1 Peter 2
1 Therefore, set aside all malicea and all cheating peopleb and putting on pretensesc and spited and all insults.e 2 Crave honest, Conversationalf milk like newborn babies, so you can grow toward liberation with it 3 if “you have tasted that the Lord is kind."g 4 As you approach the one who is a living stone, who is both rejected by people and also valued and chosen by God, 5 you are also—as living stones—being constructed as a House for the Life-breathh for the sacred priesthood to offer sacrifices of the Life-breathi that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ 6 because this is included in scripture:
Look, I placed a stone in Zion
A valuable, choice, corner foundation stone
And whoever who puts their trust in it
Could never be shamed.j
7 Therefore, the valuek is for you who give your trust,l but for those who don’t give your trust,
A stone which the builders rejected
It became the principal cornerstonem
8 and
A stone of tripping
And a rock that trips people up.n
The ones who refuse to be persuaded trip on the Conversation for which they were designated. 9 You are a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a community dedicated for sacred purposes, a people for preserving,o so that you would spread word of the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness to his dazzling light.
10 Those who once were not a peoplep—
Now they are God’s people;q
Those who were not shown loving faithfulnessr—
Now they have been shown loving faithfulness.s
11 Loved ones, I encourage you as immigrants and people living in a foreign countryt to hold back from whichever bodilyu desires wage war against your very being,v 12 having your way of living be respectablew among other people groupsx so that by the very thing about which they insult you as people who act indecently because of those respectable actions, as they observe you, they would praise God on the day when they watch carefully.y
13 Cooperate withz every human power structureaa by relying onbb the Lord, whether with a monarch while they hold power over you 14 or with governors when they have been sent by them for revenge against those who cause harm but approval for those who cause benefit.cc 15 That’s because God wants living beneficially to othersdd to silence the ignorance of the unwise people 16 as you carry yourselves as free people—and not using freedom as a cover for doing harm but as people enslaved to God. 17 Treat everyone as having value. Love the Family. Defer to God. Treat the monarch as having value.
18 That includesee people who are enslaved cooperating warilyff with the enslavers—not only with the ones who are benevolent and reasonable but also with those who are corrupt.gg 19 You see, this is generosity: if someone who is suffering endures unjustly inflicted griefs by being conscious of God. 20 What kind of reputation is gained if, when deviating, you endure being beaten for it? However, if when acting for the benefit of others,hh you endure through suffering, this is generosity in God’s view. 21 That’s what you were called to since Christ also suffered for your sake, leaving a template behind for you so that you would follow in his footsteps. 22 “He made no deviation,ii nor was a deceptionjj found in his mouth.”kk 23 He is the one who when being verbally abused did not return the abuse, when suffering did not make threats, but gave it over to the one who assesses justly. 24 He is the one who took on our deviations himself with his body on the wood, “by whose wounds you were healed,”ll so that we could be alive with justness and deviations gone away. 25 You used to be like “sheep wandering off,”mm but now you have returned to the shepherd who watches over your very beings.nn
FOOTNOTES:
a Traditionally, ‘wickedness’ or ‘evil.’ Other possible meanings of kakia include ‘misfortune’ and ‘cowardice.’
b Traditionally, ‘deceit’ or ‘deception.’ The word has to do with trickery, gaining an advantage over people through dishonest methods.
c Traditionally, ‘hypocrisy’
d Traditionally, ‘envy.’ This word, phthonos, can mean ‘envy’ or ‘spite’ or ‘resentment’ or ‘objection to,’ and it is often paired with kakia, which is present in this verse and translated as ‘malice.’
e Traditionally, ‘slander’ or ‘evil speaking.’ The latter is too broad, and in English, ‘slander’ technically means speaking ill of someone in a way that is misleading or untrue. This word, katalalia, literally means, ‘to speak against’ and means (according to BDAG) “the act of speaking ill of another.”
f This word, logikos, is the adjective form of logos, which is translated as ‘Conversation’ with a footnote in 1 Peter 1:23. Some other translations (NASB, KJV, NKJV) translate it here as ‘of the word’ which is appropriate but should be read in the context of what conversation or aspects of conversation are in view in the surrounding verses. Others translate it as ‘spiritual’ which is purely interpretive, interjecting assumptions, rather than translating the meaning of the word (NET, ESV, NRSV, NIV).
g Reference to Psalm 34:8
h Traditionally, ‘a spiritual house’
i Traditionally, ‘spiritual sacrifices’
j Quotation of Isaiah 28:16
k Or ‘honor’
l Or ‘faithfulness’ or ‘commitment’
m Quotation of Psalm 118:22. Most translations translate akrogonaios in verse 6 (corner foundation stone) as ‘corner stone’ and KJV translates it as ‘chief corner stone,’ In verse 7, the words for ‘corner capstone’ are different: kephale gonias, literally meaning ‘head of the corner.’ It was used of capstones and keystones as well as foundation stones. The context of the psalm makes it clear that it is referring to a foundation.
n Quotation of Isaiah 8:14
o This list contains references to Exodus 19:5-6 and Isaiah 43:20-21, as well as other possible connections.
p Reference to Hosea 1:9
q Reference to Hosea 2:23b
r Reference to Hosea 1:6
s Reference to Hosea 2:23a
t 1 Peter 1:1 makes it clear this is speaking literally about people who are immigrants in foreign lands, not that the planet Earth is a foreign land to people whose home is in Heaven.
u Traditionally, ‘fleshly.’ The assumption is typically to read this as being about sexual impulses, but when sarx is used this way, it’s almost always about self-preservation instincts that show up as hostility, aggression, reactivity, competitiveness, and hording resources.
v Traditionally, ‘soul.’ Translating this as ‘core self’ or ‘True Self’ in the tradition of Thomas Merton, Richard Rohr, and other monastic writers may be closer to the idea here.
w Tradtionally, ‘good.’ The Greek here is kalos, which has to do with worthy of positive opinion, which is different though similar to agathos which appears several times later in 1 Peter, especially in chapter 3.
x Traditionally, ‘Gentiles’
y Traditionally, ‘day of visitation.’ The word is a noun form of the verb episkopeo, meaning to look over, observe, examine, investigate, oversee, review, survey, etc. The Greek phrase is ‘day of episkopon.’ Many take it to be about God doing the examination, but the context suggests that it is about people observing the audience and praising God when they see how the audience lives.
z Traditionally, ‘submit to.’ According to The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Hupotasso is “A Greek military term meaning ‘to arrange [troop divisions] in a military fashion under the command of a leader’. In non-military use, it was ‘a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden.’
aa Or ‘what was accomplished by the founding of a new governance,’ such as a city or colony.
bb Or ‘by means of’
cc Traditionally, ‘do good’
dd Traditionally, ‘do good’
ee The grammar indicates that ‘people who are enslaved cooperating’ is expanding on the instruction in verse 13 to cooperate with every human power structure.
ff Or ‘with all wariness’ or ‘with all fear/anxiety/apprehension.’
gg Or ‘crooked’ or ‘devious’
hh Traditionally, ‘doing good’
ii The word ‘deviation’ here is translating the Greek hamartia. Traditionally, hamartia has been translated into English as ‘sin.’ Interestingly, hamartia is present here but not in the Greek translation of Isaiah (LXX). The word there is anomia, which is traditionally translated as ‘lawlessness’ and has been translated in this version as ‘going against Torah.’ The Hebrew of Isaiah has a different word altogether: ‘violent actions.’ There is certainly a relationship between all three, but they are distinct words.
jj This is not the same word as what is translated as ‘corrupt’ in verse 18; however, there appears to be a parallel between verse 18 and verse 22. The word dolos here means ‘deception’ or ‘trickery’ or ‘trap’ or ‘treachery.’ If verse 16 is brought into consideration, it seems to be a comparison of what kind of ‘master’ Christ is. He fits the description of being benevolent and reasonable or gentle. He also does not fit the description of being corrupt. Since most slavery in the 1st century was related to debt, lenders who enslaved their debtors and then were dishonest about the arrangement seems to be what is in view in verse 18. Christ is the ‘master’ who does not use violence, who lives according to Torah, who does not deviate from the Path of Torah. He can be trusted to be faithful and just. Not only is it contrasting him with other ‘masters,’ it goes on in the next verse to describe the example of how he responded to being the recipient of insults and violence and suffering, not returning it in kind.
kk Quotation of Isaiah 53:9 – “he had committed no violent deeds, nor had he spoken deceitfully.”
ll Quotation of Isaiah 53:5
mm Reference to Isaiah 53:6
nn Traditionally, ‘souls.’ This word means the quality of being a living being, of having breath and inward vitality.