I Peter 2:13-3:7
(A Bible Study Led by Dr. Larry Reynolds)
August 15, 2013
1. No
doubt you are familiar with the old saying about not being able to see the
forest for the trees...think the basic idea behind that proverbial statement is
that sometimes can get so bogged down in and so distracted by the details of
something that lose sight of the big picture...
2. In
our study of the New Testament letter of I Peter we have come to a section
where, if we are not careful, we will end up seeing the trees but missing the
forest...seeing the details but overlooking the primary biblical principle
being taught...last week, from I Peter 2:11-12 explored two reasons that we
should live God’s way...we saw that we should live God’s way because—
--this
world is not all there is to our existence...
--other
people are watching us and being influenced by our example...
Having
said that in vv.11-12, in v.13 Peter begins a long discourse giving specific
examples of what it means to live God’s way...from 2:13 through 3:7 Peter, using
specific life-situations which were of special interest to people living in the
1st century, talks about how we, as God’s people, should relate to
the world in which we live...
3. How
to relate to the world is an age-old dilemma for Christians...on the surface,
at least, the Bible seems to give us conflicting direction on this issue...on
the one hand, the Bible warns us about being too involved with the world...for
example—
--John
wrote that we are “...not love the world, nor the things in the
world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him.” [I John 2:15]
--James
spoke of genuine religion as keeping “oneself unstained from the world.”
[James 1:27]
--Paul
pointed out that “...we have not received the spirit of the world, but
the Spirit who is from God...”
So,
on the one hand the Bible tells us to be separate from the world... however, on
the other hand the Bible consistently reminds us that we have a responsibility
to the world...
--Jesus
described His followers as “...the light of the world...” in the
Sermon on the Mount...[Matt.5:14]
--and
Jesus told His followers that their mission was “...to make disciples of
all nations (of all the world)...”[Matt.28:19]
4. This
tension between Christians being “in the world” but not “of
the world” has always existed and it’s always been difficult for
Christians to deal with...historically, God’s people have gone to either one of
two extremes in their relationship with the world...the 1st century
Jewish sects of the Pharisees and the Sadducees are good examples of those two
extremes…
--some
have chosen the way of the Pharisees...they have withdrawn from the
world...they have hidden themselves away in monasteries, communes, or other
safe enclaves, putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the
real world...
--others
have chosen the way of the Sadducees...they have overly identified with the
world...they have so identified with the world, accepting the world’s standards
and values and priorities, that they
have nothing of value to say to the world...
5. It
is my conviction that Christians should avoid both of those extremes...we must
not withdraw from the world and we must not be absorbed by the world...and the
section of I Peter at which we are going to look in this session gives us some
instruction on how to do that...we are going to cover in this session a rather
lengthy passage…important to see it in its context, so I’m going to read I
Peter 2:13-3:7…I know that is risky because it’s easy to lose your attention
doing that...but I think it is important for us to see the big picture, the
over-riding principle before we begin looking at some of the details of this
passage...I want to encourage you to follow along in your Bible as I read...
T.S.
- The theme that runs throughout this passage is the theme of submission...in--
--2:13
all Christians are instructed to submit to the institution of gov’t...
--2:18
servants are instructed to submit to their masters...
--3:1
wives instructed to submit to their husbands...
Obviously
cannot understand this passage without understanding what is meant by the
concept of submission...the Greek word translated “submit” or “be
submissive” throughout this passage is HUPOTASSO...it is a
compound word...the first part HUPO is a preposition meaning by or
under...the second part TASSO comes from a verb meaning “to
arrange or to draw up in order”...
--sometimes
was used in a military sense to describe soldiers lining up according to
rank...many people carry that military interpretation over into the biblical
use of the word...however, I think to do so violates a basic teaching of
Jesus...when the disciples got into an argument about who would have the
positions of most authority in His kingdom, Jesus called them to Him and said, “You
know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men
exercise authority over them. It is not
so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your
servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave...”...and
I think to interpret HUPOTASSO to mean that one Christian or one class
of Christians is over another Christian or another class of Christian violates
that teaching of Jesus...it also violates Ephesians 5:21 where we are
instructed to “be subject to one another” out of reverence for
Christ...
--there
is another way to interpret that word...William Barclay says the word means “voluntary
selflessness” [p.260]...it is an attitude of humility, of seeking the
best for others, of refusing to be independent, autocratic, and
overly-assertive...it’s the kind of spirit expressed in Philippians 2:3-4 which
instructs us to “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with
humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than
himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also for
the interests of others.”...in my opinion that interpretation of HUPOTASSO
is much more in keeping with what we see in the life of Jesus and what the NT
teaches about our relationships as Christians...
And
the basic principle which is interwoven throughout this part of I Peter is that
Christians should relate to the world with a spirit of humility,
selflessness, and a spirit which always seeks the best for others...
In
this passage, Peter applies that principle to three specific areas of
relationship which were of particular concern to Christians living in the 1st
century...
2:13-17
applies the principle of submission to the relationship between Christians and
gov’t
1. This
was an especially pressing issue for the church in the later part of the 1st
century...most scholars believe written shortly after great fire which destroyed much of Rome in A.D.
64...at first, Roman population blamed
fire on Nero, the Roman Emperor...had
passion for building and believed set
fire or at least let it burn so could rebuild Rome suit his own liking...to divert
wrath from himself, blamed fire on Christians...under his leadership, great
gov't sponsored persecution broke out
against Christians...
2. Raised
new problem for Christians...up this time Rome
had been at best sympathetic toward them and at worst neutral...but now, gov't was hostile...how
should Christians relate to hostile
gov't?...Peter's instruction in 1 Peter 2:13-17 was, as far as possible, be
submissive and cooperative...
2:18-25
applies this principle of submission to the relationship between slaves and
masters
1. This
was another critical issue facing the church...slavery was a common institution
in the 1st century....it’s been estimated that there were
approximately 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire, which may have been about
1/4 of the population...
2. In
the church there were people who were slaves and masters...in some cases, a
slave and his/her master was part of the same congregation, as in the case of
Onesimus and Philemon in the church at Colossae...this raised all sorts of
moral and ethical issues for the young church...in a time when the idea of
slavery was ingrained into the very culture, how should Christians deal with
the issue?...
3. Peter’s
instruction to the slaves was to relate to their masters with a spirit of
humility and selflessness...
3:1-7
applies this principle of submission to the husband/wife relationship
1. It
is obvious from the NT that the relationship between husbands and wives was a
key issue for the early church...it is dealt with in depth in at least three
different places--Ephesians 5, Colossians 3, and here in I Peter 3...
2. It
is important to remember the cultural situation in which these instructions
were written...in the 1st century world women had absolutely no
legal standing...they were considered to be property, first belonging to their
fathers and then belonging to their husbands...
3. In
Christianity, women found a new freedom unheard of until that point in
time...as you read about the church in the NT, time and again will come across
the names of women who made significant contributions to the ministry...
4. However,
it appears that some of the women were using their freedom, especially in
relation to their non-Christian husbands, in a way that was considered
scandalous by the culture of that day...and Peter instructs them to relate to
their husbands not with a spirit of assertiveness and independence but with a spirit
of humility and selflessness...
Now
listen carefully to what I’m about to say...in instructing--
--Christians
to submit to the Roman government, Peter wasn’t endorsing the totalitarian form
of gov’t which characterized the Roman Empire....
--servants
to submit to their masters, Peter wasn’t endorsing the institution of
slavery...
--wives
to submit to their husbands, Peter was endorsing the prevailing cultural view
of his day that women were inferior to men...
Instead,
he was reminding Christians in his day and in our day as well, that we should
relate to the world in a way that doesn’t bring disrepute upon the on the way
of Jesus Christ...and that way is the way of humility, of selflessness, of
seeking the best for others...
CONCLUSION
1.
In the
book The Parables of the Gospels by Hugh Martin there is a story about a
rather rough, uncultured man who for some reason fell in love with a beautiful
vase in a shop window. Eventually he bought the vase and put it on the mantel
in his room. There it became a kind of
judgment on its surroundings. He had to clean up the room to make it worthy of
the vase. The curtains looked dingy
beside it. The old chair with the stuffing coming out of the seat would not do. The wallpaper and the paint needed
redoing. Gradually the whole room was
transformed by the presence of the vase.
2. And
that’s the kind of impact Christians should have on their world ...and we are
able to impact our world in that way by allowing ourselves to be characterized
by humility, by selflessness, and by seeking the best for others...
