Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Peter 2:10

"who in time past were no people, but now are the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." — 1 Peter 2:10 (ASV)

Peter closes this section with another free use of the OT—this time the words of Hosea (Hosea 1:6, 9–10; 2:23). In their original context they describe God’s rejection of disobedient Israel, followed by future restoration to grace. Here Peter applies them to the salvation that has come to the Asian Christians. Once they were “not a people [GK 3295]”—the special word used for Israel); now they are “the people of God.”