1 Peter 2:9

But ye are a chosen generation The glories that attach to the company of believers in Christ are brought before us in a mosaic of Old Testament phraseology. The "chosen generation" comes from Isaiah 43:20, the "royal priesthood" from the LXX. of Exodus 19:6, where the English version has more accurately "a kingdom of priests." We note the recurrence of the thought in Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:10. The same passage supplies the "holy nation."

a peculiar people This somewhat singular word calls for a special note. The English translators appear to have used the term in its strictly etymological and almost forensic sense. The people of Christ, like Israel of old, were thought of as the special peculium, the possession, or property, of God. The adjective, however, has acquired in common usage so different a meaning that it would be better to translate the words, a people for a special possession. The noun or the cognate verb is found in the LXX. of the "specialpeople" of Deuteronomy 7:6, in the "jewels" of Malachi 3:17. The context shews however that Isaiah 43:21 was most prominently in the Apostle's thoughts, "This people have I formed for myself (or, gained as a possession for myself); they shall shew forth my praise." In Ephesians 1:14 the noun is rendered by "purchased possession," in 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:14, by "obtaining," in Hebrews 10:39 by "saving." The primary idea of the Greek verb is that of acquiring for oneself by purchase or otherwise, and the noun accordingly denotes either the act of acquiring or that which is so acquired. Cranmer's Bible gives "a people which are won:" the Rhemish Version "a people of purchase."

that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you The word for "praises" is that commonly used by Greek ethical writers for "virtue," and is so rendered in Philippians 4:8 and 2Pe 1:3; 2 Peter 1:5. St Peter's choice of the term was determined apparently, as intimated in the preceding note, by its use in the LXX. of Isaiah 43:21. Here, since the associations of the word in English hardly allow us to speak of the "virtues" of God, "excellences" would perhaps be a more adequate rendering: the Greek word, though connected both by Greek ethical writers (Aristot. Eth. Nicom. iii. 1) and by St Paul (Philippians 4:8) with the thought of praise, cannot well itself have that meaning. The almost uniform reference, throughout the New Testament, of the act of calling to the Father, justifies the conclusion that St Peter so thinks of it here.

Darkness is, of course, the natural symbol for man's ignorance of God (comp. John 8:12; Acts 26:18; Ephesians 5:8-13; Romans 13:12), as light is for the true knowledge of Him. The epithet "marvellous," or wonderful, as applied to that light is peculiar to St Peter. Looking to the stress laid on the glory of the Transfiguration in 2 Peter 1:16-18, we may, perhaps, see in this passage the impression which had been made upon him by what he had then seen of the "marvellous light" of the Eternal. Into that light, of which what he had seen was but the outward symbol, not he only but all who believed in Christ had now been called.