As Chosen Exiles, Stand Firm in the Grace of God (1 Peter 1:1-2)
Chosen Exiles
Connection/Tension
Do you feel like life is becoming harder and more tragic in our city by the day? The first century Christians who lived in what is modern day Turkey would have understood- even more than us. In all sorts of places intense, local persecution would break out against them. Then, they received a letter from Peter that told them not that their lives were about to get easier, but that God would help them pass through the fire and get safely home. There was trial, and there was even more grace to go with it.
Context (Intro to Book)
We are excited to step into the letters of Peter (and Jude), beginning with 1 Peter. Our summary sentence of what this book is about is, “As chosen exiles, stand firm in the grace of God.” We get this sentence from the first verse and from the end of the letter in chapter 5:12 (which is a great way to figure out an author’s intention).
1:1: “to those who are elect exiles.”
5:12: “I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.”
Let me give a little more clarity on this sentence:
“Exile” means you are not home. It is primarily a biblical image of suffering. Home is Eden. Outside of home is the wilderness- where there are thorns that prick you and wild beasts that threaten you. This is an image that represents the suffering these believers were going through.
And then, “stand firm in the grace of God,” The response to trials would be resilience, and resilience would not come from our own strength but from God.
In this book, there is a fire for God’s people to pass through (4:12). And there is all the help from God you need to get safely through and arrive at the presence of a good Father.
Let’s get into this letter together:
Revelation
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
First, Who wrote this letter? Peter, a leader among the apostles (Matt 16:18). This title that he is an “apostle of Jesus Christ” designates his authority to write to God’s people with God’s own words. Peter will clarify in a few weeks how the Holy Spirit uses human authors to produce Scripture (1:10 – 12).
Whom did Peter write to? “elect exiles of the dispersion…” At the first pass, it sounds like Peter is writing to Jewish Christians who live in the “dispersion”- that is, displaced Jewish people who live outside of their homeland of Canaan.
Yet, as scholars point out,[1] as you read this letter, it seems like Peter is primarily addressing gentile (or formerly pagan) rather than a Jewish audience. One example of this is Peter’s reference to the “futile ways of your forefathers” (1:18)- a term that other places in the NT refers to gentile lineage (Eph 4:17).
Exile
So, if Peter is writing to a gentile audience, why does he refer to them as “exiles” – those who live outside of their homeland- if they likely live in the lands in which they were born and raised?
Most likely answer, because they have joined the people of God through Jesus, their own story becomes a continuation of the story of God’s people. They have a new Lord; therefore, they have a new story.
What is that new story? That word “exiles” in this verse is a word that comes from the story of Abraham and references his wandering through the land of Canaan long before his descendants possessed it (Gen 23:4). He was a wandering, landless pilgrim.
So also these Christians to whom Peter writes. In one way, they likely live in a familiar place and have some earthly possessions. Yet, in a more ultimate sense, they don’t belong to the culture and the value system of their homeland. Their homeland is no longer their home or the place they hope to permanently reside. They belong to another world with another king, and they are not there, therefore they are in exile.
As a result, Peter is going to write that these believers should expect to experience rejection, conflict, and persecution. This place of deep familiarity in which they grew up will feel unfamiliar and hostile because they have decided to follow Jesus and identify with him.
Yet, that’s not all they should expect. In an equal, and even greater measure, they should expect God’s help to pass through suffering with resilience, just as with Abraham in his ancient story of sojourning in Canaan (cf. Gen 14:16).
Apply?
Election
Now, why does Peter write that they are “elect” exiles? Very simply, because God chose them. That’s what that word means. Chose them for what? To be Christians; to know him; to belong to him. As Schreiner says, that’s why they are exiles, because God chose them. I know not everyone in this room reads these verses the same way, yet I believe this makes the best sense of this text which will become clearer as we go on.
It was God’s choice of these believers, his initiative, that first drew them away from their homeland, and set them on a pilgrimage for heaven. God chose them to depart from this world’s values, mindset, and identity to set out for a homeland that is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” (v. 4). If you look at verse 4, God caused his people to be “born again to an inheritance.” In the Old Testament, an “inheritance” is a family possession of land- a home.
I want to be clear about something: the desire for home is an ancient and shared longing of humans everywhere. The use of this image of exile is supposed to awaken desires you have for home- for connection and life with others that never ends. Here is Leland Ryken unpacking this image,
“Exile encompasses a social role involving fringe status and a psychological state that includes… a sense of loss or deprivation and a longing to return (or arrive at) a homeland.”[2] Why do so many of us have dreams that take place at our childhood homes? Because since our first days of this life, home is what we have yearned for.
For God to choose you to be an exile is at first glance a loss- you don’t belong to this place like you once did. Yet, it’s also good news- it’s gospel- because God’s choice for you not to belong to this world is because you now belong to another one. And whereas this world with all its misfortune and tragedy cannot fulfill your longing for home- the other world you were made for (which will be this one when Christ returns and makes it now)- will meet all your longings for home! You will be with your creator and belong to his family and live in a place with him that will never die (2 Pet 3:13)!
What I just preached is that God’s plan is to do for his people more than we could dream. He’s better than we have any right to expect him to be. Now I want to ask is, how did this come to be? How did it come to pass that God planned to do so much good for us?
The first part of verse two begins to explain how we became elect exiles- where this identity came from:
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
We became elect exiles “according to (or “corresponding with”) the foreknowledge of God the Father. God’s choice corresponds with God’s “foreknowledge”.
One definition of God’s “foreknowledge” is that he knew in advance what would happen. At first glance, that’s what that word sounds like. Certainly, it includes that definition. I want to ask though, is that all it means or does it also mean more than that?
I believe this term means more than just that God knew what was going to happen ahead of time. I want to point out two verses that help provide additional meaning and depth to this word “foreknow”.
First, we see this word in Acts 2:23,
23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
In this context, “foreknowledge” seems like it pair together with “definite plan.” God doesn’t just know ahead of time that Jesus will die by lawless men (though he does), he also, planned it with intention and wisdom ahead of time.[3] That’s one part of the meaning of this word I want to add, that God planned with intention and wisdom ahead of time which people he would elect to be his people in this world whom he would bring home to himself.
Also, you can see another instance of this word further down in our passage in verse 20, referring to Jesus,
20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
Again, Tom Schreiner was so helpful in pointing this out. Here the word “foreknown” doesn’t mean as much that the Father knew what would happen to Jesus, but that he loved and chose Jesus before the foundation of the world for his task of rescuing the world.
In the Bible, words of “know” are often not associated as much with awareness of events or things, but rather of intimacy and attachment between people. The idea is that God loved and therefore chose Jesus before the foundation of the world.
In our passage, in verse 2, the idea is that God loved and chose his people in advance with wisdom and intention, as a Father. He is a Father who choses you. I want you to hear this, The Father’s love for you and choice of you predates the day you believed it Jesus; it predates the day you were born; it predates the day the world was born.
With the same intentionality and wisdom God designed that Jesus would die and rise for sins, God chose you, who believe in Jesus, to respond in repentance and faith. The idea is that his love does not conform to our limits or expectations, it begins outside of time, before time, and finds us lost and alone in time and then begins to bring us home. This verse helps you know how and why you became a Christian so that you can respond to God will all the love and trust that exists in your heart.
I understand that this teaching raises so many questions: What about human choices, why do we preach the gospel to people, how does prayer work if God planned to rescue his particular people ahead of time?
We don’t have time to answer those questions right now. However, I want to address anyone who is here who is not yet following Jesus and wondering how this applies to them. While the Bible teaches what I just said, it also teaches that human choices are real and that they matter. If you don’t know Jesus yet, you should not try to figure out the secret plan of God that he has not shown you, you should choose to repent and believe in the gospel. The Bible says that if you do that, you have a forever home with God because of Jesus. So please, turn away from your sin and trust in Jesus!
My main goal right now is not to philosophically explain how all these things work, but to affirm the things the Bible says are true. And just so you know, the Bible affirms things that are difficult to reconcile. One example that we see in the passage is the Trinity, the teaching that God is both three AND one. Difficult to reconcile, but gloriously true- that’s what I’m trying to say about God’s election and human choice.
Okay, moving on, Peter explains that layer of how God creates our identity as chosen exiles,
in the sanctification of the Spirit,
We have seen the work of the Father, and now we turn to the work of the Spirit. The Father “foreknows” and the Spirit “sanctifies.”
What does it mean to sanctify? To set apart as holy. To be “holy” means to be morally pure and devoted to God. The Spirit makes you holy as an identity when you believe in Jesus[4]
One question you might ask is, How can I belong to another home than this world that is all the way holy and righteous when I am not? You can belong to that place because God has sent his spirit to make unholy people holy. The holy Spirit makes his home within God’s people so that we can gain a destiny of going home to be with God.
The Father choses before time to elect you, and then the Spirit acts in time to sanctify or set you apart, and then next, we see the work of the Son:
for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
The last part of this verse begins with the word “for.” For is a word that can often point towards purpose. One purpose of our election as exiles, that is, those hoping to return home in the future, is that we would live with obedience to Jesus Christ in the present.
“Christ” is Jesus’s title that means “Messiah” or the one whom God chose to rescue his people. As the one who rescued us, Jesus is Lord and has authority over us. Therefore, we obey him. You should not hear the words, “obedience to Jesus Christ” and think, “that sounds burdensome, or restrictive, or crushing.” It’s the opposite! We couldn’t be more fortunate.
For us to have “obedience to Jesus Christ” means we don’t have obedience to whatever else or person we used to obey before we obeyed Jesus. You can’t obey nothing- you will have an allegiance to something or someone. It’s the way God wired our hearts. For Adam to disobey God was for him to obey the snake. You can’t disobey without obeying something else instead.
And it’s this point precisely, that the disciples of Jesus obey Jesus rather than men that prompts their conflict with their culture and the persecution that follows. Conflict always follows allegiance because what you have allegiance to determines where you put your foot down. In their case, it was often a call to worship the Roman gods, or the emperor, which Christians would refuse to do, which produced hostility.
Brothers and sisters, one theme to point out in this letter is that your identity as a Christian and your insistence in obeying him in the everyday stuff of life and affirming what is true and righteous from his word will create controversy and conflict with your neighbors. There is no way to be truly faithful to Jesus and avoid persecution. That’s why Jesus calls the persecuted “blessed,” (Matt 5:10) because they insisted that being right with Jesus is more important than being at a false peace with one’s neighbor.
And this leaves us with the other phrase in the verse, the other purpose of our election, “for sprinkling with his blood.” We just read that it’s the Spirit that makes you holy, and here we read that it’s Jesus who makes you clean. His blood washes away the defilement of sin. Jesus freely forgives sinners who come to him. Do you feel morally dirty today? If you come to Jesus, he sprinkles and cleanses you with blood.
Notice how obedience to Jesus and cleansing from his blood go right next to each other, like there is no tension at all.[5] Often we get caught in this mental loop where we think that if God forgives our sins apart from our obedience, speaking about obedience somehow undermines his free forgiveness. Yet, Peter doesn’t seem to put these things at odds at all; the Father chose us for obedience and cleansing from sin.
This is because when God forgives our sins, it should make us want to obey. In some sense, this is what a real Christian is- someone who wants to obey God out of love rather than someone who does so because he thinks he must or someone who just chooses not to at all. Jesus himself said, “those who love me keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
Christ/Church
I want to return to where we began, with our summary sentence of the book,
“As chosen exiles, stand firm in the grace of God.” I hope these two introductory verses has made this sentence clearer to you. I hope you can see that God’s call on your life is to “stand firm,” have resolve, and pass through the fire of opposition. That will happen increasingly as we insist on obeying Jesus.
And, I hope you see that you have more grace than you could comprehend as the source of your resilience- a Father who chooses; a Spirit who makes holy; and Jesus Christ who makes clean. How could you not obey at any moment if you know that you had the help of the Father, the Spirit, and Jesus Christ?
I recently watched this video of a street preacher in Europe. He had two officers of the law confronting him. One was explaining to him that he was receiving a community citation for “hurting people’s feelings.” That was the actual language the officer used.
The officer asked him if he understood, if he would be silent, and if he would cease to be a disturbance and a nuisance by talking about Jesus. After politely listening, he boldly replied, “Just so you know, I will never stop talking about Jesus.” You could see the officer’s shoulders slump and she let out a sigh, and then he asked her, “do you know Jesus, ma’am? Because you need to get right with him today.”
I share that story not because I’m saying that is the only way to minister. Yet, I felt so inspired by his unflinching boldness. Peter, the author of this letter, though at one point a coward (Luke 22:60), became bold as a lion after he received the Holy Spirit. By the time Acts 4 comes around, you can find him face to face with Jewish authorities, ordering his silence, and his bold reply is,
“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen (i.e. obey) to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). This is not the only way obedience to Jesus looks, yet it is one way.
A true exile never stops obeying and speaking about his true homeland his true king. He or she never stops obeying for convenience sake. This is our pathway home. We take steps forward of obedience and trust through fire and opposition until our lives in this world end and we return home forever.
Let’s pray.
[1] Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 41.
[2] Leland Ryken et al., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 250.
[3] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 867.
[4] Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 56.
[5] Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 56.
