New Community

Meditations in the Season of Lent 

March 30, 2023

New Community

You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

1 Peter 2:9

Read: 1 Peter 2:4-10

The first thing I noted in today’s reading is that we picked up right where we left off yesterday. In making his point that the believers in Jesus have become a new community, a holy nation, Peter uses six Old Testament citations in these seven verses. Yes, our faith rests securely on the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Our faith also rests on the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s plan for our redemption that is foretold throughout the Old Testament.

Peter has made it clear that our new life in Christ is a dynamic life. Paul noted in 2 Corinthians 5: 17, “anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” Peter has already identified several implications of this new life in Christ. Peter shows that God is forming the believers into a new community, or as he calls it, a holy nation or royal priesthood. Our transformation into the children of God, as Christ is formed in us, happens within this new community of believers.

My Takeaway: First, Jesus prayed in John 17 that the unity of the believers would be a witness to the world that Jesus is God’s Messiah. Peter is showing how Jesus’ prayer can become a reality within the new community. Secondly, we cannot over emphasize the importance of our local congregations to our spiritual formation and to our witness for Christ to the world. The covenant relationship between the individuals in a congregation is no less important than God’s New Covenant relationship with us.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.