1 Peter 2:9

But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:

Here are repeated one after another all of the glorious titles which once belonged exclusively to the old Israel, the Hebrews, the children of Abraham; but here Peter trumpeted the bestowal of all those titles upon the new Israel, now no longer restricted to those of Abrahamic descent, but available to Jew and Gentile alike "in Christ Jesus." Peter had already cautioned his readers (1 Peter 2:5) to be what they were supposed to be, and to show the kind of life and character that would be pleasing to God, thus warning them to avoid the mistake of the old Israel who had failed so spectacularly in that very duty.

An elect race ... Just as the living stone was elect, so are the living stones who make up his spiritual body; but they are not elect in their own right, being elect "in Christ." It is true of the elect, no less than of the disobedient, that they are "appointed" unto their destiny. This means that God has predestined and appointed all who shall be found in Christ to eternal glory; but people come under the benefits of such an appointment only when they are baptized into Christ and are "found in him" at last (Revelation 14:13).

A royal priesthood ... Jesus Christ is the true king, and therefore those "in Christ" are a royal priesthood, being themselves also, through their union with Christ, in a sense, even "kings" (Revelation 1:6).

A holy nation ... Nothing can diminish the obligation of Christians to be in fact what their lawful title implies, a truly "holy" nation. It is the absolute and invariable necessity of this that underlies the oft-repeated dictum in the word of God to the effect that people shall be judged "according to their works," as Peter, Paul, Jesus and all of the New Testament writers declared over and over again.

A people for God's own possession ... In the old versions this was translated "a peculiar people"; but in time the expression came to mean "odd" or "queer," and is thus better rendered as here. "The phrase literally means `a people for (God's) possession.'"[29] There is also a meaning of "especially, for his very own" in the words.

That ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you ... "Show forth" comes from a word "used nowhere else in the New Testament,"[30] and has the meaning of "to tell out," or "to tell forth." It presupposes that every Christian is automatically an evangelist so full of the knowledge of the excellencies of God that he is compelled to tell it forth to all with whom he comes in contact. Note too that Christians are not saved for themselves, and their own sake only, but for the purpose of enlisting as many other souls as possible in the service of our excellent God. It was precisely here that the ancient Israel failed wretchedly. Hugging to themselves the precious promises of God, they made no real effort to extend to the Gentiles any saving knowledge of the Lord, coming more and more to despise the very nations they were commissioned to enlighten. God grant that his holy church shall not founder and sink upon this same shoal.

Out of darkness ... There is an indication here that many of Peter's readers were converts to Christ from heathenism, for such is the usual import of the word.

Into his marvelous light ... The marvelous light of God, in its fullness, is unapproachable (1 Timothy 6:16); and yet it is into that very light that we are called. The children of God are children of the light, or the day; and the sons of the evil one are children of darkness.

[29] Archibald M. Hunter, op. cit., p. 111.

[30] Raymond C. Kelcy, op. cit., p. 50.