1 Peter2chapter 2

Suffering, then glory

Pattern

1 Peter reads the whole Christian life on the shape the prophets searched out: the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Every chapter of the letter walks its readers through the fire toward the far side of it.

Peter writes to churches entering Nero's decade, and he does not promise escape; he promises sequence. Because the pattern is Christ's own, suffering for the name is not a sign that grace failed but the road glory has always taken.

1. 1 Peter 1:11

   The prophets' own study

   The Spirit of Christ in them testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

2. 1 Peter 2:21 you are here

   Leaving us an example

   Christ also suffered for us, that ye should follow his steps.

3. 1 Peter 3:18

   The just for the unjust

   Christ also hath once suffered for sins, that he might bring us to God.

4. 1 Peter 4:13

   Partakers of Christ's sufferings

   When his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

5. 1 Peter 5:10

   After ye have suffered a while

   The God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

The stone which the builders refused

Pattern

A refused building stone becomes the head of the corner. The psalm sings it, Isaiah lays a tried stone in Zion, the Lord quotes the line of himself in the temple, Peter names the builders before the council, and his epistle joins both stone texts in a single paragraph.

The image carries the gospel's whole argument about rejection: the act of refusing the stone is the very thing that sets it at the head of the corner. Peter could stand before the council and say the scripture had happened in front of them.

1. Psalms 118:22

   The stone which the builders refused

2. Isaiah 28:16

   A tried stone laid in Zion

   A precious corner stone, a sure foundation.

3. Matthew 21:42

   Did ye never read in the scriptures

   The Lord quotes the psalm of himself in the temple.

4. Acts 4:11

   Peter names the builders

   Set at nought of you builders, said to the council itself.

5. 1 Peter 2:6-7 you are here

   Both stone texts joined in one paragraph

A lamb to the slaughter

Pattern

Isaiah's servant is wounded for our transgressions, brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and numbered with the transgressors. Matthew, the Lord himself at the table, the Ethiopian's chariot, and Peter's epistle all quote the same song, each taking a different verse of it.

Acts shows the chapter doing its work inside the canon itself: the eunuch asks of whom speaketh the prophet this, and Philip began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. The song became the church's first recorded sermon outline from Scripture.

1. Isaiah 53:1-12

   The suffering servant's song

   Wounded for our transgressions; with his stripes we are healed.

2. Matthew 8:17

   Himself took our infirmities

3. Luke 22:37

   The Lord claims the verse at the table

   And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.

4. Acts 8:32-35

   The Ethiopian's question answered

   Philip began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

5. 1 Peter 2:24-25 you are here

   By whose stripes ye were healed