Hello friend! I hope you’re doing well. Today we are continuing our journey in 1 Peter while learning about our imperishable inheritance. Let’s get started!

Reading

Today we will be discussing 1 Peter 2:1-12, you can find it in your Bible or click here for an online version in ESV. Before reading this article, I highly recommend reading the passage for yourself at least once.

Overall Picture

I think the first part of 1 Peter 2 is laid out in three sections, and I have come up with names for each of these sections:

1 Peter 2:1-5: The Introduction

1 Peter 2:6-8: The Proof

1 Peter 2:9-12: The Reinforcement 

Let’s go over each section together.

The Introduction

The first few words Peter throws at us are about throwing away all of our terrible and sinful things. In just verse 1 he says:

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.

1 Peter 2:1

All these words represent and mean terrible things, but each one is slightly different. “Malice” is simply the desire to do evil. “Deceit” is deceiving or tricking someone about the truth. “Hypocrisy” is telling someone to stop doing something bad, but then doing the same thing yourself at the same time. “Envy” is the extreme of being jealous, wanting what other people want. And finally, “slander” is just saying bad things about a person.

And if we’re being honest, those words only scratch the surface of our sin. However, in the second verse Peter says:

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.

1 Peter 2:2

If we long to do good and serve the Lord, throwing away malice, deceit, and all those others will slowly get easier, but not without God’s help. There will be times when we will feel like we want to collapse and give up, and that’s when we can, and should, call out to God for help. We should do that all the time, but it’s in those times of struggle when we really need it.

In verses 4-6, Peter starts saying we should be a “royal priesthood” and living stones of a spiritual house. This is the tie into the next section, the Proof.

The Proof

The first passage Peter references is Isaiah 28:16, which talks about the cornerstone. The cornerstone is Jesus Christ, the foundational stone for all people in their faith. Once we believe in Jesus, we can become living stones, building on top of Jesus’s foundation. 

The other two passages are Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 8:14, and I recommend you not only read the one verse specifically but the verses around it, as to get some context. In Psalm 118, it is beautiful praise to God. In Isaiah 8, it talks about how the people of Israel will stumble. This sounds bad, but if you read the rest of the chapter you’ll realize it’s about waiting for the Lord. And jumping back to 1 Peter 2, it says in verse 8 that:

… They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do.

1 Peter 2:8

And now that we know that Peter wants his readers to be living stones on top of Christ’s foundation, we come to our final destination.

The Reinforcement 

Verses 9-12 are probably my favorite of passage, especially just 9 and 10.

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. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

1 Peter 2:9-10

Because Jesus has saved us and become our cornerstone, our foundation, we are free from sin and become God’s chosen people, and we have received the beautiful inheritance of grace and mercy. And now, as newborns with milk, we can pursue to serve God and live a new life like never before.

Final Thoughts

Thank you for joining me today in this study of 1 Peter! If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my email list on the home page of the blog, that way you’ll get updates when I post and my monthly newsletter. I’ll see you all next week with another post!

Have a blessed day,

~Caroline