Jesus: Worshipped as God

The unique identity and sovereignty of YHWH in the Old Testament demanded the exclusive worship and obedience of Israel, the people he identified as his own possession. With Jesus inclusion in the divine identity in 1 Peter, the obedience, worship and identity of God’s people are now focussed around Christ. While Achtemeier notes that 1 Peter ‘appropriated without remainder the language of Israel for the church’17, he restricts the study of it’s christological significance to 1 Peter’s use of Isaiah 53. This is clearly inadequate. Belonging to the family of God is now only for those who obey the gospel of God (1 Peter 4:17). The list of titles traditionally given to Israel in 2:9-10 and especially a restored Israel in 2:1018 are now given
to those who obey the message about Jesus(2:8) and contrasted with pagans (2:12). In Exodus 24:4-8 Moses confirms Israel's covenant with YHWH by the sprinkling of blood, for obedience to God. In 1 Peter the believers are sprinkled with Jesus Christ’s blood, and are sanctified for obedience to Jesus Christ(1:2). While 1 Peter exhorts the believers in 1:16 ‘Be holy because I am holy’, quoting Leviticus 19:2, the shape of that holiness in the ethical material (2:11-5:9) comes from imitating Christ’s actions and attitudes. Through Christ the spiritual sacrifices of the believers are declared acceptable to God (2:5) and God is praised in their actions (4:11). The ambiguity of the doxologies (4:11, 5:10-11), as to whether they are speaking of Christ or only generally of God, further reinforces how far 1 Peter includes Jesus in the identity of God. In 1 Peter Jesus is included in God’s unique role of forming a people for himself, for his glory, praise and rule.