Peter has completed giving instruction to wives and husbands. Now, he will turn his attention to the entire church and provide general admonitions on how they should live.
All of this falls under the category of conduct, a key concern for Peter in this book. Peter’s purpose is not only to reassure his readers of their place in God’s grace, but also to ensure they stand firm in it. The fiery trials they are facing have caused them to doubt their status before God. Peter is writing this book to reaffirm their status and teach them how to stand firm in it during times of fiery trail. In this section in emphasizes what the people need to both have and do.
What we all need to have
Peter gives a list of characteristics that each Christian should possess (3:8)
1. Unity of Mind-Christians are to be one-minded or harmonious. If the non-Christian world is causing disharmony, then the church needs to make sure they are not adding to the problem.
2. Sympathy-This might be better understood as compassion. Compassionate people see the plight of others, emotionally connect to it, then seek to help.
3. Brotherly Love-There is special bond between Christians, the bond of brotherhood. This family bond leads us to show special love for one another.
4. Tender heart-This is very similar to the earlier word sympathy. Christians need to learn to cultivate a heart of caring.
5. Humble mind-This has to do with being friendly and hospitable.
All of these have the same basic ethos. Christians are to show tender care and concern to those around them and seek to live harmonious and compassionate lives.
What we are to do
In verse 9 Peter then addresses what we do. Specifically, it lays out what we do in the face of persecution. This falls into a contrast on what Christians are not to do and then followed by what we are to do.
We are not to “return evil for evil.” Evil is a generic word. The idea is that we should not return harm for harm. If someone harms us our response is not to harm them back. This is against our natural inclination. Our natural inclination is to harm when we are harmed, to hurt when we are hurt. This is what we want to do. However, we must overcome this desire for revenge and “turn the other check.”
This admonition against revenge is extended to words as well. We are not to revile against those who revile against us. Revile means to speak against. When we are spoken against we do not do the same to another.
Rather, we are to give a blessing. Blessing is to speak well of someone and to ask God to bless them with his gracious power. Thank of the sharp contrast between what we shouldn’t do and what we should do. We shouldn’t seek revenge, but rather we should pray that God displays grace to the person. This is the high calling of following Jesus.
Why?
Verse 10 begins with the word “for,” which provides us with a reason Peter has given the previous command. The reason is a quotation from Psalm 34:12-16. Here the Psalmist states how a person can have long life and see good days. The answer is that the person “refrain from evil and evil speech” and instead “seek good and peace.” This is what the wise and righteous person should do.
The reason that we can do this is because of our trust is in the Lord. The trust is based on the fact that God hears and sees the righteous and will punish the wicked. Peter is exposing the axiom “revenge is mine, says the Lord.”
Conclusion
As Christians we are to both have and do. We are to have important traits, which lead to harmony and compassion within the church. These traits would be very precious during times of persecution. We are to do that which is pleasing to God. In this case is it to replace personal vengeance with blessing and trust the LORD to see and hear our plight.
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(Read more of this series here).
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