Elect Exiles

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: I Peter 1:1

Peter opened this letter by identifying himself as the author and stating his authority to represent Jesus Christ in this writing: “an apostle of Jesus Christ.” Apostleship was the highest office in the Church. Jesus’ apostles were appointed by Jesus Himself, and were specially gifted to teach the doctrines of the Church to the believers under their care. The word apostle predates the New Testament and originally was a naval term. An apostle was a ship being sent on a particular mission, delivering certain goods from a particular ruler. The apostles to the Church were the repositories of the whole realm of New Testament doctrine before the New Testament canon was completed. Apostleship is now an obsolete office, because we do have the completed canon of scripture and the canon is our authority. Pastor/teacher is now the highest office; the pastor/teacher is gifted with the ability and authority to interpret existing scripture to his congregation. He is an expositor of God’s Word.

This letter is addressed to “elect exiles” of the Dispersion. These were Jewish believers (the elect) who lived in foreign countries, among Gentiles and unbelieving Jews. Their earthly homeland was Israel, and as Christians, their eternal home was heaven. Therefore, they were aliens, or temporary residents in these provinces where they had settled. For various political or economic reasons, they had been dispersed. For spiritual reasons, they were strangers and pilgrims in these places.

They were in these places 1) according to the foreknowledge (omniscience) of God. He always knew they would be where they were at any given time; 2) in the sanctification of the Spirit (set apart for this purpose in God’s plan; 3) for obedience to Jesus Christ, who saved them and gave them this field of mission (wherever we are, believers are in full time Christian service); 4) for sprinkling with His blood (by believing in Jesus’ Christ’s finished work, we have personally applied His sacrifice to our own souls). He is in us. We are IN HIM.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you. I Peter 1:2

God’s grace to us always comes before God’s peace in us, and both are always multiplied, never divided.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. I Peter 1:3-9

What a great God we have! He, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has been merciful to us pathetic humans by providing in His Son the means to our eternal life. Because Jesus was resurrected, we have an eternal inheritance that cannot be taken away and far surpasses anything we could ever imagine on this cursed earth. God is keeping it for us; it is ours. When the right time has come He will reveal His purpose in us and His purpose for us.

Until that time arrives, our faith will continue to be tested by various adversities. Our experience here on earth is the refiner’s fire, to purify our gifts and our production, getting us all polished up for the great revelation that is to come.

Believers then and now do not have to see the physical person of Jesus to know Him, because of the testimony of these apostles and the nurturing of the Holy Spirit to our human spirits. We anticipate with great joy the inheritance that awaits us, when our salvation will be manifested in the glorification of our souls and bodies, revealing us to be like our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter had advanced from being a crude, coarse professional fisherman to a magnificent, mature, wise and loving apostle of Jesus Christ. After about thirty years of serving Christ, evangelizing and teaching God’s Word, he'd been refined. He wrote perfect Greek in these epistles and he, who had formerly been short-fused and impatient had learned to depend on God’s grace in all things. He was feeding Jesus’ lambs, Jesus’ yearlings and Jesus’ adult sheep, just as Jesus had instructed him to do all those years ago (John 21:16-18).

How he must have loved that work. He was willing to die for it.