Slaves

At SixSixteen Sunday Morning we are beginning a two week series on 1 Peter 2:18-25.  First up, Peter gives instructions to household slaves.  But does this have any relevance to free-born, U.S. citizens who never experience slavery?  Is it legitimate to see a parallel between master-slave relationships and employer-employee relationships?  We will sort through these issues this week.

Selfhood

How should you think of “self” as a Christian and how does it match with God’s purposes?  We’ll explore these issues this week (2/3) at SixSixteen Sunday Morning by studying 1 Peter 2:9-10.

As They Were Destined to Do

“They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.” (1 Peter 2:8)

The main interpretive difficulty of the phrase “as they were destined to do” in 1 Peter 2:8 is whether it most directly modifies “they disobey the word” or “they stumble”.  If it is the former, it means that their present disobedience was destined.  If it is the latter, it means that the present consequence of their disobedience was destined.

Although the passage is hard to understand, I said that the latter was most persuasive to me.  One of the main reasons I believe this is that it seems to fit best with the context. I mentioned this at the very end of our class and I wanted to reiterate here since it is so important and I only touched on it.

You can’t miss the connection between this verse and the immediate verses that preceded it.  Peter said that it is the word that brings new birth (”you have been born again. . .through the living and abiding word of God” 1:23). The word, specifically the Gospel (1:25b), has the effect of producing spiritual new birth.

In 2:8, Peter says that due to disobedience to the word, unbelievers stumble over Christ.

So the connection is that the word will either work to bring new birth or it will work to bring stumbling. That is, the word is either appointed (”destined”) to do one or the other.

Therefore, I conclude that when Peter says unbelievers “stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do”, he means that the destiny of anyone who disobeys the word is stumbling.

This next week I will likely begin our class by summarizing the strengths of both sides of the 1 Peter 2:8 debate (i.e. which phrase does it most nearly modify?) before beginning 1 Peter 2:9-10.

God Hardened Their Hearts

This is a follow-up to today’s class.

We tried to understand what Peter meant by the phrase “as they were destined to do” in 1 Peter 2:8.  We took a brief excursion to Romans 9:22 where there is a similar sounding passage.

I said that it was important to note that verse 22 is in the passive voice (compare that to verse 23 in the active voice) and that I didn’t find a convincing case for double predestination in this verse or in 1 Peter 2:8.

The question arose: how does that square with Romans 9:18, “He hardens whom He desires”.  I said that it would be good to think through whether God hardening a person’s heart is the same thing as being “prepared for destruction”.  I argued that they are not the same thing.

Perhaps another way to think through the challenges of Romans 9 is to ask: “What does it mean for God to harden a person’s heart?”  Does it mean that God actively creates unbelief or some other evil in a person’s heart?  Or, does it mean that God withdraws divine influences that restrain sin in a person’s heart so that sin runs its course?

Living Stones and Tasting the Goodness of the Lord

Peter calls Jesus a “living stone” (1 Peter 2:4).  One verse later, Peter says that believers are also “like living stones”.  What exactly does it mean to be a living stone? And, what’s the connection between being like a living stone and verse 3’s condition, “if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”?

We’ll explore these questions this week (1/20) at SixSixteen Sunday Morning.

Long for the Pure Spiritual Milk

1 Peter 2:2 curiously begins, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk. . .” What exactly does it mean to long “like a newborn infant”? Moreover, what’s the relationship between putting away the sins of verse 1 and longing for pure spiritual milk in verse 2?

We’ll answer those questions this week (1/6) at SixSixteen Sunday Morning as we study 1 Peter 2:1-3. We meet at 9 a.m. in Room 114 (off the main hall by the bookstore) at the downtown campus.