1. 1 Peter 1:2 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is meant by “for obedience to Jesus Christ”?

1 Peter 1:2 (ESV)

2 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.

The result of the change worked by the Holy Spirit is that the persons the Father had chosen now obey Jesus Christ (in contrast to their former lifestyle devoted to their idols, 1 Peter 4:3). Jesus Christ had taught the law and will of God in a way no one else had (Matthew 7:29). Specifically, he had taught his disciples to serve the other, to the point of washing the other’s/enemies feet (John 13:14), and illustrated what he meant by going to the cross for the undeserving. It is this ready obedience to Jesus Christ that makes these persons strangers in their community, different, odd—misfits, like exiles.