But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

1 Peter 2:9 KJV

I know what you’re thinking, “Of all the names you could have picked, Andrea, you went with peculiar?”

Yep, there are a lot of names that sound more positive or more empowering than “peculiar” – names like conqueror, daughter, son, joint heir with Christ – and I’m sure God will walk us through those in time, but for today, He’s parked me on “peculiar”.

In 1 Peter 2:9, God tells us that as believers, we are a peculiar people.

What does it mean to be peculiar?

The meaning that most of us know and use is “odd, strange, unusual”. Because of this meaning, most of us avoid saying or doing anything that would make someone call us peculiar. I mean, remember middle school? No one wanted to be the weird kid…and peculiar is just a nicer way of saying weird, isn’t it?

Not to God.

You see, there’s a second definition of peculiar and that definition is “particular, special”.

When we look at other versions of the Bible, we see that the word translated as “peculiar” in the King James Version is translated as:

• “special possession” – NIV
• “a people for his own possession” – CSB and ESV
• “His own special people” – NKJV

Sweet friend, God says that in Jesus, we are made His own special people! He has given us a particular place, a place in His Kingdom! We are peculiar because we are His special possession, bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ, our sin debt erased forever!

But, if I can go back to that first definition for a minute…

I think it’s worth noting that because we are God’s special possession, His very own people, to the world, we should appear to be odd, strange, or unusual.

We should live our lives so very differently from the rest of the world that the world considers us to be unusual – not the usual way of talking, of dressing, of reacting to negative circumstances or even positive circumstances. We should be the last to honk our car horns in anger or toot our personal horns in pride. We should be the first to pick up the slack, to turn someone’s frown upside down, and straighten another’s crown.

1 Peter 2:9 tells us that as God’s peculiar people we are to show others how God has called us out from darkness and brought us into His marvelous light!

In a me, me, me society, giving God praise, proclaiming that He is the reason we have the blessings we have, the peace we have, the joy we have, that every good thing we have is because of Him and every bad thing we have overcome was overcome by Him – that is peculiar to the world indeed.

And so my beloved friend and reader, I say, let us embrace the name “peculiar” in both of its meanings. We are God’s own special people! We serve as a priesthood to our Risen Savior! And God has a particular place for us, an amazing place, Heaven! And let us also embrace being an odd people, a people who do not react in usual ways, a people who seem strange in a me, me, me society. A people who proclaim God’s name as Most High and lift each other up to new heights so that the world may see that God has brought us from the darkness of sin, shame, and selfishness and out into His marvelous light!

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