Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Peter 2:10
Which in time past [were] not a people, but [are] now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
10. Which in time past were not a people ] The reference is to the children of Gomer, with their strange ill-omened names, Lo-Ammi and Lo-Ruhamah (Hos 1:2.): but it may be a question whether the citation is made directly from the prophet, or is traceable to St Paul’s use of it in Rom 9:25. In favour of the former view is the fact that St Peter quotes it (1) in a different form from St Paul’s, giving “had not obtained mercy” for “not beloved,” following in this the text of the Alexandrian MS. of the LXX., and (2) in a different application, St Paul referring it to the calling of the Gentiles, while he applies it to that of Israel. Some interpreters, indeed, have seen in this passage also a proof that St Peter was writing to Gentile converts or thinking of them chiefly, but it may well be urged against this view that if the history of the prophet’s adulterous wife had been to him a parable of the sin and repentance of Israel, it might well be so to the Apostle also. Had not his Master spoken of the people as “an evil and adulterous generation” (Mat 12:39)? Had not his friend St James addressed them as “adulterers and adulteresses” (Jas 4:4)?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Which in time past were not a people – That is, who formerly were not regarded as the people of God. There is an allusion here to the passage in Hos 2:23, And I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God. It is, however, a mere allusion, such as one makes who uses the language of another to express his ideas, without meaning to say that both refer to the same subject. In Hosea, the passage refers evidently to the reception of one portion of the Israelites into favor after their rejection; in Peter, it refers mainly to those who had been Gentiles, and who had never been recognized as the people of God. The language of the prophet would exactly express his idea, and he therefore uses it without intending to say that this was its original application. See it explained in the notes at Rom 9:25. Compare the notes at Eph 2:11-12.
Which had not obtained mercy – That is, who had been living unpardoned, having no knowledge of the way by which sinners might be forgiven, and no evidence that your sins were forgiven. They were then in the condition of the whole pagan world, and they had not then been acquainted with the glorious method by which God forgives iniquity.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. Which in time past were not a people] This is a quotation from Ho 1:9-10; Ho 2:23, where the calling of the Gentiles, by the preaching of the Gospel, is foretold. From this it is evident, that the people to whom the apostle now addresses himself had been Gentiles, covered with ignorance and superstition, and now had obtained mercy by the preaching of the Gospel of Christ.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Which in time past were not a people; either, were not a people, i.e. a formed state, or commonwealth, being dispersed in several countries, among other people, and not worth the name of a people: or, were not the people of God, (supplying God out of the opposite clause), since he had given them a bill of divorce, and said Lo-ammi and Lo-ruhamah to them, Hos 1:1-11. These were the Jews of the dispersion, and such as had not returned out of the Babylonish captivity, together with many of other tribes mixed with them, who, before their conversion to Christ, seemed cut off from the body of that people, had no solemn worship of God among them, and were tainted with the corruptions of the heathen, with whom they conversed.
But are now the people of God; really Gods people, restored to their old covenant state and church privileges, by their believing in Christ.
Which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy; the mercy of being Gods people, and enjoying their privileges, being justified, at peace with God, &c. Lest they might any way abuse what he had said in the former verse concerning their great dignity and privileges, so as to ascribe any thing to themselves, the apostle intimates here, that all they enjoyed was merely out of Gods mercy.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. Adapted from Hos 1:9;Hos 1:10; Hos 2:23.Peter plainly confirms Paul, who quotes the passage as implying thecall of the Gentiles to become spiritually that which Israel had beenliterally, “the people of God.” Primarily, the prophecyrefers to literal Israel, hereafter to be fully that which in theirbest days they were only partially, God’s people.
not obtained mercyliterally,”who were men not compassionated.” Implying that it wasGod’s pure mercy, not their merits, which made the blessedchange in their state; a thought which ought to kindle their livelygratitude, to be shown with their life, as well as their lips.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Which in time were not a people,…. A “Loammi” being put upon them; see Ho 1:9 to which the apostle here refers: God’s elect, whether among Jews or Gentiles, were, from eternity, his chosen people, and his covenant people; and, as such, were given to Christ, and they became his people, and his care and charge; and he saved them by his obedience, sufferings, and death, and redeemed them to himself, a peculiar people: but then, before conversion, they are not a people formed by God for himself, and his praise; nor Christ’s willing people, either to be saved by him, or to serve him; nor are they, nor can they be truly known by themselves, or others, to be the people of God: the Syriac version gives the true sense of the phrase, by rendering it “these who before were not” , “reckoned or accounted a people”; that is, by others:
but are now the people of God; being regenerated, called, and sanctified, they are avouched by God to be his people; they have the witness of the Spirit to their spirits, that they are the people of God; they can then claim their relation to God, and are known, acknowledged, and called the people of God, by others:
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy; being called formerly, Loruhamah, Ho 1:6 which passages the apostle has in view: before conversion there is mercy in God’s heart towards his elect, and so there is in the covenant of grace, and which was shown in the provision of his Son, as a Saviour, in the mission of him, and redemption by him; but this is not manifested to them, until they are begotten again, according to abundant mercy, and then they obtain mercy; having in their regeneration an evident display of the mercy of God towards them, and an application of his pardoning grace and mercy, through the blood of his Son, unto them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Which in time past ( ). “Who once upon a time.”
No people ( ). This phrase from Hos 2:23. Note use of (not ) with like Hebrew negative.
Which had not obtained mercy ( ). Perfect passive articular participle of and the emphatic negative , with which compare Paul’s use of 1Pet 2:1; 1Pet 2:2 in Ro 9:25, which may have been known to Peter or not.
But now have obtained mercy ( ). Change to first aorist passive participle from “the long antecedent state” to “the single event of conversion which ended it” (Hort).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
People [] . See on ver. 9, and note the choice of the term here. A people of God. Compare Rom 9:25, 26.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Which in time past were not a people.” (Gk. hoi pote) who then (before the Lord’s coming – (Gk. ou Laos) not a people (recognized).
2) “But are now the people of God.” But are (Gk. nun) now and hereafter a people of God. As Israel is God’s wife, divorced, to be restored to Him, so the church, called from among the Gentiles, is to be the bride of Christ, Joh 3:29; Rev 19:7-10.
3) “Which had not obtained mercy.” The ones (Gentiles) having not been pitied or shown mercy, Rom 9:22-24.
4) “But now have obtained mercy.” But (Gk. nun) now and for hereafter have secured mercy or pity. Hos 1:10; Rom 9:25-26; Rom 9:30; Rom 9:33.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
10 Which in time past were not a people He brings for confirmation a passage from Hosea, and well accommodates it to his own purpose. For Hosea, after having in God’s name declared that the Jews were repudiated, gives them a hope of a future restoration. Peter reminds us that this was fulfilled in his own age; for the Jews were scattered here and there, as the torn members of a body; nay, they seemed to be no longer God’s people, no worship remained among them, they were become entangled in the corruptions of the heathens; it could not then be said otherwise of them, but that they were repudiated by the Lord. But when they are gathered in Christ, from no people they really become the people of God. Paul, in Rom 9:26, applies also this prophecy to the Gentiles, and not without reason; for from the time the Lord’s covenant was broken, from which alone the Jews derived their superiority, they were put on a level with the Gentiles. It hence follows, that what God had promised, to make a people of no people, belongs in common to both.
Which had not obtained mercy This was added by the Prophet, in order that the gratuitous covenant of God, by which he takes them to be his people, might be more clearly set forth; as though he had said, “There is no other reason why the Lord counts us his people, except that he, having mercy on us, graciously adopts us.” It is then God’s gratuitous goodness, which makes of no people a people to God, and reconciles the alienated. (25)
(25) This verse is a quotation from Hos 2:23, only the two clauses are inverted. The same is quoted by Paul in Rom 9:25, in the same inverted form, and with this difference, that Peter follows the Hebrew, and Paul the Septuagint. The Hebrew is, “I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy;” but according to the Septuagint, “I will love her that had not been loved.” The meaning is the same, though the words are different. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) Which in time past were not a people.Here at last, say some, we have a distinct proof that the Epistle was written to the Gentiles only, or, at least, to churches which contained a very small proportion of Jews. Such, however, is by no means the case; in fact, the opposite. We have here an emphasised adaptation of Hos. 2:23, And I will have mercy upon Lo-ruhamah, and I will say to Lo-ammi, Thou art Animi, i.e., My people. Now who were Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi? Types of Israel left unpitied, and rejected from their covenant with God. And this unpitied and rejected Israel, after being scattered, or sown, all over the earth, was to be restored again to favour, together with the increment of the Gentiles who joined, it as the result of the sowing. St. Peter means, then, that in his Hebrew readers and the brethren from among the Gentiles, who by the gospel of St. Paul had adhered to them, this promise given by Hosea had found its fulfilment. But, as usual, the quotation demands a more searching scrutiny of the context from which it is taken. The name Diaspora, or Dispersion, by which St. Peter, in 1Pe. 1:1, designates those to whom he writes, was applied to themselves by the Jews in direct allusion (as seems probable) to the name Jezreel, or God will scatter, in Hos. 1:4. Now mark that St. Peter does not say which in time past were not Gods people, but were not a people. This was the effect of the dispersion, or scattering. Though each Jew of the dispersion retained, and still retains, in isolation, his national characteristics and aspirations, yet their unitythat which made them a peoplewas, and is, for the time broken. The Hebrews had not only ceased to be in covenant as Gods people, but had ceased to be a people at all. But in Christ, that very scattering becomes a sowing (Hos. 2:23), for the name Jezreel means both equally; their very dispersion becomes the means of their multiplication by union with the Gentiles in Christ, and thus spiritually they recover the lost unity, and become once more a solid and well-governed confederation, i.e., a people, and that the people of God. (See Joh. 11:52, and Dr. Puseys notes on Hosea.) It is a mistake to take St. Pauls quotation of this passage in Rom. 9:26, as if it referred solely to the Gentiles; for he expressly affirms that the title My people belongs to neither section exclusively, but to both in reunionus whom He called, not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. This citation of Hos 2:23, slightly changed, is applicable alike to the recovery of apostate Jews in the prophet’s time, and the conversion to Christ of Jews and Gentiles.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Who in time past were no people, but now are the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.’
He reminds all in the churches, both Jewish Christians and ex-Gentiles, of what their forebears had been before Christ came. In different ways they had been a ‘no-people’ as far as God was concerned, the Jews because of their waywardness, the Gentiles because they had been part of a different world. But now in Christ (1Pe 5:10; 1Pe 5:14) they themselves have all become the very children of God. They have become s new ‘people’, a new community. They had been without mercy, and yet now they had found mercy as one community of people.
The idea behind the words is found in Hos 1:9. There the majority of Israel were depicted as a no-people because of their idolatrous behaviour. But the promise was then added that they would yet be called ‘the sons of the living God’ (Hos 1:10). But even more were the ex-Gentiles a no-people. And yet they too had been able to become sons of God. Paul cites these verses in Rom 9:25-26 and makes clear that they apply to both Jews and Gentiles (Rom 9:24).
As we sum up our thoughts on this passage with its clear revelation that God’s chosen people continue on in the church we should note that to the Apostles this idea of the church as Israel was no legal fiction. It is not that the church is somehow a kind of ‘spiritual’ Israel, a kind of offshoot until the main branch has got itself together again, and is therefore in contrast with physical Israel so that the two can run along on parallel lines, it is that in God’s eyes the church are the continuation of physical Israel, with all disbelieving Jews being cut off from it, and all Gentile believers being grafted in. As far as God is concerned the true covenant people of Israel has never ceased. It has simply altered within and grown into the church which is the true Israel. As Peter declared in 1Pe 1:10-12 it was to this Israel that the prophets pointed and concerning whom they made the promises.
But what of the old Israel? The answer is that there is no ‘old Israel’ now. Any who claim to be so have been cut off from Israel because of unbelief (Rom 11:20). Is there then no future for them. The answer is, only if they are again grafted in, by being grafted into the new Israel. Israel has no future outside the church (compare Revelation 11 which has the church in Jerusalem in the last days in mind).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Pe 2:10. Which in time past, &c. “Who, for ages past, were divorced from the visible church; (Jer 3:8 and Hos 1:6; Hos 1:9.) but now, by the grace of the gospel, through Jesus Christ, are brought into the sweet and precious relation of a covenant people to him; and have foundmercy with him, unto the forgiveness of your sins, and the renovation of your natures, according to Hosea’s prophecy, ch. 1Pe 2:23. And this, in a higher sense, may be said of those Gentiles among you, who are now brought to the faith of Christ.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Pe 2:10 . A reference to Hos 2:23 , linking itself on to the end of the preceding verse, in which the former and present conditions of the readers are contrasted. This difference the verse emphasizes by means of a simple antithesis. The passage in Hosea runs: , LXX.: (the Cod. Alex. and the Ed. Aldina have at the commencement the additional words: ).
] Grotius, Steiger, Weiss incorrectly supply: . is here used absolutely (Bengel: ne populus quidem, nedum Dei populus). belongs not to to be supplied, but is closely connected with , equivalent to “no-people.” In like manner as equal to “not-obtained mercy.” “The meaning is not that they once were not what they now are, but that they were the opposite of it” (Wiesinger). But is a people who, in their separation from God, are without that unity of life in which alone they can be considered by Him as a people; or, more simply, who do not serve God who is the true King of every people; cf. Deu 32:21 , and Keil in loc. De Wette is hardly satisfactory: “they were not a people, inasmuch as they were without the principle of all true nationality, the real knowledge of God,” etc.; now they are a people, even a people of God, inasmuch as they not only serve God, but are received also by God into community of life with Himself.
, ] The part. perf. denotes their former and ended condition. Standing as it does here not as a verb, but as a substantive, like , it cannot be taken as a plusquam-perf. part. (in opposition to Hofmann). The aorist part. points, on the other hand, to the fact of pardon having been extended: “once not in possession of mercy, but now having become partakers of it” (Winer, p. 322 [130] [E. T. 431]).
[130] In the original passage these words apply to Israel; but from this it does not follow that Peter writes to Jewish-Christians. For if Paul as he clearly does applies the passage (Rom 9:25 ) to the calling of the heathen, then Peter surely, with equal right, could use it with reference to the heathen converts. They had been, in its full sense, that which God says to Israel: ; and they had become that to which He would again make Israel, His people. It must be observed, however, that God in that passage addresses Israel as only because it had forsaken Him and given itself up to the worship of Baal, and consequently incurred punishment. Apart from this, Israel had always remained the people of God. If only Jewish converts were meant here, then Peter would assume that they in their Judaism had been idolaters, which is absolutely impossible, or at least Peter must then have said why they, who as Israelites were the people of God, could not in their former state be regarded as such. Accordingly, is here in no way applicable to Israel, but only to the heathen; and it is not (as Weiss maintains, p. 119) purely arbitrary to apply the passage, in opposition to its original sense, to heathen Christians. Whilst Brckner says only that the words cannot serve to prove the readers to have been Jews formerly, Wiesinger rightly and most decidedly denies the possibility of applying them to Jewish converts; so, too, Schott. Weiss’s assertion is by no means justified by his insisting (die Petr. Frage, p. 626) that nothing tenable has been brought forward against it.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Ver. 10. Which in time past were not ] If Plato thought it such a mercy to him that he was a man and not a woman, a Grecian and not a barbarian, a scholar to Socrates and not to any other philosopher, what exceeding great cause have we to praise God that we are born Christians, not Pagans, Protestants, not Papists, in these blessed days of reformation, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
10 .] who (contrast between their former and present states) were once no people (the Apostle is again citing, or rather clothing that which he has to write in, O. T. words. In Hos 2:23 A, we read , ), but ( are ) now the people of God (these words, as Wies. maintains, apply most properly to Gentile Christians, although spoken in the prophecy of Jews, St. Paul thus uses them, Rom 9:25 ; and it is not impossible that that passage may have been in St. Peter’s mind), who were unpitied (of God: the here and above, not merely negatives, but contraries: not “who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy,” as E. V., indicating a mere change of time in order of progress, but who were unpitied, objects of aversion and wrath), but now compassionated (the aor. part. has a fine and delicate force which cannot be given in a version: q. d. who were men who (have received no pity), but now men who (received pity), viz. when God called you by Christ).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Pe 2:10 , from Hos 1:6 ; Hos 2:1 (3); cf. Rom 9:25 (has of Hos.); the terms are so familiar that is omitted by Peter as unnecessary ( cf. . for . .).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
in time past = once, at one time. Greek. pote.
obtained mercy. As Rom 11:31. Compare Hos 2:23.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
10.] who (contrast between their former and present states) were once no people (the Apostle is again citing, or rather clothing that which he has to write in, O. T. words. In Hos 2:23 A, we read , ), but (are) now the people of God (these words, as Wies. maintains, apply most properly to Gentile Christians, although spoken in the prophecy of Jews, St. Paul thus uses them, Rom 9:25; and it is not impossible that that passage may have been in St. Peters mind), who were unpitied (of God: the here and above, not merely negatives, but contraries: not who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy, as E. V., indicating a mere change of time in order of progress, but who were unpitied, objects of aversion and wrath), but now compassionated (the aor. part. has a fine and delicate force which cannot be given in a version: q. d. who were men who (have received no pity), but now men who (received pity), viz. when God called you by Christ).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Pe 2:10. , who in time past) See Rom 9:25, note; and with in time past, comp. presently after, ye were, 1Pe 2:25. The quotation from Hosea is a kind of enigma. In Hosea, if taken literally, it has reference to the Jews; for, according to the context, as an axiom it is only applied to a particular subject (hypothesis[16]); but there may be a more general question (thesis) in the mind of the speaker, and then it may be applied to other subjects. I will call them My people, who were not (My) people, is applicable to Jews and Gentiles. Thus care is taken that the sense of the text may not necessarily appear to be twofold.- , not a people) Rom 10:19, note: not even a people, much less the people of God. The former half of the verse has special reference to the Gentiles; the latter to the Jews. Concerning the latter, see Tit 3:4, and the context: concerning the former, Act 15:14.
[16] Hypothesis is a particular definite question: thesis, where the subject of inquiry is general and unlimited. Cic. in Top.: Qustionum duo sunt genera, alterum infinitum, alterum definitum; definitum est, quod Grci, nos causam; infinitum, quod illi appellant, nos propositum possumus nominare.-T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
were: Hos 1:9, Hos 1:10, Rom 9:25, Rom 9:26
obtained: Hos 2:23, Rom 11:6, Rom 11:7, Rom 11:30, 1Co 7:25, 1Ti 1:13, Heb 4:16
Reciprocal: Exo 6:7 – will take Lev 14:14 – General Num 15:41 – General Deu 27:9 – this day Deu 32:9 – the Lord’s Deu 32:21 – I will 2Sa 7:24 – art become Psa 18:43 – a people Psa 102:18 – the people Psa 118:2 – General Psa 145:7 – abundantly Psa 147:20 – not dealt so Son 4:16 – Let Isa 19:25 – Blessed Isa 35:8 – The way Isa 55:13 – for a Isa 62:4 – shalt no Isa 65:1 – unto Isa 65:15 – his servants Jer 17:26 – sacrifices of Dan 4:37 – I Nebuchadnezzar Hos 1:6 – Loruhamah Hos 2:1 – Ruhamah Zec 2:11 – many Mat 5:7 – for Mat 28:20 – them Luk 15:6 – for Luk 19:9 – This day Joh 10:16 – other Joh 12:23 – The hour Act 15:14 – to take Act 27:23 – whose Rom 1:5 – for his name Rom 4:17 – calleth Rom 9:16 – General Rom 10:19 – First Rom 12:1 – by the Rom 15:8 – truth 2Co 4:1 – as 2Co 6:14 – and what Eph 1:13 – ye also Eph 2:3 – in times 1Th 5:4 – are 1Th 5:9 – obtain 2Ti 2:10 – obtain Tit 3:5 – according Phm 1:11 – unprofitable Heb 4:9 – people Heb 11:25 – the people
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Pe 2:10. Which in time past were not a people. This clearly indicates that this epistle was not written to Jews since they in the past were the people of God. Had not obtained mercy as a people, although the families of the Gentiles ere favored when they complied with the requirements of the Patriarchal Dispensation.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Pe 2:10. Who once were no people, but are now Gods people. A solemn and summary conclusion, sketching in two bold strokes the vast contrast between their present and their past. The contrast is drawn in order that in the recollection of their past they may find an incentive to adhere at any cost to their prophetic vocation of telling forth to others the excellences of God. Once they were not only not Gods people, but no people. National connection they might have had, but the unity that makes a people worthy of the name of a people they had not. Their lack of relation to God involved lack of that relation to each other which merges differences of race, speech, worship, custom, opinion. Now they are not only a people, with the bonds of a true peoples union, but Gods people, owned of Him and administered by Him.
who once had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. If they were in time past no people, the reason lay here, that Gods mercy had not brought them into relation to Himself. Two participles briefly express this, and they vary in tense. The former is the perfect, as referring to a state in which they had long continued previously. The latter is the historical past, as referring to a definite act of God which changed the state. Once they had been in the condition of persons not compassionated; now they are persons once for all compassionated of God. The verse is a free adaptation of the prophetic passage (Hos 2:23), in which Jehovah, reversing the ominous names, Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi, given in the first chapter (1Pe 2:6; 1Pe 2:9), says of Israel, I will compassion Uncompassionated, and to Not-my-people I will say My-people, and he will say My God! Peters reproduction is of the most general kind, omitting the characteristic notes which apply specially to a people who had once been Gods people, and had lapsed in order to be restored. Though in Hosea, therefore, the words are spoken of Israel, it does not follow that they must refer to Jews here, Paul applies them to Gentiles (Rom 9:25), and that Peters view-point is the same appears from the form which he has given to the contrast, which is too absolute to suit those who, while originally Gods people, had ceased to be true to that vocation, and had lost on that account Gods favour. (See also the Introduction.)
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 10
Were not a people; a people of God.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Peter highlighted the differences involved in our high calling by contrasting what his readers were and had before conversion with what they were and had after conversion. The church is not the only people of God in history. Nevertheless it is the people of God in the present age because of Israel’s rejection of the Corner Stone (cf. Romans 9-11).
"The evidence from the use of the Old Testament in 1Pe 2:6-10 suggests that the Old Testament imagery used to describe the church in 1Pe 2:9-10 does not present the church as a new Israel replacing ethnic Israel in God’s program. Instead, Old Testament Israel was a pattern of the church’s relationship with God as his chosen people. Therefore Peter uses various aspects of the salvation, spiritual life, and service of Israel in its relationship with Yahweh to teach his recipients the greater salvation, spiritual life, and service they enjoy in Christ. In his use of the three people of God citations in 1Pe 2:9-10, the apostle is teaching that there are aspects of the nation of Israel’s experience as the people of God that are also true of the New Testament church. These elements of continuity include the election, redemption, holy standards, priestly ministry, and honor of the people of God. This continuity is the basis for the application of the title people of God to the church in 1Pe 2:1-10.
"The escalation or advancement of meaning in Peter’s application of these passages to his recipients emphasizes the distinction between Israel and the church. Israel is a nation, and the national, political, and geographic applications to Israel in the Old Testament contexts are not applied to the church, the spiritual house, of 1 Peter. Furthermore, the initial application of these passages to the church by typological-prophetic hermeneutics does not negate the future fulfillment of the national, political, and geographic promises, as well as the spiritual ones, made to Israel in these Old Testament contexts." [Note: W. Edward Glenny, "The Israelite Imagery of 1 Peter 2," in Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church, pp. 186-87.]
Christians, generally speaking, do not understand or appreciate God’s purpose for the church that Peter presented so clearly here. Consequently many Christians lack purpose in their lives. Evidence of this includes self-centered living, unwillingness to sacrifice, worldly goals, and preoccupation with material things. Before Christians will respond to exhortations to live holy lives they need to understand the reasons it is important to live holy lives. This purpose is something many preachers and teachers assume, but we need to affirm and assert it much more in our day.
"Peter concludes the first major section of his epistle (1Pe 1:3 to 1Pe 2:10) by drawing the lines for a confrontation. Two groups are differentiated-’unbelievers’ and ’you who believe’-on the basis of their contrasting responses to Jesus Christ, the ’choice and precious Stone’ (1Pe 2:6). The former are on their way to ’stumbling’ and shame, the latter to ’honor’ and vindication. The theological contrast between these two groups, with its consequent social tensions, will absorb Peter’s interest through the remainder of his epistle." [Note: Michaels, p. 113.]