To Peter were committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:19); and he writes specially to Jewish believers ("sojourners of the dispersion--v.1, New Trans.); for it was to Israel that the kingdom had been promised. And though the kingdom will not come in its great glory until the nation itself receives Christ at the end of the tribulation, yet today the kingdom is in a "Mystery" called the kingdom of heaven,--its headquarters in heaven, where Christ awaits the Day of His manifested glory. Peter's ministry then deals with the government of the Father in administering this kingdom, which is the sphere of Christian profession in the world today; and he stresses the spiritual and moral responsibilities of believers as subject to such government. Of course, we have a yet more blessed relationship than this, as members of the body of Christ, the church; but Paul writes of this, not Peter, who was specially the apostle to the Jews.