Peter says believers are a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5), drawing parallels with the priesthood established under the Law. Peter packs a lot of information and theological truth in that one metaphor. So let’s take a few posts to break down what Peter wants us to understand. The first thing is God has cleansed us from our sin.
The priests were cleansed by a series of sacrifices.
As the priesthood was inaugurated, before the priests could serve, God instructed Moses to bring Aaron and his sons before all the people and perform a detailed ritual. You can read about it Leviticus 8. The first step, though, was a a regular physical washing to get rid of dirt. Aaron and his sons were dressed in special garments (we’ll talk about those later) and anointed with oil (we’ll also talk about this) before they offered a series of sacrifices.
First was a sin offering. This was for unintentional sins and restored the offerer to a right relationship with God. The burnt offering was also a payment for sins. These two together illustrate the seriousness of sin and a recognition of its awful consequence. Finally, they offered a wave offering. The wave offering seems to be a subtype of the peace offering. It was meant to express thanks to God.
Jesus cleansed us from sin by His death.
The Old Testament sacrifices were a temporary measure to stay God’s judgment until a perfect sacrifice could be made. This is one of the major threads in Scripture. Christ was that perfect sacrifice. Paul explains
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Romans 5:8-9
Jesus’s death did all the things that series of sacrifices did (and more). It paid for our sins and restored our relationship with God, a relationship that had been broken since Eden. Then John affirms that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). In Romans 8:1 Paul further says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” NO condemnation. The cleansing is complete and final. No more guilt. No more shame.
We no longer offer wave offerings but thanks and gratitude for this amazing gift are certainly warranted. One way we can show our thanks is to live a life that keeps us unspotted from the world (James 1:27).
Next week we’ll look into the clothes Aaron and his sons wore for service.