Aliens and Exiles
The Meaning of Christian Identity in 1 Peter
Regular readers of my Substack newsletter know that I am interested in the question of what it means to be a Christian living in a post-Christian secular society. To that end, I believe the New Testament writing of 1 Peter has something to say about this interest of mine. So I have began a four-week preaching series with the Newark Church of Christ called Aliens and Exiles that explores the writing of 1 Peter with an eye toward how Christians ought to live in the United States. Although I am not posting the manuscripts of my sermons,1 I do want to share some of the teaching here.
Though you are a Christian, you probably did not wake up this morning and think of yourself as an alien or exile. I certainly didn’t. Yet the New Testament writing of 1 Peter uses those precise words to describe the Christians dispersed throughout the land of what was then Asia Minor.
The writing of 1 Peter is addressed “To the exiles of the Dispersion…” (1:1).2 Then,, in the second chapter, is where Peter refers to the Christians as “aliens and exiles” (2:11). Other English translations say “immigrants and strangers” (CEB), “sojourners and exiles” (ESV), and “foreigners and exiles” (NIV). However, although it is purely anecdotal, I prefer the language of aliens and exiles because that is likely the most unsettling to Christians living in my context of the United States.
The language of aliens and exiles likely evokes images of political refugees and people illegally crossing the border. That’s not exactly what Peter has in mind, but he is talking about a displaced people within the world. This is important for the context we live in because in this world, whether the context is Asia Minor, the United States, or elsewhere, to be a Christian is to live as a displaced people in the world. As people following Jesus Christ, part of our story is living as aliens and exiles in this world. So we need to sit with the language of aliens and exiles, contemplating what that means for the way we live as followers of Jesus in the world.
We have to accept the reality of our baptism. It doesn’t matter where we were physically born or what nation we are legal citizens of, we are aliens and exiles because God has given us a new birth. Back in the first chapter, Peter says that God “has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1:3).3 So our baptism matters because through this new birth God centers us in the hope that is in Christ and orients us toward the future of our hope. This is more clear when we read 1 Peter 1:3-5…
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
The focus in this passaage is not just on what God has done in giving us this new birth or what God is doing by preserving and guarding our inheritance. The focus is centered in Christ and oriented towards the future, the salvation that will be revealed in the second-coming of Christ.
If we think about the image of birth for a moment then perhaps we can see that the metaphor is more than just what happened in the past. Those of us who are parents were elated with joy at the birth of our children. But we also know that our children are not meant to remain babies, rather they are meant to grow up into mature adulthood so they can live the life they have been born to live.4 There’s a future hope that automatically comes attached to the birth of a baby.
What Peter is getting at is that we have been born into this living hope for a future, except that future is not for the old world but the new world to come — the new creation God is bringing about in Christ. Therefore, what God has done in our baptism is set us on a new trajectory, one that is very particular. Peter refers to this trajectoryas salvation, which God will bring to complete fulfillment in the the eschaton.
So by giving us this new birth into a living hope, God has made us a community of people who are on an entirely new trajectory that’s different from every other trajectory in the world. Our trajectory in Christ is different from every other religious trajectory, political trajectory, social trajectory, and so forth. That’s why we’re aliens and exiles; because we’ve been baptized into Christ—born into a living hope. If we want to be the church living on mission with God, then we must come to terms with our identity as aliens and exiles in a manner than translates into living as aliens and exiles in the world.
Over the next few weeks I’ll explore further what is means to live as aliens and exiles in the world. 1 Peter has much instruction on this matter that is both encouraging and challenging. So thanks for reading and stay tuned in to explore more about what it means to be Christians living as aliens and exiles in the world.
If you’re interested, my sermons are available on the Newark Church of Christ YouTube Channel.
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition Bible, copyright © 1989, 2021 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
The original readers would have naturally recalled their baptism upon hearing of this new birth and it is arguable that the entire letter of 1 Peter was originally a baptismal sermon, see G.R. Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New Testament, London: MacMillan, 1962, 251-258.
Peter H. Davids, The First Epistle of Peter, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990, 52, makes this important point.
The Holy Spirit allowed Moses 40 years in a personal wilderness of Midian to prepare him as a 40 year leader of a proto-nation in formation. My impression of the work of Watchman Nee was that in his old age he wished he had understood that (my words) congregations need to understand that they need to be intentional about training their members that they will be used individually, in groups, in manifold ways, to carry the good news of Jesus assassinated, ascended and authorized -- as the light of the nations. Every territory, tongue, and tribe must hear... both their princes on earth and in the celestials.
Love your stuff Rex.
I’ve taken a different tack on Aliens and Strangers--first, I agree with you, but I would expand it.
I’d suggest the recipients of this letter are not only metaphorically strangers, aliens, immigrants, but they are literally immigrants. This very region was the location of the expansion of Roman colonies by Claudius. Usually when a colony was created it meant an “expulsion” of Roman veterans (can’t have too many of them in the capital!). So they are sent to set up colonies in already established cities. Usually taking the places of local leaders. Of course, they’d need a host of support personnel--people selected from undesirable elements found in Rome (like Jewish Christians and freedmen).
These people would be resented because they would be taking jobs that belonged to natives of Pontus, Bythinia, etc.
If you are interested, here’s my take in a “conversation” during an assembly during CoVid...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7y1FQwJO_Y