But *ye* [are] a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession, that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light;
Peter gives ordinary believers four titles at once. Each one stands as plain fact, not as an offer — and the verse goes on to say what such people are for.
Under law, what Israel might become came with a condition attached. Peter names these titles with no condition at all. One writer sets the two arrangements side by side.
The contrast between law and grace is complete. Law says, in effect, "If you obey, you shall be." Grace says, "You are, and because you are, certain things should mark you." That is the drift of this verse in Peter's letter.
Peter names "chosen race" first. The same writer asks how his readers came to hold that title.
How did it come about that those to whom Peter wrote were a chosen generation? The first chapter answers this question. They were "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father"; they were "ransomed... with the precious blood of Christ"; they were "born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God" — and that, as we learn elsewhere, by the Spirit of God. The Triune God had acted to produce a race of a new order — a generation not in Adam but in Christ.
One writer takes the last three titles in turn. Each points a different way.
"A royal priesthood" is the counterpart of "a holy priesthood" (v. 5). Holy priesthood looks toward God; royal priesthood looks toward people. It is royal character to carry God's witness to the world... "A holy nation" is in contrast to Israel in the flesh, in her unholy disobedience. It speaks of a vital sanctification for the glory of God, a setting apart to Himself. "A peculiar people" means a people belonging to Him alone. They are bondslaves who belong to a master, not hired servants working for wages — which is how Jews under law thought of themselves.
("Peculiar people" is older wording. The ESV says "a people for His own possession.")
Verse 5 has already called these believers a holy priesthood. Verse 9 adds a second word: royal. One writer shows what each side does.
As holy priests, we draw near to God and present the sacrifice of praise. As royal priests we go out among the people around us, in all the details of daily life, to show the virtues of Christ — His grace, His lovely moral features. Every movement of a royal priest should give off the fragrance of the grace of Christ.
The same writer finds both priesthoods at work in one night in a prison — a song, and then a word to the jailer.
They had what was better, even "the virtues of Him who had called them out of darkness into His marvellous light." And where do these virtues shine out? In those moving words to the jailer: "Do not harm yourself." That was the voice of a royal priest, just as the song of praise was the voice of a holy priest.
Christ will show these virtues perfectly in a coming day. His people are called to show them now.
The second priesthood the apostle speaks of is to show the virtues of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light... God had formed the people for Himself: they were to show forth all His virtues, His praises. Christ will do this perfectly in the day of His glory. The Christian is called to do it now in this world. He is to reproduce Christ in this world.
So what was the darkness they were called out of? One writer traces it back to the way God met Israel under the law.
Turn back to Exodus 19. The Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud" (verse 9). Later we read, "Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was" (Ex. 20:21). Under the law, thick darkness hid God. Under grace He is in light — light so different that it can be called "marvellous."
How marvellous that light is can be measured by what it does to the people standing in it.
On a clear night at full moon we enjoy the moon shining in the light of the sun. How marvellous the sunlight must be, if it can make a dark body shine like that! The world is still in the dark, for its back is turned towards God. We are in the light of His truth and grace — the light of the knowledge of Himself. You can see how marvellous that light is. It takes dark, unattractive people like us and makes them show His excellence and reflect Him.
- Chosen — Peter names this title first. God's foreknowledge, redemption by blood, and new birth make a race "not in Adam but in Christ."
- Called — The call is out of darkness. Under law, God stayed hidden in thick darkness. Grace now states as fact what law only offered, with no "if" attached.
- Consecrated — Holy nation and God's own possession mean a real setting apart to Him. Think of a bondslave who belongs to a master, not a hired servant earning wages.
- Commissioned — One priesthood works two ways. Holy priests carry praise up to God. Royal priests carry the character of Christ out to people — a song and a word to the jailer, in one night.
- Conspicuous — The point of it all is display. Christ will do it perfectly in the day of His glory. His people do it now — dark bodies made to shine by a marvellous light.
who once [were] not a people, but now God's people; who were not enjoying mercy, but now have found mercy.
Peter has just listed what his readers are; now he reminds them what they were not. Both phrases — no people, no mercy — come from an old prophecy of judgment, so how can God's sentence be reversed?
The phrases are not Peter's invention. They come from Hosea, a prophet who announced that Israel had lost their place.
These words come from Hosea 2. Because of their wickedness and sin, God had said that Israel should not get mercy, and were not His people (Hosea 1:6). The nation has lost the blessing through their disobedience. In the second chapter, the Lord promises to give it back. God says: despite their sin, their disobedience, their unfaithfulness, and My judgment too, I will bring them into blessing in due time. In the very spot where I judged them, there they will be blessed (Hosea 2:23). Judgment has passed, and mercy triumphs over judgment, because even disobedience cannot defeat God's purposes of grace.
"Not a people" describes something that happened in history. A whole nation lost a title, and has never recovered it.
He is speaking of the loss of their title to be the people of God. Israel suffered that loss at the time of the Babylonian captivity. They then stopped being visibly God's people. So their land became the possession of the Gentiles; and so it has gone on to this day. From that day to this there has never been a real recovery. There was only the return of a remnant, for special purposes, for a time.
The titles in the previous verse were first offered at Mount Sinai, but only if Israel obeyed. Israel failed, and the blessing came anyway.
"You are," he says, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession." These are almost the words of Exodus 19. He goes on to speak of those who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but have now obtained it. These are the words of Hosea 2. This sets before us, in the most interesting way, the principle on which the blessing is founded. In Exodus the people were to have this blessing if they exactly obeyed the voice of God. But Israel had not obeyed... yet, after their unfaithfulness, God Himself has laid in Zion a Stone, a chief cornerstone. Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame. They had lost everything. It is grace that God gave them through Jesus what was promised to them at first on condition of obedience.
Everything turns on the word "now." Faith in Christ did not take these readers out of the people. It was the one thing that made them a people.
The Christian does not belong to the world, and so is not bound by accidents of time. He has everlasting life now, and is a heavenly person even while on the earth. This is Christianity. So he says to the Jews addressed that they were not a people (that is, in the days of their unbelief), but are now. So far was their believing in Christ from taking them out of the people, that it is then alone that they became a people.
Both Peter and Paul use Hosea, but they wrote to different readers. Peter also leaves out one line.
Peter also quotes Hosea, and he was writing to a remnant of Jews only. Paul, in his own proper place, was writing to Gentiles. Peter, however, though he quotes Hosea, leaves out the words, "They shall be called the sons of the living God."
Commentators differ on how far the verse reaches. Kelly reads it as spoken to believing Jews only. Others apply the same "once, now" to every background.
All was darkness for us, whether God called us out of Judaism, out of paganism, or out of a nominal and corrupted Christianity. Now we are in a light which is marvellous. We are the people of God, and we have obtained mercy.
Peter does not say they earned this standing or won it back. He calls it mercy, and that word says something about the people who receive it.
Mercy assumes guilt in the person who receives it. If there were no offence, there would be no need of mercy. In the world as it is, anyone who denied his need of mercy would be a strange person indeed. It matters little that some owe five hundred pence and others only fifty. All alike are bankrupt. All depend on the mercy of God to escape eternal ruin.
- Once — because of their sin, God said Israel were not His people and would not get mercy.
- Now — that sentence is reversed today. Believers do not wait for a future age to be God's people.
- Mercy — the word assumes guilt, not merit. Only people with no claim can receive it.
- Grace — Sinai offered these blessings for obedience. Here God gives them outright, resting on the Stone He laid in Zion.
- Result — mercy makes the people. Every title here is a gift, never a wage.