Bible Passage Scripture Block

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

You are a select race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people possessed by and for the God that called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light so that you might proclaim His excellencies. At one time you were nobody’s people without mercy, but now you are God’s people who have received mercy.

Peter is writing to the “elect” of the “dispersion” – Christians that have been scattered throughout Galatia and Asia Minor. He is encouraging them to stand firm in the face of current persecution and reminding them of the promise they have in and through Christ. In this chapter, Peter calls forward several prophetic statements including Isaiah 28:16 (vs 6), Psalms 118:22 (vs 7), and Isaiah 8:14 (vs 8). In verse 9, Peter takes all of the characterizations that God made (through Moses) to his people in Exodus 19:5-6 and applies them to Christians. Finally, in verse 10, he recalls Hosea 1:6, 9, 10, the same verses that Paul applies to the Gentiles being grafted in by God in Romans 9:25-26.