I love that Peter ties growth into spiritual maturity into the building of the Church upon the bedrock of the Lord Jesus Christ. He points out that we are becoming a part of what Father is building. We are in effect living stones. Each of us has a place and a part in the integrity of the entire structure.

It is tremendously important that we not gloss over this verse because it helps us to correctly understand another passage. We will see more clearly in the next verse, but let’s pause here for a moment to address a passage that has cause great misunderstanding for many.

The result of this change in citizenship is akin to that experienced by immigrants permanently relocating from one country to another. While some vestiges of their lifestyle from “the old country” may remain, their entire way of living changes. They have a new life in a new place with new and different ways.

Observant readers may notice the use of “abolished” with regard to what can only be understood as the Law handed down by Moses. What is abolished ceases to exist. It is destroyed. Yet Jesus in Matthew 5:17–18, said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

There was a wall of hostility between the Hebrew people and all others. It is this wall that the Lord Jesus broke down. Whereas the Hebrew nation had been God’s chosen people, and everyone else was without hope and without God in the world, what Jesus ushered in destroyed that dividing wall and unified the people in both groups, reconciling them all to God.

Everything in the Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament points to this. All of it is designed to communicate about the Lord Jesus Christ. The covenants established in the Hebrew scriptures all required blood. This new covenant is no different. Life is on the line.

Many have taught, and not a few still teach, that Christianity is essentially a “Judeo/Christian” religion. Many have been told that at least some part of the covenant of the Law handed down from God to the nation of Israel by Moses applies to us today. Most would exclude the ceremonial laws and the sacrificial laws, even the dietary laws. But, they say, we need to keep the moral laws.

God spoke into existence everything that exists; except you. You, he “formed”. You, He fashioned. You, He crafted as one works to craft a poem. You are His workmanship, His poem. As amazing as that is, the verse doesn’t stop there. The Craftsman created us; and the venue or context in which this creation took place is “in Christ Jesus.

When we want to know why something in the Bible was said or done or the reason we are instructed to think or behave in a certain way, there are some key words we want to be sure we do not ignore. Words like “therefore”, “that”, and “for.” So, as we look for the reason why God Loved us so greatly and extended His vast mercy toward us, we can expect to find answers after those words.

Jesus is the Ark
Jesus is the Testimony
Jesus is the Word of God
Jesus is the Atonement and Propitiation
Jesus is the Mercy of God, full of grace and truth.

We may wonder if someone is beyond hope. We may find their attitudes and actions repulsive. What they do might turn our stomachs. It might make us furiously angry. We may be hurt by their obstinate and stubborn refusal even to hear the truth.

Scripture paints a picture of humanity as deriving from one of two sources. One source is characterized by independence, opposition, disobedience, rejection of the Love of God. The other Source is characterized by dependence, fellowship, obedience, and acceptance. All people are children of one or the other. Independence results in evil and spiritual death. Dependence results in righteousness and spiritual Life.

Every day we see and hear things the world wants to promote. We are bombarded with ideas the world would like to foist upon us. We hear of intractable problems and dark predictions about our future. All these things should be red flags. They come from the earthy mindset of those who remain as we once were. Without hope and without God in the world.

With our earthly minds we find this concept difficult to grasp. We were born, we grew, and we have clearly been alive the entire time. How is it then that scripture continually insists that we were dead? What sort of death is this?

The head is never separated from the body. The cornerstone is never displaced from the building. If either of these things were to happen, life and building would cease. The Lord Jesus is preeminent. He is the head, but not in the way of the world which makes the preeminent into dictators, tyrants, and oppressors.

The Lord Jesus is seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly realm. This seat of power is, we are told, “Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.” Far above. ALL. And we are in Christ. Where He is, there we are.

Looking with physical eyes, we are prone to judging by appearance. This is true whether we are speaking of other people or of the Lord Jesus Himself. Seeing in this way gives us only the earthly perspective of the flesh. But there is a better way, a higher way, a more excellent way.

Paul is careful in several places to point out the faith and love of the believers in the fellowships to which he writes. This is very significant. It would seem that Holy Spirit wants to ensure that we are reminded that it is faith which pleases God. It is dependent living borne of trust that He is our Life.

The Spirit of God, the self-same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead (see Romans 8:11), has been given to us as a down-payment, or deposit in earnest, guaranteeing our inheritance.

A word, if I may, about “dispensation.”