1 Peter 2:9

‘But you are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light,'

In contrast with these unbelievers those who truly believe are His ‘chosen men and women', and have a glorious destiny. Here Peter has in mind the special privileges granted to Israel at Sinai in Exodus 19:5. ‘ You shall be an  especially valued treasure to Me (a treasure for my possession) from among all people, for all the earth is mine, and you will be to Me  a kingship of priests and a holy nation '. And he is supplementing them with God's words to Israel in Isaiah 45:4 - ‘Israel My elect', and in Isaiah 43:20 LXX - ‘to give drink to my  elect race, my people whom I have preserved  to tell forth my praises '.

Putting the italicised words together we therefore have, ‘you shall be --my elect race -- a kingdom of priests and a holy nation -- a treasure for My possession -- to tell forth My praises'. We can see how this parallels 1 Peter. Thus it is clear that Peter sees the church as now fulfilling Israel's destiny, as he has already revealed in 1 Peter 1:1. These words may well by this time have been put into the form of a hymn which aided the memory.

Every phrase in this verse is pregnant with meaning, for He is declaring what the church, as the continuation of the true Israel, really are. They are:

· ‘An elect race (a chosen race).' Initially God had chosen Israel as ‘His elect, His chosen' (Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 45:4), expanded in Isaiah 43:20 b LXX into His ‘elect race' Outwardly it appeared as though it was the whole nation which were being described, but a careful reading of the Old Testament reveals that the elect were really seen as those who responded to the covenant (e.g. Isaiah 65:9; compare Isaiah 4:3; Isaiah 6:11 and often). They were the ‘seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal' (1 Kings 19:18). ‘Israel' was a fluid concept. Initially it was made up of the households of the Patriarchs which included many foreigners who were servants and slaves in the family tribe. It was never strictly true that all Israel were directly descended from the Patriarchs, except by adoption. Subsequently any foreigners who wished to enter the covenant could do so by living among His people and being circumcised (Exodus 12:48 - although there were certain limitations and exceptions - Deuteronomy 23:1). And many did so, including the mixed multitude of Exodus 12:38. The essential point was that ‘Israel' was made up of those who were, at least theoretically, truly committed to the covenant, of whatever nationality. And in contrast any of Israel who rejected the covenant by their words and actions were ‘cut off'. That is why God could speak of them as ‘not my people' (Hosea 1:10). Notice Paul's vivid picture of the branches being cut off from, or grafted into, the olive tree (Romans 11:17).

But now, says Peter, it is the church who are the true succession of Israel. It is they who are now His ‘elect race'. It is they who are the continuation of the true Israel. It is only they who are true to the covenant. They are the new nation, springing out of the old, spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 21:43, and founded on Jesus the Jew and the Jewish Apostles and the early Jewish church. And they are thus God's chosen ones, set apart to fulfil His purposes for the world. They are the true children of Abraham (Galatians 3:29), chosen by God and precious. They are the true ‘chosen race'.

· ‘A royal priesthood.' His people are also a ‘royal priesthood'. Compare Revelation 1:6. This is clearly Peter's interpretation of ‘a kingship of priests' (Exodus 19:6), the latter stated at a time when each family head was a priest. The idea was that Israel would be priests to the nations in a royal capacity, because they represented the King. This may well also have in mind the royal priesthood of David, who, once he became king of Jerusalem, thereby became an intercessory priest ‘after the order of Melchizedek' (Psalms 110:4, compare the king of Jerusalem in Genesis 14:18; and see Zechariah 6:13; Hebrews 6:19 to Hebrews 7:25). This ‘royal priesthood' is not a priesthood of sacerdotal duties. That is not in mind here. It is a priesthood of outgoing responsibility. Like those who bore the vessels of the Lord they were to go out in order to proclaim God's truth with the certainty that God would go with them (Isaiah 52:11; compare Isaiah 2:3). For priests were also essentially involved, among other things, in preaching, teaching, interpreting the Law and interceding for the people, and as royal priests the church were to do the same from a new position of royal authority. Indeed the future of Israel had very much been seen as one of ‘priesthood' (Isaiah 61:6), which was also to involve Gentiles (Isaiah 66:21), and here it finds its fulfilment through the church, the new Israel.

As Hebrews firmly reminds us, the church could not be Levitical priests. Rather, like Jesus Christ Himself, they are of a higher order of priesthood, a priesthood that deals with eternal things. They worship God in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). They proclaim His eternal Law (Matthew 5:17). They call on all men everywhere to repent, to leave the unclean behind and become holy. They cause them to be ‘sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ' (1 Peter 1:2). As we are aware, the purpose of this priesthood has been explained in 1 Peter 2:5. It is in order that they might offer spiritual sacrifices to God in worship and praise, in pure living, and in full dedication of themselves to His service.

· ‘A holy nation.' See Exodus 19:6. They are ‘a nation' (they have a new nationality in Christ as the chosen people) set apart to God in holiness (Matthew 21:43) among the nations of the world, in order that their destiny in the world might be as a light shining in a dark place (1 Peter 2:9; Matthew 5:16).

· ‘A people for His own possession (laos eis peripoiesin).' They are His own special treasure (compare Malachi 3:17 - ‘obtained for My own possession' - peripoiesin), so special that instead of being bought with silver and gold they were bought with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18). They are thus chosen of God, and precious like their Lord (1 Peter 2:6), the people in whom He can delight. A similar idea is found in Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:18, although there periousin replaces peripoiesin. Compare also Isaiah 43:21 LXX, ‘the people (laon) whom I obtained (periepoiesamen) for Myself, that they might set forth My praise.'

‘That you may show forth the excellencies of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.' The whole purpose of Jesus in founding His new Israel was in order that they might reveal to the world the excellencies of God, both in His Being, in His planned purposes and in His wondrous acts. That is why He has called them out of darkness into His marvellous light, so that they might magnify Him. Being called out of darkness had always been stated by the prophets to have been God's purpose for His people. ‘The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and to those who sat in the region and shadow of death life has spring up' (Matthew 4:16; Isaiah 9:2). And this in order to prepare them to be priests to the nations under their Royal Master (Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 60:1; Isaiah 61:6; Isaiah 66:21).

But the idea of a people in darkness more often indicated the Gentile nations. Compare Isaiah's ‘darkness will cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples' (Isaiah 60:1), and God's description of Paul's ministry to the Gentiles as being to ‘bring them from darkness to light' (Acts 26:17). Note also Paul's description of the lost as being under ‘the tyranny of darkness' (Colossians 1:13). In 1st century AD the Jewish philosopher Philo could similarly speak of Gentile converts as coming from darkness into light. Thus this description covers both Jews and ex-Gentiles.