by Steve Wolfgang<\/p>\n
As part of my morning devotional, a recent reading was “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia<\/em>” (I Peter 1:1 ESV).<\/p>\n I am fascinated by the geography of the opening verse. It prevents me from blitzing through in order to get to “more important” things.<\/p>\n Find a map. Nearly every print Bible has them, and with good reason. Digital versions offer even greater possibilities.<\/p>\n\n Have you ever wondered why the Spirit would forbid Paul to preach the word in these regions, as we saw in Acts 16:6-10? Why send him on to Europe when souls much closer needed saving in Asia Minor?<\/p>\n Paying attention to often-overlooked details, we can also recall from reading through Romans (Romans 15:18-21 in particular) that Paul’s defense of his role as an “apostle to Gentiles<\/em>” was that he was called to preach where Christ had not been named, “lest I should build on another’s foundation.<\/em>” Here’s our clue: Since Peter evidently already had a relationship with those in Bithynia and neighboring provinces, Paul was instructed to seek opportunities elsewhere.<\/p>\n Peter attends to those in these regions, reminding them, and us today, to “set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’<\/em>” (I Peter 1:13-16).<\/p>\n What opportunities will God provide for me, and you, to speak a good word for the Lord today? Tomorrow? Are we prepared to share the hope and grace given us by revelation which dispels our former ignorance? And is our conduct holy, reflecting the One who called us?<\/p>\n “This word is the good news that was preached to you<\/em>” (I Peter 1:25).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Steve Wolfgang As part of my morning devotional, a recent reading was “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (I Peter 1:1 ESV). I am fascinated by the geography of the opening verse. It prevents me from blitzing through…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[223,944,118,559],"class_list":["post-38014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-geography","tag-i-peter","tag-paul","tag-peter"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24605,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-paul-say-sinai-was-in-arabia\/","url_meta":{"origin":38014,"position":0},"title":"Why did Paul say Sinai was in Arabia?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a great admirer of your well-studied responses. I wanted to ask about a comment from the question; \"Could Israel crossed the Red Sea on the eastern side of the Sinai Peninsula?\" In your response, you said, \"Typically people wish to claim that Mount Sinai was on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44729,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-meant-by-the-ignorant-and-unstable-would-twist-scriptures-to-their-own-destruction\/","url_meta":{"origin":38014,"position":1},"title":"What is meant by the ignorant and unstable would twist Scriptures to their own destruction?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What was Peter talking about in II Peter 3:16 when he said that the ignorant and unstable would twist scriptures to their destruction? Answer: \"And consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation--as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38105,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-peter-in-rome\/","url_meta":{"origin":38014,"position":2},"title":"Was Peter in Rome?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was Peter in Rome? Answer: The supposition that Peter was in Rome is based on \"She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son\" (I Peter 5:13). Babylon is used as a representation of a city given over to sensuality and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69774,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dead-and-raised\/","url_meta":{"origin":38014,"position":3},"title":"Dead and Raised","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Paul describes our pre-conversion state as \"dead in trespasses and sin\" (Ephesians 2:1). We walked like others in the world, but we were spiritually dead toward God. But from our dead state, He \"made us alive together with Christ\" (Ephesians 2:5). We were \"raised up together\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86240,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-peter-be-in-rome\/","url_meta":{"origin":38014,"position":4},"title":"How could Peter be in Rome?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read from many early Church fathers that Peter was in Rome and preached in Rome. Still, in Galatians 2:7-9 at the Jerusalem Council, the agreement is made that Peter would only go to the Jews, not the Gentiles, so Peter would be breaking that agreement if he went\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5264,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-baptism-only-for-the-jews\/","url_meta":{"origin":38014,"position":5},"title":"Was baptism only for the Jews?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In our Bible class tonight with some Dispensational friends I brought up I Corinthians 6:11, about them being washed and sanctified. Our friend said that had nothing to do with baptism, but that the blood of Jesus cleansed and washed us not water from baptism. I mentioned I Peter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}