Thoughts on I Peter 5: God will exalt you in due time

I grew up hearing I Peter 5:6 repeatedly.  We even sang a song at church that was taken from this verse.  I have read the verse countless times.  It is therefore embarrassing for me to admit that only now have I figured out the context.

Peter, after giving instructions to elders, gave instructions to the young.  They were to subject themselves to the elders and not give into pride.  Then, if they humbled themselves, they would be exalted in due time.  It was about the young not jumping the gun into church leadership.

Perhaps I only noticed this now, as I am getting older, because I didn't want to hear the message.  Perhaps it is simply evidence that I definitely was not ready to be an elder.  But I think the message is important.  Too often the young (myself included when I was young), are impatient for change and want to push issues before the appropriate time.  The youthful enthusiasm is good, and an important part of the church.  The wise elder will listen attentively to the issues of the young.  But, that enthusiasm also frequently leads to the young not really thinking things through in their decision-making.  Also, unfortunately, it is the more "confident" young people who make the biggest splashes.  It is also the most "confident" who are the most prideful.  Assuming church leadership is selected well, these are not the individuals who will become elders, unless they also humble themselves under the mighty hand of God so that He will exalt them in due time.

Thoughts on I Peter 4: Suffer for the right reasons

For Christians, not all suffering is created equal.  I used to be involved with prison ministry and I was always surprised when I heard some prison ministers, and more often the prisoners themselves, argue that they were suffering for Jesus.  I suppose it is possible that they were put in prison for serving God, but I sort of doubt it.  In chapter four, Peter clarifies, "But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or criminal, or troublemaker." Suffering is only rewarded by God when it is done for being Godly.  And when you are suffering for being Godly, you can trust God to reward you when the time comes.

Thoughts on I Peter 3: It is better to suffer for doing good

People don't like suffering.  That's quite understandable.  But the reality is that suffering is going to happen.  If we live godly lives, we are going to suffer.  It's unavoidable as long as we live in the world.

A lot of Christians try to avoid suffering by creating a small enclave of like-minded Christians in which to hide.  But, as Peter points out, how are you going to do that and still "be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you"?  A lot of people take that verse out of context and provide it as justification for starting arguments.  That is not what Peter is saying.  He is saying that if you live a godly life, other will see it and challenge you on it.  If you look at verse 16, your answer is to be given with "courtesy and respect" so that others will not be turned off by your message.

Too often I see Christians, when they feel uncomfortable, going out of their way to make a spectacle of their faith.  They are obnoxious and in their obnoxiousness they think they are following God's command.  They aren't.  The purpose of the command is to provide an explanation for why you allow yourself to suffer due to your godly lifestyle.  It isn't to force others to make it so you don't suffer anymore.  God uses our suffering.  We shouldn't be so eager to remove the suffering from our lives.

Thoughts on I Peter 2: Submission to authorities

I am an academic who is supposedly an expert on religion and politics.  As a Christian who is occasionally asked to speak in public on such issues, I've been asked to address the second half of I Peter 2 a lot.  Honestly, I do get tired of talking about it. At the same time, most of the time when I give this talk, what I say surprises the listeners.  I suppose this is a good thing, so I keep agreeing to give these talks.

It seems that most Christians, at least in the US, want to explain away the message of vv 13-20.  They don't want it to say what it says, especially if someone they don't like happens to be running the government at the time.  They don't like the idea of submitting to authorities with whom they disagree.  I suppose this is a very Protestant way of thinking.  The Protestant movement started by breaking away from authorities and it has been doing so on a regular basis since.

That is not the message of the Bible, though.  The message of the Bible is to submit to authorities unless they instruct you to do something that is blatantly contrary to God's teachings.  I don't see any way you can get around this interpretation of this and similar passages (and believe me, I've tried).  So perhaps it's more important to understand the rationale behind submitting to authorities.

The rationale Peter gives for submission to authorities in this passage is twofold: 1) You need to set  a good example; and 2) Christ suffered and you should expect the same.

Many years ago I wrote a short essay entitled "People are watching".  The point was that once people know you are a Christian, they are watching you very carefully and judging the faith by what they see.  How does it look if Christians do not obey authority just because they don't like the instructions or (worse) the source of the instructions?  If Christians disobey authorities, they had better have a good reason that they can clearly articulate to the world.  Otherwise we are actually harming the cause of the Gospel.

Secondly, Peter points out that Christ suffered, so we should expect no less.  Think about it.  Who nailed Christ to the cross?  The government.  Could he have stopped it?  Yes.  Did he? No. Are we better than Christ?  It has always bothered me that Christians (especially in the US) somehow think that they are special and therefore immune to suffering.  We aren't.  In fact, if you read the New Testament, we find that we should actually expect it.  If the government does something that makes our lives hard, we should submit to it.  That doesn't mean we can't act to change the government (within the bounds of submission), but we shouldn't do so out of a feeling of entitlement that we shouldn't have to suffer.

Thoughts on I Peter 1: Set your hope completely on grace

Peter is probably writing this letter to a group of people who are suffering--who are scattered from their homes and not comfortable in the world in which they live.  And, I think, for those who are not scattered, it was perhaps even harder because they are Christians, trying to live holy lives, in the midst of people they know who find them odd or worse.

I do know this feeling.  When I was applying to colleges, I insisted on two things.  First, I wanted to go someplace where there was a strong Christian presence.  Second, I wanted to go someplace far away from where I was from.  I hated high school (and junior high, and elementary school...).  At my high school I was one of maybe two dozen openly practicing Christians at a high school of 1200 students.  We were outcasts and frequently treated as such.  When I went to college, I wanted to get as far away from that as I could.

Peter's instructions for living as a Christian outsider are not for the faint of heart.  He instructs us to be holy.  He tells us to set our hope completely on the grace given to us by God so that we can reject worldly things.  In essence, he instructs Christians to run counter to peer pressure by placing our focus on obedience to God.  For most people I would venture to guess that is easier said than done. 

These instructions are difficult, but not impossible.  As Peter reminds us, we have something in addition to mere flesh and blood.  We have a new birth, an imperishable seed, and the enduring word of God.  That's definitely a good start.