1 Peter 1:2

Intro

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,

 ² who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Identity (chosen/strangers):

Both words will be looked at in more detail but there are a few preliminary observations which apply to both. 

• Both words are adjectives functioning as nouns
• So there is confusion as to which is the noun and which is the modifier, hence which is the object of divine foreknowledge in v2 (e.g.)
• to the chosen sojourners of the dispersion[1]
• to The Elect, strangers scattered[2]
• both Could hold equal weight.[3]
• Adjectives are descriptive and therefore tell us something about the recipient’s identity.[4]
• With regard to God, they are chosen, therefore advantaged
• With regard to the world, they are strangers, therefore disadvantaged
• Both are terms traditionally applied to Israel – But who are the recipients?
• They may be Jews
• The author uses Jewish terms “elect/chosen”
• Peter was the apostle to the gentiles
• They may be Gentiles
• The author refers to their “empty way of life” handed down by their forefathers.  1:19
• He also tells the readers “you’ve spent enough time in the past, doing what the pagans chose to do. 4:3-4
• They may be mixed
• Peter sees the body of believers “God’s elect” as the continuation of God’s people, and gentiles are incorporated into the promises of Israel.

 

The chosen

Though 1 Peter is one of the shorter books of the NT, it uses the term more than any other NT document  (5 out of 20 times).[5]

OT Use of the term Elect.

1 Chronicles 16:13   ¹³ O descendants of Israel his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.

Psalm 105:6   ⁶ O descendants of Abraham his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.

Isaiah 65:9   ⁹ I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live.

Isaiah 65:15  ¹⁵ You will leave your name to my chosen ones as a curse; the Sovereign LORD will put you to death, but to his servants he will give another name.

Isaiah 65:22   ²² No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands.

According to Boring and Ramsey there is no indication in that Peter or these OT passages have anything to do with choosing in eternity past. Rather it has to do with their present status

“The Chosen,” is a fairly common NT designation for Christians collectively, not with particular reference to God’s act of choosing them in eternity past but with reference to  their present historical existence and their final vindication. It’s background lies in the OT as a designation of the people of Israel and in Jewish apocalyptic literature either in the same way or as a designation of the righteous in Israel who will be protected and vindicated in the last days” Ramsey 7

The essential point is that God is the actor who has chosen them (not vice versa). Nothing is made of the point in time when God’s electing activity took place, whether protological, pre-creation times, or at the time of their conversion. The point is their present status as elect (= chosen by God), not the chronological location of God’s electing act. Boring 53

Strangers

Parapidemois: refers to someone temporarily residing in a place that is not their home.  Peter will begin the second major part of his epistle by appealing to his readers as “strangers and aliens” (2:!1). He is in some sense appealing to their election.  He wants them to more fully realize, in practice, the estrangement from their natural impulses which their election demands.[6]

Foreknowledge

They are elect according to the foreknowledge of God (1:2). God’s foreknowledge (prognosis) of the Christians’ election is a form of the same word used of Christ’s having been “foreknown” (proginosko) before the foundation of the world (1:20), and is the first of several connections in 1 Peter that present the destiny and identity of Christians as parallel to that of Christ (e.g., 2:4-5: rejected by humans but chosen by God; 2:20; suffering for doing good). The claim that God  has foreknown Christ and Christians is not a matter of speculative mythology about what went on in the heavenly world prior to creation – 1 Peter has no interest in such matters, nor does the Bible in general, First Peter stands in the tradition of Paul, who had interpreted the church as the elect remnant of Israel and who had cited the same OT texts that reappear in 1 Peter.  Boring 54

Route of the Letter

• The order in which Peter names the provinces is odd because Pontus at the beginning of the list and Bithinia, at the end – were considered part of the same province since 64 B.C.[7]
• The most plausible explanation is that this list is the path that the letter is intended to take.[8]
• These provinces were to the north Paul’s missionary activities.  There is no evidence that Paul ever visited these Church’s[9]

Proto-Trinitarian Language

chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood

This is an important passage, one of several in scripture, which demonstrates a Trinitarian intuition is present even before the official formulation of the doctrine.

The three terms chosen, through, and for show intent – agency – and purpose

Sprinkling of Blood[10]

Sprinkled blood used in dedication ceremonies in the OT is a reminder of the cost of sin and the price of redemption.

In most cases the blood was sprinkled on the alter, or on the mercy seat

• Lev. 4:17, 5:9, 6:14, 6:15, 6:19.
• Num. 19:4

There were only three cases in which blood sprinkled on the people themselves.

• The Covenant Initiation Exod 24:5-8, Heb 9:19, Isa 52:15
• The Ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests Exod 29:21, Heb 10:22
• The purification ceremony for a cleansed leper Lev 14:6-7

Shared Foundations with Paul

The Church as God’s People

1 Peter 2:10  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Romans 9:25   ²⁵ As he says in Hosea: "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one,"

Hosea 1:10   ¹⁰ "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'

Hosea 2:23 - 3:1  I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one. 'I will say to those called 'Not my people, ''You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.'" 

Christ as a stone

1 Peter 2:6-8  ⁶ For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."  ⁷ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,"  ⁸ and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message-- which is also what they were destined for.

Romans 9:33 - 10:1  As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 

Isaiah 28:16  So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.

Ramsey, J. Michael, Word Biblical Commentary: 1 Peter

Grudem, Wayne, The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: 1 Peter

Boring, M. Eugene, Abingdon New Testement Commentaries

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[1] Grudem p. 50 says this passage has nothing to do with divine election, but rather with 

[2] NIV’s take makes “strangers scattered” a parenthetical statement, indicating the addressees are a specific group within “the elect”.

[3] Michaels p. 6 Michael’s interpretation stating that neither limits or qualifies the other.

[4] Ibid. “The addressees are “strangers” because of, (not despite) being chosen. Their divine election is a sociological as well as a theological fact, for it has sundered them from their social world, and made them like strangers or temporary residents in their respective cities or provinces.”

[5] 1 Peter 1:1, 1:20, 2:4, 2:6, 2:9, 5:13

[6] Michaels 7

[7] Michaels 9

[8] ibid

[9] ibid

[10] Grudem p 52-53