1 Peter 2:9

f. The Church, God's new people, has all the privileges which belonged to the Jews. In enumerating them he draws upon a current conflation of Isaiah 43:20 f., ποτίσαι τὸ γένος μου το ἐκλεκτὸν (1) λαόν μου ὃν περιεποιησάμην (4) τὰς ἀρετάς μου διηγεῖσθαι with Exod. 19:65, ὑμεῖς δὲ ἔσεσθέ μοι βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα (2) καὶ ἔθνος ἅγιον (3) ἔσεσθέ μοι λαὸς περιούσιος (4) ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν (1); and Psalms 107:14, καὶ ἐξήγαγεν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐκ σκιᾶς θανάτου … ἐξομολογησάσθων τῷ κυρίῳ τὰ ἐλέη αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ θαυμάσια αὐτοῦ τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων to which is appended Hosea 1:6; Hosea 1:8. γένος ἐκλεκτόν, Isa. l.c. LXX (Heb., my people my chosen); γένος, race implies that all the individual members of it have a common Father (God) and are therefore brethren (cf. υἱοὶ γένους Ἁβραάμ, Acts 13:26); cf. 1 Peter 1:1; 1 Peter 1:6. βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα, a royal priesthood, from Exod. l.c. LXX (Heb., a kingdom of priests = Revelation 1:6, βασιλείαν ἱερεῖς). Christians share Christ's prerogatives. The priesthood is the chief point (see 1 Peter 2:5) it is royal. Clement of Alexandria says: “Since we have been summoned to the kingdom and are anointed (sc. as Kings)”. The comparison of Melchizedek with Christ perhaps underlies the appropriation of the title. ἔθνος ἅγιον, to the Jew familiar, with the use of ἔθνη for Gentiles, as much a paradox as Christ crucified. But λαός, the common rendering of עם in this connexion is wanted below, and St. Peter is content to follow his authority. λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν, a people for possession = עם סגלה. The source of the Greek phrase is Malachi 3:17, but the Hebrew title variously rendered occurs in the two great passages drawn upon. Deut. (Deuteronomy 17:6, etc.) has λαὸς περιούσιος which is adopted by St. Paul (Titus 2:14); but the phrase εἰς π. is well established in the Christian vocabulary, Hebrews 10:39; 1Th 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:14, and the whole title is apparently abbreviated to περιποίησις in Ephesians 1:14. ὅπως … ἐξαγγείλητε, from Isa. l.c. + Ps. l.c., the latter containing the matter of the following designation of God. In Isa. τὰς ἀρετάς μου stands for תהלהי my praise; and this sense reappears in Esther 14:10. ἀνοῖξαι στόμα ἐθνῶν εἰς ἀρετάς ματαίων, the praises of idols. Elsewhere it stands for הוד. glory (Habakkuk 3:3; Zechariah 6:13). In the books of Maccabees (especially the fourth) it has its ordinary sense of virtue, which cannot be excluded altogether here. The whole clause is in fact the pivot on which the Epistle turns. Hitherto Peter has addressed himself to the Christians and their mutual relations, now he turns to consider their relations to the outside world (1 Peter 1:2 f.). In 2 Peter 1:3, ἀ. corresponds to θεία δύναμις, a sense which might be supported by Ps. l.c. (for discussion of other

Very uncertain evidence see Deissmann, Bible Studies, pp. 95 ff., 362) and the events of Pentecost (see especially Acts 2:11). τοῦ … φῶς is derived from Ps. l.c.; the natural antithesis light is readily supplied (cf. Ephesians 5:8; Ephesians 5:14); darkness = heathenism in cf. 10.