Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Peter 2:5

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

5. ye also, as lively stones ] Better, as living stones, there being no reason for a variation in the English, to which there is nothing corresponding in the Greek. The repetition of the same participle gives prominence to the thought that believers are sharers in the life of Christ, and that, in the building up of the spiritual temple, each of these “living stones” takes its voluntary, though not self-originated, part. It is an open question, as far as the Greek is concerned, whether the verb is in the passive or the middle voice, in the indicative or the imperative mood, but the sense is, perhaps, best given by the rendering, build yourselves up.

a spiritual house ] The words come as a secondary predicate of the previous clause. “This,” St Peter says, “is what you will become by coming to Christ and building yourselves on Him.” The “house,” like the corner-stone, carries our thoughts back to the Temple as “the house of God” (1Ki 8:10), which finds its antitype in that Ecclesia to which St Paul attaches the same glorious title (1Ti 3:15). We can hardly think that St Peter could write these words without remembering the words which had told him of the rock on which Christ would build His Church, and into the full meaning of which he was now, at last, entering (Mat 16:18).

a holy priesthood ] The thought of the Temple is followed naturally by that of its ritual and of those who are the chief agents in it. Here also there is a priesthood, but it is not attached, as in the Jewish Temple, to any sacerdotal caste, like that of the sons of Aaron, but is co-extensive with the whole company of worshippers. As in the patriarchal Church, as in the original ideal of Israel (Exo 19:5), from which the appointment of the Levitical priesthood was a distinctly retrograde step consequent on the unfitness of the nation for its high calling as a kingdom of priests, as in the vision of the future that floated before the eyes of Isaiah (Isa 61:6), so now in the Church of Christ, there was to be no separate priesthood, in the old sense of the word, and with the old functions. All were to offer “spiritual sacrifices” (we note the identity of thought with Rom 12:1) as contrasted with the burnt-offerings or meat-offerings of Jewish ritual. And, by what to a Jew must have seemed at first the strangest of all paradoxes, and afterwards the development of a truth of which germinal hints had been given to his fathers, in this new order of things the Temple and the Priesthood were not, as in the old, distinguished and divided from each other, but were absolutely identical. The Priests who sacrificed in the true Temple, were themselves the stones of which that Temple was built.

acceptable to God ] St Peter uses the stronger and more emphatic form of the adjective which was familiar on St Paul’s lips (Rom 15:16; Rom 15:31 ; 2Co 6:2; 2Co 8:12). In the addition of the words “through Jesus Christ,” we have at once the sanction for the Church’s use of that form of words in connexion with all her acts of prayer and praise, and the implied truth that it is only through their union with Christ as the great High Priest and with His sacrifice that His people are able to share His priesthood and to offer their own spiritual sacrifices.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Ye also, as lively stones – Greek, living stones. The word should have been so rendered. The word lively with us now has a different meaning from living, and denotes active, quick, sprightly. The Greek word is the same as that used in the previous verse, and rendered living. The meaning is, that the materials of which the temple here referred to was composed, were living materials throughout. The foundation is a living foundation, and all the superstructure is compassed of living materials. The purpose of the apostle here is to compare the church to a beautiful temple – such as the temple in Jerusalem, and to show that it is complete in all its parts, as that was. It has within itself what corresponds with everything that was valuable in that. It is a beautiful structure like that; and as in that there was a priesthood, and there were real and acceptable sacrifices offered, so it is in the Christian church.

The Jews prided themselves much on their temple. It was a most costly and splendid edifice. It was the place where God was worshipped, and where he was supposed to dwell. It had an imposing service, and there was acceptable worship rendered there. As a new dispensation was introduced; as the tendency of the Christian system was to draw off the worshippers from that temple, and to teach them that God could be worshipped as acceptably elsewhere as at Jerusalem, Joh 4:21-23 as Christianity did not inculcate the necessity of rearing splendid temples for the worship of God; and as in fact the temple at Jerusalem was about to be destroyed forever, it was important to show that in the Christian church there might be found all that was truly beautiful and valuable in the temple at Jerusalem; that it had what corresponded to what was in fact most precious there, and that there was still a most magnificent and beautiful temple on the earth.

Hence, the sacred writers labor to show that all was found in the church that had made the temple at Jerusalem so glorious, and that the great design contemplated by the erection of that splendid edifice – the maintenance of the worship of God – was now accomplished in a more glorious manner than even in the services of that house. For there was a temple, made up of living materials, which was still the special dwelling-place of God on the earth. In that I temple there was a holy priesthood – for every Christian was a priest. In that temple there were sacrifices offered, as acceptable to God as in the former – for they were spiritual sacrifices, offered continually. These thoughts were often dwelt upon by the apostle Paul, and are here illustrated by Peter, evidently with the same design, to impart consolation to those who had never been permitted to worship at the temple in Jerusalem, and to comfort those Jews, now converted to Christianity, who saw that that splendid and glorious edifice was about to be destroyed. The special abode of God on the earth was now removed from that temple to the Christian church. The first aspect in which this is illustrated here is, that the temple of God was made up of living stones; that is, that the materials were not inanimate stones but endued with life, and so much more valuable than those employed in the temple at Jerusalem, as the soul is more precious than any materials of stone. There were living beings which composed that temple, constituting a more beautiful structure, and a more appropriate dwelling-place for God, than any edifice could be made of stone, however costly or valuable.

A spiritual house – A spiritual temple, not made of perishable materials, like that at Jerusalem net composed of matter, as that was, but made up of redeemed souls – a temple more appropriate to be the residence of one who is a pure spirit. Compare the Eph 2:19-22 notes, and 1Co 6:19-20 notes.

An holy priesthood – In the temple at Jerusalem, the priesthood appointed to minister there, and to offer sacrifices, constituted an essential part of the arrangement. It was important, therefore, to show that this was not overlooked in the spiritual temple that God was raising. Accordingly, the apostle says that this is amply provided for, by constituting the whole body of Christians to be in fact a priesthood. Everyone is engaged in offering acceptable sacrifice to God. The business is not entrusted to a particular class to be known as priests; there is not a particular portion to whom the name is to be especially given; but every Christian is in fact a priest, and is engaged in offering an acceptable sacrifice to God. See Rom 1:6; And hath made us: kings and priests unto God. The Great High Priest in this service is the Lord Jesus Christ, (see the Epistle to the Hebrews, passim) but besides him there is no one who sustains this office, except as it is borne by all the Christian members.

There are ministers, elders, pastors, evangelists in the church; but there is no one who is a priest, except in the general sense that all are priests – because the great sacrifice has been offered, and there is no expiation now to be made. The name priest, therefore should never be conferred on a minister of the gospel. It is never so given in the New Testament, and there was a reason why it should not be. The proper idea of a priest is one who offers sacrifice; but the ministers of the New Testament have no sacrifices to offer – the one great and perfect oblation for the sins of the world having been made by the Redeemer on the cross. To him, and him alone, under the New Testament dispensation, should the name priest be given, as it is uniformly in the New Testament, except in the general sense in which it is given to all Christians. In the Roman Catholic communion it is consistent to give the name priest to a minister of the gospel, but it is wrong to do it.

It is consistent, because they claim that a true sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ is offered in the mass. It is wrong, because that doctrine is wholly contrary to the New Testament, and is derogatory to the one perfect Oblation which has been once made for the sins of the world, and in conferring upon just one class of people a degree of importance and of power to which they have no claim, and which is so liable to abuse. But in a Protestant church it is neither consistent nor right to give the name priest to a minister of religion. The only sense in which the term can now be used in the Christian church is a sense in which it is applicable to all Christians alike – that they offer the sacrifice of prayer and praise.

To offer up spiritual sacrifices – Not bloody offerings, the blood of lambs and bullocks, but those which are the offerings of the heart – the sacrifices of prayer and praise. Since there is a priest, there is also involved the notion of a sacrifice; but that which is offered is such as all Christians offer to God, proceeding from the heart, and breathed forth from the lips, and in a holy life. It is called sacrifice, not because it makes an explation for sin, but because it is of the nature of worship. Compare the notes at Heb 13:15; Heb 10:14.

Acceptable to God by Jesus Christ – Compare the notes at Rom 12:1. Through the merits of the great sacrifice made by the Redeemer on the cross. Our prayers and praises are in themselves so imperfect, and proceed from such polluted lips and hearts, that they can be acceptable only through him as our intercessor before the throne of God. Compare the notes at Heb 9:24-25; Heb 10:19-22.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 5. Ye also, as lively stones] . Living stones; each being instinct with the principle of life, which proceeds from him who is the foundation, called above , a living stone.

The metaphor in this and the following verse is as bold as it is singular; and commentators and critics have found it difficult to hit on any principle of explanation. In all metaphors there is something in the natural image that is illustrative of some chief moral property in the thing to be represented. But what analogy is there between the stones of a building and a multitude of human beings? We shall soon see. The Church of Christ, it is true, is represented under the figure of a house, or rather household; and as a household or family must have a place of residence, hence, by a metonymy, the house itself, or material building, is put for the household or family which occupies it, the container being put for the contained. This point will receive the fullest illustration if we have recourse to the Hebrew: in this language, beith signifies both a house and a family; ben a son; bath a daughter; and eben a stone. Of all these nouns, banah, he built, is, I believe, the common root. Now as beith, a house, is built of abanim, stones, hence banah, he built, is a proper radix for both stones and building; and as beith, a family or household (Ps 68:6) is constituted or made up of banim, sons, and banoth daughters, hence the same root banah, he built, is common to all; for sons and daughters build up or constitute a family, as stones do a building. Here, then, is the ground of the metaphor: the spiritual house is the holy or Christian family or household, this family or household is composed of the sons and daughters of God Almighty; and hence the propriety of living stones, because this is the living house or spiritual family. As a building rests upon a foundation, and this foundation is its support; so a family or household rests on the father, who is properly considered the foundation or support of the building. But as every father is mortal and transitory, none can be called a living stone, foundation, or support, but He who liveth for ever, and has life independent; so none but Jesus, who hath life in himself, i.e. independently, and who is the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE, can be a permanent foundation or support to the whole spiritual house. And as all the stones-sons and daughters, that constitute the spiritual building are made partakers of the life of Christ, consequently, they may with great propriety be called living stones, that is, sons and daughters of God, who live by Christ Jesus, because he lives in them. Now, following the metaphor; these various living stones become one grand temple, in which God is worshipped, and in which he manifests himself as he did in the temple of old. Every stone-son and daughter, being a spiritual sacrificer or priest, they all offer up praise and thanksgiving to God through Christ; and such sacrifices, being offered up in the name and through the merit of his Son, are all acceptable in his sight.

This is the true metaphor, and which has not, as far as I know, ever been properly traced out. To talk of “stones being said to be alive as long as they are not cut out of the quarry, but continue to partake of that nourishment which circulates from vein to vein,” is as unsatisfactory as it is unphilosophical; the other is the true metaphor, and explains every thing.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

As lively; viz. as being enlivened by Christ. The word here translated lively, and living in the former verse, is the same; but being there spoken of Christ, it is to be understood actively, and here being applied to believers, who receive their spiritual life from Christ, it must be taken passively.

Stones; each particular believer is here called a stone, as all together a house or temple, 2Co 6:16; Eph 2:21, and in respect of their union among themselves, and with their foundation; though elsewhere, in respect of Gods inhabitation, even particular believers are called his temple, 1Co 3:16,17; 6:19.

Are built up; viz. upon Christ the principal Corner-stone, Eph 2:20. This may be understood, either:

1. Imperatively. q.d. Be ye built up; and then it is an exhortation, and relates not only to their continuing in Christ, but their being further built up on him by faith, and is of the same import as 1Pe 2:2, that ye may grow: or rather:

2. Indicatively; the apostle as yet being engaged in showing the dignity and privileges of believers, and not entering upon his exhortation till 1Pe 2:11. The words being in the present tense, implies the building to be still but going on, and not yet finished.

A spiritual house; in distinction from the material one, relating to those scriptures where the tabernacle or temple is called Gods house, Exo 23:19; 34:26; Deu 23:18. The material house built of dead stones, was but a type of the spiritual house made up of lively stones, and built upon Christ the living Stone; and this he brings (the truth being always more excellent than the type) to heighten the privileges of the gospel church.

An holy priesthood; either the abstract is put for the concrete, an holy priesthood for holy priests; or it may note the whole college or society of evangelical priests, consisting of all particular saints, to whom, in the New Testament, this title is given, but never appropriated to gospel ministers: Christ being a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec, had no partner with him in his priesthood, but was himself only to offer a propitiatory sacrifice to God for sin.

To offer up spiritual sacrifices; the immediate end of gospel priests, to offer, not bodily, but spiritual sacrifices; in general themselves, whom they are to consecrate to God, Rom 12:1; particularly prayer, thanksgivings, alms, and other duties of religion, Phi 4:18; Heb 13:15,16.

Acceptable to God by Jesus Christ: by, and through whom alone, as the persons, so the performances, of believers (though in themselves imperfect) are pleasing to God, Christ presenting them to his Father by his intercession, and covering their defects by his own most perfect righteousness, Some refer this clause, by Jesus Christ, to the foregoing verb, to offer up; and then the words run thus, to offer up spiritual sacrifices by Jesus Christ, acceptable to God; but the former seems most proper, and includes this latter: we are therefore to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God by Christ, because they are acceptable only by him, Heb 13:21, compared with Heb 13:15,16.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

5. Ye also, as livelystonespartaking of the name and life which is in “THELIVING STONE”(1Pe 2:4; 1Co 3:11).Many names which belong to Christ in the singular are assigned toChristians in the plural. He is “THESON,” “HighPriest,” “King,” “Lamb”; they, “sons,””priests,” “kings,” “sheep,” “lambs.”So the Shulamite called from Solomon [BENGEL].

are built upGreek,“are being built up,” as in Eph2:22. Not as ALFORD,”Be ye built up.” Peter grounds his exhortations, 1Pe 2:2;1Pe 2:11, c., on their conscioussense of their high privileges as living stones in the course ofbeing built up into a spiritual house (that is, “thehabitation of the Spirit”).

priesthoodChristiansare both the spiritual temple and the priests of thetemple. There are two Greek words for “temple”hieron (the sacred place), the whole building,including the courts wherein the sacrifice was killed; andnaos (the dwelling, namely, of God), the inner shrinewherein God peculiarly manifested Himself, and where, in the holiestplace, the blood of the slain sacrifice was presented beforeHim. All believers alike, and not merely ministers, are now thedwelling of God (and are called the “naos,” Greek,not the hieron) and priests unto God (Re1:6). The minister is not, like the Jewish priest (Greek,“hiercus“), admitted nearer to God than the people,but merely for order’s sake leads the spiritual services of thepeople. Priest is the abbreviation of presbyter in theChurch of England Prayer Book, not corresponding to theAaronic priest (hiereus, who offered literalsacrifices). Christ is the only literal hiereus-priest in theNew Testament through whom alone we may always draw near to God.Compare 1Pe 2:9, “a royalpriesthood,” that is, a body of priest-kings, such as wasMelchisedec. The Spirit never, in New Testament, gives the namehiereus, or sacerdotal priest, to ministers of theGospel.

holyconsecrated toGod.

spiritual sacrificesnotthe literal one of the mass, as the Romish self-styled disciples ofPeter teach. Compare Isa 56:7,which compare with “acceptable to God” here; Psa 4:5;Psa 50:14; Psa 51:17;Psa 51:19; Hos 14:2;Phi 4:18. “Among spiritualsacrifices the first place belongs to the general oblation ofourselves. For never can we offer anything to God until we haveoffered ourselves (2Co 8:5) insacrifice to Him. There follow afterwards prayers, giving of thanks,alms deeds, and all exercises of piety” [CALVIN].Christian houses of worship are never called temples because thetemple was a place for sacrifice, which has no place inthe Christian dispensation; the Christian temple is the congregationof spiritual worshippers. The synagogue (where reading of Scriptureand prayer constituted the worship) was the model of the Christianhouse of worship (compare Note, see on Jas2:2, Greek, “synagogue”; Ac15:21). Our sacrifices are those of prayer, praise, andself-denying services in the cause of Christ (1Pe2:9, end).

by Jesus Christas ourmediating High Priest before God. Connect these words with “offerup.” Christ is both precious Himself and makes usaccepted [BENGEL].As the temple, so also the priesthood, is built on Christ (1Pe 2:4;1Pe 2:5) [BEZA].Imperfect as are our services, we are not with unbelieving timidity,which is close akin to refined self-righteousness, to doubt theiracceptance THROUGH CHRIST.After extolling the dignity of Christians he goes back to CHRISTas the sole source of it.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Ye also, as lively stones,…. Saints likewise are compared to stones; they lie in the same quarry, and are the same by nature as the rest of mankind, till dug out and separated from thence by the powerful and efficacious grace of God, when they are hewn, and made fit for the spiritual building; where both for their ornament, beauty, and strength, which they receive from Christ, they are compared to stones, and are lasting and durable, and will never perish, nor be removed out of the building: and because of that life which they derive from him, and have in him, they are called “lively”, or “living stones”; the spirit of life having entered into them, a principle of life being implanted in them, and coming to Christ, the living stone, they live upon him, and he lives in them; and his grace in them is a well of living water, springing up into eternal life. It was usual with poets and philosophers to call stones, as they lie in the quarry before they are taken out of it, “living” ones: so Virgil p, describing the seats of the nymphs, says, “intus aquae dulces vivoque sedilia saxo, nympharum domus”, c. but here the apostle calls such living stones, who were taken out from among the rest: the stones which Deucalion and Pyrrha cast over their heads after the flood are called q , “quickened stones”, they becoming men, as the fable says. “Are built up a spiritual house” these living stones being laid, and cemented together, in a Gospel church state, become the house of God in a spiritual sense, in distinction from the material house of the tabernacle, and temple of old, to which the allusion is; and which is built up an habitation for God, by the Spirit, and is made up of spiritual men; such as have the Spirit of God, and savour the things of the Spirit, and worship God in Spirit and in truth; among whom spiritual services are performed, as prayer, praise, preaching, and hearing the word, and administering ordinances. Some read these words in the imperative, as an exhortation, “be ye built up as lively stones; and be ye spiritual temples and holy priests”, as the Syriac version. A synagogue with the Jews is called , “a spiritual house” r; and so is the third temple which the Jews expect in the times of the Messiah; of which one of their writers s thus says:

“it is known from the ancient wise men, that the future redemption, with which shall be the third , “spiritual” sanctuary, is the work of God, and will not be as the former redemptions: “I will fill this house with glory”; this is , “a spiritual” one, for even the walls shall be , “spiritual”–for even all this “house” shall be “spiritual”; for that which was then built, which is the second, shall be turned into another a “spiritual” one:”

and which has been already done, and is what the apostle means here, the church, under the Gospel dispensation, or the Gospel church state, in opposition to the worldly sanctuary, and carnal worship of the Jews.

An holy priesthood; in allusion to the priests under the law, who were set apart, and sanctified for that office; but now, under the Gospel, all the saints are priests unto God, and are all appointed and directed

to offer up spiritual sacrifices; their whole selves, souls, and bodies, as a holy, living, and acceptable sacrifice; their prayers and praises, and all good works done in faith, and from love, and to the glory of God; particularly acts of kindness and beneficence to poor saints; these are called spiritual, in distinction from legal sacrifices, and because offered in a spiritual manner, under the influence, and by the assistance of the Spirit of God, and with their spirits. So the Jews speak of spiritual sacrifices, as distinct from material ones:

“the intellectual sacrifice (they say t) is before the material sacrifices, both in time and excellency.–Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the earth, and behold the intellectual attention did not agree with it, which is , “the spiritual sacrifice”.”

Now such are

acceptable to God by Jesus Christ; through whom they are offered up; for it is through him the saints have access to God, present themselves to him, and their services; and both persons and services are only accepted in Christ, and for his sake, and in virtue of his sacrifice, which is always of a sweet smelling savour to God.

p Aeneid. l. 1. q Eustathius in Homer. Iliad. 1. r Neve Shalom apud Caphtor, fol. 14. 1. s R. Alshech. in Hagg. ii. 7, 8, 9, 10. t Neve Shalom apud Caphtor, fol. 88. 2. Vid. Raziel. fol. 33. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Ye also as living stones ( ). Peter applies the metaphor about Christ as the living stone to the readers, “ye yourselves also.”

Are built up a spiritual house ( ). Present passive indicative second person plural of , the very verb used by Jesus to Peter in Mt 16:18 () of building his church on the rock. If the metaphor of a house of living stones seems “violent” (Vincent), it should be remembered that Jesus employed the figure of a house of believers. Peter just carried it a bit farther and Paul uses a temple for believers in one place (1Co 3:16) and for the kingdom of God in general (Eph 2:22), as does the author of Hebrews (Heb 3:6). This “spiritual house” includes believers in the five Roman provinces of 1:1 and shows clearly how Peter understood the metaphor of Christ in Mt 16:18 to be not a local church, but the church general (the kingdom of Christ).

To be a holy priesthood ( ). Late word (from , to serve as priest, Lu 1:8 alone in N.T.), in LXX (Ex 19:6), in N.T. only here and verse 9, either the office of priest (Hort) or an order or body of priests. At any rate, Peter has the same idea of Rev 1:6 (, priests) that all believers are priests (Heb 4:16) and can approach God directly.

To offer up (). First aorist active infinitive (of purpose here) of , the usual word for offering sacrifices (Heb 7:27). Only these are “spiritual” () as pictured also in Heb 13:15f.

Acceptable (). Late (Plutarch) double compound verbal adjective (, , ) as in 2Co 6:2.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Living stones – built up – a spiritual house. It seems as though Peter must have had in mind the conception embodied in Christ ‘s commission to him, of a building erected upon a rock. The metaphor of a house built of living stones is violent, and sufficiently characteristic of Peter; yet it pictures, in a very striking way, the union of stability, growth, and activity in the ideal church. Note the transition from babes growing (ver. 2) to stones built up. But, as Salmond remarks, ” In Paul we have even bolder instances of apparent confusion of metaphors, as when, in one breath, he represents believers as at once walking, rooted, and built up in Christ (Col 2:6, 7).

To offer up [] . The usual Old – Testament (Septuagint) term for offering of sacrifice. Lit., to bring up to the altar. Compare Heb 13:15. The force of ajna, up, appears in the fact of the altar being raised. The word is often used of carrying from a lower to a higher place. Thus Mt 17:1; Luk 24:51. In this sense ver. 24 of this chapter is suggestive, where it is said that Christ bare [] our sins : carried them up to the cross. See note there.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Ye also, as lively stones,” (Gk. Kai autoi) also or even yourselves – as Jesus Christ is “the Stone” (foundation one) in salvation, supplying the water of life, the foundation for a worthwhile life, the Foundation of the church – the pillar and ground of the truth, even so those saved (in Him) are declared by Peter to be “living stones.” 1Ti 3:15-16.

2) “Are built up a Spiritual house.” (Gk. oikomeisthe) means are progressively being built up.” Strengthened or embellished (Gk. oikos pneumatikos) an house spiritual in nature. The church of Jesus Christ is made of “lively stones” “fitly framed together” on the New Testament pattern.

a) saved baptized disciples Mat 4:19-21.

b) covenanted together to follow Jesus in His program of worship and work. Mar 8:34-36; Eph 2:19-20.

3) “An holy Priesthood.” (eis hierateuma hagion) unto that is built or fitly framed or covenanted together as lively stones with view to a holy priesthood work – as the Old Testament priesthood administered a program of Divine work and worship even so – not all the family of God – not all the saved – not all believers, but those “fitly framed, formed,” or covenanted together to carry on the worship and work of Jesus constitute His Holy priesthood in the Gentile age. Eph 4:16. This is the church.

4) “To offer up Spiritual sacrifices” These sacrifices are to be of the whole body, mind, and talents in service, prayer, praise, thanksgiving, witnessing, and testimony to the Lord — through the church. Rom 12:1-2; Php_4:18; Col 3:12-17.

5) “Acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” To be well received by Jesus Christ every redeemed person must seek and find fitly framed fellowship in the church of Jesus Christ, a local congregation. Here only may a lively stone render the greatest degree of service to Jesus. Mat 28:18-20; Eph 3:21.

STONES LEFT UNUSED

Travelers sometimes find in lonely quarries, long abandoned, or once worked by a vanished race, great blocks, squared and dressed, that seem to have been meant for palace or shrine. But there they lie, neglected and forgotten, and the building for which they were hewn has been reared without them. Beware lest God’s grand temple should be built without you, and you be left to desolation and decay.

–A. MacLaren

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

5. Ye also, as lively or living stones, are built up The verb may be in the imperative as well as in the indicative mood, for the termination in Greek is ambiguous. But in whatever way it is taken, Peter no doubt meant to exhort the faithful to consecrate themselves as a spiritual temple to God; for he aptly infers from the design of our calling what our duty is. We must further observe, that he constructs one house from the whole number of the faithful. For though every one of us is said to be the temple of God, yet all are united together in one, and must be joined together by mutual love, so that one temple may be made of us all. Then, as it is true that each one is a temple in which God dwells by his Spirit, so all ought to be so fitted together, that they may form one universal temple. This is the case when every one, content with his own measure, keeps himself within the limits of his own duty; all have, however, something to do with regard to others.

By calling us living stones and spiritual building, as he had before said that Christ is a living stone, he intimates a comparison between us and the ancient temple; and this serves to amplify divine grace. For the same purpose is what he adds as to spiritual sacrifices For by how much the more excellent is the reality than the types, by so much the more all things excel in the kingdom of Christ; for we have that heavenly exemplar, to which the ancient sanctuary was conformable, and everything instituted by Moses under the Law.

A holy priesthood It is a singular honor, that God should not only consecrate us as a temple to himself, in which he dwells and is worshipped, but that he should also make us priests. But Peter mentions this double honor, in order to stimulate us more effectually to serve and worship God. Of the spiritual sacrifices, the first is the offering of ourselves, of which Paul speaks in Rom 12:1; for we can offer nothing, until we offer to him ourselves as a sacrifice; which is done by denying ourselves. Then, afterwards follow prayers, thanksgiving, almsdeeds, and all the duties of religion.

Acceptable to God. It ought also to add not a little to our alacrity, when we know that the worship we perform to God is pleasing o him, as doubt necessarily brings sloth with it. Here, then, is the third thing that enforces the exhortation; for he declares that what is required is acceptable to God, lest fear should make us slothful. Idolaters are indeed under the influence of great fervor in their fictitious forms of worship; but it is so, because Satan inebriates their minds, lest they should come to consider their works; but whenever their consciences are led to examine things, they begin to stagger. It is, indeed, certain that no one will seriously and from the heart devote himself to God, until he is fully persuaded that he shall not labor in vain.

But the Apostle adds, through Jesus Christ There is never found in our sacrifices such purity, that they are of themselves acceptable to God; our self-denial is never entire and complete, our prayers are never so sincere as they ought to be, we are never so zealous and so diligent in doing good, but that our works are imperfect, and mingled with many vices. Nevertheless, Christ procures favor for them. Then Peter here obviates that want of faith which we may have respecting the acceptableness of our works, when he says, that they are accepted, not for the merit of their own excellency, but through Christ. And it ought to kindle the more the ardor of our efforts, when we hear that God deals so indulgently with us, that in Christ he sets a value on our works, which in themselves deserve nothing. At the same time, the words, by or through Christ, may be fitly connected with offering; for a similar phrase is found in Heb 13:15,

“

Through him let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God.”

The sense, however, will remain the same; for we offer sacrifices through Christ, that they may be acceptable to God.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(5) Ye also, as lively stones, are built up.This is true enough: they were in process of building up; but it suits the hortatory character of the whole Epistle better to take it (the one is as grammatical as the other) in the imperative sense: Be ye also as living stones built up. The rendering lively, instead of living, as in 1Pe. 2:4, is arbitrary, the Greek being precisely the same, and the intention being to show the complete conformation of the believers to Him who is the type and model for humanity. Built up, too, only expresses a part of the Greek word, which implies built up upon Him.

A spiritual house.The epithet is supplied, just as in living stone, to make it abundantly clear that the language is figurative. In the first three verses of the chapter these Hebrew Christians were treated individually, as so many babes, to grow up into an ideal freedom of soul: here they are treated collectively (of course, along with the Gentile Christians), as so many stones, incomplete and unmeaning in themselves, by arrangement and cemented union to rise into an ideal house of God. St. Peter does not distinctly say that the house is a temple (for the word spiritual is only the opposite of material), but the context makes it plain that such is the case. The temple is, however, regarded not in its capacity of a place for worship so much as a place for Divine inhabitation. The spiritual house, says Leighton truly, is the palace of the Great King. The Hebrew word for palace and temple is one. And the reason for introducing this figure seems to be, to console the Hebrews for their vanishing privileges in the temple at Jerusalem. They are being taught to recognise that they themselves, in their union with one another, and with Jesus Christ, are the true abode of the Most High. The Christian substitution of something else in lieu of the Jerusalem Temple was one of the greatest stumbling-blocks to the Hebrews from the very first. (See Mar. 14:58; Joh. 2:21; Act. 7:48; Act. 21:28; compare also Heb. 9:8; Heb. 9:11.) All history is the process of building up a spiritual palace out of a regenerate humanity, in order that, in the end, the Father Himself may occupy it. This follows from the fact that the Incarnate Son is described as a part of the Temple. Even through the Incarnationat least so far as it has as yet taken effectcreation has not become so completely pervaded and filled with the Deity as it is destined to be when the palace is finished. (See 1Co. 15:28.) The idea of the Eternal Son occupying such a relation to the Father on the one hand, and to humanity and creation on the other hand, is really the same as when He is called (by an entirely different metaphor) the firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15).

An holy priesthood.Being living stones, says Bengel, they can be priests as well. They not only compose the Temple, but minister in it. By becoming Christians they are cut off from neither Temple nor hierarchy, nor sacrifice; all are at hand, and they themselves are all. The old priesthood, like the old Temple, has had its day, and ceased to be. Mark, though, that the Apostle is not dwelling on the individual priesthood of each (though that is involved), but on the hierarchical order of the whole company of Christians: they are an organised body or college of priests, a new seed of Aaron or Levi. (See Isa. 66:21.) The very word implies that all Christians have not an equal degree of priesthood. And this new priesthood, like the old, is no profane intruding priesthood like that of Core (Jud. 1:11), but holyi.e., consecrated, validly admitted to its work. The way in which this new metaphor is suddenly introduced,to whom coming, be built up upon Him . . . to be an holy priesthood, implies that Jesus Christ is the High Priest quite as much as it implies His being Corner Stone. The Incarnate Son heads the adoration offered to the Father by creation, just as He binds creation into a palace for the Fathers indwelling.

To offer up spiritual sacrifices.The new priesthood is not merely nominal; it is no sinecure. None is a priest who does not offer sacrifices (Heb. 8:3). But the sacrifices of the new hierarchy are spiritual, i.e., not material, not sacrifices of bulls and goats and lambs. What, then, do the sacrifices consist of? If our priesthood is modelled on that of Jesus Christ, as is here implied, it consists mainly (Calvin points this out) of the sacrifice of self, of the will; then, in a minor degree, of words and acts of worship, thanks and praise. (See Heb. 13:10-16.) But in order to constitute a true priesthood and true sacrifices after the model of Jesus Christ, these sacrifices are offered up on behalf of others. (See Heb. 5:1, and 1Jn. 3:16.) The first notion of the priesthood of all believers is not that of a mediatorial system being abolished, but of the mediatorial system being extended: whereas, before, only Aarons sons were recognised as mediators and intercessors, now all Israel, all the spiritual Israel, all men everywhere are called to be mediators and intercessors between each other and God.

By (or, through) Jesus Christ.The name again, not the title only. We all help one another to present one anothers prayers and praises, which pass through the lips of many priests; but for them to be acceptable, they must be presented finally through the lips of the Great High Priest. He, in His perfect sympathy with all men, must make the sacrifice His own. We must unite our sacrifices with Histhe Advocate with the Father, the Propitiation for our sinsor our sacrifice will be as irregular and offensive as though some Canaanite should have taken upon himself to intrude into the Holy of Holies on Atonement Day. (See Heb. 10:19-25, especially 1Pe. 2:21.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

5. Lively stones Rather, living stones, deriving their life from Christ. Every believer, by this reception of spiritual life, becomes like his Lord, and also enters as a stone into the spiritual house built upon Christ.

Are built up Rather, are being built up, by the Holy Spirit cementing believers with one another and with Christ.

Holy priesthood Rather, For a holy priesthood. They are God’s temple that they may be God’s priests, set apart and purified, for the purpose of offering up spiritual sacrifices. This is said, not of a distinct class, as of ministers, but of the whole body of believers. Offer up is the common word for presenting upon the altar; but the sacrifices are bloodless and spiritual, and offered under the influences of the Holy Spirit. First of all, is the sacrifice of ourselves and our entire existence; then follow our thoughts, words, actions, with the specific acts of thanksgiving, praise, prayer, mercy, and beneficence, for the Lord’s sake. It is significant that St. Peter omits all intimation of a sacerdotal order, with himself at its head, and all allusion to himself as of more importance in building God’s house than any of his brother apostles.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘You also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.’

And as a result of this contact with this ‘Living Stone’, His people also have been made into ‘living stones’ by Him (and have thus become spiritually alive, vibrant, dependable and heavenly). And they are being built up on Him into a living, vibrant ‘spiritual house’ (a living House of the Spirit), in order that they might be a holy priesthood, a priesthood who, having been set apart to God and made worthy, are to offer up spiritual sacrifices, which are acceptable to God through Christ Jesus.

As a ‘living stone’ Jesus was subject to examination by the builders and by the Master Builder, being rejected after examination by the former and made the chief Cornerstone by the latter (1Pe 2:7), Who alone knew what He was doing. The implication is that, in the same way, we as living stones have also been carefully prepared by the Master Builder for our position in His Temple. (Compare how Paul uses a similar illustration of us being different members of the body – 1 Corinthians 12).

In a sense this may appear to be a case of mixed metaphor. One moment we appear to be thinking of the stones of the Sanctuary itself, and the next moment of the priesthood, but it is doubtful if a Jew would have seen it in that way, for to him the priesthood was an essential part of the Sanctuary. Without the priesthood the Sanctuary was not complete. They were the living part of the Sanctuary, keeping Israel in constant contact with the living God Who was manifested in the Holy of Holies. Thus Sanctuary and priesthood could be seen as one. And in the same way Christians are both Spirit indwelt Sanctuary and Spirit impelled priesthood, house and household, and the implication coming from this, drawn out explicitly in the letter to the Hebrews, is that Jesus as Chief Cornerstone is also High Priest.

As Christians then we are built up into ‘a spiritual house (oikos pneumatikos),’ that is, into a house and household possessed and indwelt by the Spirit (1Co 3:16), and into ‘a holy’ priesthood, that is, a priesthood ‘set apart wholly to the Lord’s service’. This is why there can now be no separate priesthood, for we are all priests, and all can offer up spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God. We note that no option is given. Peter leaves them no room for choice. They cannot opt in or opt out. This is their destiny now that they are His.

‘Spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Christ Jesus’. As His priests we are called on to offer up spiritual sacrifices to Him, and we do this through the One Who is the ultimate Priest and sacrifice (compare Hebrews 2-10). We learn elsewhere what these spiritual sacrifices are. They are the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving and true worship (Heb 13:15; Psa 50:14; Psa 51:17; Psa 69:30-31; Psa 107:22; Psa 116:17; Psa 141:2; Hos 14:2). And they include the offerings of ourselves in our daily lives as ‘living’ sacrifices (note that even the sacrifices remain alive in this living house. The death once for all has been suffered by Another) as we commit ourselves to the will of God (Rom 12:1-2). They also include our good works which bring glory to our Father in Heaven (Mat 5:16; Heb 13:16), our sharing together in living fellowship (Heb 13:16) and our gifts made from a true heart to His servants (Php 4:18).

Strictly speaking this idea of spiritual sacrifices does not include participation in the Lord’s Supper, for that is not ‘a spiritual sacrifice’, it is rather a participation in His once-for-all sacrifice for us. Partaking in it is the participation in the sacramental meal after the once-for-all sacrifice has been offered, on which we can constantly come to feast (Joh 6:35). It is seen as our making our regular commitment to God’s covenant, as we partake of Him in the bread and wine, through the blood originally shed, not as in any way offering a ‘sacrifice’. It is never described in such a way. Rather through it we benefit from His past sacrifice on the cross made once-for-all. By it we participate continually in the Lord and join with Him in living fellowship (it is a ‘sharing in common with Him’), making a commitment of ourselves to God and to each other (1Co 11:16-17). There is, however, a ‘spiritual sacrifice’ involved in the Lord’s Supper, and that is found in  our offering of ourselves afresh to Him in His service. And on that ground we may include it here. But we must not be loose in our thinking and turn it into what it is not.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Ver. 5. Ye also as lively stones ] God’s house is built of growing stones, of green timber, Son 1:16-17

To offer up spiritual sacrifices ] Such as are prayers,Psa 141:2Psa 141:2 ; praises, Heb 13:15 ; alms, Heb 13:16 ; ourselves, Rom 12:1 ; our Saviour, whom we present as a propitiation for our sins, 1Jn 2:1 , laying our hands on his head, seeing him bleed to death and consumed in the fire of his Father’s wrath for our sins.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

5 .] be ye also as living (see above) stones built up (it is disputed whether is indicative or imperative. Much is to be said both ways. Wiesinger, who is the ablest recent advocate for the indicative, maintains that the passage is epexegetical of the preceding , shewing how love to the word, seeking in the word the Lord Himself and His goodness, of itself leads to the completion set forth in 1Pe 2:5 . But I cannot help feeling that this view of epexegesis of . . is much weakened by the fact that must be referred to , which is already separated from . . . by . . . And other weightier reasons are behind. On the indicative view, the pres. part. could hardly have been used, but it would surely have been . This is felt by Luther, who renders it zu welchem ihr gekommen send . Again, the connexion with the foregoing by a participle, proceeding on to an imperative, exactly corresponds to the former hortatory sentences, ch. 1Pe 1:13-14 ; 1Pe 1:22 , and 1Pe 2:1 . Finally, the long procession of mere predications, on this view, would be tame and almost tautological, in comparison with the powerful gathering up with the , 1Pe 2:7 , of the high and holy state on which the preceding exhortation depends, as contrasted with that of the unbelieving. I therefore decide for the imperative, against Syr. (Etheridge: “you also as living stones are builded”), Estius, Grot, Beng., al., and Wiesinger, and with c., Syr. (as commonly quoted), Beza, Aret., Benson, Steiger, De Wette, Huther) a spiritual house ( = , 1Co 3:16 ; Eph 2:21 ; as before, the stones are called living , and the house spiritual , not merely to signify that they are not dead stones, and the house not a material one, but on account of the life which Christians derive from Christ, the living Stone, and of the service which they render in virtue of being a body dwelt in by the Holy Spirit) for (see var. readd.) an holy priesthood (abstract, office of priesthood, including in itself the individual priests: see ref. Exod. Being God’s spiritual temple, they form an holy priesthood to Him, approaching and serving before Him in virtue of that Living and Holy One, whose mystic Body they are, and in whom the Father is well pleased: And they need no other by whom to approach God: being all priests, they require not, nor admit of, any distinct body of men among themselves specially called priests, nearer to God than themselves. No where is this more clearly declared by inference, than here) to offer up ( , not occurring in St. Paul, nor in the classics, but (reff.) in Heb. and St. James, is the regular LXX word for offering up sacrifice. The aor. is here used, because no habitual offering, as in rite or festival, is meant, but the one, once-for-all, devotion of the body, as in Rom 12:1 , to God as His. On the infin. of the purpose, see Winer, 44. 1) spiritual sacrifices (cf. especially Heb 13:15-16 . Spiritual, because as the temple, as the priests, as the God, so the offering. It is this, rather than any distinction from the O. T. sacrifices, that is pointed at in ) acceptable (reff.) to God through Jesus Christ (these last words may be joined, either, 1. with , or, 2. with . This latter has for it the analogy of Heb 13:15 , . . ., and is preferred by Grot., Aret., De Wette, Huther, Wiesinger: and I think reasonably. The introduction of as a mere appendage of would not satisfy the weighty character of the words, nay would seem to put them in the wrong place, seeing that not merely the acceptability, but the very existence, and possibility of offering, of those sacrifices depends on the mediation of the great High Priest).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Pe 2:5 . Fulfilment of the saying, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it (Joh 2:19 ). Christians live to God through Jesus Christ (Rom 6:11 ). For this development of the figure of building, cf. especially Eph 2:20 ff. , indicative rather than imperative. “It is remarkable that St. Peter habitually uses the aorist for his imperatives, even when we might expect the present; the only exceptions (two or three) are preceded by words removing all ambiguity, 1Pe 2:11 ; 1Pe 2:17 , 1Pe 4:12 f”. (Hort). , a spiritual house for an holy priesthood . The connection with priesthood (Heb 10:21 ) and the offering of sacrifices points to the special sense of the House of God, i.e. , the Temple; cf. (1Pe 4:17 ; 1Ti 3:5 ) , 1Co 3:16 ; Eph 2:21 . So Heb 3:5 f., ( ) , body of priests , in Exo 19:6 (Heb. priests ) Exo 23:22 ; Mal 2:17 ; Mal 2 Maccabees cf.9 infra . Here Hort prefers the equally legitimate sense, act of priesthood . Usage supports the first and only possible etymology the second. The ideal of a national priesthood is realised, Isa 61:6 . . to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ . . is better taken with . than .; cf. Heb 13:15 , , where the thankoffering is singled out as the fit type of the Christian sacrifice. Spiritual sacrifices are in their nature acceptable to God (Joh 4:23 ) and Christians are enabled to offer them through Jesus Christ. in this sense is peculiar to LXX, Jas. and Heb.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

1 Peter

SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES

1Pe 2:5 .

In this verse Peter piles up his metaphors in a fine profusion, perfectly careless of oratorical elegance or propriety. He gathers together three symbols, drawn from ancient sacrificial worship, and applies them all to Christian people. In the one breath they are ‘temples,’ in the next ‘priests,’ in the third ‘sacrifices.’ All the three are needed to body out the whole truth of the relationship of the perfect universal religion–which is Christianity–to the fragmentary and symbolical religion of ancient time.

Christians individually and collectively are temples, inasmuch as they are ‘the habitation of God through the Spirit.’ They are priests by virtue of their consecration, their direct access to God, their function of representing God to men, and of bringing men to God. They are sacrifices, inasmuch as one main part of their priestly function is to offer themselves to God.

Now, it is very difficult for us to realise what an extraordinary anomaly the Christian faith presented at its origin, surrounded by religions which had nothing to do with morality, conduct, or spiritual life, but were purely ritualistic. And here, in the midst of them, started up a religion bare and bald, and with no appeal to sense, no temple, no altar, no sacrifice. But the Apostles with one accord declare that they had all these things in far higher form than those faiths possessed them, which had only the outward appearance.

Now, this conception of the sacrificial element in the Christian life runs through the whole New Testament, and is applied there in a very remarkable variety of forms. I have taken the words of my text, not so much to discourse upon them especially. My object now is rather to gather together the various references to the Christian life as essentially sacrificial, and to trace the various applications which that idea receives in the New Testament. There are four classes of these, to which I desire especially to refer.

I. There is the living sacrifice of the body.

‘I beseech you, by the mercies of God, that ye present’–which is a technical word for a priest’s action–’your bodies a living sacrifice,’ in contrast with the slaying, which was the presentation of the animal victim. Now, that ‘body’ there is not equivalent to self is distinctly seen when we notice that Paul goes on, in the very next clause, to say, ‘and be transformed by the renewing of your mind.’ So that he is speaking, not of the self, but of the corporeal organ and instrument of the self, when he says ‘present your bodies a living sacrifice.’

Of course, the central idea of sacrifice is surrender to God; and, of course, the place where that surrender is made is the inmost self. The will is the man, and when the will bows, dethroning self and enthroning God, submitting to His appointments, and delighting to execute His commandments, then the sacrifice is begun. But, inasmuch as the body is the organ of the man’s activity, the sacrifice of the will and of self must needs come out into visibility and actuality in the aggregate of deeds, of which the body is the organ and instrument. But there must first of all be the surrender of my inmost self, and only then, and as the token and outcome of that, will any external acts, however religious they may seem to be, come into the category of sacrifice when they express a conscious surrender of myself to God. ‘The flesh profiteth nothing,’ and yet the flesh profiteth much. But here is the order that another of the Apostles lays down: ‘Yield yourselves to God,’ and then, ‘your members as instruments of righteousness to Him.’

To speak of the sacrifice of the body as a living sacrifice suggests that it is not the slaying of any bodily appetite or activity that is the true sacrifice and worship, but the hallowing of these. It is a great deal easier, and it is sometimes necessary, to cut off the offending right hand, to pluck out the offending right eye, or, putting away the metaphor, to abstain rigidly from forms of activity which are perfectly legitimate in themselves, and may be innocuous to other people, if we find that they hurt us. But that is second best, and though it is better in the judgment of common sense to go into life maimed than complete to be cast into hell-fire, it is better still to go into life symmetrical and entire, with no maiming in hand or organ. So you do not offer the living sacrifice of the body when you annihilate, but when you suppress, and direct, and hallow its needs, its appetites, and its activities.

The meaning of this sacrifice is that the whole active life should be based upon, and be the outcome of, the inward surrender of self unto God. ‘On the bells of the horses shall be written, Holiness to the Lord, and every pot and vessel in Jerusalem shall be holy as the bowls upon the altar’–in such picturesque and yet profound fashion did an ancient prophet set forth the same truth that lies in this declaration of our Apostle, that the body, the instrument of our activities, should be a living sacrifice to God. Link all its actions with Him; let there be conscious reference to Him in all that I do. Let foot and hand and eye and brain work for Him, and by Him, and in constant consciousness of His presence; suppress where necessary, direct always, appetites and passions, and make the body the instrument of the surrendered spirit. And then, in the measure in which we can do so, the greatest cleft and discord in human life will be filled, and body, soul, and spirit will harmonise and make one music of praise to God.

Ah! brethren, these bad principles have teeth to bite very close into our daily lives. How many of us, young and old, have ‘fleshly lusts which war against the soul’? How many of you young men have no heart for higher, purer, nobler things, because the animal in you is strong! How many of you find that the day’s activities blunt you to God! How many of us are weakened still under that great antagonism of the flesh lusting against the spirit, so that we cannot do the things that we would! Sensuality, indulgence in animal propensities, yielding to the clamant voices of the beast that is within us–these things wreck many a soul; and some of those that are listening to me now. Let the man govern and coerce the animal, and let God govern the man. ‘I beseech you that you yield your bodies a living sacrifice.’

II. There is the sacrifice of praise.

Of course, logically and properly, this, and all the others that I am going to speak about, are included within that to which I have already directed attention. But still they are dealt with separately in Scripture, and I follow the guidance. We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews: ‘By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise unto God continually–that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks unto His name.’ There, then, is another of the regions into which the notion of sacrifice as the very essence of Christian life is to be carried.

There is nothing more remarkable in Scripture than the solemn importance that it attaches to what so many people think so little about, and that is words. It even sometimes seems to take them as being more truly the outcome and revelation of a man’s character than his deeds are. And that is true, in some respects. But at all events there is set forth, ever running all through the Scripture, that thought, that one of the best sacrifices that men can make to God is to render up the tribute of their praise. In the great psalm which lays down with clearness never surpassed in the New Testament the principles of true Christian worship, this is declared: ‘Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me.’ The true offering is not the slaying of animals or the presentation of any material things, but the utterance of hearts welling up thankfulness. In the ancient ritual there stood within the Holy place, and after the altar of burnt-offering had been passed, three symbols of the relation of the redeemed soul to God. There was the great candlestick, which proclaimed ‘Ye are the light of the world.’ There was the table on which the so-called shewbread was laid, and in the midst there was the altar of incense, on which, day by day, morning and evening, there was kindled the fragrant offering which curled up in wreaths of blue smoke aspiring towards the heavens. It lay smouldering all through the day, and was quickened into flame morning and evening. That is a symbol representing what the Christian life ought to be–a continual thank-offering of the incense of prayer and praise.

Nor that only, brethren, but also there is another shape in which our words should be sacrifices, and that is in the way of direct utterances to men, as well as of thanksgiving to God. What a shame it is, and what a confession of imperfect, partial redemption and regeneration on the part of professing Christians it is, that there are thousands of us who never, all our lives, have felt the impulse or necessity of giving utterance to our Christian convictions! You can talk about anything else; you are tongue-tied about your religion. Why is that? You can make speeches upon political platforms, or you can discourse on many subjects that interest you. You never speak a word to anybody about the Master that you say you serve. Why is that? ‘What is bred in the bone comes out in the flesh.’ What is deep in the heart sometimes lies there unuttered, but more often demands expression. I venture to think that if your Christianity was deeper, it would not be so dumb. You strengthen your convictions by speech. A man’s belief in anything grows incalculably by the very fact of proclaiming it. And there is no surer way to lose moral and spiritual convictions than to huddle them up in the secret chambers of our hearts. It is like a man carrying a bit of ice in his palm. He locks his fingers over it, and when he opens them it has all run out and gone. If you want to deepen your Christianity, declare it. If you would have your hearts more full of gratitude, speak your praise. There used to be in certain religious houses a single figure kneeling on the altar-steps, by day and by night, ever uttering forth with unremitting voice, the psalm of praise. That perpetual adoration in spirit, if not in form, ought to be ours. The fruit of the lips should continually be offered. Literally, of course, there cannot be that unbroken and exclusive utterance of thanksgiving. There are many other things that men have to talk about; but through all the utterances there ought to spread the aroma–like some fragrance diffused through the else scentless air from some unseen source of sweetness–of that name to which the life is one long thanksgiving.

III. There is the sacrifice of help to men.

The same passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews, to which I have already referred, goes on to bracket together the sacrifice of praise and of deeds. It continues thus:–’But to do good and to communicate forget not.’ Again I say, logically this comes under the first division. But still it may be treated separately, and it just carries this thought–your praying and singing praises are worse than useless unless you go out into the world an embodiment and an imitation of the love which you hymn. True philanthropy has its roots in true religion. The service of man is the service of God.

That principle cuts two ways. It comes as a sharp test of their prayers and psalm-singing to emotional Christians, who are always able to gush in words of thankfulness, and it confronts them with the question, What do you do for your brother? That is a question that comes very close to us all. Do not talk about being the priests of the Most High God unless you are doing the priestly office of representing God to men, and carrying to them the blessings that they need. Your service to God is worthless unless it is followed by diligent, fraternal, wise, self-sacrificing service for men.

The same principle points in another direction. If, on the one hand, it crushes as hypocrisy a religion of talk, on the other hand it declares as baseless a philanthropy which has no reference to God. And whilst I know that there are many men who, following the dictates of their hearts, and apart altogether from any reference to higher religious sanctions, do exercise pity and compassion and help, I believe that for the basing of a lasting, wide, wise benevolence, there is nothing solid and broad except Christ and Him crucified, and the consciousness of having been–sinful and needy as we are–received and blessed by Him. Let the philanthropists learn that the surrender of self, and the fruit of the lips giving thanks to His name, must precede the highest kind of beneficence. Let the Christian learn that benevolence is the garb in which religion is dressed. ‘True worship and undefiled … is this, to visit the widow and the fatherless in their affliction.’ Morality is the dress of Religion; Religion is the body of Morality.

IV. Lastly, there is the sacrifice of death.

‘I am ready to be offered,’ says the Apostle–to be poured out, as a libation. And again, ‘If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice with you all.’ And so may

‘Death the endless mercies seal,

And make the sacrifice complete.’

It may become not a reluctant being dragged out of life whilst we cling to it with both our hands. It may be not a reluctant yielding to necessity, but a religious act, in which a man resignedly and trustfully and gratefully yields himself to God; and says, ‘Father! into Thy hands I commit my spirit.’

Ah! brethren, is not that a better way to die than to be like some poor wretch in a stream, that clutches at some unfixed support on the bank, and is whirled away down, fiercely resisting and helpless? We may thus make our last act an act of devotion, and go within the veil as priests bearing in our hands the last of our sacrifices. The sacrifice of death will only be offered when a life of sacrifice has preceded it. And if you and I, moved by the mercies of God, yield ourselves living sacrifices, using our lips for His praise and our possessions for man’s help, then we may die as the Apostle expected to do, and feel that by Christ Jesus even death becomes ‘an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing unto God.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

lively = living. App-170.

spiritual. See 1Co 12:1.

priesthood. Greek. hierateuma. Only here and 1Pe 2:9.

offer up. Greek. anaphero. See Heb 7:27.

acceptable. Greek. euprosdektos. See Rom 15:16.

Jesus Christ. App-98.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

5.] be ye also as living (see above) stones built up (it is disputed whether is indicative or imperative. Much is to be said both ways. Wiesinger, who is the ablest recent advocate for the indicative, maintains that the passage is epexegetical of the preceding , shewing how love to the word, seeking in the word the Lord Himself and His goodness, of itself leads to the completion set forth in 1Pe 2:5. But I cannot help feeling that this view of epexegesis of . . is much weakened by the fact that must be referred to , which is already separated from … by … And other weightier reasons are behind. On the indicative view, the pres. part. could hardly have been used, but it would surely have been . This is felt by Luther, who renders it zu welchem ihr gekommen send. Again, the connexion with the foregoing by a participle, proceeding on to an imperative, exactly corresponds to the former hortatory sentences, ch. 1Pe 1:13-14; 1Pe 1:22, and 1Pe 2:1. Finally, the long procession of mere predications, on this view, would be tame and almost tautological, in comparison with the powerful gathering up with the , 1Pe 2:7, of the high and holy state on which the preceding exhortation depends, as contrasted with that of the unbelieving. I therefore decide for the imperative, against Syr. (Etheridge: you also as living stones are builded), Estius, Grot, Beng., al., and Wiesinger, and with c., Syr. (as commonly quoted), Beza, Aret., Benson, Steiger, De Wette, Huther) a spiritual house ( = , 1Co 3:16; Eph 2:21; as before, the stones are called living, and the house spiritual, not merely to signify that they are not dead stones, and the house not a material one, but on account of the life which Christians derive from Christ, the living Stone, and of the service which they render in virtue of being a body dwelt in by the Holy Spirit) for (see var. readd.) an holy priesthood (abstract, office of priesthood, including in itself the individual priests: see ref. Exod. Being Gods spiritual temple, they form an holy priesthood to Him, approaching and serving before Him in virtue of that Living and Holy One, whose mystic Body they are, and in whom the Father is well pleased: And they need no other by whom to approach God: being all priests, they require not, nor admit of, any distinct body of men among themselves specially called priests, nearer to God than themselves. No where is this more clearly declared by inference, than here) to offer up (, not occurring in St. Paul, nor in the classics, but (reff.) in Heb. and St. James, is the regular LXX word for offering up sacrifice. The aor. is here used, because no habitual offering, as in rite or festival, is meant, but the one, once-for-all, devotion of the body, as in Rom 12:1, to God as His. On the infin. of the purpose, see Winer, 44. 1) spiritual sacrifices (cf. especially Heb 13:15-16. Spiritual, because as the temple, as the priests, as the God, so the offering. It is this, rather than any distinction from the O. T. sacrifices, that is pointed at in ) acceptable (reff.) to God through Jesus Christ (these last words may be joined, either, 1. with , or, 2. with . This latter has for it the analogy of Heb 13:15, …, and is preferred by Grot., Aret., De Wette, Huther, Wiesinger: and I think reasonably. The introduction of as a mere appendage of would not satisfy the weighty character of the words, nay would seem to put them in the wrong place, seeing that not merely the acceptability, but the very existence, and possibility of offering, of those sacrifices depends on the mediation of the great High Priest).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Pe 2:5. ) even.-) yourselves, partakers of the same name (Stone).-, stones) Many names, which belong to Christ in the singular, are assigned to Christians in the plural. Christ is the Living Stone; Christians are living stones. From Him they also are called sons, priests, kings, lambs, etc. So the Shulamite is called from Solomon.-, living) Such persons, living stones, may be at once both a house and a priesthood.-, are built up) The indicative, as Eph 2:22.-, a house) a temple.-, a priesthood) a multitude of priests. This is presently afterwards explained, and (the contrary having been premised in 1Pe 2:8) in 1Pe 2:9-10.-, holy) as belonging to God.-, sacrifices) of praise, 1Pe 2:9.-, acceptable) Isa 56:7, Their sacrifices shall be accepted on My altar.-, by) Christ is both precious in Himself, and makes us accepted; for He is the altar. See Isa. as quoted above.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

also: 1Co 3:16, 1Co 6:19, 2Co 6:16, Eph 2:20-22, Heb 3:6, Rev 3:12

are built: or, be ye built

an holy: 1Pe 2:9, Isa 61:6, Isa 66:21, Rev 1:6, Rev 5:10, Rev 20:6

spiritual: Psa 50:14, Psa 50:23, Psa 141:2, Hos 14:2, Mal 1:11, Joh 4:22-24, Rom 12:1, Phi 2:17, Phi 4:18, Heb 13:15, Heb 13:16

acceptable: 1Pe 4:11, Phi 1:11, Phi 4:18, Col 3:17

Reciprocal: Gen 4:7 – If thou doest well Gen 6:9 – and Noah Gen 8:20 – builded Exo 19:6 – a kingdom Exo 26:6 – one tabernacle Exo 26:24 – and they shall be coupled together above Exo 28:38 – accepted Exo 36:13 – so it became Exo 37:25 – General Exo 38:1 – the altar Lev 3:5 – upon the burnt Lev 4:31 – a sweet Lev 7:12 – a thanksgiving Lev 8:13 – Moses Lev 14:14 – General Lev 22:29 – General Num 5:10 – hallowed things Num 12:7 – faithful Num 16:5 – who is holy Num 25:13 – an everlasting Deu 7:6 – an holy Deu 18:2 – the Lord Deu 26:3 – the priest Deu 26:19 – high above Deu 33:19 – they shall 2Sa 7:13 – He shall 2Sa 24:23 – The Lord 1Ki 6:1 – build 1Ki 6:7 – built of stone 1Ki 7:11 – General 1Ki 7:29 – certain additions 1Ch 16:35 – that we may give Psa 19:14 – Let Psa 20:3 – Remember Psa 27:6 – therefore Psa 51:17 – sacrifices Psa 69:31 – also shall Psa 96:8 – bring Psa 107:22 – sacrifice Psa 118:3 – General Psa 145:10 – and thy saints Pro 9:1 – builded Son 1:17 – beams Son 4:16 – Let Isa 19:21 – and shall Isa 52:11 – touch Isa 56:7 – their burnt Isa 58:5 – an acceptable Isa 60:6 – they shall show Isa 66:20 – an offering Jer 17:26 – sacrifices of Jer 33:18 – General Eze 20:40 – there shall Eze 41:1 – to the temple Eze 43:19 – the priests Eze 43:27 – I will accept Zec 6:12 – he shall build Zec 6:15 – they Zec 14:20 – HOLINESS Mal 3:3 – an Mat 12:6 – General Joh 2:21 – temple Joh 14:13 – in my Rom 1:8 – through Rom 6:11 – through Rom 7:25 – thank God Rom 14:18 – is Rom 15:16 – offering up Rom 16:27 – God 1Co 3:9 – ye are God’s building 2Co 13:5 – Jesus Christ Gal 6:16 – the Israel Eph 1:6 – he Eph 2:22 – an Eph 3:21 – by Eph 5:10 – acceptable Eph 5:20 – in 1Ti 2:3 – this 1Ti 3:15 – the house 2Ti 2:20 – in a Heb 3:3 – who Heb 4:12 – is quick Heb 12:10 – partakers Heb 12:28 – we may Heb 13:21 – through Rev 11:1 – Rise

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

LIVING STONES

Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1Pe 2:5 (R.V.)

That spiritual house of which these Jewish Christians were to form a part is to-day, after the lapse of centuries, still in building. It is built upon the bed-rock, if we may venture so to call Him, Jesus Christthat rock was Christ, says St. Paul. Based upon that rock is the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, and reared upon them as on a foundation is the spiritual fabric of the Temple or Church of God in which all the saints of God are to find a place. Let us examine what we mean by this a little closer.

I. A spiritual house built of living stones.The material fabric of church or temple is made up of various parts, and each part has its special use. Each part, too, has its component elements, some more notable, some less, some in the broad light of day, some in dark and obscure corners. Some of these needed more cutting and hewing than others, but every individual fragment of the building has to be fashioned in order that it may fit into its place in the whole.

II. So each individual in the Church of God has to submit himself to the Master Builders hand.For some He designs notable places in His spiritual house on earth, and still more in the house eternal in the heavens. For others here on earth there are obscurer positionssome, indeed, quite hidden away from the notice of men. The humble, modest, retiring, God-fearing Christian is just as much a stone in the building as the most remarkable bishop or archbishop, or leading layman. And as in the material fabric there are parts that lie quite out of sight, so in the Church of Christ there is many a saint whose life is hidden with Christ in God. But there is one essential difference between the material stones and the spiritual. The material stones are dead, lifeless. The spiritual stones must be living. There must be energy, power, progress about them. The earthly house of God of which they form a part is but temporary, and a place of preparation for the house eternal in the heavens. So we may see sometimes a temporary church erected where a congregation may be collected, trained, and prepared to enter into possession of a beautiful permanent church later on.

III. If there is to be this gradual preparing and fitting into the spiritual fabric of the living stones, how is it to be effected?Surely by training and discipline. The stone has to be cut, it has to endure many a biting sculpture. So the living stone has to go through much. There is more or less to be cut away. Rough parts have to be made smooth, sharp angular points have to be taken off; it has to find its place amongst others; it has to suffer the hard blows, it may be of adversity or pain; and this process has to go on all through life. The earthly Church of Christ is not perfectnothing human can bebut as a whole and in its individual members it has to endure trouble and hardship. Perhaps such a time of stress may be coming near to us now, who knows? It is only in this way that the earthly living stone can be made fit for its place in the heavenly temple. Just as Christ, the Bridegroom, was made perfect through suffering, so the Church, His Bride, must, during the times of her probation, undergo suffering too if she is to be made perfect. What does St. Paul say? Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for it that He might present the Church to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that it should be holy and without blemish. This is what the house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens, a building from God, is to be.

IV. Living stones, selected by the Master Builder, and called to high duties and privileges; you are called also to high office. Just as in the Jewish Church there was a priesthood which discharged ministerial offices, whilst at the same time the whole people were a kingdom of priests, so it is now. We, too, have a priesthood to whom is committed ministerial office on behalf of the rest, but none the less are we made, all of us, unto our God a kingdom and priests. It is for the lay people to exercise their privileges in this respect, and to confirm and ratify what is done in their name by their own participation in it. Ye are a royal priesthood. Carry out to the full your duty, and that in every branch of Church work. It is because the laity have been too much inclined in times past to leave their part of the work undone or to be done by the clergy instead of themselves that Church people have not realised to the full all the privileges and duties to which they were called. There is not one of us that ought to be content unless he or she has something to do in the Kingdom of Christ and for the glory of God. A perfunctory attendance at church on Sundays, perhaps only once, and nothing done or attempted besides, is very far from the ideal which the busiest of us in the affairs of the world ought to aim at. To belong to a holy priesthood, as you do in virtue of your Christian calling, implies also, as the text teaches us, the offering up of spiritual sacrifices.

Rev. Dr. Redpath.

Illustration

I think we can very easily understand how St. Peter came to use this language to those to whom he was writing. They were already Christiansthat is the meaning of the word elect in the first verse of the Epistlebut they were also sojourners of the Dispersion; that is, members of the Jewish nation scattered abroad in various parts of the world, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. These were to be the recipients of the letter, and the Apostle had to consider what language would best appeal to them. He would think of them as still in heart Jewish nationalists to the backbone, with their thoughts and affections always reverting to their own country, their own holy city, and in it their own Temple, the centre of their own religious worship, the place which God had chosen to place His name in.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

1Pe 2:5. Jesus is represented as a living stone for a foundation, and hence it is appropriate to consider the parts of the building upon it as lively stones also. The foundation of the building and its parts being spiritual, it follows that the whole structure is considered as a spiritual one. Every building of whatever kind is erected for some specific purpose, and this one is no exception to the rule. In the material building of the Mosaic system, there was a practice of offering sacrifices which also were of material character, namely, the bodies of animals. In this spiritual house the sacrifices are of a spiritual character, as they are composed of the religious services of the people of God. An holy priesthood. Under the old system the priests only officiated in the sacrifices, and they all came from just one of the tribes. By an interesting coincidence the performances under the new system are also conducted only by the priests. But since every disciple is a priest (verse 9 below; Rev 1:6), it means that each one is expected to participate in the service. The things offered in the old arrangement must be acceptable to God. and the same is required under the new which is authorized by Jesus Christ.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Pe 2:5. Be ye also as living stones built up. The verb admits of being construed either as indicative or as imperative. The former is preferred by the E. V., in which it follows Tyndale, Cranmer, and the Geneva. The same rendering is adopted by not a few of the best interpreters (Bengel, Wiesinger, Weiss, Hofmann, etc.), specially on the ground that what is stated in this verse and the following is a natural explanation of the practical effect to which that goodness of the Lord which they had tasted (1Pe 2:3) had served them for good, namely, in having actually made them, through attachment to Himself, parts of that spiritual edifice of which he is the foundation chosen of God. But the imperative is to be preferred (with Beza, de Wette, Luthardt, Huther, Schott, Alford, etc.), as most consistent with the use of the similar be ye in 1Pe 1:15, with the hortatory force which seems inherent in the participle coming (1Pe 2:4), and with Peters practice of introducing charges in the form of imperatives accompanied by participles expressing the conditions of their fulfilment (1Pe 1:13, 1Pe 1:17-18, 1Pe 1:22, 1Pe 2:1-2). The imperative, too, may be of the middle form = build yourselves up (Luther, Steiger, Plumptre), or better, of the passive form = be ye built up, as the E. V. gives in the margin, here following Wycliffes be ye above bilded, and the be ye also yourselves superedified of the Rheims. So Peter, as his wont is, charges them to do on their side what has been made both possible and a matter of duty by what has been done on Gods side. The foundation is laid by God, let them come, therefore, and be built upon it. And the character (such again is the force of the as) in which they are to do this is that of living stones.

a spiritual house. Though the noun means simply house, and not temple, and the adjective spiritual is added simply to distinguish it from a material structure, it is no doubt the temple that Peter has in view. The phrase itself may be in apposition to the subject ye (Hofmann, etc.), or (as most prefer) it may express the end contemplated in the being built. It may be that they are to be built up on the Foundation in the character of, or because they are, a spiritual house; or it may be rather that they are to be built up in order to make a spiritual house. At this point Peter introduces the idea which was so alien to the Jewish mind (cf. Mar 14:58; Joh 2:21), but by this time as familiar to him as it was to Paul (Eph 2:20-22, etc.), that the real temple of God was not the great House in Jerusalem, and that Christs flock, without distinction, too, of Jew and Gentile, was the true Israel, temple, and priesthood of God. It is possible, as Dean Plumptre and others believe, that in speaking of the Church in these terms, Peter recalled the great declaration made to him by Christ Himself, the full significance of which he had been slow enough to take in, on the subject of the Church, and the rock on which its Lord was to build it (Mat 16:18). This thought of a Divine temple consisting of living men, and of a comer-stone by whom and in whom they could alone cohere, may be traced throughout the whole Epistle. From first to last he seems to be telling them of a unity which existed for them, and which they might enjoy in spite of their dispersion, if only they would recognise the living ground of it, if only they would move round the true centre, and not try to exist as separate atoms apart from it (Maurice, Unity of New Testament, p. 336).

unto (or, with a view to) a holy priesthood. The evidence of the best authorities makes it necessary to insert the preposition unto, which at first sight creates an awkward connection. The awkwardness, however, is only in appearance. It is the new reading that gives by far the deepest and most apposite sense here. It indicates a further end contemplated by the being built up in Christ. They are to be so built in order to make not only a spiritual house, but also a holy priesthood, and the spiritual house itself is to rise with a view to, or, so as also to become, the holy priesthood. As Gods people once were, the house and the priesthood were distinct; now they are one. Under the Old Covenant Jehovah had His House, and His priests who served Him in His House; the Church fulfils both purposes under the New, being both His House and His holy priesthood (see Wiesinger and Fronmller). The epithet holy simply marks off the priesthood as consecrated according to the idea of a priesthood. The noun expressing the priesthood itself is one entirely strange to profane Greek, but found in the LXX., and once again in the N. T. (1Pe 2:9 of this chapter). It denotes priests not in their individual capacity, but as a collective body or college. It by no means follows, however, that it implies the existence of different degrees of priesthood among Christians (Canon Mason), or that it bears upon the office of a vicarious priesthood, representing and acting on behalf of the body corporate (Canon Cook). The one thing it affirms is that all Christians as such, and without distinction, constitute a priestly fraternity corresponding to the community of priests established under the Law, and realizing the complete idea of a priesthood which the former college, with its limitation in numbers, and its sharp separation from the people, and its ritual service, imperfectly and distantly exhibited. The name priest, says John Owen, is nowhere in Scripture attributed peculiarly and distinctly to the ministers of the Gospel as such; that which puts a difference between them and the rest of the people of Gods holiness seems to be a more direct participation of Christs prophetical, not sacerdotal, office. When Christ ascended on high, He gave some to be prophets, Eph 4:11; none, as we find, to be priests. Priests are a sort of church-officers whom Christ never appointed (see Dr. John Brown in loc.). In the next few verses, Peter lingers lovingly over this great principle of grace, the priesthood of all believers, the right of every soul to go direct to God with its sins, and receive for itself His forgiveness through Christ,the principle which the early Church proclaimed (are not we who are laics also priests?Tertullian, de Exhort. Castitatis, chap, 7), which was lost in the theology and ecclesiasticism of the Mediaeval Church, although it lived in its hymnology, which finally revived in the Theses of Luther, and became the keynote of the Reformation.

to offer up spiritual sacrifices. If Christians are the spiritual house and the holy priesthood which make all necessity for a separate temple and a limited priesthood vanish, they must serve in priestly fashion Him whose house they make. Their service is to offer sacrifices, and these, in conformity with the service itself, must be not material but spiritual. In the O. T., sin and trespass offerings had to be offered first in order that access might be secured, and only after these, and in their train, came the sacrifices of consecration, praise, and thanksgiving. Under the N. T., access has been opened once for all by Christs sacrifice for sin, and the only sacrifices which this priesthood is called to offer, or is capable of offering, are of the latter order. They embrace first the consecration of our living, active selves, which is described as the presenting of our bodies a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1); and then those offerings which are the expression of that consecrated life,the sacrifices of our praise and thanksgiving (which are compared to the fruit of our lips, Heb 13:15; cf. also Psa 50:23; Psa 116:17; Hos 14:3), of our prayers (which are likened to incense, Psa 141:2), of beneficent deeds and charitable givings (Heb 13:16), of broken spirits and contrite hearts (Psa 51:17), of obedience, the superiority of which to the sacrifices of the Law was declared so early as by Samuel to Agag (1Sa 15:22), and finally, if need be, of a spent life or martyrs death, which Paul speaks of under the figure of the pouring out of the heathen libation, or the Jewish drink-offering, which accompanied the sacrifice (Php 2:17). The verb used here in the sense of to offer, is the usual LXX. term for the offering of sacrifice, and means properly to bring up to the altar. It occurs thrice in the N. T. with the literal sense of carrying up, or leading up (Mat 18:1; Mar 9:2; and, in reference to the Ascension, Luk 24:51. It is never found in the sacrificial application either in the Pauline writings or in the Classics, but has that sense again in 1Pe 2:24 of the present chapter, once in James (Jas 2:21), and thrice in Hebrews (Heb 7:27; Heb 9:28; Heb 13:15).

acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. This clause may be attached to the verb, so that the sense will be=to offer up through Jesus Christ acceptable sacrifices to God. This connection has in its favour the analogy of Heb 13:15, and is urged on the ground that not only the acceptance of what is offered, but the very possibility of offering, is dependent on Christ; so Alford, de Wette, Weiss, etc. It is better, however, on the whole, to connect it closely with the noun, both on account of the immediate vicinity of the noun, and because without such an addition the acceptance of the N. T. sacrifices (as due directly and simply to Christ) is not distinguished from the acceptance of the O. T. sacrifices (as dependent on certain ritual observances). The meaning, therefore, seems to be (as Luther, Bengel, Wiesinger, Hofmann, Huther, etc., read it) = to offer up spiritual sacrifices which through Jesus Christ are acceptable to God. To Him to whom we owe our first consecration as priests to God, we owe also the continued acceptance of all that we offer in our priestly ministry.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

A Spiritual Temple of “Living Stones”

The apostle portrays the church as God’s spiritual temple ( 1Co 3:9-17 ). Its members are living stones because they are part of the body of the living Lord ( Gal 3:26-27 ; Eph 1:22-23 ; Act 2:47 ). They

are built as a house for God, or his dwelling place, which reminds us of Jesus’ words in Mat 16:13-20 . In this spiritual temple Christians serve as priests set apart for the Lord’s service. They are dependant upon no other human to offer up sacrifices before God. Instead, all of their sacrifices are acceptable to God because they are offered “through” Jesus Christ. Of course, Christians can only approach God through Christ ( 1Pe 2:5 ; Joh 16:23-24 ; Joh 15:16 ).

As further explanation of the nature of the church, Peter refers to Isa 28:16 . Zion is the hill on which Jerusalem was built ( 1Ki 8:1 ). The doors to the church first swung open on Pentecost in Jerusalem ( Act 2:1-47 ). In his comment on Eph 2:20 , Lipscomb wrote, “The cornerstone is a massive stone in which the two lines of the wall at their foundation meet, by which the true direction of the whole walls depended, since the slightest imperfection in the cornerstone would be indefinitely multiplied along the course of the walls.” Isaiah said, “Whoever believes will not act hastily.” Peter, by inspiration gives us its full meaning by writing, “And he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame.” Those placing their trust in the Lord will not be made ashamed to the point of desiring to flee. Those who trust in and obey Christ become a part of him and his precious nature ( 1Pe 2:6-7 ; see verse 4).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

1Pe 2:5. Ye also Believing in him with a loving and obedient faith, as lively Greek, , living, stones Quickened and made alive to God by spiritual life derived from him, are built up Upon him, and in union with each other; a spiritual house Spiritual yourselves; and a habitation of God through the Spirit. For, according to his promise, he lives and walks in every true believer, 2Co 6:16; and collectively considered, as a holy society, or assembly, uniting together in his worship and service, you are the house, or temple, of the living God, (1Ti 3:15; 1Co 3:16; Eph 2:20-21,) in which he manifests his presence, displays his glory, communicates his blessings, and accepts the prayers and praises, alms and oblations, of his people; a holy priesthood Not only Gods temple, but the priests that serve him in that temple; that is, persons dedicated to and employed for God. Thus, Isa 61:6, it is foretold that, in the days of the Messiah, the people of God should be named the priests of the Lord, and the ministers of our God; as also Isa 66:21. Christians are called a priesthood, in the same sense that the Israelites were called a kingdom of priests, Exo 19:6. The apostles design, in giving these titles to real Christians, is partly to show that they are dedicated to God in heart and life, and also that in the Christian church or temple, there is no need of the mediation of priests to present our prayers to God. Every sincere worshipper has access to the Father through Christ, as if he were really a priest himself. The apostle says, a holy priesthood, because genuine Christians are very different characters from the generality of the Jewish priests, who, though the posterity of Aaron, and dedicated externally to, and employed in, the service of God, were remarkably unholy, yea, very vicious characters; whereas the true disciples of Christ are really holy in heart and life. To offer up spiritual sacrifices Not merely their prayers and praises, but their souls and bodies, their time and talents, with all their thoughts, words, and actions, acceptable to God through the mediation of Jesus Christ The great High-Priest over the house of God, whose intercession alone can recommend to the Father such imperfect sacrifices as ours.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

ARGUMENT 9

PRIESTHOOD AND HIGH PRIESTHOOD

5…Into a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Gospel dispensation the Levitical priesthood has been transferred to the membership. Therefore regeneration makes you a priest, giving you license to preach while sanctification makes you a high priest, the former putting you in the sanctuary to worship and officiate, while the latter escorts you into the sanctum sanctorum and permits you to stand amid the splendors of the glorious shekinah, in the effulgent light of the divine presence, with access to the sweet manna in the golden pot ever fresh and delicious, and the luscious fruits constantly ripening on Aarons budding rod, while the heavenly cherubim with celestial pinions regale your face with the breezes of glory. Ecclesiastical tyrants are everywhere threatening Gods holy people with clerical ostracism and decapitation. Stop all your whining. If they want your license, let them have it. You will then be in as good fix as Paul and Peter. Wake up to the glorious fact that regeneration makes you a priest, i.e. a preacher, and sanctification, a high priest, i.e., bishop. God is now raising up an army of lay preachers, male and female, with license from heavenly headquarters to preach the everlasting Gospel to the dying millions of a lost world and bring on the millennium.

6… Let him that believeth on Him not be ashamed. Shame is the inseparable concomitant of sin. A genuine case of salvation takes away all shame and makes you courageous as a lion. You see from this Scripture that shame is incompatible with true faith. What is to become of the popular churches where ninety out of every hundred evince the sad fact that they are ashamed of Jesus, because they will not publicly testify to his power to save.

8… A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. In all ages the people have stumbled over the Christhood. The whole Bible is the biography of Christ. The Old Testament of the excarnate and the New of the incarnate, is God in Christ redeeming the world. The Holy Ghost is the disembodied Spirit of Christ. Satan fought the divine Fatherhood four thousand years, breaking down in signal defeat, polytheism collapsing and monotheism triumphant. Upon the Incarnation lie turned all the battering rams of earth and hell against the divine Sonship, even dividing the Church between Arians and Trinitarians, waging a desolating war through the centuries, again suffering signal defeat, the Christhood of Jesus coming to the front in universal recognition. We are living in the time of the devils last war against the Christhood. Now all the batteries of the pandemonium are turned against the Spirit of Christ, i.e., the Holy Ghost, His personal successor. We have no war against the holiness movement; it is all against the personal Holy Ghost. The fallen churches, like the wicked world, are everywhere stumbling over the glorious Christhood in the person of the Holy Ghost.

They stumble over the word disbelieving, for which they were also appointed. This sounds quite Calvinistic. We have no creed but the Bible, since God has gloriously saved us from everything but Himself. God made room in heaven for all the people in this world. He is doing His best to keep them all out of hell, and take them to heaven. Under His protest and through his dying love they rush into hell by millions because they love sin, which is the way to hell and brings hell into them, and congenializing them to live in hell forever. God sits upon the throne of the universe sees the way of every human being pursuant to his own will, and recognizes his destination in heaven or hell.

9. You are an elect race. We are nominated for heaven in conversion and elected in sanctification, and crowned in glorification. Royal priesthood. The high priest was always recognized as a member of the royal family. While conversion makes you a priest, sanctification makes you a high priest. Holy nation. This world has many nationalities, designated by races and colors, and separated by oceans and seas. Among them God has a nationality distinctly marked, dispersed in all lands, peculiar and recognizable in every clime. Isaiah 62 says they shall be called a holy people. It is a significant fact that the people who believe in entire sanctification by a second work of grace are alone called holy among all the nations on the earth at the present day. The world is very apt to call things what they are. So you had better get where the world will call you holy. If you are not holy in the end, you would better never have been born. A people unto conquest. Gods holy people, though few, poor, and persecuted, like Joseph in Pharaohs dungeon, who came forth to rule over all the land, are destined to conquer the world for Christ, and come to the front to stay and rule the world forever in the glorious coming kingdom. In order that you may proclaim the power of Him who calleth you out of darkness into His glorious light. Satans counterfeit Christians are a dumb herd. Gods true people have always been very noisy, and doubtless will be more so after they get to heaven. They have always been a great annoyance to Satans dumb dead churches.

10. This verse alludes to the glorious call of the Gentiles to full Gospel rights and privileges, which God honored Peter to inaugurate at the house of Cornelius.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 5

A spiritual house; a spiritual temple. The meaning is that the community of believers forms such a spiritual temple, Jesus Christ being the corner-stone.–A holy priesthood. The metaphor is here suddenly changed,–the followers of Christ being now represented, not as the building, but as the priests officiating in it.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, {5} an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

(5) Continuing, he compares us now to priests, placed for this purpose in the spiritual temple, that we should serve him with a spiritual worship, that is, with holiness and righteousness: but as the temple, so is the priesthood built upon Christ, in who alone all our spiritual offerings are accepted.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Peter saw the church as a living temple to which God was adding with the conversion of each new believer. Each Christian is one of the essential stones that enables the whole structure to fulfill its purpose (cf. Mat 16:15-18). Later Peter would say his readers were also priests (1Pe 2:9), but here the emphasis is on their being a building for priestly service, namely, a temple.

"This ’spiritual house’ includes believers in the five Roman provinces of 1Pe 1:1 and shows clearly how Peter understood the metaphor of Christ in Mat 16:18 to be not a local church, but the church general (the kingdom of Christ)." [Note: Robertson, 6:96.]

 

"I Peter never speaks of the Church as ekklesia, but uses metaphorical images of OT origin." [Note: Goppelt, p. 30.]

This verse helps us appreciate how much we need each other as Christians. God has a purpose for all of us to fulfill that we cannot fulfill individually. The Christian who is not working in relationship with other Christians as fellow stones, as well as with Jesus Christ as his or her foundation, cannot fulfill God’s complete purpose for him or her. While every Christian has an individual purpose, we also have a corporate purpose that we cannot fulfill unless we take our place in the community of Christians that is the church. Peter explained this purpose more fully below, but here he revealed that it involves worship and service (cf. Rom 12:1; Heb 13:15-16; Php 4:18).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)