Intro: Welcome to the Spoken Gospel Podcast. Spoken Gospel is a ministry that's dedicated to speaking the gospel out of every corner of scripture. In Luke 24, Jesus told his disciples that every part of the Bible was about him. So each week, hosts David and Seth work through a passage of scripture to see how it's all about Jesus and his good news. Let's jump in.
David: Well, welcome everyone to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. Seth, how are you today?
Seth: I'm doing well. I'm drinking tea today. You are?
David: I'm on coffee.
Seth: Uh, tea feel— I think I'm gonna like start moving away from coffee in the evenings.
David: Oh, in the evenings. In the afternoons.
Seth: I mean, yeah, afternoon, evening, it's the same thing.
David: Yeah, I'm definitely on coffee because we are moving our 6-month-old into his crib from the bassinet. And he woke up a bunch last night, which he's been sleeping through the night for like months. And so I got used to that.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And now I slept like 4 hours.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And so I'm, I'm tired.
Seth: Trials of various kinds.
David: Trials of various kinds,
Seth: which is a quote from the book of 1 Peter, which is what we just segued into.
David: Yeah. So we're in 1 Peter. Um, we've wrapped up the epistles of John and now we get to talk about Peter's epistles, which I'm really excited about.
Seth: Yes, I am too.
David: Peter, what— okay, before we get into that, why, just right at the top, why should we care about the book of 1 Peter other than the fact that it's the inspired word of God in our Bible?
Seth: Because besides the fact that God has spoken it,
David: what's it bringing to us specifically, uniquely?
Seth: I mean, Peter is writing to a group of Christians who are suffering some sort of persecution for their faith. Probably not like heavy state-sponsored, like we've seen like in some pretty harsh authoritarian regimes, but the social ostracization That's a hard word to say.
David: Ostracization. That is a hard word to say.
Seth: Yeah. Like the social outcastness of being a Christian, the general kind of sideways eye glances that you get from being a Christian, from being a Christian in a culture that kind of looks down on you because of your faith, but also because of your ethics and your morality. Right. So what does it mean to be a Christian when nobody trusts Christians and everybody's skeptical of them and they're hostile to you and your ethics in some way?
David: Yeah, I think a lot of people can relate to that. So 1 Peter is for you.
Seth: Yep.
David: Seth and I were praying as we do before every episode, and we both talked about how we experience the idea of exile differently.
Seth: That's right.
David: Talk a little bit about like, yeah, what you were talking about.
Seth: I am a missionary kid.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So as a— I was a literal immigrant.
David: How many countries did you live in?
Seth: 8.
David: 8 countries.
Seth: 8 countries. So Sweden before high school. Before high school. Panama. Sweden, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Scotland, and America. Yeah, 8 by the time I moved to college.
David: College, right.
Seth: And I think I've been in 80, right? Oh, not 80, 30 countries. 30 countries. And so it's just like, I've lived most of my life as an immigrant. I still haven't lived in a place for one place longer than I've lived in many places.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And so the idea of being a foreigner, being in a place that's not actually my home, and calling somewhere else home, but then going to that place that's supposedly home, America, which is where my my parents are from, but still feeling like a European. Like, displacement is like a common, like, felt theme throughout my life. Yeah.
David: And then I was saying I feel it differently, but I also feel like the exile, um, I don't know, impulse or existential crisis or whatever you want, the exile crisis, like from more of maybe like a, like an existential place where it's just like, I never feel like I belong. Like, I don't feel like I'm home. I don't feel like at peace with where I am. No matter what room I'm in, I just feel like I don't belong there. I have like a discordance with my surroundings, you know? And it's like, and it's because I feel like I know I belong somewhere else. And we'll— and Peter's going to speak to that. Yeah.
Seth: And so this is probably a different way that I experienced the exile, the exiled nature. It's like I was always a minority. Oklahoma, right, is probably the first place I've lived where some sort of Christianity was the majority worldview of people around me. So in post-Christian Sweden, Finland, Norway, Scotland—
David: yeah, you were a minority.
Seth: I was always a minority. I think it was the only Christian I knew in my graduating class. So it was like that, that's a— and Peter's going to pick up on that, definitely persecuted minority vibe. Not that I was heavily persecuted, but the social ostracization thing.
David: Yep.
Seth: Yeah.
David: So anyway, hopefully that gives everybody listening, like, think about yourself too. It's just like, you know, either where you've come from, your past, how you experience the world around you, how you've been treated because of your faith. Like, we've probably all identified with some kind of exilic crisis. I don't want to like say what your experience is exactly the same thing that was happening in Peter's church, because it's not. Because it was the first century, first off.
Seth: But it's appropriate to do so because uniquely the epistles are written to people.
David: Yes.
Seth: Like people in communities suffering specific circumstances in a way that some of the Old Testament books are different or more general or more universal or timeless. Timeless. The history of God's people or the creation of the world, you know, like, right there.
David: Yeah.
Seth: There was specificity.
David: Yeah. They were just written and you go to them. Epistles come to you. Yeah, it's kind of a way to say it. Yeah. So then, to get into Peter, I have a really novel idea. Okay, why don't we start at the beginning? Oh, I know, in the beginning. No, not that beginning. 1 Peter 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. So stop there real quick. We're talking about Peter. We're not going to get into all the scholarly arguments around authorship. This is actually a pretty well-attested letter, less than 2 Peter. But well attested. And this is talking about Simon Peter, one of the disciples, one of the disciples of Jesus, you know, the one who's always caricatured as being brash and bold and stepping out on the water first to walk with Jesus and like, you know, Jesus told him to get behind me, Satan.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And all this kind of stuff.
Seth: Yep.
David: That Peter.
Seth: That Peter.
David: On this rock I will build my church.
Seth: Peter. And there's going to be some fun references to Peter's marked history with Jesus in the letter.
David: That's right.
Seth: Yeah. And his name, Rock. Rock. Yeah.
David: He's going to talk about a rock in chapter 2. So this Peter, he's a sent one of Jesus Christ, one of the apostles over the church, designated by the Holy Spirit, possibly the leader of the church in Jerusalem, possibly.
Seth: Yep. Yep.
David: And then the— but his addressee tells us way more.
Seth: Yes. People he's writing to.
David: Yeah. And it says, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion.
Seth: Okay.
David: Like, names 5 cities, 5 cities.
Seth: Yeah.
David: But man, that— there's 3 words there that are just like really interesting for setting this audience up, and it makes it very unique in the New Testament. Elect exiles of the dispersion. Yes. Okay, let's talk about those.
Seth: Yes.
David: So because these are all—
Seth: because the next— the 5 cities are geographical, right? You're in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey.
David: Yeah.
Seth: These are all theologically loaded words and historically loaded words. But yeah. The— a lot. They're doing a lot of heavy lifting.
David: They are doing a lot of heavy lifting. And so when you hear the word elect, this is the word chosen, like the chosen people of God, the elect of God. This title— now you fast forward, you know, 1,600 years to the Reformation, and you've got a whole bunch of baggage tied to that word.
Seth: You got other stuff to talk about.
David: We're not— that's not what he's talking about.
Seth: He'll get to foreknowledge, did you know, like that, but Anyway, Peter did not know who Martin Luther was. What? It's true.
David: How is that possible? What he is talking about with this word is he's using the word that God has been using throughout the Old Testament to talk about Israel, his chosen elect people. So he's coming to this church, these churches all across Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey, and is saying like, you guys are God's chosen people from the Old Testament. And the weird part is most scholars agree that these are mainly Gentiles, non-Jewish people, non-elect people, non-chosen people. Even throughout his letter, he will say, once you were not a people, right? Like, you, you, you used to be the sons of pagans.
Seth: Yep.
David: And like, and now you're God's elect.
Seth: Yeah. So yeah, it's super interesting. He's not talking generally. That's going to be about God's people, Israel, the Jews throughout the Old Testament. And Peter seems to really intentionally be focusing it on Gentiles, people not originally included in God's covenant. Even the term exiles.
David: Yes.
Seth: Is another theologically freighted word from the Old Testament. God's people were exiled into Babylon.
David: That's right.
Seth: The Jews were taken away by Babylon— Babylon— Babylonians, the Babylonians and the Assyrians away from their homeland, and they could not live in their place for a long, long time.
David: So it's two ways now that Peter is grafting these Gentile churches, these non-Jewish, non-chosen people into God's chosen family. He's saying you have been chosen, and you are part of the exilic people that, that ended the Old Testament story.
Seth: Yep.
David: Like the Old Testament ends in exile.
Seth: Yep.
David: And he's like, now the story continues with you Gentiles, which is really interesting. And he's gonna go to great lengths.
Seth: Yes.
David: In the next couple chapters to graft Israel or to graft non-Israelites into spiritual Israel, which I'm sure we'll talk about a lot later. But one other thing I just wanted to point out that I think is really interesting. Tom Schreiner talks about this in his commentary on 1 Peter, that it is, it is the Gentiles' election that makes them exiles. Oh, if you think about it, it's like, right, they weren't exiles at first. They didn't have to be like a lot of these people probably grew up like in like in Galatia. They were Galatians. You know, there's other theories that there was a mass dispersion. And but, you know, we can take it at face value, too, that like, you know, he's talking to Galatians in Galatia who grew up there and he's saying you're in exile. No, they're not. They, they are. What do you call it when you, when you grow up?
Seth: Native. Native. Yeah. Native.
David: There you go. The only word I can think of is indigenous, which is also. Yeah, but he's like, but because you've been elected, I've now made you an exile because I've elected you. And he's going to say to what later?
Seth: What makes me— that makes me think of is Abraham.
David: Exactly.
Seth: When God chose Abraham to be the father of his people, the first thing he did was exile him away from his home.
David: Yep.
Seth: So whether or not these people are natives to Galatia or whether they were imported from there, doesn't matter. God's people are first categorized as in the moment they're chosen as also exiles and immigrants and foreigners in the place that they are.
David: And Abraham uses these terms to describe himself. I think in Genesis 23, uh, quotes these words. Um, or I guess Peter quotes Abraham's words, but, um, did you know that Abraham did not know who Peter was? Wait, hold on. Is this going to be the joke? I like it. Uh, but I think Abraham is the perfect person to have in your brain.
Seth: Yeah.
David: This category— Abraham was home. He was home. And then God came to him, chose him, and said, okay, I want you to leave your home, your family, and everything that makes you identified with the world around you. And I'm going to take you to a place that I've not yet shown you. Like the Promised Land. That's the Promised Land. He didn't know where it was. He didn't know when he'd get there. He didn't know what— how he would accomplish it. But he trusted that God would take him there. That is the worldview that Peter is situating his Gentile listeners into. He's saying God has come to you and he's chosen you. He saved you through Jesus, and now he is sojourning you to your homeland, which is with him in the new heavens and new earth. Yeah. And like, because that's your ultimate home, Everywhere else will always feel like exile. You'll be a stranger everywhere else because you don't belong here anymore.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: Your citizenship is elsewhere.
Seth: I think it's so interesting that the story of God's people begins with that. Like, the defining principle of God's people is being out of place.
David: Yes.
Seth: In the place that they are.
David: Yes.
Seth: I mean, even when Israel got into the Promised Land, they were at home, right? Mm-hmm. For a period of time, but that entire time they never experienced the rest that they would hope from, from a home, right? Right. They were waylaid, they were attacked their entire history, and only then it lasted. What, how long did Israel— it's debated, 400 years, 400, 600 years, whatever it is. But then since then, that home has not been the same, you know? Right. Like there's never like being in exile is far more being the foreign exile. Even while chosen, is the predominant way believers in God have thought about themselves. That's right. Should have to think about.
David: And the whole Old Testament is trying to get us to understand that.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like you read the Old Testament and it informs you of who you are as a believer in God. You're in exile. Like the whole— I mean, the very first story of the Bible, the cataclysmic event is exile. Right? Like the Garden of Eden.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Whenever— like, we are defined by exile. Like, that is the— that is the punishment that began our sojourn here on the earth apart from God is exile.
Seth: And think about Moses. He was an Israelite.
David: Yes.
Seth: Raised in Egypt.
David: He was a stranger.
Seth: He was a stranger. He was a foreigner. He was not where he was supposed to be, you know. And then even he is a father of the nation of Israel, right? Like, nation begins and is founded by these exiles, these immigrants, these people. Yeah.
David: And then the whole law is like underpinned and predicated by appeals back to their foreignness. Whenever God says, now, whenever you come up to a poor person in the land that you're going to take, treat them well, you know, like make sure they're taken care of. Why? Because you were foreigners. So take care of foreigners, you know? And so it's like, yes, like Understanding ourselves as foreigners changes the way we act in the world. And Peter is going to harp on that come chapters 3 and 4.
Seth: Yeah. Well, that's a really, I mean, that's so, I mean, I always think about how my just past as a foreigner impacts my present reality living in America. And I have never actually thought about that as like a spirit could be a spiritual skill, like that same skill that I use to navigate a world that I supposedly supposed to be at home in, but still feel out of place in, is actually that code switching, or however you want to call it, is actually a skill the Christian needs to learn how to do.
David: To a Jew, I become like the Jews to win more Jews. To the Gentiles, I become like Gentiles to win more Gentiles.
Seth: And Paul, those who have been outside of God's covenant community for the thousands of years of Israel's history are— need to learn to read themselves back into a story in which they're out of place.
David: Yes.
Seth: Which is powerful.
David: Yeah. It's also really interesting to like, if you were an Israelite, you know what it means like to be an exile. Yes. Like it is your history. It's something you need to be taught. But for Gentile nations, like they've been home their whole life, you know, a lot of these, a lot of these people's history were histories of being home.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: And they need to be thrown into a story that shows them they're not home so they can hope for their ultimate new home with God.
Seth: Yeah. And we should just probably jump here now. But if starting in 1 Peter 13, Peter does this for his Gentile audience in a really interesting way. So as you're reading through 1 Peter, 1 Peter 1 through 12 is kind of introducing all the big ideas, which we're going through slowly. And the first thing he does after his introduction is to read Gentiles who are used to being at home, or maybe not, in their own communities, into the story of exile and home of God's people.
David: Yes.
Seth: And he walks Gentiles and reads them back into the story of Israel.
David: Yes. He like goes through the whole Old Testament at like, you know, 30,000 feet and says— and just basically says, you're Israel here, here, here, here, here. What's his name? Schueter, commentator, calls this a homiletical midrash.
Seth: Interesting. Can you define all this? I can try. Homiletical is like preaching.
David: You know, like, he's preaching, he's teaching, and he's doing midrash, which is a Jewish interpretive technique of reading the Bible that tries to— I read a definition of it the other day, which I found really interesting. It was something like seeing every sentence, word, and syllable as an opportunity for revelation. And like, that's midrash, is like, is like Okay, that's the story. But what did God mean? You know, like, well, it's kind of like what we do in the podcast.
Seth: We read Genesis 1. It's like, how's Genesis 1 about Jesus?
David: Yeah. Now it can mean— now, capital M Midrash is referring to a document. That's not what we're talking about.
Seth: But like, there's a method, a method called midrashing.
David: Yes. Yes.
Seth: And then there's the Midrash.
David: Yes, exactly. And so Peter here is doing midrash. He is walking through the history of the Old Testament and showing that the Gentiles were part of it the whole time.
Seth: Yes.
David: And that God has fulfilled the Old Testament in Christ by incorporating Gentiles into the chosen elect people of God.
Seth: Here's a couple of the highlights. So 1 Peter 1:13, therefore prepare your minds for action, is actually a quote from Exodus 12:11. Oh, when God tells Israel to gird their loins and to get ready to go out and be freed from their oppressors.
David: Crazy. I didn't know that one.
Seth: 1:15, you are to be holy be holy because I am holy.
David: Yes.
Seth: Which is what God said to his people in Leviticus, in Leviticus 11:44, be holy as I am holy.
David: Yep.
Seth: In, uh, 1:17-21, he talks about the blood of the lamb atoning for their sins. It is a new Passover that the Gentiles are now included in, even though the Gentiles were not part of God's community. Right.
David: And that was the fundamental salvific event of Israel's history.
Seth: That is right.
David: Passover. They celebrated every year to mark the beginning of their new year.
Seth: That's right.
David: You have that now in Jesus.
Seth: Yep.
David: Okay.
Seth: Then applies some of the prophetic promises of God's new relationship with his people. Oh, actually the ending of exile from Isaiah 40. He says, all flesh is like grass and all its glory is like the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. Yeah. This is from Isaiah 40. And the whole promise is about the end of exile, which is also fascinating that the Book of Mark, whenever John the Baptist preaches and he proclaims, I'm making the valley straight, I'm proclaiming the one who named the Lord.
David: Yes.
Seth: All that is all the verses right before this one. This is the very next verse after Mark ends.
David: I got goosebumps. So explain why that's significant.
Seth: So Mark— so John the Baptist comes announcing the end of exile and saying Jesus brings the end of that exile at the Jordan River where people entered the Promised Land to get out of exile in the wilderness in the first place. And then Peter picks it back up again and said, You too are joining in, not just Jews, but the end of exile.
David: Yeah, it's like, it's like going a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, your story begins and now you're part of Star Wars. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay.
Seth: And then in 2 Peter, he continues this by talking about how we are a new temple, a temple of living stones, which—
David: pause real quick. We'll go into more detail. I just want to like throw up confetti and just like sound alarms because that's insane. For Peter to say that is insane. Yeah, the temple is the temple.
Seth: Well, even to most, like, pagan religions, yeah, a temple is a thing, right? You go to the temple.
David: And even more so in Judaism, it was, it was only one place at one designated place that, like, had to be built a certain way and had certain things. Like, most pagan temples didn't have revealed rules of what should happen there. They were cultural artifacts. Yep. This was God's house. And now he's saying, no, you're my house. And not only you, quote unquote, but you unchosen Gentiles.
Seth: Yes.
David: Are now the chosen vessels of the presence of Yahweh.
Seth: Yeah. They are the stones that build the temple. What? They are the stones that make up the temple, which is a thing that Jesus says and Paul says.
David: Right.
Seth: Um, and it's all from the Old Testament. And then finally, the other way he includes Gentiles in the, in the story of God's chosen people, the Jews, is He says he's going to make them a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. He's a holy nation of priests. It goes all the way back to Exodus 19.
David: Yeah.
Seth: When Moses or God said, I want the whole nation to be a nation of priests.
David: Yeah. It's right after they came from the Red Sea, came to Mount Sinai where the covenant was given. And this is like the— this is the, the pre— the preacher at the wedding. Is talking, you know how they give those like little homilies before the actual covenant starts? And like, this is that part. And God's like saying, you're going to be my chosen people, you're going to be my royal priesthood, you're going to be my holy nation. Now let's sign the marriage covenant. Yep. And he's saying God was talking to you Gentiles.
Seth: And it's like there's one— the— there's a new fundamental story the people of God are supposed to tell themselves, and it's the story of the people of Israel.
David: It's the same fundamental story.
Seth: It's the same story. We are supposed to do a midrash and read ourselves back into the Old Testament narrative.
David: Yes. Peter demands that we do this.
Seth: Yes.
David: Yes.
Seth: And that's what he's doing for his primarily Gentile audience in the opening pages of 1 Peter. He's saying, you guys aren't primarily Gentiles. You're not primarily defined by the fact that you're in Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, or Bithynia. You're primarily defined by the fact that you've been included in an ancient story that goes back to Abraham and ends with you being a new nation in the nation you're in. Yeah, you are now a different kingdom within the kingdom you live in.
David: It's so good. So for us then, as we talk about— I think let's— let me just— let me say two things. One, you pause there.
Seth: That's— that—
David: that getting that in your head will help you understand 1 Peter in its totality.
Seth: Yes.
David: That is what you need in your head to go read 1 Peter. Um, unpause. What does this— why is this good news for us today? You know, like we talked about the very real, uh, you know, all the way to the very existential ways that we experience exile. Why is the fact that I can graft myself into the story of the Old Testament and that I've been made in an exile by my election because I've been given a new homeland Like, yeah, just it seems like it's laying itself out for us. But yeah, talk about why it's good news.
Seth: Well, what the first thing is, like, he calls them elect exiles, right?
David: Yeah.
Seth: And I feel like the first thing I'd want to be told is, no, no, don't worry, you're at home.
David: Yes. Right.
Seth: You're not an exile. Yeah. You're not a, you're not a foreigner.
David: You're okay where you are.
Seth: Right. And he's going to get there.
David: Oh yeah.
Seth: Kind of.
David: Yeah. He's going to say stand in grace and, but yeah.
Seth: Really, the first thing he does is actually, you really are in exile.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Let's, let's, let's lean into the fact that God's people are always an out-of-place people.
David: Isn't that like good news in itself there where you just, those moments where you call a spade a spade and it's like, I'm not crazy.
Seth: I'm not crazy.
David: I do feel that I am. Yes, I am. I feel displaced and I thought I was the only one.
Seth: Yes.
David: And it's like, I'm supposed to.
Seth: Yeah. And I mean, there's, there's a reason why so many— there's a reason why Christianity is one of the most— is the most diverse religion on the planet. It's written to exiles. It's written to minorities. It's written to the persecuted. It's written with the people who have been oppressed in mind. Like, that's part of the reason.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So one, it's like, no, no, you are out of place, but you— where you are going ends in a new nation, a royal priesthood. And a people of God's own possession.
David: Yes.
Seth: You— the end of the exile story is that there is a home and it is in God. Yeah, that's, that's the story. It's like, yes, you are in exile, but let me put you deeper into exile first so I can take you to an eternal home, which you will say is undefiled, imperishable, and unfading.
David: Yeah. Oh, it's amazing. That's really good news. I mean, it's— we get to be Abraham, right? We get to be exiled, experience that, but then be promised a promised land. And our call is to have faith, like, just like Abraham's, like, walk toward that with Jesus. Before moving on from this theme, because I know we need to, just because I'm obsessed with it right now, I know we'll probably talk about it at length.
Seth: Yeah.
David: As we dive in. But I was just so— you read the, you read the quote from Isaiah earlier about the imperishable seed. Which is the word.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: And the word is Jesus and his gospel, he says.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: And it's just amazing to think about the imperishable seed of the Old Testament. Like the seed of the Old Testament is being a Jew. That is the seed. Like it was the first promise in the Bible, Genesis 3:15, that like one of Eve's seeds would, you know, rise up and crush the head of the serpent. And we follow that seed all the way through Genesis, all the way through Exodus. Like, you go all the way through exile and the people come back into the land with Ezra and Nehemiah, and they are trying to identify who still bears the seed of the, of the people of Abraham, the people of Eve. Like, the seed, you know, is so important. It's like being in Israel is so important. If you can't prove that you're part of us, like you're, you're kind of outside.
Seth: Yeah.
David: But that was a perishable seed, he says, you know, because we can die, you know, like that seed could die. But instead we've been given and been born into a kingdom through an imperishable seed, mainly the final seed of Jesus, who cannot die because he rose from the dead to live forever in eternal life.
Seth: Yeah. The word of the Lord remains forever.
David: Yes.
Seth: Yes.
David: It's just like, and that's what he's getting at there in that section that I was just, as I was rereading it this morning, I was just blown away by.
Seth: This leads me to, I want to go. So there's two places where he uses that word imperishable. Okay. You talked about one of 1 Peter, uh, 1.
David: Yeah. The end of chapter 1, 3.
Seth: Yeah.
Seth: And the first time he uses it is in verse 4.
David: Okay.
Seth: And he says, you have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to An inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.
David: Our city, our new home. Like, is that what he's talking about?
Seth: Yeah, because I'm thinking about— I mean, there's the realities of an inheritance that are interesting to think of. If you're being persecuted for your faith by your family, you might be cut out of an inheritance, right?
David: Yes.
Seth: If— and I mean, specifically for the nation of Israel, the land was their inheritance. Yeah. Like, as a community, as a people, the land was their inheritance. That was their home.
David: It was stolen from them by the Assyrians and Babylonians.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And then the Persians and the Romans.
Seth: And the Romans, like they've never had that home again. And when will they get that inheritance? When they get their land back?
David: When will they feel like when, you know, like people still right now as we speak are standing at the Wailing Wall, which is as close as they can get to their temple at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, asking the same thing, God, to give them their inheritance back.
Seth: Yes.
David: Like this is still a problem.
Seth: And so Peter is saying, for all the different ways your inheritance might be stolen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, there is an inheritance for you that is— this is a great quote from a guy named Beer— untouched by death, unstained by evil, and unimpaired by time. Your inheritance is compounded of immortality, purity, and beauty. That's the inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. Yeah, sure, you lost your parents' inheritance. Your family has disowned you. You no longer have a land, but there is something that is compounded of immortality, purity, and beauty waiting for you in Jesus. Okay, so what's next? We, we've gone one verse, two verse, Peter, half a verse, half a verse. And so 2nd— 1 Peter 2— oh, 1 Peter 1:2.
David: Yes.
Seth: Continues by saying, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, um, for obedience, for obedience to Jesus Christ, and for sprinkling with blood. Where are we going next? We've set up one major— we said this introduces all the major themes. We got exile. What are we talking about next?
David: Yeah, I mean, you and I kind of joked off air where it's like, uh, Man, Peter's really good at topic sentences. You know, we've learned as we've written devotionals now, like 400 devotionals or so on, like the Bible, that our clearest devotionals often begin with a really good topic sentence that says the main point. Yeah, you know, it's like, yeah, we've nailed it. Yeah, this is when we've done well.
Seth: Most of the time when your first sentence ruins the ending, the surprise ending, we nailed it.
David: We say that's the right way. And Peter does that here. And so what's going to happen later in the book, after— in the letter, after he kind of addresses some of these midrashic Old Testament exile ideas.
Seth: Yeah.
David: He then is going to say, okay, you are Israel, you are God's holy people. Be holy as I am holy. Here's what it looks like to be holy. This is what it looks like to live good, God-fearing, obedient lives as exiles in your own place. And that can be exiles in your city, in relationships, in marriages, even.
Seth: Yeah, it's really interesting. Right after he calls us a new nation that lives a holy priesthood, supposed to sacrifice, do our good works as new types of sacrifices, like we have this whole new world, this whole new nation, new kingdom we're part of. Now, inside that, you're a new nation, but you're married to somebody from a different nation, right? Your boss is somebody from a different nation. Your governor is somebody from a different nation and they do not believe or act the same way that you do.
David: Yep.
Seth: So what do you do next?
David: Yep.
Seth: How do you react when the ruling powers of your day are not the same as the ones you like pledge loyalty to?
David: Exiles have to live by a different code than everyone else.
Seth: Yeah, I think it's— and I think it was helpful for me because like whenever I get to like a household code section where Paul is saying, wives, submit to your husband this way, slaves, submit to your masters in this way, I'm like, Hold on, Paul, what are we talking about here? It was really helpful for me to realize, oh, Paul is talking to Christian wives ruled by a pagan husband. He's talking to Christian slaves when they are enslaved by a master who doesn't believe or trust Jesus or what he says about sacrificial love. What happens when you're taken advantage of by your husband? What happens when your master beats you? What happens when the government persecutes you? How do you live like a Christian in those places? That's really an—
David: yeah, that's a—
Seth: you need to start asking that question.
David: Yeah.
Seth: If we belong to a different kingdom than the one we live in, right? And if your values are the same as the nation you're in values, you've done it wrong, right?
David: Yeah. Because the way that Roman households would have functioned in that day, Yeah. Did not value women.
Seth: Right.
David: And yet Paul is saying, husbands, treat your wives as equals. And it's like, whoa, uh, what is like not— it's not the— yeah, that's not— that's how exiles would think.
Seth: Well, and yes, and who's the exile in that situation? It's the woman.
David: The woman.
Seth: She's the woman being taken advantage of by her husband. Like, the husband had far more authority than her, but what she's supposed to do love her husband by her gentleness? That doesn't— why is that? Why is that the exilic path? And then Peter's going to go on to say, it's like, because that's the path of Jesus. Jesus, even though he was the persecuted Son of God, the persecuted chosen elect exile, he died for the sake of the people in power and rose from the dead as a result. It's like we're supposed to pattern our life to obey Jesus Christ, to be sanctified, to look more like him, is to look like Jesus when we don't have all the cards.
David: Mm-hmm.
David: Yeah. Yeah. It's— I don't want to like— I'm afraid to use this word because I feel like it's been beaten with a stick for forever, but it's the countercultural kingdom where it's just like the upside-down kingdom is another way to think about it, where it's just like when the kingdom of God lives alongside and within the kingdom of men, there are value differences.
Seth: Yeah.
David: That end up creating unexpected scenarios.
Seth: Yes. Like when you have a different value system than your boss. Yeah. What happens?
David: Right.
Seth: You stayed true to the value system of your king, not your master. Yeah. You know, um, we're, Peter is full of ethical commands like this.
David: Mm-hmm.
David: Why?
Seth: So let's say we've— there's some examples where he has a specific section which talks about household codes and how it relates to these specific relationships.
David: Yeah.
Seth: But they're kind of all throughout the letter. Why does Peter draw such a straight line from being in exile to obeying and doing the right thing and living out these ethical commands?
David: Man, I don't— I don't know a clear answer to that question, although I will say he uses a linking word. Sanctification. So I know he's got a purpose there, that there are a process and a purpose, I should say. The process is sanctification, which feeds into what we said earlier, which is that he's going to say, be holy as I am holy. Sanctification is holification. Yeah, it's becoming holy. And the reason you become holy is so that you will obey Jesus Christ. It's interesting thinking about how he quoted Exodus 19, the covenant ceremony, the wedding ceremony that we talked about at Sinai and how he says, okay, Gentiles, you guys are elect exiles, you're married and you're going to a new home.
Seth: Where does it do that?
David: Sorry, we talked about that earlier. You are a chosen people, holy nation. Yes, yes, special possession. And, and then it leads into just like Exodus 19 moves into Exodus 20. Exodus 19, you're my chosen people. Exodus 20, Ten Commandments. So here's how you live. There's a natural, even Old Testament literary connection to how Peter structured his book, that it's, this is who you are, so this is what you do. We are not—
Seth: we are—
David: we're not just saved so God would have something to do. Like, you know, like God was bored and he's like, oh, I guess I'll save you. We were saved for a purpose. Like, becoming God's elect exiles gives our lives purpose, and our purpose is to obey God, to be holy as he is holy. Why? Well, I mean, you can go, we were made in his image.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like we were meant to spread that image through the nations.
Seth: The world will be blessed. Yeah.
David: It's like, because it's the only way to live in God's world. Like it's the only way to actually be human the way God intended is to sync up with the creator's intention for your humanity.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And so, um, I guess that's my answer, is that like God elects us and exiles us to be a holy people that obey his law.
Seth: Yeah. And that's probably— that's got to be important because I know in 2 Peter and then even the book of Jude, as we go on, you have all these false teachers claiming freedom in Christ. Mm-hmm. Because I am in this chosen people of God, I can do whatever I want. Yeah. The commands don't matter. And then Peter and Jude will specifically combat that idea.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So it is interesting, like, no, no, no.
David: Why?
Seth: Being chosen means being— acting in the chosen way, right? Yeah.
David: Yeah. By this they will know, they will see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven is what Peter says later.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And it's interesting that Peter goes to pretty great lengths to talk about what it means to be persecuted for righteousness' sake.
David: Mm.
Seth: So like, as you live holy lives, You're not just gonna be persecuted because you're a Christian.
David: Uh-huh.
Seth: You're going to be persecuted because you're living a different way. Right. Because when you practice your whatever, your generosity, your hospitality, your sexuality, your integrity, your integrity, it's going to run across other people's—
David: the other—
Seth: the way that other people want to live their life.
David: Yeah. You're, you're an accountant and your boss wants you to slightly fudge the numbers. To save the company and you can't. Yes, you're going to be persecuted for doing the right thing.
Seth: Right. And what's interesting about that is like, that's not— that is allegiance to Jesus.
David: Yeah. But in that moment, it just feels like I'm just trying to do the right thing.
Seth: I'm just trying to do the right thing. Right.
David: Yeah. But totally. Yeah. Your, your values run aground with the values of Babylon.
Seth: And so I think that was— I was wanting just to make sure we have both of those categories in our mind as we go through 2 Peter or 1 Peter. Sorry. Yep. There is the, the suffering, the persecution we experience for believing in a minority spiritual position.
David: Yes.
Seth: And then there's also the persecution from living the way that Jesus has told us to live. Like, we will be persecuted for that.
David: Now you're talking about persecution. Let's kind of get behind the text again real quick. What kind of persecution do we think is happening at this time? Because I know some scholars want to date this book later, even toward the end of the first century. Because they want to link up the idea of suffering and persecution with the reigns of, say, Diocletian, or like the Neronian oppression, you know, in the late '60s.
Seth: Where people are systematically being oppressed by the state, being sent to Coliseums, murdered and killed.
David: Roman-dictated oppression.
Seth: And I mean, Peter calls it, you're being, you're being tested as if by fire. Like, that's a pretty intense thing. Um, I think Peter's probably written a little bit earlier than that. Yeah, we don't need— if you date Peter that late, Peter has to be dead.
David: Yeah, he has to be dead. And it's almost strange that he doesn't mention Nero or Nero or Diocletian or whomever.
Seth: So more than likely, my assumption is that this was written while Peter was still alive. And he's writing to new church communities scattered across Asia Minor. And these believers are probably either fairly new believers or in places they potentially haven't been before. Maybe they just immigrated there and they are elect, or they're exiled because they immigrated there. Regardless, the church communities are fairly new and they're experiencing the social ostracization that comes from being a spiritual outgroup.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And the general persecution that kind of came with the Book of Acts, like, yes, think about the Book of Acts, early days of the church ministry. That was everything from being thrown into prison and riots as well as just not being accepted.
David: I mean, chapter 7, the first Christian martyr, Stephen, was stoned to death for believing in Jesus.
Seth: Yes.
David: Yeah. Persecution was sporadic and widespread, even if not state-sponsored. Yeah.
Seth: Yeah.
David: That's really interesting.
Seth: And the only reason I don't— and so it's like we don't know what it looked like, but more than likely I want to say it was of the lesser variety than the greater. But it doesn't, it doesn't really matter. Right. We don't have— Peter never talks about martyrdom is like the only— ah, yes, he never— like, you would have thought that people were dying for the faith.
David: Uh-huh.
Seth: It's something he would bring up, probably. But regardless of the fact, yeah, people are being persecuted, and that's— and Peter says to expect it.
David: Mm.
Seth: Peter says that that's actually the Christian way. Exiles, people who are foreigners, are always persecuted, right?
David: It's like proof that you are an exile.
Seth: That's right.
David: Yeah.
David: And Jesus even said, like, if you obey me, you will be persecuted.
Seth: John says it. Second, Paul says in 2 Timothy, Luke says in Acts 14, if you follow Jesus, you will be persecuted.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Both by your allegiance to him and because you follow his way of life.
David: And the reason— and Peter links it back often enough, it's worth mentioning— is the reason we're persecuted, the core underlying main reason is not just because people don't like those that they don't agree with. That's a part of it, you know, that our integrity ends up shaming those without integrity. And so they get mad. But there's an underlying reason. And Peter points it out. Jesus himself pointed it out. And it's they persecute you because they persecute me. They're like that. There is— they are ultimately persecuting Jesus as they're persecuting you.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And like, yeah.
Seth: And then Peter will name, because behind all persecution, whether it was against Jesus or against you, there is a spiritual reality at work that is against the message of Jesus and his ethic of life.
David: Right.
Seth: And you're all— Christians should expect suffering, but just because we expect suffering, that doesn't mean we'll lose. Like, that's the other reason why Peter is writing here is like, Okay, you're elect exiles, you're a persecuted minority, but that doesn't mean you're on the losing side, right? Like, you are being tested by fire so that guaranteed genuineness of your faith will come about.
David: It's not a fire of destruction, it's a fire of proof. Yeah, prove that you are gold. Yes.
Seth: Yeah, there is suffering is redemptive for Christians. Yeah, because of Jesus, because it was redemptive for Jesus, right? Because Jesus was persecuted, died, was buried in the ground. He rose from the dead.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So that's, that's the trajectory that Peter wants to make sure these exiles know. Yes, you're the persecuted minority, but persecuted minorities like Jesus raised from the dead.
David: That's right.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Um, so there's, I feel like we have to talk about something, um, which is like, it's one thing for us to feel exiled rather, either from our past or from some kind of existential problem I have with relating to my surroundings or something like that. Uh, but like, this is— this book and this idea is such good news for people who are not only elect exiles because they're Christians, you know, but like also are just experience exile on a daily basis because of their culture, their race.
Seth: You know, their income level, the fact that they're a Christian in a Muslim-majority country.
David: Yes.
Seth: Whatever.
David: It's just like, I just— I don't want to say too much on that because that's not my place to speak from. That's not my experience. But I want to like see it and know that like, if that's you listening, this book, it should be a song for you. Like, dive in, dive in. Like, I just want to— I just want to say like the Bible sees you, it talks about your experience, and it provides you a way forward. Um, even though Seth and I might not be able to navigate that for you, 1 Peter can. Jesus can.
Seth: Let me ask you this question. Let's go back to where we started at the beginning. So we've talked about we're elect exiles, we should expect suffering for the sake of Jesus, for righteousness' sake, and that Jesus will make us more like himself through that process. He'll help us obey even through suffering, which maybe got lost a little bit there, but like That's a major theme. Why do we— so, and you mentioned like there's all these different people groups out there, we can't speak for all their experience, but Peter says regardless of the people group you're in, read yourself into another story of a different people group, right? Why is that the direction all peoples have to go? Like, why do we all— why all must we all read ourselves back into the narrative the Jews.
David: Yeah, well, it's because we've, we've, we've learned to live a lie. And that lie is that this is our home. And we have forgotten the fundamental truth that began our existence as Homo sapiens on the planet, which is no, we are children of exile. Our history is one of exile. We were kicked out of God's presence, exiled from it. Everyone on the planet Earth is a sojourner and a stranger, but most people don't know it. And we must engraft ourselves into the story of Israel to remember who we actually are, what our history actually is, to know how to relate to the world around us, to know that we need a path back to God, to know that we need an imperishable inheritance. And so like to, to, to learn the story of Israel is to unlearn the story of Babylon. The story of the world that you grew up in because you need a new story. You need a different world to live in.
Seth: I think for some of us that means learning to see ourselves as exiles.
David: Yeah, definitely.
Seth: And then for others of us, it means learning to know that there is hope.
David: That's right. You know, like, yes, absolutely. Like, you're not only in exile, you're on your way home.
Seth: Yes. Like, and like, even to think about— I mean, we haven't— let's just name it. What— how is the cross a type of exile?
David: Right.
Seth: Because for exiles, I want a savior. I want someone to save me out of exile who knows what it's like to be exiled and can bring me home. Right. So how is Jesus's cross a type of exile?
David: Right. Yeah. Jesus was exiled from the fundamental tenets of the Jewish faith. Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree. He's been exiled from the covenant of God by that very act. He was exiled from the city of Jerusalem, crucified outside its walls as an act of separation from the Commonwealth of Israel. And third, most importantly, he was exiled from the presence of God. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He's the consummate exile on every level. Uh, he experienced the exile of Eden that we've all experienced, uh, but to the uttermost. I think that's—
Seth: well, so that's it.
David: True.
Seth: Yeah. And so, and what's And it doesn't end there.
David: That's right.
Seth: Right. Like, and then he was exiled from his life in death. He was buried.
David: Like, that's right.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Oh yeah. He was exiled from life.
Seth: Yeah. He was exiled in the grave.
David: Yes.
Seth: And the fact that he rose from the dead, actually physically, bodily, historically.
David: Yes.
Seth: Proves everything else spiritually. Right. Because Jesus raised from the dead, being an exile from God doesn't have to be on the table for you anymore.
David: That's right.
Seth: Being an exile from the promises God made to his people isn't on the table for you anymore. Right. Being an exile from God's place in his land isn't on the table for those who have joined themselves in Jesus. Yes, he is building a new, imperishable, undefiled, unfading kingdom now and soon.
David: Right.
Seth: And you are part of it. Right. Yeah.
David: And that's because this idea of exile and death death are tied together from the beginning. The day you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will surely die. Well, what happened after they did that? They didn't drop dead on the spot. They were exiled from God's presence, and death came into the world.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: Exile and death, separation from the tree of life, those are synonymous. And so when Jesus ate the fruit of death for us and proved that he could rise out the other side, exiled, as it were, from the grave, You know, like he proved that, that he could put an end to the curse, an end to the exile, because he overcame its ultimate punishment, death. And then he went home. Yeah. His ascension is part of this good news that he ascended to the right hand of the Father and is now preparing a home for us to be with him.
Seth: Another thing that Peter keeps coming back to is that Jesus is coming back.
David: Yeah, he comes, he comes there a lot.
Seth: He's coming back to re— to right the world.
David: That's right.
Seth: And he says this in 1 Peter 4:13. So rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings.
David: Oh yeah.
Seth: Rejoice insofar as you can read yourself into the story of Jesus's own sufferings so that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
David: Okay, Pastor Seth, I'm going to— I'm going to ask you to put your pastor hat on and help, help help your brother here with just a question I've wrestled with for a long time.
Seth: Yes.
David: So when I think about this suffering for Christ's sake, I end up getting into a philosophical catch-22.
Seth: Okay.
David: Because I'm like, okay, so do I— like, if I'm, if I'm looking around and I'm not that persecuted, you know, I live in Oklahoma. I'm a white man.
Seth: Yeah.
David: I'm not super persecuted. Do I need to go out of my way to find places to get persecuted so I can rejoice in my sufferings with Christ? Or is that like works-based suffering? You get what I'm saying?
Seth: It might be a little bit of that.
David: I've always wrestled with that. Like, whenever I was in college, I intentionally often got outside of my college campus to go places where I could have knives pulled on me for helping homeless people because that made me feel like I was right, safe or saved or, you know, part of this story. And I'm like, I'm sure, I'm sure there are people out there right now listening who are like, I have no problem connecting the idea of exile and oppression and suffering.
Seth: Yeah. The type of person that has to look for suffering is not Peter's intended audience.
David: So I'm just like, for me, you know, for me, I'm just like, what, what, what do people like you and I do with this? Um, and I, you, you helped me a little bit there when you said like, insofar as you are able to read yourself into the story of Israel and to just know you are in exile. You know, was helpful. But I also just feel like I'm shortchanging it or like, maybe you should be grateful. Well, I mean, wrestling with all that.
Seth: I mean, I mean, part of it's like the difference between suffering and persecution. I mean, there's the suffering that happens because life is hard. Yeah. And we're going to follow.
David: Yeah. We lose children, we get sick.
Seth: We— yeah. And then there's the suffering that happens because we're being a Christian. Whether that's proclaiming the gospel or living like a Christian in a world that doesn't value those things. Um, but at this point it's like, I think we have an underdeveloped imagination and we actually minimize our own suffering.
David: Wow.
Seth: So I mean, just, I would say to you, it's like, well, do what Peter did. Do the midrash. Read yourself. Like, don't be ashamed of reading yourself into the story of the Bible, even if it feels a little like Oh, I'm not like Moses who like murdered a man. You know, like, you know, you don't have to have murdered a man to identify with the story of Moses.
David: Well, I mean, immediately that helped. I was just like thinking like about Abraham. I was like, okay, let me think about Abraham as the controlling metaphor for this book. I was like, okay, when I read Genesis 12 through 23 or wherever, uh, I'm just like, this guy. Was just a, what's the word, like a vagrant or a—
Seth: Vagabond.
David: Vagabond, just, I'm trying to think of that word. But anyway, just always walking around, no home, you know, always at the whim of whatever land he ends up in, you know? And I read that, I'm like, man, that guy knew what it meant to be a suffering exile. And I'm like, when you talked about just lacking biblical imagination for how to view our own lives as elect exiles of the dispersion that Paul— that Peter's talking to here, it's just like, man, that's all Christians' stories.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: That I'm just not home and I'm walking around at the, like, kind of like at the mercy of whatever kingdom I find myself in, and I'm just dying to get to the promised land. Like, I'm just dying to be with Jesus, you know what I mean? And like, I— the reason why I have an existential— exilic crisis is because I'm not seeing Jesus's face every day. I'm not in his— I'm not with him physically. And like, I can experience that as a type of suffering and not have to feel like I'm coming up with excuses to tie myself to the story. Yeah, like, I'm not actually suffering. It's like, no, you are, because you're exiled from God right now. Yes, it's some— in some sense, yes, the Holy Spirit lives in me, right? But like, I want to be with him and see him as he is. Like, I want to be home and I'm not.
Seth: I mean, I can't— now that you said all that, I can't help but thinking you trying to prove your allegiance to Jesus by looking for suffering.
David: Yeah.
Seth: That's exile. Like, that was you being in exile. Where's God?
David: Yeah.
Seth: Maybe I'll find him at the end of a knife. Like, maybe if I get threatened enough, then God will be near me.
David: Right.
Seth: What is that? That's the experience of exile. That's what all exiles think. Like, that's the prayer of so many people. Like, God, I'm— I am at the end of a knife. Yeah. Come be near me. Um, that's not necessary. Right. You have been, you have been by Jesus woven into the story of Israel. You are an exile. You've been deepened into that story. You're more of an exile than you think you are. Right. But you're also going home somewhere and you're already there.
David: Right.
Seth: You don't have to go look for it. Yeah. I don't know.
David: That's really good. Thank you, my friend Seth, Pastor Seth.
Seth: Pastor Seth.
David: Um, the last thing I want to end on, yeah, as we are just flying through the whole book of 1 Peter is how Peter ends the book is he says where he's writing from, which is so interesting. Pretty much every scholar who believes in Petrine authorship, that Peter wrote this book, says that Peter wrote it in Rome.
Seth: Yep.
David: That's where he died. And this is probably towards the end of his life.
Seth: Rome is the new Babylon.
David: And he's— and he says, I'm writing to you from Babylon. Yeah. Which is where Israel was exiled to. They were their exilers. And he's like, that's where I'm writing you from. Hashtag Rome. Yes, but I'm in Rome. I mean, you're in Roman provinces. We're all in the new Babylon. Is just like, that's the creative imagination that he wants us to live in, is wherever you are, whatever kingdom you live in, you are in Babylon. You have been exiled by enemy forces and you are not home.
Seth: You're not home. It's like you're in Babylon.
David: And I love that Peter even just like puts himself with his people.
Seth: Yeah.
David: He's like, I'm writing to you from Babylon too.
Seth: Yep.
David: I'm in exile too.
Seth: And that means we can— we're all in Babylon. That's right. Like America is Babylon. China is Babylon, right? Scotland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Switzerland. All the places I already grew up. Yeah. We're Babylon.
David: We're Babylon.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Yeah.
Seth: We need to remember that.
David: We do need that. And we need to remember that we don't— we won't stay there forever. Like God is going to bring us home. So, okay, that's 1 Peter.
Seth: I think next week we're gonna jump into 2 Peter.
David: Yes.
Seth: And do an overview podcast of 2 Peter, uh, because it's very different than 1 Peter.
David: Yeah.
Seth: 2 Peter is attacking 3, maybe 4 really specific false teachers. False teachers. And Peter responds to them. Yeah. Uh, so we're gonna talk about that next week.
David: Awesome. I'm looking forward to it. Uh, in the meantime, thank you guys for listening. Go read 1 Peter as an exile.
Seth: And then in 2 weeks from now, we'll go verse by verse through it. Okay, great.
David: And we'll see you next week. Thanks for listening.
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