1 PETER 1 AND 2 (NOTES OF A READING)
1 PETER 1 AND [p. 218] 2 (NOTES OF A READING)
1 Peter 1: 22 - 25; 1 Peter 2: 1 - 4
Ques Would obedience to the truth of christianity come in in contradistinction to the Jewish order of things?
CAC Yes, I should think so.
Rem Verse 21 is a wonderful word of the gospel, bringing in a glorified Man.
CAC I think the whole spirit of the believing soul is affected by it. So that the new principle of obedience (that is, new to man as a fallen being) comes in and brings about conditions that are favourable to the activities of love. People often complain of the want of love. Well, the only way to remedy that is to have more holiness, and more of the spirit of obedience, brought about under the powerful influence of the gospel; that is, it is not a burdensome thing if I gain everything possible for time and eternity by it.
Peter assumes that he is writing to persons who are really Christ’s lambs and sheep; they have all taken on this character of obedience. Those who have not do not gain from Peter’s command from Christ to feed and shepherd the lambs and sheep. The Lord says, “My sheep hear my voice” (John 10: 27); that is, the spirit of obedience marks off the lambs and sheep of Christ’s flock.
Ques Is there some difference in what Peter speaks of as new birth, from the way John speaks of it — born anew?
CAC Do you not think that the Lord in referring to being “born anew” refers to an action of God altogether sovereign? You cannot trace it. You cannot exactly see what the wind is about, you cannot tell “whence it comes and where it goes”. It is a sovereign movement. But Peter seems to take account of something that acts morally on the soul; that is, the word of God comes in and becomes an incorruptible seed — something of God brought in by the word. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
[p. 219] by the living and abiding word of God”. So there is something there that can be definitely traced to God. A new element comes in to work in the soul by its divine testimony. We hear something and its effect cannot be shaken off, it lays hold of the inmost soul.
Ques Do you connect “the truth” and “the living and abiding word of God” as akin, or separate things?
CAC Well, “the living and abiding word of God”, “the word of the Lord” (verse 25), the “glad tidings” “preached” (verse 25) and “the truth” (verse 22) would all go together, do you not think? There is a new attitude of soul brought about — of obedience. The person who never thought of subjecting himself to God suddenly comes to the conviction that it is the only possible thing to do. So the man who hears the gospel really for the first time goes home to go down on his knees. Where that is genuine, the conviction of God has entered into a man’s soul. He could not explain it, but there it is. And the word of God becomes the greatest reality. What has been communicated of God becomes the greatest reality to the soul, and nothing can set it aside. It is an everlasting thing, it abides for eternity. The word of God operating in the soul of man abides for eternity. And then we can easily see that that kind of spirit is very favourable to the activity of love. God has provided us with a number of objects for our love. That is the way to know it. It is not expecting love — that is not it at all. But there are a number of persons in the world that the believer can love because they are born of incorruptible seed, and he does love them. There is a kind of basis established in the soul on which a wonderful purifying work can go on, as we see in the next chapter. “Laying aside therefore all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envyings and all evil speakings”; that is, putting aside all that belongs to the old order of things.
Rem It has to be practical, worked out in us.
CAC And of course we begin “as newborn babes”, we do not get power to deal with all the hostile elements at [p. 220] once. It is a question of growing up to salvation, and we grow up as we desire “the pure mental milk of the word”.
Ques Is incorruptible used as applying to the work of God in the saints here?
CAC Yes, and that has entered into the soul purely of God, there is no human admixture in it.
Rem “Them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption” (Ephesians 6: 24), there is no possibility of being corrupted.
CAC Yes, God Himself is spoken of as “the incorruptible God” (Romans 1: 23). All this has in view the building of the spiritual house and the material. This first chapter shows how the living stones come into being.
Ques How would it compare with the types in the Old Testament?
CAC I think Peter has the general thought in mind of the temple, but now it is a spiritual house.
Rem By our all coming into the family by the same means, there is likeness in that way. Natural society does not hold; this will hold, and it increases.
CAC And the longer we go on together, the more definitely we are bound together, everything of the perishable order having gone; for it is remarkable how he says, “The grass has withered and its flower has fallen”. It is really what has taken place at the cross, but now has become a reality in the soul, so that what is of the flesh ceases to have value, and what is of God becomes unspeakably precious.
It is striking that it does not say that it ought to, but it has! In the death of Christ all that order of being has withered up.
Rem It is a side of the truth we do not always keep in mind. According to Peter it is one of the first things in our souls in connection with the truth that takes root.
CAC Yes.
Ques In the movement of soul to pass out of the flesh condition to Christ where He is, is the word that which will help us?
CAC [p. 221] And to get by the glad tidings the real apprehension of the goodness of God: “If indeed ye have tasted that the Lord is good”. It is referring to God, is it not? So it is worth while to break loose from everything that tends to displace God in the soul. If there is desire for more of God the pure mental milk would nourish us in all God is in goodness for men.
Rem It is salvation to see that Christ is the real Centre of a world for God’s glory.
CAC Yes, I have learned His goodness in what He has done for me as a poor sinner; we have tasted it, and then we find there is One who is indispensable to us. He is of no account at all in the estimation of men.
Ques Is this coming (verse 4) normally the coming of a saint subsequent to conversion — not the initial thing but the apprehension of Him as a Living Stone?
CAC Surely; it is the living stones coming, those who have an appreciation of His wondrous worth.
Ques Would Peter’s experience in coming out of the boat refer to this, “Lord, if it be thou, command me to come to thee upon the waters” (Matthew 14: 28)? And he left the ship to go to Jesus. I wondered if it had any reference to his personal experience in order to reach the Person?
CAC We should learn what Christ is as “chosen, precious” with God. If we learn what He is with God, yet we find He is “cast away indeed as worthless by men”. It is something like a shock to a young convert that people do not want Christ. Christ has become so precious that he cannot think that anybody can hear of Him and not want Him. If we were true to the first impression made on our souls by God, we should very soon find Christ is “cast away indeed as worthless by men”; but He is chosen of God, and precious. Well, that defines our position; we cannot go on with those who cast Him away as worthless, but we look out for the other living stones who see Christ is chosen and precious; we want contact with them. It is a great comfort to [p. 222] think there are many others with the same thoughts. Well, I want to establish contact with them. The young convert would through divine unction look out for such. If the exercise were followed up it would really link all the living stones together. The stones come and the building up goes on. It does not say who does it exactly. The stones come — it is their action — and so prove they have vitality by leaving the world that cast Christ out as worthless. And if we find ourselves among these we show we are living stones and are fit to be put in connection with the Living Stone; so there is a structure where God can be served for His pleasure, for everyone to whom Christ is precious can serve God for His pleasure. And in the principle of it, it underlies all service. We cannot allow that any living stone would fail to come.
Ques What about isolated believers?
CAC If they really followed up their exercises they would get out of their solitude. Every saint is a stone potentially, and then these features have to be shown, so that the thing comes into evidence — the structure comes into being of persons who recognise that Christ is precious and cast out. That is my link with the brethren, and when I see He is more precious to them than to me, I am ever so pleased! There is no thought in the religious world of a spiritual house for the service of God, having a universal character; for a spiritual house is not local. Every saint is essential to it. I want to see more clearly than ever the place Christ has in the mind of the man after the flesh, and then how precious He is to God; and then we want to walk with those who have the appreciation of Christ.