Christian Identity in the First Letter of Peter: An Exegesis of 1 Peter 2:11

Abstract

The author of First Peter addresses his audience as ‘Resident aliens’ and ‘Sojourners’ and reminds them of their responsibility as a Christian minority in a hostile non-Christian society. The sense depicted by the author’s use of the two Greek adjectives paroikos and parepidēmos (2:11) is to be determined especially in the context of the adjective eklektos in 2:9. This work uses a historical critical method of exegesis to reveal that for the author of the First Letter of Peter, Christians have become ‘aliens’ and ‘strangers’ in the world they live because of their election by God. Election exposes Christians to a new way of life; this way of life sets them apart from others and makes them citizens of heaven rather than of the world in which they live. This eschatological reality of Christian existence therefore makes them unacceptable to the world and exposes them to rejections and alienation.

Keywords: Christianity, Election, Exegesis, Immigration, 1 Peter, Strangers.