1 Peter 2:10

Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God. St. Peter quotes the prophecy of Hosea ( Hosea 2:23 ), as St. Paul also does in Romans 9:25 , Romans 9:26 . And as St. Paul applies the prophet's words (said originally of the Jews) to the Christian Church, to those called "not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles," so apparently does St. Peter here. They were not a people; "Ne populus quidem," says Bengel, "nedum Dei populus." It is the calling of God which gives a unity to the Church gathered out of all races and all lands, and makes it the people of God. Which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. The aorist participle, ἐεληθέντες , implies that that mercy had been obtained at a definite time, at their conversion.