The True Church, Dwelling Place of God

1 Peter 2:5 (Daily study for Tuesday, January 13, 2015)

The typical Greek word order here is interesting and a bit poetic.  Peter places the noun before the adjectives as he writes that we are “stones living,” “a house spiritual,” and “a priesthood holy.” The order of the words, however, is secondary to the progression of thought and purpose they present.  We are first living stones exactly the same as Jesus was a living stone (v. 4).  Our purpose as stones is to be built into a spiritual house.  Paul used the same metaphor in Ephesians 4:19-22.  The picture is inescapable!  Believers are each one part of the building, the church, the “holy temple of the Lord,” “the dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”  Each stone is important, invaluable, and essential.  The house of the church is not complete without every stone in place.  Naturally, some stones are more visible than others, but none make the house of God more complete by their presence than any other stone, and none make it less complete by their absence.  All of us are equally valuable and equally important.

I am a stone, just a stone, chiseled from the same pit as all the other stones, shaped by the same hand, and designed for His plan in His special place by the same great Architect.  I am put by His grace where I and I alone must be, so there is no room for pride, jealousy, complacency, or indifference.  I cannot fit in another’s place nor can he take mine, for we are all part of the Master’s great plan to the full measure of His sovereign grace.  We are the dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Built of Living Stones - 1 Peter 2:5

 

What is the Church - Daily Notes Transcription

Though the word “church” is not used, this description of the assembly of believers is picturing the believers as a church and uses the metaphor of a building.  As I began looking at the 5 characterizations of this metaphor, I was struck by the emphasis Peter expresses as he begins this verse.  The Greek is καὶ αὐτοὶ, and the usage makes the expression emphatic.  The simple English translation is “and you…” but the combination and placement of the words at the beginning of the verse is closer to our expression, “and you yourselves….”  In verse 4, Peter speaks of Jesus the Stone rejected by the builders as the “living stone by men rejected,” so in verse 5, he associates us with Christ as living stones by using the words καὶ αὐτοὶ – and you yourselves are living stones!

What Is The Church? 1 Peter 2:4-5

1 Peter 2:4-5
Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Here follows my notes for 01-07-2015 . Click on the image to enlarge it. 

Crave the Word - 1 Peter 2:1-3

1 Peter 2:1-3

2 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, ² as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Here follows my notes for 01-06-2015 . Click on the image to enlarge it. 

Daily Notes, 1 Peter 2:1-3

1 Peter 2:1-3

2 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, ² as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Here follows my notes for 01-05-201. Click on the image to enlarge it.

The Called Ones, 1 Corinthians 1:24

1 Corinthians 1:24 – The Called Ones, a simple issue of grammar

²² For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, ²⁴ but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1 Corinthians 1:22-24 (NASB)

I often find great truth and rich treasure in even the simple grammar of Scripture.  In this verse, the phrase translated simply “called” or “the called” is τοῖς κλητοῖς, is an adjective in the Greek.  In English, the phrase is translated “the called” which is a participle, a verbal used as an adjective.  That is not particularly important or interesting at first glance, but on further examination, I found this to be quite significant.

Regarding the question of grammar, the words, “the called” connect logically three things – the action of calling, the caller, and the called ones.  In this case, no one element has meaning without the other two.  The call as an act has significance only with respect to God who calls and to the ones whom God calls.  In like manner, the called ones apart from the call of the God who calls have no particular importance; in reality “called ones” cannot logically exist apart from the God who calls.

This may seem a minor and almost frivolous point, but for me, one of the “called ones,” it is of eternal importance as it focuses my attention beyond the act of being called to the love, grace, and sovereignty of the God who called me.

Divisions in the Church, 1 Corinthians 1:11, 17-18

The central word in this passage describing the problems in the church in Corinth is the word translated “contentions.”  The Greek word is ἔριδες – erides, quarrels (plural).  In recent years, this word has become an unfortunate reality in many, many churches.  The cause and substance of the quarrel is perhaps less significant than the fact that the quarrel exists.  Whatever else may be happening, the foundational weakness that has permitted differences and quarrels to sprout is the movement away from the simple message of the cross.

The message of the church today seems to have become one of how to mix the blessing of God with the difficulties of enjoying the material comforts, recreations, and amusements of the world.  Christians are becoming morphed into victims of disappointment, envy, and unsatisfied desires along with all the emotional and material failures of the “popular” culture, and the messages of the church have become motivational, self-help instructions offering shallow comfort rather than the adoration and presentation of Jesus Christ crucified, buried, risen, and coming again.

According to 1 Corinthians 1:17-18, the solution to the problem that manifests itself in the contentions in the church is to return to the singular focus of the church which is to know and to preach Jesus Christ alone and to live sacrificially for Him and for Him alone.