The word "elect" as used in Scripture simply means "chosen." Throughout the Bible chosen is the intimate term most often used to speak of those whom God loves [see Ezekiel 16:4-14 as one of many Old Testament examples]. The passage I've alluded to is a word picture of Israel becoming God's chosen through His electing love. Although born helpless and vulnerable they were given life through God's selecting love. The term elect is meant to encourage us as the church as well. It is to remind the people of God of His great love for them. And it should not be a term to be waved in front of those who have yet to know God.
Remember that the term elect, in all its grandeur, was given in the Old Testament to the entire household of Israel. Unfortunately, history shows that Israel began to presume upon God's good grace. As special recipients of His love, they believed they would always know His goodness. Over time their familiarity with God worked against them. They felt they were entitled to the good life even when their affections for God declined. Presumptuous sin became the unfortunate companion of God's elect. During the days of the kings, they turned away from God and forfeited the glory of His approval. As a result, the great nation was carried off into exile; in other words, they were dispersed by God. In 1 Peter 1:1 we see the term "exiles of the dispersion" now for the first time joined to the term elect.
Israel knew something of lost glory. They knew, all too well, that the term elect does at times stand beside the phrase exiles of the dispersion -- beloved by God, yet seemingly left alone in the world. In Peter's letter, he does not hesitate to place these terms alongside one another to identify his readers. How strange. One would have thought that putting these words together would be like mixing oil with water. Yet for Peter, it is no trouble at all.
Yet there is one major difference in the way Peter uses the terms. As his letter unfolds, it becomes clear to us that he believes his readers to be exiles of a different sort. Their exilic identity has nothing to do with Israel's sin -- or their own. Their exilic state is not the result of their disobedience to God. In fact, all the evidence in the letter demonstrates that they were living faithful and fruitful lives in obedience to Christ [see 1:2]. For Peter then the phrase elect exiles of the dispersion depicts the normative state of any follower of Jesus, so long as he or she remains in this world.
In this sense, Peter's early readers were not so very different from you and me. They were men and women who had come into relationship with God through faith in Christ and as such remained on the outside of everything in this world. C.S. Lewis stated that the normative condition of the Christian as elect exiles in this way: "At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendors we see. But all of the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in."
In Christ we are God's chosen, His elect in all the earth. And yet we are living our lives out in a complex and often confusing context. We are capable of waking up each morning with joy in our souls and going to bed dejected in spirit. Many Christians today have trouble sorting out these complexities in their identities in Christ. They have been raised to believe that a Christian should only experience the joys of being in God's elect. They have been taught nothing of our exilic state. With three simple words in the opening of this letter, Peter gives us the biblical corrective. We are "the elect exiles of the dispersion." So take heart. Be encouraged. We are those who are chosen by God AND called to live in this world. As we read further, we see Peter's desire is for us to both experience God's grace and to know His peace. But also know that we won't ever fully know all that this can truly mean until we are finally home.
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