We are now reading together the 1st Epistle of Peter which abounds in exhortation to those who belong to Christ. In it Peter addresses both believing Jews and Gentiles united in Christ. To Israel God had said: “Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation” (Exod. 19. 6).
This same thought links us in our memorial feast as we read in Rev. 1. 56, “Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God our Father, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever”.
We are not now kings and priests, but we are now “the people of God”, and as such we hope to share that wonderful experience in the kingdom of God.
The term “royal” means “belonging to the king”, or “having royal prerogatives”. And we belong to The King! We are His “special people” (Deut. 7. 6).
Here is a basis for “special” conduct: a response worthy of our royal prerogative! (1 Peter 2. 10-12-17), for as we read in Rom. 14. 17, “No man liveth to himself”. We have a responsibility to recognise this in all our ways.
Peter has particular and pointed exhortation for us all here, in all the associations of our lives in thoughts on how we should manifest our Christ-like qualities to wives, to husbands, to elders, the younger and to all with whom we are associated in the bonds of fellowship in Christ
In these we particularly note Peter’s emphasis upon the need for “co-operating in love”: wives with husbands, elders and the younger, one with another as brethren and sisters in Christ. This applies especially in the lives of husbands and wives in Christ, and where the husband or the wife is not in Christ then “love in example” is of the deepest spiritual value.
In 1 Peter 3. 1, 2 by “conversation” of the wives, and the “chaste” conversation, the apostle means “the whole conduct, habits and demeanour” (see1 Peter 2. 12 and 1. 15).
The word “chaste” implies purity of heart and conduct and also reverence for the “right” authority of the husband. Christian virtues are not easy to the human heart, but they need to be prayerfully cultivated; all which are “in the sight of God of great price” call for all the resources of a heart deeply moved by the responsibilities of the name of Christ.
As we are children of Abraham, the wife is “a daughter of Sarah” (Gal. 4. 28). If she does well she shows “reverence” and not “nervous fear”: in the same way that we “fear” God—we are not afraid of Him, but we “reverence” Him.
And lest the husband should think from this advice of Peter that his part should be one of authority, he is reminded that his responsibility to his wife’s spiritual development is equally great. Mutual affection must be regulated by Christian principles, founded upon equality as “co-heirs” of the grace of life, the kingdom of God.
In patriarchal days we understand that the head of the house was also the priest, thus holding a great spiritual responsibility. If husbands bear this in mind they will render to their wives due honour; thus in that true spirit of “co-operation in love” their prayers will not be hindered. Our prayers will be hindered if we do not each strive to be co-operative in our love toward each other. But if, as we pray together, we are joined in a sincere desire for each other’s spiritual benefit, and that of the family, we shall be strengthened in unison. “Where there is division and wrath, God dwelleth not.”
Let us carefully consider the Apostle Paul’s counsel to the husbands and wives in Christ at Ephesus: “Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord . . . Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” Note the “Duty” to perform, not the “Right” of each. Christ’s love for the church or ecclesia is best seen in the meaning of “sacrifice”. Christ “gave himself” for us, as God so loved the world that He “gave” His only begotten son.
In apostolic times the elders were the leaders and official heads of the ecclesia. Peter was an elder. From the earliest days of Israel’s history the elders were familiar as leaders (Exod. 3. 16; Ez. 10. 8, 14). In I Peter 1. 5 we have the counsel of the apostle to the elders in clear and unmistakable terms. This thought had been deeply impressed upon Peter by Christ himself ( John 21. 16): “Simon, son of Jonas, by-eat thou me? Feed my sheep.” Feed the flock of God—the ecclesia of God. This feeding includes all the duties of a shepherd in tending the sheep.
The elders must take responsible oversight, with a ready mind, willingly, not “lording it” over God’s heritage, but as faithful examples to the flock. “Holding fast the faithful word; able, by sound doctrine, to exhort and convince the gainsayers” (Titus I. 9).
Elders must lead in sound doctrine and be ready to teach, by precept and example. This applies to all elder brethren (and sisters) who with knowledge and experience of the Word and of life itself should be qualified to lead in sound doctrine and practice.
All must learn humility, whether young or old, for no true servant of Christ can be acceptable to him without it. We must cultivate it. Although it is most difficult to manifest in youth, youth must learn that “God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble”. To be truly great we must be humble. In the disciplinary process humility brings the grace of God and exaltation in due time.
Christ is our great example of youthful endeavour.
The apostle exhorts the younger to submit to the elder, but in the same breath he says, “Yea, all of you be subject one to another”. This means “co-operation in love”—giving and taking. There can be no spiritual progress in an ecclesia where this spirit of co-operation between old and young is lacking!
The young are inexperienced and, “You cannot put old heads on to young shoulders”. It is characteristic of youth to be impulsive and intolerant. The young “think” they know and the youth of our day have a greater specialised knowledge, with increased facilities for further education, but only experience can give them true wisdom. They need the understanding and sympathy and co-operation of the elders, and above all they need their love.
Love brings forth the right reactions to youth’s thinking and doing. Love will even bridge the gulf which tends to exist between the knowledge of this generation and the last. Young and old can learn from each other, and if the young have a greater knowledge, in general, the elders have greater experience, which results from longer contact with life’s problems.
Discipline in youth is essential if the increase of knowledge is to be beneficial to the life we live in Christ. Christ himself “learned obedience by the things he suffered”! “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth” (Heb. 12. 6).
You know, the scriptures tell us that “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth” (Lam. 3. 17). David, on looking back on a life in which God’s hand was clearly seen, could say, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted”. In “Ways of Providence”, Bro. Roberts says: “Experience is necessary to ripen goodness of character: and to be a ripening experience it must be an evil experience. Prosperity enfeebles; adversity braces up and purifies”. If we have lived a fairly long life in the Truth and striven to be faithful, we know this to be true!
We remember Paul’s advice to young Timothy: “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity,” and Peter’s words, -But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion for ever”.
And in general exhortation we have these wonderful words of Peter’s in chap. 3. 8, in which “co-operation in love” stands out so beautifully: “Be ye all of one mind (a unity of thought and feeling), having compassion one of another (sympathising one with the other), love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous”; or, as the N.E.B. renders the verse: “To sum up: be one in thought and feeling, all of you; be full of brotherly affection, kindly and humble-minded.”
I wonder if, as students of the Word, we are careful to note the summing up by Christ himself: “By this shall all men know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” ( John 13. 35). As a body of people who claim to have the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus, the elect, a separate people, so very careful about the right doctrine, most of us fail to be “right” in this essential way of life!
If we paid the same attention to the cultivation of the “fruits of the spirit” (Gal. 5) as we pay to being “right” in doctrine, we should then conform more nearly to Christ’s standard as his disciples.
We need to examine ourselves more carefully and searchingly and prayerfully, otherwise we shall not belong to the king” when he comes to take account of our stewardship, and we shall find ourselves as “sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal”.
“And though I have—all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.” It is the right balance of our doctrine and of our love which will count in the end. May God help us to find that balance before it is too late.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One