Our identity in Christ – 1 Peter 2:9-10 Submitted by Kay Crumley
Have you ever suffered from an identity crisis? Have there been times when you wonder who you are or what your purpose is? For many of us there may have been a time in your teen years when you didn’t know what or who you wanted to be when you grew up. For some, the time after their children have ‘flown the nest’ they may wonder if they may have a new identity other than the parent of their children. These are not uncommon feelings and can cause some temporary anxiety. However, those of us who are believers have assurance as to who we are in scripture. 1 Peter 2:9-10 gives us a list of who we are because we have the Holy Spirit living in us.
1 Peter 2: 9-10 But you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his possession so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
We have our identity in Him as a chosen race. Jesus is the head of a new race of people. Perhaps our ethnicity should be listed Christian on those forms we have to complete. All ethnicity, cultural and physical differences are secondary to the greater category: We are children of God. As His children we are a royal priesthood, we have direct access to God the Father. Jesus is our intercessor; we don’t need a human intermediary to fellowship with Him. We are a Holy Nation, a people set apart with a passion to live to please God.
We are His possession. He has adopted us into His family, we belong to the family of God. One of my favorite verses that assures me of His hold on me is Isaiah 49:16 AMP “Indeed, I have inscribed [a picture of] you on the palms of My hands; Your city walls [Zion] are continually before Me.” God assured His children in the Old Testament that He has us ‘etched’ in the palm of His hand. Now, as His chosen race, His children, we are forever ‘tattooed’ in His hand. God knows what challenges we are facing because He is on guard watching the walls that surround us. Jesus confirms His commitment to us in John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Jesus gave up his place in heaven to obey the Father and come to earth so that we can be in His family. He came to us and will return on that final day for us. I also love the mental image I have when reading this verse and a new understanding of it from Kristi McLelland. Psalm 91:4 He will cover you with his feathers; you will take refuge under his wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield. Kristie uses the Jewish prayer shawl in her description of this scene try to picture mentally; God the Father has that long shawl draped over his head and shoulders holding the ends (the wings) of the shawl in His hands slightly bent forward as He sees us in distress, He lifts His arms covering you under the wings of the shawl to faithfully protect you within His care. We can and must take refuge in Him. Isn’t that beautiful? Or you may envision a hen with her chicks, maybe an eagle protecting its nest. He is a shield of protection to those who take refuge in Him.
The result of being His possession with all the benefits of being a member of His chosen race, His royal priesthood, and His holy nation being held in His possession our only logical response is to bring Him Praise! We are not special because of who we are but because of the One to Whom we belong.
We have been brought out of darkness into His marvelous light, Hallelujah! We have received His mercy. We must live a life devoted to pleasing Him in every area of our lives. As we know Him and love Him more intimately every day, we are transformed into becoming like Him. We are His ambassadors; we need to share His message to the world. We likely don’t need to wear a sandwich board proclaiming who we are because as we look more like Him, we become unique. Col 3:14 gives us a behavior that is certainly different from the world around us today – Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.
We can be confident in our identity because scripture provides a description of who we truly are. We are free to love in a way that only Christ followers can. That makes us different from the world, sets us apart. We are His chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and His possession.
