We have seen that we have been called into God’s marvelous light and into the fellowship of God’s Son. Now we need to see that we have also been called to the suffering of Christ. “If doing good and suffering you shall endure, this is grace with God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered on your behalf, leaving you a model that you should follow in His steps” (1 Pet. 2:20b-21). God’s calling includes not only enjoyment but also suffering. Our destiny in God’s calling includes both the enjoyment of Christ as the embodiment of the processed Triune God and also the suffering of Christ. We have been called to suffer with Christ, to suffer what He suffered.
First Peter 2:21 says, “To this you were called.” The word “this” refers to the unjust sufferings, the suffering for doing good, mentioned in verses 19 and 20. As the context indicates, some of the believers to whom this Epistle was written were called to suffer unjustly under crooked masters. We have been called to unjust suffering so that in it we may have the enjoyment of God as grace and express Him. Whatever the circumstances may be, God is our grace, our inner enjoyment. This enjoyment motivates us and then becomes our outward expression, an expression visible to others.
Verse 21 clearly reveals that we have been called to suffer unjustly because Christ suffered on our behalf and left us a model so that we should follow in His steps. Literally, the Greek word for “model” means a writing copy, an under-writing for students to use in tracing letters as they learn to draw them. In ancient times teachers would write letters on writing material, and those letters became a master copy. Another piece of writing material was put upon the master copy. Then the children would practice writing by tracing the letters from the master copy onto their copy. The Greek word for model is the word that denotes such a master copy used in the teaching of writing. The Lord Jesus has set His suffering life before us as an under-writing for us to copy by tracing and following His steps. To this we have been called by God.
The believers have also been called to the peace of Christ for His one Body. Colossians 3:15 says, “Let the peace of Christ arbitrate in your hearts, to which also you were called in one Body.” The relative pronoun “which” here refers to the peace of Christ. We were called to this peace in the one Body of Christ. For the proper Body life we need the peace of Christ to arbitrate, to adjust, to decide all things in our hearts in the relationships between the members of His Body. Our having been called to the peace of Christ should also motivate us to let this peace arbitrate in our hearts. We have been called into peace to maintain the one Body.
Within us we all have something called the peace of Christ. This is the peace about which Paul speaks in Ephesians 2:15, where we are told that in Himself Christ created one new man out of two peoples. By creating the Jews and the Gentiles into one new man, Christ has made peace. This is the peace in Colossians 3:15.
Believers with different cultural backgrounds and nationalities have been created into one new man. The oneness of the new man produces genuine peace. We in the Lord’s recovery are one because we are in Christ and in the church. We are in the new man, where there is no Greek, Jew, circumcision, or uncircumcision (Col. 3:11). In the new man there are no different races, classes, or nationalities. Rather, there is oneness because Christ is all and in all. This oneness is our peace. The peace of Christ in Colossians 3:15 is simply the peaceful oneness in the new man.
As fallen people, we were God’s enemies, and there was no peace between us and God. Furthermore, there is no peace among the various peoples on earth, especially between the Jews and the Gentiles. On the cross Christ redeemed us, reconciled us to God, and made peace between us and God. Through His death on the cross Christ abolished the ordinances concerning the different ways of living so that there may be peace among the races and nations (Eph. 2:15-16). Because Christ has abolished the ordinances, He has made peace not only between us and God but between believers of different races and nationalities. Christ has broken down the middle wall of partition. Moreover, according to Ephesians 2:14, Christ Himself is our peace. With Christ as our Peacemaker, we have vertical peace—peace between us and God—and horizontal peace—peace with one another. Now the peace of Christ arbitrates in our hearts. This peace is actually Christ Himself. He is the peace that carries on a work of arbitration within us to keep us at peace with God and with one another for His one Body. We have been called to this peace.