1-10 The Living Stone and a Chosen People
- Therefore (because you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth), get rid of malice, guile, insincerity, envy and slander. All these negative qualities have to do with relationships: resenting each other, putting on a false face, being envious, and speaking evil of other people.
- Long for the pure spiritual word of God as a baby longs for milk. This indicates a passion for his word.
- We are to be like spiritual stones, building a spiritual house, with Jesus the God-chosen cornerstone – setting the pattern of our spiritual structure.
- His teaching made the Jews falter, and they rejected him, as God knew they would, “as they were destined to do.” (Here’s that word “destined” again in the NRSV: the Greek tithēmi, which means set, fixed, established. In 1:2, the Greek word is prognōsis (foreknowledge or forethought; in 2:11, it’s promartyromai, to testify beforehand.) It’s interesting that the NRSV translates three different Greek words as the same English word. The ASV translates them as “foreknowledge” (1:2), “testified beforehand” (1:11) and “appointed” (2:8).)
- You are
- a chosen people
- a royal priesthood
- a holy nation
- God’s own people, who proclaim his acts
- called out of darkness into light
- now God’s people
- receiving God’s mercy
11-17 Live as Servants of God
- Abstain from desires of the flesh
- Behave honorably among Gentiles, so they will glorify God
- Accept the authority of human institutions – they are there to punish evildoers
- Live freely, which is not a freedom to sin
- Honor everyone, including the emperor, love believers, fear God.
18-25 The Example of Christ’s Suffering
- Slaves, obey your masters, whether they are kind or cruel
- If you endure unjust punishment, you will receive God’s approval, as following the example of Christ
- Christ entrusted himself to the just judge, bearing our sins on the cross, that we might be healed of our sins
- Though you were straying, now you have returned.
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