Chosen, Sanctified, Obedient, and Sprinkled with Blood

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.” (1 Peter 1:1-2, ESV)

Let’s be real: How many of us really read those introductions to the various letters in the Bible? 

Do we read them with the intent to get something out of it, or do we gloss over them and jump right into the thick of it?

I always try, and I mean really try, to break those opening sentences down. I admit, it can be really hard to do, mostly because they can be long, run-on sentences, and truthfully, most of them say the same thing: Grace and peace be with you. It’s always something along those lines.

But in all honesty, they are just as rich and teachable as the rest of the letter is. In this letter, Peter is writing to believers that have been scattered to different parts of the world, acknowledging them as “those who are elect.”

That’s a word with a lot of controversy in the Church when it comes to the Bible: Elect. Because if there are those who are elect, then the insinuation of that is that there are some who are not. But that’s not to say that Peter is writing to just the special few that God has chosen to save and has abandoned the rest of humanity. The next part sheds a little more light on Peter’s addressing this letter to the “elect exiles” in those ancient regions. 

Peter’s very next point is that this group of elect exiles were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. In other words, these chosen recipients were called according to God’s omniscience. Here’s why the word “elect” makes some Christians uncomfy: Because often, we are taught conflicting messages from the pulpit or from our families. We are taught that God calls us all and that we have been given the right to choose or deny eternal salvation, which then would negate the idea of an elect, or a chosen people who follow Christ.

But if we believe that– if we really believe that we have the ability to choose heaven or hell, life with God or life without– then doesn’t that go against the idea that God knows all, sees all, and wills all? If our answer of acceptance or denial of salvation could possibly surprise God, then wouldn’t that assign us a divine power that doesn’t, and really shouldn’t, belong to us? If we believe that God is omniscient– that He knew at the foundations of the world everything that would come to be including the cross, the empty grave, and everything before or since– then wouldn’t that mean that God would be able to reach through time to this very moment you are alive, and know that you either walk by faith as a reborn, regenerate believer, or not?

Wouldn’t that insinuate that you are chosen? Elect? Willed by God to be here and now, reading these words, and see Him for the glorious, all-powerful, all-knowing God that He is? He foreknew it! 

And the awesome thing is that Peter, in just a few words, succinctly summarizes the salvation we get to enjoy. Because according to the foreknowledge of the Father, we are saved and live by the sanctity given to us by the Holy Spirit, in obedience with what Jesus came to teach us in His time here on earth. You see, God doesn’t just call us to Himself and save us. He also gives us assurances of our own salvation so that we can live at peace securely in the fact that no one and nothing can pluck us from God’s hand.

Sanctification is another word for being set aside, being made holy for a special purpose within the kingdom of Heaven. Obedience being our compliance to live in a way that follows the words that Jesus gave for us to live by– our submission to His authority. The beautiful thing is: sanctification and the desire to obey God doesn’t proceed salvation. They are both the product of being redeemed by God and saved from our sin. What it means is that we cannot work our way to holiness or restoration with God. We cannot act good and pure, kind and gentle, and hope that’s enough to please God and get into Heaven. 

Indeed, Peter writes that God foreknew our salvation, which would sanctify us by His Holy Spirit and give us a new mind and heart that would desire to live in submission and obedience to scripture and how was that made possible? By the sprinkling of Jesus’ blood on the cross. Why? Because you and I cannot hope to save ourselves on our own means of purification or willingness to obey. We cannot hope to please God, draw near to Him, or be saved without Jesus’ sacrifice. We cannot bust down the doors of heaven for ourselves, friends. We need the blood of Jesus to make a way for us, atone for our sins before the Father, and purify us. 

In the Old Testament, the sprinkling of a blood sacrifice is mandatory to establish covenants, to ordain priests in the Temple, and to purify and cleanse a leper. Jesus is that final and perfect sacrifice that eradicated our need for animal sacrifices like those in the Old Testament. And Jesus’ blood does the same for us: it made a new covenant for us to be made clean and pure to approach God as His chosen people. Without that blood, we would still have to resort to archaic practices in order to draw near to God. 

But Jesus’ blood on the cross changed all that. Through that sprinkled blood, we are cleansed of our sins the way a leper was made clean by the healing touch of Jesus. That sin, which is just as deadly as any harrowing disease, is forgiven by His finished work on the cross. His blood gives us a new way to be saved and raised to a new station as sons and daughters of the Most High God. That adoption changes our hearts and renews our minds in a way where we want to live a life where we are not just accepted, but a life that glorifies Him. In that, we desire to live by the words that Jesus taught. We rejoice to live a life that makes us set apart to do His will, because what good did our will, our way ever get us? 

None of that precedes the blood being poured out for us, God’s chosen and elect people, who He knew even before mankind’s fall from grace. In fact, it all flows out of the absolute love of God that He would die for us to be made clean by that blood. And because we have that, we have grace– a grace extended to not just the Jews, but the Gentiles as well– and peace, a peace that comes with spiritual security and assurance of the salvation that the Father set us apart to have.

And that grace and peace is abundant, no matter what foreign land you find yourself an exile in. It might sound crazy, but we can rejoice in the fact that we were not made for here, and that there is a God who holds us in the palm of His hand, securely and intimately.