1 PETER 3 (NOTES OF A READING)
[p. 263] 1 PETER 3 (NOTES OF A READING)
Ques Does verse 13 suggest the saints “have become imitators of that which is good”?
CAC In the footnote it says it might read, ‘him that is good’, it is a very personal reference to Christ. So the thing is to sanctify the Lord the Christ in our hearts. It is a beautiful thought that the hearts of the saints are to be a sanctuary for the Lord. All that is right outwardly flows out of that.
Ques What is the force of the expression, “The Lord the Christ”? Probably it is an allusion to Isaiah 8: 13: “Jehovah of hosts, him shall ye sanctify; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread”.
CAC I wonder whether it is one of the many scriptures that bring the thought of Jehovah and the Christ into very intimate connection. A pious Jew would see that all that was attached to Jehovah is now attached to Christ. I think “the Lord the Christ” was a blending of the two thoughts.
Rem It is like “the hidden man of the heart”.
CAC I thought so. It is very wonderful that the hearts of the saints can be a sanctuary for divine Persons. There is something greater in the hearts of the saints than anything that was known in the temple of old, which after all was a dead thing; but the hearts of the saints are living, full of vital affection; that is the thought, and the Lord the Christ is sanctified there.
Rem In John 17: 19 He says, “I sanctify myself ..., that they also may be sanctified by truth”. In His going to the Father, He set Himself apart, and it would draw the affections of the saints to where He is.
CAC Yes, it is positional sanctification there, is it not?
Rem There was no temple here, the Lord and the [p. 264] disciples were cast out, but they would give Him a place in their hearts.
CAC It is just so today; neither Jehovah nor His Christ have any place except in the hearts of His saints.
Rem The saints are in the midst of what is profession and not real.
CAC That is not good enough for Him. It is an insult to God to think that He would value a cathedral. He dwells in the affections of the human heart; it is what is inward. The feeblest saint can sanctify the Lord the Christ in His heart. If all the world and the church is wrong, there is nothing to hinder me from so sanctifying Him, and if you do it too, we will get on very well together.
Rem You really get the material for the house in that way.
CAC And this is to be an intelligent matter, not mere feeling or sentiment, so that if any ask a question, we are prepared to give an answer.
Ques Would the thought of the Christ be His answering as the anointed One to the thoughts of the Father?
CAC So that it is not only the thought of Jehovah abstractly, but identified with that, the Christ. All the will of God has come into effect by His anointed One — that is to be sanctified in our hearts, and carried about in our hearts all day long. So we are not taken aback by a question, because we are ever so pleased if anyone gives us a chance of giving a reason — it is not worked up.
Rem “Whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world” (John 10: 36). He is cast out, but elect of God and precious.
CAC Well, what a secret to carry in the heart. You feel how small and unworthy every human conception is compared with that. It must lead to men acting very strangely in the eyes of other men, and so people ask questions. Christians generally think it right to accommodate themselves to the things that are, but a real Christian wants to act true to what is in his heart, “An account of the hope”. What are you looking for that makes you act in such a strange way? So that God and His Christ are more intimately near to us than any other person or thing.
Ques The spirit in which we answer would be of importance, would you say?
CAC Oh, I think that is so important; that is a lesson I have to learn yet. I find it so easy to put people right in a sort of way that gives some impression of my importance. But “with meekness and fear” is a real testimony, not only what we say but the spirit in which we say it. It is to be obvious that we have been subdued to divine Persons, so that we speak in a subdued and reverential spirit. I have often to judge myself as to that. We should like to give that impression.
Rem If we were living in our hope, the questions would be rather different sometimes from what are put to us.
Rem They could not resist the wisdom and the spirit with which Stephen spoke.
CAC His spirit was such that they could not meet him. I was thinking when reading Stephen’s address quite lately, that it is a most remarkable address when you come to think of it. There is nothing to show from beginning to end that the man Stephen had any place at all. There is not a word about himself, it is entirely a vindication of the ways of God; that is, it seems that the glory of God had come in and excluded everything else from his heart. The glory of it was shining in his face, it was effulgent. That is the sort of man to imitate. And Peter gives the impression that suffering is bound up with all this. If we sanctify the Lord the Christ in our hearts, there will be suffering; Stephen found it so.
Rem In Psalm 2, “The kings of the earth set themselves ... against Jehovah and against his anointed”, and he says, “Be ye wise, be admonished, ye judges of the earth”, and he brings out the preciousness of “his anointed” in spite of all the opposition.
[p. 266] Rem Suffering is connected with the will of God here, not with what is in opposition.
CAC It is very striking that the will of God should will it. The saints accept it as the will of God.
Rem Our manner of life is to be a cause of testimony. Sometimes we are inclined to force ourselves upon people, not waiting for our manner of life to speak.
CAC “Your good conversation in Christ”. Peter is not given to saying very much about being in Christ, but gives enough to show he does not leave it out. Evidently, it refers to the public conduct of the saints, as it is a thing that may be calumniated. The public conduct of the saints is to be in Christ, as much as to say it is a very high standard. Is it expressive of Christ? is the question for a Christian.
Ques Does suffering for well-doing go beyond suffering for righteousness’ sake?
CAC It comes to pretty much the same thing whichever way we look at it; whether for Christ’s sake, for righteousness’ sake, or for well-doing, it is all really the same character of things. “Christ indeed has once suffered for sins”; it is quite out of place if Christians have so to suffer; Christ has done that. It is now for Christians to suffer for well-doing. As we move in Christ, the suffering we shall get will be for well-doing.
Ques Is it the thought of the atoning sufferings of Christ?
CAC Yes, because it says, He “suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God”. So that He has brought us to God without sins. He has been prepared to suffer for sins that He might bring us to God without sins. So that the Christian now suffers because he will not sin. Men would like him to sin, and because he will not sin he suffers.
Ques Is it all linked up with the long-suffering of God seen in the preaching to the spirits in prison — longsuffering, all in view of the salvation of men? And so would it be in the suffering [p. 267] of the saints?
CAC It shows what the state of things around really is, so that the Christian must be saved from it. It is very much like what it was in the days of Noah — the type of God’s long-suffering. Everything that is displeasing to God He is bearing with in patience, and His Spirit is still preaching.
Ques “Made alive in the Spirit”. Would that be His coming out in resurrection?
CAC That is, the flesh order even in Christ had ended — yes, I think so. The flesh order is not the thing that we want to preserve. It had not been, even in Christ; it has been put to death.
Rem As we get in Genesis, “The end of all flesh is come before me” (chapter 6: 13).
CAC The spirit order is permanent, not the flesh order. So we do not want to preserve ourselves from suffering, because that is the flesh order, but we want to preserve the spiritual order, because it is that into which Christ entered in resurrection.
Rem “In which also going he preached to the spirits which are in prison”.
CAC That is, God is really concerned about men’s spirits.