1. Our Coordinates in Christ

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 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: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

1 Peter 5:12-14

1 Peter 5:12–14 ESV

12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. 13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

The Christians of Asia Minor were facing troubling times. Because of their faith in Christ, they were being persecuted through social ostracism. Slander and malicious talk undermined their relationships with associates and family, threatened their honor in the community, and possibly jeopardized their livelihood.

Because of their Christian faith, they were being marginalized by their society, alienated in their relationships, and threatened with— if not experiencing— a loss of honour and socioeconomic standing (and possibly worse). (Jobe, Introduction).

There is a lot here in the circumstances of these believers Peter is writing that has parallels with our experiences. We live in a society that opposes our Biblical values, although not yet to the degree and intensity they experienced. What we can learn here in 1 Peter is highly relevant for us as Christians living in a modern society.

Though these scattered groups of Christians, facing considerable suffering and persecution, might have felt marginalised and forgotten, Peter reminds them from the outset who they are and to whom they belong. Through the work of God the Trinity, they have been chosen to live as exiles in this world until they reach their promised inheritance. This is who they are—God’s chosen people. This is where they live—as exiles in a hostile world. This is how they live—by obeying the Lord Jesus Christ. Within God’s sovereign, eternal purposes they are certainly not forgotten; they are a very special people, belonging to God, Father, Spirit and Son.

He reminds them of two things:

Remember who you are, 1 Peter 1:1

Remember whose you are, 1 Peter 1:2

1. Remember who you are, 1 Peter 1:1

Peter, the apostle of Jesus Christ, is the author of this letter. In the first century church, the primary characteristic of an apostle was his authority to bear authentic testimony to the life and significance of Jesus Christ. An apostle was recognized to have an authority distinct from other church leaders. Peter writes with the confidence that he is presenting the “true grace of God” (5:12) and that his words come with that apostolic authority.

Karen H. Jobes, 1 Peter, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005), 59.

The letter probably was written from Rome. First Peter 5:13 conveys a greeting from Babylon—a metaphorical reference to the capital city of the Roman Empire (see Rev 17:5, 9). The letter must have been written sometime before the mid-60s AD. According to tradition, Peter was martyred in Rome around that time, during the persecution of Christians under the emperor Nero.

He is writing to Christians in regions that are part of the central and northern plateau of Asia Minor, now the nation of Turkey.

He refers to them as those of the Dispersion, the Diaspora, reminding us of the exile and scattering of God’s people. Are these Jewish Christians? I am sure that there were Jewish Christians among those to who this letter is addressed, but I think he is using the Jewish Dispersion / Diaspora as an analogy, implying that believers, regardless of ethnicity, should understand themselves as God’s people scattered as foreigners in these lands — even if they are native born to the area! They, in Christ, have a new identity!

He calls them

a. elect — They have been chosen, elected by God.

Election is key for understanding the Bible’s grand narrative—the account of God’s plan to redeem and restore, through Christ, a holy people who had been lost in Adam.

In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel is designated as God’s chosen or elect people. In the NT, this term is expanded to include the Church, which consists of both Jews and Gentiles. God’s chosen are no longer identified by ethnic or national markers, but spiritually by faith.

This election is both corporate and individual. God chooses individuals for salvation and incorporation into His chosen people. We are saved as individuals by God’s grace alone, but saved to be part of His Church, the Body of Christ. Every one of these people who are believers, and indeed, all of us in Christ, have been personally chosen by God.

As those chosen by God, Peter may be thinking of Jesus’ teaching in Mark 13:20-27.

Mark 13:20–27 ESV

20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. 21 And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand. 24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

Amid the struggles and trials they went through because of their faith, there is the assurance that as God’s chosen, they will be protected and one day gathered up even from the remotest regions to be with God.

By calling them elect, chosen by God, Peter wants them to recognise the glorious privileges they have and their standing in relation to God. He will unpack this in the first main section of the letter in 1:3-2:10.

The second thing he tells them is that they are exiles

b. exiles - strangers, resident aliens

The Exile in OT history is when God’s people faced a lengthy period away from their homeland due to their covenant unfaithfulness. Many were taken away from Israel and scattered across the Assyrian Empire; later, many were taken from Judah and brought to Babylon. God’s people faced hostile environments, pressured to conform to the pagan cultures surrounding them. There were harsh repercussions for resistance to this assimilation.

Peter uses this theme in applying this part of the history of God’s people to the circumstances facing the Christians to whom he writes. While they are in these places, they are not of these places. While they live as resident aliens, they are not to give allegiance to the surrounding culture. Their allegiance is to Christ, who will one day gather them up as His people and bring them home.

Once they realise just who and what they are: elect of God, exiles in the world, they have their coordinates, they have their bearings, and can then think and act accordingly. Peter will unpack this in the second main section of this letter in 2:11-4:11.

c. The tension of living as God’s elect in exile

When we are elect we are then exiles in this world. And because of this we are aliens and strangers, pilgrims and resident aliens in this world. We have a home in glory to come, to be with the Lord in the new heavens and new earth, where righteousness dwells, but we at the present live in a world that is hostile to God and to those who belong to Him. We will face persecution, we will face suffering on account of our belonging to Christ, for living for Christ. Who we are, how we live, is at odds with everything this world values. Peter will develop this in the third and final section of this letter in 4:12-5:11.

The believer, then, is never really “at home,” as the second-century Epistle to Diognetus puts it:

For Christians are no different from other people in terms of their country, language or customs. Nowhere do they inhabit cities of their own, use a strange dialect, or live life out of the ordinary.… They live in their respective countries, but only as resident aliens; they participate in all things as citizens, and they endure all things as foreigners. Every foreign territory is a homeland for them, every homeland foreign territory. They marry like everyone else and have children, but they do not expose them once they are born. They share their meals but not their sexual partners. They are found in the flesh but do not live according to the flesh. They live on earth but participate in the life of heaven. They are obedient to the laws that have been made, and by their own lives they supersede the laws. They love everyone and are persecuted by all. They are not understood and they are condemned. They are put to death and made alive. They are impoverished and make many rich. They lack all things and abound in everything. They are dishonored and they are exalted in their dishonors. (5:1–14 [LCL])

Green, Joel B. 1 Peter. The Two Horizons New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.

First Peter, then, is addressed to folks who do not belong, who eke out their lives on the periphery of acceptable society, whose deepest loyalties and inclinations do not line up very well with what matters most in the world in which they live. This is not the sort of life that most people find attractive. It is a really hard sell! Who thought up this marketing campaign: Come to Jesus, and the world will hate you! Come to Jesus, and you will find yourself a zero in the world’s eyes!

In terms of our ability genuinely to understand 1 Peter, the basic reality is that, as a whole, we squirm at the possibility that this letter is addressed to us, that we might be cast as “nobodies in the world.” No one wants to be considered irrelevant by the culture. And yet we are.

But it does not end there.

Peter wants them to remember that though we are exiles, we are the elect of God, and as His elect, we are His.

There are many times when we feel forgotten, insignificant and marginalised. Things happen around us at work or in the family, but we feel left out and abandoned. It is easy to see how suffering, persecuted Christians could also feel like that today and in Peter’s time. In other parts of the world God may be blessing His church richly but we seem to have been forgotten. How else can we explain such suffering and persecution? Peter’s aim is to convince these Christians that whatever is happening they have not been forgotten.

Application: One of the temptations Christians face is to be far too much at home in this world.

We do this by adopting the values of the surrounding culture and adapting our lifestyle to what we see around us, sometimes to avoid hostility from the non-Christian world which wants us to conform to its way of living. We need to be reminded to see ourselves as exiles. Though we live in this world and make an impact on it by the way we live (e.g. see 2:11, 12), it is not our home. People living temporarily in another country, though they may need to learn a different language and conform to certain laws, have their true home and allegiance elsewhere. So it is for Christians. We are meant to live differently and to have different values because ultimately we have a very different destination.

How we deal with this reality and what we are about to see here in 1 Peter tells a lot about us and how we think of God and the salvation He gives us.

That brings us to the second point:

2. Remember whose you are, 1 Peter 1:2

How is it that these people, most likely the majority of who are from a Gentile, pagan background, have become “elect exiles?” Peter says down in 1 Peter 1:18 that they had inherited the futile ways of their forefathers!

1 Peter 1:18 ESV

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,

It is because they now have another Father - God the Father, who has worked in them alongside the Spirit and the Christ — and now they belong to Him.

a. You belong to God the Father

We are elect exiles “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.”

The word “foreknow” in Greek speaks of an intimate, active knowledge of the future. We get the word “prognosis” from it. When our doctor sits down with us and gives us his prognosis, he is telling us regarding our health that things will likely have a particular course or outcome. It can describe when the doctor is powerless to alter the outcome, or if the doctor is actively intervening in our case to bring about a particular outcome. He or she may tell us that with our particular cancer and the stage it is in that with a particular treatment that the prognosis is that we have a 90% 5-year survival rate. But with prognoses of this type, it is always hemmed in by our inability to guarantee a 100 % success rate.

The foreknowledge of God, though, not only predicts, but works to ensure the outcome He has intended. Peter is telling us that we are elect exiles, all according to God’s sovereign plan and purpose, and that He is working this out. Just as Christ was the Lamb of God foreknown before the foundation of the world (see 1 Peter 1:19-20), Jesus’s death on the cross was all part of that plan of God from the very beginning.

In this way, God the Father has the intent, plans, purposes, and is actively working out those things concerning us from the very beginning in choosing us if we are in Christ, of setting His love upon us, and bringing us to glory. Peter is telling them that from all eternity they have been known by God the Father and that they belong to Him.

Application: If you are in Christ, you are not insignificant before God.

These scattered, seemingly insignificant, persecuted Christians have been chosen by God. People who feel that they are on the margins of the Roman Empire and on the margins of God’s purposes are actually standing at the very centre of God’s plan. So it is with us if we are in Christ today.

How we understand this truth, how we process it is vitally important. Often we see ourselves through the eyes of the culture around us and, as a result we may think of ourselves as fairly ordinary people, no different from others. Or perhaps we may even view ourselves as weak, insignificant people, making no impact on the world.

Further, especially if going through times of difficulty and suffering, we may think that God is not concerned about us and may even have forgotten us completely. The answer to each of these issues is to consider more carefully how God views us. He sees Christians, individually and corporately, as His chosen people whom He has carefully selected and brought into a relationship with Himself.

Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: 1 Peter 1. According to the Foreknowledge of God the Father (1:2a)

God who took the initiative in their lives has drawn them into an intimate, loving, and redemptive relationship with him, but also one in which God claims supreme authority over their lives. Such a reminder is apt at times when Christians are troubled by the circumstances in which they find themselves, confused about how to live, and tempted to doubt God’s goodness or faithfulness.

We have been chosen by God and now we belong to Him! This is a truth which we must constantly impress upon ourselves and and remind each other of this reality. In every situation we face we need to be reminded of God’s perspective.

b. You belong to God the Spirit

This election by God resulting in our being exiles is in the sanctification of the Spirit.

We have been set-apart by God for this purpose and use. He has saved us for Himself, He has set us apart so that we can belong to Him in order to serve Him.

Elsewhere in 1 Peter the work of the Spirit is associated with the proclamation of the Gospel (1:10-12) which in turn leads to new birth (1:23-25).

Finally, the reference to the Spirit links to His role of resting on the believer amidst suffering (4:14). Even when we as believers are set apart by unbelievers to be insulted and persecuted, the Spirit of glory and of God has set us apart as belonging to Him.

c. You belong to God the Son, Jesus Christ

“for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood:”

The point of the work of God the Father and God the Spirit is to bring people to obedience to Jesus Christ. Conversion is depicted in many different ways within the New Testament and even within 1 Peter. Peter can speak of people being born again (1:3, 23), believing Christ (1:8, 2:7) or being called (1:15). However, Peter’s main term is obedience. Someone becomes a Christian when they obey Christ or obey the Word of God (see 1:2, 14, 22; 2:8; and ESV 3:1). Clearly obedience to Christ is to be an ongoing experience, but it includes conversion and the initial recognition of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

The work of God the Father and God the Spirit is to bring the believer into a situation where they belong to God the Son. It is all the sovereign work of God in our salvation, but it produces visible results in our actions and thinking — obedience to Him.

Peter balances this human aspect of conversion with a reference to what Christ has done, which enables the believer to enter a relationship of obedience to Him. Conversion occurs as the believer is ‘sprinkled with his blood’ (1:2).

In Exodus 24 Moses confirms the covenant between the Lord and His chosen people (Exod. 24:1–8).

Exodus 24:1–8 ESV

1 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.” 3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And 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 in accordance with all these words.”

To summarise what is in that passage,

At the heart of this event the people promise to obey the word of the covenant and in response they are sprinkled with the blood of the covenant. Together the obedience and sprinkled blood demonstrate that these people constitute the forgiven, chosen people of the Lord. They show that a covenant has been established between the Lord and his people so that they now belong to each other. Following these events God’s glory descends (Exod. 24:15–18) and will accompany them all the way to the Promised Land.

Given this background, Peter wants his hearers to understand that they are in the same sort of situation as God’s people in Exodus 24. Like them they have been taken out of their old home (‘Egypt’—see 1:14, 18). They have now been constituted as God’s chosen, covenant people (see 2:9, 10) through the blood sacrifice of Christ (1:19) and their obedient response (1:14, 22); they must now commence their pilgrimage through the wilderness to the Promised Land (see 1:13). As they travel, they will also know God’s glory resting on them even amidst difficulties (see 4:14).

Application: The purpose of God’s great work is to bring us to obedience to Christ so that we will continue to follow Him day by day as Lord and Saviour.

Once Peter had responded in obedience to Jesus’ call (Mark 1:16–18) he spent his next years seeking to follow Him and receiving instruction by word and example about what a Christ-shaped life would entail (e.g. Mark 8:34–37). In the same way our role as Christians is chiefly to be found in following Christ, obeying His Word, copying His example and letting the pattern of His life (cross before resurrection) become more and more etched on our own lives as we travel to our destination. Obedience to Jesus Christ is not only therefore the authentic mark of conversion, but also of the whole Christian life. Knowing, understanding and treasuring the Word of Christ is vital to a life which demonstrates obedience to Christ and is pleasing to Him.

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