# 1 Peter 02 📖: Living Stones and Chosen People [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-1 Peter Overview]] | [[1 Peter 01]] | [[1 Peter 03]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ## The Living Stone and a Holy People **Principle**: Seen - Loved - Counted by God. [[#Verse 01.]] So get rid of all evil and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. [[#Verse 02.]] And yearn like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation, [[#Verse 03.]] if . [[#Verse 04.]] So as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, [[#Verse 05.]] you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. [[#Verse 06.]] For it says in scripture, “, .” [[#Verse 07.]] So you who believe see his value, but for those who do not believe, , [[#Verse 08.]] and . They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. [[#Verse 09.]] But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. [[#Verse 10.]] You once were , but now you are God’s people. You were but now you have received mercy. [[#Verse 11.]] Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul, ## A Call to Good Works **Principle**: Mutual Submission in the world. [^1] [[#Verse 11.]] Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.  [[#Verse 12.]] and maintain good conduct among the non-Christians, so that though they now malign you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God when he appears. [[# Verse 13-17]] [[#Verse 13.]] Be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether to a king as supreme [[#Verse 14.]] or to governors as those he commissions to punish wrongdoers and praise those who do good. [[#Verse 15.]] For God wants you to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. [[#Verse 16.]] Live as free people, not using your freedom as a pretext for evil, but as God’s slaves. [[# Verse 016]] Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.  [[#Verse 17.]] Honor all people, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the king. ## Submission of Slaves to Masters **Principle**: Honor each other. [[#Verse 18-25.]] [[#Verse 18.]] Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are perverse. [[#Verse 19.]] For this finds God’s favor, if because of conscience toward God someone endures hardships in suffering unjustly. [[#Verse 20.]] For what credit is it if you sin and are mistreated and endure it? But if you do good and suffer and so endure, this finds favor with God. [[#Verse 21.]] For to this you were called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps. [[#Verse 22.]] He sin . [[#Verse 23.]] When he was maligned, he did not answer back; when he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God who judges justly. [[#Verse 24.]] He in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness. his . [[#Verse 25.]] For you were but now you have turned back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. - Many see this as the hinge-point that transitions the rest of the book. Peter is talking about how to relate to others in interesting (hard and confusing) times. ###### Verse 12. #### Verse 13-17. - When Peter says we are to honor the government, we must remember this was not him saying this to a group who were in a democratic society. This was first century Rome. The Emperor had complete authority and Nero had decided Christians were public enemy number one. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ##### Verse 18-25. - This is best understood by many today as a relationship between employer/employee relationships. I heard once that almost 75% of people during this time were enslaved in some kind of way. This does not mean slavery as many think of it, such as the terrible slave conditions of the South Eastern United States before the Civil War. This meant that they owed someone service for a debt or to be paid. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ###### Verse 34. ###### Verse 35. ###### Verse 36. ###### Verse 37. ###### Verse 38. ###### Verse 39. ###### Verse 40. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Peter's own name means "rock" (*Petros*), which makes his image of living stones especially fitting (2:5). 2. In 2:6-8 Peter strings together three Old Testament stone passages: Isaiah 28:16, Psalm 118:22, and Isaiah 8:14. 3. The titles in 2:9 come from God's words to Israel at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:5-6. 4. "Not My people" and "not shown mercy" (2:10) recall the names of Hosea's children in Hosea 1:6-9. 5. 1 Peter was likely written in the early 60s AD, when Nero was emperor. 6. In the Greek-speaking world the Roman emperor was commonly called "king," as in "honor the king" (2:17). 7. The word for household servants in 2:18 (*oiketai*) refers to slaves who worked in a home, often as managers, teachers, or craftsmen. 8. The word for example in 2:21 (*hypogrammos*) described a model of letters that children traced when learning to write. It appears only here in the New Testament. 9. Verses 22-25 draw heavily on Isaiah 53, the song of the Suffering Servant. 10. Calling Jesus the Guardian of our souls (2:25) uses the word *episkopos*, which is also translated overseer. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the living Stone, rejected by people but chosen and precious to God (2:4-7). He bore our sins in His body on the cross and is the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls (2:24-25; John 10:11). ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Peter says we are living stones being built into a spiritual house (2:5). What does it mean that your faith is meant to be lived out with others? 2. Peter applies Israel's titles to the church: chosen people, royal priesthood, holy nation (2:9). Which of these identities do you most need to remember? 3. Jesus did not retaliate when He suffered but entrusted Himself to God (2:21-23). Where is God calling you to follow His example? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 2: Like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so you may grow. - 📖 verse 5: We are living stones built into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. - 📖 verse 9: We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, called out of darkness into His marvelous light. - 📖 verse 11: As foreigners and exiles, abstain from fleshly desires that wage war against the soul. - 📖 verse 21: Christ suffered for us and left us an example to follow in His steps. - 📖 verse 24: He bore our sins in His body on the tree, and by His wounds we are healed. ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 2:2 → Hebrews 5:12-14 and 1 Corinthians 3:2 – Milk for infants, solid food for the mature. - 🔗 2:3 → Psalm 34:8 – Taste and see that the Lord is good. - 🔗 2:4-6 → Isaiah 28:16 – A precious cornerstone laid in Zion. - 🔗 2:5 → Ephesians 2:20-22 – Built together into a holy temple in the Lord. - 🔗 2:7 → Psalm 118:22 and Matthew 21:42 – The stone the builders rejected. - 🔗 2:8 → Isaiah 8:14 – A stone that makes people stumble. - 🔗 2:9 → Exodus 19:5-6 – A treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. - 🔗 2:10 → Hosea 1:10 and 2:23 – Those who were not My people are now My people. - 🔗 2:11 → Hebrews 11:13 – Strangers and exiles on the earth. - 🔗 2:11 → Galatians 5:17 – The flesh wars against the Spirit. - 🔗 2:12 → Matthew 5:16 – Let your light shine so others glorify your Father. - 🔗 2:13-17 → Romans 13:1-7 – Submission to governing authorities. - 🔗 2:22 → Isaiah 53:9 – He had done no violence, and no deceit was in His mouth. - 🔗 2:23 → Luke 23:34 – Father, forgive them. - 🔗 2:24 → Isaiah 53:5 – By His wounds we are healed. - 🔗 2:25 → Isaiah 53:6 and John 10:11 – Straying sheep and the Good Shepherd. - 🔗 [[Ephesians 02#Verse 19.|Ephesians 2:19-20]] - Christ Jesus is the cornerstone. - 🔗 [[Revelation 01#Verse 05.|Revelation 1:5-6]] - Jesus made us a kingdom and priests. - 🔗 [[Philippians 03#Verse 20.|Philippians 3:20]] - Our citizenship is in heaven. - 🔗 [[Hebrews 13#Verse 15.|Hebrews 13:15]] - Offer a sacrifice of praise to God. - 🔗 [[John 10#Verse 14.|John 10:14-16]] - The Good Shepherd knows His sheep. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[1 Peter 02 - SOAP|Know Whose You Are]] ### Outline **Big Idea**: An Identity adjustment. Peter is reminding us that we are now part of the covenant people God chose back in Genesis. (Chosen people) **Point 1**: Royal priests **Point 2**: A holy nation **Point 3**: God’s very own possession. ## 📂 Internal Notes [[SeriesOverview-Blessed Assurance (1 Peter)]] [^1]: [[Series_BAssurance_4_1Peter2.11-17]]