Participants: Tom Shepherd & Deyvy Rodriguez
Series Code: PBOTB
Program Code: PBOTB00001B
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00:01 And we're back.
00:02 Dr. Shepherd, you were talking about 00:04 the statuses of these people. 00:05 And also what these people-- foreigners in this area. 00:08 Yes, well, that's a-- 00:10 well, in one way or another they were foreigners. 00:12 That's what he describes at the very beginning of the book. 00:15 He describes them as foreigners. 00:16 Okay, you know, I can understand 00:19 being a foreigner in a country is very-- 00:22 it can be quite challenging. 00:24 You know, I've traveled different parts of the world. 00:27 And it's interesting that 00:29 whenever I'm in a different country other than in my own, 00:33 people immediately know that I don't belong there. 00:37 You know, whether it's my haircut 00:38 or different shoes or the way I dress. 00:40 You know, I'm either a tourist, a visitor. 00:43 And so I immediately can tell that they are actually, 00:47 you know, looking at me differently. 00:49 So I'm kind of wondering if maybe these people 00:51 are also experiencing something similar. 00:54 Yes, yes, very much so. 00:56 And when we jump into the book in our next session, 01:00 we'll take a look particularly, 01:01 those first verses and see some interesting stuff 01:03 about the foreignness that these people are experiencing. 01:07 I remember they are separate from other people 01:10 and they are living in small communities 01:11 that are probably close knit. 01:13 Most of the people of this community, 01:17 as we read first through 1 Peter-- 01:19 we're particularly thinking of 1 Peter right now. 01:23 There they seem to be a people who have low social status. 01:27 They are not the higher ups, 01:28 the people in the city government 01:32 or the Roman government or even 01:34 most of them, leaders of household. 01:37 They are slaves, they are women, 01:42 they are people who in that society 01:46 did not have high social status. 01:50 So some of the problems that they faced, 01:54 you know, linked into all of these issues 01:57 of being in small rural communities mostly, 02:00 being so different from the society around them, 02:03 and being people of low social status. 02:07 When we try to think in the terms of, okay, 02:09 so what were the problems that they were facing, 02:13 we kind of have to read between the lines. 02:14 We ask the question, "okay, so what does Peter emphasize?" 02:19 Well, what he emphasizes over and over 02:23 and over again are two main issues. 02:28 And I being a teacher like to use alliteration to, 02:32 you know, help people remember what they are. 02:34 So I say, "persecution and passion." 02:39 Persecution-there are two Ps, persecution and passion. 02:42 The people around them didn't like it 02:46 that they were different. 02:49 And we see this as we read through the book. 02:50 We'll be studying through the entire book. 02:52 So we'll see this coming up again and again 02:55 and again that the people around them 02:57 are pushing them back to become, you know, pagans again. 03:01 Yeah, they were different in one ways 03:02 because I think we're all different. Yes. 03:05 And in which manner ere they different 03:07 that the people did not like about them? 03:10 It's really their lifestyle. Okay. 03:13 Peter will emphasize a holy lifestyle 03:15 and that links into this other idea of passion. 03:19 The pagans had put fertility rights and everything. 03:24 It's part of their religion. 03:26 And they were famous or infamous for their debauchery 03:30 and their parties and different things like this. 03:33 And the Christians stood away from that 03:36 to live a lifestyle that was very, very separate from that, 03:40 very changed and different, away from that. 03:43 So much so that it surprised the pagans. 03:46 They--Peter says that they are surprised 03:49 that you don't come to their parties anymore. 03:51 So made them look bad? Yeah. Well, yes. 03:54 They don't feel like, 03:55 you know, the change of lifestyle when you're different. 03:59 People--and it's still true today. 04:01 People try to make you conform, 04:02 you know, They try to get you to wear the same clothes. 04:05 They try to get you to live the same practices. 04:07 They have many different ways to make you feel 04:11 out of place if you don't fit in and, 04:13 you know, do what everybody else is doing. 04:17 So the problems were persecution and the passion. 04:20 So it's the push of persecution. 04:22 This is a stick that the pagans are using 04:25 to get them to conform. 04:27 And the other is the pull of the old way of life, 04:31 the passions of the old way of life. 04:32 So Peter--1 Peter is focused all around solving those problems. 04:38 Those two major problems for the Christians. 04:42 And he has an incredible way, 04:44 I mean, he brings out all the big guns of theology 04:48 to help these people to cope with the world around them. 04:53 Okay. And for 2 Peter, let's talk about 2 Peter. 04:56 What problems were they facing? 04:58 All right, now in 1 Peter, the majority of the problems 05:04 are coming from outside, you know? 05:06 The outsiders are pushing to make 05:09 these Christians be pagans again. 05:12 And the Christians are probably enticed by the old passions, 05:16 the old way of life. 05:18 In 2 Peter the problem is internal. 05:22 It's a group of people who had become leaders in the church, 05:25 they're called teachers. 05:27 So you don't just let anybody teach your Sabbath school or, 05:31 you know, preach in your church. 05:33 It has to be somebody that has some honor and, 05:38 you know, gravitas that they say, 05:40 "oh, yeah, why don't we have them 05:41 be the Sabbath school teacher 05:43 or why don't we have them preach the sermon? 05:45 These people had become leaders in some way. 05:48 And they are taking the people away from the true faith, 05:53 particularly things focused around the old passions 05:56 that the pagans were focused on. 05:59 And a denial of the second coming of Jesus. 06:02 And so that internal heresy is creating turmoil 06:08 within Peter's churches. 06:11 And where 1 Peter interweaves beautiful theology 06:17 and concepts back and forth 06:19 and beautiful alliteration and everything, 06:21 2 Peter is very straight like an arrow, you know? 06:24 Its outline is much simpler and straight forward 06:28 because he's facing a problem 06:29 that's going to destroy his church from the inside. 06:32 And which is more dangerous? What do you think? 06:33 To be persuaded from the outside to come to the world 06:37 or having heresy within the church? 06:41 Well, if we are to gauge this by Peter's passion, 06:47 the heresy from inside seems to be more of a problem. 06:50 Now when we get to 2 Peter 2, 06:53 it is as though you put your hand on the page 06:57 and it's still warm because it's so fiery, 07:01 you know. So Peter really gets steamed up in 2 Peter. 07:04 He's very direct and just really lambastes these false teachers. 07:08 So in that case it's seems like this is the problem 07:14 that there's-- that they're facing. 07:15 Now it's interesting that the false teachers in 2 Peter 07:21 seem to have linkages with other groups of the day. 07:29 There were a group of philosophers 07:30 known as the Epicureans who had a philosophy 07:35 that sound very similar to some things 07:38 that you read in 2 Peter. 07:41 There's a group that most of our viewers will recognize, 07:44 the Sadducees that are referred to in the gospels. 07:47 And there are parallels between 07:50 the teachings of the false teachers in 2 Peter 07:53 too sound a lot like the Sadducees as well. 07:58 Now it doesn't mean that the false teachers 08:00 in 2 Peter were Epicureans. 08:02 It doesn't mean that they were Sadducees. 08:05 But it just is kind of an illustration of how a culture 08:10 kind of has some things in the air, you know? 08:14 There's a philosophy that is floating there 08:17 and it's influencing lots of people. 08:20 You know, and today we think of post-modernism 08:23 and its impact on all of our culture 08:26 and all of the education and Christian churches as well. 08:31 And so here we have these two books from the ancient world 08:37 that have an awful lot of parallels to our life today. 08:43 It's amazing, I was thinking just that the bible says 08:46 that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. 08:48 And so, you know, these writings of Peter written, 08:52 you know, several years ago but as we read today 08:55 they can apply to me, to my church as well. 08:58 And we read the bible and say, 09:00 wow, it seems like God is speaking to us 09:03 this day for this generation. 09:05 Yeah. There's a reason why these books are in the bible. 09:08 They're inspired, and their message is a timeless message 09:12 that addresses us to this day. 09:13 Now we want to look at the outline of 1 Peter 09:18 just so our listeners can get a perspective on this and see, 09:23 you know, where things are going to be heading. 09:26 We have a graphic that shows this. 09:28 And so in this graphic you'll see 09:31 that the book of 1 Peter begins with a section 09:37 that goes through chapter 2 verse 10, 09:40 from 1:1 through 2:10 called establishing. 09:43 I've titled it, "Establishing the household of God." 09:47 The book of 1 Peter never uses the word, church. interesting. 09:53 Not once. Never uses the word, church. 09:55 But instead it tends to focus the attention 09:59 on this idea of a household, 10:01 a group of people that are in a house. 10:03 God is called our Father. We are His children. 10:07 We are born again or born anew. 10:10 So he has this kind of parallelism 10:13 with this idea of house so that you'll see 10:16 in our outline that establishing the household, 10:20 it's the very first section. 10:22 Rebirth that leads to holiness, 10:24 metaphors of growth and then the house of God 10:26 in this very first section. 10:28 He takes a lot of time, 10:29 uses a lot of metaphors to emphasize that. 10:33 In the second section of the book 10:35 he talks about how Christians 10:37 are supposed to live in the world. 10:39 And here our graphic shows, 10:40 it goes from chapter 2:11 through 4:11. 10:44 Scholars don't know always agree exactly where to draw 10:46 the lines in this book, you know? 10:48 But he has this whole emphasis 10:51 on the idea of submission and an upright life. 10:54 And vindication that is coming and how to live as a Christian. 10:58 So he has a lot of emphasis 11:01 on how you're supposed to relate to outsiders. 11:05 I find this quite interesting 11:08 that the book has this very strong emphasis on holiness 11:15 and yet it has this very powerful engagement 11:18 with the world around us. 11:21 Two ideas that a lot of people today tend to separate. 11:26 Holy life, go out, stay away from the world 11:30 or oh, no, be engaged with the world, you know? 11:33 Getting there and work with them in the cities and so forth. 11:36 Peter brings both ideas together. 11:40 So I think he really has something very important 11:43 to say to our own culture and our own church 11:47 as we think about how do we relate to the world, 11:50 how do we relate to one another, 11:52 how are we to think of ourselves. 11:54 It's the fantastic theology in this book. 11:57 The very last section of the book we list here, 12:00 it's section C, facing trouble and each other. 12:06 Peter talks about a fiery trial that people are going to face. 12:10 And over and over he deals 12:12 with issues of persecution, of suffering. 12:16 Then he talks about relationships within the church 12:19 and he finishes up by talking about fighting the devil 12:23 and how God is going to strengthen you and help you. 12:26 Because the battle that we are facing 12:29 is not simply a battle of--against, 12:34 you know, human philosophies around us or problems around us. 12:38 It's truly a great controversy between good and evil. 12:42 And he pinpoints that the devil is like a roaring lion, 12:46 going about seeking who may devour. 12:49 I mean, it's a scary kind of an imagery. 12:53 But he doesn't end with the scary imagery. 12:55 He ends with these powerful verb that talk about 12:59 how God is going to establish, 13:00 he's going to help you, 13:02 he's going to save you and take you through it. 13:03 So, I mean, we're going to have the funnest time 13:06 studying 1 and 2 Peter. 13:07 And, Dr. Shepherd, you not only sound 13:09 but you look very passionate about these books. 13:12 Yes, they are great. 13:13 And I'm also looking forward to continuing 13:15 studying the books of 1 and 2 Peter. 13:17 Friends, if you believe that this was inspiring 13:20 just wait till we continue studying 13:22 more of the books of 1 and 2 Peter till next time. |
Revised 2014-12-17