Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

1:1 Peter designates himself as an apostle, an authoritative messenger of Jesus Christ (see note on Rom. 1:1). The people receiving his letter are elect exiles of the dispersion. Peter is not speaking of a literal exile (cf. 1 Pet. 1:17; 2:11). Believers long for their true home in the new world that is coming and for their end-time inheritance, for they do not conform to the values and worldviews of this present evil age. Believers are not only exiles but God's "elect exiles." They are his chosen people, just as Israel is designated as God's chosen people in the OT (Deut. 4:37; 7:6-8; Ps. 106:5; Isa. 43:20; 45:4). Since the recipients of his letter were primarily Gentiles, Peter explicitly teaches that the church of Jesus Christ is the new Israel--God's new chosen people. "Dispersion" (Gk. diaspora) points to the same truth. It is typically used to describe the scattering of the Jews throughout the world (Deut. 28:25; 30:4; Neh. 1:9; Ps. 147:2; Isa. 49:6; Jer. 15:7; 41:17; cf. also John 7:35; James 1:1; note on Acts 2:9-11), but Peter sees a parallel in the church being dispersed throughout the world. (Another view is that these verses show that the church is like Israel but that the ultimate fulfillment of these OT prophecies pertains mainly to future ethnic Israel rather than to the church; this also applies to the notes on 1 Pet. 1:22-2:10; 2:9; 2:10.)

1:2 Peter celebrates the work of the triune God in saving his people; the descriptive phrases in v. 2 modify "elect exiles" in v. 1 (the Gk. has no verb in v. 1; the ESV supplies "are" to make the sense more clear). They are God's people because of his foreknowledge. This does not merely refer to God's foreknowing that they would belong to him but also means that he set his covenantal affection upon them in advance, foreordaining that they would belong to him (cf. Rom. 8:29). In the sanctification of the Spirit may refer here either to conversion or to gradual progress in the Christian life, or possibly to both. The Spirit sets apart God's people into the sphere of the holy, so that believers are now holy and righteous in their standing before God, and they grow in actual holiness in their lives. For obedience to Jesus Christ may also refer either to conversion, when Christians confessed Jesus as Lord (Rom. 10:9; cf. 1 Pet. 1:22), or to God's purpose for their lives, that they obey Christ. For sprinkling with his blood refers to Christ's atoning work on the cross, where all the believers' sins were washed away, just as the old covenant was inaugurated with the shedding of blood (cf. Ex. 24:3-8). Peter sees believers "sprinkled" with the blood of Christ, referring either to their initial entrance into a covenant with God (similar to Ex. 24:3-8) or to their subsequent cleansings by the blood of Christ (i.e., growth in holiness) or possibly to both (similar to Lev. 14:6-7; cf. Ps. 51:7; 1 John 1:7).