BRIEF NOTES OF READINGS ON 1 PETER
[p. 130] BRIEF NOTES OF READINGS ON 1 PETER
Down to verse 21 of chapter 1 the point is the relation into which we have been brought with Christ: from verse 22 it is more our relation with one another. The great principles by which the world has been corrupted are, (1) lawlessness in regard to God, and (2) hatred in regard to one another. Adam is the figure of the one and the other came in by Cain — he hated his brother. Hence two great principles come out in the way of God’s recovery. The first involves our being brought out of lawlessness into attachment — and the second out of the world, its lust and hatred into the circle of divine affections. In virtue of redemption we are brought into attachment, i.e., “Who by him do believe on God etc” (verse 21) — we come in other words into the kingdom. Verse 22 and what follows brings out the thought of a circle down here — “Having purified etc.... to unfeigned brotherly love”. You cannot get on in isolation and you can only escape the world by coming into the christian circle. What God provided from the very outset was a centre to which men could be attached and a circle by which men could escape the world and the gospel was never preached until both were provided. On the day of Pentecost three thousand souls were brought into attachment to the divinely appointed centre and they were brought into the christian circle. On the one hand they were delivered from lawlessness, and hatred on the other. The object of all preaching is to bring souls into attachment with Christ and if that is effected they are no longer lawless but righteous. But it would not do for them to stop there. They must be brought out of the world and that can only be by bringing them into the christian circle. “Given him glory” verse 21. What is His glory? I have no doubt it is that He is the [p. 131] Sun and centre of the universe of bliss. He is the Sun of righteousness. “That your faith and hope should be in God”. We come into attachment so that morally we should be in all the good of what will come out by and by.
Verse 22. Our affection for Christ is very much proved by the regard we have for one another. Love is not put as a test in regard of God but in our relationships with one another. It is of no use talking about loving Christ unless you love one another. Righteousness comes out in love one to another — it is the necessary sequence. You have to recognise the brethren as kindred to Christ.
Verse 23. You are partakers of the divine nature. The issue of the word of God in a kind of way is the divine nature. It should read “being born again ... and abiding word of God”. The word of God is the revelation of God. We are all begotten of God by the revelation of God in our hearts practically. Of course I am speaking morally not materially.
Chapter 2: 1. All these things belong to the world. Then verses 2 and 3, “As newborn babes, etc”. You may depend upon it that where people are being led on the first step is that they are brought into attachment to Christ then into the christian circle the atmosphere of which is love. In the great systems which comprise christendom salvation cannot be known — people never “grow up to salvation” there — the things in which they are entangled prevent it. They are kept in great worldly systems which are a denial of the divine circle. Anything which keeps you attached to this world must be a denial of the divine circle. We have to look to it that we do not build up brethrenism — we want to build up the circle of affections.
“The pure mental milk of the word” is what is fundamental. You will never get a constitution built up without good food. Children want healthy conditions and good food and you cannot dispense with either. We want these things just as much spiritually. The ‘atmosphere’ [p. 132] furnishes the healthy conditions and good food is found in John 6. The ‘atmosphere’ you will find in the christian circle — the atmosphere of divine affections; and the Lord says in John 6: He is the bread that came down from heaven and you could not want better food. If you have both, persons’ constitutions will be built up.
The great point is to testify that righteousness is there. God has provided righteousness in Christ, the Sun of righteousness. Now the thing is for man to come into righteousness. This he does by faith, and salvation comes in by the Spirit. You want to bring a person into the reality of the covenant. In other words you want to establish one, in the sense of what God is toward them. That is brought out in verse 3, because if I know what the Lord is I have a sense of what God is toward me, and in that we want to be established more and more.
The work of the Spirit of God in this sense is really to bring them into accord with Christ risen. It is a great thing to apprehend Christ as the living stone and we are led on into accord with Christ by the Spirit. He is “cast away indeed as worthless by men, but with God chosen, precious” and all our ability for spiritual sacrifices depends entirely on our being in accord. It is only as risen together with Christ that we can build priesthood up. Christ is presented here as the centre and foundation of a worshipping company. The apprehension of Christ as the living stone indicates that you have begun to have an apprehension of the purpose of God. Men cast Him away but then He is chosen of God. He is the centre and beginning and foundation of God’s universe and He is precious to us. He is the great bond and all is unity — a “spiritual house”, a “holy priesthood” a “chosen race”. Christians have come into the place which was foreshadowed in Israel. Israel was a chosen race and was to be in a kind of way a holy priesthood and God called them out of Egypt into His marvellous light. We have come into these things in a spiritual way. They will [p. 133] come into them in a more literal way by and by.
Everybody ought to be a Jew — “He is a Jew who is so inwardly”. All ought to keep the commandments of God. We take up all Israel’s privileges in a spiritual way. We cannot get into the pure heavenly things but God calls us to be faithful at the moment in the things which belong to earth, i.e., in a spiritual sense. They will qualify us for the time to come.
Chapter 2: 11 - 25; 3: 16, 17 The light we get in regard to Christ, tends to unity. The effect of the apprehension of Christ as the living Stone is that we are built up a “spiritual house, a holy priesthood” we are built up in unity.
The first great step is attachment then you get unity. The next step you get is the path of the individual christian in the world, of the one who is attached to Christ, has been brought into the christian circle in unity. You must understand your links and then you are ready for the individual path.
Verses 11 and 12. We have to go out into the world, and on the one hand are to abstain from fleshly lusts, on the other our conversation is to be honest among the Gentiles. We are not to go on in the way of the Gentiles but are to have our conversation honest among the Gentiles. If we were more in the reality of what comes out prior to this, there would be nothing congenial in the world and we should come out more as “strangers and sojourners”. Whilst bound together in unity, when you come to our individual path in the world we are strangers and sojourners. The elements of the world are destructive to unity.
The first thing is very important, we are to abstain from fleshly lusts. They may come out in a great many ways, in dress, in your houses, in your tastes but they war against the soul even though they may be very refined. You may get a very great deal in the present day of sensuous religion, hence the need for constant exercise;
[p. 134] you do not want to encourage anything that wars against the soul. The effort amongst us is to sail as close to the wind as you can, consenting to the truth and getting as much of the world as possible in a quiet kind of way, especially with people who have most. One may go in for the lusts of the flesh and yet consent to the truth. In doing this no progress is made spiritually. You find young people running after this and that thing to gratify their tastes, things which please the eye and the taste — pictures, etc. The question is not where is the harm? but they war against the soul and no spiritual progress is made in allowing them.
If we were really in the good of our proper link it would be an immense thing; Faith and hope in God (1: 21), Love to the brethren (verse 22). In these you have all the elements of christian life, faith, hope and love. We all of us ought to be patterns of good works among the Gentiles (verse 12). In verses 13 to 17 you get an idea of good works. It is rather remarkable “Be in subjection therefore to every human institution”. We do not look at kings and governors as a divine appointment. We have to accept the institution of man. Jerusalem was the city of the great King and David and Solomon were appointed of Jehovah. You have not that in the present day. Kings and governors are really human but you are to submit to them. In Romans 13: 1 “set up by God” really means that they are allowed of God, providentially and supported of God. You can just as easily accept a republic as anything else. It is a human ordinance. “For the Lord’s sake” is with a conscience towards the Lord. It is a very important thing to see that at the present time government is maintained, God upholds it on account of the testimony. Everything is subservient to the testimony, therefore we make “supplications, prayers ... for kings and all that are in authority”, etc. (1 Timothy 2: 1 - 2) God would have all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth, and maintains government in the interests of the testimony. I am sure God is not [p. 135] maintaining government for the glory of man, that is the mistake they are labouring under in the world. If we were in the realization of that we would become truly evangelical and prayer and supplication would be made for kings and all in authority.
It is remarkable that we get exhortations addressed to the servants, to the wives and to the husbands (2: 18; 3: 1, 7). He does not take other classes like the apostle does in the epistle to the Ephesians. The great principle in the church of God is subjection — “Servants, be subject with all fear to your masters”, then again “Likewise, wives, be subject”. It is wilfulness and insubjection which bring in mischief. It is a wonderful testimony to the women of old (3: 5, 6) and things have not changed. I think adornment is important enough, only let it be moral, external beauty will not approve itself to God. What will commend a person is the adornment of a meek and quiet spirit in the hidden man of the heart. The wife is to be in subjection but on the other hand the husband is not to tyrannise over the wife (see verse 7). They are “fellow-heirs of the grace of life”. There is no difference there. How perfect Scripture is in the way it takes things up. See the delicacy and propriety of these exhortations. It is a very remarkable fact that two of the most beautiful exhortations you get in Scripture are addressed to servants, viz, in Titus and here. In the one it is “that they may adorn the teaching which is of our Saviour God in all things” and here “for to this have ye been called; for Christ also has suffered for you, leaving you a model that ye should follow in his steps”. Christ is all that man could be or should be for God — He is the Ark of the Covenant.
Chapter 3: 8 - 4: 11 It is of help to see the natural division of the epistle, because the apostle presents things in a kind of moral sequence. In the first chapter down to verse 21 the point is we are brought in relation to God into attachment.
[p. 136] From the end of chapter 1 down to verse 10 of the next chapter what the apostle is enforcing is our relation to one another — we are to love one another out of a pure heart fervently, then you get the thought of a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, which brings in the idea of unity. So too does “ye are a chosen race, etc”. It all has reference to our relation to one another. To the 7th verse of the next chapter we get our individual path as pilgrims and strangers in the world. In the passage now under consideration we get a further point, our relation to the moral government of God. In the previous part it speaks very much of what is seen and manifest, but when you come to the moral government of God it is not seen; yet it is very important to remember that it has an issue. It is hidden now but it will not always be so. It will one day become manifest that “the face of the Lord is against them that do evil”. The moral government of God goes on until everything becomes manifest. It is concealed now but the great point is that it is there and those who believe are the subjects of that moral government. If we take it into account, it is a real help to us now. Christianity in every way is a great gain, for it adjusts us now to the moral government of God. If you do right the moral government of God is in your favour; if you do wrong whether you are christians or not you will have the moral government against you. “The face of the Lord is against them that do evil”.
Verse 9 — “Blessing” is the sense of God’s favour and nearness. In spite of everything that you see around you the moral government of God is in favour of those who do good. The great men of the world have no idea of the moral government of God, their idea is for a man to do the best he can for himself.
Ever since God retired from the world the moral government of God has been hid; it has all its force in the fact that the thing itself will become manifest in a future day, but there are fruits of it now coming out.
[p. 137] Verses 13 and 14 seem to contemplate suffering and opposition. The point is the moral government of God is there and you want to be in accord with it. There are plenty of people who have no idea of God’s moral government, and you may have to suffer for righteousness sake; but it is better to suffer and not to be obnoxious to the moral government of God — in the end you are better off. The 13th verse is the general principle; the 14th verse is the possible exemption. The moral government of God is not a new thing; the Psalms are full of it. God took account of the ways of the righteous and the principles never change.
Suffering for righteousness is really suffering for the recognition of Christ and the great point is to “sanctify the Lord the Christ in your hearts, and be always prepared, etc”. verse 15. I cannot see how any righteousness can be without giving Christ His true place in your heart. Christianity has been brought down to the level of man but the great point in righteousness is really what is true of Christ and that has got to be maintained. Hence you may have to suffer for righteousness sake. Daniel and his fellows sanctified the Lord God in their hearts and they had to suffer for righteousness sake. In our case the truth of Christ has come in and Christ is the Sun of righteousness.
The question of giving an answer comes in because the suffering that is contemplated is really religious. People were put to the test religiously — as to whether they would acknowledge idolatry and that kind of thing. It really means confessing Christ as Lord. “Sanctify the Lord the Christ in your hearts”. At the same time you are to “be always prepared to give an answer to every one that asks you to give an account of the hope that is in you, but with meekness and fear”. After all, Christ has reference to every man, not simply to believers.
We forget that sometimes. He is Mediator; He “gave himself a ransom for all”. He bought the field for the sake of the treasure — the field has a relation to Christ [p. 138] and Christ has relation to the field. Therefore in giving your answer if challenged you would do so in such a way as to bring in His relation to all. Then if God has made Christ the test of every man He becomes the test of good and evil. In Noah (verse 20) you get God’s moral government coming out, and it came to an issue. In a certain sense now it has come to an issue. If you get into the ark you come to the issue of His moral government and you get things entirely according to God. The house of God was the place where everything was really according to God, and there, properly speaking moral government was brought to an issue. In the house of God you are not only in the presence of God’s government, you are in the presence of God Himself. The church of God in christendom is more like a great house and therefore you have to conceive of the house of God in a kind of abstract way, and there it is where all moral questions and considerations are brought to an issue. That is why He brings Noah, “which figure also, etc”. verse 21. It is very interesting to see that there is a spot upon earth where the moral government of God has come to an issue. You could not conceive of God dwelling where things have not come to an issue. Therefore what a wonderful thing the house of God is, the true character of it. It is a great point to apprehend that there should be such a conception here upon earth.
Verse 21. By baptism people were separated from the delusions of the world and brought into the scene where God dwelt by the Spirit, where everything was according to Himself. People have only to be true to their baptism and there will be nothing obnoxious to the government of God. That is introduced in the next chapter — i.e., what must follow the baptism and we must make up our minds to suffer. Still “he that has suffered in the flesh has done with sin”. We can be in accord with Christ and suffer in the flesh, then it is we cease from sin. That is the force of the expression “Do ye also arm yourselves with the same mind”, it is the same mind [p. 139] which you see in Christ. There is not only the absence in our ways of what is contrary to God but there is the presence of that which is suitable to God (chapter 4: 2). Everyone who is not subject to the will of God is lawless and we could not conceive of anything like happiness for man, apart from the will of God. It is a great thing to be able to act in the light of God instead of in legality. The presence of divine goodness puts aside all legality. I think legality always indicates a disposition to secrete things from God. The real spring of all right and happy action is being in the presence of divine goodness — “perfect love casts out fear”, there is no torment and you get liberty.
Verse 5 applies to the Gentiles (chapter 4). It is important to see that the present moment is provisional. The house of God anticipates the world to come, and in connection with the house of God, God is favourable towards all men, but the present moment is only provisional and God is going to bring everything to a perfect issue, “the end of all things is drawn nigh” verse 7. Things are really waiting for the moment which will certainly take place when men will set up the man of sin. They will not have God at any price, then it is that God comes in as a judge. It is an absolute impossibility for judgment to come at the present time because it is an accepted time and day of salvation and judgment waits until man shews his hand in Antichrist. The mystery of lawlessness already works and will find expression in the man of sin; then God will come in in judgment. It is a great thing in the testimony that we do not falsify the character of the moment, we should not becloud the grace of God.
Chapter 4: 12 - 14 In this passage we get the fiery trial which was to try the saints. There is a sort of moral sequence all through the epistle. In chapters 1 and 2 they were taken out of the world, but then individually they had to come to [p. 140] the world and had to be subject to every human ordinance for the Lord’s sake and they had at the same time to take account of the moral government of God. It was in the world too that they might expect the fiery trial of which the apostle speaks. I take it that the fiery trial was that which was to test them and connect it with 1 Corinthians 3: 12 - 15. There you get the thought of the fiery trial which was coming in to try them and to burn up that which would not stand the test. It refers to persecution. It appears necessary because things had dropped down in the house of God; it is akin to Smyrna in the way of recovery. The house of God is where the results of God’s government become manifest and it is the place of salvation because it is the sphere of righteousness. When God makes known His government you are bound to get the two things, judgment and salvation. We get three instances in Scripture where God’s moral government has come to an issue and in every instance you get judgment and salvation. So it will be yet. (1) The flood. There God made manifest His moral government and you get the two things; salvation in the ark and judgment on the ungodly. (2) Sodom and Gomorrah. There was salvation for Lot and judgment on the cities. (3) Israel — God’s judgment was brought to an issue and you get salvation for the Israelites and judgment for the Egyptians at the Red sea. It is a remarkable thing that water is used as the token of the two things, i.e., in the flood, water was the means of salvation and at the same time it was the instrument of judgment. So with the Israelites and the Egyptians. The water figuratively was the death of Christ.
The Lord takes the character of judge when evil comes in. If salvation is not maintained in the house of God then God comes in in judgment that it should not be completely lost. I am sure there has been no subject less understood than salvation. The house of God is the place of salvation and there is no salvation outside [p. 141] of it. In Popery they have got the idea that there is no salvation outside the church and I quite believe it. Satan seems to have perceived the divine idea and prostituted it. Salvation is really to be in moral accord with God. In the ark typically we are in accord with God. In regard to the children of Israel too the only act of faith attributed to them was that they passed through the Red sea — they were so far in accord with God. The same thing is true in regard to the house of God. What gave its proper character to it was that the Spirit of God was there, but those who composed the house of God were living stones — they were in accord with God and therefore were in salvation. So “the Lord added ... daily those that were to be saved”. Salvation is the beauty of the saints — “He beautifieth the meek with salvation ... let them shout for joy”. Salvation goes beyond righteousness in a sense. I think salvation indicates that what God saves is that which is in moral accord with Himself. The fact of judgment coming in indicates that the house of God had departed from moral accord with God. If people want salvation let them seek to be in moral accord with God and I have no doubt whatever they will find themselves clothed with salvation. People want it simply as a term but they will not get it that way. The point with the apostle in “work out your own salvation” was that they should work it out into result. You manifest yourselves as the children of God down here because you are in moral accord with God and so are in salvation. The word to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4: 16 applies too. The question is very often put to persons unadvisedly, ‘Are you saved?’ The danger is that they will say they are saved when they are not saved at all. Salvation has not come in a manifest way and therefore you can only come into it morally; and morally many persons know nothing about it. I do not think you could say the prodigal was saved until he had the best robe, etc., on. Then he was in moral accord with his father. Prior to that he was on [p. 142] the road to it. There are people on the road to it. Things are absolute on God’s side although we only get a little bit at a time on our side. No doubt when the father fell upon the prodigal’s neck the robe was in his mind although the prodigal did not have it on.
Forgiveness even is not known except by the Spirit. You do not believe that you are forgiven. You are never taught to do so and whatever people may think they do not believe it. What they believe is what is set forth in the testimony, viz., that there is forgiveness of sins in Christ’s name and that is universal — it is God’s mind in regard of any man. When forgiveness in Christ’s name was preached and believed people got the Spirit and that brought them into the enjoyment of it. The great end and object in Christ is that you may get living water. The point all through the Acts of the Apostles was that people should get the gift of the Holy Spirit. A person comes to Christ as needy with a request in his heart on account of his need and God knows what will suit him exactly and he gets the Spirit. The Spirit brings you into a world of reality. Cornelius by the Holy Spirit got the knowledge or witness of forgiveness. We too receive forgiveness in the witness of the Spirit.
We have failed to give proper force to the Spirit in christianity. We receive the witness of the Spirit that we may have a purged conscience and have liberty of approach to God. There are two things necessary in approaching God — one is the good of the covenant and the other is a purged conscience. Christ was the Covenant and the covenant was sealed in His blood. Therefore you get the two things in Christ — you get the covenant and a purged conscience.
A man is saved really by being in moral accord with God. In the psalms salvation is for the righteous and judgment for the wicked. To get clear on salvation we need first to understand righteousness.