Cross to Crown Blog

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation… (1 Peter 2:9)

The word “nation” is ethnos from which we get our term “ethnic” or “ethnicity.” The gospel redefines ethnicity. Instead of Asian or African or Indian, the cross has now divided the world into the holy and, by implication, the unholy/profane.

How about this answer to the problem of racism? When you walk into a room filled with strangers, do you identify with people based on their skin color, facial features, and hair? Or do you identify them by their status as members of this new “ethnic group” created by the cross—the elect, royal, holy people of God? It’s a family resemblance based on holiness rather than on bloodline.

So what does it mean to be a “holy nation”? The qualifier “holy” refers not so much to moral quality as it does uniqueness, devotedness, set-apart-ness to God.

We see this clearly in the book of Leviticus, a book obsessed with holiness: holy offerings, holy places, holy people. The Lord commands: “Be holy, for I am holy.” But if you read the book, you’ll notice that it contains a whole index of clean vs. unclean: animals, foods, health issues, building materials, etc. This pervasive concern for cleanness cultivated a whole lifestyle and mindset of separateness, distinction, uniqueness. Why? So they would remember who they were as a people: a nation separate from the other nations, uniquely devoted to the one, true God. Their worship, their diet, their clothing, even their farming practices demonstrated it. They were different, unique, holy.

So what happens to these practices after the cross? Suddenly, the ceremonies and practices which kept Israel separate from the other nations no longer apply. Remember Peter’s experience in Acts 10? God showed him a virtual buffet spread with all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. At first he resisted God’s invitation to eat, but the Lord explained: “What God has made clean, do not call common.” Peter was so confused by this radical reversal of OT laws of cleanness, God had to take him through the vision three times. But finally, he got the point: God was expanding and redefining the people of God. Previously, to be part of God’s holy group, one needed a blood connection to Abraham; now what was required was a faith connection to Jesus. The line of holiness is now drawn between believers and unbelievers, not between Jews and Gentiles.

So what practices make us holy, distinct, and separate now? Instead of ceremonial matters like diet and hygiene, what separates God’s people from others are Christ-resembling qualities like love, moral virtue, wisdom, humility, and patience in the face of suffering. This is how we are different, how we are holy. Whereas before God’s people had to avoidthe spread of corruption, now God’s people halt the spread of corruption by living as salt and light, bringing a stop to decay and darkness. It’s not what we eat that makes us different; it’s who we eat with, lovingly following our Savior by inviting sinners, outcasts, and the poor to our table. It’s not how we wash; it’s the One we trust to wash us. It’s not our prosperity that draws people in—the glitz and glamour of Solomon’s temple wowing the Queen of Sheba; it’s our joy and patience and graciousness in suffering. This is the new way we show ourselves to be God’s holy nation.

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood…1 Peter 2:9

A priest is one with access to God. Under the Old Covenant, it was a privilege the whole nation enjoyed but only the high priest experienced in fullness. But now, in the New Covenant age, every person in the community has full fellowship with God.

This is an incredible reversal of fortune, especially for Gentiles like most of us! Under the Old Covenant, Gentiles could not enter the temple on pain of death. Not just the Holy of Holies, but the entire inner court of the temple was for Jews only. By law, Gentiles were kept outside. But now, we are no longer outsiders. We are…

…no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22

So what changed? Did God rewrite the Law to admit Gentiles? No, He fulfilled it! The ceremonial washing, the blood-soaked offerings, the symbolic rite of circumcision—all these Christ brought to completion through His death and resurrection. He made real what the ceremonies could only picture.

Do you take advantage of this new and incredible privilege? Do you often press through the veil and commune with your God? He has made you a priest. Do not let your backstage pass go unused!

1 Peter 2:7-8 …but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

Jesus is the touchstone of ultimate destiny. What you do with Him determines not only the course of your whole life, but most importantly, your eternity.

What should we say about this arresting final phrase: “as they were destined to do”? Their stumble is not accidental, at least from a cosmic perspective. They were destined to stumble. From the perspective of human responsibility, they stumble because “they disobey the word” (v 8). Their destruction is their own fault. They rebel and throw off Jesus’ Lordship. In other words, they are responsible for their choice even though they were appointed to it.

Peter talks this same way on the Day of Pentecost when he indicts those who crucified Christ even though that event and their role in it were foreordained by God:

This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men (Acts 2:23).

How can this be so? Because God doesn’t force people to do something contrary to their own desire. Those who crucified Jesus wanted to do so, and those who reject Him as the Cornerstone do it willfully. Human beings sin willingly and are responsible for their sin, but God plans and controls all events in history. How these two ideas fit together is the mystery that Scripture does not resolve.

Spurgeon admonished: “Brethren, be willing to see both sides of the shield of truth. Rise above the babyhood which cannot believe two doctrines until it sees the connecting link. Have you not two eyes, man? Must you needs put one of them out in order to see clearly?” 

Christ is laid like a stone across the path of all humanity. Each person must encounter Him, coming away changed – some see Him for who He is, entrust themselves completely to Him, and thus become living stones with Him in God’s temple. Others trip over Him blindly, stumble in unbelief, and smash themselves to pieces in utter destruction.

1 Peter 2:6-7: And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe…

The verses immediately prior have shown that Jesus is precious to God the Father, that He is the cornerstone of the new temple where the Father abides. Peter’s point is that Jesus is exalted, supreme, preeminent.

But incredibly, Jesus doesn’t keep that honor to Himself. He shares it with those who believe in Him: “the honor is for you who believe” (v 7). Unfortunately, most translations obscure the meaning of this clause. For example, the NIV renders it: “Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.” But the word “honor” is the subject of the clause, not “stone.” The ESV gets it right with its rendering: “The honor is for you who believe.”

This honor Peter’s talking about is the positive alternative to the negative threat of being put to shame in v 6. You might paraphrase it like this: “Those who believe will never be put to shame; rather, they will be honored.” How so? It’s the honor of the new identity and privilege described in verses 5 and 9-10: being “living stones,” “a spiritual house,” “a holy priesthood,” “offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus,” etc. In short, the honor is linked to our union with Christ. Since Christ is chosen and precious to God, so are all who are in Christ. It’s the honor of vindication on the final day.

See, friends, the Christian life from start to finish is a prolonged course of identifying with Jesus. He was rejected by men, and so are we who follow Him. Likewise, He is precious to His Father, and so we, too, have become precious to the Father in Him.

1 Peter 2:5-6 As you come to him… you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious…”

In verse 4, Peter describes Jesus as the Living Stone. Now he says all who come to Him are living stones, built into a spiritual house. Peter uses the word “house,” but it’s clear from his description that the building he’s referring to is a temple. In other words, the Church is God’s new temple.

The figure of the temple dominates the OT—the building that housed Israel’s God, literally bringing Him right into their midst. He was their God and they were His people. The New Testament does not abandon the figure of the temple, nor does it forsake the goal of God dwelling in the midst of His people. What the NT does with that image is intensify and radically personalize it. The Church is now the place where God is housed, and He quite literally dwells in the midst of His people who are living stones in the house He inhabits.

In similar fashion, the story is told of an ancient king of Sparta boasting to another king about the impenetrable walls that protected the city of Sparta. But when the foreign king visited the city, he saw no walls whatsoever. He asked, “Where are the renowned walls of Sparta?” The Spartan king pointed to his army and answered: “These are the walls of Sparta, every man a brick.”

Peter’s metaphor breaks down a bit as he shifts from the people as living stones making up the building to the people as priests offering sacrifices within the building. He calls believers “a holy priesthood [offering] spiritual sacrifices to God through Christ.”

Notice the implications for church involvement. The stones are not scattered about in isolation or lying in a disordered heap. They are each put in a specific place, “being built up [by God] as a spiritual house.” Every single one is significant to the whole. Each stone is united with the others in purpose and function. Do you see yourself and your family members this way? Do you draw your identity from the church, wherein you are a living stone in the structure? Is this role central to your life, or are you content to engage with the church only as it is convenient for you? If someone were to observe your life for a month, could they legitimately say you are a living stone being built into a holy house for God?

Notice as well the implications for our attitude toward church. The church is not primarily a social organization for networking; still less a shopping mall for Christian consumers to evaluate from an impersonal distance before they unilaterally select which goods and services fit their needs and interests. It is a sacred building, a holy temple where reborn stones house the living God Himself and blood-washed priests offer worship to the Lord of the Universe.

And finally, notice how God-centered these images are. We are God’s dwelling place by the Holy Spirit, and we offer true worship and acceptable sacrifice to God Himself. Where is Jesus? He is actually a stone alongside us in this temple. Verse 6 calls Him “the cornerstone.” The construction plan in mind here begins with a massive stone, specially selected, cut, and positioned. It sets the line for the walls and a level course for the stones which come after it and rest on it. The Father appointed the Son as a stone in Zion. As the cornerstone, He sets the shape and strength of the whole rest of the building.