1 Peter 2:10

Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Which in time past were not a people.—Here at last, say some, we have a distinct proof that the Epistle was written to the Gentiles only, or, at least, to churches which contained a very small proportion of Jews. Such, however, is by no means the case; in fact, the opposite. We have here an emphasised adaptation of Hosea 2:23, “And I will have mercy upon Lo-ruhamah, and I will say to Lo-ammi, ‘Thou art Animi,’ i.e., My people.” Now who were Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi? Types of Israel left unpitied, and rejected from their covenant with God. And this unpitied and rejected Israel, after being “scattered,” or sown, all over the earth, was to be restored again to favour, together with the increment of the Gentiles who joined, it as the result of the “sowing.” St. Peter means, then, that in his Hebrew readers and the brethren from among the Gentiles, who by the gospel of St. Paul had adhered to them, this promise given by Hosea had found its fulfilment. But, as usual, the quotation demands a more searching scrutiny of the context from which it is taken. The name Diaspora, or Dispersion, by which St. Peter, in 1Peter 1:1, designates those to whom he writes, was applied to themselves by the Jews in direct allusion (as seems probable) to the name Jezreel, or God will scatter, in Hosea 1:4. Now mark that St. Peter does not say “which in time past were not God’s people,” but “were not a people.” This was the effect of the dispersion, or “scattering.” Though each Jew of the dispersion retained, and still retains, in isolation, his national characteristics and aspirations, yet their unity—that which made them a “people”—was, and is, for the time broken. The Hebrews had not only ceased to be in covenant as “God’s people,” but had ceased to be “a people” at all. But in Christ, that very “scattering” becomes a “sowing” (Hosea 2:23), for the name Jezreel means both equally; their very dispersion becomes the means of their multiplication by union with the Gentiles in Christ, and thus spiritually they recover the lost unity, and become once more a solid and well-governed confederation, i.e., “a people,” and that “the people of God.” (See John 11:52, and Dr. Pusey’s notes on Hosea.) It is a mistake to take St. Paul’s quotation of this passage in Romans 9:26, as if it referred solely to the Gentiles; for he expressly affirms that the title “My people” belongs to neither section exclusively, but to both in reunion—“us whom He called, not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-10 Evil-speaking is a sign of malice and guile in the heart; and hinders our profiting by the word of God. A new life needs suitable food. Infants desire milk, and make the best endeavours for it which they are able to do; such must be a Christian's desires after the word of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ is very merciful to us miserable sinners; and he has a fulness of grace. But even the best of God's servants, in this life, have only a taste of the consolations of God. Christ is called a Stone, to teach his servants that he is their protection and security, the foundation on which they are built. He is precious in the excellence of his nature, the dignity of his office, and the glory of his services. All true believers are a holy priesthood; sacred to God, serviceable to others, endowed with heavenly gifts and graces. But the most spiritual sacrifices of the best in prayer and praise are not acceptable, except through Jesus Christ. Christ is the chief Corner-stone, that unites the whole number of believers into one everlasting temple, and bears the weight of the whole fabric. Elected, or chosen, for a foundation that is everlasting. Precious beyond compare, by all that can give worth. To be built on Christ means, to believe in him; but in this many deceive themselves, they consider not what it is, nor the necessity of it, to partake of the salvation he has wrought. Though the frame of the world were falling to pieces, that man who is built on this foundation may hear it without fear. He shall not be confounded. The believing soul makes haste to Christ, but it never finds cause to hasten from him. All true Christians are a chosen generation; they make one family, a people distinct from the world: of another spirit, principle, and practice; which they could never be, if they were not chosen in Christ to be such, and sanctified by his Spirit. Their first state is a state of gross darkness, but they are called out of darkness into a state of joy, pleasure, and prosperity; that they should show forth the praises of the Lord by their profession of his truth, and their good conduct. How vast their obligations to Him who has made them his people, and has shown mercy to them! To be without this mercy is a woful state, though a man have all worldly enjoyments. And there is nothing that so kindly works repentance, as right thoughts of the mercy and love of God. Let us not dare to abuse and affront the free grace of God, if we mean to be saved by it; but let all who would be found among those who obtain mercy, walk as his people.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Which in time past were not a people - That is, who formerly were not regarded as the people of God. There is an allusion here to the passage in Hosea 2:23, "And I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." It is, however, a mere allusion, such as one makes who uses the language of another to express his ideas, without meaning to say that both refer to the same subject. In Hosea, the passage refers evidently to the reception of one portion of the Israelites into favor after their rejection; in Peter, it refers mainly to those who had been Gentiles, and who had never been recognized as the people of God. The language of the prophet would exactly express his idea, and he therefore uses it without intending to say that this was its original application. See it explained in the notes at Romans 9:25. Compare the notes at Ephesians 2:11-12.

Which had not obtained mercy - That is, who had been living unpardoned, having no knowledge of the way by which sinners might be forgiven, and no evidence that your sins were forgiven. They were then in the condition of the whole pagan world, and they had not then been acquainted with the glorious method by which God forgives iniquity.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. Adapted from Ho 1:9, 10; 2:23. Peter plainly confirms Paul, who quotes the passage as implying the call of the Gentiles to become spiritually that which Israel had been literally, "the people of God." Primarily, the prophecy refers to literal Israel, hereafter to be fully that which in their best days they were only partially, God's people.

not obtained mercy—literally, "who were men not compassionated." Implying that it was God's pure mercy, not their merits, which made the blessed change in their state; a thought which ought to kindle their lively gratitude, to be shown with their life, as well as their lips.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Which in time past were not a people; either, were not a people, i.e. a formed state, or commonwealth, being dispersed in several countries, among other people, and not worth the name of a people: or, were not the people of God, (supplying God out of the opposite clause), since he had given them a bill of divorce, and said Lo-ammi and Lo-ruhamah to them, Hosea 1:1-11. These were the Jews of the dispersion, and such as had not returned out of the Babylonish captivity, together with many of other tribes mixed with them, who, before their conversion to Christ, seemed cut off from the body of that people, had no solemn worship of God among them, and were tainted with the corruptions of the heathen, with whom they conversed.

But are now the people of God; really God’s people, restored to their old covenant state and church privileges, by their believing in Christ.

Which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy; the mercy of being God’s people, and enjoying their privileges, being justified, at peace with God, &c. Lest they might any way abuse what he had said in the former verse concerning their great dignity and privileges, so as to ascribe any thing to themselves, the apostle intimates here, that all they enjoyed was merely out of God’s mercy.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Which in time were not a people,.... A "Loammi" being put upon them; see Hosea 1:9 to which the apostle here refers: God's elect, whether among Jews or Gentiles, were, from eternity, his chosen people, and his covenant people; and, as such, were given to Christ, and they became his people, and his care and charge; and he saved them by his obedience, sufferings, and death, and redeemed them to himself, a peculiar people: but then, before conversion, they are not a people formed by God for himself, and his praise; nor Christ's willing people, either to be saved by him, or to serve him; nor are they, nor can they be truly known by themselves, or others, to be the people of God: the Syriac version gives the true sense of the phrase, by rendering it "these who before were not" "reckoned or accounted a people"; that is, by others:

but are now the people of God; being regenerated, called, and sanctified, they are avouched by God to be his people; they have the witness of the Spirit to their spirits, that they are the people of God; they can then claim their relation to God, and are known, acknowledged, and called the people of God, by others:

which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy; being called formerly, Loruhamah, Hosea 1:6 which passages the apostle has in view: before conversion there is mercy in God's heart towards his elect, and so there is in the covenant of grace, and which was shown in the provision of his Son, as a Saviour, in the mission of him, and redemption by him; but this is not manifested to them, until they are begotten again, according to abundant mercy, and then they obtain mercy; having in their regeneration an evident display of the mercy of God towards them, and an application of his pardoning grace and mercy, through the blood of his Son, unto them.

Geneva Study Bible

Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Peter 2:10. A reference to Hosea 2:23, linking itself on to the end of the preceding verse, in which the former and present conditions of the readers are contrasted. This difference the verse emphasizes by means of a simple antithesis. The passage in Hosea runs: וְרִחַמְתִּי אֶת־לֹא רֻחָמָה וְאָמַרְתִּי לְלֹא־עַמִּי עַמִּי־אַתָּה, LXX.: ἀγαπήσω τὴν οὐκ ἠγαπημένην καὶ ἐρῶ τῷ οὐ λαῷ μου· λαός μου εἶ σύ (the Cod. Alex. and the Ed. Aldina have at the commencement the additional words: ἐλεήσω τὴν οὐκ ἠλεημένην).

οἱ ποτὲ οὐ λαός] Grotius, Steiger, Weiss incorrectly supply: Θεοῦ. λαός is here used absolutely (Bengel: ne populus quidem, nedum Dei populus). οὐ belongs not to ἦτε to be supplied, but is closely connected with λαός, equivalent to “no-people.” In like manner οὐκ ἠλεημένοι as equal to “not-obtained mercy.” “The meaning is not that they once were not what they now are, but that they were the opposite of it” (Wiesinger). But οὐ … λαός is a people who, in their separation from God, are without that unity of life in which alone they can be considered by Him as a people; or, more simply, who do not serve God who is the true King of every people; cf. Deuteronomy 32:21, and Keil in loc. De Wette is hardly satisfactory: “they were not a people, inasmuch as they were without the principle of all true nationality, the real knowledge of God,” etc.; now they are a people, even a people of God, inasmuch as they not only serve God, but are received also by God into community of life with Himself.

οἱ οὐκ ἠλεημένοι, νῦν δὲ ἐλεηθέντες] The part. perf. denotes their former and ended condition. Standing as it does here not as a verb, but as a substantive, like οὐ … λαός, it cannot be taken as a plusquam-perf. part. (in opposition to Hofmann). The aorist part. points, on the other hand, to the fact of pardon having been extended: “once not in possession of mercy, but now having become partakers of it” (Winer, p. 322[130] [E. T. 431]).

[130] In the original passage these words apply to Israel; but from this it does not follow that Peter writes to Jewish-Christians. For if Paul—as he clearly does—applies the passage (Romans 9:25) to the calling of the heathen, then Peter surely, with equal right, could use it with reference to the heathen converts. They had been, in its full sense, that which God says to Israel: לֹא־עַמִּי; and they had become that to which He would again make Israel, His people. It must be observed, however, that God in that passage addresses Israel as לֹא־עַמִּי only because it had forsaken Him and given itself up to the worship of Baal, and consequently incurred punishment. Apart from this, Israel had always remained the people of God.—If only Jewish converts were meant here, then Peter would assume that they in their Judaism had been idolaters, which is absolutely impossible, or at least Peter must then have said why they, who as Israelites were the people of God, could not in their former state be regarded as such. Accordingly, οὐ λαός is here in no way applicable to Israel, but only to the heathen; and it is not (as Weiss maintains, p. 119) purely arbitrary to apply the passage, in opposition to its original sense, to heathen Christians. Whilst Brückner says only that the words cannot serve to prove the readers to have been Jews formerly, Wiesinger rightly and most decidedly denies the possibility of applying them to Jewish converts; so, too, Schott.—Weiss’s assertion is by no means justified by his insisting (die Petr. Frage, p. 626) that nothing tenable has been brought forward against it.

Expositor's Greek Testament

1 Peter 2:10, from Hosea 1:6; Hosea 2:1(3); cf. Romans 9:25 (has καλέσω κάλεσον of Hos.); the terms are so familiar that μου is omitted by Peter as unnecessary (cf. γένος ἐκ. for τὸ γ. μου ἐ.).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. Which in time past were not a people] The reference is to the children of Gomer, with their strange ill-omened names, Lo-Ammi and Lo-Ruhamah (Hosea 1:2.): but it may be a question whether the citation is made directly from the prophet, or is traceable to St Paul’s use of it in Romans 9:25. In favour of the former view is the fact that St Peter quotes it (1) in a different form from St Paul’s, giving “had not obtained mercy” for “not beloved,” following in this the text of the Alexandrian MS. of the LXX., and (2) in a different application, St Paul referring it to the calling of the Gentiles, while he applies it to that of Israel. Some interpreters, indeed, have seen in this passage also a proof that St Peter was writing to Gentile converts or thinking of them chiefly, but it may well be urged against this view that if the history of the prophet’s adulterous wife had been to him a parable of the sin and repentance of Israel, it might well be so to the Apostle also. Had not his Master spoken of the people as “an evil and adulterous generation” (Matthew 12:39)? Had not his friend St James addressed them as “adulterers and adulteresses” (James 4:4)?

Bengel's Gnomen

1 Peter 2:10. Οἱ ποτὲ, who in time past) See Romans 9:25, note; and with “in time past,” comp. presently after, “ye were,” 1 Peter 2:25. The quotation from Hosea is a kind of enigma. In Hosea, if taken literally, it has reference to the Jews; for, according to the context, as an axiom it is only applied to a particular subject (hypothesis[16]); but there may be a more general question (thesis) in the mind of the speaker, and then it may be applied to other subjects. I will call them My people, who were not (My) people, is applicable to Jews and Gentiles. Thus care is taken that the sense of the text may not necessarily appear to be twofold.—οὐ λαὸς, not a people) Romans 10:19, note: not even a people, much less the people of God. The former half of the verse has special reference to the Gentiles; the latter to the Jews. Concerning the latter, see Titus 3:4, and the context: concerning the former, Acts 15:14.

[16] Hypothesis is a particular definite question: thesis, where the subject of inquiry is general and unlimited. Cic. in Top.: Quæstionum duo sunt genera, alterum infinitum, alterum definitum; definitum est, quod ὑπόθεσιν Græci, nos causam; infinitum, quod θέσιν illi appellant, nos propositum possumus nominare.—T.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God. St. Peter quotes the prophecy of Hosea (Hosea 2:23), as St. Paul also does in Romans 9:25, 26. And as St. Paul applies the prophet's words (said originally of the Jews) to the Christian Church, to those called "not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles," so apparently does St. Peter here. They were not a people; "Ne populus quidem," says Bengel, "nedum Dei populus." It is the calling of God which gives a unity to the Church gathered out of all races and all lands, and makes it the people of God. Which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. The aorist participle, ἐεληθέντες, implies that that mercy had been obtained at a definite time, at their conversion. 1 Peter 2:10

Vincent's Word Studies

People (λαὸς)

See on 1 Peter 2:9, and note the choice of the term here. A people of God. Compare Romans 9:25, Romans 9:26.