1 Peter: Serving the World as Resident Alien Priests

Resident Aliens and a Royal Priesthood (1 Peter 1:1–2:12)

In the opening line of his letter, Peter addresses his readers as “exiles . . . who have been chosen” (1 Pet. 1:1), a phrase that foreshadows Peter’s entire message. This phrase has two parts, “exiles” and “chosen.”

If you are a citizen of Christ’s kingdom, you are an exile, because at present the world around you is not under Christ’s rule. You are living under foreign rule. While you await Christ’s return, your true citizenship in his kingdom is “kept in heaven for you” (1 Pet. 1:4). Like exiles in any country, you do not necessarily enjoy the favor of the rulers of the land where you live. Christ came to this land himself but was “rejected by mortals” (1 Pet. 2:4), and all citizens of his kingdom should expect the same treatment. Nonetheless, God has called us to stay here, to reside in this alien land while conducting the work of Christ (1 Pet. 1:15–17).

Although couched in a political metaphor, Peter’s discussion rings with workplace terminology: “deeds” (1 Pet. 1:17), “silver or gold” (1 Pet. 1:18), “tested by fire” (1 Pet. 1:7), “purified” (1 Pet. 1:22), and “built into a . . . house” (1 Pet. 2:5). Peter’s workplace terms remind us that we live in a world of work, and we have to find a way of following Christ in the midst of the working world around us.

Having described what it means to be “exiles,” Peter takes up the other term from 1 Peter 1:1—“chosen.” If you’re a Christian, you have been chosen by God. For what purpose? To be one of God’s priests in the foreign country you inhabit. “Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). The title of priest, or “royal priesthood,” is repeated in 1 Peter 2:9.

Priests in Ancient Israel Offer Sacrifices and Blessings for Israel

Before continuing, we must understand what it meant to be a priest in ancient Israel. Priests performed two chief functions: offering sacri­fices in the Temple in Jerusalem, and pronouncing the priestly blessing.[1] In order to perform their duty of offering sacrifices, priests had to be able to enter the inner portions of the temple and—once a year, in the case of the high priest—to stand in the Holy of Holies before the divine pres­ence. In order to say the priestly blessing, priests had to speak for God himself. Both of these duties required priests to enter God’s presence. This in turn required exceptional purity or holiness, since God’s pres­ence cannot abide anything impure or polluted.[2] Yet priests served part time according to a rotation system (Luke 1:8) and had ordinary jobs as their chief means of livelihood. They could not sequester themselves from daily life but had to maintain purity despite the dirt and corrup­tion of the world. (Click here for more on priests in ancient Israel in Numbers and Work.)

Christians as Priests Offer Self-Sacrifice and Blessings for Others in Need

So for Peter to call Christians “a holy priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:5) and “a royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9) does not mean that all Christians should think of themselves as professional pastors. It does not mean that be­coming an evangelist or missionary is the highest way of fulfilling God’s call to be chosen people. It means that Christians are to live lives of exceptional purity in the midst of whatever our livelihoods are. Only so can we offer sacrifices to God and blessings from God on behalf of the people around us.

Peter states this directly: “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge” (1 Pet. 2:11–12). (Notice the concern to glorify God’s presence “when he comes to judge.”)

Of course, Christians do not perform the same sacrifice as Jewish priests (we do not slaughter animals). Instead, we perform the kind of sacrifice our Lord did: self-sacrifice for the benefit of others in need. “To this you have been called,” Peter says, “because Christ also suf­fered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21). This is not to be taken over-literally as death on a cross, but is to be understood as “spiritual sacrifices” (1 Pet. 2:5)—meaning acts performed at the expense of self for the benefit of others in need (1 Pet. 4:10). Our workplaces offer daily opportunities for self-sacrifices—small or large.

This brief survey of 1 Peter 1:3–2:10 fills out the picture Peter paints when he calls his readers “exiles . . . who have been chosen.” The term “exiles” means that we live out this vocation as resident aliens in a land that is yet to be our home—a place currently characterized by systemic injustice and corruption. The term “chosen” affirms that followers of Jesus—a “royal priesthood”—have the priest’s vocation to be a blessing to the world, especially through self-sacrifice.

Suffering Under the World’s Authorities (1 Peter 2:13–4:19)

What might it look like for Christians to exercise our calling as resi­dent aliens and priests in the work environment? Peter addresses this directly in instructions to his readers as foreigners and slaves. As for­eigners, we are to honor and submit to the civil rule of whatever coun­try we find ourselves in (1 Pet. 2:13–14), even though our citizenship in God’s kingdom entitles us to live as “free people” (1 Pet. 2:16). As slaves—which apparently constituted a large segment of Peter’s readers, since he does not address any other class of workers—we should submit ourselves to our masters, whether they treat us justly or unjustly (1 Pet. 2:18–19). In fact, unjust treatment is to be expected (1 Pet. 4:12), and it offers us an opportunity to follow in Christ’s footsteps by suffering with­out retaliating (1 Pet. 2:21). Notice that Peter is talking about suffering unjustly, not suffering from the consequences of your own incompetence, arrogance, or ignorance. Of course, you need to suffer obediently when receiving just punishment.

In practical terms, you are not free to disobey those in authority even in order to get what you think is rightfully yours. You will surely find yourself in situations where you don’t get what you deserve—a pro­motion, a raise, an office with a window, a decent health care plan. You may even find your employer actively cheating you, forcing you to work off the clock, punishing you for your boss’s errors. It might seem ethical to cheat your employer just enough to make up what you were cheated out of—calling in sick when you’re not, charging personal items to the company, stealing office supplies or goofing off on company time. But no, “It is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil” (1 Pet. 3:17). God does not give you the op­tion to take back what was wrongfully taken from you. The fact that you lied to or cheated someone to make up for how they lied to or cheated you does not make your action less evil. Your call is to do right, even in a hostile work environment (1 Pet. 2:20). “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult” (1 Pet. 3:9). Instead, Christians should treat those in authority—even harsh and unjust masters—with respect and honor.

Why? Because our vocation as priests is to bless people, and we can’t do that while defending ourselves, just as Christ could not die for the salvation of the world while defending himself (1 Pet. 2:21–25). Christ, of course, was not afraid to exercise power and challenge authority in certain circumstances, and Peter is not claiming to recapitulate the en­tire gospel here. Other parts of the Bible—especially the Prophets—emphasize God’s call to resist oppressive and illegitimate authority. And submission doesn’t always mean obedience. We can submit to authority by disobeying openly and accepting the consequences, as Jesus himself did. Here and throughout the epistle, Peter draws us almost exclusively to the self-sacrifice of Christ as a model.

Instructions for Leaders and Followers (1 Peter 5)

Peter now gives instructions for church leaders, termed “elders” (“presbyters” and “bishops” in the Anglicized Greek derivations used in many churches today). The advice is good for workplace leaders, too. It focuses on serving others. “Tend the flock of God . . . willingly [and] eagerly” (1 Pet. 5:2). Don’t be greedy for money (1 Pet. 5:2). Don’t lord it over others, but be an example for others to emulate (1 Pet. 5:3). Peter advises humility to the young—in fact, to everyone—when he quotes Proverbs 3:34, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Pet. 5:5). These are not unique to 1 Peter, and we will not expand on them here. It is enough to remember that the concept of servant-lead­ership, circulating widely in today’s workplace, is well known to Peter. How could it be otherwise, since Jesus is the servant-leader par excel­lence (1 Pet. 4:1–2, 6)?

For an application of this passage, see "Learn from Your Customers" at Country Supply Study Guide by clicking here.