I. Election in its source: "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father."
II. Election in its means: "elect through sanctification of the Spirit." (1) Election first shows itself in a man's separation from the world, which lieth in wickedness. (2) But more than separation from or nonconformity to the world is here intended: the moral purification of our nature. (3) The wording of the text leads us still further: this holiness is not a limited, circumscribed result of the inward operation of the Spirit, but an infusion into our nature of the very quality or attribute of holiness inherent in Himself.
III. Election in its end: "elect unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." (1) Election has for its object our obedience, obedience in a twofold sense: (a) the obedience of faith; (b) the obedience which faith produces. (2) The sprinkling of the blood is necessary not only at the beginning of the Christian career, but all along to the very end.
J. C. Jones, Studies in First Peter;p. 1.
References: 1 Peter 1:1; 1 Peter 1:2. G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons to English Congregations in India,p. 283; J. S. Howson, Church of England Pulpit,vol. vii., p. 259.