1 Peter 1:1–2: chosen by God: the basis, means, and purpose of election

It is appropriate that we begin our discussion of salvation in 1 Peter with an exegesis of those passages that treat the subject of election, since it is chronologically the beginning of God’s personal dealing with believers in grace. As such, election represents the first step in God’s sovereign and gracious plan in bringing salvation to believers. Our discussion of Petrine soteriology thus begins in eternity past with God’s sovereign and eternal election of some to salvation (1:1–2; 2:4–10) and of others to damnation (2:8).

The significance that Peter attaches to the concept of election is signalled from the very outset of the letter by this declaration of his readers’ status as ‘elect’ (by God) cast in a proto-Trinitarian framework ‘that presupposes the divine actions that generate the elect community of believers: God’s choice, the Spirit’s sanctifying acts, and Christ’s giving his life’s blood’. This carefully structured elaboration of the believer’s election along with the emphatic position occupied by the word ἐκλεκτός signals Peter’s concern with theological identity rather than geographical locality. The term ‘elect’ itself identifies believers in terms of their relationship to God, the community of believers, the historic community of Israel, and society around them. As such, the note of election struck at the beginning echoes right throughout the letter. As Schrenk observes, ‘1 Peter is the only NT work in which ἐκλεκτός has from the very outset thematic significance. Here everything is worked out in terms of this controlling concept.’