Musings on 1 Peter (2:1-3)

Chapter 2
1-3: We come to Christ as newborn babes. When we are reborn in the Spirit, we begin again in spiritual infancy. This is the way God works. For those who would be proud, God humbles them, and brings them low. We were proud in our rebellion. We were stiff-necked like our brothers of old. We were haughty and looked down at others, considering them and their needs to be beneath us. But when God grabs hold of us in that state, in His grace, He does not destroy, but rather, brings us low. He in effect says, “My child, you may begin again.” But this time He does not leave us on our own. He has filled us with His Holy Spirit, enabling us to taste the Lord and discern His goodness. Therefore, having indeed tasted that the Lord is good, Peter calls us to put away all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. These are the tools of the old man. They are the utensils that he uses to prop himself up. They once were ours, but are no longer fitting to our new position as children in the house of the Living God. Let us spend some time on each one.

We are to put away all malice. We can no longer think of ourselves as more important than others. We can no longer look at others and see fellow contestants in the contest of self-exaltation. If we consider others to be simply co-contestants, constantly in our way as we pursue our own self-determined ends, we will only view them with an eye of contempt. Other people can do nothing other than impose their needs on us. Even a benign conversation is a small need the other person has that only we at that moment can fulfill. If we see that moment as a competitive move, as a grasping at our trophy, then we can only see them as enemies, and our hearts will be full of malice. Our only thought will be to obstruct them in some way so that they will fail in their perceived attempt to glorify themselves over us. But we are new creations. This is not what is going on. It is our flesh that blinds us to the reality of the real needs others have. It is our flesh that convinces us that in order to come out on top, we must first make sure everyone else comes out on the bottom. But we are to put away this attitude. It is not becoming, nor is it beautiful. It is ugly and petty. God’s way is much better. Jesus says that he who wishes to be first, should make himself last. God exalts the humble, but He brings down the haughty. Therefore let us humble ourselves, putting away all malice, and consider others to be more important than ourselves. If we do this, we just might see that it is God’s path to the ultimate trophy, the crown of life.

We are to put away all deceit. There are two types of deceit. There is the deception that we inflict on others, and there is deception that we inflict on ourselves. They naturally go hand in hand; there is no way to do one without the other. They are both expressions of dishonesty and we cannot be honest with one party while being dishonest with the other. Again, it is the flesh that tells us to deceive. We deceive others because we fear them. We are afraid of what they might think of us if they really knew what was going on inside our hearts. So we put up masks, making others think of us differently than if they knew the truth about who we really were. At the foundation of this fear is shame. We know our hearts, deep down. We know the disgusting thoughts that float in our mind, often uncontested. We feel that if we don’t keep up our façade, others might be ashamed of us as well, and would despise us. The devil, and therefore our flesh, hates nothing more than ridicule. Satan, and therefore our flesh as well, must have the fear and awe of others. Hence he is called the deceiver. Hence we in our flesh deceive others. We put up magnificent shows hoping beyond all hope that others will be so impressed with the outside of our cup they will assume the inside is just as grand. But magnificent as the outside may be, it is still a show. It is still a deception. And this is where we are deceiving ourselves as well. Everyone already knows it’s a sham. Everyone already knows it’s a façade because they feel the need to do it as well. We deceive ourselves most when we feel we are deceiving others well. There will always be some who fall for the trick. But we cannot deceive everyone all of the time. For God is watching, and He can never be hoodwinked into thinking you are someone other than you. Therefore Peter says, put away all deceit. Live life before God in front of others. Be ashamed of your flesh, but confess it, and rest on the complete forgiveness of Christ. There is not one sin that we commit that is not a forgiven sin. Therefore be free. Honor God and give Him thanks. We need not wear the mask anymore.

We are to put away all hypocrisy. This is one of the easiest sins to fall into. It has become cliché to ask if we can walk the walk now that we talk the talk. Inward belief and outward actions are the two sides of one coin. What our heart truly believes, our hands will do. What our hands do give true expression to what our heart truly believes. Our tongue plays no part except to either testify to the agreement between heart and hand, or to cover up the real intentions. If our tongue speaks consistently with the heart and hand, and makes no show to deceive others, then we are free of hypocrisy. But if the tongue seeks to cover up the intentions of the heart, making our hands look like they are doing something different than what we know them to be doing, then we are speaking out of both sides of our mouth. Hypocrisy says one thing, and does another. It is the war between the Spirit and flesh with flesh winning a battle. It is difficult to live honestly before God and before ourselves. Our flesh wants to glorify self, and our spirit wants to glorify God, our hearts and hands being the battlefield. We will always be tempted to hypocritical deceptions, because our flesh does not want transparency with others or with God. But Peter tells us to put it away, and so we must be able to. How do we do this? First we must remember what the Lord tasted like. Was He bitter or sour? Did He go down roughly? No. We have tasted the Lord, and indeed He is good. It is the goodness and grace of God that must transform our minds and hearts and be manifested in our hands. The heart attitude of forgiven-ness is a flame that we must continually fan, or else the coals will smolder. Has Christ covered all my sins? Yes. Am I fully and freely a child of God? Yes. Have I been given the Spirit to fight my battles alongside me? Yes. Then rest, Christian. Confess your sins regularly. Be at peace with the grace that has been shown to you in Christ. There is no room for hypocrisy in a grateful heart.

We are to put away all envy. It is really pettiness here that we must deal with. Envy desires the glory that comes with something someone else possesses, at the expense of the other person. In our flesh we cannot abide others being glorified while we sit by and watch. Our flesh convinces us that it is not fair, that it is we who deserve the accolades. But this is simply foolishness. It is triviality. We have been given every spiritual blessing in heaven. We have been given a host of physical blessings on earth. Eyes that see, ears that hear, noses that smell, tongues that taste, skin that feels, hearts that beat, lungs that pull in air, imaginations that can create worlds, minds that can process information and knowledge, souls that can enjoy created delights. All this freely given to us from a Father who loves us, and created us to enjoy His world. And we envy the promotion of our coworker. Is it not silly? Deep down at the bottom? So Peter tells us to put it away. Don’t, in other words. It’s almost easy if our minds and hearts are in the right place. A heart full of gratitude leaves no room for envy either.

Finally, we are to put away all slander. Slander is envy in action. It too is petty. We feel robbed of deserved glory when another receives what we feel is rightfully ours. And so we spread lies about them; we put them down, so that others will feel about them the same way we do, disgusted by the attention shown to them. This rarely works how we want it to however. Like deceit, we are only deceiving ourselves when we make this play. Our desire is that the people we tell lies to will suddenly feel we are the ones who deserve the glory instead of the ones we are slandering. But it cannot succeed. The minute we start slandering others we look aggressive and vindictive, and downright stupid. We cannot hope to win for ourselves the glory we sought to take away from others. Our intentions are plain for all to see. Therefore Peter says, put away all slander. Do not use your tongue as a weapon of self-glorification. It cannot work. As Jesus says, love your enemy, and seek to do them good. Remember who you are as a child of God.

How are we to put these things away? How are we to say no to the tools our flesh is so comfortable with? The answer is easy. It is the doing that presents difficulties. We must immerse ourselves in Christ. This means regular interaction with the Word. This means reading and grappling with our Bibles. This means regular worship with the Body, for this is where we meet Christ and dine with Him. This means regular times of prayer, both personally and with others. Put simply, we are to live a body centered life. Here is where we learn to live in the presence of others without resorting to malice and slander. It is in the warm and forgiving atmosphere of Christ's own family that we gradually come to find freedom from the old ways of life. It is living in the presence of the King and His kin that we find ourselves being renewed and transformed.

We are infants when we first come to Jesus. We are to long for the pure spiritual milk of the Word. We cannot digest the meaty truths that are revealed to us in Scripture right away. We need Christ and Him crucified. But we are to feed on the milk so that we may grow up into our salvation. One of the great failures of our modern culture is to downplay and marginalize maturity. Our elders are sidelined and ignored, and the youth dictate the trends and dynamics of our culture. We do not fear, or honor, or hold in awe anyone based on age or their wisdom. This mentality has crept into the Church to the point that we don't feel the need to go beyond the pure milk of the Word. But Peter calls us to grow up, and so we should.

Therefore put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. These tools no longer belong in our belt. Around our waist there is only room for love, joy and peace; for patience, kindness, and gentleness; for goodness, faithfulness and self-control. Let us strive for these things. Let us strive for Christ.