1 Peter 2:10 10Once you were not a people, but now a people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now have received mercy.
The church today is mostly made of people who were not part of the covenantal people of God in the Old Testament. The vast majority of the earliest believers were Jews from Judea and Galilee. In obedience to Jesus’ command in Acts 1:8, as prompted by the Holy Spirit, with the instigation of persecution, the early believers shared their testimony with Gentiles, with the church in Antioch being a prime example (Acts 11:19-21). The recipients of this letter were some of those who heard the testimony and believed in the good news about Jesus. Some of them could have been Jews and others were Gentiles. Both Jews and Gentiles had to come to God in faith. Jews were the people of God not by ethnicity but by faith. No one is saved through name or ethnicity.
Faith in Jesus creates a new people with a new identity. This people are built on Israel in the Old Testament but with the new foundation of Jesus Christ. This foundation was predicted in the Hebrew Scriptures and showed the need for salvation through him (Romans 16:25). The new people of God were created through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. The cross is how we receive and experience the mercy of God. Jesus has broken down the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles and created a new people (Ephesians 2:13-16). It is only in Christ that we can experience all that God has designed us for. Peter’s statement in this verse echoes Hosea 1:9 and 2:1, which refer to God’s great mercy to sinful Israel. Just as Gomer had fled Hosea, Israel and fled God. But in God’s great mercy, God has offered forgiveness and restoration to Israel and extended this mercy to all people, no matter what ethnicity, background, economic or social status, or past sins (1 Peter 1:3). God’s mercy is offered to everyone who comes believing in the promises made in Jesus Christ.