1 Peter 2:6-9b 6 For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," 8 and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, (a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.) (ESV)
As a congregation, we’ve been involved in an exciting building project to construct a new auditorium to add to our existing meeting space at 82 Church St. S. in Ajax. In moving this project forward, it has meant a lot of architectural details. One marvel of architecture is the new standard of buildings. Engineers have examined how stress put on buildings impacts the structure and stability. They have learned from past earthquakes and other events to design many modern buildings to withstand great stress. The design is no accident. The pieces perfectly fit together for maximum stability.
As the Apostle Peter wrote the book of 1 Peter, under the diving inspiration of God. When he wrote it, he was writing directly to the people in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey, they were a people under great stress and persecution. He wanted to instill within them hope, since God puts people together in a holy temple, perfectly fit to withstand all attacks, threats and stresses. A testimony to the perfect sovereign work of God is the resurrection of Christ. Because Christ is alive, His people, are perfected joined together for a divine purpose.
After an entire year of dealing with the difficulties around COVID, and yet another limited lockdown, perhaps you come here today under stress, with apparent chaos in your life and wonder how Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Christ makes any difference? How do events that happened more two thousand years ago make any difference today?
God brings a people together because of the person and work of the resurrected Christ. Believers in Christ come to Him as “The Living Cornerstone” and are perfectly joined together in God’s building. The Apostle Peter explains that those who believe in Him are alive also. In 1 Peter 2:6–9b he shows this in three ways first through: 1) Coming to the Living Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:6), in having: 2) Affection for the Living Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:7-8), that believers are: 3) Chosen by the Living Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:9a), resulting in 4) Serving with the Living Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:9b).
Because of the resurrection of Christ, believers are enabled in:
1) Coming to the Living Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:6),
1 Peter 2:6 6 For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." (ESV)
God called His people to behold or view the Messiah as the cornerstone that the Father Himself laid in Zion—Israel, and more specifically the mountain in Jerusalem (cf. 2 Sam. 5:7, 1 Kings 8:1, Pss. 48:2, 51:18, 102:21, Isa. 2:3, 4:3, 10:12, 24:23, 30:19, 52:2, Jer. 26:18, Amos 1:2, Mic. 3:12, Zeph. 3:16, Zech. 1:17). The Prophet Isaiah explained this: Isaiah 2:3 [3]and many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (ESV). As Christ was put to death on Mount Calvary in Jerusalem, Zion, God the Father was establishing the reality of the new kingdom or His spiritual rule over the hearts of all who believe in Him (cf. Luke 17:20–21). Therefore, figuratively, Zion can refer to the new covenant as Sinai does to the old covenant (cf. Gal. 4:24–25), or to heavenly blessings as Sinai does to judgment (cf. Heb. 12:18–23). The writer of Hebrews tells Christians that they have come to “Mount Zion” by having come to Jesus and His church (Hebrews 12:22–24). (Redford, D. (2007). The New Testament church: Acts-Revelation (Vol. 2, p. 267). Cincinnati, OH: Standard Pub.)
Please turn to Matthew 16
The conviction that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead (1:3) and is alive has encouraged the use of the paradoxical phrase “living stone.”... Its further use here with reference to Christ and to the community as a temple (a “spiritual house”) may imply a contrast with “dead” stone idols and stone temples with which the readers would have been thoroughly familiar. (Stanton, G. N. (2003). 1 Peter. In J. D. G. Dunn & J. W. Rogerson (Eds.), Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible (p. 1497). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.)
Christ is the living stone upon which He builds His Church upon. Jesus Explained it to Peter:
Matthew 16:13-20 13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. (ESV)
• Jesus will build his church, and though it is founded on the apostles and the prophets, “Christ Jesus himself [is] the cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20). Since God is building His church, He protects His Church. Using here the image of “Gates” which were essential for a city’s security and power, even the grave itself will not overpower the church. Believers who put their faith on this living cornerstone are given the keys to the kingdom. For those disciples who do not understand this, Christ charges them to be silent until they understand. But for those who understand and believe they have been given the authority to admit entrance into the kingdom through preaching the gospel (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1855). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.)
In 1 Peter 2:6, Jesus was saying that this is was the reality of the new Zion, the kind of faith that Peter displayed upon which Jesus would build His Church. The word translated cornerstone (akrogoniaios) denotes a chief cornerstone and describes the stone that sets all the proper angles for the building. It is like the building’s plumb line in that it sets the horizontal and vertical lines of the rest of the building, it also establishes the precise symmetry of the entire edifice. To ensure the perfect precision of God’s spiritual house, the main cornerstone had to be flawless. The only one who could set all the angles of God’s house is the living, perfectly prepared cornerstone, Jesus Christ. In the same way, Jesus Christ is the standard of straightness in our lives. In a world full of Satan’s lies and deceptions, the Word of the Lord remains straight and true. His word of law cuts through the excuses, rationalizations, and moral compromises of all ages and cultures and holds us all accountable to God’s unchanging standards. His word of gospel cuts through all Satan’s lies about our own worthlessness and despair and holds before us the unchanging love of the crucified and risen One. (Jeske, M. A. (2002). James, Peter, John, Jude (p. 88). Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Pub. House.)
Christ is uniquely fitted for His task and thus He is cornerstone chosen, God’s chosen One. Peter’s believing Jewish readers would have remembered that during the building of Solomon’s temple, the workers prepared the stones in advance and brought them to the site (1 Kings 6:7). With the help of a careful blueprint of the temple, the craftsmen cut and shaped each stone to its perfect size and determined the exact place each was to fit. With only minor adjustments on site, those temple stones were set precisely together like parts of a large puzzle. Jesus claimed to be this foundation stone in His climactic conflict with the chief priests, elders, and Pharisees. Jesus compared them to tenants who take a well-prepared vineyard, but refuse to deliver the owner’s share of the crop to him. They expand their rebellion when they mistreat the master’s servants and then kill his only son, hoping to seize the inheritance (Matt. 21:12–46). (Doriani, D. M. (2014). 1 Peter. (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.) (p. 67). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.).
How is Christ the Cornerstone and How does this relate to the Resurrection? Paul told the Colossians: Colossians 1:18 [18]And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. (ESV) The Resurrection of Christ shows that He is “firstborn from the dead”. The Lord Jesus was the first to rise from the dead to die no more, He was the first to rise with a glorified body, and He rose as the Head of a new creation. His resurrection is unique, and is the pledge that all who trust in Him will also rise. It proclaims Him as supreme in the spiritual creation. The resurrection of Christ showed the perfect acceptance of atoning for the wrath of God with the Father. God made him the cornerstone of the building when he raised him from the dead. So the appointment in view here focuses on Christ’s resurrection, which revealed that he was chosen and honored by God. (Schreiner, T. R. (2003). 1, 2 Peter, Jude (Vol. 37, p. 109). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
That is why we can describe Christ as: precious (entimon) which means “unequaled in value,” “costly,” or “irreplaceable.” Christ is irreplaceable because He is the cornerstone, the most important stone in any building. Christians by faith have their eyes opened to recognize the true worth and significance of the stone symbolism, for it indicates the fundamental and vital place of Jesus Christ in their lives. Without His sacrifice and resurrection there would be no spiritual life for them now, and no future beyond the present world. All is completely dependent upon who Jesus is and upon what he has done. (Hillyer, N. (2011). 1 and 2 Peter, Jude (p. 63). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.)
From this reality issues one of the great privileges for all who believe: when someone places their trust in Christ they will not be put to shame/disappointed. The word rendered shame/disappointed (kataischunthe) denotes being deceived in some confidence, or placing hope in someone and having that hope dashed. Those who celebrate this Resurrection Sunday sincerely believe in Christ as Lord and Savior will never know any disappointment from Him (Rom. 10:11–13, cf. Jer. 17:7–8). Because He indeed rose from the dead, those who believe in this fact will be forever secure in Him (John 10:3–4, 14, 27–28, Rom. 8:16, Eph. 1:13–14, Phil. 1:6, 2 Tim. 1:12, James 1:12, 1 John 5:20, cf. Heb. 4:15–16).The prophet Isaiah, centuries before Christ’s incarnation, declared that Israel could have supreme confidence in the security God provided: Isaiah 54:4-5 [4]"Fear not, for you will not be ashamed, be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced, for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. [5]For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. Isaiah 54:10 [10]For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.( cf. 50:7, 54:1–3). Because of their faith in Christ, Peter’s readers are experiencing rejection by unbelievers that results in various trials and hardships. Peter explains that their misfortunes are not a sign that God is rejecting them but are the very opposite: the various ways they are being rejected correspond to the rejection the Living Cornerstone has experienced and confirm their election as living stones in God’s building program. With God’s promise through Isaiah, Peter reassures them that the one who trusts in Christ, the chosen cornerstone, will never be put to shame. ( Jobes, K. H. (2005). 1 Peter (pp. 151–152). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.)
• Perhaps you don’t want to take the step of faith and commitment of your life to Christ for you fear what this would entail. Thousands of years and hundreds of prophecies show that God is true to His word, He provided in the only way of life though faith in His son.
POEM: The Day of Resurrection
On this, John of Damascus wrote “The Day of Resurrection”: “The day of resurrection? Earth, tell it out abroad, The Passover of gladness, The Passover of God. From death to life eternal, From this world to the sky,
Our Christ hath brought us over With hymns of victory. Now let the heavens be joyful, Let earth her song begin, Let the round world keep triumph, And all that is therein, Let all things seen and unseen Their notes in gladness blend, For Christ the Lord hath risen, Our Joy that hath no end” . (John of Damascus)
Because of the resurrection of Christ, believers are enabled have:
2) Affection for the Living Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:7-8)
1 Peter 2:7-8 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," 8 and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. (ESV)
Only those who believe manifest a surpassing love for Christ (cf. Matt. 10:37, 2 Cor. 5:14). In utter contrast to that, however, those who do not believe (such as the unbelieving Jewish leaders) do not and will not love Christ. In the immediate context of audience of 1 Peter, quoting Psalm 118:22, Peter asserted that the unbelieving Jews were the builders who rejected Christ (the stone). To them Jesus seen as being worthless as God’s cornerstone because He did not fit their preconceived idea of what the Messiah needed to be like (cf. Matt. 13:54–57, Luke 4:20–30, 6:6–11). Such rejection was tragic but not surprising, as Peter indicated when he quoted Isaiah 8:14–15, which predicted that Messiah would be considered “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” to most of the Jews, as Isaiah himself was (v. 12). A stone of stumbling mentioned in verse 8 was any stone that people could trip over as they moved down a road, and a rock of offense was the rock bed they could be crushed against after they fell over the other stone. In Peter’s symbolism, the unbelieving Jews threw away the true cornerstone, then wound up falling over it to be finally crushed in judgment by the same rock (Luke 20:17–18, cf. Matt. 13:41). As people move toward the future, then, Jesus encounters them. This encounter can have two results. The “stone” in their way is either a foundation stone to which they can commit themselves without any concern over being let down, or it is the “stone” which, due to their rejection and God’s eventual exaltation, leads to their fall. They must, however, encounter the stone—it lies in their path. The difference in the manner of their encounter is due to their faith. (Davids, P. H. (1990). The First Epistle of Peter (pp. 89–90). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)
This of course is not just a warning to the Jews of the immediate context, but a warning to everyone. Verse 8 makes clear that all those who reject Christ stumble and suffer divine judgment because they disobey the word. Unbelievers receive the exact judgment their sinful choice demands—to this doom they are destined/appointed—because they do not believe and obey the gospel. Some might think that this lets people off the hook. The Jews of the first century who crucified Jesus and those who reject Him today are just doing what they are destined or appointed to do. This misunderstands what God is saying here. God does not actively destine people to unbelief, but He does appoint judgment on every unbeliever (John 3:18, 36, 8:24, 2 Thess. 1:6–9, Heb. 3:19, 4:11). God judges unbelievers as a consequence of their lack of love for Him, their disobedience to His Word, and their refusal to believe in Him. Therefore, the unbelief of those who reject Christ was already predicted in the OT prophecies; therefore, the rejection of Christ by friends and neighbors should not cause Christians surprise or doubt in their own faith. Peter has clearly presented Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation, by which all will be judged. When people reject him, they do it to their own peril. (Jobes, K. H. (2005). 1 Peter (p. 154). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.)
Illustration: There is a persistent legend in connection with the building of Solomon’s temple that perfectly illustrates this prophecy. The stones for the temple were prepared in advance in a nearby quarry. As they were needed, they were raised up to the building site. One day the workers in the quarry sent up a stone of unique shape and proportions. The masons saw no place for it in the building so they carelessly pushed it over the hill where, in time, it became overgrown with moss and surrounded with weeds. As the temple neared completion, the masons called for a stone of certain dimensions. The men in the quarry replied, “We sent that stone up to you long ago.” After careful search, the discarded stone was found and was set in its proper place in the temple. (Thomson, A. (2016). Opening Up 1 Peter (p. 56). Leominster, England: Day One.).
• The application is obvious. The Lord Jesus presented Himself to the nation of Israel at His First Advent. The people, and especially the rulers, had no room for Him in their scheme of things. They rejected Him and delivered Him to be crucified.
• Because Jesus Christ is the perfect, exact, precise One on whom God has built His church, all the lines coming from Him in every direction complete the perfect temple of God. No one is ever out of alignment. No one ever falls from the structure. It all fits exactly and permanently together (cf. Eph. 4:16).
Because of the resurrection of Christ, people are brought to Him because they are:
3) Chosen by the Living Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:9a)
1 Peter 2:9a 9 But you are a chosen race, (a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.) (ESV)
We now see the corporate impact of coming to the living cornerstone. The emphasis throughout is collective: the church as a corporate unity is the people, priesthood, nation, etc., rather than each Christian being such. This emphasis is typical of the NT in contrast to our far more individualistic concern in the present. The West tends to focus on individuals relating to God, while Peter (and the rest of the NT; e.g., Paul’s body-of-Christ language) was more conscious of people’s becoming part of a new corporate entity that is chosen by and that relates to God. (Davids, P. H. (1990). The First Epistle of Peter (p. 91). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)
Please turn to Deuteronomy 7
Peter identifies those who believe in Christ as chosen, just as God had chosen Israel for a special purpose within His redemptive plan (cf. Isa. 43:21). Salvation is based on the sovereign, electing purposes of God. Scripture explicitly and implicitly makes that unmistakable (John 15:16, Acts 13:48, Rom. 9:13–16, 11:5, 1 Cor. 1:9, Eph. 1:3–5, 1 Thess. 1:4, 2 Thess. 2:13–14, 2 Tim. 1:9, 2:10, Rev. 13:8, 17:8, 20:15), and election is the great privilege from which all other spiritual privileges derive. Peter saw these promises as fulfilled in (the resurrection) Jesus Christ, and God’s elect nation is no longer (exclusive) with Israel but embraces the church of Jesus Christ, which is composed of both Jews and Gentiles. (Schreiner, T. R. (2003). 1, 2 Peter, Jude (Vol. 37, p. 114). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
The apostle again drew his terminology from an Old Testament passage:
Deuteronomy 7:6-9 [6]"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. [7]It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, [8]but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. [9] Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, (ESV)
• People are alive in Christ, beliers in Christ, not because they have done anything. God shows His love towards a people to declare His nature, keep His promises, and testify to the world of His nature.
In biblical theology, Israel’s deliverance from exile in Babylon is the typological forerunner of the greater deliverance achieved by Jesus Christ, deliverance of God’s people out of darkness into light. Peter here makes the radical claim that those who believe in Jesus Christ—whether Jew, Gentile, Greek, Roman, Cappadocian, Bithynian, or whatever—though from many races, constitute a new race of those who have been born again into the living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here is the foundational cure for the evils of racism in human society (Jobes, K. H. (2005). 1 Peter (p. 159). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.).
Illustration: The Fire
There was once a group of pioneers who were making their way across one of the central states to a distant place that had been opened up for homesteading. They traveled in covered wagons drawn by oxen, and progress was necessarily slow. One day they were horrified to note a long line of smoke in the west, stretching for miles across the prairie, and soon it was evident that the dried grass was burning fiercely and coming toward them rapidly. They had crossed a river the day before but it would be impossible to go back to that before the flames would be upon them. One man only seemed to have understanding as to what could be done. He gave the command to set fire to the grass behind them. Then when a space was burned over, the whole company moved back upon it. As the flames roared on toward them from the west, a little girl cried out in terror, “Are you sure we shall not all be burned up?” The leader replied, “My child, the flames cannot reach us here, for we are standing where the fire has been!” What a picture of the believer, who is safe in Christ! “On Him Almighty vengeance fell,
Which would have sunk a world to hell. He bore it for a chosen race,
And thus becomes our Hiding Place”. The fires of God’s judgment burned themselves out on Him, and all who are in Christ, “the Chosen race”, are safe forever, for they are now standing where the fire has been. This is the blessed reality that we celebrate today through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Illustrations of Bible Truth by H. A. Ironside, Moody Press, 1945, pp. 34-35)
Finally, because of the resurrection of Christ, people are brought to Him because they are:
4) Serving with the Living Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:9b)
1 Peter 2:9b 9 (But you are a chosen race), a royal priesthood, (a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.) (ESV)
Here Peter employed a remarkable symbol when he combined in one metaphor references to royalty and the priesthood. The concept of a royal priesthood comes from Exodus 19:6, where God through Moses told Israel: Exodus 19:6 [6]and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel." (ESV). An ancient priesthood was to be sanctified and set apart from the people at large for their ministry to the deity, to whom they had special access. Accordingly, the entire nation of ancient Israel was to be set apart from the nations of the world to serve God through obedience to the covenant with Him, which obedience constituted Israel’s holiness. Peter now declares similarly that collectively Christian believers are to perform that same function with respect to the nations among which they are scattered. By obedience to the new covenant in Christ’s blood (1 Pet. 1:2), they are to be sanctified and set apart from the peoples of the world. The modifier “royal” is apt, for Christians know God as their King, to whom they now owe allegiance. The kingdom of God is composed of believers who must think of themselves as holy with respect to the world, set apart for purity and a purpose demanded by God. This is the priesthood that serves the King of the universe (Jobes, K. H. (2005). 1 Peter (p. 161). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.).
Please turn to Revelation 1
Two primary elements constitute the image of the royal priesthood. First, the priests serve the King by having access to His holy presence, into which they come offering spiritual sacrifices to Him, and second, the priests rule with the King in His kingdom. The term “royal” (Basileion) generally describes a royal residence or palace (cf. Luke 7:25), but it can also refer to a sovereignty or monarchy. Peter used the term here to convey the general idea of royalty. The spiritual house he mentioned in verse 5 turns out to be a royal house, the dominion of a royal family. Believers are a ruling priesthood, literally “a royal house of priests.” United with Christ as members of his body, believers join in his priestly work of reconciling God and people. This priesthood is called “royal” because believers have become members of God’s family, brothers and sisters of Christ, the King of kings. (Barton, B. B. (1995). 1 Peter, 2 Peter, Jude (p. 59). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Pub.)
The apostle John wrote explained this in Revelation 1:
Revelation 1:1-8 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. 4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (ESV) (cf. 2:11)
• It is this one, Jesus Christ who was, and is, and is to come, who showed His love for His saints by coming to die for them. His rising has enabled us to be His royal brothers and Sisters. His kingdom will consummate as He returns that we may eternally rule with Him.
The greatest thing you can experience this Easter, is to embrace the resurrected Christ. Acknowledge that you are not perfect, you have sinned against God, and trust in the resurrected Christ, and Him alone for eternal life.
• If you have just done this then let us know and we will celebrate with the angels in heaven who rejoice with such submission. May the celebration of the living Christ, be new life for you, through faith in Him.
(Format Note: Some base commentary from MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2004). 1 Peter (pp. 119–120). Chicago: Moody Publishers.)
