1 Peter 2:13-17

1 Peter 2:13-17  Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.  For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.  Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.  Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king (NIV).

          We have reached a new section in this text which contains a word which many deem to be controversial: “submit.”  There really is no controversy here, rather a need for careful interpretation.  I will take the three “submit” points one at a time, yet before I do, I introduce all three with two principles of interpretation given by the minister Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his classic book on the Sermon on the Mount.  Principle one of Biblical interpretation: “… no part of this Sermon can be understood truly except in the light of the whole”(1).  He is specifying the Sermon on the Mount, yet the principle applies to the entire Bible.  When studying a passage of the Bible, you need to take a verse in the context of the passage, a passage in the context of the chapter, and the chapter in the context of the book, and the book within the context of the entire Bible.

          Second principle of Biblical interpretation: “… never consider the letter apart from the spirit”(2).  Dr. Lloyd-Jones states earlier on, “I do feel constantly the need to warn myself and everybody else against becoming so immersed in the mechanics of Scripture that we miss its message”(3).  Now Dr. Lloyd-Jones had much more to saying about interpreting the Bible, and others have obviously given some important points of Biblical interpretation, but I think these are two key points. Scripture was not given in a vacuum, rather it was given in human history contexts, and in different literary styles.  This is a critical point.  Neglecting to apply what is called “exegesis,” which is “… the careful historical, literary, and theological analysis of a text”(4), will lead to misinterpretation.  And more than anything, not putting Scripture into the context of the book that it is in will cause misinterpretation.

       I think Dr. Lloyd-Jones makes a wonderful musical presentation analogy in that chapter.  There is a certain art in listening to the messages of God in Scripture.  And any Bible artist needs assistance from the Holy Spirit.  This is a third principle of Biblical interpretation!  Just as Jesus enlightened the two disciples who were on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:27, we folks need the Spirit of Christ to enlighten us.  So as we began this section, I truly say, “Help me Holy Spirit.”

          What do we have here in this passage?  It is a general statement.  The point really is not that people are supposed to go around giving allegiance to horrible leaders as well as good leaders.  Let us interpret this passage in the context of the Bible.  In the Old Testament, God had originally determined for the Israelites to be ruled by judges.  It was only because the people cried out to Samuel to have a king like other nations that God permitted them to have a king.  And God warned them of the negative consequences, which took place as He said they would.  Kings of Israel and Judah were usually bad.  Most of the kings did evil, whereas only a few kings did good.

          And how about those Roman emperors who persecuted Christians.  It was horrible.  And there have been numerous evil leaders since.  Then in the century of my birth, there was one of the most evil leaders in human history.  And now here in this day and age, you have people like me who advocate republics like our great United States of America where there is democracy, and who renounce kingships and dictatorships altogether.

          Two thousand years ago, Peter was not denying that there had been bad rulers in the history of humanity, and he was not saying that Roman emperors were God’s gift to mankind.  He is saying that as a general principle, people need to submit to authority, authority which keeps sin in check.  My country is the U.S.  I have never been to a town in the U.S. that did not have police officers or a sheriff.  In our country where we are blessed to have so many freedoms, without the support of such authority, there would be horrible results.  Any country which has a civil government is a country where there is the potential for goodness to be bestowed to the citizens.

          Christians are to be first and foremost citizens of the kingdom of heaven.  However, we are still supposed to be concerned with what is going on in the world.  In the Lord’s Prayer, we say, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  God’s intention is not for Christians to bail out of civil society, rather Christians should be model citizens, respecting authority rather than rebelling against authority in general.

          Back around 1995, my friend was working on a PhD at Cornell University.  He is a great Christian man, and he was in a wonderful fellowship with a small group of fellow Christian graduate students, men and women.  I visited him one weekend, and I attended his church that Sunday.  The minister preached on Romans 13:1-7, and I thought his sermon was exceptional.  He made the specific point that Christians are to obey rulers unless the rulers make laws that prohibit expressing the Gospel, which was a specific instruction of Jesus.  That is why Christians can smuggle Bibles into various countries.  I agree, but I would take it even further saying that any laws that go against any of the teachings of Jesus do not need to be obeyed.  The reason is that Paul in Romans, and Peter here in his epistle, were never advocating that anyone needs to submit to an evil ruler or laws that require sinful actions.  They are giving a general principle that Christians are not to make church laws their binding legal principles, and then scoff at secular laws.  Under the persecution that the early Church faced, there was a need to often go underground.  Look what ended up happening to the author of this epistle.  Peter was crucified by the Roman government!  Yet Peter is clearly teaching that Christians are not to bail out on the world!  In fact, Christians who are so passionate should even participate in civil government.

          Near the end of this verse, Peter mentions the importance of the brotherhood of believers.  Church communities are important!  Likewise, we Christians are called to be lights in the world.  There is a time for Christian conclaves, and there is a time to be out there in the thick of it.
Hunter Irvine

(1)            D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Studies in the Sermon on the Mount: One Volume Edition (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1971), 22.
(2)            D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Studies in the Sermon on the Mount: One Volume Edition (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1971), 29.
(3)            D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Studies in the Sermon on the Mount: One Volume Edition (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1971), 21.
(4)            Michael Gorman Elements of Biblical Exegesis; A Basic Guide for Students and Ministers (Peabody, Massachusetts.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2001), 8.

1 Peter 2:10-12

1 Peter 2:10-12   Once your were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.  Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us (NIV).

   Following Jesus is a journey.  I write this on April 15th, which is my spiritual birthday.  (It has been a rough spiritual birthday because of the tragedy at the Boston marathon.  I have a headache right now.)  I gave my heart to Jesus on April 15, 1990, and it has been a wild journey since!  There are certain circumstances I have endured which could not be repeated, yet they were suitable for a season.  There are things I would do differently.  Yet all along, I have changed for the better, thanks be to God.

   I resonate with Peter's statement in verse ten.  Before that time, I was not a Christian.  I thought of Christianity in a sense as denominational membership.  Now I know it is a relationship with God through Jesus, and also a relationship with brothers and sisters in the family of God.  I am a Christian thanks to Jesus.  Before then I had not received mercy.  Receiving Christ, I received His forgiveness, the One who died as the substitute for my sins.  I could not have articulated all of this at that time, yet I have learned of this truth more and more since.

   Regarding verse eleven, the long journey has involved this willing child of God to be consistently improving.  Before I had a relationship with Jesus, some people may have thought that I was "moral," yet in my heart I was in a state of sin.  Thus things were getting worse for me.  Since turning to Christ, I have been getting better all through the 23 years.  Even just a year and a half ago I made additional improvement regarding anger.  And Peter addresses the irony in verse 12 of Christians getting accused.  There have been times, even recently, when I strongly felt my reputation was better as an Eagle Scout and Resident Advisor at Virginia Tech compared to me being a Christian.  Especially soon after I entered youth ministry, I was getting social challenges I had never had before.  I have even encountered that in the past year.  Yet one thing always tops gossip: doing God's will.

   Likewise sometimes it seems like my "good deeds" were more evident when I was a completely committed Boy Scout.  Yet the motivation was to pile up the awards.  My "good deeds" as a Christian might not be so fancy, and I have never been given a cool patch for any of the countless sacrifices I have made, yet sometimes I realize that certain people I am caring for know I love them.  Love is what people need, and my love may be the reason that someone has or will turn to the source of true love: God.  All who have the love of God will indeed glorify God when Christ returns.

Hunter Irvine

1 Peter 2:4-9

1 Peter 2:4-9 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” and “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (NIV).

   It is of major theological significance that the one who was named “rock” by Jesus is telling us all that Jesus is the cornerstone. He is preaching Christ, not himself. The Church is not built on Peter by his own admission. The Church is built on faith in Jesus.

   Jesus told a parable in Luke 20:9-19 which identified Himself as the fulfillment of prophecy regarding the cornerstone. He was the stone, the Messiah, which the builders, the religious leaders, rejected. They killed Jesus on a cross just as the tenants killed the son of the owner of the fields in the parable. I add here that there have been a minority of Christians throughout Church history who have blamed the Jewish people for killing Jesus, which is wrong, because Jewish people did not kill Jesus, rather a select group of Jewish religious leaders along with a select group of Romans contributed to the murder of Jesus back around the year 33 A.D. (Actually closer to 28 A.D., because our calendar is a bit off.) For example, Peter was Jewish, and he did not murder Jesus. And in addition, Jesus forgave his murderers from the cross. And He is the One to be their judge.

   Peter’s denoting of the Old Testament as “Scripture,” is implying those writings are sacred. (1)  I consider the fact that he capitalizes the word on purpose to emphasize the sacredness over any old “writing.”

   Regarding the destiny of those who stumble, they are not destined to stumble by God, rather they are destined to stumble not just because they did not obey, but because they did not believe in the first place. People make decisions according to personal beliefs.

   I started going to a new church this past November, which I think is a special church though in a rather small building, and we have an extremely special pastor.  I love folks at Mountair.  On Easter Sunday one week ago, we had a blessed Easter service. Afterwards, I went down into the entrance of the church, and there was a door open to a room I had never seen open before, which is near the church entrance. I looked into the room, and the room is basically a one room church museum. I think history is a great educator, so I went in and started studying the pictures which went the course around the room, and I looked at the items which were in large glass display cases. Some of the history of our church is preserved in that room. In looking at the line of pictures of all of the employed ministers of the church, I gave special attention to the duration of their service. The church has had quite a few ministers over the past fifty years.

   Reflecting on this church history room, I consider that our church is more than a building, and more than a museum. Our church is a living body of people who are devoted to Jesus. Jesus is the Cornerstone, and there are people in our church who have been serving Him in that body of believers since 1951, 1953, 1960, etc. There are a bunch of loving people in my church, living by the love of Jesus.
   The Church of Jesus does not simply consist of buildings, artifacts, and people who get their picture on the wall. The Church is about loving relationships in the family of God. Jesus is the Cornerstone, the One who loved everyone, and chose to die on a cross as the substitute for all the sins that every person had ever committed, or would ever commit. If you believe in Jesus, you will be forgiven of your sins, and you will be bonded with Jesus. You even get to be a member of a holy priesthood.
   I add that even though a holy priesthood sounds glamorous, being a true blue follower of Jesus brings much suffering. Just a Jesus was rejected, there will likely be a time when you likewise will be rejected for your commitment to Christ. Be forewarned. Yet though rejection comes from certain people, those who are obedient to Jesus, following His commands, remain able to receive the true love of Jesus.  Being a follower of Jesus, you have the light of Christ in you, no matter what your circumstances.

   And in churches, there can be family love. As brothers and sisters in Christ, “church” can be an opportunity for growth in the love and knowledge of Jesus. Granted there are plenty of churches where this is not taking place. If you are in a church that does not seem to have Jesus as its Cornerstone, or does not seem like “family,” keep seeking God’s guidance to know whether He is going to use you there to make things better, or whether He has something better for you for the next season.
Hunter Irvine

(1)   Joel Green, ed., Hearing the New Testament:
Strategies for Interpretation (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995), 230.