Our Identity in Jesus

Isaiah 53:4-7, 9                        1 Peter 2:11-3:7                          Matthew 5:13-16

Our Identity in Jesus

We live in a world that is deeply confused about identity. Many people are told to define themselves by their desires, achievements, wounds (professionally diagnosed or self-diagnosed), politics, tribe, work, sexuality (take your pick from a mindboggling smorgasbord of possible gender definitions), family background, nationality, success, suffering, or social media image. The result is often not freedom but fragmentation. If the self must be invented from within, defended before others, and constantly revised according to the expectations of the age, then identity becomes a burden too heavy to carry.

Peter writes to Christians who were living under immense pressure. They were misunderstood, misrepresented, and sometimes slandered. They were accused of being socially dangerous, disrespectful, unpatriotic, and strange. Later Roman writers such as Tacitus and Suetonius would describe Christians as hated for their “abominations” or as followers of a “new and impious superstition.” Yet Peter does not tell the Church to answer confusion with panic, hostility, withdrawal, or self-protection. He calls them to remember who they are: beloved by God, chosen in Christ, exiles in the world, servants of God, and witnesses to the glory of the Father.

This is the central movement of 1 Peter 2:11-3:7. Christian conduct flows from Christian identity. We do not serve in order to become someone; we serve because in Jesus Christ we already know who we are. We are free, yet servants of God. We are citizens of earthly nations, yet our final allegiance belongs to the kingdom of heaven. We are called to honour others, love the family of believers, fear God, and honour our leaders. However, we are not shaped by the confusion around us, but by the crucified and risen Lord who bore our sins and healed our mortal wounds.

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth” and “You are the light of the world.” And then he added, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Christian service, then, is not a performance for applause; it is the visible expression of a settled identity in Christ.

Peter begins, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” As I said last week, the word “beloved” comes first. Before Peter speaks about abstaining, submitting, suffering, serving, or witnessing, he reminds believers who they are: that they are loved. Their identity does not begin with social rejection but with divine acceptance. They are not spiritual orphans trying to earn a place in God’s household. They belong there because they are his adopted children. They are his beloved.

Yet at the same time, they are also “sojourners and exiles.” That means that although Christians live in the world, they do not belong to the world’s ultimate order. We participate in society, work, family life, civic responsibility, and public service, but we do so as people whose identity is found in God. This creates a holy tension. There are two spheres, two value systems, two visions of life: the kingdom of self and the kingdom of God; the darkness of disordered desire and the clarity that is ours in the light of Jesus.

Peter does not tell Christians to withdraw into private spirituality. He says, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honourable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” The Church’s answer to slander is not argument but visible holiness. The goal is not personal vindication. The goal is that observers may one day glorify God because of what they observe in our behaviour.

This matters because the early Christians were frequently accused of undermining society. In Acts, Stephen was accused of speaking against the temple and the law; Paul was accused of persuading people to worship God “contrary to the law”; and in Jerusalem the crowd claimed that he taught against the people, the law, and the holy place. Such accusations were not merely theological. They implied that Christian faith produced social disorder. Peter’s answer is that Christian identity should produce the opposite: honourable conduct, faithful citizenship, disciplined desire, and public good.

Peter continues, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution.” This does not mean that the state is ultimate, righteous in all its actions, or worthy of worship. No, it means that because God is the Creator and Judge, Christians should not be lawless, rebellious, or careless citizens. Romans 13 teaches us that governing authorities have a real, though limited, role under God: to restrain evil and commend what is good. Daniel 2:21 reminds us that it is God who “removes kings and sets up kings,” and Psalm 75 teaches that political or civic promotion does not finally come from east or west, but from the Lord who judges.

And in this light, the Christian motive is crucial: we are to be subject to earthly authorities “for the Lord’s sake.” We obey earthly authority because we are first under God’s authority. Therefore, Christian submission is never servile worship of power. It is disciplined obedience under the lordship of Jesus. When the state does what is proper, we honour it. When the state commands what God forbids or forbids what God commands, we obey God rather than human beings. The choice may be clear, even though the application of that choice may not be quite so straightforward…and the cost may be high. 

Peter summarizes Christian public life in four short commands: “Honour everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the emperor.” Notice the order and distinction. Everyone is to be honoured because all people bear the image of God. The family of believers is to be loved with covenant loyalty. God alone is to be feared. And while the emperor is to be honoured, he is not to be feared as God. While Proverbs 24:21 instructs us to “fear the Lord and the king,” Peter sharpens the Christian confession: fear God; honour the emperor.

This speaks powerfully to modern Christian service. In public life, Christians should be known neither for blind loyalty to political power nor for reflexive contempt. We should be honest citizens, careful voters, truthful speakers, diligent taxpayers, faithful neighbours, and courageous witnesses. We pray “for kings and all who are in high positions,” as 1 Timothy 2 says, so that we may live peaceful, godly, and dignified lives. Our service in society is rooted not in fear of losing influence but in confidence that Christ is Lord.

Peter then addresses household slaves. Now, at this point I think that it is important to say clearly that Peter is not condoning slavery. What he is doing is instructing believers who are already trapped within a harsh social order how to live faithfully before God. In the first-century world, slaves could be treated as property, exposed to exploitation, and punished severely for rebellion. While some skilled slaves could gain freedom, many lived with little security and few rights. Peter speaks into that painful reality without pretending it is good.

His instruction is not based on the worthiness of the master but on the example of Jesus. “For this is a gracious thing,” Peter says, “when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.” There is no glory in suffering for wrongdoing. But when someone does good and suffers for it, and endures because of conscience toward God, that endurance becomes a witness.

Then Peter takes us to the cross: “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” Christian service is cruciform. It takes the shape of Jesus, Peter tells us. He who “committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.” Here Peter draws from Isaiah 53: “He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.” Jesus was innocent, yet he suffered. He was reviled yet did not revile in return. He suffered yet uttered no threats because he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.

Isaiah had said, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows”; “he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities”; “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” For Peter, the suffering of Jesus is not only for our salvation, but it is also our pattern. The silence of Jesus was not weakness; it was trust. His refusal to retaliate was not passivity; it was obedience. And consequently, his wounds were not signs of defeat; they were signs of healing.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” Sin separates us from the source of life. Isaiah 59 says, “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.” Death is not merely a penalty imposed from outside; it is the consequence of being cut off from life itself. But Jesus, the sinless One, entered our death so that we might receive his life. He is the wounded Healer whose wounds heal wounded sinners.

Therefore, the bad behaviour of the world is never an excuse for the bad behaviour of the Church. Retaliation may feel natural, but it does not reveal Christ. Jesus was silent before his accusers and before those who mocked him. He blessed rather than cursed. He entrusted judgment to God. In the same spirit, Jesus taught, “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you,” and Paul wrote, “When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat.” Indeed, we pray to be forgiven in the same way as we forgive and, in many ways, we are called to forgive because we are forgiven.

Peter’s teaching here can be applied today in workplaces, schools, hospitals, businesses, farms, offices, shops, public service, ministry teams, volunteer organisations, and homes. Christian employees should work with integrity not only when supervisors are fair but also when circumstances are difficult. Christian leaders should exercise authority as stewardship, not domination. Christian volunteers should serve without needing constant recognition. Christian citizens should seek the good of their communities even when misunderstood. We do not serve because people always deserve it. We serve because Jesus is our Lord, and because others may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

Peter next speaks to wives and husbands, some of whom have become Christians, but have remained married to unbelieving spouses. Now, I think we must handle these verses carefully. The passage is not general, but specific, nor is it a licence for domestic tyranny, spiritual manipulation, or the subjugation of women. Just as Peter’s words to slaves do not condone slavery, his words to those who are married do not condone oppression. He is addressing Christians living in very difficult situations, in this case, those who were married to unbelieving spouses, and he is showing them how their conduct can become a witness to Christ.

The word “likewise” connects this section to the behaviour of slaves based on the example of Jesus. Wives with unbelieving husbands are called to live in such a way that their husbands “may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives.” This does not mean words never matter. It means that persistent argument cannot replace holy character. The beauty Peter commends is not merely external adornment but “the hidden person of the heart” with “the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”

In the ancient world, external adornment, hairstyles, clothing, and jewellery could communicate status, wealth, and social identity. Peter’s point is not that beauty, clothing, or cultural signs are evil. His point is that Christian identity is not finally displayed by social symbols but by a heart formed by hope in God. The wedding ring, the title, the uniform, the job description, the public profile, or the family role may say something about us, but none of them can carry the weight of our truest identity. That belongs to Jesus.

Peter also speaks to husbands: “Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honour to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.” In that culture, women were socially vulnerable, often as vulnerable as children and slaves. Peter does not exploit that vulnerability; he commands husbands to honour their wives. He reminds them that women are heirs with them of the grace of life. Before God, husband and wife stand together as recipients of grace.

This is a searching word for every Christian household. Spirituality cannot be separated from the way we treat the people closest to us. Peter says that a husband’s prayers may be hindered by dishonourable behaviour toward his wife. James says that we may ask and not receive because we ask wrongly, to spend it on our passions. Prayer is nourished by humility, faithfulness, and self-giving love; it is hindered by selfishness, cruelty, and contempt.

This means that Christian service transcends our circumstances. If our identity is in Jesus, then our homes and our places of employment must become places where the grace of life is visible: in patience, listening, repentance, forgiveness, protection, faithfulness, and honour.

What, then, does this passage say to us today? It says that Christian service is not primarily a strategy for influence, or a method for gaining approval, or a way to prove our worth. Christian service is the overflow of our identity in Jesus. We serve as beloved exiles. We serve as free servants of God. We serve as people healed by the self-sacrificial wounds of Jesus. We serve as citizens of heaven who seek the good of the earth. We serve as people whose final vindication rests with the righteous Judge.

So the modern equivalents are everywhere. In the workplace, the Christian employee refuses dishonesty, gossip, laziness, and revenge, and instead works as one serving the Lord. In leadership, the Christian employer or manager refuses exploitation and uses authority to protect, bless, and build up. In public life, the Christian citizen refuses both idolatry of the state and contempt for order, and instead honours all, fears God, and seeks justice for all with humility. In marriage and family, the Christian refuses domination, neglect, and selfishness, and instead embodies honour, understanding, and sacrificial love. In online spaces, the Christian refuses slander, outrage, and identity-performance, and instead speaks truth with gentleness and reverence.

None of this is weakness. It is the strength of people who know who they are. The world often says, “Assert yourself or disappear.” But Jesus says, “Lose your life for my sake, and you will find it.” The world says, “Your identity is whatever you can construct and defend.” But the gospel says, “Your life is hidden with Christ in God.” The world says, “Defend your rights!” Peter says, “Follow Jesus, who entrusted himself to the One who judges justly.”

Yes, Peter’s call here is demanding – it is counter-cultural in so many ways – but it is also deeply liberating. We do not have to manufacture an identity out of the fragments of a confused age. We have received our identity in Jesus. We were straying like sheep, but now we have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. We were mortally wounded by sin, but by his wounds we have been eternally healed. We were alienated from God, but in Jesus we have been brought home.

Therefore, we can serve without fear. We can honour without worshipping human power. We can submit without surrendering conscience. We can suffer without despair. We can speak truth without hatred. We can be silent without cowardice. We can do good even when misunderstood, because the cross has already defined us and the resurrection has already secured our future.

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” A confused world does not need a Church that mirrors its confusion. It needs a Church that knows its Lord. It needs Christians whose identity is so secure in Jesus that they are free to serve, free to forgive, free to honour, free to suffer for righteousness, and free to love without needing applause.

So let us keep our conduct honourable. Let us live as beloved exiles. Let us serve as free servants of God. Let us follow in the steps of the suffering Christ. And let our light shine before others, so that when they see our good works, they may not glorify us, but our Father who is in heaven.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2026