On Fri, 22 Mar 2002, Nick Arnett wrote: > > > You don't know Christian doctrine, eh? We *are* all priests. > > See I Peter > > > 2:9. > > > > Only if we are *all* Christian, Nick. > > Not necessarily. The "you" in that verse could apply to everyone. I > believe it does.
I don't, I'm afraid. I realize that one could interpret the "you" as universal in a spirit of ecumenicism, but I think that Peter in this passage (especially if you read the surrounding verses) is saying that "you people in particular, because you are Christians, are like priests unto the rest of the world, which is benighted and ignorant of Christ. Therefore behave well even in the face of persecution so that you can be a good example to the rest." If everyone were a priest then there'd be no need for *this* chosen nation of priests to strive for special goodness, and in the context of the times it makes no sense to assume that Peter is addressing the whole world. I suspect Peter is echoing the idea from one of the OT prophets (Isaiah? I forget.) that Israel must be a light unto the nations, and he is exhorting his followers to think of themselves as *that* Israel. The very need for such an image implies that most are neither priests nor priestly. I vaguely recall someone's conversation with God that goes > like this: "What is our purpose for existing?" "Take care of each other." > "Okay, but what is our purpose for existing?" "Take care of each other, I > said." > > > Besides, Peter was just trying to make his buddies feel better about the > > fact that nobody in their neighborhood wanted to sit down and have a nice > > long talk about accepting Jesus as their personal savior. ;-) > > I think the joke would be to treat it as if Peter were saying that his > buddies were special, so they could start selling indulgences and other > means of charging admission to God. "Hey, look, God gave *me* the keys!" > (Catholics should particularly appreciate that last bit.) Maybe it says something about my personality that I think that it's funnier to go for the more cruel choice, an image of a group of sincere innocents suffering, rather than the more ironic image of a group of con-artists scheming. :^/ Marvin Long Austin, Texas
