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1 Peter 2:9-10
9But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
After telling his readers about the plight of those who reject the Gospel message of Salvation, Peter then compares them with the believers and says, “But you are a ‘chosen generation.’ By the word chosen, he means that God has Himself chosen us to belong to His family. All it took on our part was to believe and trust in His Son Jesus. God called all people to believe in His Son Jesus but only those who responded to the invitation, were chosen to belong to His family.
He then uses another word in conjunction with the word, ‘chosen’ – it’s the word, ‘generation.’ It seems like those who believe in Christ are being referred to as a new generation, which is quite different from those generations of the past, because we who belong to this new generation are now appropriating the Salvation that the Lord had planned over so many generations. This new generation has the potential to create a new world as it were, where love, joy, peace, holiness, justice and mercy, and everything that reflects God’s character, can reign. None of the generations that existed from the time of creation until the time of Christ, had this privilege of experiencing Salvation like the generation that Peter was addressing, which includes us. Earlier generations had only heard that Salvation was coming, but had never experienced it like we have - hence the words, ‘chosen generation.’
Peter then uses another pair of words to describe the church – ‘royal priesthood.’ We know that Jesus is the King – not just of the Jews, but of the whole world, and though we haven’t begun to see the full extent of His reign yet, we know that when He returns, He will do so as ‘King’ and ‘Judge.’ We who have put our faith in this King, have been included as children of the King, which makes us royalty as well. Let’s never forget that. No matter how the world looks at us, in God’s eyes, we are ‘royalty.’
Not only are we royalty, but we also belong to the ‘Royal Priesthood,’ where Jesus is the Great, Holy, Innocent, Perfect, Undefiled, Merciful and Faithful, High Priest, and all we are priests. Just as the priests of the Old Testament offered sacrifices, we too offer sacrifices, but while they offered dead sacrifices, we now offer our lives as living sacrifices, unto God through Jesus, the Great High Priest.
Peter goes on to describe us The Church, by referring to us as a ‘Holy Nation.’ The word, ‘Holy,’ refers to being ‘set apart.’ We as believers are now set apart from living sinful lives, and are now set apart to God - to live lives that are led by His Holy Spirit. Earlier, we lived any way we wanted. We did not have the ability to say, “No” to sin. But now, because of the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us, we do have the ability to say, “No” to sin. As God is set apart from sin, we His children too need to be set apart from sin as well. But not only are we to be set apart from sin, but we are also called to be set apart to God.
He adds another word along with the word, ‘holy’ - it’s the word, ‘nation.’ Here Peter is actually using the same words that God used in Exodus 20:6, when God told Moses to say to the people of Israel, “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Though we as believers in Jesus are not confined to any one nation on earth, we belong to a nation that is both invisible and yet eternal, where Jesus is King.
Peter goes on to refer to believers in Jesus as ‘God’s own special people’ - a term that was used by God concerning the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 7:6, which reads - “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth,” and again in Deuteronomy 14:2, it says - “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” The Lord looks at us the same way He looked at the people of Israel, whom He first chose as His people.
Peter then goes on to give a reason why we are considered a ‘chosen generation,’ a ‘royal priesthood,’ a ‘holy nation’ and ‘God’s own special people.’ It’s so that we may declare to the world around us, all that the Lord has done in our lives, when He brought us out of the darkness of sinful living, into His marvelous light, where we can now be led by His Holy Spirit. We can now live a new life that’s pleasing to God, be a reflection of His character, and both experience and share His love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, peace, and the hope of eternal life with others. He goes on to remind us that once we were not even recognized as a people, but now we are the people of God. Once we lived without having received mercy from God, but now we have received God’s mercy – what an amazing privilege is that? If we hadn’t received mercy, we would be destined for God’s wrath and for a lost eternity away from Him.
1 Peter 2:11-12
11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Peter then goes on to literally beg the believers to not live a particular way, and to live another way instead, and gives reasons for his ardent request. He first reminds us that we are sojourners and pilgrims here on earth. This is a great reminder that everyone should never forget – we are only traveling through the earth, and we are headed for our real, eternal home in heaven. Once we have this perspective in mind, it will shape the way we think about life, and the way we live as well. Our values, priorities, decisions, etc. will change to become in alignment with the Lord’s will for our lives.
He then begs us to abstain from fleshly or selfish desires that seek to gratify the sinful nature, and which are at variance (at war) with our very souls. These fleshly desires might seem appealing on the surface, and even satisfy our body to a large extent, but if gratified, will eventually destroy our very souls.
Instead of living selfish, sinful lives, he then encourages us to live in such a way that those who do not believe in Jesus will honor us for our lifestyle. It’s sad that for the most part, the world around us looks at us The Church, and finds so much commonality between our lifestyle and its own, that we’re no different, no longer attractive, appealing, loving and morally strong, as we were meant to be.
The reason Peter gives for us to live honorable lives before the Gentiles, is so that when they observe our lives, they will give God glory on the day of visitation. This term, ‘day of visitation,’ is not fully understood. Some believe it refers to the Day of Judgment, while others believe it refers to a time when the Lord will have mercy on people. There are several other views about the meaning of this phrase, but it’s not very clear what is really meant by it. But whatever is really meant, we are called to live in such a way that the world around us will see a difference between their lifestyle and ours.
1 Peter 2:13-17
13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— 16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
Because we are mere pilgrims and travellers here on earth does not mean that we do not submit to every authority that the Lord has placed over us. Peter goes on to mention a couple of positions of authority – Kings and Governors. Now while there might be different titles for the leaders who lead the nations of our world today, the principles Peter is mentioning apply to us even today. He says that the people in authority, be they Kings/Queens/Emperors/Presidents/Prime Ministers need to be submitted to, and respected as the supreme authority of the nation in which we live. Not only are we to submit to the supreme authority, but we are to also submit to the governors (or whatever other title might exist) who are sent by these supreme leaders. He gives us two reasons why we need to submit to these authorities. Firstly, it’s because they carry out justice among those who do evil, and secondly, because these authorities also praise or recognize those who do good. This, Peter says, is God’s will or desire, that by living a good life in the countries in which we live, we put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, who speak evil of our good behaviour.
Peter then goes on to say that though we are free (free from the bondage of the law and now have a new liberty in Christ), we should not use this liberty as a cover-up for sinful living. Just because Christ paid the price for our sins does not mean we can now go ahead and live a new life of sin, with the false assumption that we are now free to live any way we want. We are actually only now free to live the way the Lord would have us live. Earlier, we had the desire to do good, but lacked the power to do so, but now that we have the Holy Spirit in us, we have both the desire and the ability to live the way the Lord would have us live.
Peter then reminds us that we are bondservants of Jesus. A bondservant was a person who chose to be a servant of his master, even though he had been freed by his master. Likewise, we have been freed from sin by God through faith in His Son Jesus, who paid the price for our freedom from sin. We have now made a choice to submit to the Lordship of God in our lives, and serve Him the rest of our lives. We are therefore bondservants of God.
He then suggests we do four things while we continue our life as sojourners here on earth – “Honour all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” Just because our home is in heaven does not mean we dishonor people around us on earth, but we should rather honor them. When it comes to relating with one another as believers, he says that we are to love one another. Jesus said that our love for one another would be a proof to the world around us that we are followers of Jesus. (Jn.13:34-35). We need to fear (honor, revere, respect, love and serve) God, and not take the Lord lightly, or for granted in our lives. In fact we should fear God (in the real sense of the word fear), when we ponder doing wrong, as Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” He ends by saying that we need to honor the King as well, corroborating what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 13:1-7, where he said that we need to submit to earthly authority, since it is God who places people in authority over us.
So what Peter seems to be saying is that though we are not really citizens here on earth, and are merely traveling through to our true, eternal home, we need to live in a way that reflects the nature of Christ; we need to love one another, and we also need to submit to the governing authorities above us, and thereby honor God in our lives.
