PETER’S OCCUPATION WITH WHAT IS LIVING
J. M. Macfarlane
My attention has been drawn to these passages by Peter’s references to “a living hope”, “the living and abiding word of God” and then, in chapter 2, to the Lord Jesus as a “living stone” and “yourselves also, as living stones”. Peter is occupied with what is living. We know some of the detail of his history; we make reference to his failures and take comfort from his restoration under the gracious service of the Lord Jesus. He was restored in a way that made it clear to him that he was being prepared by the Lord Jesus to feed and to shepherd, and these are things that belong to the promotion of life. In the process of restoration, his attention was drawn to what was living and he was commissioned to engage himself with it. We read in John 10 on Lord’s day, where the Lord Jesus is the Shepherd. He is known by the sheep and, in the responsiveness that belongs to life, they recognise His voice and follow Him rather than another. When the Shepherd expresses Himself, the sheep recognise the speaking because they are familiar with His voice. There is a whole living arrangement in this flock that is led in and led out and finds pasture by Him who is the Shepherd. Life is sustained by the activity of the Shepherd, and Peter was drawn into activity of this kind. He digressed when he went back to being a fisherman, but the Lord Jesus draws him into this line of looking after sheep and lambs, seeing that they are fed, engaging in activities which ensure the promotion of life.
There are echoes of Paul in the way in which he opens his epistle, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”, but he continues with a line which is characteristic of his own distinctive impression of what is living, “who, according to his great mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope”. He recognises this position of being begotten of the Father and, having the sense of being brought into life through such a distinguished line, he proceeds to speak about “a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead”. We are alive in the line of the Father, and after Christ’s order in resurrection. Jesus Christ has triumphed over death and, in consequence, we have a living hope, a prospect of which we can be confident. We have often reminded ourselves that, with men in general, some degree of uncertainty is associated with hope. The Christian’s is a living hope; it is as real as his consciousness of life. Peter has a hope that provides not only for his ultimate security but it sustains his life in this line of being begotten of the Father.
Later, he refers to brotherly love and love. These are things that belong to life; they have no context apart from life. In this realm of life, there is not simply an acknowledgment of the suitability of expressed affection but he exhorts to “love one another out of a pure heart fervently”. This leads immediately to life towards God and another reference to origins, “being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the living and abiding word of God”. The word of God is involved not only in the beginning of life towards God but it also provides for its sustaining. Peter had long known this. John’s gospel tells us that when the Lord Jesus asked those around Him if they would also go away, Peter’s answer was, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal”, John 6: 68.
He was held by the Lord Jesus because of the life-giving power of His words. He sees the origin of this life which derives from “being born again … by the living and abiding word of God”. This word is both living and enduring. So many spoken words are fleeting, with no lasting effect, but it is not so with words of this kind. These words sustain life of a new order.
Peter goes on immediately to speak of the contrast with all flesh, which is as withering grass, and he then returns to the eternally abiding word of the Lord. This sustaining word of divine origin abides to eternity. Things which endure are prominently before Peter’s mind here. He spoke earlier of “an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance”.
He draws our attention now to the One to whom we come. He is One whom we have tasted to be good and He is represented as possessing the enduring nature of a stone, “To whom coming, a living stone, cast away indeed as worthless by men, but with God chosen, precious”. Peter has already emphasised the lasting nature of the things with which he seeks to occupy his readers and his reference to the stone continues this theme. This stone, however, does not simply exist in some way that is enduring but inert; it is a Living Stone, “with God chosen, precious” and then, moving rapidly onwards in the manner so characteristic of Peter, “yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood”. He has spoken about being begotten of the Father and about being born again by the living and abiding word of God. Now he refers to close association with Him who is the Living Stone and as brought into this position of being living stones, we “are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”. I think that there is a certain climax here. You might wonder about the purpose of this living arrangement. It is in the service of offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Christ Jesus.
The physical creation gives indication of God’s interest in life—its immense variety and its capacity for recovery bear testimony to this. For many, sadly, the objective of natural life in this world is simply to enjoy the moment. Life has no grand purpose. There are philosophies abroad which state quite explicitly that life has neither meaning nor purpose. Man is drawn to this sad conclusion because his view is only of natural processes with nothing but a natural mind. In wonderful contrast to this bleak perspective is the world of life which Peter unfolds, where a spiritual house and a holy priesthood are being built to sustain an eternal occupation, “to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”. May we encouraged by these things for His name’s sake.
Word in meeting for ministry, Dundee
8 November 2005