The Living Stone and a Chosen People – 1 Peter 2:1-10
Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture:
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,”
8 and
“A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.”
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, God’s own people,[c] in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
What does the passage say?
V. 1-3 Peter commands the believers to turn away from the world. He says, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it, you may grow into salvation” (v. 2 NRSV)
As people redeemed by the blood of God, there is a call to live holy. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, uses justification and sanctification to explain Peter’s notion. ‘If Justification is a door to salvation, sanctification is a house.’ Read more at Seedbed.com
V. 4 – 8 Peter says, ‘As we come to Christ, who is the true living stone, we, once rejected, become a part of the spiritual house Christ is building.’ Then he shares the prophecy of Christ who was projected to be rejected by the world from Isaiah and Psalm.
If we read these prophecies according to the Message, Eugene Peterson uses the world ‘Trust.’
“Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation will never have cause to regret it.” v. 6
“To you who trust him, he’s a stone to be proud of …” v. 7
“For the untrusting it’s … a stone to trip over…” v.8
So the difference of chosen people and unchosen people lies in our trust of Jesus Christ.
V. 9-10 For the ones who trust in the Lord, Peter introduces their new identity in Christ.
“But you are the one chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you – from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.” v. 9-10 The Message
What does this mean to me/us
1 Peter 2:9 is one of my favorite verses of the Bible. Jesus came, to the world, to become a ‘bridge builder,’ Greek ‘pontifex’ which in the book of Hebrews used for ‘High priest.’
Jesus became a bridge builder between the broken relationship of God and the world. Through his sacrifice, we are redeemed and reconnected to our creator.
Peter uses the word ‘royal priesthood,’ which means that we are in this line of the priesthood of Jesus, chosen to become a ‘bridge builder’ in this world.
As we strive for holiness, we are being used as a part to build God’s house/ Kingdom. As we strive to reclaim God’s image, in our life and build a house of sanctification, God will use us for God’s purpose.
Can you believe that your life has this purpose of God?
Will you follow this by ‘longing for pure, spiritual growth?’
What does this MEAN to you?
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