The Spiritual House
2:4-5
In these two verses, Peter gives a summary of argument he presents in the whole passage. He used a metaphor of a temple (spiritual house) built of stones. He switched from the metaphor of infants needing nourishment to the metaphor of stones used to build a temple.
Christ is a “living stone”. He is the first building block of the spiritual temple. He is alive because he was resurrected from the grave and will live forever. Peter got this language from Psalm 118:22, which says the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Psalmist was thinking of Israel. But Peter applied it to Jesus, the true Israel.
Jesus applied this language to himself in the “Parable of the Tenants” (Matthew 21:33-46). That parable involved God rejecting the original tenants who killed his son. He took the vineyard from them and gave it to those who would bear fruit. He removed his kingdom from unbelieving Jews and gave it to those who believed in him and followed him.
He was rejected by men. Many have rejected him. But God chose him. He chose Jesus to be the savior of those who believe in him. That is why he is called Christ, or Messiah, the Anointed One. Those chosen by God for a special role were anointed as a sign of their being chosen.
God chose Aaron to be the high priest. Leviticus 8:12 shows Moses, as God’s representative, anointing Aaron with the anointing oil to consecrate, or set him aside, for his role. Samuel anointed David with oil to show God had chosen him to be king. (1 Samuel 16). God chose Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, to be the savior, so he was the Anointed One.
The Greek word for chosen is “eklektos”. It is also translated as “elect”.
Not only did the Father chose, or elect, him, but Jesus was “precious” to the Father. He was precious to him because of their relationship in eternity in the Trinity, but also because Jesus agreed to come to earth in human flesh to reconcile men and women to the Father.
Those who come to Christ are built into a spiritual house, a temple. When we come to the Living Stone, we ourselves are as “living stones”. Jesus is the cornerstone upon which the spiritual house is built. We are built on top of that cornerstone as part of the house that is constructed. Paul instructed us that the foundation of this building is made up of the apostles and prophets. (Ephesians 2:20)
The builder of the church is Jesus. He said “I will my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18)
Not only are we the stones that are built into the temple, we are the priests who serve in it. Peter said believers are a “holy priesthood”. (5) A priest serves as a mediator between mankind and God. In the Old Covenant, the Levites, or tribe of Levi, were set apart to be a holy priesthood. They continually offered sacrifices to God.
New covenant believers are to offer spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
What are the spiritual sacrifices we are to offer? Peter does not say. Romans 12:1-2 tells us that our bodies are living sacrifices when we live holy lives that are acceptable to God. When we are called out of the world, and do not conform to it, but are transformed by the Holy Spirit, we live lives that please God. This also makes us priests in the sense that our lives witness to the lost about Christ and his saving power. We represent God to the nations.
The writer of Hebrews also says that we should continually offer up praise to God, and that it is a sacrifice of praise. Hebrews 13:15. We used to teach kids a song about this:
“We bring the sacrifice of praise
Into the house of the Lord.
“We bring the sacrifice of praise
Into the house of the Lord.
And we offer up to You
The sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And we offer up to You
The sacrifices of joy.”
Thus, the Old Testament temple and priesthood were types of the church, a people among whom God dwells and who praise God and live for him in witness to the world.
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