Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 21:3 (Fall 2017)
Article: The Church As The Renewed Israel In Christ: A Study Of 1 Peter 2:4-10
Author: Brent E. Parker

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SBJT 21:3 (Fall 2017) p. 41

The Church As The Renewed Israel In Christ: A Study Of 1 Peter 2:4-10

Brent E. Parker

Brent E. Parker is a recent PhD graduate in systematic theology from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is assistant editor of Southern Baptist Journal of Theology and is the co-editor of and a contributor in Progressive Covenantalism: Charting a Course between Dispensational and Covenant Theologies (B&H Academic, 2016). He is also a co-editor for a forthcoming four views book on systems of theology (InterVarsity Press, forthcoming 2018). Dr. Parker is married to Kandace and they have two boys and live in Louisville, Kentucky.

First Peter 2:4-10 is a theologically rich passage that has important implications for Christology and ecclesiology. In this text, Peter presents Jesus as the one appointed by God, the elect and precious living stone who is the cornerstone, the foundation of the spiritual house made up of those who are united to Christ. Via their relationship with him, believers identify with Christ, the defining and constraining cornerstone, and so they too are living stones. Moreover, Peter also teaches that the church has taken on the role of Israel as Peter’s readers—Christians—are God’s new temple and priesthood. They offer spiritual sacrifices that are pleasing to God through Jesus Christ. Along with these theological themes, 1 Peter 2:4-10 has also garnered attention as a case study for Peter’s exegetical method of interpreting the Old Testament (OT). The pericope features three explicit OT quotations (Isa 28:15; Ps 118:22 [117:22 LXX]; Isa 8:14) in verses 6-8 and three OT allusions (Exod 19:5-6; Isa 43:20-21; and Hos 1:6, 9; 2:25 LXX) in verses 9-10. While the complexities of Peter’s citations and allusions cannot be addressed fully here, the aim of this study is to explore

SBJT 21:3 (Fall 2017) p. 42

how Peter presents the church as the renewed Israel, the antitype of Israel through Jesus in 1 Peter 2:4-10.

In claiming that Peter presents the church as the renewed, eschatological, antitypical Israel in 1 Peter 2:4-10, I will argue that this passage does not qu...

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