A 'Need to Know'

 1 Peter 1:1  A "faith of equal standing with ours" is a huge leveling platform that is of inestimable worth.

It could easily have been assumed that Jesus' disciples would have advantage, after all they received 1st hand teaching from him. They were chosen to be his first representatives. But the remainder of the verse qualifies the first half.  God does not save us based on a score sheet, or a litmus test, but we are saved on the basis of God's righteousness and Jesus saving power.  The score sheet is useless because  as Isaiah says (64:6) all our good deeds are like polluted rags. The  Litmus test is useless because, again, salvation is not based in our qualification, but in God's mercy. Jesus' story of the religious man and the man society despised (Luke 18:9-14) indicates God's acceptance of the despised guy was not because of his boasting, but his cry for God to be merciful to him a sinner.

That helps us understand the kind of righteousness of God that is expressed by Peter in our equal salvation.  God does not make his judgments or assessment of someone's worth based on what we see, but in how he sees.  The salvation that comes by faith is based in the redeeming work of Jesus at the cross. He died in our place and rose for our justification.   Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. Salvation is available to all sinners who cry to God for mercy.