EXODUS 19: 3-8 QUOTED BY PETER IN I PETER 2: 9

EXODUS 19: 3-8 QUOTED BY PETER IN I PETER 2: 9

Bernard Pyron

"And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.  5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:  6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.  7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him.  8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord." Exodus 19: 3-8

"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.   6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.  7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,   8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.  9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;  10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." I Peter 2: 5-10

In Exodus 19: 5 God says the people of Israel of the Old Covenant were
"a peculiar treasure unto me above all people:" In I Peter 2: 9 Peter says "you are a chosen generation, a peculiar people."

In Exodus 19: 6 God says to the people of Israel, "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Peter in I Peter 2: 9 says "ye are.a royal priesthood, a holy nation."

Who is Peter talking about in I Peter 2: 5-9? He is clearly saying that the Christians are now lively stones built up into a spiritual house, in Christ Jesus, who is the chief corner stone laid in Zion, who is precious to those who believe, but is a stumbling stone to those who stumble at the word and are disobedient to it.

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people," quoting Exodus 19: 5-6, "Now, therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant,then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." Exodus 19: 5-6

As Jeremiah 18:4 says "And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it."

"O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel." Jeremiah 18: 6

Isaiah 29: 16 says "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?"

And before Isaiah wrote, II Kings 21: 13 says "And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down."

Old Covenant Israel was transformed in and by Jesus Christ into that spiritual house of I Peter 2: 5-9.

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”

"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
John 3:3, John 3: 5-6

Born again Christians became the chosen people, God's peculiar people, and the royal priesthood. Peter quotes Exodus 19: 5-6 almost exactly.

Another Gospel: The Mixing of Old and New Covenants

Another Gospel: The Mixing of Old and New Covenants
Bernard Pyron

The Judaizers in Acts 15 and in Acts 21: 20-22 wanted to mix the Old Covenant, its ceremonies, with Jesus Christ as the Messiah they understood him to be.

"For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him." II Corinthians 22: 4

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7. Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." Galatians 1: 6-9

In Galatians Paul is saying that the teaching of the so-called Judaizers that all who profess to be Christians must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses (Acts 15: 1, Acts 15: 5) to be saved is another Gospel. Those who accept a Christ who teaches that all Christians must be circumcised and must keep the other laws of Moses have another Jesus. By keeping the law of Moses the Pharisees in Acts 15: 5 meant keeping the Old Covenant restrictions of what can be eaten (Acts 15: 20-21), and keeping the sabbath, the holy days, the new moon, etc (Colossians 2: 16-17).

"Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." II Corinthians 3: 6

The spirit of the Judaizers who taught about a Christ, but their Christ is another Jesus, was that of the letter - the letter of the law - and not of the Holy Spirit which brings spiritual life.

A similar spirit was behind those in the 19th century who, claiming to be Christians, taught that God now has two peoples, all Old Covenant Israel its multitude, and the Capital C Church. This theology was called dispensationalism thought Christian Zionism is a more accurate name. Just as the spirit of the First Century Judaizers of Acts 15: 1, 5 and Acts 21: 20-21 sought to mix the Old Covenant with the New Covenant, so the Christian Zionists have compromised the New Covenant by their teaching that the Old Covenant people remain the chosen people of the Lord, even while God has created the Church, from ekklesia, the meeting, congregation or assembly.

Scripture is almost never written in a highly explicit way, but even texts which are not metaphoric are often subtle. It is not given to all to understand these texts which are subtle and/or metaphoric (Matthew 13: 11). That there is no longer a chosen people based only on their flesh, on their physical DNA. is found in the teachings of Paul Romans 2: 23-24, 28-29, Romans 9: 6-8, Galatians 3: 3, 16, 26-29, if you have ears to hear and eyes to see it. The implications of these texts are not spelled out in detail, leaving room for the literalists and those who deal in the letter to convince many that the chosen people by the physical blood line is still in effect.

Statements of Jesus Christ himself also imply that the people of the Old Covenant are no longer the chosen people (Exodus 19: 5-6). such as John 3: 3, and John 3: 5, that everyone must be born again of the Spirit to be in the kingdom of God, and Matthew 23:38, that the Old Covenant house is desolate, meaning it is spiritually desolate and that the Spirit and Christ are not in it. Peter in I Peter 2: 5-9 quotes Exodus 19: 5-6 and clearly says "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people..." "Ye" are born again Christians.

Hebrews 10: 9 says "He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second."

And so the more subtle and metaphoric nature of many verses in scripture can be used by those who teach false doctrines to get people to believe these false doctrines.

The founders of Dispensationalism, or Christian Zionism - John Darby, C.I. Scofield and Lewis S. Chafer - imply that those of the bloodline from Abraham through Isaac and Jacob are entitled by that bloodline to being treated by God in a special way than those not in the bloodline. The dispensationalist teaching that they, as a house, all would be saved at a point in the future implies that, whether its everyone in physical Israel who ever lived or just those alive at some one point in time.. This is a way of saying they are the chosen people because of their bloodline.

http://anothervoicerev184.blogspot.c...-of-jesus.html

"Return of Jesus Christ, The Rapture of the Church and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, By Lewis Sperry Chafer 1871-1952."

Chafer says "The nation Israel, God's chosen earthly people, to whom at least five-sixths of the Bible is addressed and with whom the great covenants are made (Rom 9:4-5) -- which covenants secure to that nation a land, a nation, a throne, a King, and a kingdom -- are now scattered throughout all the nations of the earth (Deut 4:26-28; Deut 28:63-68; Jer 16:13), and are to remain scattered until they (a remnant; ed.) are gathered into their own land (Deut 30:3-6; Isa 11:11-12; Isa 14:1-3; Isa 60:1-22; Jer 23:6-8; Jer 32:37-44; Jer 33:7-9; Eze 37:21-25; Mic 4:6-8) under the reign of Christ Jesus at His return."

Lewis S. Chafer refers to physical Israel as God's earthy chosen people. And early dispensationalists talk about the church as being only a "parenthesis" within dispensations.

John Darby said that the "Church has sought to settle itself here, but it has no place on the
earth... [Though] making a most constructive parenthesis, it forms no part of the regular order of God's earthly plans, but is merely an interruption of them to give a fuller character and meaning to them..."

John. N. Darby, 'The Character of Office in The Present Dispensation'
Collected Writings., Eccl. I, Vol. I, p. 94.

"Them" are all physical Israel, or Old Covenant Israel. The church, for Darby exists to "give fuller character and meaning to all physical Israel." Darby thought that the purpose of the Christian church, the ekklesia as a meeting, assembly or congregation of Israel reborn in Christ, made into The Body of Christ like the Catholic capital C Church, was to honor all physical Israel.

"Israel is an eternal nation, heir to an eternal land, with an eternal kingdom, on which David rules from an eternal throne so that in eternity, '...never the twain, Israel and church, shall meet." Lewis S. Chafer, Systematic Theology (Dallas, Dallas Seminary Press, 1975), Vol. 4. pp. 315-323..