“Aliens & Strangers” I Peter 2:7-12

In this passage Peter begins to move his readers from the promise that they are “the elect”, chosen and loved by God, to the calling to be “aliens and strangers”, scattered in this world to continue the incarnational ministry of Jesus. In our discussion we talk about the contrast of how Christ was viewed and received, precious to some but rejected by others and that our lives will, even must, carry a similar contrast. As Paul wrote in II Corinthians 2:15-16, to some we are the smell of death and to others the aroma of life. We then move to tackling the purpose of being “chosen, royal, holy and special”. These adjectives do not describe us as we are but what we become in Christ, they describe Christ first and then apply to us as the ambassadors of Christ in a foreign land. Finally our discussion moves to Peter’s plea that we live like aliens and strangers by abstaining from the fleshly lusts that war against the soul. Peter was not warning his readers that they would be like pilgrims and strangers, he was begging them to lived like sojourners and aliens. His plea was that they, and now we, not allow ourselves to become a part of the world’s system, not to pledge our allegiance to a particular way of life, not to allow the culture of our society to become a part of our fabric, to live in it but not to allow it to work it’s way into our hearts. The discussion took a few turns and we did not get to verse 12 so we will pick up with verses 11 and 12 in our next study. We pray that this discussion will be both an encouragement and a challenge to you as the Lord confirms your standing as held firmly in His hands while being out of place in this world.