The document discusses the exhortation from 1 Peter 2:1-12, encouraging believers to rid themselves of negative traits such as malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and speaking ill of others, as these are inconsistent with a life of Christian love. It emphasizes the metaphor of laying aside these vices like old garments, highlighting that a true Christian should embody sincerity and honesty akin to that of children. The document concludes by urging new Christians to crave spiritual nourishment from the word of God to promote growth and maturity in their faith.

1. I PETER 2 1-12 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy,
envy, and slander of every kind.
BAR ES, “Wherefore laying aside - On the word rendered laying aside, see Rom_13:12;
Eph_4:22, Eph_4:25; Col_3:8. The allusion is to putting off clothes; and the meaning is, that we are to
cast off these things entirely; that is, we are no longer to practice them. The word “wherefore” (οᆗν
oun) refers to the reasonings in the first chapter. In view of the considerations stated there, we should
renounce all evil.
All malice - All “evil,” (κακίαν kakian.) The word “malice” we commonly apply now to a particular
kind of evil, denoting extreme enmity of heart, ill-will, a disposition to injure others without cause,
from mere personal gratification, or from a spirit of revenge - Webster. The Greek word, however,
includes evil of all kinds. See the notes at Rom_1:29. Compare Act_8:22, where it is rendered
wickedness, and 1Co_5:8; 1Co_14:20; Eph_4:31; Col_3:8; Tit_3:3.
And all guile - Deceit of all kinds. See the Rom_1:29 note; 2Co_12:16 note; 1Th_2:3 note.
And hypocrisies - See the 1Ti_4:2, note; Mat_23:28; Gal_2:13, on the word rendered
dissimulation. The word means, feigning to be what we are not; assuming a false appearance of
religion; cloaking a wicked purpose under the appearance of piety.
And envies - Hatred of others on account of some excellency which they have, or something which
they possess which we do not. See the notes at Rom_1:29.
And all evil speaking - Greek: “speaking against others.” This word (καταλαλιᆭ katalalia) occurs
only here and in 2Co_12:20, where it is rendered “backbitings.” It would include all unkind or
slanderous speaking against others. This is by no means an uncommon fault in the world, and it is one
of the designs of religion to guard against it. Religion teaches us to lay aside whatever guile,
insincerity, and false appearances we may have acquired, and to put on the simple honesty and
openness of children. We all acquire more or less of guile and insincerity in the course of life. We learn
to conceal our sentiments and feelings, and almost unconsciously come to appear different from what
we really are. It is not so with children. In the child, every emotion of the bosom appears as it is.
“Nature there works well and beautifully.” Every emotion is expressed; every feeling of the heart is
developed; and in the cheeks, the open eye, the joyous or sad countenance, we know all that there is in
the bosom, as certainly as we know all that there is in the rose by its color and its fragrance. Now, it is
one of the purposes of religion to bring us back to this state, and to strip off all the subterfuges which
we may have acquired in life; and he in whom this effect is not accomplished has never been
converted. A man that is characteristically deceitful, cunning, and crafty, cannot be a Christian.
“Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,”
Mat_18:3.
CLARKE, “Wherefore, laying aside - This is in close connection with the preceding chapter,
from which it should not have been separated, and the subject is continued to the end of the 10th
verse.

2. Laying aside all malice - See the notes on Eph_4:22-31 (note). These tempers and dispositions
must have been common among the Jews, as they are frequently spoken against: Christianity can
never admit of such; they show the mind, not of Christ, but of the old murderer.
GILL, “Wherefore, laying aside all malice,.... Since the persons the apostle writes to were born
again, and therefore ought to love one another, he exhorts them to the disuse of such vices as were
disagreeable to their character as regenerate men, and contrary brotherly love; he dissuades them
from them, and advises to "lay them aside", either as weights and burdens, which it was not fit for new
born babes to carry; see Heb_12:1 or rather as old worn out clothes, as filthy rags, which should be put
off, laid by, and never used more, being what were very unsuitable to their character and profession to
wear: the metaphor is the same as in Eph_4:22 and the first he mentions is malice; to live in which is a
mark of an unregenerate man, and very unbecoming such who are born again; and is not consistent
with the relation of brethren, and character of children, or new born babes, who are without malice,
and do not bear and retain it: "all" of this is to be laid aside, towards all persons whatever, and in every
shape, and in every instance of it:
and all guile; fraud, or deceit, in words or actions; and which should not be found, and appear in any
form, in Israelites indeed, in brethren, in the children of God; who ought not to lie one to another, or
defraud each other, nor express that with their lips which they have not in their hearts; which babes
are free from, and so should babes in Christ:
and hypocrisies; both to God and men: hypocrisy to God is, when persons profess that which they
have not, as love to God, faith in Christ, zeal for religion, fervent devotion, and sincerity in the worship
of God; and do all they do to be seen of men, and appear outwardly righteous, and yet are full of all
manner of iniquity: hypocrisy to men is, pretence of friendship, loving in word and tongue only,
speaking peaceably with the mouth, but in heart laying wait; a sin to be abhorred and detested by one
that is born from above; and is contrary to that integrity, simplicity, and sincerity of heart, which
become regenerate persons, the children of God, and brethren one of another:
and envies; at each other's happiness and prosperity, riches, honours, gifts temporal or spiritual; for
such are works of the flesh, show men to be carnal, are unbecoming regenerated persons, and contrary
to the exercise of Christian charity, or love, which envieth not the welfare of others, either respecting
body, soul, or estate:
and all evil speakings; backbitings, whisperings, detractions, hurting one another's characters by
innuendos, false charges, and evil surmises; which is not acting like men that are made new creatures,
and are partakers of the divine nature, nor like brethren, or as Christ's little ones, and who are of God,
begotten again to be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
HE RY, “The holy apostle has been recommending mutual charity, and setting forth the
excellences of the word of God, calling it an incorruptible seed, and saying that it liveth and abideth
for ever. He pursues his discourse, and very properly comes in with this necessary advice, Wherefore
laying aside all malice, etc. These are such sins as both destroy charity and hinder the efficacy of the
word, and consequently they prevent our regeneration.
I. His advice is to lay aside or put off what is evil, as one would do an old rotten garment: “Cast it
away with indignation, never put it on more.”
1. The sins to be put off, or thrown aside, are, (1.) Malice, which may be taken more generally for all
sorts of wickedness, as Jam_1:21; 1Co_5:8. But, in a more confined sense, malice is anger resting in
the bosom of fools, settled overgrown anger, retained till it inflames a man to design mischief, to do
mischief, or delight in any mischief that befalls another. (2.) Guile, or deceit in words. So it
comprehends flattery, falsehood, and delusion, which is a crafty imposing upon another's ignorance or

3. weakness, to his damage. (3.) Hypocrisies. The word being plural comprehends all sorts of hypocrisies.
In matters of religion hypocrisy is counterfeit piety. In civil conversation hypocrisy is counterfeit
friendship, which is much practised by those who give high compliments, which they do not believe,
make promises which they never intend to perform, or pretend friendship when mischief lies in their
hearts. (4.) All envies; every thing that may be called envy, which is a grieving at the good and welfare
of another, at their abilities, prosperity, fame, or successful labours. (5.) Evil speaking, which is
detraction, speaking against another, or defaming him; it is rendered backbiting, 2Co_12:20;
Rom_1:30.
2. Hence learn, (1.) The best Christians have need to be cautioned and warned against the worst sins,
such as malice, hypocrisy, envy. They are but sanctified in part, and are still liable to temptations. (2.)
Our best services towards God will neither please him nor profit us if we be not conscientious in our
duties to men. The sins here mentioned are offences against the second table. These must be laid aside,
or else we cannot receive the word of God as we ought to do. (3.) Whereas it is said all malice, all guile,
learn, That one sin, not laid aside, will hinder our spiritual profit and everlasting welfare. (4.) Malice,
envy, hatred, hypocrisy, and evil-speaking, generally go together. Evil-speaking is a sign that malice
and guile lie in the heart; and all of them combine to hinder our profiting by the word of God.
II. The apostle, like a wise physician, having prescribed the purging out of vicious humours, goes on
to direct to wholesome and regular food, that they may grow thereby. The duty exhorted to is a strong
and constant desire for the word of God, which word is here called reasonable milk, only, this phrase
not being proper English, our translators rendered it the milk of the word, by which we are to
understand food proper for the soul, or a reasonable creature, whereby the mind, not the body, is
nourished and strengthened. This milk of the word must be sincere, not adulterated by the mixtures of
men, who often corrupt the word of God, 2Co_2:17. The manner in which they are to desire this
sincere milk of the word is stated thus: As new-born babes. He puts them in mind of their
regeneration. A new life requires suitable food. They, being newly born, must desire the milk of the
word. Infants desire common milk, and their desires towards it are fervent and frequent, arising from
an impatient sense of hunger, and accompanied with the best endeavours of which the infant is
capable. Such must Christians' desires be for the word of God: and that for this end, that they may
grow thereby, that we may improve in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, 2Pe_3:18.
Learn, 1. Strong desires and affections to the word of God are a sure evidence of a person's being born
again. If they be such desires as the babe has for the milk, they prove that the person is new-born. They
are the lowest evidence, but yet they are certain. 2. Growth and improvement in wisdom and grace are
the design and desire of every Christian; all spiritual means are for edification and improvement. The
word of God, rightly used, does not leave a man as it finds him, but improves and makes him better.
JAMISO , “1Pe_2:1-25. Exhortations.
To guileless feeding on the word by the sense of their privileges as new-born babes, living stones in
the spiritual temple built on Christ the chief corner-stone, and royal priests, in contrast to their former
state: also to abstinence from fleshly lusts, and to walk worthily in all relations of life, so that the world
without which opposes them may be constrained to glorify God in seeing their good works. Christ, the
grand pattern to follow in patience under suffering for well-doing.
laying aside — once for all: so the Greek aorist expresses as a garment put off. The exhortation
applies to Christians alone, for in none else is the new nature existing which, as “the inward man”
(Eph_3:16) can cast off the old as an outward thing, so that the Christian, through the continual
renewal of his inward man, can also exhibit himself externally as a new man. But to unbelievers the
demand is addressed, that inwardly, in regard to the nous (mind), they must become changed, meta-
noeisthai (re-pent) [Steiger]. The “therefore” resumes the exhortation begun in 1Pe_1:22. Seeing that
ye are born again of an incorruptible seed, be not again entangled in evil, which “has no substantial
being, but is an acting in contrariety to the being formed in us” [Theophylact]. “Malice,” etc., are
utterly inconsistent with the “love of the brethren,” unto which ye have “purified your souls”
(1Pe_1:22). The vices here are those which offend against the BROTHERLY LOVE inculcated above.

4. Each succeeding one springs out of that which immediately precedes, so as to form a genealogy of the
sins against love. Out of malice springs guile; out of guile, hypocrises (pretending to be what we are
not, and not showing what we really are; the opposite of “love unfeigned,” and “without
dissimulation”); out of hypocrisies, envies of those to whom we think ourselves obliged to play the
hypocrite; out of envies, evil-speaking, malicious, envious detraction of others. Guile is the permanent
disposition; hypocrisies the acts flowing from it. The guileless knows no envy. Compare 1Pe_2:2,
“sincere,” Greek, “guileless.” “Malice delights in another’s hurt; envy pines at another’s good; guile
imparts duplicity to the heart; hypocrisy (flattery) imparts duplicity to the tongue; evil-speakings
wound the character of another” [Augustine].
CALVI , “After having taught the faithful that they had been regenerated by the word of God, he now exhorts them
to lead a life corresponding with their birth. For if we live in the Spirit, we ought also to walk in the Spirit, as Paul says.
(Gal_5:25 .) It is not, then, sufficient for us to have been once called by the Lord, except we live as new creatures.
This is the meaning. But as to the words, the ApostleCO TI UES the same metaphor. For as we have been born
again, he requires from us a life like that of infants; by which he intimates that we are to put off the old man and his
works. Hence this verse agrees with what Christ says,
“ ye become like this little child,
ye shall notE TER into the kingdom of God.”
(Mat_18:3 .)
Infancy is here set by Peter in opposition to the ancientness of the flesh, which leads to corruption; and under the
word milk, he includes all the feelings of spiritual life. For there is also in part a contrast between the vices which he
enumerates and the sincere milk of the word; as though he had said, “ and hypocrisy belong to those who are
habituated to theCORRUPTIO S of the world; they have imbibed these vices: what pertains to infancy is sincere
simplicity, free from all guile. Men, when grown up, become imbued with envy, they learn to slander one another, they
are taught the arts of mischief; in short, they become hardened in every kind of evil: infants, owing to their age, do not
yet know what it is to envy, to do mischief, or the like things.” He then compares the vices, in which the oldness of the
flesh indulges, to strong food; and milk is called that way of living suitable to innocent nature and simple infancy.
1. All malice There is not here a complete enumeration of all those things which we ought to lay aside; but when the
Apostles speak of the old man, they lay down as examples some of those vices which mark his whole character.
“” says Paul, “ the works of the flesh, which are these,” (Gal_5:19 ;)
and yet he does not enumerate them all; but in those few things, as in a mirror, we may see that immense mass of filth
whichPROCEEDS from our flesh. So also in other passages, where he refers to the new life, he touches only on a
few things, by which we may understand the whole character.
What, then, he says amounts to this, — “ laid aside the works of your former life, such as malice, deceit,
dissimulations, envyings, and other things of this kind, devote yourselves to things of an opposite character, cultivate
kindness, honesty,” etc. He, in short, urges this, that new morals ought to follow a new life.
PULPIT, "1Pe_2:1 Wherefore laying aside. Those who would wear the white robe of regeneration
must lay aside the filthy garments (Zec_3:3) of the old carnal life. So St. Paul bids us put off the
old man and put on the new (Eph_4:22, Eph_4:24; Col_3:8, Col_3:10; comp. also Rom_13:14,
"Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." The metaphor would be more striking when, at baptism, the
old dress was laid aside, and the white chrisom was put on. St. Paul connects the putting on of
Christ with baptism in Gal_3:27, and St. Peter, when speaking of baptism in 1Pe_3:21, uses the
substantive ( ἀπόθεσις ) corresponding to the word here rendered "laying aside" ( ἀποθέµενοι ).

5. All malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil-speakings. The sins mentioned
here are all offences against that "unfeigned love of the brethren" which formed the subject of St.
Peter's exhortation in the latter part of 1Pe_1:1-25. St. Augustine, quoted here by most
commentators, says, "Malitia malo delectatur alieno; invidia bone cruciatur alieno; dolus
duplicat; adulatio duplicat linguam; detrectatio vulnerat famam" (comp. Eph_4:22-31); the close
resemblance between the two passages proves St. Peter's knowledge of the Epistle to the
Ephesians.
LA GE, "1Pe_2:1. Wherefore, laying aside.—The section 1Pe_2:1-10. is connected, as are the
exhortations in 1Pe_1:22, with the idea of regeneration and the love out of a pure heart flowing
from it. To brotherly love out of a pure heart are opposed guile, deception, hypocrisy, envy and
slander; if that is to spring up, these vices must die. On this account Peter exhorts Christians to
lay them aside, to put them off. If a new life is implanted, it must grow, and therefore save
corresponding, wholesome nourishment; on this account Peter entreats them to long for that
nourishment that thus they might be able to grow and to overcome temptations.—The
construction is here as in 1Pe_1:22. The Imperative reacts on the Participle. Laying aside is a
figure taken from clothing and of frequent occurrence, Col_3:8; Eph_4:22; Jam_1:21. The old
man is a garment, wholly surrounding, closely-fitting and forming a whole with us. “Take away
the filthy garments from him—set a fair mitre upon his head,” was the direction concerning
Joshua the high priest, Zec_3:3. The angel adding, “Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass
from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” The figures of laying aside and putting
on clothes was peculiarly apposite because the early Christians were wont to lay aside their old
garments and to exchange them for white and clean apparel when they were baptized and
regenerated. It is necessary to observe that the exhortation to laying aside is only addressed to
those who had the new man, while the unbelieving and unregenerate had first to receive another
mind [ ìåôÜíïéá , after-thought, after-wisdom, a change of disposition must precede baptism and
new-birth.—M.]. The vices to be laid aside bear upon the relation to our neighbour and exert a
deadly influence on brotherly love. êáêßá [nocendi cupiditas] denotes here, in particular,
malicious disposition toward others, aiming at their hurt, injury and pain, and assuming various
manifestations, cf. 1Co_13:5. The accomplishment of such evil intent necessitates lying, cunning
and other artifices; its concealment requires hypocrisy and dissembling. The sense of dependence
on those before whom dissimulation is practised, the sight of their happiness, the shame felt in the
conscience in the presence of the virtuous—excite envy, and envy engenders all manner of evil,
detracting and injurious speaking. [Malitia malo delectatur alieno; invidia bono cruciatur alieno;
dolus duplicat cor; adulatio duplicat linguam; detractatio vulner at famam.—Augustine.—M.].
‘Thus,’ observed Flacius, ‘one vice ever genders another.’ Huss says of êáêáëáëéÜ that it takes
place in various ways, either by denying or darkening a neighbour’s virtues, and either by
attributing to him evil or imputing to him evil designs in doing good.
1. It would be erroneous to represent the nature of regeneration as a state out of which whatever
is good is spontaneously flowing, as water flows from a strong fountain; the new man needs
constant growth in all his powers. The light of his knowledge must deepen and increase; his will
must become more firm and decided; he must grow in love, hope, patience and all other virtues,
Heb_6:1; Eph_4:15; 1Th_4:1; 1Th_4:10; Php_3:12. This necessitates exhortation on the part of
others, and the regenerate must (of course in the spirit of the Gospel, for the flesh is ever warring
against the spirit) coerce himself to do good. “A Christian is in process of being, not already
completed. Consequently, a Christian is not a Christian, that is, one who thinks that he is already
a Christian, whereas he is to become one, is nothing. For we strive to get to heaven, but are not
yet in heaven.” Luther.

6. LA GE, "1Pe_2:1. Which are the things that kill brotherly love and ought therefore earnestly to
be fought against and laid aside?—Growth in Christian perfection: (a) its soil; (b) its necessity;
(c) its means.—Love of the Divinely given means of grace both the mark and task of the new
man.—The foundation, on which all Christian exhortations are resting.—The true Church is the
mother, nourishing her children with the pure milk of the Divine word.—Jesus, the sinner’s
cordial and delight in life, suffering and dying.—Christ, the living stone, ever living and
animating His people.—Christians are living stones in the building of the kingdom of God: 1.
What does it mean? 2 What is necessary to it? 3. What advantage does it bring?—The Christian
state a holy priesthood: 1. Its dignity; 2. Its duties.—The two-fold destination of the Church’s
corner-stone.—Of the vessels of wrath set (prepared) for condemnation.—The chosen generation
of the children of God: 1. Their election; 2. Their destination.—Only God’s people is a people
indeed.
Starke:—The punishment of sin is affected by regeneration, for this must supply us with the
ability to avoid evil.—He that betrays attachment to some one darling sin to which natural
naughtiness, habit, or manner of life render him peculiarly liable, gives proof that he is not yet in
earnest as to his sanctification.—Sin is an arch-deceiver; let every man take care not to be
deceived, and not to regard evil and harmful as good and harmless.—The longer and the more
we partake of the sweet milk of the Gospel, the more do we increase in the spirit.—Faith gives us
some taste of the grace, mercy and loving-kindness of God, Psa_34:9.—He that tastes the
goodness of God must show it in loving converse with his neighbour.—Well built on Christ; who
can destroy this temple? Mat_16:18. In this temple offer diligently the incense of your prayer and
sacrifice.—Good works are well pleasing to God, not because of their perfection, but because of
Christ the Beloved, for they are wrought in God, Joh_3:21.—Consider the cause and the order of
salvation; Christ is the cause, faith the order; both must go together or salvation is impossible,
Joh_3:36.—Those who reject Christ lose their life, but do neither hurt Him nor His Gospel any
more than a well-secured corner-stone can be hurt by those who stumble at it.—The great glory
of believers:—they have consolation and joy in life and death.—The unconverted are abominable
to God, the converted precious and acceptable.
Lisco:—Sincere repentance: (a) its nature; (b) its motive.—The blessed communion with Christ
Jesus.—The exalted dignity of the Christian Church.—The Christian’s life of faith.—The
eternally immovable foundation of the kingdom of heaven.—Christ stands in a contrasted
relation to man.—The Apostle’s exhortation that we should build up ourselves.
COFFMA , "Verse 1
In this great chapter, Peter stressed the duties of the church as the new Israel of God, who were
bound by their privileges to exhibit lives worthy of their sacred calling (1 Peter 2:1-10); and then
he gave the first of a number of admonitions DIRECTED to the Christians with regard to their
obligations to the outward society (1 Peter 2:11-25).
Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil
speakings, (1 Peter 2:1)
Putting away therefore ... This is from [@apothesthai], "which is the word for stripping off one's
clothes."[1] The child of God must denounce and turn away from all manner of wickedness, just
as one might strip off filthy clothing. The words here are strongly SUGGESTIVE of what occurs
at the time of baptism:

7. Paul CO ECTS the putting on of Christ with baptism (Galatians 3:27); and Peter, when
speaking of baptism in 1 Peter 3:21; both used the Greek word which corresponds to the word
here, "laying aside."[2]
Hunter also AGREED that the words here have the meaning of "Since you are born again,"[3]
the sins about to be enumerated being by implication survivors from the old bad way of life.
Guile ... is deceitfulness, especially lying and false speech; thus it is usually spoken of as being on
the lips, or found in the mouth.
Hypocrisies and envies ... Hypocrisy was the leaven of the Pharisees, according to Christ himself,
the same being a way of life for the religious leaders of that day. It is pretending to be what one
knows he is not.
Envies ... So long as self remains ACTIVE in one's heart, there will be envy in his life."[4] It
springs from jealousies which are, in fact, concealed malice in hearts that are displeased with all
beauty, achievement, virtue, or any other desirable quality in others.
And all evil speakings ... All evil speakings are prohibited to Christians, whether against
brethren, officers of the state, or any other persons.
[1] William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press,
1976), p. 189.
[2] B. C. Coffin, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 20,1Peter (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 68.
[3] Archibald M. Hunter, The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. XII ( ew York and ashville: Abingdon
Press, 1957), p. 105.
[4] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 190.
CO STABLE, ""Therefore" goes BACK to 1 Peter 1:3-12 as well as 1 Peter 1:22-25. To prepare
for an exposition of the Christian's calling, Peter urged his readers to take off all kinds of evil
conduct like so many soiled garments (cf. Zechariah 3:1-5; Romans 1:29-30; 2 Corinthians 12:20;
Ephesians 4:31; Colossians 3:8; 1 Timothy 1:9-10; James 1:21). The sins he mentioned are all
incompatible with brotherly love (cf. 1 Peter 1:22). Malice (wickedness) and guile (deceit) are
attitudes. The remaining three words describe specific actions. These are not "the grosser vices of
paganism, but community-destroying vices that are often tolerated by the modern church."
OTE: Davids, p. 80.]
"The early Christian practice of baptism by immersion entailed undressing completely; and we
know that in the later liturgies the candidate's removal of his clothes before descending naked to
the pool and his putting on a new set on coming up formed an impressive ceremony and were
interpreted as symbols of his abandonment of his past unworthy life and his adoption of a new
life of innocence ..." [ ote: J. . D. Kelly, A Commentary on the Epistles of Peter and Jude, pp.
83-84.]
Peter here called his readers to put into practice what they had professed in their baptism.C. Our
Priestly Calling 2:1-10

8. Peter CO TI UED his explanation of Christians' duties as we endure trials and suffering
joyfully. He called his readers to do certain things in the world of unbelievers, and he reminded
them of certain realities in this pericope. He did so to motivate them to press on to finish God's
plan and purpose for them in the world now.
"The great doxology (1 Peter 1:3-12) BEGI S with praise to God, who is the One who begot us
again. All hortations that follow grow out of this our relation to God: 1) since he who begot us is
holy, we, too, must be holy (1 Peter 1:13-16); 2) since he is our Judge and has ransomed us at so
great a PRICE, we must conduct ourselves with fear (1 Peter 1:17-21); 3) since we are begotten of
the incorruptible seed of the Word we are brethren, and thus our relation to each other must be
one of love, of children of the one Father (1 Peter 1:22-25). So Peter now PROCEEDS to the
EXT hortation: 4) since we have been begotten by means of the eternal Word we should long
for the milk of the Word as our true and proper nourishment." [ ote: Lenski, p. 76.]
In this pericope Peter used four different images to describe the Christian life. These are taking
off habits like garments, growing like babies, being built up like a temple, and serving like
priests.
CHARLES SIMEO , "GROWTH I GRACE IS TO BE DESIRED
1Pe_2:1-3. Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all
evil speakings, as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby;
if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
A STRA GE opinion has obtained amongst some, that there is no such thing as growth in grace.
But the whole tenour of Scripture, from one end of it to the other, proclaims the contrary. We will
go no further than to the passage before us, and to the context connected with it. In the beginning
of his epistle, the Apostle had spoken of Christians as “begotten by God the Father to a lively
hope [ ote: 1Pe_1:3.].” To stir them up to walk worthy of their high calling, he says to them,
“Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end, as obedient children; not
fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in your ignorance; but, as he who hath
called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy, for
I am holy [ ote: 1Pe_1:13-16.].” This injunction he enforces by a great variety of arguments. He
urges, first, the consideration, that God the Father will judge them according to their works
[ ote: 1Pe_1:17.]; then, that they have been redeemed by God the Son [ ote: 1Pe_1:18-19.]; and
then, that they have been born of God the Holy Ghost, through the instrumentality of the
preached word, which unalterably inculcates and requires holiness [ ote: 1Pe_1:23-25.]. From
these premises he deduces the exhortation in our text: “Wherefore, as new-born babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby; if so be ye have tasted, (or as it should rather
be translated, since ye have tasted,) that the Lord is gracious.” Here the idea is kept up of their
being children of God, though children but newly born; and they are urged to desire and feed
upon that blessed provision which God has made for them in his word, and which alone can
secure their growth in the divine life.
The words, thus viewed, will lead us to consider,
I. The character of God’s children—
Many are the descriptions given of them in the Holy Scriptures; but there is not one in all the
inspired volume more simple or more accurate than this: “They have tasted that the Lord is

9. gracious.” This, I say, is,
1. Their universal experience—
[There is not a child of God in the universe to whom this character does not belong. The very
instant that a child is born of God, this is his experience. I DEED it is of “new-born babes” that
it is spoken. As to their knowledge of God, his nature, his perfections, his purposes, it may be
extremely limited and imperfect. Even of the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of “the
exceeding riches of God’s grace as displayed in him,” they may know but little: but they have
“tasted that the Lord is gracious,” and they do assuredly know it by their own happy experience.
If the person be young or old, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, he has learned this, and knows
it, and feels it in his inmost soul. He has heard of the Saviour; he has sought for mercy through
him; and he has received into his soul a sense of God’s pardoning love and mercy in Christ Jesus:
and in this he does rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. He may indeed have received but a taste: but a
taste he has received: and it is “sweeter to him than thousands of gold and silver.” The most
uncivilized savage, when born of God, is in this respect on a footing with the most enlightened
philosopher: he has believed in Christ; and he “makes Christ all his salvation, and all his
desire.”]
2. Their exclusive distinction—
[Simple as this is, there is not a creature upon the face of the whole earth of whom it can with
truth be predicated, but of one who has been “begotten of God,” and “born again of the Holy
Spirit.” Others may be very wise and learned, and may be able to descant with accuracy upon all
the deep things of God. They may in words and in profession greatly magnify the grace of God:
but they have never had a taste of it in their own souls. And the reason is plain: they have never
felt their undone state by nature: they have never been sensible of the immense load of guilt
which they have contracted by their own actual transgressions. Consequently, they have never
trembled for fear of God’s wrath, nor with strong crying and tears sought deliverance from it
through the atoning blood of Jesus. Hence the grace of God has never been extended to them;
and consequently they have never “tasted that the Lord is gracious.” They, as I have before said,
may descant learnedly upon the subject of divine grace; but their discussions proceed from the
head only, and not from the heart. As a man who has never tasted honey, however conversant he
may be with its qualities, has no just conception of its flavour, so none but he who has
experienced the grace of God in his soul can know really what it is. He knows it, because he has
tasted it: and others know it not, because they have not tasted it.]
The Apostle addressing these declares to them,
II. Their duty—
He teaches them,
1. What they are to put away, as injurious to their welfare—
[The unconverted man, though he may appear righteous before men, is in reality full of the most
abominable evils. He may not indulge in any gross sins; but he is full of “malice” towards those
who have injured him in any tender point; and would feel gratified, rather than pained, at any
evil that should befall him. His whole converse with mankind, too, is for the most part little better

10. than one continued system of “guile and hypocrisy,” which are the two chief constituents of what
is called politeness. If a rival surpass him in any thing on which his heart is set, and gain the
honours which he panted for, he will soon find that the spirit which is in him lusteth to “envy.”
Moreover, whether he be more or less guarded in his general conversation, he will find in himself
a propensity to “evil speaking,” as if he felt himself more elevated in proportion as others are
depressed. ow these dispositions are more or less dominant in the natural man, as St. Paul has
strongly and repeatedly declared [ ote: Eph_2:3. Tit_3:3.] — — — and, after a person is
converted to the faith of Christ, he needs to watch and pray against them with all imaginable
care: for as inveterate disorders in the constitution will impede the growth, and destroy the
vigour, of the body, so will these hateful dispositions “war against,” and, if not subdued and
mortified, prevail to the destruction of, the soul. These things therefore must be “put away.”]
2. What they must seek after, as conducive to their growth—
[As “the word is the incorruptible seed of which they are born [ ote: 1Pe_1:23.],” so is it the
food, upon which, as “new-born babes,” they must subsist. In the inspired volume, they have
truth without any mixture of ERROR. The writings of men take partial views of things, and all
more or less savour of human infirmity. or can the soul live upon them. If we have read a
human composition two or three times, we are weary of it: but this is not the case with the word
of God: that is ever new, and ever sweet to the taste of a regenerate soul. A little infant affects
nothing so much as its mother’s breast. From day to day it prefers that before every thing else
that can be offered to it: and it thrives with that, better than with any food that human ingenuity
can devise. So in the “sincere” and unadulterated “milk of the word,” there is something more
sweet and nutritious, than in all other books in the universe. In the inspired volume, God is
presented to the soul under such endearing characters; the Lord Jesus Christ is set forth in such
glorious views; the precepts, the promises, the threatenings, the examples, are all so
harmoniously blended; in short, truths of every kind are conveyed to the mind with such simple
majesty and commanding force, that they insinuate themselves into the whole frame of the soul,
and nourish it in a way that no human composition can. This therefore we should desire, in order
to our spiritual growth. We should read it, meditate upon it, delight ourselves in it: we should
embrace every truth contained in it; its precepts, in order to a more entire conformity to them; its
promises, in order to the encouragement of our souls in aspiring after the highest degrees of
holiness. In short, we should get it blended with the whole frame and constitution of our souls, so
that, to all who behold us from day to day, our growth and profiting may appear: nor should we
be satisfied with any attainment, till we have arrived at “the full measure of the stature of
Christ.”]
Let me further improve this subject,
1. In a way of inquiry—
[I am not now about to inquire, Whether you have mode a great proficiency in the divine life, but
Whether you have ever begun to live, or whether you are yet “dead in trespasses and sins?” In all
the book of God, there is not a more simple, or more decisive test, than in the words before us.
The extent of your knowledge or attainments is at present out of the question. The only point I
wish to ascertain is this; “Have you been born again?” If you have not made any progress in the
divine life, are you “as new-born babes?” Have you been brought, as it were, into a new world?
and are you living altogether in a new way? I do not ask whether, in “passing from death unto
life,” you have experienced any terrors of mind; or whether the change has been so sudden, that

11. you can fix on the time when it commenced? but this I ask, Whether you have attained such
views of Jesus Christ, that he is become truly “precious to your souls [ ote: ver. 7.]?” You cannot
but know, that, however you may have been accustomed to call Christ your Saviour, you have not
really found any delight in him in past times. But if you have been “born again of the Spirit,” a
change has taken place in this particular, and you have been made to feel your obligations to him,
and to claim him as “the Friend, and the Beloved of your soul.” I entreat you to examine
carefully into this matter; for, if this change have not taken place within you, ye are yet in your
sins. Oh, reflect on what our blessed Lord has so solemnly and so repeatedly affirmed; “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, that except a man be born again, he cannot E TER into the kingdom of
God [ ote: Joh_3:3; Joh_3:5.].” If you ask, What shall I do to attain this experience? I would say,
Search out your sins, in order that you may know your need of Christ; and then go to him as the
friend of sinners, who casts out none who come unto him. In a word, I would refer you to the
words of our text, as contained in the 34th Psalm, from whence they are taken; “O taste and see
that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man that trusteth in him [ ote: Psa_34:8.].”]
2. In a way of affectionate exhortation—
[You have reason, I will suppose, to believe that you have been born again; and that, though of no
great stature in the divine life, you are new-born babes. If this be so, you have more reason to be
thankful than if you were made possessors of the whole world: and I therefore call upon you to
bless and magnify the Lord with your whole souls. But be not contented to CO TI UE in a state
of infantine weakness, but seek to grow up into the stature of “young men, and fathers [ ote:
1Jn_2:12-13.].” Some imagine that, as children, they may stand excused for the smallness of their
attainments; but this is a grievous error. See with what severity St. Paul reproved the Corinthian
converts for their want of progress in the divine life. Their continuing babes in their attainments
proved them to be yet carnal, instead of spiritual; and prevented his feeding them with stronger
meat, that would have nourished and strengthened their souls [ ote: 1Co_3:1-4.]. See also how
he condemned the same in the Hebrew converts, who by their infantine weakness were
incapacitated for the reception of those sublime truths, which he would gladly have imparted to
them [ ote: Heb_5:12; Heb_5:14.]. Be afraid then of standing still in religion: for if you make not
progress in it, you will speedily go backward; and if you decline from God’s ways, O, how terrible
will your state become! The Apostle tells us, that “if, after having tasted of the HEAVE LY
GIFT, and tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, you fall away, it
is impossible for you ever to be renewed unto repentance, seeing that you will have crucified the
Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame [ ote: Heb_6:4-6.].” Seek then to “grow in
grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and, by a constant attention
to the suggestions in my text, so increase with the increase of God, that you may grow up into
Christ in all things as your living Head, and finally attain the full measure of the stature of
Christ.”]
KRETZMA 1-3, "The apostle here CO TI UES the admonitions which he began in chapter
1, placing the old evil life of the unconverted in opposition to the sanctification of the believers:
Laying aside, then, all wickedness, all guile and hypocrisy and envy, and all slanderings, like
newly born infants yearn after the spiritual, unadulterated milk, that by it you may grow unto
salvation. The sins which the apostle mentions in the first verse are characteristic of the
unconverted state, but are incompatible with true sanctification. There is wickedness, or malice,
whose constant aim is to harm one's neighbor. There is, as an expression of this malice, guile,
which tries to reach its selfish object by deceiving one's neighbor; hypocrisy, which always
assumes a garb to cloak the real condition of the heart and mind; envy, which begrudges one's

12. neighbor everything that the goodness or the mercy of the Lord has given him; and, as a
culmination of them all, slanderings, backbitings, cleverly composed speeches which are intended
to detract from the good name of one's neighbor. All these vices should be laid aside, put off,
because it interferes with the Christian's growth in holiness and will certainly kill faith in his
heart. Instead of that, the true believers will be found like infants that have just been born, like
sucklings. For just as a healthy baby at that age is eager for its nourishment, practically hungry
all the time, so the Christians should have an insatiable longing for the milk of the Word, for the
nourishment which is the proper food for all believers from their conversion to their death. This
Word of the Gospel is a spiritual milk, which, as Luther writes, the soul must draw and the heart
seek; and it is a pure, unadulterated milk, it should be used just as it is found in Scriptures,
without the slightest addition of man's wisdom. Through this mental and spiritual food, the Word
of the Gospel, the growth of the Christian takes place, the growth in grace, the growth in faith,
the growth in sanctification, unto salvation. The Word works in us pure, holy, wholesome
thoughts, wishes, and works, it gives us the strength both to will and to do according to the good
pleasure of our heavenly Father.
In order to call the attention of his readers to the importance of this food and of the growth
thereby, the apostle refers to an Old Testament passage: If, I DEED, you have tasted that good is
the Lord. Psa_34:9. He assumes as a matter of course that the Christians have enjoyed the food
to which he has referred. But the excellence of this food is in itself an incentive for the believers to
be eager for the proper spiritual growth. The very first taste of the goodness, of the kindness of
the Lord, as shown in the Word of His grace, is bound to make the Christian eager for more of
this wonderful benevolence, for more of this glorious news of the forgiveness of sins through
Christ. Thus the faith that accepts and holds Christ is increased and strengthened through the
Word, and out of this strength there flows, in turn, a truly righteous demeanor, true goodness of
heart, Christian kindness and benevolence.
BARCLAY, "WHAT TO LOSE A D WHAT TO YEAR FOR (1 Peter 2:1-3)
2:1-3 Strip off, therefore, all the evil of the heathen world and all deceitfulness, acts of hypocrisy
and feelings of envy, and all gossiping disparagements of other people, and, like newly-born
babes, yearn for the unadulterated milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up until you
reach salvation. You are bound to do this if you have tasted that the Lord is kind.
o Christian can stay the way he is; and Peter urges his people to have done with evil things and
to set their hearts on that which alone can nourish life.
There are things which must be stripped off. Apothesthai (compare Greek #595) is the verb for
stripping off one's clothes. There are things of which the Christian must divest himself as he
would strip off a soiled garment.
He must strip off all the evil of the heathen world. The word for evil is kakia (Greek #2549); it is
the most general word for wickedness and includes all the wicked ways of the Christless world.
The other words are illustrations and manifestations of this kakia (Greek #2549); and it is to be
noted that they are all faults of character which hurt the great Christian virtue of brotherly love.
There can be no brotherly love so long as these evil things EXIST.
There is deceitfulness (dolos, Greek #1388). Dolos is the trickery of the man who is out to deceive
others to attain his own ends, the vice of the man whose motives are never pure.

13. There is hypocrisy (hupokrisis, Greek #5272). Hupokrites (Greek #5273) (hypocrite) is a word
with a curious HISTORY. It is the noun from the verb hupokrinesthai (Greek #5271) which
means to answer; a hupokrites (Greek #5273) begins by being an answerer. Then it comes to
mean an actor, the man who takes part in the question and answer of the stage. EXT it comes to
mean a hypocrite, a man who all the time is acting a part and concealing his real motives. The
hypocrite is the man whose alleged Christian profession is for his own profit and prestige and not
for the service and glory of Christ.
There is envy (phthonos, Greek #5355). It may well be said that envy is the last sin to die. It
reared its ugly head even in the apostolic band. The other ten were envious of James and John,
when they seemed to steal a march upon them in the matter of precedence in the coming
Kingdom (Mark 10:41). Even at the last supper the disciples were disputing about who should
occupy the seats of greatest honour (Luke 22:24). So long as self remains ACTIVE within a man's
heart there will be envy in his life. E. G. Selwyn calls envy "the constant plague of all voluntary
organisations, not least religious organisations." C. E. B. Cranfield says that "we do not have to
be engaged in what is called 'church work' very long to discover what a perennial source of
trouble envy is."
There is gossiping disparagement (katalalia, Greek #2636). Katalalia is a word with a definite
flavour. It means evil-speaking; it is almost always the fruit of envy in the heart; and it usually
takes place when its victim is not there to defend himself. Few things are so attractive as hearing
or repeating spicy gossip. Disparaging gossip is something which everyone admits to be wrong
and which at the same time almost everyone enjoys; and yet there is nothing more productive of
heartbreak and nothing is so destructive of brotherly love and Christian unity.
These, then, are the things which the reborn man must strip off for, if he CO TI UES to allow
them to have a grip upon his life, the unity of the brethren must be injured.
THAT O WHICH TO SET THE HEART (1 Peter 2:1-3 CO TI UED)
But there is something on which the Christian must set his heart. He must yearn for the
unadulterated milk of the word. This is a phrase about whose meaning there is some difficulty.
The difficulty is with the word logikos (Greek #3050) which with the King James Version we have
translated of the word. The English Revised Version translates it spiritual, and in the margin
gives the alternative translation reasonable. Moffatt has spiritual, as has the Revised Standard
Version.
Logikos (Greek #3050) is the adjective from the noun logos (Greek #3056) and the difficulty is
that it has three perfectly possible translations.
(a) Logos (Greek #3056) is the great Stoic word for the reason which guides the universe; logikos
(Greek #3050) is a favourite Stoic word which describes what has to do with this divine reason
which is the governor of all things. If this is the word's connection, clearly spiritual is the
meaning.
(b) Logos (Greek #3056) is the normal Greek word for mind or reason; therefore, logikos (Greek
#3050) often means reasonable or intelligent. It is in that way that the King James Version
translates it in Romans 12:1, where it speaks of our reasonable service.
(c) Logos (Greek #3056)is the Greek for word, and logikos (Greek #3050) means belonging to the

14. Lord. This is the sense in which the King James Version takes it, and we think it is CORRECT.
Peter has just been talking about the word of God which abides forever (1 Peter 1:23-25). It is the
word of God which is in his mind; and we think that what he means here is that the Christian
must desire with his whole heart the nourishment which comes from the word of God, for by that
nourishment he can grow until he reaches salvation itself. In face of all the evil of the heathen
world the Christian must strengthen his soul with the pure food of the word of God.
This food of the word is unadulterated (adolos, Greek #97). That is to say, there is not the
slightest admixture of anything evil in it. Adolos (Greek #97) is an almost technical word to
describe corn (American: grain) that is entirely FREE from chaff or dust or useless or harmful
matter. In all human wisdom there is some admixture of what is either useless or harmful; the
word of God alone is altogether good.
The Christian is to yearn for this milk of the word; yearn is epipothein (Greek #1971) which is a
strong word. It is the word which is used for the hart longing for the waterbrooks (Psalms 42:1),
and for the Psalmist longing for the salvation of the Lord (Psalms 119:174). For the sincere
Christian, to STUDYGod's word is not a labour but a delight, for he knows that there his heart
will find the nourishment for which it longs.
The metaphor of the Christian as a baby and the word of God as the milk whereby he is
nourished is common in the ew Testament. Paul thinks of himself as the URSE who cares for
the infant Christians of Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 2:7). He thinks of himself as feeding the
Corinthians with milk for they are not yet at the stage of meat (1 Corinthians 3:2); and the writer
of the Letter to the Hebrews blames his people for being still at the stage of milk when they
should have gone on to maturity (Hebrews 5:12; Hebrews 6:2). To symbolize the rebirth of
baptism in the early church, the newly baptized Christian was clothed in white robes, and
sometimes he was fed with milk as if he was a little child. It is this nourishment with the milk of
the word which makes a Christian grow up and grow on until he reaches salvation.
Peter finishes this I TRODUCTIO with an allusion to Psalms 34:8. "You are bound to do
this," he writes, "if you have tasted the kindness of God." Here is something of the greatest
significance. The fact that God is gracious is not an excuse for us to do as we like, depending on
him to overlook it; it lays on us an obligation to toil towards deserving his graciousness and love.
The kindness of God is not an excuse for laziness in the Christian life; it is the greatest of all
incentives to effort.
ELLICOTT, "(l-10) EXHORTATIO TO REALISE THE IDEA OF THE EW ISRAEL.—The
Apostle BIDS them put away all elements of disunion, and to combine into a new Temple founded
on Jesus as the Christ, and into a new hierarchy and theocracy.
Verse 1
(1) Wherefore.—That is, Because the Pauline teaching is CORRECTwhich brings the Gentiles up
to the same level with the Jews. It may be observed that this newly enunciated principle is called
by St. Peter in the previous verse of the last chapter, a “gospel,” or piece of good news, for all
parties.
Laying aside.—This implies that before they had been wrapped up in these sins. There had been
“malice” (i.e., ill will put into action) on the part of these Hebrew Christians against their Gentile
brethren, and “guile,” and “hypocrisies,” and “jealousies,” which are all instances of concealed

15. malice. Of these three, the first plots, the second pretends not to plot, and the third rejoices to
think of the plot succeeding. The word for “all evil speakings” is literally, all talkings down—this
is “malice” in word. Archbishop Leighton well says, “The Apostles sometimes name some of these
evils, and sometimes other of them; but they are inseparable, all one garment, and all
comprehended under that one word (Ephesians 4:22), ‘the old man,’ which the Apostle there
exhorts to put off; and here it is pressed as a necessary evidence of this new birth, and
furtherance of their spiritual growth, that these base habits be thrown away, ragged filthy habits,
unbeseeming the children of God.” All these vices (natural vices to the Jewish mind) are
contrasted with the “unfeigned (literally, un-hypocritical) brotherly kindness” of 1 Peter 1:22.
BENSON, "1 Peter 2:1-3. Wherefore — Since the word of God is so excellent and durable in itself, and
has had such a blessed effect upon you as to regenerate you, and bring you to the enjoyment of true
Christian love; laying aside — As utterly inconsistent with that love; all malice — All ill- will, every
unkind disposition; or all wickedness, as κακιαν may be properly rendered, all sinful tempers and
practices whatsoever; and all guile — All craft, deceitful cunning, and artifice, every temper contrary to
Christian simplicity; and hypocrisies — Every kind of dissimulation; and envies — Grieving at the
PROSPERITY or good, temporal or spiritual, enjoyed by others; and all evil speakings — All
reproachful or unkind speeches concerning others; as new-born babes — As persons lately regenerated,
and yet young in grace, mere babes as to YOUR acquaintance with the doctrines, your experience of
the graces, your enjoyment of the privileges, and your performance of the duties of Christianity; desire
— επιποθησατε, desire earnestly, or love affectionately, or from your inmost soul, the sincere — The
pure, uncorrupted milk of the word — That is, that word of God which nourishes the soul as milk does
the body, and which is free from all guile, so that none are deceived who cleave to it, and make it the
food of their souls; that ye may grow thereby — In Christian knowledge and wisdom, in faith, hope,
and love; in humility, resignation, patience, meekness, gentleness, long-suffering, in all holiness and
righteousness, unto the full measure of Christ’s stature. In the former chapter the apostle had
represented the word of God as the incorruptible seed, by which the believers, to whom he wrote, had
been born again, and by obeying which they had purified their souls; here he represents it as the milk
by which the new-born babes in Christ grow up to maturity. The word, therefore, is both the principle
by which the divine life is produced in the soul, and the food by which it is nourished. Some critics,
following the Vulgate version, render λογικον αδολον γαλα, the unadulterated rational milk. But the
context evidently shows that our TRANSLATORS have given us the true meaning of the apostle. By
adding the epithet, αδολον, unadulterated, or pure, the apostle teaches us that the milk of the word will
not nourish the divine nature in those that use it, if it be adulterated with human mixtures. If so be, or
rather since, ye have tasted — Have sweetly and experimentally known; that the Lord is gracious — Is
merciful, loving, and kind, in what he hath ALREADY done, and in what he is still doing for and in
you. The apostle seems evidently to allude to Psalms 34:8, O taste and see that the Lord is good: where
see the note. Not only think and believe, on his own testimony, or on the testimony of others, that he is
good, but know it by your own experience; know that he is good to you in pardoning your sins,
adopting and regenerating you by his grace, shedding his love abroad in your heart, and giving you to
enjoy communion with himself through the eternal Spirit.
PRECEPTAUSTIN, “Apotithemi literally referred to the laying aside of clothes or taking off
one’s clothes, even as did the runners who participated in the OLYMPIC GAMES . The
runners ran in the stadium nearly naked. Figuratively the verb meant to cease doing what
one was accustomed to doing. Stop doing it, "throw it off" and be done with it. Note the
preposition "apo" is a marker of dissociation, implying a rupture from a former association.

16. This truth helps us picture what a believer is to do. The idea is that he or she is to "place
some distance between" the old life (the former lusts which were ours when we were ignorant
of salvation [1P1:14-15 ]). The verb is a participle but in this verse conveys an imperative
force (conveys the sense of a command). In view of the fact that divine life has been imparted
to the believer (all through chapter 1 we have this wonderful truth explained), it is imperative
that he or she “put away once for all” (aorist tense conveys the idea of effective action) any of
the sins listed that may be in his or her life. We are adjured to throw these off like a filthy,
soiled garment, even loathsome to touch. Peter also uses the Middle voice which conveys the
idea that believers are to initiate this action (of throwing aside, ceasing) and then participating
in the action or benefit thereof.
Apotithemi in (Ja1:21 ) is parsed identically (aorist middle participle). and note that there
too, this putting off precedes the taking in of the word of truth (Js1:18 ). In sum, the aorist
tense here calls for a definite decision (enabled by grace, empowered by the Spirit Who's
desire is that we be holy [1P1:14-15 ]) to cast off these evil attitudes & actions. Note the
spiritual dynamic Peter is outlining - only after having cast these sins aside will we have a
God given appetite for "the living & enduring word of God " (1Pe1:23 )...only then do we
desire the Word's teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness (2Ti3:16-17 ).
Jon Courson sums up the thrust of Peter's exhortation writing that...
The degree to which those attributes exist in our lives will be the degree to which our
hunger for the Word will be diminished. No matter how good the meal my wife, Tammy,
prepares for me, if I stop off at McDonald’s on the way home and score a couple of
Quarter Pounders with large fries—and super-size the whole deal—when I get home, I
won’t be interested in what she’s made. When people stop reading or studying the Word,
it’s because they’re eating the junk food of the world. That’s why Peter says, “First lay
aside the junk and then you will desire the milk of the Word.” (Courson, J. Jon Courson's
Application Commentary. Page 1552. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson)
PRECEPTAUSTIN, “Malice is a vicious intention, a feeling of hostility and strong dislike
including desire to do harm. This sort of malignant act breeds further evil in and of itself. It
includes a desire to harm other people, (Col3:8, Ja1:21) often hides behind apparently good
actions (1Pe2:16). Malice is often irrational, usually based on the false belief that the person
against whom it is directed has the same intention.
Webster says
"malice" is "desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another & implies a deep-seated
desire to see another suffer."
Malice characterizes the life of men under the wrath of God (Ro1:29 kindred word
"kakoetheia"). It is not only a moral deficiency but destroys fellowship. For believers it belongs
to the old life (Tit. 3:3); but there is still need for exhortation to ‘clean it out’ (1 Cor. 5:7f.) or
‘strip it off’ (Jas. 1:21; Col. 3:8). Christians are to be ‘babes in evil’ (1 Cor. 14:20), for Christian
liberty is not lawlessness (1 Pet. 2:16). Aristotle defined malice as “taking all things in the evil
part”. Trench in Synonyms of the NT say malice is “that peculiar form of evil which manifests

17. itself in a malignant interpretation of the actions of others, an attributing of them all to the
worst motive”
Dolos means a snare, bait, trick, deliberate dishonesty. Deliberate attempt to mislead other
people by telling lies, conspicuously absent from behavior of Christ (2:22).
Guile or deception has to do primarily with words. When a person wants something, he tries
to get it... by flattery, false promises, false tales, suggestive talk, off-colored suggestions,
enticing words, outright lying
"Hypocrisy" (hupokrisis) is used 6 times in the NT (once in each of the following: Matthew ;
Mark ; Luke ; Galatians ; 1 Timothy ; 1 Peter ) and means to pretend, act as something one is
not, acting deceitfully, pretended piety and love.
Wuest adds that this Greek word
"is made up of hupo “under,” and krinō “to judge” and referred originally to “one who
judged from under the cover of a mask,” thus, assuming an identity and a character which
he was not. This person was the actor on the Greek stage, one who took the part of
another. The Pharisees were religious actors, so to speak, in that they pretended to be on
the outside, what they were not on the inside...Our word hypocrite comes from this
Greek word. It usually referred to the act of concealing wrong feelings or character under
the pretence of better ones."
In another note Wuest explains that
"The Greek word for “hypocrite” was used of an actor on the Greek stage, one who
played the part of another. The word means literally, “to judge under,” and was used of
someone giving off his judgment from behind a screen or mask.... The true identity of the
person is covered up. It refers to acts of impersonation or deception. It was used of an
actor on the Greek stage. Taken over into the New Testament, it referred to a person we
call a hypocrite, one who assumes the mannerisms, speech, and character of someone
else, thus hiding his true identity. Christianity requires that believers should be open and
above-board. They should be themselves. Their lives should be like an open book, easily
read." (Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans)
Hupokrisis describes a kind of deceit in which persons pretend to be different from what they
really are, and esp that they are acting from good motives when in reality they are motivated
by selfish desire. Jesus warns hypocrites, severely warns them. Believers must, therefore,
strip off any semblance of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is one of the sins that God hates above all
others. Hypocrites shall receive the greater damnation (Mt23:14ff). A hypocrite has God on his
tongue and the world in his heart.
William Barclay writes that the related word
"Hupokrites (hypocrite) is a word with a curious history. It is the noun from the verb
hupokrinesthai which means to answer; a hupokritēs begins by being an answerer.
Then it it goes on to mean one who answers in a set dialogue or a set conversation, that
is to say an actor, the man who takes part in the question and answer of the stage... It
then came to mean an actor in the worse sense of the term, a pretender, one who acts a
part, one who wears a mask to cover his true feelings, one who puts on an external show

18. while inwardly his thoughts and feelings are very different....it comes to mean a
hypocrite, a man who all the time is acting a part and concealing his real motives...one
whose whole life is a piece of acting without any sincerity behind it at all. Anyone to whom
religion is a legal thing, anyone to whom religion means carrying out certain external rules
and regulations, anyone to whom religion is entirely connected with the observation of a
certain ritual and the keeping of a certain number of taboos is in the end bound to be, in
this sense, a hypocrite. The reason is this—he believes that he is a good man if he
carries out the correct acts and practices, no matter what his heart and his thoughts are
like. To take the case of the legalistic Jew in the time of Jesus, he might hate his fellow
man with all his heart, he might be full of envy and jealousy and concealed bitterness and
pride; that did not matter so long as he carried out the correct handwashings and
observed the correct laws about cleanness and uncleanness. Legalism takes account of
a man’s outward actions; but it takes no account at all of his inward feelings. He may well
be meticulously serving God in outward things, and bluntly disobeying God in inward
things—and that is hypocrisy....There is no greater religious peril than that of identifying
religion with outward observance. There is no commoner religious mistake than to identify
goodness with certain so-called religious acts. Church-going, bible-reading, careful
financial giving, even time-tabled prayer do not make a man a good man. The
fundamental question is, how is a man’s heart towards God and towards his fellow-men?
And if in his heart there are enmity, bitterness, grudges, pride, not all the outward
religious observances in the world will make him anything other than a hypocrite... The
hypocrite is the man whose alleged Christian profession is for his own profit and prestige
and not for the service and glory of Christ." (Barclay, W: The Daily study Bible series,
Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press)
"Envy" (5355 ) (phthonos) is used 9 times in the NT, once in each of the following books
(Mt ; Mk ; Ro ; Gal ; Phil ; 1Ti ; Titus ; Js ; 1Pe )
Phthonos refers to wrong desires to possess what belongs to someone else. Covet what
someone else has, covet it so much that he wants it even if it has to be taken away from the
other person. He may even wish that the other person did not have it or had not received it.
But thanks be to God our Savior. He saves and delivers us from envy. Through Christ He
gives us real life, and He satisfies our hearts and lives with pleasures forevermore (Ps16:11,
cp Pr14:30, 23:17, 24:1, Ro13:13, 1Co13:4, Ga5:26
Barclay commenting on phthonos writes that
"It may well be said that envy is the last sin to die. It reared its ugly head even in the apostolic
band. The other ten were envious of James and John, when they seemed to steal a march upon
them in the matter of precedence in the coming Kingdom (Mk 10:41 ). Even at the last supper the
disciples were disputing about who should occupy the seats of greatest honour (Lu 22:24 ). So
long as self remains active within a man’s heart there will be envy in his life. E. G. Selwyn calls
envy “the constant plague of all voluntary organisations, not least religious organisations.” C. E. B.
Cranfield says that “we do not have to be engaged in what is called ‘church work’ very long to
discover what a perennial source of trouble envy is.” (Barclay, W: The Daily study Bible series,
Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press)

19. Slander (2636 ) (katalalía from katá = against, down + laleo = to speak) means evil–
speaking.
"Speaking against" or "Speaking down" a person, refers to the act of defaming, slandering,
speaking against another. This is evil, malicious talk intended to damage or destroy another
person. The greatest slanderer of all is the Devil, Satan, the adversary who opposes God’s
people and accuses them before God.
Slander is synonymous with calumny which refers to a misrepresentation intended to
blacken another’s reputation or the act of uttering false charges or misrepresentations
maliciously calculated to damage another’s reputation. (Merriam-Webster Collegiate
dictionary) The psalmist writes "Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking
deceit." (Ps 34:13 ) Solomon adds "Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause,
and do not deceive with your lips." (Pr 24:28 )
Barclay records that
"Katalalia is a word with a definite flavor. It means evil-speaking; it is almost always the
fruit of envy in the heart; and it usually takes place when its victim is not there to defend
himself. Few things are so attractive as hearing or repeating spicy gossip. Disparaging
gossip is something which everyone admits to be wrong and which at the same time
almost everyone enjoys; and yet there is nothing more productive of heartbreak and
nothing is so destructive of brotherly love and Christian unity." (Barclay, W: The Daily
study Bible series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press)
The final sin we are called upon to strip off is making derogatory statements about others.
Clearly, God expects us to focus on the good in our fellows and not on their bad points. (Cp
2Co12:20, Ep4:31, Ja4:11, Ps101:5)
Christian believers are not to judge and speak evil of one another. The reason is clear: we are
brothers (born again into the same family) brothers of Christ and of one another, & as
brothers we have purifed our hearts for a sincere (philadelphia) love of the brethren
(1Pe1:22).When we criticize a brother or sister in Christ, we are slandering one of God’s own
children!!! Just think: we are actually slandering a son or daughter of God. This alone should
keep us from speaking evil of our brothers in Christ. Think about something else as well: there
is never a spirit of evil speaking in the humble and loving person. There is only a loving
compassion for others, especially for those who have come short and fallen. Therefore, when
we speak evil of another person it means that we are neither humble nor loving, but the very
opposite: prideful and hateful. Criticism boosts our own self-image. Pointing out someone
else’s failure and tearing him down makes us seem a little bit better, at least in our own eyes.
It adds to our own pride, ego, and self-image. Criticism is simply enjoyed. There is a tendency
in human nature to take pleasure in hearing and sharing bad news and shortcomings about
others.
John Piper writes:
"One of the ways the word of God creates desire for the milk of God's kindness is by
destroying desire for other things.
Piper goes on to give his definitions below)

20. Malice: a desire to hurt someone with words or deeds.
Guile: a desire to gain some advantage or preserve some position by deceiving others.
Hypocrisy: a desire not to be known for what really is.
Envy: a desire for some privilege or benefit that belongs to another with resentment that
another has it and you don't.
Slander: the desire for revenge and self-enhancement, often driven by the deeper desire
to deflect attention from our own failings. The worse light we can put another in by
slander, the less our own darkness shows."
Piper continues
"If you want to experience desire for God's word; if you want your desires to grow; if you
want to taste fully the kindness of the Lord, realize that as our satisfaction in God's
kindness rises, the controlling desires of malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy and slander are
destroyed. And the reverse is true: as you resist them and lay them aside, desires for
God grow stronger and more intense. Peter's point is: don't think that they can flourish in
the same heart. Desire to taste & enjoy God's kindness cannot flourish where in the
same heart with guile & hypocrisy."
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "Wherefore laying aside all malice.
Malice laid aside
I. That regeneration and the low of sin cannot stand together, it must needs be accompanied with a
new life. Do vines bear brambles?
II. That there is no perfection here to be attained, for even the best have sin dwelling, though not
reigning, in them.
III. That it is no easy thing to be a Christian.
IV. That under those corruptions here named all others are included.
V. That most of those here mentioned are inward corruptions which we must as well avoid as the
outward. (John Rogers.)
Renovation
I. What is to be laid aside? “All malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, evil speakings.” These are only a few
specimens of the many lusts which are to be cast out, if we would enter the kingdom of heaven. If a
child has swallowed poison I could not expect that wholesome food would confer any benefit upon
him-the poison must be first removed; and if these poisonous evils lodge in your hearts and be not
repented of, they prevent the Word of God having its proper effect, they effectually neutralise it.
II. The special reason why these are to be “laid aside.” The fact of their being “newborn babes,” the
apostle urges as a reason why they should put away all these evils. This reason is a very efficacious one.
If you are born again, what have you to do any more with the old habits of corruption?
III. What is to be desired? “The sincere milk of the Word.”
IV. For what is the “sincere milk of the word” to be desired? “That ye may grow thereby.” (H.
Verschoyle.)

21. A catalogue of sins to be avoided
I. It is exceedingly profitable to gather special catalogues of our sins which we should avoid, to single
out such as we would specially strive against, and do more specially hurt us.
II. The minister ought to inform his flock concerning the particular faults that hinder the work of his
ministry where he lives. It is not enough to reprove sin, but there is a great judgment to be expressed
in applying himself to the diseases of that people.
III. The apostle doth not name here all the sins that hinder the Word, but he imports that in most
places these here named do much reign, and marvellously let the course of the Word.
IV. It should be considered how these sins do hinder the Word. (N. Byfield.)
Malice.-
Malice
is an old grudge upon some wrong done, or conceived to be done to a man, whereupon he waits to do
some mischief to him that did it. Anger is like a fire kindled in thorns, soon blazeth, is soon out; but
malice, like fire kindled in a log, it continues long. This is often forbidden (Eph_4:31; Col_3:8).
1. We ought to take heed of the beginnings of unadvised anger. God is slow to wrath, and so should
we be.
2. If we be overtaken (as a right good man may) take heed it fester not, grow not to hatred; heal it
quickly as we do our wounds. The devil is an ill counsellor. (John Rogers.)
The venomous disposition
There are plants which may be said to distil venom of their own accord. The machineel tree, for
example (by no means uncommon in the West India Islands), affords a milky fluid which blisters the
skin as if it were burnt with a hot iron; and indeed so dangerous has the vegetable been accounted, that
if a traveller should sleep under its shade it was once popularly believed he would never wake again.
The venomous disposition of these plants has its representative in the human family. There are
persons to be met with who are so spiteful as to cause pain the moment you come into contact with
them. Their lips distil malice, and it seems the object of their life to inflict malignant wounds. If you
trust them your happiness will sleep the sleep of death. (Scientific illustrations.)
All guile.-
Guile
It is meant of guile that is between men and men in their dealings with each other, as in buying,
selling, letting, hiring, borrowing, lending, paying wages, doing work, partnership, etc.; when men
would seem to do well, but do otherwise; when one thing is pretended, but another practised. We are
not born for ourselves, but for the good of each other; we must not lie one to another, seeing we are
members one to another, as it were monstrous in the natural body to see the hand beguile the mouth,
etc., and yet how common is this sin! how doth one spread a net for another! not caring how they come
by their goods, so they be once masters of them. (John Rogers.)
Guile in small matters as well as great to be avoided
“All”-this is added to show (lest any should think none but guile in great matters or measure forbidden

22. here) that there is a thorough reformation required. Therefore it will not serve any man’s turn to say,
“My shop is not so dark as others; I mingle not my commodities so much as such and such; I never
deceived in any great matters.” All guile must be abandoned by a Christian who cares for his soul. A
Christian must show forth the truth of his Christianity in his particular calling, in his shop, buying,
selling, etc., that men may count his word as good as a bond, that they dare rest on his faithfulness,
that he will not deceive. (John Rogers.)
Hypocrisies.-
Preservatives against hypocrisy
1. Keep thyself in God’s presence; remember always that His eyes are upon thee (Psa_16:8;
Gen_17:1).
2. Thou must pray much and often to God to create a right spirit within thee; for by nature we have
all hypocritical hearts (Psa_51:10).
3. Keep thy heart with all diligence, watching daily and resisting distractions, wavering thoughts,
and forgetfulness. Judge thyself seriously before God (Jas_4:8; Mat_23:26).
4. In all matters of well-doing be as secret as may be (Mat_6:1-34) both in mercy, prayer, fasting,
reading, and the like.
5. Be watchful over thy own ways, and see that thou be as careful of all duties of godliness in
prosperity as in adversity, in health as in sickness (Job_27:9-10).
6. Converse with such as in whom thou discernest true spirits without guile, and shun the
company of known hypocrites.
7. Be not rash and easy to condemn other men for hypocrites, only because they cross thy opinions,
or humours, or will, or practice. It is often observed that rash censurers that usually lash others as
hypocrites fall at length into some vile kind of hypocrisy themselves. (N. Byfield.)
Hypocrisy
Hypocrites are like unto white silver, but they draw black lines, they have a seeming sanctified outside,
but stuffed within with malice, worldliness, intemperance; like window cushions made up of velvet,
and perhaps richly embroidered, but stuffed within with hay. (J. Spencer.)
Hypocrisy ineffective
Coals of fire cannot be concealed beneath the most sumptuous apparel, they will betray themselves
with smoke and flame; nor can darling sins be long hidden beneath the most ostentatious profession,
they will sooner or later discover themselves, and burn sad holes in the man’s reputation. Sin needs
quenching in the Saviour’s blood, not concealing under the garb of religion. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Envies.-
The hatefulness of envy
I. Consider the subject persons in which it usually is. It is found most in natural men (Tit_3:3), yea, in
silly men (Job_5:2). This was the sin of Cain (Gen_4:1-26). yea, of the devil himself.
II. Consider the cause of it. It is for the most part the daughter of pride (Gal_5:26), sometimes of

23. covetousness (Pro_28:22), and often of some egregious transgression, such as in Rom_1:29, but ever
it is the filthy fruit of the flesh (Gal_5:25).
III. Consider the vile effects of it, which are many.
1. It hath done many mischiefs for which it is infamous. It sold Joseph into Egypt (Gen_37:1-36),
and killed the Son of God (Mat_27:8);
2. It deforms our natures, it makes a man suspicious, malicious, contentious, it makes us to
provoke, backbite, and practise evil against our neighbours.
3. It begins even death and hell, while a man is alive (Job_5:2). It destroyeth the contentment of
his life, and burns him with a kind of fire unquenchable.
IV. It is a notable hindrance to the profit of the Word, and so no doubt it is to prayer and all piety, as
evidently it is a let of charity (Php_1:15). (N. Byfield.)
All evil speakings.-
Rules against evil speaking
He that would restrain himself from being guilty of backbiting, judging, reviling, or any kind of evil
speaking, must observe such rules as these.
I. He must learn to speak well to God and of godliness. If we did study that holy language of speaking
to God by prayer, we would be easily fitted for the government of our tongues toward men: we speak ill
to men because we pray but ill to God.
II. He must study to be quiet and not meddle with the strife that belongs not to him; resolving that he
will never suffer as a busybody in other men’s matters (1Th_4:1-18; 1Pe_4:15).
III. He must keep a catalogue of his own faults continually in his mind. When we are so apt to task
others it is because we forget our own wickedness.
IV. His words must be few, for in a multitude of words there cannot want sin, and usually this sin is
never absent.
V. He must not allow himself liberty to think evil. A suspicious person will speak evil.
VI. He must pray to God to set a watch before the doors of his lips.
VII. He must avoid vain and provoking company. When men get into idle company the very
complement of discoursing extracteth evil speaking to fill up the time; especially he must avoid the
company of censurers, for their ill-language, though at first disliked, is insensibly learned.
VIII. He must especially strive to get meekness, and show his meekness to all men (Tit_3:1-2).
IX. If he have this way offended, then let him follow that counsel, “Let his own words grieve him”
(Psa_56:5); that is let him humble himself seriously for it before God by hearty repentance; this sin is
seldom mended, because it is seldom repented of. (N. Byfield.)
Pernicious and evil speaking abundant
Alas, evil speaking floods the world as some weeds cover the fields in early summer! My heart was
made sad in some journeys last year as I saw many large tracks of grain almost hidden by a yellow sea
of flowering weeds. For the time you think it is not possible that any of the corn can come to
perfection. Even there, however, a harvest is reaped; but the harvest would have been heavier if the
fields had been clean. Evil speaking, like one dominant weed, covers the surface of society, and chokes
in great measure the growth of the good seed. Christians, ye are God’s husbandry-ploughed field; put

24. away these bitter things in their seed thoughts and in their matured actions, that ye may be fruitful
unto Him. If the multitude of words spoken by professing Christians in disparagement of their
neighbours were reduced first by the omission of all that is not strictly true and fair; and next by the
omission of all that is not spoken with a good object in view; and next by the omission of all that,
though spoken with a good intention, is unwisely spoken, and mischievous in its results;-the
remainder would, like Gideon’s army, be very small in number, but very select in kind. The residuum
would consist only of the testimony of true men against wickedness, which truth and faithfulness, as in
God’s sight, compelled them to utter. (W. Arnot.)
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word.-
Christian childhood and its appropriate nourishment
I. The similitude by which Christians are here represented.
1. This may relate to the commencement of the spiritual life at regeneration, as compared with its
subsequent growth in this world. Not only has this life a beginning here, after the natural birth, but
it begins like that, in a small, feeble, and almost imperceptible manner.
2. But this childhood may relate to the whole state of the spiritual life in the present world as
compared with its future manhood.
II. What that growth is which the scripture is calculated thus to promote though the whole course of
our mortal existence.
1. In knowledge. At first this principle is weak in its perception of the things of revelation. It begins
with those parts of Scripture which lie nearest to human observation, and in which the Bible most
accommodates itself to human ignorance. It proceeds to those passages suited to an awakened and
quickened state of feeling.
2. In purity. The mind naturally conforms itself to the sentiments with which it is conversant.
3. In heavenly mindedness. To that world from which the Scriptures Came, and about which they
frequently treat, they insensibly draw the devout peruser. They facilitate the withdrawment of our
minds from this world by the transitoriness which they attach to all earthly excellences, and by
making them to stand for signs of others, yet greater and better, in the celestial economy. Hence
our elevation is effectively promoted.
4. In peace and tranquillity of mind, amidst all the disturbances and ills of life. What book is, or
can be, like the Bible, for its perpetual reference of all things here to a Divine superintendence?
5. In fine, the Scripture is calculated to promote the growth of every grace of the Spirit necessary to
complete the Christian character. It feeds repentance by the evil it discloses in sin; it feeds Divine
love by the excellence it portrays in God, rectifying the misconceptions of the carnal mind; it feeds
faith by the representation of its objects, and by the impression it makes of its innate majesty and
authority on the devout peruser of its pages. In like manner it feeds hope, patience, resignation,
zeal, and every other grace which branches out of the principle of spiritual life, and completes the
character of the man of God.
III. What that state of mind is which Christians are required to cultivate in order to secure this great
benefit from the Scripture.
1. There must be the removal of what would otherwise prove fatal impediments. James inculcates
the same duty under a different metaphor (1Pe_1:21). He compares the Word to a fruit bearing
plant, requiring a clean and friendly soil for its growth. The weeds of evil dispositions must be
eradicated, or its roots will not spread, nor its virtue disclose itself. “Purify your hearts,” therefore,
he adds elsewhere, “ye double minded. Be ye doers of the Word,” etc.
2. These impediments being removed, we must cherish and promote the spiritual appetite. The

25. appetite of the infant for its appropriate supply is natural. The spiritual appetite, to be analogous to
it, must have several properties.
(1) It must be earnest. The child cries, is impatient for its designed support; and it is not an
idle, cold, sluggish desire after the aliment provided for spiritual growth that will subserve our
growth. “My soul breaketh,” says David, “for the longing it hath to Thy statutes.”
(2) It must be specific and suitable. No toys and gew-gaws, no gifts of gold and silver, no, nor
even of the most delicious food, will compensate the infant for the absence of its natural
support. Thus we must take heed not to substitute for the truth of Scripture the sentiments of
men, though set forth with all the advantages of learning and eloquence.
(3) It must be constant, The infant tires not of its proper food, but finds in it all it wants both
nutritive and delicious. Nor must we tire of the Word of God, nor seek for a greater variety than
it presents. It contains within itself all that is necessary for life and godliness, for comfort and
improvement. (J. Leifchild.)
God’s newborn babes and their food
I. Our condition as God’s little ones. “Newborn babes.” This world is but the nursery in which the heirs
of God are spending the first lisping years of their existence, preparatory to the opening of life to full
maturity yonder in the light of God.
1. This word should teach us humility. Our best pace and strongest walking in obedience here is as
but the stepping of children in comparison with the perfect obedience of glory, when we shall
follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. All our knowledge here is but as the ignorance of infants,
and all our expressions of God and of His praises but as the first stammerings of children, in
comparison with the knowledge we shall have of Him hereafter. It becomes us, therefore, not to
exercise ourselves in great matters, or in things too high for us, but to quiet ourselves as a child
that is weaned of its mother. Not surprised, if unnoticed or unknown; not angry, if treated with
small respect; not discouraged, if face to face with incomprehensible mysteries.
2. This word should also teach us hope. There is no young thing so helpless as a babe. But He who
has appointed the long months of babyhood has also provided the love and patience with which
mother and father welcome and tend the strange wee thing which has come into their home. And
shall God have put into others qualities in which He is Himself deficient? Shall He have provided
so carefully for us in our first birth, and have provided nought in our second? Your weakness, and
ailments, and nervous dread, and besetting sins, and hereditary taint of evil habit and dulness of
vision, will not drive God from you, but will bring Him nearer.
3. This word should also teach us our true attitude towards God. Throw yourself on Him with the
abandonment of a babe. Roll on Him the responsibility of choosing for you-directing, protecting,
and delivering you. If you are overcome by sin, be sure that it cannot alienate His love, any more
than can smallpox, which has marred some dear tiny face, prevent the mother from kissing the
little parched lips.
II. Our food. “Long for the spiritual milk which is without guile” (R.V.). There is nothing which so
proves the inspiration of the Scriptures as their suitableness to the nurture of the new life in the soul.
As long as that life is absent, there is no special charm in the sacred Word: it lies unnoticed on the
shelf. But directly it has been implanted, and whilst yet in its earliest stages, it seeks after the Word of
God as a babe after its mother’s milk; and instantly it begins to grow.
III. How to create an appetite for the Word. “Desire.” One of the most dangerous symptoms is the loss
of appetite. And there is no surer indication of religious declension and ill-health than the cessation of
desire for the Word of God. How can that appetite be created where lacking, and stimulated where
declining?

26. 1. Put off the evil that clings to you.
2. Remember that your growth depends on your feeding on the Word.
3. Stimulate your desire by the memory of past enjoyment. “If so be that ye have tasted that the
Lord is gracious.” (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Spiritual development
The text urges three important elements of holy living.
I. Soul mortification-“Lay aside all malice,” etc. This is a sacrifice. It does not come natural to the
human soul. It demands effort. It is not an immediate attainment, but demands a period of growth.
The series of worldly developments here alluded to are important marks of fallen men, and at the same
time are painful disfigurements to professing Christians.
1. There is malice-i.e., ill-feeling of every kind. Under malice may be ranged political animosities
which disturb the kindly relationship of men; unreasoning prejudice; the desire to injure those
whom we dislike; bitterness, etc.
2. There is guile. This includes deceit.
3. There is hypocrisy-pretending a fictitious goodness which we do not possess. I take it that this
includes cant, boasting, parade of religion, etc., for the word is not hypocrisy, but hypocrisies.
4. Envies. Again in the plural, for there are different kinds of envy.
5. Evil speakings. The failing here alluded to goes far to cause all the bitterness of worldly society.
II. Soul development. There must be not only casting out of the evil, but also the taking in of what is
good. The first requirement for development is to be brought into a state fit for growth.
III. Soul incitement-“Since ye have tasted,” etc. The first taste creates a desire for a more abundant
supply. (J. J. S. Bird, B. A.)
Soul evolution
I. That soul advancement is an evolution - “That ye may grow thereby.” That is, the growth of the
whole soul-all its faculties, forces, and germs of power. Growth implies-
1. Inner life. A dead thing cannot grow. Sometimes education is spoken of as if the mind were a
vessel into which a certain amount of information is to be poured until the mind is filled.
Sometimes, as if the mind were a stone, on which the instructor was to act as a lapidary, and polish
it into some beautiful form. Hence we hear so much of accomplishments, painting, drawing, music,
etc. Sometimes, as if the mind was arable land, to be ploughed and in which to plant seed to
germinate and develop. Philosophically, nothing can grow in the soul. It is the soul itself that
grows.
2. An inner life of latent power. A thing may have life, and nothing within for future development.
Not so with the soul; it has boundless possibilities.
3. A life possessing developing conditions.
II. That soul evolution involves soul hunger. “As newborn babes desire [R.V., long for] the sincere
[R.V., spiritual] milk.” Vegetable life grows without a desire; so, indeed, with animal life. But if the soul
is to grow, it must desire it intensely.
1. The hunger must be for natural nutriment.
2. The nutriment must be of the best kind-“Sincere [R.V., spiritual] milk.” What is the best kind?

27. The “truth as it is in Jesus.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The milk of the Word
I. Healthy appetite: or, in other words, an earnest desire for spiritual nourishment.
1. It is of prime importance that we have a real craving for spiritual truth, for Christ will benefit us
only as we appropriate Him.
2. We should further cultivate a discriminating taste. The babe’s taste guards it against
unwholesome food; it covets nothing but the mother’s milk. So ought we to acquire a sensitive
palate in respect of spiritual things, a palate able to discriminate between the precious and the vile.
Is not the vitiated taste of many hearers of the gospel a symptom of a long-standing disease?
3. We should further habituate ourselves to desire strong meat, to digest well the great
fundamental doctrines of the gospel. This then is the first requisite of orthodoxy, namely that we
possess vigorous, healthy digestive organs. Gospel truth must be mixed with faith in them that hear
it; that is to say, they must possess healthy organs, able to supply the spiritual secretions necessary
to convert what we read and hear into part and parcel of our spiritual life.
II. Healthy food; or, in other words, God’s truth as contained in Holy Writ.
1. The milk of the Word. The great verses of the Bible are like so many breasts, from which we are
to suck in the spiritual aliment necessary to our well-being. Do you know what it is to eat words,
and especially God’s words? The process is as real as eating bread and meat, and the results are
much more abiding. “Thy words were found, and I did eat them”: he converted them into an
integral part of his spiritual nature.
2. “The milk of the Word,” or rational milk. Rational milk in contrast to the rites and ceremonies
both of the Jewish and heathen religions. Christians are to live more by mind and less by the
senses.
3. “The sincere-unadulterated-milk of the Word,” that is to say, milk free from all deleterious
admixtures.
III. Healthy growth. “That we may grow thereby unto salvation.” In this Epistle salvation is used
technically for salvation in the future, salvation full, complete, perfect. Now what does this growth
unto salvation imply?
1. For one thing it implies growth in knowledge, for spiritual enlightenment is an essential factor in
salvation.
2. Growth unto salvation further implies growth in holiness. “Having laid aside all sin, and all
malice, and all evil speaking.” Other religions forbid particular sins; but whilst prohibiting one
class of sins, they tolerate other classes. Mahometanism, for instance, prohibits drunkenness;
seldom does a Mahometan get intoxicated. But whilst prohibiting drunkenness it licenses adultery.
And by thus flinging away sin from us our spiritual palate will gradually recover its normal, healthy
tone; we will relish the unadulterated milk of the Word more than our ordinary food and drink. (J.
C. Jones, D. D.)
The Christian life in some of its characteristics
It is agreed that religion, subjectively considered, is life. “He that hath the Son hath life.” If a man has
religion, it is life in him. But it is finite life, limited and dependent. It requires for its continuance
outside support and supply. Turning now to this life let us take note of some of its characteristics.
1. And, first, all life grows. This may not he apparent to the eye, but it is to the reason. Growth is

28. the most unambiguous and decisive sign of life. A swelling bud, a beating pulse-this is proof. Life
and growth go together as inevitable antecedents and consequents; and where there is growth,
there is increment. This does not necessitate augmentation in size. It is not untrue to fact or absurd
to say of a thing growing that it is growing small. Many a tree, many an animal, not a few persons
of our acquaintance, are not as large as they formerly were.
2. Wherever there is growth, there is eating. The plant eats; down in the ground at the end of the
rootlets we find spongioles, and these are mouths. In transplanting a shrub or tree the thing we
care for is not to destroy these mouths, If true of vegetable life that it lives by eating, it is more
obviously true of animal life. Do you say that in many of the lowest forms of sentient life we find no
mouths? True apparently; but the bodies of such invertebrates abound in absorbents that serve the
same purpose.
3. That nothing eats without an appetite. The etymology of this word (appetitus) gives as its
striking meaning a seeking for, longing after. In vegetable life we have the analogue of appetite; for
we find that every root, trunk, branch, is elongating itself in pursuit of its required supply. The tree
in the thick forest extends itself to get up into the light and heat; and the stray vegetable in the
cellar does the same to get out of the dark and cold just where the light and warmth have been
pouring in. This power to elongate and reach its supply is one of the most interesting phenomena
in the vegetable kingdom. Nor is it otherwise among animals. Their power to help themselves is
itself a department of science, and awakens the deepest interest. Besides the power of elongation to
get supply, they have the power of locomotion. Appetite unsupplied is hunger, one of the most
intense forms of physical unrest; and impels to the most intense exertions to get relief. But what
next after appetite? You say that our series of organic facts cannot end in appetite; you say it must
have its correlative supply. You add that there is a wonderful law in nature ordaining in every
grade of life that there shall be as many forms of reciprocal supply as there are subjective wants.
For every mouth there is the required morsel, and, in general a superabundant supply. In man this
law bears sway in a three-fold form, for he has in him three lives: life of body, brain, and soul. The
physical life grows by eating what the physical appetite craves; the supplies here are found in the
outward physical world. This life can live and grow on bread alone. The intellectual life grows by
eating what the intellectual appetite craves; the supplies here are found in the truths of fact and
principle discoverable in the world of science. The moral and spiritual life grows by eating what the
moral and spiritual life craves; here the supplies are found in all the verities that appertain to the
soul in relation to God and the immortal life. Having these three forms of life, and, in natural
order, these three forms of growth, eating, and appetite, and, having these three forms of supply,
man can have three forms of satisfaction: he can be physically, intellectually, and morally supplied
and at rest. Therefore he can have three forms of health. He can be whole in body, mind, and soul;
or he can be ailing in one department of his being, and well in other respects. In order to perfect
health in each life there must be a perfect working of the functions of each in possession of a
perfect supply. A man can have as many forms of hunger, starvation, and death by starvation, as he
has lives. The inference here is inevitable, that if a man has in him three lives, and, in his
prerogative of free will, can make each growthful or not, according as appetite is fed or not fed,
then man has in him the power of a three-fold suicide. Thus far we have been considering life as it
develops normally. In its various grades we find it growing according to a natural law inlaid in the
constitution. We find it interfered with only by encroachment and want of supply. Unfallen human
life observed this law in the primeval garden. But this adherence to law in an orderly unfolding did
not continue. Sin entered, and with it a new factor, disease. It is an easy consequence of sin, itself
wholly unnatural; it belongs to that category of thorns and thistles, toil and sweat and birth pangs,
visited upon the race as instruments of probationary discipline and culture. This prepares us to
notice the benignity of nature in providing not only for normal but as well for abnormal wants. Not
only does she provide for hunger, thirst, rest, to repair waste and recover tone, but she is a
storehouse of remedies for disease. There are provisions not only for life when exhausted by
expenditure, but when assailed and wounded by assault. It is well known that animals when ill
either refuse to eat, or, eating, select a medicinal diet. Such food is found in those forms of supply
abounding in nature that are repelled in a state of health. Disease sharpens an instinctive appetite

29. for them, and impels to a search for them. Man as a physical being, diseased, like all animals, finds
himself dependent for cure on medicinal remedies stored in nature. There is a more subtle force in
man, and a more destructive one, than disease, and whose proper seat is the soul. It is sin: what
disease is to the body, sin is to the spiritual powers of man. The spheres in which these destructive
forces work greatly differ, but such is the organic connection between them that we are quick to see
the natural alliance of sin and disease. As in physical disease there is a suppression of appetite for
common food, and a search for a medicinal diet, so in man’s apostate condition and severance
from God there is disclosed in the remains of his fallen nature, in the intuitions of reason and the
instincts of a guilty conscience, a longing after some form of deliverance that has an expiatory
value. Sin itself seems to evoke a longing for a remedy that will destroy it. A sick man wants health,
and if lie finds it at all, he finds it in nature’s stores; a lost man wants salvation, and if he finds it at
all, he finds it in Christ crucified. Mark here the point of critical interest: when the sinner in the
consciousness of his need turns to Christ and believes on Him, he is born again. In this change, his
third life has been taken off the creature as having a supreme interest and placed upon God where
it originally belonged; and so, being in Christ Jesus, the man, dead in trespasses and sins, is made
alive from the dead. But the new man that is born in him is, to use the apostle’s figure, a babe in
Christ. There exist still in the converted man the remains of the old nature, and these remains are
summed up by the apostle and called the old man. And now what have we? A marvellous
phenomenon! a man with four lives in him. The physical and intellectual lives remain; then we
have the new life, the babe in Christ, called the new man; finally we have a fourth life in the
remains of the old life, called by St. Paul the old man. In the soul of the renewed man then we find
two lives; and let us mark their relation to each other. In the first place, the new man though a babe
holds the ascendency. He is so much the creation of the Spirit that we can say of him that he is the
child of a King. In his minority in this world he has to retain his throne by warfare. In the text, St.
Peter, addressing believers, urges them to exercise the appetite, characteristic of newborn babes, in
their longing for the spiritual milk of the Word which is without guile, that they may grow thereby.
He assumes the existence of life, and life that is to grow by eating in compliance with an awakened
appetite. The reign of law is supreme in all growth. All the characteristics of life in the lower
kingdoms of nature reappear here in the spiritual sphere. We have seen that all appetite, wherever
found, finds its corresponding supply in its environment. This is true of the life of the believer.
That life is Divine in its origin from heaven, and in its nature spiritual; therefore corresponding to
it is an objective supply equally Divine and spiritual. But you ask, How about the old third life, now
called by the apostle the old man, and which we have seen to be living a dying life? Does it grow? I
reply that the old man still lives, but, struck with death, is in a mortal decline; there is growth too;
but in proportion as the new man grows strong, he grows weak. If the new life is stationary, the old
life holds its own; if it is retrograde, the old life waxes and regains ascendency, “sin reigns.” But
you say that if the old life lives in any form, even a lingering death, it must have food, and what is
it? This is a vital question; can we find an answer? We have seen that the new life is in spirit totally
unlike the old life, and cannot therefore live on the same diet, unless it is mixed. Here we fall upon
the great source of weakness among believers-adulteration of food. The Divine plan for the new life
is that it should live and grow “on spiritual milk, which is without guile.” The word “spiritual” here
does not refer to the Holy Spirit as the originator of this diet, but to the Spirit of the new life itself,
with which this diet is perfectly congruous. The new life is spirit, and has a diet fitted to it as such;
but the diet must be without guile, unadulterated, the pure Word of God. When the new life has
this food, and only this food, and enough of it, it hastens on to full growth. Instances abound in the
Church of persons of signal excellence in whom this life has had a luxurious exposition. But this
food, so nutritious and medicinal to the new man, is innutritious and destructive to the old man.
The Divine plan is to kill the old life by the natural process of starvation. It is said that in certain
soils clover will not grow under butternut trees; the roots of the butternut extract from the soil all
the elements the clover lives on, and so the clover starves and dies. It is by this same law of death
by starvation that the old life in believers is to end its career. But the painful fact is that its law is
not obeyed. Strange as it may be, believers do not insist that the spiritual milk they drink shall be
without adulteration. They allow a mixed diet-elements introduced that are agreeable to the old
man. When the diet is half and half, when both the old and the new man can sit at the same table

30. and partake of the same food with equal pleasure, neither is satisfied; both live a stunted life. It is
just here that we find an explanation of the mystery of the weakness that abounds in Christian
living. Believers half live, because fed on a diet half of which is prepared for the old life. They
consult with flesh and blood. They are self-indulgent; and the self they indulge is the old self. They
hanker after forbidden food. In them the old life is robust and well to do, the new is pinched and
emaciate. Why is this? Because the Divine law of growth in the text is not heeded. Believers are not
studious as to their diet. They do not live on the spiritual milk of the Word, and insist that it shall
be without guile. They are too tender and sympathetic with the old self. Vigorous self-denial is here
demanded. This order is never introverted. It is always the new man in us that drives out the old;
and to have the strength required to do it he must have for his diet the spiritual milk of the Word,
which is without guile. (C. B. Hulbert.)
The Word compared to milk
1. The Word is compared to milk in respect of the plainness of it to young children, which is
therefore opposed to strong meat, that is, harder points, and mysteries of religion, so especially for
the nourishing nature thereof.
2. It is also compared to milk for the sweetness of it. The Word is sweet to a newborn Christian.
3. Besides, as milk is a general food for all rich and poor, so is the Word the common food of all
Christians, the means of their edifying. (John Rogers.)
The simultaneous outgoing of evil and incoming of good
Observe the relation in which the negative and the positive stand to each other. Although the precept
about putting off first meets our eye on the page, the act is not represented as taking precedence in
point of time. It is neither first put off the evil and then admit the good, nor first take in the good and
then get quit of the evil. The language of the text determines that the two acts are strictly
simultaneous. The form of the sentence is, “Laying aside these, desire this.” This is scientifically
correct as well as scripturally true. The coming of Christ unto His own, to the throne of a human heart,
“is like the morning.” And how does the morning come? Is it first that the light comes and then the
darkness departs? or first the darkness departs and then the light advances? It is neither. As the light
advances the darkness recedes. The processes are strictly simultaneous, but in nature the advance of
light is the cause and the departure of darkness the effect. Such, also, is the rule in the spiritual sphere.
It is indeed true that evil must depart to let in the good, but it is the advance of the good that drives the
evil before it. Christ is the stronger who overcomes the strong and casts him out and reigns in his
stead. To take in the milk and retain also the envies and evil speakings will give neither comfort nor
growth. The effort to mingle these opposites mars the happiness of many a life, and distorts all its
testimony for the truth of the gospel. (W. Arnot.)
Desire
As in children, all speak and work at once-hands, feet, mouth. The Greek word signifieth vehemently
to desire. (J. Trapp.)
The sincere milk of the Word
Guileless, unmixed milk, not sugared or sophisticated with strains of wit, excellency of speech, etc. (J.
Trapp.)

31. Appetite for Divine things wanted
The Rev. Mr. Walker, of Muthil, was preaching in a neighbouring parish. Next day he was met by one
of the resident landowners, who explained to the reverend gentleman that he had not been hearing
him on the Sabbath afternoon, as he felt he could not digest more than one sermon. “I rather think,”
said Mr. Walker, “ the appetite is more at fault than the digestion.” (C. Rogers, LL. D.)
That ye may grow thereby.-
Christian growth
I. Christians are to “grow”-“grow unto salvation.” This implies present immaturity-that they have not
yet reached “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Their hope is ofttimes indistinct and
tremulous, even when it is not averted from its appropriate object. Their holiness is stained by
innumerable defilements of the flesh and the spirit. Their fear dissolves into a carnal security or a
worldly dissipation. Nor does “brotherly love continue.” But if they are Christians indeed all these
elements of the new creature exist at least in the germ. Growth may be slow, and, for a time, even
imperceptible. Obstructed by the remaining constitutional taint of the old nature, it may be hindered
also by unfavourable circumstances, by the diseases incident to childhood, or through neglect of the
appropriate means of growth. But the tendency is there, and that tendency is to be fostered by
Christian education.
II. The particular means here specified by which this growth is to be promoted is “the sincere milk of
the Word.”
III. But, in order to the profitable use of even the pure milk of the Word, there are certain conditions
prerequisite.
1. There is, first, the necessity of spiritual life. Without it, as there can be no growth, so neither is
there any desire after the means of growth,
2. If the soul is to enjoy the full benefit of the provisions of grace it must also be careful of its
spiritual health, avoiding all occasions of disease, and especially maintaining a constant guard
against the evil tendencies of its own constitutional taint.
3. When the soul has thus been “purified of malice and wickedness,” one unfailing sign of its
healthy condition is a “desire”-an earnest desire-for the nutriment of the Divine Word.
4. If we would grow by means of the Word it is important that we use the Word for that end.
IV. The motives by which this exhortation is enforced.
1. In this growth itself there is blessing enough to be its own motive and great reward. There are
other considerations, however, suggested by the text. Observe-
2. The introductory word, “wherefore,” literally “laying aside, therefore,” etc., referring back to the
illustrious attributes of the Word, as these had been set forth at the close of the first chapter. It had
there been magnified as the Word of the Lord, as the incorruptible seed, as the living, abiding,
everlasting Word. Seeing, then, says Peter, this precious Word decays not, grows not obsolete, and
can as little be exhausted as it can be superseded by the word of man or of angel, what remains but
that ye “follow on to know” it, “give yourselves wholly” to it, and drink deep, drink daily, drink
forever of the Divine fountains. This might the rather be expected of them as-
3. In the third place, they had already experienced the regenerating power of the Word, “as
newborn babes.” This is not so much a comparison as a reason. If, moreover, they remember still
that they are but children, what more natural than that they should be ambitious to grow?
4. And finally, as they had been made subjects of the gospel’s regenerating power, so they had

32. likewise tasted the sweetness and blessedness of its revelations. “If so be”-or if indeed, as you
profess, and as I fully believe-“ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious,” good, kind. You “tasted,”
and you are well aware that you did no more than taste, “of the heavenly gift,” of that which shall
be the eternal satisfaction and joy of all the redeemed. With what confidence, then, in your ready
compliance may I not say, Open your mouths wide and the good Lord will fill them. Enlarge to the
uttermost both your capacities and your desires, and you will still find this cup of blessing, this
river of God, as full as at the first. (J. Lillie, D. D.)
Soul growth
I. It involves young life. There is no growth without life, and old life grows not. Soul growth consists in
the simultaneous and harmonious development of all the powers of the mind under the inspiration
and direction of supreme love to God.
II. It involves suitable aliment.
1. The Word must be taken into the soul by hearing and reading.
2. The Word must be digested by the soul by reflection and prayer.
3. The Word must be incorporated in the soul by holy activities and habits.
III. It involves a healthy appetite.
1. The soul must have an appetite for truth before it will take it.
2. The soul must have an appetite for the genuine truth before it will get the right nutriment.
(Homilist.)
Growth by the Word
I. The great end to be sought after. “That ye may grow.” The newborn babe is a fit emblem of the
Christian. He is one who has in him the principle of a higher life, and therefore the capacity of growth.
1. In what is it the Christian is to grow? In all that constitutes the new nature which he has received
of God.
(1) The foundation of the Christian life is laid in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
(2) On this there must be a superstructure of virtue and moral goodness reared, and the
advancement of the one must keep pace with that of the other.
2. This growth is a gradual process. We must be prepared for fluctuations and vicissitudes in our
spiritual condition.
3. Whenever this growth takes place it will be discernible. Not directly, or in itself. A child grows
without being in the least degree sensible of it. Nor can even the keenest onlooker see the child
grow. The fact that it has grown is discovered from the comparison of what it is now and what it
had been at some period more or less distant in the past. Even so it is with Christian growth.
II. The means by which this great end is to be secured.
1. The truth of God is revealed to us as being adapted to nourish the life of God in the soul.
2. We are to desire God’s Word in order that we may grow thereby. It is very possible to desire
Divine truth for other reasons and other ends than this. It is quite possible to desire to read Holy
Scripture because we have been accustomed to do so, or because this wonderful book is very
pleasant to read, and touches every part of our intellectual nature.
But we must use it intelligently, perseveringly, to secure the great end.

33. 1. Have we any right to call ourselves babes in Christ, children of God, born again? If not, then
simply we cannot grow. Dead things, stones, cannot grow.
2. Ought not the necessity of growing to be more deeply felt, and the duty on which it depends to
be more faithfully discharged? (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)
Retaining infantile ideas
What man amongst us would consent to be dressed in the garb of his infancy, and to be sent forth into
the world dandled in the arms of bearers and habited in the long clothes of his babyhood? But so far as
spiritual knowledge and attainments are concerned men are only too willing to retain their infantile
ideas, and to resent any attempt to lead them to larger and loftier conceptions of truth, to a more
robust and manly faith. (J. Halsey.)
The influence of food on spiritual growth
Spiritual growth and development are required of us, and spiritual growth and development are a
matter of spiritual diet. Buckle, in his “History of Civilisation,” shows how the characters and
dispositions of the various races of men are affected by the food they eat. The broad general truth of
this is obvious. The gross feeders are slow thinkers, and the difference in the intellectual qualities
between the Eskimo with his blubber and the Frenchman with his cutlets and claret is as great as the
difference between the foods themselves. We are what we are-physically, mentally, and to a great
extent even morally-mainly in virtue of our diet. If we were to be always subsisting on babies’ food,
farinaceous powders and sopped rusks, we should never grow into a stalwart manhood. At the same
time you do not expect elevation and refinement of thought from the gourmand and the epicure. The
man who con fines himself to the elements of thinking limits himself to the infantile stages of growth,
to their helplessness and dependency. (J. Halsey.)
Spiritual growth to be sought
They take a pride in cultivating their physical nature, in developing their muscle and sinew to the
highest efficiency; they will even go into severe training to achieve this end; but in the spiritual sphere
the toothless, flabby, milk-imbibing infant is their ideal. (J. Halsey.)
Thinking aids growth
And it is in that thinking faculty that resides your power of growth. The machine can never be anything
else or anything better than it is unless human thought be brought to bear upon it. You cannot teach a
machine anything, and because it cannot think it cannot grow. The instinct in the animal is always
mere instinct. It never grows. The instinct whereby the bee makes its cell today is the same as that of
its ancestors who sipped honey in primeval Eden. The ox is as bovine today as when it first appeared
upon the stage of existence. Not one solitary idea has ever entered its brain during all those perhaps
hundreds of thousands of years. It has never been able to think itself out of the animal groove, to lift
itself, by force of its own will, one step in the scale of creation. But in virtue of his thinking faculty
man’s capacity for growth is illimitable. If he will only use it, cultivate it, develop it, no bounds can be
set to its power to expand and elevate him. (J. Halsey.)
Appropriate aliment

34. The relation of growth to nutrition is a law of the universe. Every description of life has its appropriate
aliment, and only as it is provided with this will it grow; and if you were a farmer you would find that
you could not raise your corn and other crops without first charging the soil with silica and ammonia
and phosphates, and other elements essential to the building up of the tissues of the plant. The
religious manhood is built up no otherwise. It is purely a question of nutriment. (J. Halsey.)
Deep Christian knowledge to be desired
You have seen on a summer’s evening the gnats gliding upon the smooth surface of a great river. What
do they know of the river’s wealth, of the beautiful gardens of aquatic weeds, of the shoals of silvery
fish and other forms of life that teem in the clear depths beneath? Such is the knowledge of the
universe that many Christian people possess, and that they think it right to possess. They skim the
surface, but are careful not to wet their wings, and to go no deeper than the guardians of orthodoxy
assure them it is safe. (J. Halsey.)
A sermon for men of taste
“If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” “If, if”-then this is not a thing to be taken for
granted. “If”-then there is a possibility that some may not have tasted that the Lord is gracious. “If, if”-
then this is not a general but a special mercy, and it becomes our business to inquire whether we are
comprehended in that company who know the grace of God by inward experience.
I. First, then, taste is prominent in the text.
1. The taste here meant is doubtless faith. Faith, in the Scripture, is all the senses. It is sight
(Isa_45:22); hearing (Isa_55:3); smelling (Psa_45:8); touch (Mar_5:30-31). Faith is equally the
spirit’s taste. “How sweet are Thy words to my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to nay lips.” We shall
have an inward and spiritual apprehension of the sweetness and preciousness of Christ as the
result of living faith.
2. The taste here meant is faith in one of its highest operations. To hear Christ’s voice as the very
voice of God in the soul will save us, but that which gives the true enjoyment is the aspect of faith
wherein Christ, by holy taste, becomes assimilated to us; we feed on Him; He becometh part of us;
His living Word sustaineth us, and His precious blood cheereth us as generous wine. Do you ask,
“In what respect does faith taste that the Lord is gracious?” It is faith operating by experience.
3. Faith, as exhibited to us under the aspect of tasting, is a sure and certain mark of grace in the
heart. It is a sure sign of vitality. Man, by nature, is dead in trespasses and sins. Or, to put it in
another light, if men have a taste of Christ, it is certain evidence of a Divine change, for men by
nature find no delight in Jesus.
4. This taste, where it has been bestowed by grace, is a discerning faculty. If thou canst live upon a
gospel which leads thee to depend upon thyself, thou hast no spiritual taste, or else thou wouldst
loathe, as much as ever Egyptian loathed to drink of the waters of Nile when turned into blood, to
drink of any river which flows from created springs; thou wouldst only drink of the cool stream of
the river of life which rises at the foot of the throne of God and flows around the base of Calvary,
where Jesus shed His blood. Say, soul, dost thou love Jesus only? Is He all thy salvation and all thy
desire, and dost thou repose wholly and solely in Him? For if not, then thou hast no spiritual taste,
and thou hast no reason to believe that thou belongest unto Jesus Christ at all.
5. Faith as a taste is not Simply a discerning but a delighting faculty. Men derive much satisfaction
from the organs of taste. I pray you delight yourselves in Christ! Let your faith so taste Jesus as to
make you glad. Let your joy be as the joy of harvest, and sing ye with Zechariah, “How great is His
goodness, and how great is His beauty! Corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the
maids.”

35. 6. This taste of ours is in this life imperfect. As old master Durham says, “‘Tis but a taste!” We have
not yet rested beneath the vines of Canaan; we have only enjoyed the first fruits of the Spirit, and
they have set us hungering and thirsting for the fulness of the heavenly heritage. We groan within
ourselves, waiting for the adoption.
7. Though ours is an imperfect, we thank God it is a growing taste. We know that sometimes in the
decline of life the taste, like the other powers of manhood, decays; but, glory be to God, a taste for
Christ will never decay.
II. Men who have thus tasted of Christ have special sins to avoid and objects to desire.
1. We first dwell upon evils to be avoided.
2. The apostle, having told us what to avoid, tells us what to eat and drink. “As newborn babes
desire,” etc. The Christian man should desire pure doctrine; he should desire to hear the gospel
plainly and truthfully preached-not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but in the words
which the Holy Ghost teacheth. It is a sign of declining health in a Christian when he does not love
the means of grace. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christian experience exemplified
I. Define Christian experience so far as expressed in the language of the text. Tasting supposes life;
where there is no spiritual life there can be no spiritual taste. Tasting implies reception, and this is
requisite in order to appreciation. They who savingly prove the gracious character of God are such who
have the inward evidence of it. Religion is not a matter of speculation, but of experience; not of form,
but of hallowed feeling. Such participation is no criterion of extraordinary proficiency in Christianity;
it is essential to its existence.
II. The exemplification of such experience of religion in the soul.
1. “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious,” what thanks do you owe Him?
2. “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious,” be gracious like Him.
3. “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious,” you know what you are to hope for. Proofs
hitherto of His love are pledges for the future.
4. “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious,” think what is expected from you. Grow in
spiritual stature. The more ample the crop the more delightful to the husbandman and to every
beholder who feels an interest in what is excellent.
5. “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious,” pity those that have not. (Essex
Remembrancer.)
A gracious experience of God
I. We may consider the goodness of God. He is said to be gracious, or of a bountiful, kind disposition.
The graciousness of God is always sweet; the taste of that is never out of season. God is gracious, but it
is God in Christ. Though God is mercy and goodness in Himself, yet we cannot apprehend Him so to
us, but as we are looking through that medium, the Mediator. His grace is all in Christ. Let us therefore
never leave Him out in our desires of tasting the graciousness and love of God, for otherwise we shall
but dishonour Him and disappoint ourselves.
II. Ye have tasted. There is a tasting exercised by temporary believers spoken of in Heb_6:4. That is
merely tasting, rather an imaginary taste than real; but this is a true feeding on the graciousness of
God; yet is it called but a taste in respect of the fulness to come. Jesus Christ being all in all unto the
soul, faith apprehending Him, is all the spiritual senses. Faith is the eye that beholds His matchless

36. beauty, and so kindles love in the soul, and can speak of Him as having seen Him and taken particular
notice of Him. It is faith that touches Him and draws virtue from Him, and faith that tastes Him. In
order to this there must be a firm believing of the truth of the promises, wherein the free grace of God
is expressed and exhibited to us-a sense of the sweetness of that grace being applied or drawn into the
soul, and that constitutes properly this taste He that hath indeed tasted of this goodness, oh, how
tasteless are those things to him that the world calls sweet! As when you have tasted something that is
very sweet, it disrelishes other things after it. Therefore can a Christian so easily either want or use
with disregard the delights of this earth.
III. The inference. If ye have tasted, etc., then lay aside all malice and guile, and hypocrisies and
envies, and all evil speakings, Surely if you have tasted of the kindness and sweetness of God in Christ,
it will compose your spirits and conform them to Him. It will diffuse such a sweetness through your
soul that there will be no place for malice and guile; there will be nothing but love, and meekness, and
singleness of heart. As the Lord is good, so they who taste of His goodness are made like Him
(Eph_4:32). Again, if ye have tasted, then desire more. This is the truest sign of it. He that is in a
continual hunger and thirst after this graciousness of God has surely tasted of it. “My soul thirsteth for
God,” saith David (Psa_42:2). He had tasted before; he remembers that he went to the house of God
with the voice of joy. This is that happy circle wherein the soul of the believer moves. The more he
loves it the more he shall taste of this goodness, and the more he tastes the more he shall still love and
desire it. But observe-If ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, then desire the milk of the Word. This
is the sweetness of the Word, that it hath in it the Lord’s graciousness, gives us the knowledge of His
love. This they find in it who have spiritual life and senses, and those senses exercised to discern good
and evil, and this engages a Christian to further desire of the Word. (Abp. Leighton.)
The test of taste
Peter is here quoting from Psa_34:8: “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” The passage actually
runs-“O taste and see that Jehovah is good,” and Peter does not hesitate for a moment to apply the
passage to the Lord Jesus.
I. A royal dainty. “The Lord is gracious.” Jesus is full of grace. Once tasted, this grace is remembered.
1. The Lord is gracious in His person, nature, and character. He would never have been Immanuel,
God with us, if He had not been gracious.
2. We have found Him exceeding gracious in the manner of dispensing His salvation. He is most
free, spontaneous, and generous in His gifts of grace.
3. As He is gracious by nature and gracious in manner, so is He gracious in His gifts. How gracious
was He when He gave Himself for us! What priceless boons follow therefrom! He gave us pardon
and life. Where sin abounded, grace doth much more abound. Since we have come to know our
Lord, how gracious have we found Him to be! “He giveth more grace.” Oh, the wonders of free
grace in its continuance and perseverance! Truly “the Lord is gracious.”
4. The Lord is gracious, for He hears prayer.
5. Some of you have been favoured with choice times, “as the days of heaven upon the earth.” You
have climbed the mount and been alone with God. Oh, the rapture of intimate fellowship with God!
6. Possibly your experience has been of a sadder kind; you have backslidden, and He has restored
you in His grace. But you do not know how gracious the Lord is.
7. Remember that He is preparing us for a glory inconceivable. Everything is working out His
perfect design.
II. But now think of a special sense which is exercised in tasting that the Lord is gracious. Faith is the
soul’s taste by which we perceive the sweetness of our Lord and enjoy it for ourselves. In answering the
question, What is meant by taste? I would bid you notice the likeness of the word “taste” to another,

37. namely, “test.”
1. Taste is a test as to things to be eaten. We prove and try an article of food by tasting it. Even so
we do not speculate upon the grace of God, but “we have known and believed the love which God
has toward us.”
2. In order to spiritual taste there must be apprehension. We must have some idea of what being
gracious means, and some conviction that this is truly the character of our Lord Jesus. The clearer
the knowledge the more distinct the taste may become.
3. After apprehension must come appropriation. Martin Luther saith, “And this I call tasting, when
I do with my very heart believe that Christ hath given Himself unto me, and that I have my full
interest in Him, that He beareth and answereth for all my sins, transgressions, and harms, and that
His life is my life. When this persuasion is thoroughly settled in my heart, it yieldeth wonderful and
incredible good taste.” Appropriate Christ, I pray you. Let each one take Him to himself, and then
you will know what tasting means. But taste further means appreciation. You may have a thing
within yourself and yet not taste it, even as Samson’s lion had honey within its carcase, but he was
a dead lion, and so could not taste it. A man may get the gospel into his mind, but never taste it. It
wants a living man, and a living appropriation, and a living appreciation, or else the royal dainty is
not tasted. Have you ever enjoyed the truth that the Lord is gracious? Jesus is all in all to all who
are in Him.
III. A searching question. “If so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
1. This is a very simple elementary question. I may not know what a dish is made of, but I may
have tasted it for all that. I may be grossly ignorant of the mysteries of cookery, but I can tell
whether a dish is sweet to my taste. I put it to every one here, whether babes or strong men Have
you tasted that the Lord is gracious?
2. However simple is the question, it goes to the root of the matter; it takes in the whole ease of a
man’s soul. Do you know Christ by personal reception of Him? If not, you are in an evil case. Oh,
that you would come to the feast! Oh, that you would eat that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness!
3. Every man here must answer that question for himself. We cannot in this matter be sponsors for
one another. Tasting is an operation which must be performed by the individual palate. There is no
other method of practising it. Let me tell you when we have tasted the graciousness of the Lord. We
have done so after great bitterness. Our Lord, as George Herbert would say, has put His hand into
the bitter box and given us a dose of wormwood and gall. We have drunk the cup in submission,
and afterwards He has made us taste that the Lord is gracious, and then all bitterness has clean
gone, and our mouth has been as sweet as though wormwood had never entered it. The taste of
grace is always on some men’s palates; their mouths are filled all the day with the praises of the
Lord. These are happy beings; let us be of their number.
IV. A series of practical inferences.
1. “Desire the sincere milk of the Word.” If you have tasted it, long for more of it.
2. Next, expect to grow, and pray that you may do so. Pray for more faith, more hope, more love,
more zeal, and so let us grow. “Desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow.”
3. Next, “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious,” abhor the garlic flavour of the world’s
vices. I mean those alluded to in the first verse malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil
speaking.”
4. I want you also, if you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to lose taste for all earthly trifles.
Let the ox have its grass and the horse its hay, but souls must feed on spiritual meat. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)

38. The experimental test
There are two ways of ascertaining whether a reputed loaf of bread is really bread, or a reputed glass of
water is water. One way is by chemical analysis; the other way is by eating and drinking. Upon the
whole the common and experimental test is the more satisfactory, and it is quite as scientific. Some
people reach Christ by long and painful argumentation and searching into all the evidences of
Christianity, while others simply take God at His word and come to an experimental knowledge of the
truth and saving power of the gospel. This is by far the better way. “O, taste and see that the Lord is
good.” (J. R. Pentecost.)
Tasting
A taste whets the appetite. (J. A. Bengel.)
Experience in religion
A hundred thousand tongues may discourse to you about the sweetness of honey, but you can never
have such knowledge of it as by taste. So a world full of books may tell you wonders of the things of
God in religion, but you can never understand them exactly but by the taste of experience. (N.
Caussin.)
HAWKER 1-5, "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all
evil speakings, (2) As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
(3) If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. (4) To whom coming, as unto a living stone,
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, (5) Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a
spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
This Chapter opens with an exhortation to the Church, from what went before. The new-birth, being
confirmed in all its blessed properties, and the spirit being born into that incorruptible life, which
liveth and abideth forever, the people of God are here very properly called upon to testify the certainty
and reality of these things, and that in a double manifestation. First, by laying aside all that evil
conversation, and those evil actions, which marked the unregeneracy of their nature, while in that
state. And, Secondly, in being alive to those holy desires after Christ, which are the evident tokens of
the new-birth. I admire the beauty, as well as elegance of the Apostle’s figure, in considering the new-
born child of God as a babe in Christ. For, in the first awakenings of the spiritual life, every child of
God, in his attainments, can be considered no higher. And a very blessed testimony it is of the new
birth, when the child of God desires the breasts of consolation; hungers and thirsts after Christ, and is
longing more for the knowledge of Jesus, and communion with Jesus, than the babe of nature testifies
its health and cries for its daily food. And, indeed, under the presumption which the Apostle makes,
and which is the sure consequence of being born again, the soul hath tasted that the Lord is gracious;
this spiritual sense, which belongs only to the regenerate, makes the child of God exceedingly anxious
to drink deeper into the glorious truths of Christ and his redemption. For the soul hath now felt
somewhat of the plague of his own heart, hath had some views of the glories of Christ, and the
suitableness of Jesus to his wants, as a poor sinner; and thus having known some-what of his own
emptiness, and Christ’s all-sufficiency, the earnest longing of the soul is for the being satisfied with the
breasts of consolation, and to milk out and he delighted with the abundance of Christ’s glory,
Isa_66:10-11.
There is an uncommon degree of beauty in the expression, to whom coming. The words imply, not one
act, but a constancy of action. It is as if he meant to say, always coming; and for this plain reason. All
our springs of spiritual life are in Christ. And the stream doth not depend more upon the constancy of
supply from the fountain, than the new-born child of God (yea, and the eldest believer, and, if possible,

39. with increasing need,) doth upon the momentary supplies from Christ. Reader! do you know anything
of this in your own attainments? Blessed and happy are you if you do. Very sure I am, that it is a secret
but little known in the present day. The greater part of professors, yea, and too many of God’s dear
children also, are calculating the state of grace in which they stand, more by their own feelings, than by
what they are receiving from Christ’s fulness. They live like bees in the winter, in their own hives, upon
their own substance, and thereby make to themselves a wintery dispensation, instead of coming out to
the sweet light, and life, and everlasting fulness of the Sun of Righteousness. Whereas the Holy Ghost
here teacheth the Church a more excellent way. By always coming to Christ, every day, and all the day,
under a conscious sense of our own emptiness, and Jesus’s all sufficiency, we receive out of his fulness
grace for grace, Joh_1:16. And it is a sweet life. They only know the blessedness of it, who so use
Christ, as God in his rich mercy hath appointed him. For my own part, I love to feel my wants, and
poverty, and leanness that I may carry all to Christ, and make an exchange for his fulness, riches, and
soul-renewing comforts. And very sure I am, that if I did not feel these things, but were puffed up in
my own fleshly mind, the throne of grace would not be often visited by me. Oh! how truly blessed it is,
When God the Spirit gives the soul a feeling sense of her poverty; then points to Jesus, who is all
fulness to supply; then leads the soul to Christ, and Opens a communication with Christ, for the supply
of every want, and the enjoyment of his all-suitableness and all-sufficiency. Oh! the loveliness of the
Apostle’s words, to whom coming!
The figure of a stone, and a living stone, in allusion to Christ, is uncommonly striking and just. As the
first and last in the spiritual building, his Church, Christ is the Rock of Ages. And to intimate both the
eternity of his nature, and the source of life to his people, he is Called a living stone, having life in
himself. And I leave the Reader to form his own conclusions, under grace, whether the very expression
doth not carry with it the fullest conviction of the Almightiness of his person; for otherwise, the very
term living stone, would be inadmissible. And I beg the Reader not to overlook the striking contrast
between God’s esteem of Christ, and Man’s, by nature. Disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God,
and precious! What can be more decisive, in proof of the natural enmity of the human heart by the fall!
And what more blessed to a child of God, of having been taken out of the quarry of nature, and being
built upon Christ, when become living stones, deriving life from Him, and offering up through Him,
and in Him, the Spiritual sacrifices of praise for redeeming love, coming up with acceptance before
God upon the altar Christ Jesus?
MEYER, " BUILDING ON THE PRECIOUS CORNER-STONE
1Pe_2:1-10
It is easy to lay aside malice, guile and evil speaking, when we are constantly feeding on the
unadulterated milk of spiritual truth. If you have tasted of the grace of Jesus, you will not want to sip
of the wine of Sodom. Drink, O beloved, eat and drink abundantly, that we may grow, casting aside
sinful and childish things.
The changing imagery of the next paragraph is remarkable. As we touch the Living Stone we live, and
we touch others who are touching Him, and so a temple begins to grow up. Then we become a holy
priesthood in the temple, and finally the sacrifices which are offered within its precincts. If Christ is
not that Living Stone for you, He will be your undoing.
All that God said of His ancient people may be realized by us in and through Christ. Compare 1Pe_2:9
with Exo_19:6. Thus songs of praise are ever ascending to Him who has called us into His light.

40. 2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it
you may grow up in your salvation,
BAR ES, “As new-born babes - The phrase used here would properly denote those which were
just born, and hence Christians who had just begun the spiritual life. See the word explained in the
notes at 2Ti_3:15. It is not uncommon, in the Scriptures, to compare Christians with little children.
See the notes at Mat_18:3, for the reasons of this comparison. Compare the 1Co_3:2 note; Heb_5:12,
Heb_5:14 notes.
Desire the sincere milk of the word - The pure milk of the word. On the meaning of the word
“sincere,” see the notes at Eph_6:24. The Greek word here (ᅎδολον adolon) means, properly, that
which is without guile or falsehood; then unadulterated, pure, genuine. The Greek adjective rendered
“of the word,” (λογικᆵν logikon,) means properly rational, pertaining to reason, or mind; and, in the
connection here with milk, means that which is adapted to sustain the soul. Compare the notes at
Rom_12:1. There is no doubt that there is allusion to the gospel in its purest and most simple form, as
adapted to be the nutriment of the new-born soul. Probably there are two ideas here; one, that the
proper aliment of piety is simple truth; the other, that the truths which they were to desire were the
more elementary truths of the gospel, such as would be adapted to those who were babes in
knowledge.
That ye may grow thereby - As babes grow on their proper nutriment. Piety in the heart is
susceptible of growth, and is made to grow by its proper aliment, as a plant or a child is, and will grow
in proportion as it has the proper kind of nutriment. From this verse we may see:
(1) The reason of the injunction of the Saviour to Peter, to “feed his lambs,” Joh_21:15; 1Pe_2:1-2.
Young Christians strongly resemble children, babies; and they need watchful care, and kind attention,
and appropriate aliment, as much as new-born infants do. Piety receives its form much from its
commencement and the character of the whole Christian life will be determined in a great degree by
the views entertained at first, and the kind of instruction which is given to those who are just entering
on their Christian course. We may also see,
(2) That it furnishes evidence of conversion, if we have a love for the simple and pure truths of the
gospel. It is evidence that we have spiritual life, as really as the desire of appropriate nourishment is
evidence that an infant has natural life. The new-born soul loves the truth. It is nourished by it. It
perishes without it. The gospel is just what it wants; and without that it could not live. We may also
learn from this verse,
(3) That the truths of the gospel which are best adapted to that state, are those which are simple and
plain. Compare Heb_5:12-14. It is not philosophy that is needed then; it is not the profound and
difficult doctrines of the gospel; it is those elementary truths which lie at the foundation of all religion,
and which can be comprehended by children. Religion makes everyone docile and humble as a child;
and whatever may be the age at which one is converted, or whatever attainments he may have made in
science, he relishes the same truths which are loved by the youngest and most unlettered child that is
brought into the kingdom of God.
CLARKE, “As new-born babes - In the preceding chapter, 1Pe_1:23, the apostle states that they
had been born again; and as the new-born infant desires that aliment which nature has provided for it,

41. so they, being born again - born from above, should as earnestly require that heavenly nourishment
which is suited to their new nature; and this the apostle calls the sincere milk of the word, το λογικον
αδολον γαλα, or, as some translate, the rational unadulterated milk; i.e. the pure doctrines of the
Gospel, as delivered in the epistles and gospels, and as preached by the apostles and their successors.
The rabbins frequently express learning to know the law, etc., by the term sucking, and their disciples
are often denominated those that suck the breast. The figure is very expressive: as a child newly born
shows an immediate desire for that nourishment, and that only, which is its most proper food; so they,
being just born of God, should show that the incorruptible seed abides in them, and that they will
receive nothing that is not suited to that new nature: and, indeed, they can have no spiritual growth
but by the pure doctrines of the Gospel.
That ye may grow thereby - Εις σωτηριαν, Unto salvation, is added here by ABC, and about forty
others; both the Syriac, the Arabic of Erpen, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Slavonic, Vulgate, and several
of the ancient fathers. The reading is undoubtedly genuine, and is very important. It shows why they
were regenerated, and why they were to desire the unadulterated doctrines of the Gospel; viz.: that
they might grow up unto salvation. This was the end they should always have in view; and nothing
could so effectually promote this end as continually receiving the pure truth of God, claiming the
fulfillment of its promises, and acting under its dictates.
GILL, “As new born babes,.... The Syriac version renders it, "be ye simple as infants"; and as if it
was a distinct exhortation of itself, and from that which follows; though it seems rather to be
descriptive of the persons spoken to, and a character of them, under which the apostle addresses them;
which carries in it a reason strengthening the exhortation after given: he takes it for granted that they
were begotten again, according to the abundant mercy of God, and born of incorruptible seed, by the
word of God, and that they were just, or lately born; and which is to be understood of them all in
general, and not of younger converts among them, who might be called little children with respect to
others who were young men or fathers; but that, comparatively speaking, those that had been of the
longest standing were but as it were newly born, it being at most but a few years since they were called
by grace: and they were as "babes", not on account of their want of knowledge, or unskilfulness in the
word of righteousness; or of nonproficiency in the learning of divine truths, and their great dulness,
backwardness, and imperfection; or because of their incapacity in taking in, and digesting the strong
meat and sublimer doctrines of the Gospel; or for their instability and simplicity, being easily deceived
and beguiled; nor for their weakness in faith, not being able to walk alone, and their insufficiency to
defend, or provide for themselves; but because of their harmlessness and innocence, meekness and
humility; and for the sincerity of their faith and love, obedience and profession. The proselytes to the
Jews' religion are often said (m) to be ‫דמי‬ ‫שנולד‬ ‫,כקטון‬ "as an infant just born", or a new born babe; to which
the allusion may here be made:
desire the sincere milk of the worddesire the sincere milk of the worddesire the sincere milk of the worddesire the sincere milk of the word; this is not a declaration that these new born souls did do so, though that
might be true, but an exhortation to them so to do, as it became them: by "the sincere milk of the word" is meant
the Gospel, even the whole of it, and not, as elsewhere, the more plain and easy truths of it; which is compared
to milk for its purity in itself, for every word of God is pure and for its purifying nature, as used by the Spirit of
God; and for its sweetness and agreeable taste to a regenerate man; and because easy of digestion to a spiritual
one; and because it is nutritive to him, by it he is nourished up unto eternal life; and because, as milk is of a
cooling nature, so the Gospel is a means, in the hand of the Spirit of God, of assuaging those inflammations, and
of allaying that wrath and fiery indignation, raised in the conscience of a sinner by the law; and because as milk,

42. medicinally used, is a restorative in consumptive disorders, so the Gospel is not only the means of helping a
declining person, and who is wasted and consumed by sin, but even of quickening such as are dead in sin; it is the
savour of life unto life. The Jewish writers speak of ‫תורה‬ ‫של‬ ‫,חלב‬ "the milk of the law" (n), of which they generally
interpret (o) the passage in Isa_55:1 but it is much better applied to the Gospel, which is the milk of the word, or
"rational milk": not that the Gospel is a scheme according to the carnal reason of men; it is contrary to that, and
above sound reason, though not repugnant to it; but it is what is calculated for faith, the spiritual reason of men,
and for such who have their spiritual senses exercised, to discern between good and evil; it is a spiritual drink,
and is made up of spiritual things, and suited to the spiritual man; it is milk, not in a natural, but in a mystic and
spiritual sense: the Syriac version renders it, "the word which is as milk, pure and spiritual": and it is "sincere";
without mixture, unadulterated with the inventions and doctrines of men, Jews or heretics: or "without deceit";
being neither deceitfully handled by the faithful ministers of it, nor causing deceit, or deceiving those that
cordially receive it. Now, this it becomes regenerate person, to "desire"; and vehemently long after, as a new born
babe does after its mother's milk; for the Gospel is that to one that is born again, as the breast is to a babe: desire
after it supposes knowledge of it; and where there is an experimental knowledge, there will be a value and
esteem for it, even above necessary food, and, at times, an hungering and thirsting after it, an impatient longing
for, and desire of it; when such souls will labour after it, and diligently observe and attend every opportunity of
enjoying it, and think long ere the seasons of meeting with it return; for it is suitable food for them, savoury food,
such as their souls love, and which indeed they cannot live without: now the end of this exhortation, and of such
a desire, and of feeding on the words of faith and sound doctrine, is,
that ye may grow therebythat ye may grow therebythat ye may grow therebythat ye may grow thereby: regenerate persons are not at their full growth at once; they are first children, then
young men, and then fathers in Christ; the Gospel is appointed as a means of their spiritual growth, and by the
blessing of God becomes so, and which they find to be so by good experience; and therefore this milk of the
word is desirable on this account, for the increase of faith, and the furtherance of the joy of it; for their growth in
grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and in an experience of spiritual strength from him, and unto him,
as their head in all things; not merely in the leaves of a profession, but in the fruits of grace, righteousness, and
holiness. The Alexandrian copy, and several others, and also the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions,
add, "unto salvation": that is, until they come to a perfect knowledge of Christ, and to be perfect men with him,
being arrived to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, and in the possession of that salvation he has
obtained for them,
JAMISO , “new-born babes — altogether without “guile” (1Pe_2:1). As long as we are here we
are “babes,” in a specially tender relation to God (Isa_40:11). The childlike spirit is indispensable if we
would enter heaven. “Milk” is here not elementary truths in contradistinction to more advanced
Christian truths, as in 1Co_3:2; Heb_5:12, Heb_5:13; but in contrast to “guile, hypocrisies,” etc.
(1Pe_2:1); the simplicity of Christian doctrine in general to the childlike spirit. The same “word of
grace” which is the instrument in regeneration, is the instrument also of building up. “The mother of

43. the child is also its natural nurse” [Steiger]. The babe, instead of chemically analyzing, instinctively
desires and feeds on the milk; so our part is not self-sufficient rationalizing and questioning, but
simply receiving the truth in the love of it (Mat_11:25).
desire — Greek, “have a yearning desire for,” or “longing after,” a natural impulse to the regenerate,
“for as no one needs to teach new-born babes what food to take, knowing instinctively that a table is
provided for them in their mother’s breast,” so the believer of himself thirsts after the word of God
(Psa_119:1-176). Compare Tatius’ language as to Achilles.
sincere — Greek, “guileless.” Compare 1Pe_2:1, “laying aside guile.” Irenaeus says of heretics. They
mix chalk with the milk. The article, “the,” implies that besides the well-known pure milk, the Gospel,
there is no other pure, unadulterated doctrine; it alone can make us guileless (1Pe_2:1).
of the word — Not as Alford, “spiritual,” nor “reasonable,” as English Version in Rom_12:1. The
Greek “logos” in Scripture is not used of the reason, or mind, but of the WORD; the preceding context
requires that “the word” should be meant here; the adjective “logikos” follows the meaning of the noun
logos, “word.” Jam_1:21, “Lay apart all filthiness ... and receive with meekness the engrafted WORD,”
is exactly parallel, and confirms English Version here.
grow — The oldest manuscripts and versions read, “grow unto salvation.” Being BORN again unto
salvation, we are also to grow unto salvation. The end to which growth leads is perfected salvation.
“Growth is the measure of the fullness of that, not only rescue from destruction, but positive
blessedness, which is implied in salvation” [Alford].
thereby — Greek, “in it”; fed on it; in its strength (Act_11:14). “The word is to be desired with
appetite as the cause of life, to be swallowed in the hearing, to be chewed as cud is by rumination with
the understanding, and to be digested by faith” [Tertullian].
SBC, "The Baptismal Vow.
I. In our hearts and lives, the evil which we cast away is for ever returning; the truths which we have
learned we are for ever forgetting; the good which we should do we are continually leaving undone.
Wherefore our baptismal promise requires to be renewed, not once only at our confirmation, but
continually all our lives. We never can hear another renewing it with his lips without having great
cause to renew it ourselves also, for his need of renewing it is not greater than ours. And as the three
parts of our vow, although distinct, are yet all renewed together at our confirmation, so do they need to
be also by us all. Repentance, faith, and holiness are joined inseparably in all our earthly life; it is only
by keeping them so joined that we shall come to that blessed division of them when, there being no
more sin, there will be no more repentance, when sight will leave no place for faith, and holiness shall
then be all in all for ever.
II. Every day we need repentance. Our baptismal vow promised to renounce the devil and all his
works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same and the carnal
desires of the flesh, so that we would not follow or be led by them. It is either by the temptations of the
flesh, or by those of the world, or by both, that by far the greatest number of souls, and in by far the
greatest portion of their lives, are tempted and are overcome. The evil, then, not renounced, but
allowed to overcome us, is a thing which requires of us indeed a deeper thought and a deeper sorrow
than to many of us may seem even possible. We shall not care to believe God’s truths, nor shall we care
to follow His holiness, unless we do earnestly desire to renounce our evil, unless we watch for it
everywhere, and fear God’s judgment upon it, and believe that it is as great and as abiding as His word
and as the death of His Son declares it to be.
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. v., p. 122.
CALVI , “2.The sincere milk of the word This passage is commonly explained according to the rendering of
Erasmus, “ not for the body but for the soul;” as though the Apostle reminded us by this expression that he spoke

44. metaphorically. I rather think that this passageAGREES with that saying of Paul,
“ ye not children in understanding, but in malice.”
(1Co_14:20 .)
That no one might think that infancy, void of understanding and full of fatuity, was commended by him, he in due time
meets this objection; so he bids them to desire milk free from guile, and yet mixed with right understanding. We now
see for what purpose heJOINS these two words, rational and guileless, ( λογικὸν καὶ ἄδολος.) For simplicity and
quickness of understanding are two things apparently opposite; but they ought to be mixed together, lest simplicity
should become insipid, and lest malicious craftiness should creep in for want of understanding. This mingling, well
regulated, is according, to what Christ says,
“ ye wise as serpents, and harmless asDOVES .”
(Mat_10:16 .)
And thus is solved the question which might have been otherwise raised. (19)
Paul reproves the Corinthians because they were like children, and therefore they could not take strong food, but were
fed with milk. (1Co_3:1 .) Almost the same words are found in Heb_5:12 . But in these passages those are
compared to children who remain always novices and ignorant scholars in the doctrine of religion,
whoCONTINUED in the first elements, and never penetrated into the higher knowledge of God. Milk is called the
simpler mode of teaching, and one suitable to children, when there is no progress made beyond the first rudiments.
Justly, then, does Paul charge this as a fault, as well as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. But milk, here, is not
elementary doctrine, which one perpetually learns; and never comes to the knowledge of the truth, but a mode of living
which has the savor of the new birth, when we surrender ourselves to be brought up by God. In the same manner
infancy is not set in opposition to manhood, or full age in Christ, as Paul calls it in Eph_4:13 , but to the ancientness
of the flesh and of former life. Moreover, as the infancy of the new life is perpetual, so Peter recommends milk as a
perpetual aliment, for he would have those nourished by it to grow.
(19) Our version here seems to convey the most suitable meaning, by taking λογικὸν for τοῦ λόγου; see similar
instances in 1Pe_2:13 and 1Pe_3:7 . It is the wordy milk, or milk made up of the word; the word is the milk.
Then ἄδολον is to be taken in its secondary meaning: whenAPPLIED to persons, it means undeceitful, or guileless;
but when to things, genuine, pure, unadulterated, unmixed with anything deleterious. We may, therefore, render the
words, “ the pure milk of the word.” It is a milk not adulterated by water or by anything poisonous. There is no contrast
here between milk and strong food; but it includes all that is necessary as an aliment for the soul, when renewed. The
Word had before been represented as the instrument of the new birth; it is now spoken of as the food and aliment of
the new-born. — Ed.
PULPIT, "As newborn babes. The words look back to 1Pe_1:3, 1Pe_1:23. God begat them
again; they were new-born babes in Christ, they must remember their regeneration. The
rabbis used the same metaphor of their proselytes; but the apostle was doubtless thinking of
the Savior's words. Desire the sincere milk of the Word. Desire, long for it eagerly (
ἐπιποθήσατε ), as babes long for milk, their proper food, the only food necessary for them. It
seems that in the adjective λογικόν (paraphrased in the Authorized Version "of the Word,"
rendered "spiritual" or "reasonable" in the Revised Version) there must be a reference to the
Word of God ( λόγος Θεοῦ ), mentioned in 1Pe_1:23 as the instrument of regeneration, and
called by our Lord (Mat_4:4, from Deu_8:3) the food of man (but the Greek in Matthew is
ῥῆµα , as in 1Pe_1:25). The paraphrase of the Authorized Version gives the general meaning;

45. but the adjective means literally, "reasonable" or "rational." The apostle is not thinking of
natural milk, but of that nourishment which the Christian reason can regard as milk for the
soul—spiritual food, pure and simple and nourishing, capable of supporting and strengthening
those newborn babes who not long ago had been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, through the Word of God. The adjective occurs only in one other place of
Holy Scripture—Rom_12:1, τὴν λογικὴν λατερείαν ὑµῶν , where it means the service of the
sanctified reason as opposed to the mechanical observance of formal rites. It is explained by
Chrysostom as ebony ἔχουσαν σωµατικὸν οὐδὲν ταχὺ οὐδὲν αἰσθηνόν Thus it seems nearly
to correspond with the use of the word πνευµατικός , spiritual, by St. Peter in Rom_12:5 of
this chapter, and by St. Paul in 1Co_10:3, 1Co_10:4. St. Paul also speaks of milk as the
proper food of babes in Christ (1Co_3:2; comp: also Heb_5:12), though the thought is
somewhat different; for St. Peter's words do not convey any reproof for want of progress. This
spiritual milk is ἄδολον , pure, unadulterated. That ye may grow thereby; literally, therein, in
the use of it. All the most ancient manuscripts add the words, "unto salvation." The soul which
feeds upon the pure milk of the Word groweth continually unto salvation.
LANGE, "1Pe_2:2. As newborn babes.—This goes back to 1Pe_1:23. The connection is
similar to 1Pe_1:14. They had been addressed as children of obedience, now their
young and tender state is mentioned as a reason why they should seek strength in the
word of God. ‘Newborn babes’ was a current expression among the Jews for
proselytes and neophytes. As the desire and need of nourishment predominate in the
former, so they ought to predominate in babes in Christ. The expression so far from
being derogatory, sets forth the tenderness of their relation to God, and implies the
idea of guilelessness, cf. Isa_40:11; Luk_18:15, etc.
Long for—word.— ἐðéðïèåῖí denotes intense and ever recurring desire. While the
regenerate experience a longing after the word of God, by which they had been
begotten, similar to the desire of newborn babes for their mother’s milk, Psa_119:31;
Psa_119:72; Psa_19:11, still the hereditary sin which yet cleaves to them renders it
necessary that they should be constantly urged to the diligent use of the divine word in
order to partake of it.—Milk, in opposition to solid food, 1Co_3:2; Heb_5:12; Heb_6:1,
signifies the rudiments of Christian doctrine, not only its simple representation
adapted to the capacity of the weak but also the more easily intelligible articles of
Christianity. In this place, however, where no such antithesis exists, the figure
comprises the sum-total of Christianity, the whole Gospel. Milk is the first, most
simple, most REFRESHING, most wholesome food, especially for children; so is the
word of God, cf. Isa_55:1. The most advanced Christians ought to consider themselves
children, in respect of what they are to be hereafter. “Christ, the crucified, is milk for
babes, food for the advanced.” Augustine. Clement of Alexandria suggests the
partaking of the incarnate Logos.— ëïãéêüí is best explained by the Apostle’s
peculiarity to elucidate his figures by additional illustrations, cf. 1Pe_1:13; 1Pe_1:23. It
is milk contained in and flowing from the word, spiritual milk, which, as Luther
explains, is drawn with the soul. The rendering ‘reasonable’ is against the usus
loquendi of the New Testament, and equally inadmissible in Rom_12:1. [Alford renders
‘spiritual’ after Allioli and Kistemaker.—M.] The nature of this milk is further defined by
ἄäïëïí , which means unadulterated, pure, cf. 2Co_4:2; 2Co_2:17. [ ἄäïëïí seems rather
to be in contrast with äüëïí in 1Pe_2:1.—M.] It is consequently doctrine that is not
compounded with human wisdom and thus rendered inefficacious. For the word of

46. God has the property that it exerts purifying, liberating, illuminating and consoling
influences only in its purity and entireness. Irenæus says of the heretics: “They mix
gypsum with the milk, they taint the heavenly doctrine with the poison of their
ERRORS.”
ἐí áὐôῷ , receiving it into your innermost soul, making it your full property. Growth in
holiness depends on the constant assimilation of the word. “The mother who gave
them birth, nourishes them also.”—Harless.
2. Christianity is not satisfied with partial and superficial improvements; it demands
inflexible severity toward the old man, and insists upon it that impurity in every shape
and form shall be exposed and struggled with, 1Pe_2:1.—The progress of the Christian
life corresponds every way to its beginning. He that in a first repentance has been
awakened from spiritual sleep, must every day rise ANEW from sleep; he that has put
on Christ in faith, must daily put Him on more thoroughly. This is necessary because
the old man exists alongside the new, although the dominion of the former be broken.
1Pe_2:21; 1Pe_2:2. The apostle requires these two things: 1. The innocency of
children; 2. The appetite of children.—Epictetus says: “Every thing hath two handles.”
The art of taking things by the better side, which charity always doth, would save much
of those janglings and heart-burnings that so abound in the world.—There is none
comes to the school of Christ, suiting the philosopher’s word, ut fabula rasa, as blank
paper to receive His doctrine, but, on the contrary, all scribbled and blurred with such
base habits as these—malice, hypocrisy, envy, etc.—These two are necessary
conditions of good nourishment: 1. That the food be good and wholesome; 2. That the
inward constitution of them that use it be so, too.—Iisdem alimur ex quibus
constamus.—Pure and unmixed, as milk drawn immediately from the breast; the pure
word of God without the mixture, not only of error, but of all other composition of vain,
unprofitable subjects or affected human eloquence, such as become not the majesty
and gravity of God’s word, 1Pe_4:11.—“Desire the sincere milk”: 1. It should be
natural; 2. earnest; 3. constant.
CONSTABLE, "Next he urged them to do something positive. Since they had
experienced the new birth (1 Peter 1:3; 1 Peter 1:23), they should now do what babies
do, not that they were new Christians necessarily. The milk of the Word is probably the
milk that is the Word rather than the milk contained in the Word, namely, Christ, though
either interpretation is possible. [Note: A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New
Testament, 6:95.] "Long for" is a strong expression that we could paraphrase "develop
an appetite for." This is the only imperative in the passage in the Greek text. God's
Word is spiritual food that all believers instinctively desire, but we must also cultivate a
taste for it (cf. 2 Peter 3:18).
"It is sad when Christians have no appetite for God's Word, but must be 'fed' religious
entertainment instead. As we grow, we discover that the Word is milk for babes, but
also strong meat for the mature (1 Corinthians 3:1-4; Hebrews 5:11-14). It is also bread
(Matthew 4:4) and honey (Psalms 119:103)." [Note: Wiersbe, 2:400.]
Ask God to give you a greater appetite for His Word. God's Word is pure in that it is
FREE from deceit (cf. 1 Peter 1:22-25). "Salvation" here, as Peter used it previously,
refers to the full extent of salvation that God desires every Christian to experience.

47. "The point of the figurative language is this: as a babe longs for nothing but its
mother's milk and will take nothing else, so every Christian should take no spiritual
nourishment save the Word." [Note: Lenski, p. 78.]
The "milk" here is not elementary Christian teaching (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews
5:12-13), in contrast to "meat," but the spiritual food of all believers. [Note: Michaels, p.
89.]
ELLICOTT, "(2) As newborn babes.—The word “newborn” is, of course, newly, lately born, not
born A EW, although the birth meant is the new birth of 1 Peter 1:23. They are said to be still
but newborn because they are still so far from maturity in Christ, as these sins testified. The
metaphor is said to be not uncommon in Rabbinical writers to denote proselytes. St. Peter would,
therefore, be describing Jews who had newly received the word of God, as proselytes of the new
Israel. “As” means “in keeping with YOUR character of.” (Comp. 1 Peter 1:14.)
Desire the sincere milk.—The word for “desire” here is a strong word—get an appetite for it.
Bengel is perhaps right when he says on “newborn babes,” “It is their only occupation, so strong
is their desire for it.” St. Peter here again seems to lend a thought to the writer to the Hebrews
(Hebrews 5:12-14). In both places Jewish Christians are beginning to rebel against the Gospel
instructions, and in both places they are warned that they have not yet outgrown the need of the
very simplest elements of the Gospel. The epithet “sincere” should have been rendered guileless,
as it contains a contrast with “guile” in the verse before; perhaps the intention of the epithet may
be to rebuke the attempt to deal deceitfully with the Old Testament Scriptures after the example
of the Septuagint passage QUOTED above.
Of the word.—This translation of the original adjective cannot possibly be right. The only other
place in the ew Testament where it is used, Romans 12:1, will show clearly enough its meaning
here. There it is rendered “your reasonable service”—i.e., not “the service which may be
reasonably expected of you,” but “the ritual worship which is performed by the reason, not by
the body.” So here, “the reasonable guileless milk” will mean “the guileless milk which is sucked
in, not by the lips, but by the reason.” The metaphor of milk (though used by St. Paul, 1
Corinthians 3:2) was not so hackneyed as now; and the Apostle wished to soften it a little, and
explain it by calling it mental milk,” just as (so Huther points out) he explained the metaphor in 1
Peter 1:13, by adding “of your mind.” It is needless to add that the “mental milk” would, as a
matter of fact, be “the milk of the word,” and that the Apostle is pressing his readers to cling with
ardent ATTACHME T to the evangelical religion taught them by the Pauline party.
That ye may grow thereby.—All the best manuscripts and versions add “unto salvation,” which
may confidently be adopted into the text. “Grow” is, of course, said in reference to the infant
state of the converts as yet, and the maturity set before them (children long to be grown up) is
spoken of as “salvation.” When we compare this with 1 Peter 1:18, we see that the perfect
emancipation from Jewish superstitions is a main part of the “salvation” to which they are to
grow up.
COFFMAN, "As newborn babes ... Paul used this same figure in 1 Corinthians 3:2; but
Peter here, using the same figure, stresses, not the contrasting DIET of infants and
adults, but the appetite which all Christians should have in order to grow. All
Christians should have a constant and intense longing for the word of God.

48. Long for the spiritual milk which is without guile ... There are two changes from the
KJV in this verse: (1) the addition of the words "thereby unto salvation," which is a
very wholesome change, and (2) the substitution of this clause for "desire the sincere
milk of the word," which in no sense improves the meaning; for as Hunter pointed out,
"belonging to the word" is a thought surely contained in the Greek.[5] In fact, he said,
"The King James is preferable, the milk of the word, the word being the gospel.[6] This
is the first of a NUMBER of instances in this chapter where the KJV is definitely
superior to the subsequent versions.
That ye may grow thereby unto salvation ... The doctrinal force of this is significant.
This indicates that salvation is a mature state, not something achieved "per saltum" (at
a leap) at conversion.[7]
Without guile ... This is rendered "sincere," which is true, but one of the meanings of it
is "unadulterated."[8]
Spiritual ... Paul used this in Romans 12:1, where it means "reasonable," or pertaining
to the reason. It should be NOTED that it is not the word of God mixed with human
additives that enables people to grow unto salvation; but it is the pure word of God. As
Macknight put it, "The milk of the word will not nourish the divine nature in those who
use it, if it is adulterated with human mixtures."[9]
[5] Archibald M. Hunter, op. cit., p. 106.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Stephen W. Paine, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, New Testament (Chicago: Moody
Press, 1971), p. 973.
[9] James Macknight, Macknight on the Epistles, 1Peter (Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Baker Book House, reprint, 1969), p. 450.
PRECEPTAUSTIN, “Peter uses this figurative language to give the readers the mental picture
of infants craving nourishment, for anyone who has been a parent or had a baby sibling
knows how newborn babies vocally and ardently express their desire to be fed regularly. In
fact, newborn babies act as if their life depends on the next feeding, an attitude that should be
true of believers, for Jesus Himself clearly stated that...
"Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that
comes forth from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4 ) (Amplified Version) Jesus is quoting
(Deuteronomy 8:3 ) to emphasize that it is not food that is the most necessary part of life, but
instead it is the creative, energizing, and sustaining power of God's Word that is the only real
source of man’s existence.
In Moses' last words to the children of Israel just before they crossed the Jordan River to
possess their possessions (what God had already declared was their inheritance), he made

49. this profound statement ...
"Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall
command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. For it (the Word)
is not an idle (empty, vain) Word for you; indeed it (the Word) is your life. And by this
Word you shall prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to
possess." (Deuteronomy 32:46-47 ) The NLT paraphrases it "These instructions are not
mere words--they are your life!" How important in the success of Israel was the pure milk
of the Word and obedience to that Word?
Job had come to the understanding of the importance of God's Word for his sustenance
(which I believe was one reason he was able to endure such profound losses and afflictions)
declaring...
"I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His
mouth more than my necessary food." (Job 23:12 ) (Bolding added...read over Job's
affirmation slowly and ask yourself "What is more important to me - food or God's
Word?"
"Babies" (1025 ) (brephos) in classical Greek described a babe at the breast, one who is
dependent on the mother's milk for nourishment. The use of cows’ milk was rare in ancient
times. It was believed that children were very impressionable at the nursing stage, and those
who allowed them to be tended by nursemaids were advised to select the nurses with care.
Peter is painting a vivid picture --
Grasp for the Word
Like babies do for their bottle!
The Bible tells us that the goal of Bible study is not just that we might know (and be smarter
sinners), but that we might grow (and be more like the Savior) as shown schematically...
Appetite
v
Attitude
v
Aim
Peter is saying that more than simply receiving spiritual nourishment, the readers should be
ardently (Ardent = from root = to burn > expressed in eager zealous activity; impassioned)
longing for it.
Epipotheo describes an intense yearning for something. It is to long for or intensely crave
something with the implication that the one longing recognizes the lack or the need. In (Psalm
42:1 ) David uses a Hebrew verb translated pant which in turn is translated by the Septuagint
with epipotheo...
"As the deer pants (Hebrew = arag = yearn for, Lxx = epipotheo) for the water brooks,
So my soul pants (Hebrew = arag = yearn for, Lxx = epipotheo) for Thee, O God."

50. Epipotheo is used by Paul in (Romans 1:11 ) when he writes, “I long to see you” and when
he writes to young Timothy, that he is “longing to see” him (2Timothy 1:4 ). In these uses one
can see a picture of the deep longing Peter is trying to convey to his readers and to all saints.
Beloved, the question is this...
Are you "panting" for God's word as a deer in the desert does for the water brooks?
"Long for" is not an optional attitude as the Aorist tense Active Voice Imperative Mood
(see aorist imperative ) calls for a decisive even urgent action on the readers part. Do it! Do it
now! Don't delay!
A longing in our heart for Truth is not an option if we would grow in grace and the knowledge
of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Since we have been born again by the Word of God,
Peter is saying "Now make up your mind once and for all to intensely crave the word of God!"
Do you see the connection between the Word of God in the preceding section (see exposition
of 1:23-25 )? We are born again into the Kingdom of God by the "imperishable seed...the
living and abiding Word of God" Now, long for that same pure word. You began this new life in
Christ with the Word and the only way to grow in Christ likeness is by letting the "the Word of
Christ richly dwell within you" (see exposition of Colossians 3:16 )
Peter exhorts his readers to intensely crave for pure milk! Epipotheo is a strong word, a very
strong. It paints the picture of being an absolute hungering & thirsting after the Word. If a
believer is to grow, it is absolutely essential that he hunger and thirst after the milk of the
Word. What this says is that just as essential as having the desires for the word that we are
supposed to have is having the trust in God that He gives what He commands. If God says to
desire, long for (Aorist Imperative = do it now!), when we don't desire, then we trust Him that
He must know something we don't know. He must have some power we don't have. There
must be a way. God commands it. So there must be a way. I will not settle for less than what
God commands, even if it is a command to fly. It's saying "Lord, I can't but You can and you
said you would" so cry out to Him to give you that desire which you know is a prayer in His will
(1John 5:14-15 ) and then wait upon the Lord & He will renew your strength so that you then
can mount up with wings like an eagle (Isaiah 40:31 ).
Each morning when you get up you need to deal with [v1] issues first so your inner man will
be ''healthy'' and you have a natural (supernatural) God given appetite for His Living Word,
the spiritual bread of life. God then will give you an intense craving and deep-seated yearning
or longing upon which you are to act.
Spiritual growth is always marked by a craving for and a delight in God’s Word with the
intensity with which a baby craves milk. The opposite of longing after the pure milk of the
Word is to neglect so great a salvation (click exposition of Hebrews 2:3 )!
Note that in the present context , milk does not stand in contrast to solid food (as it does in
1Corinthians 3:2 and Hebrews 5:12 )
The use of milk as symbol for spiritual nourishment found in Judaism et. al. religions. It would
have been immediately familiar to Peter’s readers. All believers are seen as needing to grow
and to learn more about the Lord. All believers are to desire the milk (food) of the Word.

51. "Pure" (97 ) (adolos from a = negative + dolos = deceitful cunning to mislead) means without
guile, without deceit.
Adolos describes that which is honest, sincere, pure (unmixed with any other matter), without
admixture or unadulterated.
Adolos means not mixed with anything else. This adjective is not found in the Septuagint
(LXX) but was used in secular Greek writings describing seed or liquids which were
"unadulterated".
Adolos was also used of treaties to describe them as without fraud or guileless.
Adolos contrasts with the second attitude in 1 Peter 2:1 where Peter exhorts Christians to get
rid of guile (dolos).
Peter's point is that God's Word is pure and has no additives. This food of the Word has not
the slightest admixture of anything evil in it. The word is commonly used in this sense of corn,
wheat, barley, oil, wine, and farm products.
William Barclay adds that...
"Adolos is an almost technical word to describe corn that is entirely free from chaff or
dust or useless or harmful matter. In all human wisdom there is some admixture of what
is either useless or harmful; the Word of God alone is altogether good." (W. Barclay, The
Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press) (Bolding added)
Milk today has all manner of "additives" and unadulterated milk is virtually impossible to find.
Peter says spiritual babes need to suckle on the pure word of God in order to grow into
spiritual maturity. The pure Word of God has no ulterior motives like so many human
teachings, but has as its primary purpose the nourishing of our soul.
The following statement was found in an old law in Baltimore...
“Only pure unadulterated, unsophisticated and wholesome milk” (may be sold)
Like water from a mountain spring, Christianity is most pure at its source. While there are fine
and honorable Christian teachers and ministers here and there around the world, there
remains a very fundamental question: Can the word of any human be more right than The
Word of God?
Literally reads "the word's pure milk". Both Paul (1Co3:1-2) and the author of Hebrews
(5:12-13) use milk (in contrast to solid food) as metaphor for elementary teaching to new
converts, but Peter adopts it instead as an important symbol in its own right of the life of God
sustaining and perfecting the people of God.
William Barclay explains that...
“Logos is the Greek for word, and logikos means belonging to the word. This is the
sense in which the Authorized Version takes the word, and we think that it is entirely
correct. Peter has just been talking about the word of God which lives and abides for ever
(1Pe1:23-25). It is the word of God which is in his mind; and we think that what Peter

52. means here is that the Christian must desire with his whole heart the nourishment which
comes from the word of God, for by that nourishment he can thrive and grow up. In face
of all the evil of the heathen world the Christian must strengthen his soul and his life with
the pure food of the word of God”
For something to grow, it must be acted upon by an outside power or have the element of life
within him or it. This growth is not because of any special ability, but because of the quality of
life implanted by God Himself through the supernatural Word.
There is much published in America regarding how to "grow" one's church, but the focus is
primarily on methods for increasing church membership. What Peter is addressing is the
growth in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that should be occurring
in those believers who are already in the church.
In Acts 6:7 Luke records that the church in Jerusalem had leaders who were devoted to
prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4 ), with the result that...
the word of God kept on spreading (auxano - growing); and the number of the disciples
continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were
becoming obedient to the faith.
This passage teaches that as we are faithful to the Master's Plan to make disciples "church
growth" will take care of itself and it will be a church no longer filled with spiritual babies but
with mature disciples who are trained to fight the good fight of faith.
Vance Havner understood this truth about the power of the Word and it's relation to spiritual
growth, explaining that...
"The storehouse of God’s Word was never meant for mere scrutiny, not even primarily for
study but for sustenance. It is not simply a collection of fine proverbs and noble teachings
for men to admire and quote as they might Shakespeare. It is ration for the soul,
resources of and for the spirit, treasure for the inner man. Its goods exhibited upon every
page are ours, and we have no business merely moving respectfully amongst them and
coming away none the richer."
DANIEL ROWLEND IN 1739
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.1 Peter
2:2
This scripture contains an earnest exhortation to urge the believing Jews to grow in faith
and all other graces. The means whereby they grow and increase in God is the lively
preaching of the word of truth. Therefore the apostle constrains us to thirst and long for
the word of God, which is the food and sustenance of the soul - as little children cry for
their mother's milk which nourishes and keeps them alive. The Scripture mentions two
sorts of birth: one birth is fleshly and natural, which is by our descent from the first Adam,

53. from whom original sin, like a serpent's poison, passes to us; the second birth is heavenly
and spiritual, which is by the second Adam (who is Jesus Christ) by which grace and
holiness is implanted and grows in us. In this birth, God is our Father to win us; the
church, his spouse, the mother to bear us; the seed whereby we are born again is the
Word of God; the nurses, to nurture and rear us, are the ministers of the gospel; and the
breasts from which we suck are the breasts of the gospel, from which comes sincere
milk, as the text asserts. We shall by God's help consider five noteworthy things that
naturally spring from the separate branches of this text:
We observe the instinct that all who would be bettered and grow by the Word of God
should be.... that of newborn babes.
We note the characteristic impulse of little children.... that is desire.
We consider what is to be desired.... the milk of the Word.
We note the kind of milk that is to be desired.... sincere milk.
We mark the end and use for which we should desire the sincere milk of the Word.... that
we may grow.
I desire to expound a little on each of these points as follows:-
Firstly on their instinct, that they are 'as newborn babes'.
We know that little children are commended for their simplicity and harmlessness; so also
must we, whoever we are, be like this if we desire to receive benefit and profit in the
school of Christ, and receive light and comfort by the preaching of the word. Our Saviour
says, 'Suffer the little children to come unto me' (Mark 10:14). No one is fit to be taught of
Christ until he is renewed and changed into a little child. David says, 'The secret of the
Lord is with them that fear him' (Psalm 25:14) showing that God does not own a single
unregenerate soul as knowing what that secret is. Therefore those who desire to have
Christ as their Teacher to reveal His mind must have their sins stripped from them and be
cleansed, for wisdom will not rest in a defiled soul, nor in a heart soiled with sin. As Satan
would not stay.... but in a house swept clean from godliness; so the Spirit of God will not
dwell.... but in a house swept and cleansed from ungodliness: for God will not pour new
wine into old vessels (Matthew 9:17). If we do not desire new hearts, we should not look
for new blessings. Most wretched is the condition of the Jews because of their unbelief:
they read the Scriptures daily in order to see Christ, but in vain, because the darkness of

54. their stubborn hearts blinds their eyes; even so do we preach in vain, and you hear in
vain, because the veil of sin hides and obscures the light of the gospel from you.
Therefore, my dearly beloved in Christ Jesus, if you desire the Lord to bless your hearing,
and to prosper our preaching, you must cast away the dregs and filth of sin, which sours
your souls, and brings down God's curse when you expect to receive a blessing, and
causes the word of God to be a savour of death unto you and not of life (2 Corinthians
2:15,16). The bosom sins of men, alas, stop the mouth of Christ from speaking to them by
his Spirit or his ministers. This is as true as that the unbelief of his countrymen tied his
hands from working miracles (Matthew 13:58). Jeremiah's counsel is for us to 'break up
the fallow ground, and not to sow among thorns' (Jeremiah 4:3) which are the worldly
cares that spring up and choke the plants of wholesome instruction. And Solomon says,
'Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God' (Ecclesiastes 5:1). By comparing the
conduct of the land in general with these and the like Scriptures, a man of sense and
consideration has cause to be grieved in his soul. O! O! what shall we say about
ourselves when we consider how great a tumult there is with some concerning the world,
what foolish desire among others, what scorn there is in the heads of others. The eye of
faith can see them going into church with a devil in their hearts, and many coming out
with the curse of God upon their heads. Many men change their clothes on the Sabbath,
yet think nothing of coming to the Sabbath service with the same heart that they have had
all week. Their sons and daughters, for the most part, spend more time at their looking-
glasses, decking their bodies to come before men, than they employ in prayer, to sanctify
the soul to come before God. O wretched souls! What do you say to this? It does not
serve me to hear your levity, and to hear you shaming me in every place for rebuking you.
But I fulfill the words of Isaiah; therefore, if any of the Lord's people hear this, loathe the
sinful conversation and conduct of the world, long to be like little children, and not just
little children, but newborn babes, having new hearts, new members, new life, and a new
will implanted in them; do not turn from one sin alone, but be altogether turned into other
men, to become new creatures. The old heart, nor old hand, nor old eye will not serve,
but all things must be moulded and formed anew (1 Samuel 10:9). Now, if we desire to be
a retentive hearer, we must cease associating with, and welcoming sin; but as the
serpent sheds its skin, and the eagle its bill, so must we put away our old covetous lusts
and come like little children to hear the word of God. The iron must be heated before it
can be wrought; so the soul must be warmed by the fire of divine meditation, before it is
fit to be wrought upon by the word of the Lord. We must not touch sin, even with a
fingertip (2 Corinthians 6:17), because one little thief in the house opens the door to
greater ones; one devil brought seven others with him, each worse than himself (Matthew
12:45). Behold, in short, this is the temper that should be in us when we go to hear the
word of God; those renewed like this receive from the Lord a portion to their souls, and
answer to this text -as new born babes.
We come now to the second thing in the text, the characteristic impulse.

55. As newborn babes, we desire; yet we are not to be wavering, inconstant children 'tossed
to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine' (Ephesians 4:14) reeling from
faith to faith, from religion to religion, like a drunken man from wall to wall. Again, we are
not to be children in understanding and knowledge, as Paul says, 'Brethren, be not
children in understanding; howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men'
(1 Corinthians 14:20). As children we must thirst and long for the word of God: 'Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled' (Matthew
5:6). God fills the hungry with good things, and sends the rich needy away. Indeed, when
our hearts have been kindled with a longing for the word, and have a desire and great
appetite to hear it, that is when the word works most powerfully in us; for our hearts are
then like wax that has been warmed, and ready to receive any impression. The
Shunamite's child, whom Elijah raised, as soon as his flesh became warm, sneezed, and
opened his eyes, and revived; so, when we become warm in the spirit, and conceive a
desire and thirst for the Word of God, this is a certain sign that we have been born again,
and that there is breath and a soul within us, and that we are not utterly dead without
grace. As conversely, those who do not have hungry stomachs to be fed and satisfied
with the milk of the word are but mounds of dead carcases, and skins full of rotten bones;
and it would be the same as to desire the naturally dead to leave their graves as to desire
these to leave their sins. Our land can be easily likened to Golgotha, that is a place full of
dead men's skulls. It is awful that there are many thousands of miserable souls in it, dead
in sins, and dead in affections, who have no thirst or longing for the word of God. If they
have some pretence of a priest to read, they count themselves in a blessed state, as if
Elijah's staff was sufficient to raise the dead child to life without Elijah himself; they
imagine that the word is sufficient to give life, without asking for the Spirit of the Lord. If
they had but Judas they would be satisfied with him, and would not go a step further to
hear Paul. Woe is me, that I am obliged to say that the ministers who reprove them least
for their sins, and keep them for the least time in the churches, are the ones most
praised; they are far from agreeing with these scriptures :- Psalm 1:2; & Luke 2:37. They
clearly show that they have no taste for the Word of God, and that they do not desire it
like little children.
Question. What is meant by our being urged to be as little children, desiring the sincere
milk of the word?
1. It is said that children cry for their mother's milk as soon as they are born into the
world. Likewise the Christian cries, hungers, and thirsts for the milk of the word, as soon
as he hears the grace of God when he has been renewed. If the mother were to neglect
to give milk to her child, would he be able to live for a month, a week, or a few days?
Much less could our faith sustain itself, unless it was nourished and fed with the food of
life. Our Lord commanded them to give food to Jairus's daughter, as soon as he raised
her to life from the dead (Mark 5:43), as if it were in vain for us to be quickened by the
finger of God, unless we are also fed with the word of his grace. This is a great fault

56. among us, that we do not (when God has quickened us with his Spirit, when we feel the
grace of God budding and blossoming in us) then seek for abundant moisture to water it,
to prevent it drying up like seed on the rock or housetop. We count it most remarkable
that Elijah lived forty days without food, but it is more remarkable, if we would but
consider it, that hundreds of souls can be forty years, perhaps more, without a morsel of
food. This is a miserable famine in our midst: it is shameful that some famish in a land
where an abundance of food is offered (Isaiah 55:1).
There are many people in our land who think that it is too soon to begin, when they ought
to be ready to end. As Christ was sent for to heal the ruler's daughter, when she was
about to die, so many do not desire the prayers or company of ministers, until they
receive the summons of death. Then they wish to die with God, though they have lived to
the devil. They now cry, 'O! O! for repentance,' though they despised the offers of it
before. They do not go about the ark, until they see the flood coming; or about repenting,
until the devils are at their beds waiting for their souls. Thus they delay from day to day,
like the bad lawyer driving off his client from term to term, until the suit is lost. Lot
remained in Sodom, until the angel had to drag him out, he was so unwilling; and
certainly, unless God should pluck us out of our blindness and ignorance by means of his
free grace, scarce one of a thousand would be saved. Therefore, my dear brethren, if
Paul has planted you in the true faith, desire an Apollos to water you. If you have received
one grace, desire the means of grace, that you may grow thereby; for the best gifts will
but wither and decay, unless they are watered with the sap of the word.
2. We know that children are most eager for food when they are hungry, they neither
regard leisure, nor necessity, nor the willingness of their mothers; but disregarding
excuses, they must have suck when they cry. In exactly the same way, it is not enough for
us to desire the word, but we must be earnest and fervent in calling and crying for it.
There is an excellent parable about this in Luke, how one called for bread in the night; the
other answered that he was in bed, which some think would have served the man as a
most reasonable answer, but it did not do in this case (Luke 11:5). So, my beloved
people, if we have long called for the bread of life, yet we should not be disheartened, but
continue asking, like Peter knocking at the door, until it is opened. The mother does not
always feed her child for love, but sometimes to keep it still and quiet; so, if our mothers
neither reverenced God nor feared man, yet if we were fervent with her, crying and calling
earnestly, as babes do for food; eventually they would give us milk, if not of love, yet in
order to have peace. We must strive and wrestle if we want to receive. Jacob wrestled
with the angel, and said, 'I will not let thee go, except thou bless me,' (Genesis 32:26). So
ought the hearers wrestle with the ministers, saying, 'You will not have any peace until
you feed us with knowledge and understanding.' This doctrine is a reproof to a great
many of us who take it upon ourselves to walk in the ways of God, yet are so chill and
very cold. We have some love to the truth, yet we do not labour for the sake of the truth,
like a merchant who likes gain, but cannot venture on the seas for fear of drowning.
There are some in our land, who will avow God, while the goddess Diana will permit
them, but no longer. They prefer to be at home among their cattle, in the service of Satan,
than to be with God in the church. Others would rather let the devil tear and deform their
souls in their armchairs at home, than let a shower of rain touch their clothes by going to

57. the house of God. And others, of greater knowledge, as they imagine, who you would
think would choke on a gnat, think nothing of swallowing a camel by telling a lie in
hypocrisy; and though their faces are seen being washed with tears in the church, yet you
would have your work cut out to drag them from among the Pagans in the market. The
fulfilling of the words of the apostles is applicable to them, 'They have a form of godliness,
but deny the power thereof; from such turn away' (2 Timothy 3:5).
3. We know that children, having been fed, after a little pause turn to the breast again, as
in earnest (as they say) from time to time. We must be of Elijah's diet, bread and flesh in
the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening (1 Kings 17:6); so our souls ought to be
fed morning and evening. The apostle exhorts us thus, 'Let the word dwell in you richly'
(Colossians 3:16); because it is not sufficient for it to take up a night's lodging, and be
gone in the morning, like a traveller; the word must have a daily and continual residence
in our hearts. Though the ground is good, yet it must still have the former and latter rain
before it will be fruitful.
Alas! Alas! some men think that one shower will do the job, and go to heaven by hearing
one sermon, or if they have 'Lord, have mercy upon me' but once on the tip of their
tongue. Woe is me, if this were true then our Lord's words in Luke 13:24 would be vain,
'Strive to enter in at the strait gate.' No, no, it is not so dear souls; we must be like little
children desiring the word presently, without delay, or postponement; earnestly, without
fainting; diligently, without loathing; and ever, without slothfulness.
III. [lit. IV.] That which we ought to desire, namely, our food and nourishment in Christ,
which is called in the text 'the milk of the word'. To this our Saviour calls us from our
dainties: 'Labour, not for the meat which perisheth; but for the meat which endureth unto
everlasting life' (John 6:27). The word is everlasting nourishment, and immortal seed,
because it keeps the one who eats it from famine and death (1 Peter 1:23-25). We desire
many things but not the milk of the word. Some desire money, but it is the root of all evil;
there is a desire of the flesh, but it wars against the soul; there is also a desire of pre-
eminence, but it swells the proud; there is also a desire of revenge, but it arises from a
rash and carnal spirit; there is also a desire of praise, but it stems from ae Pharisaic
desire; but the blessed and godly desire is, to desire the milk of the word. When Jonathan
saw the honey dropping, he licked it; so when we see the milk of the word, we ought to
suck it. Of all the blessings of the land of Canaan this was the chiefest, that it flowed with
milk and honey; and this is why the Israelites travelled through the desert to possess it.
The word is a land flowing with better milk and honey, and we should count no pain or toil
too great a cost to attain it. God has given it many notable names in order to draw our
affections more towards it. In Psalm 119:105 it is called a lamp to guide our feet, and
lighten our path. Also, it is called a guide, to lead us; a medicine, to heal us; a bridle, to
curb or restrain us; a sword, to defend us; water to wash us; a fire, to warm us; salt, to
season and purify us; milk, to nurture us; wine, to rejoice us; a treasure, to enrich us; and
a key, to unlock heaven's gates unto us. Thus the word is called by every name, that we
may desire it instead of everything else. Therefore the word should not be of small repute

58. among us, because we do not know how many blessings it can convey to us. It is the
word of Salvation, and it saves many a soul from perishing. As Elisha said of Jordan to
Naaman, 'Wash and be clean;' so we can say of the word to every hearer, 'Apply it, and
be saved.' It is called 'the word of life,' because it revives the spirit. It is called 'the word of
the covenant,' because it is the golden chain that binds God and man together. It is called
'a jewel of inestimable price;' therefore as David longed for the well of Bethlehem, so we
must long for the milk of the word.
Question. Why is it called milk?
Answer. Because it is the only food of the faithful, and because it is sweet and
comfortable to the soul, like milk to babes. This is the virtue of the word of God. Woe!
Woe! to think of how many Michals there are mocking David for dancing before the ark!
There are many, alas, in our land, who call us madmen because we press to hear the
word. But as Christ said,'Father, forgive them,' so God forgive them, for they know not
what they do. If they felt the calm of conscience, the joy of heart, the consolation of spirit,
and everlasting comfort in God, which the faithful possess and enjoy through the
preaching of the word, they would not account us fools; no, no, on the contrary, no
pleasure, or profit, or earthly danger, would keep them from being fellow hearers with us.
So much for our food.
IV. [lit. 4.] Now we come to the kind of milk we ought to desire. It is described in the text
as sincere milk. Milk, in its taste and effect, because in nourishing and feeding the body
naturally, the blood cannot be good unless the food is wholesome. So in feeding our
souls spiritually, neither our hearts, nor affections, nor our words nor our works, can be
good, unless the milk of the word, as the food of the soul, with which we are nourished, is
wholesome and sincere. Therefore as our Saviour warns us to take heed how we hear
(Mark 4:24),so the apostle, to the same end, exhorts us to take heed upon what we feed.
For there is pure doctrine (Proverbs 30:5), and there is doctrine full of leaven (Matthew
16:6). There is a new wine of the gospel (Matthew 9:17), and there is also a mixed wine
in the cup of the harlot, full of filth (Revelation 17:2). There is wholesome doctrine (1
Timothy 4:6), and there is also corrupt and unwholesome doctrine (Ephesians 4:29).
There is the doctrine of God (John 7:16), and there are also the doctrines of devils (1
Timothy 4:1). There is a word that edifies (Ephesians 4:12), and there is also a word that
pollutes and eats as doth a canker (2 Timothy 2:17). As the prophet's children cried out
that there was death in the pot, so some may say that there is death in their food; and
therefore it is that we are so often forewarned in the Scripture to beware of false
prophets, who come to us in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves (Matthew
7:15); and to beware that no one spoil us through philosophy and vain deceit (Colossians
2:8); and not to believe every spirit, but to try them, whether they are of God (1 John 4:1);
as we must taste our food before we digest it, and try our gold before we treasure it. Our
Saviour tasted the vinegar, and after doing so would not drink; likewise we should reject
all false doctrine, after we have tested it. There are many, alas! who feed on dragon's
milk, and who take pains to learn the language of Egypt, and not of Canaan. They hear,

59. but to no purpose: in the church in the morning, in the tavern in the afternoon, or among
their cattle, or under the hedgerows, talking vanity and folly. O what graceless conduct is
this! The Lord look forgivingly upon them. God would have us know that he does not wish
the same land to receive two kinds of grain, nor the same heart to receive two kinds of
doctrine. Dagon could not stand with the ark; no more can Christ's truth hold fellowship
with lies or heresy. Therefore, as the ministers must beware that they do not make
merchandise of the word of God, so must the people beware that they do not drink any
milk but sincere milk. Therefore, beloved people, you ought to be careful how you behave
yourselves, much more as you see how eager Satan is to assault you, and, under the
cloak of reformation, to bring into the temple profane worship. Here, brethren, I forewarn
you, as I have done before, that you go to hear the word where it is not mixed with
heresy, and do not believe those who would pervert the gospel (Galatians 1:8,9). This
much for the fourth point
V. The end and purpose for which we should desire the sincere milk of the word, that we
may grow thereby. That is the end of our hearing, that we may grow in grace, faith, and
righteousness. For the faithful are called the 'trees of righteousness,' to show that they
are to grow. (2.) They are called 'living stones' (1 Peter 2:5), because they must grow in
the building of the spiritual house. (3.) They are called 'good servants,' who trade with the
Lord's talents, that they may receive their own with interest (Matthew 25:16). (4.) As 'living
branches,' which must be purged and pruned by the hand of the heavenly husbandman;
all showing that we ought to grow. We must not always be children, but we must grow
now. As the star did not cease till it came over the door where Christ was, so we should
not rest walking till we come to God. We must grow from grace to grace (1 Thessalonians
3:12). What kind of men are we, seeing, and hearing, and yet no better. We are like the
lean kine that Pharaoh saw in his dream, eating the fat and well favoured kine, and yet
were not any the fatter (Genesis 41:4). Likewise there are many of us, wretched and lean
of God, as if we had never sucked of the milk of the word. Almost no one among us is
more zealous, more faithful, more energetic for the truth, not one more holy, nor more
fervent in religion, there is hardly one less ungodly than he was a hundred sermons ago,
as if we were night-black ravens, without ever a thought of returning to Noah in the ark.
Though we have heard often, and are still inclined to hear, we do not grow by our
hearing; we are but babes in Christ, scarce able to walk; little in faith, little in love,
patience, humility, and zeal; like Zaccheus, so little that we cannot see Christ. This is
certain testimony, that we have hearts of stone, and not hearts of flesh, within us; they will
not be watered with the showers of the gospel. For everywhere among us there is as
much covetousness, bribery, fraud, deceit, wantonness, and envy, as there was before
the gospel shone on us. Many are as dishonest in their dealings, as negligent in the
service of God, as proud in their attire, as hypocritical in church, as sinful at home, as
they were before. O! how many houses there are among us without prayer! though it has
often been shown that the devil is over the prayer less home, and that they were godless.
And what is the reason for all this, but that we come to hear rather than to be bettered?
Whilst hearing, one sort (like Eutychus) sleep during the preaching of the word (Acts
20:9); another sort forgets all, as Nebuchadnezzar forgot his dream; another sort
remember, but never make use of it. But know and be assured, that it is better for you not
to have heard, than not to use what you have heard, because our Lord said, 'If I had not
come and spoken unto them, they had not sin; but now they have no cloke for their sin'

60. (John 15:22). Oh, alas, if the servant who hid his talent in a napkin in the earth received
so harsh a judgment, what punishment will those have who have wasted their talents?
Therefore every man must take heed how he hears, and not receive the grace of God in
vain, but desire the milk of the word, to be bettered and grow. Now, whosoever you are, O
man! that hears this, search your conscience, who is the better for the last sermon?
Consider what sin you had last Sabbath, which you have not this Sabbath. If you can find
no change, then realize that you are not increased by the food which you received. Alas!
Alas! nothing breaks my heart more than to think how attentive many of you are today in
giving ear to my words; but as Jonah's gourd withered in the morning, so by tomorrow
morning a greedy worm of covetousness, or lust, will have eaten up the shoots, and
uprooted the seed sown today on the rock of your hearts.
Here are some directions to those who desire a blessing from the word of God, and to
grow thereby:-
1. Be sure in the morning to send a private and serious prayer to the Lord, for your
preservation in the spiritual battle in which you are going to engage.
2. Separate yourselves from the company of the profane along the way. If you do
converse, remember to do so graciously, as the two disciples going to Emmaus--therefore
you may hope to have Christ to walk together with you. It is grievous to see some men
going to God's house, with their memory and hearts burdened with vain talk; and when
they come to hear the word of God, they cannot receive anything, for no vessel can
contain more than what will fill it.
3. When you assemble together, be sure to remember the example of Zaccheus (Luke
19:2-4) who came to the way by which Christ was to pass, in order to see him. But the
crowd being large, and he so small, and so unable to see, and not being content to return
home without seeing him, and not content with just seeing the crowd, endeavoured to
climb to the top of a sycamore tree. Alas! Alas! many men in our land now, imagine
themselves in a sufficiently good state that it is enough just to go to church, without ever
having a sight of Christ when they have been there; and sleep, if possible, or spend most
of the time in scorn and foolish jest. They go home as happy as those whose purpose
has been realized, that is to have a sight of Christ. Consider this, 'When ye come to
appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no
more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths,
the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting'
(Isaiah 1:12,13).
4. And lastly, having received the good seed from the mouth of ministers, avoid the
children of Satan, lest they sow tares among the wheat, by their vain talking. And when

61. you go to your houses, call your family together, and plead God's blessing on what you
have heard. It is usual to inquire of your family, when they come home from a fair or
market, what news they have heard. Turn this custom to a better use, by asking your
family about what they have just heard and done. Be a terror to those who are careless
and sluggish concerning them, and gentle to those who are good and mindful. This,
together with the blessing of the Almighty, is able to make you wise unto salvation.
And God, of his mercy, multiply your graces, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
BAR ES, “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious - Or rather, as Doddridge
renders it, “Since you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” The apostle did not mean to express any
doubt on the subject, but to state that, since they had had an experimental acquaintance with the grace
of God, they should desire to increase more and more in the knowledge and love of him. On the use of
the word “taste,” see the notes at Heb_6:4.
CLARKE, “If so be ye have tasted - Ειπερ εγευσασθε· Seeing ye have tasted. There could be no
doubt that they had tasted the goodness of Christ who were born again, of incorruptible seed, and
whose hearts were purified by the truth, and who had like precious faith with the apostles themselves.
That the Lord is gracious - ᆍτι χρηστος ᆇ Κυριος· From the similarity of the letters, many MSS.
and several of the fathers have read, Χριστος ᆇ κυριος, the Lord is Christ, or Christ is the Lord.
This seems to refer to Psa_34:8 : O taste and see that the Lord is good; Γευσασθε και ιδετε ᆇτι χρηστος
ᆇ Κυριος, Sept. And there is still a reference to the sucking child that, having once tasted its mother’s
milk, ever after desires and longs for it. As they were born of God, and had tasted his goodness, they
would naturally desire the same pure unadulterated milk of the word.
GILL, “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Reference is had to Psa_34:8, "O taste
and see that the Lord is good"; and the Syriac version here adds, "if ye have seen": by the Lord is
meant, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the following words show, who is gracious and amiable, and lovely in
his person; who has a fulness of grace in him for his people; has displayed his grace towards them, in
engaging for them as a surety, in assuming their nature, obeying, suffering, and dying in their stead; he
is gracious in his word and promises, truths and ordinances, and in all his offices and relations; and
regenerate persons have tasted that he is so: an unregenerate man has no spiritual taste; his taste is
vitiated by sin, and not being changed, sin is a sweet morsel in his mouth, and he disrelishes
everything that is spiritual; but one that is born again savours the things of the Spirit of God; sin is
exceeding sinful to him, and Christ exceeding precious; he, and his fruit, his promises, and blessings of
grace, his word and ordinances, are sweet unto his taste: and the taste he has is not a mere superficial
one, such as hypocrites may have of the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come; but

62. such a taste of Christ, and of his grace, as, by a true faith, to eat his flesh, and drink his blood, and so
have everlasting life; such have a saving and experimental knowledge of Christ, an application of him,
and his saving benefits to them, a revelation of him in them, so that they find and feel that he dwells in
them, and they in him; such receive out of Christ's fulness, and grace for grace, and live by faith upon
him, and receive nourishment from him; and of this the apostle made no doubt concerning these
persons, but took it for granted that they had had such tastes of Christ, and therefore could not but
desire the Gospel, which is a revelation of Christ, and sets forth the glory of his person, and the riches
of his grace: and whereas, such as have truly tasted of his grace cannot but desire to have more, and
fresh tastes of it; where should they have them, but in his word and ordinances? and therefore, would
they grow in grace, and know more of Christ, and taste more of his goodness, it is their interest, as it is
their spiritual nature, to desire the Gospel, in the purity and sincerity of it.
HE RY, “III. He adds an argument from their own experience: If so be, or since that, or forasmuch
as, you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, 1Pe_2:3. The apostle does not express a doubt, but
affirms that these good Christians had tasted the goodness of God, and hence argues with them. “You
ought to lay aside these vile sins (1Pe_2:1); you ought to desire the word of God; you ought to grow
thereby, since you cannot deny but that you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” The next verse
assures us that the Lord here spoken of is the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence learn, 1. Our Lord Jesus Christ
is very gracious to his people. He is in himself infinitely good; he is very kind, free, and merciful to
miserable sinners; he is pitiful and good to the undeserving; he has in him a fulness of grace. 2. The
graciousness of our Redeemer is best discovered by an experimental taste of it. There must be an
immediate application of the object to the organ of taste; we cannot taste at a distance, as we may see,
and hear, and smell. To taste the graciousness of Christ experimentally supposes our being united to
him by faith, and then we may taste his goodness in all his providences, in all our spiritual concerns, in
all our fears and temptations, in his word and worship every day. 3. The best of God's servants have in
this life but a taste of the grace of Christ. A taste is but a little; it is not a draught, nor does it satisfy. It
is so with the consolations of God in this life. 4. The word of God is the great instrument whereby he
discovers and communicates his grace to men. Those who feed upon the sincere milk of the word taste
and experience most of his grace. In our converses with his word we should endeavour always to
understand and experience more and more of his grace.
JAMISO , “Peter alludes to Psa_34:8. The first “tastes” of God’s goodness are afterwards followed
by fuller and happier experiences. A taste whets the appetite [Bengel].
gracious — Greek, “good,” benignant, kind; as God is revealed to us in Christ, “the Lord” (1Pe_2:4),
we who are born again ought so to be good and kind to the brethren (1Pe_1:22). “Whosoever has not
tasted the word to him it is not sweet it has not reached the heart; but to them who have experienced
it, who with the heart believe, ‘Christ has been sent for me and is become my own: my miseries are
His, and His life mine,’ it tastes sweet” [Luther].
SBC, "The Spiritual Temple of Priestly Worshippers.
I. We have in the text a spiritual house: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house." Christ
is the foundation; and as stone after stone is placed on Him, He, being a living stone, infuses His life
right through the entire mass. Evidently no one can be a member of the Church unless he has come to
Christ, for the Apostle distinctly says that the spiritual house consists of those who have come to the
living Rock, Christ Jesus. (1) Now where are the stones formed? They are cut out of the quarry of
nature; stone by stone is brought out of that deep cavern, placed upon the living Stone, and each
united to the others. The Spirit of God goes into the deep, black quarry of human nature, and there
hews out the hidden stones, and by His own almighty power bears them to the foundation-stone and
places them in a living temple, to go no more out for ever. (2) The stones must be brought to each
other. There must be union existing between all the stones of the spiritual temple, ay, and not only
union, but also mutual support. While all rest on the foundation, each stone touches, and serves to
strengthen and support, the others. (3) The Church is spiritual also in its glories. There was an external

63. magnificence about the temple of Solomon, although the external glory even of that material temple
was nothing compared with the internal beauty. But what is the beauty of the Lord’s temple now? Is
there anything external about it? You will find, generally speaking, that the majority of Christians
consist of the poor.
II. Within this spiritual house we have priestly worshippers—"a holy priesthood." The death of Christ
abolished all earthly priesthood by making every believer a priest. In the old dispensation the
priesthood was limited to one tribe; I should be correct if I said it was found in one family: but when
Christ died, invisible hands took hold of the veil of the Temple and rent it in twain from the top to the
bottom, and now, by virtue of union with Christ, every believer is a priest. It is this doctrine of the
universal priesthood of believers that is the very core and centre of New Testament teaching. All
believers in the world are kings and priests unto God; and though apparently without robes, yet are
they all decked in the glorious garment of the Lord our Righteousness.
III. Spiritual sacrifices. There can be no priesthood without sacrifices. The two things were correlative,
and the chief employment of the priest was to offer up sacrifices. Now, although the work of sacrifice is
changed in its nature, it is not done away with. In a spiritual house, and by a spiritual priesthood, there
must, for the sake of conformity, be a spiritual sacrifice. What is the sacrifice that the holy priesthood
offers? Surely (1) communion in prayer, (2) also communion in praise; and (3) we offer ourselves in
sacrifice.
A. G. Brown, Penny Pulpit, No. 1093.
CALVI , “3If so be that ye have tasted; or, IfINDEED ye have tasted. He alludes to Psa_34:8 ,
“ and see that the Lord is good.”
But he says that this taste is to be had in Christ, as, doubtless, our souls can find no rest anywhere but in him. But he
has drawn the ground of his exhortation from the goodness of God, because his kindness, which we perceive in Christ,
ought to allure us; for what follows,
PULPIT, "If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious; rather, if ye tasted. If ye once tasted the
good Word of God (Heb_6:4, Heb_6:5), if ye tasted of the HEAVENLY GIFT which comes through
that Word (1Pe_1:23), long after it that ye may g-row therein. The "if" does not imply doubt; the
apostle supposes that they have once tasted, and urges them, on the ground of that first taste, to long for
more. The first experiences of the Christian life stimulate God's people to further efforts. The words are
a quotation from Psa_34:8, "Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!" This makes it less probable that St.
Peter is intentionally playing, as some have thought, on the similarity of the words χρηστός and
Ξριστός . The confusion was common among the heathen; and Christian writers, as Tertullian,
sometimes adopted it; Christus, they said, was chrestus, "Christ was good;" and Christians, followers of
the good Master, followed after that which is good. But St. Peter is simply quoting the words of the
psalm, and applying them to the metaphor of milk. It is possible that there may be an under-current of
allusion to the Lord's teaching in Joh_6:1-71. The Lord himself is the Bread of life, the food of the
soul. The epithet χρηστός is not infrequently used of food (see Luk_5:39).
LANGE, "1Pe_2:3. If, otherwise ye have tasted.—A conditional statement is often by emphasis
accepted as real. Grotius renders the sense well; “I know that you will this, as surely as you—cf.
Rom_8:9; 2Th_1:6.” This form of speech contains also an invitation to self-examination. Calov
perceives a connection with 1Pe_2:1. “The more you eradicate the bitter root of malice, the more also
do you taste the sweetness of the goodness of the Lord.” Cf. Son_2:3; Son_5:13; Sir_23:27. The
expression, to taste with reference to the figure of milk, and with full allusion to Psa_34:9, denotes
experience of the essential virtue of a thing as perceived by the sense of taste. It is transferred very

64. properly to the experiences of the soul which enters into and unites with the object in order to know it
in all its bearings. Cf. Heb_6:5; Heb_2:9. [Alford says, “The infant once put to the breast desires it
again.”—M.]
[Wordsworth quotes the words of Augustine (Serm. 353), addressed to the newly baptized: “These
words are specially applicable to you, who are yet fresh in the infancy of spiritual regeneration. For to
you mainly the Divine Oracles speak, by the Apostle St. Peter, Having laid aside all malice, and all
guile, as newborn infants desire ye the “rationabile et innocens lac, ut in illo crescatis ad salutem,” if ye
have tasted that the Lord is gracious (dulcis.) And we are witnesses that ye have tasted it. … Cherish,
therefore, this spiritual infancy. The infancy of the strong is humility. The manhood of the weak is
pride.”—M.]
That the deed is good.—[Friendly, Germ.] ÷ñçóôüò applied to tender, pleasant-tasting solids and
liquids, to the sweet flavour of old wine, Luk_5:39; then to persons, kindly, friendly, condescending,
Eph_4:32; Luk_6:35. Ὁ êýñéïò is the Lord Jesus, 1Pe_2:4, who invites us to Himself and commends to
us the ease of His yoke, Mat_11:29. He is here represented as the spiritual means of nourishment, the
partaking whereof promotes the new life of Christians, and draws them to the word, which is His
revelation, and in a certain sense identical with Him. “This is tasting indeed,” says Luther, “to believe
from the heart that Christ has given Himself to me and has become my own, that my misery is His, and
His life mine. Feeling this from the heart, is tasting Christ.” [The Lord, “quod subjicitur; ad quem
accedentes, non simpliciter ad Deum refertur, sed ipsum designat qualis patefactus est in persona
Christi.”—Calvin.]
The means whereby the new man is nourished and furthered is none other than that to which he owes
his existence. He must grow out of ( ἐê ) God, His spirit, and His word. It is a most dangerous opinion
for any to hold that he has inwardly appropriated so much of the Divine word as to be able to dispense
with the outward word. He that despises this may soon be punished by God, in that He will so
effectually deprive him of His light and strength as to induce him to regard as Divine revelations his
own vain imaginings and foolish dreams.—Wiesinger says: “The Christian may measure his love of
God by his love of the word of God; it is his personal experience of the love of God that draws him to
the word, and what he seeks is an ever-increasing, ever-deepening experience of the ÷ñçóôüôçò of the
Lord. Inquiry led by such an impulse of personal communion with the Lord contains within itself its
own rule and corrective, a power which gathers together into one centre of life all the varying phases of
the Scriptures, and guards them from being shattered and alienated.”
1Pe_2:3. The free grace of God was given to be tasted in the promises, before the coming of Christ in
the flesh, but being accomplished in His coming, then was the sweetness of grace made more sensible;
then was it more fully broached and let out to the elect world, when He was pierced on the cross and
His blood poured forth for our redemption. Through those holes of his wounds may we draw and taste
that the Lord is gracious, says St. Augustin.—“If ye have tasted.” There must be, 1. a firm believing the
truth of the promises wherein the free grace of God is expressed and exhibited to us; 2. a particular
application or attraction of that grace to ourselves, which is as the drawing those breasts of consolation,
Isa_66:11, namely, the promises contained in both Testaments; 3. there is a sense of the sweetness of
that peace being applied or drawn into the soul, and that is properly this taste.
COFFMAN, "In this verse from Psalms 34, Peter APPLIED to the Lord Jesus the great Old Testament
word for God, "the Lord." The writer of Hebrews (Hebrews 6:4,5) also mentioned "tasting" as a
metaphor of understanding and appropriating to one's own needs the word of God. As Mason said,
"This gives quite a new complexion to the 34th Psalm,"[10] APPLYING it as a prophecy of Jesus

65. Christ. The Psalm is also quoted again in 1 Peter 3:10. It is also quite evident that the metaphor of
Christ as the bread of life (John 6:35) lies behind the thinking of the apostle in this verse. The "if"
which stands at the head of the verse, as frequently in the New Testament, "has reference to a fact,
rather than to a condition."[11]
[10] A. J. Mason, Ellicott's Bible Commentary, Vol. VII (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan
Publishing House, 1959), p. 400.
[11] Raymond C. Kelcy, The Letters of Peter and Jude (Austin, Texas: R. B. Sweet Company, 1972), p.
43.
ELLICOTT, "(3) If so be ye have tasted.—The “if so be,” as elsewhere (2 Thessalonians 1:6,
Note), constitutes a strong appeal to the readers to say whether it were not so. St. Peter
confidently reckons that it is so. It should rather be ye tasted, looking BACK to a quite past
time, probably that of the first conversion, when the taste of spiritual things is the most
delicious. How sad to be past the relish for evangelical truth! The quotation, or rather
adaptation, from Psalms 34:8 is, no doubt, suggested by the metaphor of “milk.” A curious
little point about our translation here is that the word “gracious” has been adopted to suit the
Prayer Book version of the Psalm. It is scarcely suitable to the Greek word, which, originally
signifying “usable,” “serviceable,” passes on to be used of anything mild and pleasant, as, for
instance, in Luke 5:39, of the mellowness of old wine. Here, therefore, the word seems to be
peculiarly used with reference to the sense of taste. A more important point, doctrinally, is that
St. Peter is here applying to Jesus Christ (as the NEXT verse shows) a passage which
otherwise we might not have thought of applying to Him in particular. It gives quite a new
complexion to the 34th Psalm, when we see that in St. Peter’s view the Psalmist was
speaking prophetically of our Lord. We shall find him quoting the same Psalm in the same
sense again in 1 Peter 3:10.
4As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but
chosen by God and precious to him—
BARNES, “To whom coming - To the Lord Jesus, for so the word “Lord” is to be understood in
1Pe_2:3. Compare the notes at Act_1:24. The idea here is, that they had come to him for salvation,
while the great mass of people rejected him. Others “disallowed” him, and turned away from him, but
they had seen that he was the one chosen or appointed of God, and had come to him in order to be
saved. Salvation is often represented as corning to Christ. See Mat_11:28.
As unto a living stone - The allusion in this passage is to Isa_28:16, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not
make haste.” See the notes at that passage. There may be also possibly an allusion to Psa_118:22, “The
stone which the builders disallowed is become the headstone of the corner.” The reference is to Christ
as the foundation on which the church is reared. He occupied the same place in regard to the church
which a foundation-stone does to the edifice that is reared upon it. Compare Mat_7:24-25. See the
Rom_9:33 note, and Eph_2:20-22 notes. The phrase “living stone” is however unusual, and is not

66. found, I think, except in this place. There seems to be an incongruity in it, in attributing life to a stone,
yet the meaning is not difficult to be understood. The purpose was not to speak of a temple, like that at
Jerusalem, made up of gold and costly stones; but of a temple made up of living materials - of
redeemed people - in which God now resides. In speaking of that, it was natural to refer to the
foundation on which the whole rested, and to speak of that as corresponding to the whole edifice. It
was all a living temple - a temple composed of living materials - from the foundation to the top.
Compare the expression in Joh_4:10, “He would have given thee living water;” that is, water which
would have imparted life to the soul. So Christ imparts life to the whole spiritual temple that is reared
on him as a foundation.
Disallowed indeed of men - Rejected by them, first by the Jews, in causing him to be put to
death; and then by all people when he is offered to them as their Saviour. See the notes at Isa_53:3.
Psa_118:22; “Which the builders refused.” Compare the Mat_21:42 note; Act_4:11 note.
But chosen of God - Selected by him as the suitable foundation on which to rear his church.
And precious - Valuable. The universe had nothing more valuable on which to rear the spiritual
temple.
CLARKE, “To whom coming, as unto a living stone - This is a reference to Isa_28:16 :
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.
Jesus Christ is, in both the prophet and apostle, represented as the foundation on which the Christian
Church is built, and on which it must continue to rest: and the stone or foundation is called here living,
to intimate that he is the source of life to all his followers, and that it is in union with him that they
live, and answer the end of their regeneration; as the stones of a building are of no use but as they
occupy their proper places in a building, and rest on the foundation.
Disallowed indeed of men - That is, rejected by the Jews. This is a plain reference to the
prophecy, Psa_118:22 : The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
Chosen of God - To be the Savior of the world, and the Founder of the Church, and the foundation
on which it rests; As Christ is the choice of the Father, we need have no doubt of the efficacy and
sufficiency of all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of a lost world. God can never be
mistaken in his choice; therefore he that chooses Christ for his portion shall never be confounded.
Precious - Εντιµον· Honourable. Howsoever despised and rejected by men, Jesus, as the sacrifice
for a lost world, is infinitely honorable in the sight of God; and those who are united by faith to him
partake of the same honor, being members of that great and glorious body of which he is the head, and
stones in that superb building of which he is the foundation.
GILL, “To whom coming, as unto a living stone,.... Christ here, as often elsewhere, is compared
to a "stone"; and Peter, by the use of this metaphor, shows that he is not the rock, but Christ is the rock
on which the church is built, and he is the foundation stone on which every believer is laid; and it is
chiefly with respect to the usefulness of a stone in building, that Christ is compared to one, who is the
foundation and cornerstone, as well as for strength and duration; and he is called a "living" one,
because he has life in himself, as God, as Mediator, and as man; and communicates life to others, as
natural life to all creatures, and spiritual and eternal life to his people, whose great privilege it is to
come to him: and by coming to him is meant believing in him; and it does not design the first act of
faith on Christ, or a soul's first coming to Christ, but an after and continued exercise of faith on him;
and it supposes Christ to be come at, notwithstanding he is in heaven, and saints on earth, for their
faith and hope can enter into, and reach him within the vail, and notwithstanding their many
transgressions and backslidings; it supposes life in them, or they could not come; and a sense of their
need of him, of his righteousness to justify them, of his blood for pardoning and cleansing, of his
fulness to supply their want of food, rest, peace, comfort, and salvation in him; and a persuasion of his

67. ability and willingness to relieve them: and they are encouraged to come to him under the above
considerations, as a stone, a foundation stone; believing that he is laid as a foundation, and that he is
the only foundation, and therefore they lay the whole stress of their salvation, and build all their hopes
of happiness on him; and as a living stone, deriving grace, life, and strength from him; exercising faith
on him for all the mercies, blessings, and comforts of a spiritual life, and looking to his mercy for
eternal life,
Disallowed indeed of men; by the Jewish builders, high priests, Scribes, and Pharisees, and the
body and bulk of that nation; who rejected him as the Messiah, and stone of Israel, refused him as a
foundation stone, and left him out of the building; and laid another foundation, even their own works
of righteousness, on which sandy foundation they built themselves, and directed others to do so
likewise; and set him, at nought, as a living stone, would not come to him for life, but sought it in the
law, the killing letter, and among their dead works; but though Christ was thus disallowed and
disesteemed of by men, yet was he highly valued and esteemed by God:
but chosen of God, and precious; his human nature was "chosen" from among, and above all
other individuals of mankind; to be united to the Son of God; as God-man and Mediator, he was
chosen to that high office, to be the head of the church, and the Saviour of the body; to be the
foundation in the spiritual building, and to be the author and giver of spiritual and eternal life to as
many as were given him. Moreover, this phrase denotes the superior excellency of Christ to angels and
men in the account of God; being the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person, the Son
of his love, in whom he was always well pleased, and in whom he took infinite delight, considered both
as his Son, and the surety of his people; and to whom he was
precious, and by him highly honoured, made higher than the kings of the earth, than the angels in
heaven, than the heavens themselves, being set down at God's right hand, and a name given him above
every name in this world, or that to come; and who is precious to the saints too, more so than rubies,
or any precious stones, or any thing or creature whatever; his person is precious, and so are his name,
his blood, his righteousness, his truths, his ordinances, and his people.
HE RY, “I. The apostle here gives us a description of Jesus Christ as a living stone; and though to a
capricious wit, or an infidel, this description may seem rough and harsh, yet to the Jews, who placed
much of their religion in their magnificent temple, and who understood the prophetical style, which
calls the Messiah a stone (Isa_8:14; Isa_28:16), it would appear very elegant and proper.
1. In this metaphorical description of Jesus Christ, he is called a stone, to denote his invincible
strength and everlasting duration, and to teach his servants that he is their protection and security, the
foundation on which they are built, and a rock of offence to all their enemies. He is the living stone,
having eternal life in himself, and being the prince of life to all his people. The reputation and respect
he has with God and man are very different. He is disallowed of men, reprobated or rejected by his
own countrymen the Jews, and by the generality of mankind; but chosen of God, separated and fore-
ordained to be the foundation of the church (as 1Pe_1:20), and precious, a most honourable, choice,
worthy person in himself, in the esteem of God, and in the judgment of all who believe on him. To this
person so described we are obliged to come: To whom coming, not by a local motion, for that is
impossible since his exaltation, but by faith, whereby we are united to him at first, and draw nigh to
him afterwards. Learn, (1.) Jesus Christ is the very foundation-stone of all our hopes and happiness.
He communicates the true knowledge of God (Mat_11:27); by him we have access to the Father
(Joh_14:6), and through him are made partakers of all spiritual blessings, Eph_1:3. (2.) Men in
general disallow and reject Jesus Christ; they slight him, dislike him, oppose and refuse him, as
scripture and experience declare, Isa_53:3. (3.) However Christ may be disallowed by an ungrateful
world, yet he is chosen of God, and precious in his account. He is chosen and fixed upon to be the Lord
of the universe, the head of the church, the Saviour of his people, and the Judge of the world. He is
precious in the excellency of his nature, the dignity of his office, and the gloriousness of his services.
(4.) Those who expect mercy from this gracious Redeemer must come to him, which is our act, though

68. done by God's grace - an act of the soul, not of the body - a real endeavour, not a fruitless wish.
JAMISO , “coming — drawing near (same Greek as here, Heb_10:22) by faith continually;
present tense: not having come once for all at conversion.
stone — Peter (that is, a stone, named so by Christ) desires that all similarly should be living stones
BUILT ON CHRIST, THE TRUE FOUNDATION-STONE; compare his speech in Act_4:11. An
undesigned coincidence and mark of genuineness. The Spirit foreseeing the Romanist perversion of
Mat_16:18 (compare Mat_16:16, “Son of the LIVING God,” which coincides with his language here,
“the LIVING stone”), presciently makes Peter himself to refuse it. He herein confirms Paul’s teaching.
Omit the as unto of English Version. Christ is positively termed the “living stone”; living, as having life
in Himself from the beginning, and as raised from the dead to live evermore (Rev_1:18) after His
rejection by men, and so the source of life to us. Like no earthly rock, He lives and gives life. Compare
1Co_10:4, and the type, Exo_17:6; Num_20:11.
disallowed — rejected, reprobated; referred to also by Christ Himself: also by Paul; compare the
kindred prophecies, Isa_8:14; Luk_2:34.
chosen of God — literally, “with (or ‘in the presence and judgment of’) God elect,” or, “chosen out”
(1Pe_2:6). Many are alienated from the Gospel, because it is not everywhere in favor, but is on the
contrary rejected by most men. Peter answers that, though rejected by men, Christ is peculiarly the
stone of salvation honored by God, first so designated by Jacob in his deathbed prophecy.
CALVIN, “To whom coming, is not to be referred simply to God, but to him as he is revealed to us in the person of
Christ. Now, it cannot be but that the grace of God must powerfully draw us to himself and inflame us with the love of
him by whom we obtain a real perception of it. If Plato affirmed this of his Beautiful, of which a shadowy idea only he
beheld afar off, much more true is this with regard to God.
Let it then be noticed, that PeterCO ECTS an access to God with the taste of his goodness. For as the human
mind necessarily dreads and shuns God, as long as it regards him as rigid and severe; so, as soon as he makes
known his paternal love to the faithful, it immediately follows that they disregard all things and even forget themselves
and hasten to him. In short, he only makes progress in the Gospel, who in heart comes to God.
But he also shews for what end and to what purpose we ought to come to Christ, even that we may have him as our
foundation. For since he is constituted a stone, he ought to be so to us, so that nothing should be appointed for him by
the Father in vain or to no purpose. But he obviates an offense when he allows that Christ is rejected by men; for, as a
great part of the world reject him, and even many abhor him, he might for this reason be despised by us; for we see
that some of the ignorant are alienated from the Gospel, because it is not everywhere popular, nor does it conciliate
favor to its professors. But Peter forbids us to esteem Christ the less, however despised he may be by the world,
because he, notwithstanding, retains his own worth and honor before God.
ELLICOTT, "(4) To whom coming.—The word used is that which gives rise to the name of a
“proselyte.” (Comp. ote on 1 Peter 2:2.) It is also strangely used in something of the same sense
in 1 Timothy 6:3. JOI I GHim therefore as proselytes.” ot that St. Peter has any notion of a
mere external accession. The Apostolic writers do not contemplate the possibility of a difference
between the visible and invisible Church. From this point the regeneration-idea, which coloured
the whole of the preceding portion of the Epistle, suddenly disappears. The thought is no longer
that of a spiritual seed instead of a carnal seed, but of a spiritual Temple instead of the stone
temple at Jerusalem.
A living stone.—The very structure and order of the sentence puts Jesus Christ first. Foundation

69. first, building afterwards. It is a pity to insert “as unto” with our version; it takes off from the
striking, attracting effect of the sudden metaphor. St. Peter is fond of explaining his metaphors—
e.g., “inheritance . . . in heaven,” “tested genuineness . . . more precious than of gold,” “gird
up . . . loins of YOUR minds:” so here, “living stone.” It is more than doubtful whether St. Peter,
in what follows, had before his mind the giving of his own surname. The word which he here uses
is neither petros, nor petra, but lithos; and indeed the whole idea of the relative position of the
Church to the petra and to the lithos is quite different. either petros nor petra could possibly be
used of the squared wrought stone, but represent the native rocky unhewn substratum—part, or
whole—which pre-exists before any building is begun, even before the “chief corner-stone” would
be placed. (Comp. Matthew 7:24.) Here, therefore, the idea is quite different: the substratum is
not thought of at all; and Jesus Christ is a carefully SELECTED and hewn stone (lithos),
specially laid as the first act in the work of building. The only thing, therefore, which is, in fact,
common to the two passages is the simple thought of the Christian Church being like a building.
Our present verse gives us no direct HELP towards finding how St. Peter understood the famous
name-passage. All we can say for certain is that he did not so interpret it as to suppose an official
connection with his own person to be the one essential of the true Church, or else in again using
the metaphor of building the Church (though in a different connection) he could hardly have
omitted all mention of himself. He is, apparently, thinking only of the Messianic interpretation of
Old Testament sayings as expounded by our Lord—the “unsophisticated milk of the word” of 1
Peter 2:2.
Disallowed indeed of men.—A direct reference to the passage (Psalms 118:22), which is
QUOTEDbelow in 1 Peter 2:7. It here says “men,” rather than “builders,” in order to contrast
them more forcibly with God. The word “disallowed,” or “rejected,” implies a form of trial or
probation which comes to an unsatisfactory conclusion. The human builders examine the stone,
inspect all its qualifications, and find it unsuited to the edifice which they have in hand, and
refuse it not only the place of honour, but any place at all, in their architecture. St. Peter wishes to
bring out strongly the absolute opposition between God and the Jews.
But chosen of God, and precious.—Literally, but with God elect, honoured. This is a direct
allusion to the passage, Isaiah 28:16, which is QUOTED in 1 Peter 2:6. While the human builders
saw the qualities of the stone, and rejected it because of its not fitting in with their ideal, on the
other hand, “with God,” i.e., in God’s counsel and plan, it was “elect,” i.e., choice had been laid
upon it, it had been selected for God’s building purposes; and not only “elect” (for this might be
equally said of all the “living stones;” see 1 Peter 1:2, where the word has precisely the same
meaning), but also “honoured,” which is further explained to mean, singled out for the place of
honour, i.e., for that of corner-stone. The designation of this stone as “elect,” brings out again
what we have had in 1 Peter 1:11; 1 Peter 1:20, viz., the eternal predestination of Jesus to the
Messiahship.
PULPIT, "To whom coming as unto a living stone. Omit the words, "as unto," which are not in
the Greek, and weaken the sense. The participle is present; the Christian must be ever coming to
Christ, riot only once for all, but always, every day. The ', living Stone" is Christ; the "Lord" of
Psa_34:8 is Jehovah. St. Peter passes from the figure of milk to that of a chief cornerstone. So St.

70. Paul, in 1Co_3:1-23., after saying that he had fed his Corinthian converts "with milk, and not
with meat," passes first to the figure of laborers on the land, and then to that of builders upon the
one foundation "which is Jesus Christ." This, like so many other coincidences, indicates St.
Peter's knowledge of St. Paul's Epistles. St. Peter may have been thinking of his own name, the
name which Christ gave him when Andrew brought him to the Lord; though the Greek word
here is not πέτρα or πέτρος , but λίθος —not the solid native rock on which the temple is built,
nor a piece of rock, an unhewn stone, but a stone shaped and wrought, chosen for a chief corner-
stone. But the apostle does not mention himself; he omits all reference to his own position in the
spiritual building; he wishes to direct his readers only to Christ. He is plainly referring to the
Lord's own words in Mat_21:42, where Christ applies to himself the language of Psa_118:1-29,
He described himself as a Stone; St. Peter adds the epithet "living" ( λίθον ζῶντα ). The figure of
a stone is inadequate, all figures are inadequate, to represent heavenly mysteries. This stone is
not, like the stones of earth, an inert mass; it is living, full of life; nay, it gives life, as well as
strength and coherence, to the stones which are built upon it: for the Lord hath life in himself—
he is risen from the dead, and is alive for evermore. Disallowed I DEED of men. St. Peter
slightly varies the quotation, and attributes to men in general the rejection ascribed in the psalm
and in the Gospel to the "builders." "He was despised and rejected of men." In his speech before
the Sanhedrin (Act_4:11), he had directly applied the prophecy to the chief priests. But chosen of
God, and precious; rather, as the Revised Version, with God elect, precious, or perhaps better,
honored; a reference to Isa_28:16. He was rejected of the builders, but chosen of God; despised
of men, but with God held in honor. The adjective is not the same as that rendered "precious" in
1Pe_1:19 : τίµος there marks the preciousness of the blood of Christ in itself; ἔντιµος here, the
honor with which God "hath highly exalted him."
COKE, "1 Peter 2:4-5. To whom coming, as unto a Living Stone, &c.— By coming unto Christ is
meant the JOI I G oneself to him as a part of this spiritual building, or embracing his religion
with the heart unto righteousness. The reason why St. Peter compares Jesus Christ to a stone
was, because he had, under the Spirit of God, his eye upon those passages of the Old Testament
which he QUOTES in the following verses. Plants and animals are alive, as long as there is a
proper communication of nourishment through their several vessels; so likewise rocks and stones
are said to be alive, as long as they are not cut out of the quarry, but CO TI UE to partake of
that nourishment which circulates from vein to vein; so long as they grow to it, and have the most
close and firm union. Milton, however, has an image, which may further illustrate this of St.
Peter's:
"Anon out of the earth a fabric huge "Rose, like an exhalation; with the sound "Of dulcet
symphonies, and voices sweet; "Built like a temple; where pilasters round "Were set, and Doric
pillars overlaid "With golden architrave." PAR. LOST, b. 1 : 50: 710, &c.
For though the stone here spoken of is supposed to be now in the building, or at the foundation of
it, yet it is represented as still alive, and therefore, in much the same way with the image in
Milton, St. Peter intended to signify, that from a living stone at the foundation, a temple grows,
and that it all partakes of such common nourishment as circulates through the living rock. By
such means it has the most intimate union, and is rendered one firm and compact building. See

71. Ephesians 2:20; Ephesians 2:22. The image, Daniel 2:34-35; Daniel 2:45 is somewhat different;
but so far it agrees with this, as that the stone cut out of the mountains without the hands of men,
is there supposed to be still a living stone, and to grow up itself into a great mountain. Disallowed
of men, means "rejected of the chief priests, scribes, and elders, the rulers of the Jews, who were
looked upon as master-builders in Israel." Instead of lively stones, 1 Peter 2:5 we should certainly
read living stones, as 1 Peter 2:4 the word being the same. The Jews used to call themselves the
temple of the Lord, because they worshipped at that temple. The Christian church is here called
a spiritual house, not as deriving that title from their worshipping in the temple at Jerusalem, in
which the Jews so much boasted: that was indeed called the house of God; but it was a lifeless
building, compared with this spiritual house, of which Jesus Christ is the foundation, and
Christians themselves the superstructure, 1 Timothy 3:15. Grotius has observed, that among the
Hebrews the Levites used to be called the stones to the temple; but this appellation is here
APPLIED to all Christians. When all Christ's disciples are represented as living stones, which
ought to be united into one spiritual house or temple, it may put us in mind of that harmony and
concord which is requisite to fit Christians into one well-united and complete society. Having, in
the foregoing sentence, compared them to the house or temple of God, in the EXT sentencethe
apostle rises somewhat higher, and compares them to the priests of the family of Aaron, who were
appointed to minister in the temple. The Jews gloried in such a holy and magnificent building as
the temple, and in their chief priests and other sacred persons of the tribe of Levi, who were
appointed to perform the temple service; but Christians have among them what is superior to
both. In Israel there was only a part of one tribe appointed to be priests, and it was unlawful for
the rest of the tribe, or for any person of any other of the tribes, to exercise the priest's office; nor
could the priests offer sacrifices in any place but the temple: but under the Gospel, not the
ministers of the gospel only, but all Christians, are represented as a holy priesthood, who are
obliged to offer up the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise, and who may offer them as
acceptably in one place as another. See 1 Peter 2:9. The sanctity of this priesthood does not arise
from their being anointed with oil, or any solemn I STALME T; neither does it consist in robes
and vestments, or in their observation of rites and ceremonies; but in faith and love, in their holy
and righteous lives, in their piety towards God, good-will to men, and wise government of
themselves, particularly of their passions and appetites. This is the true sanctity wherewith all
Christians should be clothed, as Aaron and his sons were with the holy garments, which were for
glory and for beauty. Exodus 28:2. Hebrews 13:15. The allusion to the temple led the apostle of
course to speak of the priests; and from the priests it was an easy transition to the sacrifices
which they offered in the temple; and so to the spiritual sacrifices of prayer, praise, and
obedience, which are all acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, who is the great High-priest over the
house of God, and whose intercession alone can recommend to the Father such imperfect services
as ours. See Ephesians 5:2.
LA GE,"1Pe_2:4. To whom approaching.—The Imperative construction is best adapted to what
follows, as it supplies an appropriate progress in the development of the thought. We had before:
“Take nourishment from the word of God, and from the communion of Christ; this is followed by
an exhortation contemplating the gathering of a congregation of God, to wit: Build up yourselves,
as living stones, into a temple of God. Ever-renewed approaching Christ is the means and
condition of building. The Apostle thinks of passages like the following, Psa_118:22-23; Isa_8:14;
Isa_28:16; Luk_2:34; Mat_21:42; cf. Mat_11:29; Joh_6:37. In the Old Testament, the priests are
those who approach and draw near to God, Lev_16:1; Eze_40:46; um_9:13; in the ew
Testament access to God is opened to all through Christ, cf. Heb_9:1, etc.; Heb_7:25; Heb_10:22;

72. Heb_11:6; Heb_4:16. We draw near to Christ by prayer—(considering His person, His merit and
His office)—by entering into His Word and drawing therefrom grace for grace by faith.
Unto a living stone.—The Apostle being about to speak of the sacred edifice of the ew
Testament, felt of course anxious to designate Christ as the corner-stone thereof. By the glory of
the corner-stone, he desires to impress us with the glory of the edifice to be reared thereon.
(Weiss). We do not decide upon the suggestion of Gerhard that Peter alludes to his own name.
[Petrus a petra Christo sic denominatus metaphora, petræ delectatur, ac suo exemplo docet
omnes debere esse petros, h. e., VIVOS lapides supra Christum fide ædificatos. Gerhard.—M.]
Cf. Act_4:11; Rom_11:11; Eph_2:20; 1Co_10:4; Zec_3:9. He is a stone or a rock, because after
the manner of rocks, He remains ever the same, unchangeably powerful and invincible; because
His word is firm and immovable, and because God has ordained and designed Him to be the
foundation of His spiritual temple. But why a living stone? This predicate reminds us of the
predicates Peter is wont to join to other images, 1Pe_2:2; 1Pe_2:5; 1Pe_1:13; it denotes not only a
spiritual stone, but alludes to the circumstance that His rocky firmness is to His followers not
hardness, but absolute reliability, truth and faithfulness, that in Him there is nothing of rigidity
and death but absolute light and life. Calov.—“He is alive and makes alive.” Joh_5:28; Joh_6:48;
Joh_14:19, etc.; 1Pe_4:10; Act_2:28. He penetrates and fills with His life the whole organism of
believers, and causes it to grow. “Peter here tenders us the most urgent invitation to draw near to
Christ, for those to whom Christ is as yet a mummy, cannot feel themselves drawn to Him.”
Steiger.
Disallowed I DEED of men, but…precious.— ἀðïäïêéìÜæåéí —to reject on proof or trial, like
useless coin, to reject for want of proper qualification. Heb. î◌ָ à◌ַ í . He was rejected not only by
the builders, but by men of every kind, of every occupation, of every age and generation, by Jews
and Gentiles. Hence the expression is quite general, rejected of men, of the whole world of
unbelievers. Opposed to this human judgment, proceeding from enmity to whatever is Divine and
depending solely on externals, is the alone decisive judgment of God. Before God, in His eyes, and
according to His decree He is chosen out and acknowledged precious and excellent before many
millions, (antithesis between ἐêëåêôüí and ἀðïäåäïêéìáóìÝíïí ) and had in great honour. Cf.
1Ti_5:21; Luk_9:35; Rom_16:13. Everything met in Him the exact fulfilment of what prophecy
had foretold concerning Him, and God made even His resurrection the means of establishing His
Messianic character. Peter alludes to Isa_28:16, and laying stress on His preciousness with God,
omits several of the predicates used in that passage. His rejection, therefore, so far from being
matter of reproach, is one of the chief signs by which Jesus may be known as the true Messiah.
A spiritual house, a temple, must also have a priestly people, 1Pe_2:4. The priestly consecration
of the ew Testament consists in that we seize by the self-surrender of true faith the true sin-
offering and atonement made on Golgotha, and offered and presented to us in the means of
grace. First comes the sin-offering, then the burnt-offering, then the thank-offering; hence none
can live in the service and to the praise of God unless he first have seized, by the true burnt-
offering of faith, the true sin-offering of Christ, and unless his whole life become (working
outwardly from within) one whole thank-offering, one whole and undivided act of worship. The
real burnt-offering is thenceforth repentance and faith, wherein man dies daily with the right sin-
offering of Christ, and daily revives, and suffers himself and his whole life to be possessed of God,
by being refined, purified and consumed in the fire of the Holy Ghost.” Kliefoth. The general

73. priesthood of Christians applies only to converted, believing and living Christians, and implies
that there is no class or state of Christians privileged with exclusive mediation of salvation.
Luther has powerfully brought out this doctrine in connection with justification, and Spener
propounded it anew. But God has likewise instituted for the church an office for the
administration of the means of grace, a clearly defined service to be committed to certain
persons, which is evident from 2Co_3:11; Eph_4:11; 1Co_12:28; Mat_28:19-20; Jam_3:1;
1Co_14:5.
1Pe_2:4-5; 1Pe_2:1. The nature of the building: It is a spiritual building; having this privilege
that it is tota in toto et tota in qualibet parte. The Hebrew for the word for palace and temple is
one. 2. The materials of it. 3. The structure or way of building it.—First coming and then built
up.—As these stones are built on Christ by faith, so they are cemented one to another by love.
—“A holy priesthood”: 1. The office; 2. The service of that office; 3. The success of that service.—
[Apparent paradox: God claims the heart whole and yet broken.—M.]
BARCLAY 4-10, "Peter sets before us the nature and the function of the Church. There is so
much in the passage that we divide it into four sections.
(1) The Stone Which The Builders Rejected
Much is made of the idea of the stone. Three Old Testament passages are symbolically used; let us
look at them one by one.
(i) The beginning of the whole matter goes BACK to the words of Jesus himself. One of the most
illuminating parables he ever told was the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen. In it he told how
the wicked husbandmen killed servant after servant and in the end even murdered the son. He
was showing how the nation of Israel had again and again refused to listen to the prophets and
had persecuted them, and how this refusal was to reach its climax with his own death. But
beyond the death he saw the triumph and he told of that triumph in words taken from the
Psalms: "The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; this was
the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes" (Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17).
That is a quotation from Psalms 118:22. In the original it is a reference to the nation of Israel. A.
K. Kirkpatrick writes of it: "Israel is 'the head corner-stone.' The powers of the world flung it
aside as useless, but God destined it for the most honourable and important place in the building
of his kingdom in the world. The words express Israel's consciousness of its mission and destiny
in the purpose of God." Jesus took these words and APPLIED them to himself. It looked as if he
was utterly rejected by men; but in the purpose of God he was the corner-stone of the edifice of
the Kingdom, honoured above all.
(ii) In the Old Testament there are other references to this symbolic stone, and the early Christian
writers used them for their purposes. The first is in Isaiah 28:16 : "Therefore, thus says the Lord

74. God, Behold I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone,
of a sure foundation; he who believes will not be in haste." Again the reference is to Israel. The
sure and precious stone is God's unfailing relationship to his people, a relationship which was to
culminate in the coming of the Messiah. Once again the early Christian writers took this passage
and APPLIED it to Jesus Christ as the precious and immovable foundation stone of God.
(iii) The second of these other passages is also from Isaiah: "But the Lord of hosts, him you shall
regard as holy; let him be YOUR fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a
sanctuary, and a stone of offence, and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a
snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem" (Isaiah 8:13-14). Its meaning is that God is OFFERI G
his lordship to the people of Israel; that to those who accept him he will become a sanctuary and
a salvation, but to those who reject him he will become a terror and a destruction. Again the early
Christian writers took this passage and applied it to Jesus. To those who accept him Jesus is
Saviour and Friend; to those who reject him he is judgment and condemnation.
(iv) For the understanding of this passage, we have to take in a ew Testament reference to these
Old Testament ones. It is hardly possible that Peter could speak of Jesus as the corner-stone and
of Christians as being built into a spiritual house, united in him, without thinking of Jesus' own
words to himself. When he made his great confession of faith at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus said to
him, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church" (Matthew 16:18). It is on the faith
of the loyal believer that the Church is built.
These are the origins of the pictures in this passage.
(2) The ature Of The Church
From this passage we learn three things about the very nature of the Church.
(i) The Christian is likened to a living stone and the Church to a living edifice into which he is
built (1 Peter 2:5). Clearly that means that Christianity is community; the individual Christian
finds his true place only when he is built into that edifice. "Solitary religion" is ruled out as an
impossibility. C. E. B. Cranfield writes: "The free-lance Christian, who would be a Christian but
is too superior to belong to the visible Church upon earth in one of its forms, is simply a
contradiction in terms."
There is a famous story from Sparta. A Spartan king boasted to a visiting monarch about the
walls of Sparta. The visiting monarch looked around and could see no walls. He said to the
Spartan king, "Where are these walls about which you boast so much?" His host pointed at his
bodyguard of magnificent troops. "These," he said, "are the walls of Sparta, every man a brick."

75. The point is clear. So long as a brick lies by itself it is useless; it becomes of use only when it is
incorporated into a building. So it is with the individual Christian. To realize his destiny he must
not remain alone, but must be built into the fabric of the Church.
Suppose that in time of war a man says, "I wish to serve my country and to defend her from her
enemies." If he tries to carry out that resolution alone, he can accomplish nothing. He can be
effective in that purpose only by standing shoulder to shoulder with others of like mind. It is so
with the Church. Individualistic Christianity is an absurdity; Christianity is community within
the fellowship of the Church.
(ii) Christians are a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5). There are two great characteristics of the
priest.
(a) He is the man who himself has access to God and whose task it is to bring others to him. In the
ancient world this access to God was the privilege of the professional priests, and in particular of
the High Priest who alone could E TER into the Holy of Holies. Through Jesus Christ, the new
and living way, access to God becomes the privilege of every Christian, however simple he may
be. Further, the Latin word for priest is pontifex, which means bridge-builder; the priest is the
man who builds a bridge for others to come to God; and the Christian has the duty and the
privilege of bringing others to that Saviour whom he himself has found and loves.
(b) The priest is the man who brings an offering to God. The Christian also must
CO TI UOUSLY bring his offerings to God. Under the old dispensation the offerings brought
were animal sacrifices; but the sacrifices of the Christian are spiritual sacrifices. He makes his
work an offering to God. Everything is done for God; and so even the meanest task is clad with
glory. The Christian makes his worship an offering to God; and so the worship of God's house
becomes, not a burden but a joy. The Christian makes himself an offering to God. "Present your
bodies," said Paul, "as a living sacrifice to God" (Romans 12:1). What God desires most of all is
the love of our hearts and the service of our lives. That is the perfect sacrifice which every
Christian must make.
(iii) The function of the Church is to tell forth the excellencies of God. That is to say, it is to
witness to men concerning the mighty acts of God. By his very life, even more than by his words,
the Christian is to be a witness of what God in Christ has done for him.
(3) The Glory Of The Church
In 1 Peter 2:9 we read of the things to which the Christian is a witness.

76. (i) God has called the Christian out of darkness into his glorious light. The Christian is called out
of darkness into light. When a man comes to know Jesus Christ, he comes to know God. o
longer does he need to guess and to grope. "He who has seen me," said Jesus, "has seen the
Father" (John 14:9). In Jesus is the light of the knowledge of God. When a man comes to know
Jesus, he comes to know goodness. In Christ he has a standard by which all actions and motives
may be tested. When a man comes to know Jesus Christ, he comes to know the way. Life is no
longer a trackless road without a star to guide. In Christ the way becomes clear. When a man
comes to know Jesus Christ, he comes to know power. It would be little use to know God without
the power to serve him. It would be little use to know goodness and yet be helpless to attain to it.
It would be little use to see the right way and be quite unable to take it. In Jesus Christ there is
both the vision and the power.
(ii) God has made those who were not a people into the people of God. Here Peter is QUOTI G
from Hosea 1:6; Hosea 1:9-10; Hosea 2:1; Hosea 2:23). This means that the Christian is called out
of insignificance into significance. It CO TI UALLY happens in this world that a man's
greatness lies not in himself but in what has been given him to do. The Christian's greatness lies
in the fact that God has chosen him to be his man and to do his work in the world. o Christian
can be ordinary, for he is a man of God.
(iii) The Christian is called out of no mercy, into mercy. The great characteristic of non-Christian
religion is the fear of God. The Christian has discovered the love of God and knows that he need
no longer fear him, because it is well with his soul.
(4) The Function Of The Church
In 1 Peter 2:9 Peter uses a whole series of phrases which are a summary of the functions of the
Church. He calls the Christians "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people dedicated to God, a
nation for him SPECIALLY to possess." Peter is steeped in the Old Testament and these phrases
are all great description of the people of Israel. They come from two main sources. In Isaiah
43:21 Isaiah hears God say, "The people whom I formed for myself." But even more in Exodus
19:5-6 the voice of God is heard: " ow, therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my
covenant, you shall be my own possession among all people; for all the earth is mine: and you
shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." The great promises which God made to
his people Israel are being fulfilled to the Church, the new Israel. Every one of these titles is full
of meaning.
(i) Christians are a chosen people. Here we are BACK to the covenant idea. Exodus 19:5-6 is
from the passage which describes how God E TERED into his covenant with Israel. In the
covenant he offered a special relationship with himself to Israel; but it depended on the people of
Israel accepting the conditions of the covenant and keeping the law. That relationship would hold
only "if you will obey my voice, and keep my covenant" (Exodus 19:5).

77. From this we learn that the Christian is chosen for three things. (a) He is chosen for privilege. In
Jesus Christ there is offered to him a new and intimate fellowship with God. God has become his
friend and he has become God's friend. (b) He is chosen for obedience. Privilege brings with it
responsibility. The Christian is chosen in order that he may become the obedient child of God. He
is chosen not to do as he likes but to do as God likes. (c) He is chosen for service. His honour is
that he is the servant of God. His privilege is that he will be used for the purposes of God. But he
can be so used only when he brings to God the obedience he desires. Chosen for privilege, chosen
for obedience, chosen for service--these three great facts go hand in hand.
(ii) Christians are a royal priesthood. We have already seen that this means that every Christian
has the right of access to God; and that he must offer his work, his worship and himself to God.
(iii) Christians are what the Revised Standard Version calls a holy nation. We have already seen
that the basic meaning of hagios (Greek #40) (holy) is different. The Christian has been chosen
that he may be different from other men. That difference lies in the fact that he is dedicated to
God's will and to God's service. Other people may follow the standards of the world but for him
the only standards are God's. A man need not even START on the Christian way unless he
realizes that it will compel him to be different from other people.
(iv) Christians are a people for God specially to possess. It frequently happens that the value of a
thing lies in the fact that some one has possessed it. A very ordinary thing acquires a new value, if
it has been possessed by some famous person. In any museum we find quite ordinary things--
clothes, a walking-stick, a pen, books, pieces of furniture--which are of value only because they
were once possessed by some great person. It is so with the Christian. The Christian may be a
very ordinary person but he acquires a new value because he belongs to God.
COFFMA , "Peter here combined the thought of Isaiah 28:16ff; Isaiah 8:14ff, and Psalms
122:18 in his presentation of Christ the Stone, living, elect, foundation, precious, rejected, the
chief corner, and the stone of stumbling, in one of the most beautiful metaphors of the word of
God. For a full discussion of this, see in my Commentary on Romans, pp. 352-357. It must surely
be true, as Barclay said, that Peter could hardly have spoken of Jesus in this manner without
thinking of Jesus' words to himself,"[12] "On this rock I will build my church, etc." (Matthew
16:13ff); and yet Peter, in this passage, made no CO ECTIO with his own person, stressing
the view that Christ is the foundation, not Peter. He did not use either of the words [@Petros] or
[@petra], but "spoke of Christ as the [@lithos]."[13]
A living stone ... This is an appropriate metaphor for Christ who is the Lord of life. He is the
eternally living one. "Rejected indeed of men ..." Jesus Christ the Messiah was the true and only
foundation of this spiritual temple; but he did not fit the designs and purposes of the "builders"
in Jerusalem who found him totally unsuitable for any use at all in the building they had in mind;
therefore, they rejected him. Really, this should have been expected, because their concept of a

78. temple for God was precisely like that of the idol temples which filled the world of that era,
namely, a pile of stone, timber and gold. The idea of such an edifice being in any real sense God's
temple was a human conceit from the very inception of it. See article on the True Temple, below.
But with God, elect ... The purpose of building a spiritual temple upon the Lord Jesus Christ was
God's purpose from the BEGI I G. He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world
(Ephesians 1:4). It was of Christ and the spiritual temple "in him" that athan spoke to David (2
Samuel 7:13); and in the light of that promise, it is clear enough that even the temple of Solomon
was not God's plan for a temple. It was David's idea, not God's; God never gave a pattern for the
building of it, as he did the tabernacle; and, if it had been truly God's temple, God would never
have destroyed it.
Precious ... The ASV margin gives "honorable" as an alternate reading, the idea being that all
honor and glory are due to Jesus Christ who is the cornerstone and foundation of God's true
temple. The contrast is between the worthless STATUS accorded Jesus by the Pharisees, who
found no use at all for him in their plans, and the fact of our Lord's being God's most precious
and only begotten Son.
The great prophecies of Isaiah which formed the background of the apostle's thought here, and
which he would immediately QUOTE, foretold, "The formation of the Christian church, for the
spiritual worship of God, under the image of a temple, which God would build on Messiah as a
foundation-stone thereof."[14] Both the foundation stone of Isaiah 28:16 and the rejected
keystone of Psalms 118:22 are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. "He is both the Foundation on which the
church is built and the Keystone into whom it grows up."[15]
Of that collection of Old Testament texts Peter was about to QUOTE, Hart wrote, "This
collection of texts can be traced BACK through Romans 9:32f to its origin in the saying of Mark
12:10f";[16] but such a view is totally wrong. The conception of Christ as the Stone goes back to
the Saviour himself (Matthew 21:42f). That Peter who had heard the Lord use this very figure
would have needed to borrow it from either Paul or Mark (who received practically all of his
information from Peter!) is one of the little conceits of ew Testament critics which true students
of the ew Testament view as preposterous. Long before this epistle was written, Peter had
himself also used the same figure of the chief corner set at naught by "you builders" (the Jewish
hierarchy) (Acts 4:11).
[12] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 195.
[13] A. J. Mason, op. cit., p. 400.

79. [14] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 451.
[15] David H. Wheaton, The ew Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 1241.
[16] J. H. A. Hart, Expositor's Greek Testament, Vol. V (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 55.
BE SO , "1 Peter 2:4. To whom coming — With desire and by faith; as unto a living stone —
Living from eternity; alive from the dead; and alive for evermore: and a firm foundation,
communicating spiritual life to those that come to him, and are built upon him, making him the
ground of their confidence and hope for time and for eternity. The apostle alludes to Isaiah 28:16,
where the formation of a Christian church, for the spiritual worship of God, is foretold under the
image of a temple, which God was to build on the Messiah as the foundation-stone thereof. See
the note there. There is a wonderful beauty and energy in these expressions, which describe
Christ as a spiritual foundation, solid, firm, durable; and believers as a spiritual building
erecting thereon, in preference to that temple which the Jews ACCOU TED their highest glory;
and St. Peter, speaking of him thus, shows he did not judge himself, but Christ, to be the rock on
which the church was built; disallowed — αποδεδοκιµασµενον, rejected indeed of, or by, men —
First and primarily by the Jews and their rulers, as not answering their carnal and worldly
expectations, nor suiting their way of building; that is, not to be made use of for the carrying on
and PROMOTI G of their worldly projects and interests. By representing Christ as being
rejected of men, the apostle intimated that he was the person spoken of Psalms 118:22; The stone
which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner; a passage which our Lord
himself, in his conversation with the chief priests and elders, referred to as a prophecy which they
were about to fulfil by rejecting him; but whose exaltation, notwithstanding all they could do to
prevent it, should assuredly take place. See on Matthew 21:42. But the Jews, or, added to them,
the Turks, heathen, and infidels, are not the only people that have rejected, and do reject Christ;
but all Christians so called, who live in known sin on the one hand, or who expect to be saved by
the merit of their own works on the other, reject him; as do also all hypocrites, formalists,
lukewarm, indolent, worldly-minded professors, and all those backsliders who, having begun in
the Spirit end in the flesh, and draw BACKunto perdition, instead of CO TI UI Gto believe,
love, and obey, to the saving of their souls, Hebrews 10:38-39. But chosen of God — From all
eternity, to be the foundation of his church; and precious — Of unspeakable dignity and worth in
himself, in the sight of God, and in the eyes of all true believers.
CHARLES SIMEO , "THE TEMPLE A TYPE
1Pe_2:4-5. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God
and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer
up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

80. AS in the natural life, so in the spiritual, a state of maturity is attained by a slow and gradual
progression; but every one should be aspiring after a further growth in grace, in order that he
may reach the full measure of the stature of Christ. For this end the Apostle exhorts those who
had tasted that the Lord is gracious, to covet the sincere milk of the word; and to come
CO TI UALLY to Christ, in order to their more abundant edification in faith and love. His
allusions to the material temple are worthy of our attentive consideration: he compares Christ to
the foundation-stone, and believers to the other stones built upon it; thereby shewing, that the
temple had a typical reference to them,
I. In its foundation—
Christ is here represented as the foundation-stone on which all are built—
[When personally considered, Christ is represented as the temple itself, in which dwelt all the
fulness of the Godhead [ ote: Joh_2:19-21.]: but, as considered in relation to his people, he is the
foundation-stone, that supports the whole edifice [ ote: Isa_28:16. 1Co_3:11.]. The quality
ascribed to this stone is I DEED singular; but it is perfectly suited to him of whom it is spoken.
Christ is called “a living” stone, not merely as being of distinguished excellence (as he is also the
“living bread,” and “living water”) but as having life in himself, and being the author of life to all
who depend upon him: a quickening energy proceeds from him, which pervades and animates
every part of this spiritual fabric [ ote: Joh_5:21; Joh_5:26.].]
In this situation He is precious to all who know him—
[He has indeed in all ages been “disallowed of men,” who, BLI DED by Satan and their own
lusts, neither “saw any beauty in him for which he was to be desired,” “nor would come to him
that they might have life.” The very persons appointed to build the temple have been the first to
reject him [ ote: Act_4:11.]: they could not endure that so much honour should be put upon him;
or that they should be constrained to acknowledge him as the one source of all their stability. But
he was “chosen of God” from all eternity, as the only Being capable of supporting the weight of
this vast edifice; and, so perfectly is he suited to his place, that “he is precious” to God, and
precious to all who are built upon him. If all the angels in heaven were ordered to fill his place
but for a moment, the whole building would fall to ruins: but in him there is a suitableness and
sufficiency, that at once delights the heart of God [ ote: Isa_42:1.], and inspires his people with
implicit confidence.]
or is the foundation only of the temple typical; there is a typical reference also,

81. II. In its superstructure—
Believers are the stones of which the temple is composed—
[Every man, in his natural state, is as the stones in a quarry, ignorant of the end to which he is
destined, and incapable of doing any thing towards the accomplishment of it. But the great
Master-builder, by the instrumentality of those who labour under his direction, selects some from
the rest, and fashions them for the places which he intends them to occupy in this spiritual
building. But, as the temple of Solomon was built without the noise of an axe or hammer, or any
other tool [ ote: 1Ki_6:7.], so are these brought in a silent manner [ ote: Job_33:15-16.
Act_16:14.], and “fitly framed together for an habitation of God through the Spirit [ ote:
Eph_2:21-22.].”]
By “coming to Christ” they are gradually built up upon him—
[Believers, quickened by Christ, become “lively,” or living “stones,” like unto Christ himself:
“they live by him,” yea, he himself is their life [ ote: Col_3:4.]. otwithstanding therefore they
have of themselves no power, through his quickening Spirit they become voluntary agents; and
though it is true that they are “drawn to him by the Father [ ote: Joh_6:44.],” yet it is also true,
that they “come to him,” willingly and with strong desire. And this is the way in which “they are
built up a spiritual house:” by “coming to him” they are placed upon him; and by coming to him
yet again and again, they derive “more abundant life” from him; they are more and more fitted
for the place they occupy; they are more CLOSELY knit to all the other parts of this sacred
building, and more firmly established on him as their one foundation. It is thus that the fabric
itself is enlarged by the constant addition of fresh materials; and thus that “every part of the
building groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.”]
A similar view must yet further be taken of the temple,
III. In its services—
The same persons, who before were represented as the stones of the building, are now, by an easy
transition, spoken of as the priests officiating in it.
Believers are “an holy priesthood”—

82. [ one could officiate in the material temple but those of the tribe of Levi: but, in the spiritual
temple, all are priests, whether Jews or Gentiles, male or female: “The chosen generation are also
a royal priesthood [ ote: 1Pe_2:9.];” who are not only entitled, but bound, to transact their own
business with God. This honour also they attain by “coming unto Christ:” by him they are “made
kings and priests unto God;” and “through him they have boldness to E TER into the holiest,”
and to present themselves before the majesty of heaven.]
or shall the sacrifices which they offer be presented in vain—
[They come not indeed with the blood of bulls and of goats; but they bring the infinitely more
precious blood of Christ. On account of his atonement, their prayers and praises, their alms and
oblations, yea, all their works of righteousness come up with a sweet savour before God, and their
persons as well as services find a favourable acceptance in his sight [ ote: Heb_13:15-16.]. or
though, through the infirmity of their flesh, their offerings be very imperfect, shall they therefore
be despised: if only they be presented with an humble and willing mind, God, even under the law,
and much more under the Gospel, has promised to accept them [ ote: Lev_22:19-23.
2Co_8:12.].]
Let us learn from this subject,
1. Our duty—
[Whatever be our attainments in the divine life, we have one daily and hourly employment, to be
“coming to Christ:” by these means we shall be advanced and established; but, if we neglect
them, we shall fall and perish. or must the opinions of men be of any weight when opposed to
this duty: whoever despise, we must “choose” him; whoever abhor, we must account him
“precious:” if the whole universe should combine against him, we must be firm in our adherence
to him. or must we rest in cold uninfluential professions of regard. We must devote ourselves to
him, while we build upon him; and present ourselves, and all that we possess, as living sacrifices
unto our God and Father.]
2. Our privilege—
[Being brought nigh to God by the blood of Christ, it is our privilege to maintain fellowship with
him as our reconciled God. We should banish all doubts about the acceptance of our feeble
endeavours; and come, like the high-priest himself, even to his mercy-seat, there to make known
our wants, and obtain the blessings we stand in need of. Methinks our state on earth should
resemble, in a measure, the state of those in heaven: we should possess the same humble
confidence, the same holy joy: and our sacrifices, enflamed with heavenly fire, should ever be

83. ascending from the altar of a grateful heart, that God may smell a sweet savour, and “rejoice over
us to do us good.”
Thrice happy they who so walk before him! Let it be the ambition of us all to do so: then shall we
indeed be “temples of the Holy Ghost [ ote: 1Co_6:19.]:” we shall “draw nigh to God, and God
will draw nigh to us;” we shall “dwell in God, and God will dwell in us;” and the communion,
begun on earth, shall be carried on and perfected in glory.]
KRETZMA , "This entire paragraph refers to the Lord, of whom St. Peter had spoken in
verse 3. Making use of a new figure or picture, the apostle writes: To whom coming, to that living
Stone, rejected I DEED of men, but chosen on the part of God, precious. The Christians have
become partakers of the new spiritual birth, they are children of God. Mindful, therefore, of the
sacred obligations and privileges which their new state lays upon them, they will come to the
Lord, they will be joined to Him, they will range themselves on His side. They know that their
Lord, Jesus, Christ, is the living Stone, Psa_118:22; Isa_28:16, the Source of all spiritual life, and
that they can retain their own life only in proportion as they remain in fellowship with Him. This
living Stone, Jesus the Messiah, was indeed rejected by the builders, by the leaders of the Jewish
nation, by men in general, for most of them concur with the Jews in rejecting the Savior. But the
judgment of God does not agree with that of the blinded world, for He has chosen this Stone as a
most precious stone, as the Headstone of the corner, Isa_8:16. This fact, that Christ, although
scorned and despised by the children of the world, is given such great honors in the sight of God,
should encourage the Christians at all times to set aside the scornful attitude of the world and
accept the judgment of the Lord instead.
With the reference to Christ as the living Stone agrees the description of the believers: And
yourselves like living stones be built up as a spiritual house, unto a holy priesthood, to offer
spiritual sacrifices that are well-pleasing to God through Jesus Christ. In order to remain in
fellowship with the Corner-stone, Christ, it is necessary that the believers partake of His nature,
be filled with His life. It is then, and then only, that they can be built up as a spiritual house, their
faith sinking deeply and ever more deeply into this unshakable foundation of His eternal love,
their mutual faith uniting them in mutual love, connecting them in one vast organization. In this
way the Christians are built up as a spiritual house, built up on Christ and in Christ, unto a holy
priesthood. The apostle is here describing the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints,
the sum total of all the believers in Christ, an edifice of living persons filled with the Spirit of
God. Every member of this Church is incidentally a priest of God in the sacred edifice which is
erected upon Christ. Whereas in the Old Testament there was a special hierarchy, composed of
members of the house of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, Heb_5:1, there is now, by virtue of the
vicarious action of Christ, a general priesthood of believers. Every Christian has direct and free
access to God, because the sin which formerly divided between us and God has been removed by
Christ. Of this priestly dignity the believers should always be conscious; they should keep their
relation toward God intact and ever draw more CLOSELY to the heavenly throne. At the same
time, all these spiritual priests should be active in offering to the Lord such spiritual sacrifices as
are well-pleasing to God. The entire life of a Christian, all his thoughts, desires, and deeds, are
such sacrifices, because it is the Spirit of God that lives in them and teaches them to be duly
grateful to the Lord for the gifts of His salvation, both in hymns of praise and in good works,
Rom_12:1.

84. In Support of these statements the apostle does not QUOTE an Old Testament passage outright,
but makes it the basis of an explanation in which he uses also other texts: For it is contained in
the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a Stone, a Corner-stone, chosen, precious; and he that
believes on Him shall not be brought to shame. See Isa_28:16. ote that the reference is to a book
which is a definite, well-known entity, which went by the name "Scripture" and was generally
conceded to be the Word of God. The gist, or tenor, of the passage in Isaiah is given. In Zion, in
His Church of the ew Testament, the Lord places or appoints a Corner-stone, one that is at the
same time a Rock of Salvation. For not one person that puts his trust in Him will be found
ashamed on the last day. The congregation of believers that is built up on this Stone shall not be
overcome even by the portals of hell.
The apostle now makes his APPLICATIO of the prophetical passage: To you, then that believe
He is preciousness; but as for the unbelievers, the Stone which the builders rejected, this has
become the Corner-stone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, who stumble at the
Word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. See Psa_118:22; Isa_8:14. In the
case of all believers, in which number Peter pointedly and emphatically includes his readers, the
living Stone, Jesus Christ, the Rock of Salvation, is preciousness; they partake of the wonderful
value of this Stone, and should properly appreciate the honor which is thereby conferred upon
them. Altogether different is the case with the unbelievers. To them that prophecy of the rejection
of the Corner-stone APPLIES, for they follow the Jews in their blind foolishness, in scorning the
one way of salvation, through the redemption of Christ Jesus. And therefore they, who should
have been built up with the saints, in their blind enmity stumble over this Stone, trip over this
Rock, since they refuse to be obedient to the Word, to accept the truth of the Gospel. They
stumble, they fall, they perish in the destruction which their stubborn refusal of salvation has
brought upon themselves. They harden their own hearts against every effort of the Spirit to
reveal the Savior to them. And thus the judgment is carried out in their case; their unbelief
condemns them. They come under that terrible sentence of God according to which those that
harden their hearts in spite of all calling of the Lord are finally appointed to that lot that the
Word of Salvation becomes to them a savor of death unto death. It would hardly be possible to
warn against the sin of unbelief in a more emphatic way.
GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE, "The Temple of Living Stones
Unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious, ye
also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.—1Pe_2:4-5.

85. 1. Earth has witnessed few scenes more sublime, none in which all the elements of outward
magnificence were more strikingly blended with those of deep religious reverence and awe,
than that which was presented by the Temple of Solomon on the day of its dedication. The
holy and beautiful house crowning, with its fresh undimmed splendour, the terraced steep of
Moriah, the vast congregation of worshippers that filled its courts and colonnades, the rich
and solemn swell of choral melody, when minstrels and singers joined in the exulting
hallelujah, the great altar in the open court with the brazen platform in front of it, on which the
youthful prince kneeled down upon his knees in sight of that breathless multitude and spread
forth his hands to heaven, the fire descending in answer to his prayer, and consuming the
sacrifice, and THE CLOUD of glory filling the house, so that the priests could not stand to
minister;—nothing is wanting to complete the solemn impressiveness of the spectacle.
Many centuries had gone by, and the Temple still stood, after many vicissitudes, in something
like its earliest grandeur, and on its ancient site, when Jerusalem, the Holy City, witnessed
another and a different scene.
In some humble dwelling, in one of its obscurer streets, a little company of worshippers was
gathered together in an upper room. There was no outward splendour there to attract the eye,
no imposing rites, no stately ceremonial, no altar, no priest, no ringing burst of melody. A few
devoted men and women joining in fervent supplication, nothing more, when “suddenly there
came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,” and cloven tongues of flame were
seen hovering over each of them, and in this baptism of fire every heart was kindled with holy
love and zeal, every voice burst forth in accents of adoring wonder and praise. In this
outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, in fulfilment of the Saviour’s promise, and in
token of His divine and almighty power, we see the dedication of that spiritual temple which
He founded on this earth, we behold the beginning of that Church which is not for one nation,
but for all people; which is not in its essential features outward and visible, but inward, set up
in all believing, loving, and obedient hearts; which is not to CONTINUE for a season and pass
away, but is to endure for ever, as a kingdom of righteousness, and peace, and joy.
2. The Apostle Peter set himself to try to persuade Jewish Christians that the time had come
for the admission of the Gentiles to religious equality with the favoured Jewish nation, and
that without SUBMITTING to the ceremonial law or taking part in the ceremonial sacrifices
which (to the ordinary Jewish apprehension) were the price of their spiritual privileges. And
the method he adopted was not to belittle the position of Israel as the chosen people of
Jehovah, but to suggest that the old Jewish idea of a chosen people was but a poor analogue
or type of the position of the Christian Church, that it was in that purely spiritual but none the
less visible and concrete society that there was to be found the real fulfilment of the highest
aspirations or predictions of Hebrew prophecy. For him the Christian Church was the spiritual
Israel. Nor was the new and Catholic society which was to succeed to the narrow Nation-
churches of the ancient world a society which could dispense with those fundamental
institutions of old-world religion—Temple, Priesthood, Sacrifice. The Church itself, the society,
was the true temple—the visible, material, local, yet living, habitation, as it were, of Deity. The
whole of this society were Priests. And that society of Priests absorbed into itself the religious

86. functions which everywhere in the old world, and especially in ancient Israel, were shared by
kings—“a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” Nor was the temple without its sacrifice; for the
external animal sacrifices of the old ritual were but a faint counterpart of the spiritual worship
of the new society, the uplifting of will and heart to God, especially in the great act which the
ancient Church called the Eucharist or thanksgiving par excellence—itself only a symbol or
visible embodiment of the one real and true sacrifice of the will to God in a holy life.
I
The Temple
The Apostle has in his mind the great Temple at Jerusalem, esteemed and honoured by the
whole Jewish race. And he summons up the vision not only of that vast edifice, but of the
separate stones, which he well knew must have passed under the builder’s eye. And then by
a bold venture of imagination he thinks of these stones as endowed with life, and taking their
proper place in the building.
1. The Temple has a foundation. Christ is the chief corner stone. The term “stone” speaks to
us of all that is solid, massive, steadfast, strong. It suggests at once ideas of immovable
principle and ever-persistent purpose, and of capacity at once to resist and to sustain. We
read in it how our Master is “the same, yesterday and to-day, and for ever,” in a fixity which
the cliffs and crags may picture, but to which all the while they are but as fleeting shadows, as
unsubstantial dreams, placed beside Him who is “this same Jesus” for ever.
But then, besides, Christ is the Living Stone. Taken by itself, the rock-metaphor gives us all
we want of certainty and strength; but there is nothing in it of itself to warm the thought and to
move the soul to a personal regard. But, behold, He is the Living Stone; He is strength instinct
with glowing life. This foundation, this bulwark, this massy tower, “foursquare to opposition”—
look at it again; it is not it, but He. The Rock has voice, and eyes, and arms, and heart. He
lives, all over and all through; and it is with a life which pours itself out in thought, and
sympathy, and help, and love, to the refugee upon the Rock.
Here and here only in Holy Scripture is our Lord called the Living Stone. Repeatedly
elsewhere, both in the Old Testament and in the New, we read of Him as the Stone, the Rock,
Rock of Ages, Stone of the Corner—Angulare Fundamentum. And we have INDEED
abundant Scriptures where He appears in all the glory and in all the power of Life. “I am he
that liveth,” “I am the life.” But here only do the two truths meet in one magnificent witness to
His worth and glory; only here is He named “the Living Stone.”1 [Note: H. C. G. Moule, The
Secret of the Presence, 110.]

87. (1) Christ imparts life. We depend upon Christ for life. He is a “living stone,” and we who
believe are “living stones.” But there is this all-important difference between Him and us, viz.
He is the Living One, He has life in Himself, while we live only in Him. His life is inherent; ours
is derived. He would live on, if we were to die; whereas if He were to die, our life would end
for ever.
Here is an elect stone, chosen of God though rejected of men. It stands every test. Satan
searched in vain for any flaw in Christ’s character; any imperfection, however small, in His
obedience. Sir Walter Scott, in Ivanhoe, tells us how Locksley, with his cloth-yard shafts “told
every rivet” in De Bracy’s armour, on the walls of Front de Boeuf’s castle. Had there been a
weak point anywhere in that armour, the arrows would have found it out, and De Bracy’s life
would have been forfeited. So, to compare the infinitely greater with the less, with his fiery
darts of manifold temptations did Satan tell off every rivet of our blessed Lord’s armour of
righteousness while here upon earth. Could he have found but one weak point anywhere, His
entire work as our Redeemer would have been marred, and He could not have been our
Saviour. No weak point, however, could he find—God’s elect and precious stone is a tried
stone.2 [Note: A. C. Price, Fifty Sermons, xi. 19.]
(2) In order that we may become living stones, fit for building on the foundation, we must
come into touch with Christ. In His own words we must “come to” Him. That is to say, we must
commit ourselves to Him in faith.
Suppose a stranger arrives in a town and inquires where he can safely deposit his money. He
is told by a friend that N. & M.’s bank is perfectly safe. He thereupon obtains an audited
balance-sheet, examines it, and from it learns the resources of the bank. He believes the
person who tells him that the bank is good; he believes about the bank that the security it
offers is ample; so he trusts his money to the bank’s keeping, i.e. he believes on the bank. Or,
to put it in another way, a boatload of holiday makers may often be seen landing on the shore
of some English watering-place. The tide is low, and the boat cannot be brought right up on to
the dry sand or beach. The passengers do not wish to wet their feet, so the boatman invites
them to ride ashore on his back. They believe him when he makes the suggestion; they look
at him, and, seeing that he is a stalwart fellow, they believe about him that he is able to do
what he proposes, so one by one they trust themselves to him.1 [Note: J. G. Hoare, The
Foundation Stone of Christian Faith, 228.]
The things mysterious
That here vouchsafe to me their apparition,

88. Unto all eyes below are so concealed,
That all their being lies in faith alone,
Whereon high Hope proceeds to base herself,
And so Faith takes the place and rank of substance.
And it behoveth us from our belief
To draw conclusions without other sight;
And hence Faith takes the place of argument.2 [Note: Dante, Paradiso.]
2. The materials of the Temple are living stones.
(1) Where are the stones found?—They are all cut out of the quarry of nature; stone by stone
is brought out of that deep cavern, placed upon the living stone, and each united to the other.
I have read that some little while back there was discovered in Jerusalem a deep cavern
close by the Damascus Gate, and those who have explored it have come to the conclusion
that it is, the spot from which the stones were taken to build the glorious Temple of Solomon.
It was there that the hammering and the cutting were done. It was there that the stones were
shaped, and from thence, by some process that we do not now understand, they were
brought from their deep grave, and separately placed in position upon Mount Zion. The blocks
of stone were taken one by one out of the bowels of the earth and out of darkness, and then
carried by mighty power to the temple walls, until, when the last stone was cut out and placed
in position, with shoutings of “grace unto it,” the whole building was complete. This forms a
beautiful illustration of the way in which the Lord builds His spiritual temple. The Spirit of God

89. goes into the deep black quarry of fallen nature, and there hews out the hidden stones, and
by His own almighty power bears them to the foundation stone and places them in a living
temple to go no more out for ever.1 [Note: A. G. Brown.]
(2) There must be no deformity in the stones.—You have probably visited one or another of
our cathedrals, and, if so, you may have noticed that a process of repair is always going on in
some part of the building. Stones once thought good and sound have developed a flaw; or
under the influence of the rain and frost and gases of the atmosphere have been found to be
losing their solidity, turning back and crumbling into their original sand. As material stones,
this is only according to nature; there is nothing to be done but to remove them and put good
ones in their places. But in the spiritual building the conditions are not the same. We who are
living stones can by God’s help resist the deteriorating and wasting forces of the world. If we
will, we may retain our solidity, our firmness, our strength, yes, even our polish and our lustre;
and it is our duty so to do. We may be stones placed in inconspicuous positions. But if we are
so honoured as to have any, even the most obscure, place in such a temple, how great
should be our joy! We may be like those stones Ruskin found built in where they could not
possibly be seen save by those who sought them, but still carved and finished as exquisitely
as those that were in the facade of the building. If the master Builder knows that we are there,
is not that enough to induce us to resolve that by Divine help not a whit of our symmetry and
beauty shall be lost?
A beloved and beautiful memory rises before me—a friend of my early undergraduate days,
called to die before his own degree, but first called to live, as a living stone. Before he entered
Trinity College he had passed through a military academy, a place which at that time was a
scene of deep moral pollution. Gentle and even facile as he was by nature, God, just as he
entered the place, had made him “a living stone.” With quiet, unshaken, unswerving
steadfastness, under acutest difficulties, he lived, and he was a rock. And by the time he left
the academy—I record a fact—vice was out of fashion there.2 [Note: H. C. G. Moule, The
Secret of the Presence, 214.]
(3) The building is ever going on.—The workers are legion. Paul, with his relentless, flaming
logic; John, with eagle eye, scanning and then writing of the future and the past; Augustine,
with his pauseless, countless toils of pen and speech; Chrysostom consecrating his golden
eloquence to themes of transcendent and golden worth; Bede labouring on our own northern
shore, and in making the blessed Gospel accessible to the Saxon PEOPLE FINDING “the last
dear service of his parting breath”; Luther, with his strong human tenderness and unquailing
knowledge; Calvin, with his severe purity and indomitable industry; Latimer, with his home-
spun, ready, and racy heart-compelling speech; Bunyan, that true Greatheart of countless
pilgrims; Wesley, that statesman; Whitefield, that captain of preachers. Time would fail us to
tell of the great preachers and teachers with voice and pen who have lived to win souls to
Christ. If His service can be ennobled by human associations, it is ennobled by such names
as these. Let us be worthy of them. And Christ’s work is ever going on; His temple is ever
rising. Men of varied faculty are engaged in the one work. The builders are many, the
Architect is one. Builders pass, but new builders take up the work and it goes on. New

90. methods of Christian labour may supplement the old. The “tongues” of old theology may
cease in a larger and more loving language; but, amid all, the Spiritual Temple is rising.
In the crypt of Fountains Abbey, as in other ancient buildings, you may see windows of varied
kinds of architecture—Saxon, Norman, Gothic. The Abbey was long in building. The first
builders died. But by other hands, and in other styles, the unfinished work went on. So in
Christ’s Church. New styles, so to speak, may mark it from age to age. But though builders
die, the Divine Architect survives. And He sees to the continuity of the work.
Have you heard the golden city
Mentioned in the legends old?
Everlasting light shines o’er it,
Wondrous tales of it are told.
Only righteous men and women
Dwell within its gleaming wall;
Wrong is banished from its borders,
Justice reigns supreme o’er all.
We are builders of that city;
All our joys and all our groans

91. Help to rear its shining ramparts,
All our lives are building stones.
But a few brief years we labour,
Soon our earthly day is o’er,
Other builders take our places,
And our place knows us no more.
But the work which we have builded,
Oft with bleeding hands and tears,
And in ERROR and in anguish,
Will not perish with the years.
It will last, and shine transfigured
In the final reign of Right;
It will merge into the splendours

92. Of the City of the Light.1 [Note: Felix Adler.]
II
The Priesthood
St. Peter changes the figure from “a spiritual house” to “a holy priesthood.” After saying, “Ye
also as living stones are built up a spiritual house,” he adds, “to be a holy priesthood, to offer
up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
To understand the meaning of this abrupt change of figure, we must bear in mind that St.
Peter was “the Apostle to the circumcision.” He wrote to Jews, and he sought to show them
that by becoming Christians they lost neither temple, nor priesthood, nor sacrifices. They had
them all. They were themselves all. They were the temple, “built up a spiritual house,” for
God’s own habitation. They were priests unto God; “a holy priesthood.” And it was their
privilege “to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
The New Testament writers were men whose earlier days had been passed in a Church
where sacrifices were offered, where there was an altar, a priest, animal victims. It is true that
their ordinary weekly worship was presented in synagogues which had no altar, no priest, no
victims; where the desk took the place of the altar, and the reader of the priest. But none the
less the temple was the place where the culminating act of worship took place, and in that
temple the chief place was assigned to the altar, and the chief function devolved upon the
priest. Sacrifice—real sacrifice—the actual offering of oxen and sheep and doves—real
sacrifice was the chief rite of the Church to which the Apostles in their earlier days belonged.
Hence the language of sacrifice was familiar to them as household words, so familiar that
they could not throw it off when they exchanged Judaism for Christianity. But though they did
not wholly abandon the old phraseology, they gave to it a new and higher meaning. They
applied it to the offering of self rather than of oxen or sheep. Christianity went deeper than
Judaism. Judaism was content with the offering of bulls and goats. Christianity was content
only with the offering of spiritual sacrifices. These it declared were the only sacrifices
acceptable to God.
1. They were a spiritual Priesthood.—God dwells in us, and so the obscurest, humblest
Christian is greater than the most venerable and splendid of the buildings which kings and
nobles and mighty nations have enriched with gold and silver and costly marbles, which have
been adorned by the genius of famous painters, and in which many generations of men have
worshipped God. It is man that is sacred, above all when made one with Christ. God is a
spirit, and He dwells not in material buildings, no matter by what solemn and mysterious rites
it may be attempted to consecrate them. He, a Spirit, dwells in the spirit of man and reveals

93. His righteousness and love in the life of man.
To me the poor seamstress that turns into Westminster Abbey for half an hour’s quiet and
peace and meditation on Christ who has saved her is more sacred than the memorable
building which is associated with the most famous events in the history of our country; and
she should be treated with greater reverence. To me the beggar in his rags on the steps of St.
Peter’s is more sacred than the vast church which is the material centre of a communion
extending over the whole world. In the Christian man is the true shekinah, even though the
visible glory which was the symbol of the true has now passed away. The inner life of the
Christian man is the true holy of holies. God is there.1 [Note: R. W. Dale.]
It is certain that to the writers of the New Testament, the word Priest, when not applied to the
sacrificial functionaries of the Jews, implied a spiritual function of every believer. It is never
once applied by them to the officers of the Christian community. It did not summon up to their
minds the ceremonies of public worship, but the acts of common life. And this mode of speech
became habitual with the early fathers. These fathers, says Bishop Kaye, used a language
directly opposite to that which counts the New Testament use of these words as merely
metaphorical. “They regarded the spiritual sacrifice as the true and proper sacrifice, the
external sacrificial act as merely the sign and symbol.”1 [Note: Dean Fremantle, The Gospel
of the Secular Life, 177.]
2. They were an holy Priesthood.—In the Jewish dispensation this meant no more, possibly,
than an outward separation to the service of God—the priests in the temple, the vestments of
their ministry were said to be ceremonially holy. But certainly more is meant by the Apostle in
the text than this ritual and external sanctity. The holiness of which he speaks consists in the
possession of that mind which was in Christ Jesus, in the reinstatement in us of that image of
God which was lost by the disobedience of the fall.
In one of the old Cathedrals in Europe the guide bids the visitor watch a certain spot until the
light from a window falls upon it. There he sees, carved on a rafter, a face of such marvellous
beauty that it is the very gem of the great building. The legend is, that, when the architect and
masters were planning the adornment of the cathedral, an old man came in and begged leave
to do some work. They felt that his tottering steps and trembling hands unfitted him for any
great service; so they sent him up to the roof, and gave him permission to carve upon one of
the rafters. He went his way, and day by day he wrought there in the darkness. One day he
was not seen to come down, and going up they found him lying lifeless on the scaffolding,
with his sightless eyes turned upward. And there they saw a face carved on the rafter, a face
of such exceeding beauty that architects and great men bared their heads as they looked
upon it, and recognized the master in him who lay there still in death.
In the Church of the living God we are all set to carve the beauty of the face of Christ, not on

94. the rafters or walls of any cathedral, but on our own heart and life. Be it ours to do this work
with such care and skill that, when our eyes are closed in death, men may look with
reverence upon the beauty of the face our hands have fashioned. Some of us may feel
ourselves too feeble, or too unskilled, to do any great work in this world for Christ; but none
are too feeble or too unskilled to carve the beauty of Christ on our life. And it may be that in
the time of great revealing, it shall appear that some trembling disciple among us, timid and
shrinking, whose work is in some quiet corner, out of sight, has wrought the beauty of Christ-
likeness in an exquisiteness which shall outshine all that any even of the greatest of us have
done.1 [Note: J. R. Miller, Glimpses through Life’s Windows, 17.]
III
The Sacrifices
1. The sacrifices are spiritual, like the temple in which they are offered. They originate in the
spiritual life of man, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. They are spiritual acts. Mere
external acts, however striking, however splendid, however impressive, are worthless. Only if
there is real spiritual force in them can they be acceptable to God, and then only through
Christ. The external pomp, the artistic beauty are of no account, but for the excitement of
passion and delight which the pomp and the beauty may create. The sacrifices we have to
offer are spiritual sacrifices.
The value of a material sacrifice lies in the thing given; the value of the spiritual offering
consists in the will to give it. A material sacrifice has its beginning in an act; a spiritual sacrifice
has its beginning in a thought. A material sacrifice is one which, by its very nature, demands
constant repetition; a spiritual sacrifice, if it be a full expression of the heart, is offered once
for all.
I am on a pastoral round among lowly cottage homes. I ask at a certain door for one of our
devoted church members, a labourer’s wife. She is not at home, but may be found five or six
doors higher up in the street. We go and inquire for her there. It is the home of a sick friend,
another labourer’s wife, and when we find her she says to her minister: “You see Mary is ill
and in bed, and I considered what I could do to help her; and I decided that I could at least do
her week’s washing for her.” It was beautiful! Our sister was a priest, or priestess, if you like,
offering, amidst the steam of the washhouse, a spiritual sacrifice.2 [Note: J. C. Story.]
2. The sacrifice will mean—
(1) Worship.—The essential idea of sacrificial worship is communion, not propitiation—the

95. identification of our wills with God’s by definite spiritual effort as a means to the identification
of the will with God’s will in every act and moment of our lives. And this sacrifice of worship, of
which the Christian Eucharist forms the highest act, must be looked upon as the act of the
whole community. Every Christian must take his part in it. It is not a thing that can be done for
one man by another, or rather in one sense it is a thing that can and must be done by every
man for every other: since every prayer of the Christian is social, offered by him not as an
isolated individual but as a member of the community, for the whole community as well as for
himself.
Of Philip Edward Pusey (Pusey’s only son) Dean Burgon says, “Though too deaf to hear what
was being spoken, he was constant in his attendance at the daily Service and at Holy
Communion: yes, and was absorbed in what was going on. A man, he was, of great religious
earnestness, and consistent heartfelt piety. I cannot express what a help and comfort dear
Philip was to me, nor how much I felt his loss: nay, how much I feel it still.”1 [Note: J. W.
Burgon, The Lives of Twelve Good Men, i. 17.]
We went to the cathedral, which is mere heaps upon heaps: a huge, misshapen thing, which
has no more of symmetry than of neatness belonging to it. I was a little surprised to observe
that neither in this, nor in any other of the Romish churches where I have been, is there,
properly speaking, any such thing as joint worship; but one prays at one shrine or altar, and
another at another, without any regard to or communication with one another. As we came out
of the church a procession began on the other side of the churchyard. One of our company
scrupling to pull off his hat, a zealous Catholic presently cried out, “Knock down the Lutheran
dog.” But we prevented any contest by retiring into the church.2 [Note: The Journal of John
Wesley, ii. 8.]
(2) Mediation.—It is only through the Christian community that the individual can enter into
this knowledge of Christ which is the knowledge of God—only through the tradition of
Christian teaching handed down by the community, through the religious life which pervades
it, through the ideal which is more or less perfectly realized in its corporate life and in the life
of some at least among its individual members. Thus it is no platitude to say that every
Christian is bound to be a priest; for to say that he is a priest means that he is bound to take a
part in this great task of revealing God to his fellow-men, by word and by deed, by the ideal
that he proclaims with his lips and cherishes in his heart and sets forth in his life; by
contributing to the creation of a Christian public opinion, and by impressing and (so far as
may be) enforcing that opinion upon the whole society in which he lives, and so taking his part
in the Church’s fundamental task of binding and loosing. It is of the essence of all true
communion with God to diffuse itself to other men.
The Archbishop said that as a child he had been very much puzzled by the words of the
marriage service—“With my body I thee worship.” He went to his mother and asked, “How
can one worship with one’s body?” His mother explained that worship was not used here in
the usual spiritual sense, but meant that the husband would do such things for his wife as

96. opening the door for her, fetching her a chair, etc. The little boy secretly made up his mind to
watch his father, to see whether he performed these little services for his wife. “But it was no
use,” added the Archbishop, “for he always did.”1 [Note: Frederick Temple, Archbishop of
Canterbury, i. 80.]
(3) Service.—The materials of sacrifice are all around us, in our common work, in the little
calls of Providence, in the trivial crosses we are challenged to take up; even in the very
recreation of our lives. The great point is to have the mind set upon seeking and seeing in all
things the service of Christ and the glory of God, and then every trifle which that mind
touches, every piece of work it handles, every dispensation it encounters, becomes at once a
sacrifice.
A young Chinese girl was brought to the Presbyterian Mission Hospital at Canton. She was
doomed to blindness and lameness, so her mistress abandoned her. The doctors amputated
her leg, and gave her little tasks to perform and taught her the love of the Saviour. She
developed leprosy, and was forced to leave the kind friends about her, and betake herself to
the darkness and horror of a leper settlement. But she went a Christian, and in two years that
blind crippled leper built up a band of Christians in that leper settlement and in five years a
Church grew out of her work. That poor crippled invalid life is to-day a centre of joy and
service, and other leper villages are sending to her to ask about the wonderful good news
which can bring joy even to outcasts.
CONSTABLE, "Not only is Jesus Christ the source of the believer's spiritual sustenance, He is
also our foundation. Peter not only changed his metaphor from growing to building, but he
also changed it from an individual to a corporate focus. However, unlike a piece of rock, Jesus
Christ is alive and able to impart strength to those who suffer for His sake. "Living stone" is an
oxymoron, a figure of speech in which the writer JOINScontradictory or incongruous terms to
make a point. The point here is that even though Jesus Christ is the church's foundation, He
is also alive today. Builders quarried and chiseled huge blocks of stone to support large
buildings in the ancient Near East. Some of the Old Testament writers compared God to such
a foundation (e.g., Deuteronomy 32:4; Deuteronomy 32:15; Deuteronomy 32:18;
Deuteronomy 32:30-31; Psalms 18:2; Psalms 18:31; Psalms 18:46; Psalms 62:2; Psalms
62:6; et al.; cf. Matthew 7:24-25; Matthew 16:18). Peter modified this figure and used it to
describe Jesus Christ. [Note: See C. NORMAN Hillyer, "'Rock-Stone' Imagery in I Peter,"
Tyndale Bulletin 22 (1971):58-81; and Frederic R. Howe, "Christ, the Building Stone, in
Peter's Theology," Bibliotheca Sacra 157:625 (January-March 2000):35-43.]
Here Peter began to give the basis on which the four preceding exhortations rest. These
exhortations were: be holy (1 Peter 1:13-16), be fearing (1 Peter 1:17-21), be loving (1 Peter
1:22-25), and be consuming the Word (1 Peter 2:1-3). They grow out of our relationship to
God who has begotten us.

97. The apostle referred to Psalms 118:22 that both Jesus and he had previously QUOTED to the
Sanhedrin (Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11).
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "To whom coming, as unto a living stone.
Coming-always coming
The Christian life is begun, continued, and perfected altogether in connection with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Sometimes when you go a journey, you travel so far under the protection of a certain company,
but then you have to change, and the rest of your journey may be performed under very different
circumstances, upon quite another kind of line. Now we have not so far to go to heaven in the guardian
care of Jesus Christ, and then at a certain point to change, so as to have somebody else to be our
leader, or some other method of salvation. No, He is the author and He is the finisher of our faith. We
have not to seek a fresh physician, to find a new friend or to discover a novel hope, but we are to look
for everything to Jesus Christ, “the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” “Ye are complete in Him.”
I. Here is a complete description of the Christian life. It is a continuous “coming” to Jesus. Notice that
the expression occurs in connection with two figures. There is one which precedes it in the second
verse, namely, the figure of a little child fed upon milk. Children come to their parents, and they
frequently come rather longer than their parents like; it is the general habit of children to come to their
parents for what they need. Just what your children began to do from the first moment you fixed your
eyes on them, and what they have continued to do ever since, that is just what you are to do with the
Lord Jesus Christ. You are to be always coming to Him-coming to Him for spiritual food, for spiritual
garments, for washing, guiding, help, and health: coming, in fact, for everything. You will be wise if,
the older you grow, the more you come, and He will be all the better pleased with you. If you will look
again at your Bibles, you will get a second illustration from the fourth verse, “To whom coming as unto
a living stone,” etc. Here we have the figure of a building. A building comprises first a foundation, and
then the stones which are brought to the foundation and are built upon it. This furnishes a very
beautiful picture of Christian life.
II. Now to answer the question, what is the rest way of coming to Christ at first?
1. The very best way to come to Christ is to come with all your needs about you. If you could get rid
of half your needs apart from Christ, you would not come to Jesus half so well, for your need
furnishes you with motives for coming, and gives you pleas to urge. Suppose a physician should
come into a town with motives of pure benevolence to exercise the healing art. What he wants is
not to make money, but to bless the townsmen. He has a love to his fellow men, and he wants to
cure them, and therefore he gives notice that the poorest will be welcome, and the most diseased
will be best received. Is there a deeply sin-sick soul anywhere? Is there man or woman who is bad
altogether? Come along, you are just in a right condition to come to Jesus Christ. Come just as you
are, that is the best style of “coming.”
2. If you want to know how to come aright the first time, I should answer, Come to find everything
you want in Christ. I heard of a shop some time ago in a country town where they sold everything,
and the man said that he did not believe that there was anything a human being wanted but what
he could rig him out from top to toe. Well, I do not know whether that promise would have been
carried out to the letter if it had been tried, but I know it is so with Jesus Christ; He can supply you
with all you need, for “Christ is all.”
3. The best way to come to Christ is to come meaning to get everything, and to obtain all the
plenitude of grace which He has laid up in store and promised freely to give.
III. What is the best way to come afterwards? The answer is-Come just as you used to come. The text
does not say that you have come to Christ, though that is true, but that you are coming; and you are to
be always coming. The way to continue coming is to come just in the same way as you came at first. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)

98. Christ a living stone
I. Christ the sure foundation. Without Christ the Bible is meaningless, the world hopeless, heaven
charmless. You might as well have a summer without a gleam of light, without the smell of flowers, or
the song of a bird, as have a life without Jesus Christ. You might as well have a year without a summer,
nothing but barrenness and death, as to have a life without Jesus Christ. You might as well have a
night without a morning, as to live in this world, and die, and be buried without Jesus Christ. You
might as well speak of the astronomy of the world and leave out the sun, as speak of history,
philosophy, and creation, and leave out Jesus Christ. In Christ, and in Him alone, the real and the
ideal meet. Christ was the perfect, the symmetrical Man, the true centre of redeemed humanity.
II. Christ rejected by many. He reveals character; He makes men declare themselves; He is the touch
stone that draws worth and develops worthlessness. Come near to Christ, and if you have the elements
of nobility you will be drawn toward Him; if you are worth less you will hate Him.
III. A startling contrast-God’s judgment of Christ as compared with that of men: “Chosen of God, and
precious.” God knew Him, and He knew God as it is impossible for men to know Him; and this is the
judgment which God here gives.
IV. In order to receive the blessing of Christ’s life, we must come to him. God’s promise includes God’s
condition. (R. S. MacArthur.)
The living stone
I. The church or spiritual temple in its foundation.
1. Jesus Christ is here set forth as the foundation of the Christian Church.
2. The apostle here seems to violate the rules of rhetoric and elegant composition by attributing
life to a stone. God’s thoughts were so infinite that the laws of grammar stood in constant need of
expansion to receive them.
3. “Disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God.” This Divine choice does not refer primarily, if at
all, to God’s eternal election of His Son to be the foundation of the Church, but to His choice of
Him in consequence of His holy life and atoning death. The disallowing by men and the choosing
by God were simultaneous processes. God chose Him, not arbitrarily, but on account of fitness
after trying Him.
II. The Church or spiritual temple in its superstructure.
1. What then is the first step you should take to be built into the walls of this spiritual edifice? This-
you must come to Jesus Christ. “To whom coming”; or, as the words might be rendered, “To whom
coming close up,” “to whom coming very near”-so near as to be in personal contact with Him,
nothing whatever intervening. You must remove all the earth and brush away every grain of sand,
and build your house on the clean face of the rock, with nothing whatsoever between.
2. “To whom coming close up, as unto a living stone,” then it follows that “ye also, as living stones,
are built up a spiritual house.” The word for “stones” here suggests-I do not say it positively means,
but it suggests stones dressed, smoothed, and polished, fitted to their place in the walls of the
spiritual edifice-the root of the English word lithograph. Young people, and old, you will not do to
be built into the walls of this temple in the rough, as you come from the quarry of the world. The
Holy Spirit alone can prepare you for this.
III. The Church or spiritual temple in its service.
1. “A priesthood.” So there is a priesthood in the Christian Church. The whole body of believers

99. forms the Christian priesthood.
2. “An holy priesthood.” A learned priesthood? No. An educated priesthood? No. No; an holy
priesthood.
3. “To offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” “Spiritual sacrifices”: what
are these? Singing? Yes. Praying? Yes. Preaching? I am glad to believe it. Under the law material
sacrifices were required-oxen, sheep, doves; but under the gospel only those sacrifices which
proceed from a regenerate heart, and which testify to the gratitude and devotion of an emancipated
spirit. God condescends to accept the offering for the sake of the love which inspires it. What else is
necessary? That we present all by, or, as in the Welsh, “through” Jesus Christ. Our sacrifices must
ascend to the throne through Him; and as they go through Him they are beautifully filtered and
refined. (J. C. Jones D. D.)
Disallowed indeed of men.-
Christ disallowed
Disallowed lie was, indeed, of men: they called Him the carpenter’s Son, a Samaritan, winebibber,
deceiver; they would have no other king but Caesar; with them Barabbas was meeter to live than He.
What was the cause? They looked for one that should come as an earthly prince, to deliver them out of
the hands of the Romans; but His kingdom was not of this world. They looked also for one that should
have upheld their customs, laws, and traditions; but the date of them was out. Again, how came they to
this height of disallowing Him? At the first of ignorance and blindness, but after of malice; so men
grow (when they desire not to amend and see the truth) from one degree of wickedness to another.
(John Rogers.)
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up.-
Living stones
Religious art finds its culmination in the temple of the ancients and the cathedral of the moderns.
Higher than this it cannot reach. That the temple made a profound impression upon the minds of the
apostles, that its association interpenetrated their religious life and coloured their teaching, we have
unmistakable evidence. In his Epistle to the Ephesians Paul seizes hold of the idea to illustrate the
stability, the growth, and the grandeur of the Church. It is precisely the same idea which Peter had in
his mind. The idea is a grand one, and it has had a fascination for more than one of the great men of
the Church. To mention only one instance, it has given to us the immortal work of John Howe, “The
Living Temple.” Let us look at it. Rising slowly in the midst of the world, noiselessly and unobserved
by the majority of men, are the fair proportions of a temple in comparison with which the grandest
conceptions of man are but blurred and broken lines of beauty. Century after century has contributed
its quota to the pile, and during the unborn ages it will continue to increase in symmetry and
perfection, until with the last man the edifice will be complete. The text reminds us that believers are
the living stones of this living temple. Let us pay a visit to the temple, and look upon the stones that are
being built into it.
I. As soon as we approach our attention is arrested by some huge, unshapely blocks of stone, sharp
angled, and disfigured here and there with mud. We glance hastily up at the superb building before us,
re-examine the stones, and then in some wonder ask our guide, “What possible use can these be put
to?” Touching the stone tenderly with his fingers, the master builder replies that there is no better
material built up in the whole fabric than this. Despite their roughness and shapelessness, these
stones, he says, possess a nature which yields readily to the tools and skill of the workmen. Do we
understand the teaching? Have we not in our Church fellowship met with men and women freshly
hewn from the world’s quarry, with such angularities of character, with such imperfect knowledge,

100. with such lack of grace, that we have begun to question if such rough material could be used for
anything but stumbling blocks in the cause of Christ? It may have been, even, that we have treated
them with indifference, if not with contempt, and denied them the assurance of a brother’s sympathy.
Forgetting “the hole of the pit from whence we have been digged,” we have despised these little ones
for whom Christ died. Let us be consistent with ourselves. We profess to believe in spiritual capacities
and capabilities, and we cry each day out of the depths of our weakness and ignorance, “Lord, help us.”
In what lies the difference between us and them? Are not their souls endowed with the satire faculties,
the same capabilities, spiritually, as ours? But if we have seen anything of the operation of Divine grace
upon the heart, we surely have seen enough to lead us to the belief that there is no limit to its power,
that it can fashion the roughest into symmetry and grace. The tinker of Elstow is transformed into the
immortal dreamer. Ah, surely bitter must be our humiliation if by our spiritual pride we mar the
beauty and usefulness of our Christian life, and see those whom we have despised outstripping us in
service, and bearing more vividly upon them the imprint of Divine favour. Proceeding in our
examination of the stones, we have one pointed out to us as being of great importance.
II. Examining it we find that while it bears evident marks of the workmen’s tools, it is only a large
plain block of stone, with no pretension to ornament whatever. We acknowledge at once its solidity,
but have to ask an explanation of its use. We are led to a part of the building where the first stones are
being laid in the freshly excavated earth, and there we are told that these plain blocks of stone are used
for the wall foundations. “What!” we exclaim, “are they to be hidden out of sight, and their worth never
to be appreciated?” “True,” replies our guide, “they are hidden, and the thoughtless dream not of them;
but the architect knows their value. They serve a grand purpose; upon them depends the strength, aye,
and the beauty of the building, too.” Unspeakable comfort this to many a lonely, toiling Christian. Look
at that mother, the object of her children’s lavish affection-their most trusted adviser in times of
difficulty and doubt. But she is unknown to the world and fame. Men do not know that the strength
and nobility of character which they have been accustomed to admire in her son, has a foundation in
her life and heart. Let us take courage, therefore, and labour on in the dark a little while longer. We
cannot pass by these pillars without stopping a minute or two to admire their strength and various
beauty.
III. In these pillars we see grace, strength, and utility combined. To be a pillar in the Temple of God is
the highest honour to which we can reach. Do we covet their position, their fame, or their worth? Then
we must drink of the cup they have drank of, and be baptized with the baptism they were baptized
with. That the Church has had such pillars, and will continue to have them, is her strength and hope.
“Ah! more ornamental than useful,” we exclaim, as we are called to look at some stones covered with
filigree work, or highly finished carving. “A judgment somewhat hasty and thoughtless,” replies the
architect. “See, this stone you have despised because of its ornament is fashioned for a keystone, and
its utility will be enhanced by its beauty. This other, with all its marvellous delicacy of carving, has a
sound core, and is fashioned for the capital of one of these pillars. It will add grace to the pillar, and
will sustain part of its load.” Hasty and thoughtless judgments are, alas! too frequent among professing
Christians. By some zealous workers the men and women of culture are despised as being necessarily
more ornamental than useful. They are not seen to be enthusiastic in the service of the Master, and
forthwith, without a moment’s calm thought, they are spoken of rather as hindrances than helps in the
cause of righteousness. Have we been tempted to think so of anyone? Let us see to it that we have not
been doing great injustice to a keystone or a capital in God’s Temple-living stones, perchance, not only
more beautiful than we, but vastly more useful also. Some of the most zealous and humble Christian
workers are to be found among the men and women of culture today. And not only is it so, but they do
a work that the less cultured cannot do. Like the carved capital or keystone, they can catch the eye of
the careless or sceptical men of culture and compel them, by the force of their intrinsic worth, to
investigate the claims of religion. “How beautiful is the polish on this stone! How it reveals the beauty
of the granite! How it flashes back the sunlight! Such is our exclamation over a stone which our guide
regards with a look of mingled tenderness and delight. “Very beautiful,” he replies, “but at what cost!”
and then he explains to us the hard pressure, the constant friction, and the other processes to which it
had been subjected before it took on this lustrous beauty. Just so. We have a friend in whose Christian
life there is a sparkle, a heavenly beauty, as exceptional as it is delightful. Would we know the secret?

101. Then let us look into his past life. Sorrow came to his heart suddenly, overwhelmingly. “Made perfect
through suffering!” How difficult the lesson! Instinctively we shrink from pain. Truly, pain is a
mystery. “Hold, hold!” cries the stone to the polisher when the cold water and rough sand are thrown
upon it, and the heavy polishing plane passes over it for the first time. “Hold, hold! Why this rough
treatment? What wrong have I done? Have I not already suffered at the hands of workmen?” “Peace,
foolish stone,” cries the polisher. “Dost thou not know that there are yet roughnesses in thy nature to
be rubbed down, and wilt thou grudge the pain? Dost thou not know that I will bring to light thy
hidden beauty by this process? Thou wilt become a mirror to catch the faintest smile of heaven if thou
wilt but suffer it to be so now.”
IV. “What mean these quantities of small stones lying here and there? Is it possible that they can be
used in the great building?” To which question our instructor replies, “The temple could not be built
without them. There is not only a place for them, but there are places which nothing but they can fill.
Unseen by the eye, these small stones supplement the deficiencies of the larger ones, and there would
be many an interstice through which the wind and rain would penetrate were it not for these
insignificant-looking stones.” Little children living stones in God’s temple! Sweet thought! What
parent does not clutch at it with unspeakable joy? The fact may well fire the zeal and intensify the love
of every parent and teacher of the young in pouring out their souls labouring for their weal. We would
do well to ponder-
1. In the first place, it is quite possible for the living stones to be deceived with regard to their
position and importance.
2. In the second place, a true view of our own hearts, as well as of the importance of Christian
service, will lead us to cast ourselves at the Master’s feet, saying, “Choose my place for me.” (W.
Skinner.)
The Church the temple of God
I. It is organised after a divine plan.
1. This is the leading plan in the world’s history.
2. This plan, though unknown by men, is being worked out by them.
II. It is compacted together into a necessary unity. Supreme love for a common Father, unbounded
confidence in a common Christ, life consecration to a common cause, are the indissoluble bonds of
union. This union is-
1. Independent of local distances.
2. Independent of external circumstances.
3. Independent of ecclesiastical systems.
4. Independent of mental idiosyncrasies.
III. It is the special residence of the eternal spirit. There is more of God to be seen in the true Church
than anywhere else under heaven. In nature you see His handicraft, in saints you see His soul. (D.
Thomas, D. D.)
Living stones
The only idea which I think can be legitimately connected with purity of matter, is this of vital and
energetic connection among its particles; and the idea of foulness is essentially connected with
dissolution and death. Thus the purity of the rock contrasted with the foulness of dust or mould is
expressed by the epithet “living,” very singularly given the rock in almost all languages; singularly I

102. say, because life is almost the last attribute one would ascribe to stone but for this visible energy and
connection of its particles; and so of water as opposed to stagnancy. (J. Ruskin.)
Cohesion in God’s spiritual house
The apostle assumes, as a matter of course, that if one is in Christ, one is also in His Church. Detached
stones are mere rubble. There is contact, cohesion, mutual attachment and support in these “living
stones” of God’s spiritual house. Based on the “living stone,” the bedrock of the Church, they grow
together into God’s glorious human temple. (G. G. Findlay.)
Mind the temple is not built without you
Travellers sometimes find in lonely quarries, long abandoned, or once worked by a vanished race,
great blocks squared and dressed, that seem to have been meant for palace or shrine. But there they
lie, neglected and forgotten, and the building for which they were hewn has been reared without them.
Beware, lest God’s grand temple should be built up without you, and you be left to desolation and
decay. (A. Maclaren.)
Living stones
Tyndall, speaking of the frozen crystals in snowflakes, says: “Surely such an exhibition of power, such
an apparent demonstration of a resident intelligence in what we are accustomed to call ‘brute matter,’
would appear perfectly miraculous. If the Houses of Parliament were built up of forces resident in their
own bricks, it would be nothing intrinsically more wonderful.” (Hours of Exercise on the Alps.)
An holy priesthood.-
The priesthood of the laity
Christians are a royal priesthood; they are united together in the Church to be a holy priesthood to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ: the joy of priesthood should be the
tasted joy of every member of the Church of Christ. True it is that in its fullest sense there is but one
priest-Jesus, the anointed of the Father. No other priest can be, since He ever lives and ministers in
His priesthood. But He ministers as priest under two conditions-in heaven in His glorified human
body: on earth in His mystical body-the Church. When He was on the earth “in the days of His flesh,”
He ministered to men through His natural body. In it He interceded for them with God, and instituted
and offered the holy Eucharistic sacrifice. By it He spake to them God’s words, and did among them
God’s works. But when His body was taken up into heaven, it could not be the instrument of His
priesthood on earth. So He created His mystical body-the Church. Thus the Church, as the mystical
body of Christ, is the extension of His natural body, and so is the fulness of Christ, As, then before His
ascension, Christ ministered on earth in His natural body, since His ascension He ministers on earth
in His mystical body. Hence His Church is a sacerdotal society. It is a kingdom of priests, because its
members are the ministers of Christ’s priest hood. Its priesthood is not one existing side by side with,
nor is it supplemental to, the one priesthood of Christ. It is not the delegated representative of an
absent Lord fulfilling priestly ministries on His behalf; it is the organism of a present Lord. It is the
organism whereby Christ intercedes with God for men in prayer and Eucharist on earth, and by which
He teaches men God’s faith, and ministers to them God’s grace. This sacerdotal vocation and character
is not the exclusive possession of any one section of the mystical body of Christ-it is common to all
Christian men. Each member of the mystical body of the Great High Priest is himself a priest unto
God. But he is a priest called on to minister in the unity and in the order of that mystical body. Each

103. member in it is placed in his position in its structure to fulfil the ministry proper to him as the organ of
the whole body. The priestly character is common to all, but all are not called to the same measure of
priestly ministries or gifts. The priesthood of the laity is recognised by the Church in confirmation.
Christians are born to priesthood in the sacrament of regeneration as sons of the second Aaron, just as
Aaron’s sons were born to the priesthood of Israel. But as in Israel of old those thus born were at a
given age solemnly consecrated and commissioned to execute the priest’s office; so in the Church of
Christ the regenerate are consecrated, commissioned, and dowered, for the lay priesthood in the
sacrament of confirmation. This priesthood of the laity has, as priesthood always has, a two-fold
aspect-Godward and manward. The Church, as a sacerdotal society, has primarily to minister to God-
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. The first duty of the lay priesthood is
by cooperation with the consecrated ministers of the Church to offer to God continual worship in
Christian sanctuaries. Closely allied with the ministry of worship is the ministry of intercession. He
whose soul ascends to God and rests in God in adoration will share with God His love to men, and,
sharing this love, he will breathe it out in intercession. Moreover, as God’s priest, the layman is called
to minister to man for God in active service. He has his place in that great mediatorial system by which
God wills to give to men the two great gifts of truth and grace. Each Christian Churchman is here in a
position of grave responsibility. All wealth is a trust held by each for all. And, in addition to this, as the
priest of God, the layman is called on to do what he can to bring his fellow men into the knowledge of
the truth as he knows it, and with those gracious conditions of life in which he is privileged to live. He
must be an evangelist-the bearer to others of the good tidings in the joy of which he is privileged to
live. Let me conclude with two cautions bearing on this question of lay priesthood.
1. Avoid individualism in its exercise. Priesthood is an official status; it exists in the body of Christ,
and can only be rightly exercised according to the will of God in the unity of that body. All its
ministries must be performed “decently and in order.” God is not the author of confusion, but of
peace, in all churches of the saints, “and peace is,” as St. Gregory of Nyssa teaches us, “the
harmony of ordered union.”
2. The one motive of the layman in his priesthood must always be to reveal to men and to bring
them to submit to the One Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, as He ministers in and through His
Church. No one can rise to the realisation of his lay priesthood except he be one who, in the unity
of the Church, tastes and sees the goodness of the Lord. (Canon Body.)
The Church the priesthood of God
I. The persons of whom this priesthood is composed. The apostle is here writing, not to Church
officers, but to individual Christians scattered throughout the world. Why should they be represented
as a priesthood?
1. On account of their entire devotedness to Divine service.
2. On account of their free access to the Divine presence (Eph_2:18; Heb_10:19-22).
II. The character by which this priesthood is distinguished. “Holy.” Moral holiness is resemblance to
Christ-the spirit of supreme love to the Father and self-sacrificing love for man.
III. The service to which this priesthood is consecrated.
1. The sacrifices are spiritual.
2. Mediatory. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The Christian priesthood
The priesthood of the law was holy, and its holiness was signified by many outward things, by
anointings, and washings, and vestments; but in this spiritual priesthood of the gospel, holiness itself

104. is instead of all these, as being the substance of all. The children of God are all anointed and purified,
and clothed with holiness. There is here the service of this office, namely, to offer. All sacrifice is not
taken away, but it is changed from the offering of those things formerly in use to spiritual sacrifices.
Now these are every way preferable; they are easier to us, and yet more acceptable to God. How much
more should we abound in spiritual sacrifice, who are eased of the other! But though the spiritual
sacrificing is easier in its own nature, yet to the corrupt nature of man it is by far the harder. He would
rather choose still all the toil and cost of the former way, if it were in his option. A holy course of life is
called the sacrifice of righteousness (Psa_4:6; and Php_4:18; so also Heb_13:16), where the apostle
shows what sacrifices succeed to those which, as he hath taught at large, are abolished. In a word, that
sacrifice of ours which includes all these, and without which none of these can be rightly offered, is
ourselves, our whole selves. Now that whereby we offer all spiritual sacrifices and even ourselves, is
love. That is the holy fire that burns up all, sends up our prayers, and our hearts, and our whole selves
a whole burnt offering to God-and, as the fire of the altar, it is originally from heaven, being kindled by
God’s own love to us, and the graces of the Spirit received from Christ, but, above all with His own
merits. The success of this service; acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. The children of God delight in
offering sacrifices to Him; but if they could not know that they were well taken at their hands, this
would discourage them much; therefore this is added. He accepts themselves and their ways when
offered in sincerity, though never so mean; though they sometimes have no more than a sigh or a
groan, it is most properly a spiritual sacrifice. No one needs forbear sacrifice for poverty, for what God
desires is the heart, and there is none so poor but hath a heart to give Him. But meanness is not all.
There is a guiltiness on ourselves and on all we offer. Our prayers and services are polluted. But this
hinders not, for our acceptance is not for ourselves, but for the sake of one who hath no guiltiness at
all, “acceptable by Jesus Christ.” In Him our persons are clothed with righteousness. How ought our
hearts to be knit to Him, by whom we are brought into favour with God and kept in favour with Him,
in whom we obtain all the good we receive, and in whom all we offer is accepted! In Him are all our
supplies of grace and our hopes of glory. (Abp. Leighton.)
The true priesthood, temple and sacrifice
I. First, all those who are coming to Christ, daily coming nearer and nearer to Him, are as living stones
built up into a temple.
1. They are called a spiritual house in opposition to the old material house in which the emblem of
the Divine presence shone forth in the midst of Israel, that temple in which the Jew delighted,
counting it to be beautiful for situation and the joy of the whole earth. When we become holy, as we
should be, we shall count all places and all hours to be the Lord’s, and we shall always dwell in His
temple because God is everywhere.
2. We are a spiritual temple, but not the less real. The Lord has a people scattered abroad
everywhere, whose lives are hid with Him in God, and these make up the real temple of God in
which the Lord dwelleth. Men of every name and clime and age are quickened into life, made living
stones, and then laid upon Christ, and these constitute the true temple, which God hath built and
not man, for He dwelleth not in temples made with hands; that is to say, of man’s building, but He
dwelleth in a temple which He Himself hath builded for His habitation forever, saying, “This is My
rest forever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it.”
3. This temple is spiritual, and therefore it is living. A material temple is dead, a spiritual temple
must be alive; and so the text tells us, “Ye also as living stones.”
4. We are a spiritual house, and therefore spiritually built up. Peter says, “Ye are built up”-built up
by spiritual means. The Spirit of God quarries out of the pit of nature the stones which are as yet
dead, separating them from the mass to which they adhered; He gives them life, and then He
fashions, squares, polishes them, and they, without sound of axe or hammer, are brought each one
to its appointed place, and built up into Christ Jesus.

105. 5. We are a spiritual house, and therefore the more fit for the indwelling of God who is a Spirit. It
is in the Church that God reveals Himself. If you would know the Lord’s love and power and grace
you must get among His people, hear their experiences, learn from them how God dealeth with
them, and let them tell you, if ye have grace to understand them, the height, and depth, and length,
and breadth of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, for He manifesteth Himself to them as
He doth not to the world. Hath He not said, “I will dwell in them and walk in them”?
II. In addition to being a temple, God’s people are said to be a priesthood. Observe that they are
spoken of together, and not merely as individuals: they make up one indivisible priesthood: each one is
a priest, but all standing together they are a priesthood, by virtue of their being one with Christ.
1. This stands in opposition to the nominal and worldly priesthood.
2. This priesthood is most real, although it be not of the outward and visible order; for God’s
priests become priests after a true and notable fashion.
3. We are priests in the aspect of priesthood towards God. You are to speak with God on man’s
behalf, and bring down, each of you, according to the measure of your faith, the blessing upon the
sons of men among whom you dwell.
4. And you are priests towards men also, for the priest was selected from among men to exercise
necessary offices for man’s good. The priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and if ye be as ye should
be, ye hold fast the faith once delivered to the saints.
5. This is to be your function and ministry always and in every place. You are a holy priesthood;
not alone on the Lord’s day when ye come into this house, but at all times.
III. Consider the sacrifices which we offer-“spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”
1. We offer spiritual sacrifices as opposed to the literal.
2. This sacrificing takes various forms. “I beseech you, brethren, that ye present your bodies a
living sacrifice.” You are to present yourselves, spirit, soul, and body, as a sacrifice unto God. You
are also to “do good and to communicate, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” To Him also
you are to “offer the sacrifice of praise continually, the fruit of your lips giving glory to God.” To the
Lord also you must present the incense of holy prayer; but all these are comprehended, I think, in
the expression, “I delight to do Thy will, O God.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The doctrine of sacrifice
The theory of sacrifice seems to be intuitively inherent in all religions. The sacrifice of the life and
death of Christ is the one essential foundation of every acceptable offering which can be made to God.
God never requires what we cannot offer. He never asks a sin or trespass offering from us. You and I
could not offer that. But He asks what we can give, a sweet-savour offering, as a testimony of our
gratitude and love. Not a sin offering. As far as Christ’s work was propitiatory, it stands absolutely
alone: “He offered one sacrifice for sin.” But though no sufferings, no work, no worship, no service of
ours can propitiate, God still requires from us offerings of another character. These are called
“spiritual sacrifices,” which we are “ordained” to offer. There is no more attractive form in which a
devout life can appear than that of a constant oblation to God, of all that we are, have, or do. Let the
thought of sacrifice be inwoven into the texture of your life. Study to turn, not your prayers alone, but
your whole daily course and conversation, into an offering. Surely the thought that God will accept it if
offered in union with the merit of His Son, is enough to give stimulus to the sacrifice; to open purse,
and hand, and heart. You can please Him if you give, strive, work in His name. To please God. What a
privilege to lie open to us day by day, and hour by hour! What a condescension in our heavenly Father,
when we consider the strictness of His justice, the impurity of our hearts, and our manifold falls, to
admit of our pleasing Him, or to leave any room for our touching His complacency. We may have this
dignity if we offer all in Christ. We need not go far to seek the materials of an acceptable offering; they

106. lie all around us; in our common work; in the little calls of providence; in the trivial crosses we are
challenged to take up; nay, in the very recreation of our lives. If work be done (no matter how humble)
in the full view of God’s assignment of our several tasks and spheres of labour, and under the
consciousness of His presence, it is a sacrifice fit to be laid upon His altar. If we study the very
perversity of our enemies with a loving hope that we may find something of God and Christ about
them yet, which may be the nascent germ of better things; if we try to make the best of men, and not
the worst, treating them as Christ treated them, we may thus redeem an hour from being wasted, and
sanctify it by turning it into a sacrifice to God. If you should obey an impulse to divert some trifle
meant for self and luxury to Christ’s poor and charity, here, again, is a sacrifice, sweet smelling before
God, which will buy the better luxury of His smile and love. And if you regard time as, next to Christ
and the Holy Spirit, the most precious gift of God; if you gather up its fragments and put them into
God’s basket by using them for holy things and thoughts-this, too, grows into a tribute which God will
accept. It is the altar which sanctifieth the gift. Apart from Christ and Christ’s sacrifice, no offering of
ours is redolent of the sweet savour, For our best gifts are flecked and flawed by duplicity and evil. (A.
Mursell.)
Christians are priests
Christians, you are priests. Be like Christ in this,
1. Wherever you go carry a savour of Christ. Let men take knowledge of you, that you have been
with Jesus; let it be plain that you come from within the veil, let the smell of your garments be as a
field which the Lord hath blessed.
2. Carry a sound of Christ wherever you go. Not a stop, Christians, without the sound of the gospel
bell! Even in smallest things, be spreading the glad sound, Edwards says, wherever a godly person
enters, he is a greater blessing than if the greatest monarch were entering. So be it with you. (R. M.
McCheyne.)
To offer up spiritual sacrifices.-
The Christian’s sacrifices
1. The offering up of our bodies and souls, and all that is in us to serve God; having neither wit,
will, memory, nor anything else, but for the Lord’s use. It is meet we should offer this sacrifice, for
it is His by right of creation, redemption, and continual preservation.
2. The sacrifice of a contrite and broken heart.
3. Prayer and praise.
4. Alms, mercy to all in hunger, thirst, sickness, prison, especially to the household of faith. (John
Rogers.)
EBC, "THE PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS
LEAVING the exhortation to individual duties, the Apostle turns now to describe the Christian society
in relation to its Divine Founder, and tells both of the privileges possessed by believers, and of the
services which they ought to render. He employs for illustration a figure very common in Holy
Scripture, and compares the faithful to stones in the structure of some noble edifice, built upon a sure
foundation. Such language on his lips must have had a deep significance. He was the rock-man; his
name Peter was bestowed by Christ in recognition of his grand confession: and Jesus had consecrated
the simile which the Apostle uses by His own words. "Upon this rock I will build My Church"
(Mat_16:18) words which were daily finding a blessed fulfillment in the growth of these Asian

107. Churches.
A rock is no unusual figure in the Old Testament to represent God’s faithfulness, and its use is specially
frequent in Isaiah and the Psalms. "In the Lord Jehovah is an everlasting rock," (Isa_26:4) says the
prophet; again he calls God "the rock of Israel"; (Isa_30:29) while the prayers of the Psalmist are full
of the same thought concerning the Divine might and protection: "Be Thou my strong rock and my
fortress" (Psa_31:2) "Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I"; (Psa_61:2) "O God, my rock and my
Redeemer". (Psa_19:14)
But the language of the New Testament goes farther than that of the Old. Strength, protection,
permanence-these were attributes of the rock of which Isaiah spake and David sang. The life-
possessing and life-imparting virtue of the Spirit of Christ is a part of the glad tidings of the Gospel.
Through Him were light and immortality brought to light. The rock which lives is found in Jesus
Christ. In Him is life without measure, ready to be imparted to all who seek to be built up in Him.
"Unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious." By
purification of thought, and act, and word, that childlike frame has been sought after which fits them
to draw near; and they come with full assurance. Jesus they know as the Crucified, as the Lord who
came to His own, and they received Him not. Generations of preparation had not made Jewry ready
for her King’s coming, had failed to impress the people with the signs of His advent; and so they
disowned Him, and cried, "We have no king but Caesar." But the converts know Jesus also as Him who
was raised from the dead and exalted to glory. This honor He hath "with God." No other than He could
bring salvation. Therefore has he received a name that is above every name. And "with God" here
signifies that heavenly exaltation and glory. The sense is as when Jesus testifies, "I speak what I have
seen with My Father" (Joh_8:38) -that is, in heaven- or when He prays, "Glorify me, O Father, with
Thine own self". (Joh_17:5) From this excellent glory He sends down His Spirit, and gives to His
people a share of that life which has been made manifest in Him. Their part is but to come, to seek,
and every one that seeketh is sure to find. "Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house." Not
because they are living men does the Apostle speak of them as living stones. They may be full of the
vigor of natural life, yet have no part in Christ. The life which joins men to Him comes by the new
birth. And the union of believers with Christ makes itself patent by a daily progress. He is a living
stone; they are to be made more and more like Him by a constant drawing near, a constant drinking in
from His fullness of the life which is the light of men. In this light new graces grow within them; old
sins are cast aside. By this preparation, this shaping of the living stones, the Spirit fits Christians for
their place in the Spiritual building, unites them with one another and with Christ, fashions out of
them a true communion of saints-saints, who, that they may advance in saintliness, have duties to
perform both directly to God and for His sake to the world around. By diligence therein the upbuilding
goes daily forward.
First, they are "to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ." From the day when God revealed His will on Sinai, such has been the ideal set before His
chosen servants. "Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exo_19:6) stands in the
preface of the Divinely given law. And God changes not. Hence the praise of the Lamb’s finished work
when He has purchased unto God men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation is sung
before the throne in the self-same strain: "Thou madest them to be unto God a kingdom and priests".
(Rev_5:10) Under the early dispensation God was leading men up from material sacrifices to pay unto
Him true spiritual worship. The Psalmist has learnt the lesson when he pleads, "Offer the sacrifices of
righteousness, and put your trust in me" (Psa_4:6) and Hosea’s sense of what was well-pleasing to
God is made clear in his exhortation. "Take with you words and return unto the Lord; say unto Him,
Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good, so will we render as bullocks the offering of our
lips". (Hos_14:3) The Apostle to the Romans is hardly more explicit than this when he urges, "present
your bodies a living sacrifice," (Rom_12:1) or to the Hebrews, "Let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to
God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to His name". (Heb_13:15)
But the Apostles could add to the exhortations of the prophets and psalmists a ground of blessed
assurance, could promise how these living sacrifices, these offerings of praise, had gained a certainty of

108. acceptance through Jesus Christ: "Through Him we have boldness and access in confidence through
our faith in Him"; (Eph_3:12) and in another place, "Having Him as a great priest over the house of
God," that spiritual house into which believers are builded, "let us draw near with a true heart, in
fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure
water". (Heb_10:22) Thus do believers become priests unto God, in every place lifting up holy hands in
prayer, prayer which is made acceptable through their great High-priest.
It was only from oral teaching that these Asian Christians knew of those lessons which we now can
quote as the earliest messages to the Church of Christ. The Scripture was to them as yet the Scripture
of the Old Testament, and to this St. Peter points them for the confirmation which it supplies. And his
quotation is worthy of notice both for its manner and its matter: "Because it is contained in Scripture,
Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious; and he that believeth on Him shall not be put
to shame." The passage is from Isaiah; (Isa_28:16) but a comparison with that verse shows us that the
Apostle has not quoted all the words of the prophet, and that what he has given corresponds much
more closely with the Greek of the Septuagint than with the Hebrew. The latter concludes, "He that
believeth shall not make haste," and contains some words not represented in the version of the
Seventy. The variations which St. Peter accepts are such as to assure us that for him (and the same is
true for the rest of the Apostles) the purport, the spiritual lessons, of the word were all which he
counted essential. Neither Christ Himself nor His Apostles adhere in quotation to precise verbal
exactness. They felt that there lay behind the older record so many deep meanings for which the
fathers of old were not prepared, but which Gospel light made clear. To somewhat of this fuller sense
the translators of the Septuagint seem to have been guided. They lived nearer to the rising of the
daystar. Through their labors God was in part preparing the world for the message of Christ. The
words which Isaiah was guided to use express the confidence of a believer who was looking onward to
God’s promise as in the future: "He shall not make haste." He knows that the purpose of God will be
brought to pass; that, as the prophet elsewhere says, "The Lord will hasten it in its time." (Isa_60:22)
Man is not to step in, Jacob-like, to anticipate the Divine working.
But "shall not be ashamed" was a form of the promise more suited to the days of St. Peter and these
infant Churches. For the name of Christ was in many ways made a reproach; and only men of faith,
like Moses and the heroes celebrated with him in Heb_11:1-40, could count that reproach greater
riches than the treasures of Egypt. Other and weaker hearts needed encouragement, needed to be
pointed to the privileges and glories which are the inheritance of the followers of Jesus. And in this
spirit he applies the prophetic words, "For you therefore which believe is the preciousness." Faith
makes real all the offers of the Gospel. It opens heaven, as to the vision of St. Stephen, so that while
they are still here believers behold the glory of God to which Christ has been exalted, are assured of the
victory which has been won for them, and that in His strength they may conquer also. Thus they
receive continually the earnest of those precious and exceeding great promises (2Pe_1:4) whereby they
become partakers of the Divine nature.
But all men have not faith. The Bible tells us this on every page. God knows what is in man, and in His
revelation He has set forth not only invitations and blessings, but warnings and penalties. Life and
good, death and evil-these have been continually proclaimed as linked together by God’s law, but ever
with the exhortation, "Choose life." Of such warning messages St. Peter gives examples from prophecy
and psalm: "But for such as disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the
head of the corner," (Psa_118:22) "and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense"; (Isa_8:14) "for they
stumble at the word, being disobedient." Here the Apostle touches the root of the evil. The test of faith
is obedience. It was so in Eden; it must be ever so. But now, as then, the tempter comes with his
insidious questionings, "Hath God said?" and sowing doubts, he goes his way, leaving them to work;
and work they do. Now it is the truth, now the wisdom, of the command, that men stumble at. But in
each case they disobey. Those leave it unobserved; these despise and set it at naught. And the penalty
is sure. For mark the twofold aspect of God’s dealing which is set forth in the passages chosen by St.
Peter to enforce his lesson. Spite of man’s disobedience, God’s purpose is not thwarted. The stone
which He laid in Zion has been made the head of the corner. Though rejected by some builders it has
lost none of its preciousness, none of its strength. Those who draw near unto it find life thereby; are

109. made fit for their places in the Divine building, in the kingdom of the Lord’s house which He will most
surely establish as the latter days draw on. But they who disobey are overthrown. The despised stone,
which is the sure word of God, rises up in men’s self-chosen path, and makes them fall, and at the last,
if they persist in despising it, will appear for their condemnation. "Whereunto also they were
appointed." The Apostle has in mind the words of Isaiah, how the prophet, in that place from which he
has just quoted, declares that many shall stumble and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
This is the lot of the disobedient. These penalties dog that sin. It is the unvarying law of God. The Bible
teaches this from first to last, by precepts as well as by examples. The disobedient must stumble. But
the Bible does not teach that any were appointed unto disobedience. Such fatalist lessons are alien to
God’s infinite love. The two ways are set before all men. God tries us thus because He has gifted us
above the rest of creation, that we may render Him a willing service. But neither prophet nor Apostle
teaches that to stumble is to be finally cast away. Both picture God’s mercy in as large terms as those in
which St. Paul speaks of the Jews: "Did God cast off His people? God forbid…They, if they continue not
in their unbelief, shall be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again". (Rom_11:1-36)
A hardening in part hath befallen Israel, and to the Church of Christ there is offered the blessedness
which aforetime was to be the portion of the chosen people. But the offer is made on like terms of
obedient service, and involves large duties. St. Peter marks the likeness of the two offers by choosing
the words of the Old Testament to describe the Christian calling, with its privileges and its duties.
Believers in Christ are a peculiar treasure unto God from among all people, a kingdom of priests, and a
holy nation, even as was said to Israel (Exo_19:5-6) when they came out of Egypt and received the Law
from Sinai. But among the dispersion, for whom he writes, there were those who had been heathens,
as well as the converts from Judaism. That he may show them also to be embraced in the new
covenant, and their calling contemplated under the old, the Apostle points to another of God’s
promises, where Hosea (Hos_1:10-11; Hos_2:1-23) tells of the grace that was ready to be shed forth on
them which in time past were no people, but now are the people of God, which had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Thus all, Jew and Gentile, are to be made one holy fellowship,
one people for God’s own possession.
And this kingdom of God’s priests has its duty to the world as well as unto God. Israel in time past was
chosen to be God’s witness to the rest of mankind, so that when men saw that no nation had God so
nigh unto them as Jehovah was whenever Israel called upon Him, that no nation had statutes and
judgments so righteous as all the Law which had been given from Sinai, they might be constrained to
say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people," and might themselves be won to the
service of a God so present and so holy. And now each member of the Christian body, while offering
himself a living sacrifice to God, while delighting to do His will, while treasuring His law, is to exercise
himself in wider duties, that God’s glory may be displayed unto all men. One of the psalmists, whose
words have been in part referred to Christ Himself, testifies how this priesthood for mankind should
be fulfilled: "I have published righteousness in the great congregation; lo, I will not refrain my lips, O
Lord, Thou knowest. I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared Thy
faithfulness and Thy salvation; I have not concealed Thy loving-kindness and Thy truth from the great
congregation." (Psa_40:9-10) These were the excellences which the Psalmist had found in God’s
service, and his heart ran over with desire to impart the knowledge unto others. With juster reason
shall Christ’s servants be prompted to a like evangel. They cannot hold their peace, specially while they
consider how great blessings those lose who as yet own no allegiance to their Master.
"That ye may show forth the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light." This theme fills the rest of the letter. The Apostle teaches that in every condition this duty has
its place and its opportunities. Subjects may fulfill it, as they yield obedience to their rulers, servants in
the midst of service to their masters, wives and husbands in their family life, each individual in the
society where his lot is cast, and specially those who preside over the Christian congregations.
Wherever the goodness of God’s mercy has been tasted, there should be hearts full of thanksgiving,
voices tuned to the praise of Him who has done great things for them. Lives led with this aim will make
men to be truly what God designs: a holy nation; a kingdom of priests. And ever as men walk thus will
the kingdom for which we daily pray be brought nearer.

110. The opportunities for winning men to Christ differ in modern times from those which were open to the
earliest Christian converts; but there is still no lack of adversaries, no lack of those by whom the hope
of the believer is deemed unreasonable: and now, as then, the good works which the opponents behold
in Christian lives will have their efficacy. These cannot forever be spoken against. A good manner of
life in Christ shall, through His grace, finally put the gainsayers to shame. They shall learn, and gain
blessing with the lesson, that the stone which they have so long been rejecting has been set up by God
to be the foundation of His Church, the head stone of the corner, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail
against it.
SBC, "The Living Stone.
I. Note the Church, or spiritual temple, in its foundation: Christ.
II. The Church, or spiritual temple, in its superstructure.
III. The Church, or spiritual temple, in its service: "a holy priesthood."
J. C. Jones, Studies in First Peter, p. 233.
The Spiritual Church.
Believers in Jesus are here presented in two aspects: they are called a "spiritual house" and "a holy
priesthood," two phrases which, if you translate the word here rendered "house" into the more sacred
word "temple," will be found to have a very religious significance and a very close connection with each
other. "Coming to Christ as a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,"
believers rise into a spiritual house from Christ, the great High-priest, consecrated after no carnal
commandment; believers rise into a holy priesthood by a majestic investiture that is higher than the
ordination of Aaron. There are two points especially presented to us here: spirituality and holiness. Let
us take those and dwell upon them for a moment.
I. Any thoughtful observer of the successive ages of the world’s history will discover that each
generation has in some remarkable particulars progressed upon its predecessor. This progress is
inseparable from the creation of God; is present everywhere, from the formation of a crystal to the
establishment of an economy; is seen in the successive dispensations in which God has manifested His
will to man. You can trace through all these dispensations the essential unity of revealed religion.
Believers are the stones in the spiritual temple, broken, it may be, into conformity or chiselled into
beauty by successive strokes of trial; and wherever you find them, in the hut or the ancestral hall, in
the climate of the snow or the climate of the sun, whether society hoot them or whether society honour
them, whether they robe themselves in delicate apparel or rugged home-spun, they are parts of the
grand temple which God esteems higher than cloister, crypt, or stately fane, and of which the top stone
is to be brought on with shouting of "Grace, grace, unto it!" That is the first thought: a "spiritual
house," and also of these lively stones is built up a "spiritual house."
II. Then take the second thought: holiness: "a holy priesthood." In the Jewish dispensation these
words often meant nothing more than an outward separation of the services of God. Thus the priests of
the Temple and the vestments of their ministry were said to be ceremonially holy; but there is more in
that word, surely, than this ritual of external sanctity. There is the possession of that mind which was
in Christ Jesus the Lord; there is the reinstatement in us of that image of God which was lost by the
foulness of the Fall. Many are the passages of Scripture in which holiness is considered as the supreme
devotion of the heart to the service of God, and is represented as the requirement and the
characteristic of Christianity. "What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and
godliness?" "Be ye holy, as I am holy"; "As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner
of conversation"; "For God hath not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness"; "Having, therefore,
these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,
perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
W. M. Punshon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 161.

111. MACLAREN, "LIVING STONES ON THE LIVING FOUNDATION STONE
I wonder whether Peter, when he wrote these words, was thinking about what Jesus Christ said to him
long ago, up there at Cæsarea Philippi. He had heard from Christ’s lips, ‘Thou art Peter, and on this
rock I will build My Church.’ He had understood very little of what it meant then. He is an old man
now, years of experience and sorrow and work have taught him the meaning of the words, and he
understands them a great deal better than his so-called successors have done. For we may surely take
the text as the Apostle’s own disclaimer of that which the Roman Catholic Church has founded on it,
and has blazoned it, in gigantic letters round the dome of St. Peter’s, as meaning. It is surely legitimate
to hear him saying in these words: ‘Make no mistake, it is Jesus Himself on whom the Church is built.
The confession of Him which the Father in heaven revealed to me, not I, the poor sinner who
confessed it—the Christ whom that confession set forth, He is the foundation stone, and all of you are
called and honoured to ring out the same confession. Jesus is the one Foundation, and we all, apostles
and humble believers, are but stones builded on Him.’ Peter’s relation to Jesus is fundamentally the
same as that of every poor soul that ‘comes to’ Him.
Now, there are two or three thoughts that may very well be suggested from these words, and the first of
them is this:—
I. Those that are in Christ have perpetually to make the effort to come nearer Christ.
Remember that the persons to whom the Apostle is speaking are no strangers to the Saviour. They
have been professing Christians from of old. They have made very considerable progress in the Divine
life; they are near Jesus Christ; and yet Peter says to them, ‘You can get nearer if you try,’ and it is your
one task and one hope, the condition of all blessedness, peace, and joy in your religious life that you
should perpetually be making the effort to come closer, and to keep closer, to the Lord, by whom you
say that you live.
What is it to come to Him? The context explains the figurative expression, in the very next verse or
two, by another and simpler word, which strips away the figure and gives us the plain fact—’in Whom
believing.’ The act of the soul by which I, with all my weakness and sin, cast myself on Jesus Christ,
and grapple Him to my heart, and bind myself with His strength and righteousness—that is what the
Apostle means here. Or, to put it into other words, this ‘coming,’ which is here laid as the basis of
everything, of all Christian prosperity and progress for the individual and for the community, is the
movement towards Christ of the whole spiritual nature of a man—thoughts, loves, wishes, purposes,
desires, hopes, will. And we come near to Him when day by day we realise His nearness to us, when
our thoughts are often occupied with Him, bring His peace and Himself to bear as a motive upon our
conduct, let our love reach out its tendrils towards, and grasp, and twine round Him, bow our wills to
His commandment, and in everything obey Him. The distance between heaven and earth does part us,
but the distance between a thoughtless mind, an unrenewed heart, a rebellious will, and Him, sets
between Him and us a greater gulf, and we have to bridge that by continual honest efforts to keep our
wayward thoughts true to Him and near Him, and to regulate our affections that they may not, like
runaway stars, carry us far from the path, and to bow our stubborn and self-regulating wills beneath
His supreme commandment, and so to make all things a means of coming nearer the Lord with whom
is our true home.
Christian men, there are none of us so close to Him but that we may be nearer, and the secret of our
daily Christian life is all wrapped up in that one word which is scarcely to be called a figure, ‘coming’
unto Him. That nearness is what we are to make daily efforts after, and that nearness is capable of
indefinite increase. We know not how close to His heart we can lay our aching heads. We know not
how near to His fulness we may bring our emptiness. We have never yet reached the point beyond
which no closer union is possible. There has always been a film—and, alas! sometimes a gulf—between
Him and us, His professing servants. Let us see to it that the conscious distance diminishes every day,
and that we feel ourselves more and more constantly near the Lord and intertwined with Him.
II. Those who come near Christ will become like Christ.
‘To Whom coming, as unto a living stone, ye also as living stones.’ Note the verbal identity of the

112. expressions with which Peter describes the Master and His servants. Christ is the Stone—that is Peter’s
interpretation of ‘on this rock will I build My Church.’ There is a reference, too, no doubt, to the many
Old Testament prophecies which are all gathered up in that saying of our Lord’s. Probably both Jesus
and Peter had in mind Isaiah’s ‘stone of stumbling,’ which was also a ‘sure corner-stone, and a tried
foundation.’ And words in the context which I have not taken for consideration, ‘disallowed indeed of
men, but chosen of God and precious,’ plainly rest upon the 118th Psalm, which speaks of ‘the stone
which the builders rejected’ becoming ‘the head of the corner.’
But, says Peter, He is not only the foundation Stone, the corner Stone, but a living Stone, and he does
not only use that word to show us that he is indulging in a metaphor, and that we are to think of a
person and not of a thing, but in the sense that Christ is eminently and emphatically the living One, the
Source of life.
But, when he turns to the disciples, he speaks to them in exactly the same language. They, too, are
‘living stones,’ because they come to the ‘Stone’ that is ‘living.’ Take away the metaphor, and what does
this identity of description come to? Just this, that if we draw near to Jesus Christ, life from Him will
pass into our hearts and minds, which life will show itself in kindred fashion to what it wore in Jesus
Christ, and will shape us into the likeness of Him from whom we draw our life, because to Him we
have come. I may remind you that there is scarcely a single name by which the New Testament calls
Jesus Christ which Jesus Christ does not share with us His younger brethren. By that Son we ‘receive
the adoption of sons.’ Is He the Light of the world? We are lights of the world. And if you look at the
words of my text, you will see that the offices which are attributed to Christ in the New Testament are
gathered up in those which the Apostle here ascribes to Christ’s servants. Jesus Christ in His manhood
was the Temple of God. Jesus Christ in His manhood was the Priest for humanity. Jesus Christ in His
manhood was the sacrifice for the world’s sins. And what does Peter say here? ‘Ye are built up a
spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices.’ You draw life from Jesus Christ if
you keep close to Him, and that life makes you, in derived and subordinate fashion, but in a very real
and profound sense, what Jesus Christ was in the world. The whole blessedness and secret of the gifts
which our Lord comes to bestow upon men may be summed up in that one thought, which is
metaphorically and picturesquely set forth in the language of my text, and which I put into plainer and
more prosaic English when I say—they that come near Christ become as Christ. As ‘living stones’ they,
too, share in the life which flows from Him. Touch Him, and His quick Spirit passes into our hearts.
Rest upon that foundation-stone and up from it, if I may so say, there is drawn, by strange capillary
attraction, all the graces and powers of the Saviour’s own life. The building which is reared upon the
Foundation is cemented to the Foundation by the communication of the life itself, and, coming to the
living Rock, we, too, become alive.
Let us keep ourselves near to Him, for, disconnected, the wire cannot carry the current, and is only a
bit of copper, with no virtue in it, no power. Attach it once more to the battery and the mysterious
energy flashes through it immediately. ‘To Whom coming,’ because He lives, ‘ye shall live also.’
III. Lastly:
They who become like Christ because they are near Him, thereby grow together.
‘To whom coming, as unto a living stone, ye also, as living stones, are built up.’ That building up means
not only the growth of individual graces in the Christian character, the building up in each single soul
of more and more perfect resemblance to the Saviour, but from the context it rather refers to the
welding together, into a true and blessed unity, of all those that partake of that common life. Now, it is
very beautiful to remember, in this connection, to whom this letter was written. The first words of it
are: ‘To the strangers scattered abroad throughout,’ etc. etc. All over Asia Minor, hundreds of miles
apart, here one there another little group, were these isolated believers, the scattered stones of a great
building. But Peter shows them the way to a true unity, notwithstanding their separation. He says to
them in effect: ‘You up in Bithynia, and you others away down there on the southern coast, though you
never saw one another, though you are separated by mountain ranges and weary leagues; though you,
if you met one another, perhaps could not understand what you each were saying, if you "come unto
the living Stone, ye as living stones are built up" into one.’ There is a great unity into which all they are

113. gathered who, separated by whatever surface distinctions, yet, deep down at the bottom of their better
lives, are united to Jesus Christ.
But there may be another lesson here for us, and that is, that the true and only secret of the prosperity
and blessedness and growth of a so-called Christian congregation is the individual faithfulness of its
members, and their personal approximation of Jesus Christ. If we here, knit together as we are
nominally for Christian worship, and by faith in that dear Lord, are true to our profession and our
vocation, and keep ourselves near our Master, then we shall be built up; and if we do not, we shall not.
So, dear friends, all comes to this: There is the Stone laid; it does not matter how close we are lying to
it, it will be nothing to us unless we are on it. And I put it to each of you. Are you built on the
Foundation, and from the Foundation do you derive a life which is daily bringing you nearer to Him,
and making you liker Him? All blessedness depends, for time and for eternity, on the answer to that
question. For remember that, since that living Stone is laid, it is something to you. Either it is the Rock
on which you build, or the Stone against which you stumble and are broken. No man, in a country
evangelised like England—I do not say Christian, but evangelised—can say that Jesus Christ has no
relation to, or effect upon, him. And certainly no people that listen to Christian preaching, and know
Christian truth as fully and as much as you do, can say it. He is the Foundation on which we can rear a
noble, stable life, if we build upon Him. If He is not the Foundation on which I build, He is the Stone
on which I shall be broken.
5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house
to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to
God through Jesus Christ.
BAR ES, “Ye also, as lively stones - Greek, “living stones.” The word should have been so
rendered. The word lively with us now has a different meaning from living, and denotes “active, quick,
sprightly.” The Greek word is the same as that used in the previous verse, and rendered living. The
meaning is, that the materials of which the temple here referred to was composed, were living
materials throughout. The foundation is a living foundation, and all the superstructure is compassed of
living materials. The purpose of the apostle here is to compare the church to a beautiful temple - such
as the temple in Jerusalem, and to show that it is complete in all its parts, as that was. It has within
itself what corresponds with everything that was valuable in that. It is a beautiful structure like that;
and as in that there was a priesthood, and there were real and acceptable sacrifices offered, so it is in
the Christian church.
The Jews prided themselves much on their temple. It was a most costly and splendid edifice. It was
the place where God was worshipped, and where he was supposed to dwell. It had an imposing service,
and there was acceptable worship rendered there. As a new dispensation was introduced; as the
tendency of the Christian system was to draw off the worshippers from that temple, and to teach them
that God could be worshipped as acceptably elsewhere as at Jerusalem, Joh_4:21-23 as Christianity
did not inculcate the necessity of rearing splendid temples for the worship of God; and as in fact the
temple at Jerusalem was about to be destroyed forever, it was important to show that in the Christian
church there might be found all that was truly beautiful and valuable in the temple at Jerusalem; that
it had what corresponded to what was in fact most precious there, and that there was still a most

114. magnificent and beautiful temple on the earth.
Hence, the sacred writers labor to show that all was found in the church that had made the temple at
Jerusalem so glorious, and that the great design contemplated by the erection of that splendid edifice -
the maintenance of the worship of God - was now accomplished in a more glorious manner than even
in the services of that house. For there was a temple, made up of living materials, which was still the
special dwelling-place of God on the earth. In that I temple there was a holy priesthood - for every
Christian was a priest. In that temple there were sacrifices offered, as acceptable to God as in the
former - for they were spiritual sacrifices, offered continually. These thoughts were often dwelt upon
by the apostle Paul, and are here illustrated by Peter, evidently with the same design, to impart
consolation to those who had never been permitted to worship at the temple in Jerusalem, and to
comfort those Jews, now converted to Christianity, who saw that that splendid and glorious edifice was
about to be destroyed. The special abode of God on the earth was now removed from that temple to the
Christian church. The first aspect in which this is illustrated here is, that the temple of God was made
up of “living stones;” that is, that the materials were not inanimate stones but endued with life, and so
much more valuable than those employed in the temple at Jerusalem, as the soul is more precious
than any materials of stone. There were living beings which composed that temple, constituting a more
beautiful structure, and a more appropriate dwelling-place for God, than any edifice could be made of
stone, however costly or valuable.
A spiritual house - A spiritual temple, not made of perishable materials, like that at Jerusalem net
composed of matter, as that was, but made up of redeemed souls - a temple more appropriate to be the
residence of one who is a pure spirit. Compare the Eph_2:19-22 notes, and 1Co_6:19-20 notes.
An holy priesthood - In the temple at Jerusalem, the priesthood appointed to minister there, and
to offer sacrifices, constituted an essential part of the arrangement. It was important, therefore, to
show that this was not overlooked in the spiritual temple that God was raising. Accordingly, the
apostle says that this is amply provided for, by constituting “the whole body of Christians” to be in fact
a priesthood. Everyone is engaged in offering acceptable sacrifice to God. The business is not entrusted
to a particular class to be known as priests; there is not a particular portion to whom the name is to be
especially given; but every Christian is in fact a priest, and is engaged in offering an acceptable
sacrifice to God. See Rom_1:6; “And hath made us: kings and priests unto God.” The Great High Priest
in this service is the Lord Jesus Christ, (see the Epistle to the Hebrews, passim) but besides him there
is no one who sustains this office, except as it is borne by all the Christian members.
There are ministers, elders, pastors, evangelists in the church; but there is no one who is a priest,
except in the general sense that all are priests - because the great sacrifice has been offered, and there
is no expiation now to be made. The name priest, therefore should never be conferred on a minister of
the gospel. It is never so given in the New Testament, and there was a reason why it should not be. The
proper idea of a priest is one who offers sacrifice; but the ministers of the New Testament have no
sacrifices to offer - the one great and perfect oblation for the sins of the world having been made by the
Redeemer on the cross. To him, and him alone, under the New Testament dispensation, should the
name priest be given, as it is uniformly in the New Testament, except in the general sense in which it is
given to all Christians. In the Roman Catholic communion it is consistent to give the name “priest” to a
minister of the gospel, but it is wrong to do it.
It is consistent, because they claim that a true sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ is offered in
the mass. It is wrong, because that doctrine is wholly contrary to the New Testament, and is
derogatory to the one perfect Oblation which has been once made for the sins of the world, and in
conferring upon just one class of people a degree of importance and of power to which they have no
claim, and which is so liable to abuse. But in a Protestant church it is neither consistent nor right to
give the name “priest” to a minister of religion. The only sense in which the term can now be used in
the Christian church is a sense in which it is applicable to all Christians alike - that they “offer the
sacrifice of prayer and praise.”
To offer up spiritual sacrifices - Not bloody offerings, the blood of lambs and bullocks, but
those which are the offerings of the heart - the sacrifices of prayer and praise. Since there is a priest,
there is also involved the notion of a sacrifice; but that which is offered is such as all Christians offer to

115. God, proceeding from the heart, and breathed forth from the lips, and in a holy life. It is called
sacrifice, not because it makes an explation for sin, but because it is of the nature of worship. Compare
the notes at Heb_13:15; Heb_10:14.
Acceptable to God by Jesus Christ - Compare the notes at Rom_12:1. Through the merits of the
great sacrifice made by the Redeemer on the cross. Our prayers and praises are in themselves so
imperfect, and proceed from such polluted lips and hearts, that they can be acceptable only through
him as our intercessor before the throne of God. Compare the notes at Heb_9:24-25; Heb_10:19-22.
CLARKE, “Ye also, as lively stones - Λιθοι ζωντες· Living stones; each being instinct with the
principle of life, which proceeds from him who is the foundation, called above λιθον ζωντα, a living
stone.
The metaphor in this and the following verse is as bold as it is singular; and commentators and
critics have found it difficult to hit on any principle of explanation. In all metaphors there is something
in the natural image that is illustrative of some chief moral property in the thing to be represented. But
what analogy is there between the stones of a building and a multitude of human beings? We shall
soon see. The Church of Christ, it is true, is represented under the figure of a house, or rather
household; and as a household or family must have a place of residence, hence, by a metonymy, the
house itself, or material building, is put for the household or family which occupies it, the container
being put for the contained. This point will receive the fullest illustration if we have recourse to the
Hebrew: in this language, ‫בית‬ beith signifies both a house and a family; ‫בן‬ ben a son; ‫בת‬ bath a
daughter; and ‫אבן‬ eben a stone. Of all these nouns, ‫בנה‬ banah, he built, is, I believe, the common root.
Now as ‫בית‬ beith, a house, is built of ‫אבנים‬ abanim, stones, hence ‫בנה‬ banah, he built, is a proper radix
for both stones and building; and as ‫בית‬ beith, a family or household (Psa_68:6) is constituted or made
up of ‫בנים‬ banim, sons, and ‫בנות‬ banoth daughters, hence the same root ‫בנה‬ banah, he built, is common
to all; for sons and daughters build up or constitute a family, as stones do a building. Here, then, is the
ground of the metaphor: the spiritual house is the holy or Christian family or household, this family or
household is composed of the sons and daughters of God Almighty; and hence the propriety of living
stones, because this is the living house or spiritual family. As a building rests upon a foundation, and
this foundation is its support; so a family or household rests on the father, who is properly considered
the foundation or support of the building. But as every father is mortal and transitory, none can be
called a living stone, foundation, or support, but He who liveth for ever, and has life independent; so
none but Jesus, who hath life in himself, i.e. independently, and who is the Way, the Truth, and the
Life, can be a permanent foundation or support to the whole spiritual house. And as all the stones -
sons and daughters, that constitute the spiritual building are made partakers of the life of Christ,
consequently, they may with great propriety be called living stones, that is, sons and daughters of God,
who live by Christ Jesus, because he lives in them. Now, following the metaphor; these various living
stones become one grand temple, in which God is worshipped, and in which he manifests himself as he
did in the temple of old. Every stone - son and daughter, being a spiritual sacrificer or priest, they all
offer up praise and thanksgiving to God through Christ; and such sacrifices, being offered up in the
name and through the merit of his Son, are all acceptable in his sight.
This is the true metaphor, and which has not, as far as I know, ever been properly traced out. To talk
of “stones being said to be alive as long as they are not cut out of the quarry, but continue to partake of
that nourishment which circulates from vein to vein,” is as unsatisfactory as it is unphilosophical; the
other is the true metaphor, and explains every thing.
GILL, “Ye also, as lively stones,.... Saints likewise are compared to stones; they lie in the same

116. quarry, and are the same by nature as the rest of mankind, till dug out and separated from thence by
the powerful and efficacious grace of God, when they are hewn, and made fit for the spiritual building;
where both for their ornament, beauty, and strength, which they receive from Christ, they are
compared to stones, and are lasting and durable, and will never perish, nor be removed out of the
building: and because of that life which they derive from him, and have in him, they are called "lively",
or "living stones"; the spirit of life having entered into them, a principle of life being implanted in
them, and coming to Christ, the living stone, they live upon him, and he lives in them; and his grace in
them is a well of living water, springing up into eternal life. It was usual with poets and philosophers to
call stones, as they lie in the quarry before they are taken out of it, "living" ones: so Virgil (p),
describing the seats of the nymphs, says, "intus aquae dulces vivoque sedilia saxo, nympharum
domus", &c. but here the apostle calls such living stones, who were taken out from among the rest: the
stones which Deucalion and Pyrrha cast over their heads after the flood are called (q) ζωοθεντες λιθοι,
"quickened stones", they becoming men, as the fable says. "Are built up a spiritual house"; these living
stones being laid, and cemented together, in a Gospel church state, become the house of God in a
spiritual sense, in distinction from the material house of the tabernacle, and temple of old, to which
the allusion is; and which is built up an habitation for God, by the Spirit, and is made up of spiritual
men; such as have the Spirit of God, and savour the things of the Spirit, and worship God in Spirit and
in truth; among whom spiritual services are performed, as prayer, praise, preaching, and hearing the
word, and administering ordinances. Some read these words in the imperative, as an exhortation, "be
ye built up as lively stones; and be ye spiritual temples and holy priests", as the Syriac version. A
synagogue with the Jews is called ‫רוחגי‬ ‫,בית‬ "a spiritual house" (r); and so is the third temple which the Jews
expect in the times of the Messiah; of which one of their writers (s) thus says:
"it is known from the ancient wise men, that the future redemption, with which shall be the third ‫,רוחני‬ "spiritual"
sanctuary, is the work of God, and will not be as the former redemptions: "I will fill this house with glory"; this is
‫,רוחני‬ "a spiritual" one, for even the walls shall be ‫,רוחניים‬ "spiritual"--for even all this "house" shall be "spiritual";
for that which was then built, which is the second, shall be turned into another a "spiritual" one:
and which has been already done, and is what the apostle means here, the church, under the Gospel
dispensation, or the Gospel church state, in opposition to the worldly sanctuary, and carnal worship of the Jews,
An holy priesthoodAn holy priesthoodAn holy priesthoodAn holy priesthood; in allusion to the priests under the law, who were set apart, and sanctified for that office; but
now, under the Gospel, all the saints are priests unto God, and are all appointed and directed
to offer up spiritual sacrificesto offer up spiritual sacrificesto offer up spiritual sacrificesto offer up spiritual sacrifices; their whole selves, souls, and bodies, as a holy, living, and acceptable sacrifice;
their prayers and praises, and all good works done in faith, and from love, and to the glory of God; particularly
acts of kindness and beneficence to poor saints; these are called spiritual, in distinction from legal sacrifices, and
because offered in a spiritual manner, under the influence, and by the assistance of the Spirit of God, and with
their spirits. So the Jews speak of spiritual sacrifices, as distinct from material ones:
"the intellectual sacrifice (they say (t)) is before the material sacrifices, both in time and excellency.--Cain
brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the earth, and behold the intellectual attention did not agree with

117. it, which is ‫הרוחני‬ ‫,קרבן‬ "the spiritual sacrifice".
Now such are
acceptable to God by Jesus Christacceptable to God by Jesus Christacceptable to God by Jesus Christacceptable to God by Jesus Christ; through whom they are offered up; for it is through him the saints have access
to God, present themselves to him, and their services; and both persons and services are only accepted in Christ,
and for his sake, and in virtue of his sacrifice, which is always of a sweet smelling savour to God,
JAMISO , “Ye also, as lively stones — partaking of the name and life which is in “THE LIVING
STONE” (1Pe_2:4; 1Co_3:11). Many names which belong to Christ in the singular are assigned to
Christians in the plural. He is “THE SON,” “High Priest,” “King,” “Lamb”; they, “sons,” “priests,”
“kings,” “sheep,” “lambs.” So the Shulamite called from Solomon [Bengel].
are built up — Greek, “are being built up,” as in Eph_2:22. Not as Alford, “Be ye built up.” Peter
grounds his exhortations, 1Pe_2:2, 1Pe_2:11, etc., on their conscious sense of their high privileges as
living stones in the course of being built up into a spiritual house (that is, “the habitation of the
Spirit”).
priesthood — Christians are both the spiritual temple and the priests of the temple. There are two
Greek words for “temple”; hieron (the sacred place), the whole building, including the courts wherein
the sacrifice was killed; and naos (the dwelling, namely, of God), the inner shrine wherein God
peculiarly manifested Himself, and where, in the holiest place, the blood of the slain sacrifice was
presented before Him. All believers alike, and not merely ministers, are now the dwelling of God (and
are called the “naos,” Greek, not the hieron) and priests unto God (Rev_1:6). The minister is not, like
the Jewish priest (Greek, “hiereus”), admitted nearer to God than the people, but merely for order’s
sake leads the spiritual services of the people. Priest is the abbreviation of presbyter in the Church of
England Prayer Book, not corresponding to the Aaronic priest (hiereus, who offered literal sacrifices).
Christ is the only literal hiereus-priest in the New Testament through whom alone we may always
draw near to God. Compare 1Pe_2:9, “a royal priesthood,” that is, a body of priest-kings, such as was
Melchisedec. The Spirit never, in New Testament, gives the name hiereus, or sacerdotal priest, to
ministers of the Gospel.
holy — consecrated to God.
spiritual sacrifices — not the literal one of the mass, as the Romish self-styled disciples of Peter
teach. Compare Isa_56:7, which compare with “acceptable to God” here; Psa_4:5; Psa_50:14;
Psa_51:17, Psa_51:19; Hos_14:2; Phi_4:18. “Among spiritual sacrifices the first place belongs to the
general oblation of ourselves. For never can we offer anything to God until we have offered ourselves
(2Co_8:5) in sacrifice to Him. There follow afterwards prayers, giving of thanks, alms deeds, and all
exercises of piety” [Calvin]. Christian houses of worship are never called temples because the temple
was a place for sacrifice, which has no place in the Christian dispensation; the Christian temple is the
congregation of spiritual worshippers. The synagogue (where reading of Scripture and prayer
constituted the worship) was the model of the Christian house of worship (compare Note, see on
Jam_2:2, Greek, “synagogue”; Act_15:21). Our sacrifices are those of prayer, praise, and self-denying
services in the cause of Christ (1Pe_2:9, end).
by Jesus Christ — as our mediating High Priest before God. Connect these words with “offer up.”
Christ is both precious Himself and makes us accepted [Bengel]. As the temple, so also the priesthood,
is built on Christ (1Pe_2:4, 1Pe_2:5) [Beza]. Imperfect as are our services, we are not with unbelieving
timidity, which is close akin to refined self-righteousness, to doubt their acceptance THROUGH

118. CHRIST. After extolling the dignity of Christians he goes back to Christ as the sole source of it.
SBC, "Trifles to do, not Trifles to leave undone.
I. It was a great saying of the Psalmist when he said, "I am small and of no reputation, yet do I put my
trust in Thee." A very great saying; for, indeed, nothing makes man yield to temptation so easily as the
thought of being insignificant, and that what he does matters little. If you are so small that nothing you
do makes much difference, and of no reputation, so that your actions will not be known, why not do as
you please? insinuates the devil. Take your own way; no one will be the worse for so unknown and
obscure a person. Satisfy your own will; God does not care, or man either, for you and yours. And so
the deed is done which makes the leak; the little hole, as it were, is bored which lets the water through
the dyke; the loosening has begun, and, small though it be, all will break up. It is the bad work of the
small, the idle sins of the many of no reputation, that ruin the world. For, indeed, every life as a life is
equally valuable. The progress of the world is marked by the level the many get to, or, in other words,
by the goodness of the small and those of no reputation who nevertheless, like the Psalmist, put their
trust in God. This main truth is stamped in characters so broad and large everywhere that, like the
daily miracle of nature, no one heeds it.
II. Never neglect in yourself or another what comes every day. Many a great love has been overthrown
by a little disagreeable habit always recurring. The dropping of water has passed into a proverb for the
transcendent power of this seeming weakness. And how do little, vexatious, and mean offenders, like
the flies in summer, sting all the more because they are mean. That is great to us which touches us
greatly. and small things touch us most; and our being small does not prevent us from being powers.
E. Thring, Uppingham Sermons, vol. ii., p. 177.
Society.
I. The measure of a man’s excellence is his power of uniting with others for good; the measure of a
nation’s excellence is the obedience and co-operative power that are in it, freedom from abusive
language; freedom from violent acts; the sense to see great men; the sense to see great laws; the sense
to appreciate good work and despise talk and self-glorification. The end of the world’s existence is that
this iron fact of society’s linked chain shall become a glorious perfection of many in one and one in
many, an image of the perfect unity of God.
II. We all know that man does not live alone. How few consider the deep, the terrible meaning of this
great fact. Take, for instance, Abraham and his race. How for thousands of years the Jew has been a
marked man in feature, a marked man pre-eminent in patience, perseverance, intellect, in a word, in
intense vitality, shown all the more as being the vitality of a fallen race, whilst all other fallen races
have practically disappeared. What a grand inheritance Abraham, the faithful, the true, the temperate,
the hardy man of God, passed on to his children taken as one body! Society means that good and evil
are ever intermingling with unfailing energy, and that, as one or other prevails, the society lives or
dies. This is as true on a large scale as on a small, true in a nation, true in a man.
E. Thring, Uppingham Sermons, vol. ii., p. 171.
CALVI , “5.Ye also, as lively or living stones, are built up The verb may be in the imperative as well as in the
indicative mood, for the termination in Greek is ambiguous. But in whatever way it is taken, Peter no doubt meant to
exhort the faithful to consecrate themselves as a spiritual temple to God; for he aptly infers from the design of our
calling what our duty is. We must further observe, that he constructs one house from the whole number of the faithful.
For though every one of us is said to be the temple of God, yet all are united together in one, and must beJOINED
together by mutual love, so that one temple may be made of us all. Then, as it is true that each one is a
temple in which God dwells by his Spirit, so all ought to be so fitted together, that they may form one

119. universal temple. This is the case when every one, content with his own measure, keeps himself within
the limits of his own duty; all have, however, something to do with regard to others.
By calling us living stones and spiritual building, as he had before said that Christ is a living stone, he intimates a
comparison between us and the ancient temple; and this serves to amplify divine grace. For the same purpose is what
he adds as to spiritual sacrifices For by how much the more excellent is the reality than the types, by so much the
more all things excel in the kingdom of Christ; for we have that heavenly exemplar, to which the ancient sanctuary was
conformable, and everything instituted by Moses under the Law.
A holy priesthood It is a singular honor, that God should not only consecrate us as a temple to himself, in which he
dwells and is worshipped, but that he should also make us priests. But Peter mentions this double honor, in order to
stimulate us more effectually to serve and worship God. Of the spiritual sacrifices, the first is the offering of ourselves,
of which Paul speaks inRom_12:1 ; for we can offer nothing, until we offer to him ourselves as a sacrifice; which is
done byDENYING ourselves. Then, afterwards follow prayers, thanksgiving, almsdeeds, and all the duties of
religion.
Acceptable to God. It ought also to add not a little to our alacrity, when we know that the worship we perform to God is
pleasing o him, as doubt necessarily brings sloth with it. Here, then, is the third thing that enforces the exhortation; for
he declares that what is required is acceptable to God, lest fear should make us slothful. Idolaters areINDEED under
the influence of great fervor in their fictitious forms of worship; but it is so, because Satan inebriates their minds, lest
they should come to consider their works; but whenever their consciences are led to examine things, they begin to
stagger. It is, indeed, certain that no one will seriously and from the heart devote himself to God, until he is fully
persuaded that he shall not labor in vain.
But the Apostle adds, through Jesus Christ There is never found in our sacrifices such purity, that they are of
themselves acceptable to God; our self-denial is never entire and complete, our prayers are never so sincere as they
ought to be, we are never so zealous and so diligent in doing good, but that our works are imperfect, and mingled with
many vices. Nevertheless, Christ procures favor for them. Then Peter here obviates that want of faith which we may
have respecting the acceptableness of our works, when he says, that they are accepted, not for the merit of their own
excellency, but through Christ. And it ought to kindle the more the ardor of our efforts, when we hear that God deals so
indulgently with us, that in Christ he sets a value on our works, which in themselves deserve nothing. At the same
time, the words, by or through Christ, may be fitlyCONNECTED with offering; for a similar phrase is found
in Heb_13:15 ,
“ him let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God.”
The sense, however, will remain the same; for we offer sacrifices through Christ, that they may be acceptable to God.
PULPIT, "Ye also, as lively stones; rather, living stones. The word is the same as that used in 1Pe_2:4.
Christians are living stones in virtue of their union with the one living Stone: "Because I live, ye shall
live also." Are built up a spiritual house; rather, be ye built up. The imperative rendering seems more
suitable than the indicative, and the passive than the middle. The Christian comes; God builds him up
on the one Foundation. The apostle says," Come to be built up; come that ye may be built up." The
parallel passage in Jud_1:20, "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith," might
seem to point to a reflexive rendering here; but the verb used by St. Jude is active, ἐποικοδοµοῦντες .
St. Jude is apparently thinking of the human side of the work, St. Peter of the Divine; in the deepest
sense Christ is the Builder as well as the Foundation, as he himself said in words doubtless present to
St. Peter's mind, "Upon this rock I will build my Church." That Church is the antitype of the ancient
temple—a building not material, but spiritual, consisting, not of dead stones, but of sanctified souls,
resting on no earthly foundation, but on that Rock which is Christ (comp. Eph_2:20-22; 1Co_3:2,
1Co_3:17; 2Co_6:16). An holy priesthood; rather, for (literally, into) a holy priesthood. The figure
again changes; the thought of the temple leads to that of the priesthood. The stones in the spiritual
temple are living stones; they are also priests. According to the original ideal of the Hebrew theocracy,
all Israelites were to be priests: "Ire shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation" (Exo_19:6).

120. This ideal is fulfilled in the Christian Church; it is a holy priesthood. Here and in Jud_1:9 the Church
collectively is called a priesthood; in the Book of the Revelation (Rev_1:6; Rev_5:10; Rev_20:6)
Christians individually are called priests, Bishop Lightfoot says, at the opening of his dissertation on
the Christian ministry, "The kingdom of Christ has no sacred days or seasons, no special sanctuaries,
because every time and every place alike are holy. Above all, it has no sacerdotal system. It interposes
no sacrificial tribe or class between God and man." He CONTINUES, "This conception is strictly an
ideal, which we must ever hold before our eyes… but which nevertheless cannot supersede the
necessary wants of human society, and, if crudely and hastily applied, will lead only to signal failure.
As appointed days and set places are indispensable to her efficiency, so also the Church could not fulfill
the purposes for which she exists without rulers and teachers, without a ministry of reconciliation, in
short, without an order of men who may in some sense be designated a priesthood." The whole Jewish
Church was a kingdom of priests; yet there was an Aaronic priesthood. The Christian Church is a holy
priesthood; yet there is an order of men who are appointed to exercise the functions of the ministry, and
who, as representing the collective priesthood of the whole Church, may be truly called priests. To
OFFER up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. The priest must have somewhat to
offer (Heb_8:3). The sacrifices of the ancient Law had found their fulfillment in the one all-sufficient
Sacrifice, offered once for all by the great High Priest upon the altar of the cross. But there is still
sacrifice in the Christian Church. That one Sacrifice is ever present in its atoning virtue and cleansing
power; and through that one Sacrifice the priests of the spiritual temple offer up daily spiritual
sacrifices—the sacrifice of prayer and praise (Heb_13:15), the sacrifice of alms and oblations
(Heb_13:16), and that sacrifice without which prayer and praise and alms are vain oblations, the
sacrifice of self (Rom_12:1). These spiritual sacrifices are offered up through Jesus Christ the great
High Priest (Heb_13:15); they derive their value only from faith in his sacrifice of himself; they are
efficacious through his perpetual mediation and intercession; through him alone they are acceptable to
God. They are offered through him, and they are acceptable through him. The Greek words admit of
either connection; and perhaps are intended to cover both relations.
ELLICOTT, "(5) Ye also, as lively stones, are built up.—This is true enough: they were in
PROCESS of building up; but it suits the hortatory character of the whole Epistle better to
take it (the one is as grammatical as the other) in the imperative sense: Be ye also as living
stones built up. The rendering “lively,” instead of “living,” as in 1 Peter 2:4, is arbitrary, the
Greek being precisely the same, and the intention being to show the complete conformation
of the believers to Him who is the type and model for humanity. “Built up,” too, only expresses
a part of the Greek word, which implies “built up upon Him.”
A spiritual house.—The epithet is supplied, just as in “living stone,” to make it abundantly
clear that the language is figurative. In the first three verses of the chapter these Hebrew
Christians were treated individually, as so many babes, to grow up into an ideal freedom of
soul: here they are treated collectively (of course, along with the Gentile Christians), as so
many stones, incomplete and unmeaning in themselves, by ARRANGEMENT and cemented
union to rise into an ideal house of God. St. Peter does not distinctly say that the “house” is a
temple (for the word “spiritual” is only the opposite of “material”), but the context makes it
plain that such is the case. The temple is, however, regarded not in its capacity of a place for
worship so much as a place for Divine inhabitation. “The spiritual house,” says Leighton truly,
“is the palace of the Great King. The Hebrew word for palace and temple is one.” And the
reason for introducing this figure seems to be, to console the Hebrews for their vanishing
privileges in the temple at Jerusalem. They are being taught to recognise that they
themselves, in their union with one another, and with Jesus Christ, are the true abode of the
Most High. The Christian substitution of something else in lieu of the Jerusalem Temple was

121. one of the greatest stumbling-blocks to the Hebrews from the very first. (See Mark 14:58;
John 2:21; Acts 7:48; Acts 21:28; compare also Hebrews 9:8; Hebrews 9:11.) All HISTORY is
the process of building up a “spiritual palace” out of a regenerate humanity, in order that, in
the end, the Father Himself may occupy it. This follows from the fact that the Incarnate Son is
described as a part of the Temple. Even through the Incarnation—at least so far as it has as
yet taken effect—creation has not become so completely pervaded and filled with the Deity as
it is destined to be when the “palace” is finished. (See 1 Corinthians 15:28.) The idea of the
Eternal Son occupying such a relation to the Father on the one hand, and to humanity and
creation on the other hand, is really the same as when He is called (by an entirely different
metaphor) the “firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15).
An holy priesthood.—“Being living stones,” says Bengel, “they can be priests as well.” They
not only compose the Temple, but minister in it. By becoming Christians they are cut off from
neither Temple nor hierarchy, nor sacrifice; all are at hand, and they themselves are all. The
old priesthood, like the old Temple, has “had its day, and ceased to be.” Mark, though, that the
Apostle is not dwelling on the individual priesthood of each (though that is involved), but on
the hierarchical order of the whole company of Christians: they are an organised body or
COLLEGE of priests, a new seed of Aaron or Levi. (See Isaiah 66:21.) The very word implies
that all Christians have not an equal DEGREE of priesthood. And this new priesthood, like the
old, is no profane intruding priesthood like that of Core (Jude 1:11), but “holy”—i.e.,
consecrated, VALIDLY admitted to its work. The way in which this new metaphor is suddenly
introduced,—“to whom coming, be built up upon Him . . . to be an holy priesthood,” implies
that Jesus Christ is the High Priest quite as much as it implies His being Corner Stone. The
Incarnate Son heads the adoration offered to the Father by creation, just as He binds creation
into a palace for the Father’s indwelling.
To offer up spiritual sacrifices.—The new priesthood is not merely nominal; it is no sinecure.
None is a priest who does not offer sacrifices (Hebrews 8:3). But the sacrifices of the new
hierarchy are “spiritual, ”—i.e., not material, not sacrifices of bulls and goats and lambs. What,
then, do the sacrifices consist of? If our priesthood is modelled on that of Jesus Christ, as is
here implied, it consists mainly (Calvin points this out) of the sacrifice of self, of the will; then,
in a minor DEGREE, of words and acts of worship, thanks and praise. (See Hebrews 13:10-
16.) But in order to constitute a true priesthood and true sacrifices after the model of Jesus
Christ, these sacrifices are offered up on behalf of others. (See Hebrews 5:1, and 1 John
3:16.) The first notion of the priesthood of all believers is not that of a mediatorial system
being abolished, but of the mediatorial system being extended: whereas, before, only Aaron’s
sons were recognised as mediators and intercessors, now all Israel, all the spiritual Israel, all
men everywhere are called to be mediators and intercessors between each other and God.
By (or, through) Jesus Christ.—The name again, not the title only. We all HELP one another
to present one another’s prayers and praises, which pass through the lips of many priests; but
for them to be acceptable, they must be presented finally through the lips of the Great High
Priest. He, in His perfect sympathy with all men, must make the sacrifice His own. We must
unite our sacrifices with His—the Advocate with the Father, the Propitiation for our sins—or
our sacrifice will be as irregular and offensive as though some Canaanite should have taken
upon himself to intrude into the Holy of Holies on Atonement Day. (See Hebrews 10:19-25,
especially 1 Peter 2:21.)
BENSON, "1 Peter 2:5. Ye also — Believing in him with a loving and obedient faith, as lively

122. — Greek, ζωντες, living, stones — Quickened and made alive to God by spiritual life derived
from him, are built up — Upon him, and in union with each other; a spiritual house — Spiritual
yourselves; and a habitation of God through the Spirit. For, according to his promise, he lives
and walks in every true believer, 2 Corinthians 6:16; and collectively considered, as a holy
society, or assembly, uniting together in his worship and service, you are the house, or
temple, of the living God, (1 Timothy 3:15; 1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 2:20-21,) in which
he manifests his presence, displays his glory, communicates his blessings, and accepts the
prayers and praises, alms and oblations, of his people; a holy priesthood — Not only God’s
temple, but the priests that serve him in that temple; that is, persons dedicated to and
EMPLOYED for God. Thus, Isaiah 61:6, it is foretold that, in the days of the Messiah, the
people of God should be named the priests of the Lord, and the ministers of our God; as also
Isaiah 66:21. Christians are called a priesthood, in the same sense that the Israelites were
called a kingdom of priests, Exodus 19:6. The apostle’s design, in giving these titles to real
Christians, is partly to show that they are dedicated to God in heart and life, and also that in
the Christian church or temple, there is no need of the mediation of priests to present our
prayers to God. Every sincere worshipper has access to the Father through Christ, as if he
were really a priest himself. The apostle says, a holy priesthood, because genuine Christians
are very different characters from the generality of the Jewish priests, who, though the
posterity of Aaron, and dedicated externally to, and employed in, the service of God, were
remarkably unholy, yea, very vicious characters; whereas the true disciples of Christ are really
holy in heart and life. To offer up spiritual sacrifices — Not merely their prayers and praises,
but their souls and bodies, their time and talents, with all their thoughts, words, and actions,
acceptable to God through the mediation of Jesus Christ — The great High-Priest over the
house of God, whose intercession alone can RECOMMEND to the Father such imperfect
sacrifices as ours.
CONSTABLE, "Peter saw the church as a living temple to which God was adding with the
conversion of each new believer. Each Christian is one of the essential stones that enables
the whole structure to fulfill its purpose (cf. Matthew 16:15-18). Later Peter would say his
readers were also priests (1 Peter 2:9), but here the emphasis is on their being a building for
priestly service, namely, a temple.
"This 'spiritual house' includes believers in the five Roman provinces of 1 Peter 1:1 and shows
clearly how Peter understood the metaphor of Christ in Matthew 16:18 to be not a local
church, but the church general (the kingdom of Christ)." [Note: Robertson, 6:96.]
"I Peter never speaks of the Church as ekklesia, but uses metaphorical images of OT origin."
[Note: Goppelt, p. 30.]
This verse HELPS us appreciate how much we need each other as Christians. God has a
purpose for all of us to fulfill that we cannot fulfill individually. The Christian who is not working
in relationship with other Christians as fellow stones, as well as with Jesus Christ as his or her
foundation, cannot fulfill God's complete purpose for him or her. While every Christian has an
individual purpose, we also have a corporate purpose that we cannot fulfill unless we take our
place in the community of Christians that is the church. Peter explained this purpose more
fully below, but here he revealed that it involves worship and service (cf. Romans 12:1;
Hebrews 13:15-16; Philippians 4:18).
LANGE, "1Pe_2:5. Be ye also built up, etc. ïἰêïäïìåἴóèå cf. Judges 20, to be taken as a Middle
in a reflexive sense. Christ being so excellent a corner-stone, on which rests the entire
spiritual temple of God, be ye also inserted therein. Such being built up is something very

123. different from a few ephemeral or passing flights of emotion; it starts from a solid foundation,
includes CONTINUEDand systematic activity, and demands in particular that every one, even
he who is firmly and closely inserted in Jesus, should suffer himself to be put in that place and
there to be inserted as a member of the whole, which the will of the great Architect assigns to
him. As living stones, forasmuch as you are living stones and in the regeneration, 1Pe_1:3;
1Pe_2:2; have put on spiritual life emanating from Christ, cf. Joh_5:26; Joh_11:25;
Joh_10:28; Joh_14:19. Calov specifies the following points of comparison: (a) the building
upon the foundation-stone. “The stones of the building cannot stand without the foundation-
stone. We do not carry Him, but He carries us. If we stand and rely upon Him, we must also
abide where He is.” Luther. (b) The hardness and firmness in order to resist all assaults of
enemies and all storms. Bernard, Serm. 60, on the Song of Sol., says: “Raised on the Rock, I
stand secure from the enemy and all calamities; the world shakes, the body oppresses me,
the devil pursues me; but I do not fall, for I am founded on a firm rock.” (c) The working,
grinding, polishing and fitting of the stones, (d) The joining together with particular reference
to the tie of love, (e) The mutual supporting. The lower stone supports the upper, this again
the lower and the side stone, as Gregory says in Hom. on Ezek.: “In the Holy Church each
supports the other, and each is supported by the other.” Cf. the vision of the building of the
Church triumphant in Hermæ Pastor, vis. 3.
A spiritual house, not apposition, but effect and end of the building. Grotius rightly observes:
In the spiritual building, individual believers are both living stones with reference to the whole
temple of the Church, and a spiritual house or a temple of God, but this is inapplicable to this
passage, which evidently treats of the founding of a people of God, (1Pe_5:9). As a house is
a whole, consisting of different parts, so is the Church of God; as one master rules in a house,
so the Triune Jehovah rules in His temple; cf. Eph_2:22; 1Co_3:16; 2Co_6:16. Among
believers each is not to aim at separating himself into a house by himself; they should be
united in the commonwealth of God, and together should constitute a spiritual temple. It is
called spiritual in opposition to the material temple, made with hands, and also because it is
wrought and occupied by the Spirit.
For a holy priesthood, (Lachmann after Codd. A. B. C. reads åἰò ἱåñÜôåõìá ,—the end of
building,) a holy community of priests. “Under the Old Covenant, Jehovah had His house and
His priests, who served Him in His house; the Church fulfils both purposes under the New,
being both His house and His holy priesthood.” Wiesinger. The expression alludes to
Exo_19:6.—2Ch_29:11. “The Lord hath chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and
that ye should minister unto Him and burn incense.” This APPLIES to all Christians. All
believers of the New Testament are anointed priests by the Holy Ghost. The priesthood is
called ἅãéïí , because they are consecrated to God, cleansed by the blood of Christ and
studious of a holy conversation. Their activity consists in offering spiritual sacrifice’s.
To OFFER up spiritual sacrifices, etc., ἈíáöÝñåéí to carry up to the altar; cf. 1Pe_2:24;
Heb_7:27; Heb_13:15; Jam_2:21, elsewhere ðñïóöÝñåéí , to take to God, Heb_5:7. These
sacrifices are spiritual, in opposition to the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament, and
correspond to the Being of God, who is a Spirit, and to the spiritual house in which they are
offered; they are wrought by the Spirit of God, and must be spiritually offered. This spiritual
sacrifice necessitates voluntary surrender to the service of God, and approaching Him
spiritually; and consists above all things in that believers should, according to Rom_12:1,
present to the service of their God and Saviour, their bodies with all its members and powers,
eyes and ears, mouth and tongue, hands and feet, and themselves, with all they have and

124. are, and that not only once at their first conversion, but daily, Luk_9:23. Again, as the burning
of incense was connected with the sacrifices of the Old Testament, so the incense of prayer,
Rev_8:3-4, and especially the lip-sacrifice of praise, Heb_13:15; Psa_50:14, are integral parts
of the sacrifices of the New Testament. They moreover include the sacrifices of love and
charity; if Christians gladly communicate their temporal possessions, seek their neighbours’
good at the loss of personal advantage, and are prepared to give their life for the brethren.
1Jn_3:16; Heb_13:16; Php_4:18. But since these sacrifices are always imperfect and affected
by manifold infirmities, they cannot be acceptable to God unless offered through Him in whom
God is perfectly pleased. Hence the annexed sentence, åὐðñïóäÝêôïõò , Èåῷ äéὰ , which
last word is not to be joined with ἀíåíÝãêá , but with åὐðñïóäÝêôïõò in the sense of taking
through, through the mediation of Christ, that is, through His goodness, power, advocacy and
merits, cf. Eph_1:6. [But, on the other hand, joining äéὰ ê . ô . ë . with ἀíåíÝãêá is supported
by the analogy of Heb_13:15; and preferred by Grotius, Aret., de Wette, Huther, Wiesinger
and Alford, who consider the former construction inadequate to the weighty character of the
words, and would seem to put them in the wrong place, seeing that not merely the
acceptability, but the very existence and possibility of offering of those sacrifices, depends on
the mediation of the great High Priest.—M.]
COFFMAN, "Ye also, as living stones ... The figure of the spiritual temple of God is
CONTINUED in this; just as Christ is the living stone, so also are the Christians. And why
"living"? Because the Lord is the living One, and the life-giving One, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. As members of Christ's spiritual body, Christians partake of the same
nature as their Lord, and they too are "living stones," endowed with a measure of the Spirit
which shall raise them up at the last day. Nicholson was correct in seeing here a contrast
between a spiritual temple of born-again believers with the stone temple in Jerusalem."[17]
The words "living stone" and "living stones" are to be understood as "distinguishing the
Christian church, the spiritual temple of God, both from the temples of the idols and the
temple in Jerusalem, which were built of dead materials."[18] It is not enough, then, to see the
spiritual temple of God, which is the church, as merely attaining a higher glory than the
Jewish temple; the true temple is of a totally different kind, the same being the only kind God
ever wanted.
Are built up a spiritual house ... It is important to note that house here bears its ecclesiastical
sense of temple. Jesus himself used the word in that same sense when he declared, "Behold
YOUR house is left unto you desolate" (Matthew 23:38). In this statement, Peter gave the
same teaching that Paul gave, who said, "Ye are a temple of God" (1 Corinthians 3:16f), and
"being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the
chief corner stone" (Ephesians 3:20).
THE TRUE TEMPLE OF GOD
This was never the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. True, God permitted that temple to be built
and accommodated himself to it in exactly the same manner as he did the secular kingdom of
the Jews; but neither that secular kingdom nor the temple was ever, in any sense, a fulfillment
of God's will. It was the rejection of God's government that led to the formation of the secular
kingdom (1 Samuel 8:7); and it was the rejection of the tabernacle that led to the building of
the temple (2 Samuel 7:13).
That this is true regarding the temple is apparent from a NUMBER of considerations.

125. (a) It is called in Scripture Solomon's Temple, and that is exactly what it was; and who was
Solomon? He was a debauchee whose life was the scandal of ten generations. As the martyr
Stephen sarcastically put it, "Solomon built him a house" (Acts 7:47); that remark coming after
Stephen had just recounted all the glories of Israel that had come to them while they were
worshipping in the tabernacle, "even as God appointed," a tabernacle that had been
constructed after the pattern that God gave Moses; and it was followed by the key declaration
that "The Most High dwelleth not in houses (temples) made with hands." Did God dwell in
Solomon's temple? Of course not.
(b) Every statement Jesus ever made concerning the temple corroborates this view. "My
house (the true temple) shall be called a house of prayer; but ye made it a den of robbers"
(Matthew 21:13). "Behold your house is left unto you desolate" (Matthew 23:38). "Make not
my Father's house a house of merchandise" (John 2:16). This is not an endorsement of the
temple as God's house, but a condemnation of their house of merchandise. Matthew has,
"Jesus ENTERED into the temple of God"; but even if the text is valid the passage must be
understood as Matthew's use of a common popular name for Solomon's temple (rebuilt by
Herod the Great); but as the margin indicates (ASV), "Many ancient authorities omit of God."
(c) The very idea of building a temple for God was David's idea, not God's (2 Samuel 7): and
Nathan's prophecy that after David's death one of his seed should rise up after him and build
God a house, whose kingdom would be established for ever (2 Samuel 7:13), refers to the
kingdom of Christ and the true spiritual temple of which Peter was writing in this passage. The
whole chapter reveals that any thought of a secular temple was no part of God's purpose.
(d) When the apostles and elders in Jerusalem sent out that letter to the churches, they
QUOTEDAmos 9:11,12, which records God's promise of rebuilding again "the fallen
tabernacle," not the ruined temple.
(e) All of the typical material in the book of Hebrews has reference to the tabernacle, not to
the Solomonic and Herodian temples. While true enough that the temple had been
constructed after the general pattern of the tabernacle, the writer of Hebrews ignored it
(Hebrews 9:2), which under the circumstances is tremendously significant.
(f) God permitted the destruction of the Solomonic temple, which he would not have done had
it been God's true temple. The Herodian temple, which in time replaced it, was also destroyed
by divine flat, Christ himself pronouncing the doom of it, and decreeing that "not one stone
shall be left on top of another" (Matthew 24:2), an inconceivable fate if that temple had indeed
been the true house of God.
(g) The early church found the Jewish temple to be the center of enmity and hatred against
the church. It was the MASTERS OF the temple who bribed witnesses to lie about the
resurrection of Christ; they imprisoned, beat and threatened the holy apostles; they forbade
them to preach in the name of Christ; and, as for the character of the temple establishment, it
was as corrupt as anything that history records.
(h) The apostle Paul, upon his conversion, went to the temple; and while there he saw a
vision of the Lord, but the Lord commanded him to get out of the temple and even out of the
city of Jerusalem (Acts 22:17ff); but Paul had difficulty understanding this, and seemed to

126. think that something could still be accomplished in the temple. Although expressly forbidden
to go BACK to the city of Jerusalem (Acts 21:4), Paul, through some misunderstanding of the
Spirit's message, even though it was reinforced by the entreaties of Luke (Acts 21:12),
nevertheless went to Jerusalem and even into the temple, where, except for God's repeated
intervention, he would have suffered death. The temple establishment organized a mob to
slay Paul; through the duplicity and reprobacy of the high priest himself, they set up a phony
trial in the hope of assassinating him; a group of brigands under the direction of the high
priest bound themselves with an oath neither to eat nor drink until they had slain Paul. After
those wicked events, there is never any record of any child of God subsequently ENTERING
that temple again; but it was tragic that they were compelled to learn the hard way the truth
that Jesus had spoken, namely, that the temple was a "den of thieves and robbers."
(i) It was the secular temple that, more than anything else, BLINDED Israel to the recognition
of the Messiah. Jesus plainly spoke of himself as the true temple, even from the first: "Destroy
this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19); and "One greater than the temple
is here" (Matthew 12:6); but the religious leaders were so blinded by their own ideas of a
temple that they were never able to understand the nature of that holy institution which Jesus
came to establish. It was Stephen's stress of the spiritual nature of the true temple that
unleashed the full fury of the temple mob against himself and which issued in his martyrdom.
(j) The fundamental ERROR of David himself in planning to build God a temporal house was
evidently the same identical error that led to the formation of the secular kingdom, the desire
to be like the nations around him. There were great idol temples all over the world in David's
day; and, in the last analysis, Solomon's temple was exactly like all the rest of the human
temples, a beautiful edifice enshrining the nation's vanity, and controlled by an unscrupulous
band of pirates.
To be a holy priesthood ... The original purpose of God was that all of the Israelites should be
a nation of priests (Exodus 19:6); and the subsequent development of a special priestly class
came about as a result of the weakness and sins of the people. God's purposes are eternal;
and therefore the same goal of having a "holy nation" a "kingdom of priests" still prevails. The
priesthood of every believer in Christ (that is, obedient believers) is evident in a statement like
this. This conception is also in the book of Hebrews and in Revelation 1:6, where it is written
that God made Christians to be a "kingdom and priests unto God." It should be noted
especially that it is a "holy" priesthood to which Christians are ordained. All wickedness must
be put away, stripped off, renounced by all who would PARTICIPATE in the priesthood
mentioned here.
To offer up spiritual sacrifices ... This is a CONTINUATION of the thought, in which the type of
sacrifices to be offered by God's nation of priests is given, "spiritual" sacrifices. A closer look
at this is necessary.
CONCERNING SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES
Under the old law, sacrifices were dead, bloody, burned with fire, smeared with fat, carnal,
temporal, and salted with salt (Leviticus 2:13; Mark 12:49). By contrast, in the church,
sacrifices are spiritual, living, clean, pure, holy, and acceptable to God. They are described as
"better sacrifices" (Hebrews 9:23).

127. Although Christians must offer sacrifices to God, such are always "lesser sacrifices," the one
true, great and efficacious sacrifice ALREADY having been offered, namely, Christ himself.
"Now once at the end of the ages hath he (Christ) been manifested to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:26). This was the "one sacrifice for ever" (Hebrews 10:12).
Christ's blood alone is the blood of the everlasting covenant (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 13:20;
Hebrews 10:29).
Nevertheless, there are sacrifices which God's holy nation of the new Israel, which is the
church, must now offer according to the will of God. And what are these?
(a) Our faith is our sacrifice. "Even if I am to be poured out as a libation upon the sacrificial
offering of YOUR faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all" (Philippians 2:17).
(b) The love of God is our sacrifice. "And to love ... is more than all whole burnt offerings and
sacrifices" (Mark 12:33).
(c) Our repentance is our sacrifice. "Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; and say unto
him, take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; and so will we render the calves of our
lips" (Hosea 14:2). It is safe to assume that if repentance, even under the old covenant, was a
"sacrifice," so it still is.
(d) Our confession of faith in Christ is a sacrifice. "Through him then let us offer up a sacrifice
of praise to God CONTINUALLY, that is the fruit of our lips which make confession to his
name ... with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Hebrews 13:15,16).
(e) Our baptism into Christ is our sacrifice. "I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies
of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual service" (Romans 12:1). See also Hebrews 10:19-22.
(f) Our praise of God is our sacrifice. "Let us offer up a sacrifice of praise unto God, that is,
the fruit of our lips" (Hebrews 13:15). There are also important Old Testament glimpses of this
same truth. "Bringing sacrifices of praise unto the house of God" (Jeremiah 17:26). "Sacrifice
the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing" (Psalms 107:22; Psalms
116:117).
(g) Our contributions are our sacrifices. Paul spoke of having received a contribution brought
by Epaphoditus thus, "an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God"
(Philippians 4:18).
(h) Our songs are our sacrifice. "Singing with grace in YOUR hearts unto God" (Colossians
3:16). By virtue of these songs being "unto God," they are understood as sacrifices.
(i) Our prayers are our sacrifices. "Having golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers
of the saints" (Revelation 5:8). "My name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every
place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure OFFERING; for my name shall be
great among the heathen" (Malachi 1:11).
(j) The whole life of honor and love on the part of devoted Christians is their sacrifice. Paul
wrote, "I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand" (2 Timothy 4:6).

128. "Even as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God
for an odor of a sweet smell" (Ephesians 5:2).
Faith, love of God, repentance, confession, baptism, praises, contributions, songs, prayers
and a total life of devotion - these are our sacrifices; no wonder they are called "better
sacrifices."
Those sacrifices in view in the above passages did not easily lend themselves to the type of
exploitation so dear to the Jewish temple concessioners, and the inevitable result was a bitter
hatred of the new faith. Mason observed that "The substitution of something else in lieu of the
Jewish temple was one of the greatest stumblingblocks to the Hebrews from the very
first."[19] However, it was not the true spiritual temple which was "substituted for" the Jewish
temple, but that temple itself had been "substituted for" the true temple God had promised.
Acceptable to God through Jesus Christ ... "Through Christ alone are these spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God. They are offered through Christ, and only through him."[20]
[17] Roy S. Nicholson, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press,
1967), p. 279.
[18] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 451.
[19] A. J. Mason, op. cit., p. 401.
[20] B. C. Caffin, op. cit., p. 70.
THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE BELIEVER, AUTHOR UNKNOWN
"But you will be called the priests of the Lord. You will be spoken of as ministers of our God."
Isaiah 61:6.
"You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." I Peter 2:5.
At first every man was his own priest, and presented sacrifices to God. Afterwards that office
devolved to the head of the family (Noah, Abraham, etc.) After Mt. Sinai only men from the
tribe of Levi and the house of Aaron could serve as priests. In the church age, every born-
again believer is a priest in the sight of God.
I THE QUALIFICATIONS OF A PRIEST:
Under the Law, the privilege was according to natural birth: only Levites of the house of Aaron
who had no physical disability or deformity.
Under grace, a new-birth experience is required. The only access to the throne of God is
through Jesus Christ; “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain

129. mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16.
II THE DUTIES OF A PRIEST:
Offering acceptable sacrifices to God.
Under the Law, priests offered material sacrifices as commanded under the Law of Moses:
the blood of bulls, sheep, goats, turtledoves, etc.
Under grace, sacrifices are of a spiritual nature:
praise, prayer, thanksgiving, a holy life, etc. Our priesthood requires that we "pray one for
another"; "bear one another’s burdens" "pray without ceasing"; "let our light so shine before
men”; "in all things give thanks", etc.
III THE EXTENT OF THE OFFICE OF A PRIEST:
The office of priest is not only our high privilege but also the grave responsibility of every child
of God.
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people,
that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light.” I Peter 2:9.
IV NECESSARY PREPARATION REQUIRED BEFORE SERVING:
Under the Law:
“For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet when they come to the altar to
minister. So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die.” Exodus 30:19, 21.
Under grace:
“...But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” I Corinthians 6:11.
We are part of a priesthood
Notice that this passage references the priesthood twice. In verse 5, it says that we are a Holy
priesthood; and, in verse 9, it says we are a Royal priesthood. This is significant. In the Old
Testament times, the king was not the priest and the priest was not the king. The priesthood
and the monarchy was separated from the time Saul became King. Jesus reconnected the
two when He died and rose again. He became priest and king. Since we are seated with Him,
we are a part of royal and holy priesthood. The Old testament folks HAD a priesthood – we
ARE a priesthood.
Being a part of the priesthood (as believers) gives us the privilege of offering sacrifices. What
type of sacrifice can we offer? We offer a sacrifice of praise (Heb. 13:15). We also offer a

130. sacrifice of our good works (Heb. 13:16). Hebrews 10:19-21 offers some insight into our
position in the priesthood.
Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and
since we have a great priest over the house of God,
We have the privilege of intercession. We have the privilege of approaching God and entering
the most Holy place. But maybe just as significant is that we can offer ourselves as a living
sacrifice to God.
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to resent your bodies a living and holy
sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove
what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
6For in Scripture it says:
"See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame."[a]
BAR ES, “Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture - Isa_28:16. The quotation is
substantially as it is found in the Septuagint.
Behold, I lay in Sion - See the Isa_28:16 note, and Rom_9:33 note.
A chief cornerstone - The principal stone on which the corner of the edifice rests. A stone is
selected for this which is large and solid, and, usually, one which is squared, and worked with care; and
as such a stone is commonly laid with solemn ceremonies, so, perhaps, in allusion to this, it is here
said by God that he would lay this stone at the foundation. The solemnities attending this were those
which accompanied the great work of the Redeemer. See the word explained in the notes at Eph_2:20.
Elect - Chosen of God, or selected for this purpose, 1Pe_2:4.
And he that believeth on him shall not be confounded - Shall not be ashamed. The Hebrew
is, “shall not make haste.” See it explained in the notes at Rom_9:33.
CLARKE, “Behold, I lay in Sion - This intimates that the foundation of the Christian Church
should be laid at Jerusalem; and there it was laid, for there Christ suffered, and there the preaching of
the Gospel commenced.

131. A chief corner stone - This is the same as the foundation stone; and it is called here the chief
corner stone because it is laid in the foundation, at an angle of the building where its two sides form
the ground work of a side and end wall. And this might probably be designed to show that, in Jesus,
both Jews and Gentiles were to be united; and this is probably the reason why it was called a stone of
stumbling, and rock of offense; for nothing stumbled, nothing offended the Jews so much as the
calling of the Gentiles into the Church of God, and admitting them to the same privileges which had
been before peculiar to the Jews.
Elect, precious - Chosen and honorable. See on 1Pe_2:4.
Shall not be confounded - These words are quoted from Isa_28:16; but rather more from the
Septuagint than from the Hebrew text. The latter we translate, He that believeth shall not make haste -
he who comes to God, through Christ, for salvation, shall never be confounded; he need not haste to
flee away, for no enemy shall ever be able to annoy him.
GILL, “Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture,.... Isa_28:16. This is produced as a
proof of the excellency of Christ, as compared to a stone; and of his usefulness in the spiritual building;
and of his being chosen of God, and precious, though rejected by men; and of the happiness, comfort,
and safety of those that believe in him. That this prophecy belongs to the Messiah, is the sense of some
of the Jewish writers: the Targum on it applies it to a mighty king; it does not mention the King
Messiah, as Galatinus (u) cites it; but Jarchi expressly names him, and interprets it of him:
behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious; Christ is here called a chief corner
stone, as in Eph_2:20 because he not only adorns and strengthens the building, but unites the parts,
and keeps them together, even all the saints, Jews or Gentiles, in all ages and places, whether in
heaven or earth; and he, as such, is chosen of God for that purpose, and is precious both to God and
man, on that account; and is a stone, not of men's laying, but of God's laying in his council, covenant,
promises, and prophecies, in the mission of him into this world, and in the Gospel ministry; the place
where he is laid is in Sion, the Gospel church, of which he is both the foundation and corner stone: and
this account is introduced with a "behold", it being something very wonderful, and worthy of attention:
to which is added,
he that believeth on him shall not be confounded: or "ashamed"; of the foundation and
cornerstone Christ, nor of his faith in him; and he shall not be confounded by men or devils, neither in
this world, nor in that to come; he shall have confidence before Christ, and not be ashamed at his
coming; he shall be safe now, being laid on this stone; nor shall he be removed from it, or intimidated
by any enemy, so as to flee from it; nor shall he make haste, as it is in Isa_28:16 to lay another
foundation; and he shall be found upon this hereafter; so that his person and state will be safe, though
many of his works may be burnt up,
HE RY, “2. Having described Christ as the foundation, the apostle goes on to speak of the
superstructure, the materials built upon him: You also, as living stones, are built up, 1Pe_2:6. The
apostle is recommending the Christian church and constitution to these dispersed Jews. It was natural
for them to object that the Christian church had no such glorious temple, nor such a numerous
priesthood; but its dispensation was mean, the services and sacrifices of it having nothing of the pomp
and grandeur which the Jewish dispensation had. To this the apostle answers that the Christian
church is a much nobler fabric than the Jewish temple; it is a living temple, consisting not of dead
materials, but of living parts. Christ, the foundation, is a living stone. Christians are lively stones, and
these make a spiritual house, and they are a holy priesthood; and, though they have no bloody
sacrifices of beasts to offer, yet they have much better and more acceptable, and they have an altar too
on which to present their offerings; for they offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Learn, (1.) All sincere Christians have in them a principle of spiritual life communicated to them from
Christ their head: therefore, as he is called a living stone, so they are called lively, or living stones; not

132. dead in trespasses and sins, but alive to God by regeneration and the working of the divine Spirit. (2.)
The church of God is a spiritual house. The foundation is Christ, Eph_2:22. It is a house for its
strength, beauty, variety of parts, and usefulness of the whole. It is spiritual foundation, Christ Jesus, -
in the materials of it, spiritual persons, - in its furniture, the graces of the Spirit, - in its connection,
being held together by the Spirit of God and by one common faith, - and in its use, which is spiritual
work, to offer up spiritual sacrifices. This house is daily built up, every part of it improving, and the
whole supplied in every age by the addition of new particular members. (3.) All good Christians are a
holy priesthood. The apostle speaks here of the generality of Christians, and tells them they are a holy
priesthood; they are all select persons, sacred to God, serviceable to others, well endowed with
heavenly gifts and graces, and well employed. (4.) This holy priesthood must and will offer up spiritual
sacrifices to God. The spiritual sacrifices which Christians are to offer are their bodies, souls,
affections, prayers, praises, alms, and other duties. (5.) The most spiritual sacrifices of the best men
are not acceptable to God, but through Jesus Christ; he is the only great high priest, through whom we
and our services can be accepted; therefore bring all your oblations to him, and by him present them to
God.
II. He confirms what he had asserted of Christ being a living stone, etc., from Isa_28:16. Observe
the manner of the apostle's quoting scripture, not by book, chapter, and verse; for these distinctions
were not then made, so no more was said than a reference to Moses, David, or the prophets, except
once a particular psalm was named, Act_13:33. In their quotations they kept rather to the sense than
the words of scripture, as appears from what is recited from the prophet in this place. He does not
quote the scripture, neither the Hebrew nor Septuagint, word for word, yet makes a just and true
quotation. The true sense of scripture may be justly and fully expressed in other than in scripture -
words. It is contained. The verb is active, but our translators render it passively, to avoid the difficulty
of finding a nominative case for it, which had puzzled so many interpreters before them. The matter of
the quotation is this, Behold, I lay in Zion. Learn, 1. In the weighty matters of religion we must depend
entirely upon scripture - proof; Christ and his apostles appealed to Moses, David, and the ancient
prophets. The word of God is the only rule God hath given us. It is a perfect and sufficient rule. 2. The
accounts that God hath given us in scripture concerning his Son Jesus Christ are what require our
strictest attention. Behold, I lay, etc. John calls for the like attention, Joh_1:29. These demands of
attention to Christ show us the excellency of the matter, the importance of it, and our stupidity and
dulness. 3. The constituting of Christ Jesus head of the church is an eminent work of God: I lay in
Zion. The setting up of the pope for the head of the church is a human contrivance and an arrogant
presumption; Christ only is the foundation and head of the church of God. 4. Jesus Christ is the chief
corner-stone that God hath laid in his spiritual building. The corner-stone stays inseparably with the
building, supports it, unites it, and adorns it. So does Christ by his holy church, his spiritual house. 5.
Jesus Christ is the corner-stone for the support and salvation of none but such as are his sincere
people: none but Zion, and such as are of Zion; not for Babylon, not for his enemies. 6. True faith in
Jesus Christ is the only way to prevent a man's utter confusion. Three things put a man into great
confusion, and faith prevents them all - disappointment, sin, and judgment. Faith has a remedy for
each.
JAMISO , “Wherefore also — The oldest manuscripts read, “Because that.” The statement
above is so “because it is contained in Scripture.”
Behold — calling attention to the glorious announcement of His eternal counsel.
elect — so also believers (1Pe_2:9, “chosen,” Greek, “elect generation”).
precious — in Hebrew, Isa_28:16, “a corner-stone of preciousness.” See on Isa_28:16. So in
1Pe_2:7, Christ is said to be, to believers, “precious,” Greek, “preciousness.”
confounded — same Greek as in Rom_9:33 (Peter here as elsewhere confirming Paul’s teaching.
See on Introduction; also Rom_10:11), “ashamed.” In Isa_28:16, “make haste,” that is, flee in sudden
panic, covered with the shame of confounded hopes.

133. CALVI , “6Wherefore also it is contained in Scripture; or, Wherefore also the Scripture contains (20) They who
refer the verb “” ( περιέχειν) to Christ, and render it “” because through him all these unite together, wholly depart from
the meaning of the Apostle. No better is another exposition, that Christ excels others; for Peter simply intended
toQUOTE the testimony of Scripture. (21) He then shews what had been taught by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures,
or, which is the same thing, that what he adds is contained in them. Nor is it an unsuitableCONFIRMATION of the
preceding verse. For we see for what slight reasons, and almost for none, many reject Christ, and some fall away from
him; but this is a stumblingblock which above all other things stands in the way of some; they are drawn away,
because not only the common people despise and reject Christ, but also those who are high in dignity and honor, and
seem to excel others. This evil has almost ever prevailed in the world, and at this day it prevails much; for a great part
of mankind judge of Christ according to the false opinion of the world. Moreover, such is the ingratitude and impiety of
men, that Christ is everywhere despised. Thus it is, that while they regard one another, few pay him his due honor.
Hence Peter reminds us of what had been foretold of Christ, lest the contempt or the rejection of him should move us
from the faith.
Now, the first passage, which he adduces, is taken from Isa_28:16 ; where the Prophet, after having inveighed
against the desperate wickedness of his own nation, at length adds,
“ perfidy shall not prevent God from restoring his church, which now through you lies wholly in a ruinous state.”
(Isa_28:16 )
The manner of restoration he thus describes, “ will lay in Sion a stone.” We hence learn that there is no building up of
the Church without Christ; for there is no other foundation but he, as Paul testifies, (1Co_3:11 .) This is no matter of
wonder, for all our salvation is found only in him. Whosoever, then, turns away from him in the least degree, will find
his foundation a precipice.
Therefore the Prophet not only calls him a corner-stone, which connects the whole edifice, but also a stone of trial,
according to which the building is to be measured and regulated; and farther, he calls him a solid foundation, which
sustains the whole edifice. He is thus, then, a corner-stone, that he might be the rule of the building, as well as the only
foundation. But Peter took from the words of the Prophet what was especially suitable to his argument, even that he
was a chosen stone, and in the highest degree valuable and excellent, and also that on him we ought to build. This
honor is ascribed to Christ, that how much soever he may be despised by the world, he may not be despised by us; for
by God he is regarded as very precious. But when he calls him a corner-stone, he intimates that those have no
concern for their salvation who do not recumb on Christ. What some have refined on the word “” as though it meant
that ChristJOINS together Jews and Gentiles, as two distinct walls, is not well founded. Let us, then, be content with
a simple explanation, that he is so called, because the weight of the building rests on him.
We must further observe, that the Prophet introduces God as the speaker, for he alone forms and plans his own
Church, as it is said in Psa_78:69 , that his hand had founded Sion. He,INDEED , employs the labor and
ministry of men in building it; but this is not inconsistent with the truth that it is his own work. Christ,
then, is the foundation of our salvation, because he has been ordained for this end by the Father.
And he says in Sion, because there God’ spiritual temple was to have its beginning. That our faith, therefore, may
firmly rest on Christ, we must come to the Law and to the Prophets. For though this stone extends to the extreme parts
of the world, it was yet necessary for it to be located first in Sion, for there at that time was the seat of the Church. But
it is said to have been then set, when the Father revealed him for the purpose of restoring his Church. In short, we
must hold this, that those only rest on Christ, who keep the unity of the Church, for he is not set as a foundation-stone
except in Sion. As from Sion the Church went forth, which is now everywhere spread, so also from Sion our faith has
derived its beginning, as Isaiah says,
“ Sion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Isa_2:3 .)
Corresponding with this is what is said in the Psalms,

134. “ scepter of thy power will the Lord send forth from Sion.” (Psa_110:2 .)
He that believeth The Prophet does not say in him, but declares generally, “ that believeth shall not make haste.” As,
however, there is no doubt but that God sets forth Christ there as the object of our faith, the faith of which the Prophet
speaks must look on him alone. And, doubtless, no one can rightly believe, but he who is fully convinced that in Christ
he ought wholly to trust.
But the words of the Prophet may be taken in two ways, either as a promise or as an exhortation. The future time is
referred to, “ shall not make haste;” but in Hebrew the future is often to be taken for an imperative, “ him not make
haste.” Thus the meaning would be, “ ye not moved in your minds, but quietly entertain your desires, and check your
feelings, until the Lord will be pleased to fulfill his promise.” So he says in another place,
“ silence and in quietness shall be your strength,”
(Isa_30:15 .)
But as the other reading seems to come nearer to Peter’ interpretation, I give it the preference. Then the sense would
not be unsuitable, “ who believeth shall not waver” or vacillate; for he has a firm and permanent foundation. And it is a
valuable truth, that relying on Christ, we are beyond the danger of falling. Moreover, to be ashamed (pudefieri ) means
the same thing. Peter has retained the real sense of the Prophet, though he has followed the Greek version. (22)
(20) Several copies have ἡ γραφὴ instead of ἐν τὣ γραφὴ; and this reading Calvin has followed. But the verb περιέχω
is used by Josephus and others in a passive sense. — Ed.
(21) The quotation is not exactly either from the Hebrew or from the Sept. The Apostle seems to have taken what was
suitable to his purpose. — Ed.
(22) As to this verb he has, but in the previous parts he comes nearer to the Hebrew than to
the Sept. PaulQUOTES this sentence twice, Rom_9:33 , and follows the Sept. as Peter does. Indeed, the
difference between ‫יחיש‬ he shall make haste, and ‫,יבש‬ he shall be ashamed, is very small; and further, the former
verb admits of a similar meaning with the latter. — Ed.
PULPIT, "Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture; literally, because it contains in
Scripture. There is no article according to the best manuscripts; and the verb ( περιέχει ) is
impersonal; it is similarly used in Josephus, 'Ant.,' 11.7. Compare the use of the substantive
περιοχή in Act_8:32. St. Peter proceeds to quote the prophecy (Isa_28:16) to which he has
already referred. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief Cornerstone, elect, precious. The passage is
taken from the Septuagint, with the emission of some words not important for the present
purpose. St. Paul quotes the same prophecy still more freely (Rom_9:33). The rabbinical
writers understand it of Hezekiah, but the earlier Jewish interpreters regarded it as Messianic.
And he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. The Hebrew words literally mean "shall
not be in haste;" the Septuagint appears to give the general meaning. He that believeth (the
Hebrew word ðéîÄàÁäÆ , means "to lean upon, to build upon," and so "to trust, to confide")
shall not be flurried and excited with vain fears and trepidation; his mind is stayed on the Lord.
CONSTABLE, "Before going on, however, Peter elaborated on the foundation of this building,
the church. "Zion" here refers to the heavenly Jerusalem, that LARGER eschatological entity
of which the church will be a part (cf. Revelation 21:14). The "corner stone" refers to the main

135. stone on which the building rests. It does not refer to a modern corner stone or to the last
stone the mason put at the top of the building, the keystone (Isaiah 28:16; cf. Ephesians
2:20). In view of this, it seems that the rock (Gr. petra, a large stone) to which Jesus referred
in Matthew 16:18 was not Peter (Gr. Petros, a small stone) but Himself. Jesus, not Peter,
much less Judaism, is the foundation upon which God has promised to build the church (cf. 1
Corinthians 3:11).
Isaiah promised that those who believe on the Stone will never (Gr. ou me, the strongest
negative) be disappointed.
Peter clarified two relationships of the believer in these verses (4-6). He rests on Christ as a
building rests on its foundation. Furthermore he relates to every other believer as the stones
of a building under construction relate to one another. We need each other, should SUPPORT
each other, and should work together to build the church in the world.
LANGE, "1Pe_2:6. Because also it is contained in Scripture.—The Apostle again returns to
the figure of the living stone, and supports it by a free and somewhat abbreviated quotation
from Isa_28:16.— ðåñéÝ÷åé for ðåñéÝ÷åôáé as some verbs are used both in a reflexive and
a passive sense. Winer, p. 267, 2d Eng. edition. Steiger adduces a passage from Josephus.
ἀêñïãùíéáῖïò ëßèïí , a corner-stone of the foundation which unites two walls. Similarly Christ
also is the connecting link of the Old and New Testaments, of Jews and Gentiles; ἐêëåêôüí
see 1Pe_2:4. In the prophetical passage, the primary reference appears to be to a king of the
house of David, but the Spirit points to the Messiah, according to the all but unanimous
opinion of ancient commentators; the New Testament also renders that opinion necessary.
Isa_8:14, describes Jehovah Himself as a stone of stumbling to those who do not let Him be
their fear; and at Mat_21:42, our Lord applies to Himself the words of Psa_118:22. ἐêëåêôüí ,
ἔíôéìïí is repeated by the Apostle in order to show how precious and valuable this corner-
stone is to him.
ὁ ðéóôåýùí ; the idea of confiding predominates here; hence the preposition ἐðß instead of
åἰò or ἐí . In Hebrew ä◌ֶ à◌ֱ î◌ִ éï to build on something, to stand fast. The passage Isa_28:16,
reads, “he that believeth shall not make haste,” (i. e., fly like a coward who throws away his
arms.) Peter expresses a more general sense, he shall not be ashamed; his hopes shall not
make him ashamed. “The precious corner-stone assures an eternal state of grace and
salvation.” Roos. It was laid at the incarnation, and especially at the resurrection of Jesus.
BENSON, "1 Peter 2:6-8. Wherefore also — To which purpose; it is contained in the Scripture
— In Isaiah 28:16, the passage before referred to. Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone
— To SUPPORT and hold together the whole building. This, as explained Ephesians 2:21,
signifies the union of Jews and Gentiles in one faith, baptism, and hope, so as to form one
church or temple for the worship of God through the mediation of Christ. And he that believeth
on him — With a lively faith, a faith productive of love and obedience; shall not be confounded
— In time or in eternity. To you therefore who believe — With such a faith; he is precious —
Highly esteemed by you, and of infinite advantage to you. Or, as we read in the margin, he is
an honour. The clause may also be rendered, To you who believe in this honour; the honour
of being built on Christ, the foundation, or chief corner-stone of the new temple of God. But
unto them which be disobedient — Who disbelieve and disobey the gospel, the words of the
psalmist are accomplished; the stone which the builders disallowed — Namely, the Jewish

136. chief-priests, elders, and scribes, called builders, because it was their office to build up the
church of God among the Jews. See on Psalms 118:22. But they rejected the stone here
spoken of, and would give it no place in the building; the same is made the head of the corner
— And all their opposition to it is vain. It is not only placed at the foot of the corner, to support
the two sides of the building erected upon it, but at the head of the corner, to fall upon and
grind to powder those that reject it; and, as the same prophet elsewhere speaks, a stone of
stumbling, and rock of offence — Namely, to the unbelieving and disobedient. Thus Simeon,
(Luke 2:34;) This child is set for the fall as well as the rising again of many in Israel, and for a
sign that shall be spoken against; a prediction awfully fulfilled. Even to them which stumble,
being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed — This TRANSLATION of the clause
seems to imply that those who are disobedient were appointed to be so; but the original does
not convey that sense, but is literally rendered, Who, disobeying the word, stumble, to which
also they were appointed: that is, those who disobey the word are appointed to stumble,
namely, at the stone of stumbling here spoken of, according to the prediction of Isaiah, Isaiah
8:14-15; He shall be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling, &c., to both the houses of
Israel; that is, to those that are unbelieving and disobedient; and many among them shall
stumble and fall, and be broken, and snared, and taken. This is what God has appointed, that
they who reject Christ shall stumble at him, and fall into misery and ruin: or, that he who
believeth not shall be damned: the unalterable decree of the God of heaven. Or the words
may, with equal propriety, be rendered, Unto which stumbling they were disposed; those who
disbelieve and disobey the gospel; being, through blindness of mind and perverseness of will,
disposed to reject Christ, stumble at him, and fall into eternal ruin.
ELLICOTT, "(6) Wherefore also.—The mention of Jesus Christ brings the writer BACK again
to his theme, viz., that the whole system to which his readers belong has undergone a radical
change, and is based on Jesus and His fulfilment of the sufferings and glories of the Messiah.
The right reading here is not “wherefore also,” but because—i.e., the quotations are
introduced in the same way as in 1 Peter 1:16; 1 Peter 1:24, as justifying the foregoing
expressions.
It is contained in the scripture.—In the original the phrase is a curious one. “The scripture”
never means the Old Testament as a whole, which would be called “the Scriptures,” but is
always the particular book or passage of the Old Testament. Literally, then, our present
phrase runs, because it encloses or contains in that passage. Thus attention is drawn to the
context of the quotation, and in this context we shall again find what made St. Peter QUOTE
the text.
Behold, I lay.—The sentence is taken from Isaiah 28:16, and, like the last, is adapted to the
occasion out of both Hebrew and LXX. Gesenius on that passage gives evidence to show that
the early Jewish explanation, current in our Lord’s time, referred it to the Messiah; the later
Rabbinical expositors, probably by way of opposition to the Christians, explained it to mean
Hezekiah. In order to gain a clear conception of St. Peter’s aim in the quotation, it is
necessary to glance over the whole section contained in the 28th and 29th chapters of Isaiah.
“The prophecy here cited,” says Archbishop Leighton, “if we look upon it in its own place, we
shall find inserted in the middle of a very sad denunciation of judgment against the Jews.”
Besides our present text, which is QUOTED also in Romans 9:33, our Lord’s prophecy of the
destruction of Jerusalem is an amplification of Isaiah 29:3-4; His sharp censure of the corrupt
traditions which had superseded the law of God (Matthew 15:7-9) is taken from Isaiah 29:13;
St. Paul’s image of the potter changing his purpose with the lump of clay (Romans 9:21),

137. comes from Isaiah 29:16. Like one bright spot in the sad picture appears our verse, but only
as serving to heighten the general gloom. St. Peter’s quotation here, therefore, calling
attention as it does to the context, is at least as much intended to show his Hebrew readers
the sweeping away of the carnal Israel as to encourage them in their Christian allegiance. In
the original passage the sure foundation is contrasted with the refuge of lies which the Jewish
rulers had constructed for themselves against Assyria, “scorning” this sure foundation as a
piece of antiquated and unpractical religionism. Nägelsbach (in his new commentary on
Isaiah) seems to be right in interpreting the “refuge of lies” to mean the diplomatic skill with
which Ahaz and the Jewish authorities flattered themselves their treaty with Egypt was drawn
up, and the “sure foundation” opposed to it is primarily God’s plighted promise to the house of
David, in which all who trusted would have no cause for FLIGHT. In the Messianic fulfilment,
those promises are all summed up in the one person of Jesus Christ (Acts 13:33; 2
Corinthians 1:20); and the “refuge of lies” in which the Jewish rulers had trusted was the
wicked policy by which they had tried to SECURE their “place and nation” against the
Romans (John 11:48).
In Sion.—In Isaiah it means that the people have not to look for any distant external aid, such
as that of PHARAOH: all that they need is to be found in the city of David itself. Here, it
seems to impress upon the Hebrew Christians that they are not abandoning their position as
Hebrews by attaching themselves to Jesus Christ. It is they who are really clinging to Sion
when the other Jews are abandoning her.
Shall not be confounded (or, ashamed).—Our version of Isaiah translates the Hebrew original
by the unintelligible “shall not make haste.” It really means, shall not flee. While all the Jewish
rulers, who had turned faithless and trusted in their finesse with Egypt, would have to flee
from the face of the Assyrians, those who preserved their faith in God would be able to stand
their ground. This, of course, did not come literally true in the first instance, where a common
temporal overthrow came upon faithful and faithless alike, from Babylon, though not from
Assyria. In the Messianic fulfilment, however, the faith or unbelief of the individual makes all
the difference to him: the overthrow of the many does not affect the few. St. Peter adds to
“believe” the words “on Him” or “on it.” which are found in neither the Hebrew nor the Greek of
Isaiah, such an addition being quite in keeping with the Rabbinic method of quotation, which
frequently alters words (comp. Matthew 2:6) to bring out the concealed intention more fully.
The general quality of “faith” of which the prophet spoke, i.e., reliance on the promises of
God, becomes faith in Him in whom the promises are fulfilled. For a like cause St. Peter
prefers the LXX. “be ashamed” to the Hebrew “flee away,” there being (except at the Fall of
Jerusalem) no opportunity for actual flight. It comes to the same thing in the end: “shall not
find his confidence misplaced.”
COFFMAN, 'Behold I lay in Zion ... Zion is the poetic name for Jerusalem; and "The laying of
this precious cornerstone in Zion for a foundation signifies that the Christian church, the new
temple of God, was TO BEGIN in Jerusalem."[21]
A chief corner stone ... The type of stone meant here is not the kind usually called by that
name today. "It was the stone at the extremity of the angle which controls the design of the
edifice and is visible."[22] In the church, Christ is both the foundation stone (1 Corinthians
3:11) and the cornerstone.
CHRIST; THE CORNERSTONE

138. In Christ, the Law of Moses ended; and the gospel began.
In Christ, the Old Testament culminated; and the New Testament began.
In Christ, all HISTORY split into B.C. and A.D.
In Christ, the wicked find their doom, and the saints find their salvation.
In Christ, the old Israel perished, and the new Israel began.
In Christ, the infinite past and the infinite future met.
In Christ, God and humanity came together.
In Christ, God's humiliation and man's glory united.
In Christ, the destiny of every man is turned, those on the right ENTERING his joy forever,
and those on the left departing from his presence forever.SIZE>
Elect, precious ... See the comments on these expressions under 1 Peter 2:4. In this section
of Isaiah, especially the 29th chapter which came in CLOSE connection with Peter's quotation
here, the destruction of Jerusalem is foretold and also the reprobacy of the Jewish leaders
who changed the word of God by their traditions; therefore, "Peter's quotation here is as much
intended to show his Hebrew readers the sweeping away of the carnal Israel as to encourage
them in their Christian allegiance."[23] These passages cited by Peter, especially in their Old
Testament context, show that "Even while the Mosaic service was in force, the Lord was
planning on another one and made predictions concerning it."[24] Scholars like to point out
that Peter's quotation of these passages is "from neither the Hebrew nor the Septuagint (LXX)
versions of the Old Testament, some supposing it to have been QUOTED from memory."[25]
However, in our studies of the Pauline letters, it became clear that the inspired writers often
combined Old Testament passages with their familiar phraseology to express new truth not
always evident in the "quotations" cited in the Old Testament; but it should never be forgotten
that the apostles of Jesus were as fully inspired (and more) than any of the Old Testament
writers, and that their words, therefore, are true Scripture in the highest sense of that word,
and that it is a sin to charge the New Testament writers either with "faulty" quotations from the
Old Testament, or a "fallible" memory.
"And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame ... In view here is the eternal shame
which ATTACHES to the Jewish nation for the rejection of the Messiah, the shame being
simply this: the very Christ whom they contemptuously rejected was chosen by God to be the
head of the new Israel; and the Father gave him "a name which is above every name"
(Philippians 2:9). On the other hand, fidelity to Christ brings honor and glory to the believer,
since he partakes of the honor and glory of Christ himself.
For you therefore that believe is the preciousness ... All honors and benefits are denied to
unbelievers. Only the Christian shares the joy of redemption in Christ Jesus.
The stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner ... It should
be pointed out that this famous line is founded upon an actual event. In the building of

139. Solomon's temple, the first stone that came down from the quarry was very remarkably
shaped, having been marked and cut at the quarry. The builders of the temple did not know
what to do with it, and it was dragged to a place apart and became finally hidden by debris
and rubbish. "It was afterward found to be that on which the completeness of the structure
depended, the chief corner stone where the two walls met and were BONDED together."[26]
There were many providences in the building of the Jewish temple, despite the fact of its
being a departure, really, from the will of God; just as there were also many wonderful
providences and miracles connected with the secular kingdom, which also was not really the
will of God; and surely, this incident of the rejected cornerstone must be one of such wonders.
It is the perfect illustration of how the "builders," the Jewish hierarchy, rejected the true and
only head of all holy religion. Peter was fond of this illustration and told the Sadducees to their
face that they were the "builders" who had rejected the chief corner stone (Acts 4:11). In this
passage, Peter extended the APPLICATION to include all unbelievers as partakers of the
same blame that pertained to the "builders." Macknight's paraphrase of this verse is:
To you therefore who believe is this honor of being built on him, and of not being ashamed.
But to the disobedient is the dishonor written (Psalms 118:22): the stone which the builders
rejected, the same has become the head of the corner of God's temple.[27]
A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence ... Some have been puzzled by Peter's putting
these two passages from the Psalms and Isaiah together, exactly as Paul did in Romans, and
have therefore supposed Peter's dependence on Paul; but such a device is both erroneous
and unnecessary. Peter was present no doubt and heard the Lord Jesus Christ himself put
the two passages together in exactly the same manner as here (Luke 20:17,18). Therefore,
neither Peter nor Paul was dependent upon the other, their teachings, as in the case of all the
sacred writers, going BACK to Christ himself, the fountain source of the entire New
Testament.
See in my Commentary on Romans, p. 356, for full discussion of the metaphor of Christ the
Living Stone.
The particular application of "stumbling stone" as a figure of Christ is that of comparing him to
a heavy stone blocking a path or road that people TRAVEL, resulting in their stumbling and
falling. Christ, as the aged Simeon prophesied, was "set for the falling and rising of many in
Israel" (Luke 2:34). People, through their pride, stumble at the lowly birth of the Saviour and
at the humility of his followers, the stern morality of his teachings, and his sharp exposure of
their sins.
For they stumble at the word, being disobedient ... There is much to commend the viewpoint
of Macknight on this place, who wrote, "Peter does not mean that they stumbled at the
preached word, but against Christ himself, one of whose titles is the Word (John 1:1)."[28]
Whereunto also they were appointed ... This does not mean that God foreordained, or
appointed certain individuals to fall; but it means that God has finally and irrevocably
appointed all disobedient souls to stumble. When the proud hierarchy of the ancient Israel
refused to believe in Christ, they thereby thrust themselves under the blanket indictment of all
unbelievers; and they fell, as God had ordained and appointed all unbelievers to fall. The
indictment still stands, and unbelievers still incur the wrath of God through their unbelief.

140. [21] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 451.
[22] Archibald M. Hunter, op. cit., p. 109.
[23] A. J. Mason, op. cit., p. 401.
[24] E. M. Zerr, Bible Commentary, 1Peter (Marion, Indiana: The Cogdill Foundation, 1954), p.
256.
[25] Roy S. Nicholson, op. cit., p. 280.
[26] Dean Plumptre, as QUOTED by R. Tuck, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 15, 2(Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 356.
[27] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 456.
[28] Ibid., p. 456.
BENSON, "1 Peter 2:6-8. Wherefore also — To which purpose; it is contained in the Scripture
— In Isaiah 28:16, the passage before referred to. Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone
— To SUPPORT and hold together the whole building. This, as explained Ephesians 2:21,
signifies the union of Jews and Gentiles in one faith, baptism, and hope, so as to form one
church or temple for the worship of God through the mediation of Christ. And he that believeth
on him — With a lively faith, a faith productive of love and obedience; shall not be confounded
— In time or in eternity. To you therefore who believe — With such a faith; he is precious —
Highly esteemed by you, and of infinite advantage to you. Or, as we read in the margin, he is
an honour. The clause may also be rendered, To you who believe in this honour; the honour
of being built on Christ, the foundation, or chief corner-stone of the new temple of God. But
unto them which be disobedient — Who disbelieve and disobey the gospel, the words of the
psalmist are accomplished; the stone which the builders disallowed — Namely, the Jewish
chief-priests, elders, and scribes, called builders, because it was their office to build up the
church of God among the Jews. See on Psalms 118:22. But they rejected the stone here
spoken of, and would give it no place in the building; the same is made the head of the corner
— And all their opposition to it is vain. It is not only placed at the foot of the corner, to support
the two sides of the building erected upon it, but at the head of the corner, to fall upon and
grind to powder those that reject it; and, as the same prophet elsewhere speaks, a stone of
stumbling, and rock of offence — Namely, to the unbelieving and disobedient. Thus Simeon,
(Luke 2:34;) This child is set for the fall as well as the rising again of many in Israel, and for a
sign that shall be spoken against; a prediction awfully fulfilled. Even to them which stumble,
being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed — This TRANSLATION of the clause
seems to imply that those who are disobedient were appointed to be so; but the original does
not convey that sense, but is literally rendered, Who, disobeying the word, stumble, to which
also they were appointed: that is, those who disobey the word are appointed to stumble,
namely, at the stone of stumbling here spoken of, according to the prediction of Isaiah, Isaiah
8:14-15; He shall be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling, &c., to both the houses of
Israel; that is, to those that are unbelieving and disobedient; and many among them shall
stumble and fall, and be broken, and snared, and taken. This is what God has appointed, that
they who reject Christ shall stumble at him, and fall into misery and ruin: or, that he who
believeth not shall be damned: the unalterable decree of the God of heaven. Or the words

141. may, with equal propriety, be rendered, Unto which stumbling they were disposed; those who
disbelieve and disobey the gospel; being, through blindness of mind and perverseness of will,
disposed to reject Christ, stumble at him, and fall into eternal ruin.
CHARLES SIMEON, "THE SECURITY OF THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN CHRIST
1Pe_2:6. It is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone, elect,
precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
THE Scriptures universally speak the same language with respect to Christ: in every part he
is represented as the only Saviour, and the all-sufficient help of sinful man. In this respect the
Old Testament prepares us for what is contained in the New, and the New reflects light upon
the Old; and thus they mutually illustrate and CONFIRM each other. This observation
naturally arises from the frequent appeals made by the Apostles to the prophetic writings; and
particularly from the manner in which St. Peter introduces the passage before us: he seems
to intimate not only that the prophet had been inspired to declare the same truth, but that this
prophecy had been given of God on purpose to prepare the way for the more direct
injunctions of the Gospel. His words declare to us,
I. The excellency of Christ—
Christ is often spoken of as a foundation, because he SUPPORTS the spiritual temple of
God; but here he is represented as a corner-stone laid by the hands of God himself—
[The excellency of the chief corner-stone, which lies also at the foundation, consists in this,
that while it supports the building, it also connects the different parts of it together. Now Christ
has united together, not only Jews and Gentiles, but men and angels, in one spiritual building:
and while they all derive their strength from him, they all feel, through him, an union with each
other [Note: Eph_2:14; Eph_2:20-22.]. For this purpose “God laid” him in Sion from the
beginning; he laid him, I say, in types and prophecies, and declarations, and promises; and he
requires all hoth in heaven and earth to honour him as the one source of their strength, and
the one bond of their union.]
In this view he is “elect and precious” in the eyes of God—
[God has appointed him to execute this office from all eternity, and determined that there shall
be “no other name whereby any shall be saved.” And, as qualified for it, as discharging it in
every respect, and as saving man in perfect consistency with the honour of the Divine
perfections, God esteems him “precious;” He declares that “in this his beloved Son He is well-
pleased;” and He acquiesces fully in the salvation of all who shall approve of this
appointment.]
Nor will he be less precious in our eyes, if we consider,
II. The SECURITY of those who “believe in him”—
To believe in him, is, to feel an entire dependence on him ourselves, and to have such an
union with him as produces a correspondent union with all the other parts of his spiritual
temple. They who thus believe in him shall never be confounded,

142. Here—
[Much there is in their experience, which might well confound them, and which nothing but
their union with him could enable them to support. How should they endure a sense of guilt,
or bear up against their indwelling corruptions? How should they sustain the fiery trial of
persecution, or stand composed in the near prospects of death? These are things which
disconcert and confound others; and drive them like a ship from its moorings. But they have
“an anchor both sure and steadfast.” They are not agitated, and driven to hasty conclusions,
or ill-advised methods of deliverance [Note: Compare the text with the passage from whence
it is taken, Isa_28:16.]. “Their heart standeth firm, trusting in the Lord.” “Being justified by
faith, they have peace with God.” The promise that “sin shall not have dominion over them,”
encourages their hope. Their present consolations, and future prospects of reward, soften all
their trials, and enable them to “glory in tribulations.” And, knowing in whom they have
believed, the sting of death is taken away, and they are “delivered from their bondage to the
fear of death.”]
Hereafter—
[Terrible INDEED must be the apprehensions of an unbeliever, when first dismissed from the
body and carried into the presence of a holy God; and at the day of judgment how will he
stand appalled! But the believer will go as a child into the presence of his Father, with love,
and joy, and confidence. He will not be confounded at the glory of the Divine Majesty,
because he is washed in the Redeemer’s blood, and clothed in his righteousness. Even Mary
Magdalen, or the dying thief, know no terror in the presence of their God, because they are
“complete in Christ:” it is on this account that they shall have confidence before him at his
coming, and great boldness in the day of judgment [Note: 1Jn_2:28; 1Jn_4:17.]. Nor is this
the privilege of a few only, who are strong in faith, but of “all that believe,” whether their faith
be strong or weak.]
Infer—
1. How great is the difference between believers and unbelievers!
[The world perhaps may not in some instances discern much difference; but God, who sees
the heart, gives this glorious promise to the one, while there is no such promise in all the
sacred oracles to the other. Let us then believe on Christ; and make him “all our salvation and
all our desire.”]
2. How unreasonable is the unbelief of sinful men!
[God has laid his Son for a chief corner-stone in Sion, and declared him to be precious to
himself in that view: why then should he not be “elect and precious” unto us also? Have we
found a better foundation, or a surer bond of union? Or can we produce one instance wherein
any person that believed in him was finally confounded? O let us consider what confusion will
probably seize us here, and certainly hereafter, if we CONTINUE to reject him. And let us
without delay “flee for refuge to the hope set before us.”]
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "It is contained in the Scripture.

143. Wherein the Scriptures exceed all other writings
I. They were inspired all of the Holy Ghost (2Ti_3:17; 2Pe_1:21), so were no other writings.
II. They contain a wisdom far above all that can be had by the princes and men of this world
(1Co_6:7).
III. They were penned by more excellent men than any other writings: the greatest, wisest, holiest
men-Moses, David, Solomon, prophets, evangelists, apostles, etc.
IV. They have such properties as no other writings have: they are more perfect, pure, deep, and
immutable than any man’s writings. These contain all things necessary unto faith and a good life
(2Ti_3:16-17).
V. If we consider the effects that must be acknowledged to the praise of the scriptures, no writings can
describe God so fully to us, do so bring glory to God; no Scripture but this can convert a soul
(Heb_4:12-13; Psa_19:11; Psa_119:14-15; Psa_119:27). (N. Byfield.)
I lay in Sion a chief cornerstone.
The Divine foundation
I. Jesus Christ is the foundation stone, or the fundamental truth of Christianity.
1. Jesus Christ is the cardinal truth of the Christian system.
2. Jesus Christ is the central truth of Christianity.
3. Jesus Christ is the all-comprehensive truth of Christianity. Christ is Christianity.
What is meant by it? Two things.
(1) First, that Jesus Christ is essential to His religion. Plato is not essential to Platonism.
Suppose that nothing was known of the birth, life, and death of Plato, that his writings came
down to us anonymously, it would make but very little difference to his students. And what is
true of Plato as a philosopher is also true of Cakyamouni, Confucius, and Mahomet, as
founders of religions. Their personalities form no integral portion of their systems. Plato said,
“Accept my ideas”; Christ said, “Accept Me.” Cakyamouni said, “This is the way, by
renunciation”; Christ said , “I am the Way.” They, each and all, put the centres of their systems
outside themselves; but Christ put the centre of His in His own person.
(2) But, secondly, the phrase, Christ is Christianity, means precisely the same as when we say
that the tree is the branches. The tree throws itself out into branches, and it must be patent to
all that there can be no more in the branches than there is already in the tree.
II. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, or the harmonising truth of Christianity.
1. He is the Cornerstone of the religions of the world; that is to say, in Him and the religion He
instituted all other religions meet and are unified.
2. Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone of Christian doctrines; in other words, in Him they find the
principle of their reconciliation.
3. Jesus Christ is also the Cornerstone of Christian Churches; in Him is their one point of union.
III. Jesus Christ is the sure foundation. “Whosoever believeth in Him shall not be confounded.”
1. Jesus Christ is the sure foundation, the one truth which maintains its ground notwithstanding
the fierce assaults made upon it from time to time.
2. He is a sure foundation for us to build thereupon the hope of everlasting life. (J. C. Jones, D. D.)

144. The cornerstone
I. Stability. The cornerstone upholds and is the strength of the building. So it is in the Church, whether
viewed collectively, or as composed of individual Christians. Strength is in Christ alone.
II. Beauty. Cornerstones give beauty and ornament to a building. They are often graceful and rich, and
curiously wrought; and the other and ordinary stones of the building get comeliness from the very
relation in which they stand to the cornerstones. Now Christ is the beauty of the spiritual temple.
III. Unity. Cornerstones are the medium by which the walls of a house, with all the several stones
which compose those walls, are united in one building. Take away the cornerstones, and the sides of
the house would be separated from each other. The stones of which the walls are built may be of
different sizes, and of different degrees of value or beauty; yet so long as they are held together by the
cornerstone, the house is one house; nor is there any stone in it however small or common but that
stone is necessary to the unity of the house. It cannot be spared. Such is Christ as the precious
cornerstone of the spiritual temple. (A. C. Price.)
The chief cornerstone
I. The foundation is called here “a chief cornerstone.” Jesus Christ is the alone Head and King of His
Church, who gives it laws, and rules it in wisdom and righteousness. “Elected,” or chosen out for the
purpose, and altogether fit for it. Isaiah hath it, “A stone of trial or a tried stone.” As things amongst
men are best chosen after trial, so Jesus Christ was certainly known by the Father, as most fit for that
work to which He chose Him before He tried Him, as afterwards, upon trial in His life and death and
resurrection, He proved fully answerable to His Father’s purpose in all that was appointed Him. He
was God, that He might be a strong foundation; He was man, that He might be suitable to the nature
of the stones whereof the building was to consist, that they might join and cement together. “Precious,”
inestimably precious, by all the conditions that can give worth to any: by rareness and by inward
excellency.
II. The laying of this foundation. It is said to be laid in Zion; that is, it is laid in the Church of God. And
it was first laid in Zion, literally, that being then the seat of the Church and of the true religion. He was
laid there in His manifestation in the flesh, and suffering, and dying, and rising again; and afterwards,
being preached through the world, He became the foundation of His Church in all places where His
name was received. He saith, “I lay”; by which the Lord expresseth this to be His own proper work, as
Psa_118:23. And it is not only said, “I lay,” because God the Father had the first thought of this great
work, but also to signify the freeness of His grace in giving His Son to be a foundation of happiness to
man, without the least motion from man, or motive in man, to draw Him to it. This, again, that the
Lord Himself is the layer of this cornerstone, teaches us the firmness of it. Psa_2:6, “I have set My
King upon My holy hill of Zion”; who then shall dethrone Him? “I have given Him the heathen for His
inheritance, and the ends of the earth for His possession”; and who will hinder Him to take possession
of His right?
III. The building on this foundation. To be built on Christ is plainly to believe in Him. It is not they
that have heard of Him, or that have some common knowledge of Him, or that are able to discourse of
Him and speak of His person and nature aright, but they that believe in Him. Much of our knowledge
is like that of the poor philosopher, who defineth riches exactly, and discourseth of their nature, but
possesseth none; or we are as a geometrician, who can measure land exactly in all its dimensions, but
possesseth not a foot thereof. And truly it is but a lifeless unsavoury knowledge that men have of Christ
by books and study, till He reveal Himself and persuade the heart to believe in Him. There is in lively
faith, when it is infused into the soul, a clearer knowledge of Christ and His excellency than before, and
with it a recumbency of the soul upon Him, as the foundation of its life and comfort; a resolving to rest
on Him, and not to depart from Him upon any terms.
IV. The firmness of this building. “He that believeth on Him shall not be confounded.” This firmness is
answerable to the nature of the foundation. Not only the whole frame, but every stone of it abideth

145. sure. It is a mistake to judge the persuasion of perseverance to be self-presumption. They that have it
are far from building it on themselves, but their foundation is that which makes them sure; because it
doth not only remain firm itself, but indissolubly supports all that are once built on it. In the prophet
whence this is cited it is, “Shall not make haste,” but the sense is one. They that are disappointed and
ashamed in their hopes, run to and fro, and seek after some new resource; this they shall not need to
do who come to Christ.
V. The greatness and excellency of the work intimated in that first word, “Behold,” which imports this
work to be very remarkable, and calls the eyes to fix upon it. The Lord is marvellous in the least of His
works; but in this He hath manifested more of His wisdom and power, and let out more of His love to
mankind, than in all the rest. Look upon this “precious stone,” and behold Him not in mere
speculation, but so behold Him as to lay hold on Him; for we see He is therefore here set forth, that we
may believe on Him; and so not be confounded, that we may attain this blessed union, that cannot be
dissolved. All other unions are dissoluble. A man may be plucked from his dwelling house and lands,
or they from him, though he have never so good a title to them; may be removed from his dearest
friends, if not by other accidents in his lifetime, yet sure by death, the great dissolver of all such
unions, and of that straitest one, of the soul with the body; but it can do nothing against this union, but
on the contrary perfects it. (Abp. Leighton.)
Christ the one foundation
St. Peter, when arraigned before Annas and Caiaphas, had reminded them of that passage
(Psa_118:22) which speaks of a stone cast aside by the builders as unfitted for their purpose, but
afterwards, by the Lord’s own act, chosen out to be “the head of the corner.” The sacred irony of this
contrast had evidently taken hold of his mind. In the context here he has been referring to that passage
in combination with one of Isaiah’s (Isa_28:16), and applying both to the Lord Jesus, as identified
with that Lord of whom another Psalmist had said, “O taste and see that the Lord is gracious.” He now
quotes from Isaiah, applying the title of “cornerstone” to his Master, just as St. Paul says (1Co_3:11;
Eph_2:20). What does this ancient and sacred image, thus borrowed by St. Peter and St. Paul from the
stores of Hebrew prophecy, convey to us Christians? When Isaiah was drawing near to the close of his
public life, a worldly and irreligious party had risen to influence and temporary command in the
kingdom of Judah. Their aim was to strengthen it by a secular policy, with an Egyptian alliance for its
basis. Their thoughts, if put into modern shape, would run somewhat as follows: “Judah must be set
free from the bondage of a narrow clerical interest: it is essentially a kingdom, existing side by side
with other kingdoms; its needs, its emergencies, are like theirs; it must, perforce, do as they do. It must
therefore shake off the tyranny of meddlesome preachers, who can only look at secular matters from
their own theological point of view, and pretend to school practical men like children, with a dull
iteration of precept upon precept. We have outgrown all that; it is time for common sense to reign. We
know how to make safeguards for the throne and for the country, which will enable us, so to speak, to
be on friendly terms with death, exempt from the peril of destruction; when the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come to us.” Isaiah turns round upon them as the minister of Him who
scorneth the scorners. “No,” he says, “your hopes are vain; your covenant with death shall be
cancelled; your hiding place is a refuge of lies, and the hailstorm and the rising flood will sweep it
away. The scourge, when it comes, will simply trample you down. But I will tell you where a refuge can
be found; there is a stone laid by God for a sure foundation, a stone tried and precious; he that trusteth
to it shall not make haste, shall not be shaken from his foothold.” This refers first to that sacred
character of the house of David, which belonged to it as destined to culminate in David’s future
preeminent Son, and in the fuller sense to that Son in His own Person, as realising all that could be
indicated by the glorious titles of “the Emmanuel, the Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God.” Because
He was one day to appear, the pious in Judah would rest their hopes and stay their souls on Him. And
this should be, in a far more effective sense, the experience of those who know the Christ as having
come. Consider a few of the senses in which He makes good this title of cornerstone. How, do we think,
did the first preachers to the heathen win converts? By appealing to men’s deepest sense of need, to

146. the felt necessity of a centralising, consolidating principle for human life.
1. Two things, at least, we must secure, if life is not to be a failure.
(1) One is, something certainly true, a truth to stand by amid uncertainties. As we advance in
our earthly journey, perplexities gather round on all sides. Life has not verified our first
expectations; it raises questions which it does not answer; there is a confusion of theories; but
where is that which we can depend upon, and grasp firmly, looking life and death in the face?
The answer is in the words of Jesus, “I am the Truth.”
(2) Man also needs a power of moral and spiritual rectification. He believes Christ is all-
precious, because He can and does help them to become pure and single-hearted, high in aim
and active in duty.
2. These two great questions well answered by the acceptance of Jesus Christ, one sees how in His
relation to the several doctrines and institutions of His Kingdom, He sustains the character of the
One Foundation.
(1) It is so in regard to doctrines.
(2) He is also the foundation of all His ordinances. All the instrumental agencies whereby He
waits upon the soul-the means, as we call them, or channels of His grace-derive their efficacy
from Him; nay, more, it is He who is the real though unseen Minister in them all, the true
Celebrant, Baptizer, Absolver, Ordainer, the sovereign Priest of His Church.
3. If Christ be, in these ways, the foundation of our spiritual life, in all its aspects, should He not be
also the foundation of all that we do? (W. Bright, D. D.)
The cornerstone
I. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, uniting Jews and Gentiles.
1. Jews and Gentiles met in His Person. He was of the seed of David according to the flesh, a Jew of
the Jews, His genealogy complete and flawless right up to Abraham. But as we carefully survey the
stream of His ancestry, we here and there discover Gentile blood flowing as tributaries to it. It is
rather remarkable that the only women mentioned in the line of His pedigree are of Gentile blood
and soiled character.
2. Jews and Gentiles had also a place in His ministry. The Jewish Rabbis never looked over the
Wall of Separation, never gave a kindly thought to the great world without, lying in wickedness,
seething in misery. Jesus Christ, however, distinctly purposed from the first to bring Jews and
Gentiles into one community an idea absolutely original.
3. As Jesus Christ united Jews and Gentiles in His person and teaching, so tie has also joined them
in the Church He established. Today we behold Jews and Gentiles, the civilised nations of the earth
and the newly reclaimed barbarians of the South Sea Islands, reclining under its refreshing shade.
II. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, uniting men and angels.
1. Jesus Christ has united men and angels in His person. He is our countryman, cry the angels, the
Lord from heaven; but He is our kinsman, men make reply. He belongs to us by the ties of
citizenship, say the angels; but He belongs to us by the ties of blood, answer men. Thus angels and
men can legitimately claim a share in this Son of Jesse.
2. He represents men and angels in His teaching as being one in Him.
3. Men and angels are brought together in unity in His Church.
III. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, uniting God and man.
1. Both meet in His person.

147. 2. He brought God and man together hi His ministry. The great, one might say the central doctrine
of His preaching is the Fatherhood of God, and the corresponding sonship of man.
3. In the Church of Christ God and man are welded together in the bonds of closest friendship.
God is reconciled to man in the sacrifice of His Son, and now He is reconciling men to Himself.
Sinners are being brought into line with the cornerstone, and thus into union with God. (J. C.
Jones, D. D.)
Jesus Christ the cornerstone
1. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of religious doctrine. He was the Son of the God of truth; He was
truth Himself, and He came into the world to bear witness to the truth. By His personal ministry
and by the ministry of His apostles, He revealed to the fallen children of men the things which
belonged to their peace.
2. Christ is the cornerstone of morality. During the whole period of His ministry He afforded a
constant example of perfect obedience to the moral law. Every duty which it became Him as a man
to fulfil towards men He discharged no less punctually than those obligations of which the
immediate object was God.
3. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of salvation. Through Him we are justified, sanctified; through
Him we receive the inheritance of eternal life. (T. Gisborne, M. A.)
The cornerstone
The figures woven into this passage are architectural. They do not, however, touch the imagination as
much now as they did when they were first drawn; for we have been misled with regard to the truths
they are designed to illustrate, by the degradation that has befallen the cornerstones which we plant.
The cornerstone is not a foundation stone with us. It might just as well be put at the middle of the wall
as at the corner; at the top as at the bottom; and, for that matter, it might as well be put in the tower as
in the wall. It is merely a ceremonial cornerstone, made to contain a few records, giving the date, the
time, and what not, belonging to the building. But there are real cornerstones yet. When builders have
dug down and found the bottom level, and desire to lay a foundation which no fire can reach, no water
undermine, no weight sway, and lay broad and vast stones, then these stones have a marked relation to
the integrity of the whole building above. If they are weak, or easily displaced, the foundation will be
unstable; and when that gives way, the superstructure, no matter how carefully it may be built, will
follow it. There was, however, another kind of cornerstone in former times-namely, a massive slab,
which, standing upright, united to itself firmly the two side walls, and so bound together the building
laterally. Both of these terms are in our text, and both of them are applied to Christ, who is represented
as not only bearing up the whole structure of piety as a foundation, but binding it together as a
cornerstone, or the head of the corner, so that, vertically and laterally, the building takes hold and
sustains itself by the foundation and the cornerstone. This passage teaches that as a building rests
upon its foundation stones, so every Christian rests upon Jesus Christ. They are not merely connected
with Him: they rest upon Him. So do they rest upon Him, that if He were to be removed from them all
their religious experience would fall, as a wall would go down if its foundation stones were taken out of
the way.
I. I first ask you to mark the distinction which exists between a mere general dependence upon God,
and a conscious personal life in Christ Jesus, for that is the distinction which demarks between the
school of what may be called the naturalists in religion, and of evangelical Christians. It is one thing to
be a believer in God’s government; it is another thing to hold company with God-to behold Him, to
love Him, and to commune with Him, to twine your life about Him.
II. I remark, secondly, that this direct, intimate, hourly, and daily living with Christ, is the thing which

148. the Gospel proposes as its characteristic aim. Morality is a good thing. A man without it certainly
cannot be a Christian, although he may not be one with it. Moralities are mere day labourers, who dig
out the roots and clear off the weeds, and get the ground ready for something else. Morals do but
plough the soil-piety is the fruitful stein, and love the fair flower which springs from the soil. It is only
love that can find out God without searching. Upon its eyes God dawns. Love is that regent quality
which was meant to reveal the Divine to us. It carries its own light, and by its own secret nature is
drawn instantly towards God, and reflects the knowledge of Him back upon us. When love hath
brought forth its central vision of the Divine, and interpreted it to all the other faculties, then they, in
turn, become seers, and the soul is helped by every one of its faculties, as by so many eyes, to behold
the fulness of God.
III. I remark, thirdly, that it is deemed by men very delusive, and by some wise men utterly
impossible, in this mortal state, for a man to live by faith in an invisible being, so that Christ shall seem
to be a present companion to him. You might as well attempt to root up an oak of a hundred years’
growth as attempt to eradicate my faith in Christ present with me-Christ living with me, and I with
Him, so that my life is joined to His. Imagine that I stand, tearful and tremulous, yet joyful, by the side
of a magnificent picture, which electrifies me, which touches all the great fountains in my nature,
causing them to rise and overflow; which translates my mind, and purifies it. As I stand looking at
such a picture, a man comes to me and says, “What are you gazing at, sir?” I begin, in broken language,
to tell him what effect the picture is having upon me; and he looks at me with astonishment, and says,
“Well, it may be that it affects you so, but it does not stand to reason; for it is natural to suppose that if
it affected you so, it would affect me in the same way; and I do not have any such feelings as you
profess to have. I am sure I would not pay a sixpence for the thing.” There I stand trembling before the
picture; he reviles it, because his sensibilities are all materialised. Next there comes to me a utilitarian-
one of those men who think nothing good unless it be useful, and with whom use means that which is
good to sell or to eat. “Is it possible,” he says, “that this picture can operate upon your feelings? It
makes no impression upon me whatever. I do not see how it can do such a thing. If you were to tell me
that it was one of Raphael’s great productions, and that it was worth five or six thousand dollars, I
should understand that it had some value. You are a little touched, are you not?” Then a bloated
sensualist comes to me, and says, “I would give more for one flagon of wine than for all the old painted
rags on earth.” He and I live in different worlds. But if none of these could be made to understand my
feelings in the presence of a picture, how much less can they know the reality and glory of my feelings
before that more glorious revelation of heavenly beauty which shall remain unrolled forever and
forever, and which, as I stand before it, causes everything in me of faith, and hope, and joy, and love, to
cry out!
IV. Need I speak of the preciousness of your saviour? Need I call to your remembrance the experiences
in which He has manifested Himself to you? Do you not remember those days of struggle and distress,
through which you passed, and that day of hope and joy which succeeded them, when Christ dawned
upon you, and you felt that your troubles were over, and your resistance to His will was ended, and you
cried out, “My Lord and my God!” and He raised you to His bosom? Has He not revealed Himself to
you, saying, “I am with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you”? The manifestation of Christ to us
takes away from trouble all its sting. By and by we shall strand, every one of us, in the narrow passage
of death, and there is but one Pilot there. If He comes, bright and shining, from the dark waters of the
troubled sea, how sweet and precious will He be to the dying soul that has loved Him, and longed to
see Him! (H. W. Beecher.)
Faith’s sure foundation
I. The foundation of the believer’s faith. “He that believeth on Him.” The foundation of the believer’s
faith is Christ Jesus Himself. But in what sense am I to believe in Jesus Christ?
1. I reply, first, as God’s appointed Saviour of men. “Behold I lay in Zion a sure foundation.” We
trust in Christ Jesus because God has set Him forth to be the propitiation for sin.

149. 2. We also believe in the Lord Jesus because of the excellency of His person. We trust Christ to
save us because we perceive Him in every way to be adapted by the nature and constitution of His
person to be the Saviour of man kind.
3. Another ground of our reliance upon Christ is that He has actually finished the work of our
redemption. There were two things to be done. The first was the keeping of the law on our behalf:
that He has performed to the uttermost, even as He said to His Father, “I have glorified Thee on
the earth, I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.” We see our Lord also doing the
other part of His work, namely, suffering in consequence of our sin, and our faith becomes fully
established.
4. One other truth must be mentioned, seeing that our Lord is now no longer dead, we feel it more
easy to place our confidence in Him because He ever liveth to see to the completion of our
salvation. A living faith delights in a living Saviour. This is the seal of all that went before.
II. The manner of this believing. How do we believe in Jesus Christ? Now, we have not to go a single
inch to find an instructive illustration of what faith in Jesus is. The verse before us is connected with
building.
1. If, then, you want to know what it is to believe on Jesus, it is relic upon Him as a stone lies upon
a foundation when the mason puts it there. Faith is leaning, depending, relying.
2. A stone rests wholly on the foundation. That is faith: resting upon Christ wholly and entirely,
looking to Him for everything that has to do with our salvation. Genuine faith in Christ does not
trust Him to pardon sin, and then trust itself to overcome sin. No, it trusts Christ both for the
conquest of evil and for the forgiveness of it.
3. The stone laid on the foundation comes closer to that foundation every day. When a house is
finished there still goes on a measure of settlement, and you are glad if it settles all in a piece
together. Every day the stone is brought by its own weight a little closer to the foundation; may
every day’s pressure bring you and me closer to Christ. Oh, that the pressure of our joys and griefs
may press us nearer to our Lord!
4. A well-built stone gets to be one with the foundation. In the old Roman walls the mortar seems
to be as hard as the stones, and the whole is like one piece; you must blow it to atoms before you
can get the wall away. So is it with the true believer: he rests upon his Lord till he is one with Jesus
by a living union, so that you scarce know where the foundation ends and where the upbuilding
begins; for the believer becometh all in Christ, even as Christ is all in all to him.
III. The evil which will never come upon the man who believeth on Jesus. The text says, “He shall not
be confounded,” and the meaning of it is, first, that he shall never be disappointed. All that Christ has
promised to be He will be to those who trust Him. And then comes the next rendering-you shall never
be confounded. When a man gets to be ashamed of his hope because he is disappointed in it, he casts
about for another anchorage, and, not knowing where to look, he is greatly perplexed. If the Lord Jesus
Christ were to fall through, what should we do? No, Jesus, we shall not be confounded, for we shall
never be disappointed in Thee, nor made ashamed of our hope! According to Isaiah’s version, we shall
not be obliged to “make haste”; we shall not be driven to our wit’s end and hurried to and fro. We shall
not hurry and worry, trying this and that, running from pillar to post to seek a hope; but he that
believeth shall be quiet, calm, assured, confident. He awaits the future with equanimity, as he endures
the present with patience. Now, the times of our special danger of being confounded are many; but in
none of these shall we be confounded. Let us just turn them over in our minds. There are times when a
man’s sins all come up before him like exceeding great armies. All your thoughts, words, and deeds,
your bad tempers and rebellions against God-suppose they were all to rise at once, what would become
of you? Why, even then, “he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded.” The depths have covered
them, there is not one of them left. He that believeth on the pardoning Saviour shall not be
confounded, though all his sins should accuse him at once. The unbelieving world outside labours to
create confusion. The scientific discoverers, the possessors of boastful culture, and all the other
braggers of this marvellously enlightened nineteenth century are up in arms against the believers in

150. Jesus. Faith in Jesus can be justified before a synagogue of savans, it deserves the respect of a
parliament of philosophers. To trust the Son of God incarnate, whose advent into this world is a fact
better proved by history than any other that was ever on record-to trust oneself upon His atoning
sacrifice is the most reasonable thing that a man can do. He that believeth on Him shall not be
confounded by human wisdom, for God hath long ago confounded it and turned it into foolishness.
But the world has done more than sneer; it has imitated Cain and sought to slay the faithful. There
they stand. The lions are loose upon them. Do they cry for mercy, and treacherously deny Christ? They
are feeble men and women; do they recant and leave their Master? Not they. They die as bravely as
ever soldier fell in battle. Well, but there will come other troubles to Christians besides these, and in
them they shall not be confounded. They will be tried by the flesh; natural desires will break forth into
vehement lustings, and corruptions will seek to cast them down. Will believers perish then? No. He
that believeth in Christ shall conquer himself, and overcome his easily besetting sins. There will come
losses and crosses, business trials and domestic bereavements. What then? He shall not be
confounded; his Lord will sustain him under every tribulation. At last death will come to us. We may
not be able to shout “victory”; we may be too weak for triumphant hymns, but with our latest breath
we will lisp the precious name. They that watch us shall know by our serenity that a Christian does not
die, but only melts away into everlasting life. We shall never be confounded, even amid the grandeurs
of eternity. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
HAWKER 6-8, "Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner
stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. (7) Unto you therefore
which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders
disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, (8) And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of
offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were
appointed.
I need not tell the Reader what scripture the Apostle hath gathered this beautiful passage from, Isaiah
was directed, ages before, to proclaim Christ to the Church under this strong figure, Isa_28:16. But
indeed, the whole book of God is full of the same glorious truth. See Deu_32:4; 2Sa_23:3; Psa_118:22-
23; Eph_2:20. But what I particularly beg the Reader to observe is the beauty and fulness of the
similitude, and his Church, his Zion is founded by Jehovah. It is the Lord in his three-fold character of
Person, which hath founded it, Isa_14:32. Hence, Christ in his union of God and Man in One Person, is
the foundation, on which the whole building rests. He is also the whole strength which unites, and
keeps the building together. Believers are said to be rooted and built up in him, Col_2:7. And he is also
the finisher, in whom, and by whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth to an holy temple
in the Lord, Eph_2:19 to the end. And, if the Reader will pause but for a moment, and consider how
very fully this is proved, as it relates to all the points of the spiritual building in Christ, he will discover
the blessedness of the whole.
First. In Christ’s Person. All temporal, spiritual, eternal blessings are centered in Christ’s Person.
Hence his people, in him, are brought into a communion and fellowship by their union with him, into
the enjoyment of those things; and, without which, there can be no blessing in either department, in
the life that now is, or that which is to come.
Secondly. In Christ’s offices. His obedience and death; his law fulfilling, and law-satisfying sacrifice;
his surety-ship, engagements, and sin-atoning offering; his death, resurrection, ascension, and
unceasing priesthood; all these, and every other which Christ wrought on earth, and is now carrying on
in heaven, make him the whole foundation of his Church to rest upon, for all the purposes of time and
eternity.
And, lastly, to mention no more: In Christ’s relations to his people, he becomes the first and the last, to
include all and everyone of the tenderest relationship, which constitute the Father, Husband, Brother,
and the Friend; so as to fill all, and perform the part of all, yea, infinitely nearer than all, being the
Head of his body the Church, the fulness that filleth all in all, to the members of his body, his flesh, and
his bones.

151. Reader! pause over the view; and look one moment longer before you quit this beautiful portion of the
Word of God, and consider the different reception this Holy One finds in God the Father’s esteem, his
people, and the world. In God the Father’s esteem, he is declared to be the chief corner stone, elect,
precious. Yea, God speaks of him as One in whom his soul delighteth! And so great, and holy, and
gracious, that he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. In his people’s esteem, he is so
precious and se highly beloved, as to he the altogether lovely, and the fairest among ten thousand. But
to the world, a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence. He is despised and rejected of men. His
Person, his offices, his humble birth, his obscure life, his mean death; yea, all that relates to him as the
Savior of sinners, renders him an object of scorn. Oh! thou precious Lord of thy people! how is it that I
was made to believe in thee, while thousands reject the counsel of God against their own souls!
SBC, "The Divine Foundation.
I. Jesus Christ as the foundation-stone. This means that Jesus is (1) the cardinal truth of the Christian
system; (2) the central truth of Christianity; (3) the all-comprehensive truth of Christianity.
II. Jesus Christ is the corner-stone, or the harmonising truth, of Christianity. He is the corner-stone (1)
of the religions of the world; (2) of Christian doctrines; (3) of Christian Churches.
III. He is the sure foundation. "Whosoever believeth in Him shall not be confounded."
J. C. Jones, Studies in First Peter, p. 251.
I. Jesus Christ is the corner-stone, uniting Jews and Gentiles. (1) Jews and Gentiles met in His person.
(2) They had a place in His ministry. (3) They are united in the Church He established.
II. Jesus Christ is the corner-stone, uniting men and angels.
III. He unites God and man (1) in His person; (2) in His ministry; (3) in His Church.
J. C. Jones, Studies in First Peter, p. 271.
Reference: 1Pe_2:6.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiv., No. 1429.
1 Peter 2:6-7
Christ the One Foundation.
Let us consider a few of the senses in which Christ makes good this title of corner-stone.
I. How, do we think, did the first preachers to the heathen win converts? By appealing to men’s
deepest sense of need, to the felt necessity of a centralising, consolidating principle of human life. Two
things, at least, we must secure if life is not to be a failure. (1) One is something certainly true, a truth
to stand by amid uncertainties. As we advance in our earthly journey, perplexities gather round on all
sides; life has not verified our first expectations; it raises questions which it does not answer; there is a
confusion and discord of theories, but where is that which we can depend upon and grasp firmly,
looking life and death in the face? The answer is in the words of Jesus, "I am the Truth." (2) Again,
man needs a power of moral and spiritual rectification. He wants to be cleansed from his own
unholiness, relieved of his own sense of guilt, otherwise he cannot build in peace; how should he? Life,
to be worth having, must be a life with a quiet conscience. To believers in Christ He is all-precious,
because He can and does help them to become pure and single-hearted, high in aim and active in duty.
II. In His relation to the several doctrines and institutions of His kingdom, Christ sustains the

152. character of the one foundation. (1) It is so in regard to doctrines; He is the one object whom they set
before us. (2) He is also the foundation of all His ordinances. (3) If Christ be in these ways the
foundation of our spiritual life in all its aspects, should He not be also the foundation of all that we do?
Let us "consider our ways," and resume the building of the spiritual house within us, being assured
that the promise will be abundantly verified to us, "Be strong, and work, for I am with you."
W. Bright, Morality in Doctrine, p. 291.
7 ow to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who
do not believe,
"The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone,[b]"[c]
BAR ES, “Unto you therefore which believe - Christians are often called simply “believers,”
because faith in the Saviour is one of the prominent characteristics by which they are distinguished
from their fellow-men. It sufficiently describes any man, to say that he is a believer in the Lord Jesus.
He is precious - Margin, “an honor.” That is, according to the margin, it is an honor to believe on
him, and should be so regarded. This is true, but it is very doubtful whether this is the idea of Peter.
The Greek is ᅧ τιµᆱ hē timē; literally, “esteem, honor, respect, reverence;” then “value or price.” The
noun is probably used in the place of the adjective, in the sense of honorable, valued, precious; and it is
not incorrectly rendered in the text, “he is precious.” The connection demands this interpretation. The
apostle was not showing that it was an honor to believe on Christ, but was stating the estimate which
was put on him by those who believe, as contrasted with the view taken of him by the world. The truth
which is taught is, that while the Lord Jesus is rejected by the great mass of people, he is regarded by
all Christians as of inestimable value:
I. Of the fact there can be no doubt. Somehow, Christians perceive a value in him which is seen in
nothing else. This is evinced:
(a) In their avowed estimate of him as their best friend;
(b) In their being willing so far to honor him as to commit to him the keeping of their souls,
resting the whole question of their salvation upon him alone;
(c) In their readiness to keep his commands, and to serve him, while the mass of people
disobey him; and,
(d) In their being willing to die for him.
II. The reasons why he is so precious to them are such as these:
(1) They are brought into a condition where they can appreciate his worth. To see the value of
food, we must be hungry; of clothing, we must be exposed to the winter’s blast; of home, we
must be wanderers without a dwelling-place; of medicine, we must be sick; of competence, we
must be poor. So, to see the value of the Saviour, we must see that we are poor, helpless, dying
sinners; that the soul is of inestimable worth; that we have no merit of our own; and that

153. unless someone interpose, we must perish. Everyone who becomes a true Christian is brought
to this condition; and in this state he can appreciate the worth of the Saviour. In this respect
the condition of Christians is unlike that of the rest of mankind - for they are in no better state
to appreciate the worth of the Saviour, than the man in health is to appreciate the value of the
healing art, or than he who has never had a want unsupplied, the kindness of one who comes
to us with an abundant supply of food.
(2) The Lord Jesus is in fact of more value to them than any other benefactor. We have had
benefactors who have done us good, but none who have done us such good as he has. We have
had parents, teachers, kind friends, who have provided for us, taught us, relieved us; but all
that they have done for us is slight, compared with what he has done. The fruit of their
kindness, for the most part, pertains to the present world; and they have not laid down their
lives for us. What he has done pertains to our welfare to all eternity; it is the fruit of the
sacrifice of his own life. How precious should the name and memory of one be who has laid
down his own life to save us!
(3) We owe all our hopes of heaven to him; and in proportion to the value of such a hope, he is
precious to us. We have no hope of salvation but in him. Take that away - blot out the name
and the work of the Redeemer - and we see no way in which we could be saved; we have no
prospect of being saved. As our hope of heaven, therefore, is valuable to us; as it supports us in
trial; as it comforts us in the hour of death, so is the Saviour precious: and the estimate which
we form of him is in proportion to the value of such a hope.
(4) There is an intrinsic value and excellency in the character of Christ, apart from his relation to
us, which makes him precious to those who can appreciate his worth. In his character,
abstractedly considered, there was more to attract, to interest, to love, than in that of any other
one who ever lived in our world. There was more purity, more benevolence, more that was
great in trying circumstances, more that was generous and self-denying, more that resembled
God, than in any other one who ever appeared on earth. In the moral firmament, the character
of Christ sustains a pre-eminence above all others who have lived, as great as the glory of the
sun is superior to the feeble lights, though so numerous, which glimmer at midnight. With
such views of him, it is not to be wondered at that, however he may be estimated by the world,
“to them who believe, he is precious.”
But unto them which be disobedient - Literally, “unwilling to be persuaded,” (ᅊπειθᆱς apeithēs)
that is, those who refused to believe; who were obstinate or contumacious, Luk_1:17; Rom_1:30. The
meaning is, that to them he is made a stone against which they impinge, and ruin themselves. See the
notes at 1Pe_2:8.
The stone which the builders disallowed - Which they rejected, or refused to make a
cornerstone. The allusion here, by the word “builders,” is primarily to the Jews, represented as raising
a temple of salvation, or building with reference to eternal life. They refused to lay this stone, which
God had appointed, as the foundation of their hopes, but preferred some other foundation. See this
passage explained in the Mat_21:42 note; Act_4:11 note; and Rom_9:33 note.
The same is made the head of the corner - That is, though it is rejected by the mass of people,
yet God has in fact made it the cornerstone on which the whole spiritual temple rests, Act_4:11-12.
However people may regard it, there is, in fact, no other hope of heaven than that which is founded on
the Lord Jesus. If people are not saved by him, he becomes to them a stone of stumbling, and a rock of
offence.
CLARKE, “Unto you therefore which believe - You, both Jews and Gentiles.
He is precious - ᆙµιν ουν ᅧ τιµη τοις πιστευουσιν· The honor is to you who believe; i.e. the honor of
being in this building, and of having your souls saved through the blood of the Lamb, and becoming
sons and daughters of God Almighty.

154. Them which be disobedient - The Jews, who continue to reject the Gospel; that very person
whom they reject is head of the corner - is Lord over all, and has all power in the heavens and the
earth.
GILL, “Unto you therefore which believe,.... And such are not all they that can say their creed, or
give their assent to the articles of it; nor all that believe a divine revelation, and that the Scriptures are
the word of God, and give credit to all that is contained in the sacred oracles; or who believe the whole
Gospel, and all the truths of it; as that there is one God; that there are three persons in the Godhead,
Father, Son, and Spirit; that Christ is the Son of God, and truly God; that he is the Mediator between
God and man; that he is the Messiah, is become incarnate, has obeyed, suffered, and died for men, and
is the Saviour of them: that he rose again, ascended to heaven, is set down at the right hand of God,
intercedes for his people, and will come a second time to judge the world in righteousness; together
with all other truths which arise from, depend upon, and are connected with these; nor all that say
they believe, or profess to do so; but such who have seen themselves lost and undone by sin, their need
of a Saviour, and Christ as the only one; who have seen the Son, the beauty of his person, the fulness of
his grace, and the necessity and suitableness of salvation by him; who have beheld him as able to save
them, as every way proper for them, and desirable by them, for faith is a sight of Christ; who also come
to him under the drawings of efficacious grace, as perishing sinners, encouraged by his invitations and
declarations, and venture on him; who likewise lay hold upon him, as their Saviour, and will have no
other; give up themselves to him, and commit their all into his hands; who rely and stay themselves
upon him, trust him with all they have, and for all they want, expecting grace and glory from him; who
live upon him, and walk on in him, go on believing in him, till they receive the end of their faith, the
salvation of their souls. Now to these, in proof of what is asserted in the above passage out of Isaiah,
Christ is
precious; he is so in all his names and titles, as Immanuel, God with us, and that cluster of them in
Isa_9:6 and particularly his name Jesus, a Saviour, which is as ointment poured forth, and draws the
love of believers to him; and so he is in both his natures, divine and human; the perfections of deity in
him, his being in the form of God, and equal to him, the brightness of his Father's glory, and the
express image of his person, render him very amiable in the view of believers; who rightly conclude
from hence, that all he has done, and does, must answer the purposes for which they are designed; and
his having a perfect human nature, like to theirs, excepting sin, in which he wrought salvation for them
on earth, and is now glorified in heaven, makes him a delightful object to them: he is also precious to
them in all his offices; in his priestly office, his blood is precious, as it must needs be, since by it they
are purchased and redeemed; they are justified and sanctified by it; through it they have the
forgiveness of sin, and boldness to enter into the holiest of all: his righteousness is precious to them, it
being the best robe, the wedding garment, fine linen, clean and white, every way suitable to them, and
answerable to the demands of the law; is pure, perfect, and everlasting; that by which they are justified
from all things, and which will answer for them in a time to come, and entitles them to eternal life. His
sacrifice is precious, of a sweet smelling savour to them, as well as to God; by which their sins are fully
expiated, put, and taken away; full satisfaction being made for them, and they themselves thereby
perfected for ever. And so he is in his prophetic office. His word is precious, and all the truths of the
Gospel, which are comparable to gold, silver, and precious stones; the promises of it are exceeding
great and precious, being suited to the cases of all believers: and he is also precious in his kingly office;
his commands are not grievous; his yoke is easy, and burden light; believers love his commandments
above gold, yea; above fine gold, and esteem his precepts concerning all things to be right, and delight
in his ways and ordinances: moreover, he is precious to them in all his relations, as he is the head of
eminence and influence, their kind and loving husband, their everlasting Father, their affectionate
brother, and faithful friend; his whole person, in every view, is precious to them that believe; the
church of Christ, the members of his body, the sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, in these is all the
delight of saints; everything that is in Christ, that is of him, or belongs to him, is precious to such
souls: some read the words, "to you therefore that believe, he is honour"; as the Vulgate Latin, Arabic,

155. and Ethiopic versions; and so the word is rendered in Rom_13:7, he is both an honour to them, that
they are related to him; and he is honoured by them, by believing in him, and obeying him; and he is
the cause of all their true honour, both in this and the other world. The Syriac version renders it, "to
therefore is this honour given"; namely, that such a stone is laid, and that they were built upon it, and
should not be confounded or ashamed, either here or hereafter; connecting the words with the
preceding. The Septuagint use the word the apostle here does, in Isa_11:10 where it is prophesied of
the Messiah, that his rest shall be glorious; they render it τιµη, "honour", or "precious". The Jewish
writers have adopted the word ‫טימי‬ into their language, and use it for profit and gain (w); in which sense it is
applicable to Christ, who is gain to believers, both in life and in death; they being blessed with all spiritual
blessings in him, and he being all in all to them: and also they use it, as denoting the intrinsic price and value of
anything (x), and which is a right sense of the word; and to believers the price of wisdom, or Christ, is far above
rubies, and all the things that can be desired; to them he is precious as a stone, as a foundation and corner stone,
and more precious than the most precious stones or things in nature; this he is to them that believe: next follows,
in this and the other verse, the account of what he is to them that believe not:
but unto them which be disobedientbut unto them which be disobedientbut unto them which be disobedientbut unto them which be disobedient; who are not persuadable, unbelieving, and are children of disobedience;
who neither obey God and his righteous law, nor Christ and his Gospel:
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the cornerthe stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the cornerthe stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the cornerthe stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner; reference is manifestly had to
Psa_118:22 which is a passage that clearly belongs to the Messiah, and which is suggested by Christ himself; see
Gill on Mat_21:42; and is by our apostle, in Act_4:11 applied unto him: by the builders are meant the rulers of
the Jews, both civil and ecclesiastical, and especially the latter, the Scribes, Pharisees, and chief priests; who set
up for builders of the church of God, but were miserable ones; they built themselves, and taught others to build,
on the observance of the ceremonial law, and the traditions of the elders; on their carnal privileges, and moral
righteousness; and these disallowed of Christ in the building, rejected him as the Messiah, refused him as the
Saviour and Redeemer, and set him at nought, had him in the utmost derision, and reckoned him as a worm, and
no man; but, to their great mortification, he is not only laid and retained as the foundation and cornerstone, but
made the head of the building, and is exalted at God's right hand above angels and men; he is the head of the
body, the church; he is higher than the kings of the earth, and angels are subject to him,
HE RY, “III. He deduces an important inference, 1Pe_2:7. Jesus Christ is said to be the chief
corner-stone. Hence the apostle infers with respect to good men, “To you therefore who believe he is
precious, or he is an honour. Christ is the crown and honour of a Christian; you who believe will be so
far from being ashamed of him that you will boast of him and glory in him for ever.” As to wicked men,
the disobedient will go on to disallow and reject Jesus Christ; but God is resolved that he shall be, in
despite of all opposition, the head of the corner. Learn, 1. Whatever is by just and necessary
consequence deduced from scripture may be depended upon with as much certainty as if it were
contained in express words of scripture. The apostle draws an inference from the prophet's testimony.
The prophet did not expressly say so, but yet he said that from which the consequence was
unavoidable. Our Saviour bids them search the scriptures, because they testified of him; and yet no
place in those scriptures to which he there refers them said that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah.
Yet those scriptures do say that he who should be born of a virgin, before the sceptre departed from

156. Judah, during the second temple, and after Daniel's seventy weeks, was the Messiah; but such was
Jesus Christ: to collect this conclusion one must make use of reason, history, eye-sight, experience,
and yet it is an infallible scripture - conclusion notwithstanding. 2. The business of a faithful minister
is to apply general truths to the particular condition and state of his hearers. The apostle quotes a
passage (1Pe_2:6) out of the prophet, and applies it severally to good and bad. This requires wisdom,
courage, and fidelity; but it is very profitable to the hearers. 3. Jesus Christ is exceedingly precious to
all the faithful. The majesty and grandeur of his person, the dignity of his office, his near relation, his
wonderful works, his immense love - every thing engages the faithful to the highest esteem and respect
for Jesus Christ. 4. Disobedient people have no true faith. By disobedient people understand those that
are unpersuadable, incredulous, and impenitent. These may have some right notions, but no solid
faith. 5. Those that ought to be builders of the church of Christ are often the worst enemies that Christ
has in the world. In the Old Testament the false prophets did the most mischief; and in the New
Testament the greatest opposition and cruelty that Christ met with were from the scribes, pharisees,
chief priests, and those who pretended to build and take care of the church. Still the hierarchy of Rome
is the worst enemy in the world to Jesus Christ and his interest. 6. God will carry on his own work, and
support the interest of Jesus Christ in the world, notwithstanding the falseness of pretended friends
and the opposition of his worst enemies.
JAMISO , “Application of the Scripture just quoted first to the believer, then to the unbeliever. On
the opposite effects of the same Gospel on different classes, compare Joh_9:39; 2Co_2:15, 2Co_2:16.
precious — Greek, “THE preciousness” (1Pe_2:6). To you believers belongs the preciousness of
Christ just mentioned.
disobedient — to the faith, and so disobedient in practice.
the stone which ... head of ... corner — (Psa_118:22). Those who rejected the STONE were all
the while in spite of themselves unconsciously contributing to its becoming Head of the corner. The
same magnet has two poles, the one repulsive, the other attractive; so the Gospel has opposite effects
on believers and unbelievers respectively.
CALVIN, “7.Unto you therefore which believe God having pronounced Christ to be a precious and a chosen stone,
Peter draws the inference that he is so to us. For, no doubt, Christ is there described such as we apprehend him by
faith, and such as he proves himself to be by real evidences. We ought, then, carefully to notice this inference: Christ
is a precious stone in the sight of God; then he is such to the faithful. It is faith alone which reveals to us the value and
excellency of Christ.
But as the design of the Apostle was to obviate the offense which the multitude of the ungodly creates, he immediately
adds another clause respecting the unbelieving, that by rejecting Christ, they do not take away the honor granted him
by the Father. For this purpose a verse in Psa_118:22 , isQUOTED , that the stone which the
builders rejected, is become, nevertheless, the head of the corner. It hence follows,
that Christ, though opposed by his enemies, yet continues in that dignity to which he
has been appointed by the Father. But we must take notice of the two things here said,
— the first is, that Christ was rejected by those who bore rule in the Church of God;
and the other, that their efforts were all in vain, because necessarily fulfilled must have
been what God had decreed, that is, that he, as the corner-stone, should sustain the
edifice.
Moreover, that this passage ought properly to be understood of Christ, not only the Holy Spirit is a witness, and Christ
himself, who has thus explained it, (Mat_21:42 ;) but it appears also evident from this, that it was thus commonly
understood before Christ came into the world; nor is there a doubt but this exposition had been delivered as it were
from hand to hand from the fathers. We hence see that this was, as it were, a common saying even among children
respecting the Messiah. I shall, therefore, no longer discuss this point. We may take it as granted, that David was thus
rejected by his own age, that he might typify Christ.

157. Let us now, then, return to the first clause: Christ was rejected by the builders. This was first shadowed forth in David;
for they who were in power counted him as condemned and lost. The same was fulfilled in Christ; for they who ruled in
the Church, rejected him as far as they could. It might have greatly disturbed the weak, when they saw that Christ’
enemies were so many, even the priests, the elders, and teachers, in whom alone the Church was conspicuously
seen. In order to remove this offense, Peter reminded the faithful that this very thing had been predicted by David. He
especially addressed the Jews, to whom this properly applied; at the same time, this admonition is very useful at this
day. For they who arrogate to themselves the first place of authority in the Church, are Christ’ most inveterate
enemies, and with diabolical fury persecute his Gospel.
The Pope calls himself the vicar of Christ, and yet we know how fiercely he opposes him. This spectacle frightens the
simple and ignorant. Why is this? even because they consider not that what David has predicted happens now. Let us,
then, remember that not those only were by this prophecy warned who saw Christ rejected by the Scribes and
Pharisees; but that we are also by it fortified against daily offenses, which might otherwise upset our faith. Whenever
then, we see those who glory in the title of prelates, rising up against Christ, let it come to our minds, that the stone is
rejected by the builders, according to the prediction of David. And as the metaphor of building is common, when
political or spiritual government is spoken of, so David calls them builders, to whom is committed the care and power
of governing; not because they build rightly, but because they have the name of builders, and possess the ordinary
power. It hence follows, that those in office are not always God’ true and faithful ministers. It is, therefore, extremely
ridiculous in the Pope and his followers to arrogate to themselves supreme and indubitable authority on this sole
pretense, that they are the ordinary governors of the Church. In the first place, their vocation to govern the Church is in
no way more just or more legitimate than that of Heliogabalus to govern the empire. But though we should allow them
what they unblushingly claim, that they are rightly called, yet we see what David declares respecting the ordinary
rulers of the Church, that they rejected Christ, so that they built a stye for swine rather than a temple for God. The
other part follows, that all the great, proud of their power and dignity, shall not prevail, so that Christ should
notCONTINUE in his own place.
And a stone of stumbling After having comforted the faithful, that they would have in Christ a firm and permanent
foundation, though the greater part, and even the chief men, allowed him no place in the building, he now denounces
the punishment which awaits all the unbelieving, in order that they might be terrified by their example. For this purpose
heQUOTES the testimony of Isa_8:14 . The Prophet there declares that the Lord would be to the Jews a stone of
stumbling and rock of offense. This properly refers to Christ, as it may be seen from the context; and PaulAPPLIES
it to Christ, (Rom_9:32 .) For in him the God of hosts has plainly manifested himself.
Here, then, the terrible vengeance of God is denounced on all the ungodly, because Christ would be to them an
offense and a stumbling, inasmuch as they refused to make him their foundation. For as the firmness and stability of
Christ is such that it can sustain all who by faith recumb on him; so his hardness is so great that it will break and tear in
pieces all who resist him. For there is no medium between these two things, — we must either build on him, or be
dashed against him. (23)
(23) There are in this verse two quotations, one from Psa_118:22 , and the other from Isa_8:14 . That from the
Psalms is literally the Sept., and is the same asQUOTED in Mat_21:42 ;Mar_12:10 ; and Luk_20:17 . In all
these instances it is λίθον, and not λίθος according to the Hebrew. It is therefore necessary to consider κατὰ as
to, or, with respect to, as understood, a thing not uncommon in Greek. With regard to ἡ τιµὴ, a noun for an adjective, it
refers to the stone, or to him, in the preceding verse; but as the metaphor of stone is still continued in this verse, it is
better to retain it here, “ is precious,” that is, the stone; and especially as Christ is represented before, in 1Pe_2:4 , a
stone “” in the sight of God. — Ed.
PULPIT, "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious; rather, unto you therefore which
believe is the honor. The apostle APPLIES the last clause of the prophecy to his readers: they
believe, they are built up by faith upon the chief Cornerstone; therefore the honor implied in
the words of the prophet, "He that believeth on him shall not be confounded" is theirs. There
may also be in the word τιµή , honor, an echo of the ἔντιµος ("precious," literally, "held in

158. honor") of 1Pe_2:6; and thus the further meaning may be implied, "The worth which the stone
has it has for you who believe" (Wiesinger, quoted by Huther). But the first explanation is
nearer to the Greek. But unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders
disallowed, the same is made the Head of the corner; rather, as in the Revised Version, for
such as disbelieve. St. Peter repeats the words of the hundred and eighteenth psalm, quoted
by our Lord in Mat_21:42, and by himself in Act_4:11. The builders, the priests and teachers
of the Jewish Church, rejected the living Stone; but it became, and INDEED through that
rejection, the Head of the corner. "He became obedient unto death .. therefore God also
highly exalted him." If this psalm is post-Exilic, as most modern critics think, the cornerstone,
in its first application, may be Israel regarded as a whole. The great builders, the rulers of
Assyria, Babylon, Persia, had despised that stone; but it was chosen of God, and now it was
set in Zion. It is possible, as Hengstenberg and Delitzsch suggest, that the building of the
second temple may have recalled to the mind of the psalmist Isaiah's prophecy of the chief
Corner-stone.
SPURGEON, "As all the rivers run into the sea, so all delights centre in our Beloved. The
glances of his eyes outshine the sun: the beauties of his face are fairer than the choicest
flowers: no fragrance is like the breath of his mouth. Gems of the mine, and pearls from the
sea, are worthless things when measured by his preciousness. Peter tells us that Jesus is
precious, but he did not and could not tell us how precious, nor could any of us compute the
value of God's unspeakable gift. Words cannot set forth the preciousness of the Lord Jesus to
his people, nor fully tell how essential he is to their satisfaction and happiness. Believer, have
you NOT FOUND in the midst of plenty a sore famine if your Lord has been absent? The sun
was shining, but Christ had hidden himself, and all the world was black to you; or it was night,
and since the bright and morning star was gone, no other star could yield you so much as a
ray of light. What a howling wilderness is this world without our Lord! If once he hideth himself
from us, withered are the flowers of our garden; our pleasant fruits decay; the birds suspend
their songs, and a tempest overturns our hopes. All earth's candles cannot make daylight if
the Sun of Righteousness be eclipsed. He is the soul of our soul, the light of our light, the life
of our life. Dear reader, what wouldst thou do in the world without him, when thou wakest up
and lookest forward to the day's battle? What wouldst thou do at night, when thou comest
home jaded and weary, if there were no door of fellowship between thee and Christ? Blessed
be his name, he will not suffer us to try our lot without him, for Jesus never forsakes his own.
Yet, let the thought of what life would be without him enhance his preciousness.
LANGE, "1Pe_2:7. To you then, who believe, is the honour, etc.—The sense of ἡ ôéìÞ is
determined by the antithesis to the preceding êáôáéó÷õíèῇ , and at the same time refers back
to ἔíôéìïò , while the part of unbelievers is nothing but shame, faith is to you honour and glory,
cf. 1Pe_1:7; 1Pe_2:9. This dignity is farther enlarged upon at 1Pe_2:9 but the relation of
unbelievers to Christ has first to be discussed.
ἀðåéèåῖí relates as much to promises and facts as to precepts, cf. Heb_3:18-19; Heb_4:2-3;
Heb_4:6; Joh_3:36; Act_14:2; Act_17:5; Rom_2:8; Rom_10:21; Rom_11:30; the contrast in
this place gives prominence to the former relation.

159. ëßèïí , literally taken from the LXX. version of Psa_118:22. Here also ëßèïò is in the
Accusative. This case may have been retained with reference to ôßèçìé in 1Pe_2:6.
(Lachmann reads ëßèïò .)
ïἱ ïἰêïäïìïῦíôåò , the chiefs, the dignitaries of the Jewish state are the builders, who tear up the
foundation. “Whenever we see the dignitaries rise against Christ, we will call to mind the
prediction of David, that the stone is rejected by the builders.” Calvin, cf. Rom_11:8;
1Th_2:15-16; 1Co_1:23.— ïὑôïò , emphatically just this one and no other.
åἰò expresses the destination and development towards the foundation-stone. Since His
resurrection, He stands as the rock supporting His Church, but as a stone of stumbling and
rock of offence to unbelievers, according to Isa_8:14.
Holy Scripture is silent concerning the predestination of individuals to unbelief, sin and
damnation, although it teaches that God has (temporally) concluded all in unbelief, that he
might have mercy upon all, Rom_11:32.
CONSTABLE 7-8, "In contrast to believers, those who reject Jesus Christ as the foundation
find Him to be a stone over which they trip and fall. He becomes the instrument of their
destruction. The "builders" were Israel's religious leaders (cf. Psalms 118:22). When they
disobeyed Old Testament commands to accept their Messiah, they stumbled spiritually and
would suffer destruction (Isaiah 8:14). This was true of Israel corporately, and it is true of
every unbeliever individually.
Jesus Christ was the stone that would have completed Israel had Israel's leaders accepted
Him as their Messiah, Israel's keystone. Instead, the Israelites cast the stone aside by
rejecting their Messiah. God then PROCEEDED to make this stone the foundation of a new
edifice that He would build, namely, the church. Israel's rejected keystone has become the
church's foundation stone.
Election results in the salvation of some (1 Peter 1:2), but it also means destruction for others
(1 Peter 2:8).
"In the immediate context it is not so much a question of how Christian believers perceive
Christ as of how God (in contrast to 'people generally') perceives him, and of how God
consequently vindicates both Christ and his followers." NOTE: Michaels, p. 104.]
To what does God appoint those who stumbled, unbelief or the stumbling that results from
unbelief? In the Greek text the antecedent of "to this" (eis ho) is the main verb "stumble"

160. (proskoptousi), as it is in the English text. "Are disobedient" (apeithountes) is a participle that
is subordinate to the main verb. Therefore we would expect "to this" to refer to the main verb
"stumble" rather than to the subordinate participle "are disobedient." God appoints those who
stumble to stumble because they do not believe. Their disobedience is not what God has
ordained, but the penalty of their disobedience is (cf. Acts 2:23; Romans 11:8; Romans 11:11;
Romans 11:30-32). [Note: Bigg, p. 133.]
The doctrine of "double predestination" is that God foreordains some people to damnation just
as He foreordains some to salvation. This has seemed to some Bible students to be the
logical conclusion we should draw because of what Scripture says about the election of
believers (e.g., Romans 9; Ephesians 1). However this is not a scriptural revelation. The Bible
always places the responsibility for the destiny of the lost on them for not believing rather than
on God for foreordaining (e.g., John 1:12; John 3:36; John 5:24; John 6:47; Romans 1-3).
". . . the point of 1 Peter 2:6-8 is to demonstrate the honored STATUS believers have because
of their relationship with Christ." [Note: Fanning, pp. 453-54.]
PRECXEPTAUSTIN, “When the Jewish leaders looked at the Stone (Christ) Who "invaded"
their religious world, He was not wanted, did not fit in with their theological plans & was
useless & unsuitable for what they were building & was not worth the price. Men by their
Adamic nature are REBELS to the core & thus continue to reject Jesus for much the same
reason -- they want to build their own "castles" the way they want (Pr14:12, 16:25) (doing
what is right in their own eyes, living unrestained by His call to holiness & godliness made
available thru His indwelling Spirit: cp Jud21:25, Pr29:18).
When Solomon's temple was being built, the odd-shaped stone which seemed not to fit
anywhere turned out to be the chief cornerstone, designed for the very apex of the temple.
The stones had all been precisely cut deep in the quarry, so that no noise of construction
could be heard while the temple was growing (1Ki5:17; 6:7). In analogous fashion, each
believer is being laid quietly as a living stone in the great spiritual temple. But the unique
stone of the pinnacle corner is Christ Himself, who is also the temple's foundation. He is both
underneath all, upholding us, and above all, crowning us as our glorious Head.
The living Cornerstone is the first stone laid. All other stones are placed after it. It is the
preeminent stone in time. (Heb2:10, 6:19,20, 12:2, etc). The Cornerstone is the supportive
stone. All other stones are placed upon Him(1Co3:11, Ep2:20) and held together by Him
(Col2:19). They all rest upon it. It is the preeminent stone in position and power. So it is with
Christ; He is the support and power,
ELLICOTT, "(7) He is precious.—Rather, Unto you therefore, the believers, belongs the
honour. So said in reference to His being called “a stone elect, honoured,” taken in
conjunction with “shall not be ashamed.” Both the Hebrew and the Greek word rendered
“precious” may with equal propriety be translated “honoured,” and this contrasts better with
the “shame” just spoken of. Thus Dr. Lightfoot takes it. The argument is this: “God has
SELECTED Jesus for special honour, and has promised that all who trust in Him, instead of

161. scorning Him like the Jewish rulers, shall have no cause to blush. Now you do trust in Him,
therefore to you belongs the promise, and the honour bestowed by God on Him reflects on
you. You, like Him, are made parts of the divine imperishable architecture.”
Unto them which be disobedient.—The better reading is, Unto them which disbelieve; the
other word being an importation from 1 Peter 2:8. The true reading better preserves the
contrast with “you that believe.”
The stone which the builders disallowed.—We should perhaps have rather expected the
sentence to run more like this: “To you which believe belongs the honour, but to those who
disbelieve belongs the shame from which you are SECURED.” But instead, the Apostle stops
short, and inserts (by a quotation) the historical fact which brought the shame, viz., the
disappointment of their own design, and the glorious completion of that which they opposed.
The words which follow are quoted directly from the LXX., and properly represent the Hebrew.
Almost all the best modern critics consider the Psalm from which this verse is cited to be a
late Psalm, written subsequent to the return from Babylon, in which case it is most probable
that the composer was directly thinking of the prophecy of Isaiah above quoted. The
Messianic interpretation of the Psalm would be no novelty to the Hebrews who received this
Epistle (see Matthew 21:9), though probably they had not perceived it in its fulness. In its first
APPLICATION the passage seems to mean as follows: The speaker is Israel, taken as a
single person. He has been a despised captive. The great builders of the world—the
Babylonian and Persian empires—had recognised no greatness in him, and had no intention
of advancing him; they were engaged in aggrandisement of self alone. Yet, after all, Israel is
firmly planted once more in Sion, to be the first stone of a new structure, a new empire. Thus
this interpretation at once suggests the admission of the Gentiles, humanity at large, into the
architecture. Israel is the corner-stone, but corner-stones are not laid to be left unbuilt upon.
In the fulfilment Christ takes the place of Israel, as is the case with Isaiah 53. The builders are
the rulers of the Jews. In Acts 4:11 our author had called the Sanhedrin to their face, “you
builders.” They, like the kings of Babylon, had been intent on building a fabric of their own,
and had despised Jesus, yet, without any intention of so doing, had been the means of
advancing Him (Acts 4:27-28). He had been made the basis of a new spiritual structure, in
which faith, not fleshly lineage, was the cement and bond; and the believing Israelites, united
to Him in both ways, shared the honour of being corner-stone. A further point is given to the
quotation if we suppose, with Hengstenberg, Delitzsch, and others, that the remembrance of
Isaiah’s prophecy of the “corner-stone” was suggested to the original Psalmist by the works of
the Second Temple, then begun, advancing, or fresh completed. It will then fit in more
perfectly with the description of the “spiritual house.” Leighton well points out how sore a trial
it was to the faith of Jewish Christians to see that their own chosen people, even the most
learned of them, rejected Christ, and adds, “That they may know this makes nothing against
Him, nor ought to invalidate their faith at all, but rather testifies with Christ, and so serves to
CONFIRM them in believing, the Apostle makes use of those prophetical scriptures that
foretell the unbelief and contempt with which the most would entertain Christ.”
CHARLES SIMEON, "CHRIST PRECIOUS TO BELIEVERS

162. 1Pe_2:7. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious.
THERE is a great difference between the views of natural and spiritual men. This exists even
with respect to things temporal; much more in those which are spiritual and eternal. It appears
particularly with respect to Christ. Hence St. Peter represents him as disallowed of some, but
chosen by others. This was designed of God, and agreeable to the prophecies; and it justifies
the inference drawn from it in the text.
We shall,
I. CONFIRM this saying of the Apostle, that Christ is precious to believers—
We might suppose that Christ would be precious to all men; but he is not so. Nevertheless he
is so to all that truly believe.
The HISTORY of the Old Testament affords abundant proof of this—
[Abraham rejoiced to see his day, though at a distance [Note: Joh_8:56.]. Job delighted in the
thoughts of death as introducing him to his presence [Note: Job_19:25-27.]. Moses esteemed
reproach for his sake [Note: Heb_11:26.]. David regarded nothing in earth or heaven in
comparison of him [Note: Psa_73:25.]. Isaiah exulted in the prospect of his incarnation [Note:
Isa_9:6.]. All the prophets contemplated him as the Messiah, the Saviour of the world.]
The New Testament Scriptures confirm it—
[The Virgin, while he was yet in her womb, sang his praises [Note: Luk_1:47.]—The angels
congratulated the shepherds on his incarnation [Note: Luk_2:10.]—The just and devout
Simeon after seeing him, could depart in peace [Note: Luk_2:29-30.]—John Baptist, as the
bridegroom’s friend, rejoiced in his voice [Note: Joh_3:29.]—How precious was he to that
Mary who was a sinner [Note: Luk_7:38.]—St. Paul counted all as dung for the knowledge of
him, was willing to be bound, or to die for him, and knew no comfort like the expectation of
being with him [Note: Php_3:8. Act_21:13. 1Th_4:18.]—The glorified saints and angels
incessantly adore him [Note: Rev_5:12-13. This and all the foregoing passages should be
cited in whole or in part.]—]

163. The experience of living saints accords with that of those who have gone before [Note: There
are many to whom he is ô é ì ὴ , preciousness itself; who ACCOUNT him as the pearl of great
price, desire to know more of him, grieve that they cannot love him more, welcome every
thing that leads to him, and despise all in comparison of him.]. The world even wonders at
them on account of their ATTACHMENT to him.
II. Account for the fact, and shew why he is so precious to them—
They have reason enough for their attachment:
They love him for his own excellence—
[He is infinitely above all created beauty or goodness. Shall they then regard these qualities in
the creature, and not in him? Whosoever views him by faith cannot but admire and adore
him.]
They love him for his suitableness to their necessities—
[There is in Christ all which believers can want; nor can they find any other capable of
supplying their need: hence they delight in him as their “all in all.”]
They love him for the benefits they receive from him—
[They have received from him pardon, peace, strength, &c. Can they do otherwise than
account him precious?]
We may rather wonder why all do not feel the same attachment.
III. Shew why this regard for him is found in them exclusively—
There certainly exists no reason on his part; he is good to all. But unbelievers cannot love
him:

164. 1. Because they have no views of his excellency—
[The god of this world has blinded them that they cannot see him [Note: 2Co_4:4.]. How then
should they esteem him, whose excellency they know not? They must of necessity be
indifferent to him, as men are to things of little value.]
2. Because they feel no need of him—
[Christ is valuable only as a remedy [Note: Isa_32:2.]; nor can any man desire him as a
physician, a fountain, a refuge, unless he feel some disease, some thirst, some danger.]
APPLICATION—
[All, who have any spiritual discernment, feel a love to Christ: he is beloved of the Father, of
angels, and of saints. None but devils and unbelievers despise him; and shall any, who do not
account him precious, be objects of his regard? Surely his final decision will correspond with
that declaration [Note: 1Sa_2:30.].—Let all then believe in him, that he may become precious
to them; nor let any be dejected because they cannot delight in him as they wish. The more
we love him, the more shall we lament the coldness of our love. In a little time all the powers
of our souls shall act without controul. Then shall we glory in him with unrestrained and
unabated ardour.]
CHARLES SIMEON, "THE DIFFERENT STATES OF BELIEVERS AND UNBELIEVERS
1Pe_2:7-10. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be
disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the
corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the
word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 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: 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.
THERE is a great and manifest difference put between men in respect to the advantages they
enjoy, and the endowments they possess. Some are born to great possessions, while others

165. from their birth experience nothing but penury and want. Some are blessed with a strength of
intellect, that qualifies them for the deepest researches; while others are so limited in their
capacities, that they can scarcely comprehend the plainest and simplest things. A still greater
difference obtains in respect to the opportunities which men have for spiritual instruction. As
of old, the light of divine truth was confined to one single nation, so, at this present moment,
there is but a small part of the world who hear any thing of Christ, and a very small part
INDEED to whom the Gospel is preached in its purity. Such being unquestionably the
dispensations of God’s providence, we must not wonder if a similar exercise of sovereignty
appear in the dispensations of his grace. To draw the precise limits, where human agency
concurs with the operations of God’s Spirit, or where it resists and frustrates them, is beyond
our power; but of this we may be well assured,—that all evil is from man; all good from God.
We shall have strong evidence of this in the passage before us; in which we see the
difference that exists between different men,
I. In their regard for Christ—
Mankind may be divided into two classes; believers, and unbelievers.
Now of all the things which may serve to distinguish these, there is none more decisive than
their different regard to Christ.
To the believer, Christ is “precious”—
[We need not ENTER into all the grounds of a believer’s love to Christ: suffice it to say, that
he feels himself indebted to Christ for all his hopes in this life, and for all his prospects in the
NEXT. He has washed in the fountain of the Redeemer’s blood, and has been cleansed by it
from all sin: he has lived by faith on the Son of God, and has received out of his fulness all
needful supplies of grace and peace. Hence he looks upon Christ, not merely as a friend and
benefactor, but as a Saviour from death and hell. He esteems him, not only as precious, but
as preciousness [Note: ô é ì ὴ .] itself. In comparison of him, all other things are considered as
dung and dross [Note: Php_3:8.].]
To the unbeliever, Christ is “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence”—
[Unbelief and disobedience are so nearly allied, that they are, in the Greek language,
expressed by the same word [Note: ἀ ð å é è å ß á . Compare Rom_11:32. with Eph_2:2.].
Indeed unbelief is the highest act of disobedience; for “this is God’s commandment, that we
should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ [Note: 1Jn_3:23.].”

166. To exercise faith on Christ is the duty of all. He is “the stone which is laid in Zion,” and on
which we are to build all our hopes. But “the builders themselves, the heads of the Jewish
Church, rejected him:” and notwithstanding “he is become the head of the corner,” “the
disobedient” still reject him. It was foretold that this would be the treatment shewn him by the
generality [Note: Psa_118:22.]: and the event has fully justified the prediction. The grounds
indeed on which men reject him, are altered; but their conduct towards him is the same as
was observed in the days of old. The Jews were offended at his mean appearance, and his
high pretensions; and particularly at his professing to supersede the Mosaic law: and, on
these accounts, they crucified him as an impostor. We on the contrary, profess to honour him
as the true Messiah; but are offended at the salvation which he has revealed: we think it too
humiliating in its doctrines, and too strict in its precepts: we cannot endure to give him all the
glory of our salvation: nor can we SUBMIT to walk in those paths of holiness and selfdenial
which he has trodden before us. On these accounts many reject his Gospel: they cry out
against it, as discouraging the practice of good works, as opening the very flood-gates of
iniquity, and (Strange as the contradiction is) making the way to heaven so strait and difficult
that no one can walk in it. Thus, instead of building on Christ as the foundation-stone, they
make him only “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence [Note: Isa_8:14.].”]
How far this is to be traced to any antecedent purposes of God, will appear more distinctly,
while we mark the difference between them,
II. In their states before God—
In the words of the text there is a double antithesis, which is rather obscured by the present
translation, but which should be noticed in order to a clear understanding of the passage
[Note: The word s in Italics, ver. 8. should be left out; and Ï ἱ be translated “these.” The double
antithesis will then be clear:—Õ ì ῖ í , he is precious; ἀ ð å é è ï ῦ ó ä ὲ , he is a stumbling-
block. Ï ἰ , these, stumble through their own depravity; Ὑ ì å ῖ ò ä ὲ , enjoy your privileges as a
chosen generation.].
“These (the unbelievers) stumble at the word, being disobedient”—
[In what manner they stumble at the word, has been already noticed. We must now
endeavour to trace their stumbling to its proper causes.
It is certainly, in the first instance, owing to their own “disobedience.” Men are filled with pride,
and are unwilling to embrace any sentiment that tends to abase them. They are also full of
worldly and carnal lusts, which they cannot endure to have mortified and subdued. In short,

167. their prejudices and their passions are altogether adverse to the Gospel: sc that, when the
word is preached to them, they instantly set themselves against it. In vain are proofs adduced;
in vain are motives urged; in vain are all human efforts to conciliate their regard to Christ: the
language of their hearts is, “I have loved strangers, and after them will I go [Note: Jer_2:25.].”
The contempt which the Pharisees poured on Christ, on account of his prohibiting the love of
money, is traced by the Evangelists to this very source; “The Pharisees were covetous, and
they derided him [Note: Luk_16:14.].” And our Lord expressly recommends obedience as the
best preparative for receiving the knowledge of his Gospel; “If any man will do God’s will, he
shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God [Note: Joh_7:17.].”
But, according to the words of the text, it seems as if men’s unbelief was to be traced
ultimately to the decrees of God respecting them. We cannot however understand them as
establishing so awful a doctrine: nay, we cannot think that the doctrine of absolute reprobation
can ever be established, while those words remain in the Bible, “As I live, saith the Lord God,
I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner [Note: Eze_33:11.].” Nevertheless we are not
disposed to explain away the words of the text; for they certainly have a very awful and
important meaning, to which it becomes us to attend. God has decreed, that they who will not
receive the Gospel for the illumination of their minds, shall eventually be blinded by it; that
they who are not softened by it, shall be hardened [Note: Isa_6:9-10.]; that they to whom it is
not “a savour of life unto life, shall find it a savour of death unto death [Note: 2Co_2:16.].” The
Gospel is certainly so constituted, that it shall produce these effects. Christ is “set for the fall,
as well as for the rising, of many in Israel [Note: Luk_2:34.].” “He is for a sanctuary,” to
PROTECT and save the humble; but he is also “for a stone of stumbling,” yea, “for a gin and
a snare, that many (even all that are proud, perverse, and obstinate) may stumble and fall,
and be broken, and be snared, and be taken [Note: Isa_8:14-15.].”]
“But ye” (believers) are exalted to the highest privileges by the Gospel—
[The various terms here used were originally intended to mark the privileges of the Jewish
nation [Note: Exo_19:6. Deu_7:6.]: but they are APPLICABLE to believers in a higher and
more appropriate sense.
Believers are “a chosen generation:” they have been “chosen of God from before the
foundation of the world [Note: Eph_1:4.].” Though the misery of unbelievers is owing, not to
any absolute decrees of reprobation, but to their own pride and wickedness, we must not
imagine that the happiness of believers is owing to their own inherent goodness: for they have
no good qualities which they have not first received from God [Note: 1Co_4:7.]; and
consequently their good qualities are the effect, not the cause, of God’s kindness to them.
Though therefore we cannot accede to the doctrine of reprobation, we have no doubt
whatever on the subject of election; since both by Scripture and experience it is established
on the firmest grounds.

168. Believers are also “a royal priesthood:” they are now made both “kings and priests unto God
[Note: Rev_1:6.].” They are chosen of God to reign over their own lusts, and to have the
nearest access to him in all holy duties. There is no difference now between Jew and Gentile,
or between male and female: but all are permitted to approach unto the mercy-seat of their
God, and to offer to him the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise.
Moreover, they are “a holy nation, and a peculiar people.” All are united under the same King;
all obey the same laws; all participate the same interests. They are all separated by God, and
“set apart for himself:” they are not of the world, though they are in it: they are mere “pilgrims
and sojourners” here; and are travelling to “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and
maker is God.”
All these distinctions they enjoy; and they owe them all to the sovereign grace of God.]
Address—
1. Unbelievers—
[You need only to examine your regard for Christ, and you will soon find with which class you
are to be numbered. You may easily discover whether Christ be supremely precious to your
souls, or whether you are averse to the doctrines and precepts of his Gospel.
Think with yourselves, what guilt you contract, and to what danger you are exposed, while
you remain insensible to all the love of Christ: your guilt is greater than that of the very
persons who crucified him, because you sin against greater light, and contradict your most
solemn professions. O provoke not God to give you over to judicial blindness; nor make God’s
richest mercy an occasion of your more aggravated condemnation!]
2. Believers—
[You see in the latter part of the text how infinitely you are indebted to your God: once you
were in darkness; now you are “brought into the marvellous light” of his Gospel: “once you
were not the people of God; now you are: once you had not obtained mercy; now you have
obtained mercy.”
And for what end has God vouchsafed to make this alteration in your state, and to distinguish

169. you thus from millions, who are still left in the very condition in which you so lately were? Was
it not “that you should shew forth the praises, yea the virtues [Note: ἀ ñ å ô ὰ ò .] too, of Him
that called you?” Entertain then a becoming sense of your obligations: and endeavour to
“render unto the Lord according to the benefits” conferred upon you. Shew forth his praises by
frequent and devout acknowledgments; and shew forth his virtues by following his steps and
obeying his commandments.]
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "Unto you therefore which believe He is precious.
Jesus precious to true believers
I. The persons, together with their faith, to whom Jesus is precious.
1. The grace of faith, which renders Jesus precious to the soul, is not the faith of assent, or such a
faith by which men credit the testimony of Jesus through the gospel.
2. It is not only a believing of Christ, but a believing in Christ-the soul’s receiving of, and resting
upon Him alone for righteousness, pardon, and salvation.
3. That faith works by love (Gal_5:6).
(1) This faith is ever attended with an affectionate desire of the company of Jesus Christ (Son
4:6; Psa_4:6; Job_23:3; Isa_26:8).
(2) With delightful thoughts of Him (Psa_139:17).
(3) With cheerful service to Him (Psa_119:4-5).
(4) Such as believe in and love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, are tender of His name and honour.
(5) They are afraid to offend Him.
(6) True faith in Christ, and sincere love to Him, are ever attended with the soul’s longing to be
more and more like Him-in humility, in patience, in service, in resignation, and in holiness.
(a) It is such a faith as is the act of a living soul; for these believers, to whom Christ is
precious, are said to be “new born.”
(b) Those to whom Jesus is precious are such as have “tasted of His grace.”
(c) They are described by their living by faith on Christ-“to whom coming.”
II. Upon what account is Jesus precious to them that believe? I answer, in general, that it is from His
suitableness to them, their relation to Him, and the benefits they receive from Him. But, more
particularly-
1. Jesus is precious to believers, in the constitution of His person, which is very wonderful.
2. On account of His excellent qualifications and rich anointing for His work, as Mediator between
God and men.
3. On account of the discharge of His offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, in order to the salvation
of His people.
4. On account of the relations that He stands in to them that believe. He is their Head of influence,
and they are members of His spiritual Body. He is their Shepherd. He is their best Friend-loving,
tender, compassionate, sincere, sympathising, and constant. He is their great Physician and
Healer.
5. On account of the display of His transcendent love and riches of His grace in order to their
salvation.
6. He is most precious to believers, as whatsoever makes any of the creatures lovely, desirable, and
precious one to another, is originally in Him; it is in them as a cistern, but in Christ as an
inexhaustible fountain.

170. (1) Is beauty one ground of the creature’s delighting in each other? The Lord Jesus excels them
all (Psa_45:2).
(2) Does wisdom recommend any creature to the affection of another? The Lord Jesus is the
Wisdom of God. He not only governs the world in wisdom, but as a Prophet He teaches men to
know God and Himself, which is eternal life.
(3) Does usefulness in any creature bespeak the affections and esteem of others? Jesus Christ
is more than all the creatures put together; He is all things to His people-their light, their life,
their food, their strength, their clothing and ornament, their riches and honour, their guide and
leader, their healer, their advocate and intercessor, and all in all.
(4) Does a meek and quiet spirit, attended with patience and humility, commonly win the
esteem of fellow creatures? Jesus Christ excels them all in these most desirable endowments;
He is a perfect pattern of humility and meekness for all His disciples.
(5) Does faithfulness to any trust win the love and esteem of one to another? This is eminently
found in Jesus Christ (Heb_3:2).
(6) Does sincere and ardent love in anyone call for the love and esteem of Others? The Lord
Jesus excels them all; no creature can possibly love another at such a rate as He has done; His
love is strong as death, many waters cannot quench it. And it is as free as it is great and
uncommon.
III. How do believers show that Christ is precious to them?
1. By choosing Him for their own, and careful endeavour to clear up their interest in Him.
2. By their frequent and delightful thoughts of Him (Psa_139:17).
3. By earnest desires of His presence, communion with Him (Job_23:3; Psa_42:1-2).
4. They yield to Him the seat and habitation of their very hearts (Eph_3:17).
5. By making use of Him, for all the ends that God the Father has appointed Him.
6. By their sincere love to Him.
(1) They love to think of Him, and their love inclines them to think and speak honourably of
Him.
(2) They love His image wherever they can perceive it (Psa_16:3).
(3) They love His Word (Job_23:12; Rom_7:22).
(4) They highly esteem His ordinances, and the places and means where they may enjoy Him.
(5) They are careful to keep His commandments (Joh_14:21).
(6) They desire to be more and more like Him (Rom_8:29).
(7) They rejoice in Him, and all He is made of God to them (Php_3:3). (W. Notcutt.)
Christ precious to believers
I. First, this is a positive fact, that unto believers Jesus Christ is precious. In Himself He is of
inestimable preciousness, for He is very God of very God. He is, moreover, perfect man without sin.
The precious gopher wood of His humanity is overlaid with the pure gold of His Divinity. He is a mine
of jewels and a mountain of gems. He is altogether lovely, but, alas! this blind world seeth not His
beauty.
II. Why is Christ precious to the believer?
1. Jesus Christ is precious to the believer because He is intrinsically precious. But here let me take

171. you through an exercise in grammar; here is an adjective, let us go through it.
(1) Is He not good positively? Election is a good thing; but we are elect in Christ Jesus.
Adoption is a good thing; but we are adopted in Christ Jesus and made joint heirs with Him.
Pardon is a good thing; but we are pardoned through the precious blood of Jesus. And if all
these be good, surely He must be good in whom, and by whom, and to whom, and through
whom are all these precious things.
(2) But Christ is good comparatively. Bring anything and compare with Him. One of the
brightest jewels we can have is liberty. If I be not free, let me die. Ay, but put liberty side by side
with Christ, and I would wear the fetter for Christ and rejoice in the chain. Besides liberty, what
a precious thing is life! “Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.” But let a
true Christian once have the choice between life and Christ-“No,” says he, “I can die, but I
cannot deny.”
(3) And then to go higher still-Christ is good superlatively. The superlative of all things is
heaven, and if it could be possible to put Christ in competition with heaven, the Christian
would not stop a moment in his choice; he would sooner be on earth with Christ than be in
heaven without Him.
2. Still, to answer this question again: Why is Christ precious to the believer more than to any
other man? Why, it is the believer’s want that makes Christ precious to him! The worldling does
not care for Christ, because he has never hungered and thirsted after Him; but the Christian is
athirst for Christ, his heart and his flesh pant after God. This is the one thing needful for me, and if
I have it not, this thirst must destroy me. Mark, too, that the believer may be found in many
aspects, and you will always find that his needs will endear Christ to him.
3. Look at the believer, not only in his wants, but in his highest earthly state. The believer is a man
that was once blind and now sees. And what a precious thing is light to a man that sees! If I, as a
believer, have an eye, how much I need the stun to shine! And when Christ gives sight to the blind
He makes His people a seeing people. It is then that they find what a precious thing is the sight,
and how pleasant a thing it is for a man to behold the sun. From the very fact that the Christian is a
quickened man, he values the robe of righteousness that is put about him. The very newborn
powers of the Christian would be very channels for misery if it were not for Christ. But, believer,
how precious is Christ to thee in the hour of conviction of sin, when He says, “Thy sins, which are
many, are all forgiven thee.” How precious to thee in the hour of sickness, when He comes to thee
and says, “I will make all thy bed in thy sickness.” How precious to thee in the hour of trial, when
He says, “All things work together for thy good.” How precious when friends are buried, for He
says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” How precious in thy grey old age, “Even in old age I am
with thee, and to hoary hairs will I carry you.” How precious in the lone chamber of death, for “I
will fear no evil, Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me.” But, last of all, how precious
will Christ be when we see Him as He is! All we know of Christ here is as nothing compared with
what we shall know hereafter. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ precious to believers
I. What Christ is to His people. The Revised Version reads the text, “For you therefore which believe is
the preciousness.” His very self is preciousness itself. He is the essence, the substance, the sum of all
preciousness. Many things are more or less precious; but the Lord Jesus is preciousness itself,
outsoaring all degrees of comparison.
1. How do believers show that Christ is thus precious to them?
(1) They do so by trusting everything to Him. Every believer stays his hope solely upon the
work of Jesus. Our implicit faith in Him proves our high estimate of Him.
(2) To believers the Lord Jesus is evidently very precious, because they would give up all that

172. they have sooner than lose Him. Tens of thousands have renounced property, liberty, and life
sooner than deny Christ.
(3) Saints also find their all in Him. He is not one delight, but all manner of delights to them,
All that they can want, or wish, or conceive, they find in Him.
(4) So precious is Jesus to believers, that they cannot speak well enough of Him. Could you, at
your very best, exalt the Lord Jesus so gloriously as to satisfy yourself?
(5) Saints show that in their estimation Christ is precious, for they can never do enough for
Him. It is not all talk; they are glad also to labour for Him who died for them. Though they
grow weary in His work, they never grow weary of it.
(6) Saints show how precious Christ is to them, in that He is their heaven. Have you never
heard them when dying, talk about their joy in the prospect of being with Christ?
(7) If you are not satisfied with these proofs that Christ is precious to believers, I would invite
you to add another yourself. Let every one of us do something fresh by which to prove the
believer’s love to Christ. Let us invent a new love token. Let us sing unto the Lord a new song.
Let not this cold world dare to doubt that unto believers Christ is precious; let us force the
scoffers to believe that we are in earnest.
2. In thinking Christ to be precious, the saints are forming a just estimate of Him. “He is precious.”
For a thing to be rightly called precious, it should have three qualities: it should be rare, it should
have an intrinsic value of its own, and it should possess useful and important properties. All these
three things meet in our adorable Lord, and make Him precious to discerning minds.
3. The saints form their estimate of Him upon Scriptural principles. “Unto you therefore which
believe He is precious.” We have a “therefore” for our valuation of Christ; we have calculated, and
have reason on our side, though we count Him to be the chief among ten thousand, and altogether
lovely.
(1) Our Lord Jesus is very precious to us as “a living stone.” As a foundation He is firm as a
stone; but in addition, He has life, and this life He communicates, so that we also become living
stones, and are joined to Him in living, loving, lasting union. A stone alive, and imparting life
to other stones which are built upon it, is indeed a precious thing in a spiritual house which is
to be inhabited of God. This gives a character to the whole structure.
(2) Our Lord is all the more precious to us because He was “disallowed indeed of men.” Never
is Christ dearer to the believer than when he sees Him to be despised and rejected of men.
(3) He becomes inconceivably precious to us when we view Him as “chosen of God.” Upon
whom else could the Divine election have fallen? But He saith, “I have laid help upon one that
is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.” The choice of Jehovah must be divinely
wise.
(4) Note well that the apostle calls Him “precious,” that is, precious to God. We feel
abundantly justified in our high esteem of our Lord, since He is so dear to the Father.
(5) Moreover, we prize our Lord Jesus as our foundation. Jehovah saith, “Behold, I lay in Sion
a chief cornerstone.” What a privilege to have a foundation of the Lord’s own laying! It is and
must be the best, the most abiding, the most precious foundation.
II. What it is in the saints which makes them prize Christ at this rate. It is their faith. “Unto you
therefore which believe He is precious.” Faith calls Him precious, when others esteem Him “a root out
of a dry ground.”
1. To faith the promises concerning Christ are made. The Bible never expects that without faith
men will glorify Christ.
2. It is by faith that the value of Christ is perceived. You cannot see Christ by mere reason, for the
natural man is blind to the things of the Spirit.

173. 3. By faith the Lord Jesus is appropriated. In possession lies much of preciousness. Faith is the
hand that grasps Him, the mouth that feeds upon Him, and therefore by faith He is precious.
4. By faith the Lord Jesus is more and more tasted and proved, and becomes more and more
precious. To us our Lord is as gold tried in the fire. Our knowledge is neither theoretical nor
traditional; we have seen Him ourselves, and He is precious to us.
5. Our sense of Christ’s preciousness is a proof of our possessing the faith of God’s elect; and this
ought to be a great comfort to any of you who are in the habit of looking within.
6. Christ becomes growingly precious to us as our faith grows. If thou doubtest Christ, He has gone
down fifty per cent in thine esteem. Every time you give way to scepticism and critical questioning
you lose a sip of sweetness. In proportion as yea believe with a faith which is childlike, clear,
simple, strong, unbroken, in that proportion will Christ be dearer and dearer to you.
III. What believers receive from Him. Take the exact translation, “Unto you that believe He is
honour.”
1. Honour! Can honour ever belong to a sinner like me? Worthless, base, only fit to be cast away,
can I have honour? The Lord changes the rank when He forgives the sin. Thou art dishonourable
no longer if thou believest in Jesus. Thou art honourable before God now that He has become thy
salvation.
2. It is a high honour to be associated with the Lord Jesus.
3. It is a great honour to be built on Him as a sure foundation. A minister once said to me, “It must
be very easy for you to preach.” I said, “Do you think so? I do not look at it as a light affair.” “Yes,”
he said; “it is easy, because you hold a fixed and definite set of truths, upon which you dwell from
year to year.” I did not see how this made it easy to preach, but I did see how it made my heart
easy, and I said, “Yes, that is true. I keep to one fixed line of truth.” “That is not my case,” said he;
“I revise my creed from week to week. It is with me constant change and progress.” I did not say
much, but I thought the more. If the foundation is constantly being altered, the building will be
rather shaky.
4. It is an honour to believe the doctrines taught by Christ and His apostles. It is an honour to be
on the same lines of truth as the Holy Ghost.
5. It is an honour to do as Christ bade us in His precepts. Holiness is the truest royalty.
6. It will be our great honour to see our Lord glorified. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Practical trust in Christ the highest honour
Unto you therefore who believe is the honour.”
I. Practical trust in Christ gives man the noblest character. What is true nobility or honour?
Disinterested love is the spring and essence of a noble character, this is the soul of the hero. Where it is
not, though a man be sage, statesman, poet, king, he is contemptible. How does a man get this? By
practically trusting in Christ-in no other way.
II. Practical trust in Christ gives man the highest fellowships. But into what society does practical trust
in Christ introduce them? First, into the society of sainted sages-the great and good men of all lands
and times. Secondly, into the society of holy angels-the firstborn of the Eternal. Thirdly, Into the
society of the great God Himself.
III. Practical trust in Christ gives man the sublimest possessions. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The honour of believing in Christ

174. Many will doubtless feel some regret at the loss in the Revised New Testament of the familiar words,
“Unto you therefore which believe He is precious.” The marginal reading of the Revised Version is even
preferable to that of our text, “For you therefore which believe is the honour.” Men object to be told
that they must believe in order to know the truth, the power, the value of Christianity.
1. Faith is the condition of all knowledge. The student of natural science believes that there are
hidden secrets of nature, laws unknown as yet, which will be revealed to patient investigation.
Because he believes this, he laboriously toils and patiently waits.
2. Faith is the condition of all enterprise. It is because men believe, not merely in the possibility,
but in the probability of the success of an undertaking that they are willing to engage in it, and even
to incur toil and risk.
3. Nay, more, faith is the condition of existence. We eat because we believe that food is necessary
and will nourish us. We rest at home or walk abroad because we believe in the stability of nature’s
laws and the goodwill of our fellow men.
4. Faith, which is the condition of everything else, itself rests on conditions, and compliance with
those conditions involves the believer in much “honour.” It depends on knowledge, on experience,
i.e., on evidence.
5. Nor does faith rest on evidence simply, but on an emotion, on the feeling which the evidence
excites, and on the will which is thereby awakened and influenced.
6. What, then, is the faith in Christ which is the condition of this honour? What do we believe
about Jesus Christ? What are we called upon to believe, and on what evidence?
(1) Ascending from the lower to the higher, we believe first in Jesus Christ as the ideal man.
(a) Faith in the perfect humanity of Christ brings with it the assurance of immortal life and
of undying sympathy.
(b) And as we think of Him living still, we feel assured of His sympathy with us. For His
perfection was not something inherent in Himself, something necessary and unavoidable,
but a perfection attained through conflict and suffering.
(2) From the belief in the perfect humanity of Jesus Christ we rise to a higher faith in His
Divinity, His Deity. For we find that He stands alone in His sinlessness, in His perfection. This
is, I believe, the real genesis and growth of true faith in Christ. It is through His humanity that
we rise to the conception of His Deity. “The person of Christ is the perennial glory and strength
of Christianity.”
(3) The faith attained through looking at Christ, meditating on Christ, reasoning about Christ,
is developed and perfected by experience. Experience is the test of faith, of its value or
worthlessness. The strongest faith, that which cannot be shaken, is that which rests on personal
experience. Unto you that believe is the honour. What honour?
I. It is the honour of building on a foundation which can never give way. It is the safety of having an
unfailing refuge in which to hide. We have an experience of which nothing can rob us, and a hope that
maketh not ashamed, which will never disappoint, as the anchor of our soul. “Unto you that believe is
the honour.”
II. Man’s highest honour is to render homage to perfect love and righteousness and the truest homage
imitates that before which it bows in reverence. Dishonouring Christ, men dishonour themselves.
Many may admire a picture which only one could paint, and the consciousness of inability would
prevent them from attempting to emulate the artist whose work fills them with delight and wonder.
But if the artist were to offer to enable us to do what he had done, and assure us of his power to do so
by the example and experience of numbers who had been taught by him, should we Hot gladly accept
such an offer? Such an offer Christ makes to every one. He sets before us in His life a purity, a nobility,
a righteousness which we cannot attain by ourselves, but which He can and will help us to attain.

175. III. The honour is that of testifying to the power and grace of this Saviour and Friend of man, the
honour of making Him known to others. We can only do this as we believe in Him ourselves, and our
life must prove our faith. (A. F. Joscelyne, B. A.)
Christ is our honour
The doctrine from these words is this, that Jesus Christ is an honour to all believers.
1. He is the author of honour to them.
2. He is, and ought to be, the object of honour from them. He honours them, and they do and
should honour Him.
I. How is the Lord Jesus the author of honour to all true relievers? We use to say concerning the king,
that he is the fountain of honour, that is, all his subjects that are men of honour derive their honour
from him. Others give them honour, but it is he that makes them honourable. Now King Jesus is He,
and He alone, that is the fountain of honour to all true believers.
1. He hath Himself an honourable esteem of them. They are persons of honour, even the meanest
of them, in His account (Isa_43:4).
2. His will is that every one else should be in this like Himself, in having an honourable esteem of
them. As when the king bestows a degree of honour upon a person, makes him a knight, or a lord,
or an earl, he expects others so to regard him; so it is here (Est_6:3; Est_6:6-7). How much soever
they may be despised by others, they are the excellent of the earth in His eye because they are so in
Christ’s eye (Psa_16:2).
3. He hath done that for them which in the account of men may and doth deserve that honour.
What is it that tie hath done for them that may be the ground of men’s honouring them?
(1) One ground of honouring men is upon the account of their personal excellences and
endowments; some are honourable for their learning and knowledge in arts and sciences; some
for their, wisdom and prudence in the management of secular affairs; in the field, as soldiers;
in the senate, as counsellors. Now if so, the people fearing God deserve honour indeed, for they
have better knowledge than others. They from the least even to the greatest know God. And
whence have they that knowledge but from Christ, who gives them an understanding?
(1Jn_5:20) They have wisdom also, another sort of wisdom-wisdom from above in soul affairs.
(2) Upon the account of their great usefulness in their particular places and stations; in court
or camp, for peace or war. By their prayers, fetching down mercies, keeping off judgments, as
Moses. By their pattern, they are the lights of the world.
(3) Upon the account of their honourable relations wherein they stand. He that is himself in
honour reflects honour upon all that are related to him. Now what are the relations of true
believers? They are all the children of God, and how but by faith in Jesus Christ? (Gal_3:16;
Joh_1:12) And is not that a high honour? To be a servant, even the meanest, to men of honour,
carries honour in it (Psa_116:16). Nay, they are His friends, admitted to His secrets, acquainted
with His counsels (Joh_15:15). As Hushai was a friend to David (2Sa_15:37). Zabud to
Solomon (1Ki_4:5).
(4) Some are honourable on account of their honourable hopes. Young heirs are honoured for
their inheritance sake, though as yet under age.
(5) Some are honourable on account of their honourable offices and employments (Rev_1:5)-
kings and priests, so He makes them.
(6) Others are honourable on account of their honourable name (Jas_2:7). The word Christian
is from Christ; all this honour have all His saints (Psa_149:9).

176. II. What kind of honour is it that true believers have from Jesus Christ? It hath these properties.
1. It is real honour. Other honours are but a shadow, a dream, a fancy. This hath substance in it
(Pro_8:21).
2. It is righteous honour. Other honours which the honourable men of the earth have are
oftentimes unrighteous-unjustly given, and unjustly taken.
3. It is heavenly honour. Other honours are from below, this is from above; other honours are
upon earthly accounts, this upon heavenly. The birth of a believer is heavenly, his endowments
heavenly.
4. It is harmless honour. Other honours often hurt those that have them, puff them up with pride,
as Haman, but so doth not this.
5. It is unsought honour. What endeavours are there to obtain other honours, what struggling,
what bribing and waiting!
6. It is unfading honour. It is honour that lasts, it is everlasting.
III. What may we learn from this subject?
1. We learn what to think of the great and glorious majesty of heaven and earth. His name, and His
Son’s name, is certainly upon this account to be adored by us and by all His creatures, angels and
men. For what? For His infinite love and free grace in condescending in this manner to a remnant
of Adam’s seed, so as to put all this honour upon them.
2. We learn what to think of those who are not believers; all the ignorant, careless, unregenerate
generation: certainly they have no part nor lot in this matter. They are none of those that God will
honour.
3. We learn what is the true way to true honour. It is in our nature to desire it. But the misery is,
we mistake our end, and consequently our way. We take those things to be wealth and pleasure and
honour that are not so, and that not to be so which is so, and we pursue accordingly.
4. We learn what is our duty towards those to whom Christ is an honour. Certainly it is our duty to
see them truly honourable, and to love and honour them accordingly (2Ki_20:12-13).
5. We learn what is their duty to whom Christ is an honour. To make it their business to honour
Him all they can. Why is He to be honoured? He is worthy that it should be so. It is the Father’s
will it should be so (Joh_5:22-23; Col_1:18-19). It will be our own benefit and comfort, living and
dying. We shall be no losers, but gainers by it. Wherein are we to honour Him? In general-let Him
be precious to you. Have high and honourable thoughts of Him. Speak high and honourable things
concerning Him, as Paul did. Do nothing to displease and dishonour Him, but everything contrary
(Php_1:2). (Philip Henry.)
The preciousness of Christ
1. He is precious as a Redeemer from sin. The believer appreciates salvation, because he knows
what it is to be lost.
2. He is precious as a manifestation of God.
3. Look at His mission. He enters into my sin and poverty to pity and to aid.
4. He is the central glory of heaven. Human loves are not extinguished, but they will be
subordinated to Him. (J. M. Buckley, D. D.)
The preciousness of Christ

177. I. In what this preciousness consists.
1. I would mention, first, the difficulty of securing the possession of the Saviour. He is freely
offered “without money and without price.” Yet “all men have not faith.” The reason is, that there
are difficulties in the way of their believing, which is one cause why we may say that Christ is
precious.
2. There are few who possess this invaluable gift; not, indeed, that there is not in Christ a
sufficiency for all, but Christ can only be received in one way-by faith. You may try to discover the
Saviour by your works, but you cannot find Him.
3. There is a great demand for the Saviour; not, indeed, amongst the worldly, the frivolous, the
luxurious and selfish, the sensual and profane. But the demand is amongst those who are
convinced of their sin.
4. There are advantages accruing to the possessor, which can leave no doubt of the preciousness of
Christ. His blood is precious; His intercession is precious; His righteousness, His Word, His
doctrine.
II. Who experience this preciousness? Gold is valueless to the infant. Pearls are as nothing to swine.
And, alas! the precious blood of Jesus is to many as an unholy thing.
1. To the openly profane, Christ is as nothing.
2. The men of the world can see nothing in Christ in which they should rejoice; but they do see
their lusts forbidden, and their lives condemned (Tit_2:11-12).
3. The luxurious experience no comfort in Christ. He who had “not where to lay His head” is a
continual reproof to them.
4. Nor is Christ more precious to the formalist (Rom_10:3-4).
5. It is to the believer, and to the believer alone, that Christ is precious. It is the believer who has
felt the burden of sin. He can say, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.”
(1) Meditate on His name-Jesus, Saviour I How much does that word convey to a believer’s
heart!
(2) Consider how precious to us is the sympathy of Jesus (Pro_18:24; Joh_13:1).
(3) Call to mind the power and strength of our Redeemer. We know that we are surrounded by
enemies, that we are subject to misrepresentations, to persecutions for righteousness’ sake. But
Jesus, the mighty God, is on our side, and we become “more than conquerors through Him who
loved us.”
(4) Again, behold the righteousness of Jesus. (H. M. Villiers, M. A.)
Christ precious to the believer
I. Christ is precious to believers on account of what He is in himself.
II. Christ is precious to them who believe on account of what He has done for them.
III. Christ is precious unto them who believe, on account of what He has done in them.
IV. Christ is precious unto them who believe, on account of what He is still doing both for them and in
them.
V. Christ is precious to them that believe, on account of what He has promised and pledged Himself to
do for them hereafter. (D. Dickson, D. D.)

178. Christ precious to them that believe
I. The character of them that believe.
1. This is the peculiar privilege of those who are Christians indeed, whereby they are distinguished
from others. “All men have not faith” (2Th_3:2). Many there are who impose upon themselves, and
vainly suppose that they believe, because they entertain some speculative opinions about religion.
2. Those who believe possess not only a peculiar but an important privilege. Faith is everywhere
represented in the Word of God as a Divine and powerful principle, which is of unspeakable
moment to the eternal interest of men.
3. Those who believe are endowed with a useful principle. True saving faith in Jesus Christ is not a
dormant disposition, but a vigorous and active grace, attended with the happiest effects. It unites
to Jesus Christ. It purifies the heart from the love and power of sin. It is the source of all holy
obedience to God; it worketh by love, and is fruitful in all good works.
II. The distinguishing evidence which is peculiar to you that believe. (W. McCulloch.)
The Christ of experience
This is a recognition of the practical religious value of the Christ-of what He is to those who have put
Him to experimental tests. All the qualities that constitute preciousness are in Him, in a degree of
excellence that imagination cannot overcolour, that even love cannot exaggerate.
1. In respect of rarity, He is the only Saviour of men; the “one Mediator between God and man”;
the only hope of sinful souls.
2. In respect of beauty, He is the perfection of all moral excellence.
3. In character He is ideally good, pure, devout, benevolent, loving.
4. His work, as the Redeemer of men, realises our very loftiest conceptions-first, of moral
philosophy; next, of spiritual holiness; next, of self-sacrificing love.
5. In respect of serviceableness, of personal beneficial relations to men, as their Redeemer from
sin, His preciousness transcends all our words or thoughts.
(1) We might apply a comparative test, and put the preciousness of Christ into comparison
with all other possessions of our human life. How does our practical judgment estimate Him?
Or we might subject Him to a comparative estimate with other good men; His character with
that of all other saints; His teaching with that of all other prophets; His redeeming work with
all other schemes for human improvement. How instinctively we give Him the transcendency!
(2) Our estimates are largely influenced by the judgments of others. Let us think, then, of the
estimate put upon Christ’s character and work by other moral beings. Is it not significant of His
excellence that He attracts the most readily and attaches the most profoundly the holiest and
noblest natures?
(3) The conclusive appeal, however, is to the conscious experience of our own religious souls:
“If so be we have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” This is the ground upon which myriads of
religious men, men whose knowledge is limited, whose theology is confused, whose reason is
easily baffled, who are able neither to defend their Christianity, nor theoretically to understand
it, justly trust in Him. They have personally come to Christ; He has consciously quickened the
life and the love of their souls; they “know that they have passed from death unto life,” that
“whereas once they were blind, now they see.” His Divine presence witnesses in their souls. In
some mystic way He is their daily Saviour, and Sanctifier, and Comforter.
I. Is not Christ precious to us when we grope and stumble at the mystery of God, when we feel that
“the gods of the heathen are no gods”? When we cannot by any searching of our own find out God;

179. when a thousand possibilities of ignorance and superstition torment us with vague and nameless fears;
what a marvellous revelation of light and power of assurance it is when Jesus Christ puts before us His
great teaching of God; when, with the strong confidence, and in the quiet ways of perfect knowledge,
He tells us of the Father! Upon the conceptions of God which Jesus Christ has taught us our religious
life rests. These ideas are the practical inspirations of what we are and do. In the sore feeling of our
rebelliousness and guilt we go to Him, as the prodigal to his father, to ask the generous forgiveness of
His fatherly love. In the helplessness of our need we cast ourselves upon the care of Him who clothes
the lily and feeds the raven. Whether true or not, this conception of God is the greatest, the most
inspiring, the most satisfying thought ever presented to men; the highest, purest, most endearing that
the world has known.
II. How precious the Christ is when the sense of sin is quickened within us, when we awaken to the
grave culpability of its guilt, when we realise its essential antagonism to the Divine holiness, its
transgression of God’s inviolable law, the imperative necessity of its dread penalty of death! The moral
sense, the conscience within me, that which makes me a moral being, demands atonement for sin as
much as my safety does. Mere security is no moral satisfaction to a righteous being. I could not be
happy in the salvation of Christ if I were saved as a man is saved who breaks prison, or to whom the
prison doors are illicitly opened; if I were saved at the cost of a single righteous principle. How
unspeakably precious, then, the Christ when He is “set forth as a propitiation for sin,” “who Himself
bare our sin in His own body on the tree.” “He loved me, and gave Himself for me.” True or not true, it
is, to say the least, a theory of forgiveness, the most perfect and satisfactory to all the feelings of our
moral nature.
III. How precious again is the Christ in our struggle with practical evil, as we fight with lusts, resist
temptation, overcome worldliness, subdue selfishness, or mourn over failures and falls! How assuring
and helpful His perfect life, His promised grace, His ready and tender sympathy! But for Him we
should have despaired in our degradation and helplessness. Again we say, this conception of Him, true
or not, is practically the greatest moral force that we feel. Therefore He is precious to us, because He
enables the moral redemption of our soul.
IV. How precious the Christ is in times of great sorrow; when we stand by open graves, and “refuse to
be comforted because those whom we love are not”! How He comes to us, as He came “from beyond
Jordan to Bethany”! How He talks with us about “the resurrection and the life”! How He weeps with us
in the silence of ineffable sympathy!
V. And how precious He is in our own mortal conflict; when “the shadow feared of man” falls upon
ourselves; when “heart and flesh fail”; when human love falls away from us, and we hear its receding
voices as we go forward alone into the dark valley! “Into His hands we commit our spirit”; “His rod and
staff comfort us”; His hand clasps ours; He leads us through the darkness into the eternal light and
life. (H. Allon, D. D.)
Christ precious to believers
I. That Jesus Christ is now precious to believers. Notice attentively how personally precious Jesus is.
There are two persons in the text: “Unto you that believe He is precious.” You are a real person, and
you feel that you are such. You have realised yourself; you are quite clear about your own existence;
now in the same way strive to realise the other Person. “Unto you that believe He is precious.” You
believe in Him, He loves you; you love Him in return, and He sheds abroad in your heart a sense of His
love. Notice, too, that while the text gleams with this vividness of personality, to which the most of
professors are blind, it is weighted with a most solid positiveness: “Unto you that believe He is
precious.” It does not speak as though He might be or might not be; but “He is precious.” If the new
life be in thee, thou art as sure to love the Saviour as fish love the stream, or the birds the air, or as
brave men love liberty, or as all men love their lives. Tolerate no peradventures here. Mark, further,
the absoluteness of the text, “Unto you that believe He is precious.” It is not written how precious. The
text does not attempt by any form of computation to measure the price which the regenerate soul sets

180. upon her Lord. The thought which I desire to bring out into fullest relief is this, that Jesus Christ is
continually precious to His people. Unto you that believe, though you have believed to the saving of
your soul, He is still precious; for your guilt will return upon your conscience, and you will yet sin,
being still in the body, and thus unto you experimentally the cleansing atonement is as precious as
when you first relied upon its expiating power. Nay, Jesus is more precious to you now, for you know
your own needs more fully, have proved more often the adaptation of His saving grace, and have
received a thousand more gifts at His blessed hands.
II. Let us think how Christ is today precious to you. To many of you there is as much in Christ
undiscovered as you have already enjoyed. As surely as your faith grasps more, and becomes more
capacious and appropriating, Christ will grow in preciousness to you. Ask, then, for more faith.
III. Because Jesus is precious to believers He efficaciously operates upon them. The preciousness of
Christ is, as it were, the leverage of Christ lifting up His saints to holiness. Let me show you this.
1. The man who trusts Christ values Christ; that which I value I hold fast; hence our valuing Christ
helps us to abide steadfast in times of temptation.
2. Notice further: this valuing of Christ helps the believer to make sacrifices. Sacrifice making
constitutes a large part of any high character. He who never makes a sacrifice in his religion may
shrewdly suspect that it is not worth more than his own practical valuation of it.
3. Moreover, this valuing of Christ makes us jealous against sin. He who loves the Redeemer best
purifies himself most, even as his Lord is pure.
4. High valuing of Christ helps the Christian in the selection of his associates in life. If I hold my
Divine Lord to be precious, how can I have fellowship with those who do not esteem Him? You will
not find a man of refined habits and cultured spirits happy amongst the lowest and most illiterate.
Birds of a feather flock together. Workers and traders unite in companies according to their
occupations. Lovers of Christ rejoice in lovers of Christ, and they delight to meet together; for they
can talk to each other of things in which they are agreed.
IV. Christ being thus precious, His preciousness becomes the test of our Christianity. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
The precious Saviour
There are very few people who would not agree with the apostle when he says that Christ is precious to
believers. But when one comes a little closer, and asks professing people why He is precious to them,
and in what degree, the answers to this question are vague. It is not of Christ Himself that most
professors will speak. Some will say they need His righteousness, others that they hope in His death;
but ah! the genuine child of God alone can say, from the very bottom of his heart, “To me Christ is
precious.” Christ’s righteousness cannot be separated from Himself, and nothing but faith in a living,
reigning Jesus will save the soul. But now, to apply the subject more directly, we shall briefly notice a
few characteristics in believers themselves which seem to show that to them Christ is precious.
1. Innumerable marks might be given, but here is a distinguishing one-Christ is the object nearest
to a believer’s heart. He dwells in the soul, nearer than any creature more closely entwined round
the heart strings than aught beside.
2. The second mark of the believer’s value for the Lord Jesus is, that he puts no society in
comparison with His presence; no other company has such power to refresh and comfort and
purify the soul.
3. The third proof of the estimation in which Christ is held by His people is that, for His sake, and
for the love they bear Him, they give up all known sins.
4. The fourth proof that we shall now mention is that where Jesus is precious His ordinances are

181. highly prized-we shall value His Word, alone and in the family, as well as in the house of God. And
so also with His house, His table, His Sabbath.
5. Again, God’s people are precious to the believer.
6. Another mark that Christ is precious to believers is that they are longing for His second coming.
The way to heaven is to be in Christ; and heaven is to be with Christ. (W. C. Burns.)
Christ precious to all true believers
“To you therefore which believe, He is precious.” The illative particle “therefore” shows this passage as
an inference from what went before; and the reasoning seems to be this: “This stone is precious to
God, therefore it is precious to you that believe. You have the same estimate Of Jesus Christ which God
the Father has; and for that very reason He is precious to you, because He is precious to Him.”
1. He is precious to all the angels of heaven. Angels saw, believed, and loved him in the various
stages of His life, from His birth to His return to His native heaven. Oh, could we see what is doing
in heaven at this instant, how would it surprise, astonish, and confound us! Do you think the name
of Jesus is of as little importance there as in our world? Do you think there is one lukewarm or
disaffected heart there among ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands? Oh
no! there His love is the ruling passion of every heart and the favourite theme of every song.
2. He is infinitely precious to His Father, who thoroughly knows Him, and is an infallible judge of
real worth (Isa_42:1). And shall not the love of the omniscient God have weight with believers to
believe Him too? And now what think you of Christ? Will you not think of Him as believers do? If
so, He will be precious to your hearts above all things for the future. Oh precious Jesus! are matters
come to that pass in our world that creatures bought with Thy blood, creatures that owe all their
hopes to Thee, should stand in need of persuasion to love Thee? What horrors attend the thought!
(1) None but believers have eyes to see the glory of Christ. The god of this world, the prince of
darkness, has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of
Christ should shine into them.
(2) None but believers are properly sensible of their need of Christ. They are deeply sensible of
their ignorance and the disorder of their understanding, and therefore they are sensible of their
want of both the external and internal instructions of this Divine Prophet, but as to others they
are puffed up with intellectual pride, and apprehend themselves in very little need of religious
instructions, and therefore they think but very slightly of Him.
(3) None but believers have known by experience how precious tie is. They, and only they, can
reflect upon the glorious views of Him, which themselves have had, to captivate their hearts
forever to Him. (S. Davies, M. A.)
Christ more than precious
“When asked by a member of his family as to his hope he answered: ‘I am a sinner saved by grace,’ and
added, ‘Jesus!-Oh, to be like Him!’ At another time he said: ‘To you that believe He is precious.’ Then
with stronger voice he broke forth into holy rapture and exclaimed: ‘Precious, precious, more than
precious!’ The writer of this notice, highly honoured with the friendship of the family, saw Mrs.
Simpson a few minutes after the bishop had spoken these words, While her heart was breaking, she
murmured amid her sobs, ‘Precious, precious, more than precious!’ She might well say: ‘No one knew
him as we did at home. He was so good and kind. We thought he would be spared to us a little longer.’
Then she turned again to his comforting words about his Lord: ‘Precious, precious, more than
precious.’ They sound as a refrain after his ‘Psalm of life.’” (Memoir of Bishop Simpson.)

182. Where Christ is valued He will be made known
If He is precious to you, you cannot help speaking about Him. We remember, in a house which we
used to visit, an ornament under a glass shade which delighted the children. It was a gilt casket, with a
cameo on the top, and inside a nugget of gold, the ore in its rough state. It had been brought from
Australia, and was kept locked up and rarely seen. No one was the richer for that gold. There are many
saved ones now who have the priceless nugget, the living Christ, whom they would not part with for
worlds; but He is bidden in the deep recess of their soul, and no one is the richer. You must breathe
out and pass on that name of Jesus; there is in it a living power, more than that of the philosopher’s
stone, of turning all into gold.
The preciousness of Christ
I like what was said by a child in the Sunday school, when the teacher said, “You have been reading
that Christ is precious; what does that mean?” The children were silent for a little while, but at last one
boy replied, “Father said the other day that mother was precious, for ‘whatever should we do without
her!’“ This is a capital explanation of the word. You and I can truly say of the Lord Jesus Christ that He
is precious to us, for what should we do, what could we do without Him?
Them which be disobedient.
Disobedience the converse of faith
is eminently worthy of notice that over against “believe” in 1Pe_2:6 stands, not its exact correlative
“unbelieving,” but “disobedient.” They who receive Christ believe: you would expect to read conversely,
they who reject Him are unbelieving; but instead, you read that they are disobedient. People raise a
great debate upon the question whether a man is responsible for his belief, and whether he can be
condemned for not believing. Quietly this debate is all quashed here by the representation that
unbelief is disobedience. Unbelief is indeed the root, but the outgrowth is disobedience. (W Arn.)
The stone which the builders disallowed.-
Christ rejected by the Jews
1. To show that God had purposed the salvation of His Church and building of His kingdom by a
way that the wise men of the world never dreamed of.
2. That their malice might appear to their punishment, and God’s power in resisting them.
3. To show that great men are not always the greatest maintainers of the truth, but often great
enemies and hindrances thereto.
Uses:
1. This serves to teach us not to stand upon great men’s opinion, approving and disallowing upon
their testimony or example.
2. To magnify the power and wisdom of God, that hath used to build His kingdom, not only
without the help, but against the will of great men. (John Rogers.)
The stone which the builders disallowed
I. A great opportunity missed. Who are the builders? All the sons and daughters of men. But there are
blind builders that reject the “chief cornerstone.” They cannot perceive the glory of the largest and
divinest truth. The causes of this blindness are manifold worldliness, prejudice, and intellectual pride.
The immediate cause is ever a superficial spirituality, however it may be produced.

183. II. True greatness ignored and neglected. The neglect suffered by the prophet in his own age is
proverbial. He lets in the glory from the eternal into this half-blind world until it becomes a pain, and
he is accused of being the enemy of his generation. We pride ourselves that such a history is a thing of
the past, that we enlightened ones honour our prophets. It is for a future generation to discover
whether we have done so. “Demos” is emphatically the builder today. Is the democracy laying the
foundations of its temple on the “cornerstone” of Divine and eternal truth? But there is ever great
danger that “the spirit of the age” may ignore the divinest message that is delivered to it.
III. The certain supremacy of truth. The divinest truth must ultimately become the “chief stone of the
corner.” False prejudices are powerful, and may seem for a time all supreme. Truth is God, and God is
truth. The eternal energies have the world in their grip, and “He must reign forever and ever.”
IV. The words find their ideal fulfilment in Jesus Christ. Unspeakably magnificent was the
opportunity lost by the Jewish nation. God guard us from similar blindness! May the Christ be
apprehended by us in all the fulness of His glory, so that we may not be ashamed when He appears to
reign. (John Thomas M. A.)
A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence.-
Jesus, the stumbling stone of unbelievers
I. The result of the unbelief, and the opposition of men, upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. First came the Jew. He had the pride of race to maintain. Were not the Jews the chosen people
of God? Jesus comes preaching the gospel to every creature, He sends His disciples even to the
Gentiles: therefore the Jews will not have Him. But the opposition of His countrymen did not
defeat the cause of Christ; if rejected in Palestine, His word was received in Greece, it triumphed in
Rome, it passed onward to Spain, it found a dwelling place in Britain, and at this day it lights up
the face of the earth.
2. Next arose philosophy to be the gospel’s foe. But though it made terrible inroads for a while on
the Church of God, in the form of gnostic heresy, did it really impede the chariot wheels of Christ?
The stone from the sling of Christ has smitten the heathen philosophy in the forehead, while the
Son of David goes forth conquering and to conquer.
3. After those days there came against the Church of God the determined opposition of the secular
power. All that cruelty could do was done; but what was the result? The more the Christians were
oppressed, the more they multiplied; the scattering of the coals increased the conflagration.
4. Since that period the Church has been attacked in various modes. The Arian heresy assaulted
the deity of Christ, but the Church of God delivered herself from the accursed thing, as Paul shook
the viper into the fire. Be of good courage, for brighter days are on the way. There shall come yet
greater awakenings, the Lord, the avenger of His Church, shall yet arise, and the stone which the
builders disallowed, the same shall be the head stone of the corner.
II. The consequence of this opposition to the opposers.
1. When men stumble at the plan of salvation by Christ’s sacrificial work, what is it that they
stumble at?
(1) Some stumble at the person of Christ. Jesus, they will admit, was a good man, but they
cannot accept Him as co-equal and co-eternal with the Father.
(2) Some stumble at His work. Many cannot see how Jesus Christ is become the propitiation
for human guilt.
(3) Some stumble at Christ’s teaching; and what is it they stumble at in that? Sometimes it is
because it is too holy: “Christ is too puritanical, He cuts off our pleasures.” But He denies us no
pleasure which is not sinful, He multiplies our joys; the things which He denies to us are only

184. joyous in appearance, while His commands are real bliss. We have found some object to the
teachings of Christ because they are too humbling. He destroys self-confidence, and He
presents salvation to none but those who are lost. “This lays us too low,” saith one. Still I have
known others object that the gospel is too mysterious, they cannot understand it, they say.
While again, from the other corner of the compass, I have heard the objection that it is too
plain. Do not cavil at it. What if there be mysteries in it? Canst thou expect to comprehend all
that God knoweth? Be thou teachable as a child, and the gospel will be sweet to thee.
(4) We have known some who have stumbled at Christ on account of His people, and truly they
have some excuse. They have said, “Look at Christ’s followers, see their imperfections and
hypocrisies.” But wherefore judge a master by his servants?
2. What does the stumbling at Christ cost the ungodly? I answer, it costs them a great deal.
(1) Those who make Him a rock of stumbling are great losers by it in this life. What anger it
costs ungodly men to oppose Christ! Some of them cannot let Him alone, they will rage and
fume. Concerning Jesus it is true that you must either love or hate Him, He cannot long be
indifferent to you, and hence come inward conflicts to opposers.
(2) Ah, what it costs some men when they come to die! If you oppose Him you will be the
losers, He will not. Your opposition is utterly futile; like a snake biting a file, you will only break
your own teeth. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Dangerous to stumble
A bridge is made to give us a safe passage over a dangerous river; but he who stumbleth on the bridge
is in danger to fall into the river. (J. Trapp.)
SBC, "The Preciousness of Christ.
The writer, in some four or five verses of the chapter, has been employing the image of a building, or
rather of a temple, to describe the relation existing between Christ and His Church. According to this
image, the Lord Jesus Christ is the solid foundation-stone, which bears the weight of the entire
superstructure, and upon which the firmness and solidity of the edifice depend. This stone has been
selected by God and placed by Him in its appointed situation; this stone, moreover, is a living stone: it
has the property of communicating life to that which is brought into contact with it, and to it are drawn
in rapid succession the other living stones, the members of the mystical body of Christ, who are to be
built together into a spiritual house. The main thought of the passage—that Christ, the personal Christ,
is the foundation-stone of the sacred structure, and that as such He is precious to a certain class of
persons, though undervalued and contemned by others—is simple and obvious enough.
I. Christ is valuable, or precious, when considered in Himself. The rarity of an article or of a substance
is one of the constituting causes of its value. The one last copy of a remarkable edition of a remarkable
book; the one picture of a famous artist, who deviated for once from his ordinary style, and left behind
him a singular production of his genius; the one gem, which surpasses all other gems in size and
brilliance, or even, it may be, in the peculiarity of its defects—these things, and such as these, are
frequently the subjects of an earnest and eager competition, and happy is the man considered to be
who can succeed in making himself the possessor of a coveted prize. Rarity, then, makes a thing
valuable. And if so, how valuable must He be whom the Scripture calls wonderful, He who is the only-
begotten of the Father, the incarnate Son of God. (2) Our foundation-stone is precious also on account
of its own intrinsic worth and excellence and its perfect adaptation to the purpose which it is intended
to subserve. (3) Christ’s preciousness is enhanced by that training and discipline, that process of
intellectual and spiritual preparation, which it was the Father’s good will that He should be called
upon to undergo.

185. II. Christ is valuable, not only in Himself, but also in the estimation of His people. They think much of
Him. There is nothing His people would not consent to part with, if the parting were necessary, in
order to retain their possession of Christ. And Christ is more precious to His people the longer and the
better they know Him. I have heard it said that the feeling of many persons, when they first see the far-
famed cathedral of St. Peter at Rome, is one of disappointment. The building seems neither so large,
nor so grand, nor so imposing, nor so beautiful as they had expected it to be. But when they become
better acquainted with it the feeling of disappointment passes away; the beauty, the glory, grow upon
the visitor. So what we knew and appreciated of Christ when we first put ourselves into His hands is as
nothing when compared with what we know and appreciate of Him upon further acquaintance.
G. Calthrop, Penny Pulpit, New Series, No. 1005.
1 Peter 2:7-8
Believers and Unbelievers.
I. The relation which Jesus Christ sustains to believers: "Unto you therefore which believe He is
precious." (1) The first element in our idea of preciousness is rarity. (2) Another important element in
our idea of preciousness is usefulness. (3) There must also be real intrinsic worth. All these we have in
Christ Jesus.
II. The relation which Christ sustains to unbelievers. (1) He is by them rejected. (2) He becomes to
them a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. (3) Those who through unbelief crucify to themselves
afresh the Son of God do themselves incalculable moral hurt.
J. C. Jones, Studies in First Peter, p. 288.
8and, "A stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall."[d] They stumble because
they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined
for.
BAR ES, “And a stone of stumbling - A stone over which they, stumble, or against which they
impinge. The idea seems to be that of a cornerstone which projects from the building, against which
they dash themselves, and by which they are made to fall. See the notes at Mat_21:44. The rejection of
the Saviour becomes the means of their ruin. They refuse to build on him, and it is as if one should run
against a solid projecting cornerstone of a house, that would certainly be the means of their
destruction. Compare the notes at Luk_2:34. An idea similar to this occurs in Mat_21:44; “Whosoever
shall fall on this stone shall be broken.” The meaning is, that if this foundation-stone is not the means
of their salvation, it will be of their ruin. It is not a matter of indifference whether they believe on him
or not - whether they accept or reject him. They cannot reject him without the most fearful

186. consequences to their souls.
And a rock of offence - This expresses substantially the same idea as the phrase “stone of
stumbling.” The word rendered “offence,” (σκάνδαλον skandalon) means properly “a trap-stick - a
crooked stick on which the bait is fastened which the animal strikes against, and so springs the trap,”
(Robinson, Lexicon) then “a trap, gin, snare”; and then “anything which one strikes or stumbles
against; a stumbling-block.” It then denotes “that which is the cause or occasion of ruin.” This
language would be strictly applicable to the Jews, who rejected the Saviour on account of his humble
birth, and whose rejection of him was made the occasion of the destruction of their temple, city, and
nation. But it is also applicable to all who reject him, from whatever cause; for their rejection of him
will be followed with ruin to their souls. It is a crime for which God will judge them as certainly as he
did the Jews who disowned him and crucified him, for the offence is substantially the same. What
might have been, therefore, the means of their salvation, is made the cause of their deeper
condemnation.
Even to them which stumble at the word - To all who do this. That is, they take the same kind
of offence at the gospel which the Jews did at the Saviour himself. It is substantially the same thing,
and the consequences must be the same. How does the conduct of the man who rejects the Saviour
now, differ from that of him who rejected him when he was on the earth?
Being disobedient - 1Pe_2:7. The reason why they reject him is, that they are not disposed to
obey. They are solemnly commanded to believe the gospel; and a refusal to do it, therefore, is as really
an act of disobedience as to break any other command of God.
Whereunto they were appointed - (εᅶς ᆋ καᆳ ᅚτέθησαν eis ho kai etethēsan.) The word “whereunto
“means unto which. But unto what? It cannot be supposed that it means that they were “appointed” to
believe on him and be saved by him; for:
(1) This would involve all the difficulty which is ever felt in the doctrine of decrees or election; for it
would then mean that he had eternally designated them to be saved, which is the doctrine of
predestination; and,
(2) If this were the true interpretation, the consequence would follow that God had been foiled in his
plan - for the reference here is to those who would not be saved, that is, to those who “stumble at
that stumblingstone,” and are destroyed.
Calvin supposes that it means, “unto which rejection and destruction they were designated in the
purpose of God.” So Bloomfield renders it, “Unto which (disbelief) they were destined,” (Critical
Digest) meaning, as he supposes, that “into this stumbling and disobedience they were permitted by
God to fall.” Doddridge interprets it, “To which also they were appointed by the righteous sentence of
God, long before, even as early as in his first purpose and decree he ordained his Son to be the great
foundation of his church.” Rosenmuller gives substantially the same interpretation. Clemens Romanus
says it means that “they were appointed, not that they should sin, but that, sinning, they should be
punished.” See Wetstein. So Macknight. “To which punishment they were appointed.” Whitby gives
the same interpretation of it, that because they were disobedient, (referring, as he supposes, to the
Jews who rejected the Messiah) “they were appointed, for the punishment of that disobedience, to fall
and perish.”
Dr. Clark supposes that it means that they were prophesied of that they should thus fall; or that, long
before, it was predicted that they should thus stumble and fall. In reference to the meaning of this
difficult passage, it is proper to observe that there is in the Greek verb necessarily the idea of
designation, appointment, purpose. There was some agency or intention by which they were put in
that condition; some act of placing or appointing, (the word τίθηµι tithēmi meaning to set, put, lay, lay
down, appoint, constitute) by which this result was brought about. The fair sense, therefore, and one
from which we cannot escape, is, that this did not happen by chance or accident, but that there was a
divine arrangement, appointment, or plan on the part of God in reference to this result, and that the
result was in conformity with that. So it is said in Jud_1:4, of a similar class of people, “For there are
certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation.” The facts were

187. these:
(1) That God appointed his Son to be the cornerstone of his church.
(2) That there was a portion of the world which, from some cause, would embrace him and be saved.
(3) That there was another portion who, it was certain, would not embrace him.
(4) That it was known that the appointment of the Lord Jesus as a Saviour would be the occasion of
their rejecting him, and of their deeper and more aggravated condemnation.
(5) That the arrangement was nevertheless made, with the understanding that all this would be so,
and because it was best on the whole that it should be so, even though this consequence would follow.
That is, it was better that the arrangement should be made for the salvation of people even with this
result, that a part would sink into deeper condemnation, than that no arrangement should be made to
save any. The primary and originating arrangement, therefore, did not contemplate them or their
destruction, but was made with reference to others, and notwithstanding they would reject him, and
would fall. The expression “whereunto” (εᅶς ᆋ eis ho) refers to this plan, as involving, under the
circumstances, the result which actually followed. Their stumbling and falling was not a matter of
chance, or a result which was not contemplated, but entered into the original arrangement; and the
whole, therefore, might be said to be in accordance with a wise plan and purpose. And,
(6) It might he said in this sense, and in this connection, that those who would reject him were
appointed to this stumbling and falling. It was what was foreseen; what entered into the general
arrangement; what was involved in the purpose to save any. It was not a matter that was unforeseen,
that the consequence of giving a Saviour would result in the condemnation of those who should crucify
and reject him; but the whole thing, as it actually occurred, entered into the divine arrangement. It
may be added, that as, in the facts in the case, nothing wrong has been done by God, and no one has
been deprived of any rights, or punished more than he deserves, it was not wrong in him to make the
arrangement. It was better that the arrangement should be made as it is, even with this consequence,
than that none at all should be made for human salvation. Compare the Rom_9:15-18 notes;
Joh_12:39-40 notes. This is just a statement, in accordance with what everywhere occurs in the Bible,
that all things enter into the eternal plans of God; that nothing happens by chance; that there is
nothing that was not foreseen; and that the plan is such as, on the whole, God saw to be best and wise,
and therefore adopted it. If there is nothing unjust and wrong in the actual development of the plan,
there was nothing in forming it. At the same time, no man who disbelieves and rejects the gospel
should take refuge in this as an excuse. He was “appointed” to it no otherwise than as it actually
occurs; and as they know that they are voluntary in rejecting him, they cannot lay the blame of this on
the purposes of God. They are not forced or compelled to do it; but it was seen that this consequence
would follow, and the plan was laid to send the Saviour notwithstanding.
CLARKE, “A stone of stumbling - Because in him all Jews and Gentiles who believe are united;
and because the latter were admitted into the Church, and called by the Gospel to enjoy the same
privileges which the Jews, as the peculiar people of God, had enjoyed for two thousand years before;
therefore they rejected the Christian religion, they would have no partakers with themselves in the
salvation of God. This was the true cause why the Jews rejected the Gospel; and they rejected Christ
because he did not come as a secular prince. In the one case he was a stone of stumbling - he was poor,
and affected no worldly pomp; in the other he was a rock of offense, for his Gospel called the Gentiles
to be a peculiar people whom the Jews believed to be everlastingly reprobated, and utterly incapable of
any spiritual good.
Whereunto also they were appointed - Some good critics read the verse thus, carrying on the
sense from the preceding: Also a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense: The disobedient stumble
against the word, (or doctrine), to which verily they were appointed. - Macknight.
Mr. Wakefield, leaving out, with the Syriac, the clause, The stone which the builders disallowed, the
same is made the head of the corner, reads 1Pe_2:7, 1Pe_2:8 thus: To you therefore who trust thereon,

188. this stone is honorable; but to those who are not persuaded, (απειθουσι), it is a stone to strike upon and
to stumble against, at which they stumble who believe not the word; and unto this indeed they were
appointed; that is, they who believe not the word were appointed to stumble and fall by it, not to
disbelieve it; for the word of the Lord is either a savor of life unto life, or death unto death, to all them
that hear it, according as they receive it by faith, or reject it by unbelief. The phrase τιθεναι τινα εις τι is
very frequent among the purest Greek writers, and signifies to attribute any thing to another, or to
speak a thing of them; of which Kypke gives several examples from Plutarch; and paraphrases the
words thus: This stumbling and offense, particularly of the Jews, against Christ, the corner stone, was
long ago asserted and predicted by the prophets, by Christ, and by others; compare Isa_8:14, Isa_8:15;
Mat_21:42, Mat_21:44; Luk_2:34; and Rom_9:32, Rom_9:33. Now this interpretation of Kypke is the
more likely, because it is evident that St. Peter refers to Isa_8:14, Isa_8:15 : And he shall be for a
sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a gin
and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be
broken, etc. The disobedient, therefore, being appointed to stumble against the word, or being
prophesied of as persons that should stumble, necessarily means, from the connection in which it
stands, and from the passage in the prophet, that their stumbling, falling, and being broken, is the
consequence of their disobedience or unbelief; but there is no intimation that they were appointed or
decreed to disobey, that they might stumble, and fall, and be broken. They stumbled and fell through
their obstinate unbelief; and thus their stumbling and falling, as well as their unbelief, were of
themselves, in consequence of this they were appointed to be broken; this was God’s work of
judgment. This seems to be the meaning which our Lord attaches to this very prophecy, which he
quotes against the chief priests and elders, Mat_21:44. On the whole of these passages, see the notes
on Mat_21:42-44 (note).
GILL, “And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence,.... The apostle alludes to Isa_8:14 and
which is a prophecy of the Messiah; see Gill on Rom_9:33 and had its accomplishment in the
unbelieving and disobedient Jews; who stumbled at his birth and parentage; at the manner of his
birth, being born of a virgin; at the meanness of his parents, his supposed father being a carpenter, and
his mother, Mary, a poor woman, when they expected the Messiah would have sprung from some rich
and noble family; and at the place of his birth, which they imagined was Galilee, from his education
and conversation there; they stumbled also at his education, and could not conceive how he should
know letters, and from whence he should have his wisdom, having never been trained up in any of
their schools and academies, or at the feet of any of their doctors and Rabbins; but, on the other hand,
was brought up and employed in the trade of a carpenter; they stumbled at his outward meanness and
poverty, when they expected the Messiah would be a rich, powerful, and glorious monarch; and so at
the obscurity of his kingdom, which was not of this world, and came not with observation, when they
dreamt of an earthly and temporal one, which should be set up in great splendour and glory; and they
stumbled likewise at the company he kept, and the audience that attended him, being the poorer sort
of the people, and the more illiterate, and also such who had been very profane and wicked, as
publicans and harlots; moreover, they stumbled at his ministry, at the doctrine he preached,
particularly at the doctrine of his divinity, and of spiritual communion with him, by eating his flesh,
and drinking his blood, and at the doctrines of distinguishing grace; and so at his miracles, by which
he confirmed his mission and ministry, some of these being wrought on the sabbath day, and others
they imputed to diabolical influence and assistance, in a word, they stumbled at his death, having
imbibed a notion that Christ abideth for ever, and especially at the manner of it, the death of the cross;
wherefore the preaching of Christ crucified always was, and still is, a stumbling block unto them:
even to them which stumble at the word; either the essential Word, Christ Jesus, as before; or
rather at the doctrine of the Gospel, at that part of it which respects a trinity of persons in the
Godhead; because their carnal reason could not comprehend it, and they refused to submit to
revelation, and to receive the witness of God, which is greater than that of men; and at that part of it

189. which regards the deity of Christ, and that for this reason, because he was a man, and in order to
enervate the efficacy of his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, and fearing too much honour should be
given to him; and also at that part of the word which concerns the distinguishing grace of God, as
eternal personal election, particular redemption, and efficacious grace in conversion; against which the
carnal mind of man is continually cavilling and replying, and, in so doing, against God himself,
charging him with cruelty, injustice, and insincerity; and particularly at that part of the word which
holds forth the doctrine of free justification, by the righteousness of Christ; this was the grand
stumbling block of the Jews, who sought for righteousness, not by faith, but, as it were, by the works of
the law, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and of the spirituality of the law, and of
themselves, and their own righteousness, of which they had an overweening opinion:
being disobedient; to the Gospel revelation, and unwilling to submit their carnal reason to it; this is
the source and cause of their stumbling at Christ and his Gospel: it is worth while to compare this with
the paraphrase of Isa_8:14 which passage is here referred to; and the paraphrase of it runs thus,
""if ye obey not", his word shall be among you for revenge, and for a stone smiting, and for a rock of
offence to both houses of the princes of Israel, and for destruction and offence to those who are divided
upon the house of Judah, &c.
whereunto also they were appointed; both to stumble at the word of the Gospel, and at Christ,
the sum and substance of it, he being set in the counsel and purpose of God, as for the rising of some,
so for the stumbling and falling of others; and also to that disobedience and infidelity which was the
cause of their stumbling; for as there are some whom God appointed and foreordained to believe in
Christ, on whom he has determined to bestow true faith in him, and who have it as a pure gift, in
consequence of such appointment; so there are others, whom he has determined to leave in that
disobedience and infidelity into which the fall brought and concluded them, through which they
stumble at Christ, and his word, and, in consequence thereof, justly perish; but this is not the case of
all; there are some who are the objects of distinguishing grace and favour, and who are described in
the following verse.
HE RY, “IV. The apostle adds a further description, still preserving the metaphor of a stone,
1Pe_2:8. The words are taken from Isa_8:13, Isa_8:14, Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself - and he
shall be for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence, whence it is plain that Jesus Christ is the
Lord of hosts, and consequently the most high God. Observe,
1. The builders, the chief-priests, refused him, and the people followed their leaders; and so Christ
became to them a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, at which they stumbled and hurt
themselves; and in return he fell upon them as a mighty stone or rock, and punished them with
destruction. Mat_12:44, Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it
shall fall it will grind him to powder. Learn, (1.) All those that are disobedient take offense at the word
of God: They stumble at the word, being disobedient. They are offended with Christ himself, with his
doctrine and the purity of his precepts; but the Jewish doctors more especially stumbled at the
meanness of his appearance and the proposal of trusting only to him for their justification before God.
They could not be brought to seek justification by faith, but as it were by the works of the law; for they
stumbled at that stumbling-stone, Rom_9:32. (2.) The same blessed Jesus who is the author of
salvation to some is to others the occasion of their sin and destruction. He is set for the rising and fall
of many in Israel. He is not the author of their sin, but only the occasion of it; their own disobedience
makes them stumble at him and reject him, which he punishes, as a judge, with destruction. Those
who reject him as a Saviour will split upon him as a Rock. (3.) God himself hath appointed everlasting
destruction to all those who stumble at the word, being disobedient. All those who go on resolutely in
their infidelity and contempt of the gospel are appointed to eternal destruction; and God from eternity
knows who they are. (4.) To see the Jews generally rejecting Christ, and multitudes in all ages slighting
him, ought not to discourage us in our love and duty to him; for this had been foretold by the prophets
long ago, and is a confirmation of our faith both in the scriptures and in the Messiah.

190. JAMISO , “stone of stumbling, etc. — quoted from Isa_8:14. Not merely they stumbled, in
that their prejudices were offended; but their stumbling implies the judicial punishment of their
reception of Messiah; they hurt themselves in stumbling over the corner-stone, as “stumble” means in
Jer_13:16; Dan_11:19.
at the word — rather, join “being disobedient to the word”; so 1Pe_3:1; 1Pe_4:17.
whereunto — to penal stumbling; to the judicial punishment of their unbelief. See above.
also — an additional thought; God’s ordination; not that God ordains or appoints them to sin, but
they are given up to “the fruit of their own ways” according to the eternal counsel of God. The moral
ordering of the world is altogether of God. God appoints the ungodly to be given up unto sin, and a
reprobate mind, and its necessary penalty. “Were appointed,” Greek, “set,” answers to “I lay,” Greek,
“set,” 1Pe_2:6. God, in the active, is said to appoint Christ and the elect (directly). Unbelievers, in the
passive, are said to be appointed (God acting less directly in the appointment of the sinner’s awful
course) [Bengel]. God ordains the wicked to punishment, not to crime [J. Cappel]. “Appointed” or “set”
(not here “FORE-ordained”) refers, not to the eternal counsel so directly, as to the penal justice of God.
Through the same Christ whom sinners rejected, they shall be rejected; unlike believers, they are by
God appointed unto wrath as FITTED for it. The lost shall lay all the blame of their ruin on their own
sinful perversity, not on God’s decree; the saved shall ascribe all the merit of their salvation to God’s
electing love and grace.
CALVI , “8Which stumble at the word He points out here the manner in which Christ becomes a stumbling, even
when men perversely oppose the word of God. This the Jews did; for though they professed themselves willing to
receive the Messiah, yet they furiously rejected him when presented to them by God. The Papists do the same in the
present day; they worship only the name of Christ, while they cannot endure the doctrine of the Gospel. Here Peter
intimates that all who receive not Christ as revealed in the Gospel, are adversaries to God, and resist his word, and
also that Christ is to none for destruction, but to those who, through headstrong wickedness and obstinacy, rush
against the word of God.
And this is especially what deserves to be noticed, lest our fault should be imputed to Christ; for, as he has been given
to us as a foundation, it is as it were an accidental thing that he becomes a rock of offense. In short, his proper office is
to prepare us for a spiritual temple to God; but it is the fault of men that they stumble at him, even because unbelief
leads men to contend with God. Hence Peter, inORDER to set forth the character of the conflict, said that they were
the unbelieving.
Whereunto also they were appointed, or, to which they had been ordained. This passage may be explained in two
ways. It is, indeed, certain that Peter spoke of the Jews; and the common interpretation is, that they were appointed to
believe, for the promise of salvation was destined for them. But the other sense is equally suitable, that they had been
appointed to unbelief; asPHARAOH is said to have been set up for this end, that he might resist God, and all the
reprobate are destined for the same purpose. And what inclines me to this meaning is the particleκαὶ (also) which is
put in. (24) If, however, the first view be preferred, then it is a vehement upbraiding; for Peter does
henceENHANCE the sin of unbelief in the people who had been chosen by God, because they rejected the
salvation that had been peculiarly ordained for them. And no doubt this circumstance rendered them doubly
inexcusable, that having been called in preference to others, they had refused to hear God. But, by saying that they
were appointed to believe, he refers only to their outward call, even according to the covenant which God had made
generally with the whole nation. At the same time their ingratitude, as it has been said, was sufficiently proved, when
they rejected the word preached to them.
(24) The most obvious meaning is, to consider the phrase, “ stumble at the word,” as the antecedent to εἰς ὃ “ which:”
they being disobedient or unbelieving were destined to stumble at the word, and thereby to fall and to be broken.
(Isa_8:14 .) To the believing it was precious, but to the unbelieving it became the stone of stumbling; and this
stumbling is a judgment to which all the unpersuaded (literally) or the unbelieving, are destined. I would render the two
verses thus, —

191. “ you then who believe it is precious; but to the unbelieving (with regard to the stone which the builders have rejected,
the same which has become the head of the corner) even a stone of stumbling and rock of offense; that is, to
those who stumble at the word, being unbelieving; to which also they have been appointed:” that is, according to the
testimony of Scripture. — Ed.
PULPIT, "And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. St. Peter combines Isa_8:14 with
his first quotations, as St. Paul also does (Ram. 9:33), both apostles quoting from the Hebrew,
not from the Septuagint, which is quite different, inserting two negatives. The living Stone is
not only made the Head of the corner to the confusion of the disobedient, but becomes also to
their destruction a Stone of stumbling; they fall on that Stone, and are broken (Mat_21:44).
That Stone is a Rock ( πέτρα ), the Rock of Ages, the Rock on which the Church is built; but
to the disobedient it is a Rock of offense ( πέτρα σκανδάλου ). Σκάνδαλον (in Attic Greek
σκανδάληθρον ) is properly the catch or spring of a trap, which makes animals fall into the
trap; then a stumbling-block—anything which causes men to fall. We cannot fail to notice how
St. Peter echoes the well-remembered words of our Lord, recorded in Mat_16:18, Mat_16:23.
Peter was himself then a πέτρα σκανδάλου , a rock of offense. Even to them which stumble at
the Word, being disobedient; literally, who being disobedient stumble at the Word—the
relative referring back to "them which be disobedient" in Mat_16:7. This seems better than
(with Huther and others) to take τῷ λόγῳ with ἀπειθοῦντες , "who stumble, being disobedient
to the Word." Ἀπειθοῦντες , literally," unbelieving," contains here, as frequently, the idea of
disobedience, willful opposition. St. Peter seems to come very near to St. John's use of Λόγος
for the personal Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. Whereunto also they were appointed.
"Whereunto" ( εἰς ὄ ) cannot refer back to verse 5; God had appointed them to be built up in
his spiritual house, but they were disobedient. It must refer either to ἀπειθοῦντες —sin is
punished by sin; for sin in God's awful judgment hardens the heart; the disobedient are in
danger of eternal sin (Mar_3:29, according to the two oldest manuscripts)—or, more probably,
to προσκόπουσιν ; it is God's ordinance that disobedience should end in stumbling; but that
stumbling does not necessarily imply condemnation (see Rom_11:11). The word, the
preaching of Christ crucified, was to the Jews a stumbling-block (1Co_1:23). But not all
stumbled that they might fall. Nevertheless, perseverance in disobedience must end in
everlasting death.
ELLICOTT, "(8) And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.—Another quotation, no doubt
suggested by the word “a stone,” but conveying a totally different metaphor. Here there is no
thought whatever of the stone as a material for building; the thought is that of a mass of rock
on the road, on which the terror-stricken fugitives stumble and fall. The words are taken from
Isaiah 8:14, and are translated directly from the Hebrew. The LXX. not only makes nonsense,
but can again be hardly acquitted of “guile” (1 Peter 2:1) in its endeavour to make out the best
possible case for Israel by deliberately inserting the word “not” twice over. We shall find St.
Peter in 1 Peter 3:14 QUOTING the verses which immediately precede our present citation,
and again the point lies in the context. The words are no mere phrase hastily caught up to
serve the turn. They come out of the great Immanuel section of Isaiah, and immediately
involve, like the quotation in 1 Peter 2:6, the sharp contrast between the Jews who trust in
Immanuel (the presence of God with Israel) and the Jews who do not, but rely on
“confederacies.” To the one party, the Lord of Hosts will be “for a sanctuary;” but to the other
party, who are described as “both houses of Israel,” and specially as the “inhabitant of
Jerusalem,” He will be “for a stone of striking, and for a rock of stumbling over,” and also “for a
snare.” The “sanctuary” does not seem to mean a temple (though this would connect it with
the preceding words of St. Peter), but rather such a “sanctuary” as that of Bethel (Genesis

192. 28:18), a consecrated stone to which a man might flee as an asylum. In the FLIGHT of terror
before the face of the Assyrians the very stone which afforded right of sanctuary to those who
recognised and trusted it, was a vexatious and dangerous obstacle, a trap full in the way to
those who did not. Once more, therefore, the Hebrews of the Dispersion, in separating
themselves from “both houses of Israel” and the “inhabitant of Jerusalem,” were obeying the
warnings of the Immanuel prophecy, which every Hebrew recognised as Messianic. Though
the coupling of these passages of the Old Testament together certainly seems to show traces
of the influence of St. Paul (comp. Romans 9:32-33), yet St. Peter must have been present
and heard “the Lord of Hosts” Himself put them together (Luke 20:17-18), and probably St.
Paul’s use of the passages is itself to be traced BACKto the same origin.
Stumble at the word, being disobedient.—It seems better to arrange the words otherwise:
which stumble, being disobedient to the word. The participle thus explains the verb. “‘A stone
of stumbling’ He is to them; and the manner of the stumbling is in being disobedient to the
gospel preaching” (Leighton).
Whereunto also they were appointed—i.e., unto stumbling. The present commentator
believes that when St. Peter says that these unhappy Jews were appointed to stumble, he
primarily means that the clear prophecies of the Old Testament which he has quoted marked
them for such a destiny. It was no unforeseen, accidental consequence of the gospel. It had
never been expected that all who heard the gospel would accept it. Those who stumbled by
disbelief were marked out in prophecy as men who would stumble. Thus the introduction of
the statement here has the direct practical purpose of CONFIRMINGthe faith of the readers
by showing the verification of the prophecy. Still, in fairness, we must not shirk the further
question which undoubtedly comes in at this point. Even though the moment of their
appointment to stumble was that of the utterance of the prophecy, it cannot be denied that, in
a certain sense, it was God Himself who appointed them to stumble. It will be observed,
however, from the outset, that our present passage casts not a glance at the condition of the
stumbling Jews after death. With this caution, we may say that God puts men sometimes into
positions where, during this life, they almost inevitably reject the truth. This is implied in the
very doctrine of election—e.g., in 2 Thessalonians 2:13, where, if God selects one man out of
the hundred to a present salvation through belief of truth, it seems to follow logically that the
ninety and nine are appointed to have no share in that salvation, so far as this life is
concerned, through disbelief of truth. These things remain as a trial of faith. It suffices that we
know for certain that God is Love. He has “brought us forth at His own option by the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:18). We have but to
PRIZE more highly our own present salvation, and to trust His love for that fuller harvest of
which we are but the firstfruits. In some way even their stumbling will ultimately prove His
love, to them as well as to us.
COKE, "1 Peter 2:8. And a stone of stumbling, &c.— We render this verse as if it were one
CONTINUEDsentence; but thus violence is done to the text, and the apostle's sense is thrown
into obscurity and disorder; which is restored by putting a full stop after offence, and
beginning a new sentence thus: They stumble at the word. For, observe, the apostle runs a
double antithesis between believers and unbelievers: To you who believe, says he, it is
precious; to them who believe not, and are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected,
&c. 1 Peter 2:7. They stumble at the word; (1 Peter 2:8.)—but you are a chosen people, &c. 1
Peter 2:9. The passage before us is taken from Isaiah 8:14-15 and is QUOTED by St. Paul,
Romans 9:33. This is a quite different image from the last; for Christ is not here compared to a

193. foundation or corner-stone, but to a hard stone or rock in the course or highway, against
which men are apt to stumble and fall; and the swifter they move, or the more heedless they
are, the more is the danger of hurting or destroying themselves. We are not to understand the
last clause of this verse, as if these persons were appointed of God to reject or obey the
Gospel; for how then could it be said that God would have all men to be saved, and come to
the knowledge of the truth? 1 Timothy 2:4. If God appointed the unbelief of the Jewish nation,
or of any particular persons, then their unbelief and rejection of the Gospel was complying
with the will and appointment of God; and consequently could not be sin, or deserve
punishment. From these and the like considerations it is evident, that St. Peter is not here
speaking of their being
appointeduntounbeliefordisobedience,butuntothepunishmentwhichtheirunbelief and
disobedience deserved. They were unbelievers of whom he was speaking; persons, who
voluntarily and wickedly rejected the gospel, and refused to obey its laws; and therefore it was
appointed, that Christ should be to them a stumbling-block, or a rock, against which they
should dash themselves to their own destruction. Dr. Heylin translates these two verses: To
you, therefore, who believe, he is precious; but with regard to those who are disobedient, this
same stone, (which the builders had rejected, and which is made the head of the corner) 1
Peter 2:8 becomes a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to those who resist the
word by their disobedience; to which also they were abandoned. "The public translation, says
he, has whereunto they were appointed; which does not imply any absolute decree, with
regard to those persons, but only the general one against all that are disobedient: for, 1
Thessalonians 5:9 we read, God hath not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation;
and yet they might incur wrath, as the tenor of that epistle, and indeed of all the Scriptures,
demonstrates."
LANGE, "1Pe_2:8. A stone of stumbling—who stumble.— ðñüóêïììá , a collision producing
hurt or injury, ð◌ֶ â◌ֶ ó .— óêÜíäáëïí , properly the catch in the trap, holding the bait, then the
trap itself; figuratively, whatever causes to fall, seduces and involves men in sin and calamity.
The running and stumbling against a thing is followed by falling. Ruin as the consequence of
unbelief stands in contrast with the honour in store for believers, cf. Luk_2:34; Luk_20:17;
Mat_21:42-44; Rom_9:32. The meaning is more than mere subjective taking offence and
being vexed, as the sequel shows, not= ἀðåéèåῖí .— ïἱ ðñïóêüðôïõóéí , relates to ἀðåéèïῦíôåò
, who stumble while and because they do not believe the word.— ðñïóêüðôïõóéí must not be
joined with ëüãῳ , for it has already its object—i. e., Christ. Grotius erroneously confines
himself to the temporal punishment of the Jews, whereas the reference is plain to whatever
misery and ruin follows the rejection of Christ.
Whereunto they were also appointed.— åἰò ὃ êáὶ ἐôÝèçóáí relates to the foregoing principal
verb, to ðñïóêüðôåéí . Grotius rightly: “Unbelievers are appointed for this very thing that they
stumble, endure the most grievous punishment for their unbelief.” ôßèçìé applied to the
temporal acts of God, not to His eternal decrees and ordinances, cf. Joh_15:16; Act_20:28;
1Ti_2:7; 2Ti_1:11; 2Pe_2:6; Psa_66:9 in LXX.; 1Th_5:9. It denotes placing, setting in a
definite situation, in certain circumstances, which often carry great dangers along with great
disadvantages. Roos observes: “Had those unbelievers died in infancy, or had they been born
deaf, or among ignorant heathen, they could not thus stumble. Had Caiaphas, Judas Iscariot
and others been born several centuries sooner, they could not have so wofully sinned against
the Son of God. Man is not wronged in being thus set among inestimable benefits and awful
dangers; he is only to seize the benefits, to believe the word; if he is unwilling to do so, his
condemnation is perfectly just.” Having once voluntarily surrendered themselves to unbelief,

194. their stumbling is neither accidental nor optional, but it contains besides the natural
connection also a Divine and inevitable arrangement: “He that soweth to his flesh, shall of the
flesh reap corruption,” Gal_6:8. Yea, God punishes sin with sin, unbelief with unbelief, if men
wantonly repel grace and love darkness more than light. With this explanation we reject the
expositions of the Calvinists, e. g., that of Aretius; “Satan and their native evil have set them
not to believe,” and that of Beza: “That some are rejected not because of their foreseen sins,
but because of the good pleasure of the Divine will.” Cf. on the other hand, Rom_10:11-18;
Rom_16:26; 1Ti_2:4; Tit_2:11. The artificial exposition of Cornelius a Lapide is equally
inadmissible, “They also were set (positi) to believe in Christ, but they refuse faith, just
because they will not believe.” The parallelism, already noticed by Gerhard, ought not to be
passed over, that God sets (appoints) Christ as the foundation and corner-stone of the ôéìÞ
for believers; while unbelievers are set (appointed) to stumble at this corner-stone, which is to
them a stone of stumbling, vide Weiss.
9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of
him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
BAR ES, “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 λαᆵς εᅶς
περιποίησιν laos eis peripoiēsin) 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

195. 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 λαᆵς περιούσιος laos periousios) above all people.”
That ye should show forth the praises of him - Margin, “virtues.” The Greek word (ᅊρετᆱ
aretē) 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.
CLARKE, “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, Deu_7:6.
They were also a royal priesthood, or what Moses calls a kingdom of priests, Exo_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, Exo_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

196. world.
They were also a peculiar people, λαος εις περιποιησιν, a purchased people; ‫סגלה‬ segullah, a private
property, belonging to God Almighty, Deu_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; αρετας,
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.
GILL, “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 Exo_19:6, where the Israelites are called a "kingdom of priests";
which the Chaldee paraphrase renders, kings, priests; see Rev_1:6 a character which one of the Jewish
commentators says (y) shall return to the Jews ‫לבא‬ ‫,לעתיד‬ "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

197. 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 ‫כהנה‬ ‫,כתר‬ "the crown of the
priesthood" (z):
an holy nationan holy nationan holy nationan holy nation; referring to the same place in Exo_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 peoplea peculiar peoplea peculiar peoplea peculiar people; as the Israelites are called a "peculiar treasure", Exo_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, ‫,סגלה‬ 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, ‫פריקא‬ ‫,כנשא‬ "a redeemed company": the same with the church God has purchased with his blood,
Act_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 himthat ye should show forth the praises of himthat ye should show forth the praises of himthat 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 lightwho hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous lightwho hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous lightwho hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; which is to be understood, not of an external call

198. 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 lightinto his marvellous lightinto his marvellous lightinto 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,
‫גדול‬ ‫לאור‬ ‫,ומאפילה‬ "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),
HE RY, “2. Those who received him were highly privileged, 1Pe_2:9. The Jews were exceedingly
tender of their ancient privileges, of being the only people of God, taken into a special covenant with

199. him, and separated from the rest of the world. “Now,” say they, “if we submit to the gospel -
constitution, we shall lose all this, and stand upon the same level with the Gentiles.”
(1.) To this objection the apostle answers, that if they did not submit they were ruined (1Pe_2:7,
1Pe_2:8), but that if they did submit they should lose no real advantage, but continue still what they
desired to be, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, etc. Learn, [1.] All true Christians are a chosen
generation; they all make one family, a sort and species of people distinct from the common world, of
another spirit, principle, and practice, which they could never be if they were not chosen in Christ to be
such, and sanctified by his Spirit. [2.] All the true servants of Christ are a royal priesthood. They are
royal in their relation to God and Christ, in their power with God, and over themselves and all their
spiritual enemies; they are princely in the improvements and the excellency of their own spirits, and in
their hopes and expectations; they are a royal priesthood, separated from sin and sinners, consecrated
to God, and offering to God spiritual services and oblations, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
[3.] All Christians, wheresoever they be, compose one holy nation. They are one nation, collected
under one head, agreeing in the same manners and customs, and governed by the same laws; and they
are a holy nation, because consecrated and devoted to God, renewed and sanctified by his Holy Spirit.
[4.] It is the honour of the servants of Christ that they are God's peculiar people. They are the people of
his acquisition, choice, care, and delight. These four dignities of all genuine Christians are not natural
to them; for their first state is a state of horrid darkness, but they are effectually called out of darkness
into a state of marvellous light, joy, pleasure, and prosperity, with this intent and view, that they
should show forth, by words and actions, the virtues and praises of him who hath called them.
(2.) To make this people content, and thankful for the great mercies and dignities brought unto them
by the gospel, the apostle advises them to compare their former and their present state. Time was
when they were not a people, nor had they obtained mercy, but they were solemnly disclaimed and
divorced (Jer_3:8; Hos_1:6, Hos_1:9); but now they are taken in again to be the people of God, and
have obtained mercy. Learn, [1.] The best people ought frequently to look back upon what they were in
time past. [2.] The people of God are the most valuable people in the world; all the rest are not a
people, good for little. [3.] To be brought into the number of the people of God is a very great mercy,
and it may be obtained.
JAMISO , “Contrast in the privileges and destinies of believers. Compare the similar contrast with
the preceding context.
chosen — “elect” of God, even as Christ your Lord is.
generation — implying the unity of spiritual origin and kindred of believers as a class distinct from
the world.
royal — kingly. Believers, like Christ, the antitypical Melchisedec, are at once kings and priests.
Israel, in a spiritual sense, was designed to be the same among the nations of the earth. The full
realization on earth of this, both to the literal and the spiritual Israel, is as yet future.
holy nation — antitypical to Israel.
peculiar people — literally, “a people for an acquisition,” that is, whom God chose to be
peculiarly His: Act_20:28, “purchased,” literally, “acquired.” God’s “peculiar treasure” above others.
show forth — publish abroad. Not their own praises but His. They have no reason to magnify
themselves above others for once they had been in the same darkness, and only through God’s grace
had been brought to the light which they must henceforth show forth to others.
praises — Greek, “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, 2Pe_1:5.
of him who hath called you — (2Pe_1:3).
out of darkness — of heathen and even Jewish ignorance, sin, and misery, and so out of the
dominion of the prince of darkness.
marvellous — Peter still has in mind Psa_118:23.
light — It is called “His,” that is, God’s. Only the (spiritual) light is created by God, not darkness. In

200. Isa_45:7, it is physical darkness and evil, not moral, that God is said to create, the punishment of sin,
not sin itself. Peter, with characteristic boldness, brands as darkness what all the world calls light;
reason, without the Holy Spirit, in spite of its vaunted power, is spiritual darkness. “It cannot
apprehend what faith is: there it is stark blind; it gropes as one that is without eyesight, stumbling
from one thing to another, and knows not what it does” [Luther].
CALVIN, “9But 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’ 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,
“ called formerlyYOUR fathers a holy nation, a priestly kingdom, and God’ 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 inNUMBER , 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,
“ 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, “ priestly kingdom,”
but the same thing is meant. So what Peter intimated was this, “ 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’ 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

201. 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
beCONTINUALLY remembered by us, that all God’ 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’
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’ condition,
before he is translated into the kingdom of God. And this is what Isaiah says,
“ 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.
PULPIT, "But ye are a chosen generation. The pronoun "ye" is emphatic. St. Peter is
drawing a contrast between the disobedient and unbelieving Jews and Christian
people whether Jews or Gentiles; he ascribes to Christians, in a series of phrases
QUOTED from the Old Testament, the various privileges which had belonged to the
children of Israel. The words, "a chosen generation" ( γένος ἐκλεκτόν ), are from
Isa_43:20, Γένος µου τὸ ἐκλεκτόν . The Cornerstone is elect, precious; the living stones
built thereupon are elect likewise. The whole Christian Church is addressed as an elect
race, one race, because all its members are begotten again of the one Father. A royal
priesthood. Instead of "holy," as in Isa_43:5, St. Peter has here the epithet "royal." He
follows the Septuagint Version of Exo_19:6; the Hebrew has "a kingdom of priests."
The word "royal" may mean that God's elect shall sit with Christ in his throne, and
reign with him (Rev_3:21; Rev_5:10), and that in some sense they reign with him now
over their lower nature, their desires and appetites; or, more probably, the priesthood
of Christians is called "royal" because it belongs to the King—"a priesthood serving
Jehovah the King, just as we speak of 'the royal household'" (Weiss, quoted by
Huther). An holy nation. Also from Exo_19:6. The Israelites were a holy nation as
separated from the heathen and consecrated to God's service by circumcision.
Christians of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, are one nation under
one King, separated to his service, dedicated to him in holy baptism. A peculiar people.
The Greek words. λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν , represent the words, äìÌÈâËñÀ îòÇ , of
Deu_7:6, translated by the LXX. λαὸν περιούσιον , "a special people" (Authorized
Version). St. Paul also has this translation in Tit_2:14. The Hebrew word äìÌÈâËñÀ in Ma
3:17 is rendered by the LXX. εἰς περιποίησιν , by the Authorized Version "my jewels."
The children of Israel are called äåÈçÉéÀ úìÌÇâËñÀ , as the peculium, the private,
special, treasured possession of God. God says of them, in Isa_43:21, "This people
have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise;" rendered by the LXX. Λαόν
µου ὂν περιεποιησάµην τὰς ἀρετάς µου διηγεῖσθαι , God hath now chosen us
Christians to be the Israel of God; the Christian Church is his peculium, his treasure, "a
people for God's own possession" (Revised Version). The literal meaning of the Greek
words used by St. Peter is "a people for acquisition," or "for keeping safe," the verb
having the sense of "gaining, acquiring," and also that of "preserving, keeping for
one's self" with his own blood"). That ye should show forth the praises of him. That ye

202. should tell out, publish abroad. The verb is found nowhere else in the New Testament.
The word translated "praises" ( ἀρετάς , literally, "virtues"), so very common in
classical writers, occurs in the New Testament only here, 2Pe_1:3, 2Pe_1:5, and
Php_4:8. Here St. Peter is quoting from the Septuagint Version of Isa_43:21 (the word
is similarly used in Isa_42:12 and Isa_63:7). Perhaps the best rendering is that of the
Revised Version, "excellencies." Who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. He had chosen them before the foundation of the world; he called
them when they received the gospel: "Whom he did predestinate, them he also called."
He called them out of the darkness of ignorance and sin. The Gentiles walked in utter
darkness, in less measure the Jews also. The light of his presence is marvelous,
wonderful; those who walk in that light feel something of its irradiating glory.
CONSTABLE, "All the figures of the church that Peter chose here originally referred to
Israel. However with Israel's rejection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 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. Romans 11:13-16; Romans 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 (Exodus 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 (Numbers 3:12-13;
Numbers 3:45; Numbers 8:14; cf. Exodus 13:2; Exodus 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 (1 Peter 2:5; Revelation 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

203. 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 (Exodus 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 (Isaiah 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 (1 Samuel 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 (Matthew 28:19-20).
God wanted to dwell among the Israelites and to make them His own unique
possession by residing among them (Exodus 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
(John 14:17; Romans 8:9). He has promised never to leave us (Matthew 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 (Matthew 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.]
BENSON, "1 Peter 2:9-10. But ye — Who have been born again of incorruptible seed,
and have purified your souls by obeying the truth, &c., (1 Peter 1:22-23,) and have
tasted that the Lord is gracious, (1 Peter 2:3,) and are built up upon him as lively
stories; ye, who bear this character are a chosen generation — εκλελτον γενος, an

204. elect race; all such, and such only, have that title, and other titles of a similar import, in
the New Testament. See on Ephesians 1:3-7; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14. A royal
priesthood — Kings and priests unto God, Revelation 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 λαος εις περιποιησιν 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 Titus 2:14; that ye should show forth — In your
spirit and conduct, in all your tempers, words, and works; the praises — τας αρετας,
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 Hosea 2:23, where the conversion
of the Gentiles is foretold, as the Apostle Paul informs us, Romans 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
God’s children.
COKE, "1 Peter 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: (2 Corinthians 4:6.)"
LANGE, "1Pe_2:9. But ye are a people for acquisition.—With reference to 1Pe_2:5, the

205. Apostle describes the glory of the Christian state as contrasted with the lot of unbelievers,
both because of their guilt and in accordance with the Divine appointment. The first and last of
the predicates used are taken from Isa_43:20, in LXX.; the others refer to Exo_19:6. ãÝíïò ,
denotes a whole united by natural relationship, community of origin among several parts of a
people. Applied to the Christian Church, it signifies the totality of those begotten of the same
incorruptible seed, and having one Spiritual Father, 1Pe_1:3; 1Pe_1:23; 1Jn_5:1.
ἐêëåêôüí , similar to the Jewish Church of the posterity of Abraham and Jacob, the Christian
Church is a company chosen out of the great mass of humanity, destined to salvation and
glory and resting on a foundation stone which is also ἐêëåêôüò , 1Pe_2:4. They constitute a
royal priesthood just because they belong to the one family of the children of the great God.
The Hebrew has “a kingdom of priests,” wherein God the King governs and animates all
things. The priestly character is, however, the leading idea. You all may freely draw near to
God, sacrificing, praying, and blessing, cf. Rev_1:6; Rev_5:10. But because you have
community of life with Him, and should be the image of Him who rules at the right hand of the
Majesty, 1Pe_3:22, you enjoy in Him also the prerogatives of royalty and government. Even
now you must no longer serve the world, with Christ you may overcome the flesh, the world
and the devil; your position as rulers will hereafter become more manifest to yourselves and
to the world. In you shall be completely fulfilled what in the faithful of Israel could be realized
only in feeble beginnings. Cf. Isa_61:6; Psa_148:14. Grotius quotes the saying of Cicero that
it is a royal thing to be the servant of no passion.
ἔèíïò ἅãéïí . As Israel was, among the many nations of the world, separated and consecrated
to God, Exo_19:6; Deu_7:6, so are you in a much higher sense a holy congregation in the
midst of this sin-stained world, you are cleansed by the blood of Christ, sanctified by the Spirit
of God, 1Pe_1:2, and bidden to strive indefatigably for holiness by renouncing the world and
growing in brotherly love, 1Pe_1:22.
ëáὸò åἰò ðåñéðïßçóéí = ò◌ַ í í◌ְ â◌ֻ ì◌ּ ◌ָ ä , a people acquired for possession, is the last title of
honour, Exo_19:5; Deu_7:6; Mal_3:17. Tit_2:14; Isa_43:21. ὤí may be understood. ëáüò as
exposed to ἔèíïò may be designed to give prominence to the ideas of subordination to the
King and of classification according to office and station, while ἔèíïò suggests the idea of
external relations and national habits. Some take ðåñéðïßçóéò actively for acquiring, as in
1Th_5:9; 2Th_2:14; Heb_10:39, in the sense of the people destined, to acquire the glorious
inheritance of God; but the reference to the Old Testament and the absence of an object in
the passage under notice, which elsewhere uniformly accompanies it, forbids such an
interpretation. As God had acquired the people of Israel by taking them from the Egyptian
house of bondage, so He has acquired the Church of the New Testament by the blood of his
Son.—Following Isa_43:20, the Apostle next specifies the end for which God did choose them
as His own and accord to them such high immunities, not that they should seek therein their
own glory, but that they should glorify God. Cf. Mat_5:16. The construction is similar to that of
ἀíåíÝãêáé in 1Pe_2:5.

206. That ye should publish, etc.— ἐîáããåßëçôå =to publish forth, to tell out, to give wide-spread
publicity to what takes place within, cf. Tit_2:14; Eph_2:10. This must take place by word and
deed, not only by called teachers but by the entire community of believers.
The virtues.— ἀñåôÞ , although of frequent use in the writings of the Greek philosophers,
occurs in the New Testament, besides this passage, only in Php_4:8; 2Pe_1:3; 2Pe_1:5. The
word used in the parallel passage of the Old Testament is ú◌ְ ä◌ִ ì◌ּ ◌ָ ú◌ִ é , my praise, cf.
Isa_48:8; Isa_48:12 in LXX. The ἀñåôáß of God are, as Gerhard rightly explains, those
attributes of God which shine forth from the work of our free calling and the whole contrivance
of our salvation. The connection suggests more particularly His Omnipotence which removes
every obstacle, and His mercy which condescends to the most degraded slave of sin. The last
attribute, in particular, was expressed in the appearing of Christ. Believing congregations
should be both the trumpets and mirrors thereof.
êáëåῖí , elsewhere applied to the call of the Apostolate, Mat_4:21; Mar_1:19; Rom_1:1;
Gal_1:15; 1Co_1:1; then to invitations to enter into the kingdom of God, Luk_5:32; 1Co_1:9;
Rev_19:9; Mat_22:14; Mat_9:13; Luk_14:24; Luk_5:32; Rom_8:30; Rom_9:12; Rom_9:24;
1Co_1:7; 1Th_4:7; 1Th_5:24; 2Th_2:14; that is, the kingdom of grace and glory. 1Th_2:12;
1Ti_6:12; Heb_9:15; 1Pe_5:10. This invitation is mostly effected by the preaching of the
Gospel, but sometimes also by God addressing men personally and calling them by their
names, Gen_12:1; Exo_31:2; Isa_13:3; Act_9:4, and by the efficient working of His Spirit in
their hearts. God the Father, the God of all grace is here, as elsewhere, He who calls,
1Co_1:9; Gal_1:15; 1Pe_5:10. He thus realizes in time (in this present life) the antetemporal
(the eternal) act of election.
The darkness is, according to Flacius, the kingdom of darkness and that most sad condition
which belongs to all men before they come to Christ. It comprises both ignorance of God and
the greatest unrighteousness, the slavery of Satan, and lastly, all kinds of punishment, the
curse and wrath of God, and, we may add, the anxious unrest and torment of conscience.
This figure being applied to the Jews in the Old Testament, Psa_107:10; Isa_9:2, affords no
clue, that Peter was addressing former pagans. Opposed to darkness is the wonderful light of
God, who Himself is Light as to His Being. It translates believers into His holy and blessed
communion of light; their understanding is therein enlightened, their will sanctified and their
conscience filled with peace. It is a wonderful Light as to origin, nature and effect, since it
makes of sinners the children of God. “It discovers wonderful things and cannot be seen by
the worldly-minded.” Roos. “It is wonderful, just as to one coming out of long darkness the
light of day would be wonderful.” de Wette.
We learn from 1Pe_2:9 that there is no antithesis between the New Testament and the Old,
provided the latter be treated according to its kernel and substance; Peter comprises both as
a unit, but at the same time gives uniform prominence to the spirituality and intrinsicality of
Christianity, and specifies a spiritual house, spiritual sacrifices and living stones; so that the
Old Testament is represented by him as the Divinely appointed threshold and porch of the
New. The province of bringing out the contrast between the Old Testament and the New was
left to St. Paul.

207. ELLICOTT, "(9) But ye.—Like St. Paul in 2 Thessalonians 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 1 Peter 2:5 they are bidden to aim at being what here they are said to be.
(Comp. Colossians 3:3; Colossians 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” (Amos 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 Exodus 19:6,
according to the LXX. version. The Hebrew has “a kingdom of priests,” as in Revelation 1:6
(according to the best reading); which would mean, God’s 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 1 Peter 2:5) instead of
“priests.” This, and the NEXTphrase, “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 Exodus 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 (Isaiah 43:21; Malachi 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 man’s 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 Acts 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. 1
Thessalonians 5:9, and Ephesians 1:7, where (according to Dr. Lightfoot) it means “for a

208. 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 Isaiah 43:21, which passage is brought to St. Peter’s 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
2 Peter 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” (Psalms 105:15). They were
not elect for their own sake, but to act as God’s 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. 1 Peter
1:12; 1 Peter 1:25). Here again, then, we have St. Peter speaking in praise of St. Paul’s
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. Peter’s 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 Matthew 4:16; Luke 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.
KRETZMANN, "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

209. 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.
COFFMAN, "Here are repeated one after another all of the glorious titles which once
belonged exclusively to the old Israel, the Hebrews, the children of Abraham; but here Peter
trumpeted the bestowal of all those titles upon the new Israel, now no longer restricted to
those of Abrahamic descent, but AVAILABLE to Jew and Gentile alike "in Christ Jesus." Peter
had already cautioned his readers (1 Peter 2:5) to be what they were supposed to be, and to
show the kind of life and character that would be pleasing to God, thus warning them to avoid
the mistake of the old Israel who had failed so spectacularly in that very duty.
An elect race ... Just as the living stone was elect, so are the living stones who make up his
spiritual body; but they are not elect in their own right, being elect "in Christ." It is true of the
elect, no less than of the disobedient, that they are "appointed" unto their destiny. This means
that God has predestined and appointed all who shall be found in Christ to eternal glory; but
people come under the benefits of such an appointment only when they are baptized into
Christ and are "found in him" at last (Revelation 14:13).
A royal priesthood ... Jesus Christ is the true king, and therefore those "in Christ" are a royal
priesthood, being themselves also, through their union with Christ, in a sense, even "kings"

210. (Revelation 1:6).
A holy nation ... Nothing can diminish the obligation of Christians to be in fact what their lawful
title implies, a truly "holy" nation. It is the absolute and invariable necessity of this that
underlies the oft-repeated dictum in the word of God to the effect that people shall be judged
"according to their works," as Peter, Paul, Jesus and all of the New Testament writers
declared over and over again.
A people for God's own possession ... In the old versions this was TRANSLATED "a peculiar
people"; but in time the expression came to mean "odd" or "queer," and is thus better
rendered as here. "The phrase literally means `a people for (God's) possession.'"[29] There is
also a meaning of "especially, for his very own" in the words.
That ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you ... "Show forth" comes from a
word "used nowhere else in the New Testament,"[30] and has the meaning of "to tell out," or
"to tell forth." It presupposes that every Christian is automatically an evangelist so full of the
knowledge of the excellencies of God that he is compelled to tell it forth to all with whom he
comes in contact. NOTEtoo that Christians are not saved for themselves, and their own sake
only, but for the purpose of enlisting as many other souls as possible in the service of our
excellent God. It was precisely here that the ancient Israel failed wretchedly. Hugging to
themselves the precious promises of God, they made no real effort to extend to the Gentiles
any saving knowledge of the Lord, coming more and more to despise the very nations they
were commissioned to enlighten. God grant that his holy church shall not founder and sink
upon this same shoal.
Out of darkness ... There is an indication here that many of Peter's readers were converts to
Christ from heathenism, for such is the usual import of the word.
Into his marvelous light ... The marvelous light of God, in its fullness, is unapproachable (1
Timothy 6:16); and yet it is into that very light that we are called. The children of God are
children of the light, or the day; and the sons of the evil one are children of darkness.
[29] Archibald M. Hunter, op. cit., p. 111.
[30] Raymond C. Kelcy, op. cit., p. 50.
PRECEPTAUSTIN,"Chosen" (1588 ) (eklektos click for in depth study of eklektos ) is a word

211. which ultimately bespeaks of the grace of God. It should be emphasized that the proper
conclusion (interpretation of the meaning) of "chosen" (eklektos) in each NT use depends on
the context . Ekletos means those selected or picked out and in the Scripture usually defines
one who is the object of choice or of divine favor. Although it is difficult to understand with
finite minds, it is important to note that the fact that some are chosen does not imply the
rejection of those not chosen.
In the Old Testament God did not choose Israel because they were a great people, but
because He loved them. Moses instructed Israel to separate from and even destroy the
pagan influences around them when they entered the promised land, the reason being that...
"you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be
a people for His own possession ("a peculiar people" - Lxx uses periousios, same word
used in Titus 2:14 click for that discussion) out of all the peoples who are on the face of
the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were
more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but
because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the
LORD brought you out by a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 7:6-8 )
The concept of God's choosing a "race" is seen again when Moses addressing Israel
explaining that...
"on your fathers did the LORD set His affection to love them, and He chose their
descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day." (Deuteronomy
10:15 )
The Psalmist writes
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom He has chosen for His
own (whose?) inheritance." (Ps33:12 ).
Jesus declared
"You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you (our privilege), that you
should go and bear fruit (our purpose, our responsibility), and that your fruit should
remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you." (Jn15:16 ).
Spurgeon comments that
"Election is at the bottom of it all. The divine choice rules the day; none take Jehovah to
be their God till He takes them to be His people. What an ennobling choice this is! We are
selected to no mean estate, and for no ignoble purpose: we are made the peculiar
domain and delight of the Lord our God. Being so blessed, let us rejoice in our portion,
and show the world by our lives that we serve a glorious Master."
Christians are not "better" people than any other man or woman but they are "blessed"
people. As such they are a distinct "kind" of human being, almost like a separate "genetic
variety". They have been specially "chosen" by God for His own very specific purposes. Their
privilege as the chosen also brings responsibility. A child of the King of kings should bear a
family likeness, so that others will come to know Him as the King of kings.

212. "Race" (1085 ) (genos from gínomai = become) refers to offspring, posterity, "kin", family or
lineage, stock. The NT frequently uses genos (as in the present verse) to refer to a race or
division of mankind possessing traits that are transmissible by descent (Who's line do you
belong to - Adam's or Christ's?) and sufficient to characterize it as a distinct human type.
Believers should be recognizable as "a distinct human type". Race defines a class or kind of
people unified by community of interests, habits, or characteristics.
A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD: basileion hierateuma: (Ex19:5,6 ; Isa 66:21 ) (Devotional:
LHYPERLINK "http://www.gospelcom.net/rbc/odb/odb-08-26-98.shtml" iving Like Royalty )
"Royal" (934 ) (basileios) is used only here and refers to that which belongs to, is appointed
or is suitable for a king. It describes one of of kingly ancestry or that which is relating to, or
befitting a king, queen, or other monarch.
"Priesthood" (2406 ) (hierateuma from hierateúo = to officiate as a priest; used only here
and in 1Peter 2:5) describes the priesthood as a fraternity or as a body of priests. Peter says
all Christians are priests to God.
"a holy priesthood (who can now) offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ." (see discussion of 1 Peter 2:4-6 )
Although believers look like everyone else, our speech and actions should cause others to
ask,
"What's different about her, about him?"
Although speaking to the remnant of Israel who would be saved by faith in Messiah, Gentile
believers are now included in Jehovah's promise that...
"you will be called the priests of the LORD. You will be spoken of as ministers of our
God. You will eat the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast." (Isaiah 61:6 )
In the NT John writes that Christ...
"has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and
the dominion forever and ever. Amen." (Revelation 1:6 )
"Thou hast made them (men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation) to be a
kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." (Revelation 5:10 )
And not only are we priests today, but one day soon in the coming kingdom of Christ we will
reign with Him for 1000 years John exclaiming...
"Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the
second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign
with Him for a thousand years." (Revelation 20:6 )
In God's eyes we are royalty!
Have you pondered the privilege you have
to be counted as a member of God's royal family?
This is a far greater privilege than even belonging to the British royal line, although we often
lose this eternal perspective. Indeed, what a privilege but also what a responsibility! Every

213. day we represent "the King of kings" Who is the "ruler over the kings of the earth" (Revelation
1:6 ). Let us determine that our conduct demonstrates our "royal bloodline" and gives a proper
opinion to the "commoners" of our King Who desires to also be their king!
A child of the King of kings
should bear a family likeness.
A HOLY NATION: ethnos hagion: (Ps106:5 ; Is26:2 ; Jn17:19 ; 1Co3:17 ; 2Ti1:9 ) (Torrey's
Topic "Titles and names of saints ")
This passage is a clear allusion to Exodus 19:6 in which Jehovah gave Moses this
message...
"You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 'These are the words that
you shall speak to the sons of Israel."
God had clearly commanded Israel to "to make a distinction between the holy and the
profane, and between the unclean and the clean" (Lv10:10); but they ignored the differences
and disobeyed God. Thus Israel forgot that she was holy unto the LORD, and that her holy
privilege conveyed responsibility to be holy as God was holy. She began to make profane
choices that broke down the walls of separation that made her special and distinct.
Israel proceeded to become like all the corrupt idolatrous pagan nations around them and this
profaning ultimately led to their loss of usefulness to God and to their destruction (but not to
their annihilation).
The body of Christ, the church, is of most value to God when it is least like the world in
which it exists to be an ambassador of reconciliation.
PEOPLE FOR GOD'S OWN POSSESSION: laos eis peripoissin:
"a people for acquisition (or purchase) - (i.e. "a peculiar property")
" [God's] own purchased, special people" - Amplified
"his "peculiar people" - Phillips paraphrase
"Possession" (4047 ) (peripoiesis from peripoieomai = make around oneself and then to
acquire or purchase - this latter verb found in Acts 20:28 "Be on guard for yourselves and for
all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of
God which He purchased [peripoieomai] with His own blood.") means that which is acquired
by purchase with the corresponding idea of preservation of that which is purchased.
as an action; (1) preserving for oneself, saving, keeping, preserving, preservation: to the
preserving of the soul, namely, that it may be made partaker of eternal salvation, experience
of security, keeping safe, preserving, saving (HE 10.39); (2) acquiring for oneself, obtaining,
experience of an event of acquisition, gaining, obtaining; an obtaining: with a genitive of the
thing to be obtained (1TH 5.9); (3) that which is acquired, possessing for oneself,
possession, one's own property (1P 2.9)
Peripoiesis is used 3 times in the LXX (Septuagint, Greek translation of the Hebrew OT),
Malachi's use paralleling a similar use by Peter. Jehovah speaking through His prophet

214. Malachi describes the Jews who will be His own possession declaring...
"And they shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day (most likely at the beginning
of the 1000 year reign when the remnant of Jews who believed in their Messiah are
ushered into His earthly, millennial kingdom) when I publicly recognize and openly
declare them to be My jewels (My special possession, My peculiar treasure) (LXX =
peripoiesis ). And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him."
(Amplified Version Malachi 3:17 ) (Here peripoiesis translates the Hebrew word
segulla/cegullah and means a treasured possession, a valued personal property, that
which is owned by someone or that for which the owner has special affection or holds to
be of special value. Here segulla/cegullah is a technical expression describing the
people of Jehovah as His treasure or property, those who are rightly His by virtue of
redemption.
The immediate context (the preceding verse) explains that God's treasured possession are
"those (Malachi is speaking primarily to the Jewish remnant who believe in Messiah) who
feared the LORD (and who) spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it,
and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who
esteem His name." (NASB, Malachi 3:16 )
Christians are a special people because God has preserved them for Himself. we are His
possession now:
Marvin Vincent writes that "peculiar" (KJV) is literally...
"a people for acquisition. Wycliffe = 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 Isaiah 43:21 (Sept.), where the kindred verb occurs: “This people
have I formed for myself" (Vincent's Word Studies)
THAT YOU MAY PROCLAIM THE EXCELLENCIES OF HIM WHO HAS CALLED YOU OUT
OF DARKNESS INTO HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT: hopos tas aretas exaggeilete (2PAAS)
tou ek skotous humas kalesantos (AAPMSG) eis to thaumaston autou phos: (4:11 ;
Is43:21 ; 60:1-3 ; Mt5:16 ; Ep1:6 ; 3:21 ; Phil2:15,16 )
"Proclaim" (1804 ) (exaggello from ek = out + aggéllo = messenger...who speaks and acts
in place of one who has sent him) describes a complete proclamation, for as Vines says those
verbs (like exaggello) which are compounded with ek often suggest what is to be done fully.
Exaggello therefore means to tell forth, to tell something not otherwise known, to make
widely know, to report widely, to proclaim throughout and to tell everywhere.
Exaggello can even mean "to advertise". Therefore because the world is “in darkness”
people do not know the “excellencies” of God; but since we have "Christ in us the hope of
glory", they should see Him in and through our attitudes, actions and conversation. Each
citizen of heaven is a living “advertisement” for the excellencies or virtues of God and the
promises and blessings He bestows on believers now and throughout eternity. Our lives
should radiate His “marvelous light” which now even indwells us as the Spirit of Christ.
Exaggello is used 12 times in the OT in the LXX (the Septuagint = Greek translation of the
Hebrew OT). The following examples parallel and amplify Peter's charge to all saints of all
ages...(click links to read context of these great verses describing the proclamation of God's

215. excellencies)
Ps 9:14 That I may tell (exaggello) of all Thy praises, that in the gates of the daughter of
Zion I may rejoice in Thy salvation.
Ps 71:15 My mouth shall tell (exaggello) of Thy righteousness, and of Thy salvation all
day long; For I do not know the sum of them.
Ps 73:28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord
God my refuge, that I may tell (exaggello) of all Thy works.
Ps 79:13 So we Thy people and the sheep of Thy pasture Will give thanks to Thee
forever; To all generations we will tell (exaggello) of Thy praise
.
Ps 107:22 Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, And tell (exaggello) of His
works with joyful singing.
Ps 119:13 With my lips I have told (exaggello) of All the ordinances of Thy mouth.
In this verse Peter clearly leans heavily on OT truths to emphasize the position and privilege
of NT believers.
Get on your knees and talk to God about men and then go out on your feet and talk to men
about the excellencies of God.
"Excellencies" (plural) (703 ) (arete) describe any preeminence (moral, intellectual, military)
or quality by which one stands out as excellent. In classical Greek, arete spoke of "god" given
ability to perform heroic deeds. Arete then came to describe that quality of life which made
someone stand out as excellent. For example study and proclaim the excellencies of the
Attributes of God or Names of the LORD . Arete never meant cloistered virtue or virtue of
attitude, but virtue which is demonstrated in life. (Let His life shine forth through your earthly
body, His temple!)
"Called" (2564 ) (kaleo from kal from which derives our English words “call”, “clamor”) (see
discussion of "the called" kletos in Romans 1:6 ) first means to speak to another in order to
bring them nearer, either physically or in a personal relationship. Call is used occasionally in
the NT in the sense of to invite, particularly to a banquet such as the wedding feast (eg, Jesus
told the parable of a king who "sent out his slaves to call (kaleo) those who had been invited
(kaleo) to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come" Matt 22:3 ). In the present
context, kaleo means to call into the kingdom of God and to the duties, privileges, and bliss of
the Kingdom life here and hereafter. With Peter and also with Paul, the calling referred to is
more than a mere invitation. It is an invitation responded to and accepted.

216. “Darkness” (4655 ) (skotos from skia = shadow) can refer to physical darkness (as when
Christ was crucified - "Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth
hour." Mt 27:45), but more often is used by the NT writers figuratively to refer to moral or
spiritual darkness. Skotos is the essence of darkness or of darkness itself and therefore as
applied to sin is the essence of sin. Skotia, the related word for darkness, describes the
consequence of darkness.
As an example of the figurative use of skotos, Jesus declared
"And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the
darkness (skotos) rather than the light; for their deeds were evil."
refers to the time when his readers were in unbelief, ignorant of God’s provision of salvation,
blinded to the truth in Christ, shrouded in darkness
Isaiah prophesying of Messiah's coming wrote that...
"But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated
the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it
glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The
people who walk in darkness will see a great light. Those who live in a dark land. The
light will shine on them." (Isaiah 9:1-2 quoted by Matthew and fulfilled by Jesus in Mt
4:16 )
"Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For
behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; but the LORD will
rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you." (Isaiah 60:1-2 )
Jesus instructed Paul concerning his privilege and purpose of...
"delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,
18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness (skotos) to light and from the
dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an
inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me." (Acts 26:17-18 )
Paul writing to the saints at Ephesus instructed them to not become partakers with the "sons
of disobedience"
"for you were formerly darkness (skotos), but now you are light in the Lord; walk as
children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and
truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 And do not participate in the
unfruitful deeds of darkness (skotos), but instead even expose them; 12 for it is
disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret." (Ephesians
5:8-12 )
As Paul taught the saints at Colossae, God...
"delivered us from the domain (right and the might) of darkness (skotos), and
transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in Whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins." (Col 1:13-14 ) (for in depth discussion see Colossians 1:13 , Col
1:14 )

217. Again using the metaphor of darkness Paul wrote to the saints at Thessalonica
"But you, brethren, are not in darkness (skotos) that the day should overtake you like a
thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness
(skotos); 6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. 7 For
those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8
But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and
love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but
for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we
are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. 11 Therefore encourage one
another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing." (1Thes 5:4-11 )
Believer-priests should live so that their heavenly Father’s qualities are evident in them, as
surrender to His Spirit and allow Christ Who is their life and the Light of the world to shine
forth through them into the darkness. Then as we "proclaim" with our lives, God will give us
open doors to proclaim with our lips to those who sit in darkness.
Believers should live like lighthouses that make no noise yet warn of danger by radiating a
bright beacon of light to those in darkness!
Each of these four pictures emphasizes the importance of unity and harmony.
We belong to one family of God and share the same divine nature.
We are living stones in one building and priests serving in one temple.
We are citizens of the same heavenly homeland.
It is Jesus Christ Who is the source and center of this unity. If we center our attention and
affection on Him, we will walk and work together; if we focus on ourselves, we will only cause
division. Unity does not eliminate diversity. Not all children in a family are alike, nor are all the
stones in a building identical. In fact, it is diversity that gives beauty and richness to a family
or building. The absence of diversity is not unity; it is uniformity, and uniformity is dull. It is fine
when the choir sings in unison, but I prefer that they sing in harmony.
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "Contrast in the privileges and destinies of believers. Compare the
similar contrast with the preceding context.
chosen — “elect” of God, even as Christ your Lord is.
generation — implying the unity of spiritual origin and kindred of believers as a class distinct from
the world.
royal — kingly. Believers, like Christ, the antitypical Melchisedec, are at once kings and priests.
Israel, in a spiritual sense, was designed to be the same among the nations of the earth. The full
realization on earth of this, both to the literal and the spiritual Israel, is as yet future.
holy nation — antitypical to Israel.
peculiar people — literally, “a people for an acquisition,” that is, whom God chose to be
peculiarly His: Act_20:28, “purchased,” literally, “acquired.” God’s “peculiar treasure” above others.
show forth — publish abroad. Not their own praises but His. They have no reason to magnify
themselves above others for once they had been in the same darkness, and only through God’s grace
had been brought to the light which they must henceforth show forth to others.

218. praises — Greek, “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, 2Pe_1:5.
of him who hath called you — (2Pe_1:3).
out of darkness — of heathen and even Jewish ignorance, sin, and misery, and so out of the
dominion of the prince of darkness.
marvellous — Peter still has in mind Psa_118:23.
light — It is called “His,” that is, God’s. Only the (spiritual) light is created by God, not darkness. In
Isa_45:7, it is physical darkness and evil, not moral, that God is said to create, the punishment of sin,
not sin itself. Peter, with characteristic boldness, brands as darkness what all the world calls light;
reason, without the Holy Spirit, in spite of its vaunted power, is spiritual darkness. “It cannot
apprehend what faith is: there it is stark blind; it gropes as one that is without eyesight, stumbling
from one thing to another, and knows not what it does” [Luther].
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "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

219. our God. As a holy nation, scattered amongst all the nations of Europe, we ought to propagate the
principles of God’s 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 God’s, 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
God’s 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

220. 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 God’s-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 God’s, 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 God’s end in calling us, to communicate His goodness to us, that so the glory of it may
return to Himself. As this is God’s 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,

221. 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 God’s 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;

222. (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

223. The New Testament knows no such thing as different degrees of consecration to God’s 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 God’s 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 man’s 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 man’s 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 God’s 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 Christian’s 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

224. 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 God’s
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

225. 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 God’s 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 God’s 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 Peter’s 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 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.” Now that
aim 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 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

226. 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 God’s 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 God’s throne, who is so great
and independent that his happiness is the sole aim of God’s 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 God’s sake, and you were saved for man’s 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 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. 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).

227. 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 won’t let you be Christians at all.” (Christian World.)
Showing forth God’s excellences
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. (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.

228. 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. God’s 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-God’s 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. God’s 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

229. 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 man’s 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

230. 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 God’s 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.

231. 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 earth’s 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 Christ’s 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 Christ’s coming are admitted to the same privileges
with the Jews. This serves-

232. 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-God’s
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. God’s 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.)
HAWKER, "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.

233. 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.
SBC, "Predestination.
I. It is impossible to read the Scriptures and not to see that there are some persons predestinated to
glory. There are persons who, in the words of St. Paul, are vessels which God hath aforetime prepared
unto glory. It is a fact—we see it with our eyes—that God makes a distinction between the heathen who
have never heard the name of Christ and the Christian. The latter has high privileges which the former
has not. The Christian has God’s word to guide him, but not only this: he has the Holy Spirit dwelling
in him; he can reach to higher degrees of excellence here; and reason would surmise that he is
intended for higher enjoyments hereafter. What reason surmises, revelation asserts. This, then, is the
first, the foundation blessing of Christianity, in which we may humbly rejoice, and according to which
all spiritual blessings are to be dispensed; it is the first link in the golden chain of glory which is to
raise man from earth to heaven, the first round of that ladder up which man is to ascend to God, as
angels descend to man.
II. But we may proceed yet farther. Our blessed Saviour tells us that there are many mansions in His
Father’s house, comparing the house that is to be to that which existed on earth while He yet
tabernacled with men. In the temple of the first Jerusalem there was a variety of chambers or
mansions, employed for different purposes, though all relating directly or indirectly to the services of
the sanctuary. In the new Jerusalem, which will itself be the temple of the universe, there will in like
manner be many mansions or chambers. It is very possible that we are not only each of us predestined
to heaven, but predestined also each to our particular place in heaven, that our very mansion is fixed.
Let the glory which is awaiting us, and to which we are predestined, elevate our characters, ennoble
our thoughts, extend our views. Co-heirs we are with Christ Himself, who is our Head; vessels we are
designed for high honour; we are of the household of the King of kings; we are a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, called out of darkness into His marvellous light.
W. F. Hook, Sermons on Various Subjects, p. 48.
References: 1Pe_2:9.—R. Flint, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiv., p. 216; Preacher’s Monthly, vol.
x., p. 284.
1 Peter 2:9-10

234. 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. The Israelites were a special
"generation." (1) They had sprung from Abraham as their common progenitor. (2) The Jews were,
moreover, a "chosen generation"—called out of the darkness of Chaldæan idolatry to the marvellous
light of Divine revelation.
II. "Ye are a royal priesthood." (1) The Jews were a nation of priests. (2) "A royal priesthood." "Ye are
kings and priests," kings over yourselves and priests unto God. A grand spectacle to see men monarchs
of themselves, ruling their own passions and keeping their lusts in subjection. (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." As a people bound together for the purposes of holiness, we should show
forth the excellences of God.
J. C. Jones, Studies in First Peter, p. 307.
MACLAREN, "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 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.

235. 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

236. 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.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of
God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have
received mercy.
BAR ES, “Which in time past were not a people - That is, who formerly were not regarded as
the people of God. There is an allusion here to the passage in Hos_2:23, “And I will have mercy upon
her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my
people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.” It is, however, a mere allusion, such as one makes who
uses the language of another to express his ideas, without meaning to say that both refer to the same
subject. In Hosea, the passage refers evidently to the reception of one portion of the Israelites into
favor after their rejection; in Peter, it refers mainly to those who had been Gentiles, and who had never

237. been recognized as the people of God. The language of the prophet would exactly express his idea, and
he therefore uses it without intending to say that this was its original application. See it explained in
the notes at Rom_9:25. Compare the notes at Eph_2:11-12.
Which had not obtained mercy - That is, who had been living unpardoned, having no
knowledge of the way by which sinners might be forgiven, and no evidence that your sins were
forgiven. They were then in the condition of the whole pagan world, and they had not then been
acquainted with the glorious method by which God forgives iniquity.
CLARKE, “Which in time past were not a people - This is a quotation from Hos_1:9,
Hos_1:10; Hos_2:23, where the calling of the Gentiles, by the preaching of the Gospel, is foretold.
From this it is evident, that the people to whom the apostle now addresses himself had been Gentiles,
covered with ignorance and superstition, and now had obtained mercy by the preaching of the Gospel
of Christ.
GILL, “Which in time were not a people,.... A "Loammi" being put upon them; see Hos_1:9 to
which the apostle here refers: God's elect, whether among Jews or Gentiles, were, from eternity, his
chosen people, and his covenant people; and, as such, were given to Christ, and they became his
people, and his care and charge; and he saved them by his obedience, sufferings, and death, and
redeemed them to himself, a peculiar people: but then, before conversion, they are not a people
formed by God for himself, and his praise; nor Christ's willing people, either to be saved by him, or to
serve him; nor are they, nor can they be truly known by themselves, or others, to be the people of God:
the Syriac version gives the true sense of the phrase, by rendering it "these who before were not" ‫,חשבון‬
"reckoned or accounted a people"; that is, by others:
but are now the people of Godbut are now the people of Godbut are now the people of Godbut are now the people of God; being regenerated, called, and sanctified, they are avouched by God to be his
people; they have the witness of the Spirit to their spirits, that they are the people of God; they can then claim
their relation to God, and are known, acknowledged, and called the people of God, by others:
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercywhich had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercywhich had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercywhich had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy; being called formerly, Loruhamah, Hos_1:6 which
passages the apostle has in view: before conversion there is mercy in God's heart towards his elect, and so there
is in the covenant of grace, and which was shown in the provision of his Son, as a Saviour, in the mission of him,
and redemption by him; but this is not manifested to them, until they are begotten again, according to abundant
mercy, and then they obtain mercy; having in their regeneration an evident display of the mercy of God towards
them, and an application of his pardoning grace and mercy, through the blood of his Son, unto them.
HE RY, “(2.) To make this people content, and thankful for the great mercies and dignities
brought unto them by the gospel, the apostle advises them to compare their former and their present
state. Time was when they were not a people, nor had they obtained mercy, but they were solemnly
disclaimed and divorced (Jer_3:8; Hos_1:6, Hos_1:9); but now they are taken in again to be the
people of God, and have obtained mercy. Learn, [1.] The best people ought frequently to look back
upon what they were in time past. [2.] The people of God are the most valuable people in the world; all
the rest are not a people, good for little. [3.] To be brought into the number of the people of God is a
very great mercy, and it may be obtained.

238. JAMISO , “Adapted from Hos_1:9, Hos_1:10; Hos_2:23. Peter plainly confirms Paul, who quotes
the passage as implying the call of the Gentiles to become spiritually that which Israel had been
literally, “the people of God.” Primarily, the prophecy refers to literal Israel, hereafter to be fully that
which in their best days they were only partially, God’s people.
not obtained mercy — literally, “who were men not compassionated.” Implying that it was God’s
pure mercy, not their merits, which made the blessed change in their state; a thought which ought to
kindle their lively gratitude, to be shown with their life, as well as their lips.
CALVI , “10Which in time past were not a people He brings forCONFIRMATION a passage from Hosea, and
well accommodates it to his own purpose. For Hosea, after having in God’ name declared that the Jews were
repudiated, gives them a hope of a future restoration. Peter reminds us that this was fulfilled in his own age; for the
Jews were scattered here and there, as the torn members of a body; nay, they seemed to be no longer God’ people,
no worship remained among them, they were become entangled in the corruptions of the heathens; it could not then
be said otherwise of them, but that they were repudiated by the Lord. But when they are gathered in Christ, from no
people they really become the people of God. Paul, in Rom_9:26 ,APPLIES also this prophecy to the
Gentiles, and not without reason; for from the time the Lord’ covenant was broken, from which alone
the Jews derived their superiority, they were put on a level with the Gentiles. It hence follows, that
what God had promised, to make a people of no people, belongs in common to both.
Which had not obtained mercy This was added by the Prophet, inORDER that the gratuitous covenant of God, by
which he takes them to be his people, might be more clearly set forth; as though he had said, “ is no other reason why
the Lord counts us his people, except that he, having mercy on us, graciously adopts us.” It is then God’ gratuitous
goodness, which makes of no people a people to God, and reconciles the alienated. (25)
(25) This verse is a quotation from Hos_2:23 , only the two clauses are inverted. The same isQUOTED by Paul
in Rom_9:25 , in the same inverted form, and with this difference, that Peter follows the Hebrew, and Paul the
Septuagint. The Hebrew is, “ will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy;” but according to the Septuagint, “
will love her that had not been loved.” The meaning is the same, though the words are different. — Ed.
PULPIT, "Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God. St. Peter
QUOTES the prophecy of Hosea (Hos_2:23), as St. Paul also does in Rom_9:25, Rom_9:26.
And as St. Paul applies the prophet's words (said originally of the Jews) to the Christian
Church, to those called "not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles," so apparently does St.
Peter here. They were not a people; "Ne populus quidem," says Bengel, "nedum Dei
populus." It is the calling of God which gives a unity to the Church gathered out of all races
and all lands, and makes it the people of God. Which had not obtained mercy, but now have
obtained mercy. The aorist participle, ἐεληθέντες , implies that that mercy had been obtained
at a definite time, at their conversion.
LANGE, "1Pe_2:10. Which in time past—but now compassionated.—The remembrance of
what they had once been, must deepen the sense of gratitude on the part of the readers of
the Epistle. Peter cites freely Hos_2:23, where, of the people in their then condition, it is said
that they were not the people of God, but that in the days of Messiah, God would say unto
them, “Thou art my people.” The passage in Hosea manifestly refers to Israel. The prophecy
met its fulfilment whenever a Jewish congregation joined Christianity. If the meaning were the
substitution of a new Christian people, a people either composed of Jews and Gentiles, or
mainly and by way of preference of Gentiles—for the people of Israel—those promises would
either still remain unfulfilled, or be fulfilled in a way that needed, after the manner of Paul, to
be more clearly defined and substantiated. Ïὐ ëáüò not only no people of God but the very

239. opposite. ἘëåçèÝí ôåò . “The Aorist denotes the historical fact, the act of Divine compassion
to have really taken place.” Steiger.— ïὐê ἠëåçìÝíïé , a long time before they had, under the
Divine judgments, been given over to sin and its fruit of corruption.
ELLICOTT, "(10) Which in time past were not a people.—Here at last, say some, we have a
distinct proof that the Epistle was written to the Gentiles only, or, at least, to churches which
contained a very small proportion of Jews. Such, however, is by no means the case; in fact,
the opposite. We have here an emphasised adaptation of Hosea 2:23, “And I will have mercy
upon Lo-ruhamah, and I will say to Lo-ammi, ‘Thou art Animi,’ i.e., My people.” Now who were
Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi? Types of Israel left unpitied, and rejected from their covenant with
God. And this unpitied and rejected Israel, after being “scattered,” or sown, all over the earth,
was to be restored again to favour, together with the increment of the Gentiles who JOINED, it
as the result of the “sowing.” St. Peter means, then, that in his Hebrew readers and the
brethren from among the Gentiles, who by the gospel of St. Paul had adhered to them, this
promise given by Hosea had found its fulfilment. But, as usual, the quotation demands a more
searching scrutiny of the context from which it is taken. The name Diaspora, or Dispersion, by
which St. Peter, in 1 Peter 1:1, designates those to whom he writes, was APPLIED to
themselves by the Jews in direct allusion (as seems probable) to the name Jezreel, or God
will scatter, in Hosea 1:4. Now mark that St. Peter does not say “which in time past were not
God’s people,” but “were not a people.” This was the effect of the dispersion, or “scattering.”
Though each Jew of the dispersion retained, and still retains, in isolation, his national
characteristics and aspirations, yet their unity—that which made them a “people”—was, and
is, for the time broken. The Hebrews had not only ceased to be in covenant as “God’s
people,” but had ceased to be “a people” at all. But in Christ, that very “scattering” becomes a
“sowing” (Hosea 2:23), for the name Jezreel means both equally; their very dispersion
becomes the means of their multiplication by union with the Gentiles in Christ, and thus
spiritually they recover the lost unity, and become once more a solid and well-governed
confederation, i.e., “a people,” and that “the people of God.” (See John 11:52, and Dr. Pusey’s
NOTES on Hosea.) It is a mistake to take St. Paul’s quotation of this passage in Romans
9:26, as if it referred solely to the Gentiles; for he expressly affirms that the title “My people”
belongs to neither section exclusively, but to both in reunion—“us whom He called, not only of
the Jews, but also of the Gentiles.”
COFFMAN, "The SWEEP of the paragraph concluded here is infinite. The vast dimensions of
the love of God and of his overflowing mercy to all people, even to those who had fallen into
shame and debauchery, are as wide as heaven and earth. The same outflowing love for the
Gentile converts which marks much of the Pauline writings is also in evidence here. The "no
people" are now the people of God; and the people without mercy have now received it
through Christ. How marvelous indeed is such wonderful love.
By Peter's use of no people" in this verse, it should be concluded that Peter's letter was to
Christians of Gentile origin. Mason pointed out that "no people" also refers to all, regardless of
race, who are in rebellion against God, and that it is quite obvious that Peter was writing to
Christians of both Jewish and Gentile origins who were then "one new man in Christ."
CONSTABLE, "Peter highlighted the differences involved in our high calling by contrasting
what his readers were and had before conversion with what they were and had after
conversion. The church is not the only people of God in HISTORY. Nevertheless it is the
people of God in the present age because of Israel's rejection of the Corner Stone (cf.

240. Romans 9-11).
"The evidence from the use of the Old Testament in 1 Peter 2:6-10 suggests that the Old
Testament imagery used to describe the church in 1 Peter 2:9-10 does not present the church
as a new Israel replacing ethnic Israel in God's PROGRAM. Instead, Old Testament Israel
was a pattern of the church's relationship with God as his chosen people. Therefore Peter
uses various aspects of the salvation, spiritual life, and service of Israel in its relationship with
Yahweh to teach his recipients the greater salvation, spiritual life, and service they enjoy in
Christ. In his use of the three people of God citations in 1 Peter 2:9-10, the apostle is teaching
that there are aspects of the nation of Israel's experience as the people of God that are also
true of the New Testament church. These elements of CONTINUITY include the election,
redemption, holy standards, priestly ministry, and honor of the people of God. This continuity
is the basis for the APPLICATION of the title people of God to the church in 1 Peter 2:1-10.
"The escalation or advancement of meaning in Peter's application of these passages to his
recipients emphasizes the distinction between Israel and the church. Israel is a nation, and
the national, political, and geographic applications to Israel in the Old Testament contexts are
not applied to the church, the spiritual house, of 1 Peter. Furthermore, the initial application of
these passages to the church by typological-prophetic hermeneutics does not negate the
future fulfillment of the national, political, and geographic promises, as well as the spiritual
ones, made to Israel in these Old Testament contexts." [Note: W. Edward Glenny, "The
Israelite Imagery of 1 Peter 2," in Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church, pp. 186-87.]
Christians, generally speaking, do not understand or appreciate God's purpose for the church
that Peter presented so clearly here. Consequently many Christians lack purpose in their
lives. Evidence of this includes self-centered living, unwillingness to sacrifice, worldly goals,
and preoccupation with material things. Before Christians will respond to exhortations to live
holy lives they need to understand the reasons it is important to live holy lives. This purpose is
something many preachers and teachers assume, but we need to affirm and assert it much
more in our day.
"Peter concludes the first major section of his epistle (1 Peter 1:3 to 1 Peter 2:10) by drawing
the lines for a confrontation. Two groups are differentiated-'unbelievers' and 'you who believe'-
on the basis of their contrasting responses to Jesus Christ, the 'choice and precious Stone' (1
Peter 2:6). The former are on their way to 'stumbling' and shame, the latter to 'honor' and
vindication. The theological contrast between these two groups, with its consequent social
tensions, will absorb Peter's interest through the remainder of his epistle." [Note: Michaels, p.
113.]
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world,
to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

241. BAR ES, “Dearly beloved, I beseech you strangers and pilgrims - On the word rendered
“strangers,” (παροίκους paroikous,) see the notes at Eph_2:19, where it is rendered “foreigners.” It
means, properly, one dwelling near, neighboring; then a by-dweller, a sojourner, one without the
rights of citizenship, as distinguished from a citizen; and it means here that Christians are not properly
citizens of this world, but that their citizenship is in heaven, and that they are here mere sojourners.
Compare the notes at Phi_3:20, “For our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven.” On the word
rendered “pilgrims,” (παρεπιδήµους parepidēmous,) see the 1Pe_1:1 note; Heb_11:13 note. A pilgrim,
properly, is one who travels to a distance from his own country to visit a holy place, or to pay his
devotion to some holy object; then a traveler, a wanderer. The meaning here is, that Christians have no
permanent home on earth; their citizenship is not here; they are mere sojourners, and they are passing
on to their eternal home in the heavens. They should, therefore, act as become such persons; as
sojourners and travelers do. They should not:
(a) regard the earth as their home.
(b) They should not seek to acquire permanent possessions here, as if they were to remain here, but
should act as travelers do, who merely seek a temporary lodging, without expecting permanently to
reside in a place.
(c) They should not allow any such attachments to be formed, or arrangements to be made, as to
impede their journey to their final home, as pilgrims seek only a temporary lodging, and steadily
pursue their journey.
(d) Even while engaged here in the necessary callings of life - their studies, their farming, their
merchandise - their thoughts and affections should be on other things. One in a strange land thinks
much of his country and home; a pilgrim, much of the land to which he goes; and even while his time
and attention may be necessarily occupied by the arrangements needful for the journey, his thoughts
and affections will be far away.
(e) We should not encumber ourselves with much of this world’s goods. Many professed Christians
get so many worldly things around them, that it is impossible for them to make a journey to heaven.
They burden themselves as no traveler would, and they make no progress. A traveler takes along as few
things as possible; and a staff is often all that a pilgrim has. We make the most rapid progress in our
journey to our final home when we are least encumbered with the things of this world.
Abstain from fleshly lusts - Such desires and passions as the carnal appetites prompt to. See the
notes at Gal_5:19-21. A sojourner in a land, or a pilgrim, does not give himself up to the indulgence of
sensual appetites, or to the soft pleasures of the soul. All these would hinder his progress, and turn him
off from his great design. Compare Rom_13:4; Gal_5:24; 2Ti_2:22; Tit_2:12; 1Pe_1:14.
Which war against the soul - Compare the notes at Rom_8:12-13. The meaning is, that
indulgence in these things makes war against the nobler faculties of the soul; against the conscience,
the understanding, the memory, the judgment, the exercise of a pure imagination. Compare the notes
at Gal_5:17. There is not a faculty of the mind, however brilliant in itself, which will not be ultimately
ruined by indulgence in the carnal propensities of our nature. The effect of intemperance on the noble
faculties of the soul is well known; and alas, there are too many instances in which the light of genius,
in those endowed with splendid gifts, at the bar, in the pulpit, and in the senate, is extinguished by it,
to need a particular description. But there is one vice preeminently, which prevails all over the pagan
world, (Compare the notes at Rom_1:27-29) and extensively in Christian lands, which more than all
others, blunts the moral sense, pollutes the memory, defiles the imagination, hardens the heart. and
sends a withering influence through all the faculties of the soul.
“The soul grows clotted by contagion,
Embodies, and embrutes, till she quite lose
The divine property of her first being.”
Of this passion, Burns beautifully and truly said -

242. “But oh! it hardens a’ within,
And petrifies the feeling.”
From all these passions the Christian pilgrim is to abstain.
CLARKE, “As strangers and pilgrims - See the note on Heb_11:13. These were strangers and
pilgrims in the most literal sense of the word, see 1Pe_1:1, for they were strangers scattered through
Asia, Pontus, etc.
Abstain from fleshly lusts - As ye are strangers and pilgrims, and profess to seek a heavenly
country, do not entangle your affections with earthly things. While others spend all their time, and
employ all their skill, in acquiring earthly property, and totally neglect the salvation of their souls; they
are not strangers, they are here at home; they are not pilgrims, they are seeking an earthly possession:
Heaven is your home, seek that; God is your portion, seek him. All kinds of earthly desires, whether
those of the flesh or of the eye, or those included in the pride of life, are here comprised in the words
fleshly lusts.
Which war against the soul - Αᅷτινες στρατευονται κατα της ψυχης· Which are marshalled and
drawn up in battle array, to fight against the soul; either to slay it, or to bring it into captivity. This is
the object and operation of every earthly and sensual desire. How little do those who indulge them
think of the ruin which they produce!
GILL, “Dearly beloved, I beseech you,.... The apostle, from characters of the saints, and which
express their blessings and privileges, with great beauty, propriety, and pertinency, passes to
exhortations to duties; he addresses the saints under this affectionate appellation, "dearly beloved", to
express his great love to them, and to show that what he was about to exhort them to sprung from
sincere and hearty affection for them, and was with a view to their real good; nor does he in an
authoritative way command, as he might have done, as an apostle, but, as a friend, he entreats and
beseeches them:
as strangers and pilgrims; not in a literal sense, though they were in a foreign country, in a strange
land, and sojourners there, but in a spiritual and mystical sense; they were "strangers", not to God and
Christ, and to the Spirit, to themselves, to the saints, and to all that is good, as they had formerly been,
but to the world, the men of it, and the things in it; and therefore it became them to separate from it,
and not conform to it; to abstain from all appearance of evil, to have no fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness, but to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts: and they were "pilgrims"; whose habit is
Christ and his righteousness; whose food is Christ and his fulness; whose staff is Christ and the
promises; whose guide is the blessed Spirit; the place for which they are bound is heaven, the better
country, where is their Father's house, their friends, and their inheritance; this world not being their
country, nor their resting place, it became them to have their conversation in heaven, and to
abstain from fleshly lusts; which spring from the flesh, and are concerned about fleshly things, and
are exercised in and by the members of the flesh, or body; hence, in the Syriac version, they are called,
"the lusts of the body": these are to be abstained from; not that the apostle thought that they could be
without them; for while the saints are in the body, flesh, or corrupt nature will be in them, and the
lusts thereof; but then these are not to be indulged, or provision to be made for them, to fulfil them;
they are not to be obeyed and served, or lived unto, but to be denied and crucified, being unsuitable to
the character of strangers and pilgrims, and also because of their hurtful and pernicious nature:
which war against the soul; see Rom_7:23, these are enemies to the spiritual peace, comfort, and
welfare of the soul; and being of a man's household, and in his heart, are the worst enemies he has;

243. and are to be treated as such, to be shunned and avoided, watched and guarded against; for though
they cannot destroy the souls of true believers, they may bring much leanness upon them, and greatly
distress them, and spoil them of their inward joy, and spiritual pleasure.
HE RY, “V. He warns them to beware of fleshly lusts, 1Pe_2:11. Even the best of men, the chosen
generation, the people of God, need an exhortation to abstain from the worst sins, which the apostle
here proceeds most earnestly and affectionately to warn them against. Knowing the difficulty, and yet
the importance of the duty, he uses his utmost interest in them: Dearly beloved, I beseech you. The
duty is to abstain fRom. and to suppress, the first inclination or rise of fleshly lusts. Many of them
proceed from the corruption of nature, and in their exercise depend upon the body, gratifying some
sensual appetite or inordinate inclination of the flesh. These Christians ought to avoid, considering, 1.
The respect they have with God and good men: They are dearly beloved. 2. Their condition in the
world: They are strangers and pilgrims, and should not impede their passage by giving into the
wickedness and lusts of the country through which they pass. 3. The mischief and danger these sins do:
“They war against the soul; and therefore your souls ought to war against them.” Learn, (1.) The
grand mischief that sin does to man is this, it wars against the soul; it destroys the moral liberty of the
soul; it weakens and debilitates the soul by impairing its faculties; it robs the soul of its comfort and
peace; it debases and destroys the dignity of the soul, hinders its present prosperity, and plunges it
into everlasting misery. (2.) Of all sorts of sin, none are more injurious to the soul than fleshly lusts.
Carnal appetites, lewdness, and sensuality, are most odious to God, and destructive to man's soul. It is
a sore judgment to be given up to them.
JAMISO , “As heretofore he exhorted them to walk worthily of their calling, in contradistinction
to their own former walk, so now he exhorts them to glorify God before unbelievers.
Dearly beloved — He gains their attention to his exhortation by assuring them of his love.
strangers and pilgrims — (1Pe_1:17). Sojourners, literally, settlers having a house in a city
without being citizens in respect to the rights of citizenship; a picture of the Christian’s position on
earth; and pilgrims, staying for a time in a foreign land. Flacius thus analyzes the exhortation: (1)
Purify your souls (a) as strangers on earth who must not allow yourselves to be kept back by earthly
lusts, and (b) because these lusts war against the soul’s salvation. (2) Walk piously among unbelievers
(a) so that they may cease to calumniate Christians, and (b) may themselves be converted to Christ.
fleshly lusts — enumerated in Gal_5:19, etc. Not only the gross appetites which we have in
common with the brutes, but all the thoughts of the unrenewed mind.
which — Greek, “the which,” that is, inasmuch as being such as “war.” etc. Not only do they impede,
but they assail [Bengel].
the soul — that is, against the regenerated soul; such as were those now addressed. The
regenerated soul is besieged by sinful lusts. Like Samson in the lap of Delilah, the believer, the
moment that he gives way to fleshly lusts, has the locks of his strength shorn, and ceases to maintain
that spiritual separation from the world and the flesh of which the Nazarite vow was the type.
CALVI , “11As strangers, or sojourners. There are two parts to this exhortation, — that their souls were to be free
within from wicked and vicious lusts; and also, that they were to live honestly among men, and by the example of a
good life not only toCONFIRM the godly, but also to gain over the unbelieving to God.
And first, to call them away from the indulgence of carnal lusts, he employs this argument, that they were sojourners
and strangers. And he so calls them, not because they were banished from their country, and scattered into various
lands, but because the children of God, wherever they may be, are only guests in this world. In the former
sense,INDEED , he called them sojourners at the beginning of the Epistle, as it appears from the
context; but what he says here is common to them all. For the lusts of the flesh hold us entangled, when
in our minds we dwell in the world, and think not that heaven is our country; but when we pass as

244. strangers through this life, we are not in bondage to the flesh.
By the lusts or desires of the flesh he means not only those gross concupiscences which we have in common with
animals, as the Sophists hold, but also all those sinful passions and affections of the soul, to which we are by nature
guided and led. For it is certain that every thought of the flesh, that is, of unrenewed nature, is enmity against God.
(Rom_8:7 .)
Which war against the soul Here is another argument, that they could not comply with the desires of the flesh, except
to their own ruin. For he refers not here to theCONTEST described by Paul in Rom_7:14 , and in Gal_5:17 , as
he makes the soul to be an antagonist to the flesh: but what he says here is, that the desires of the flesh, whenever
the soul consents to them, lead to perdition. He proves our carelessness in this respect, that while we anxiously shun
enemies from whom we apprehend danger to the body, we willingly allow enemies hurtful to the soul to destroy us;
nay, we as it were stretch forth our neck to them.
PULPIT, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims. St. Peter returns to practical topics:
he BEGINS his exhortation in the affectionate manner common in Holy Scripture. He calls his readers
"strangers and pilgrims." The word here rendered "strangers" ( πάροικοι ) is equivalent to the classical
µέτοικοι , and means "foreign set-tiers, dwellers in a strange land." The second word ( παρεοίδηµοι ,
TRANSLATED"strangers" in 1Pe_1:1-25.) means "visitors" who tarry for a time in a foreign country,
not permanently settling in it. It does not contain the ideas associated with the modern use of "pilgrim;"
though that word, derived kern the Latin peregrinus, originally meant no more than "sojourner." St.
Peter is plainly using the words metaphorically his readers were citizens of the heavenly country; on
earth they were sojourners. Both words occur in the Septuagint Version of Psa_39:12 (Psa_38:13 in the
Greek), with the same metaphorical meaning. Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.
Strangers and pilgrims should remember their distant home, and not follow the practices of the strange
land in which they sojourn. The lusts of the flesh are all those desires which issue out of our corrupt
nature (temp. Gal_5:16-21). They "war against the soul." "Non mode impediunt," says Bengel, "sod
oppugnant; grande verbum" (comp. Rom_7:23). St. Peter uses the word "soul" here for the whole
spiritual nature of man, as in 1Pe_1:9, 1Pe_1:22.
BARCLAY, "The basic commandment in this passage is that the Christian should abstain from fleshly
desires. It is of the greatest importance that we should see what Peter means by this. The phrases sins of
the flesh and, fleshly, desires have become much narrowed in meaning in modern usage. For us they
usually mean sexual sin; but in the New Testament they are much wider than that. Paul's list of the sins
of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21, includes "immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery,
enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and
the like." There are far more than bodily sins here.
In the New Testament, flesh stands for far more than the physical nature of man. It stands for human
nature apart from God; it means unredeemed human nature; it means life lived without the standards,
the HELP, the grace and the influence of Christ. Fleshly desires and sins of the flesh, therefore, include
not only the grosser sins but all that is characteristic of fallen human nature. From these sins and
desires the Christian must abstain. As Peter sees it, there are two reasons for this abstinence.
(i) The Christian must abstain from these sins because he is a stranger and a pilgrim. The words are
paroikos (Greek #3941) and parepidemos (Greek #3927). They are quite common Greek words and
they describe someone who is only temporarily resident in a place and whose HOME is somewhere
else. They are used to describe the patriarchs in their wanderings, and especially Abraham who went
out not knowing where he was to go and whose search was for the city whose maker and builder is God
(Hebrews 11:9; Hebrews 11:13). They are used to describe the children of Israel when they were slaves

245. and strangers in the land of Egypt before they ENTERED into the Promised Land (Acts 7:6).
These words give us two great truths about the Christian. (a) There is a real sense in which he is a
stranger in the world; and because of that he cannot accept the world's laws and ways and standards.
Others may accept them; but the Christian is a citizen of the Kingdom of God and it is by the laws of
that Kingdom that he must direct his life. He must take his full share of responsibility for living upon
earth, but his citizenship is in heaven and the laws of heaven are paramount for him. (b) The Christian
is not a permanent resident upon earth; he is on the way to the country which is beyond. He must
therefore, do nothing which would keep him from reaching his ultimate goal. He must never become so
entangled in the world that he cannot escape from its grip; he must never so soil himself as to be unfit
to ENTER the presence of the holy God to whom he is going.
THE GREATEST ANSWER AND DEFENCE (1 Peter 2:11-12 CONTINUED)
(ii) But there was for Peter another and even more practical reason why the Christian must abstain from
fleshly desires. The early church was under fire. Slanderous charges were CONTINUALLY being
made against the Christians; and the only effective way to refute them was to live lives so lovely that
they would be seen to be obviously untrue.
To modern ears the King James Version can be a little misleading. It speaks about "having
YOURconversation honest among the Gentiles." That sounds to us as if it meant that the Christian must
always speak the truth, but the word translated conversation is anastrophe (Greek #391), which means a
man's whole conduct, not simply his talk. That is, in fact, what conversation did mean in the
seventeenth century. The word translated honest is kalos (Greek #2570). In Greek there are two words
for good There is agathos (Greek #18), which simply means good in quality; and there is kalos (Greek
#2570), which means not only good but also lovely, fine, attractive, winsome. That is what honestus
means in Latin. So, what Peter is saying is that the Christian must make his whole way of life so lovely
and so good to look upon that the slanders of his heathen enemies may be demonstrated to be false.
Here is timeless truth. Whether we like it or not, every Christian is an advertisement for Christianity;
by his life he either commends it to others or makes them think less of it. The strongest missionary
force in the world is a Christian life.
In the early church this demonstration of the loveliness of the Christian life was supremely necessary,
because of the slanders the heathen deliberately cast on the Christian Church. Let us see what some of
these slanders were.
(i) In the beginning Christianity was CLOSELY connected with the Jews. By race Jesus was a Jew;
Paul was a Jew; Christianity was cradled in Judaism; and inevitably many of its early converts were
Jews. For a time Christianity was regarded merely as a sect of Judaism. Antisemitism is no new thing.
Friedlander gives a selection of the slanders which were repeated against the Jews in his Roman Life
and Manners under the Early Empire. "According to Tacitus they (the Jews) taught their proselytes
above all to despise the gods, to renounce their fatherland, to disregard parents, children, brothers and
sisters. According to Juvenal, Moses taught the Jews not to show anyone the way, nor to guide the
thirsty traveller to the spring, except he were a Jew. Apion declares that, in the reign of Antiochus
Epiphanes, the Jews every year fattened a Greek, and having solemnly offered him up as a sacrifice on
a fixed day in a certain forest, ate his entrails and swore eternal hostility to the Greeks." These were the
things which the heathen had persuaded themselves were true about the Jews, and inevitably the
Christians shared in this odium.

246. (ii) Apart from these slanders ATTACHED to the Jews, there were slanders directed particularly against
the Christians themselves. They were accused of cannibalism. This accusation took its rise from a
perversion of the words of the Last Supper, "This is my body. This cup is the new covenant in my
blood." The Christians were accused of killing and eating a child at their feasts.
They were also accused of immorality and even of incest. This accusation took its rise from the fact
that they called their meeting the Agape (Greek #26), the Love Feast. The heathen perverted that name
to mean that the Christian feasts were sensual orgies at which shameless deeds were done.
The Christians were accused of damaging TRADE. Such was the charge of the silversmiths of Ephesus
(Acts 19:21-41).
They were accused of "tampering with family relationships" because often homes were, in fact, broken
up when some members of the family became Christians and others did not.
They were accused of turning slaves against their masters, and Christianity indeed did give to every
man a new sense of worth and dignity.
They were accused of "hatred of mankind" and indeed the Christian did speak as if the world and the
Church were entirely opposed to each other.
Above all they were accused of disloyalty to CAESAR, for no Christian would worship the Emperor's
godhead and burn his pinch of incense and declare that CAESAR was Lord, for to him Jesus Christ and
no other was Lord.
Such were the charges which were DIRECTED against the Christians. To Peter there was only one way
to refute them and that was so to live that their Christian life demonstrated that they were unfounded.
When Plato was told that a certain man had been making certain slanderous charges against him, his
answer was: "I will live in such a way that no one will believe what he says." That was Peter's solution.
Jesus himself had said--and doubtless the saying was in Peter's mind: "Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew
5:16). This was a line of thought which the Jews knew well. In one of the books written between the
Old and the New Testaments it says: "If ye work that which is good, my children, both men and angels
shall bless you; and God shall be glorified among the Gentiles through you, and the devil shall flee
from you" (The Testament of Naphtali 8: 4).
The striking fact of history is that by their lives the Christians actually did defeat the slanders of the
heathen. In the early part of the third century Celsus made the most famous and the most systematic
attack of all upon the Christians in which he accused them of ignorance and foolishness and
superstition and all kinds of things--but never of immorality. In the first half of the fourth century,
Eusebius, the great Church historian, could write: "But the splendour of the catholic and only true
Church, which is always the same, grew in magnitude and power, and reflected its piety and simplicity
and freedom, and the modesty and purity of its inspired life and philosophy to every nation both of
Greeks and barbarians. At the same time the slanderous accusations which had been brought against the
whole Church also vanished, and there remained our teaching alone, which has prevailed over all, and
which is acknowledged to be superior to all in dignity and temperance, and in divine and philosophical
doctrines. So that none of them now ventures to affix a base calumny upon our faith, or any such
slander as our ancient enemies formerly delighted to utter" (Eusebius: The Ecclesiastical History,

247. 4.7.15). It is true that the terrors of persecution were not even then ended, for the Christians would
never admit that Caesar was Lord; but the excellence of their lives had silenced the calumnies against
the Church.
Here is our challenge and our inspiration. It is by the loveliness of our daily life and conduct that we
must commend Christianity to those who do not believe.
COFFMAN, "Beloved ... This term of endearment carries with it a certain feeling of concern and pity,
for no one knew any better than Peter the fury of the gathering storm that was so soon to break over the
defenseless heads of the Christians.
I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims ... Like the overture to a great opera which gathers the
dominating strains of the whole production, these words suggest the tragedy that lies so CLOSE at
hand. "These words, when compared with Psalms 39:12, Septuagint (LXX), from which Peter drew
them, prepare for the description of distress which is to follow."[31] For more comment on
"sojourners," see under 1 Peter 2:1:1. The word "pilgrim" means primarily, "one who journeys."
Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul ... There ar two reasons assigned in this verse to
SUPPORT the renunciation of fleshly lusts: (1) the readers are sojourners, and (2) the lusts make war
against the soul. The metaphor of warfare is an apt one for the Christian life. That life is a constant
struggle against many enemies, both within and without. The social order itself is basically hostile to
Christianity, and the inward desires of the flesh and of the mind also constantly tend to erode
spirituality.
ENDNOTE:
[31] A. J. Mason, op. cit., p. 405.
BENSON, "1 Peter 2:11-12. I beseech you, as strangers — Or sojourners; and pilgrims — Who have
no inheritance on this earth, but are travelling to the heavenly country. The former word, παροικοι,
properly means those who are in a strange house, a house not their own: the second, παρεπιδηµοι, those
who are in a strange country, and among a people not their own. We sojourn in the body; we are
pilgrims in this world; abstain from fleshly lusts — Or carnal desires; from inordinate desires of any
thing in this country. “The settled inhabitants of a country are anxious to acquire riches, to purchase
lands, and to build houses. But they who stay but a few weeks in a country, or who only travel through
it, are commonly not solicitous to SECURE to themselves accommodations which they are so soon to
leave. In the same manner, believers, being only sojourners on earth, and travellers to a better country,
ought not to place their happiness in the enjoyment of those objects by which carnal desires are
gratified, and which are peculiar to this earthly state, but in securing themselves possessions in the
heavenly country, the proper habitation of the righteous.” — Macknight. Which carnal desires, though
pleasant to the senses, war against the soul — Against the health, the strength, the liberty, the purity, the
usefulness, the comfort of the soul. Having your conversation — YOUR whole behaviour; honest —
Greek, καλην, amiable, excellent, commendable, and honourable, pious and virtuous in every respect.
But our language sinks under the force, copiousness, and beauty of the original expressions; among the
Gentiles — Your heathen neighbours, who narrowly watch you; that whereas they speak against you as
evil-doers — As seditious persons and atheists, because ye do not worship their false gods, and because
you JOIN yourselves with what they presumptuously call the impious sect of Christians; they may by
your good works — Your unblameable, useful, and holy conduct, your obedience to the just laws of the
state, your submission to magistrates, and your patience and meekness when unjustly punished; which

248. they shall behold — Shall be eye-witnesses of; may not only lay aside their blasphemous reproaches
and bitter enmities, but may exchange them for commendations and praises, and so may glorify God —
By owning his grace in you, being induced to believe and obey the truth, and to imitate your example;
in the day of visitation — During the season in which the gospel is preached among them, whereby
they are visited with the offers of pardon and salvation. It is well known that the patience, fortitude, and
meekness with which the first Christians bore persecution for their religion, and the forgiving
disposition which they expressed toward their persecutors, made such an impression on the heathen,
who were witnesses of their sufferings, that many of them glorified God by embracing the gospel.
BENSON, "1 Peter 2:11-12. I beseech you, as strangers — Or sojourners; and pilgrims — Who have
no inheritance on this earth, but are travelling to the heavenly country. The former word, παροικοι,
properly means those who are in a strange house, a house not their own: the second, παρεπιδηµοι, those
who are in a strange country, and among a people not their own. We sojourn in the body; we are
pilgrims in this world; abstain from fleshly lusts — Or carnal desires; from inordinate desires of any
thing in this country. “The settled inhabitants of a country are anxious to acquire riches, to purchase
lands, and to build houses. But they who stay but a few weeks in a country, or who only travel through
it, are commonly not solicitous to SECURE to themselves accommodations which they are so soon to
leave. In the same manner, believers, being only sojourners on earth, and travellers to a better country,
ought not to place their happiness in the enjoyment of those objects by which carnal desires are
gratified, and which are peculiar to this earthly state, but in securing themselves possessions in the
heavenly country, the proper habitation of the righteous.” — Macknight. Which carnal desires, though
pleasant to the senses, war against the soul — Against the health, the strength, the liberty, the purity, the
usefulness, the comfort of the soul. Having your conversation — YOUR whole behaviour; honest —
Greek, καλην, amiable, excellent, commendable, and honourable, pious and virtuous in every respect.
But our language sinks under the force, copiousness, and beauty of the original expressions; among the
Gentiles — Your heathen neighbours, who narrowly watch you; that whereas they speak against you as
evil-doers — As seditious persons and atheists, because ye do not worship their false gods, and because
you JOIN yourselves with what they presumptuously call the impious sect of Christians; they may by
your good works — Your unblameable, useful, and holy conduct, your obedience to the just laws of the
state, your submission to magistrates, and your patience and meekness when unjustly punished; which
they shall behold — Shall be eye-witnesses of; may not only lay aside their blasphemous reproaches
and bitter enmities, but may exchange them for commendations and praises, and so may glorify God —
By owning his grace in you, being induced to believe and obey the truth, and to imitate your example;
in the day of visitation — During the season in which the gospel is preached among them, whereby
they are visited with the offers of pardon and salvation. It is well known that the patience, fortitude, and
meekness with which the first Christians bore persecution for their religion, and the forgiving
disposition which they expressed toward their persecutors, made such an impression on the heathen,
who were witnesses of their sufferings, that many of them glorified God by embracing the gospel.
ELLICOTT, "(11) Dearly beloved.—“Affectionate and pressing exhortation,” says Bengel. “That
which is known to come from love,” says Leighton, “cannot readily but be so received too, and it is
thus expressed for that very purpose, that the request may be the more WELCOME. Beloved, it is the
advice of a friend, one that truly loves-you, and aims at nothing but your good; it is because I love you
that I intreat you, and intreat you, as you love yourselves, to abstain from fleshly lusts.”
As strangers and pilgrims.—The exhortation will be felt with the more force if we turn to the Psalm
from which St. Peter draws the phrase (Psalms 39:12, LXX.). The words, especially when compared
with that Psalm, prepare for the description of distress which is to follow. (Comp. also Psalms 119:19.)
The word “pilgrim” (which comes to us through the French form pelerin, from the Latin peregrinus)

249. does not originally, or in this place, mean one on a pilgrimage. It implies no journeying, but simply
residence in a foreign country. Here it represents the same Greek word which is rendered “strangers” in
1 Peter 1:1, but is used in a metaphorical and not literal sense. Though no longer “scattered,” but
gathered mercifully once more into “a people,” they were still far from HOME—unprotected residents
in an alien and hostile world, which scrutinised their conduct and was anxious for an opportunity to get
rid of them.
Abstain from fleshly lusts.—First prudential rule. Although all bad desires might be described as
fleshly, the word seems here to mean what we usually understand by it, the lusts which lead to
drunkenness, gluttony, and uncleanness. And though such sins are usually characteristic of the Gentile,
not of the Jew, yet see our NOTE on 1 Peter 1:14. Jews were not impeccable in such matters, and here
the Apostle has a special reason for insisting on the observance of the seventh commandment. It may
even be said that his mode of insistence recognises that his readers usually do observe it. He appeals to
them as “Israelites from home” to be on their guard in such matters, as Leonidas might exhort Spartans
going into battle not to flinch, or Nelson tell English sailors that “England expects every man to do his
duty.” There was special reason for these Hebrew Christians to be more than ever vigilant, because (see
Note on NEXT verse) of the calumnies which the heathen were beginning to circulate about the
Christians.
Which war against the soul.—This clause is no specifying of the particular fleshly lusts to be guarded
against, as though there were some of them which did not war against the soul; but it is a description of
the way in which all fleshly lusts alike act. It means not merely a general antagonism between soul and
body, but that the lusts are on active service, engaged in a definite campaign against the immortal part
of the man. St. Peter has probably forgotten for the moment his metaphor of strangers and sojourners,
and we are not to put the two things together too CLOSELY, as though their position of strangers
rendered them more liable to the attack of the hostile lusts. “Abstain” cannot mean merely “be on your
guard against.” It runs rather thus: “You Christian Jews are dwelling as sojourners in the midst of
jealous Gentile foreigners, and must, therefore, be particularly observant of moral conduct; for though I
know that you usually are so, yet the fleshly appetites are actively engaged against your soul all the
time; and if you should in any degree let them get the better of you, the heathen neighbours will at once
take advantage of you.” As the expression might have been drawn equally well from St. Paul or from
St. James, it is perhaps the easiest thing to suppose that (like the metaphors of building or of giving
milk) it was part of the common property of Christians, and not consciously traceable to any originator.
KRETZMANN, "Having pointed out the inestimable blessings and privileges which the
Christians enjoy, the apostle now makes a specific APPLICATION of these truths in
showing what obligations their possession implies: Beloved, as sojourners and
strangers I admonish you to abstain from the lusts of the flesh, which battle against
the soul. The intimate form of address, which is but rarely used by Peter, is intended to
convey to the readers the force of the admonition. Because the Christians are but
sojourners, strangers, pilgrims in this world, and are looking forward to their real home
above, therefore they will certainly not endanger their hope of salvation by yielding to
their fleshly lusts. The children of this world, the unbelievers, are governed and ruled
by their evil desires; they perform the will of the flesh, and that gladly. But the
Christians, instead of permitting their flesh, their old sinful nature, to rule them and to
lead them into various sins, will wage an incessant war against these lusts of their
flesh. For they know that these evil, godless desires battle against the soul, about
whose salvation they are so earnestly concerned. If the lusts of the flesh gain the
ascendancy in the heart of a Christian, then his soul, his true life in and with God, is

250. lost. Under no circumstances, therefore, dare Christians heed the tempting voice of the
charmers whose aim is to represent the sins of the flesh as a harmless gratification of
natural inclinations. The attitude of the Christians must be that of an altogether
uncompromising stand against every form of sin.
The distinction between believers and unbelievers must always be marked: Having
YOUR conduct in the midst of the heathen as an excellent one, so that, in the matter in
which they now speak against you as evil-doers, they may, being spectators of your
good works, glorify God in the day of visitation. The conduct of the Christians will, as a
matter of course, always be in conformity with the will of God, with the denial and
suppression of the lusts of the flesh, and therefore good, excellent in the sight of God.
The corresponding impression upon men will then also not fail. For the very men that
were now looking upon the Christians as bad or suspicious characters, as enemies of
the government and as addicted to immoral practices, were still OPEN to conviction.
The Christians, therefore, should so conduct themselves in all their dealings before
men, should so live in the very midst of the heathen, that their life would be a
testimony for them, in favor of the Gospel. The good works of the Christians, their
meekness under the severest provocations, their cheerful readiness to be of service at
all times, their self-evident observance of all precepts of God's holy will—all these were
bound to make an impression, in spite of all opposition. Many an unbeliever that
originally considered Christianity a huge fraud has been led to reconsider his first
impression by the conduct of the confessing believers. Exact observation, closer
acquaintance, showed him the injustice of his position. And when the grace of God
was then proclaimed to him, when God visited him with the gracious Word of the
Gospel, his heart was changed in favor of the Christian religion, he accepted its truths,
he glorified God, whom he now recognized also as his Father for the sake of Jesus.
PRECEPTAUSTIN, “BELOVED: Agapetoi:
"I have more trouble with D.L. Moody than with any man I know." Moody. The man I see in the
mirror each morning is my greatest impediment to holiness and godliness. Stop saying "The
devil made me do it!"
Peter loves the word "beloved," using it 8x in his two epistles. And he uses it to remind his
readers that God loves them, that they are beloved of God. That has a way of warming up his
exhortations & is a good principle for us all to practice. "Beloved" has a way of sort of
affirming that they being the beloved of God have a duty to perform (out of love) to one who
loves them. Since you are the beloved of God, your being so loved should elicit an obedient
response from your heart, motivated by love for God. Based upon your being the beloved of
God, Peter is saying "I urge you, I beg you in a passionate way" & here Peter uses the same
word Paul used in Ro12:1 to exhort the Roman Christians to a holy walk, worthy of the gospel
that he had so clearly explained in the preceding 11 chapters. So Peter gives an urgent
passionate plea to people who are the beloved of God to reciprocate that love with obedience
and it starts on the inside.
John Piper: "We must cultivate the mindset of exiles. What this does mainly is sober us up
and wake us up so that we don't drift with the world and take for granted that the way the
world thinks and acts is the best way. We don't assume that what is on TV is helpful to the

251. soul; we don't assume that the priorities of advertisers is helpful to the soul; we don't assume
that the strategies and values of business and industry are helpful to the soul. We don't
assume that any of this glorifies God. We stop and we think and we consult the Wisdom of
our own country, heaven, and we don't assume that the conventional wisdom of this age is
God's wisdom. We get our bearings from God in his word. When you see yourself as an alien
and an exile with your citizenship in heaven, and God as your only Sovereign, you stop
drifting with the current of the day. You ponder what is good for the soul and what honors God
in everything: food, cars, videos, bathing suits, birth control, driving speeds, bed times,
financial savings, education for the children, unreached peoples, famine, refugee camps,
sports, death, and everything else. Aliens get their cue from God and not the world."
I URGE YOU: parakalo (1SPAI): (Romans 12:1 ; 2 Corinthians 5:20 ; 6:1 ; Ephesians 4:1 ;
Philemon 1:9,10 )
Peter urges us to be dedicated to relentless and ruthless opposition to sin in our lives. Peter
knows the pain that becoming a slave to sin can bring & he is exhorting us to by the Spirit to
put to death the deeds of the body (Ro8:13 cp Col3:5 Ro6:12,13, 14).
Present tense salvation (sanctification) is war until the day we see Jesus face to face & the
enemy does not just want to take us prisoner but to destroy us & in so doing to bring dishonor
to God. Make no mistake about this truth! But take courage because of 1Pe1:5 1Jn5:18. God
is in control but He is calling us to self control. First, Peter calls us for discipline that is inward
and private...this is where it starts. If I am to live a godly life on the outside, it doesn't start on
the outside, it starts...where? On the inside. And I will only work out, as Php2:12-13 says,
what is on the inside. So this matter of living as an alien in the world with an evangelistic
mission attempting to silence the critics (v12,15) on the one hand and to win the unbeliever
on the other hand begins with integrity of life and integrity of life begins with an "inside job".
AS ALIENS: hos paroikous: (1:1,17 ; Genesis 23:4 ; 47:9 ; Leviticus 25:23 ; 1 Chronicles
29:15 ; Psalms 39:12 ; 119:19,54 ; Hebrews 11:13 ) (Torrey's Topic "Pilgrims & Strangers ")
Aliens: (paroikos from para = beside + oikos = dwelling, home) means literally to have a
home near and then means to be a foreigner, stranger, sojourner. Paroikos in the present
context describes one who "lives alongside" the people who belong on earth. You live
alongside the homes of the people who are earth dwellers, who consider earth as their true
home. You're not really family, but you're just alongside the family. You happen to be living
near those who are at home in a certain place, but you don't belong there, you're a non-
citizen. The word came to mean a person who was a foreigner in a land that is not his own.
We as believers don't belong in the godless society they are residing in. We're outsiders.
(Php3:20) and our citizenship is in heaven. We are aliens here. Our song is the little chorus
we used to sing when we were kids in Sunday School --
"This world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through,
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue."
Our status in this world is as those who do not belong. That is why John says, "Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world." (1Jn2:15) They're not even a part of our
dimension. And this is the price of our privilege. It is a privilege to be exalted and taken out of
the kingdom of darkness and placed into the kingdom of God's dear Son (Col1:13). It is a

252. privilege to be redeemed (1Pe1:18-19). It is a privilege to be made a citizen of heaven
(Php3:20,21). And the price of that privilege is to shun the things of the world. The price of
that privilege is that while you are a citizen of heaven, you are a stranger here. You are not an
illegal alien, the world has not come to the point where they've made Christianity
illegal...although in some places it is. We can thank God in America we are aliens but not
illegal aliens.
Look at the Psalmist's prayer: Ps119:19 !!! We are aliens in this world but not in that to come
in which we are now fellow citizens -> See [Ep2:19] Used to describe the patriarchs esp
Abraham who went out not knowing where he was to go[ Heb11:9, 13]. Describes children of
Israel (Ac7:6). Peter's point is that we ARE NOT "CITIZENS OF THIS WORLD" BUT WE ARE
HEAVENLY CITIZENS! This makes (or should make) a difference in how we live in this
"foreign" land. Heaven is our home, we are merely dwellers here. And since we do not know
at what time our Lord will appear, we wait for His coming with a loose hand, that is, we do not
cling tight to the things of this life.
ALIENS & STRANGERS:[Jn17:16] Saints called to be [Ge12:1 Ac7:3 Lu14:26,27,33 cp
Lv25:23 Heb11:9,10 Ge23:4 47:9 Lv25:23 1Ch29:15, Ps39:12 119:19,54 Heb11:13] The two
words describe the Christian in his position in this world because he has died to this world
(Ga6:14, Col3:3, v2). He has made his home alongside of the unsaved and settled down
amongst them, a sojourner and one that is a stranger to them in that he is different from them.
AND STRANGERS: kai parepidemous:
"Strangers" (parepidemos from para = beside + epidemeo = refers to a visitor who makes a
brief stay, a sojourner who's just going through the country, a traveler who is just moving
around in it, someone passing through.) So we are like those who come from a foreign
country into a city or land to reside there by the side of the natives (as a stranger or sojourner
in a strange place). THIS IS NOT OUR HOME! DO NOT BE DECEIVED INTO THINKING IT
IS! HEAVEN IS OUR HOME! [Jn14:1,2,16:33 Rev21:7, 27,22:3,14, Heb11:8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16
13:14] Literally = “settle down alongside of pagans.” Cp (Heb13:14) This isn't our place. This
isn't our world. And we are people who in whatever country we might be on the globe feel that
our true home is somewhere else. But Christians have always had to live among pagans, we
have always had to live among people whose habitual intents are rooted in the lower order of
things above which Peter exhorts us to rise. Believers reside in a foreign country, a country
the whole of which lies in the power of the evil one. (1Jn5:19, 2Co4:4)
TO ABSTAIN: apechesthai (PMN): (4:2 ; Lu21:34 ; Ac15:20,29 ; Ro8:13 ; 13:13,14 ;
2Co7:1 ; Gal5:16-21 ; 2Ti 2:22 ; 1Jn2:15-17 )
"Abstain" (apecho from apo = away from, idea of putting some distance between + echo =
hold) means to hold off from, as a ship from the shore, to avert, restrain. Present tense is
used here and calls for one to continually HOLD themselves (middle voice) away from "the
reefs" of destructive lusts, no matter how hard the wind blows nor how high the waves
rise...be like a ship holding off from the shore so as not to suffer shipwreck of your faith. We
have an anchor of our soul (Heb6:19) both sure and steadfast...this hope will like an anchor
help motivate us to live separated lives waiting anxiously for the appearing of the Captain of
our souls Who will GUIDE us SAFELY HOME TO HEAVEN'S SHORE. This is shouting
ground. And reason enough to keep on holding one's self from the powerful desires latent in

253. this old hibernating Adamic bear (Ro7:18, 21). Don't feed the bears!!! You can make yourself
''sick''!!! [1Th4:3, 1Th5:22] Continually Hold yourself away from even the appearance or form
of that which is actively harmful (poneros). Remember evil surrounds us at every turn but God
does not command us to do that which He does not empower. Don't play with the strong
desires of the flesh. They are like a German shepherd that everyone thought was the family
pet until they gruesomely mauled the family's young child. Don't play with the strong
inordinate desires of the fallen flesh that still smolder like embers waiting to be fanned into
roaring flames! (Pr 6:27).
Be disciplined in an inward & private way if you expect to have an outward & public impact on
the world in which you must live. To do that, a simple command...abstain from fleshly lusts --
that sums it up in a comprehensive simple statement. Abstain, means exactly what it says --
stay away from, keep your distance from...from what? Fleshly lusts, those desires of your
fallen nature
Webster's says that to "abstain" means to refrain deliberately and often with an effort of self-
denial from an action or practice. This is a good definition except that ''self-denial'' is the
world's way...we have access to the fruit of the Spirit, self-control (Ga5:22, cp Ro8:13) but we
have a responsibility in the growth of this fruit of self-control (2Pe1:6).
This same verb (apecho) is used in the Greek translation (Septuagint) of (Job1:1 ) to
translate the Hebrew word for ''turning away''. Study that great opening verse (hold pointer
over blue or click link) What was Job turning from? Why did he turn? What motivated him?
Ponder these thoughts and remember what God's assessment of Job was (Job1:8). Good
men avoid sin from the love of virtue: (2Co5:9, Ga1:10) Wicked men avoid sin from a fear of
punishment. Why do you avoid sin?
FROM FLESHLY LUSTS: ton sarkikon epithumion aitines: (Torrey's Topic "Self denial" )
(Ro8:13; Gal5:17)
"Fleshly" (Sarkikos) refers to that which pertains to the FLESH. Believers are no longer IN
THE FLESH for that is a characteristic of UNBELIEVERS (eg, Ro7:5). Those desires barked
out by our unregenerate nature, under the control of our ''animal'' appetites. The implication of
the necessity to be constantly holding oneself back from these fleshly lusts is that the fallen
nature whose power over the believer was broken when he was saved is still there with its
sin-ward pull. Prone to wonder, Lord I feel it, here's my heart, take & seal it, seal it for Thy
courts above. We are told to hold ourselves back from doing the things which before salvation
wrought its corrupting work in our being (2Pe1:4).
The things of the flesh belong to the WORLD (kosmos) and God’s people are citizens of
another country, HEAVEN (oranous).
MacArthur writes: "You see, because our souls are saved and because we've received a new
heart and because we've been washed and because we've been regenerated, there is a
newness in us but as we have noted in the past, it is incarcerated in our unredeemed human
flesh. That's why we have a spiritual battle because the new man in us is battling the flesh.
And the flesh is where lust comes from. And so we are called to, literally the Greek word is,
"hold oneself away from fleshly lusts." Boy, that is tough. That is tough enough because the
fleshly lusts are in us, it is especially tough in our society because we live in a pornographic

254. society. And in a pornographic society our fleshly lusts are fed constantly by the visual images
of pornography and the verbal expressions of pornography that are all around us all the time.
And so for us this is a great challenge for the Holy Spirit in us to give us victory."
WHICH WAGE WAR: strateuontai (3PPMI): (Ro7:23 ; 8:13 ; Gal5:17,24 ; 1Ti6:9,10 ; Js4:1 )
(Torrey's Topic Warfare of the Saints )
"Wage war" (4754) (strateuomai from strategos = army, stratos = an encamped army) is
used 8 times in the NT: (1x LHYPERLINK
"http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/frequency.cgi?
number=4754&book=lu&translation=nsn" u ; 1x 1Co ; 1x 2HYPERLINK
"http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/frequency.cgi?
number=4754&book=2co&translation=nsn" Co ; 1x 1Ti ; 1x 2HYPERLINK
"http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/frequency.cgi?
number=4754&book=2ti&translation=nsn" Ti ; 1x JHYPERLINK
"http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/frequency.cgi?
number=4754&book=jas&translation=nsn" s ; 1x 1Pe ) and is translated -- active service, 1;
fight, 1; serves as a soldier, 1; soldier in active service, 1; soldiers, 1; wage war, 2; war, 1.
Strateuomai means to carry on a military campaign, make a military expedition, lead soldiers
to war or to battle.
What a picture of our old flesh nature. We are in a war until the day we see glory. The picture
is not that of hand-to-hand fighting, but of a planned expedition against a military objective
(note the verb is in the present tense = continuous action). For example, think of Delilah’s cool
exploitation of Samson’s fleshly appetite which ultimately led to his defeat. Think about the
English words derived from this same Greek term > "strategy" & "stratagem" = trick. Both
Peter and James use this vivid, picturesque word which means to picture our ongoing spiritual
war -- It isn't just one skirmish or one battle, but a long-term campaign. And the idea in Peter
is a very interesting personification. Fleshly lusts are here personified (that is they're made
into persons in the imagery, cf Ge4:7 where sin is pictured as a "wild animal crouching ready
to pounce") as if they were an army of rebels or guerrillas who intend to capture and enslave
and destroy the human soul. And the term implies not just antagonism, but a continual
aggression that is malicious and ongoing and doesn't stop. Fleshly lusts wage an incessant
"search and destroy mission" against believers. The world allures us & the flesh is the
beachhead by which its allurement takes place. And Peter simply says stay away from it.
Don't pander your fleshly desires. They want to destroy you. In the classic allegory "THE
HOLY WAR" John Bunyan pictures a city and he calls the city Man's Soul because it
represents the soul of man. And he pictures the city as surrounded by high walls. And the
enemy wants to assault the soul of man but he has no way over the walls or through the
walls. The only way the enemy can get to the soul is through the gate. The only way that the
World or Satan can get to the otherwise impregnable soul of a believer is through the gate of
fleshly lusts, the gate of fallen desire. Beloved, if you keep the gate closed, you cannot lose
the war. You say, "How do you do that?" (Gal 5:16 ) It's all about living in the spiritual
dimension. It's all about walking in the Spirit's power (Ro8:13 ). The battle begins on the
"inside" (Ro13:12-14 ). We wage war on the inside. And the weapons of our warfare are
spiritual not fleshly (2Co10:3-5 ).
See this struggle between the flesh and spirit in [Ga5:16-24, Lu3:14, 1Co9:7, 2Co10:3 ,
1Ti1:18 ,2Ti2:4, Ja4:1] We do not win one battle, and the war is over! It is a constant warfare,

255. and we must be on our guard.
AGAINST THE SOUL: kata tes psuches:
These evil cravings are carrying on a campaign against the Christian. KATA ~ “down.” We get
a picture of these evil cravings hurling themselves down upon our souls in a campaign
designed to cause our downfall. Reminds one of soldiers scaling the wall of a fortress with
cauldrons of hot boiling oil being poured out & spears & rocks incessantly being hurled down
to destroy them. We must press on as good soldiers of Christ Jesus (2Ti2:3-4), count the cost
(Lu14:28, Jos24:15), enduring to the end (Heb3:6,14), pressing on toward the goal for the
prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Php3:14)
John Piper writes -- "The Battle: For Desires First, Then Behavior - Another thing to notice in
this text is that the battle for the soul and the battle for the glory of God is fought first at the
level of our desires and then at the level of our behavior -- first at the level of what we feel
and then at the level of what we do. [V11] says that it is "fleshly lusts (or desires) that wage
war against the soul". So Peter says abstain from them. Then in [v12] Peter says we should
keep our "behavior" excellent so that people will see and give glory to God. So first he
focuses on desires and then on behavior. This is the same pattern we saw in [1:14-15]. "Don't
conform to the desires of your former ignorance, but...be holy in all your conduct." Fight first
at the level of desires and then at the level of conduct. The reason for this is that conduct is
not excellent -- it is not beautiful; it is not going to point people to the glory of God -- if it does
not flow from right desires. Jesus said, "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! For
you cleanse the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and
rapacity" (Mt23:25 ). In other words, it doesn't do any good to try to shine up the conduct on
the outside without changing the desires on the inside. There is a different sound to a barrel
full of leaves and a barrel full of oil."
True Spirituality
(1 Peter 2:11-12)
or
“Getting Down to Earth About Our Hope of Heaven”
By: Bob Deffinbaugh , Th.M.
11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the
soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander
you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day
of visitation.
Introduction
Recently Phil Donahue came to the Dallas-Fort Worth area to broadcast several of his television shows.
His coming prompted the efforts of a local dentist to have his programs scheduled later in the evening
so young children would not be corrupted by the kinds of material he and others seem to relish. How
we hoped some fearless saint could expose him as the closest thing to a pornographer found on daytime
television.
By nearly popular opinion, it did not happen, and we probably should never have thought it would.

256. Even if there had been a time when Christians could think of themselves as part of a “moral majority,”
it will not be so for long. We Americans have been living in a kind of fairy-tale world. For most of our
nation’s history, Christian values have closely approximated the values held by our culture. Quickly
those days are coming to an end, thanks in part to social engineers like Mr. Donahue. Christian views
and values are no longer tolerated as the “high road of morality” but scoffed at as backward and
bigoted. Christians are beginning to be viewed as those our society would be better off without.
Such a response would not have taken the apostle Peter by surprise; in fact, he would have expected it.
In our text, Peter tells us we should expect some to react to godly living. While we are obligated to live
exemplary lives as we dwell among ungodly people, we should not expect to be praised for it; indeed,
we should not even expect praise in this life. Holiness is a matter of obedience and hope. In our text,
Peter tells us why godly living should be our goal, even when we must pay a price for it in this life.
We never think of Peter as a man of few words, but here in only two verses Peter sums up the essence
of true spirituality. Peter speaks in verse 11 of the spiritual life in terms of our personal piety. In verse
12, he capsulizes the essence of our spirituality in terms of our public piety. If we would walk worthy
of our calling, we must pay careful attention to these words of Peter, a man writing under the influence
of the Holy Spirit about the things he has learned, which each of us must learn as well.
Aliens and Strangers
(2:11a)
11a Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers …
The tone of verse 11 is completely consistent with that of verses 4-10. Peter issues no “papal decree” or
authoritarian edict. Rather, he speaks tenderly to his readers as the “beloved,” the beloved of God and
of those whom he loves as well. Rather than issue a command, Peter “urges” his readers to act on the
basis of gratitude, not on the basis of his authority (although this apostolic authority should not be
minimized). Just as Paul does in Romans 12:1, Peter exhorts his readers on the basis of divine mercy:
1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy
sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship. (Romans 12:1, emphasis
mine).
10 For you once were OT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had OT
RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY. 11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and
strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul (1 Peter 2:10-11, emphasis
mine).
Peter has just laid the foundation for our conduct in this present world in verses 4-10 where he defines
our identity in relation to Christ and in contrast to the unbeliever. Our identity as “the people of God”
(verse 10) becomes the basis for our conduct in the world. As citizens of heaven (see also Philippians
3:20), we are “aliens and strangers” in this world. We must therefore live in a way which sets us
apart.
The concept of “aliens and sojourners” was a familiar one to Peter and other New Testament writers. It
had been introduced early in the Old Testament where Abraham was a sojourner in the promised land, a
land he never owned in his lifetime (Genesis 12:10; 17:8; 20:1; 21:23, 34; 23:4). So it was also with
Isaac (Genesis 26:3) and his son Jacob (Genesis 28:4; 32:4). The nation Israel sojourned in Egypt
(Genesis 47:7; Deuteronomy 26:5). Even when God delivered the Israelites from their Egyptian

257. bondage and brought them into the land of promise, they were still “sojourners” on God’s land
(Leviticus 25:23; 1 Chronicles 29:15). The writer to the Hebrews describes all the Old Testament saints
as aliens or sojourners:
13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed
them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For
those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. 15 And indeed if
they had been thinking of that [country] from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to
return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better [country], that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not
ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them (Hebrews 11:13-16).
It comes as no surprise then that Peter refers to his readers as “aliens and strangers:”
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen (1 Peter 1:1).
11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the
soul.
The believer’s identity is the basis for his conduct. Having assured them of the certainty of their future
hope in Christ in 1 Peter 1:1-12, Peter now calls for commitment:
13 Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober [in spirit,] fix your hope completely on the grace
to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13).
Those who have trusted in Christ for salvation, and fixed their hope on the grace He will bring at His
second coming, become increasingly aware that they have changed their citizenship. Before trusting in
Christ, we were outsiders with respect to the kingdom of God, but as believers in Him, we are now
insiders, “fellow citizens with the saints.”
11 Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision”
by the so-called “Circumcision,” [which is] performed in the flesh by human hands—12 [remember]
that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in
Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.… 19 So
then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s
household, 20 having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself
being the corner [stone], 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy
temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit
(Ephesians 2:11-13,19-22).
In Philippians, Paul sums up the truth of the Ephesians 2 passage even more concisely:
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ
(Philippians 3:20).
Peter teaches the same truth in the second chapter of his first epistle. In verses 4-10, Peter described the
identity of Gentile believers using the terminology once used in reference to the nation Israel. Because
our citizenship is now in heaven, Peter exhorts us to conduct ourselves in this life as “aliens and
strangers.” “Aliens” and “sojourners” know that “home” is heaven, not this earth. Paul knew where
“home” was:

258. 1 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For indeed in this [house] we groan, longing to be
clothed with our dwelling from heaven; 3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. 4
For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be
unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who
prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. 6 Therefore, being
always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the
Lord—7 for we walk by faith, not by sight—8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be
absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:1-8).
All Christians should have this view about their “home.” While many attempt to technically define
“alien” and “sojourner,” my recollection of a song from another generation best conveys the sense of
both words:
This world is not my home, I’m just a’ passing through, My treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond
the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door, And I can’t feel at home in this world any
more.
The Pilgrim’s Personal Piety
(2:11b)
11b … abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.
We have seen that in a gentle, brotherly way Peter urges us to conduct our lives as “aliens and
strangers, abstaining from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” The New International
Version misses much of the point by rendering the verse in this way:
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires,
which war against your soul (NIV).
The problem arises in paraphrasing the Greek term “sinful” rather than “fleshly.” Fleshly desires are
“sinful,” but that is not Peter’s entire point. Fleshly desires are “earthly” desires which pertain to this
life and to our flesh. Fleshly desires are those illicit desires which originated at the fall, and they are the
basis for our attachment to this world, Satan, and sin.
21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. 22 For I joyfully
concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body,
waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my
members (Romans 7:21-23).
Fleshly lusts are human desires which stem from our depravity and seek fulfillment outside the
boundaries of righteousness.56 They simply cannot be overcome by human effort and asceticism. They
are only overcome by the power of the indwelling Spirit as we “walk in the Spirit:”
4 In order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the
flesh, but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the
things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set
on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh
is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able [to do so]; 8
and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit,

259. if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not
belong to Him. 10 And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive
because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He
who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who
indwells you. 12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the
flesh—13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting
to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are
sons of God (Romans 8:4-14).
Unlike many Christians and evangelists today, Jesus did not appeal to men on the basis of their fleshly
lusts. Rather, He called upon men to deny fleshly lusts to follow Him. Rather than appeal to man’s
greed and materialism, Jesus called on those who would follow Him to give up their attachment to
things (Matthew 6:19-24; Mark 10:21; Luke 9:57-62; 16:1-31). When the disciples sought power and
prestige for themselves, Jesus spoke to them about servanthood (Mark 9:33-35; 10:35-45). Jesus spoke
of those who obeyed His Father’s will as His family (Mark 3:31-35), and He taught His disciples that
family must not come before their allegiance to Him (Luke 9:57-62; 14:25-25; see also Mark 10:29-
30). One should rather be deprived of a member of his body than to sin against God (Matthew 5:27-
30).57
There is a reason for the sequence of Peter’s teaching in verses 11 and 12. Not only does Peter deal
with both personal and public piety in verses 11 and 12, but he also shows us that internal (piety) is
prerequisite to external (public) piety.
The Pharisees of Jesus’ day did not have internal piety. They had only the pretense of external piety,
while on the inside they were rotten, driven by fleshly lusts:
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish,
but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of
the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. 27 Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but
inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:25-27).
Because the Pharisees had no internal piety, they always concentrated on appearances rather than on the
heart. For this reason, the things in which they took pride were an offense to God:
15 And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows
your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God” (Luke
16:15).
Jesus insists in His Sermon on the Mount (5:21-48) that the Law dealt with much more than external
matters; it dealt with the heart. He taught that rather than just avoid external sins we must deal with the
root sins from which they flow. Thus, we must not only abstain from murder but from anger and
unresolved conflicts (5:21-26). We must not just avoid adultery but its roots of lust (5:27-32).
Defilement comes from within, not from without (Mark 7:14-23). The words proceeding from our lips
come forth from the heart (Matthew 12:34).
It is helpful to understand what Peter means by “fleshly lusts.” The term “lusts” is similar to the New
Testament term “tempt” in that both terms have two very different meanings indicated only by the
context.58 The root word which underlies “lusts” is used for “desire” in a very broad range of
meanings. On one end of the spectrum, it is used to depict our Lord’s “desire” to observe Passover

260. with His disciples (Luke 22:15) and the “desire” (longing) of the angels to look into God’s earthly
redemption of man (1 Peter 1:12). It is used of Lazarus’ desire (appetite) to eat the crumbs which fell
from the rich man’s table (Luke 16:21) and the prodigal’s desire to fill his empty belly with the food of
the pigs he was tending (Luke 15:16). On the other end of the spectrum, the term is used with the
negative connotation of an illicit or sinful desire. In such instances, the word is rendered “lust,”
“covet,” or “crave” (Romans 7:7; 1 Corinthians 10:6; James 4:2).
Peter’s own words in the rest of his epistles provide an adequate sense of what he means in our text:
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts [which were yours] in your ignorance
(1 Peter 1:14, emphasis mine).
1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because
he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no
longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For the time already past is sufficient [for you] to
have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness,
carousals, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. 4 And in [all] this, they are surprised that you do
not run with [them] into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign [you]; 5 but they shall give
account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead (1 Peter 4:1-5, emphasis mine).59
4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you
might become partakers of [the] divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by
lust (2 Peter 1:4, emphasis mine).
9 [then] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under
punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in [its] corrupt
desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic
majesties, 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment
against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be
captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures
also be destroyed, 13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in
the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, 14
having eyes full of adultery and that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart
trained in greed, accursed children; 15 forsaking the right way they have gone astray, having followed
the way of Balaam, the [son] of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, 16 but he received a
rebuke for his own transgression; [for] a dumb donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the
madness of the prophet. 17 These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm, for whom the
black darkness has been reserved. 18 For speaking out arrogant [words] of vanity they entice by fleshly
desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, 19 promising them
freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is
enslaved (2 Peter 2:9-19, emphasis mine).
“Lusts” are those appetites or desires we have by virtue of our fallen human nature. They are not sinful
acts, but the desire to perform acts which are for self-gratification rather than for the glory of God.
Carried out, these “lusts” result in sin (see 1 Peter 4:3). The “lusts” of which Peter speaks are “former
lusts,” those which characterized his readers as unbelievers in a state of ignorance. They are also
“lusts” which have an on-going appeal. When submitted to, these lusts shape (conform) us to them (1
Peter 1:14).
How should we then deal with fleshly lusts? We are not left without help. Peter gives a very concise

261. word of advice on how we should deal with fleshly lusts—we are to avoid them. Other texts of
Scripture shed light on how we avoid them:
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to [its] lusts
(Romans 13:14).
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires
(Galatians 5:24).
17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles
also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life
of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they,
having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of
impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him
and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of
life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and
that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind (Ephesians 4:17-23 emphasis mine).
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil
desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry (Colossians 3:5).
While necessary negative attitudes and actions are required of us, one principle means of dealing with
fleshly lusts is quite positive. A friend of mine has said, “Don’t create a vacuum; crowd evil out.”
Unfortunately, Christians are often characterized by the word “Don’t.” We are thought of in terms of
what we don’t do rather than what we do. When our hope is fixed on heaven, our desires begin to shift
from earthly, material things to things eternal. We begin to “use” material things for God and His glory
rather than give ourselves to them as slaves. A heart full of desire for the coming of Christ and His
kingdom has less place for fleshly lusts.
The Pilgrim’s Public Piety
(2:12)
12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as
evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of
visitation.
Having spoken of our inner piety in verse 11—of our abstaining from fleshly lusts—Peter moves on to
our outward, public piety in verse 12. Several assumptions underlie his command to “Keep your
behavior excellent among the Gentiles” (emphasis mine). First, Peter assumes we will not be
physically separated from unbelievers but we will live among them. Second, our conduct as Christians
—our daily manner of life—should set us apart from the world. Third, Peter expects Christians to
believe and behave in a way significantly different from unbelievers, who are only of this world.
Peter’s exhortation in verse 12 provides us with several important principles pertaining to true
spirituality as it relates to our public piety. Allow me to highlight several of these principles.
(1) Our piety is not only to be private but public.
How often have I heard it said, “My religious beliefs are a very personal thing.” Translated, this means,

262. “I don’t want to talk about religion.” Jesus never allowed us the option of having a strictly personal
faith. The essence of the Old Testament Law is summed up in two commands: (1) love God with all
your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and (2) love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:34-39; Mark
12:28-31). One’s love for God and his love for his neighbor requires attitudes and actions open to
public scrutiny.
Peter’s previous words make it evident that the Christian’s conduct is to serve as a public witness:
9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR
[God’s] OWN POSSESSION, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 for 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 (1
Peter 2:9-10).
Someone may challenge the public dimensions of our piety, pointing to these words spoken by our
Lord:
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no
reward with your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 6:1).
Peter simply reiterates the teaching of the Lord Jesus, and there is no conflict between his teaching and
that of his Lord.
Our Lord’s words recorded in Matthew 6:1 are a part of a larger message known as the Sermon on the
Mount. In that same sermon Jesus has already said,
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do [men] light a lamp,
and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your
Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).
Jesus expected His disciples to stand apart from the world in which they lived. He taught that it is
impossible to be a true disciple and not be noticed as “light” in a dark place.
Jesus did not oppose demonstrating righteousness before men; He opposed the public display of
religious rituals (prayer, fasting, almsgiving) rather than godly conduct in our relations with men. Jesus
was rebuking acts of Pharisaical self-righteousness performed to gain the praise of men and not the
praise of God. They were seeking the praise of men now rather than awaiting divine reward in heaven.
Jesus calls for His disciples to live out His righteousness in their daily conduct. He lets them know this
may result not in man’s praise but in persecution. They should nevertheless persist in their newly-found
righteousness (His righteousness), rejoicing that their reward is their future hope:
10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when [men] cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of
evil against you falsely, on account of Me. 12 Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great,
for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).
(2) Our conduct in this world should be a praiseworthy piety.
Peter tells us our conduct is to be “excellent.”60 As William Barclay indicates, the word “excellent”
speaks of something beautiful, something praiseworthy:

263. “In Greek there are two words for good. There is agathos, which simply means good in quality; and
there is kalos, which means not only good but also lovely—fine, attractive, winsome. That is what
honestus means in Latin. So what Peter is saying is that the Christian must make his whole way of life
so lovely and so good to look upon that the slanders of his heathen enemies may be demonstrated to be
false.”61
The world tends to look at Christians in terms of what they don’t do rather than in terms of their
contributions to the world. This is not to say that Christians can avoid the stigma of being separatistic.
Being holy means leaving behind many of the practices we once engaged in as unbelievers (see 1 Peter
4:3-4). But since we will seldom find the world eager to praise us for what we avoid, we must also be
diligent to do those things which are beneficial and therefore praiseworthy.
While we were saved in order to inherit God’s blessings, we were also called to be a blessing (see
Genesis 12:2; Zechariah 8:13; Galatians 3:14; 1 Peter 3:9). Our conduct should be such that it adorns
the doctrine we profess and proclaim:
3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to
much wine, teaching what is good, 4 that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands,
to love their children, 5 [to be] sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own
husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored. 6 Likewise urge the young men to be sensible;
7 in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, [with] purity in doctrine, dignified, 8
sound [in] speech which is beyond reproach, in order that the opponent may be put to shame, having
nothing bad to say about us. 9 [Urge] bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be
well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith that they may adorn the
doctrine of God our Savior in every respect (Titus 2:3-10, emphasis mine).
(3) Living a praiseworthy life does not mean we will be praised for it.
It is true that living a life that is pleasing to God is the most peaceable path:
7 When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him
(Proverbs 16:7).
But it is not true that piety will always result in peace.
34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35
For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER
MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW, 36 and A MAN’S
ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD” (Matthew 10:34-36).
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men (Romans 12:18).
Righteousness provokes a variety of responses. We see this in the response of men to our Lord and in
the responses of men to our excellent conduct. Peter implies that living a godly life may result in the
drawing of some to faith (1 Peter 3:15) and also may bring a favorable response (1 Peter 3:10-12). In
the case of those who ignorantly accuse the righteous of wrong-doing, our conduct should be sufficient
to silence their foolish and ignorant accusations (1 Peter 2:15). But here in our text, Peter indicates
ungodly men may be expected to unjustly accuse and attack the Christian because of his goodness.
Who could accuse our Lord of wrong-doing? And yet men did. Do we wonder why? Because goodness
threatens evil men. The opposition to our Lord and the accusations of His wrong-doing came from the

264. wicked Pharisees whose hearts were evil even though they put on a good front. They accused Jesus
because He associated with sinners whom He came to save (Luke 5:28-32). They accused Jesus of
breaking the Sabbath rather than praising Him for healing a woman who had suffered for 18 years
(Luke 13:10-16).
Perhaps the most surprising reaction to Jesus is His deliverance of the demoniac, a man who had
endangered the people of that part of the country so that men feared to use the road near the cemetery
where he roamed about like an animal:
1 And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when He had
come out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, 3 and he had
his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; 4 because
he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the
shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 And constantly night and
day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out and gashing himself with stones.… 14
And their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and [out] in the country. And [the people] came
to see what it was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus and observed the man who had been
demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the “legion”;
and they became frightened. 16 And those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to
the demon-possessed man, and [all] about the swine. 17 And they began to entreat Him to depart from
their region (Mark 5:1-5, 14-17).
Paul’s preaching and ministry often provoked a negative reaction. When he delivered a demon-
possessed girl from her bondage, her owners were angry, accusing Paul of crimes of which he was
innocent (Acts 16:16-21). When the preaching of the gospel began to make a dent in the sale of idols,
some of the idol-makers started a riot, accusing Paul and the Christians of wrong-doing (Acts 19:23-
28).
Peter himself explains why some men will react to righteousness: Because our righteousness threatens
their sinful way of life, not only exposing it as sin but also indirectly reminding them of the judgment
to come:
1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because
he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no
longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For the time already past is sufficient [for you] to
have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness,
carousals, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. 4 And in [all] this, they are surprised that you do
not run with [them] into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign [you]; 5 but they shall give
account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead (1 Peter 4:1-5).
When light exposes darkness, darkness strikes out against the light (see John 1:6-13; Ephesians 5:3-14).
The ancient church was falsely accused of cannibalism (the Lord’s Supper), of immorality (the Agape
or “love feast”—again, the Lord’s Supper), and of treason (Jesus is Lord). Of what will the righteous of
our day be falsely accused? What forms of excellent behavior will the world find threatening and
offensive? Consider these possibilities. First, the world will find the doctrine of life after death
offensive, particularly the doctrine of hell. The church may also expect to see reaction, false
accusations and even law suits for exercising church discipline. The world will certainly object to our
views and practices concerning sexual morality. If any Christians are left who are bold (and obedient)
enough to spank (not abuse!) their children, they may expect false accusations.

265. (4) In eternity, God will be praised for the very deeds for which we may now be
persecuted.
The very things for which we are now slandered will be the same things for which God is praised. The
key to understanding Peter’s words here is to correctly define the “day of visitation.”
1 Woe to those who enact evil statutes, And to those who constantly record unjust decisions, 2 So as to
deprive the needy of justice, And rob the poor of My people of [their] rights, In order that widows may
be their spoil, And that they may plunder the orphans. 3 Now what will you do in the day of
punishment,62 And in the devastation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And
where will you leave your wealth? 4 Nothing [remains] but to crouch among the captives Or fall among
the slain. In [spite of] all this His anger does not turn away, And His hand is still stretched out (Isaiah
10:1-4, emphasis mine).
41 And when He approached, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known in this
day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 43
For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, and surround
you, and hem you in on every side, 44 and will level you to the ground and your children within you,
and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your
visitation” (Luke 19:41-44, emphasis mine).
Some understand the “day of visitation” to be the “day of salvation.” I understand the “day of
visitation” to be the day of our Lord’s appearing. In this sense, He has visited us once already, and His
people did not recognize Him as Messiah (Luke 19:41-44). He is yet to visit the earth again. This visit
will surely be a day of divine judgment just as Isaiah foretold.
Peter brings to light a different perspective of the coming day of judgment not found in any other text
of which I am aware. The coming of our Lord has various implications for unbelievers. It is the time
when the wicked are subdued by our Lord:
The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand, Until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy
feet” (Psalms 110:1).
The wicked acknowledge our Lord’s identity as Messiah and His sovereignty:
9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those who are in heaven, and on earth,
and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).
It is a day of punishment when divine retribution falls upon those who deserve it:
18 Surely Thou dost set them in slippery places; Thou dost cast them down to destruction. 19 How they
are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! 20 Like a dream when one
awakes, O Lord, when aroused, Thou wilt despise their form (Psalms 73:18-20).
It is a time when the wicked are punished for their mistreatment of the righteous:
6 For after all it is [only] just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and [to give]
relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with
His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those

266. who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction,
away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes to be glorified
in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you
was believed (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).
Peter adds one additional facet to the day of our Lord’s appearing: When the wicked stand before the
Lord as their Judge, they will not only acknowledge their sin and His sovereignty, they will praise God
for the good things we have done—the very things they once persecuted and falsely accused us of:
12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as
evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of
visitation.
Note that it is not we but God who is praised, because He is the One who has worked in us both to “will
and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). No longer will the wicked be able to call good
“evil” and evil “good.” Standing before God, men must acknowledge the truth, and give God the praise
which He alone deserves.
In our text, Peter shows us another way hope enables and encourages us in suffering. We not only
endure suffering now looking forward to the glory to come, but we also endure suffering now because
of the praise which accrues to our Lord by our excellent behavior.
Peter’s words in 1 Peter 2:12 should be understood in relation to what he has already said in chapter 1:
6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed
by various trials, 7 that the proof of your faith, [being] more precious than gold which is perishable,
even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of
Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:6-7).
Persecution does play a part in the proving of our faith. When we persist in doing good even though it
results in persecution, we demonstrate our faith. And when our faith is proven, God, the source and
object of our faith, is praised. We do not behave excellently just because it is the pathway to present
peace and prosperity, but because it is the way of faith which results in praise and glory to our Lord. We
should live godly not just in hope of our blessings, but in the hope of His praise and glory!
Conclusion
Peter’s words could not be more relevant to our own times as we consider how the teaching of our text
relates to our daily lives.
(1) Peter emphasizes the relationship between holiness and hope.
Our conduct must not be governed by the response of men, good or bad, but by the certain hope that
our excellent behavior will result in praise and glory to God in eternity. Our hope is not only for
heavenly rewards, but for the glory of God even as He will be praised by those who have rejected Him
and persecuted His servants.
Psalm 73 finds Asaph lamenting that the wicked boast of their sin and God has not acted in judgment.
The wicked wrongly conclude God either does not know or does not care how men live. Peter speaks
of this same cavalier attitude toward sin and coming judgment:
3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with [their] mocking, following after

267. their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For [ever] since the fathers fell
asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:3-4).
The error in such thinking is presumed continuity—the presumption that God will deal with men in
eternity just as He is dealing with them now. But Peter has a different explanation:
5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God [the] heavens existed
long ago and [the] earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time
was destroyed, being flooded with water. 7 But the present heavens and earth by His word are being
reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 8 But do not let this one
[fact] escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand
years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient
toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord
will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be
destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up (2 Peter 3:5-10).
God’s delay in divine judgment is gracious, giving men time to repent. But make no mistake: coming
divine judgment is certain.
Christians need to beware of “continuity thinking” in reverse. Some Christians think we will prosper in
heaven, so we must also prosper on earth. They think life on earth should be the same as life in heaven.
Not so! There will be suffering here and glory there. This life is not a mirror image of the life to come,
which is why we must live by faith and not by sight. We are to live godly lives now even when doing
so brings persecution and false accusations, assured that these very deeds will be the basis for men’s
praise when our Lord returns. Our hope of heaven enables us to bear the present heat of persecution.
(2) Spirituality must be accomplished from the inside out.
The inner, private piety of the believer is the foundation for the public piety God requires as well. This
relationship between inner and outer piety can be seen in Peter’s words to Christian wives in chapter 3:
3 And let not your adornment be [merely] external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or
putting on dresses; 4 but [let it be] the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a
gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God (1 Peter 3:3-4).
(3) True spirituality is evidenced in separation, not in isolation.
When our Lord prayed for His disciples, He did not pray for their isolation from the world but for their
insulation from the world:
14 “I have given them Thy word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the
evil [one.] 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth;
Thy word is truth. As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (John
17:14-18).
We must have a certain measure of contact with the world for our godliness to be seen. There may be
times when we cannot be physically present with the world, but all too often we, like the Pharisees of
old, think of spirituality in terms of physical separation rather than in terms of moral purity.
A Surprising Example of Spirituality

268. At times I have pointed to men in the Bible we suppose to be holier than the Bible represents them to
be, men like Jonah, for example. But I want to now consider a man who was more spiritual than we
might want to think; that man is Lot, Abraham’s brother. We always think of Abraham as holy, looking
on toward Sodom from his distant retreat (see Genesis 18). And we see Lot as the man who deliberately
chose to live in Sodom; he surely could not have been very spiritual. But the Bible does not represent
Lot this way at all. Peter especially points to Lot as an example of true spirituality:
1 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot
saw [them,] he rose to meet them and bowed down [with his] face to the ground. 2 And he said, “Now
behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet;
then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in
the square.” 3 Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he
prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 Before they lay down, the men
of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every
quarter; 5 and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring
them out to us that we may have relations with them.” 6 But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and
shut the door behind him, 7 and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. 8 “Now behold, I have
two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to
them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of
my roof.” 9 But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in as an alien, and
already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against
Lot and came near to break the door. 10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the
house with them, and shut the door. 11 And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house
with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied [themselves trying] to find the doorway
(Genesis 19:1-11, emphasis mine).
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits
of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a
preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 and [if] He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing [them] to ashes,
having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter; 7 and [if] He rescued
righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard
[that] righteous man, while living among them, felt [his] righteous soul tormented day after day with
[their] lawless deeds), 9 [then] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep
the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge the
flesh in [its] corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they
revile angelic majesties, 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling
judgment against them before the Lord. (2 Peter 2:4-11, emphasis mine).
Lot is not condemned for living in Sodom nor even for taking the better property offered him by
Abraham. Who among us would have chosen the more barren land? Peter says Lot was a righteous
man, a point he makes emphatically by using the term “righteous” three times in reference to Lot. This
righteous man lived in a wicked city, but he had two virgin daughters (Genesis 19:8). Lot knew the
wickedness of the men of his town and stationed himself at the city gate hoping to save some from the
evil of the city by inviting them into the security and safety of his home (like Abraham). When he
sought to intervene to protect his guests, the men of the city spoke evil of him, further testimony of his
righteousness:
9 “This one came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge” (Genesis 19:9).

269. Like those of us who would be obedient to Peter’s instruction, Lot also was to live as an “alien” in this
fallen world. By his actions, he was righteous, testifying to the wickedness of his fellow citizens. They,
like some unbelievers in every age, spoke evil of him for doing good. Peter adds the final touch
concerning Lot’s righteousness when he indicates that Lot abstained from fleshly lusts. Lot was not
tempted by the evil and fleshly indulgence of his city. He was tormented by it.
Someone will surely protest, “But what of Lot’s daughters? How could a righteous man offer his two
daughters to a wicked mob?” There are at least two possible answers to this objection. The first is that
Lot knew the men of this city were so wicked they would not be interested in sexual relations with a
woman.63 The second answer may be more realistic: None of us has a flawlessly consistent spirituality.
We may be pious in one area of our lives and pagan in another. The Scriptures never paint an
unrealistic picture of those men who loved God and sought to obey Him. All of us fail miserably in our
spiritual lives. The Scriptures describe quite honestly the fallibility of men, even good men, but they
also consistently hold forth the standard of holiness God has set down in His Word.
One final word to anyone who may not know the Lord Jesus Christ. Please do not be deceived by the
apparent “blessings” in your life. There is no guarantee that what you are experiencing today is what
you will experience tomorrow. Peace and prosperity are not proofs of piety. Indeed, they are often a
deception for those soon to be judged:
3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth
pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
Those who will be saved in the day of judgment from the wrath of God are those who have trusted in
Jesus Christ for salvation. May you trust in Him for the forgiveness of your sins so that the return of
our Lord Jesus Christ may be your hope—and not your dread.
Additional Thoughts on Fleshly Lusts
(1) Fleshly lusts are appetites, desires, or inclinations originating from our fallen humanity, not from
the Spirit of God.
(2) Fleshly lusts are inconsistent with biblical holiness; indeed, they are hostile to God, to His Word,
and to His will.
(3) We were born with these desires, and although Christ dealt with them at the cross, they continue to
pull at our affections, seeking to seduce us from obedience to God and attempting to enslave us again
to our own appetites.
(4) We must be on constant alert, for both subtly and forthrightly the “world” (our culture) and Satan
employ these lusts to draw us away from God.
(5) These desires offer only present pleasures rather than the blessings God has provided for all
eternity. They always tempt us to avoid suffering for Christ’s sake and to seek instant pleasure for our
own sake.
(6) Almost without exception, fleshly lusts are the very desires to which modern advertising appeals.
(7) Fleshly lusts are deceptive and corrupting; and they shape us in a way contrary to godliness and the
image of Christ.
(8) Fleshly lusts are hostile to God and opposed to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, continually

270. waging war against our spiritual lives.
(9) Fleshly lusts seek to attract our affections and attention to this temporary world rather than to our
true eternal “home.” Abstaining from fleshly lusts compliments our condition as aliens and strangers,
who are “just passing through” this world.
56 Physical pleasures are not intrinsically evil, and thus the pleasures of marriage (Hebrews 13:4) or of
a good meal are a gracious gift to be received as from the hand of God with gratitude (1 Timothy 4:1-
5).
57 In the context, this teaching in Matthew is related to the sin of adultery. Jesus seems to be teaching
that a disciple should not be dominated by illicit sexual desires but, if need be, drastic measures must
be taken to ensure purity (see also Matthew 19:1-12).
58 The same word rendered “tempted” in Matthew 4:1 is rendered “tested” in Hebrews 11:17 (see also
James 1:13-14).
59 The two occurrences of the word “lusts” are the term used in 1 Peter 2:11 which we are seeking to
define. The word “desire” is a different term but closely related.
60 The word rendered “excellent” in verse 12 is not the same term rendered “excellencies” in verse 9,
but they are surely speaking of the same thing. Our excellent conduct is to reflect the excellencies of
the God who saved us.
61 William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Philadelphia: The Westminister Press, [rev. ed],
1976. The Daily Study Bible Series. p. 202.
62 “The day of visitation is mentioned in the NT only in Luke 19:44 (cf. Luke 1:68), but it appears in
the Septuagint in Isa. 10:3 (cf. Gen. 50:24; Job 10:12; Jer. 11:23; Wisd. 3:7). While visitation by God
can mean salvation, in the Isaiah passage, which is the only exact parallel, it indicates the day of
judgment. All people will have to confess God’s powerful display in his people, that is, ‘give glory to
God,’ on that day, even if they have not previously acknowledged his (and their) rightness (cf. Judg.
7:17, where ‘give glory to God’ is an exhortation to acknowledge God’s justice and righteousness by a
full confession before execution).” Peter H. Davids, The First Epistle of Peter (Grand Rapids: William
B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), 1990. The ew International Commentary on the ew Testament
Series. P. 97.
63 This is not a compelling argument in the light of Judges 19, especially verse 25.
JOH EALE
O happy band of pilgrims,
If onward you will tread,
With Jesus as your Fellow,
To Jesus as your Head.
O happy if you labor,
As Jesus did for men;
O happy if you hunger
As Jesus hungered then.

271. The cross that Jesus carried
He carried as your due;
The crown that Jesus weareth
He weareth it for you.
The faith by which you see Him,
The hope in which you yearn,
The love that through all troubles
To Him alone will turn.
The trials that beset you,
The sorrows you endure,
The manifold temptations
That death alone can cure.
What are they but His jewels
Of right celestial worth?
What are they but the ladder
Set up to heaven on earth?
O happy band of pilgrims,
Look upward to the skies,
Where such a light affliction
Shall win you such a prize.
To Father, Son, and Spirit,
The God Whom we adore,
Be loftiest praises given,
Now and for evermore.
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "As strangers and pilgrims abstain.
Abstaining from fleshly lusts
“Dearly beloved, I beseech you.” There is a faculty of reproving required in the ministry, and
sometimes a necessity of very sharp rebukes. They who have much of the spirit of meekness may have
a rod by them too, to use upon necessity (1Co_4:21). But surely the way of meekness is that they use
most willingly; with ingenious minds, the mild way of sweet entreaties is very forcible; they prevail as
the sunbeams, which, without any noise, made the traveller cast off his cloak, which all the blustering
of the wind could not do, but made him rather gather it closer and bind it faster about him. Now this
word of entreaty is strengthened much by the other, “Dearly beloved.” Scarcely can the harshest
reproofs, much less gentle reproofs, be thrown back, that have upon them the stamp of love. “Abstain.”
It is one and the same strength of spirit that raises a man above the troubles and pleasures of the
world, and makes him despise and trample upon both. Explain what these fleshly lusts mean, then to
consider the exhortation of abstaining from them. Unchaste desires are particularly called by this
name, but to take it for these only in this place is doubtless too narrow. That which seems to be the
true sense of the expression here, takes in all undue desires and use of earthly things, and all the
corrupt affections of our carnal minds. To abstain from these lusts is to hate and fly from the very
thoughts and first motions of them; and if surprised by these, yet to kill them there, that they bring not
forth; and to suspect ourselves even in those things that are not sinful, and to keep far off from all
inducements to the polluted ways of sin. It was a high speech of a heathen, that “he was greater, and
born to greater things, than to be a servant to his body.” How much more ought he that is born again

272. to say so, being born heir to a crown that fadeth not away? Again, as the honour of a Christian’s estate
is far above this baseness of serving his lusts, so the happiness and pleasantness of his estate set him
above the need of the pleasures of sin. The philosopher gives this as the reason why men are so much
set upon sensual delights, because they know not the higher pleasures that are proper to the soul. We
are barred fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, to the end that we may have fellowship
with God and His Son Jesus Christ. This is to make men eat angel’s food indeed, as was said of the
manna. The serving of the flesh sets man below himself, down amongst the beasts, but the
consolations of the Spirit and communion with God raise him above himself, and associate him with
the angels. But let us speak to the apostle’s own dissuasives from these lusts, taken-
1. From the condition of Christians: “As strangers.” If you were citizens of this world, then you
might drive the same trade with them and follow the same lusts; but seeing you are chosen and
called out of the world, and invested into a new society, made free of another city, and are therefore
here but travellers passing through to your own country, it is very reasonable that there be this
difference betwixt you and the world, that while they live at home, your carriage be such as
becomes strangers; not glutting yourselves with their pleasures, but, as wise strangers, living warily
and soberly, and still minding most of all your journey homewards, suspecting dangers in your way
and so walking with holy fear, as the Hebrew word for a stranger imports.
2. The apostle argues from the condition of these lusts. It were quarrel enough against “fleshly
lusts which war against the soul,” that they are so far below the soul, that they cannot content, no,
nor at all reach the soul; they are not a suitable, much less a satisfying good to it. Although sin hath
unspeakably abused the soul of man, yet its excellent nature and original does still cause a vast
disproportion betwixt it and all those base things of the earth, which concern the flesh and go no
further. But this is not all: these fleshly lusts are not only of no benefit to the soul, but they are its
pernicious enemies; “they war against it.” And their war against it is all made up of stratagem and
sleight, for they cannot hurt the soul, but by itself. They promise it some contentment, and so gain
its consent to serve them, and undo itself. They embrace the soul that they may strangle it. (Abp.
Leighton.)
The stranger here
I. In what respects the real Christian is a stranger in the world.
1. The language of the Christian is strange to the world. Take, for instance, those simple words
which sum up in one comprehensive sentence so much of the faith and hope of the true Christian,
“The God of all grace.” This is an expression so rich in its associations to a faithful mind, that the
subject can never be exhausted. But how few, if any, ideas does an unfaithful person attach to it? or
take the language which a true Christian uses to express his ideas of the corruption of human
nature, and the necessity of the new birth. The wondering ignorance displayed by Nicodemus
affords an apt illustration of the strangeness of Christian language in every age, to a yet unchristian
heart.
2. The manners of the believer are strange to the world. Doth in business and pleasure. “They
think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess.”
3. The most remarkable and chief difference between the world and the Christian, is to be found in
their religion. There is a religion of the world outward and formal. The religion of the believer is
promotive of humility and self-distrust.
II. Now so marked a difference in sentiment must perpetually be making itself manifest in his
conduct.
1. He feels himself a stranger only sojourning here for a time, and then passing away. He does not
permit himself to be entangled in the affairs of this life, or so engrossed therewith as to find in
them his chief happiness.

273. 2. Again, he feels himself a stranger in a land which he believes to be full of danger; and therefore
he is one that walks warily.
3. It is another consequence of the believer’s strangeness sojourning in a strange land, that he is
attracted to all them that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and truth. There is a common sympathy
between them; and no truer test can be given of God’s children than that, in spite of their lesser
differences, they love one another.
4. But if such be the feeling with which they regard each other, what must be their affection for
their native land, and for that special spot within it which is called by the magic name of home?
Whatever may be the counteracting force of outward circumstances, the heart still yearns for
home!
5. With these expectations as an abiding principle, he can withstand the powerful seductions of the
world, sit loosely affected by its most innocent and useful engagements, “waiting” for his summons
to return home, “ready to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” (T. B. Paget, M. A.)
The plea against disorderly passions
I. Indulgence in disorderly passions is becoming neither to our present condition nor to our destiny.
II. The influence of disorderly passions is hostile to our own inward life. They war against reason,
memory, imagination, conscience, affection, and hope.
III. Freedom from these passions will make our outward life a social blessing.
1. Our outward life is closely scrutinised. “They behold.”
2. Our outward life is readily calumniated. “Speak against you.” Gossip and slander are eager.
3. Our outward life should be beautiful. No human loveliness, no natural scenery so influential as
“good works.” Souls ought to have a grandeur, a richness, a variety transcending all the fascination
of flowers, all the glory of mountains, all the majesty of the sea, The noblest beauties are “the
beauties of holiness.”
4. Such outward life glorifies God.
(1) Directly. For it is a tribute of praise to Him.
(2) Indirectly. For it leads others to praise Him, A holy example is often “the gate beautiful” by
which men enter into the city of God and go up to the knowledge of Him anal communion with
Him. (Homilist.)
Employed away from home
In military monarchies it has always been the policy to employ the soldiers far from home. When the
Austrian Empire was a conglomerate of many nationalities, German regiments were sent to campaign
in Italy, and Italians served in Germany. When the men had not a home to care for, they were more
completely at the disposal of their leaders. This is Peter’s idea here. Christians are not at home in the
world. There is less to distract them. They should be better soldiers of Jesus Christ. The more loose
their hearts are to the earth, the more firm will be the anchor of their souls on high. Conversely, the
more they are attached to their home in heaven, the less will they be entangled with the wealth and the
pleasures of the world. (W. Arnot.)
Fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.-

274. The passions
I. In order to understand the nature of the passions, we will explain the subject by a few preliminary
remarks.
1. An intelligent being ought to love everything that can elevate, perpetuate, and make him happy,
and to avoid whatever can degrade, confine, and render him miserable. This, far from being a
human depravity, is a perfection of nature. By “fleshly lusts” St. Peter doth not mean such desires
of the heart as put as on aspiring after real happiness and true glory.
2. An intelligent being united to a body, and lodged, if I may speak so, in a portion of matter under
this law, that according to the divers motions of this matter he shall receive sensations of pleasure
or pain, must naturally love to excite within himself sensations of pleasure, and to avoid painful
feelings. This is agreeable to the institution of the Creator. This observation affords us a second
clue to the meaning of the apostle: at least it gives us a second precaution to avoid an error. By
fleshly lusts he doth not mean a natural inclination to preserve the body and the ease of life; he
allows love, hatred, and anger to a certain degree, and as far as the exercise of them doth not
prejudice a greater interest.
3. A being composed of two substances, one of which is more excellent than the other; a being
placed between two interests, one of which is greater than the other, ought, when these two
interests clash, to prefer the more noble before the less noble, the greater interest before the less.
This third principle is a third clue to what St. Peter calls “lusts,” or passions. What is the meaning
of this word? The Scripture generally uses the word in two senses. Sometimes it is literally and
properly put for flesh, and sometimes it signifies sin. St. Peter calls the passions “fleshly” in both
these senses; in the first because some come from the body as voluptuousness, anger,
drunkenness, and in the second because they spring from our depravity.
II. This is a general idea of the passions; but as it is vague and obscure, we will endeavour to explain it
more distinctly.
1. The passions produce in the mind a strong attention to whatever can justify and gratify them.
The most odious objects may be so placed as to appear agreeable, and the most lovely objects so as
to appear odious. Certainly one of the noblest advantages of man is to reason, to examine proofs
and weigh motives, to consider an object on every side, in order on these grounds to regulate our
ideas and opinions, our hatred and our love. The passionate man renounces this advantage, and
never reasons, in a passion his mind is limited, his soul is in chains, his fleshly passions war
against his soul.
2. Having examined the passions in the mind, let us consider them in the senses. To comprehend
this, recollect that the passions owe their origin to the Creator, who instituted them for the purpose
of preserving us. When an object would injure health or life, it is necessary to our safety that there
should be an emotion in our senses to effect a quick escape from the danger; fear does this. A man
struck with the idea of sudden danger hath a rapidity which he could not have in a tranquil state, or
during a cool trial of his power. It is necessary, when an enemy approaches to destroy us, that our
senses should so move as to animate us with a power of resistance. Anger doth this, for it is a
collection of spirits. Such are the movements excited by the passions in the senses, and all these to
a certain degree are necessary for the preservation of our bodies, and are the institutions of our
Creator; but three things are necessary to preserve order in these emotions. First, they must never
be excited in the body without the direction of the will and the reason. Secondly, they must always
be proportional. I mean, the emotion of fear, for example, must never be except in sight of objects
capable of hurting us; the emotion of anger must never be except in sight of an enemy, who
actually hath both the will and the power of injuring our well-being. And thirdly, they must always
stop when and where we will they should. When the passions subvert this order they violate three
wise institutes of our Creator. The motions excited by the passions m our senses are not free. An
angry man is carried beyond himself in spite of himself. A voluptuous man receives a sensible
impression from an exterior object, and in spite of all the dictates of reason throws himself into a

275. flaming fire that consumes him. The emotions excited by the passions in our senses are not
proportional; I mean that a timorous man, for example, turns as pale at the sight of a fanciful as of
a real danger; he sometimes fears a phantom and a substance alike. A man, whose God is his belly,
feels his appetite as much excited by a dish fatal to his health as by one necessary to support his
strength and to keep him alive. The emotions excited by the passions in the senses do not obey the
orders of our will. The movement is an overflow of spirits, which no reflections can restrain. This is
what the passions do in the senses, and do you not conceive that in this second respect they war
against the soul? They war against the soul by the disorders they introduce into that body which
they ought to preserve. They dissipate the spirits, weaken the memory, wear out the brain. They
war against the soul by disconcerting the whole economy of man, and by making him consider such
sensations of pleasure as Providence gave him only for the sake of engaging him to preserve his
body as a sort of supreme good, worthy of all his care and attention for its own sake. They war
against the soul because they reduce it to a state of slavery to the body, over which it ought to rule.
3. If the senses were excited to act only by the presence of objects, if the soul were agitated only by
the action of the senses, one single mean would suffice to guard us from irregular passions; that
would be to flee from the object that excites them. But the passions produce other disorders, they
leave deep impressions on the imagination. When we give ourselves up to the senses, we feel
pleasure, this pleasure strikes the imagination, and the imagination thus struck with the pleasure it
hath found recollects it, and solicits the passionate man to return to objects that made him so
happy.
4. Let us consider, in fine, the passions in the heart and the disorders they cause there. What can
fill the heart of man? A prophet hath answered this question, and hath included all morality in one
point, “My chief good is to draw near to God” (Psa_73:28); but as God doth not commune with us
immediately while we are in this world, but imparts felicity by means of creatures, He hath given
these creatures two characters, which, being well examined by a reasonable man, conduct him to
the Creator, but which turn the passionate man aside. On the one hand, creatures render us happy
to a certain degree-this is their first character: on the other, they leave a void in the soul which they
are incapable of filling-this is their second character. This is the design of God, and this design the
passions oppose. They remove us from God, and by removing us from Him deprive us of all the
good that proceeds from a union with the supreme good, and thus make war with every part of
ourselves, and with every moment of our duration. War against our reason, for instead of deriving,
by virtue of a union with God, assistance necessary to the practice of what reason approves, and
what grace only renders practicable, we are given up to our evil dispositions, and compelled by our
passions to do what our own reason abhors. War against the regulation of life, for instead of
putting on by virtue of union to God the easy yoke, and taking up the light burden which religion
imposes, we become slaves of envy, vengeance, and ambition; we are weighed down with a yoke of
iron, which we have no power to get rid of, even though we groan under its intolerable weightiness.
War against conscience, for instead of being justified by virtue of a union with God, and having
“peace with Him through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom_5:1), and feeling that heaven begun, “joy
unspeakable and full of glory” (1Pe_1:8), by following our passions we become a prey to distracting
fears, troubles without end, cutting remorse, and awful earnests of eternal misery. War on a dying
bed, for whereas by being united to God our death bed would have become a field of triumph,
where the Prince of life, the conqueror of death, would have made us share His victory, by
abandoning ourselves to our passions we see nothing in a dying hour but an awful futurity, a
frowning governor, the bare idea of which alarms, terrifies, and drives us to despair.
III. Now let us examine what remedies we ought to apply.
1. In order to prevent and correct the disorders which the passions produce in the mind, we must
observe the following rules-
(1) We must avoid precipitance and suspend our judgment.
(2) A man must reform even his education. In every family the minds of children are turned to
a certain point. Every family hath its prejudice, I had almost said its absurdity; and hence it

276. comes to pass that people despise the profession they do not exercise. To correct ourselves on
this article we must go to the source, examine how our minds were directed in our childhood;
in a word, we must review and reform even our education.
(3) In fine, we must, as well as we can, choose a friend wise enough to know truth, and
generous enough to impart it to others; a man who will show us an object on every side when
we are inclined to consider it only on one.
2. Let us now lay down a few rules for the government of the senses. Before we proceed, we cannot
help deploring the misery of a man who is impelled by the disorders of his senses and the heat of
his constitution to criminal passions. Such a man often deserves pity more than indignation.
However, though the irregularity of the senses diminishes the atrociousness of the crime, yet it
cannot excuse those who do not make continual efforts to correct it. To acknowledge that we are
constitutionally inclined to violate the laws of God, and to live quietly in practices of constitutional
heat, is to have the interior tainted. Certainly the best advice that can be given to a man whose
constitution inclines him to sin, is, that he avoid opportunities, and flee from such objects as affect
and disconcert him. Three remedies are necessary to our success in this painful undertaking: to
suspend acts, to flee idleness, to mortify sense.
3. The disorders produced by the passions in the imagination, and against which also we ought to
furnish you with some remedies, are like those complicated disorders which require opposite
remedies, because they are the effect of opposite causes, so that the means employed to diminish
one part not unfrequently increase another. It should seem at first that the best remedy which can
be applied to disorders introduced by the passions into the imagination, is well to consider the
nature of the objects of the passions, and thoroughly to know the world; and yet, on the other
hand, it may truly be said that the must certain way of succeeding would be to know nothing at all
about the world. We hazard a fall by approaching too near, and such very often is the ascendancy of
the world over us that we cannot detach ourselves from it though we are disgusted with it. Let us
endeavour, then, to preserve our imagination pure; let us abstain from pleasures to preclude the
possibility of remembering them; let retirement, and, if it be practicable, perpetual privacy, from
the moment we enter into the world to the day we quit it, save us from all bad impressions, so that
we may never know the defects which worldly objects would produce on our passions. This
method, sure and effectual, is useless and impracticable in regard to such as have received bad
impressions on their imagination. People of this character ought to pursue the second method we
mentioned, that is, to profit by their losses, and derive wisdom from their errors. When you
recollect sin, remember the folly and pain of it.
4. To heal the disorders which the passions produce in the heart, two things must be done. First,
the vanity of all the creatures must be observed, and this will free us from the desire of possessing
and collecting the whole in order to fill up the void which single enjoyments leave. Secondly, we
must ascend from creatures to the Creator, in order to get rid of the folly of attributing to the world
the perfection and sufficiency of God. (J. Saurin.)
Fleshly lusts
There is, I fear, a large body of our fellow creatures by whom those “fleshly lusts” are regarded as
affording the only tangible benefits of their existence. Too little touched by the spirit of piety to derive
any delight from the abundant sources of religious contemplation; too devoid of those kind affections
which constitute the charm of domestic intercourse, to receive any satisfaction from the society of their
family and friends; and too narrow and unimproved in mind to find interest in any intellectual pursuit,
they are no sooner freed from the confinement imposed upon them by their business than they turn, as
to their only relief for the tedium of inactivity, and the only means of enjoyment for which they have
any value, to the gross gratification of their animal appetites. But, however general such a course of life
may be, it is decidedly unchristian. Even under the most favourable circumstances, though a man
should abstain from all gross excesses, and scrupulously respect those limits of external decency, he

277. cannot act upon the principle of habitual self-indulgence, without being guilty of violating one of the
most clearly expressed duties of the gospel. His religion demands of him a course of conduct the very
reverse of that which he pursues (1Jn_2:15-16; Rom_8:5, etc.; Mat_16:24). Those precepts of self-
denial and mortification which we find inculcated in the gospel, did not originate with the gospel. They
made a part of the system of every distinguished moral teacher among the heathen themselves. Even
the wise, and the scribe, and the disputer of this world could perceive, that voluptuousness and
sensuality were most miserably unworthy the attention of the human soul. The grounds on which I
would exhort you to abstain from “fleshly lusts,” are those suggested by St. Peter, “they war against the
soul.”
1. They are hostile to the intellectual faculties of the soul. No man, whose avocations demand of
him any great and frequent stretch of mental exertion, is ignorant of this fact: and we find those
instructors of youth, who merely treat of worldly arts and sciences, and treat of them in a worldly
manner, almost invariably inculcate on their pupils, as one of the indispensable requisites of
eminence, the practice of a strict and almost ascetic temperance, for the sake of securing to
themselves the possession of the full, free, and active use of the powers of their own minds. Such
precepts derive their reasons from the very constitution of the human frame. If the body suffers
from excess, the mind becomes proportionately affected. It receives its impressions slowly and
indistinctly, from the derangement of the channels through which it holds communion with the
external world; and it revolves, compares, and decides upon them doubtfully and inefficiently,
from the lassitude and exhaustion of the machinery with which it acts.
2. They are also inimical to the moral qualities of the soul. If the generous affections are not
cultivated by exercise, they dwindle away and perish. If the selfish affections are allowed to act
without restraint, they acquire a frightful and gigantic development. As we live to ourselves and for
ourselves, we become gradually absorbed in our own selfish views and interests. As we pamper our
appetites, the objects they delight in acquire consequence in our estimation. As we devote
ourselves more and more to our own personal gratifications, we can less and less endure that those
gratifications should encounter any opposition; till, at length, we prove blind and insensible to
every claim but those of our own overweening will, and only regard our fellow creatures with
favour, as they minister to our passions, or with enmity, as they cast impediments in their way.
Where are we to look, among the dissolute children of the world, for instances of permanent
attachment, of disinterested friendship, of long-cherished gratitude, and of self-sacrificing
tenderness? Are such things among the fruits and flowers found to flourish in that tract which they
cultivate with so indefatigable a pursuit of the pleasures of this life, and so fatal an oblivion of the
treasures of the next? No, that false light of cordiality, which glows so brightly during the convivial
hour, becomes extinguished as the vapours of the goblet which enkindled it are dispersed. Let any
individual, even the most cherished of their society, suffer a reverse of fortune, and he will put
these maxims to the proof. Let him be the deer which is stricken, and he will find himself
abandoned by the herd.
3. Such gratifications are not only pernicious to the intellectual faculties and moral qualities of the
soul, but they affect its temporal existence. They disorder and destroy the earthly tenement in
which it is contained. They wear away, and overstrain, and often suddenly rend asunder those fine
fibres, by which it is confined to its present transitory home.
4. Finally, according to the clearly declared principles of the Christian faith, we know that they are
most pernicious to the eternal interests of the soul (Rom_8:7; 1Ti_5:6; Rom_8:6; Gal_5:24;
Rom_8:13). Indeed, if we look with an unprejudiced eye on the terms and conditions of the gospel
covenant, we shall find that no course can be more destructive to the eternal interests of the soul
than the course pursued by the voluptuary. This earth is not designed to be a house of feasting; life
is not meant to be a holiday festival; we are sent into the world as a place of discipline and
preparation, in which our souls may be educated for a more glorious state of being; and the
allurements which address us, the difficulties we have to combat with, and the restraints we are
bound to lay on our inclinations, constitute the very means by which our souls are so prepared, and
disciplined, and educated. But we sometimes hear the sensualist assert that it cannot be very

278. criminal to yield to such temptations, because it is natural to do so. This I utterly deny. They are,
on the contrary, diametrically opposed to nature. The excesses of the voluptuary are only natural if
we regard him as a being in the lowest possible state of demoralisation, as an anomaly in the
creation, as a monster possessing passions without conscience and appetites without reason. But to
the man who is complete in all the essentials of humanity, it is anything but natural that he should
abandon himself to such a course of life. His reason opposes it; his moral sense opposes it; his
regard for his personal health and welfare opposes it: so thoroughly indeed does every higher
principle of his nature oppose it, that he must drown reflection; he must close his eyes against all
experience; he must, in short, forcibly extinguish those moral and intellectual lights which God, in
His mercy, has given him as his guides, before he can pursue such habits without repugnance,
without being painfully oppressed by the sense of his own sin and folly, and without spending one-
half of the day in mourning over the excesses of the other. (W. Harness, M. A.)
A fight for life
The flesh aims to damn the soul. It is in this conflict as Caesar said in the battle he had once in Africa
with the children and partakers of Pompey, that in other battles he was wont to fight for glory, but
there and then he was obliged to fight for his life. Remember thy precious soul lies at stake in this
conflict. (Christopher Love.)
Distinctive lusts
Men that reject religion in favour of indulgence, do not stand any chance of permanent prosperity.
Such men are like gipsies, that, by some freak of fortune, are turned into a magnificent mansion, well
built, well furnished, and well stored with works of art. These gipsies go to work and break to pieces
the exquisitely carved furniture, pull down the rare pictures, and strip the house of all the valuable
things in it, and burn them, in order to make their pot boil, and thus to serve their lower nature, until,
by and by, the whole building is desolate, and bleak, and barren. And men who reject religion and
serve their passions are doing the same thing. They are kindling those lower fires at the expense of
everything broad, and fine, and beautiful in their higher nature. (H. W. Beecher.)
Destroyed by lust
I can remember the time when flowers, pictures, beautiful laces and music set stirring always some
strong emotion within me, in which it seemed that I saw hidden away in a crystal cell in the depths of
my own strange heart, the shining form of a white-robed Soul maiden, who cried out to me, “Ah!
cannot you make your life as pure and beautiful as the flowers and the music, that so you may set me
free?” But I chose the ignoble part, and gave myself up body and soul to the greed for gain. And often
in the hour when, tempted by an evil thought, I turned to do some shameful or selfish action, I seemed
to see the white arms of the Soul maiden uplifted in piteous entreaty to heaven, until at last the time
came when her voice was silent, and when I knew that I had thrust her down and down into a darkness
whence she would never again come forth. (A Dead Man’s Diary.)
Destructive nature of fleshly lusts
That word “war” is full of meaning. It gives the idea of the march of an army against a city, as of the
Greeks to surround and capture Troy-an assault which began with open war and ended by the
stratagem of the wooden horse, from which the armed warriors descended into the heart of the city at
dead of night. Of course we should all admit that excessive indulgence in any appetite injures the body,
and especially the organs through which the sin against the whole fabric has been committed. But we

279. may not all realise how destructive these fleshly lusts are to the inner life. They attack and conquer it,
and lead it into captivity, impairing its energies, sullying its purity, lowering its tone, and cutting off
the locks of moral strength. Remember, then, when tempted to yield to some unholy prompting, even
though you only indulge the thought and wish, you are exposing yourself to a certain diminution of
spiritual force, which will inevitably cripple your endeavours, and show itself in failure and defeat. No
act of sensual indulgence is possible without inevitable injury to our true selves. It may be forgiven,
and put away, through the forgiveness of God, by the blood of Jesus; but the soul can never be quite
what it would have been had the temptation been overcome, and the grace of self-restraint exercised.
How many there are around us, eminently fitted by their gifts, to lead the hosts of God, who, like
Samson, grind in the prison house, making pastime for their foes, because they have been mastered by
appetites which they should have controlled, as the horseman his fiery steed. Is there not a deep
spiritual truth in the notion of the savage warrior, that the strength of a fallen foe enters the arm which
has smitten him to the dust? Indulge the flesh, and you are weak, Curb it by self-restraint, and you are
strong. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Fleshly lusts are the soul’s adversaries
These desires that belong to the flesh are adversaries of the soul. There is a difference between a war
and a battle. It is not a random stroke; it is warfare on a plan. A battle may be won, and yet the victor
be overcome ere the war be over. The first French emperor gained several great battles in the Russian
campaign; but his army was not only vanquished, it was almost annihilated in the end. It is thus that
certain appetites and passions, although once and again overcome by a resolute will, return to the
charge, and watch their opportunity: It is not a battle, and done with it: the vanquished foe often
enslaves his conqueror. A young man in modern society must do battle for his life with strong drink.
He can taste it freely and stop in time. He despises the weak who seek safety in flight and abstinence.
He knows what is good for him, and will not allow himself to be overcome. He obtains a good many
victories, and counts himself invulnerable. But the wily foe persists. By little and little a diseased thirst
is generated. The enemy now has an accomplice within the castle gates; and in the end the strong man,
like Samson with his eyes out, grinds darkling in his enslaver’s prison. (W. Arnot.)
Inward lusts
Not only acts of sin breaking out in the body, but the inward lusts that are in the heart, though they
should never break out, for even the heart and soul is flesh as well as the body, and fleshly, even
corrupt and sinful, as the sinful lusts of unbelief, impatience, hardness of heart, hypocrisy, rebelling
against that which is good, weariness in well-doing, pride, anger, envy, self-love, covetousness,
uncleanness, uncharitableness, etc. (John Rogers.)
Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles.-
Christians are to live godly, even among the wicked
It is our duty not only to live godly among the godly, but even among the wicked; we must not follow a
multitude to do evil. True, it is no easy thing with the cruel to live mercifully, with the hurtful to live
helpfully, with the profane to live holily; yet it is to be attained unto, and we must labour for it.
1. This rebukes such as severing themselves from all company, because they would not be tainted
nor troubled with men’s ill manners, betake themselves to a solitary, hermit’s life. We are not born
for ourselves, but for our parents, country, God’s Church, etc. Besides, it is no such mastery for a
man to avoid all occasions, as to live among occasions, and not be tainted with them.
2. It rebukes those that be for all companies. In good company they will be sober, in ill as the

280. company is, will swear with swearers, lie also and dissemble when they be with such, so thinking
that they may hold with the hare and run with the hound; like the chameleon they change
themselves into all colours; but these are none of God’s honest men, they are not for His turn, as if
He were not the God of all places and times. Let such know that they have rotten and unsanctified
hearts. But how should a man do, to live well among such? As they that live where the plague is,
use preservatives; so must we daily pray God to keep us in a continual hatred of sin, considering
the happiness of them that hold out. Think of Noah, Lot, Abraham, and their commendation;
observe the judgments that fall upon bad men, and think what will be hereafter. Again, avoid
familiarity with them; we cannot touch pitch and not be defiled, walk on coals and not be burnt.
3. It rebukes such Christians as living among such, walk not so holily as they should, but if they do
not approve of, yet consent to their bad behaviour, without dislikes, especially being with their
betters.
4. If God would have us live well among the wicked, what would He then in the midst of all good
means? What, then, is their sin, and where shall they appear, that break out and live badly in the
midst of the means of good, the ministry of the Word, etc.? What would these do, if they were far
from such means?
5. It rebukes those that professing religion more than ordinarily, yet remember not with whom
they live, but as if they were only among the good, which would hide all their frailties, or interpret
them to the best, not as if they were among the wicked, that seek occasion against God’s servants,
that desire no better booty than the fall of a professor, etc. (John Rogers.)
The witness of a pure life
“Having your conversation honest.” Both terms need some explanation. In modern English,
conversation means the talking of two or three persons with each other; but the sense in this text is,
the whole habit and life course of a person-his character and temper and conduct in presence of his
fellows. At all times, and in all circumstances, walk circumspectly, for you never know who may be
looking on. The modern meaning of honest is, that you do not cheat in a bargain; but as used here, and
in ancient times generally, it signifies beautiful-first a material and then a moral winsomeness. These
two terms in conjunction convey the precept, Let all the circumference of your life shine in the beauty
of holiness. Alas! bid this dull earth shine like a star of heaven! To have commanded the house of Israel
to shine as a light to surrounding nations, would have been an impossible requirement, if the precept
had not been mated with a promise. But as the record runs, it is a reasonable service that is demanded
(Isa_60:1). This precept given by Peter is on both its sides the echo of Isaiah’s words. A light is needed
because darkness reigns around. Peter desiderates a beautiful life among the Gentiles; and Isaiah
expects that, when Israel basks in the favour of God, the Gentiles shall come to their light. It is a
characteristic of true faith that it has positive hope. It does not despair even when things are at the
worst, for it trusts in God. It is not enough that the primitive disciples should repel surrounding,
assailing evil, and hold their own. They expect to make aggression and to gain a victory; to turn scoffs
into hymns of praise, and enemies of Christ into zealous disciples: “That, whereas they speak against
you as evil-doers,” etc. It is not by the loudest debate and profession that these conquests can be made.
It is not by what Christians say, but by what Christians are, that they can win the neighbourhood. The
call is not so much to give evidence, as to be witnesses. Still further the precepts run down into detail.
Submission to magistrates is prescribed as a Christian duty. Considering the time and the
circumstances, this is a remarkable feature of the New Testament. The gospel fosters liberty; but does
not suggest insurrection. Witness the emigration of the persecuted Puritans from England to America.
These men would not resist constituted authority; but neither would they allow themselves to be
crushed by a despot, as long as a remedy, which they could with a good conscience adopt, lay within
their reach. The results will tell with decisive effect on the future condition of the human race.
Ordinances of man should be obeyed, but they stand not on the same level with ordinances of God.
(W. Arnot.)

281. The Church in relation to the world
The relation in which Christians stand to those who are not Christians is of vital importance to
understand and feel (Psa_39:1; Neh_5:9; Tit_2:7-8). These and like references inculcate the duty of
conserving the Christian name and the glory of God. That the Christian character should be perfect for
the sake of its own beauty is a truth worthy of prayerful solicitude at all times; but the Christian
character is more than a garment to be observed-it is an influence to be imparted to others.
I. We begin with the fact that we are watched by those who are of opposite tendencies. We are under
daily examination. There are those who take a greater delight to look at an eclipse of the sun for five
minutes than to enjoy its light for a lifetime. But if there were no light in the sun there could not be an
eclipse. So with men of worth; the contrast between the excellent and the not excellent fixes the eye of
envy upon them, but where excellency is it cannot be altogether ignored. Young Christians, bear with
me, and suffer the word of exhortation. You are not sufficiently alive to the fact that your Christian life
is under a perpetual scrutiny. Not only that, but efforts are made to draw you aside from the way of
peace. An honest conversation means a life true in every part to the great pattern set before us in the
gospel.
II. Let us further consider the influence of the Christian character for the good of others. “Glorify
God,” etc. Too frequently it is supposed by some that because they cannot take a prominent part in
gospel services, and thereby possibly become instrumental directly in the conversion of souls, their
lives are comparatively unobserved and useless. Let us remove this notion. As there is not a single ray
of light, or drop of water, or breath of air, which does not contribute to the vast system of light, of
water, and of air, so there is not a single Christian example which does not minister in the circle of the
Church and lead to higher results.
1. Men will feel the need of the change which they see in us.
2. Men will feel the need of the peace which we enjoy.
3. Men will feel the need of the prospect which cheers us. We have a good hope through grace.
4. And lastly, the influence of the Christian life leads to the highest results. It may be that today we
think so much of self that we cannot rise to the highest point in our life. The highest degree of
Christian excellence is the service and glory of God. To realise this we must look beyond ourselves,
and beyond those to whom we may bring salvation; and beyond any benefits faith may confer on
either them or us, to God. He will manifest Himself in the day of visitation, when we shall see and
feel that our life is intended to reach even to Himself. In the day of visitation all matters will be
seen in their true light. The text is a warning to the world as well as to the Church. That any soul,
however degraded, should delight in making the sins of others his prey, passes comprehension.
What, a vulture, with only a taste for carrion! A sense of guilt endeavours to fix all eyes on the sins
of others to avoid personal detection. The sins of others will help no man in the day of judgment.
(T. Davies, M. A.)
The power of a consistent walk
The Rev. Dr. Stalker once related the following incident in an address on “Religion in Common Life”:
“A lady went to him with a request to join his church. She and her husband were foreigners and
Roman Catholics, but had lapsed from all church going for ten or eleven years. One night their servant
went home rather late from a meeting. Upon pressure being brought to bear upon her, this servant
acknowledged that she had that night been convicted of sin, and stayed behind to speak about her soul.
The lady resolved to watch the girl for the next fortnight. Such a change in her temper and diligence
was observable that, at the end of the fortnight, the mistress asked where the meeting was held, and
went on the next Sabbath evening, with the result that both she and her husband were converted. The

282. servant’s consistent walk was more powerful than anything she could have said, so true is it that
example is better than precept.”
Beautiful behaviour
καλην (“honest”), good, or comely. The deeper view of Greek philosophy represented immorality and
ugliness, and morality and beauty as convertible ideas. (J. Muller.)
Inconsistency noticeable
The whole complexion of a negro is less noticed than a single stain on the features of a white
countenance. (Wm. Jay.)
They speak against you as evildoers.-
The transgressions of Christians
Amongst the numerous attempts to throw doubt upon the evidence of our religion, not the least
successful has been suggested by the imperfections of those who profess them selves the disciples of its
Author.
I. That the objection itself is on several accounts delusive. It is drawn, not from any difficulties
inherent in religion or its evidence, but from a supposed insufficiency of its influence and effects.
Christianity itself never supposes its followers to be without fault, that its influence can secure
unerring obedience to its own laws. So far from this, indeed, “it is impossible,” according to its own
language, “but that offences will come.”
II. One great reason why the lives of Christians do not always correspond to their religion, is that
freedom of mind and action, with which our Creator has endowed us, and which is absolutely
necessary to creatures responsible for their conduct. Impelled by passions impatient for gratification,
and surrounded with temptations, frequently perplexed with difficulties between duty and inclination,
and sometimes deceived by appearances; can it be a just subject of wonder, if the love of the present
sometimes prevail over the expectation of the future, or the delusions of pleasure for a while withdraw
the mind from the prospect of its consequences; if we violate the laws which we confess to be just, and
practise what our religion condemns?
III. These defects in the conduct of individuals appear also the more striking when compared with the
purity of the rules by which our actions ought to have been directed, and with the weight of the
sanctions by which those rules are enforced.
IV. Another plausible basis for the same censure may be laid in the opposite characters of virtue and
vice. Virtue is always modest, peaceable, and silent; vice often forward, loud, and conspicuous.
V. Christians, again, have been severely censured on account of the numerous divisions and
distinctions amongst them. It would be unreasonable to expect that mankind should differ in their
opinions on almost every other subject, and yet should be all agreed on this; on a subject which is of all
others the most interesting, the most extensive, and the most complex. To this let us add the effects of
the weakness and folly, of the vanity and ambition, of the enthusiasm or the hypocrisy of various
individuals amongst us, and we shall be able to account very satisfactorily for the multiplicity of our
tenets and parties.
VI. Such as these are the censures that have been thrown upon Christianity and its professors. But as
far as they have any foundation in truth, the only adequate refutation is an amendment in our own
morals, a regulation of our lives, more agreeable to the principles that we profess. (W. Barrow, D. D.)

283. Christians maligned
I. “Whereas they speak against you as evildoers.” This is in general the disease of man’s corrupt
nature, and argues much the baseness of it-this propensity to speak evil one of another, either blotting
the best actions with misconstructions, or taking doubtful things by the left ear; not choosing the most
favourable, but, on the contrary, the very harshest sense that can be put upon them. All these kinds of
evil speaking are fruits that spring from that bitter root of pride and self-love, which is naturally deeply
fastened in every man’s heart. But besides this general bent to evil speaking, there is a particular
malice in the world against those that are born of God, which must have vent in calumnies and
reproaches. These evil speakings of the world against pious men professing religion, are partly gross
falsehoods invented without the least ground or appearance of truth. Then again, consider, how much
more will the wicked insult upon the least real blemishes that they can espy amongst the professors of
godliness. And in this there is commonly a three-fold injury-they strictly pry into and maliciously
object against Christians the smallest imperfections and frailties of their lives, as if they pretended to
absolute perfection. Men are apt to impute the scandalous falls of some particular Christians to the
whole number. It is a very incompetent rule to make judgment of any man by one action, much more
to measure all the rest of the same profession by it. They impute the personal failings of men to their
religion, and disparage it because of the faults of those that profess it.
II. “Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles.” As the sovereign power of drawing good
out of evil resides in God, and argues His primitive goodness, so He teacheth His own children some
faculty this way, that they may resemble Him in it. He teacheth them to draw sweetness out of their
bitterest afflictions, and increase of inward peace from their outward troubles. The sharp censures and
evil speakings that a Christian is encompassed with in the world, are no other than a hedge of thorns
set on every side, that he may not go out of his way, but keep straight on in it, not declining to the right
hand nor to the left; whereas if they found nothing but the favour and good opinion of the world, they
might, as in a way unhedged, be subject to wander out into the meadows of carnal pleasures that are
about them, which would call and allure them, and often divert them from their journey. And thus it
might fall out, that Christians would deserve censure and evil speakings the more, if they did not
usually suffer them undeserved.
III. “That they may glorify God in the day of their visitation.” He says not, They shall praise or
commend you, but, “shall glorify God.” It is this the apostle still holds before their eyes, as that upon
which a Christian doth willingly set his eye and keep it fixed, in all his ways. He doth not teach them to
be sensible of their own esteem as it concerns themselves, but only as the glory of their God is
interested in it. “In the day of visitation,” The beholding of your good works may work this in them,
that they may be gained to acknowledge and embrace that religion and that God, which for the present
they reject; but that it may be thus, they must be visited with that same light and grace from above,
which hath sanctified you. (Abp. Leighton.)
The wicked speak ill of God’s children
The more sincere any is in professing the truth, the more the wicked naturally hate him. Thus have
God’s children ever been ill-spoken of (Mat_5:11; Gen_21:9; Gal_4:30; 1Ki_18:17; 2Ki_9:11; Ezr_4:5-
16; Neh_6:5-6; Est_3:8; Act_24:14; Mat_11:19; Luk_11:15; Joh_8:48; Act_2:19; Act_6:11).
1. Seeing the wicked are so apt to speak evil, we should give all diligence to look so to our ways as
to give them no just occasion.
2. Think it not strange to be ill spoken of; it is the nature of the world thus to do, as for the birds to
fly, and we must not be discouraged at it, and say, “I have striven to do as well as I can, and yet I
am ill spoken of; I cannot tell what to do,” and so faint and melt as wax. Oh, no; but let it be as a
whetstone to sharpen you on more (2Sa_6:22).
3. This might make men not too ready to believe reports, and think ill of men by and by upon
flying reports, seeing the world are so apt to speak wrongfully, especially of God’s children.

284. 4. For them that be ill speakers of God’s servants, they cannot bear a worse badge, as ill a sign as
can be of any; for if he be translated from death to life that loves the brethren, what then he that
hates them? He is no true member of the Church, nor led by David’s spirit (Psa_15:1-5; Psa_16:2),
but is of Ishmael’s generation, and will be cast out as he. How shall they escape the curse
threatened (Isa_5:20; Pro_17:15)? (John Rogers.)
Your good works, which they shall behold.-
The ministry of good works
All religion which does not lead to a life of good works is a counterfeit. It is bad money, which will
never pass current at the court of heaven. It may bear the name of Christ, but it lacks His mind and
spirit. It hinders the progress of the gospel, and is one of the worst enemies of His kingdom. On the
other hand, a life fruitful in good works brings honour to our Father in heaven. It manifests His
wisdom in the free salvation which He bestows. It prepares the way in many a heart for the reception
of the truth, and kindles in many others a desire to walk more closely with God. Let me give a single
example, from the writer’s personal knowledge, of the effect of a consistent, holy life. A wealthy
tradesman in London was most zealous and self-denying in his labours and liberality in the Lord’s
work. Each year he gave away many thousands of pounds, and a large part of this anonymously. I had
it from this man’s own lips that in early life he was saved from infidelity by noticing the holy, godly,
blameless walk of a young banker’s clerk. Who can tell the countless benefits that thus arose to the
Church of Christ through the consistent life of that young man? There are one or two points as to the
life of good works on which it is needful to dwell.
I. What is the preparation for such a life? How can anyone hope to enter upon such a course, and then
persevere in it?
1. Your first duty is to embrace the blessed hope of life which is in Christ Jesus. As the shipwrecked
man must first lay hold of the rope or get into the lifeboat that so he may escape destruction and
get safe to shore, and then can again enter upon the works of his calling, so must you first accept
the free invitation of Christ in the gospel, and reach the shore of peace and reconciliation with God.
Believe in the readiness and power of Christ to save you. Rejoice that He welcomes you to His care,
and will keep you by His power. Then you may go forward, and will not fail. A life of good works
will be a necessity to you. You possess a new motive. A spirit of grateful love to God will fill your
breast. You will keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
2. Moreover, you will possess a new power. In the strength of the Spirit you can do those good
works which are pleasing to your Father in heaven. Be sure, therefore, that you begin your course
aright. Begin in humility and faith.
II. In what way may you best carry out in daily practice a life devoted to good works? Take a sample of
“a good work,” one that we know to have been truly such from the lips of Christ Himself. You
remember Mary in the house of Simon the leper (Mar_14:6; Mar_14:8-9). Here was every element of a
good work. It was done to Christ Himself, and out of love to Him. It was a costly work, for the
ointment was very precious. It was a lowly work. Both hands and hair were used in anointing the
Lord’s feet. It was a work of personal service. She did not do the work by another, but herself
ministered to Christ. It was a work which spread a sweet savour around, and thus of benefit to those in
the house. It was a work which brought honour to the Lord, which pointed to His death of suffering,
and which was abundantly recompensed in the gracious words which Christ spoke of her.
III. Let me add that there is a four-fold ministry of good works in which each Christian should seek to
excel.
1. There is the ministry of home life. This stands in the first rank of duty. The lamp which the Lord
hath lighted should give light to all that are in the house where it is found. The most commonplace
duties ought to be done before God, and thus become an acceptable sacrifice. The care of children,

285. the work of the house, the use of the needle, the rising in the morning, attention to the wants and
comforts of each member of the family-such ordinary things as these may afford scope for self-
denial, for manifesting an unselfish spirit, and in many ways for proving the sincerity of our
Christian profession. No less important is it that a diligent guard should be set over tongue and
temper, over infirmities and irritabilities, over clouded looks and wayward passions, over doing
little things which ought not to be done, or over doing right things in a wrong way.
2. There is the ministry of glad, willing, freehanded gifts. Of whatever we possess we are but
stewards. It belongs not to us, but to Him who gave it into our charge. Let there be real self-denial.
Above all, never forget that a ready, cheerful spirit is especially pleasing to God.
3. There is the ministry of personal work and effort in the Lord’s vineyard. Give not only money,
but the gold of time to do work for God, for His Church, for the souls of poor and rich, of sick and
strong, of young and old.
4. Lastly, there is the ministry of fervent prayers and intercessions. Of all agencies this is the most
powerful. There are those who by sickness and extreme poverty can do little or nothing in the way
of personal service, who yet by true, believing prayer may bring down rich benefits on Christ’s
Church. And those who can both work and give yet fail to employ the very greatest talent, if they
neglect constant intercession on behalf of others. (G. Everard, M. A.)
Trite revenge
Be revenged by shining. (Toplady.)
Looking for one thing and finding another
“Which they shall behold,” while they pry and spy into your courses (as the Greek word imports) to see
what evil they can find out and fasten on. (J. Trapp.)
Glorify God in the day of visitation.-
How God is glorified by us
I. By knowledge, when we conceive of God after a glorious manner. Seeing we can add no glory to
God’s nature, we should strive to make Him glorious in our own minds and hearts. And we may, by the
way, see what cause we have to be smitten with shame to think of it, how we have dishonoured God by
mean thoughts of Him.
II. By acknowledgment, when in words or works we do ascribe excellency unto God, as-
1. When in words we magnify God and speak of His praises, and confess that He is worthy to
receive honour, and glory, and might, and majesty (Rev_4:11; Psa_29:1-11; Psa_86:9).
2. When men confess that all the glory they have above other men in gifts or dignity was given
them by God (1Ch_29:11; 1Ch_29:13). And thus we make God the Father of glory, as He is called
(Eph_1:17).
3. When the praise of God or the advancement of His kingdom is made the end of all our actions,
this is to do all to His glory (1Co_10:31).
4. When we believe God’s promises, and wait for the performance of them, though we see no
means likely for their accomplishment. Thus Abraham (Rom_4:1-25).
5. When we publicly acknowledge true religion, or any special truth of God, when it is generally
opposed by the most men.

286. 6. When men suffer in the quarrel of God’s truth and true religion (1Pe_4:16).
7. When on the Sabbath men devote themselves only to God’s work, doing it with more joy and
care than they should do their own work on the week days (Isa_58:13).
8. When men do in particular give thanks to God for benefits or deliverances, acknowledging God’s
special hand therein. Thus the leper gave glory to God (Luk_17:18; Psa_11:3-4).
9. By loving, praising, and esteeming of Jesus Christ above all men; for when we glorify the Son we
glorify the Father (Joh_1:14; Joh_11:4).
10. When we account of and honour godly men above all other sorts of men in the world.
III. By effect, when men make others to glorify God. Thus the professed subjection of Christians to the
gospel makes other men glorify God (2Co_9:13). So the fruits of righteousness are to the glory of God
(Php_1:10). So here the good works of Christians do make new converts glorify God; so every Christian
that is God’s planting is a tree of righteousness that God may be glorified (Isa_61:3). So are all
Christians to the praise of the glory of God’s grace, as they are either qualified or privileged by Jesus
Christ (Eph_1:7). (N. Byfield.)
The day of visitation.
Conversion the day of visitation
I. Conversion is the work of God.
1. Let them which have felt this work acknowledge God in it, and give Him all the glory.
2. They that be yet without it, let them not defer it as a small matter to the last, as if they could
convert themselves when they list, but humbly seek it of God in attending on His ordinances.
II. It is God’s great mercy to convert a sinner. This is the greatest mercy that can be bestowed: to be
delivered from sickness into health, from prison into liberty, from poverty to riches, from death to life.
Let those that have obtained it give glory to God.
III. A man can never glorify God till God thus visit and convert his soul.
IV. When a man is converted he will glorify God; yea, he cannot choose but in heart admire God