I Pet.1:1,2

The sanctified, obedient and blood-sprinkled believers in Jesus Christ were considered "strangers" from the Jewish, Law-keeping point of view - but from God's point of view the Church - made up of both Jews and Gentiles - was in reality the very thing that God had foreknown from the beginning; the existence of the Church as the true people of God was the very plan that God Himself had elected from the beginning - a chosen plan based on His own grace and willingness to extend His peace.