1 Peter 2 Ruminations

Some of you know, that I (Nate) started a degree program this year. It has been challenging to do what has turned into all online classes. Even classes that would have been in person for a week long module were all online. The reading has been wonderful as have the chances to deeply study ideas that are also practical to ministry. My last class had the somewhat bland title of "Research Methods." As a lot of the classes taught by the school  are biblical studies classes(there are a few different degree options and this class is required for all of them), this class also had a strong focus on biblical interpretation. The major paper for the class was an exegetical paper. Because we did the paper in stages, I was able to spend a lot of time in the book of 1 Peter, and in my specific text, 1 Peter 2:4-10. There is a great deal in those few verses, but one of the main themes is one of hope.

We have hope in Christ. He is the living stone, rejected by the builder but chosen and precious to God. We are being built up like living stones into a holy temple, a place for God to dwell and be worshiped. Christ was dishonored in his death and burial, but his resurrection brought him great honor. We too experience dishonor, but we are a royal priesthood, a new people for his possession.

This connection to and drawing on Christ is not new in the New Testament, but Peter succinctly pulls together this new reality. He answers the main question, what does it mean to follow Christ? It means a brand new identity, given to you by God and brought together with all of those who believe. It is a sweet and pure expression of unity, at a time when mud and insults fly across the interwebs without much thought. Peter is unapologetically centered on Christ as the answer to the shame and alienation that his readers felt.

The two main purpose statements in the text also give us a picture of what our role in this whole thing is. The first is in verse 5, where we are told that we are built up "like living stones into a spiritual house...to offer spiritual sacrifices." Later on in verse 9 we are said to be "a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him, who called you out of darkness." The sacrifices seem to be closely linked to the theme of suffering before others in the letter itself. We display God's faithfulness in the way we suffer, and we also proclaim what God has done, bringing us out of darkness and into light.

These two purposes give me a great deal of hope. We want to be people that proclaim who God is in word and deed. These are not easy times to live, whether in the US or else where. So much is uncertain and there is a lot of fear, but we know the living stone. We are built on the cornerstone, a firm foundation. We can rely on the foundation, the one who keeps his promises. On Christ the solid rock I stand.

Who Are You?

One of my great joys with our daughter recently has been starting the Chronicles of Narnia. It has been so special to introduce her to these beloved characters and stories. We experienced the creation of Narnia. We heard Aslan sing Narnia into being. We watched with Lucy and Susan as Aslan sacrificed himself for Edmund's treachery. Now we are on to one of my favorite stories, A Horse and His Boy. As we were going, an interesting small conversation popped up. Shasta is traveling with Bree the horse, and they meet up with a young girl named Aravis who is also running away. Aravis is a "Tarkheena" which means she is a part of the noble class in the land of Calormen. 

The book uses the word as though we would know what it means, and our five year old didn't understand it right away. She didn't really understand what a Tarkheena was so after a few mentions, she asked. I explained that it was a part of who she was. Here is where I made a mistake. My response was something along the lines of "she's Calormen, just like you are an American." Now most people that have connections to third culture kids are probably cringing, because her response was "Papa, I'm not an American, I'm Austrian." Immediately I knew that we didn't have time to get into it completely, and also that I'd stumbled into a conversation that we will continue to have for a long time into the future. 

For our kids the question "who are you" and "where do you come from" will be tricky questions to answer. There are often not easy answers for them, and the best answers are usually in-between. They are in-between in many ways. Our home is a place where we do many things "the american way". Most of her friends are mono-cultural, though we do know some multi-cultural families for sure. There are some Austrian cultural practices we have adopted, some things that we absolutely love and embrace. But there are other things that we will probably never practice, or even things that we are just ignorant about. Everything from how we pack her lunch to what holidays we do or don't celebrate. We live between these two cultures.

Another piece to this is faith. Because of the realities of this country, faith plays a different role in our lives than it does in those around us. An Austrian friend illustrated this to me very clearly recently. He told me about how he explains family decisions to his kids. He says, "we believe different things than most other people." I think growing up in a Christian family here has given him a perspective that we need to have, as well. We are between two different worlds related to faith and worldview. Whether that is a nominal Catholic, Islamic, or secular humanist worldview, most of the people we connect with are not coming from the same perspective we are. We are in-between. 

Ultimately these questions lead to something that many Americans are wrestling with, as well. Many key questions in the culture right now come down to identity. Who are you? We throw labels around and claim them for ourselves. Some try on labels for a while and then discard them if they don't seem to fit. The secular humanist worldview of the culture tells us that we need to discover our identity, or decide for ourselves who we are. You have to go find yourself or listen to your inner child. Who you are is inside you waiting to be identified. This message isn't just from one side of a political isle. It permeates both sides of the proverbial isle, and is usually just a different set of criteria by which that identity must be discovered. They may start at different points and end at different conclusions, but ultimately the basis is the same. You must discover it for yourself, and it lies in you.


Here is the challenge - the gospel gives us a different way. It starts at Genesis 1 and says that we are not our own to discover, that the answer is not inside of you the whole time. Our fundamental identity does not lie in passports, group membership or claimed identities. The gospel says that basis of our identity is as creatures created by a holy God. We are image bearers who reflect God's creative glory and beauty. But that image was broken by sin. That sin takes beautiful things and twists them. It elevates creation over the Creator and makes us worship other things. This fundamental identity transcends all others and comes before them. Everything else is subjective to this reality, nationality and culture, physical and emotional. 

This is the answer to the question, "who are you?" This is also the bridge that brings us together. This is the foundation for human identity. We are image bearers of God and his creatures, created to glorify him. All other questions of identity flow from this and are shaped by it. The question for many of us is which identity am I trying to put down as my primary identity? What is the most important to me? Am I focused on my local sports team? My political team? Or even my passport identity?

What would it look like for me to focus on my identity in Christ as his child above all other identities? What would it mean for me to subordinate all of my other identities to that fundamental identity? It means allowing those other parts of me to be transformed and influenced by my position in Christ. It means we hold to other identities looser than we hold to our identity in Christ.