ACC ~ 1 Peter 2 v11 - 25

OVERVIEW:

As citizens of the kingdom of heaven, God’s people must regard themselves as resident aliens here on earth. God’s people occupy the middle ground between heavenly and earthly delights (AUGUSTINE). When soul and body are joined together, the soul naturally feels the disordered passions of the flesh (DIDYMUS). Evil desires operate through the flesh yet involve the soul (HILARY OF ARLES). Pagans who once reviled the faith of Christians, because they had abandoned their gods, stop doing so after they see what a holy life they lead in Christ (BEDE). When our lives are laid bare, it will become apparent that the truth is the opposite of what pagan critics suspect (OECUMENIUS).

Yet we must respect the customs of the countries in which we live and obey the civil authorities who have been instituted by God so that we will not bring the witness of the gospel into disrepute. When the government is shaken, all other institutions are shaken with it (TERTULLIAN). We are to be subject to the governing authorities when it is clear that they are doing something in accordance with just laws (DIDYMUS). But if they command something that is contrary to God’s will, we must not obey them (ANDREAS). When they see us submitting to rulers because it is God’s will, then they are stunned into silence (ANDREAS, BEDE, THEOPHYLACT). It is as free people that we obey these rulers, honoring the one who has delivered us and who has told us to do this for his sake (OECUMENIUS). If we have really received so great a gift as forgiveness, we must not fall back into sin, because if we do so, we are falling back into the old slavery (BEDE). We do not use our freedom as a pretext for rebellion (HILARY OF ARLES). Let no one say that we have already been set free from the orders of the world just because we have become citizens of heaven (ANDREAS). The respect the believer has for persons in authority is not based on abject fear but rational conscience (ANDREAS, OECUMENIUS). Do not split the unity of the worshiping community (AUGUSTINE).

It is possible that we shall be forced to suffer, not for doing things which are wrong but for living up to what we know to be right. Suffering for doing what is right may seem unfair, but it is what Christ did when he came to earth in order to die for our salvation. He was a perfect person who was made to suffer unjustly, but he did not try to retaliate. His death has made it possible for us to die to the old life of sin and to return to him like lost sheep who have come back to their spiritual shepherd. If Christ suffered unjust punishment, so must we be prepared to do so if necessary (HILARY OF ARLES, AUGUSTINE, BEDE, ANDREAS). Christ was nailed to the cross, paying the penalty not for his own sins (AUGUSTINE, CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA) but paying for the debt of our nature (THEODORET). He bore our transgressions in himself and was made a sacrifice for them (EUSEBIUS OF EMESA, BASIL, SEVERUS). As physician (THEODORET) and guardian of our souls (HILARY OF ARLES), Jesus wanted to redeem us so much that he put our sins on his shoulder and bore them for us on the tree, in order to give us eternal life as well as blessings in this world (BEDE).

2:11a | As Aliens and Exiles

DISTANCING THE SOUL FROM CORRUPTED PASSIONS. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: Those who are worthy of love because of their godliness are called “beloved” not because they are that way by nature but because they have received love. The writer of this letter urges such people to abstain from carnal desires which attack the soul. The flesh and the soul have different natures. A soul which is uncorrupted and immortal will desire that kind of thing, whereas the flesh, which is both corrupt and dissolute, desires things which are wicked and vile. But when the two are joined together, the soul naturally feels the passions of the flesh. When it distances itself from bodily passions, it is preserved pure and glorious, with a saving understanding of the way it should act, with a will to behave in that way, with a love for God and with a desire to know him. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

DOCTRINE POINTS TOWARD ETHICS. ANDREAS: As always, the apostle turns to ethical matters after he has dealt with doctrine. After saying what good things are available because of Christ, he now calls us to lead the right kind of life. CATENA.

2:11b | Abstain from the Passions of the Flesh

HEAVENLY AND EARTHLY DELIGHTS. AUGUSTINE: God’s people occupy the middle ground. They are to be compared neither with those who think that the only good is to enjoy earthly delights nor with those sublime inhabitants of heaven, whose sole delight is in the heavenly bread by which they were created. Between the people of heaven and those of earth, the apostle was suspended in the middle, heading toward heaven, though he was not yet there, but at the same time separated from others here below. SERMONS 400.2.

EVIL DESIRES. HILARY OF ARLES: Evil desires are called “carnal” because they operate through the flesh, but in reality they are spiritual, because they come from the soul. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

2:12a | Maintain Good Conduct among the Gentiles

GOOD CONDUCT. HILARY OF ARLES: As the head of the church Peter lays down rules for everyday behavior, and by doing so he unites all the members of the church in one overall harmony. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

CONVERSION OF THE PAGANS. BEDE: It often happens that pagans who once reviled the faith of Christians, because they had abandoned their gods, stop doing so after they see what a holy and pure life they lead in Christ. They begin instead to glorify and praise God, who is shown by acts of goodness and righteousness to be good and righteous himself. ON 1 PETER.

THE MARTYRDOM OF SANCTUS AND BLANDINA. OECUMENIUS: Peter presents the pagans as people who disparage us. Anyone who doubts the truth of this should read what Irenaeus wrote about the martyrs Sanctus and Blandina. Stated briefly, when the Gentiles discovered servants of these Christians, who were learned in the sacred mysteries, they tortured them in order to find out some secret evil about them. But since the servants had nothing to say which would please them, beyond the fact that they had heard their masters talk about the holy communion as the body and blood of Christ, which they took to mean real flesh and blood, they gave that answer to the inquisitors. The Gentiles seized on that apparent cannibalism as if it were something practiced by Christians and tortured Sanctus and Blandina as a result. Blandina replied to them freely and intelligently as follows: “How can people who do not touch meat because of their devotion to the study and contemplation of God do such things?” The day of visitation is the day on which worldly people like those Gentiles will be judged. For when our lives are laid bare, it will become apparent that the truth is the very opposite of what they suspected, and not only will they be ashamed, they will also be punished, and God will be glorified. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

2:12b | That Your Deeds May Glorify God

THE DAY OF VISITATION. HILARY OF ARLES: The day of visitation will be like the time when God visited Egypt through an angel and slew all the firstborn children. Similarly he will visit the lands of the earth and will cut off the firstfruits of all evil works. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

2:13a | Be Subject to Every Human Institution

RESPECT FOR HUMAN INSTITUTIONS. TERTULLIAN: Pray for kings, because when the kingdom is shaken, all its other members are shaken with it, and even if we stay aloof from tumults we shall have some part in the resulting misfortune. APOLOGY 1.31.

BEHAVIOR TOWARD THOSE IN POWER. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: The proclaimers of the truth take all opportunity for wrongdoing away from us by describing how we should behave toward those who are in power in such a way that the gospel and its teaching will not be hindered by us through our unwillingness to do what they require of us and by telling us to be subject to them when it is clear that they are doing something in accordance with just laws. Nor should we be worried if they do not act in the way appointed by God, because he is in charge of them and will judge them accordingly. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

NO OBEDIENCE IF IT IS AGAINST GOD’S WILL. ANDREAS: By “every human authority” Peter means those which have been ordained by rulers. We are called to submit to them for the Lord’s sake, because he himself said: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” but if they command something which is not God’s will we must not obey them. CATENA.

2:13b | Sent To Punish Those Who Do Wrong

ENDURE THE UNWORTHINESS OF RULERS. BEDE: It is not that every human ruler punishes those who do wrong and praises those who do right, since many obviously do not live up to what God expects of them. Nevertheless, Christians receive honor and praise from God if they endure the unworthiness of their rulers and stand up against their foolishness. ON 1 PETER.

2:14a | Governors Sent by the Emperor

APPOINTED MAGISTRATES. THEOPHYLACT: Peter calls those magistrates who are appointed by kings “human creatures.” Sometimes Scripture describes appointments as creations [as in Ephesians 2:15]: “God’s purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two.” COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

2:14b | Praise Those Who Do Right

PUTTING UP WITH IGNORANCE. BEDE: This therefore is the praise which good men receive, when they act properly and obey the king’s servants, even when it means putting up with the ignorance of unwise governors. ON 1 PETER.

2:15 | By Doing Right You Silence Their Ignorance

CHRIST WAS NO ANARCHIST. ANDREAS: Peter said this because there were some subversive people who were saying that Christ had come to overthrow the state, teaching us that we should despise every earthly power. But when they see us submitting to them because it is God’s will, then they are silenced, because they realize that they were wrongly trying to tear the kingdom of Christ in two. CATENA.

2:16a | Live as Free People

DO NOT RETURN TO SLAVERY. BEDE: We are truly free if we have been cleansed of our sins through baptism and if we have been redeemed from slavery to the devil, because we have been made children of God. If we have really received so great a gift, we must not fall back into sin, because if we do so, we are falling right back into the old slavery again. ON 1 PETER.

CITIZENS OF HEAVEN FREELY OBEY EARTHLY RULERS. OECUMENIUS: We have been set free from the world. We have become citizens of heaven. This verse does not imply, according to John Chrysostom, that the apostle now wants us to be subject once again to earthly powers and to obey them. No, we are to obey them as free people, honoring the one who has delivered us and who has told us to do this for his sake. Similarly you must not have any kind of evil in your mind, like disobedience or hardness of heart. You must not use your freedom as a pretext for refusing to obey. We might add that someone who is free according to the Lord would never do anything absurd or foolish. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

2:16b | Freedom Not a Pretext for Evil

PRETEXT FOR EVIL. HILARY OF ARLES: If we have a form of religion on the outside but inside we are opposed to the rulers of the church as well as to kings and princes, we are using our faith as a pretext for evil. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

2:17a | Honor All

LOVE THE BROTHERHOOD. AUGUSTINE: How is it proved that we love the fellowship? Because we do not split unity; because we keep love. TRACTATES 2.3.2.

2:17b | Fear God

FIRST FEAR GOD. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: The fear of God must come first and govern all the rest. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

2:17c | Honor the Emperor

NOT OPTIONAL. AUGUSTINE: Do not say to yourself: “What have I got to do with the emperor?” … The apostle intended that emperors should be served, and he wanted kings to be honored. TRACTATES 6.26.1.

HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP DOES NOT IMPLY EARTHLY IRRESPONSIBILITY. ANDREAS: It is wrong to be insubordinate and disobedient to earthly authorities. Let no one say that we have been set free from the world because we have become citizens of heaven. Are you still insisting that we should obey earthly powers? Yes, says Peter, but obey them as free people, which is to say, in obedience to the one who has set you free and who has commanded you to do this. That way you will not glory in your freedom as if it were a cloak to cover up your evil thoughts, that is, of insubordination and disobedience. CATENA.

2:18 | Submit to Your Superiors Out of Respect

GOOD QUALITIES FOR THOSE IN AUTHORITY. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Impartiality, patience and kindness are very appropriate qualities for a master to possess. THE TEACHER 3.11.74.

OUT OF RESPECT. ANDREAS: The person who says that servants ought to obey their masters out of abject fear is mad and ought to be regarded as a dumb animal, for the fear which they ought to have is based on knowledge and reason and is properly known as respect. For the servant who fears his master for Christ’s sake and because of his teaching will submit to him out of respect. … And there is another aspect to this, for Peter is also telling women to respect their husbands in godly fear, for that is fully consonant with the Holy Scriptures. CATENA.

RESPECT BASED ON CONSCIENCE. OECUMENIUS: The fear which is spoken of here is something which comes as the result of knowledge and conscience. It is not some wild emotion produced by the unknown. It is the same kind of fear by which we come into the presence of God, the perfect fear with which we approach Christ. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

2:19 | Enduring Unjust Suffering

GOD TOO SUFFERED UNJUSTLY. HILARY OF ARLES: You will be approved by God if you suffer unjustly, because you know that that is exactly what he did. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

2:20 | Suffering for Doing Right

NOT FOR DOING WRONG. HILARY OF ARLES: Peter shows here that those who deserve punishment receive no mercy or grace from God if they perish. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

CHRIST TOO WAS BEATEN. BEDE: Be sure to note carefully the extent to which Peter beholds glory even in the state of slavery, by saying that those who do well and are blameless but who are beaten by cruel and dishonest masters, are following in the footsteps of Christ, who suffered unjustly on our behalf. That is something to rejoice about! ON 1 PETER.

2:21a | Christ Suffered for You

FOR THOSE WHO FOLLOW. AUGUSTINE: In this sentence the apostle Peter appears to have realized that Christ suffered for those who follow in his footsteps and that Christ’s passion profits none but those who follow in his footsteps. SERMONS 304.2.

2:21b | Leaving You an Example

HIS GOODNESS BY NATURE, OURS BY GRACE. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: The praises referred to here are those of a person who is good, not by nature but by grace, and who invites us to join him in praising the One who is good by nature. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

BY SUFFERING HIMSELF. AUGUSTINE: Christ taught you to suffer, and he did so by suffering himself. Words would not be enough unless example were added. And how, precisely did he teach us, brothers and sisters? He was hanging on the cross, and the Jews were raging … he was hanging there, yet at the same time he was healing them. SERMONS 284.6.

BEHOLD HIS EXAMPLE. ANDREAS: Having told servants to put up with unjust suffering, which was a bitter pill for them to swallow, Peter now comforts them by referring to Christ’s longsuffering. It is as if he were saying: “I am not trying to persuade you to put up with injustice simply by arguments. Rather stand back and look at your master as freemen in Christ, and you will be comforted.” CATENA.

2:22 | He Committed No Sin

NO SIN IN HIM. AUGUSTINE: Note that the apostle holds this statement that Christ did no sin sufficient to prove that there was no sin in him. He who did not sin could not have had sin in him. … Certainly the adult man would have committed sin if there had been sin in the infant. Apart from him there is no one who has not committed sin after reaching his majority, and the reason for this is that there is no one who is without sin at the beginning of infancy. AGAINST JULIAN 5.15.57.

NO GUILE ON HIS LIPS. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Since human flesh became that of the Word of God, its subjection to corruption has come to an end. He put an end to the sickness of loving pleasure. The only-begotten Word of God has not done this for himself, for his motive is not his own pleasure, but obviously he has done it for us. SERMONS 45.9.

HE PAID FOR OUR SINS. THEODORET OF CYR: Christ was nailed to the cross, paying the penalty not for his own sins but paying the debt of our nature. For our nature was in debt after transgressing the laws of its maker. And since it was in debt and unable to pay, the creator himself in his wisdom devised a way of paying the debt. By taking a human body as capital, he invested it wisely and justly in paying the debt and thereby freeing human nature. ON DIVINE PROVIDENCE 10.26.

2:23 | When Reviled He Did Not Revile

CHRIST DID NOT ANSWER HIS ACCUSERS. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: Jesus did not curse those who insulted him but handed them over to God, who is a just judge. For although the divine union of God and man in Christ is holy and undivided, yet there is a distinction to be made between the mind of the man assumed and the mind of the person assuming him. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

2:24 | He Bore Our Sins in His Body on the Tree

PENAL SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT. BASIL THE GREAT: By the blood of Christ, through faith, we have been cleansed from all sin, and by water we were baptized into the death of our Lord. We have sworn in effect that we are dead to sin and to the world but alive unto righteousness. ON BAPTISM 1.3.

HE BORE OUR TRANSGRESSIONS. SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH: The one who offered himself for our sins had no sin of his own. Instead he bore our transgressions in himself and was made a sacrifice for them. This principle is set out in the law, for what sin did the lamb or the goat have, which were sacrificed for sins and which were even called “sin” for this reason? CATENA.

2:24b | By His Wounds You Have Been Healed

HIS WOUNDS ARE OUR SAVIORS. EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: He bore the blows and wounds in his body, he was beaten and scourged and thrashed, his head was bruised with a reed. But his wounds became our saviors, for “by his stripes we are healed.” For who are we, but those who were once deceived and who did not recognize him, nor were we aware of who he was? CATENA.

A STRANGE KIND OF HEALING. THEODORET OF CYR: This is a new and strange kind of healing. For in this case it is the doctor who receives the honor but the patient who is healed. CATENA.

2:25 | The Lost Sheep Have Returned

THE GUARDIAN OF YOUR SOULS. HILARY OF ARLES: Error has three causes—darkness, loneliness and ignorance. The Gentile sheep were wandering among idols because of their foolish ignorance, and they found themselves lost in the darkness of sin and in the loneliness of a strange nation. Peter goes on to add that now they have turned to the guardian [bishop] of their souls, because although there are many guardians around who care about the things of the flesh, there are few who can look deep into the soul and take care of it. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

SHEPHERD AND GUARDIAN. BEDE: Here Peter alludes to the parable in the Gospels where the Good Shepherd leaves the ninety-nine sheep in the desert and goes after the one who has gone astray. For as it is said there, when he finds it he puts it on his shoulder and rejoices. Jesus wanted to redeem us so much that he put our sins on his shoulder and bore them for us on the tree, in order to give us eternal life as well as blessings in this world. He comes to us daily to visit the light which he has given us, in order to tend it and to help it grow. This is why he is called not only the shepherd but also the guardian of our souls. ON 1 PETER.