This is part 4 of a 5-part blog series. In the previous blogs, we explored 1Peter 1:1-2, particularly the possibility of discovering what event or state of being happened or exists that was “according to the foreknowledge of God.” Our goal has been to discover the grammatical object of the verb “foreknow’ and to answer the question “What or Who is it that God “foreknew?” in 1Peter 1:1-2.
1Peter 1:1-2 reads as follows…
“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.”
We have already explored the idea that Peter’s use of the word “elect/chosen” is synonymous with the “Jewish nation” as a whole, as God’s chosen people. We have also already seen that there is a good case to assume that Peter is using the double dative noun phrase “elect exiles” as co-referents, to refer to the historical developments of the Jewish nation being dispersed and living as foreigners in foreign lands through the centuries. This idea of co-referents, meaning that both words, “elect” and “exiles” are combined into one whole idea with both parts having significant meaning to the identity of the whole, identify one identity, not multiples as the Jewish nation.
So, to consider the original recipients of this letter as Jewish people, as a group, not just individual Jewish people, would make even more sense when we consider that Peter was designated as “the apostle to the Jews”. Paul illuminates Peter’s status as such in his letter to the Galatian church…
“For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:7-8)
Paul’s reference to “the circumcised” is universally understood to be a reference to the Jewish nation. So, Paul refers to Peter as the “apostle to the Jews.” This is even more clear as Paul compares Peter to himself. As Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles, so is Peter the “apostle to the Jews.”
We also see, later, in that same letter, that the cause of Peter’s “hypocrisy’ was his very close identification and association of himself with the Jews, the uncircumcised. (Galatians 2:11-13)
So, Peter begins his letter designating himself as an “apostle.” The natural assumption is that the reader of Peter’s times would assume that Peter is the “apostle to the Jews.” And one might also have the tendency to think the reason he identifies himself as such, is that he wants to communicate his new (since becoming a follower of Jesus) special apostolic role to his readers. And what that possibly communicates is that his readers are most probably Jewish.
It is possible that Peter could have identified himself by his old profession, as “Peter, the fisherman,” or even the very distinct role given to him by Jesus himself, as “Peter, the Fisher of Men.” Why didn’t he? Peter possibly decides however, in both his letters, to identify himself as an “apostle,” presumably meaning “apostle to the Jews.” This distinction, if purposeful, might be helpful here in understanding to whom Peter is writing and could be the object of the phrase “according to the foreknowledge of God.”
If so, then Peter is or became an apostle “according to the foreknowledge of God,” i.e., God foreknew Peter would become an apostle, and therefore, the translation would read,
“I Peter, am an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the foreknowledge of God. I am writing this letter to those who are elect exiles living in the diaspora areas Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia …”
If so, then is it a stretch to propose that Peter’s identity as the “apostle to the Jews” lies behind his usage of “elect” + “exiles”, as a double dative coreferential construction or even the trifecta construction of “elect” + “exiles” + “diaspora”, to refer to the Jewish nation, thus bolstering even further the identification of his readers as Jewish.
So now, since we have demonstrated that it is possible to understand that Peter identified himself as “apostle” because he was given the title, “apostle to the Jews,” can we then assume Peter has a reason for doing so. If so, then not only does the trifecta, referring to the Jews, become more prominent, but the greater trifecta + Peter’s apostleship rises to the greatest of prominence in tying the entire paragraph together, with Peter the “apostle to the Jews” writing his letter to Jewish “elect” + “exiles” + “of the diaspora.”
Is all this evidence in the first two verses a coincidence or did Peter intentionally power-pack his letter with Old Testament references pregnant with great meaning giving birth to the identity of his readers?
If all this is true, we can conclude that Peter as “apostle to the Jews” is writing to the “dispersedelectexiles” “according to the foreknowledge of God.”
Is this whole idea beginning to sound like a meticulously calculated plan? Did God know all about all of this ahead of time? Is this what Peter is trying to communicate? All this happened “according to the foreknowledge of God?”
Only as we move through the letter, will we be able to gather evidence to test in favor or against this proposition.
In the next blog, we will complete this series by connecting all the prepositions in 1 Peter 1:1-2 to further bolster the proposition that God had a meticulously calculated plan, and that God knew all about His plan ahead of time. Connecting these prepositions will also suggest that Peter is purposely trying to communicate this plan of God to his readers because all of it has happened "according to the foreknowledge of God?”
“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.”