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Peter began this epistle in the manner that was customary in this day.9He introduced himself and his original readers, and he wished God's blessing on them to prepare them for what he had to say. He prepared them for dealing with trials by reminding them of who they were, what they had, and where they were going (vv. 1-5).
1:1 Peter is a Greek name (lit. Petros, meaning a stone or rock). No one else in the New Testament has the name Peter though Peter called Christians stones in this epistle (2:4-5). In Aramaic "stone"is the word cephas. Jesus gave the name Cephas to Simon (The Greek transliteration of Simeon, Peter's Hebrew name) as a prediction of what this apostle would become (John 1:42; Matt. 16:18).
The word "apostle"has both a technical and a general sense in the New Testament. It refers to the Twelve and Paul, and to those who went out as the Twelve and Paul did to represent Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 14:4, 14). Peter was one of the Twelve. He wrote with full apostolic authority.
Peter called his readers aliens (NIV strangers) to introduce this self-concept into their minds. In this letter he emphasized that Christians are really citizens of heaven and our sojourn here on earth is only temporary (2:11; cf. Gen. 22:4; Ps. 39:12). The Greek word perepidemos(alien) contains both the ideas of alien nationality and temporary residence (cf. 2:11; Heb. 11:13).
"Parepidemoiare persons who belong to some other land and people, who are temporarily residing with a people to whom they do not belong. . . .
"Aliens are often held in contempt by the natives among whom they dwell."10
"This is an epistle from the homeless to the homeless."11
The particular group of Christians to whom this epistle went first lived in the northern Roman provinces of Asia Minor (modern western Turkey) north of the Taurus Mountains.12Davids estimated that when Peter wrote this epistle about one million Jews lived in Palestine and two to four million lived outside it. Asia Minor held the third largest concentration of diaspora Jews after Babylon and Egypt.13
This was originally an encyclical letter written for circulation among the addressees. The sequence of provinces corresponds to the route that the bearer of the original epistle would have normally followed.14
Peter's readers were God's elect (Eph. 1:4; cf. Deut. 14:2; Isa. 45:4). One writer believed "chosen"(NASB) should be connected with "aliens."15However most translators regard "chosen"as a noun, not an adjective, as the NASB suggests.
". . . the letter develops a unified thematic focus: the existence of Christians in a non-Christian society and overcoming that society by being prepared to bear oppression, i.e., to suffer.'
"This thematic focus, i.e., the question of how to live in society--the fundamental problem of every social ethic--was for Jesus' disciples from the very beginning an acute problem."16
1:2 Election originates in the eternal will and purpose of God the Father. The foreknowledge (Gr. prognosin; cf. Acts 2:23) of God refers, of course, to what God knows beforehand. God's foreknowledge has an element of determinism in it because whatever really happens that God knows beforehand exists or takes place because of His sovereign will. Therefore when Peter wrote that God chose according to His foreknowledge he did not mean that God chose the elect because He knewbeforehand they would believe the gospel (the Arminian position). God chose them because He determinedbeforehand that they would believe the gospel (the Calvinist position; cf. Rom. 8:29-30; Eph. 1:3-6; 1 Thess. 1:4; 1 Peter 5:13).17
"When applied to God's knowledge of persons (whether of Jesus or his people), foreknowledge' is more than mere prescience, it involves choice or determination as well (cf. Acts 2:23--the only other NT use of the noun--and Jud 9:6; also the verb proginoskein, know,' in Rom 8:29 and 11:2, as well as 1 Pet 1:20. In this sense God knows' some people and not others, whereas a general prescience would be all inclusive (cf. the particularized use of know' in Amos 3:2; Hos 5:3; 12:1 [LXX]; 1 Cor 8:3; Gal 4:9)."18
The Holy Spirit accomplished election when He separated the elect and set them aside to a special calling. God's purpose in election was that we might obey God the Son and that He might sprinkle us with His blood (cf. Eph. 2:10).
"To sprinkle with Christ's blood' means to take a person into the realm of influence of Christ's dying, to align him or her with the One who died. This alignment accomplishes, as the figure expresses graphically, purification and thereby appropriation into a new connection to God."19
This is probably an allusion to covenant ratification (cf. Exod. 24:5-8). Jesus' blood was the ratification of the New Covenant (cf. Matt. 26:27-28; Mark 14:23-24; Luke 22:20) since it was the basis for the forgiveness of sins promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34.20
"Peter's choice of images confirms the impression that he writes to communities of Gentiles as if they were a strange new kind of Jew."21
In this verse Peter referred to all three members of the Trinity.
"The primary import of the three clauses [that begin verse 2] is to open up clearly at the outset of the Epistle the transcendent origin, nature, and purpose of the Church and its life."22
Probably Peter had Old Testament sprinkling of blood in mind when he wrote this verse. There are many Old Testament allusions in this epistle. Sprinkling with blood in Israel resulted in cleansing (Num. 19:9), bringing the person sprinkled under the terms and blessings of a covenant (Exod. 24:3-8), and induction into the priesthood and kingship. Members of the priesthood enjoyed the privilege of mediating between God and people (Exod. 29:21; Lev. 8:30). Members of the royal line in Israel enjoyed the privilege of reigning under God. All of these benefits belong to the Christian whom God has figuratively sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ, the final sacrifice for our sins. Obedience is our responsibility, and sprinkling is our privilege. Christ's blood covers our sins as sinners, cleanses our defilement as unclean people, and consecrates our service as priests and kings.
"The author sees himself and his readers as a community situated in the world in much the same way the Jews are situated, and sharing with the Jews a common past."23
Peter prayed for God's fullest outpouring of His favor and help on his readers. They needed this in view of their sufferings, which Peter proceeded to discuss. His readers also needed God's gift of peace since they were suffering.
"In looking back over Peter's designation of his readers, one is awed by the sweep and richness of his statement. If one has been prone to think of Peter primarily as an aggressive man of action, he here reveals himself also as a man who had a firm grasp of the great spiritual realities of the faith."24
