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. We are specially clothed. We are anointed for service. As we serve, we must remain obedient.
Old Testament priests were expected to obey God’s commands
We don’t know how much time passed between the ordination and installation of the priests in Leviticus 8-9 and the beginning chapter 10, but it was relatively soon after. Moses records
Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the LORD spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.'” So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.
Leviticus 10:1-3
Nadab and Abihu were Aaron’s two oldest sons. In Exodus 24:1. They were privileged to be called to an intimate meeting in God’s presence with the elders of Israel on Mt. Sinai. They had been through extensive preparation for their roles just like Aaron their father had been. And they knew what was expected of them. In spite of that, they were disobedient and disrespectful. This was a capital offense. Aaron, even in his shock and grief, understood.
Later in the Old Testament, the prophets, especially Jeremiah and Ezekiel, denounce the priests who have completely abandoned the role and charge God entrusted them with. Consider these pronouncements in Ezekiel:
Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. … Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 22:26, 31
Obedience is the mark of believers
A follower of Christ is one who obeys His teachings and commands and imitates His life. It is preposterous to suggest we can believe Christ for salvation and then reject everything else He said. Hearing and doing are irrevocably tied together. At the end of Luke 6. Jesus tells a parable about a wise builder and a foolish builder. The key difference? The wise builder hears Jesus’s words and obeys them. Later in Luke 17, in a parable about a servanthood, Jesus tells His followers:
“So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ”
Luke 17:10
It is our duty to do what we have been commanded to do. And in the Great Commission, Jesus further says, we must teach new believers to obey His commands. The New Living Translation puts it simply.
Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:20
If we don’t obey, are we in danger of being consumed by fire? That’s the wrong question. We have a completely different motivation as believers. Paul explains (in one of my favorite verses) in Galatians
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Galatians 2:20
The life I now live is one of faith in Christ and constant recognition of what He has done for me. Obedience flows naturally from that. If we are struggling to obey, we need to revisit Christ’s sacrifice for us and what He saved us from.
Next up, we’ll begin looking at what we as believers do as part of a holy priesthood.