Growth that comes from God
Warm-up: When you grew up as a kid, what made you grow up?
Read: 1Peter 2:1-10
1) vv1-3, lit. “Having put away…”: Whom did Peter address like that? v2
- Were they already perfect?
- In what sense can every believer be addressed as one who has already “put off ” such evils? cf Col 2:12; 3:9
- v2 “Like newborn infants…”: What is typical of those and worthy to emulate?
- What has tasting to do with becoming a Christian, v3? [to taste; by implication, to eat; figuratively, to experience (good or ill): eat, taste.]
2) v4: What does it mean to ‘come to Him’?
- Is it about conversion, or about abiding in Christ of those who are converted?
- vv1-2 “…like newborn babes, earnestly desire the unadulterated milk of the word (gr. logikon),…”
- v3 “…if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious”: Doesn’t everybody ‘know’? Why call for self examination?
3) What is the ‘unadulterated milk of the word’, and what does it accomplish?
- “….that you may grow by it.”: How does that work? Why is growth impossible without nourishment by the word? cf Ro 10:17
- Why did Peter not just say “by the word”? In what ways is it ‘adulterated’? cf Col 2:5.8 (illustration: 2 Ki 4:39-41)
4) vv4-5: Why are Jesus and his followers compared to living stones?
- Why not just stones, but a building?
- What is this temple all about?
- Why do these “acceptable spiritual sacrifices” require the Christian community?
- 5) vv6-7: Does the word of Christ automatically turn into mature saints everyone who hears it? cf Jn 5:24
- Can God save anybody who does not believe Him?
- Where does the ability to believe come from: From you or from God? cf 1Pet 1:21, 23; Eph 2:8-9
- Why did Peter attribute both our faith and sanctification (1:2) to God?
- Does God disciple each believer individually through the Bible alone, or is this a ‘community project’? v5
- Why is the community essential to administer God’s remedy to our spiritual ills? cf Jn 15:26-27; Ro 10:14
6) Peter wrote a lot about election (1:1-2), our effectual calling by God’s free grace into new life through the gospel message (1:23-25), and even dual predestination (2:8; cf Ro 9:18-24; 11:4-8; Jn 12:37-41). Why are such doctrines counterintuitive and even offensive to human reasoning? cf Ro 9:19
- Why is it unwise to suspect God of any injustice in how he ordains things?
- Election sounds unfair to our sense of justice that everyone is equal and hence must be treated equally. What is wrong about this assumption?
- Discuss the effect(s) of hearing that the word of God here and elsewhere speaks about election a lot. Accordingly, what could be God’s intended purpose of this teaching (2:16-21)? Hint:
- Have you ever heard anyone complain that God does not let them believe Him even though they would want to? Has anyone ever accused God and complained that they were not granted the privilege to suffer injustice for the sake of Christ? Why not?
- On the other hand, have you ever heard a Christian thank God for this privilege? cf 1 Pet 4:16; Mt 5:11; Acts 5:41
7) Personal & application
- v8: How do you cope with Bible passages that teach some sort of double predestination? cf Ro 9:18-24; 11:4-8; Jn 12:37-41 => What could be God’s purpose of this double predestination? cf Ro 9:22
- What impact does it have on you to know that the word of God has the power to both awaken and to harden people?
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