1 Peter 2:9
A few months ago, I began sharing some ponderings regarding 1 Peter 2:9 – where Peter tells us, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
In previous articles we pondered the glorious titles, “a chosen race” and “a royal priesthood.” In this article we are going to limit ourselves to the next phrase: “a holy nation.”
A holy nation…
For many of us, the word of God has become… familiar. It has become common in our minds. It has, in many respects, lost its luster. That is why it is so very important for us to continue to look – continue to let those eternal words work upon our hearts. Chesterton aptly observes, “If you look at a thing nine hundred and ninety-nine times, you are perfectly safe; if you look at it the thousandth time, you are in frightful danger of seeing it for the first time.” Let’s put ourselves in danger and look at this phrase one more time.
We hear Peter tell his listeners (and us – if you are one of the Lord’s elect exiles – 1:1), “You are… a holy nation…” and we read it – as though it were a mundane and almost meaningless observation. But this phrase is anything but meaningless.
What do these words mean?
Let’s start with the word “holy.” What does the word “holy” mean? Our 21 st century mind simply thinks “holy” is a fancy word for something ‘spiritual’ or ‘religious.’ But “holy” is so much more than these trite and truncated ankle-deep descriptions. The word “holy” is a major theme throughout Scripture (used 915 times!). With such a copiously used word (see how I used a fancy word to describe a fancy word!?), we can only scratch the surface here. The word, at its core, communicates separation. If something is holy – it is something that has been separated from the rest.
But it is not generic separation – by the time Peter uses the word, the word is synonymous with being separated from the world and being brought near to God. A thing is holy if it is separated from the world/sin and brought to the Lord. Indeed, for the Old Testament Jew, the Holy of Holies was the place where God alone resided. Where He was - was the defining mark of what was holy.
So, brothers and sisters, let that reality sink in. Those of us who have been purchased by the blood of Christ – those who have been reunited with the Lord – we are described as “holy!” We have been separated from the world and brought into fellowship with the Lord of hosts! This alone would be mind-bending enough for a pastoral pondering. But Peter goes on to further explain that we aren’t merely “holy” (as true as that might be). He describes our plight as that of a “holy nation.”
Just as the word “holy” means something so much more to the original audience, so too does the word “nation.” I am convinced that they would have read these words in bewilderment.
What makes this phrase so bewildering? For the first reader (and for those of us who have read it for Chesterton’s thousandth time), this phrase describes something simply impossible.
The Greek word translated as “nation” comes from the Greek word “gentile.” To the ardent and the casual Jew alike, there is no human category that is more unholy. When they used the word “gentile” it was a simple way of describing something as common, normal, or (namely) unholy. Thus, these two words, paired together by Peter, in the old paradigm of Judaism, is –a paradox.
To say it another way, Peter proclaims them (and us) as holy unholy ones! How could the unholy be holy!? Peter is proclaiming that God has done the impossible. The God-man has made holy the unholy. He has saved the unsavable. He has loved the unlovable. He has chosen the rejected. Those who were “not a people” are actually “a people” (see the very next verse). It is as ludicrous as the idea that the least shall be the greatest!
The paradox is true. As J.H.A. Hart keenly observed of this two-word phrase on Peter’s pen, “To the Jew…[this is] as much of a paradox as Christ crucified” (Hart, 57).
But this is the difficulty for us. The old salvation that we have received has lost its luster because we have forgotten that what Christ did – was impossible. The dead live. There is, present in each one of us, the tendency to believe that inside of us – there was a sliver of holiness that God saw in us – and that is why he died for us. But what actually happened was that Christ made the dead live. He did what we could never do.
It is 100%, in every way, a miracle. We’ve been made alive with our Savior. The unholy is perfectly holy.
If you are in Christ Jesus, Holy and beloved – a chosen race, a royal priesthood – all this is made possible only in the miracle of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. That which was impossible is now possible - In Christ Jesus.
We proclaim the impossible. We who were dead in our trespasses and sins are alive – we are alive because we have died to our ourselves because the one who is “life” itself died.
Let the truth – that Christ has truly made the unholy holy – begin to shape how we view this world. Let your worldview be flipped on its head and see the world clearly for the first time.
In our Crucified Living Savior,
tony
In previous articles we pondered the glorious titles, “a chosen race” and “a royal priesthood.” In this article we are going to limit ourselves to the next phrase: “a holy nation.”
A holy nation…
For many of us, the word of God has become… familiar. It has become common in our minds. It has, in many respects, lost its luster. That is why it is so very important for us to continue to look – continue to let those eternal words work upon our hearts. Chesterton aptly observes, “If you look at a thing nine hundred and ninety-nine times, you are perfectly safe; if you look at it the thousandth time, you are in frightful danger of seeing it for the first time.” Let’s put ourselves in danger and look at this phrase one more time.
We hear Peter tell his listeners (and us – if you are one of the Lord’s elect exiles – 1:1), “You are… a holy nation…” and we read it – as though it were a mundane and almost meaningless observation. But this phrase is anything but meaningless.
What do these words mean?
Let’s start with the word “holy.” What does the word “holy” mean? Our 21 st century mind simply thinks “holy” is a fancy word for something ‘spiritual’ or ‘religious.’ But “holy” is so much more than these trite and truncated ankle-deep descriptions. The word “holy” is a major theme throughout Scripture (used 915 times!). With such a copiously used word (see how I used a fancy word to describe a fancy word!?), we can only scratch the surface here. The word, at its core, communicates separation. If something is holy – it is something that has been separated from the rest.
But it is not generic separation – by the time Peter uses the word, the word is synonymous with being separated from the world and being brought near to God. A thing is holy if it is separated from the world/sin and brought to the Lord. Indeed, for the Old Testament Jew, the Holy of Holies was the place where God alone resided. Where He was - was the defining mark of what was holy.
So, brothers and sisters, let that reality sink in. Those of us who have been purchased by the blood of Christ – those who have been reunited with the Lord – we are described as “holy!” We have been separated from the world and brought into fellowship with the Lord of hosts! This alone would be mind-bending enough for a pastoral pondering. But Peter goes on to further explain that we aren’t merely “holy” (as true as that might be). He describes our plight as that of a “holy nation.”
Just as the word “holy” means something so much more to the original audience, so too does the word “nation.” I am convinced that they would have read these words in bewilderment.
What makes this phrase so bewildering? For the first reader (and for those of us who have read it for Chesterton’s thousandth time), this phrase describes something simply impossible.
The Greek word translated as “nation” comes from the Greek word “gentile.” To the ardent and the casual Jew alike, there is no human category that is more unholy. When they used the word “gentile” it was a simple way of describing something as common, normal, or (namely) unholy. Thus, these two words, paired together by Peter, in the old paradigm of Judaism, is –a paradox.
To say it another way, Peter proclaims them (and us) as holy unholy ones! How could the unholy be holy!? Peter is proclaiming that God has done the impossible. The God-man has made holy the unholy. He has saved the unsavable. He has loved the unlovable. He has chosen the rejected. Those who were “not a people” are actually “a people” (see the very next verse). It is as ludicrous as the idea that the least shall be the greatest!
The paradox is true. As J.H.A. Hart keenly observed of this two-word phrase on Peter’s pen, “To the Jew…[this is] as much of a paradox as Christ crucified” (Hart, 57).
But this is the difficulty for us. The old salvation that we have received has lost its luster because we have forgotten that what Christ did – was impossible. The dead live. There is, present in each one of us, the tendency to believe that inside of us – there was a sliver of holiness that God saw in us – and that is why he died for us. But what actually happened was that Christ made the dead live. He did what we could never do.
It is 100%, in every way, a miracle. We’ve been made alive with our Savior. The unholy is perfectly holy.
If you are in Christ Jesus, Holy and beloved – a chosen race, a royal priesthood – all this is made possible only in the miracle of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. That which was impossible is now possible - In Christ Jesus.
We proclaim the impossible. We who were dead in our trespasses and sins are alive – we are alive because we have died to our ourselves because the one who is “life” itself died.
Let the truth – that Christ has truly made the unholy holy – begin to shape how we view this world. Let your worldview be flipped on its head and see the world clearly for the first time.
In our Crucified Living Savior,
tony
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