Go Deep

(1 Peter 2:4-10)

Read 1 Peter 2:4-12. Take note of anything that interests you or that seems important.

In verse 4, Peter says, “As you come to God…” If you asked Peter, “How do I come to God?” what do you think he would say?

According to Peter, it is as we come to Christ that we are placed in the church, not as we come to church that we are placed in Christ. Why is this important?

What does Peter mean by calling a group of people a temple? What is a temple and how do Christians function as one?

Peter says we are being built “to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices…” What are these spiritual sacrifices? To whom are they offered? For whom are they offered (See Rom. 12:1; Hebrews 13:15-16)?

A literal translation of verse 7 runs: “Therefore, to you who believe, honor…” What is there to those who do not believe (see vv. 8-9)?

Read verse 9. What does it mean to be a chosen people? Chosen for what?

Is being a member of the royal priesthood something special? What does Jesus’s royal priesthood do?

Peter calls Christians a “holy nation.” What kind of nation? And in what sense is this nation “holy”?

Peter calls Christians “God’s special people” (NIV 2011). How might things change for a person who began for the first time to think of himself in this way? What if he began to think of other Christians in this way?

In verse 9, Peter seems to suggest that our identity as God’s people leads to our role as those who declare God’s praises. Why does God want us to declare his praises? Doesn’t that seem a little conceited?

Is there anything in this passage we can work on together as a church family? How can we work on it?

To whom (someone God has brought into your circle of influence) might you tactfully declare the praises of God? How might you do that?

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