To start the year, we are studying Peter’s first letter by beginning with I Peter 1:1-2. In each section, we will see how he describes the people of God. In his greeting, Peter calls Christians “elect exiles,” which is a curious expression that mixes something positive (elect, chosen, selected) with something negative (exiles, driven out, rejected). As it turns out, God’s election makes his people exiles in this world, and Peter reminds us that it is our call to live our lives as those who are in the world but not of the world.
Because God had fulfilled one of his promises to Abraham by making his descendants a great nation, the next announcement of the Covenant of...
Two parables directed against the religious leaders indicated why they would lose their management of the kingdom, and why others would take their place.
In the final of the seven letters in Revelation 3:14-22, Jesus addressed the church in Laodicea, which had no redeeming qualities. He described the...