moral. Nevertheless it is still vain — having no goal, aim, or purpose. Anything without a goal or purpose is vanity. Now we should live a life without any vanity. Everything we do and say should have God’s goal in view. This kind of life is weighty and full of content. It is a life with purpose, goal, and aim. Let us all spend time to consider Peter’s writing concerning the precious blood of Christ so that in a practical way we may become holy in all our manner of life and pass the time of our sojourn in fear.
