Exiles: A Study in 1 PeterSample

Have you ever felt like you were on the outside looking in? Have you ever felt like a stranger in a familiar place? Have you ever felt like you didn't belong with those around you? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then chances are you can resonate with the book of 1 Peter. Peter is writing to the gentiles (aka non-Jewish people) and he refers to them as "exiles." It's safe to say that at some point or another, you've probably felt like an exile too.

Throughout the book of 1 Peter, we see a group of Christians who were facing opposition and discrimination in the world around them. Sound familiar? Yeah, I'll bet it does. Welcome to the post-Christian world, where a majority of Christian beliefs are no longer the majority around the world. It's very easy for us to resonate with the exiles of 1 Peter. Throughout the rest of this study, our hope is that you would be reminded that even in what feels like exile, our home is found in Jesus Christ. It is this living hope that crafts an unshakeable new identity, and impacts the way we engage with one another and a society that pushes us away.

And it's true, we are exiles... a people permanently dislocated from their true Heavenly home until God intervenes. This tension is what Peter is addressing in the first two several verses of 1 Peter. Ultimately, he reminds us that our hope, our identity, and our faith is all founded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our salvation through this bloodshed. And in time, we will no longer be exiles... we will be home.