2 Like newborn infants, the focus on "infant" Christians here and the newness of these Christian communities in general has suggested to some scholars that these texts originally might have been part of a baptismal service. While scholarship that is more recent has discounted the actual liturgical use of these texts, there is later evidence that shows the baptismal influence of I Peter's references. They are to long for the pure, while the author chose not to detail a list of "virtues" to contrast with the list of "vices," the Greek term translated here as "pure" is the opposite of the previous verse's term translated as "deceit" (or as "guile" in the NRSV) - making a clear contrast for readers. They are to long for pure spiritual (λογικὸν, reasonable) milk. This "milk" image was also used to describe those just beginning to turn away from their old, evil lives in I Corinthians 3:1-2 and in Hebrews 5:12-13. In Hippolytus' Apostolic Tradition, newly baptized Christians received not only the bread and wine of the Eucharist meal, but a cup of milk mixed with honey, symbolizing the newborn status of the believer. So that by it you may grow into salvation. Surprisingly, the text does not follow up this list of vices with a corresponding list of virtues. Instead, I Peter depends on an image to convey the best attitude novice Christians could adopt - the image of an innocent, trusting infant. The word is that which feeds Christians; birth is followed by growth. Christians are newborn babies. The means by which this new birth takes place is “the living and enduring word of God” (v. 23), which, the author goes on to explain, is “the good news that was announced to you” (v. 25). The spiritual nourishment they seek is the word. Early symbolism involved milk and honey given to baptismal candidates coming, out of the water for the sweetness of the word. 3 in words drawn from Psalm 34:8, If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good (χρηστὸς). If we assume that "the Lord" is a reference to Christ, one could read verse 3 as "Christos" is "chretos" - in other words, "Christ the Lord" is "good." “Taste” used in this way is simply an experience of something or developing a partiality for something. We become partial in our sense of what is proper, what is harmonious, what is beautiful, what is good, and even for the things of God.
In 2: 4-10, one finds imagery from Exodus 19:5-6, where Israel is a special possession, a kingdom of priests, and holy nation. This segment is a key to the letter in that it portrays the vision of the church. 4 Come to him, a living stone (altar of communion?), though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight. Peter does not linger on this image of infants in the faith suckling on spiritual milk. Instead, he moves to yet another image - one of the most startling images in Scripture, an image as paradoxical as the Cross itself: "living stones." Some scholars have tried to reduce the lunacy of this image by suggesting that "living stones" refers to unhewn or uncut stones - stones still in their original state. However, as I Peter continues to use this and other "stone" images, it seems evident that the paradoxical nature of such a reference deserves emphasis rather than attempt to smooth it over. First, the Lord is the "living stone" - a reference now more nonsensical than a crucified Savior or a resurrected Lord. Stones are the opposite of something living. Likewise, it is in Christ's death that believers gain the opportunity to come fully alive, through the power of the Resurrection. The new people are founded upon another Rock. Christians now offer spiritual sacrifices. The imagery of growth gives way to building. We find the comparison as well at the conclusion of the parable of the tenants, in which the tenants reject the son of the owner of the vineyard, with Jesus referring to Psalm 118:22-3, where the stone the builders rejected became the cornerstone, the Lord doing this and it was marvelous even to our eyes (Mark 12:10-11). I Peter declares that not only is the Lord a "living stone," all Christians are also "living stones," and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house. It reflects the mythical imagery of Isaiah 28:16, where the Lord is laying a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, in Zion. Paul uses similar imagery. He refers to the church at Corinth as God’s temple, the Spirit of God dwelling in them, the temple is holy, and they are that temple (I Corinthians 3:16-7). Paul ponders what agreement the temple of God can have with idols, and stresses that we are that temple (II Corinthians 6:16). His readers are members of the household of God that has the foundation of the apostles and prophets, but Christ is the cornerstone, who joins together the entire structure, growing it into a holy temple of the Lord and who builds them together spiritually into a dwelling place for God (Ephesians 2:19-22). We find the image in authors of the New Testament as well. One needs to learn how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth (I Timothy 3:15). Christ was faithful over the house of God as a son, and we are that house if we hold firm in our hope (Hebrews 3:6). I Peter is not unique in suggesting that Christians are building blocks in God's great construction project as God builds up a "spiritual house," the true community of faith, the church. This is not any human construction project. This "house" is, of course, the church itself, the God-designed community of faith that is bonded together through the cement of its commitment to Christ. The stone image applies to the community, and therefore enriched with life-giving love. The target is not isolated individuals. Just as God is the architect building up the stone walls of their "spiritual house" in verse 5, God is also the one responsible for this transformation into chosenness. The meaning of “house” here, however, as in the Hebrew Bible, means more than simply a physical building; it also refers to a dynasty or a physical line of descendants (as in “the house of David,” I Samuel 20:16 and many times). The author of I Peter exploits this meaning of house to exhort his hearers to allow themselves to be fashioned into a spiritual house, i.e., a new dynasty that is based on acceptance of the good news that was announced to them. The spiritual house is to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. The image shifts to that of the priesthood. Spiritual sacrifices manifest themselves through holy conduct. This is the way Christians become a spiritual house. Note the passive language I Peter uses to describe this building project. God is the builder here. Luther links the universal priesthood of believers to the offering of sacrifices in the sense of offering of their lives to the service of God and others.[1] 6 For it stands in scripture from Isaiah 28:16: "See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." God designated Christ long ago as the foundation of a new house. 7 To you then who believe, he is precious, for those who trust Christ partake in his glory, but for those who do not believe, as stated in Psalm 118:22, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner," 8 and in the words of Isaiah 8:14, where the Lord will become a stone one strikes against and a rock over which one stumbles, to which Jesus refers in Luke 20:17-18, "A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall." The rejection of the messenger from God by Jewish and Roman leaders, Jesus of Nazareth, welcomed by Christians as the promised Messiah and as Lord, is the fulfillment of specific passages of Scripture that emphasize the rebellion of the people of God. They stumble because they disobey the word. They disobeyed the word Jesus proclaimed and later disobeyed the proclamation of the church. Contrary to prevailing contemporary Christian usage, the expression “the word of God” does not usually refer to the Bible, or any written part of it, in the Bible itself. Indeed, nowhere in the Bible does the expression “the word of God” refer to the collected writings regarded as authoritative Scripture by Jews and Christians. In both the First and Second Testaments, the expression “word of God” or (more commonly in the Hebrew Bible) “word of the LORD” refers to a far more encompassing revelation than a canonized written text. When New Testament authors speak of the “word of God,” they are referring to the content of divine revelation in both its unique temporal aspect, and in its comprehensive eternal aspect. Both senses are captured in the verses immediately preceding that passage, in the quotation from Isaiah (“but the word of the Lord endures forever,” 40:8) and in the equivalence given in I Peter 1:25, the content of Christian preaching. They stumble as they were destined to do. The reference is to Psalm 118:22. By rejecting the gospel, Jews have lost their prerogatives, which God has transferred to Christians. Jesus causes others to stumble. The stubbornness of Jews leads to the conversion of Gentiles. Paul puts this notion more broadly. God has imprisoned all persons in disobedience so that God may be merciful to all (Romans 11:32). We also learn that God desires everyone to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth (I Timothy 2:4). Far from proving the final eschatological rejection of the Jews, we need to set the passage alongside other passages to gain fuller picture. Verses 9-10 contain allusions from Exodus 19:6 and Isaiah 43:20-21. 9 But you are a chosen race. The biblical allusions give to the church the titles of the chosen people, to underline its relationship with God and its responsibility in the world. The fact of their election should make it clear to Christians that they are the new and the true Israel, the people of God partaking of all the promises.[2] Their being as individuals has its basis in their personal election.[3] You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people. Only God's activity makes these newborn babes in the faith "God's people." Christians, formed together into a close-knit community through the spiritual power of the "living stone," undergo a miraculous transformation. Peter has called them infants, yet God has chosen them, made them into priests and a nation set apart. God has made them the people of God. Christians are prophets, priests, and kings because Christ is this and has made Christians his own.[4] Peter applies statements originally applied to Israel to the church. Here is a unity that defies all classification. The Reformation thesis of the priesthood of all believers supports the notion of the immediacy of individuals to Jesus Christ. For Luther, faith and baptism mean sharing in Jesus Christ and therefore sharing in the offices of Christ. Vatican II in the constitution on the church refers to this passage, as does Luther, and relates sharing in Christ to sharing in his offices. However, the issue here is not the individual relation to God, but rather, the Christian community as the people of God and royal priesthood, functions that only Israel possessed as the covenant people.[5] God transforms you into the people of God in order that you may proclaim (ἐξαγγείλητε)the mighty acts of him who called (καλέσαντος) you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Only God's call brings these new Christians "out of darkness" and "into his marvelous light." God called Christians out of darkness and into the marvelous light of God.[6] He then refers to Hosea 2:23: 10Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Their elect status is cause for humility. The concept of the new covenant validates the claiming of the title “people of God” for the Christian community. I Peter is direct in this claim, while Paul is a little more nuanced.[7]
As God's own people, Peter challenges Christians to live as servants of God. It makes perfect sense, then, for verse 11 to begin a new section of the letter concerning the obligation of Christians (2:11-4:11). He explores the practical demands for living a life holiness in a non-Christian setting. Verses 11-12 will form a keynote for the rest of the section. 11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles. Christ has called them from the comfort of what they thought was home and brought them into exile. For these "resident alien" Christians struggling to live out the faith in Asia Minor, the image of being part of such a secure house, a spiritual home, was especially poignant. They are to be persons who are in the world but not of the world (John 17:14). They are to consider their real world to be heaven, and to think of themselves as aliens moving toward their true home. If these fledgling believers settle into this world and adopt its values as their own, there is the very real risk that they will reach a peak of earthly pleasure but then die on their journey to their spiritual homeland. As aliens and exiles they are to abstain from the desires (ἐπιθυμιῶν) of the flesh (σαρκικῶν), such as the malice, guile, insincerity, envy, slander mentioned in verse 1, that wage war against the soul (ψυχῆς). To guard against the danger of adopting the values of the world, Christians must have victory over the world (see I John 2:15) and avoid being conformed to the world (Romans 12:2), thereby engaging the battle for the soul. Only by such abstinence from the vices can we win the war that is waged in every age between "the law of sin" and "the law of God" (Romans 7:22-23) and avoid dying on the way down. 12 Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge. The gospel in daily living is the focus. If Christians live godly lives, the governing authorities will not persecute them.
I have enjoyed running ever since I was about 18. Even in my retirement I run a few miles a week. I do this alone, but now in the beauty of Clearwater, FL. I used to run the Indianapolis mini marathon. It will not surprise some when I say that my time is better when I run in the crowd. I have more fun. The music along the way, the cups of water every mile, and the presence of other runners to help keep up the pace, are all helpful. When I struggle, other people encourage me to keep it up. In one year, as I went quite slowly around the last turn, I looked down the long stretch toward the finish line. I knew I would make it, but I was tempted to walk it. Suddenly someone shouted out, “You are almost there! You can sprint this.” Suddenly, I thought to myself, “She is right.” I picked up my knees and started running. I sprinted the rest of the way and made the best time I have done.
The people of God together, as a community, are living stones that are part of the temple God is constructing. We are the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the people of God, learning what all this means as we live in community. For the first Christians, the temple is gone. Their risen Lord is the foundation of a new temple, a new spiritual house, employing the building material out of the lives of those who long for the pure spiritual milk and have tasted the goodness of the Lord. Such a special meeting place to meet God is available to all through the living community of those reconciled to God and live with the hope of redemption. Wherever they gather, there is the spiritual house of God.
There is a story from the days of yore where a Spartan king boasted to a visiting monarch about the walls of Sparta. The visiting royal looked around but could see no barricade, and so he said, "Where are these walls about which you boast so much?" The host pointed to his troops and said, "These are the walls of Sparta -- every man a brick."[8]
Have you tasted that the Lord is good?
A Scottish physician tended a friend during the last hours of life. “Tell me. You are a believer. What will it be like after I die?” The physician was silent. That was interrupted by the scratching at the bedroom door. The doctor turned to his friend and said, “Do you hear that? It’s my dog. He’s been waiting patiently for me downstairs and has become impatient. He has never been in this room. He has no idea what it is like. He knows only one thing about it and that is that I am here ... and that’s all we know about the future ... God is there.”
We may observe certain behaviors as not very tasteful or lacking in taste. Humanity will always have bad taste and find itself attracted to it. Such a use of the word “taste” has to do with value judgments in manners and the arts. We have personal tastes, meaning likes and dislikes. The whole notion of taste draws from the influence of a group that proclaims such behaviors as in good or bad taste. The point Peter makes is that we develop a taste for the things of God by desiring pure spiritual milk.
[1] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 373.
[2] Barth, CD, II.2 [32.1] 15.
[3] Barth, CD, II.2 [35.2] 342.
[4] Barth, CD, II.2 [35.3] 432.
[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 126, 127, 128, 373.
[6] Barth, CD, IV.3 [71.2] 509.
[7] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 465, 475.
[8] Chambers, Merritt M. Every Man a Brick! Bloomington, Ill.: Public School Publishing Company, 1927, Publisher's Preface.
No comments:
Post a Comment