An Exposition Of 1 Peter, Part 15: Christ As The Example Of Submission And Suffering

An Exposition of 1 Peter, part 15: Christ as the Example of Submission and Suffering

1 Peter 2:21-25

Introduction

In the last study, Peter told those who were slaves how they should respond to unfair suffering because they were Christians. Slaves were supposed to adopt the religion of the master, so this opened the slaves to persecution, they were to make sure that they were suffering for Christ’s sake and not just because they were lazy or were doing wrong. In a proper sense, what we are studying today deals directly with the topic of the submission of slaves to their masters. This text provides the rationale why the Christian slaves should suffer if need be for the faith. I am treating this text today as a separate study because the example that Jesus set as being the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 should be followed by all Christians. The entire emphasis of this part of the epistle deals with submission. First was the submission of Christians to the Roman government. The Emperor was the head of the official cult, Even though the people could serve their other local gods, their principal loyalty was to the divine Caesar. When Christians proclaimed that Jesus was King of kings and Lord of lords, they were challenging the authority of Caesar. In the section of text that follows which deals with the submission of wives to their own husbands, the same holds true. The wife was to hold to the religion of the head of the household. So we can see how the text we are about to study applies equally to all of these relationships.

Exposition of the Text

For into this were you called — The word “for” connects what follows to that which came before. In verse 20, Peter told the church that suffering wrongfully for the sake of Christ made for a good witness. The Christian needs to make sure that the suffering wasn’t deserved for wrongdoing. One could also suffer punishment wrongfully by a harsh master for other reasons than for the sake of Christ. Many slaves were ill-treated. There isn’t much glory in this, although even here, taking this punishment graciously could serve as a witness to the truth.

Peter reminds us that we are called to suffer for Christ’s sake. We tend to think upon the blessings of being a Christian and not the aspect of suffering. We prefer Calvin’s “Theology of Glory “ to Luther’s “Theology of the Cross.” Calvin and Luther are not at odds with each other. Peter reminds us that we are called to “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” But Peter at the beginning also reminds us that we are suffering by the will of God for our faith as a means of refining our character through these fiery trials. So the cross is a necessary step that we might attain to the eternal glory. So it is both, and God is glorified in our sufferings as well as in our eternal blessing we shall inherit.

Because Christ also suffered in your behalf — We need to be reminded that Jesus is not like a lot of the worldly leaders who say: “Do what I say, and not what I do.” A lot of them were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. They are insulated from suffering. But the Lord Jesus knew how to suffer. He did not have to suffer. He freely chose to do so. And He did this for us. So when we suffer for Christ’s sake, we get a taste of what Jesus went through to save us.

Leaving for you an example that you might follow in His footsteps — Jesus often told His disciples that if they were to be His followers that they would have to carry their own crosses behind Him. In the ancient Roman world, the followers of a person they convicted for treason against the state were also crucified. If one saw the movie Spartacus, which is a reenactment of a famous slave revolt, the survivors of the massacre of them by the Roman legion were all crucified, with Spartacus being the last. He could see the suffering and ruin of those who had followed him, and his followers in their pain would shout out curses against Spartacus for getting them into this mess. This leads me to think that the two “thieves” who were crucified with Jesus were actually Barabbas’s followers in the “stasis” (attempted overthrow of Rome), Common thieves and robbers were usually not crucified. This was a punishment for treason. Barabbas should have been on the center cross. The two who were crucified with Jesus thought so at first and were shouting out curses. But one of the “thieves” must have heard Jesus speak or turned and saw that it was not Barabbas. The Holy Spirit revealed to that man who Jesus was, and he was saved that day.