Michiana Covenant Presbyterian Church

[Sung Psalm: 66] The English Standard Version says: "To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, etc., according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." Every previous translation has separated the idea of election from the idea of exile. All previous translations give you the sense that you are elect in spite of the fact that you are an exile–or a sojourner–or a stranger. They suggest that your sojourning or exile is something incidental to your election. The key point is that you are elect, and for now you are also an exile or sojourner. But that is not what Peter is saying. And it's not a question of the Greek being complicated. Peter is saying that it is precisely in your exile that you are elect. Your election and your exile–your sojourning–are bound up together. In other words, it is of the very character of the elect that they are exiles or sojourners. It is probably worth noting that all these translations – from the King James through the 20th century – were translations from the stan