THE PURE WORD

1 Peter 2:1-10

When I entered my sophomore year at Baylor another ministerial student tried to enlist me in Navigators, a Bible memory organization. He compared knowing scripture to his work as a shoe salesman working his way through college. He said he had to know his stock, so when a customer expressed his desire, he knew just what he had on hand and where to get it. Likewise, knowing scripture can make a difference in so many ways, first in witnessing and second in daily life. Honestly, when you face a decision, especially on a moral question, does your mind automatically search the scriptures for guidance? My new friend made a valid point, and although I did not join his organization, I had already grown up learning Bible verses through the various churches I had belonged to, and I've continued to add to my Bible knowledge every since.

2:1 – Remember the last chapter ended, “But the word of the Lord endures for evermore, and this word is the word of the Gospel preached to you. So then he challenges the young Christians to clear the decks for that Gospel by flinging away all malice, deceit, pretense, jealousy,and recriminations. Literally the list can say “badness, treachery or cunning,hypocrisy, envy or jealousy, evile speech.” The Bible loves to give us lists of things to avoid or to achieve. I'm guilty of racing past them to the next verb or something, but I've learned it pays to slow down now and then and examine myself against the list. Earlier today, I read an article where a guy compared his fascination with fantasy football to the so-called seven deadly sins. He found himself guilty of all but lust in that context. So go back and pause after each of the five sins to lay aside and ask how much and where they apply to you.

V2 – This is the verse I was talking about at the beginning. As newborn infants – we have been born again, and babies need milk. I recently read on Facebook a woman complaining that her newborn wanted to nurse ALL the time. That's a healthy sign of a baby who will grow. Seeking the word likewise helps Christians grow towards maturity. To do that, you must get pure milk. Look at the second word in the list above – deceit or treachery or cunning. The word translated “pure” here or “sincere” in KJV is the same word with a negative letter alpha before it. That “A” means without. Virtue is often the absence of vice. No pollutant. At this point Peter was talking primarily about the preached gospel as he indicated. But as that gospel was written and its implications worked out, it became the New Testament. Seeking the truths of the gospel and its implications in the NT stimulates spiritual and character growth. “Surely you have tasted that the Lord is good.” Even as spiritual infants, they have experienced the grace of God and His wonderful gifts.

One theme throughout scripture is God's first giving, then demanding. “I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Thou shall have no other gods before me!” He saved Israel, then called them to follow. He saved us and likewise calls us to discipleship. Over and over you will find this pattern if you look for it.

V 3 – Peter now compares Christ to a rock, and Christians as living stones being built into His church. In the background certainly is the memory of his “great confession” recorded in Matthew 16. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!” Jesus nicknamed Simon on that occasion as “Rocky” - Cephas in Hebrew, Peter in Greek. Now Jesus is the Rock. I once spoke to a room full of Catholic priests on the 100^th anniversary of their church. I spoke on the saying “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church.” I pointed out that our denominations had argued for centuries about whether the rock meant Peter or his confession. Then I said that any grammar teacher would remind us that Jesus did not say Peter or believers would build His church. He said I will build my church. The resurrected Christ ever rebuilds and renews His church over the generations. But as smaller stones can make walls while resting on the foundation, so we are to allow Him to place us as He chooses.

The non-believing word rejected Jesus and crucified Him, but the Lord God found Him “choice and precious” and so raised Him from the dead. God vetoed sin, and death and hell. So don't be surprised if the world rejects you. In the background of this letter, some kind of persecution is going on. We don't know exactly what or when. Some would refer to Nero, others to local outbreaks. But Peter says there will be sacrifices they will offer. Note God is building us into a holy temple! He calls us a holy priesthood! A priest stands between God and man, representing each to the other. As priests we are called to use our gifts to be God's gift to the world in both evangelism and ministry. Compare this section with Romans 12:1-2. Both use the same words!

V 7 – Faith obviously is the difference between a believer and an unbeliever. But the reality does not depend on faith. Jesus is Lord, the Cornerstone, whether we believe Him or not. That stone can be the foundation on which we build our lives (see the end of Matthew 7) or a stumbling stone over which we trip and fall!

V 9 – Royal priesthood – we represent God and His Son Christ to humanity and intercede for them at the Throne. From verses such as this, Baptists and other Protestants have developed the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer. This doctrine denies we need a priest, church, or any other mediator besides Jesus Christ to channel God to us or us to God. One of the greatest obstacles to evangelism is the concept that somehow pastors and missionaries are the ones to do our religion for us. No way, no how, can't be so. My greatest role in the Kingdom of God is simply to be a disciple. That's far more important than my role as a pastor. You are called to as high a standard as I. You are given the Bible to strengthen your life as much as it is given to me.

A chosen race and a dedicated nation – Does Peter here say the church replaces Israel as the people of God. My whole understanding of the NT leads me 90% in this direction. The only thing that gives me pause is the reality of Israel's re-emergence as a state in 1948. So far as I know, that is unparalleled. Yet today's Israel is a secular state, not a religious state though some would make it so. The church has become world-wide, and we in the US lose sight of this. Even China has millions of Christians, as does Korea and many South American countries. You can revolutionize your Bible study if you pause to ask how you would read this scripture if you were a Christian in Iraq or Syria.

But don't overlook the reason He has called us His people: to proclaim the triumphs (plural) of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light! We all are to be preachers! Witnesses! Proclaimers! And we are to proclaim His victory! Our major responsibility is not to condemn the world, but to call the world to freedom and forgiveness in Jesus!

HOPE AND HOLINESS

1 Peter 1:13-25

I love what a commentator said on this passage:

After praising God for the gifts He bestows on faithful people, the next

verses show Christians the responsibility that goes with these gifts. The holy

God requires a holy people!

The calls to hope are based on the character of God just defined. Because you have been loved by such a God, therefore be hopeful, obedient, and holy.

V13- Holman translates this verse well: With your minds stripped for action.

New English Bible: you must, therefore, be like men stripped for action, perfectly self-controlled.

The King James translates the Greek literally as gird up the loins of your mind and be sober. Since we seldom gird up our loins any more (but I bet some of you ladies at some time wearing a skirt need to run and so hiked up those skirts!) Of course, men wore long robes in those days and for them to work or run, they would make the equivalent of pants by belting up the skirts to allow freedom of movement. So the idea here is captured in both the modern translations.

Note he challenges us to think. Christ commands all of us, our whole life, body, mind, and spirit. And Peter will mention each of them. When he says to be serious or self-disciplined, the Greek behind it is related to the word often translated “perfect.” The root is “telos” and telos has to do with the purpose of something. A car is for transportation, so if it gets you from one place to another, it has fulfilled its telos. The same for a human. If you follow Christ and obey Him you will fulfill the reason you were created. Another translation besides purpose or perfect is “mature.” Grow up! He is about to use the metaphors of being born again and as children of God. They were new Christians, and he expected them (and us) to grow toward maturity.

Set your hope only on the grace! I've read several articles lately (and Philip Yancy has an entire book on it!) that decry the church's moving away from preaching the gospel of grace to a needy world. Instead we seem to have communicated to the world a gospel of law, constantly condemning them, instead of proclaiming God's free forgiveness in Christ. Here Peter focuses on the future grace and final salvation when Jesus is revealed as Lord to the whole world.

V 14 – As obedient children - I repeat, obedience and faith go hand in hand. If we call Him Lord, we should obey his commands. His will becomes our will. Paul repeatedly called himself a bondservant or slave of Jesus Christ. A slave has no will of his own. His master's will has become the servant's will. If we rebel, very often the outside world will let us know about it.

Be not conformed to the desires you cherished in your former ignorance. Compare to Romans 12:1-2. JB Phillips translated :2 as “don't let the world around you press you into its own mould.” All kinds of forces around us are trying to shape us. Who is the potter responsible for shaping your life? “Desires” is a strong word, sometimes translated lusts. By their “former ignorance,” he is making clear that becoming a Christian makes a fundamental change in both attitude and behavior.

Note how often Peter quotes other scripture or at least partially quotes it. Either he had read much of it, which helps date the letter, or there were certain ideas or themes that were circulating among the early church. How easily does scripture come to your mind in your daily life?

V 15 – Holiness – Peter also quotes scripture here, this time from Leviticus. A section of that book is often called the Holiness Code because it challenges the reader to be holy and then describes steps on the way. The word HOLY is a big word and has been thoroughly explored. Two books for anyone inclined to pursue this are are recommended as foundational.

The Idea of the Holy, by Rudolf Otto

Worship, by Evelyn Underhill.

Both are classics and are probably out of print, but available through the used book sections of Amazon, etc. I have a copy of both in trade paperbacks that I will learn if you can handle fifty year old paper!

The word “holy” in Greek carries first the idea of separateness, being set apart. Otto calls God “the wholly other.” God is awe-inspiring, infinite to our finiteness. No way can we truly or completely understand Him. Primitive humans would stand in awe before certain places, perhaps where lightning struck. Can you imagine what it was like for Israel to gather before the sacred mountain of Sinai? In the presence of true awesomeness, we respond in fear, thus to understand “the fear of the Lord,” the awe in the presence of the infinite, unknowable yet knowable through his self-revelation to us. In His presence we move carefully in awe! We are in some sense to share that holiness, being holy because the One who saved us and calls us is holy. As obedient children we are children of holiness! So Peter challenges us to act like it!

Notice he refers to our time on earth as our temporary residence. I like the concept of Pilgrim's Progress and the old gospel song, “This World Is Not My Home, I'm Just A-passing Through.” Fellow pilgrims we are to live before God and under Him as we make our way through life.

V18 – several times in this letter, we find references to the blood of Christ. Here we see his Jewish background as he refers to a lamb without spot or blemish. Remember Gentiles also practiced sacrifice, so they would also relate to what he was saying. Sacrificial animals were to be “without spot or blemish,” and for some sacrifices should be the firstborn. I remember one day I was wandering through a fairgrounds exhibit among the cattle stalls. Some had ribbons and were prize bulls. The thought struck me that these animals were examples of what God approved in OT sacrifice. Jesus met that qualification, being without sin and Himself holy. As has been often said, the sinlessness of Jesus qualified Him to die for our sins, somehow balancing the scales of justice and giving us forgiveness.

Backing up to v 17, Father was Jesus' favorite term for God. But recognize that in that day of paternalism, the father in all societies was considered the ruler of his household. We wrestle with Paul's injunction in Ephesians for wives to submit to their husbands, but the really radical part of that passage is the command for husbands to love their wives. Likewise in both Hebrew and Roman/Greek societies the wife was expected to submit to her husband. Virtually no where else do we find the command for husbands to love their wives and certainly not compared to the divine love for His church! (“...as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it.)

Peter's reasoning here is that if you call God your Father and consider yourself in His family, then you should stand before Him in awe and wonder. In the context, that awe as well as obedience is the proper response of a child of God.

V20 – Christ was chosen before the foundation of the world! This keys in with John 1: In the beginning was the Word (Gr logos, Jesus) and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God. We have often said that our finite minds cannot grasp the infinite God. But God expressed Himself in human form, so we can understand what those infinite concepts look like when poured into a human form. “God was in Christ!”

Yet God revealed Himself through Jesus at “the end of times.” Previous generations did not know Jesus as that generation did. They also believed they were living in the last days, as we still do. Predicting the end of the world and the second coming has become a cottage industry in some places in spite of the fact that Jesus specifically said that timing was known only to God the Father. Not even the Son had that information while He was on earth. One result of living to an old age with a good memory is that I remember all kinds of predictions over the years. Just in the identification of the anti-Christ I remember Hitler, Stalin, various popes, Saddam, Bin Laden and others. In my opinion, all the Biblical signs were long ago fulfilled, and we wait now only on God's decision.

V22 – Christian growth comes through obedience. If your soul and self has become pure, it is because of your obeying the Lord and following Him. That purity results in love for your fellow Christians with all of your strength. Remember Jesus' command to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Peter says we are in the same way to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. We cannot be Biblical Christians if we are indifferent or even hostile to others.

V23 – Again we read of being born again, harking back to John once more. The underlying idea is that you got into the world through physical birth, and you are now in the family of God through spiritual birth! But you don't come from perishable seed. You are not a flower that needs to be replanted every year, but rather you continue to bloom year after year. Perhaps a better illustration might be that we are like live oaks, evergreen and never barren.

Vv24-5 – Again Peter quotes the scriptures, this time from the OT. All flesh – that born into this world – is grass. As the grass fades, so will we one day die. But the Word of God, Jesus and the Gospel, will never perish. Many churches argue over what music to use, contemporary or traditional, but if the world keeps spinning 50 or 100 years the vast majority of songs will be gone. The oldest hymn in the books goes back around 1000 years. We would not recognize any songs sung in the early church – at least not the melodies, but as they often sang Psalms, that would endure. After all, Psalms are part of the Word of God that endures. And Peter concludes by pointing out that Word has been preached, proclaimed to them in the Gospel!

HOPE AND HOLINESS

1 Peter 1:13-25

I love what a commentator said on this passage:

After praising God for the gifts He bestows on faithful people, the next

verses show Christians the responsibility that goes with these gifts. The holy

God requires a holy people!

The calls to hope are based on the character of God just defined. Because you have been loved by such a God, therefore be hopeful, obedient, and holy.

V13- Holman translates this verse well: With your minds stripped for action.

New English Bible: you must, therefore, be like men stripped for action, perfectly self-controlled.

The King James translates the Greek literally as gird up the loins of your mind and be sober. Since we seldom gird up our loins any more (but I bet some of you ladies at some time wearing a skirt need to run and so hiked up those skirts!) Of course, men wore long robes in those days and for them to work or run, they would make the equivalent of pants by belting up the skirts to allow freedom of movement. So the idea here is captured in both the modern translations.

Note he challenges us to think. Christ commands all of us, our whole life, body, mind, and spirit. And Peter will mention each of them. When he says to be serious or self-disciplined, the Greek behind it is related to the word often translated “perfect.” The root is “telos” and telos has to do with the purpose of something. A car is for transportation, so if it gets you from one place to another, it has fulfilled its telos. The same for a human. If you follow Christ and obey Him you will fulfill the reason you were created. Another translation besides purpose or perfect is “mature.” Grow up! He is about to use the metaphors of being born again and as children of God. They were new Christians, and he expected them (and us) to grow toward maturity.

Set your hope only on the grace! I've read several articles lately (and Philip Yancy has an entire book on it!) that decry the church's moving away from preaching the gospel of grace to a needy world. Instead we seem to have communicated to the world a gospel of law, constantly condemning them, instead of proclaiming God's free forgiveness in Christ. Here Peter focuses on the future grace and final salvation when Jesus is revealed as Lord to the whole world.

V 14 – As obedient children - I repeat, obedience and faith go hand in hand. If we call Him Lord, we should obey his commands. His will becomes our will. Paul repeatedly called himself a bondservant or slave of Jesus Christ. A slave has no will of his own. His master's will has become the servant's will. If we rebel, very often the outside world will let us know about it.

Be not conformed to the desires you cherished in your former ignorance. Compare to Romans 12:1-2. JB Phillips translated :2 as “don't let the world around you press you into its own mould.” All kinds of forces around us are trying to shape us. Who is the potter responsible for shaping your life? “Desires” is a strong word, sometimes translated lusts. By their “former ignorance,” he is making clear that becoming a Christian makes a fundamental change in both attitude and behavior.

Note how often Peter quotes other scripture or at least partially quotes it. Either he had read much of it, which helps date the letter, or there were certain ideas or themes that were circulating among the early church. How easily does scripture come to your mind in your daily life?

V 15 – Holiness – Peter also quotes scripture here, this time from Leviticus. A section of that book is often called the Holiness Code because it challenges the reader to be holy and then describes steps on the way. The word HOLY is a big word and has been thoroughly explored. Two books for anyone inclined to pursue this are are recommended as foundational.

The Idea of the Holy, by Rudolf Otto

Worship, by Evelyn Underhill.

Both are classics and are probably out of print, but available through the used book sections of Amazon, etc. I have a copy of both in trade paperbacks that I will learn if you can handle fifty year old paper!

The word “holy” in Greek carries first the idea of separateness, being set apart. Otto calls God “the wholly other.” God is awe-inspiring, infinite to our finiteness. No way can we truly or completely understand Him. Primitive humans would stand in awe before certain places, perhaps where lightning struck. Can you imagine what it was like for Israel to gather before the sacred mountain of Sinai? In the presence of true awesomeness, we respond in fear, thus to understand “the fear of the Lord,” the awe in the presence of the infinite, unknowable yet knowable through his self-revelation to us. In His presence we move carefully in awe! We are in some sense to share that holiness, being holy because the One who saved us and calls us is holy. As obedient children we are children of holiness! So Peter challenges us to act like it!

Notice he refers to our time on earth as our temporary residence. I like the concept of Pilgrim's Progress and the old gospel song, “This World Is Not My Home, I'm Just A-passing Through.” Fellow pilgrims we are to live before God and under Him as we make our way through life.

V18 – several times in this letter, we find references to the blood of Christ. Here we see his Jewish background as he refers to a lamb without spot or blemish. Remember Gentiles also practiced sacrifice, so they would also relate to what he was saying. Sacrificial animals were to be “without spot or blemish,” and for some sacrifices should be the firstborn. I remember one day I was wandering through a fairgrounds exhibit among the cattle stalls. Some had ribbons and were prize bulls. The thought struck me that these animals were examples of what God approved in OT sacrifice. Jesus met that qualification, being without sin and Himself holy. As has been often said, the sinlessness of Jesus qualified Him to die for our sins, somehow balancing the scales of justice and giving us forgiveness.

Backing up to v 17, Father was Jesus' favorite term for God. But recognize that in that day of paternalism, the father in all societies was considered the ruler of his household. We wrestle with Paul's injunction in Ephesians for wives to submit to their husbands, but the really radical part of that passage is the command for husbands to love their wives. Likewise in both Hebrew and Roman/Greek societies the wife was expected to submit to her husband. Virtually no where else do we find the command for husbands to love their wives and certainly not compared to the divine love for His church! (“...as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it.)

Peter's reasoning here is that if you call God your Father and consider yourself in His family, then you should stand before Him in awe and wonder. In the context, that awe as well as obedience is the proper response of a child of God.

V20 – Christ was chosen before the foundation of the world! This keys in with John 1: In the beginning was the Word (Gr logos, Jesus) and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God. We have often said that our finite minds cannot grasp the infinite God. But God expressed Himself in human form, so we can understand what those infinite concepts look like when poured into a human form. “God was in Christ!”

Yet God revealed Himself through Jesus at “the end of times.” Previous generations did not know Jesus as that generation did. They also believed they were living in the last days, as we still do. Predicting the end of the world and the second coming has become a cottage industry in some places in spite of the fact that Jesus specifically said that timing was known only to God the Father. Not even the Son had that information while He was on earth. One result of living to an old age with a good memory is that I remember all kinds of predictions over the years. Just in the identification of the anti-Christ I remember Hitler, Stalin, various popes, Saddam, Bin Laden and others. In my opinion, all the Biblical signs were long ago fulfilled, and we wait now only on God's decision.

V22 – Christian growth comes through obedience. If your soul and self has become pure, it is because of your obeying the Lord and following Him. That purity results in love for your fellow Christians with all of your strength. Remember Jesus' command to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Peter says we are in the same way to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. We cannot be Biblical Christians if we are indifferent or even hostile to others.

V23 – Again we read of being born again, harking back to John once more. The underlying idea is that you got into the world through physical birth, and you are now in the family of God through spiritual birth! But you don't come from perishable seed. You are not a flower that needs to be replanted every year, but rather you continue to bloom year after year. Perhaps a better illustration might be that we are like live oaks, evergreen and never barren.

Vv24-5 – Again Peter quotes the scriptures, this time from the OT. All flesh – that born into this world – is grass. As the grass fades, so will we one day die. But the Word of God, Jesus and the Gospel, will never perish. Many churches argue over what music to use, contemporary or traditional, but if the world keeps spinning 50 or 100 years the vast majority of songs will be gone. The oldest hymn in the books goes back around 1000 years. We would not recognize any songs sung in the early church – at least not the melodies, but as they often sang Psalms, that would endure. After all, Psalms are part of the Word of God that endures. And Peter concludes by pointing out that Word has been preached, proclaimed to them in the Gospel!

HOPE AND HOLINESS

1 Peter 1:13-25

I love what a commentator said on this passage:

After praising God for the gifts He bestows on faithful people, the next

verses show Christians the responsibility that goes with these gifts. The holy

God requires a holy people!

The calls to hope are based on the character of God just defined. Because you have been loved by such a God, therefore be hopeful, obedient, and holy.

V13- Holman translates this verse well: With your minds stripped for action.

New English Bible: you must, therefore, be like men stripped for action, perfectly self-controlled.

The King James translates the Greek literally as gird up the loins of your mind and be sober. Since we seldom gird up our loins any more (but I bet some of you ladies at some time wearing a skirt need to run and so hiked up those skirts!) Of course, men wore long robes in those days and for them to work or run, they would make the equivalent of pants by belting up the skirts to allow freedom of movement. So the idea here is captured in both the modern translations.

Note he challenges us to think. Christ commands all of us, our whole life, body, mind, and spirit. And Peter will mention each of them. When he says to be serious or self-disciplined, the Greek behind it is related to the word often translated “perfect.” The root is “telos” and telos has to do with the purpose of something. A car is for transportation, so if it gets you from one place to another, it has fulfilled its telos. The same for a human. If you follow Christ and obey Him you will fulfill the reason you were created. Another translation besides purpose or perfect is “mature.” Grow up! He is about to use the metaphors of being born again and as children of God. They were new Christians, and he expected them (and us) to grow toward maturity.

Set your hope only on the grace! I've read several articles lately (and Philip Yancy has an entire book on it!) that decry the church's moving away from preaching the gospel of grace to a needy world. Instead we seem to have communicated to the world a gospel of law, constantly condemning them, instead of proclaiming God's free forgiveness in Christ. Here Peter focuses on the future grace and final salvation when Jesus is revealed as Lord to the whole world.

V 14 – As obedient children - I repeat, obedience and faith go hand in hand. If we call Him Lord, we should obey his commands. His will becomes our will. Paul repeatedly called himself a bondservant or slave of Jesus Christ. A slave has no will of his own. His master's will has become the servant's will. If we rebel, very often the outside world will let us know about it.

Be not conformed to the desires you cherished in your former ignorance. Compare to Romans 12:1-2. JB Phillips translated :2 as “don't let the world around you press you into its own mould.” All kinds of forces around us are trying to shape us. Who is the potter responsible for shaping your life? “Desires” is a strong word, sometimes translated lusts. By their “former ignorance,” he is making clear that becoming a Christian makes a fundamental change in both attitude and behavior.

Note how often Peter quotes other scripture or at least partially quotes it. Either he had read much of it, which helps date the letter, or there were certain ideas or themes that were circulating among the early church. How easily does scripture come to your mind in your daily life?

V 15 – Holiness – Peter also quotes scripture here, this time from Leviticus. A section of that book is often called the Holiness Code because it challenges the reader to be holy and then describes steps on the way. The word HOLY is a big word and has been thoroughly explored. Two books for anyone inclined to pursue this are are recommended as foundational.

The Idea of the Holy, by Rudolf Otto

Worship, by Evelyn Underhill.

Both are classics and are probably out of print, but available through the used book sections of Amazon, etc. I have a copy of both in trade paperbacks that I will learn if you can handle fifty year old paper!

The word “holy” in Greek carries first the idea of separateness, being set apart. Otto calls God “the wholly other.” God is awe-inspiring, infinite to our finiteness. No way can we truly or completely understand Him. Primitive humans would stand in awe before certain places, perhaps where lightning struck. Can you imagine what it was like for Israel to gather before the sacred mountain of Sinai? In the presence of true awesomeness, we respond in fear, thus to understand “the fear of the Lord,” the awe in the presence of the infinite, unknowable yet knowable through his self-revelation to us. In His presence we move carefully in awe! We are in some sense to share that holiness, being holy because the One who saved us and calls us is holy. As obedient children we are children of holiness! So Peter challenges us to act like it!

Notice he refers to our time on earth as our temporary residence. I like the concept of Pilgrim's Progress and the old gospel song, “This World Is Not My Home, I'm Just A-passing Through.” Fellow pilgrims we are to live before God and under Him as we make our way through life.

V18 – several times in this letter, we find references to the blood of Christ. Here we see his Jewish background as he refers to a lamb without spot or blemish. Remember Gentiles also practiced sacrifice, so they would also relate to what he was saying. Sacrificial animals were to be “without spot or blemish,” and for some sacrifices should be the firstborn. I remember one day I was wandering through a fairgrounds exhibit among the cattle stalls. Some had ribbons and were prize bulls. The thought struck me that these animals were examples of what God approved in OT sacrifice. Jesus met that qualification, being without sin and Himself holy. As has been often said, the sinlessness of Jesus qualified Him to die for our sins, somehow balancing the scales of justice and giving us forgiveness.

Backing up to v 17, Father was Jesus' favorite term for God. But recognize that in that day of paternalism, the father in all societies was considered the ruler of his household. We wrestle with Paul's injunction in Ephesians for wives to submit to their husbands, but the really radical part of that passage is the command for husbands to love their wives. Likewise in both Hebrew and Roman/Greek societies the wife was expected to submit to her husband. Virtually no where else do we find the command for husbands to love their wives and certainly not compared to the divine love for His church! (“...as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it.)

Peter's reasoning here is that if you call God your Father and consider yourself in His family, then you should stand before Him in awe and wonder. In the context, that awe as well as obedience is the proper response of a child of God.

V20 – Christ was chosen before the foundation of the world! This keys in with John 1: In the beginning was the Word (Gr logos, Jesus) and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God. We have often said that our finite minds cannot grasp the infinite God. But God expressed Himself in human form, so we can understand what those infinite concepts look like when poured into a human form. “God was in Christ!”

Yet God revealed Himself through Jesus at “the end of times.” Previous generations did not know Jesus as that generation did. They also believed they were living in the last days, as we still do. Predicting the end of the world and the second coming has become a cottage industry in some places in spite of the fact that Jesus specifically said that timing was known only to God the Father. Not even the Son had that information while He was on earth. One result of living to an old age with a good memory is that I remember all kinds of predictions over the years. Just in the identification of the anti-Christ I remember Hitler, Stalin, various popes, Saddam, Bin Laden and others. In my opinion, all the Biblical signs were long ago fulfilled, and we wait now only on God's decision.

V22 – Christian growth comes through obedience. If your soul and self has become pure, it is because of your obeying the Lord and following Him. That purity results in love for your fellow Christians with all of your strength. Remember Jesus' command to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Peter says we are in the same way to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. We cannot be Biblical Christians if we are indifferent or even hostile to others.

V23 – Again we read of being born again, harking back to John once more. The underlying idea is that you got into the world through physical birth, and you are now in the family of God through spiritual birth! But you don't come from perishable seed. You are not a flower that needs to be replanted every year, but rather you continue to bloom year after year. Perhaps a better illustration might be that we are like live oaks, evergreen and never barren.

Vv24-5 – Again Peter quotes the scriptures, this time from the OT. All flesh – that born into this world – is grass. As the grass fades, so will we one day die. But the Word of God, Jesus and the Gospel, will never perish. Many churches argue over what music to use, contemporary or traditional, but if the world keeps spinning 50 or 100 years the vast majority of songs will be gone. The oldest hymn in the books goes back around 1000 years. We would not recognize any songs sung in the early church – at least not the melodies, but as they often sang Psalms, that would endure. After all, Psalms are part of the Word of God that endures. And Peter concludes by pointing out that Word has been preached, proclaimed to them in the Gospel!