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BUT YOU ARE
A CHOSEN RACE: humeis de genos eklekton: (1
Peter 1:2; ;
Ps 22:30;
33:12;
73:15;
Isa 41:8;
44:1) (What
Does God Think Of Me Now?)
But you -
You is emphatic in the Greek which sets up a dramatic contrast
with those Peter has just described who stumble over the Corner Stone
into a Christless eternity.
Spurgeon...
These are wonderful epithets that
are here heaped upon believers. May we have the grace to be able to
appropriate them, and to expound them in our lives!
Oh, the dignity which Christ has
put upon the meanest believer! What a high office, and, consequently,
what a solemn responsibility is ours!
Ye are a chosen generation -
Hear this, ye believers,
drink in this precious truth. See God’s election, making you to be a
people born of the Holy Ghost: “a chosen generation,”-
There is the contrast between the disobedient and all true believer.
“Ye” have the chosen Savior to be the chief corner-stone, upon whom
“ye” who are living stones are to be built up into “a spiritual
house,” which is to be the abiding place of the Most High God.
(1
Peter 2 Commentary)
Chosen
(1588) (eklektos
click study of
eklektos) is a word which
ultimately speaks 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.
Eklektos 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. God
does not predestine some to eternal death.
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. (Psalm 33:12). Spurgeon's
Comment on Psalm 33:12
Israel was happy in the worship of the only true God. It was the
blessedness of the chosen nation to have received a revelation from
Jehovah. While others grovelled before their idols, the chosen people
were elevated by a spiritual religion which introduced them to the
invisible God, and led them to trust in Him. All who confide in the
Lord are blessed in the largest and deepest sense, and none can
reverse the blessing.
And the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance.
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.
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. (Jn 15:16).
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.
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.
Matthew Henry
writes that...
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.
A ROYAL
PRIESTHOOD: basileion hierateuma: (Ex 19:5,6;
Isa 66:21)
(Devotional:
Living Like Royalty)
Peter's concept
of a royal priesthood originates from Exodus 19 Jehovah
declared to Moses His message for Israel...
Now then, if you will indeed obey
My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession
(peculiar treasure - KJV) among all the peoples, for all the earth is
Mine; and 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." (Ex 19:5,6)
Royal Priesthood - Guzik writes that "The
offices of royalty and priesthood were jealously separated in Israel,
but Jesus, who is our King and Priest, has brought them together for
His people."
Spurgeon...
“Ye” are to be like Melchisedec, in
whom the two offices of priest and king were combined in one person.
More then that, “ye” are to be like your Lord, in respect to his royal
priesthood. That he should have “loved us, and washed us from our sins
in his own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God and his
Father,” seems to be an honor which is far too high for us. It appears
to bring us almost too near our Lord, yet it is not So, for Peter
wrote, under divine inspiration, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood,”
(1
Peter 2 Commentary)
Royal (934)
(basileios)
is used only here and refers to that which belongs to, is appointed to or
is suitable for a king. The idea is "fit for a king". It describes one of of kingly ancestry or that
which is relating to, or befitting a king, queen,
or other monarch. This verse is the only NT use of basileios, which is
found in the
Septuagint (LXX)
translation of Exodus
19:6 (quoted in part by Peter) and Exodus 23:22.
MacArthur writes
that basileios
generally describes a royal residence or palace (cf. Luke
7:25), but it can also refer to a sovereignty or monarchy
Moulton and
Milligan have found it used in the phrase...
the palace of the satrap
Saitaphernes.
What an
incredible privilege NT believers possess in Christ. In the OT,
even the kings of Israel did not serve as a priest, and the one who
tried was judged by God (read about it in 2 Chronicles 26:16-21). No
so for NT believers who are of royal lineage in Christ the King of
kings.
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. The spiritual house he mentioned
in
1 Peter 2:5 [note]
turns out to be a royal house, the dominion of a royal family.
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 notes
1
Peter 2:4-6)
Our holy
priesthood is made possible by our “great High Priest who has
passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God” (see note
Hebrews 4:14),
therefore we have complete and full access to the Father.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (see note
Hebrews 4:16).
Later in his
epistle the writer of Hebrews adds this exhortation...
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,
let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with pure water. (See notes
Hebrews 10:19;
20;
21;
22)
(Comment: NT believers are not to go to God through any other
human, but only through the one Mediator, Jesus Christ [see 1 Ti
2:1-8] Who is forever seated at the right hand of God in glory,
interceding for us.)
You may be
saying "It's wonderful to be a royal priest." but this truth has
little impact on your life. 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. (see note
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. (see note
Revelation 5:10)
And not only are
we priests today with access to the King, but one day soon in the coming kingdom of Christ we
will reign with Him for 1000 years (see
Millennium) 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. (see note
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 day we represent
"the King of kings" Who is
the "ruler over the kings of the earth" (see note
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: (Ps 106:5;
Isa 26:2;
Jn 17:19;
1Cor 3:17;
2Ti 1:9) (Torrey's Topic
Titles
and names of saints)
Spurgeon...
An holy nation, a peculiar
people - You have national privileges. God reckons you not as a
mob or a herd of men, but as a nation, and a nation with this peculiar
hall-mark upon you, that you are “a holy nation.” This is the true
token of your nationality that you are “holiness unto the Lord,” “a
peculiar people” belonging to God alone, marked off from the rest of
mankind as peculiarly his. You are not, and you are not to be as other
men are, you are “a peculiar people.” Your road is not the broad one
where the many go, it is the narrow one which the few find, your
happiness is not worldly pleasure, but pleasures at the right hand of
God which are for evermore, You are “a peculiar people”
(1
Peter 2 Commentary)
Regarding the words nation
(ethnos) and people (laos) Vincent remarks that...
The distinction between these three
words cannot be closely pressed. Race emphasizes the idea of descent;
nation, of community. Laos, people, occurring very often in the
Septuagint, is used there mostly of the Israelites, the chosen people.
The same use is also frequent in the New Testament; but it is employed
in a more general sense, as by Luke 2:10. (Vincent, M. R. Word
Studies in the New Testament)
Holy (40)
(hagios
= set apart ones, separated ones, sanctified ones, holy ones)
is literally a holy one and depending on the context refers to whoever
or whatever is set apart (sanctified) for a special purpose.
New Testament
believers are holy ones both in character and conduct having been set
apart by God to be exclusively His, to be dedicated to Him and to
manifest holiness of heart and conduct in contrast to the impurity of
pagan unbelievers.
Jesus
declared...
And for their sakes I sanctify (set
Myself apart unto God) Myself, that they themselves also may be
sanctified (may be set apart for holy service to God) in truth. (Jn 17:19)
(NLT renders it "And I give myself entirely to you so they also
might be entirely yours.")
Paul
writes...
To the church of God that is in
Corinth, to those sanctified (set apart) in Christ Jesus, called (with
a purpose) to be saints (hagios - holy ones) together with all those
who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both
their Lord and ours: (1Cor 1:2)
Hebrews
explains that...
By this will (the Father's will) we
have been sanctified (set apart, made holy) through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (see note
Hebrews 10:10)
(Comment:
Sanctified is in the
perfect tense
which speaks of a past completed action -- the moment of our salvation
-- with permanent or lasting effect --we are forever set apart). As an
aside, the permanence of this tense undergirds the NT teaching that
the believer once saved is eternally secure. Believers will never need
to be justified again. Their position in Christ is forever righteous,
forever secure and forever holy.)
In the Old
Testament many things and people were divinely set apart by
God for His own purposes. The Tabernacle and Temple and all their
furnishings-supremely the Ark of the Covenant and the holy of
holies-were set apart to Him. The tribe of Levi was set apart for His
priesthood, and the entire nation of Israel was set apart as His
people. The tithes and offerings of the people of Israel consisted
of money and other gifts specifically set apart for God. Under the New
Covenant, however, such holy things as the Temple, priesthood, Ark,
and tithes no longer exist. God’s only truly holy things on earth
today are His people, those whom He has sovereignly and graciously set
apart for Himself through Jesus Christ. The new temple of God and the
new priesthood of God are His church, which Peter here refers to
figuratively as a holy nation.
Hagios is
used throughout the New Testament to speak of anyone or anything that
represents God’s holiness: Christ as the Holy One of God, the Holy
Spirit, the Holy Father, holy Scriptures, holy angels, holy brethren,
and so on. The secular and pagan use pictured a person separated and
dedicated to the idolatrous "gods" and carried no idea of moral or
spiritual purity. The manmade gods were as sinful and degraded as the
men who made them and there simply was no need for a word that
represented righteousness! The worshipper of the pagan god acquired
the character of that pagan god and the religious ceremonies connected
with its worship. The Greek temple at Corinth housed a large number of
harlots who were connected with the "worship" of the Greek god. Thus,
the set-apartness or holiness of the Greek worshipper was in character
licentious, totally depraved, and sinful.
The Bible
writers could not coin new terms since they would not be understood,
and were therefore forced to use those already in use. However, while
the technical and root meanings of this pagan religious term was taken
over by the writers, yet by the use in the NT, the moral and spiritual
character was changed and elevated by the gospel.
Kenneth Wuest writes
that...
The believer in the Lord Jesus is
set apart for God by the Holy Spirit, out of the First Adam with the
latter’s sin and condemnation, into the Last Adam (Christ) with the
latter’s righteousness and life. Thus, the worshipper of the God of
the Bible partakes of the character of the God for Whom he is set
apart. This is positional sanctification, an act of God performed at
the moment a sinner puts his faith in the Lord Jesus (1Co
1:2). The work of the Holy Spirit in the yielded saint, in
which He sets the believer apart for God in his experience, by
eliminating sin from his life and producing His fruit, a process which
goes on constantly throughout the believer’s life, is called
progressive sanctification (see note
1Thessalonians 5:23).
When our Lord sanctifies Himself, He sets Himself apart for God as the
Sacrifice for sin (Jn
17:19
see note
Hebrews 10:7)."(Ibid)
The idea inherent in hagios
is the taking something filthy, washing it and setting it apart as
something brand new, useful for a different purpose, which is a
picture of salvation for we who were filthy with sin were washed in
the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, and set apart to now be God's
own possession.
Believers are now a holy nation
who
have been set apart from the world...
delivered
(rescued)...from the
domain of
darkness (see notes
Colossians 1:11;
12;
13)...
by the sanctifying work of the
Spirit (see note
1 Peter 1:2)...
unto God Who "transferred
us to the
kingdom of His
beloved
Son" (see note
Colossians 1:13)
The fundamental ideas of a saint
include...
One who is separated from sin (see
notes
Romans 6:11;
12;
13;
14)
One who then has the responsibility to choose to consecrate themselves
daily to God as "living sacrifices" (see note
Romans 12:1)
One who is devoted to His
service
One who is a
partaker of the divine nature (see
note
2 Peter 1:4)
One who continually chooses to abstain from worldly defilement (see
notes
1Thessalonians 4:3
1Thessalonians 5:22,
2 Timothy 2:19,
1 Peter 2:11)
Although the
saint lives in the world, he or she must always in one sense be
different from the world and continually choose to separate himself or
herself from the world. His standards are not the world's standards. (click note on Romans 12:2 regarding not being squeezed into
world's mold) He is "in the world" but not "of the world".
A saint
is like a boat -- the boat's purpose is fulfilled when it is in
the water, but it's function and usefulness deteriorates when water
gets in the boat. So too for saints when too much of the world gets
into them. Saints must keep their "vessels" in the water of this word
but not let the water of the world get into their "vessel"! Paul has a
parallel thought writing to young Timothy to take of the truth that
if a man cleanses himself from
these (things, people that have an unholy influence), he will be a
vessel for honor, sanctified (hagiazo - verb form of saint), useful to
the Master, prepared for every good work. (see note
2 Timothy 2:21)
The term
saints does it refer to a condition after death, for these
"saints" were very much alive at Philippi. Although you may have been
taught that saints are a special, higher order of Christians who
accomplished extraordinary good deeds and lived an exemplary life, the
Bible teaches that sainthood is not an attainment but a state into
which God by grace through faith calls men and women of all stations
of life, whether under the Old or New Covenant. So now next time you
meet a believer, address then as "Saint so-and-so" and watch the
reaction! It goes without saying however that we often do not think or
act like saints, in the popular sense. But hagios speaks of our
identity (or our position) in Christ. We are holy ones in our Lord,
even when we are unfaithful and act unsaintly. Being a saint has
nothing at all to do with one’s degree of spiritual maturity or rank.
It refers to any person who is saved, who is set apart by God for
Himself in His Son Jesus Christ. Because God sees us as He sees
His Son, as "those who have been sanctified (consecrated, purified,
made holy) in Christ Jesus, saints by calling." (1Co
1:2) Like all other believers, the Christians at Corinth
were not saints because of their spiritual maturity (cf.
1Co 3:1–3), but because they were
“saints by calling,” a reference to their call to salvation.
Wuest
adds that...
"The word "saint" is the
translation of a Greek word meaning "to set apart," in its verb, and
"set apart ones," in its noun form. The pagan Greeks set apart
buildings as temples, consecrating them for non-secular, and
therefore, religious purposes. These became the objects of veneration
and reverence. Thus, saints are believing sinners set apart
from sin to holiness, set apart from Satan to God, thus being
consecrated for Gods’ sacred fellowship and service. The word "saint"
as a designation of a Christian, brings at once to our attention the
duty of every believer, that of living a separated life. The words, "saint,
sanctify, holy," are all translations of this same Greek
root. They all speak of the absolute separation from evil and
dedication to God, that must always be true of the Christian
believer." (Ibid)
Here in 1Peter
2:9, Peter is clearly making an 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" (Lev 10:10) but they refused
to be different and thus disobeyed God. 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:
This phrase is variously
rendered as...
literally a people for
possession, acquisition or
purchase (i.e. "a peculiar property")
[God's] own purchased, special
people (Amplified)
a special people (BBE)
people who belong to God
(GWT)
that belongs to God alone
(ICB)
a people God means to have for
Himself (Knox )
a purchased people
(Montgomery)
the people who belong to Him
(Moffat)
a people to be a personal
possession (NJB)
His own special people
(NKJV)
peculiar people (KJV,
Phillips, Macent)
you are God's very own (TLB)
a people belonging specially to
God (Weymouth)
a people acquired (Young's
Literal)
Compare the OT passages which teach a similar truth about
Israel...
Exodus 19.5 “my own
possession among all peoples” (RSV)
Malachi 3.17 “my special
possession” (RSV)
Isaiah 43.21“The people whom
I formed for myself” (RSV)
UBS Handbook
emphasizes that...
The word for people here is
laos, a term used for Israel in the Old Testament to describe
its intimate relationship with God; this term is now used of the
Christian community. What is being emphasized here is that the
Christians now have a relationship to God which is different from that
of non-Christians: they are God’s people and are completely dedicated
to him. (The
United Bible Societies' New Testament Handbook Series
or
Logos)
Possession (4047)
(peripoiesis
from peripoieomai = literally means to make
around oneself and then to acquire or purchase) means that which is
acquired by purchase with the corresponding idea of preservation of
that which is purchased.
In
Hebrews 10:39 (note)
the meaning of peripoiesis is that of experiencing of security,
keeping safe or preserving.
In
1Thessalonians 5:9 (note)
and 2 Thessalonians 2:14 the thrust of peripoiesis is to
describe a gaining or obtaining of something, respectively salvation
and glory.
The root verb peripoieomai
is used by Paul in his charge to the Ephesian elders exhorting them
to...
Be on guard
(command to continually be holding one's mind towards something,
giving heed, paying close attention, watching out -
present imperative) 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 - acquired, gained, paid the price for, gained
possession of] with His own blood. (Acts 20:28)
Vincent
explains that the phrase eis peripoiesin literally means
a people for acquisition. Revised
Version = a people for God’s own possession. Wycliffe =
a people
of purchasing. Cranmer = a people which are won. See
Isaiah 43:21 (click for multiple translations) (Septuagint
- LXX), where the
kindred verb (peripoieomai) occurs: “This people have I formed for
myself (English of the LXX = My people whom I have preserved
[peripoieomai] to tell forth My praises.)
Peripoiesis
is used 5 times in the NT...
Ephesians 1:14 (note)
who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the
redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.
1Thessalonians 5:9 (note)
For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 Thessalonians 2:14 And it
was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 10:39 (note)
But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those
who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
1 Peter 2:9 (note)
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;< | 
