1:1 Why does Peter refer to the people he is writing to here as "strangers" (KJV, NIV)?
1:1 Why does Peter refer to the people he is writing to here as "strangers" (KJV, NIV)?
Strangers in this context refers to temporary residents as aliens in a foreign place.
Peter uses the word here metaphorically of believers to whom heaven is their own country.
They are merely pilgrims and sojourners in the places where they reside on earth (cp1 Pe 2:11 with Gen 23:4; Psa 39:12; He 11:13).
The believers in 1 Pe 1:1 were scattered abroad as a result of the persecution of the early church in Jerusalem (cp Jas 1:1 with Ac 8:1-4).