The Living Stone and a Holy People
1 Therefore, rid yourselves of j all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. k 2 Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, ,l so that you may grow up into your salvation, 3 if you have tasted m that the Lord is good. ,n 4 As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God— 5 you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God o through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:
See, I lay a stone in Zion, p
a chosen and honored cornerstone, q
and the one who believes in him
will never be put to shame. ,r
7 So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving,
The stone that the builders rejected—
this one has become the cornerstone, ,s
8 and
A stone to stumble over,
and a rock to trip over. ,t
They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined u for this.
9 But you are a chosen race, ,,v a royal priesthood, ,w a holy nation, ,x a people for his possession, ,y so that you may proclaim the praises ,,z of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. a 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, b but now you have received mercy.
A Call to Good Works
11 Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles c to abstain d from sinful e desires that wage war against the soul. f 12 Conduct g yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits. h
13 Submit i to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority j 14 or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good. 15 For it is God’s will k that you silence the ignorance l of foolish people by doing good. 16 Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, m but as God’s slaves. n 17 Honor everyone. Love o the brothers and sisters. p Fear God. q Honor the emperor.
Submission of Slaves to Masters
18 Household slaves, submit to your masters r with all reverence s not only to the good and gentle ones but also to the cruel. t 19 For it brings favor if, because of a consciousness of God, someone endures grief from suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is there if when you do wrong and are beaten, you endure it? But when you do what is good and suffer, u if you endure it, this brings favor with God.
21 For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered v for you, leaving you an example, w that you should follow x in his steps. 22 He did not commit sin, y and no deceit z was found in his mouth; ,a 23 when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges b justly. 24 He himself bore our sins c in his body d on the tree; e so that, having died to sins, f we might live for righteousness. g By his wounds ,h you have been healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, ,i but you have now returned to the Shepherd j and Overseer of your souls.
2:4–8. The hidden but coming Lord was rejected by humankind (2:4), who did not see the estimation God placed on him. In their present rejection, therefore, Peter’s readers are sharing the fate of Jesus himself. He was like the stone the builders rejected (2:7).
2:9–10. Peter urges his readers to see that they are being built in line with Christ: sharing all the angles of his life, experiencing his rejection as well as his glory. His opponents stumble fatally, but those joined to Christ are a chosen people, a royal priesthood (2:9), contrary to all appearances. Peter piles up phrases from the OT (Ex 19:6; Is 42:12; 43:20; Hs 1:10; 2:23) to show how all that is true of God’s chosen covenant people is true for those who believe in Jesus, however rejected and weak they may seem.
A. The Christian’s inner life (2:11–12). As in the first section of the letter, Peter reaffirms that his readers are “strangers and exiles” in the world (2:11); their home and their roots are elsewhere. It is natural, therefore, that he should go on to urge them to abstain from sinful desires. The flesh seeks to stifle the life of the Spirit within believers.
B. A life of submission (2:13–3:7). 2:13–17. Like Paul in Rm 13:1–7, Peter argues that respect for and obedience to worldly authority are important because they are an expression of God’s authority. Peter begins and ends by mentioning the Roman emperor as the one who embodies all the different forms of secular authority (2:13, 17). In theory, worldly authorities exist “to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good” (2:14; cf. Rm 13:3–4), but Peter is as aware as we are today of the possibility of corruption in high places. He even calls Rome “Babylon” in his closing greeting (5:13). Yet, just as Christians are called to abstain from fleshly desires and still remain committed to ordinary human society (2:11–12), so we submit to worldly authority even though it is to pass away under the judgment of God.
2:18–20. Peter next homes in on a group for whom a very particular application of the principle of submission to authority is necessary: slaves. Unrest among slaves was widespread at this time, and undoubtedly some Christian slaves believed that, having been “bought” by Christ, they had been set free from their earthly masters. Later on, there were actually Christian groups that encouraged slaves to run away from their masters on these very grounds. But Peter will not allow it. The same principle of nonwithdrawal from the world means that slaves must not stop being slaves but instead become better ones—even when their masters are harsh (2:18). If they suffer, they must make sure that they suffer unjustly, because it will not do their Lord credit if they deserve the beatings they get (2:19–20)!
2:21–25. Then Peter attaches a marvelous passage about the servant Jesus. This is likely an adaptation of an early Christian hymn about Christ. It suits Peter’s theme beautifully as, in close dependence on Is 53, it describes how Jesus, the Suffering Servant of the Lord, submitted to suffering in this world because of his obedience to his heavenly master. Belonging to his Lord did not deliver him from suffering but led him straight to it. And through his suffering we have found forgiveness (2:24). To suffer, therefore, is simply to walk in his footsteps (2:21), and we can be sure that, whatever happens, he is a caring shepherd (2:25). Peter has deliberately placed this hymn in the middle of this section so that it has a central place: Jesus is our example, not just in the way he suffered, but in his obedient submission to the powers of this world.