1. What does v. 23c add to the message of w. 19-23b?

1. According to Peter in verses 24 and 25, of what does the death of Christ make Him the Shepherd and Guardian?

Assignment Answers

1 Peter 2:21-25

1. If people are nice to us and we in return are nice, we are not necessarily Christians. It is only when we suffer patiently for a wrong we did not do that we are following the example set for us by Christ.

   According to verse 21, doing right when we have been treated unjustly is the purpose for which we were called by God. Christians are differentiated from non-Christians by their works rather than by their profession.

   For salt to be useful it must impart its saving qualities to that with which it is surrounded. Christ’s lifestyle must be imitated by all His followers if they are all to be effective for the saving of the world.

   Mrs. White points out that
   “Before us is held out the wonderful possibility of being like Christ- obedient to all the principles of the law of God. But of ourselves we are utterly powerless to attain to this condition. All that is good in man comes to him through Christ. The holiness that God’s Word declares we must have before we can be saved is the result of the working of divine grace as we bow in submission to the discipline and restraining influence of the Spirit of truth.

   Man’s obedience can be made perfect only by the incense of Christ’s righteousness, which fills with divine fragrance every act of true obedience. The part of the Christian is to persevere in overcoming every fault. Constantly he is to pray to the Savior to heal the disorders of his diseased soul. He has not the wisdom and strength without which he cannot overcome. They belong to the Lord, and He bestows them on those who in humiliation and contrition seek Him for help.

   The work of transformation from unholiness to holiness is a continuous work. Day by day God labors for man’s sanctification, and man is to cooperate with Him by putting forth persevering efforts in the cultivation of right habits. . . .
   God will more than fulfill the highest expectations of those who put their trust in Him. He desires us to remember that when we are humble and contrite, we stand where He can and will manifest Himself to us. He is well pleased when we urge past mercies and blessings as a reason why He should bestow on us higher and greater blessings.He is honored when we love Him and bear testimony to the genuineness of our love by keeping His commandments” (Our Father Cares,RH, March 15, 1906, pp. 152-153).

2. The issues confronting the Christian include such issues as, can the Devil provoke you to violence, and, will you wait for the judgment? Or, will you indulge in thinking of revenge?
   The function of suffering patiently is that it proves we have a faith in God’s goodness and care for us that no circumstances can destroy. Jesus trust in the Father could not be shaken when He was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil, or even by the experiences of the cross where He knew the Father was not going to come to His rescue, and ultimately, when He knew it was the Father Himself who was the One making Him suffer.

   This is the faith tested by fire of 1:7.

   This principle, trusting God though He slay me, is the enactment of the Old Testament prophets teaching—the prophets who Peter said he was in harmony with in 1 Peter 1:9-12. Note, for example, Isaiah 30:15; “For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; in returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: . . . .”

3. The death of Christ makes Him the Shepherd and Guardian (episkopon) of “your souls”.
   Note; Peter’s teaching about the soul of man, and grace, and Christ the Shepherd of our soul, is perhaps strange to our ears, but at this point in our study it appears to this researcher to be the Biblical base of some of Mrs. White’s comments about salvation and the soul of man. Recall for example, “Introduction” to this document, quote #4; “It is the Son of God combating the prince of darkness; and the prize for which they contend is the soul of man” (2 ST 85).

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