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Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 2:11-20
1 Pet. 2:1-10 reveals God’s goal; it shows us what God desires. God wants a built up house and a priesthood for His expression. Both the house and the priesthood must be corporate. This is indicated by the four collective nouns used in verse 9: race, priesthood, nation, and people. First, God wants a house in which to dwell. As we all know, a house cannot be built of a single piece of material. On the contrary, a house can be built only of many different materials put together. In addition to a house for His dwelling, God wants a priesthood for His service. God does not desire individual priests; He desires a priesthood, a corporate body of priests, for His service.
The house and the priesthood, both of which are corporate entities, are for God’s expression. This is indicated clearly in 2:9: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession, so that you may tell out the virtues of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Telling out the virtues of Him is a matter of expressing Him. To tell out the Lord’s virtues simply means to express Him according to what He is. God is rich in virtues. For example, He is loving and kind. Both His love and His kindness are virtues. Actually, all of God’s attributes are His virtues, and we should tell out these virtues. Whenever we preach the gospel and teach the truth concerning the Lord, we should tell out His virtues. But unlike the practice of many Christians today, this telling out should be a corporate matter, not an individual one.
We need to turn from traditional, religious teachings and come back to the pure Word. We grow by taking in the guileless milk of the Word so that we may be transformed. Then we shall be built up into a house for God’s dwelling and a priesthood for His service. Furthermore, we shall become God’s expression in His virtues. These are the main points of the second section of this Epistle, 2:1-10.
In 1 Peter chapter one we have God’s economy to bring forth His full salvation so that we may have His life to have a holy manner of life and to have genuine love for the brothers. In 1:1-2 we see that the pilgrims in dispersion are under the operation of the Triune God. Then in 1:3-25 we have the full salvation of the Triune God and its issues. In chapter two we see the matter of growth in life and its results (2:1-10). First we grow by feeding on the milk of the Word unto full salvation (2:1-3). Then we are transformed unto the building up of a spiritual house for God’s dwelling, a holy priesthood for God’s service (2:4-8). Following this, in verses 9 and 10, we have the telling out of the virtues of the One who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Peter may have been a fisherman, but he was very intelligent. After studying Peter’s two Epistles, I have become fully convinced that this fisherman had a scholarly mind. However, in order to appreciate the beauty of Peter’s thought, we need to dig deeply into his writings.
The beauty of Peter’s thought is seen in the outline of this Epistle. I can testify that I spent a great deal of time to outline 1 Peter. This was a great pressure upon me, for it was extremely difficult to determine where to draw the lines between the various sections of this book. I believe it would be very helpful at this point to consider the outline of 1 Peter:
In the introduction to this Epistle (1:1-2) we see that the operation of God’s economy is to bring us into the full enjoyment of the Triune God. What a great matter this is! Then in the first section (1:3-25) we have the full salvation of the Triune God and its issues. God’s full salvation includes the regeneration of the Father, the redemption of the Son, and the sanctification of the Spirit. The issues of this full salvation are a holy manner of life and an unfeigned brotherly love.
The second section of this Epistle covers the growth in life and its results (2:1-10). In order to grow in life, we need to long for the guileless milk of the Word. It is by this milk that we grow. The result of the growth in life is transformation, building up, and the expression of God. By the growth in life we are transformed and built up, and then we become God’s expression.
The third section of this Epistle, concerned with the Christian life and its sufferings, is the longest (2:11—4:19). Peter takes more than two whole chapters to cover this subject. In this portion of his Epistle he does not speak of the Christian life and its enjoyment; he speaks concerning the Christian life and its sufferings. In the messages to come we shall see what these sufferings are.
After the lengthy section on the Christian life and its sufferings, Peter has two short sections on the elders’ shepherding and its reward (5:1-4) and the mighty hand of God and its goal (5:5-11). Finally, in 5:12-14, we have the conclusion.
If we consider Peter’s thought according to this outline printed above, we shall see that in this Epistle he covers five main points: full salvation, growth in life, the Christian life, the elders’ shepherding, and the mighty hand of God. If we get into the depths of this book, we shall see that these are the basic matters Peter was seeking to cover as he wrote. Furthermore, with each of these five matters there is an issue, a result, some kind of suffering, a reward, or a goal. With God’s full salvation, we have a twofold issue, a holy manner of life and brotherly love. With the growth in life, we have transformation, building up, and the expression of God. With the Christian life, we have sufferings. With the elders’ shepherding, we have the reward. With the mighty hand of God, we have a goal. This understanding of the structure of 1 Peter is clear and also logical.
If you consider the brief sketch of this book presented in the outline, you will see that this Epistle covers the full salvation of the Triune God and its issues, growth in life and its results, the Christian life and its sufferings, the elders’ shepherding and its reward, and the mighty hand of God and its goal. God will reward all the elders for their shepherding. In this book the mighty hand of God is emphasized because the subject of this Epistle is the Christian life under the government of God. The mighty hand of God is for the carrying out of His governmental administration, and with this administration there is a goal.
After the section on the mighty hand of God and its goal, we have the conclusion in 5:12-14. We have seen that the introduction (1:1-2) is on the operation of the Triune God in His economy to bring the elect into the participation of His riches. Then in the conclusion we have a testimony of the true grace of God (5:12). What is this true grace of God? The true grace of God is His full salvation. This grace was experienced by Peter and testified by him. Therefore, both by his experiences and by his writing Peter could declare what the true grace of God is and testify concerning it.
The outline of 1 Peter will help to make the text clear to us. If we read the text apart from seeing the main points presented in the outline, we may become puzzled. Our feeling may be like that of someone driving through the small streets of a city without having an understanding of the overall layout of the city. It would be helpful to have a bird’s-eye view of the city and its main streets. We may say that the outline of 1 Peter is a bird’s-eye view of this book that helps us to see the main points. Therefore, I encourage you to use the outline as you read and study the text of 1 Peter. You will find this a great help.
Let us come now to the third section of 1 Peter and begin to consider the Christian life and its sufferings. In 2:11 Peter says, “Beloved, I entreat you as sojourners and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” The fleshly lusts are in man’s fallen body (Rom. 7:18, 23-24), warring against man’s soul — man’s inner being, composed of mind, will, and emotion (Rom. 7:19-23).
Peter’s entreaty in 2:11 is based upon what he has said in the two previous sections. In particular, this entreaty is based on the new birth and on the growth in life. When Peter says, “I entreat you,” he is actually saying, “I beg you.”
In verse 11 Peter refers to the believers as sojourners and pilgrims. He begs these sojourners and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts. This entreaty is a very practical matter and not merely a doctrine. Here Peter seems to be saying, “I beg you all to abstain from fleshly lusts. Do you know who you are? You are not worldly people. You are sojourners and pilgrims, people who belong to another country and who are traveling through a foreign country. Actually, you are on this earth as aliens, for you are not citizens of the earth. You are heavenly sojourners and spiritual pilgrims. As such persons, you should live a life that is different from that of the worldly people. You need to abstain from the vain manner of life. The vain manner of life is a life that comes out of fleshly lusts. Therefore, in order to show others that you are heavenly aliens, you must abstain from fleshly lusts.”
In verse 11 Peter says that the fleshly lusts war against the soul. The fallen body is fleshly and full of lusts. The fleshly lusts in the fallen body war against the soul, against our inner being, that includes the mind, the will, and the emotion. Often we think good things, love good things, and decide to do good things. Thinking is in the mind, loving is in the emotion, and the deciding is in the will. Nevertheless, the fleshly lusts often war against what we think in our mind, what we love in our emotion, and what we decide with our will. The fleshly lusts are contrary to our good thoughts, intentions, and decisions. Therefore, we should abstain from the fleshly lusts which war against the soul.
In 2:12 Peter goes on to say, “Having your manner of life excellent among the nations, that wherein they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by observing your good works, glorify God in the day of visitation.” The manner of life here must be the holy manner of life (1:15) and the good manner of life in Christ (3:16), a life not only for God but filled and saturated with God. This manner of life is versus the vain manner of life of the unbelievers (1:18). The believers’ manner of life should be excellent; that is, it should be beautiful in its virtues. We need to have such a life among the nations, among the Gentiles. Many versions render the Greek word for nations in verse 12 as Gentiles. Actually, the Greek word means nations. All the nations are Gentiles.
According to verse 12, if we have an excellent manner of life among the nations, they, by observing our good works, will glorify God in the day of visitation. The Greek word translated “visitation” is episkopes. The basic meaning of this word is to observe, inspect, oversee, look upon. The day of visitation is the day when God will look upon His pilgrim people, as a shepherd over his wandering sheep. He will look upon them and will become the Shepherd and Overseer of their souls (2:25). Hence, the day of visitation is the time of God’s overseeing care.
Concerning the understanding of the day of visitation mentioned in verse 12, there are different schools of interpretation. One school says that the day of visitation is the day of judgment. However, if we look into the meaning of the Greek word, we shall find that it does not convey the thought of judgment. As we have pointed out, the basic meaning is to observe, inspect, oversee, look upon. (In the New Testament elders are called overseers, those who oversee.) The root of the Greek word for visitation is the same as that of the Greek word for overseers. Peter’s thought here is that the day of visitation is the time when God will look upon His pilgrim people as a shepherd looking upon his sheep. Then God will become to them the Shepherd and Overseer of their souls. With this understanding of the word visitation as our basis, we may go on to say that the day of visitation is the time of God’s overseeing care. To make the matter simple, we may say that the day of God’s visitation is the day God comes to visit us. When God pays us a visit, that is the day of visitation.
Have you not experienced God’s visitation in the meetings of the church or of the ministry? I can testify that as I am ministering the Word to the saints, deep within I often have the feeling that God is visiting us in His overseeing care. In meeting after meeting, God comes to pay us a visit. Many of us can testify that we have experienced Him as the divine Visitor in recent days.
What does God intend to do when He comes to visit us? Does He come to judge us? No, instead of coming to judge us, God visits us for the purpose of looking upon us and observing how we are doing and what we are doing. It may seem that He says to us, “How is everything with you? What are you doing? Is everything all right?” God’s visitation is like that of a shepherd. It is also the visit of an overseer. This is the reason Peter speaks of the Lord as the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls (2:25). Our Savior is the Shepherd and Overseer. He shepherds us and oversees us in order to take good care of us. This is the proper understanding of the word visitation in verse 12.
In verse 12 Peter is saying that if we have an excellent manner of life among the nations, they will eventually glorify God concerning us in the day of visitation. In this verse Peter seems to be telling the saints, “The opposers now speak evil against you. But if you live a life that is excellent among them, a life that is beautiful in quality and excellent in manner, they will observe your good works and glorify God in the day of visitation. As they look upon you, they will realize that you are under the visitation of God. Eventually, the outcome will be a glory to God, for the opposers will glorify God in the day of visitation.”
I can testify that throughout the years I have seen Peter’s word fulfilled many times. Because they saw God’s visitation of the saints, a good number of opposers regretted what they had done and repented. The saints were under God’s loving care in the day of His visitation. Even though these saints were evil spoken of, they lived a marvelous, excellent life under God’s gracious care. Therefore, God visited them again and again. Their excellent manner of life and God’s visitation eventually caused the opposers to repent and give glory to God.
Some of the young people in the Lord’s recovery have been opposed by their parents. Several years ago, the parents of a particular young person may have opposed him strongly. They wondered why he spent so much time attending the meetings of the church and of the ministry. However, gradually they began to see a change, a transformation, in his manner of life. Although they did not have the word to describe it, they were witnessing the Lord’s transforming work in their son. Eventually, they came to realize that he was a person under God’s care, a person under God’s visitation.
Not long ago, a number of saints testified to this effect in a meeting. They said that in the past they were opposed by their parents and, in some cases, even persecuted by them. But gradually, over a period of time, the attitude of their parents began to change. When the young people went home to visit the family, their parents continued to oppose them. But they also were carefully observing their children. Little by little, there was less opposition and more observation. Eventually, the parents had a complete change in attitude, and in some cases, they also came into the church life. They observed the excellent manner of life of their children, and they glorified God in the day of visitation.
In verses 13 and 14 Peter says, “Be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether to a king as supreme, or to governors as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and praise of those who do good.” What does the word “institution” mean? Literally, the Greek word means creation, as in Colossians 1:15. It refers to anything made, as a creature, building, regulation, ordinance. The King James Version and the American Standard Version render this Greek word as “ordinance.” Darby and the New American Standard Version translate it as “institution.” In this verse the word institution means a regulation, an ordinance, an established principle. It is difficult to find a proper English equivalent of the Greek word.
In verse 13 “institution” means the making of regulations or ordinances much like the enacting of laws by the legislature. According to the context, “every human institution” includes “a king as supreme” and also “governors as sent by him.” Here Peter is telling the believers that for the Lord’s sake, that is, for the expression and glorification of the Lord (v. 12), we should be subject to all human institutions.
In verse 15 Peter goes on to say, “Because so is the will of God, by doing good to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” The foolish men in verse 15 are the evil speakers mentioned in verse 12.
In verse 16 Peter says, “As free, and not having freedom as a cloak for evil, but as slaves of God.” We should never use freedom as an excuse to do evil. We should not say, “Are we not free? We are not under the bondage of the law; we are under grace. This means that we are free.” Yes, we are free, but we should not use our freedom as an excuse to behave in a careless manner. On the contrary, we should use our freedom as slaves of God. Peter’s word here is similar to that of Paul in his Epistles. Although we are freed from the law of Moses, we are still under the law of Christ. As those under the law of Christ, we should be slaves of God. On the one hand, we are free; on the other hand, we are slaves of God under His control.
Verse 17 says, “Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” Why does Peter say “love the brotherhood” instead of “love the brothers”? What does the term “brotherhood” mean here? The brotherhood is the aggregate of the brothers, the family of the brothers, the brothers in the feeling of brotherliness. An aggregate is a totality. By using the word brotherhood Peter indicates that we should not merely love the brothers separately, one by one, or individualistically. Rather, we should love the totality of the brothers. This means that we should love the universal family of the brothers.
As believers in Christ, we are not only a community; we are also a family. A family is much more intimate than a community is. Because we are in a family, we refer to one another as brothers. If we were not of the same family, how could we be brothers to one another? No matter what our skin color may be — black, white, yellow, brown, or red — we all are brothers in God’s family. Hallelujah for this worldwide, universal family! This family has been in existence for nearly two thousand years. The word brotherhood in verse 17 refers to this family.
We should love the brothers in God’s family in the feeling of brotherliness. This is to love the brotherhood. However, few Christians today have the sense that in loving the brothers they are loving the brotherhood. This indicates that today’s Christians do not have the sense of the corporate life. Nevertheless, the church is altogether a corporate matter. In verse 9 we see that the church is a race, a priesthood, a nation, and a people for God’s possession. Now in verse 17 we see that the church is a brotherhood. The priesthood is for the service of God, and the brotherhood is for loving the brothers. We need to love the brothers in their totality; that is, we need to love the brothers in a corporate sense.
Suppose twelve people come together from twelve different families. Although they may love one another, this is not the love in the category of a “-hood,” as love in a brotherhood. But if twelve people are in the same family, born of the same parents, their love for one another will be a love in a -hood. They will love one another, but this love for each member of the family will be in a -hood. Their love is different from those from separate families who love others but not with a love in a -hood. In such a case, they may love certain ones more than others. But those born of the same parents love everyone in the family and care for everyone. This is an illustration of loving the brotherhood, of loving the totality of the brothers. In the church we love not merely the individual brothers; we love the totality, the -hood, of the brothers.
In verse 18 Peter goes on to say, “The household servants, subject yourselves in all fear to your masters, not only to the good and forbearing, but also to the crooked.” Even though certain masters may be crooked, the believers who are household servants should be subject to them. This also is an aspect of the Christian life.
In verse 18 Peter charges the household servants to be subject to their masters in fear. This is a holy fear, as in Philippians 2:12. It is a healthy, serious caution for us to behave in a holy way. Such a fear is mentioned a number of times in this book because its teaching concerns the government of God.
In verses 19 and 20 Peter says, “For this is grace, if anyone because of conscience toward God bears sorrows, suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if sinning and being buffeted you shall endure it? But if doing good and suffering you shall endure, this is grace with God.” Here Peter is saying that if, due to our conscience toward God, we are willing to bear sorrows and suffer unjustly, that is, suffer unjust treatment, this is grace. The Greek word rendered “grace” in verse 19 is charis, referring here to the motivation of the divine life within us and its expression in our life, becoming in our behavior gracious and acceptable in the eyes of both man and God (v. 20). The same Greek word is used in Luke 6:33-34 and Romans 7:25 for thanks.
As we have pointed out a number of times, grace is actually the Triune God becoming our life for our experience and enjoyment. With this understanding of grace as our basis, we can say that here grace is the motivation of the divine life within us and its expression in our living. Therefore, this becomes in our behavior something gracious and acceptable in the sight of both God and man.
The words “conscience toward God” also mean consciousness of God. This is the consciousness of our relation to God. It indicates that a believer is living in an intimate fellowship with God, that he has and keeps a conscience toward God that is both good and pure (3:16; 1 Tim. 1:5, 19; 3:9; 2 Tim. 1:3).
According to the context, the unjust suffering spoken of in verse 19 must be the mistreatment inflicted by the unbelieving masters. These masters opposed and persecuted their believing servants because of their Christian testimony (1 Pet. 3:14-18; 4:12-16).
These verses speak about our behavior in our daily life as Christians. The Christian life is a matter of behavior. Suppose we did not have the divine life within us. This would certainly make family life very difficult, especially in relation to our in-laws, and particularly, to the mother-in-law. It is rare to find a man who desires to have his mother-in-law live with him and his family. Likewise, married women do not like living with their mother-in-law. For both a husband and a wife, a mother-in-law can create a difficult situation. For this reason, humanly speaking, it is better that a married couple not have a mother-in-law live with them.
The point here is that if we are those without the divine life, we shall face problems in our married life, no matter how much we may love one another. We shall have at least five major problems: temper, disposition, habit, background, and our way of understanding things. No matter how much alike a husband and a wife may be, there will be differences between them regarding temper, disposition, habit, background, and understanding. The husband will have his way of viewing things, and the wife will have hers. Likewise, the wife will have her habits and disposition, and the husband will have his. Therefore, they will have difficulties with the five troubling factors of temper, disposition, habit, background, and way of understanding. This will be the situation, even if the husband and wife love each other very much and are refined, educated people. Sometimes at least they will find the situation intolerable and will quarrel with one another. If a mother-in-law is visiting at such a time, she will find the situation altogether unpleasant and unacceptable. She would not even want to observe such an ungracious situation.
But suppose a husband and wife both have the divine life and live according to this life. In spite of the differences in temper, disposition, habit, background, and understanding, grace inwardly motivates both the husband and the wife. Furthermore, this grace is expressed in their living. If the mother-in-law of either the husband or wife observes their way of living, she will find it gracious, pleasant, and acceptable. This is grace.
Here Peter seems to be saying, “You Jewish brothers are suffering persecution. Some of you have crooked masters who treat you unjustly. Nevertheless, you are willing to suffer this unjust treatment. In the sight of both man and God this is gracious, pleasant, and acceptable.” This is what Peter means when he says, “This is grace.” Anyone observing a believer living this way in a situation of suffering and persecution would have to recognize that this is grace. It is also something worthy of our thanksgiving to God. If a mother-in-law sees her daughter and son-in-law living such a life, she may say, “Thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your grace.”
As we have seen, in verse 20 Peter says, “For what credit is it if sinning and being buffeted you shall endure it? But if doing good and suffering you shall endure, this is grace with God.” It is not a credit to us if we endure buffeting because we have sinned. But if we do good and yet suffer and endure, this is grace with God. Such a situation indicates that our living expresses the working of God’s grace within us and through us. Therefore, concerning this manner of life, Peter says, “This is grace with God.”
If we do not have the knowledge that the divine life is in us as grace working out what God is, and if we do not have the experience of this grace, we shall not be able to understand what Peter means in these verses, even though we may read them again and again. In order to understand Peter’s writing here, we need the sufficient knowledge and proper realization of the divine facts. Moreover, we need adequate experience of these facts. Only then shall we be able to understand what Peter is saying and be nourished by it.
