I Peter 2:9-12 primarily refers to God’s program for Israel, His chosen people; but there is a wonderful application for us as members of the Body of Christ.
Verse 9: Peter writes about our distinctiveness as the people of God. We are…
- A chosen people, eklektos genos, those who have been called out as a distinct group.
- A royal priesthood, basileios hierateuma, a kingly order of priests.
- A holy nation, hagios ethnos, a set apart people group.
- A people belonging to God, peripoiesis laos, a preserved people of the same culture.
- As such, we are to declare the praises of Him who brought us out of darkness into light.
Verse 10: Once we were not a distinct people group, and had not been given mercy. Now we have an identity and the punishment we deserve has been withheld.
Verse 11: Peter calls those he is addressing “friends” but also urges them (us) to live as aliens Paroikos, and strangers Parepidemos; in other words, we are to live in a country where we do not belong, and must resist cravings that do violence to that eternal, non-material part of ourselves.
Verse 12: We are to conduct ourselves in such a good way that, even though they may accuse us of wrongdoing, our visible way of life will draw them to Him.
Consider the following questions.
- What is it about your life that has marked you as His own, and in what
way(s) is it because He has called you from darkness to light? - What is it like to live in a world to which you do not belong, and to resist those things that you want but you know will harm your soul?
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