GOING DEEPER — 1 PETER 1:1–2
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
— 1 Peter 1:1–2, KJV
At first glance this looks like an ordinary introduction to a letter.
It isn't.
Peter has already introduced several themes that will run through the entire letter.
Before he tells these Christians how to live, Peter tells them who they are.
They are:
chosen by God,
living as exiles,
being sanctified by the Spirit,
called to obedience to Jesus Christ,
cleansed by His blood,
and recipients of God's grace and peace.
Peter will spend the rest of the letter explaining what that identity means.
“PETER”
We have already looked at the man behind the name.
But there is something worth noticing.
Peter does not introduce himself with an impressive string of titles.
He simply says:
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.”
The authority of the letter does not rest upon Peter's education, social standing, wealth, or position in Roman society.
It rests upon his relationship to Jesus Christ.
“AN APOSTLE OF JESUS CHRIST”
The Greek word is apostolos.
At its simplest, it describes someone who is sent.
But in the New Testament, “apostle” can be used in more than one sense. Sometimes it can describe a messenger or representative. But when Peter calls himself “an apostle of Jesus Christ,” he is identifying himself with those specially chosen and commissioned witnesses of Jesus.
Peter had been with Jesus.
He had heard Him teach.
He had seen His miracles.
He had seen Him crucified.
And most importantly, Peter became a witness to the risen Christ.
Acts 1 shows how important that eyewitness qualification was when a replacement was chosen for Judas.
Peter therefore does not write merely as an elderly Christian giving advice.
He writes as an authorized witness of Jesus Christ.
That makes what follows especially important.
“TO THOSE WHO ARE ELECT”
Now Peter begins describing his readers.
And the first description is striking:
“elect.”
The Greek word is eklektois, from the family of words meaning chosen or selected.
Peter will use the same idea again.
Jesus is:
“a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious.”
— 1 Peter 2:4
And Christians are:
“a chosen race.”
— 1 Peter 2:9
So election is not a passing thought in this letter.
It belongs to Peter's understanding of Christian identity.
But before we import later theological arguments into the word, we should ask:
What does Peter himself do with it?
WHAT DOES “ELECT” MEAN?
At minimum it means that these people belong to God because God has chosen them as His people.
That language has deep roots in the Old Testament.
God chose Israel:
“The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession.”
— Deuteronomy 7:6
Now Peter uses this language for Christians scattered throughout Roman provinces.
Later he will make the connection unmistakable:
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.”
— 1 Peter 2:9
That language comes directly from Israel's Scriptures.
Peter is telling these believers:
You may look insignificant to the surrounding world, but God knows who you are. You are His people.
DOES “ELECT” ANSWER EVERY QUESTION ABOUT PREDESTINATION?
No.
The word is important.
But we should not make one word answer questions Peter has not yet addressed.
Christians have debated for centuries exactly how divine election relates to:
God's sovereignty,
human response,
faith,
free will,
perseverance,
and salvation.
Those are legitimate questions.
But our first responsibility is not to ask:
“Which later theological system does this verse prove?”
Our first question should be:
“What is Peter telling suffering Christians?”
And Peter's immediate message is one of assurance and identity.
The world may regard them as outsiders.
God regards them as His chosen people.
“ELECT EXILES”
These two words belong together.
They are chosen—
yet they are also exiles.
That combination captures much of 1 Peter.
They belong to God, but they live in a world in which they often do not quite belong.
The Greek word translated exiles, strangers, or sojourners is parepidēmois.
It describes someone living away from his homeland or residing somewhere without being fully at home there.
Peter uses the idea again in 2:11:
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles…”
But what kind of exile does Peter mean?
WERE THEY LITERAL REFUGEES?
Possibly some had physically moved from one place to another.
But Peter's use of the idea seems to go deeper than geography.
Many of these Christians were probably living in the same general region where they had lived before becoming Christians.
What had changed was their allegiance.
They now belonged to God.
Their values had changed.
Their behavior had changed.
Their worship had changed.
Their relationship with the surrounding culture had changed.
Peter later says their former companions are surprised that they no longer join them in the same behavior:
“They are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you.”
— 1 Peter 4:4
They had become strangers without necessarily changing their street address.
That is an important kind of exile.
“OF THE DISPERSION”
Peter then uses another loaded expression:
“the Dispersion.”
The Greek word is diaspora.
We still use that word today.
Historically, the Jewish Diaspora referred to Jews scattered outside the land of Israel.
John 7:35 uses the expression when people ask whether Jesus intends to go:
“to the Dispersion among the Greeks.”
James begins his letter:
“To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion.”
So when Peter addresses Christians as exiles of the Dispersion, his Jewish readers would immediately recognize the language.
But there is an interesting question.
WERE PETER'S READERS JEWS OR GENTILES?
Peter's language sounds very Jewish.
He speaks of:
election,
Dispersion,
a holy nation,
a royal priesthood,
God's people,
and covenant language.
That might initially suggest Jewish Christians.
And Jewish believers were certainly part of the early church.
But other statements in 1 Peter strongly suggest that many—probably a substantial portion—of Peter's readers were Gentile converts.
Peter says:
“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.”
— 1:14
He speaks of:
“the futile ways inherited from your forefathers.”
— 1:18
Later he says:
“Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.”
— 2:10
And:
“The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do…”
— 4:3
Then he describes their former lives in terms of sensuality, drunkenness, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
That sounds much more naturally like people emerging from pagan Gentile society.
WHY, THEN, DOES PETER USE JEWISH LANGUAGE FOR THEM?
This is one of the major theological features of the letter.
Peter does not seem embarrassed about taking language originally associated with Israel and applying it to believers in Jesus—including Gentile believers.
They are:
elect,
exiles,
a holy nation,
a royal priesthood,
God's own people.
Peter does not stop here to explain a complete theology of Israel and the church.
So neither should we force him into terminology he does not use.
But we should notice what he actually does.
Peter describes the Christian community with the covenant language of Israel's Scriptures.
That deserves to be remembered when we reach chapter 2.
WHY THESE FIVE PLACES?
Peter names:
Pontus
Galatia
Cappadocia
Asia
Bithynia
These were regions or Roman provinces in Asia Minor, largely within modern Turkey.
This was an enormous geographical area.
Peter was not writing merely to one congregation in one city.
The letter apparently was intended to circulate among Christians spread across a broad region.
Some scholars have suggested that the order of the names could reflect a route by which the letter or its carrier traveled through these areas.
That is possible and geographically reasonable.
But Peter does not tell us that.
So we should distinguish:
The text tells us where the readers were located.
A delivery route reconstructed from the order is an interesting possibility.
NOTICE THE PARADOX
Peter's readers have two identities simultaneously.
From the world's point of view they are:
exiles
From God's point of view they are:
elect
That contrast may be one of the keys to the entire letter.
Their social circumstances do not define their ultimate identity.
Rome does not decide who they are.
Their neighbors do not decide who they are.
Their persecutors do not decide who they are.
God does.
“ACCORDING TO THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER”
Now Peter explains their election:
“according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.”
The Greek word is prognōsis.
We get our English word prognosis from the same roots.
It contains the ideas of before and knowing.
But we need to be careful.
Does “foreknowledge” simply mean:
God knew ahead of time what these people would choose?
Or does it mean something stronger—God's prior purpose and relationship?
Christians have disagreed.
Peter himself gives us another use of the same word family only a few verses later.
Speaking about Christ, he says:
“He was foreknown before the foundation of the world…”
— 1 Peter 1:20
That almost certainly means more than God merely possessing advance information that Jesus would exist.
Christ was part of God's purpose before the foundation of the world.
So when Peter speaks about believers being elect according to God's foreknowledge, we should at least allow foreknowledge to carry the idea of God's prior knowledge and purpose, not merely advance awareness of future events.
But again, Peter does not pause here to explain the entire relationship between divine foreknowledge and human freedom.
We should not pretend he did.
“GOD THE FATHER”
Notice how personal Peter's language becomes.
He does not merely say:
according to divine foreknowledge.
He says:
“the foreknowledge of God the Father.”
The God who chose them is their Father.
Peter is about to say in verse 3:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
And in verse 17:
“if you call on him as Father…”
Their identity is relational.
They have not merely entered a religious system.
They have entered God's family.
FATHER, SPIRIT, AND JESUS CHRIST
Now look carefully at verse 2.
Peter speaks of:
God the Father
the Spirit
Jesus Christ
All three appear naturally in one sentence.
Peter is not giving us a later theological definition of the Trinity.
He does not stop to explain philosophical questions about one divine essence and three persons.
But the raw material is plainly here.
The Father foreknows.
The Spirit sanctifies.
Jesus Christ is obeyed, and His blood cleanses.
Father, Spirit, and Son are all involved in the believer's salvation.
That is remarkable theology to find tucked inside the address of a letter.
“IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE SPIRIT”
The word translated sanctification comes from the same family as holy.
Its basic idea is being set apart for God.
We sometimes think of sanctification only as the gradual process by which Christians become morally better.
The New Testament certainly speaks about growth in holiness.
But the word can also describe God's act of setting people apart as His own.
Here Peter says this occurs:
“in the sanctification of the Spirit.”
The Spirit is actively involved in creating a people who belong to God.
That fits what Peter will say shortly:
“As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”
— 1:15
God sets His people apart.
Then God's people are called to live like people who have been set apart.
“FOR OBEDIENCE TO JESUS CHRIST”
What is the goal?
Peter says:
“for obedience to Jesus Christ…”
That phrase deserves more attention than it often receives.
Christian faith is not merely agreeing with statements about Jesus.
Jesus is someone to whom allegiance and obedience are given.
Peter will repeatedly connect belief with obedience and unbelief with disobedience.
In 1:14 he calls them:
“obedient children.”
In 1:22:
“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth…”
In 2:8 others stumble:
“because they disobey the word.”
For Peter, faith in Christ is not intended to leave a person's allegiance unchanged.
OBEDIENCE OR “OBEDIENCE OF FAITH”?
Some interpreters understand Peter's phrase primarily as obedience to the gospel—the obedient response by which one comes to Christ.
Others understand it more broadly as the life of obedience that follows conversion.
Those ideas need not be enemies.
Peter's letter contains both.
The gospel calls for a response, and those who respond are then called to live obedient lives.
The important thing is not to reduce Peter's language to:
“I believe certain facts, therefore nothing else matters.”
Peter expects faith to produce a changed life.
“AND FOR SPRINKLING WITH HIS BLOOD”
Now we reach one of the most interesting phrases in the opening.
“for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.”
Why sprinkling?
Why not simply say:
“saved by His blood”?
A Jewish reader familiar with the Old Testament would hear echoes immediately.
Blood was sprinkled in several Old Testament settings.
But one passage is especially important.
EXODUS 24
At Mount Sinai, Israel entered covenant with God.
Moses read the Book of the Covenant to the people.
They responded:
“All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
— Exodus 24:7
Then:
“Moses took the blood and threw it on the people…”
And said:
“Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you…”
— Exodus 24:8
Now look again at Peter:
“for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.”
The combination is striking:
obedience + sprinkled blood.
That makes Exodus 24 a very likely background.
Peter's readers belong to God through a covenant relationship established through the blood of Jesus Christ.
JESUS AND “THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT”
This takes us still farther.
At the Last Supper Jesus said:
“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”
— Mark 14:24
Jesus was using covenant language rooted in Exodus.
Peter had been sitting there.
He heard Jesus say it.
Now years later Peter writes about:
“sprinkling with his blood.”
We should be careful about claiming that Peter consciously recalled the Last Supper at this exact moment.
He does not say that.
But the covenant connection between Exodus 24, Jesus' words at the Supper, and Peter's language here is difficult to miss.
BLOOD MEANS LIFE GIVEN IN DEATH
Peter will return to Christ's blood in verse 19:
“the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”
When the New Testament speaks of Christ's blood, it is not treating blood as a magical substance.
His blood represents His life given in sacrificial death.
Peter's readers belong to God because Jesus died for them.
Their election was costly.
LOOK AT THE WHOLE MOVEMENT OF VERSE 2
Peter describes their identity:
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father
in the sanctification of the Spirit
for obedience to Jesus Christ
and for sprinkling with His blood
This is not accidental language.
The Christian life begins with God.
It is accomplished through God's saving action.
And it results in a people who belong to and obey Jesus Christ.
“MAY GRACE AND PEACE BE MULTIPLIED TO YOU”
Peter finally gives his greeting:
“May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”
Greek letters commonly began with a greeting.
Jewish greetings commonly emphasized peace — shalom.
Christians took familiar forms and filled them with deeper meaning.
Grace points to God's undeserved favor.
Peace is more than the absence of conflict. Its biblical background includes wholeness and well-being in relationship with God.
And Peter does not merely say:
Grace and peace to you.
He says:
“May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”
These are people experiencing pressure and suffering.
Peter does not promise that their circumstances will immediately become easy.
He prays that grace and peace will increase in the middle of them.
SOMETHING EASY TO MISS
We have read only two verses, and Peter has already told us something about:
God the Father,
the Holy Spirit,
Jesus Christ,
election,
foreknowledge,
holiness,
obedience,
the blood of Christ,
covenant,
the identity of God's people,
their relationship to the surrounding world,
and God's grace and peace.
Peter wastes very few words.
ONE MORE QUESTION: WHOSE COUNTRY IS HOME?
Peter calls Christians:
“elect exiles.”
That raises a question that will continue throughout the letter.
Christians live in real nations.
They have neighbors.
They live under governments.
Peter will soon tell them to honor governing authorities.
But no earthly society provides their deepest identity.
They belong first to God.
That means Christians can be good neighbors and responsible members of society without allowing the surrounding culture to decide:
what is true,
what is good,
what is holy,
or who they ultimately are.
Peter will spend much of this letter explaining how people who belong to another kingdom should live while they are still surrounded by this world.
TEXT BEFORE TRADITION
These two verses also give us a good test of how we study Scripture.
We can begin with a theological system and ask:
“How can I make Peter fit what I've always been taught?”
Or we can begin with Peter:
What did he actually say?
He said these Christians were elect.
He connected that election with the foreknowledge of the Father.
He said the Spirit sanctifies them.
He said this is for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling with His blood.
Those statements belong together.
Before separating them into theological categories, perhaps we should allow Peter's whole sentence to speak.
Read first.
Then conclude.
QUESTIONS WORTH THINKING ABOUT
When Peter calls Christians “elect exiles,” which word do I tend to emphasize—chosen or exile? Why does Peter hold both together?
When Peter applies language associated with Israel to believers in Christ, including Gentiles, what does that tell us about how he understands God's people?
Does Peter describe election merely as a privilege—or as an identity that leads to holiness and obedience?
When I read “foreknowledge,” am I allowing Peter's own use of the word to shape my understanding, or am I immediately importing a theological definition I've always been taught?
Why does Peter put obedience beside the sprinkling of Christ's blood?
What does Exodus 24 contribute to our understanding of that expression?
And perhaps the most personal question:
If I really am one of God's people, what should be different about the way I live as an “exile” in the world around me?
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