1 Peter 2:11-3:7
Notes
Transcript
Background
1 Peter is the first letter that we have from the Apostle Peter in the New Testament. The overall theme of the book is that believers should follow Christ’s example by joyfully enduring persecution.
11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.
12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,
14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.
15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.
16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.
17 Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
Last week we had the blessing of learning about redemption. This connects with the previous section, verses 4-10, well because of our value and choosing in God’s sight:
4 And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,
5 you 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.
6 For this is contained in Scripture: “Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “The stone which the builders rejected, This became the very corner stone,”
8 and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
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.
Because we are precious in God’s sight, he redeemed us.
And this, while we were His enemies, far off from Him, and not His people.
23 “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, ‘You are my God!’ ”
Because we have been redeemed, we now belong to the one who purchased us - Jesus Christ.
In light of our redemption, we are act in accordance with our eternal destiny.
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
We no longer belong to this world, but to the promise of heaven, which was given back in the days of our spiritual forefathers.
13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
“Alien” can be translated foreigner, emphasis is the place (next-to, house)
“Stranger” can also be translated foreigner, or sojourner, emphasis is among the people (next-to, upon, public)
Much like as we saw in our study of Genesis.
Our deeds should give glory to God among those who do not believe, but live according to the world.
Part of keeping our behavior excellent is submitting ourselves to the human authority over us, the law of the land.
1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;
4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.
6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.
7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.
Notice taxes are mentioned. Jesus specifically mentions this in the Gospels.
17 And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were amazed at Him.
This can be very difficult when the government is against Christianity. But we’re still called to it.
American culture is turning against us, but other countries have it far worse. We must pray for it.
7 ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’
Remember that God established the government we are subject to.
We glorify God when we honor human authority.
We glorify God when we honor human authority.
There is only one exception to this rule: when human authority would cause us to be unrighteous. In that, we oppose it and stand firm in our conviction.
17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live.
17 Then Azariah the priest entered after him and with him eighty priests of the Lord, valiant men.
18 They opposed Uzziah the king and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the Lord God.”
18 “But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
18 And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge;
20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
This resulted in martyrdom in the early church, and that still occurs today in the world.
This may happen in the US even within our lifetime.
18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.
19 For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.
20 For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.
21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,
22 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth;
23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;
24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
25 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
We are not only to submit ourselves to government authorities, we are also to submit to those who are “masters” over us.
Notice that this applies to those who are “unreasonable” as well (perverse, crooked).
God recognizes us when we suffer unjustly.
If we suffer justly, we deserve it and there is no honor in that.
Book theme - We follow the example Christ left us in His own suffering.
We were deserving of judgment and wrath.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
He had a plan for our salvation, before the foundation of the world was laid.
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.
Christ’s example to us is obedience to God, no matter what the cost. We are only able to accomplish this because of what Christ did for us.
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Because of Christ’s example, we submit to those over us.
1 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,
2 as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.
3 Your adornment must not be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses;
4 but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.
5 For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands;
6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.
7 You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
This is not a popular teaching in today’s culture, but it is a biblical one - the husband is supposed to be the head of the household.
3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.
22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
Wives are not slaves, yet there is chain of command. Someone must lead, and be accountable for the household.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
Notice from the passages that both the husband and the wife are responsible for directing each other towards God.
Husbands and wives are expected to love one another as Christ loves us.
Husbands and wives are expected to love one another as Christ loves us.
The common theme again is following Christ’s example of submission to God-ordained authority.
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
We glorify God when we honor human authority.
Husbands and wives are expected to love one another as Christ loves us.
Next week, we will continue through 1 Peter.