Choice Christian greetings
This week's study is on 1 Peter 1:1-2:
How much can we learn about what basically amounts to "Hello?" Actually, a lot. Peter's letter is to a bunch of Christians in different places who have been exiled from their homelands. He calls them chosen, God's elect, and speaks his blessing on these seemingly cursed people.
This sort of thing would have been more or less common sense among early Christians, I think. There wasn't a sort of cultural baseline of Christianity, so if you were Christian, you probably didn't fit in. You weren't allowed in Jewish circles, but you couldn't really participate in civic life as a Roman either, because of the idolatry and emperor-worship that was part of life. No matter how you looked at it, you were left out.
At the same time, though, as a Christian, you're part of God's exclusive people. Christians all over the world are God's chosen. While we chose a relationship with God, God chose to offer it before we were even born. He knew we were coming, and he prepared a place in his life for us. We acknowledged Jesus for who he is, and we were marked with his DNA for eternity, sprinkled with his blood. So we're chosen, we're blessed, and we're marked.
This was all part of Peter's greeting to the worldwide eternal Church. We may be freaks, outcasts, exiles, and so on, but we're also chosen, blessed, and marked as God's own. That's the important thing, and it's worth saying up front. Peter speaks his blessing to these people, and the blessing is ours as well.
Thanks to Jesus Christ's sacrifice, grace and peace are ours in measures that were completely unknown before he died and rose again. Thank God!
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
How much can we learn about what basically amounts to "Hello?" Actually, a lot. Peter's letter is to a bunch of Christians in different places who have been exiled from their homelands. He calls them chosen, God's elect, and speaks his blessing on these seemingly cursed people.
This sort of thing would have been more or less common sense among early Christians, I think. There wasn't a sort of cultural baseline of Christianity, so if you were Christian, you probably didn't fit in. You weren't allowed in Jewish circles, but you couldn't really participate in civic life as a Roman either, because of the idolatry and emperor-worship that was part of life. No matter how you looked at it, you were left out.
At the same time, though, as a Christian, you're part of God's exclusive people. Christians all over the world are God's chosen. While we chose a relationship with God, God chose to offer it before we were even born. He knew we were coming, and he prepared a place in his life for us. We acknowledged Jesus for who he is, and we were marked with his DNA for eternity, sprinkled with his blood. So we're chosen, we're blessed, and we're marked.
This was all part of Peter's greeting to the worldwide eternal Church. We may be freaks, outcasts, exiles, and so on, but we're also chosen, blessed, and marked as God's own. That's the important thing, and it's worth saying up front. Peter speaks his blessing to these people, and the blessing is ours as well.
Thanks to Jesus Christ's sacrifice, grace and peace are ours in measures that were completely unknown before he died and rose again. Thank God!
Comments
Post a Comment