Another way of answering the question is to say that Christians are those who have come to Jesus, the living cornerstone, and so are being built into a spiritual house to be a royal priesthood.
Being a Christian is all about Christ Jesus. Re-using ‘chosen race’ and ‘holy nation’ (1 Peter 2:9) paradoxically underlines the point because the church is formed as a people from all tribes and languages. Ethnic identity is not a factor in true Christianity (unlike Judaism, Hinduism). It is the new birth which is all decisive and which creates a unity from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Being Christian is about the person of Christ. While the teachings of Christ are of supreme importance to us -- indeed, our longing for the Scriptures shows our (spiritual) health -- Christianity is not primarily about the teachings of Christ (not like Buddhism is primarily about the teachings of the Buddha, "the enlightened one").
Being Christian is about belonging to Christ. This does of course mean that allegiance and submission to Christ are pretty important but Christianity is not primarily about submission (unlike Islam as traditionally understood). Being Christian is about being incorporated into Christ which does involve submission to Christ, listening to Christ (“the sheep know his voice”) but is more than that: being made one with Christ.
The experience of being marginalised and rejected by others while being God’s chosen was Christ’s before it was that of Christians then and now. As one commentator put it, ‘Peter reads the situation of his Christian audience from the perspective of the career of Jesus Christ, and the career of Jesus Christ from the perspective of the Scriptures.’
The image of the cornerstone (1 Peter 2:4-8) also implies as much: everything centres on Christ, the decisive stone which sets the direction of the walls and so the orientation and alignment for the whole house. His experience (living stone) becomes ours (living stones who belong to Him):
- He is rejected by society, so those who belong to him get rejected too.
- Christ is chosen by God, so those who belong to him are too.
- He is holy, so those who belong to him are holy too.
The resurrection of Christ makes it possible for us to offer our lives to God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Such lives dedicated to God include bearing witness to the mighty acts of God in Christ. Why? Because of the inescapability of Christ. He is not only the be-all and end-all of the church; Christ affects the fate of every person, depending on the reaction to Him, whether positive or negative.
‘We must either build on Him, or be dashed against Him.’ (Calvin)
The second half of 1 Peter 2:8 can be understood in one of two ways. Either: ‘Yes, they stumble at the Word of God for in their hearts they are unwilling to obey it—which makes stumbling a foregone conclusion.’ (JB Phillips). Or: God is in control of all things, He establishes the evil as well as the good.
In any case this does not exclude responsibility of those who reject Christ, who are said to ‘disobey’ him. Our responsibility towards those who reject Christ is to be a holy nation, proclaiming with our words ‘the mighty acts of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light’ (1 Peter 2:9) and showing forth in our lives the truth of this proclamation.
Let this joy of ours be made known:
In any case this does not exclude responsibility of those who reject Christ, who are said to ‘disobey’ him. Our responsibility towards those who reject Christ is to be a holy nation, proclaiming with our words ‘the mighty acts of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light’ (1 Peter 2:9) and showing forth in our lives the truth of this proclamation.
Let this joy of ours be made known:
Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:10)
