The True Israel

Passage: 1 Peter 2:9-10

Main Idea: The Jew/ Gentile church is the manifestation of the things foreshadowed through the Old Covenant Hebrew church.

Message Goal: Increase the awareness of a new cosmic event that began with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Introduction

The major question is what makes a person a child of God? Answer: John 1:12.

In Romans 9:6, we find Paul’s teaching on what I would call “True Israel.” Paul has this idea that Israelites are not determined by their ethnic and literal association. Rather they are determined by their relationship with Christ. We were able to understand this on last week as we discussed the beauty of Christ’s resurrection. However, I want to focus on the new identity that is given to the people of God and how these titles are reflective upon Old Covenant Israel.

My premise for tonight’s lesson is: The union of the Jew and Gentile is the manifestation of what was foreshadowed through the Hebrew church of the Old Testament.

Parsing the 1 Peter 2:9:

The word race is literally a genetic term. It means people who are believed to belong to the same genetic stock.

γένος was used as a word to refer to nation, class, people, or descendent. It speaks to the origin of a people or person. In the Old Testament it was used to refer to a race of people, kind, or lineage/ descendant.

Chosen is a unique word, because it refers to preference. It means selected (by someone) in preference to another (or others). It shows that another person could have been selected, but God made another selection based on His preference.

Royal is a reference to a belonging or befitting a supreme ruler.

The term priesthood is special, because it conveys that the children of God are called to possess a religious function. The word means the body of religious practitioners invested with ministerial or priestly authority.

Nation/people a large group pf people based on various cultural, physical, and geographical ties.

ἔθνος is closely related to ethnic and is often used to refer to “Gentiles.”

λαός has the same contextual definition. However, it represents a people group and, perhaps, a multitude of people.

Holy is a reference to those who are have the characteristics of moral or ritual purity (see John 8:39).

One may translate this as: But you are a chosen [preferred and hand selected] race [people with God-genetics], a royal [kingdom] priesthood [body of religious practitioners], a holy [more and ritually pure] people.

These individuals have the following responsibilities:

Proclaim God’s praises

Now, the interesting thing here is the fact that Peter is speaking to a Jewish community, and he is states that they were not a people. 1 Peter 2:10 “10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

The audience is identified in 1 Peter 1:1-2.

The question, however, is though they are scattered they are still Jews. This shows that Peter recognized that being Israel has nothing to do with location or any of the other things previously known. Rather, a new community in Christ has been created. Furthermore the use of the word elect shows that there’s a particular and special meaning to this scattering.

1 Peter: A Commentary on First Peter 1:1–2; Epistolary Introduction

The term παρεπίδημος (“exile”), rare in the Bible, is not uncommon in secular Greek, and is widely used among later Christian authors,34 where it designates one who, willingly or not, dwells in a foreign land. Frequently used as a punishment, exile was regarded as a calamity, but because of the social conditions in the Roman Empire in the first century CE, there were large numbers of people living in places other than their native lands. In this verse, however, the word is used metaphorically,37 and its association with “elect” and “diaspora” indicates that its origin lies in the story of Abraham rather than in the political situation of the first century. Used of Christians, it describes the fact that because of their unwillingness to adopt the mores of their surrounding society,39 they can expect the disdainful treatment often accorded exiles (e.g., 1 Pet 4:3–4*).40 It refers for that reason less to the notion of Christians disdaining the temporal because of their longing for their eternal, heavenly home, with its implications of withdrawal from secular society, than to the notion that despite such treatment, they must nevertheless continue to practice their faith in the midst of those who abuse them (e.g., 2:12*; 3:9*, 15b–16*; 4:19*).42

Literally the word, “elect” takes a new meaning here, which shows those scattered as the true people of Abraham.

Understanding the Old Testament Connections

Exodus 19:5–6 CSB

5 Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, 6 and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”

Isaiah 43:20–21 CSB

20 Wild animals— jackals and ostriches—will honor me, because I provide water in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people. 21 The people I formed for myself will declare my praise.

Hosea 2:23 CSB

23 I will sow her in the land for myself, and I will have compassion on Lo-ruhamah; I will say to Lo-ammi: You are my people, and he will say, “You are my God.”

Deuteronomy 7:6 CSB

6 For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 14:2 CSB

2 for you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.