The Sender and Recipients of the Letter And Their Status (1 Peter 1:1-2).
‘Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.'
The letter is addressed by ‘the Apostle' Peter to district churches in Asia Minor (modern Turkey), their names given in the order in which the messenger would visit them. It is probable that these areas were areas that Paul had not visited (Galatia here referring to northern Galatia). Peter may well have been on his way to these churches when he stopped off in Pisidian Antioch to spend time with the local church (Galatians 2:11). It may well have been because Peter was ministering in Bithyinia that the Spirit of Jesus barred Paul from going there (Acts 16:7). Paul always sought to work in areas that were as yet unreached (Romans 15:20).
Peter saw these churches as colonies of Heaven living on earth who must not allow earthly affairs and tribulations to discourage them or defile them. They were ‘strangers and pilgrims on the earth' and must therefore press on towards their goal (1 Peter 2:11), while anticipating tribulation and persecution on the way, because their ways were not of this world.
This is one of the main themes of Peter. They have left the world behind (1 Peter 2:11) and have entered into the obedience of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:2; 1 Peter 1:14; 1 Peter 1:22). While continuing fully in that obedience they are thus to hold lightly to the things of this world, having their eyes fixed on God's purpose for them in this world (1 Peter 2:1-10) and on the salvation yet to come (1 Peter 1:13-14; 1 Peter 4:4-5).
‘An Apostle of Jesus Christ.' In the early church ‘Apostle' (one sent forth, a messenger, a personal representative) had two meanings. One meaning (regularly defined in terms of ‘an Apostle of Jesus Christ') was in order to indicate the select band set apart by God through Jesus Christ (Luke 6:13) who had been given special knowledge and understanding in order that they might set forth the infallible truth (John 14:26; John 16:13-15 compare 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 3:16), a band into which Paul was incorporated as a result of his special calling and revelations (Galatians 1:16; Galatians 2:7-9). One or two others (such as the Lord's brothers, Barnabas and possibly Silas/Silvanus), who were witnesses of His life and resurrection (Acts 1:21-25), may also have been included more loosely under the heading as a result of their special status. This kind of Apostleship ceased on the death of the last of the Apostles (probably John). The other meaning of ‘apostles' (with a small ‘a') was as referring to representatives and messengers (apostoloi) of the churches (2 Corinthians 8:23), but they were never referred to as ‘Apostles of Jesus Christ'.
This designation as ‘an Apostle of Jesus Christ', made without qualification at the commencement of a letter, is unique to Peter. Paul always qualifies it with ‘in the will of God' or something similar. James sees himself as ‘the servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ'. But Peter was aware of having been personally and officially chosen by Jesus Christ Himself, and this unconscious emphasis tends to indicate the genuineness of the ascription (an imitator would have mimicked Paul). It could, of course, have been used by any of the eleven, for they alone had been appointed directly by Him as ‘Apostles' (Luke 6:13). This is not to downgrade Paul, merely to bring out the different circumstances behind his appointment, of which he himself was very conscious.
‘The elect.' That is, ‘those who are chosen and called out'. The New Testament Scriptures constantly make clear that God has chosen out and elected some among mankind for Himself, ‘according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love' (Ephesians 1:4; see also Romans 8:28-30; Romans 8:33; Romans 9:11; Romans 11:5; James 2:5; Matthew 24:22; Matthew 24:24; Matthew 24:31; Col 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 2 Timothy 2:10). But the test of whether we are truly elect is to be the response in our lives, which will demonstrate that God has begun His work within us (Philippians 1:6; Philippians 2:13; 2 Peter 1:10). To Peter the word ‘elect' was very significant. He had never forgotten that moment when Jesus had said to the eleven, ‘You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you' (John 15:16), and he had felt that thrill of being chosen by Him. And he wanted all true Christians to recognise that they too had, in the same way, been personally chosen and called out by the Master, and were safe in His keeping.
In the Old Testament the true Israel were called God's elect (Deuteronomy 4:37; Deuteronomy 7:6-7; Deuteronomy 14:2; Isaiah 45:4), but as Paul brings out such a status only belonged to those who were truly responsive to God (Romans 11:5; Romans 11:7), something which the prophets had already brought out (e.g. Hosea 1:10). Throughout Scripture the difference is continually brought out between the true believers, sometimes many, sometimes few, who walk in faith and obedience (Genesis 15:6; Isaiah 7:9; Isaiah 28:16; Isaiah 30:15; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 53:1; Habakkuk 2:4; contrast Deuteronomy 32:20), in contrast with those who by their lives rejected God as revealed in their unbelief and disobedience (Nehemiah 9:26; Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 3:19; Hebrews 4:11), and it differentiates between those who were His people, and those who were ‘not my people' (Hosea 1:9-10). Compare the ‘seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal' whom God had reserved for Himself in the time of Elijah (1 Kings 19:18; Romans 11:4-5).
‘Sojourners of the Dispersion.' The ‘sojourner' is someone who is temporarily dwelling in a foreign country and not in his native land, and the emphasis in the word is on the transitoriness of the dwelling. It was used of Abraham's dwelling in Canaan, as one who had no settled home (Genesis 23:4), and in Psalms 39:12 of the dwelling of God's people on earth. All Christians are thus to be seen as ‘sojourners' on earth because Heaven is their native land to which they will soon be going. The ‘dispersion' (diaspora) was the technical name given to the Jews who lived outside Palestine and were dispersed in many countries. But Peter is here writing mainly to ex-Gentiles, as is clear from 1 Peter 1:14; 1Pe 1:18; 1 Peter 2:10; 1 Peter 4:2-4. (To Peter the actual term ‘the Gentiles' always indicates the unbelieving majority of mankind - 1 Peter 2:12; 1 Peter 4:3. It does not include former Gentiles who were now Christians). Thus by this description he was indicating that the church were the true people of God dispersed among the nations, and that as such they were ‘strangers and pilgrims in the earth' (1 Peter 2:11).
He was by this indicating that the church is now the true Israel (John 15:1-6; Galatians 6:16; Ephesians 2:11-22; Romans 11:17-28; Galatians 3:29; compare Matthew 21:43). And it is important to note that this did not mean a kind of symbolic Israel, as though there could be two Israels running in parallel. Rather it means that the true church, composed of both the bedrock of believing Jews and the incorporation of believing ex-Gentiles, were to be seen as the genuine ‘descendants' of Abraham (Galatians 3:29), and the true stock of Jacob, with believing Gentiles being incorporated into the true Israel spoken of by the prophets in accordance with Exodus 12:48 combined with Colossians 2:11. Compare Matthew 16:18; Matthew 21:43, and see our article on ‘Is the Church the True Israel?'.
To Peter, Paul and the other Apostles unbelieving Jews were no longer members of Israel. They had been ‘cast away' and ‘cut off' (Romans 11:15; Romans 11:20; John 15:1-6), and believing Gentiles had been grafted in. Thus Biblically speaking there is now no Israel destined to inherit the promises other than ‘the assembly/congregation/church/ekklesia of Jesus Christ', who are the true ‘sons of Abraham' (Galatians 3:29). The point is that we ARE Israel, God's elect, and there is no other. And if some of the cast off Israel are to become true Israel it can only be by being grafted into Christ (Romans 11:23), and it may be that God has gathered the Jews in Palestine for that purpose. But while they may call themselves Israel, God does not. The true Israel of the promises is the church of Jesus Christ, God's elect (Isaiah 45:9; Isaiah 49:3; Isaiah 65:9; Isaiah 65:22; Romans 11:7). And if ‘Israel' are to become Israel, it must be by submission to Jesus Christ and uniting with His people. There is now no other Israel.