By Mark Grace, CCCNZ Ambassador
Na Pita, he apotoro na Ihu Karaiti, ki te hunga whiriwhiri e noho manene ana i Ponoto, i Karatia, i Kaporokia, i Ahia, i Pitinia,
O a‘u o Peteru, o le aposetolo a Iesu Keriso, o la‘u tusi lenei i e ua āumau, ma ua faataapeapeina i Pono, Kalatia, Kapatokia, Asia, ma Pitunia,
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.
1 Peter 1:1
Christians living in the first years after Jesus’ death faced intense uncertainty. They had been scattered throughout Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Nero, the great persecutor of Christians, was rising to power.
It’s a confusing time for the people of God. More and more, they are sticking out from the culture around them. They sense the suspicion, they experience the isolation, they’ve heard the slurs.
We, the people of God on these islands, are beginning to share their experience. We can feel our diminishing size and influence. We can see the consequences of being out of step with the wider population. More and more, we stick out from the culture around us.
Into the turbulence of the first century AD, Peter writes a letter of encouragement to the church. He calls them elect exiles. They are chosen strangers. Peter invites the believers to rest in the God who has chosen them and to rest in the God who sends them as exiles into the world.
The uncertainty and turbulence of the culture and times doesn’t define the people of God. They are citizens of heaven—they have a better home. This identity as elect exiles is supremely comforting to Peter’s readers.
What’s striking to me is that Peter doesn’t tell them to run away from the Roman world, but to be replenished by God right where they are. Peter doesn’t call God’s people to revolt against this cultural pressure, but to rest. He calls them to rest in who they belong to.
Peter seeks to deepen the church’s resolve and increase their resilience by reminding them to rest in God’s gracious choosing of them and God’s good sending of them into the world as exiles.
