Commentary on First Peter (47)

Returning to the "spiritual sacrifices," these are not foreign to the Old Testament. As Psalm 141:2 says, "May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice." All Christians are to offer spiritual sacrifices to God, but none of these are blood sacrifices. There is only one atoning death, and that is the death of Jesus Christ. He sacrifice is sufficient, and its efficacy is permanent. Thus there is no need to repeat it, or for us to supplement it with other blood sacrifices. But our sacrifices are "spiritual," and consists in holy thoughts, words, and actions.

These sacrifices are "acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (v. 5). He is the necessary and only mediator between God and man. He is the High Priest under whom all the priests of God serve and have access to the throne of grace. In turn, this means that all the prayers and good deeds of worshipers who do not come through Christ, such as the adherents of non-Christian religions, are in fact unholy sacrifices, rejected and condemned by God. They are not priests, but they intrude into our rightful place as those consecrated for worship, and attempt to dupe or force God into accepting their sacrifices. Needless to say, these arise to God as a stench to his nostrils, and he will rain down his wrath upon them in multiplied measure. Will God have no regard for their sincerity? But if they do not come through the only right way, then they are not sincere worshipers of God, but they are sincere rebels and imposters. That is, they are not pretending to be wicked and disobedient, but they are sincerely so.

Continuing with what our passage (2:4-12) teaches about the Christians, verses 6 and 7 appeal to the ideas of honor and shame: "The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Now to you who believe, this stone is precious." Although it is true that Christ is of great worth to those who believe, here the NIV errs in translating time as "precious" (also KJV, RSV, NASB, NLT, NRSV). Grammatical considerations demand the translation "honor" instead. The context also supports this, since Peter is talking about the honor of believing in Christ (v. 7; "not…shame" in v. 6) and the dishonor or shame that is the lot of "those who do not believe" (v. 7), for they shall stumble and fall (v. 8). The ESV gets it right and reads, "So the honor is for you who believe." The God's Word translation is not as precise but manages to capture the meaning: "This honor belongs to those who believe." See also the HCSB and The New Jerusalem Bible.

Commentators suspect that many translators are afraid to attribute honor to the believers, and therefore opt for "precious" instead, attributing worth to Christ in the minds of believers. But Peter is making a point here, namely, that Christians would not be "put to shame" for believing in Christ, that there is honor in their faith. This is an encouraging insight for those who live in cultures that think in categories of honor and shame, that to believe in Christ will not lead to shame but to honor, and that it is those who disbelieve who will stumble and fall.

In some cultures, great shame is attributed to one who abandons the family religion. It would not be surprising for a Christian to receive hostile treatment from his Jewish family. As Jesus says, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man's enemies will be the members of his own household" (Matthew 10:34-36). Elsewhere he predicts that "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death" (Matthew 10:21).