`Pioneering` in the Bible – following the taste, the desire, for the `pure milk of the Word’ – will lead different people into different discoveries.
It’s always risky to say we’ve found the theme of a book. It may be what God has for us right now; but as time goes on we may see that, though it was certainly there, there are other themes that matter equally, or more. Only through going on re-reading, and listening to other believers (indeed believers from other cultures, other biblically-minded traditions, other decades), do we start to see the full picture. And, thank God, we will never exhaust it on earth!
So there are various ways in to Bible books. Nonetheless, here’s something that can help us: as we speed-read ahead, it’s useful to make a list of what seem the prominent themes, what the writer emphasises, or repeats. Of course our personality and background make us alert to some rather than others. But we’ve everything to gain by searching; and God will find ways to open us up to what else we need as time goes on.
This chapter, 1 Peter 2, is an example. We began this series by viewing Peter through the theme of exile; of ourselves as `strangers in the world’, on our way to our promised inheritance but, as of now, still away from home. The fact that Peter opens his epistle with this theme (1:1, but cf also 1:4, 1:17, 2:11) suggests it is worthy of attention. We intend no claim that it’s the only key to 1 Peter; books usually don’t work that way. Rather, we’re exploring a possibility that may be fruitful in illuminating, unifying, enlivening different parts of the book for us.
And one question it may illuminate is this: As we read 1 Peter, don’t we keep on hearing echoes of Exodus?
It’s not surprising if we do. Could a Jew like Peter view us as strangers on our way to our inheritance without thinking of the Exodus story? It was central to his nation’s identity, and celebrated each year in the joyful festival of Passover. The Exodus echoes seem plain: the `sprinkling of Christ’s blood’ in 1:2, echoing the liberating blood on the Passover doorposts (Ex 12:7) and the blood ratifying the basic old testament covenant (Ex 24:7-8); the reference to our `redemption’ through the blood of Christ as the Passover lamb `without defect’ in 1:18-19, echoing Ex 6:6 and 12:5 (Paul likewise compares Christ to the passover lamb in 1 Cor 5:7); and probably the command in 1:13 (literally `gird up the loins of your mind’ (AV, cf NASB)), echoing the Passover arrangements that included dressing in conscious preparation for the tough journey ahead (Ex 12:11). Plus, obviously, the references to our wonderful `inheritance’ to come (eg 1:4), that key idea underlying the Exodus story from Genesis 15 through to Joshua 1:6; and to the establishment of a priesthood (us!) to offer sacrifices (2:5,9, quoting Ex 19:6). Indeed, Exodus themes would be unusually meaningful for Peter personally. Let’s remember he had seen Moses with his own eyes at the transfiguration; and he had heard Christ there discussing his approaching departure as, precisely, his `exodus’ (significantly, that’s the Greek of Luke 9:31).)
So now, says Peter (and to us!), we follow in Christ’s footsteps. We’re on the long journey homeward from captivity, through the wilderness. And so he helps us make use of Exodus as an illuminating image for our salvation-process that is on his heart. To see our experience in terms of Exodus helps us understand our `exile’ (cf 4:12). The `salvation’ from Egypt was spectacular, but it led into a tough sojourn in the desert. So it may be for us. Unemployment; singleness; bereavement; how could these `wilderness experiences’ be happening now that we are children of God? And yet with the obsolescence of Christendom, the dominant experience of the western Church as a whole may soon be `wilderness’.
The issue, then, is how we cope with, how we handle the wilderness; and it’s something important, basic to our entire calling on earth. `If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called‘, says Peter in 2:21, `because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps.’ And again in 3:9: `Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.’ This `suffering-and-glory process’ is God’s path to `blessing’, to our `inheritance’, to Christlikeness. (`We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God’, Paul told the Iconium believers (Acts 13:22).) The cross (and resurrection!) was the ultimate `exodus’; but therefore for us too there are times when the wilderness process, the way of the cross (and on to the glorious resurrection!) is the way of discipleship to Jesus (cf 4:1).
So let’s read into the next section, 2:4-10. How do we cope with the wilderness journey?
First, we don’t ever do it alone. Exodus gives us another clue for this passage. In one sense, wilderness means being away from home; but in another, vital sense, Israel were never entirely `homeless’. The book of Exodus isn’t just about God delivering Israel from Egypt and leading them towards Palestine; it is also, centrally, about his desire to live among them all the way. Its close presents exactly that, with the completion of God’s `dwelling-place’, the tabernacle that was at the centre of Israel’s encampment, and God’s awesome glory descending to fill it (Ex 40:34-35). Is this in Peter’s mind here? At any rate, we most surely have a home in the wilderness, and Peter tells us about it in 2:4. God is building a `spiritual house’ for himself, says Peter; and – as Eph 2:19-22 says also – we as individuals are its components, the `living stones’ from which the master-builder creates his home. (And great is his patience and creativity! Can we imagine building a house out of `living stones’, each with their own minds on the subject? All sorts of humorous possibilities present themselves (maybe for a drama!)!) The Church is precious because it is God’s dwelling-place – not only in eternity, but now. And amid all the stresses of the wilderness journey, it is always our home too. (Thankyou, Lord!)
Second: our experiences of `exile’ aren’t meaningless: they are what we were told to expect, and therefore good will surely come out of them in the end. In fact, says Peter in 2:4 and 7-8, our experiences of rejection mirror, and share, the experience of the crucified and risen Christ. (Hebrews tells us the same; look at 13:13-14.) And if we as his people find ourselves `rejected’ now as Christ was, we rejoice that we are lovingly `chosen’ by the One who really matters, just as Christ was (2:9, cf vv4,6). (Thankyou, Lord!)
So third: we are not lost in the wilderness; we are on this journey home by this route because we are `called’ by our Father (v9). Peter’s mind often turns to this idea of calling (1:15, 2:21, 3:9, 5:10), and three of these instances are about our calling to this suffering-and-glory process. (See how he links those two together like the two sides of a coin in 1:11, 4:13-14, 5:1, and 5:10.) Ultimately, our journey is under God’s direction. Indeed, says Peter here, even Christ’s rejection by the Jews was foreseen in God’s plan (v8, cf Acts 4:27-28). During `exile experiences’, we can be tempted to start thinking of ourselves as doomed to a tragic fate. But there is no `tragic fatality’ about the purposes of God; he is the one who rescues us from tragedy, taking those who were `not a people’ and turning them wonderfully into the `people of God’ (v10). We’ve been `called out of darkness into his marvellous light’ (v9); we may be exiles, but we are actually on our way to an assured, wonderful, glorious inheritance. That sense of God’s loving, almighty direction is very important for our survival in the wilderness…
Fourth: we have a purpose (a specific calling) during our wilderness travel: to be a `holy priesthood’ offering `spiritual sacrifices… that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness’ (vv5,9). (`Priesthood’ is, we note here, a calling for all believers on the journey; not for some special caste among us.) As Paul says significantly in 1 Thess 5:18, praise is the purpose of our existence; and we are, says God, `the people I formed for myself, that they may proclaim my praise’ (Isaiah 43:21).
In the wilderness we might seem to have lost our identity. We don’t fit any longer among the people we used to belong to (cf 4:4) – yet we’ve not fully come `home’ either. But Peter shows us reality: the scattered, rejected exiles have received a glorious identity, a home, a calling and a purpose. Grasp this vision, Peter challenges us (Father, please help me); then you can be proud to belong to the wilderness Church!
And after this, vv11-12 will take us a vital step further. As priests we each declare God’s praise; but that must be through our lifestyle as well as by our words. (Just as we evangelize through our warmth of community and transformed relationships as much as by our message; see, for example John 17:20-23.) This emphasis on the meaning and power of our `good deeds’ (cf also 2:15, 3:1,16) is a theme throughout the next section, focusing as it does on how we cope with wilderness-type relationships.
More key stuff next time therefore…
