1 Peter 2

Peter calls believers to put away the sins that damage community life and to long for God’s word as newborns long for milk. He shows them as living stones in God’s house, a chosen people and a royal priesthood. Then he tells them how to live honorably among unbelievers, following Christ’s example of patient, innocent suffering.

1 Peter 2:1

Because they have been born again, Peter says, certain habits must go. Each one harms other people: ill will, trickery, pretending, resentment, and speaking against others. Fellowship cannot grow where these live on. Putting them away is part of living out the new life God has given.

BSA: hypocrisy (“pretending to be something you’re not”): The word pictures an actor wearing a mask, so Peter is calling for a plain, unmasked honesty before God and each other.

See also: Ephesians 4:31.

1 Peter 2:2

A newborn baby wants milk with a hungry, whole-hearted desire. Peter says believers should want God’s word the same way. It is pure and unmixed, and it nourishes us, so that we grow toward the full life of salvation.

BSA: pure (“sincere, genuine”): The milk is unmixed and unwatered, with nothing added to spoil it. crave (“long for, desire”): This is a strong, urgent hunger, not a mild preference.

Greek: ἐπιποθήσατε (epipothēsate, G1971) — “long for intensely.” The word carries the sense of yearning for something you deeply miss. It is the cry of a hungry baby, not a polite request.

1 Peter 2:3

Peter gives the reason for this craving: they have already tasted the Lord’s goodness. A first taste of his kindness makes us want more. Those who have known his mercy find that their appetite for him grows.

BSA: tasted (“to savor, to experience”): This is a real, personal experience of the Lord’s kindness, not something known only by hearsay.

See also: Psalm 34:8.

1 Peter 2:4

Peter turns from milk to building stones. Christ is the living stone. Men threw him away, but God chose him and counts him precious. We come to him as to a person, and his value in God’s eyes is what counts, whatever men think.

BSA: living (“having spiritual life”): Christ is no dead monument. He is risen and gives life to all who come to him.

See also: Psalm 118:22.

1 Peter 2:5

Those who come to the living stone become living stones themselves. God joins them together into his dwelling place, which is a people and not a building. They are also priests, offering up to God praise, good deeds, and a surrendered life. These offerings are accepted because of Jesus.

BSA: house (“a dwelling place for God”): God lives among his people, in the way he once lived in the temple. priesthood (“a body of believers”): Every believer has access to God, so priesthood belongs to the whole community.

See also: Romans 12:1; Hebrews 13:15.

1 Peter 2:6

Peter backs this up from Scripture. God himself laid the stone in Zion. The cornerstone holds the whole building together. Whoever trusts in him will not be disappointed or shamed, because the foundation will hold.

BSA: cornerstone (“a foundation, a cornerstone”): The chief stone set the line for the whole building. Everything else was fitted to it.

See also: Isaiah 28:16.

1 Peter 2:7

The same stone is received in two ways. To those who believe, he is precious, something to be treasured. Those who reject him find that God has made him the cornerstone anyway. Human refusal does not undo God’s plan.

BSA: precious (“honored, of great value”): For believers, Christ is honored and valued above all else.

See also: Psalm 118:22; Matthew 21:42.

1 Peter 2:8

For those who refuse him, the stone becomes something to trip over. They stumble because they will not obey the message. Believers differ on how to understand the words about being appointed. The plain point is that unbelief leads to a fall, as the Scripture had said.

BSA: stumble (“trip or fall, either physically or spiritually”): Christ stands in the road, and those who will not accept him fall over him.

See also: Isaiah 8:14.

1 Peter 2:9

Peter piles up titles once given to Israel and gives them to the church. Believers are chosen, royal, holy, and God’s own people. They have a purpose: to tell of his goodness. God brought them out of darkness into his wonderful light, and their lives declare it.

BSA: proclaim (“to declare, to celebrate”): The calling is to speak of God’s praises openly, not keep them private. possession (“belonging to God”): They are his treasured property, valued and kept by him.

Greek: περιποίησιν (peripoiēsin, G4047) — “a possession acquired and kept.” The word speaks of something God has secured for himself and treasures. We are not an afterthought but his own special people.

See also: Exodus 19:5-6.

1 Peter 2:10

Peter takes up words from Hosea. Once these believers were nobody, a scattered group without a place and without mercy. Now they belong to God’s people and have received his mercy. Their identity rests on what God has done, not on what they were.

BSA: mercy (“been given, shown compassion”): Mercy is compassion freely shown to people who did not deserve it.

See also: Hosea 2:23.

1 Peter 2:11

Peter speaks tenderly, calling them beloved. Because this world is not their final home, they should refuse the cravings of their old nature. Those desires are not harmless. They fight against the soul, so holding back from them protects our deepest life.

BSA: exiles (“pilgrims, temporary residents”): Believers are travelers passing through, with their true home elsewhere. war (“fight, battle”): Sinful desires are an active enemy campaign, not a passing annoyance.

Greek: στρατεύονται (strateuontai, G4754) — “wage war as a soldier.” The word is a military one. Fleshly desires are pictured as an army on campaign against the soul.

1 Peter 2:12

Unbelievers around them were saying false things about Christians. Peter’s answer is a life so good that the charges collapse. Some who see it may come to honor God when he visits them, whether in mercy or in judgment. Good living is a quiet witness.

BSA: deeds (“fair, beautiful”): Their actions should be not merely correct but attractive, drawing others to notice.

See also: Matthew 5:16.

1 Peter 2:13-14

Peter now speaks of life under human authority. Believers should submit to the emperor and his governors, and do it for the Lord’s sake. Governments exist to punish wrongdoing and honor good. Respectful order gives the gospel a hearing.

BSA: Submit (“be subject”): It means taking one’s proper place in an ordered society, not giving up one’s conscience.

See also: Romans 13:1-4.

1 Peter 2:15

God wants his people to answer unfair accusations with good living. Careless talk and ignorant charges lose their force when the facts of a good life stand against them. Quiet goodness does what arguing often cannot.

BSA: silence (“muzzle, restrain”): Good deeds shut the mouths of critics like a muzzle on an animal.

Greek: φιμοῦν (phimoun, G5392) — “to muzzle.” The word pictures putting a muzzle on a barking animal. Good conduct leaves slander with nothing to say.

1 Peter 2:16

Believers are truly free, since Christ has set them free. But freedom is not permission to do wrong, and it must not be used as a cloak for sin. The free person now belongs to God and chooses to serve him.

BSA: cover-up (“cloak”): Some people hide bad behavior behind the language of freedom, and Peter rules that out.

See also: Galatians 5:13.

1 Peter 2:17

Peter sums up four duties in short commands. Respect every person. Love fellow believers. Fear God. Honor the king. God is to be feared, and the king is to be honored. The two are not the same thing, and the order matters.

BSA: fear (“reverence and awe”): This is the deep respect owed to God alone, not terror.

See also: Proverbs 24:21.

1 Peter 2:18

Peter speaks to household slaves, a large group in the early churches. They are to submit with respect, even to harsh masters, not just kind ones. He does not praise slavery. He shows how to live with dignity and faith inside a hard situation.

BSA: unreasonable (“crooked, perverted, harsh”): Some masters were cruel and unfair, and Peter does not pretend otherwise.

See also: Ephesians 6:5-8.

1 Peter 2:19

God notices when someone bears undeserved suffering patiently because they keep God in mind. This is not natural toughness. The sufferer trusts that God sees, and that is what God approves.

BSA: conscious (“aware, mindful”): The sufferer carries an awareness of God that steadies him under injustice.

1 Peter 2:20

There is nothing special in taking a deserved punishment patiently. But enduring suffering when you have done right is another matter. God sees it and is pleased. Faithfulness under injustice is precious to him.

BSA: commendable (“acceptable, pleasing”): It carries the sense of finding favor and being welcomed by God.

Greek: χάρις (charis, G5485) — “grace, favor.” The word translated commendable is the familiar word for grace. Patient suffering for good finds favor with God.

1 Peter 2:21

Suffering for doing right is part of the Christian calling. Christ suffered for us, and he left a pattern to follow. We are to walk where he walked. His suffering is both our rescue and our model.

BSA: example (“a model to follow, a pattern”): He gives a pattern to trace, like a lesson to copy. footsteps (“tracks, path”): We follow close behind him, placing our feet where his were.

Greek: ὑπογραμμόν (hypogrammon, G5261) — “a writing copy, a pattern to trace.” It was the line of letters a child traced over when learning to write. Christ’s life is the pattern we trace with our own.

1 Peter 2:22

Peter quotes Isaiah about the suffering servant. Jesus never sinned and never deceived anyone. His suffering was entirely undeserved. That is what makes it an example for the innocent and a rescue for the guilty.

BSA: deceit (“guile, trickery, cunning”): No trick or false word ever came from his lips.

See also: Isaiah 53:9.

1 Peter 2:23

When Jesus was insulted and made to suffer, he did not strike back with words or threats. He handed his cause over to the Father, who judges rightly. We can do the same, trusting that justice is safe in God’s hands.

BSA: entrusted (“committed, surrendered”): He placed his case in the Father’s hands and left the outcome with him.

See also: Luke 23:34.

1 Peter 2:24

Here is the heart of the gospel. Christ took our sins on himself and carried them to the cross. The purpose was a changed life: that we die to sin and live for righteousness. By his wounds we are healed, chiefly of sin’s sickness in the soul.

BSA: bore (“as our substitute”): Christ carried the weight of our sins in our place. stripes (“wounds, physical injuries”): His real bodily wounds are the source of our healing.

Greek: ἀνήνεγκεν (anēnenken, G399) — “carried up, offered up.” The word was used for bringing a sacrifice up to the altar. Christ carried our sins up to the cross as an offering.

See also: Isaiah 53:5; Galatians 3:13.

1 Peter 2:25

We were wandering like lost sheep, with no way home. Now we have come back to Christ, who watches over us. He is our Shepherd who leads and feeds us, and our Overseer who guards our souls.

BSA: Overseer (“guardian”): He keeps watch over his people and guards their souls from harm.

Greek: ἐπίσκοπον (episkopon, G1985) — “overseer, one who watches over.” The word means someone who looks carefully over what is in his charge. Christ attentively guards every soul under his care.

See also: Isaiah 53:6; John 10:11.