Good morning, and welcome to our first day in 1 Peter 2! Today I want to look into some sins Peter addresses at the first of Chapter 2. I hope to explore why Peter specifically focuses on these sins. Hint: they are not the usual suspects. No doubt some scholar much wiser than I (meaning an actual scholar) has coined a term for these sins already. But, since I haven’t run into that scholar or his term, I am going to come up with my own. I will refer to them henceforward as sins of discord. I’ll try to give a proper explanation for the term in the study below.
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
1 Peter 2:1-3
Pesky chapters of discord
The first time I read this, I had read 1 Peter 1 the day before. You know? That whole thing where you read one chapter a day, then put the Bible down, no matter how arbitrary the chapter divisions might seem? Anyway, I remember wondering to myself, “Why these sins?” I mean, sure, no one wants to be a malicious, lying hypocrite who gossips about the neighbor with the beautiful wife he covets, but still…(Actually when you write it out like that, it does sound pretty deplorable!) But, what I was getting at is these are not exactly abominations, right? (Or, are they?) Why not fornication, drunkenness, adultery, murder, idolatry, etc.? I hadn’t yet figured out the key – these are sins of discord.
So, therefore
Before we can get very far down this road we need to address the tiny word So that this chapter begins with. I am sure Peter never intended his letter to be broken up thus. Indeed, I have very little confidence in the placement of chapter designations. I have opined on this before. Please see The Wise: The Quest: Day 11.0 for a more in-depth discussion of the my reservations vis-à-vis chapter separations.
To what does so refer? So is like a therefore. You may already be familiar with some of our other studies where addressing the 800-pound therefore in the room is necessary, but if not, please see: Therefore: The Quest: Day 6.0 or Our Minds: The Quest: Day 25.0. Today, we have a so instead of a therefore, but we will treat it similarly. We have to say to ourselves, “Whatever comes next is based on whatever was said previous to this word so.” So, or therefore, even, let’s look back.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
1 Peter 1:22-25
Conduct
Aha! So, Peter has just finished telling us that we ought to love each other earnestly with a brotherly love from a pure heart. Why? Because we have been born again from an eternal seed. How? Through the living word of God. How did that come about? God did it when we heard the gospel.
In our first study on 1 Peter (Called: The Quest: Day 18.0) we pointed out that Peter’s audience was made up of believers. In other words, this is not a missionary letter. This is a letter written to men and women who were already Christians and who were members of various churches. That study was focused on Peter’s salutation. But, even if we did not have his salutation we would be able to divine who Peter’s audience was from the four verses above.
When Peter mentions brotherly love he is referring to love between members of the Church universal. A love we have for our fellow adoptees in Christ. Peter’s exhortations in 1 Peter 1:22-25 are focused on our conduct. He says to behave in this way, and then he tells us why we are to behave in this way.
Congregational conduct
Therefore, when we move into Chapter 2 we should be thinking about how we conduct ourselves among the body of believers and why. Peter writes, So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Now, we can more easily understand why he isn’t focusing on adultery, murder, idolatry, drunkenness, etc. Obviously, those things do happen between believers sometimes. But, I think because of their heinousness and obvious evil, they are perhaps less common. Peter is talking about sins that cause discord among believers.
Subtle sins of discord
Let me try to rephrase that, but from the direction of Peter’s list of sins. The sins Peter mentions here are more subtle. Indeed, malice, and envy, at least, can be committed entirely within one’s heart and mind. Deceit and hypocrisy can be committed by spoken word and deeds acted out, but might also be simply sins of appearance. In other words, they can be committed via facades. Slander is a sin of the tongue. And, slander, deceit, and hypocrisy are most often committed with words. All of these sins, especially given their subtlety and divisiveness are frequently to blame for discord within congregations and between churches.
Turns out sowing discord is an abomination
Solomon actually speaks about most of these sins in Proverbs. He describes them as things God hates.
16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
Proverbs 6:16-19
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.
Uh oh. Turns out, malice, deceit, hypocrisy, and slander are abominations! And, if we look there at the end, so is one who sows discord among brothers. So, looks like avoiding adultery, drunkenness, fornication and the like, don’t get you an automatic pass to commit the more subtle sins! (I trust and pray that neither you or I were looking for a pass, anyway!)
Discord stems from our passions
James addressed this same issue within the church.
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
James 4:1
We should be on our guard as concerns the subtle sins. Indeed it is likely that subtle sins are the gateway to the more outward, obvious and heinous-seeming sins mentioned above. Since, as James says, our discord stems from our passions – which can be interpreted pleasures – this is doubly so. I know from my own life that one does not fall suddenly into desperately evil or heinous sins. You rarely have to climb a mountain to achieve real evil. Those sins lie at the bottom of a pit at the end of a long, gentle, downhill goat path. Our pleasures, if we passively obey them, will lead us there.
Warning against discord, and what lies beyond
If you find yourself partaking in gossip, relishing debates which trouble the souls of fellow believers (and particularly relishing the turmoil they cause), feeling pride in the way you manage your disparate sets of friends (Sophisticated and cynical Group A has no idea I can talk all that pious theology nonsense with Group B!), or find yourself dismissing straightforward Christians as simpletons or scholarly Christians with jealousy, beware. You very well might be standing at a fork in the path. The Way lies still ahead, but it is uphill. There are thickets and boulders you must navigate because you left the Way for this easy path down into the forest. In a very real way, you have planted these obstacles yourself. Turn your eyes to the heavens, get your bearings, and climb.
Time, my own source of discord!
I am out of time, so tomorrow, we will talk about Peter’s exhortation. What should we pursue instead of falling into these subtle sins of discord?
