1 Peter 1:1–2

It clearly addresses the "strangers scattered" in the provinces of Asia Minor, yet it also calls them "elect." That is, Peter writes to converted people of his own nation, scattered through the regions north of Palestine. Peter was the apostle to the Jews (see Gal. 2:7-8). Yet it was Paul who travelled these lands and preached to the Jews while carrying the Gospel to the Gentiles. So Peter served them with pen and ink.

These were his allotted charge, as we know. The risen Lord told him to feed His sheep (John 21), meaning, I suppose, the sheep among the Jews. Other sheep would be called in, who had never known the Jewish fold (John 10:16). In time they came more under the care of the apostle Paul. ... So Peter's letters address Jewish believers, though all he writes, one need hardly say, is for Gentile believers too.

A more exact translation is "to the sojourners of the dispersion." That is, he wrote to those who lived outside Palestine, in these several provinces of Asia Minor. The term "dispersion" (scattered abroad) is a technical word for their description. (See John 7:35; James 1:1.) The meaning of "strangers" or sojourners is simply living in a strange place. ... We are not at home, so we are strangers. We are passing through this world, and so, as on a journey, we are pilgrims.

They were not only Jews scattered in those parts, but elect "pilgrims" or "sojourners." "Elect" was a title of grace, as "dispersion" was a title of judgment. Here their election was bound up with the journey to the better country, a heavenly one. Originally Jews, they were now Christians.

These Jewish brothers, if one may put it that way, were an election out of an election. They had stood in the old Jewish circle of outward privilege. God had now called them out of it to enjoy His eternal purpose — relationship with the Father as His children through grace.

So he says plainly, without delay, that they are "sojourners" just as surely as they are "elect." ... They were elect pilgrims. The world of man's home was not theirs, nor yet was Canaan, but heaven, yes, the Father's house above. This was not Jewish feeling for the land of promise. It was Christian hope: waiting for Christ, to be with Him where He is, and glorified like Him.

The first epistle rests on the doctrine of the heavenly calling ... in contrast with the portion of the Jews on the earth. It presents Christians, and in particular Christians among the Jews, as pilgrims and strangers on earth. It develops the conduct that suits such people more fully than the doctrine. It sets out the Lord Jesus, who was Himself a pilgrim and a stranger here, as a pattern in more than one way.