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In the practice of good observation, several people in our group started the discussion with the “So” at the beginning of the passage (“Therefore” in NASB and NIV). The agreement was that Peter is drawing a conclusion from the end of the previous chapter about “the good news that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:25).
However, in this context of good news and the gospel of salvation, one person pointed out how many “do’s” and “don’t’s” Peter gives throughout the chapter. The person making the comment described an early upbringing of strict rules and how such a background can inhibit our experience of grace.
Two other members with knowledge and/or experience in Middle Eastern cultures pointed out the alternating themes of shame (v. 6) and honor (v. 7) in the passage, such as the honor of Jesus as the cornerstone of God’s work (v. 6) who was rejected (v. 7), suffered (v. 23), and shamefully executed (v. 24). A member who has lived in the Middle East commented on the “shame-based” culture. Another with a ministry to Muslims suggested this passage might provide a connecting point to see how Christianity treats shame and honor.
Behavior-based honor and shame and legalism – is that what Peter was promoting? Continued discussion of the passage brought out the real motivation that the Apostle offers. What the gospel has done beyond the payment for our sins (a staggering feat in itself) is to transform our identity. The work of the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit (as we discussed in the Apostles’ Creed study) has made us elements of a temple or spiritual house (v. 5) and priests with a holy and royal mission (v. 5b, 9a), selected and set apart and claimed by God (v. 9). “We behave virtuously not merely because God commands it but because acquiring virtue helps us to see Christ more clearly and in seeing Him, to reveal Him in turn to others.”[1] The more we can remind each other of those realities, the more we can see the so-called do’s and don’ts as expressions of our transformed selves and less as duties to perform.
The rest of the chapter appears to be Peter’s specific exhortations describing how such transformed people live. He mentions several radical-sounding behaviors (and he will mention more in the coming chapters), but they all culminate on the example of Jesus. “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (v. 23). Conservative Christians can count on increased opportunities to follow that example as we are commanded (v. 21b). “Christians who hold to the biblical teaching about sex and marriage have the same status in culture, and increasingly in law, as racists.”[2] Our natural response is to defend ourselves in difficult situations. We easily justify our self-protective reaction if we believe we are defending the gospel, or the right to life, or traditional marriage. However, Peter’s emphasis on submission and unjust treatment offer a decidedly different perspective.
The day after our group met, one member sent me a link to a news story about a college student who was reprimanded for reading a Bible before class as “an example of what we talking about.” Our initial reaction is to defend the student’s religious liberty with passionate intensity. I suggest we should at least consider an appropriate 1 Peter 2:23 response. What might that kind of response look like? Should the student have stopped reading his Bible before class? Was he right in appealing to a local politician? How would you have responded?
How do we approach the tension between the First Amendment and the One who “left us an example, so that you might follow in His steps” (v. 21)? If Rod Dreher in The Benedict Option is right, that question will become much less theoretical in the very near future. Our culture is rapidly replicating the Christian-averse culture that Peter’s audience faced. The church (that means us) must be about the business of equipping the saints to follow the One who “kept entrusting Himself to the One who judges justly” even in increasingly unjust circumstances.
[1] Rod Dreher, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation (New York: Penguin Random House LLC, 2017), 226; Kindle location 3333.
[2] Rod Dreher, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation (New York: Penguin Random House LLC, 2017), 3; Kindle location 78. You can read excerpts from Dreher’s book in the March 2017 issue of Christianity Today magazine:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/march/benedict-options-vision-for-christian-village.html