Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Peter 2:9
But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
9. But ye are a chosen generation ] The glories that attach to the company of believers in Christ are brought before us in a mosaic of Old Testament phraseology. The “chosen generation” comes from Isa 43:20, the “royal priesthood” from the LXX. of Exo 19:6, where the English version has more accurately “a kingdom of priests.” We note the recurrence of the thought in Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10. The same passage supplies the “holy nation.”
a peculiar people ] This somewhat singular word calls for a special note. The English translators appear to have used the term in its strictly etymological and almost forensic sense. The people of Christ, like Israel of old, were thought of as the special peculium, the possession, or property, of God. The adjective, however, has acquired in common usage so different a meaning that it would be better to translate the words, a people for a special possession. The noun or the cognate verb is found in the LXX. of the “ special people” of Deu 7:6, in the “jewels” of Mal 3:17. The context shews however that Isa 43:21 was most prominently in the Apostle’s thoughts, “This people have I formed for myself (or, gained as a possession for myself); they shall shew forth my praise.” In Eph 1:14 the noun is rendered by “purchased possession,” in 1Th 5:9, 2Th 2:14, by “obtaining,” in Heb 10:39 by “saving.” The primary idea of the Greek verb is that of acquiring for oneself by purchase or otherwise, and the noun accordingly denotes either the act of acquiring or that which is so acquired. Cranmer’s Bible gives “a people which are won:” the Rhemish Version “a people of purchase.”
that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you ] The word for “praises” is that commonly used by Greek ethical writers for “virtue,” and is so rendered in Php 4:8 and 2Pe 1:3 ; 2Pe 1:5. St Peter’s choice of the term was determined apparently, as intimated in the preceding note, by its use in the LXX. of Isa 43:21. Here, since the associations of the word in English hardly allow us to speak of the “virtues” of God, “excellences” would perhaps be a more adequate rendering: the Greek word, though connected both by Greek ethical writers (Aristot. Eth. Nicom. iii. 1) and by St Paul (Php 4:8) with the thought of praise, cannot well itself have that meaning. The almost uniform reference, throughout the New Testament, of the act of calling to the Father, justifies the conclusion that St Peter so thinks of it here.
Darkness is, of course, the natural symbol for man’s ignorance of God (comp. Joh 8:12, Act 26:18, Eph 5:8-13, Rom 13:12), as light is for the true knowledge of Him. The epithet “marvellous,” or wonderful, as applied to that light is peculiar to St Peter. Looking to the stress laid on the glory of the Transfiguration in 2Pe 1:16-18, we may, perhaps, see in this passage the impression which had been made upon him by what he had then seen of the “marvellous light” of the Eternal. Into that light, of which what he had seen was but the outward symbol, not he only but all who believed in Christ had now been called.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But ye are a chosen generation – In contradistinction from those who, by their disobedience, had rejected the Saviour as the foundation of hope. The people of God are often represented as his chosen or elected people. See the notes at 1Pe 1:2.
A royal priesthood – See the notes at 1Pe 2:5. The meaning of this is, probably, that they at once bore the dignity of kings, and the sanctity of priests – Doddridge. Compare Rev 1:6; And hath made us kings and priests unto God. See also Isa 61:6; But ye shall be named priests of the Lord; men shall call ye ministers of our God. It may be, however, that the word royal is used only to denote the dignity of the priestly office which they sustained, or that they constituted, as it were, an entire nation or kingdom of priests. They were a kingdom over which he presided, and they were all priests; so that it might be said they were a kingdom of priests – a kingdom in which all the subjects were engaged in offering sacrifice to God. The expression appears to be taken from Exo 19:6 – And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests – and is such language as one who had been educated as a Jew would be likely to employ to set forth the dignity of those whom he regarded as the people of God.
An holy nation – This is also taken from Exo 19:6. The Hebrews were regarded as a nation consecrated to God; and now that they were cast off or rejected for their disobedience, the same language was properly applied to the people whom God had chosen in their place – the Christian church.
A peculiar people – Compare the notes at Tit 2:14. The margin here is purchased. The word peculiar, in its common acceptation now, would mean that they were distinguished from others, or were singular. The reading in the margin would mean that they had been bought or redeemed. Both these things are so, but neither of them expresses the exact sense of the original. The Greek laos eis peripoiesin) means, a people for a possession; that is, as pertaining to God. They are a people which he has secured as a possession, or as his own; a people, therefore, which belong to him, and to no other. In this sense they are special as being His; and, being such, it may be inferred that they should be special in the sense of being unlike others (unique) in their manner of life. But that idea is not necessarily in the text. There seems to be here also an allusion to Exo 19:5; Ye shall be a peculiar treasure with me (Septuagint laos periousios) above all people.
That ye should show forth the praises of him – Margin, virtues. The Greek word ( arete) means properly good quality, excellence of any kind. It means here the excellences of God – His goodness, His wondrous deeds, or those things which make it proper to praise Him. This shows one great object for which they were redeemed. It was that they might proclaim the glory of God, and keep up the remembrance of His wondrous deeds in the earth. This is to be done:
(a)By proper ascriptions of praise to him in public, family, and social worship;
(b)By being always the avowed friends of God, ready ever to vindicate His government and ways;
(c)By endeavoring to make known His excellences to all those who are ignorant of Him; and,
(d)By such a life as shall constantly proclaim His praise – as the sun, the moon, the stars, the hills, the streams, the flowers do, showing what God does. The consistent life of a devoted Christian is a constant setting forth of the praise of God, showing to all that the God who has made him such is worthy to be loved.
Who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light – On the word called, see the notes at Eph 4:1. Darkness is the emblem of ignorance, sin, and misery, and refers here to their condition before their conversion; light is the emblem of the opposite, and is a beautiful representation of the state of those who are brought to the knowledge of the gospel. See the notes at Act 26:18. The word marvelous means wonderful; and the idea is, that the light of the gospel was such as was unusual, or not to be found elsewhere, as that excites wonder or surprise which we are not accustomed to see. The primary reference here is, undoubtedly, to those who had been pagans, and to the great change which had been produced by their having been brought to the knowledge of the truth as revealed in the gospel; and, in regard to this, no one can doubt that the one state deserved to be characterized as darkness, and the other as light. The contrast was as great as that between midnight and noonday. But what is here said is substantially correct of all who are converted, and is often as strikingly true of those who have been brought up in Christian lands, as of those who have lived among the pagans. The change in conversion is often so great and so rapid, the views and feelings are so different before and after conversion, that it seems like a sudden transition from midnight to noon. In all cases, also, of true conversion, though the change may not be so striking, or apparently so sudden, there is a change of which this may be regarded as substantially an accurate description. In many cases the convert can adopt this language in all its fulness, as descriptive of his own conversion; in all cases of genuine conversion it is true that each one can say that he has been called from a state in which his mind was dark to one in which it is comparatively clear.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Pe 2:9-10
But ye are a chosen generation.
The true Israel
I. Ye are a chosen generation-the word generation here meaning not contemporaries but the offspring of one common parent, the offshoots of one original stock.
1. The Israelites were a special generation, having sprung from Abraham as their common progenitor. Similarly, believers are a distinct generation of men, being all born of one God, and animated by the self-same Divine life. Consequently a striking family likeness prevails among them.
2. The Jews were, moreover, a chosen generation-called out of the darkness of Chaldaean idolatry to the marvellous light of Divine revelation. And so it is with believers now,
3. Ye are a chosen generation, that ye should show forth the praises-the excellences-of Him who hath called you. The mistake of the Jews was to take for granted that they were chosen to show forth their own excellences. Their election they converted into food for pride. Let us remember the Church is a generation to show forth the excellences of God. Through good men, not necessarily great men, does God reveal His character; through holy men, not necessarily able men, does He make known the benevolence, the uprightness, the genial warmth of His nature.
II. Ye are a royal priesthood-a phrase borrowed from Exo 19:6.
1. The Jewish nation was a nation of priests, its fundamental idea being religious, not secular. This idea is now embodied in the Christian Church. Every believer is now a priest, having a right to enter into the Holiest of all.
2. A royal priesthood. Ye are kings and priests-kings over yourselves and priests unto God.
3. Ye are a royal priesthood, to show forth the excellences of Him who hath called you. By your holy conversation, upright demeanour, you are to show forth the character of your God.
III. Ye are a holy nation.
1. The Israelites in Egypt were a chosen generation, but not a holy nation. Not till they were established in their own land, with laws and a king of their own, did they develop into a nation. Believers, scattered in the world, without mutual recognition, might be of the right seed; but not till they attach themselves to a Christian institution, variously termed the kingdom or the Church, do they become a nation.
2. A holy nation. God set the Israelites apart from all the world. He made them what all nations ought to be-holy. True, they did not live up to their profession; but in theory, in ideal, they were holy.
3. As a people bound together for the purposes of holiness, we should show forth the excellences of our God. As a holy nation, scattered amongst all the nations of Europe, we ought to propagate the principles of Gods kingdom.
IV. Ye are a peculiar people.
1. Ye are a people. The Israelites were brought out of Egypt a host of undisciplined slaves, capabilities of great things slumbering within them, but only half civilised. But after forty years pilgrimage in the wilderness, God was able to form them into a people, and settle them in the land promised unto their fathers. And in our natural state, we cannot be said to be a people in the true sense of the word, bound together by rational and spiritual ties. As individuals you can hardly be said to really exist till you believe. Of Him ye are in Christ Jesus. Ye were not before, but now ye are-you live in the higher ranges of the soul. Before you only lived in your animal nature-you did not live the distinctive life of man. But through union with Christ first, and with the Church afterwards, you fulfil the idea of your being, you live in the higher faculties instead of the lower, having higher purposes and different interests from the rest of the world.
2. Ye are a peculiar people, the word peculiar here being used in its etymological, not its colloquial sense, as meaning property, not singularity. These people have I formed for Myself-they are My very own.
3. But mark, we are Gods, purchased at a great price, in order that we may tell forth with a loud voice His praises. The word for show forth means literally to proclaim to those without what has taken place within. Here Israel failed. Let the Christian Church beware of committing the same mistake-God has purchased us to be His special possession, on purpose that we should proclaim to the world lying in darkness the excellences of His love in the Gospel of His Son. We must either send or carry the light to the heathen. (J. C. Jones, D. D.)
The Christian estate
I. The state of Christians, a chosen generation; so in Psa 24:1-10. The psalmist there speaks first of Gods universal sovereignty, then of His peculiar choice. As men who have great variety of possessions have yet usually their special delight in some one beyond all the rest, and choose to reside most in it, and bestow most expense on it to make it pleasant; so doth the Lord of the whole earth choose out to Himself from the rest of the world a number that are a chosen generation. Generation. This imports them to be of one race or stock. They are of one nation, belonging to the same blessed land of promise, all citizens of the New Jerusalem, yea, all children of the same family, whereof Jesus Christ, the root of Jesse, is the stock, who is the great King and the great High Priest. And thus they are a royal priesthood. They are of the seed royal, and of the holy seed of the priesthood, inasmuch as they partake of a new life from Christ. Thus, in Rev 1:5-6, there is first His own dignity expressed, then His dignifying us. There is no doubt that this kingly priesthood is the common dignity of all believers; this honour have all the saints. They are kings, have victory and dominion given them over the powers of darkness and the lusts of their own hearts, that held them captive and domineered over them before. This royalty takes away all attainders, and leaves nothing of all that is past to be laid to our charge, or to dishonour us. Believers are not shut out from God as they were before, but, being in Christ, ale brought near unto Him, and have free access to the throne of His grace. They resemble, in their spiritual state, the legal priesthood very clearly.
1. In their consecration. The levitical priests were washed; therefore this is expressed (Rev 1:5), He hath washed us in His own blood, and then follows, and hath made us kings and priests.
2. Let us consider their services, which were diverse. They had charge of the sanctuary, vessels, lights, and were to keep the lamps burning. Thus the heart of every Christian is made a temple to the Holy Ghost, and he himself, as a priest consecrated unto God, is to keep it diligently, and the furniture of Divine grace in it; to have the light of spiritual knowledge within him, and to nourish it by drawing continually new supplies from Jesus Christ. The priests were to bless the people. And truly it is this spiritual priesthood, the elect, that procure blessings upon the rest of the world, and particularly on the places where they live.
3. Let us consider their course of life. We shall find rules given to the legal priests, stricter than to others, of avoiding legal pollutions, etc. And from these, this spiritual priesthood must learn an exact holy conversation, keeping themselves from the pollutions of the world: as here it follows: A holy nation, and that of necessity; if a priesthood, then holy.
II. The opposition of the estate of Christians to that of unbelievers; we are most sensible of the evil or good of things by comparison. Though the estate of a Christian is very excellent and, when rightly valued, hath enough in itself to commend it, yet it doth and ought to raise our esteem of it the higher, when we compare it both with the misery of our former condition, and with the continuing misery of those that abide still and are left to perish in that woeful estate. We have here both these parallels. The happiness and dignity to which they are chosen and called, is opposed to the rejection and misery of them that continue unbelievers and rejectors of Christ.
III. The end of their calling. That ye should show forth the praises, etc. To magnify the grace of God the more, we have here:
1. Both the terms of this motion or change, from whence and to what it is.
2. The principle of it, the calling of God.
(1) From darkness. The estate of lost mankind is indeed nothing but darkness, being destitute of all spiritual truth and comfort, and tending to utter and everlasting darkness. And it is so, because by sin, the soul is separate from God, who is the first and highest light, the primitive truth. And the soul being made capable of Divine light, cannot be happy without it. And as the estate from whence we are called by grace is worthily called darkness, so that to which it calls us deserves as well the name of light. Christ likewise, who came to work our deliverance, is frequently so called in Scripture, not only in regard of His own nature, being God equal with the Father and therefore light, but relatively to men: The life was the light of men. There is a spirit of light and knowledge flowing from Jesus Christ into the souls of believers, that acquaints them with the mysteries of the kingdom of God, which cannot otherwise be known. And this spirit of knowledge is withal a spirit of holiness; for purity and holiness are likewise signified by this light. Then from this light arise spiritual joy and comfort, which are frequently signified by this expression. There are two things spoken of this light, to commend it, His marvellous light; that is-it is after a peculiar manner Gods-and it is marvellous. All light is from God, the light of sense, and that of reason; therefore He is called the Father of lights. But this light of grace is after a peculiar manner His, being a light above the reach of nature, infused into the soul in a supernatural way, the light of the elect world, where God specially and graciously resides. Now this light being so peculiarly Gods, no wonder if it be marvellous. And if this light of grace be so marvellous, how much more marvellous shall the light of glory be, in which it ends! Hence learn to esteem highly of the gospel, in which this light shines unto us; the apostle calls it therefore the glorious gospel. Surely we have no cause to be ashamed of it, but of ourselves that we are so unlike it.
(2) The principle of this change, the calling of God. He hath called you. Those who live in the society and profess the faith of Christians, are called unto light, the light of the gospel that shines in the Church of God. Now this is no small favour, while many people are left in darkness and in the shadow of death, to have this light arise upon us and to be in the region of it, the Church, the Goshen of the world; for by this outward light we are invited to the happy state of saving inward light, and the former is here to be understood as the means of the latter. This is Gods end in calling us, to communicate His goodness to us, that so the glory of it may return to Himself. As this is Gods end, it ought to be ours, and therefore ours because it is His. And for this very purpose, both here and elsewhere are we put in mind of it, that we may be true to His end and intend it with Him. This is His purpose in calling us, and therefore it is our great duty, being so called, to declare His praises. All things and persons shall pay this tribute, even those who are most unwilling; but the happiness of His chosen is, that they are active in it, others are passive only. (Abp. Leighton.)
The Church of Christ
I. The divine origin of the Church.
1. An elect race. Separated, called, chosen, quickened. Not a casual result out of ordinary forces.
II. Her function in the world-a royal priesthood. Here king and priest are blended to show the power and function of the priesthood. We plead with man for God and with God for man: the regal kings are the saints of God.
III. The beauty of her character-a holy nation. With us holiness frequently is a bundle of negation, an emptiness; but holiness is a cluster of positive glories, the glory of courage, the gleam of tenderness, the radiancy of mercy.
IV. Her preciousness to God. A peculiar people. His delight, joy, resting place. It is easy to depreciate. It takes a wise man to see the background as well as the figure on it. If the Church can be chosen, royal, priestly, beauteous, dear to God, she wants no earthly help.
V. Her work in the world-that ye may show forth the excellencies of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.
1. Every quickened soul has its own story to tell. There is a gospel according to you and me. The truth of God is the gathering up of all these gospels.
2. We have the power to utter praise.
3. We have the motive-gratitude for deliverance from darkness. (R. Glover, D. D.)
The glory of the Church as a commonwealth
I. The glory of the Church in its characteristics. A people for Gods own possession. First, by acquirement-He gave, etc.; second, by endearment-He loved, etc.
II. The glory of the Church in its mission. Here is its great purpose-That. This throws us back on the thought in the word elect-chosen for what end, choice for what uses? The purpose is:
1. A great manifestation. That ye may show forth. Tell out by word and deed some great message.
2. A great manifestation of the true greatness of God. The excellencies of Him. The virtues, the glories of God; what
(1) a lofty theme;
(2) boundless theme;
(3) sacred theme.
3. A manifestation of the excellencies of God in blessing men. Who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. The Spirit of God calls from
(1) the darkness of ignorance;
(2) the darkness of guilt;
(3) the darkness of dread.
The Spirit of God calls to
(a) the marvellous light of truth;
(b) the marvellous light of holiness;
(c) the marvellous light of love;
(d) the marvellous light of heaven.
III. The glory of the Church in its present condition as contrasted with the past history of its members. Which in times past-the mention of this is to kindle gratitude, to inspire humility, to awaken watchfulness. (Homilist.)
A royal priesthood.–
Every baptized man a priest of God
I. It is amongst the most common, and certainly not the least dangerous, of the mistakes of the present day to identify the Church with the clergy, as though the laity were not to the full one of its constituent parts. I am indeed a minister of the Church, but not on that account more a member of the Church than any of those amongst whom I officiate. We are not speaking of what that community may be by practice, but only of what it is by profession; and of what it would be if it acted up to the obligations taken on itself. Let a parish of nominal Christians be converted into a parish of real Christians, so that there should not be one within its circuit who did not adorn the doctrine of the gospel; and what should we have but a parish of priests to the living God? We call it a parish of priests, because we can feel that it would be as a kind of little sanctuary in the midst of country or city, which might elsewhere be deformed by great ignorance and profligacy. There would be no trenching upon functions which belong exclusively to men who have been ordained to the service of the temple; but, nevertheless, there would be that thorough exhibition of Christianity, which is amongst the most powerful of preaching, and that noble presentation of every energy to God, which is far above the costliest of sacrifices and burnt offerings, And you will easily see that, in passing from a parish to a nation, we introduce no change into our argument! We only enlarge its application. We cannot tell you what a spectacle it would be in the midst of the earth, if any one people as a body acted on the principles of Christianity; but we are sure that no better title than that of our text could be given to such a people. Neither is it only through the example they would set, and the exhibition they would furnish of the beneficial power of Christianity, that the inhabitants of this country would be as the priests of the Most High, You cannot doubt that such a nation would be, in the largest sense, a missionary nation, Conscious of the inestimable blessing which Christianity had proved to its own families, this people would not send forth a single ship on any enterprise of commerce, without making it also a vehicle for transmitting the principles of religion.
II. But consider next: certain of the consequences which would follow, if the priestly character were universally recognised. We begin with observing that the members of the church watch its ministers with singular jealousy, and that faults which would be comparatively overlooked if committed by a merchant or a lawyer, are held up to utter execration when they can be fastened on a clergyman. We might press them home with the question, are not ye priests? You may be forgetful, you may be ignorant of your high calling; but, nevertheless, you belong incontrovertibly to a royal priesthood; and if there be avarice amongst you, it is the avarice of a priest; if there be pride amongst you, it is the pride of a priest; if there be sensuality amongst you, it is the sensuality of a priest. We are quite persuaded that men vastly underrate, even where they do not wholly overlook, the injury which the vices of any private individual work to the cause of God and religion.
III. If you were to regard yourselves as the priests of God, you could not be indolent with respect to any enterprise of Christian philanthropy. You have been appointed to the priesthood that you may show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. If ye be priests of Christianity, for what end can you have been consecrated, if not that you may disseminate the religion which you have embraced as the true? (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The sacred in the secular
The New Testament knows no such thing as different degrees of consecration to Gods service for different men. A man is no more consecrated to the work of God when he is made a clergyman than he was before as a layman. He is simply consecrated to a special department of that work; to the department, namely, of the Word and Sacraments. But, in fact, the ministry of Christ takes in much more than this. The word ministry means simply service; and in this sense all Christian people belong to the Christian ministry. We are all ordained to it in Holy Baptism. In which department of this one great ministry a man is to work-whether in the department of the Word and Sacraments or in what may be called the department of temporal supplies-this is a question which the man must settle for himself; but whether or not he shall serve in the ministry of Christ at all, this is not an open question for anyone. It has been settled. One man may go to the altar, and another to the counting room; but the man who goes to the counting room has no better right to be selfish than the man who goes to the altar. Many people in entering the Church think not to do anything in particular, but to keep out of danger; not to battle for the truth, but simply to flee from the wrath to come. In the most solemn manner they pledge themselves wholly to Gods service, and yet seem to have no idea of serving anyone but themselves in what they call their secular sphere; that is, in by far the greater part of their inner and outer life. What is worse than all, the Church does not seem shocked at the inconsistency. If pleasure have been a mans aim in the world, pleasure may continue to be his aim in the Church; only in the Church his pleasures must be innocent. They may be selfish, but they must be innocent. If the mans aim in the world was to amass wealth just for selfish uses, he may pursue that aim quite as safely in the Church, and perhaps a trifle more successfully; only his methods must be honest. If he has no ambition in this direction; if he says, I have enough to supply my wants, I have no desire for further gains, I will retire from work and live on what I have; the selfish indifference is likely enough to be taken as a mark of Christian moderation. I have enough. No matter for others. No matter that want, myriad voiced, is crying from altar and from hearthstone. Suppose that a clergyman should talk in this way: I am now fifty years old; I have for many years been in receipt of a large salary; I have, by Gods blessing, been able to lay up enough of it to maintain me the remainder of my days; I will stop preaching. The inconsistency in that case would shock people. Why not the same inconsistency in the case of a layman? Simply because of the unscriptural distinction between religious and secular in a Christians life and work. A gospel which does nothing more than simply provide Christian manners for selfish lives will never do. Only the gospel which directs all human motives to the one supreme end, of serving God; which proclaims the priesthood of all believers, and the sacredness of all spheres of duty and of life; only this is the true gospel of the kingdom, and only this can win the world. (J. S. Shipman, D. D.)
An holy nation.–
Corporate holiness
On first hearing these words, we may think that they have more of a Jewish than a Christian sound. Undoubtedly they have a Jewish application. Three times over, at the least, it was declared to the Jews by God: Ye are a holy nation; Thou art an holy people to the Lord thy God; and certainly they were so. It was both their glory and their condemnation. But, besides that we cannot think that any blessing conferred upon the Jews is withheld from Christians, these words were expressly spoken by St. Peter of Christians-of Christians as a body, and they declare one of the great blessings resting upon them, a condition of their individual and personal blessings, one which they could not forget or deny without great injury to themselves. I propose to draw out this great truth, the truth, I mean, of the corporate holiness of Christians, a holiness of which, by being incorporated into Christ, they are made to partake together; and separation from, or loss of, which is death. See how this is brought out, not merely by the apostles, but by our Lord Himself. It is remarkable how the words and the symbols of our Lord all pointed to the disciples as a body; how He called them the salt of the earth; called them friends; how He addressed them as His flock, His household, as a vine branches at least of it, for He was the Vine, and they all lived in Him. Observe how St. Paul enlarges the same idea, using his favourite image of a body; the whole body living in Christ, and Christ in it; how he speaks of Christians as a family, a peculiar people, a Temple of God; nay, addresses them all as saints, though we know that several of them personally could not claim the title of holy. Still, in virtue of their having been made members of a spiritual body, they were sharers of the Spirit that dwelt in the whole body until they had utterly cast it from them and were reprobate. Even their children were declared in this respect to be holy; they themselves were said to be called with an holy calling, partakers of the Divine Nature; not some only, but all. What the exact nature of this corporate holiness pervading the whole body is, I do not attempt to describe beyond saying that it is union with Christ. Only it is not a fiction, not merely a title, it constitutes a real consecration to God and the participation of a real gift, which cannot be done despite to without danger of sacrilege. Let us try to grasp this truth. It brings into full light and gives reality to the relation of each Christian to Christ. There is not a baptized soul to whom we may not say, God hath chosen and called you by a holy calling in His Son; He hath sealed you, as He has consecrated the whole body, with the spirit of promise; and if in that soul there is any power of making a true response, we use the strongest engine in our hands to quicken it to newness of life. See the power of this argument in effecting a true conversion. The first prerequisite in a converted soul is repentance. Must it not deepen that repentance for one to feel that all along, up to that time (in whatever measure it may be so) he has been sinning against grace, resisting his holy calling, dishonouring Christ? See, too, how this truth tends to check that narrow spirit which leads many pious people to form themselves into small parties of those like minded with themselves; thus, not merely rending the body of Christ, but frequently fostering a temper of much uncharitableness and self-assumption. (A. Grant, D. C. L.)
A peculiar people.–
A people proper to the Lord
That is a people proper to the Lord which He Himself hath purchased, whom He keeps under His protection, to whom also He reveals His secrets: His undefiled. In the flood He saved His Church, when all others were drowned. No marvel, though the Lord set such store by His Church, seeing He hath been at such cost therewith, as to redeem it with the blood of His Son, and to give His Spirit thereto, to sanctify and make it like Himself. The lands we purchase are dear to us; we are Gods purchase.
1. If we be so peculiar and choice to the Lord, how choicely should we walk; how should we set as great store by the Lord and His commandments, as He hath done by us!
2. This is a comfort that God makes such special reckoning of His; therefore, though we have many and mighty enemies, yet we need not fear.
3. Terror to the wicked. How dare they hurt or persecute any of these little ones, lest their angel he let loose to destroy them (Jdg 5:23)! (John Rogers.)
A peculiar people
The word peculiar, by which the thought is expressed in English, we derive directly through the Latin, and the use of the term in the secular life of the Romans will throw light on its meaning here in the spiritual sphere. The system of slavery prevailed in the Roman Empire. It interpenetrated all society. An elaborate code of laws had sprung up to regulate its complicated and unnatural relations. The slave, when he fell into slavery, lost all. He became the property of his master. But if he served faithfully, law and custom permitted him to acquire private property through his own skill or industry. A man might, for example, hire himself from his owner, paying him so much a day. He might then employ himself in art or even merchandise, and, if successful, might soon accumulate a considerable sum. Some slaves in this manner purchased their own liberty and raised themselves to a high position. Now the savings of a slave, after satisfying the demands of the master, were called his peculium. The law protected him in his right to this property. It may be supposed to have been very dear to the poor man. It constituted his sole anchor of hope. He cherished it accordingly. From this a conception and expression have been borrowed to show the kind of ownership that God is pleased to claim in the persons who have been won back to Himself after they were lost. (W. Arnot.)
A peculiar people
A people of purchase; such as comprehend, as it were, all Gods gettings, His whole stock that He makes any great reckoning of. (J. Trapp.)
A purchased people
(margin, A.V.):-Suppose you go out and make some purchase. You pay down the price and get the receipt, and tell the seller to send it home to you at once. The day goes by and it does not come. Weeks go by and it does not come. You send to the shop a message, What are you doing with what I bought? They reply, We sent it up. Well, it has not arrived. Then the errand boy has kept it on the way; we suppose he is using it for himself for a bit before he gives it over to you. You do not make purchases on these terms. How often Gods own people are like that errand boy! You have been bought with a price. Have you sent yourself home to the purchaser, or have you kept yourself on the way? I keep myself to myself, people will say. That is the last thing a Christian ought to do; he ought to give himself away to God at once. (Hubert Brooke, M. A.)
Show forth the praises of Him.–
Mirrors of God
The Revised Version, instead of praises, reads excellencies-and even that is but a feeble translation of the remarkable word here employed. For it is that usually rendered virtues; and by that word, of course, when applied to God, we mean the radiant excellences and glories of His character, of which our earthly qualities, designated by the same name, are but shadows. It is, indeed, true that this same expression is employed in the Greek version of the Old Testament in Isa 43:1-28, in a verse which evidently was floating before Peters mind: This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise.
I. Here we get a wonderful glimpse into the heart of God. Note the preceding words, in which the writer describes all Gods mercies to His people, making them a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation; a people His own possession. All that is done for one specific purpose-that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness. Now that aim has been put so as to present an utterly hard and horrible notion. That Gods glory is His only motive may be so stated as to mean merely an Almighty selfishness. But if you think for a moment about this statement, all that appears repellent drops away from it, and it turns out to be another way of saying God is love. Because what is there more characteristic of love than an earnest desire to communicate itself and to be manifested and beheld? That is what God wants to be known for. Is that hard and repellent? Why does He desire that He should be known? for any good that it does to Him? No; except the good that even His creatures can do to Him when they gladden tits paternal heart by recognising Him for what He is, the Infinite Lover of all souls. But the reason why He desires most of all that the light of His character may pour into every heart is because He would have every heart gladdened and blessed forever by that received and believed light. The Infinite desires to communicate Him self, that by the communication men may be blessed.
II. There is another thing here, and that is a wonderful glimpse of what Christian people are in the world for. This people have I formed for Myself, says the fundamental passage in Isaiah already referred to, they shall show forth My praise. It was not worth while forming them; it was still less worth while redeeming them except for that. But you may say, I am saved in order that I may enjoy all the blessings of salvation, immunities from fear and punishment, and the like. Yes, certainly! But is that all? I think not. There is not a creature in Gods universe so tiny but that it has a claim on Him that made it for its well-being. That is very certain. And so my salvation is an adequate end with God, in all His dealing, and especially in His sending of Jesus Christ. But there is not a creature in the whole universe, though he were mightier than the archangels that stand nearest Gods throne, who is so great and independent that his happiness is the sole aim of Gods gifts to him. Every man that receives anything from God is thereby made a steward to impart it to others. So we may say, You were not saved for your own sakes. One might almost say that that was a by-end. You were saved-shall I say?-for Gods sake, and you were saved for mans sake? Every yard of line in a new railway when laid down is used to carry materials to make the next yard; and so the terminus is reached. Even so Christian people were formed for Christ that they might show forth His praise. Look what a notion that gives us of the dignity of the Christian life, and of the special manifestation of God which is afforded to the world in it. You, if you set forth as becomes you His glorious character, have crowned the whole manifestation that He makes of Himself in Nature and in Providence. What people learn about God from a true Christian is a better revelation than has ever been made or can be made elsewhere.
III. Lastly, we have here a piece of stringent practical direction. The world takes its notions of God, most of all, from the people who say that they belong to Gods family. They read us a great deal more than they read the Bible. They see us; they only hear about Jesus Christ. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image nor any likeness of the Divine, but thou shalt make thyself an image of Him, that men looking at it may learn a little more of what He is. If we have any right to say that we are a royal priesthood, a chosen nation, Gods possession, then there will be in us some likeness of Him to whom we belong stamped more or less perfectly upon our characters; and just as people cannot look at the sun, but may get some notion of its power when they gaze upon the rare beauty of the tinted clouds that lie round about it, if in the poor, wet, cold mistiness of our lives there be caught, as it were, and tangled some stray beams of the sunshine, there will be colour and beauty there. A bit of worthless tallow may be saturated with a perfume which will make it worth its weight in gold. So our poor natures may be drenched with God and give Him forth fragrant and precious, and men may be drawn thereby. Nor does that exclude the other kind of showing forth the praises, by word and utterance, at fit times and to the right people. But above all, let us remember that none of these works can be done to any good purpose if any taint of self mingles with it. Let your light so shine before men that they may behold your good works and glorify-whom? you?-your Father which is in heaven. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Showing forth the excellences of Christ
I. The sphere in which we are to serve God. In His marvellous light. There is-
1. The light of His truth (Psa 118:29; Psa 119:105; Psa 119:130).
2. The light of His favour (Psa 4:6; Num 6:26).
3. The light of His holiness (Eph 5:8; 1Jn 1:7).
II. In what does this service consist?
1. In a life of gratitude (Heb 13:15; Eph 5:20).
2. In a life of testimony (1Jn 1:1-3; Php 2:15-16).
3. In a life of godliness. Show forth the excellences of Christ (2Co 4:10; Php 1:11).
III. What are the chief hindrances to that service?
1. Some are afraid to begin, lest they should fall back (1Co 1:8; Jud 1:24; Psa 56:13).
2. Some are hindered by a feeling of shame (Mar 8:38; Rom 1:16).
3. Others are idle, because they do not see their resources (Php 4:13; Eph 1:3). (E. H. Hopkins.)
Christians must be real and true
There is a headman of a kraal in Natal, South Africa, who does not object to his people becoming Christians, but who decidedly objects to their becoming bad Christians. This is how he puts it to natives who profess conversion: If you become better men and women by being Christians, you may remain so; if not, I wont let you be Christians at all. (Christian World.)
Showing forth Gods excellences
The picture of a dear friend should be hung up in a conspicuous place of the house; so should Gods holy image and grace in our hearts. (J. Trapp.)
A living doxology
A child of God should be a visible beatitude for joy and happiness, and a living doxology for gratitude and adoration. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Called out of darkness into His marvellous light.–
Darkness and light
I. The darkness from which the soul has been delivered.
1. It is a darkness which involves the loss of truth, the light and life of the soul, and of the soul itself.
2. This darkness carries with it a heavy load of guilt.
3. This darkness, as regards the moral nature, is woe and misery.
II. The marvellous light to which the soul is admitted.
1. Its nature.
2. Its source.
3. Its effects. (Homilist.)
Out of darkness into light
I. What from.
1. The power of Satan.
2. Moral confusion.
3. Impurity.
4. Spiritual loss-ignorance.
5. A state of misery.
6. A state of danger.
7. God calls us out of this darkness; and if we do not obey His call we love darkness rather than light, because our deeds are evil. But let us count the cost of such a choice.
II. What to.
1. Gods kingdom.
2. Moral order.
3. True wisdom.
4. Spiritual purity.
5. Heaven in prospective.
III. What for.
1. That we may be obedient to His will, and follow the example of Christ-Gods ideal of perfected humanity.
2. To live as His children, and render unto Him a loving, loyal service, bearing His gentle yoke with cheerfulness and meekness, and so recommend the service of God by our conduct before men, that they shall be drawn to God by our example. (W. Harris.)
Spiritual darkness and light
It is very desirable that Christians should realise both what they have been and what they are; both the degradation and disadvantages of the condition from which they have been delivered, and the dignity and privileges of the condition into which they have been called. Peter contrasts the two conditions of life by characterising the one as darkness and the other as marvellous light. Perhaps it may help in some degree to give vividness to his thoughts if we recall an incident in the history of Israel in Egypt. One of the plagues sent on the Egyptians-the last but one, and probably the severest, except the last-was a darkness which might be felt. The humblest hut of an Israelite was far preferable to the palace of Pharaoh. When we regard this as a figure of what still exists, there are everywhere two peoples dwelling side by side, one of which is enshrouded in a darkness more dismal than that which lay upon the Egyptians, while the other is enjoying a far more pleasant light than was in the dwellings of the Israelites. There are two conditions of life which divide between them all human society-a state of nature and a state of grace. And these two states are as opposite as night and day. Gods people know both conditions, for they have been delivered out of the one and brought into the other. The world lieth in darkness; there is darkness in our natures, a darkness which hides the light, which turns away from it, although the light may be shining all around it. This darkness extends to the whole spiritual nature, and affects its observation, sentiments, and actions, after the manner that physical darkness affects the senses, sensations, and emotions of the body; broods, for example, over and within the intellect of man. It hides from him, in consequence, one vast region of most important truth, and it does not allow him to attain what is the highest kind of knowledge. There is a natural world with which natural sense and intellect are competent to deal, but it does not follow that there is not also a spiritual world with which they are incompetent to deal. This is what Scripture testifies. Natural things do not need to be spiritually discerned, spiritual things do. We may know, indeed, much about even many of these things in a natural way; we may become versed in the controversies of theology, we may be able to discourse learnedly of the Divine attributes-on redemption, on regeneration, and kindred themes-but so may a blind man theorise and discourse on optics or painting. A true perception of spiritual things, however, is as impossible to the merely natural man as a true perception of light and shade and colour is to the bodily blind. Let us not suppose that this spiritual blindness is a slight misfortune. There can be none greater. Physical blindness only excludes the perception of some of the works of God, and from enjoyment of some of His gifts; spiritual blindness deprives us of the perception and enjoyment of God Himself, and of all living insight into His ways and dispensations. God can easily and richly compensate a man for the want of knowledge of anything finite; but what compensation can there be for the want of knowledge of His own perfections, and especially of His love and mercy in Jesus Christ, when that knowledge is the highest good, true, and eternal life? Spiritual blindness is the most awful blindness; blindness as to what is alone essential, and as to all that is essential; blindness which involves loss of the truth, the light and the life of the soul, the loss of the soul itself. The darkness of which Peter speaks presses not merely on the intellect of man, it extends also to his will, and affects his whole moral life and dignity. It involves moral as well as intellectual blindness, wickedness not less than ignorance. For one thing, this darkness, implying as it does love of the darkness and aversion to the light, is not only a cause of sin, but is of itself a grievous sin. Our rejection of this light can only be because while it is pure we are impure; while it is Divine love, there rages in us selfish and carnal passion; and, in short, that through perversity of heart, we will not recognise God to be what He is, or acknowledge His claims to our admiration, gratitude, and services. This darkness is itself sin, but it also calls forth and shelters all other sin. The evil in us is not only unchecked, but fostered, and every passion which prompts to wicked action is allowed a most dangerous advantage. Spiritual darkness thus tends to spread and deepen into outermost moral darkness and corruption. But yet, further, the darkness of mans merely natural state is, as regards the intellect, ignorance and blindness; and, as regards the will and moral life, a guilt and sin. As regards our moral nature, it is guilt and misery. Light and enjoyment are always associated; darkness and sadness are as naturally joined. It is pleasant to the eyes to behold the light of the sun. Gladness seems to shrink away in proportion as light is withdrawn. The happy rejoice in the light, but the sorrowful seek to be in darkness; night is the season of terrors, of dismal clouds, and of a million fancies and gloomy forebodings. Here, too, outward darkness is a symbol of the inward. So long as a man is in the spiritual darkness of his natural state, so long as he is not cheered by the light from the countenance of a reconciled God and Father, he cannot be happy. God has so made each human heart that it can only find true satisfaction in Himself, and when it lives under the light of His approval. Happiness must be something real, permanent, and elevating, not something fleeting, delusive, and degrading. And it is only this true happiness which I say cannot be where God is ignored, where the light of His presence is not recognised, and the blessings of His presence are not felt. I have dwelt long on the state and condition of life which Peter calls darkness, but I may touch so much the more briefly in consequence on that which he calls marvellous light. For darkness and light are contrasted, and not only cannot be understood except as contrasted, but whatever is truly said about either implies something true about the other. Therefore, as you have already had explained to you how the darkness of which Peter speaks is in one ignorance and error, in another sin and unrighteousness, and in yet another disquiet and unhappiness, so you may, without further explanation, conclude that the light of which Peter speaks must be knowledge and truth in the intellect, obedience and holiness in the moral life, and joy and happiness in the heart. Marvellous light! So St. Peter most appropriately calls it. It is marvellous in its source, a marvellous light of Him who is called the Father of Lights. It comes from no earthly luminary, but directly from Himself, specially revealed through His Son Jesus Christ, conveyed to the soul by the Divine genius of His own Spirit, freely given to whom, in His wisdom, He will; so given, that many a poor, uneducated man can see what the wise of this world are blind to. It is marvellous, too, as appearing after such darkness; the nature of the light of the world is very marvellous, although, owing to its commonness, we seldom think how marvellous it is. But a prisoner brought from long confinement in a darkened dungeon, or a blind man restored to sight, will not fail to appreciate it aright. It is those who have just been brought out of the darkness of the state of nature into the light of a state of grace who feel most vividly how marvellous the light of the Father is. It is marvellous, also, in its own nature; marvellous for its exquisite beauty, and marvellous because it is so pure and penetrative. It reveals to men sins and shortcomings in their own hearts of which the light of nature had awakened no suspicion, and causes evils of all kinds, even the most secret and subtle, to be seen in their real hatefulness. It is marvellous in the extent of its disclosures, in rendering clear and intelligible to us the wonders of redemption, and marvellous in its power of diffusing light and happiness. It is exceedingly marvellous in its issues, for it is this light of grace which shineth more and more unto the perfect day, and ends as the light of heavenly glory. I have still to remind you that, according to the teaching of the apostle, those who have passed from the darkness to the marvellous light are bound to show forth the praises, or-as may be more accurately rendered-the excellences of Him to whom the change is due. They have not worked their own way out of the darkness into the light, but God has had compassion on them. The final end of redemption, as of creation, is to show forth the glory of God. It becomes every rational creature, and it becomes still more every partaker of redemption, to act on this truth. But what will doing so imply? Clearly this at least, that we are not ashamed to honour His name, or defend His cause with our lips; that we are willing to declare His perfections when we can do so; that whenever a word in season tending to exalt the character or justify the ways of God can be uttered by us with good effect, we are ready and glad to utter it. But not less certainly it means also that whatever excellence of nature or grace God has imparted to us, we should so use it as that the glory should redound to the Giver, and the wealth of His excellences be seen in the richness of His love to us. It implies that we should consecrate our talents to His services, dedicate to Him our reasons, imaginations, affections, and souls, and strive to render and keep them as worthy of Him as we can. (Prof. R. Flint.)
Darkness and light
I. Our original condition as sinners. In darkness.
II. The gracious change produced. Called out of darkness into marvellous light.
III. The results of being thus called. That ye show forth Gods praises.
1. By extolling His mercy (Psa 103:3-5; Psa 103:11-13).
2. By exhibiting His image (Eph 5:8; 1Th 5:5-6).
3. By obedience to His authority (2Co 10:4-6).
4. And by zeal for His glory (2Co 10:17; Gal 6:14).
IV. The improvement.
1. Consider the state of the sinner before God, as in darkness of soul.
2. The only way of deliverance is by the death and obedience of Jesus Christ, as made known by the gospel.
3. Also let the Christian learn from this subject his great obligations to God, and consider what ought to be his conduct.
4. But especially let him see to whom the glory of so much mercy belongs. (T. B. Baker.)
The gospel a light
Why is this a marvellous light?
I. Because it is a light upon spiritual realities. The sun can light up landscapes, but where is the light which can reveal man to himself and God to man? We need another light-a light above the brightness of the sun.
1. The gospel throws a marvellous light upon sin.
2. Upon the holiness and awfulness of Divine law.
3. Upon the elements which are requisite to a perfect reconciliation to God.
II. Because it is a light upon spiritual destinies. Man can throw no light on his own future. He can but speculate and hope. The gospel distinctly deals with the mystery of time to come.
1. Judgment.
2. Rewards and punishments.
3. Duration.
4. Service.
The fact that the gospel claims to be a marvellous light shows-
(1) That the world is in a state of marvellous darkness.
(2) That the diffusion of the gospel is a diffusion of light.
(3) That all who believe the gospel should walk as children of the day. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Refusing light
Is it not strange that any will refuse to receive this light? If anyone would persist in living in a dark cave far away from the light of the sun, with only dim candles of his own making to pour a few feeble, flickering beams upon the gloom, we should consider him insane. What shall we say of those who persist in living in the darkness of sin, with no light but the candles of earths false hopes to shine upon their souls? (R. Miller.)
Opened eyes
There is an old legend dating back to the seventh century, of St. Modabert, who had such sympathy for his blind mother that he one day rushed forward and kissed her eyes, and her sight came immediately to her, and she rejoiced in the beauties of nature as they shone about her. Whether the legend contains any truth it matters not; but it certainly gives us a very striking illustration of the kiss of Christs love as it opens the eyes of the penitent believer, and reveals to him the riches and beauty of the pardon of all sin, and makes him a dweller in the kingdom of our God. (G. W. Bibb.)
The superior light of the gospel
In the old dispensation the light that broke through clouds was but that of the rising morning. It touched the mountain tops of the loftiest spirits; a Moses, a David, an Elijah; caught the early gleams while all the valleys slept in the pale shadow, and the mist clung in white folds to the plains. But the noon has come, and from its steadfast throne in the very zenith, the sun which never sets pours down its rays into the deep recesses of the narrowest gorge, and every little daisy and hidden flower catches its brightness, and there is nothing hid from the light thereof.
Children of light
There are children of light and children of darkness. The latter shun the bright, the pure azure shining sky of truth with all its loving beams. Their world is like the world of insects, and is the world of night. Insects are all light shunners. Even those which, like the bee, labour during the daytime, prefer the shades of obscurity. The children of light are like the birds. The world of birds is the world of light-of song. Nearly all of them, says Michelet, live in the sun, fill themselves with it, or are inspired by it. Those of the south carry its reflected radiance on their wings; those of our colder climates in their songs; many of them follow it from land to land. (Scientific Illustrations and Symbols.)
Which in time past were not a people.–
Consider what you were
In that he sets before them the time past, and what they were; note, that for a people to look to their beginnings is of singular use. As for us, who since Christs coming are admitted to the same privileges with the Jews. This serves-
1. To make us humble and take down our pride.
2. To stir us up to thankfulness.
3. To strengthen our faith to believe in God forever afterwards, and for all blessings needful to salvation. (John Rogers.)
The people of God
The apostle is speaking of believers not individually, but collectively. He says of them that in their former condition they were not a people; that is, they had no organised existence. The present condition of the Jews may supply us with an illustration. They are now not a people. They exist as individuals, and in a state of distinctness from all the nations amongst which, in their calamitous dispersion, they are scattered; but they have no national existence-no king, no country, no organisation, no government, no political being. Just so the great community of believers-Gods spiritual commonwealth-had no being; for the members who now compose it stood in no covenant relation to God, and they had no bond of union, no spiritual incorporation among themselves. Reverse the statement and you have their present condition. For, in the first place, all believers, by virtue of their faith in Christ, are in covenant with God. God and believers walk with each other in amity. Whereas once there was alienation and enmity, there is now mutual love. They have taken Him to be their God, and He has taken them to be His people. And then, secondly, being in covenant with God, all believers are in union with each other. This second conjunction flows by a necessary consequence from the first; for, being reduced under one sovereignty, they necessarily compose one community. While they were estranged from God, they were estranged from one another. Now of this commonwealth of the faithful, many things may be said.
1. God places Himself at its head. As He stands in close connection with every individual member of it, so He establishes a connection, not less close, between Himself and all the members collectively. He originates the community, and He governs it.
2. It is composed of all believers. This great community excludes from its fellowship none whom Christ does not exclude from salvation. All the saints are your fellow subjects in that kingdom. Not all the saints on earth simply, but the saints also in heaven.
3. The blessings of the new covenant constitute its privileges. These blessings consist in whatever is obtained through the blood of Christ; all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, or heavenly things; things, that is, which have a heavenly origin and nature, and a tendency to prepare us for heaven. Hence all believers are justified and sanctified.
4. Heaven is the place of its perfect development, and its everlasting home. It is never seen as a whole on earth. Here it has never existed otherwise than in detachments, and separated portions. And these never stay long. Gods people are gathered out of the world, collected into little fellowships, trained, sanctified, and then drafted away to the great meeting place of the redeemed. (E. Steane, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. Ye are a chosen generation] The titles formerly given to the whole Jewish Church, i.e. to all the Israelites without exception, all who were in the covenant of God by circumcision, whether they were holy persons or not, are here given to Christians in general in the same way; i.e. to all who believed in Christ, whether Jews or Gentiles, and who received baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
The Israelites were a chosen or elected race, to be a special people unto the Lord their God, above all people that were upon the face of the earth, De 7:6.
They were also a royal priesthood, or what Moses calls a kingdom of priests, Ex 19:6. For all were called to sacrifice to God; and he is represented to be the King of that people, and Father of those of whom he was king; therefore they were all royal.
They were a holy nation, Ex 19:6; for they were separated from all the people of the earth, that they might worship the one only true God, and abstain from the abominations that were in the heathen world.
They were also a peculiar people, , a purchased people; segullah, a private property, belonging to God Almighty, De 7:6; none other having any right in them, and they being under obligation to God alone. All these things the apostle applies to the Christians, to whom indeed they belong, in their spirit and essence, in such a way as they could not belong to the Hebrews of old. But they were called to this state of salvation out of darkness – idolatry, superstition, and ungodliness, into his marvellous light – the Gospel dispensation, which, in reference to the discoveries it had made of God, his nature, will, and gracious promises towards mankind, differed as much from the preceding dispensation of the Jews, as the light of the meridian sun from the faint twinkling of a star. And they had these privileges that they might show forth the praises of Him who had thus called them; , the virtues, those perfections of the wisdom, justice, truth, and goodness of God, that shone most illustriously in the Christian dispensation. These they were to exhibit in a holy and useful life, being transformed into the image of God, and walking as Christ himself walked.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But ye; ye believers, in opposition to those reprobates that are disobedient to the word. He shows that those dignities and privileges, which were mentioned by Moses as belonging to their forefathers, did much more belong to them; and that they had the real exhibition in Christ, of those good things whereof their fathers had but a taste, and which the rest of the Jews had lost by their unbelief.
Are a chosen generation; a people chosen of God, not only out of the world, but from among the rest of your own nation, and not only to an external adoption, and outward privileges, (as the whole body of the nation was), but to eternal salvation.
A royal priesthood; or, kingdom of priests. He called them an holy priesthood, 1Pe 2:5, now he calls them a royal priesthood, to show that they were made not only spiritual priests, but spiritual kings; which privilege they had not as Jews, but as believers, who are all of them as priests in respect of God, to whom they are consecrated, and to whom they offer up spiritual sacrifices; so kings in respect both of their enemies, over whom they are victorious, and of the kingdom they are hereafter to inherit.
An holy nation; Moses calls your fathers an holy people, Deu 7:6, in respect of their separation from the impurities of the Gentiles, their dedication to God, and the many laws God gave them, obliging them to external and ceremonial purity, whereby they were admonished of internal and real holiness; but ye are a holy nation in respect of that true and inward holiness itself, whereof that ceremonial holiness was but a signification. He seems particularly to allude to Isa 62:12.
A peculiar people: Exo 19:5, it is a peculiar treasure; so the same word is rendered, a special people, Deu 7:6, and, a peculiar people, Deu 14:2; the word used by the LXX. implying as much; but Mal 3:17, where we render it jewels, the LXX. use the same word which Peter doth here, which is as much as, a people of acquisition, or which God hath acquired to himself for his peculiar possession or treasure. God had rescued the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage, and taken them to be his peculiar people above all others, and claimed a right to them, and counted them precious, as having redeemed them with a strong hand, and got possession of them at the expense of so much power, and so many miracles. This deliverance of theirs was the type of Christs delivering the church from the tyranny of Satan, the spiritual Pharaoh, and the world, the spiritual Egypt, and a state of sin, the worst bondage; upon the account whereof Gods people are called a peculiar people, or a people thus acquired, Tit 2:14, and a purchased possession, Eph 1:14, where the same word is likewise used. That ye should show forth, &c.: this notes the end of all these privileges vonchsafed them, viz. that they should glorify God in the enjoyment of them. He seems to refer to Isa 43:7,21; This people have I formed for myself, ( or acquired, as the LXX. hath it), they shall show forth my praise.
Show forth; publish and declare, both in words and deeds, that others may be excited to glorify, God in the like manner. The praises of him; or virtues, that wisdom, power, goodness, righteousness, truth &c., which God hath manifested in his vouchsafements to you, and in the acknowledgment of which he may be glorified.
Who hath called you; by an effectual calling, according to his purpose, Rom 8:28.
Out of darkness; the darkness of ignorance, unbelief, sin, and misery. The time before the publication of the gospel, was a time of darkness, Mat 9:16; Luk 1:79.
Into his marvellous light; the light of knowledge, faith, holiness, comfort: see Eph 5:8. It is called marvellous, because men see what they never saw before, wonderful things out of Gods law, Psa 119:18; and because it is a marvellous thing, that they who sat in so gross darkness should be translated into so glorious a light.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. Contrast in the privilegesand destinies of believers. Compare the similar contrast with thepreceding context.
chosen“elect”of God, even as Christ your Lord is.
generationimplying theunity of spiritual origin and kindred of believers as a classdistinct from the world.
royalkingly.Believers, like Christ, the antitypical Melchisedec, are at oncekings and priests. Israel, in a spiritual sense, wasdesigned to be the same among the nations of the earth. The fullrealization on earth of this, both to the literal and the spiritualIsrael, is as yet future.
holy nationantitypicalto Israel.
peculiar peopleliterally,”a people for an acquisition,” that is, whom Godchose to be peculiarly His: Ac20:28, “purchased,” literally, “acquired.”God’s “peculiar treasure” above others.
show forthpublishabroad. Not their own praises but His. They have noreason to magnify themselves above others for once they had been inthe same darkness, and only through God’s grace had been brought tothe light which they must henceforth show forth to others.
praisesGreek,“virtues,” “excellencies”: His glory, mercy(1Pe 2:10), goodness(Greek, 1Pe 2:3; Num 14:17;Num 14:18; Isa 63:7).The same term is applied to believers, 2Pe1:5.
of him who hath called you(2Pe 1:3).
out of darknessofheathen and even Jewish ignorance, sin, and misery, and so out of thedominion of the prince of darkness.
marvellousPeter stillhas in mind Ps 118:23.
lightIt is called”His,” that is, God’s. Only the (spiritual) light iscreated by God, not darkness. In Isa45:7, it is physical darkness and evil, not moral, that God issaid to create, the punishment of sin, not sin itself. Peter,with characteristic boldness, brands as darkness what all theworld calls light; reason, without the Holy Spirit, in spiteof its vaunted power, is spiritual darkness. “It cannotapprehend what faith is: there it is stark blind; it gropes as onethat is without eyesight, stumbling from one thing to another, andknows not what it does” [LUTHER].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But ye are a chosen generation,…. Or “kindred”; the phrase is to be seen in the Septuagint, on Isa 43:20, to which, and the following verse, the apostle refers here, and in another part of this text. The allusion is throughout to the people of Israel in general, who, in an external way, were all that is here said; but was only true in a spiritual sense of such as were chosen and called among the Jews: and who were a “generation or kindred”; being regenerate, or through abundant mercy begotten, and of an incorruptible seed born again; and were akin to God, he being their Father, and they his children by adopting grace, and which was made manifest by their new birth; and also akin to Christ, he being their head, husband, Father, and brother, and they his members, spouse, children, and brethren; and to the saints, being of the same household and family in heaven and in earth; having the same Father, Lord, Spirit, faith, baptism, and they all brethren: and they were a “chosen” generation or kindred; being famous, and in high esteem with God, and accounted by him for a generation; he having chosen them above all kindreds, tongues, people, and nations, and that from all eternity; and of his own sovereign good will and pleasure; and not on account of their faith, holiness, and good works; and to special benefits, to the relation and kindred they are in, to grace here, and glory hereafter; to regeneration and sanctification, and to salvation and eternal life; just as Israel, as a nation, were chosen above all others, because of the love of God to them, and for no other reason, to many external privileges and favours, which others did not enjoy: now the apostle mentions this character first, because God’s eternal election is the source and spring of all spiritual blessings, which provides and secures them, and according to which they are bestowed, and with which they are inseparably connected:
a royal priesthood; referring to Ex 19:6, where the Israelites are called a “kingdom of priests”; which the Chaldee paraphrase renders, kings, priests; see Re 1:6 a character which one of the Jewish commentators says y shall return to the Jews , “in time to come”; and well agrees with all the people of Christ, whether Jews or Gentiles, who are all of them kings, through their relation to Christ; and at the present time have a kingdom which cannot be moved, or taken away from them; being not only brought into the Gospel dispensation, the kingdom of the Messiah, and having a right to all the privileges and immunities of it, but have also the kingdom of grace set up within them, or grace, as a reigning principle, implanted in them; which lies not in anything external, but in righteousness and true holiness, in inward peace, and spiritual joy; and they have the power of kings over sin, Satan, and the world; and the riches of kings, being possessed of the riches of grace now, and entitled to the riches of glory in another world; they live like kings, they wear royal apparel, the robe of Christ’s righteousness; they sit at the king’s table, and feed on royal dainties; and are attended on as kings, angels being their life guards, and ministering spirits to them; and hereafter they shall reign with Christ on earth, and that for the space of a thousand years, and, after that, for ever: being raised up from a low estate, to inherit the crown of glory, to wear the crown of life and righteousness, and possess the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world, of which they are now heirs: and they are “priests”, as well as kings; being made so by Christ, and through his priestly office; are anointed with the Holy Ghost, and sanctified by his grace, and allowed to draw near to God, and offer up by Christ their spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise; and are enabled and assisted to offer up the sacrifice of a broken heart, and their bodies also, and even their lives when called to it; the allusion is to the kingdom and priesthood being formerly together, and which met in Christ, Zec 6:13 and in his people. The Jews were wont to call the priestly dignity and office , “the crown of the priesthood” z:
an holy nation; referring to the same place in Ex 19:6 where the Israelites are so called, being separated by God from other nations, and legally and externally sanctified by him; as all the true Israel of God are sanctified, or set apart by God the Father, in eternal election, to real and perfect holiness; and are sanctified or cleansed from sin, by the blood and sacrifice of Christ; and are internally sanctified by the Spirit of God; have principles of holiness wrought in them, from whence they live holy lives and conversations:
a peculiar people; as the Israelites are called a “peculiar treasure”, Ex 19:5 to which the reference is: God’s elect are a peculiar people, to whom he bears a peculiar love; they are chosen by him to be a special people above all others, and have peculiar blessings bestowed on them, and peculiar care is taken of them; they are the Lord’s, , his treasure, his jewels, his portion and inheritance, and therefore he will preserve and save them; they are a people for acquisition, purchase, and possession, as the words may be rendered; whom God has obtained, procured, and purchased for himself, with the precious blood of his Son; hence the Syriac version renders them, , “a redeemed company”: the same with the church God has purchased with his blood, Ac 20:28 and the purchased possession, Eph 1:14 and which are redeemed and purified to be, and appear to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works, Tit 2:14 the end of all which grace being bestowed upon them in election, redemption, and regeneration, is,
that ye should show forth the praises of him; that is, God, who has chosen them into a spiritual kindred and relation, made them kings and priests, sanctified them by his Spirit, and redeemed them by his Son, as a peculiar people; all which laid them under obligation to show forth with their lips, and in their lives and conversations, his “virtues”: we read, “praises”; and so the Syriac version; that is, the power, wisdom, goodness, love, grace, and mercy of God, and the commendations of them, displayed in the above instances: the apostle seems to have his eye on Isa 43:21, where the Septuagint use the same word for “praise”, as here: next follows a periphrasis of God, and in it an argument, or reason for speaking of his virtues, and showing forth his praise:
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; which is to be understood, not of an external call by the ministry of the word only; for many are called in this sense, who are not chosen, redeemed, and sanctified; but of an internal, special, powerful, holy, and heavenly calling, by the Spirit and grace of God: and this is, “out of darkness”; out of the darkness of the law, under the former dispensation, which was as night, in comparison of the Gospel day; and out of that darkness which the Jews were particularly in, in and about the coming of Christ, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and the spirituality of the law; having lost all right notions of the Messiah, and the true sense of the Scriptures, and were carried away with the traditions of the elders, and led by blind guides, the Scribes and Pharisees; out of this darkness, as well as what is common to men, in a state of unregeneracy, having no sight of themselves, their sin, and misery, nor knowledge of divine things, of God in Christ, and of salvation by him, and of the work of the Spirit upon the heart, they were called,
into his marvellous light: by which they saw the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the insufficiency of their righteousness, their need of Christ, and salvation by him; and astonishing it was to them, that they who were born blind, and were brought up in darkness, and were darkness itself, should be made light in the Lord; and the objects they saw were amazing to them; everything in a spiritual way was marvellous in their eyes; especially the sun of righteousness, the light of the world, and also the wonderful things out of the law, or doctrine of Christ, the Gospel, and the surprising love and grace of God, in the whole, and in the several parts of their salvation: it was with them, as if a child, from the moment of its birth, was shut up in a dungeon, where there was not the least crevice to let in the least degree of light, and should continue here till at years of maturity, and then be brought out at once, at noonday, the sun shining in its full strength and glory, when that particularly, and all objects about him, must strike him with wonder and surprise. The Syriac version renders it, “his most excellent light”; the apostle seems to refer to the form of praise and thanksgiving used by the Jews, at the time of the passover; who say a,
“we are bound to confess, to praise, to glorify, c. him who hath done for our fathers, and for us, all these wonders he hath brought us out of bondage to liberty; from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to a good day,
, “and out of darkness into great light”; and from subjection unto redemption.”
This was also part of their morning prayer b;
“I confess before thee, O my God, and the God of my fathers, that thou hast brought me out of darkness into light.”
And it is to be observed, that the third Sephira, or number, in the Jewish Cabalistic tree, which answers to the third Person in the Trinity, among other names, is called, “marvellous light” c.
y Baal Hatturim in loc. z Pirke Abot, c. 4. sect. 13. Tzeror Hammot, fol. 78. 3. a Misn. Pesachim, c. 10. sect. 5. Haggada Shel Pesach, p. 23. Maimon. Hilchot Chametz Umetzah, c. 8. sect. 5. b T. Hieros. Beracot, c. 4. fol. 7. 1. c Cabala Denudata, par. 2. p. 8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But ye ( ). In contrast with the disobedient ones.
An elect race ( ). From Isa 43:20. The blood relation of the spiritual Israel (not the Jewish race) through the new birth (1:23).
A royal priesthood ( ). From Ex 19:6 (cf. Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10). The official in Christian churches is =, not . We are all (priests). Cf. 2:5.
A holy nation ( ). Also from Ex 19:6, but here applied, not to the national Israel, but to the spiritual Israel of believers (both Jews and Gentiles).
A people for God’s own possession ( ). The idea here occurs in Exod 19:5; Deut 7:6; Deut 14:2; Deut 26:18, where we have as in Tit 2:14 (alone in the N.T.), and in Mal 3:17 we find (for a possession). is a people over and above the others and is a possession in a special sense (Eph 1:14). See Paul’s use of in Ac 20:28. The old rendering, “a peculiar people,” had this idea of possession, for “peculiar” is from pecus (Latin for flock).
That ye may shew forth ( ). Purpose clause with , rather than , with the first aorist active subjunctive of , old verb, to tell out, here alone in N.T.
The excellencies ( ). From Isa 43:21. Old word for any preeminence (moral, intellectual, military), often for “virtue,” but not in that sense in the O.T. or the N.T. The word has the sense of moral worth in 2Pet 1:3; 2Pet 1:5; Phil 4:8; and the Apocrypha. In Isaiah (here quoted) it means praise and glory to God. So also Isa 42:12. See Ac 2:11 (the mighty works of God).
Darkness (). Heathenism.
His marvellous light ( ). Christianity. For (from ) see Mt 21:42. For the change from heathenism to Christianity see Col 1:12; Eph 5:8-14.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Generation [] . Better, Rev., race : a body with a common life and descent.
Nation [] . People [] . The distinction between these three words cannot be closely pressed. Race emphasizes the idea of descent; nation, of community. Laov, people, occurring very often in the Septuagint, is used there mostly of the Israelites, the chosen people. The same use is also frequent in the New Testament; but it is employed in a more general sense, as by Luk 2:10. It would seem that this idea, however, in its metaphorical and Christian application, the chosen Israel of God, directed Peter’s choice of the word, since he adds, a people for God ‘s own possession.
Peculiar [ ] . Lit., a people for acquisition. Rev., a people for God ‘s own possession. Wyc., a people of purchasing. Cranmer, a people which are won. The word occurs 1Th 5:9, rendered obtaining (Rev.); Eph 1:14, God ‘s own possession (Rev.). See Isa 43:21 (Sept.), where the kindred verb occurs : ” This people have I formed for myself [] .
Shew forth [] . Only here in New Testament. Proclaim, tell abroad.
The praises [ ] . Lit., the virtues. So Rev., excellencies. The word occurs Isa 43:21 (Sept., see above), and is rendered praise. See, also, Isa 43:12 (Sept.), “Declare his praise [] in the islands.”
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But ye are a chosen generation,” The “ye” here named are the “living stones”, built up and fitly framed a Spiritual house, a local church, 1Pe 2:4; Eph 2:19-20; a chosen race, to bear His name thru the church, Rom 11:25; Act 15:13-17; Eph 3:6-10; Eph 3:21.
2) “A royal priesthood” The royal or kingly priesthood, the church, is appointed to carry on the order and service of worship of our Lord’s program. Mat 28:18-20.
3) a) “An holy nation” (Gk. ethnos hagion) a sanctified race meaning to be set apart to serve God in this dispensation, Rom 11:25.
b) “A peculiar people” A people for a possession, to be had of the Lord – the bride of Christ.
4) “That ye should shew forth the praises of him” That ye (the church) should tell forth (Gk. eksangeilete) the (Gk. aretas) virtues of Him (the stone) Act 1:8.
5) “Who hath called you out of darkness” The lost are in darkness, spiritual danger, and the saved who are not in the Lord’s church are not in the center of His light or will – for the church is the light (light bearer) of the world, Mat 5:14-16. Each with the light of Salvation should place his light (influence, candle) on the candlestick, the church. Rev 1:20.
6) “Into his marvelous light.” Jesus calls men out of sins darkness into His marvelous light, then bids them walk in the light of His word, will and way, Joh 8:12; 2Co 4:3-6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
9 But ye are a chosen generation, or race. He again separates them from the unbelieving, lest driven by their example (as it is often the case) they should fall away from the faith. As, then, it is unreasonable that those whom God has separated from the world, should mix themselves with the ungodly, Peter here reminds the faithful to what great honor they had been raised, and also to what purpose they had been called. But with the same high titles which he confers on them, Moses honored the ancient people, (Exo 19:6😉 but the Apostle’s object was to shew that they had recovered again, through Christ, the great dignity and honor from which they had fallen. It is at the same time true, that God gave to the fathers an earthly taste only of these blessings, and that they are really given in Christ.
The meaning then is, as though he had said,
“
Moses called formerly your fathers a holy nation, a priestly kingdom, and God’s peculiar people: all these high titles do now far more justly belong to you; therefore you ought to beware lest your unbelief should rob you of them.” (Exo 19:6)
In the meantime, however, as the greater part of the nation was unbelieving, the Apostle indirectly sets the believing Jews in opposition to all the rest, though they exceeded them in number, as though he had said, that those only were the children of Abraham, who believed in Christ, and that they only retained possession of all the blessings which God had by a singular privilege bestowed on the whole nation.
He calls them a chosen race, because God, passing by others, adopted them as it were in a special manner. They were also a holy nation; for God had consecrated them to himself, and destined that they should lead a pure and holy life. He further calls them a peculiar people, or, a people for acquisition, that they might be to him a peculiar possession or inheritance; for I take the words simply in this sense, that the Lord hath called us, that he might possess us as his own, and devoted to him. This meaning is proved by the words of Moses,
“
If ye keep my covenant, ye shall be to me a peculiar treasure beyond all other nations.” (Exo 19:5.)
There is in the royal priesthood a striking inversion of the words of Moses; for he says, “a priestly kingdom,” but the same thing is meant. So what Peter intimated was this, “Moses called your fathers a sacred kingdom, because the whole people enjoyed as it were a royal liberty, and from their body were chosen the priests; both dignities were therefore joined together: but now ye are royal priests, and, indeed, in a more excellent way, because ye are, each of you, consecrated in Christ, that ye may be the associates of his kingdom, and partakers of his priesthood. Though, then, the fathers had something like to what you have; yet ye far excel them. For after the wall of partition has been pulled down by Christ, we are now gathered from every nation, and the Lord bestows these high titles on all whom he makes his people.”
There is further, as to these benefits, a contrast between us and the rest of mankind, to be considered: and hence it appears more fully how incomparable is God’s goodness towards us; for he sanctifies us, who are by nature polluted; he chose us, when he could find nothing in us but filth and vileness; he makes his peculiar possession from worthless dregs; he confers the honor of the priesthood on the profane; he brings the vassals of Satan, of sin, and of death, to the enjoyment of royal liberty.
That ye should shew forth, or declare. He carefully points out the end of our calling, that he might stimulate us to give the glory to God. And the sum of what he says is, that God has favored us with these immense benefits and constantly manifests them, that his glory might by us be made known: for by praises, or virtues, he understands wisdom, goodness, power, righteousness, and everything else, in which the glory of God shines forth. And further, it behoves us to declare these virtues or excellencies not only by our tongue, but also by our whole life. This doctrine ought to be a subject of daily meditation, and it ought to be continually remembered by us, that all God’s blessings with which he favors us are intended for this end, that his glory may be proclaimed by us.
We must also notice what he says, that we have been called out of darkness into God’s marvellous or wonderful light; for by these words he amplifies the greatness of divine grace. If the Lord had given us light while we were seeking it, it would have been a favor; but it was a much greater favor, to draw us out of the labyrinth of ignorance and the abyss of darkness. We ought hence to learn what is man’s condition, before he is translated into the kingdom of God. And this is what Isaiah says,
“
Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but over thee shall the Lord be seen, and his glory shall in thee shine forth.” (Isa 60:2.)
And truly we cannot be otherwise than sunk in darkness, after having departed from God, our only light. See more at large on this subject in the second chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
1Pe. 2:9. Chosen generation.These terms describe the new spiritual Israel in terms taken from the old Israel. God chose the Abrahamic race; God called out a particular priesthood. The entire nation was holy, in the sense of separated unto God. The Jews were a peculiar, or purchased, people, in view of the redemption from Egypt, which was the beginning of their national life. So the new Israel was a race chosen in Christ, constituted as a kingdom of priests, separated from the world unto God, and specially related to God as the purchase of His own sacrifice. Out of darkness.Not the darkness of heathenism, but of the formal Judaism of that day.
1Pe. 2:10. Not a people.For this figure see Hos. 2:23. The Jews are still addressed, but from this point of viewwhile they had disbelieved and rejected Gods Son whom He had sent, they were not Gods people. All disbelief and disobedience put them out of covenant relations. When they believed and obeyed Christ they became Gods people again, and now in a new and higher sense.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.1Pe. 2:9-10
Christian Jews are the True Jews.These verses may at first sight seem to describe the dignities and privileges of the Jews as the elect nation. But any such praise of the Jews would be quite out of harmony with the truth St. Peter is presenting. His whole argument is that we have something now far better than old Judaism; something so much better that, for the sake of it, we may cheerfully give up the old. St. Peter is writing to Christian Jews, whom he regards now as the true Israel; he would not suddenly turn aside to praise those who clung to the older system. The figures of speech are taken from the older associations, and, however difficult the work may be to us, we must fit them to the new spiritual nation made up of Christian Jews. St. Peter even suggests that, before accepting Christ as Messiah and Saviour, these Christian Jews were not a people; by accepting Him, and by virtue of the new life in Him, they had become the true, elect race. They now are the people of God. They had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. The glories that attach to the company of believers in Christ are brought before us in a mosaic of Old Testament phraseology. For chosen generation, see Isa. 43:20. For royal priesthood, Exo. 19:6, LXX. For peculiar people, compare Deu. 7:6; Isa. 43:21; Mal. 3:17. The words would be better rendered, a people of purchase. The praises of 1Pe. 2:9 would be better rendered, excellences, attributes, distinguishing qualities.
I. The Divine election is always to responsibility and service.It is the Divine method, illustrated in every ration and in every department of life, to secure the advancement of moral beings by setting forth elect men. What we have in the Bible is simply the Divine election relative to the worlds religion. It is most helpful to the understanding of election, thus to recognise it as an ever-working Divine method. God always has had His elect nations; He has had, and has, His elect individuals in the spheres of government, science, art, poetry, literature, family life, priesthoods, ministries, etc. The election is always, and essentially, a special call to service, and it always involves the previous endowment of the man, by God, with the particular gifts which He will need for the service. The Jewish race had been called out by God for a particular service in relation to humanity, and for that service they were endowed with an extraordinary sense of God; that marks the Jewish off from every other human race. They were to keep, as living truths for humanity, the unity and spirituality of God, and they were to preserve the oracles which recorded the revelations of that one spiritual being. That was their service, and in rendering that service lay their responsibility. The Christian Jews are bidden to think of themselves as an elect race, called to this service for humanity, to show forth the excellences and the grace of God, as manifested in the person, and in the redemptive work, of His Son Jesus Christ. In Christ God had called them out of darkness into marvellous light. Their service was to show Him forth by life and by lip. It is the calling and election of every Christian now.
II. The Divine election always carries with it dignity and privilege.The mistake is often made of putting the privilege of Divine election before the responsibility; and this tends, in frail men, to nourish a perilous self-satisfaction. Men come to think of themselves as the favourites of heaven, to the disadvantage of others. And on this idea of election privilege, sects are formed which isolate themselves from the whole community of Christians. It is dignity to be called to Divine service, but we had better think more about the service than the dignity. It is privilege to receive a sacred trust, but it is healthier for us to think about the trust than about the privilege. We may cheer our souls sometimes with the thought of our privilege, but we should inspire our souls always with the thought of our trust.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
1Pe. 2:9. A Chosen Generation.The greatness of the Christian privilege is a chief reason for our failing worthily to realise it. And we do not feel the claims and responsibilities aright when we are not duly impressed by the privilege. In this text we have
I. Christian privilege.A chosen generation. There is reference to Abraham and Israel. Chosen in Divine sovereignty, and also in Divine love. This suggests duty as last clause of verse.
II. Christian dignity.Royal Priesthood. Reference to Israel as a nation. Union of two highest dignities, King and Priest, in Melchizedek. Explain the kingly sphere. Wherever God reignsself or world, there the renewed man reigns as Gods vicegerent. Explain the priestly sphere. The renewed man is to be his own offerer. What have we to offer? Sacrifice of praise. Ourselves as living sacrifices. This involves duty.
III. Christian quality.Holy nation. Holiness is the profession of every Christian. Holiness is the expectation concerning every Christian. Holiness is first an internal quality, and then an external manifestation.
IV. Christian peculiarity.A peculiar people. Not meaning an odd people, but a separated, an appropriated people. A people having a definite set of characteristics. Peculiar as a family of one type of countenance, and one disposition. Peculiar as having a special idea and aim in life. Here, also, duty comes in. The better we know the privileges which Divine grace has bestowed upon us, and does bestow, the better shall we feel the claims which Divine grace makes upon us, and the more disposed shall we be to respond to them.
Interest in Ancestry.It is counted a matter of great moment unto noble families, if but for honours sake, to know their descent from houses more ancient and sovereign; that they have sprung from such and such marriages, and conjunctions of sovereign princes, although they be in alliance very far removed from them. So is this here to us; the saints are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, as Peter speaks, the royalest family heaven or earth affords, and that in respect of the descent thereof.Dr. T. Goodwin.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
1Pe. 2:10. Marvellous Light.The phenomena of light and vision have for all minds surpassing interest, whether in regard to the beauty of light or its utility. The beauty is seen spread over a varied landscape, in the verdure of fields and forests, among the beds of the flower garden, in the plumage of birds, in the clouds around the rising and setting sun, in the circles of the rainbow. And the utility is such that, if a man had needed to supply his wants by groping in utter and unchangeable darkness, even if originally possessed of all knowledge now existing in the world, he would scarcely have secured his existence for one day. Eternal night would have been universal death Light, then, while the beauteous garb of nature, is also the absolutely necessary medium of communication between living creatures and the universe around them. The rising sun is what converts the wilderness of darkness which night covered, and which, to the mind of a child not yet aware of the regularity of natures changes, is so full of horror, into a visible and lovely paradise.Rev. W. Arnot.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(9) But ye.Like St. Paul in 2Th. 2:13, St. Peter turns with an outburst of triumph to the happier and more practical and attractive theme. All the most splendid titles of the old Israel belong in a fuller sense to these Hebrews who have joined the new Israel. In 1Pe. 2:5 they are bidden to aim at being what here they are said to be. (Comp. Col. 3:3; Col. 3:5.)
A chosen generation.Better, a chosen, or elect race. As originally the clan of Abraham was selected from among all the families of the earth (Amo. 3:2), so out of the clan of Abraham after the flesh were these men selected to be a new clan, or race. They are not merely individuals selected one by one and left in isolation, but a tribe consolidated, only the bond henceforth is not merely one of common physical descent.
A royal priesthood, an holy nation.These words are a direct quotation from Exo. 19:6, according to the LXX. version. The Hebrew has a kingdom of priests, as in Rev. 1:6 (according to the best reading); which would mean, Gods organised empire, every member of which is a priest. Nor is the thought far different here. The word royal does not seem intended to imply that every Christian is a king, or of royal birth (though that, of course, may be shown from elsewhere), but describes his belonging to the King as we might speak of the royal apartments, the royal borough, the royal establishment, or even of the royal servants. The substitution, therefore, of royal priesthood for kingdom of priests brings out more clearly the personal relation to the Personal King. But if the writer had said royal priests, the notion of organisation would have slipped out of sight altogether. By way of compensation, therefore, it is restored in the substitution of priesthood (see Note on 1Pe. 2:5) instead of priests. This, and the next phrase, an holy (i.e., consecrated) nation, describe the whole Israelite nation as they stood beneath Mount Sinai. This must be taken into consideration in dealing with the doctrine of the Christian ministry. The sacerdotal office was as common to all Israelites under the Law as it is to all the new Israel under the Gospel.
A peculiar people.This curious phrase is literally, a people for a special reservation. It is, no doubt, intended to represent Exo. 19:5, though it differs both from the Greek and the Hebrew, the variation being due to a recollection of the Greek of two other passages of the Old Testament (Isa. 43:21; Mal. 3:17). The word rendered peculiar means properly making over and above, and would be represented in Latin by the word peculium, which means a mans private pocket-money, as, for instance, the money a slave could make by working over hours, or such as a wife might have apart from her husband. When children speak of a thing being their very own it exactly expresses what we have here. From this sense of making over and above, by working out of hours, the word comes in other places to mean earning by hard work, in such a way as to establish peculiar rights of property over the thing earned. So in Act. 20:28, where St. Paul is probably thinking of the passage of Isaiah above referred to, both the hard earning and the special possession are intended: the Church of God, which He won so hard for His very own, by His own blood. Here, perhaps, the thought of earning is less obvious, and it means a people to be His very own. Comp. 1Th. 5:9, and Eph. 1:7, where (according to Dr. Lightfoot) it means for a redemption which consists of taking possession of us for His own.
That ye should shew forth the praises.This is an adaptation, though not exactly according to the LXX., of Isa. 43:21, which passage is brought to St. Peters mind by the word rendered peculiar. The word praises is put here in accordance with the English version there. The Greek means virtues, or powers, or excellencies, a rare word in the New Testament (see 2Pe. 1:3). And the word for shew forth, which is nowhere else found in the New Testament, means by rights to proclaim to those without what has taken place within. This strict signification is very suitable here. St. Peter says that God has taken us for a people peculiarly near to Him, and the purpose is, not that we may stand within His courts and praise Him, but that we may carry to others the tidings of what we have been admitted to see. This was the true function of the old Israel, Do My prophets no harm (Psa. 105:15). They were not elect for their own sake, but to act as Gods exponents to the world. This function they abdicated by their selfish exclusiveness, and it has descended to the new Israel. St. Peter and St. Paul are at one.
Of him who hath called you out of darkness.This is to be understood of the Father, not of Christ. For one thing, the act of calling is almost always ascribed in the New Testament to God Himself; and for another thing, it is probable that St. Peter regards our Lord as Head of this people of God, just as He is corner-stone of the Temple, and High Priest of the hierarchy. The act of calling (literally it is, who called, not who hath called) was that of sending the preachers of the gospel to them, i.e., St. Paul and his followers (comp. 1Pe. 1:12; 1Pe. 1:25). Here again, then, we have St. Peter speaking in praise of St. Pauls mission, and, indeed, speaking in the same tones of unbounded admiration: His marvellous light. But could Hebrew Christians be said to have gone through so great a change in becoming believers? Had they been in darkness? We may answer that St. Peters use of the word marvellous is no affectation of sympathy. He himself found the change to be what he here describes, therefore there is no difficulty in supposing that other Hebrews should have found it so too. Besides which, the state of the Jews immediately before Christ and without Him is often described as darkness. (See Mat. 4:16; Luk. 1:79.) This very passage is quoted a few years later by St. Clement of Rome (chap. 36), as applying to himself among others, and Dr. Lightfoot has clearly established that St. Clement was a Jew.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
II. THE HIGH CALLING, DIGNITY, AND DUTIES OF THE NEW AND SPIRITUAL ISRAEL, 1Pe 2:9 to 1Pe 3:12.
1. The Christian Israel described, 1Pe 2:9-10.
9. Its character is unfolded in a series of terms originally given to the literal Israel, and entirely applicable to the new and spiritual.
A chosen generation Isa 43:20. A race selected out of the world.
A royal priesthood ”A kingdom of priests.” Exo 19:6. Every believer is both king and priest.
A holy nation Exo 19:6. Because called by a holy God.
A peculiar people Deu 7:6. A people for a possession, as absolutely God’s own.
Show forth Publish, by telling out.
Praises The infinite perfections, moral excellences, and wonderful grace of God.
Darkness The realm of ignorance, sin, and wretchedness.
Light The realm of knowledge of God and Christ, of holiness and bliss. They who have obeyed the gracious call, and made the blessed transition, are prepared to proclaim its glories to the world; and for this purpose are they thus separated to God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But you are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light,’
In contrast with these unbelievers those who truly believe are His ‘chosen men and women’, and have a glorious destiny. Here Peter has in mind the special privileges granted to Israel at Sinai in Exo 19:5-6. ‘ You shall be an especially valued treasure to Me ( a treasure for my possession) from among all people, for all the earth is mine, and you will be to Me a kingship of priests and a holy nation ’. And he is supplementing them with God’s words to Israel in Isa 45:4 – ‘Israel My elect’, and in Isa 43:20-21 LXX – ‘to give drink to my elect race, my people whom I have preserved to tell forth my praises ’.
Putting the italicised words together we therefore have, ‘you shall be –my elect race — a kingdom of priests and a holy nation — a treasure for My possession — to tell forth My praises’. We can see how this parallels 1 Peter. Thus it is clear that Peter sees the church as now fulfilling Israel’s destiny, as he has already revealed in 1Pe 1:1. These words may well by this time have been put into the form of a hymn which aided the memory.
Every phrase in this verse is pregnant with meaning, for He is declaring what the church, as the continuation of the true Israel, really are. They are:
‘An elect race (a chosen race).’ Initially God had chosen Israel as ‘His elect, His chosen’ (Isa 42:1; Isa 45:4), expanded in Isa 43:20 b LXX into His ‘elect race’ Outwardly it appeared as though it was the whole nation which were being described, but a careful reading of the Old Testament reveals that the elect were really seen as those who responded to the covenant (e.g. Isa 65:9; compare Isa 4:3-4; Isa 6:11-13 and often). They were the ‘seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal’ (1Ki 19:18). ‘Israel’ was a fluid concept. Initially it was made up of the households of the Patriarchs which included many foreigners who were servants and slaves in the family tribe. It was never strictly true that all Israel were directly descended from the Patriarchs, except by adoption. Subsequently any foreigners who wished to enter the covenant could do so by living among His people and being circumcised (Exo 12:48 – although there were certain limitations and exceptions – Deu 23:1-8). And many did so, including the mixed multitude of Exo 12:38. The essential point was that ‘Israel’ was made up of those who were, at least theoretically, truly committed to the covenant, of whatever nationality. And in contrast any of Israel who rejected the covenant by their words and actions were ‘cut off’. That is why God could speak of them as ‘not my people’ (Hos 1:10). Notice Paul’s vivid picture of the branches being cut off from, or grafted into, the olive tree (Rom 11:17-28).
But now, says Peter, it is the church who are the true succession of Israel. It is they who are now His ‘elect race’. It is they who are the continuation of the true Israel. It is only they who are true to the covenant. They are the new nation, springing out of the old, spoken of by Jesus in Mat 21:43, and founded on Jesus the Jew and the Jewish Apostles and the early Jewish church. And they are thus God’s chosen ones, set apart to fulfil His purposes for the world. They are the true children of Abraham (Gal 3:29), chosen by God and precious. They are the true ‘chosen race’.
‘A royal priesthood.’ His people are also a ‘royal priesthood’. Compare Rev 1:6. This is clearly Peter’s interpretation of ‘a kingship of priests’ (Exo 19:6), the latter stated at a time when each family head was a priest. The idea was that Israel would be priests to the nations in a royal capacity, because they represented the King. This may well also have in mind the royal priesthood of David, who, once he became king of Jerusalem, thereby became an intercessory priest ‘after the order of Melchizedek’ (Psa 110:4, compare the king of Jerusalem in Gen 14:18; and see Zec 6:13; Heb 6:19 to Heb 7:25). This ‘royal priesthood’ is not a priesthood of sacerdotal duties. That is not in mind here. It is a priesthood of outgoing responsibility. Like those who bore the vessels of the Lord they were to go out in order to proclaim God’s truth with the certainty that God would go with them (Isa 52:11-12; compare Isa 2:3). For priests were also essentially involved, among other things, in preaching, teaching, interpreting the Law and interceding for the people, and as royal priests the church were to do the same from a new position of royal authority. Indeed the future of Israel had very much been seen as one of ‘priesthood’ (Isa 61:6), which was also to involve Gentiles (Isa 66:21), and here it finds its fulfilment through the church, the new Israel.
As Hebrews firmly reminds us, the church could not be Levitical priests. Rather, like Jesus Christ Himself, they are of a higher order of priesthood, a priesthood that deals with eternal things. They worship God in Spirit and in truth (Joh 4:24). They proclaim His eternal Law (Mat 5:17-20). They call on all men everywhere to repent, to leave the unclean behind and become holy. They cause them to be ‘sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ’ (1Pe 1:2). As we are aware, the purpose of this priesthood has been explained in 1Pe 2:5. It is in order that they might offer spiritual sacrifices to God in worship and praise, in pure living, and in full dedication of themselves to His service.
‘A holy nation.’ See Exo 19:6. They are ‘a nation’ (they have a new nationality in Christ as the chosen people) set apart to God in holiness (Mat 21:43) among the nations of the world, in order that their destiny in the world might be as a light shining in a dark place (1Pe 2:9; Mat 5:16).
‘A people for His own possession (laos eis peripoiesin).’ They are His own special treasure (compareMal 3:17 – ‘obtained for My own possession’ – peripoiesin), so special that instead of being bought with silver and gold they were bought with the precious blood of Christ (1Pe 1:18-19). They are thus chosen of God, and precious like their Lord (1Pe 2:6), the people in whom He can delight. A similar idea is found in Exo 19:5; Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2; Deu 26:18, although there periousin replaces peripoiesin. Compare also Isa 43:21 LXX, ‘the people (laon) whom I obtained (periepoiesamen) for Myself, that they might set forth My praise.’
‘That you may show forth the excellencies of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.’ The whole purpose of Jesus in founding His new Israel was in order that they might reveal to the world the excellencies of God, both in His Being, in His planned purposes and in His wondrous acts. That is why He has called them out of darkness into His marvellous light, so that they might magnify Him. Being called out of darkness had always been stated by the prophets to have been God’s purpose for His people. ‘The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and to those who sat in the region and shadow of death life has spring up’ (Mat 4:16; Isa 9:2). And this in order to prepare them to be priests to the nations under their Royal Master (Isa 9:6-17; Isa 60:1-3; Isa 61:6; Isa 66:21).
But the idea of a people in darkness more often indicated the Gentile nations. Compare Isaiah’s ‘darkness will cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples’ (Isa 60:1), and God’s description of Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles as being to ‘bring them from darkness to light’ (Act 26:17). Note also Paul’s description of the lost as being under ‘the tyranny of darkness’ (Col 1:13). In 1st century AD the Jewish philosopher Philo could similarly speak of Gentile converts as coming from darkness into light. Thus this description covers both Jews and ex-Gentiles.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The royal priesthood of the Christians:
v. 9. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
v. 10. which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. A greater contrast cannot be conceived of than that which the apostle here presents with regard to the unbelievers and the believers. The unbelievers, by their own fault, have become subject to the condemnation of the Lord, and their lot is inexpressibly sad, since, if they persist in their unbelief, they are forever cast off by God. But to the believers the apostle applies all the honoring designations which were given to the people of God in the Old Testament: But you are the chosen generation, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the people of His possession, that you may tell out the virtues of Him who has called you out of darkness into His wonderful light, Exo 19:6. These excellencies do not appear, of course, before the eyes of men. According to the opinion of the world, on the contrary, the believers are a negligible quantity of misguided fools, to whom no sane person will pay serious attention. But hear the opinion of the Lord. He calls them the chosen generation; they have been chosen, or elected, for the position they hold by the resolution of God before the foundation of the world; not only the individual sojourners, but the entire congregation of saints was included in the plan of God; a royal priesthood, for Christ has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, Rev 1:6; the holy, the consecrated nation, separated from the world and reflecting the holiness of the Lord; the people of His possession, of His purchasing, that belong to Him, with regard to whose members all the plans of their enemies will prove futile. Because we occupy this wonderful position in the sight of God, therefore it behooves us, therefore it is natural for us to publish, to proclaim freely and widely, the virtues, the excellencies, of our God, to tell men of, to praise, the goodness, kindness, mercy, grace of God. We can do this with all the greater impressiveness, because we have experienced these attributes in ourselves, because He has called us out of the darkness of our natural condition into the wonderful light of His love in the Gospel, assuring us, at the same time, of the complete forgiveness of all our sins.
Of this the apostle has still more to say: Who formerly were not a people, but now the people of God, who had not become partakers of mercy, but now have received mercy. See Hos 2:23. The readers whom Peter addresses had formerly, before their conversion, been a non-people, they had not been in the kingdom of the Lord. But now they have been transferred out of the darkness of heathenism and enmity toward God to the glory of the Kingdom of Grace. In their former state they were not under mercy, but under God’s wrath and condemnation. But now they have become partakers of the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. It is the same miracle which the Christians of all times have experienced. And this fact they are to make known to others, telling them of their deliverance from destruction, of their redemption from death, of their salvation through the blood of Christ. That is the best occupation in which Christians may engage.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
1Pe 2:9. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, This imports them to be of one stock through their new birth; as the Israelites, who were by outward calling the chosen of God, were all the seed of Abraham according to the flesh: so theythat truly believe in the Lord Jesus, are all of them, by regeneration, one people. They are of one nation, belonging to the same blessed land of promise, all citizens of the new Jerusalem, yea, all children of the same family, whereof Jesus Christ, the root of Jesse, is the stock, who is the great King, and the great High-Priest. And thus they are a royal priesthood. There is no devolving of his royalty or priesthood on any other, as it is in himself; for his proper dignity is supreme and incommunicable, and there is no succession in his order; but they who are descended from him, do derive from him by that new original this double dignity, in that way in which they are capable of it, to be likewise kings and priests, as he is both.
An holy nation, &c. “Ye are also a holy society formed into one spiritual body, like a nation collected together under Christ your Lord and King, sanctified by his Spirit, governed by his laws, and embarked in the same common cause and interest: and ye are a peculiar people, that, suitably to your dignities, privileges, blessings, and obligations, ye might both really and intentionally display the glory of divinevirtues and perfections; and might shew forth, in word and deed, his honour and praise, who has called you by his grace, and delivered you from the darkness of ignorance and error, sin and misery, in which you were formerly involved; and has brought you into the most wonderful and affecting lightof truth and grace, holiness and comfort, which he has caused to shine into your hearts: (2Co 4:6.)”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Pe 2:9 . ] The apostle returns again to his readers, contrasting them with the unbelievers (not “with the people of Israel,” as Weiss thinks) he had just spoken of. The nature of believers, as such, is described by the same predicates which were originally applied to the O. T. church of God (cf. Exo 19:5-6 ), but have found their accomplishment only in that of the N. T. Schott justly remarks that “what in 1Pe 2:5 had been expressed in the form of an exhortation, is here predicated of the Christians as an already present condition.”
] after Isa 43:20 ( , LXX.: ); cf. also Deu 7:6 ff.; Isa 43:10 ; Isa 44:1-2 ; Isa 45:4 , etc. This first designation sets forth that the Christians, in virtue of God’s love, have been elected to be a people which no longer belongs to this world; cf. chap. 1Pe 1:1 .
] after Exo 19:6 , LXX. (in Hebrew , “a kingdom of priests”); most interpreters take it as simple combination of the two ideas: “kings and priests.” Still it is more correct to regard as the principal idea (cf. 1Pe 2:3 ), and as a more precise definition: “a royal priesthood.” Several commentators explain: “a priesthood possessing a royal character,” inasmuch as it not only offers up sacrifices (1Pe 2:5 ), but exercises sway (over the world); cf. Rev 1:6 ; Rev 5:10 (Wiesinger). Weiss (p. 125), on the other hand: “a priesthood serving Jehovah the King, just as we speak of the royal household.” Since all the other predicates express the belonging to God, the second explanation deserves the preference, only it must be modified so far as to include in . not only the relation of service, but that also of belonging to and participation in the glory of the king founded thereon. Schott is not justified in assuming that Peter did not intend to convey the force of the Greek, but that of the Hebrew expression: , namely: “a kingdom which consists of priests.” It is inadequate to understand, with Hofmann, by the term: “a priesthood of princely honours,” or as equal to, magnificus, splendidus (Aretius, Hottinger, etc.), or to find in it the expression of the highest freedom [126] (subject only to God) (de Wette).
] in like manner after Exo 19:6 , LXX. ( ).
] corresponding passages in the O. T. are Deu 7:6 ( ), Mal 3:17 ( ), and especially Isa 43:21 , LXX.: ( ). The words following show that the apostle had this last passage chiefly in his mind; still it must be noted that this idea is contained already in Exo 19:5 ( ). is strictly the acquiring (Heb 10:39 ); here, what is acquired, possession ; neither destinatus (Vorstius) nor positus (Calovius) is to be supplied to , they would not correspond with the sense; is here to be explained from Mal 3:17 , LXX.: ; on , cf. Winer, p. 173 [E. T. 229]; in sense it is equivalent to , Tit 2:14 . Schott attributes to this expression an eschatological reference, explaining: “a people destined for appropriation, for acquisition;” this is incorrect, for, understood thus, it would fall out of all analogy with the other expressions. The apostle does not here state to what the Christian church is destined, but what she already is; “her complete liberation from all cosmic powers is not,” as Brckner justly remarks, “an acquiring on God’s side, but only the final redemption of those whom He already possesses.” Schott’s assertion, that in the N. T. has always an eschatological reference, is opposed by Eph 1:14 ; cf. Meyer in loc .
Although a difference of idea founded on the etymologies of , is not to be pressed; [127] yet it must be observed that by these expressions, as also by , Christians are spoken of as a community united together in itself, and although diverse as to natural descent, they, as belonging to God (and all the names employed by the apostle point to this), form one people, from the fact that God has joined them to Himself.
. . .] connects itself, after Isa 43:21 , in the first instance with what immediately goes before, in such a way, however, that the preceding ideas point towards it as their end.
] thus the LXX. translate in the above-mentioned passage (in general, in the LXX., occurs only as the translation of , Hab 3:3 , Zec 6:13 ; as the translation of , Isa 42:8 ; Isa 42:12 ; Isa 43:21 , and of , Isa 63:7 ); accordingly the Alexandrine translators understand by and in the passages in question, not the “glory or praise” of God, but the object of the glory, that is, the excellence or the glorious attributes of God. Peter took the word, in this meaning of it, from them. [128]
] cf. Isa 42:12 , LXX.: ; ; strictly, iis qui foris sunt nunciare quae intus fiunt (Xen. Anab. ii. 4. 21), is employed for the most part without this definite application; in the LXX. the translation of ; in the N. T. in this passage only; it is possible that Peter thought of the word here in its original force (Bengel, Wiesinger).
] i.e. , not ; is almost uniformly attributed to God.
, not equivalent to, miseria (Wahl), but is used to designate the whole unhappy condition of sin and lying in which the natural and unregenerate man is, cf. Col 1:13 ; here employed, no doubt, with special reference to the former heathenism of the readers.
] To render by cognitio melior (Wahl), is arbitrarily to weaken the force of the word; it is rather the complete opposite of , and denotes the absolutely holy and blessed nature as shows of God . The Christian is translated from darkness to the light of God, so that he participates in this light, and is illumined by it. [129] Schott incorrectly understands by : “heathen humanity left to itself,” and by : “the church;” the church lives in God’s light, but it is not the light of God.
is here applied, as it is by Paul, to the effectual, successful calling of God.
(cf. Mat 21:42 ) denotes the inconceivable glory of the .
[126] Clemens Al. interprets: regale, quoniam ad regnum vocati sumus et sumus Christi sacerdotium autem propter oblationem quae fit orationibus et doctrinis, quibus adquiruntur animae, quae afferuntur Deo.
[127] Steiger draws the following distinction: is the race, people of like descent; , a people of like customs; , people as the mass. Schott thinks that includes within it a reference to the intellectual and moral characteristics of the people, and that points to its being gathered together under one Lord. In this urging of distinctions which are not even correctly drawn is to be found the reason why Schott exchanges the Greek expression . for the Hebrew, because is not analogous to the other three designations, whilst is so, as a national community. Peter certainly, in selecting these expressions, did not reflect on the original distinction of the ideas, but made use of them simply as they were presented to him in the O. T.
[128] It is arbitrary to understand the word to mean only this or that attribute of God; nor must the meaning, as is done by Gerhard, be limited to the virtutes Dei, quae in opere gratuitae vocationis et in toto negotio salutis nostrae relucent. Schott’s interpretation is linguistically incorrect: equal to . . (Act 2:11 ), “the great deeds of God.” Cornelius a Lapide entirely misses the point in explaining: virtutes, quas Christus in nobis operatur, humilitatem, caritatem, etc.; and Salmeron: virtutes Christi, quas in diebus carnis suae exhibuit.
[129] Wiesinger disputes this interpretation, holding that what is meant is “that light which has appeared to the world in Christ;” but is not this light the light of God? Certainly is here not i. q. . According to de Wette, designates the light as the work of God, and consequently a different thing from the which He is Himself.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: (10) Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
What a blessed and honorable testimony hath God the Holy Ghost here given of the Lord’s people. A chosen generation! Yes! chosen in Christ, before the world began, Eph 1:4 . Chosen for Christ to be his companion, spouse, and people, on whom he might make his love to shine forever; in giving all that is communicable from himself here in grace, and hereafter in glory. A royal priesthood. Yea, both kings and priests to God and his Father, Rev 1:6 . Truly ordained by the unction of the Spirit at regeneration. And truly offering up their daily offerings in Christ, through the blood of sprinkling, which gives a blessedness and a savor to their persons and services, being accepted in the Beloved, Eph 1:6 . An holy nation. So God called his Church, when he first formed his people into a Church in the Wilderness, and when he declared that they should be to him a peculiar treasure, unto him above all people, Exo 19:5-6 . And, although they are scattered, and live as the remnant of Jacob was said to be, in the midst of many people, while unconnected with any: Mic 5:7 . Yet, altogether they form a numerous body, and are holy in the Lord, Lev 11:44 ; Joh 17:19 . A peculiar people. Peculiar indeed! Their habits, manners, customs, pursuits, desires, differ wholly from all others, through the grace given them. They are as Joshua and his fellows, men wondered at, Zec 3:8 . And how should it be otherwise, being called upon by the predestinating love of God the Father, to dwell alone in his purpose, choice, and will, peculiarly chosen to an union with Christ; and specially the objects of the regenerating grace of God the Holy Ghost! And the effects which follow cannot but be the result of such a cause. He that called them from the darkness of the Adam-nature of sin, in that call brought them into the fellowship of Christ, who is himself their light and their life. And, as, while in a state of unregeneracy they were altogether unconscious of the electing love of God the Father, and the union-love, and redemption-love of Jesus Christ, and therefore in this sense might be truly said to be far off as those which had no head, and were not formed into a people; but now, by the renewing of the Holy Ghost, shed upon them abundantly through Jesus Christ, they were brought nigh, and made heirs according to the hope of eternal life, Tit 3:4-7 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Ver. 9. But ye are a chosen generation ] A picked people, the dearly beloved of God’s soul; such as he first chose for his love, and then loves for his choice.
A royal priesthood ] Or as Moses hath it,Exo 19:6Exo 19:6 , a kingdom of priests. Priests God’s people are in respect of God, kings in respect of men. The righteous are kings: “many righteous men have desired,” &c., saith Matthew, Mat 13:17 ; “many kings,” saith Luke, Luk 10:24 . Indeed they are somewhat obscure kings here, as was Melchizedek in the land of Canaan; but princes they are in all lands, Psa 45:16 , and more excellent than their neighbours, let them dwell where they will,Pro 12:26Pro 12:26 .
A peculiar people ] Gr. , a people of purchase: such as comprehend, as it were, all God’s gettings, his whole stock that he makes any great reckoning of.
Show forth the praises ] Gr. , preach forth the virtues by our suitable practice. The picture of a dear friend should be hung up in a conspicuous place of the house; so should God’s holy image and grace in our hearts.
” Vile latens virtus; quid enim submersa tenebris
Proderit?
Jerome said that he did diligere Christum habitantem in Augustino, love Christ dwelling in Austin. So ought we to walk, that others may see and love Christ dwelling in us. He is totus desiderabilis, saith the spouse in the Canticles,Son 5:16Son 5:16 , all over desirable; and there is in him that which may well attract all hearts unto him.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9, 10 .] Contrast , in a glorious description of the office, privilege, and function, of the enlightened and adopted people of God .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
9 .] But ye (emphatic) are a chosen generation (not, as De Wette, “ the chosen generation;” though this is implied, it is not in the words, nor does it correspond with the indefinite predicates which follow. On the expression, cf. ref. Isa., . betokens a common origin and unity of related life: but perhaps Wiesinger goes too far in pressing the idea here), a kingly priesthood ( as above, see note. The expression is from the LXX of Exo 19:6 . Cf. Rev 1:6 , , and 1Pe 5:10 . In the N. T. church these two elements, the kingship and the priesthood, are united in every individual believer, as in our great Head, Jesus Christ, who alone unites them in the O. T. church; the two coexisting, but never, except in the case of Melchisedek His foretype, united in the same Person), an holy nation (also from Exo 19:6 , LXX; God’s declaration at Sinai respecting Israel), a people for acquisition (i. e. peculiarly God’s own, as interpreted by what follows in the place of Isaiah referred to, as well as here. There it stands, . See, on the word, ref. 1 Thess. note. In the place of Exodus which was before quoted, ch. Exo 19:5 , we read . See also Deu 7:6 . c. says, , as in Act 20:28 , , ), that ye may tell out ( . not = . The prep. gives the sense of publishing forth ) the virtues s (i. e. gracious dealings, excellent and glorious attributes: see Isa. above, and in reff. Philo repeatedly uses in this sense; e. g. De Mut. Nom. 34, vol. i. p. 606, . : see other passages in Loesner) of Him (God: the Father) who called you out of darkness (“tenebr ignoranti, errorum, peccatorum, miseri, adeoque totum diaboli regnum,” Gerh.) to (not exactly “ into :” with gives more the aim of the call, than its local result: to, i. e. to attain unto and be partakers of: to walk in and by) His wonderful light (this expression here can hardly mean the light of our Christian life only; but must import that light of God’s own Presence and Being, after which our walking in light is to be fashioned: the light to which St. John alludes, when he says, , . Had not this been intended, surely neither nor would have been used. “It is wonderful,” says De Wette, “just as to one coming out of long darkness the light of day would be wonderful.” The figure of the corner-stone has not quite passed away from the Apostle’s mind; in the end of the prophecy concerning which we read, Ps. 117:23 ( Mat 21:42 ), , :
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Pe 2:9 f. The Church, God’s new people, has all the privileges which belonged to the Jews. In enumerating them he draws upon a current conflation of Isa 43:20 f., (1) (4) with Exod. 19:65, (2) (3) (4) (1); and Psa 107:14 , to which is appended Hos 1:6 ; Hos 1:8 . , Isa. l.c. LXX (Heb., my people my chosen ); , race implies that all the individual members of it have a common Father (God) and are therefore brethren ( cf. , Act 13:26 ); cf. 1Pe 1:1 ; 1Pe 1:6 . , a royal priesthood , from Exod. l.c. LXX (Heb., a kingdom of priests = Rev 1:6 , ). Christians share Christ’s prerogatives. The priesthood is the chief point (see 1Pe 2:5 ) it is royal . Clement of Alexandria says: “Since we have been summoned to the kingdom and are anointed ( sc. as Kings)”. The comparison of Melchizedek with Christ perhaps underlies the appropriation of the title. , to the Jew familiar, with the use of for Gentiles, as much a paradox as Christ crucified . But , the common rendering of in this connexion is wanted below, and St. Peter is content to follow his authority. , a people for possession = . The source of the Greek phrase is Mal 3:17 , but the Hebrew title variously rendered occurs in the two great passages drawn upon. Deut. (Deu 17:6 , etc.) has which is adopted by St. Paul (Tit 2:14 ); but the phrase . is well established in the Christian vocabulary, Heb 10:39 ; 1Th 5:9 ; 2Th 2:14 , and the whole title is apparently abbreviated to in Eph 1:14 . , from Isa. l.c. + Ps. l.c. , the latter containing the matter of the following designation of God. In Isa. stands for my praise ; and this sense reappears in Esther 14:10. , the praises of idols . Elsewhere it stands for . glory (Hab 3:3 ; Zec 6:13 ). In the books of Maccabees (especially the fourth) it has its ordinary sense of virtue , which cannot be excluded altogether here. The whole clause is in fact the pivot on which the Epistle turns. Hitherto Peter has addressed himself to the Christians and their mutual relations, now he turns to consider their relations to the outside world (1Pe 1:2 f.). In 2Pe 1:3 , . corresponds to , a sense which might be supported by Ps. l.c. (for discussion of other
Very uncertain evidence see Deissmann, Bible Studies , pp. 95 ff., 362) and the events of Pentecost (see especially Act 2:11 ). is derived from Ps. l.c. ; the natural antithesis light is readily supplied ( cf. Eph 5:8 ; Eph 5:14 ); darkness = heathenism in cf. 10.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
1 Peter
MIRRORS OF GOD
1Pe 2:9 .
The Revised Version, instead of ‘praises,’ reads excellencies–and even that is but a feeble translation of the remarkable word here employed. For it is that usually rendered ‘virtues’; and by the word, of course, when applied to God, we mean the radiant excellencies and glories of His character, of which our earthly qualities, designated by the same name, are but as shadows.
It is, indeed, true that this same expression is employed in the Greek version of the Old Testament in Isaiah 43. in a verse which evidently was floating before Peter’s mind. ‘This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise.’
But even while that is admitted, it is to be observed that the expression here does not merely mean that the audible praise of God should be upon the lips of Christian people, but that their whole lives should, in a far deeper sense than that, be the manifestation of what the Apostle here calls ‘excellencies of God.’
I. Here we get a wonderful glimpse into the heart of God.
Note the preceding words, in which the writer describes all God’s mercies to His people, making them ‘a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation’; a people ‘His own possession.’ All that is done for one specific purpose–’that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness.’ That is to say, the very aim of all God’s gracious manifestations of Himself is that the men who apprehend them should go forth into the world and show Him for what He is.
Now that aim may be, and often has been, put so as to present an utterly hard and horrible notion. That God’s glory is His only motive may be so stated as to mean nearly an Almighty Selfishness, which is far liker the devil than God. People in old days did not always recognise the danger that lay in such a representation of what we call God’s motive for action. But if you think for a moment about this statement, all that appears hard and repellent drops clean away from it, and it turns out to be another way of saying, ‘God is Love.’ Because, what is there more characteristic of love than an earnest desire to communicate itself and to be manifested and beheld? And what is it that God reveals to the world for His own glory but the loftiest and most wondrous compassion, that cannot be wearied out, that cannot be provoked, and the most forgiving Omnipotence, that, in answer to all men’s wanderings and rebellions, only seeks to draw them to itself? That is what God wants to be known for. Is that hard and repellent? Does that make Him a great tyrant, who only wants to be abjectly worshipped? No; it makes Him the very embodiment and perfection of the purest love. Why does He desire that He should be known? for any good that it does to Him? No; except the good that even His creatures can do to Him when they gladden His paternal heart by recognising Him for what He is, the Infinite Lover of all souls.
But the reason why He desires, most of all, that the light of His character may pour into every heart is because He would have every heart gladdened and blessed for ever by that received and believed light. So the hard saying that God’s own glory is His supreme end melts into ‘God is Love.’ The Infinite desires to communicate Himself, that by the communication men may be blessed.
II. There is another thing here, and that is, a wonderful glimpse of what Christian people are in the world for.
‘This people have I formed for Myself,’ says the fundamental passage in Isaiah already referred to, ‘they shall show forth My praise.’ It was not worth while forming them except for that. It was still less worth while redeeming them except for that.
But you may say, ‘I am saved in order that I may enjoy all the blessings of salvation, immunities from fear and punishment, and the like.’ Yes! Certainly! But is that all? Or is it the main thing? I think not. There is not a creature in God’s universe so tiny, even although you cannot see it with a microscope, but that it has a claim on Him that made it for its well-being. That is very certain. And so my salvation–with all the blessedness for me that lies wrapped up and hived in that great word–my salvation is an adequate end with God, in all His dealing, and especially in His sending of Jesus Christ.
But there is not a creature in the whole universe, though he were mightier than the archangels that stand nearest God’s throne, who is so great and independent that his happiness and well-being is the sole aim of God’s gifts to him. For every one of us the Apostle means the word, ‘No man liveth to himself’–he could not if he were to try–’and no man dieth to himself.’ Every man that receives anything from God is thereby made a steward to impart it to others. So we may say–and I speak now to you who profess to be Christians–’you were not saved for your own sakes.’ One might almost say that that was a by-end. You were saved–shall I say?–for God’s sake; and you were saved for man’s sake? Just as when you put a bit of leaven into a lump of dough, each grain of the lump, as it is leavened and transformed, becomes the medium for passing on the mysterious transforming influence to the particle beyond, so every one of us, if we have been brought out of darkness into marvellous light, have been so brought, not only that we may recreate and bathe our own eyes in the flooding sunshine, but that we may turn to our brothers and ask them to come too out of the doleful night into the cheerful, gladsome day. Every man that Jesus Christ conquers on the field He sends behind Him, and says, ‘Take rank in My army. Be My soldier.’ Every yard of line in a new railway when laid down is used to carry materials to make the next yard; and so the terminus is reached. Even so, Christian people were formed for Christ that they might show forth His praise.
Look what a notion that gives us of the dignity of the Christian life, and of the special manifestation of God which is afforded to the world in it. You, if you love as you ought to do, are a witness of something far nobler in God than all the stars in the sky. You, if you set forth as becomes you His glorious character, have crowned the whole manifestation that He makes of Himself in Nature and in Providence. What people learn about God from a true Christian is a better revelation than has ever been made or can be made elsewhere. So the Bible talks about principalities and powers in heavenly places who have had nobody knows how many millenniums of intercourse with God, nobody knows how deep and intimate, learning from Christian people the manifold wisdom which had folds and folds in it that they had never unfolded and never could have done. ‘Ye are My witnesses,’ saith the Lord. Sun and stars tell of power, wisdom, and a whole host of majestic attributes. We are witnesses that ‘He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.’ Who was it that said
‘‘Twas great to speak a world from naught,
‘Tis greater to redeem?’
‘Ye are saved that ye may show forth the praise of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.’
III. Lastly, we have here a piece of stringent practical direction.
All that I have been saying thus far refers to the way in which the very fact of a man’s being saved from his sin is a revelation of God’s mercy, love, and restoring power. But there are two sides to the thought of my text; and the one is that the very existence of Christian people in the world is a standing witness to the highest glory of God’s name; and the other is that there are characteristics which, as Christian men, we are bound to put forth, and which manifest in another fashion the excellencies of our redeeming God.
The world takes its notions of God, most of all, from the people who say that they belong to God’s family. They read us a great deal more than they read the Bible. They see us; they only hear about Jesus Christ. ‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image’ nor any likeness of the Divine, but thou shalt make thyself an image of Him, that men looking at it may learn a little more of what He is. If we have any right to say that we are a royal priesthood, a chosen nation, God’s ‘possession,’ then there will be in us some likeness of Him to whom we belong stamped more or less perfectly upon our characters; and just as people cannot look at the sun, but may get some notion of its power when they gaze upon the rare beauty of the tinted clouds that lie round about it, if, in the poor, wet, cold mistiness of our lives there be caught, as it were, and tangled some stray beams of the sunshine, there will be colour and beauty there. A bit of worthless tallow may be saturated with a perfume which will make it worth its weight in gold. So our poor natures may be drenched with God and give Him forth fragrant and precious, and men may be drawn thereby. The witness of the life which is Godlike is the duty of Christian men and women in the world, and it is mainly what we are here for.
Nor does that exclude the other kind of showing forth the praises, by word and utterance, at fit times and to the right people. We are not all capable of that, in any public fashion; we are all capable of it in some fashion. There is no Christian that has not somebody to whom their words–they may be very simple and very feeble–will come as nobody else’s words can. Let us use these talents and these opportunities for the Master.
But, above all, let us remember that none of these works–either the involuntary and unconscious exhibition of light and beauty and excellencies caught from Him; or the voluntary and vocal proclamations of the name of Him from whom we have caught them–can be done to any good purpose if any taint of self mingles with it. ‘Let your light so shine before men that they may behold your good works and glorify’–whom? you?–’your Father which is in heaven.’
The harp-string gives out its note only on condition that, being touched, it vibrates, and ceases to be visible. Be you unseen, transparent, and the glory of the Lord shall shine through you.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Pe 2:9-10
9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1Pe 2:9 “But you” Notice the plural “you” and the contrast. The author uses a composite allusion from Exo 19:6 and then Exo 19:5.
“a chosen race” This same descriptive title is found in Deu 7:6; Deu 10:15; Isa 43:20-21. Chosen for ministry! This is an OT title for elect servants.
“a royal priesthood” This title is found in Exo 19:6; Isa 61:6; Isa 66:21. As Israel was chosen to bring the knowledge of YHWH to the world, now the church is called to inform and bring needy, sinful people to YHWH.
“a holy nation” This same title is found in Exo 19:6; Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2; Deu 14:21; Deu 26:19. Israel was called to be uniquely holy and thus reveal a holy God (cf. Mat 5:48; 1Pe 1:15-16) to a fallen world.
“a people for God’s own possession” This same descriptive title is found in Exo 19:5; Deu 4:20; Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2; Deu 26:18; Mal 3:17. This passage speaks of the church as spiritual Israel (cf. Gal 6:16). These OT titles for the people of God are now applied to the NT Body of Christ (cf. Rom 2:28-29 : Gal 3:29; Gal 6:16; Eph 2:11 to Eph 3:13; Rev 1:6). In some ways the church has replaced Israel, as in the world mission mandate (cf. Mat 28:19-20; Luk 24:47; Act 1:8).
“may proclaim the excellencies of Him” The purpose of God’s people is to witness to the greatness of the one true creator/redeemer God! They are chosen and equipped to live and speak the gospel.
“who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” Darkness and light are biblical metaphors of sin, rebellion, and evil versus hope, truth, healing, and goodness (cf. Joh 1:4-5; Joh 3:19-21; Joh 8:12; Joh 12:35-36; Joh 12:46; Act 26:18; 2Co 4:6; 1Jn 1:5; 1Jn 2:8). As the previous phrase might be an allusion to Isa 42:12, this phrase may allude to Isa 42:16.
1Pe 2:10 “for you once were not a people” This introduces a quote from Hos 1:10; Hos 2:23. The key term is lo ammi (the name of one of Hosea’s children), which originally referred to Israel not being God’s people because of their idolatry and covenant-breaking lifestyles. They were (1) trusting in political alliances and not in God and (2) worshiping Ba’al using YHWH’s name.
“but now you are the people of god” This is a further quote from Hos 2:23. This passage in its OT context affirms that though Israel had sinned and departed from their covenant God, He was ready to reestablish them to covenant status (i.e., marriage metaphor). This same loving and forgiving God now holds out His hand to wayward Gentiles.
This use of Hosea that originally addressed the wayward northern kingdom of Israel in the eighth century B.C. is now used by Peter to relate to pagan Gentiles. This extension of OT texts from a Jew/Gentile context to a unbeliever/believer context characterizes the NT! Believing Gentiles are now included in the covenant people of God (cf. Eph 2:11 to Eph 3:13).
“you had not received mercy” The prophet Hosea had three children to whom he gave prophetic names
1. a boy named Jezreel, meaning “God makes fruitful”
2. a girl named Lo-Ruhamah, meaning “no compassion”
3. a boy named Lo-Ammi, meaning “not my people”
As the first part of 1Pe 2:10 uses the third child’s name, the last part of 1Pe 2:10 uses the second child’s name (cf. Hos 1:6; Hos 2:20; Hos 2:23). God fully receives sinners because He has compassion for them.
The grammatical forms found in 1Pe 2:10 are helpful in expressing the theological point. There was a stated objection on the part of the Gentiles, brought about by the agency of Satan (i.e., perfect passive participle), but the covenant God has decisively broken into history by means of His Messiah and brought about a new day of opportunity for covenant inclusion (i.e., aorist passive participle). This truth is similar to the mystery of God’s plan, once hidden, but now disclosed (cf. Eph 2:11 to Eph 3:13).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
generation = race. Greek. genos. See 1Co 12:10 (kind).
royal. Greek. basileios. Only here. Compare Jam 2:8. Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10.
nation. Greek. ethnos. Plural, usually translated “Gentiles”, in Plural
a peculiar people = a people (Greek. laos. See Act 2:47) for (App-104.) possession, or acquisition. Greek. peripoiesis. See Eph 1:14.
shew forth. Greek. exangello. Only here.
praises = virtues. See Php 1:4, Php 1:8.
out of. App-104.
into. App-104.
light. App-130.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
9, 10.] Contrast, in a glorious description of the office, privilege, and function, of the enlightened and adopted people of God.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Pe 2:9. , but ye) Supply are. After the mention of a subject so sorrowful he consoles the pious; as 2Th 2:13.– , a generation-for a peculiar possession) He twice mentions two remarkable sentences, which signify the relation of believers, as towards their Father and towards their God: Isa 43:20-21, Septuagint, , : My nation [people], My chosen: My people whom I have reserved as a possession [formed] for Myself, to show forth My praises. Exo 19:5-6, , , : a peculiar people from all the nations, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation. in composition often denotes something surviving: as , to conquer, the enemy being driven back; , to reserve something, when you give up the rest; , not to put to death; , , the surviving, Job 27:15. And thus for the Septuagint has , Exodus, as quoted above, etc.; and , Mal 3:17. Peter does not add, , from all the nations; because he honours the Gentiles also with this title: 1Pe 2:10.-) chosen, excellent.- , , , a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a peculiar possession) A kingdom of priests is a Hebrew expression. God is a king; His priests are the faithful: Rev 1:6. Comp. 2Sa 8:18 with 1Ch 18:17. A holy nation, the property of God. in the abstract is the same as in the concrete, in the Septuagint. Comp. Eph 1:14, note.- , His excellencies) His wonderful glory in this verse, His mercy in the following verse, His goodness in 1Pe 2:3.[15] St Paul only once uses the word , Php 4:8, of the righteous: St Peter, in this one passage only of this Epistle, of God: in the second Epistle, ch. 1Pe 1:3, he employs it a second time of God, and in 1Pe 2:5 (of the same chapter) he uses it of the faithful. The Hebrew is at the passage already quoted; which word in Isa 42:8; Isa 42:12; Isa 63:7, the Septuagint translates by , just as they put for , Hab 3:3; Zec 6:13. Eustathius on Hom. Odyss. ., , , , , : he does not speak of any one excellency, but of the happiness and blessedness of life, or even all cleverness, not only in mind, but in deed and in management, and things of this kind. And so he says everywhere.-, should show forth or declare) The sense is, that ye acknowledge and declare. Septuagint, Isa 42:12, , they shall declare His praises in the islands. in expresses the ignorance of many, to whom the faithful ought to declare the excellencies of God.-) of God: 2Pe 1:3, note.
[15] Comp. Num 14:17.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
priesthood
The New Testament priesthood, Summary:
(1) Until the law was given the head of each family was the family priest Gen 8:20; Gen 26:25; Gen 31:54.
(2) When the law was proposed, the promise to perfect obedience was that Israel would be unto God “a kingdom of priests” Exo 19:6. but Israel violated the law, and God shut up the priestly office to the Aaronic family, appointing the tribe of Levi to minister to them, thus constituting the typical priesthood Exo 28:1.
(3) In the dispensation of grace, all believers are unconditionally constituted a “kingdom of priests” 1Pe 2:9; Rev 1:6 the distinction which Israel failed to achieve by works. The priesthood of the believer is, therefore, a birthright; just as every descendant of Aaron was born to the priesthood Heb 5:1.
(4) The chief privilege of a priest is access to God. Under law the high priest only could enter “the holiest of all,” and that but once a year Heb 9:7, but when Christ died, the veil, type of Christ’s human body Heb 10:20 was rent, so that now the believer-priests, equally with Christ the High Priest, have access to God in the holiest Heb 10:19-22.
The high Priest is corporeally there Heb 4:14-16; Heb 9:24; Heb 10:19-22.
(5) In the exercise of his office the New Testament believer-priest is
(1) a sacrificer who offers a threefold sacrifice: (a) his own living body. Rom 12:1; Php 2:17; 2Ti 4:6; 1Jn 3:16; Jam 1:27 (b) praise to God, “the fruit of the lips that make mention of His name” (R.V.), to be offered “continually”; Heb 13:15; Exo 25:22 “I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat”); (c) his substance; Heb 13:16; Rom 12:13; Gal 6:6; 3Jn 1:5-8; Heb 13:2; Gal 6:10; Tit 3:14.
(2) The N.T. priest is also an intercessor 1Ti 2:1; Col 4:12
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
a chosen: 1Pe 1:2, Deu 10:15, Psa 22:30, Psa 33:12, Psa 73:15, Isa 41:8, Isa 44:1
a royal: Exo 19:5, Exo 19:6, Isa 61:6, Isa 66:21, Rev 1:6, Rev 5:10, Rev 20:6
an holy: Psa 106:5, Isa 26:2, Joh 17:19, 1Co 3:17, 2Ti 1:9
peculiar: or, purchased, Deu 4:20, Deu 7:6, Deu 14:2, Deu 26:18, Deu 26:19, Act 20:28, Eph 1:14, Tit 2:14
show: 1Pe 4:11, Isa 43:21, Isa 60:1-3, Mat 5:16, Eph 1:6, Eph 3:21, Phi 2:15, Phi 2:16
praises: or, virtues
who: Isa 9:2, Isa 60:1, Isa 60:2, Mat 4:16, Luk 1:79, Act 26:28, Rom 9:24, Eph 5:8-11, Phi 3:14, Col 1:13, 1Th 5:4-8
Reciprocal: Gen 8:20 – builded Gen 34:7 – wrought Exo 10:23 – but all Exo 15:16 – which thou Exo 28:36 – HOLINESS Lev 6:18 – every one Lev 8:13 – Moses Lev 11:44 – ye shall Lev 14:14 – General Lev 20:24 – which Lev 21:6 – holy Num 5:10 – hallowed things Num 15:41 – General Num 16:7 – that the man Num 23:9 – dwell alone Num 25:13 – an everlasting Deu 18:2 – the Lord Deu 28:9 – establish Deu 32:9 – the Lord’s Deu 32:21 – I will 1Sa 8:20 – General 2Sa 7:23 – went 1Ki 8:53 – separate 1Ch 16:13 – his chosen 1Ch 16:35 – that we may give 1Ch 17:22 – thy people Psa 4:3 – that the Psa 14:5 – the generation Psa 18:28 – my God Psa 24:6 – This is Psa 31:21 – marvellous Psa 36:9 – in thy Psa 45:13 – king’s Psa 45:16 – princes Psa 50:14 – Offer Psa 50:23 – Whoso Psa 86:9 – glorify Psa 100:3 – we are his Psa 102:18 – the people Psa 102:21 – General Psa 105:6 – his chosen Psa 107:14 – brought Psa 107:22 – sacrifice Psa 118:2 – General Psa 118:27 – showed Psa 135:4 – the Lord Psa 145:7 – abundantly Psa 145:10 – and thy saints Psa 146:8 – openeth Psa 147:20 – not dealt so Psa 148:14 – a people Pro 30:11 – a generation Son 4:16 – Let Isa 4:3 – shall be Isa 19:21 – and shall Isa 29:18 – the deaf Isa 32:16 – General Isa 35:8 – The way Isa 42:6 – a light Isa 42:7 – to bring Isa 43:4 – precious Isa 43:7 – for my Isa 43:20 – my chosen Isa 44:5 – the name Isa 48:12 – my called Isa 49:3 – General Isa 49:9 – to the Isa 51:4 – O my Isa 55:13 – for a Isa 60:6 – they shall show Isa 61:3 – that he Isa 61:11 – praise Isa 62:1 – the righteousness Isa 62:12 – The holy Isa 63:18 – people Isa 65:15 – his servants Jer 2:3 – holiness Jer 13:11 – for a name Jer 17:26 – sacrifices of Jer 31:14 – satiate Jer 33:18 – General Jer 51:19 – the rod Eze 36:23 – when I shall Eze 38:8 – it is Eze 43:19 – the priests Dan 4:37 – I Nebuchadnezzar Dan 12:7 – the holy Hos 1:10 – it was said Hos 2:23 – and I will have Hos 14:2 – the calves Zec 2:11 – many Zec 14:20 – HOLINESS Mal 3:3 – an Mal 3:17 – jewels Mat 21:43 – a nation Mar 5:30 – virtue Mar 8:25 – and saw Luk 1:17 – to make Luk 4:18 – and Luk 6:19 – for Luk 8:46 – for Luk 16:8 – children of light Luk 18:43 – followed Joh 4:23 – the Father seeketh Joh 9:39 – that they Joh 12:23 – The hour Joh 15:19 – because Joh 17:10 – and I Act 13:17 – God Act 15:14 – to take Act 26:18 – and to Act 26:20 – and do Act 27:23 – whose Rom 1:5 – for his name Rom 1:6 – the called Rom 1:21 – their foolish Rom 5:17 – shall reign Rom 6:17 – that Rom 7:25 – thank God Rom 8:30 – Moreover Rom 9:16 – General Rom 15:8 – truth 1Co 6:20 – God 2Co 4:6 – the light 2Co 4:15 – the abundant 2Co 6:14 – and what 2Co 9:13 – they Gal 5:11 – the offence Eph 1:4 – as Phi 1:11 – are Col 3:17 – giving 1Th 2:12 – who 1Th 4:7 – God 1Th 5:8 – who 2Th 1:10 – to be glorified 1Ti 2:2 – all godliness Heb 3:1 – holy Heb 8:10 – they shall Heb 12:10 – partakers Jam 1:9 – in Jam 2:8 – the royal Jam 3:13 – let 1Pe 1:15 – as 1Pe 2:5 – an holy 1Pe 5:3 – heritage 2Pe 1:3 – called Rev 11:1 – Rise Rev 14:4 – redeemed Rev 17:14 – and they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE HIGHEST OF ALL VOCATIONS
Ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
1Pe 2:9 (R.V.)
In the eyes of the early Church it was so splendid and sacred a distinction to be within the people of God that no distinctions within the body were anything like as important. To be a laymanwhether you were Apostle or only a hearerwas to be a man called, chosen, marked, consecrated, responsible; to be a layman was to have a vocation and a value.
I. Here lay one of the chief outward differences between the religion of the Temple and the religion of the upper room. The old Jewish Church was split into sharply divided castes: the priest, charged with the work of sacrifice, purification, and prayer; the scribe and lawyer, charged with the authoritative dogmatic exposition of the law, stood clean apart on a higher plane from the common and despised people which knew not the law. The new Church, on the other hand, was one; manifold in tasks but one in spirit, feeling, life; one in the supreme fact that its ascended Lord gave, inspired, sustained the energies of every member. If one man was commissioned to teach, yet all were bearers of the Spirit; if one stood alone to offer the Eucharist, yet all were in the sacerdotal body, fellow-offerers and sharers in the one sacrifice. There was no room for modern clericalism then, because there was no room for the modern layman, or for what common opinion means by a layman to-day.
II. Many of the causes which led to the gradual separation of clergy and people were natural, and in their working, justifiable. While in the earliest age a presbyter or deacon would have his trade to follow if he were free, or his master to serve if he were a slave, as the Church grew towards maturity the increase of clerical responsibilities made it necessary to provide a special maintenance for the clergy; the clergy took a stated share of the monthly offerings of the faithful.
(a) The effect of this arrangement was that in turn all Church officers came to stand on the footing claimed by St. Paul as permissible to an Apostle; preaching the gospel, they lived by the gospel. Yet even when this step was taken, and the line of division between cleric and layman became visible as a professional distinction, there was much in early Church life which tended to preserve the conception of Christian unity. Within the Church walls the differences of function brought the distinction between the orders into prominence; but in daily life it was less obvious. Moreover, the lines of hierarchical division were crossed by other distinctions. The possession of a spiritual gift, such as prophecy, might lend one layman more weight than he would have had as presbyter or deacon; another as a confessor or martyr might wield an authority almost as great as that of a bishop; another as a scholar might be found preaching and teaching even where the higher clergy were present to sit under him. Further, for several centuries the laity retained their place in corporate functions of vital importance, such as the election of clergy and bishops, or conciliar deliberation.
(b) But little by little the laity lost their ground. The clergy became more and more official and professional, and with the specialisation of clerical work came the lowering of the ideals of the laity. As bishops, priests, deacons, and the rest passed clean away from secular life into a sphere of their own, and the clerical profession, the clerical world, came into being, so little by little it began to be felt that the laymans was a lower vocation and a lower responsibility: that he might wear a lighter cross and tread an easier path; and from this root sprang all that lamentable classification of Christian callings, more deadly, perhaps, than any schism, which put the monastic life highest of all, the clerical vocation next, and lowest that of the mere Christian, the mere layman.
III. Shall we ever retrace and reverse the story of this miserable degeneration?Will the time ever come when to be baptized, confirmed, and a communicant is felt to be in itself the highest of all vocations? We feel and speak now as if the difference between man and priest, priest and layman, were a difference in kind, whereas that between Churchman and non-Christian were only a difference in degree. Shall we ever come again to feel that to be in or out of the body of Christ is an alternative so tremendous that in comparison with it the difference between priest and layman dwindles almost into insignificance? If that apostolic conception ever returns, then I will dare to suggest that it may bring with it not only life to the dead bones, but also the return of one other feature of the apostolic age.
IV. The army of our priesthood.What is it but a series of skeleton battalions? The diaconate we have all but abandoned, utilising it solely as a stage in the probation of a priest. But is it altogether beyond the horizon of any ones dreams that if the vocation of the laity were restored to its true place of honour we might dare to fill up the skeleton battalions as they would have been filled up in the apostolic age? Then there were mena fewwho, preaching the gospel, lived by the gospel; but the mass of men in holy orders were also men of business and handicraft. There must always be an army of priests who shall withdraw from secular cares, and draw all their cares and studies towards the work of the ministry; but must there never again be men in holy orders who live and work and gain their bread in ordinary employments? It would be easy to show how the intolerable strain put upon many a town priest might be lifted if this dream came true, and how the brotherhood of the Church might be welded together, if only in this matter precedent were our servant and not our master. At present we have pushed so far out into the realm of experiment as to restore, partially, timidly, tentatively, the order of Readers. The gain is real, but it is jealously guarded by restrictions, and it is proportionately small. I would plead for a bolder outlook, and will venture to put the plea in one concrete form.
Rev. H. N. Bate.
Illustrations
(1) One strange feature of the traditional organisation of the Church is this: that while we revere the vocation of the clergy and undervalue that of the laity, yet each one of the three orders is miserably undermanned. A Christian of the fourth century would say that a Bishop with a diocese of 30,000 Christians would have as great a burden of pastoral responsibility as any man could bear, that a diocese of 100,000 was unprecedented, one of 1,000,000 unthinkable. Our episcopal order, with its dioceses of two, three, and four millions, is but a fraction of what the Church of England practically requires for its immediate needs.
(2) At the Pan-Anglican Congress the Bishop of Auckland made a moving appeal on behalf of the young nationsCanada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africafor men to go out and help to keep the white man Christian; to save the man in the back blocks from the curse of trying to do without God. Every one knows that as things are we can do nothing else and nothing better than to feel it as natural and normal for a priest to go out to New Zealand as it is for him to move from parish to parish at home. But one cannot help asking oneself how St. Paul, or a Church inspired by St. Paul, would have heard and answered the cry of the young nations. Can you imagine St. Paul writing back from Spain or from Corinth to Antioch, Jerusalem and Csarea, Send us elders and deacons, for there is work to be done, and it will all go to pieces unless you send us men? You know what he did and what he would do. He went and founded local Churches, and he found their officers on the spot. He ordained elders in every place. In the Canadian township he would not be content, would not think that there was a living Church at all, unless he could leave the farmer, the builder, or the schoolmaster as elders and deacons of the local brotherhood, to minister, to administer, to break the bread for the people of Christ.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1Pe 2:9. The various things said in this verse about disciples of Christ. should cause them to exert themselves to the utmost to live up to the great honor and responsibility. Generation means race or kind, and the Lord has chosen them because they had been “born again” thus becoming another kind (Joh 3:3). Royal priesthood means a kingly priesthood. Under the Mosaic law the same man could not he both king and priest (2Ch 26:18), but disciples of Christ are said to be both (Rev 1:6). Christians are kings (of a secondary order of course) in that they reign under Christ and the anostles (1Co 4:8). Nation denotes a number of persons living together as a group, and Christians are such having become holy or consecrated to God by obedience to the Gospel. Peculiar is from a Greek word that means “purchased.” and they are called that because they have been purchased with the blood of Christ (Act 20:28). When a man buys something and pays a great price for it, he expects to accomplish something of importance with it. Accordingly the Lord’s object in purchasing the church was to have an institution equipped for an important work. It was that they should show forth the praises [vir-tues] of him. etc. This makes it plain that no institution of man has any business to engage in religious instruction. The church alone, which was obtained by the blood of Christ. has any right to such a glorious work (Eph 3:21).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Pe 2:9. But ye are an elect race. From these thoughts of terror Peter returns to the brighter side of the compensation which the believer has for temporal loss and trial, and instances in a single breath four great titles of Christian honour. These express the incomparable superiority of the life of faith over the life of disobedience; for the emphatic but ye contrasts the readers not with the Old Testament Church, but with those just described as destined to stumble. They exhibit the Christian life, therefore, in antithesis to a life rooted in mere nature and nationality. They recall at the same time the fact that these scattered sojourners are, according to the New Testament standard, that very Church of God which national Israel was meant to be according to the Old Testament standard. It is more than doubtful whether, in the use of the successive terms race, nation, people (which are simply taken from the LXX.), Peter had in view any such distinctions as those between people as of like descent, people as of like customs, and people as an organized body (Steiger). But all four terms point to the fact that believers are not a mere aggregate of individuals, but form a unity, and, indeed, the only unity worthy of the name. So they are designated, first of all, in words suggested probably by Isa 43:20, a race (not merely a generation, as the A. V. here, and only here, renders the term), a body with community of life and descent; and elect in so far as they were made this by Gods choosing and separating them out of the world.
a royal priesthood. This second title is taken from the description of Israel in Exo 19:6, and is of somewhat uncertain import. It is variously taken to be equivalent to kings and priests (Lillie, on analogy of Rev 1:6), a magnificent priesthood (Aretius), a priesthood exercising kingly rule over the world (Wiesinger), a priesthood serving a king (Weiss), a priesthood belonging to a king and in his service (Huther), a priesthood of kingly honour (Hofmann), a kingdom of priests (Schott). The form of the adjective used here (and probably nowhere else in the New Testament) means, however, belonging to a king, or worthy of a king, and never consisting of kings, or having kingly rule. The phrase itself, too, represents a Hebrew phrase which is understood, indeed, by the Syriac Version, the Targums, the Septuagint, and a few commentators, such as Keil, to denote a kingship of priests, or a body of priests with kingly honour, but is held by most to mean a kingdom consisting of priests, a community ruled by a king, and dedicated to His service, and having the priestly right of access to Him (see Dillmann on Exo 19:6). Hence the import of the title as applied by Peter depends on the question whether he uses it in the proper sense of the Greek terms, or in the sense of the original Hebrew as inexactly rendered by the LXX. In the latter case, it will mean a kingdom indeed, but one of priests. In favour of this it is urged that it retains the analogy of the other titles, each of which names some purely natural or national community, and qualifies it by a distinctive epithet. They are named, that is to say, a race, but are distinguished from others as elect, a nation but a holy one, a people but a peculiar one, and, in the same way, a kingdom but one of priestly order and membership. In the former case, the idea will be simply that of a priesthood belonging to a king, or of kingly honour.
a holy nation, i.e a common wealth consecrated to God,a title taken again from Exo 19:6, and in the same connection as there.
a people for possession, i.e a people whom God has taken for His own. The A. V., following Tyndale, the Genevan Version, and the Bishops Bible, and induced probably by the Vulgates rendering, gives peculiar (as also in Tit 2:14),a word which, having lost its etymological sense, is now an inappropriate rendering. Wycliffe gives a people of purchasing; Cranmer, a people which are won; the Rhemish, a people of purchase. The noun occurs again in 1Th 5:9 (A. V. to obtain), 2Th 2:14 (A. V. the obtaining), Eph 1:14 (A. V. purchased possession), and Heb 10:39 (A. V. saving). The cognate verb is translated purchase (Act 20:28; 1Ti 3:13). The noun may have either the active sense of acquiring, acquisition, or the passive sense of the thing acquired. It is wrongly taken in the former sense here, however (Schott, e.g., makes it = a people yet to be acquired), because Peter deals not with what God is to make His people in the future, but with what He has made them now. The phrase reproduces, with some change in the form, the idea expressed in Isa 43:21, as well as in Exo 19:5. The Hebrew term used in the latter passage occurs again in such passages as Deu 7:6 (A. V. a special people). Deu 14:2, Deu 26:18; Psa 135:4 (A. V. peculiar treasure); Mal 3:17 (A. V. jewels). It denotes property,not, however, mere property as such, but precious property, or rather perhaps property belonging specially and individually to one. Here, therefore, it is sufficiently well rendered by the R. V., a people for Gods own possession. that ye should show forth, or rather, as the verb implies (which occurs nowhere else in the N. T.), that ye should tell out. So Wycliffe gives tell and the Rhemish declare, while Tyndale, Cranmer, and the Genevan have show.
the excellences. The Greek word is the familiar term for virtues, and so it is rendered here by the margin of the A. V., as well as by Wycliffe, Tyndale, Cranmer, the Genevan, and the Rhemish. It is used, however, by the LXX. as equivalent to the Heb. term for praise or praises. So it occurs in the passage (Isa 43:21) which Peter has in mind here; and as the prophet speaks there of the people whom Jehovah had formed for Himself as having a vocation to relate how He had glorified Himself in them (see Delitzsch, in loc.), it is reasonable to suppose that the term here denotes not the words of praise, but (as it is used also by Philo) the things which evoke praise, the excellences of God, whether in the sense of the excellent deeds of His grace (so Schott, as most nearly expressing the idea in Isaiah), or His excellent attributes manifested in these deeds (Huther and most). It is with this object that they are made what they are. If they are what these titles indicate, it is not with a view to their own glorification, but to qualify them and put them under obligation to publish these excellences of God to others. This showing forth may apply, as it is largely taken, to the duty of glorifying God by the fruits of a new life. But, as the verb is used regularly of verbal declaration, and as the LXX. rendering of Isaiahs phrase (Isa 43:21) has a similar force, what is intended rather is that the N. T. Israel is set to continue the prophetic vocation of the O. T. Israel, and is made what it is in order to proclaim Christ to those outside, as its predecessor was made Gods people in order to be His preacher to the nations.
of him who called you, that is, as formerly, God, not Christ out of darkness into his marvellous light. It is to make too little of the term light to say that it refers simply to the Christian life. It is to make too much of it, however, to say that it points to Gods own presence or Being as that to which they are called. God is light, but He is also in the light (1Jn 1:5; 1Jn 1:7). The familiar figures point here simply to two contrasted spheres of existence, to one as that of heathen ignorance and hopelessness, to another as that of holiness and serenity. This latter is His light, the sphere of existence which belongs to God, the new kingdom which also is marvellous (perhaps Psa 118:23 is still in Peters thoughts) to eyes opened to see it, as is to idle orbs the sight of sun, or moon, or star throughout the year, or man, or woman (Milton).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
In these words our apostle acquaints these believing Jews, who were built upon Christ, the foundation-stone, that the same titles did now belong to them in a more excellent manner as Christians, which were formerly given to their ancestors of the Jewish nation by God himself, Deu 7:6-7
As the Jews of old were a chosen generation, a kingdom of priests, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that is, they were a people chosen by God before all other people whatsoever, to bear his name, and to bear witness to his truth; they were a people in covenant with him, and so inexpressibly dear unto him, that he that hurt them touched the apple of God’s eye: in like manner these Jews, and proselyted Gentiles of the dispersion, who were converted to Christianity, have all the forecited titles belonging to them.
A chosen generation, by effectual vocation separated from the world to the service of Christ, whose name they bear.
A royal priesthood, that is, kings and priests; kings to reign with him, and priests to offer spiritual sacrifices to him.
An holy nation; so are all the professors of Christianity federally holy, and for that reason all the Christian churches called out of the world, and dedicated to the service of Christ, are styled saints in all St. Paul’s epistles.
A peculiar people, in covenant with God, purchased by the blood of Christ.
Next the apostle declares the end of all these distinguished favours being granted to them; namely, that they might show forth the virtues, that is, publish and proclaim the wisdom, power, goodness, and mercy, the righteousness and truth, of God, who had called them out of the darkness of sin, ignorance, and misery, into the marvellous light of knowledge, faith, holiness, and comfort.
Lastly, To enhance their thankfulness for all these distinguishing favours, he puts them in mind of what they were before their conversion to Christianity; in times past they were not a people, that is, not a people beloved of God, and in covenant with him; the Lord having given the Jews a bill of divorce, and said to them, Lo-ammi, Ye are not my people, Hos 1:9 but now upon their believing in Christ they were restored to all their church-privileges, by the special mercy and grace of God.
Learn hence, That till persons subject themselves to the government of Christ, and become obedient to the gospel, they are in God’s account no people: to live without Christ in the world, is a life worse than death.
Learn, 2. That when a people are brought near to God by Jesus Christ, and partake of all the rich and invaluable blessings and privileges of the gospel, they are exceedingly indebted for all the rich mercy and free grace of God; Which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Results of Obeying Christ
The expressions Peter used in 1Pe 2:9 to describe Christians are reminiscent of descriptions of Israel used in the Old Testament ( Isa 43:20-21 ; Exo 19:6 ; Deu 7:6 ; Deu 14:2 ). That is because Christians are now the Israel of God ( Gal 6:15-16 ; Mat 21:43 ; Rom 9:8 ; Rom 2:28-29 ; Gal 3:16 ; Gal 3:26-29 ; Gal 3:7 ; Php 3:3 ). He follows those with a quotation from Hos 2:23 which applied by Paul to the Gentiles in Rom 9:24-26 (compare Eph 2:11-13 ). It seems likely that the letter was sent to a great number of Gentiles. In Christ, all Christians become God’s people and receive mercy in the form of the forgiveness of sins ( 1Pe 2:10 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
1Pe 2:9-10. But ye Who have been born again of incorruptible seed, and have purified your souls by obeying the truth, &c., (1Pe 1:22-23,) and have tasted that the Lord is gracious, (1Pe 2:3,) and are built up upon him as lively stories; ye, who bear this character are a chosen generation , an elect race; all such, and such only, have that title, and other titles of a similar import, in the New Testament. See on Eph 1:3-7; 2Th 2:13-14. A royal priesthood Kings and priests unto God, Rev 1:6. As princes, you have power with God, and victory over sin and Satan, the world and the flesh: as priests, ye are consecrated to God for the purpose of offering spiritual sacrifices; a holy nation Under Christ, your King; a peculiar or purchased people, as is rendered in the margin; that is, a people who, being purchased by the blood of Christ, and dedicated to, and accepted of, God, are taken into covenant with him, and are his in a peculiar sense. See on Tit 2:14; that ye should show forth In your spirit and conduct, in all your tempers, words, and works; the praises , the virtues, that is, the perfections; the wisdom, power, goodness, truth, justice, mercy, the holiness, the love; of him Christ, or the Father, in and through Christ; who hath called you out of darkness Out of that state of ignorance and error, sin and misery, in which you lay formerly involved; into his marvellous light The light of knowledge, wisdom, holiness, and happiness, into which you are now brought. Which in time past were not a people (Much less the people of God,) but scattered individuals of many nations. This is a quotation from Hos 2:23, where the conversion of the Gentiles is foretold, as the Apostle Paul informs us, Rom 9:25. Upon which passages see the notes; which had not, formerly, obtained mercy Namely, the pardoning, saving mercy of God; but now In consequence of repentance, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; have obtained mercy Are forgiven, accepted, and made Gods children.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2:9 {8} But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
(8) On the other hand, he describes the singular excellency of the elect, and also lest any man should doubt whether he is chosen or not, the apostle calls us back to the effectual calling, that is, to the voice of the gospel sounding both in our ears and minds by the outward preaching and ordinances, by which we may certainly understand that everlasting decree of our salvation (which otherwise is most secret and hidden) and that through the only mercy of God who freely chooses and calls us. Therefore only this remains, faith, that by all means possible we set forth the great goodness of the most mighty God.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
4. Summary affirmation of our identity 2:9-10
Peter proceeded to clarify the nature of the church and in doing so explained the duty of Christians in the world, particularly suffering Christians.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
All the figures of the church that Peter chose here originally referred to Israel. However with Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ (1Pe 2:7) God created a new body of people through whom He now seeks to accomplish the same purposes He sought to achieve through Israel but by different means. This verse, which at first might seem to equate the church and Israel, on careful examination shows as many differences between these groups as similarities. [Note: See John W. Pryor, "First Peter and the New Covenant," Reformed Theological Review 45:1&2 (January-April & May-August 1986):1-3, 44-50, for an example of how covenant theologians, who believe the church replaces Israel in God’s program, interpret this and other passages dealing with Peter’s perception of the identity of his readers.]
"But this does not mean that the church is Israel or even that the church replaces Israel in the plan of God. Romans 11 should help us guard against that misinterpretation. . . . The functions that Israel was called into existence to perform in its day of grace the church now performs in a similar way. In the future, according to Paul, God will once again use Israel to bless the world (cf. Rom 11:13-16; Rom 11:23-24)." [Note: Blum, p. 231.]
Israel was a physical race of people, the literal descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The church is a spiritual race, the members of which share the common characteristic of faith in Christ and are both Jews and Gentiles racially. Christians are the spiritual descendants of Abraham. We are not Abraham’s literal descendants, unless we are ethnic Jews, but are his children in the sense that we believe God’s promises as he did.
God’s purpose for Israel was that she be a nation of priests (Exo 19:6) who would stand between God and the rest of humanity representing people before God. However, God withdrew this blessing from the whole nation because of the Israelites’ apostasy with the golden calf and gave it to the faithful tribe of Levi instead (Num 3:12-13; Num 3:45; Num 8:14; cf. Exo 13:2; Exo 32:25-29). In contrast, every individual Christian is a priest before God. [Note: See John E. Johnson, "The Old Testament Offices as Paradigm for Pastoral Identity," Bibliotheca Sacra 152:606 (April-June 1995):182-200.] We function as priests to the extent that we worship, intercede, and minister (1Pe 2:5; Rev 1:6). There is no separate priestly class in the church as there was in Israel. [Note: See W. H. Griffith Thomas, "Is the New Testament Minister a Priest?" Bibliotheca Sacra 136:541 (January-March 1979):65-73.]
"Whatever its precise background, the vision of 1 Peter is that the Gentiles to whom it is written have become, by virtue of their redemption in Christ, a new priesthood in the world, analogous to the ancient priesthood that was the people of Israel. Consequently they share with the Jews the precarious status of ’aliens and strangers’ in the Roman world." [Note: Michaels, p. liv.]
"When I was a pastor, I preached a message entitled, ’You Are a Catholic Priest.’ The word catholic means ’general,’ of course. In that sense every believer is a catholic priest, and all have access to God." [Note: McGee, 5:692.]
God redeemed Israel at the Exodus and adopted that nation at Mt. Sinai as one that would be different from all others throughout history (Exo 19:6). God wanted Israel to be a beacon to the nations holding the light of God’s revelation up for all to see, similar to the Statue of Liberty (Isa 42:6). He did not tell all the Israelites to take this light to those in darkness, but to live before others in the Promised Land. He would attract others to them and to Himself, as He did the Queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10) and Naaman (2 Kings 5). However, Israel failed. She preferred to be a nation like all the other nations (1Sa 8:5). Now God has made the church the bearer of His light. God has not told us to be a localized demonstration, as Israel was, but to be aggressive missionaries going to the ends of the earth. God wanted Israel to stay in her land. He wants us to go into all the world with the gospel (Mat 28:19-20).
God wanted to dwell among the Israelites and to make them His own unique possession by residing among them (Exo 19:5). He did this in the tabernacle and the temple until the apostasy of the Israelites made continuation of this intimacy impossible. Then the presence of God departed from His people (cf. Ezekiel 10). In the church God does not just dwell among us, but He resides in every individual Christian (Joh 14:17; Rom 8:9). He has promised never to leave us (Mat 28:20).
The church is what it is so that it can do what God has called it to do. Essentially the church’s purpose is the same as Israel’s. The Great Commission (Mat 28:19-20; et al.) clarifies the methods God wants us to use. These methods differ from those He specified for Israel, but the church’s vocation is really the same as Israel’s. It is to be the instrument through which the light of God reaches individuals who still sit in spiritual darkness. It is a fallacy, however, to say that the church is simply the continuation or replacement of Israel in the New Testament, as most covenant theologians do. [Note: For further information on the subject of the church’s distinctiveness, see Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today, pp. 22-47; idem, Dispensationalism, pp. 23-43; or Robert L. Saucy, The Case for Progressive Dispensationalism, pp. 205-12.] Most theologians agree that the most basic difference between dispensational theology and covenant theology is that dispensationalists believe that the church is distinct from Israel whereas covenant theologians believe that the church is the continuation and replacement of Israel, the so-called "new Israel."
"In the ancient world it was not unusual for the king to have his own group of priests." [Note: Davids, p. 92.]