FRIDAY
Today I wanted to go through some honorable mentions, some texts that we didn’t focus on this week but also connect the temple metaphor to spiritual maturity.
The first is 2 Corinthians 3:18. This is one of my favorite verses in the New Testament.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV) 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
In the context, Paul is talking about the new covenant in Jesus being better than the old under Moses. He talks about how Moses would put a veil over his face after being in the presence of God in the Tabernacle or the Tent of Meeting because his face was glowing. As those who have the Spirit of God—and therefore are “temples”—we can behold the glory of God in the Most Holy Place anytime we want. When we do, our faces should shine like Moses’ face. Unlike Moses we don’t need to veil our faces, so we can see this glory on one another’s faces. The more we behold God’s glory by delighting in the presence of God through prayer and worship, and the more we see God’s glory on the faces of our brothers and sisters in Christ, the more we are transformed to become like Jesus. This is all a work of the Spirit of God who dwells within us.
So in pursuit of spiritual growth and maturity, beholding the glory of God via prayer and worship is essential. Far from being a waste of time when we could be acquiring more information by reading books or doing something like volunteering or witnessing, beholding God’s glory in private worship is the primary engine by which we mature personally and we help others mature, as well.
1 Peter 2:1–5 (ESV) 2 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Peter implores his readers to “long for the pure spiritual milk.” In 1 Corinthians 3:2, which we studied at length this week, Paul uses milk in a negative sense to represent the believer’s lack of maturity. Here, there is no indication that this is a negative. Regardless, this is a curious statement. What is the milk in Peter’s mind? He doesn’t say exactly, so it is difficult to say for sure. I think the best option is to take it as a broad reference to living according to the way of God or in the presence of God himself.
This milk is said to be pure and spiritual. The word translated as spiritual is a difficult word to translate. It occurs only here and in Romans 12:1. Without getting into the weeds with it too much, it seems best to take it as meaning: that which is true or appealing to the ultimate reality.
Therefore, the idea is that as newborn infants (see also 1:3, 14, 17) they need a new sustenance that corresponds to that new nature. The food of this new nature is the things of God (loving one another genuinely, holy living, their inheritance in heaven, being in the presence of God, etc.). We are to long for these things like a baby longs for milk. A hungry baby crying out for milk is the picture he paints of us and how desperately we should long for the things of God. He goes on to say that these things of God will mature us into salvation. In the context, salvation is the deliverance from the effects of sin on our lives, not only salvation from hell in the afterlife. This is the process of becoming more like Jesus. As we long for our inheritance in heaven, we are less attached to the things of this world. As we long for holiness, sin becomes less appealing. As we long for loving one another genuinely, the vices listed in verse 3 become heinous evils in our eyes. As we long for the presence of God, nothing else will satisfy us.
It’s in this vein that he contrasts the things of God with the things of this world: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. These are not the pure spiritual milk we are to long for. In fact these are the opposite of them. We are to put these things away. This term is often used of taking off clothing. So the sense is that we are taking these things off of ourselves in the counter-formation process of discipleship and in turn longing for the things of God.
Notice how all of these are social evils. The idea of a Christian in voluntary isolation is foreign to the way of Jesus. Pretty much all of our Christian formation is either grown in the context of relationships or revealed in the context of relationships.
Finally, in verse 3, Paul ends this section with a reference to Psalm 34:8. You’ll notice he eliminates the “…and see” from the original passage in Psalms. This is just to keep consistency with his metaphor of tasting milk. With the conditional “if,” he is assuming for the sake of argument that they have tasted God’s goodness. Tasting that the Lord is good will lead to this longing for God and the things of God.
The big idea of this section is found here in verse 5: “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house…”. The main theme of this broader section 1:3-2:10 is to identify the church with the people of God. Here is the most direct statement of this theme. Individual believers in Christ (living stones) make up the church (the spiritual house). He is clearly referencing the temple here, as the following phrases indicate: “a holy priesthood,” and “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.” The church, then, is the temple of God, where the presence of God through the Holy Spirit dwells.
So, how do we become a part of this spiritual building? In verse 4 he gives us the answer—we come to Jesus. The term translated “come” here implies approaching a deity, moving towards him. This is another great picture of salvation and the Christian life—constantly moving towards Jesus, approaching him, abiding in his presence. We do this first by believing in Jesus, then by abiding in him.
As a part of being built into a spiritual house, believers are holy priests. In the temple, priests performed the sacred duties of worship to mediate the covenant relationship between God and his people. Interestingly, Peter doesn’t distinguish a certain class of Christians as priests. Instead, he references all believers as a holy priesthood. The Protestant Reformation restored this idea of “the priesthood of all believers” to the church. In Christ our access to the presence of God is through faith in Jesus, so all believers have this privilege. Other religions set up certain holy members of their religion to mediate between the people and their gods. In Christ we can all access the presence of God.
All believers, then, can offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus. These sacrifices are only acceptable to God because they are through Jesus. He is the means by which our sacrifices are acceptable to God. The only worship God now accepts is through Jesus. These sacrifices are also spiritual in contrast to the physical sacrifices of the Old Testament. Most likely, Peter has in mind the worship and behavior that flows from a life transformed by God—hope, holiness, praise, love, etc. This is our sacrifice to God in Christ.
Reflection
If you seem stuck in your spiritual growth, stalled as a spiritual infant or adolescent, I’d encourage you to work at developing your private and community life of prayer and worship. (I’ve included the links to these practices below.) Learn to behold the glory of God so that you can grow from one degree of glory to another. Learn to crave the pure spiritual milk so that you can grow up into salvation. Learn to come to Jesus so that you can be built up into God’s spiritual house.
Community Worship
Private Worship
Prayer