1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
The church is to "declare his praises..."
The phrase "declare the praises of him” means to advertise. The church should advertise His greatness, His glory, His grace.
In commenting on I Peter 2:9, Warren Wiersbe said, "We are the people of God. In our unsaved condition we were not God's people; because we belonged to Satan and the world (Eph. 2:1-3,11-19). Now that we have trusted Christ, we are a part of God's People. We are a "people of His own special possession," because He has purchased us with the blood of His Son Acts 20:28, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.”
All of these privileges carry with them one big responsibility: revealing the praises of God to a lost world. The phrase “declare the praises of him” means "to tell out, to advertise." Because the world is "in the dark," people do not know the "excellencies" of God; but they should see them in our lives.
Each citizen of heaven is a living "advertisement" for the virtues of God and the blessings of the Christian life. Our lives should radiate the "wonderful light" into which God has graciously called us.