Holy, separated, set apart — the Bible uses words that can wrongly evoke elitism, as if the Christian were placed apart in order to be above. That is not at all what Peter says. You are not set apart in order to be above, but in order to be sent.
A royal priesthood: you bring something of the divine to those you meet. A chosen race: not to be envied, but to serve. A holy nation: to let others taste what you have yourself received. To be a Christian is not to distinguish oneself; it is to be destined for something else — and it is in this destination that one finds one’s place.
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
1 Peter 2:9