1 Peter 1:1

PETER'S FIRST LETTER

Following the greeting and salutation (1 Peter 1:1-2), there is a doxology, extolling the mercies of God who had given Christians a marvelous birth, a glorious inheritance, and the salvation of their souls, a salvation which even the prophets of old, and actually the angels, had sought to understand more perfectly (1 Peter 1:3-12). The final verses of the chapter (1 Peter 1:13-25) interweave the practical commands to "gird up the loins of the mind," to be "children of obedience," not to participate in their former lusts, and to "love one another," with some of the most magnificent teaching in the New Testament regarding the Father who is judge of all people, the redemption of Christians through the blood of Christ, the new birth accomplished through obedience to the truth, and a pointed identification of the Christian gospel as "the word of the Lord" that "abideth forever."

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. (1 Peter 1:1-2)

As Barclay said, "One of the outstanding things about this passage is that it takes words and conceptions which had originally applied only to Jews and applies them to Christians."[1] These are elect, Chosen, Dispersion, and sojourners. "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ ..."

Peter was the beloved name that Jesus himself had bestowed upon this apostle, and is the Greek form of the Aramaic name meaning "stone" or "pebble." Jesus had first spoken it prophetically (John 1:42), later confirming it, when in his great confession of Christ (Matthew 16:18), this great apostle was proving his perception and dependability.

An apostle of Jesus Christ ... There was no need for Peter to defend his apostleship, for it was never questioned, as was sometimes true with Paul. Note also that he did not write "THE apostle," but "AN apostle." He was always careful to acknowledge his own equality with all the Twelve and with Paul also. "St. Peter knew no higher title to bestow on himself than that which he held in common with the other eleven."[2]

Jesus Christ ... Peter used this compound title of the Master eleven times in the 105 verses of this letter; it is likely that he and the other apostles heard it for the first time in Jesus' great prayer the night of his betrayal (John 17:3).

To the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion ... These are the great words, once applicable to Jews only, which have now been given by God himself to the church of Jesus Christ which has become through ancient Israel's rejection of the Messiah the true and only Israel of God in the new dispensation.

Elect ... The Greek word thus rendered literally means "picked out, chosen,"[3] and was used of ancient Israel because, as Moses said to Israel, "Because he loved thy fathers therefore he chose their seed after them" (Deuteronomy 4:37). However, Jesus Christ said to his followers, "I have chosen you" (John 15:16,19); therefore, Christians are the new chosen people (note particularly in this context that no Israelite in the fleshly sense is excluded from this fellowship, unless he chooses to be excluded); these people are said to be chosen out of the world, in the world, but not of it (John 15:15ff).

Who are sojourners ... Christians are citizens of another country, even heaven itself (Philippians 3:20); their head and Lord is in heaven; their treasure is there (Matthew 6:19); their affections are there (Colossians 3:2); their hope is centered there; many righteous loved ones are (in a sense) there; and it is a poor Christian indeed who considers the present world to be his permanent dwelling place. The Old Testament Israelites were also sojourners. Abraham said to the sons of Heth, "I am a stranger and sojourner with you" (Genesis 23:4); and Jacob also spoke of "the days of the years of my pilgrimage" (Genesis 47:9). Many orthodox Jews, regardless of how large and beautiful a house they may build, always leave some specified portion of it unfinished as a symbolical confession of their being sojourners.

Of the Dispersion ... The Greek word from which this comes is Diaspora, which during pre-Christian times was a technical word for the Jews living outside Palestine; in this remarkable passage, Peter preempts all of these glorious words and uses them with a Christian connotation; because, clearly, the epistle is addressed to Christians, not to Jews. The Christians too, like the Jews after the removal of the ten tribes and the Babylonia captivity, are scattered all over the earth, being separated, not merely from each other, but from the heavenly Jerusalem as well.

In Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia ... These were the provinces lying south of the Black Sea and west of the Taurus Mountains, "including the whole of what we call Asia Minor."[4] Many scholars see in the very order in which Peter mentioned these provinces an indication that Peter was writing from Rome. Coming from Rome by sea, the bearer of the letter would debark at a port on the Black Sea in Pontus; "He would begin in Pontus and travel around the Christian communities of Galatia, Cappadocia, and Asia, ending his journey in Bithynia."[5]

According to the foreknowledge of God the Father ... That God did indeed foreknow the calling of the Gentiles to be among the chosen people is proved by the dozens of prophetic references to this very event in the Old Testament. Paul, in the ninth and tenth chapters of Romans, quoted no less than nine Old Testament prophecies predicting the calling of the Gentiles (see my Commentary on Romans, pp. 326-382); and besides this, the original promise to Abraham had been specific as to God's purpose, namely, that in Abraham "all the families of the earth" should be blessed (Genesis 12:3). The unfortunate pride, self-righteousness and vanity of Israel caused that nation either to ignore this or to forget all about it.

In sanctification of the Spirit ... The Holy Spirit sanctifies "through the word of God" (John 17:17). Thus, obedience to the gospel with the consequent indwelling of the Spirit provides the initial sanctification belonging to every convert to Christ. Thus Paul was enabled to address the Corinthian church as "those sanctified in Christ Jesus" (1 Corinthians 1:2; 6:11); but sanctification must be continued until the Christian is sanctified "wholly" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). "This phrase clearly is to be connected with the word `chosen.'"[6] This shows that God chooses only those who will consent to obey the gospel and receive the earnest of the Holy Spirit.

Unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ ... The "obedience" in view here is the continuing fidelity of the Christian, not his primary obedience, because that must precede the Christian's endowment with the Spirit. The Spirit's being the agent of this continuing obedience unto sanctification "wholly," proves that the initial steps of accepting and obeying the gospel are not meant, because no one ever made it any clearer than did Peter that people must believe, repent and be baptized "in order to receive" and before they can ever receive, the promise of the Spirit (Acts 2:38ff).

And sprinkling of the blood of Christ ... This also has reference to a post-conversion quality leading to a greater degree of sanctification. Practically all scholars agree that this "refers back to the establishment of the Mosaic covenant in Exodus 24:7";[7] but, true as this is, it looks only to the typical sprinkling of blood, to the sanctification of the old Israel, What is the Christian application of these words? How are we sprinkled with the blood of Christ? It will be agreed by all that something typical is meant, but what is it? Perhaps no better answer to this has ever been given than that of James Macknight, as follows: "So all who receive the gospel are emblematically sprinkled with the blood of Jesus in the Lord's Supper."[8] Full agreement is felt with this, for on the very night of the institution of the Lord's Supper, the Saviour said of the cup, "This is the blood of the new testament shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:26).

Another word is in order with reference to "obedience" as used by Peter in this phrase. Hart compared it to "the obedience of faith," as used by Paul in Romans 1:5; 16:26,[9] indicating that in every instance of attributing salvation, whether to faith as Paul has it in Romans, or to "sanctification of the Spirit," as Peter has it in this passage, the sine qua non of all heavenly blessing is obedience on the part of the one to be blessed, obedience being one heavenly requirement that is never waived. Of course it is God's free grace that saves; and even the obedient are not saved either by works or by merit, but the disobedient are not going to be saved at all (2 Thessalonians 1:8).

Grace to you and peace be multiplied ... Judging from the frequent use of this greeting in the letters of Paul, it would appear to have been the general practice of the early church to avoid slighting either Jewish or Gentile elements in the churches, which generally were composed of both, by combining the Greek and Hebrew greetings, with strong Christian overtones, to give the marvelous "Grace ... and peace" of the New Testament.

[1] William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 165.

[2] A. J. Mason, Ellicott's Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 387.

[3] W. E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Old Tappan, New Testament: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1940), vol. I, p. 20.

[4] J. R. Dummelow, One Volume Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 1040.

[5] Archibald M. Hunter, The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. XIII (New York and Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1957), p. 89.

[6] Raymond C. Kelcy, The Letters of Peter and Jude (Austin, Texas: R. B. Sweet Company, 1972), p. 18.

[7] G.J. Polkinghorne, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 586.

[8] James Macknight, Macknight on the Epistles, Vol. V (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1969), p. 434.

[9] J. H. A. Hart, Expositor's Greek Testament, Vol. V (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 40.