1 Peter 2 explained: Living Stones in a Suspicious World

Growing like newborns (vv. 1-3)

Peter asks his readers to drop the habits that poison relationships, like grudges, lying, faking, jealousy and gossip, and to hunger for God's message the way a baby hungers for milk. The line about tasting that the Lord is good echoes Psalm 34.

Jesus the rejected stone (vv. 4-8)

Using lines from Isaiah and Psalm 118, Peter pictures Jesus as a stone people threw away but God made the cornerstone, the key stone a building rests on. Believers become living stones in a new temple where every one of them serves as a priest, offering prayer, praise and good lives instead of animal sacrifices.

A people again (vv. 9-10)

Titles God once gave Israel at Mount Sinai, like a royal priesthood and a holy nation, are now applied to these believers, many of whom were probably not Jewish. The words about once not being a people echo the prophet Hosea, who gave his children names meaning 'not loved' and 'not my people' before God promised to reverse them.

Living well as outsiders (vv. 11-17)

Peter calls his readers foreigners and exiles, which may mean their true home is with God, or may also reflect that they were outsiders in their society. Scholars read it both ways, but the advice is clear: resist harmful desires, answer accusations with good deeds, respect the emperor and officials, and use freedom well rather than as an excuse for wrong.

Slaves facing harsh masters (vv. 18-20)

Peter speaks to household slaves, a large group in Roman society, and tells them to submit even to cruel masters and to bear unjust beatings patiently out of regard for God. He addresses them within the slave system as it then existed and does not call for its end here.

Following the suffering Christ (vv. 21-25)

Peter points to Jesus, who was insulted and hurt but did not strike back, leaving his case with God as the fair judge. Much of the wording comes from Isaiah 53, which describes a servant wounded for others, and it ends with straying sheep coming home to their shepherd.

Key verse: 1 Peter 2:9

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether calling all believers a 'royal priesthood' means there should be no specially ordained priests, as many Protestants hold, or whether it fits alongside an ordained priesthood, as Catholic and Orthodox churches teach.

Something to think about

When you have been treated unfairly, what has helped you, or kept you from, answering back in kind?