Those who follow my blog know that I’ve been systematically going through the New Testament in the order that the Holy Spirit revealed it to the church.
I started a few years ago, with the four foundational books – James, First Thessalonians, Galatians and Mark.
The next thing on the Holy Spirit’s agenda was to inspire books that dealt with our personal walk with the Lord. These books include Second Thessalonians, First and Second Corinthians, Romans, and Luke.
After that, the Lord gave us books dealing with our corporate walk. We need to understand life as a church. These epistles are Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.
In my last post, we finished Philemon. We’ll now transition to the next series of letters given to us by the Holy Spirit. They center around raising up mature Christian leadership.
These books are (in the the order they were revealed to the church): 1 Peter, Jude, 1 Timothy, Titus, Hebrews, Acts, 2 Peter, 2 Timothy, and Matthew.
So, today we’ll begin with Peter’s first letter to the church.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia…
1 Peter 1:1-2 NIV
This is Peter’s opening statement. He’s not writing to one particular church or person. This is an open letter to the church at large.
However, there are some important things to see in this sentence that usually get overlooked. As a matter of fact, you may not like some of the things I’m about to say. So please keep an open mind and allow the Word of God to speak to you.
As one of the original 12 apostles, Peter was tasked with making sure the foundation of Christianity was solid. That was a very important role in the early church.
As I said in the beginning of this post, this is where the Holy Spirit makes a transition to the training of church leadership. That’s abundantly evident from Peter’s opening statement.
He clearly says that He’s writing to God’s elect. One of the problems with modern preaching and teaching is the idea that every book in the Bible is written to and about every believer. That’s just not the case.
This word, elect, is important for us to understand. It literally means that Peter is writing to those who are chosen.
Of course, if you listen to many modern preachers, they’ll tell you that we’re all chosen. That’s not what Jesus taught.
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Matthew 22:14 NKJV
We are all called to serve in a ministry and to lead others. However, there’s a training and maturing process that we have to go through to be chosen for that place of service.
Unfortunately, in much of the church these days this truth is glossed over. We equate calling with choosing.
Actually, there’s a great difference between calling and choosing. As we continue through these books of leadership, this will become more and more clear to you.
Question: How have you seen the difference between calling and choosing in your life?
© 2025 Nick Zaccardi
The Spirit and the Word 