WHAT CHRISTIANS ARE

By Milburn Cockrell

          “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who  hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (I Pet. 2:9).

            The unity of the saints does not depend upon geography, or upon chronology, but on character, temperament, and spirit. Born-again believers are a privileged people. In Christ we have received many spiritual blessings. When these privileges and blessings are fully understood, Christians are caused to see our great responsibilities to God.

CHRISTIAN PRIVILEGE

            At the beginning of my text I see first of all Christian privilege: “But ye are a chosen generation. . .” A. T. Robertson renders this from the Greek: “An elect race (genos eklekton).” John Calvin gives it: “A race chosen.” Here the word “generation” does not mean just the people living at that time, nor does it mean a period of 33 years which we sometimes call a generation. In I Peter 2:9 “generation” (genos) means  “a race” or “class of people.” Adam was the head of a race known as humankind. Christ is the Head of a new race, “an elect race,” known as Christians. This new race consists of all of those born again (I Pet. 1:23).

            All believers are an elect race; they make up one great family. They are a species of people different from the common world. They have another spirit, principle, and practice. This is because God choose them to be a special people unto Himself. “. . .the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth” (Deut. 7:6). “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14). “. . .but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen. . .” (Mark 13:20). “. . .God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth” (II Thess. 2:13). “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom?” (Jas. 2:5).

            The doctrine of unconditional election is taught in holy Scripture. Before the morning of time God chose certain individuals from among Adam’s race to be objects of His love and grace. These, and these only, He purposed to save by the atonement of Jesus Christ, and the effectual call of the Holy Spirit. God could have chosen to save all men without exception, for He had the power to do so. Or, He could have chosen to save none (like in the case of the fallen angels), for He was under no obligation to show His favor to any. But it was His sovereign will and good pleasure to choose some and to leave the others. “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded” (Rom. 11:7).

            Israel was for many years God’s elect nation. Isaiah 44:1 speaks of “Israel, whom I have chosen.” Christ came and they rejected Him, they hated Him, and they crucified Him. For this the nation of Israel was set aside. The Jews and Gentiles who received Christ as Savior are in this dispensation a chosen race. This rejection by the nation of Israel is only in part (Rom. 11:25) and during the church age (Rom. 11:1-29).

            Peter begins at the proper starting point, for God’s eternal election is the source and spring of all spiritual blessings. God’s elective purpose provided these blessings and secured them for the covenant people. All these good things are bestowed in connection with God’s sovereign election.

CHRISTIAN DIGNITY

            Next we note Peter speaks of Christian dignity: “. . .a royal priesthood. . .” Peter follows the Septuagint Version of Exodus 19:6 here. Exodus 19:6 of our version reads: “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests. . .” This verse in Exodus points back to the desire of the Lord that His earthly people should perform intermediary work among the nations, speaking to them for God and interceding, and, for the present time, they have forfeited that privilege. They will not regain this privilege until the millennium (Isa. 66:19-20).

            In the New Testament all believers are priests. In  his first epistle Peter addresses Christians in five Roman provinces (1:1-2), and then he says: “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (I Pet. 2:5). In Revelation 1:5-6 we see that every blood-washed believer is a priest: “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. . .” “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:9-10). Those washed in the blood of Jesus are a “royal priesthood.”

          The word “royal” is used of these believer priests because they belong to the King of kings. They are royal in their relation to God and Christ. They wear the royal robe of Christ’s righteousness. They sit at the King’s table and feed on royal food. They are a royal priesthood because they are separated from sin and sinners, for I Peter 2:5 calls them “a holy priesthood.” This is a privilege denied to the elect angels.

            True Christians are a kingly priesthood. Christ brought into being a new order of the priesthood. Like Melchisedek (Heb. 7:1-2), Christ is a King-Priest: “Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both” (Zech. 6:13). Those who constitute the royal priesthood in this age are king-priests. In a sense we are already like kings. We have the power of kings, in that we have been given power over sin and Satan. We are rich like kings (Eph. 3:8), and we have angels as our servants (Heb. 1:14).

            But believers are not yet reigning as they shall during the millennium. We are not yet reigning over the earth: “Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you” (I Cor. 4:8). Our reigning as kings over the earth awaits the first resurrection and the return of Christ: “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witnesses of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Rev. 20:4-5). We must suffer on earth with Christ before we can reign with Christ on earth (II Tim. 2:12).

            What dignity we enjoy being a royal priesthood! As the world would say, blue blood is in our veins. We are members of a royal family. Nobility brings responsibility. We must be careful how we live, lest we bring dishonor to our title and to our King. We also should have very high thoughts of all our brothers and sisters in Christ, for they are all kings and queens.

            Believer priests are to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. This is the highest service into which we can enter in time and eternity. There are many spiritual sacrifices which we are to offer as the royal priesthood.

            First, there is the sacrifice of self (Phil. 2:17; II Tim. 4:6; I John 3:16). Romans 12:1 commands us to offer our “bodies a living sacrifice.” We must lose our life for Christ and the gospel.

            Second, there is the sacrifice of singing: “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name” (Heb. 13:15).

            Third, there is the sacrifice of substance. Paul called the missionary offering he received from the Philippian church “a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God” (Phil. 4:18; cf. Acts 24:17).

            Fourth, there is the sacrifice of service: “But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Heb. 13:16). As priests this surely includes speaking for God to the people.

            Fifth, there is the sacrifice supplication: “Pray without ceasing” (I Thess. 5:17; cf. Rom. 8:26-27). We are to extend our prayers and entreat the blessings of God for others.

CHRISTIAN QUALITY

            Then Peter calls attention to Christian quality: “. . .a holy nation. . .” This expression is taken from Exodus 19:6 and other Old Testament passages (Lev. 19:2; 20:26; Deut. 7:6; Isa. 62:12). The Israelites were a holy nation, separated from the heathen and consecrated to God’s service. But Israel of old became an unholy nation, and her holiness as a nation will not be restored until the millennium (Isa. 62:12; Zech. 14).

            The nations of earth are separated by boundaries and borders. Languages and culture also separate them. But the holy nation Peter speaks of knows no such barriers. It overflows all languages and cultures. All Christians compose one holy nation. We are governed by one Lord and His laws. All believers are a holy nation, separated from the unsaved world and consecrated to God. We all have the “sanctification of the Spirit” (II Thess. 2:13; I Pet. 1:2).

CHRISTIAN PECULIARITY

            Peter continues by speaking of Christian peculiarity: “. . .a peculiar people. . .” The word “peculiar” does not mean “odd.” The Greek text might better be translated “a people acquired,” or “a people for God’s own possession,” or “a purchased people.” It is the same idea as in Ephesians 1:14 where we read of the “purchased possession.” The King James translators’ word “peculiar” is derived from the Latin word peculium (property). Believers are God’s possession, acquired through the redeeming work of Christ (Tit. 2:14; I Pet. 1:18-19).

            John Gill says on these words: “They are a people for acquisition, purchased, and possessed, as the words may be rendered; whom God has obtained, procured, and purchased for himself, with the precious blood of his Son; hence the Syriac Version renders them. . .a redeemed company; the same with the church of God which he has purchased with his blood, Acts 20:28 and the purchased possession, Eph. 1:14” (Gill’s Expositor, Vol. IX, p. 547).

            The elect are God’s by right of redemption (Isa. 43:1; I Pet. 1:18-19). If all are equally redeemed by Jesus Christ (believers and unbelievers as some say), then there would be no special reason for believers to serve God. The point that Peter is making is that the chosen generation are a special people because they  have been purchased by the death of Christ. The elect race is God’s possession being acquired by the redeeming work of Christ, and in this sense the unregenerate are not God’s possession.

            We must never forget we are not our own; we are God’s possession: “What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (I Cor. 6:19-20). Sometimes, believers think they are their own, and they think they can do any way they please. We belong to the Lord and we must do His will and His work. Like the Apostle Paul, we should ask: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6). Or, say like our Lord: “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).

CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY

            Having given a definite set of characteristics, Peter proceeds to stress the responsibility of the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, and the purchased people. He writes: “. . .that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” These words are very much like Isaiah 43:21: “This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.” “Praises” in I Peter 2:9 would perhaps better be translated “excellencies” or “virtues.” “To show forth” in the Greek has the sense of “send a message,” or publish abroad His excellencies. The chosen race who are upon this earth are here for a purpose. We are to witness of the greatness of God to the world.

            Some Christians spend much time publishing abroad their own virtues. This we should never do, for, at best, we are unprofitable servants. It is God’s excellences we are to spread abroad. Those who spend their time spreading the excellencies of God will not lack material.

            Darkness and light are often contrasted in the Bible. Conversion is passing from darkness to light. Those to whom Peter was writing were called out of the darkness of heathenism, and some most likely out of the midst of Jewish ignorance.

            By nature man is in a state of darkness. He “walks in darkness” (I John 1:6), and he loves “darkness rather than light” (John 3:19). He is ignorant of spiritual things, of God in all His perfections, and of the claims of God’s law upon him. He is ignorant of God’s Son and the gospel (II Cor. 4:4). Spiritual darkness covers the hearts of the unconverted, however mentally great or learned, or however illiterate.

            Note the light is called by Peter “his light,” meaning God’s light. God only can create light. He declares in Isaiah 45:7: “I form the light.” Hence we find the psalmist saying: “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Ps. 27:1). “. . .in thy light shall we see light” (Ps. 36:9). “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Cor. 4:6).

            God chose them before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4; cf. I Pet. 1:2), but He called them in time by the effectual work of the Holy Spirit and the gospel: “. . .because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel. . .” (II Thess. 2:13-14; cf. I Pet. 1:23-25). “Moreover whom he predestinated, them he also called. . .” (Rom. 8:30). Calling is what makes election sure: “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. . .” (II Pet. 1:10).

            Consider also that the light is “marvellous.” It is marvelous because many are left in the dark dungeon of sin. How wonderful to be among the few effectually called out of ignorance, slavery, and misery. It is marvelous because it comes from a God who is marvelous in the working of His grace and power. The recipients of this call are like a man kept in a dungeon where he never saw light. Then suddenly he is brought out into the light. What wonders seize upon such a man when he suddenly sees the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. How beautiful is the sight of this marvelous light! How glorious to come into the light of the matchless worth of Christ, of freedom from sin, of the joy of salvation, and of the hope of eternal life! Oh, let us act like the children of the day and walk in the light (Eph. 5:8-9).

CONCLUSION

            1. The true state of a lost sinner before God is one of spiritual darkness, a darkness associated with all that is wretched and woeful. Reason, without the Spirit, in spite of its natural powers, is spiritual darkness. It cannot apprehend what faith is. Such a person gropes as one without eyesight, stumbling from one thing to another, not knowing what he is doing.

            2. What a privilege to be called out of darkness into marvelous light! Oh, to be reckoned among the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, and the purchased people! Oh, to resemble the priests under the law and to enjoy kingly dignity! Let us keep our distance from the man whose portion is in this evil world. May we never live a day in this world without showing forth the wisdom, love, mercy, power, sweetness, and faithfulness of our God (Phil. 2:15-16).