1 Peter: Elect Exiles (1:1-12)

1 Peter 1:1-12

Topics in 1 Peter 1:1-2

Aliens/Exiles

Elect/Chosen

Dispersed/Diaspora

Foreknown

Trinitarian action in sanctification

In his introduction Peter exhorts his audience to view themselves as exiles in society, to be defined as set apart for obedience to Jesus and displaying him.

Topics in 1 Peter 1:3-12

Born Again

Family language in 1 Peter

Salvation, inheritance, & resurrection

Faith and testing/trials

Prophecy

Application

We are primarily Gentiles living in a post-Christian nation, though still with less persecution than Peter or his audience, our “suffering” and social pressures may or may not be as intense as the author and audience. We do still face trials and share in the same hope as the author and audience and submit to the same authority of God and the same Spirit inspired texts.

We belong to a new family because of God. We should understand the magnitude of the inheritance.

Jesus is the hope of all ancient and modern eschatological expectations.

Sufferings in the present have a purpose, as they always have. The goal of our sufferings is to give honor, glory, and praise to God. Likewise, sufferings prove to be part of our sanctification: to be formed into the image of Christ. Christ suffered so we should be willing to suffer.

The sweep of human history points us to Christ. The testimony of the Spirit from the Old Testament to the present is Christ-centered, and so should we be Christoform too.