In our text, Peter was directed by God to introduce himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ. We have noted before that there are those who would claim to be apostles today. One religious group that gained some notoriety over the past three years is the Church of God Restoration. One of their churches in Steinbach was in the news for a time. The one in Aylmer, Ontario was often in the news. They are a cult but they have the right to operate as a cult if they so choose. God-fearing people would stay away from them. They claim to have apostles today. Their chief apostle resides in the U.S. They also have women as apostles. They are obviously wrong.
Jesus chose 12 apostles. One of those original 12 was a devil and he chose to take his own life, rather than repent and be saved and forgiven. Jesus Christ later chose the apostle Paul as the 12th apostle. The final 12 apostles were all God-fearing men who suffered greatly for the Gospel.
The apostles did not have a settled home. They travelled from place to place. Paul seems to have travelled more than the others. Peter was told to direct this particular epistle to the strangers that were scattered. True saints are strangers on this earth. The world will also see us as strangers. True saints do not fit into the world’s system. True saints cannot go along with the corruption that is so prevalent in the world.
The saints that Peter was to write to, were scattered throughout Pontus, etc. The places mentioned are in the eastern part of the Roman empire in what is today Turkey. That area is largely a Muslim area today. There were some true Christians there at the time that Peter was alive.
In verse 2 Peter spoke of the fact that these strangers were elect. The “elect” here is not directed to one particular individual, but rather to the strangers — a group of people. The word translated as “elect” means “chosen”. This choosing was according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. God can see into the depths of the heart and soul of every individual. He can see things that we cannot see. He makes His choice based on things we do not see. We know that Samuel wanted to take Eliab, David’s older brother and anoint him as the next king in place of Saul. God said no. Six other sons of Jesse came before Samuel and God said no to all of them. It was not until David was brought before him, that God said yes. God knew the heart of those other 6 men. He knew they lacked what was necessary to be a good king.
The elect in our text were chosen through sanctification of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells the true child of God at the moment of salvation. He begins the work of setting that person apart from his past and from others who are not saved. The foundational principles of the mind and soul are changed at the moment of salvation. The saved person needs to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The saved person can grow and he is also motivated to grow. That is because the Holy Spirit indwells the true child of God. Those who profess to be saved but do not desire to grow, demonstrate that they are frauds.
Peter tells us that the elect are sanctified unto obedience. Obedience is not the means of “earning” salvation. Obedience is the fruit of salvation. The ungodly cannot obey God no matter how hard they try. Judas could not obey God. He was able to convince the other eleven disciples that he was one of them. However, Jesus knew he was a thief and he was a devil. He proved who he was when he went and hung himself rather than turn to God in repentance and true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The other disciples/apostles proved themselves to be true apostles because they obeyed God’s Word. The strangers in our text were reminded they were set apart to obey God.
This obedience is possible due to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ on the heart of the saint. Notice that this is the sprinkling of the blood. This is symbolic. We are not literally sprinkled with that blood. That blood is cannot be found anywhere on this earth. That blood cannot be substituted for water. Some false religions use “holy water” to sprinkle as a token of purifying. That is a human invention that robs those involved of God’s truth. The blood of Jesus Christ was shed once for all. It is He that sprinkles that blood on the saint at salvation.
Peter was further directed to pronounce grace unto the saints. This grace, as we have seen before is that help that the saints need to be able to walk faithfully with the Lord. The peace offered here is that peace with God first of all. The peace of God is only available to those who are saved. This grace and peace are not given out sparingly. They are to be multiplied in the hearts of the strangers, those who have been chosen by God and sanctified of the Spirit. We see that all three of the Godhead are involved here. The election is of God, the sanctification is of the Holy Spirit, and the sprinkling is of the blood of Jesus Christ. Salvation is a work of the Godhead. We are reminded again that we cannot reject the Godhead and be truly born again. That is a false religion. The truth is essential to the new birth. Those who are saved are in a unique group. They are drawn together by the Word of God and the Work of God in their hearts.
Pastor Bartel