Elect exiles

I love the way the apostles started their letters. I used to just skip over the intros, but if you pay attention, there's a lot there.

Look at how Peter starts 1 Peter: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you."

When I read that this morning, I was struck by two things. First, he addresses Christians in these far-flung places as "elect exiles of the dispersion." The dispersion, of course, was that displacement of Christian Jews when they fled Israel under persecution. These displaced persons, rebuilding their lives in far-away places, Peter calls "elect exiles." He could just mean elect in exile, but it sounds like he may mean elected to be exiled. That isn't a bad reading, because the dispersion was God's way of quickly spreading the Gospel and growing the early church.

The second thing that hit me about this introduction supports that viewpoint, and that's Peter's description of the involvement of the Trinity. Peter says these elect were dispersed according to the foreknowledge of God, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for the obedience of Jesus and for the sprinkling of his blood.

In other words, these Jews were far from home because God planned it that way. They were sent out in obedience to Jesus' call to go into the world and spread the gospel. And they were equipped, and were continually becoming better equipped, by the Holy Spirit.

You probably see it already: that's a great definition of us. Elect exiles, here on earth to do Jesus' work of spreading the Gospel, guided by the Spirit, according to God's great plan of salvation. We're just the latest in a long line of faithful followers stretching all the way back to places we've never heard of.