OVERVIEW of Getting to where we are in Chapter 2

The first 3 verses of chapter 2 are there to make us focus on cleaning up our lives by focusing on reading and learning who we are in the scriptures. Our salvation experiences are varied and came at various ages and situations. Peter points all of us to value, study, learn, change, according to the Word of God’s effectiveness to each one of us. Peter basically says, “Clean up your lives and grow up!” And a little pointed moment in verse 3, “If you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.” Not everyone in the churches where this letter would be first read is a full believer - nor pretty much in most other churches since then.

 

In verses 4-12 he then gives us important information as to how God the Father has placed His begotten and precious Son in the human world to be the source of our salvation; witness and testimony of what He can accomplish in and through men, women, and children.

 

Next, beginning in verse, 13 Paul begins to separate out groups of people who would be effective examples for his readers in the areas where “growing up” is most obvious to the people he is writing to. Peter’s favorite word is “Submission.” That’s our biggest problem, isn’t it? We human beings are broken from just after creation. It was actually part of God’s plan - how to find humans who will past the test of choosing God by active faith - or choosing something or someone else. And then putting His Son as the healing ingredient for those who choose Him. Submission is the key ingredient in our salvation.

 

Up to now, in this chapter, we’ve been in Peter’s dialogue as local believers, a chosen people, as foreigners and exiles called to live amongst “pagans or gentiles,” which probably doesn’t mean what we often think. It is not a religious qualification. It is a people group or nation of people. The terms gentile or pagan come to us through mostly ancient Jewish writings. Simply, people who are not Jews (Hebrews, physical descendants of Abraham) used often in negative historical documents and the Bible. In this particular case it would seem that the Christian leadership of these local churches may be of Jewish descent and perhaps the majority of their converted church membership are those who have never been Jewish. Just people from the lands they are in. Like most of us - except that many of them from Israel and Jerusalem were perhaps forcibly moved there by Nero and his Roman army to get them out of the land of Israel.

 

Peter then moves on again to Submission to “every human authority.” As we have previously said, this is now becoming “hard teaching.” The believer has a high calling to, first of all, glorify God through “submission.” He calls us to be “Holy for I am Holy.” The holiness of God was demonstrated to mankind in the life, arrest, torture, sacrifice on a Roman cross right to His death. We’ll dig deeper into that toward the end of Chapter 2 in this lesson.

 

And now, starting in verse 18 we move into the middle of the chapter we move from a macro, civic minded position to a more micro, domestic point of view as we move from the church general to Domestic Slaves. All those who work for someone else, especially if their income and living are all dependent upon the one they work for and live with.

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FIRST PETER CHAPTER 2:18-25
Part 2 – Exhortation to Submission

MASTERS (Can it be done? YES, Christ Submitted)

 

THE VISUALIZED TEXT

¹⁸ Servants,

       be submissive

              to your masters

                     with all respect,

                     not only to those who are good and gentle,

                     but also to those who are unreasonable. 

       ¹⁹ For this finds favor,

              if for the sake of conscience toward God

                     a person bears up under sorrows

                           when suffering unjustly.

²⁰ For what credit is there

       if, when you sin and are harshly treated,

              you endure it with patience?

But

       if when you do what is right and suffer for it 

              you patiently endure it,

              this finds favor with God.

In the sight of God, No One Else Matters

²¹ For 

       you have been called for this purpose, 

       since Christ also suffered for you,

              leaving you an example

              for you to follow in His steps, 

                     ²² who committed no sin,

                           nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 

                           ²³ and while being reviled,

                           He did not revile in return;

                     while suffering,

                           He uttered no threats,

                           but kept entrusting Himself 

                                  to Him who judges righteously; 

                                  ²⁴ and He Himself bore our sins

                                         in His body on the cross,

                                  so that we might

                                         die to sin and

                                         live to righteousness;

for by His wounds you were healed.      

            ²⁵ For you were continually straying like sheep,

but

       now you have returned to

              the Shepherd and

              [the] Guardian of your souls.

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2:18-20 Submission as a quality for those who serve under the authority of another.

 

^18a Servants,

The word in the original language is when speaking of someone who resides in the same household as you, but is the person who takes care of cleaning, meals, dishes, etc. - a “domestic” servant. Peter’s words can certainly pertain to other kinds of servant relationships as well. As a domestic lives in the home of “The Master,” we can expect that there’s money in that family and that important guests may be on the visit and meal list quite often. So, the issues here are ones where the domestic’s attitudes under pressure can be quite impressive if contained - especially through Faith in Jesus Christ.

 

As Peter turns his attention to those he is writing to (us) he changes his word to “douloi” bring forth a change of meaning as to those who are the “bondservants,” and no longer “domestics” of God. I have a note here from an AI friend that is so correct, here is “the stark paradox of the Greek Text: true freedom is realized precisely by living as enslaved servants to God.” Peter is using the idea of using our liberty found in Christ to cover over or cloak our vice through His sacrifice.

 

^18b be submissive

Here then is the call, “Be Submissive.” Yes sir, yes mam with the full submissive quality of actually doing what is asked without malice. The word Peter uses is a participle - “while being submissive…”

 

^18c to your masters

       with all respect,

       not only to those who are good and gentle,

       but also to those who are unreasonable. 

Why #1 - All Christians in the form of slaves (all kinds of slaves, not just domestics) have been fully liberated by Jesus. The response should always be without rebellion - either visible or hidden internal. As believers representing our precious savior, we are to bring honor and respect to every submissive relationship. Again, Peter chooses an interesting word for “unreasonable.” He uses the word that means “Crooked” [unscrupulous, disobedient, harsh, unjust, etc.].

 

Being submissive to your masters with all respect - good, bad, unreasonable - At certain times this can be a very tall order - but…

 

¹⁹ For this finds favor,

       if for the sake of conscience toward God

              a person bears up under sorrows

                     when suffering unjustly.

Why #2 - Because, and the verse tells it a little backward. When a person suffers unjustly but keeps bearing honor and respect to their “master,” it finds favor with God - if it is done in order to keep a good conscience toward God (the result of active faith).

 

^20a For what credit is there

       if, when you sin and are harshly treated,

              you endure it with patience?

Peter is saying that if you sin (do a wrong thing) and get punished for it - and you “endure it with patience” because your income and housing is at risk if you act out to the Master - and perhaps strike him. You would lose everything - so you don’t.

 

^20b But

       if when you do what is right and suffer for it 

              you patiently endure it,

              this finds favor with God.

Now, if you do something while in your domestic role, that is absolutely the right thing to do in that situation, but the Master is just a bad person and brings you suffering that you don’t deserve, perhaps even harsh suffering and you patiently endure it, then God finds favor in that you got badly treated and how you have reacted. The reason isn’t obvious without the next verse.

 

In the sight of God, No One Else Matters

²¹ For 

       you have been called for this purpose, 

       since Christ also suffered for you,

              leaving you an example

              for you to follow in His steps, 

And there it is. As far as God is concerned, in this situation, no one else but you matters to God but you. For a moment we will go way back in time to about 2,000 years before Jesus. Back to Abraham. Suppose God sends you, like Abraham, to the top of a mountain and tells you to sacrifice your son there. You do everything God asks you to do - and an angel stops your knife in hand and keeps you from sacrificing your son. Think now on God the Father sending His Son to the Cross to be sacrificed for you. Now focus on what’s going on in God’s mind at that moment. In that moment, “in the sight of God, Abraham - No One Else Matters.” That’s you, when you suffer for doing the right thing, get abused, and patiently endure the results…, that’s what His Son did for Him and for us. How you act for Christ’s sake in the sight of God His Father, you and ”No one else Matters.”

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BE LIKE CHRIST 2:22-3:15

2:22-25 - Your Calling Is To Be Like Him

 

The Visualized Text

[Christ]

²² who committed no sin,

       nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 

 

       ²³ and while being reviled,

       He did not revile in return;

 

       while suffering,

       He uttered no threats,

       but kept entrusting Himself 

              to Him who judges righteously; 

 

              ²⁴ and He Himself bore our sins

                     in His body on the cross,

                     so that we might

                     die to sin and

                     live to righteousness;

 

for by His wounds you were healed.      

            ²⁵ For you were continually straying like sheep,

 

But…

       now you have returned to

              the Shepherd and

              [the] Guardian of your souls.

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Your Calling Is To Be Like Him - for Christ is our Example as Peter allows us to focus upon God’s Son and our relationship as believers to Him.

 

I’m going to take these verses and change the order of some of the thoughts to hopefully add some clarity to this paragraph.

 

:25 - “You were continually straying like sheep. But now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

 Some of us have been believers and showing ourselves as such since we were too small to remember. Others came to Him much later in life, and some - way at the end, and still all of us have lived lives embedded in sin - by our very own human nature. But what Peter is revealing to us is that in our human lives we had been behaving like sheep - always wandering away from their shepherd - and then… we met Jesus. No longer do we need the dogs to force us back to Him for our keep. Now His sacrifice has completely changed our destination. No longer is sin going to put an eternal death sentence upon you - because - “You have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”

 

:22 - Christ committed no sin, nor was there any deceit found in His mouth;

 For He was leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps - for by His wounds you were healed so that you might die to sin and live to righteousness.”

 

:23a - and while being reviled, He did not revile in return;

 Consider the normal human response to being “reviled” [Criticized, hated, or spoken about with strong contempt, insults or abusive language]. It’s my guess that each and every one of us, especially early in our faith, would happily lash out against anyone who disagreed or “reviled” us for something we said or supported. Jesus faced the Roman army’s torture, moment by moment, as they ridiculed Him and “reviled” Him and He never did so to them in return.

 

23b - Christ Himself suffered for you and your sins in His body on the Cross

Again, consider what it would be like for you to carry your cross up to a hill, dig a hole to place it in, lay down on top of it and have your hands and feet nailed to it, and the soldiers pick it up and drop it down into the hole with you on it. Then spend part of the day slowly dying upon that cross. What would have you had to say to the soldiers standing and mocking you while you hung dying there? Now consider that all your pain and suffering was on behalf of everyone else.

 

23c -  and while suffering, He uttered no threats

 And here you are again thinking about what you would have done before knowing Him. To use the vernacular, “He kept His mouth shut.”

 

23d - but kept entrusting Himself to His Father who judges righteously.

 Here now is our example. And what do we mean by taking on our example? To become like Him - Taking on the very character of God the Son putting our absolute faith and trust in His heavenly Father.

 

Putting yourself into the trust of God, who judges justly. We are to allow ourselves to be subjected to the “wrath” of others and bear their sin against you (you dying to sin) by not acting selfish or rebellious, especially when treated unjustly. You are a testimony of Christ’s Work IN YOU! It is YOUR calling.

 

For:

       24: - and He Himself bore our sins

                     in His body on the cross,

 Every single sin ever committed or will be committed by you has been paid for by Jesus, the Son of God Almighty, on that cross…

 

Why?

       so that we might

       die to sin and

       live to righteousness;

Is this “WE” YOU? Is this the way you see your relationship to Jesus, God the Father, and God the Spirit? Are you living in such a way that you are dead to sin and alive to God’s righteousness? That’s the issue here. Many who believe are not very familiar with the Scriptures and what is required to be a “qualified” Christian. It’s not going to be a question of just “believing.” Much of the epistles speak of responsibilities that are required for the rewards and benefits of a future heavenly eternal life. I suggest learning how God wants you to live in this life - that you may glory in the rewards for doing so.

 

24b - for by His wounds

       you were healed. 

 You will not have to pay the penalty for unbelief, because in the past…

 

:25 - For you were continually straying like sheep,

       But…

              now you have returned to

                     the Shepherd and

                     [the] Guardian of your souls.

 So here Peter is reminding you that if you are a believer, If you have fully invested your life into the Savior… even if many of the things that Peter has brought up so far have not been as much of your life as they should be… You have returned to the Shepherd and the Guardian of your souls - In Christ… you are His!