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.
The rejection of Jesus by many Israelites is God‘s plan for the salvation of the nations, and even of Israel itself.
In the dramatic concluding section, Galatians 6:11-18, Paul brought the whole message of the letter together by writing about boasting. He contrasted worldly religious...
These two psalms teach us to ask our soul why it is downcast and to answer it with the only hope in life and...