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1st Peter 2.12
August 23rd 2015
We left off last week at verse 8 which says:
1st Peter 2:8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
I want to touch on that last line which speaking of the disobedient says:
“Whereunto they were appointed.”
That word appointed is TITH AMEE and it is translated in the King James as “Put, make, laid, set, bowed.”
Other translations say this last line this way:
“as they were destined to do.”
or
“This was the fate destined for them.”
or
“they go against it, and this was the purpose of God.”
or
“to which also they were set.”
These passages – like the passages like them in other parts of scripture leave us without debate –
God has destined some to be His and He has destined others to disobedience. There is no way to get around this principle as it is entirely biblical.
What remains is how and why God has done this choosing. And while I know we have talked about it before I think we need to reiterate the options Christians have in the way they interpret the biblical fact that God elects, sets, makes, and puts along with the other biblical fact that we all are commanded to believe and have the right to choose.
One view says that God has predestined some to life and others to eternal suffering of His own Good will and pleasure.
For whatever its worth I think that God has certainly predestined all things according to His own good will and pleasure based on His foreknowledge of the choices He knew all of us would freely make under the pressure of this fallen world.
And like a master war strategist has put some at the front to die, others behind enemy lines, others in leadership, and others to be used to accomplish his needs.
In this manner, by His foreknowledge, God retains His Goodness and His justice while allowing us to be who we would be and He uses all of it to His chosen and preferred advantage.
Some say:
“We’ll if He created us, and knew what choices we would make under the pressures of the Fall it is the same as Him creating some for destruction” – and I would agree. But His creating us did not force some to choose well and others to choose badly. He created knowing what we would freely do – and having possession of this data, appoints us to our role on the world stage.
In my estimation this approach solves the battle between predestination and free will, combining them into a fair and reasonable amalgamation supported by all presentations in scripture. So . . . after speaking of those who stumble at the Rock and settling into their appointed place, Peter says:
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Back to verse 9 where Peter says:
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
Let’s break these eight terms down. But ye are . . .
a chosen generation
a royal priesthood
an holy nation
a peculiar people
that
ye should shew forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light.
Okay, so in contrast to those who were set or put or placed in positions of disobedience, Peter has described those who are His. And he describes us as first:
A Chosen Generation
“ek-lectos genos”
The elect kin, countrymen, family – this is the word used to describe people of the same genus. The word for an age or time is “ghen-eh-a,” and it is the word used in Matthew24:34 when Jesus says this generation shall not pass until all these things that I have described have happened.”
“You are a chosen or elected family.”
In the Nation of Israel God called unto Himself a people – one where He would be their God and they would be His people – His Kin, family.
That did not work. They were used to bring about the Law and the Prophets and the Messiah but a literal blood family was a fail (which He of course new).
So he seeks to gather unto Himself a family, a kin, who willingly come to Him by faith through His Son.
Those who truly do – who really are His by faith in His Son – become sons and daughters, and in reality, joint-heirs with His Son in this family He is gathering.
We are not brothers and sisters by our righteousness or by our denomination or our works in the flesh. We are kin by faith manifested by love as Our King loved.
Scripture lumps the body or church together as containing a sea of creatures good and bad, as a field with wheat and tares, but these are harvested with the good fish and wheat retained.
We are family, He is God and those who are His relate to each other as such.
What brings us into the family is faith. This is our obedience. What binds us is love.
So Peter has put us in the same family. Then he says that we are:
“A royal priesthood.”
We already talked about our being priests (women too) in verse 2 but again let me cite some passages to seal the deal.
Speaking of believers Revelation 1:6 says:
“And hath made us kings and priests unto God.”
Isaiah 61:6: “But ye shall be named priests of the Lord; men shall call you ministers of our God.”
There is a bit of trouble with the translation of Royal priesthood because the word translated Royal is basilieos and its what we typically translate to Kingdom or King.
I get the use of Royal because of its association with Kings but perhaps a better word for consistencies sake (and clarity) would be a kingly priesthood.
This then has ties to Melchizedek and speaks to us, as believers in Christ who is the Only High Priest, sharing, as Joint heirs, His priesthood by which He reigns.
This is a radical departure from the prototypical Evangelical interpretation that the Kingly priesthood Jesus has (which is NOT transferrable to anyone) is actually shared with those who are joint heirs.
Something to think about.
From the first verse of this chapter we know that we are offering up spiritual sacrifices as priests in His Kingdom and so there are ties there to the Priests of Aaron so I am not trying to in ANY way link these passages up to some priesthood order.
But Peter clearly states that true believers are a kingly priesthood and the only King and Priest models we have in scripture are Melchizedek (a type for Christ) and Christ himself.
Aaronic priests had nothing to do with kingly things – but Melchizedek, whether a type or a real person did. So in my estimation Peter is describing our co-lineage and heritage to God through Christ.
He adds, “An holy nation.”
By the time we get to this line we realize that Peter is quoting from the Old Testament – specifically Exodus 19:5-6 where God says to Moses to tell the COI:
“Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
I think that we can see that this was the desire of God toward the Nation of Israel from the start – but they were cast off when they rejected the promised Messiah and so in and through Christ Peter is appealing to the exact same language to those who are God’s by faith in His Son – the Body of Christ.
It is interesting that the Greek for Holy Nation is Hagias (Holy) ethnos (where we get ethnicity. Yes, this term is used to describe entire people groups (as in the word Nation) but race is a better translation in my opinion because race is not gender specific (in other words race does not care if someone is male or female – people are either Irish or they’re not) and race does NOT specify what a person does for a living, their socio-economic status nor whether they are free or slaves.
Someone of a specific race can be a female medical doctor who is a wealthy free republican OR someone of the same race who is a homeless male communist poor and an indentured servant.
Additionally, race typically includes some sort of culture but it does not need to so it also transcends all cultural barriers.
In the end race is best determined, I suppose by genetic markers and blood-lines. With all this coming into play have you ever considered Christians their own race? I think we could –
Christians are a people who are children of God, by the blood of Christ. This is the Hagias Ethnos to which we belong.
And then “a peculiar people.” When I was LDS they loved to quote scripture that called themselves a peculiar people.
I remember lessons where the teachers would ask things like:
“Let’s list on the board the ways that we Latter-day Saints are peculiar to the rest of the world.”
If peculiar was what the passage meant I could see the reason for such a discussion but it really isn’t the best term.
The Greek is PERI-POI-AYE-SIS and it means something acquired or the act of acquiring.
Best put – believers are a race that God has acquired for Himself. We are an “acquired people.”
Here are some of the words more literal translations use for the translation of PERI – POI – AYSIS.
“a people for [God’s] own possession,”
“a people for possession,”
“His own special people,”
“God’s own people,”
“a people belonging specially to God,”
“a people acquired,”
“a people given up completely to God,”
“a purchased people.”
We note that peculiar is missing from the best Greek literal translations. Instead we are a people who have been secured by Christ’s shed blood as a possession.
Tapping into this concept Paul wrote in Titus 2:14 and speaking of Christ:
“Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar (an acquired people, a holy race) zealous of good works.”
Where Paul wrote that those who have been acquired by God would be zealous of Good Works, Peter here wrote of the race acquired –
“That ye should shew forth the praises of him.”
Other translations put it this way:
that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
so that you might speak of the praises of Him . . .
that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him
that you may make known the perfections of Him
entrusted with the proclamation of the goodness of him
that you may proclaim the excellence of him
so that you may make clear the virtues of him
In the end we can see that the grand purpose of all we do as a kingly priesthood, a choosen race, an acquired people is to illustrate, show, proclaim, declare, and speak the wonderful, virtuous, perfect, goodness of Christ Jesus, who, Peter adds:
“who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
The message of the verse is really self-contained. We are all the things, as a group, that Peter describes.
Our purpose in being so constituted is to express and share the Goodness of God through Christ, who called us individually out of the darkness and into His marvelous light.
Have you ever allowed yourself to really think about this – that Jesus Christ has Himself called you out of darkness to dwell in His light?
I think that this is a remarkable concept. Understanding it helps us realize the import of sharing and pronouncing and proclaiming the wonders and virtues of God.
Just as we were told to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices back in verse 2 we might merge the sharing of God’s goodness with others in the same light. So while these proclamations may have physical expression they are certainly driven and motivated by the Spirit.
I sort of pondered the general ways those who are in the family of God promote His goodness and some of it ties back in (again) to what we discussed last week relative to offering up Spiritual Sacrifices
Praising Him in the Storm.
Recognizing His hand in all things (and before those who do not know Him) – especially in creation, nature.
Sharing Him and His goodness with others – especially non-believers.
Standing up for Him (in love) when He is demeaned by ridicule.
Speaking without reservation of His goodness and mercies.
Communicating with Him from the heart.
Dying to self as a means to represent Him to others.
All these things as the Spirit leads and out of gratitude for Him calling us out of the darkness and into the Light.
I would, by the way, suggest that the darkness spoken of here is emblematic of ignorance, sin, and imprisonment to the ways and means of this world and its kingdoms.
When he called and we heard and responded we became children of light.
Paul, speaking to King Aggripa in Acts 26:18 described what Jesus said to Him when he was called to the Gentile world. The description is radical as Jesus told Paul he would be:
“Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”
2nd Corinthians 4:3-6 says:
“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians 5:8 reminds us, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.”
Colossians 1:13 “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”
1st Thessalonians 5:4-5 “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.”
After having described us as a Nation, priests, children of light Peter continues by reminding us believers of something and says:
10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Again, Peter appeals to scripture – Hosea 2:23, and uses it to make a point and not as a straight across word for word application. Hosea reads,
“And I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.”
However this passage refers evidently to the reception of one portion of the Israelites into favor after their rejection but for Peter he uses it, it seems, to those who had been Gentiles, and who in that state were not recognized as the people of God and therefore were not the recipients of His mercy.
The same state all of us were in prior to receiving Christ.
Now at verse eleven Peter sort of shifts gears, and says
11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
“My dear friends, I appeal to you, I urge you, I challenge you, as (the King James says), strangers and pilgrims . . .”
Resident aliens living nearby and
“PAIR-EPI-DAYMOS” – foreigners, visitors from another land, non-citizens.
The idea that God’s people are PAIR EPI DAYMOUS goes all the way back to the Old Testament.
In 1st Chronicles 29:15 we read of the Nation of Israel:
“For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.”
The alienation began with Adam and Eve, banished from the Garden and a direct relationship with God. It continued with Noah, entering into the most modern space “ship” available and sojourning into a world alone. It was exemplified with the Father of our Faith, Abraham, who left his home of paganism and sojourned without a home (but one promised) now knowing where he was headed.
Joseph was sold and wound up alone in a foreign place. Moses walked from Egypt into the dessert for forty years alone, then with the Children of Israel who too, wandered without a home.
Even David, wealthy and in charge of the material world around Him, King of His people cried in Psalm 39:12
“Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.”
Most of the prophets embodied the idea, wandering, or as the writer of Hebrews so eloquently said:
Hebrews 11:37-39 “They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise.”
But of course in the apex and culmination we have the Son of Man, truly an alien (meaning He was a being from another place who dwelled among us) that typified being both a resident alien “living nearby” and “PAIR-EPI-DAYMOS” – a genuine foreigner, a true visitor from another land, a non-citizen of this world who didn’t even have a place to rest His head – saving us.
But we must be careful and reasonable in our assessment of these things. So while we are aliens and we are foreigners, we are dwelling here.
Our citizenship, our papers and passport are in the kingdom of light, but our bodies and flesh, by the will of God, do reside here. And residing here have a primary purpose, a primary objective, and a primary goal – we talked about it in verse 8, remember:
“As His . . .
chosen generation
His royal priesthood
His holy nation
His Acquired people
We should . . .
“should shew forth the praises and virtues of Him!”
So we are resident aliens. And while trying to survive and make ends meet and face challenges of health and friction, we are committed to sharing and proclaiming His virtues, and the wonders of having Him in us, the joys of being part of the Kingdom He established here and on high.
As such this is NOT our home – it resides where He resides. Our lodgings from the heart are truly temporary, as they were for all of our predecessors. From the heart our attachments are not to this kingdom of darkness but to His kingdom of light. And no matter what God has placed in our laps to show stewardship over – they are all managed with Him and His ways as King in place – and not as if they have any kind of merit that they could become a priority over Him.
So having established that we, like our predecessors in the faith, are strangers and foreigners, Peter moves us to the next logical admonition, and says:
“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.”
In the Greek . . .
Abstain from “ahpeckomahee”
“to hold oneself away from, with withstand, hold off”
fleshly “sarkeekos”
“animal, unregenerate, carnal, fleshly”
lusts “epithumia”
“epi” –is resting upon and “thumia” is passions. Epithumia describes “a longing for what is forbidden.”
which “hahstis”
war “stratyooahmahee”
“the use of “war” in the King James is a good one because the Greek word means strategizing as a military commander would – this is what the lusts of our flesh are doing against our walk with Him.
against “kata”
the soul “psuche”
The “mind, will and emotions of an individual,” or what presents us with our individuality or our core that is responsible to God as individuals.
Galatians 5 describes for us some of the things that we appeal to in our sarx or flesh, saying
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
The word for do such things is best understood as become slaves to, serve such things.
Because we are literally aliens to this world and the flesh that directs it, Peter is remind us that we refrain from imbibing in the things which make this kingdom run.
The reminders are all through the New Testament including:
Galatians 5:24 “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
2nd Timothy 2:22-26 speaks of how our flesh can even get involved in our church relations, saying:
22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.
24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Titus 2:11-12 says “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.”
And then we recall that in this book itself, first chapter, we read:
1st Peter 1:14-15 “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of behavior.”
The directives are there and plentiful. We cannot escape them no matter how much we try – we are called to stand away from those things that are part of this world and its citizens.
But to take it a step further we have to ask why?
Logically, if (or since) Jesus paid for the sins of the world, overcoming it all, saving us from sin “past, present, and future” what is the big deal with dabbling or even steeping ourselves in the ways of this world and, as heavenly citizens, adopting a “when in Rome do as the Romans” attitude?
I am convinced that it has NOTHING to do with the sins themselves. They are taken care of and as long as we abide in Him by faith, sins of the flesh could not be the problem.
They are gone and cease to exist in the mind of God and for those of us freed from the law, they ought to be absent from our minds as well (because we serve what we ponder and fixate upon).
For starters, let’s pull this thing way down to our own experience and apply it to the relationships we have with people we love – particularly our children.
Let’s assume we have a child we have raised, and taught, and worked with and served and we have tried to give them all the necessary tools to live a full life free of the traps that can capture other children. We have also helped cultivate a talent the child has been given by God – to play the cello. Got that?
And let’s say that this child, at seventeen, is offered a pipe of meth.
What would motivate us to try and keep them from taking a hit?
We know it will alter their immediate existence, and we know it could alter their future existence – so much so that it could even make them a prisoner to all the things you sought as a parent to warn them about.
We also know that as a prisoner this child’s ability to produce what they were made to produce – beautiful cello music.
In fact that one hit could get so deep in their system that they could be rendered utterly ineffective at doing ANYTHING but finding their next fix.
The applications for why Peter gives these warning to believers forgiven and saved are obvious.
The way Peter puts it is such things “war against the soul.”
In other words, as citizens of another invisible Kingdom, one that thrives on the Spirit, one that abides in the light, we are only introducing darkness to our being which will serve to strategize in a war-like fashion against our minds (which we are trying to wash) our wills (which we are trying by the Spirit not to empower) and our emotions (which we do not want to have a say in our thinking).
We have been redeemed from the sins – let’s not bring the power of them into our souls which will only serve to render the call on our lives to share Jesus less effective.
But there is something that has to be remembered at all times – we overcome the flesh not by the flesh but by the Spirit.
We bring the Spirit in and the flesh loses power.
I say this because refusing the lusts of the flesh by the flesh only makes the strength of the flesh stronger, not weaker.
This is what we see in the lives of religionists – they, through the power of the will and flesh and mind stay distant from outward lusts but are only feeding the hidden lusts in their hearts which they are feeding like a race horse through appeals in the flesh.
Strong flesh – whether in positive things or negative – are far more susceptible to the things of this world that Strong Spirit.
Let me give you a real life example which I believe God allowed me to experience first-hand to see the principle.
Years ago I knew an LDS kid whose parents raised him to be mighty in the flesh.
He was a physical specimen, a star football player, and had super-human strength.
Part of it was due to the fact that his parents never, ever let him eat anything processed or refined – no flour, sugar, no junk food ever. That combined with his natural strength made his a physical force.
He served an LDS mission, played college sports, married and had four children – got a job and started really churning at work.
Unfortunately he, like Samson, had feet of very soft clay when it came to spiritual resistance.
One afternoon a colleague offered him a pipe of meth. He had NEVER done a drug in his life. He was promised it would make him more productive.
He took the hit. That night – that very night – he had sex with a woman in his office. That night he entered into a life of total addiction. It was as if his flesh was so utterly strong, when it met with something that appealed and worked in the flesh, he was imprisoned.
I knew this man from a youth. Today he is probably in his early to mid forties. He has lost his marriage and family, all his teeth, his ability to make a living, he has done time, continues to be a criminal and lives with his widowed mother as a complete alcoholic.
In his flesh he had no ability to overcome his flesh. Even though he is LDS I took Him to hear Chuck Smith preach. I took him to the dentist to have teeth removed. We tried to friendship his ailing family.
The lust of His flesh made war with his mind will and emotion and won.
Rendering a very nice, very likeable, very talented man useless.
I am convinced that if he had fed His spirit he would be in a very different place today.
Let’s leave off here.
Q and A
PRAYER
