describe their pagan past, while in Hosea these phrases describe God’s judgment on Israel for their disobedience. Peter’s digression ends abruptly here. This section has continued the exhortations that began at 1:13 and ends with digressions on the various responses to the preaching of the gospel: Some reject the precious living Stone (Christ), while others believe. This group of believers has become the church—in Paul’s terms, the “true Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16). At 2:11, Peter begins a new section.