Paul’s ministry was dedicated especially to the Christian Jews (Gal. 2:8), but he did not discriminate against anyone. Peter was the first apostle to defend the inclusion of Gentiles in the gospel message (Acts 11:17).
Peter’s message is not about discrimination between Jews and Gentiles, but between Christians and non-Christians.
In the verses prior to today’s text, Peter points out that Jesus is the living stone (Acts 2:4-8). He also says that Christians are stones in the building of a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5). Then he reaches the heart of today’s theme: In contrast with non-believers, believers have a sublime call.
I. CHRISTIAN PRIVILEGE
When Paul says that Christians are “a chosen people,” he is referring to the new Israel, not the ancient one. Here the word “people” refers to folk born of common lineage who live in communities.
Spiritually speaking, the church has a life in common, for Christ’s life is shared by all; church members have a common lineage, for they partake of the new birth, being children of God.
The people of Israel were a chosen people (Isa. 43:10), but they lost their privileges through their disobedience and hardness of heart. Now God granted the Christian community the privileges and responsibilities formerly held by the Jewish nation. Thus the frontiers of the people of God are opened to include people of all origins.
II. CHRISTIAN DIGNITY
A. Christians are a “royal priesthood” and “royal house.” In Revelation 1:6, we read, “And has made us kings and priests to His God and Father.” Exodus 19:6 talks about a kingdom of priests. “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
B. Christians are a “royal house.” In Hebrews 4:14, 16, Jesus Christ is shown as the enthroned High Priest. He is the King-Priest. As priests, Christians have direct access to God through Jesus and are responsible for bringing others to Him.
In the final celebration of Revelation, the Lamb is praised with a song for having purchased men from every tribe, tongue, and nation. The song says, “And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:10).
C. What was the priest’s duty? “The priest was a person duly authorized to minister in sacred things as a mediator between man and God, and to offer sacrifices for the sins of men” (The Seventhday Adventist Bible Dictionary).
D. What is a Christian’s duty as priest? We have a double duty: to offer praise to God and to intercede for our neighbors. As priests, may we enter into the sanctuary? Paul says, “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him” (Eph. 3:12).
III. CHRISTIAN QUALITY
Christians are called a “holy nation,” a designation that surpasses their ethnic identity.
A. We are not in the royal home merely to enjoy the power. We are a holy nation, set apart from the world, set apart from its evil and corruption, separated for God. The fundamental idea of the word “separated” is moral and spiritual purity; it does not mean to live in isolation, without contact with the world.
B. “Separated” means to have different practices and habits, following God’s will, independent from the habits and values of the world in which we live. We are separate because we live according to a culture that differs from the world’s. We have values unlike those of our society. We are citizens of a better kingdom. Our minds, our words, our habits, our aspirations, and our acts should all demonstrate that.
C. “God’s people are to be distinguished as a people who serve Him fully, wholeheartedly, taking no honor to themselves, and remembering that by a most solemn covenant they have bound themselves to serve the Lord and Him only” (Ellen G. White, Testimony Treasures, 3:286).
IV. CHRISTIAN PECULIARITY
The phrase “God’s peculiar people” literally means “a people for acquisition, a people for God’s possession, a people that, in fact, belong to God and who demonstrate this through their acts pleasing to the Lord.” First Corinthians 6:19, 20 says that we are bought with a price.
Jesus has redeemed us to live apart from sin. “Any sin in them separates them from God and, in a special manner, dishonors His name by giving the enemies of His holy law occasion to reproach His cause and His people, whom He has called ‘a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people’ (1 Peter 2:9), that they should show forth the praises of Him that hath called them out of darkness into His marvelous light” (Ellen G. White, Testimony Treasures, 1:264).
Isaiah expands on this concept, saying, “This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise” (Isa. 43:21).
We are called to praise God. The gospel’s efficiency in our life—transforming us, molding us, removing us from sin, and carrying us into the kingdom of light—is an object of astonishment before the universe and even the angels of darkness.
A people like this, of priests, of kings, holy and peculiar to God, “proclaims the virtues of Him who called us.”
CONCLUSION (READ 1 PETER 2:10)
What a great privilege God gives us! To be saved would already be an incomparable privilege, but we are not only to be rescued from death. God gives us more than we could ask for or imagine. In Him we become a people who are the peculiar property of God, a people of priests, members of the royal family of Heaven.
Let us live up to this incredible privilege.Let us become this kind of priestly Christians and intercessors.
Licius Lindquist is an editor for Brazilian Publishing House.
