Pilgrims & Priests
1 peter 2:9-12
Main Idea: As pilgrims and priests, we have been commissioned by God to declare and display the gospel.
I. Declaring the Gospel as Priests (2:9-10)
Peter reminds these “elect exiles” (1:1) of their status, name, and identity in Christ. They are:
A chosen race (Isa. 43:20-21; cf. Deut. 7:6-8; 1 Cor. 1:27-29)
A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession (Ex. 19:5-6)
God’s people who have received mercy (Hos. 2:23)
Three important realities can be seen in these identity markers:
They are rooted in Scripture, the place where our identity is given and formed
They emphasize God’s gracious, initiating love toward us
They are a corporate identity given to the church collectively, not merely scattered individuals
“Peter’s declaration of our ‘peoplehood’ in Christ has vast consequences for the life of the church of Christ. The church is not just a religious association formed by saved individuals to give united expression to their faith. Rather, the church is more a people than Israel was under the old covenant. Scattered in the world, indeed, as Israel was in dispersion, but a people nonetheless, bound together in the community of those who are united to one another as surely as they are united to their Lord. Church fellowship is not an optional advantage, to be chosen or ignored, like membership in a social club. It is the calling of every Christian. There is a spiritual ‘ethnicity’ to the church of Christ; Christians are blood relatives, joined by the blood of Jesus Christ”
~ Ed Clowney, The Message of 1 Peter: The Way of the Cross
As a “royal priesthood,” the church is set apart for a particular purpose: “that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (cf. 2 Cor. 4:6). “Priests” are ‘mediators’ who represent the people to God (through worship and praise) and God to the people (through teaching and blessing); our greatest ‘priestly’ service to the world is our sharing of the gospel (Rom. 15:16).
“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with.”
~ C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms
II. Displaying the Gospel as Pilgrims (2:11-12)
Peter reminds the church that our privileged and “beloved” status in Christ makes us “sojourners and exile” on the earth. He urges us as we wait for our true home to:
Abstain from the passions of our flesh which wage war against our soul; any “battles” that we might wage in this life must start first and foremost internally rather than externally (cf. Matt. 16:24; Col. 3:5; Jas. 4:1-3)
Keep our conduct among the Gentiles ‘honorable’ (good; beautiful), despite opposition, pressure, and false accusations (cf. Phil. 2:14-15)
“Inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners... They marry, as do all others; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all... They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honor.”
~ The Epistle to Diognetus (2nd century AD)
As the church displays the gospel through ordinary, everyday faithfulness among unbelievers, they do not only have the “eye” of God (cf. 1:17) but also of the watching world. Peter fully expects that some will come to Christ as they “see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”
Matthew 5:16: “… let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
“If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next… It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this [one]… I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country… I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.”
~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
