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The Upper Register

Introduction to First Peter

Authorship: Peter

Section titled “Authorship: Peter”

  1. Arguments for Petrine authorship.

    1. The claim of the text:
      1. “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ” (1:1).
      2. “I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ” (5:1).
    2. Reference to “Mark, my son” (5:13). Tradition says Mark was Peter’s interpreter.
    3. The title in the early manuscripts: “The First Epistle of Peter.”
    4. Eusebius says 1 Peter was one of the undisputed books.

  2. Arguments against Petrine authorship and responses.

    1. Paul’s failure to mention Peter, who (according to ecclesiastical tradition) was in Rome around the same time.
      1. Response: Peter may have come to Rome after Paul’s release and been martyred before Paul’s second imprisonment.
    2. Letter addressed to Gentile Christians, but Peter had agreed to preach the gospel to the Jews and Paul to the Gentiles.
      1. Response: The ethnic division wasn’t absolute. Paul did preach to Jews.
    3. Advanced church order: elders (5:1-5).
      1. Response: Churches had elders from the beginning; elders are not a late development.
    4. If by Peter, he would have referred to the historical Jesus.
      1. Response: Peter does in 2 Pet 1:16-18; no necessity to do it in every letter.
    5. OT quotations are from the LXX.
      1. Response: This is to be expected in a letter addressed to a Greek-speaking audience.
    6. The Greek style is too good for a fisherman from Galilee.
      1. Response: Peter certainly used a secretary, as was customary; someone like Silvanus (5:12) or Mark (5:13).

Date

Section titled “Date”

  1. Date is linked closely to the issue of authorship and place of writing.

  2. Late date: early second century.

    1. Scholars who hold a late date do so because they aren’t convinced of Petrine authorship.
    2. They also take the Pliny-Trajan correspondence (c. 110) as describing the persecution that is in view.

  3. Early date: AD 62-63.

    1. If we are convinced of Petrine authorship, the early date is required, since Peter perished in the persecution of Nero in AD 64-65.
    2. A date before AD 62 is unlikely, since Peter did not arrive in Rome until then.

Place of writing

Section titled “Place of writing”
  1. 5:13: “She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings.”
  2. “Babylon” is code for “Rome” (cp. Rev 18).
  3. “She who is at Babylon” = the church (ἐκκλησία) in Rome.

Addressees and Occasion

Section titled “Addressees and Occasion”

  1. They are Gentile Christians, former pagans.

    1. 1:14: “Your former ignorance.”
    2. 1:18: “The futile ways inherited from your forefathers.”
    3. 2:10: “Once you were not a people.”

  2. They are located in Asia Minor.

    1. 1:1: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (cp. James 1:1).
    2. These were all of the Roman provinces of Asia Minor, except Lycia and Cilicia in the south.
    3. “The Dispersion” (diaspora)
      1. Not used in the sense of James 1:1, Jewish Christian diaspora.
      2. Refers rather to their spiritual location as pilgrims on the way to the heavenly promised land.
      3. Diaspora in a spiritual sense: “To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion” (1 Pet 1:1), clearly referring to Gentile Christians.
      4. It is as exiles of the diaspora, away from their heavenly homeland, that they “encounter trials of various kinds” (1:2).
      5. Christians as exiles (Heb 11:13; 13:14; Jas 1:1; 1 Pet 1:1, 17; 2:11).

  3. They are clearly suffering some kind of persecution.

    1. Words for “suffering” in 1 Peter.
      1. Παθήματα = “sufferings” (4x)
      2. Πάσχω = “suffer” (12x)
    2. 1:6: They are now being “grieved by various trials.”
    3. 2:12: The Gentiles are speaking against them as “evildoers.”
    4. 2:19: “This is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.”
    5. 2:21-23: The example of Jesus in suffering unjustly: “When he suffered, he did not threaten.”
    6. 3:13-17: They are “suffering for righteousness’ sake” and are being slandered and reviled.
    7. 4:4: The Gentiles “malign” them for not joining in their debauchery.
    8. 4:12-19: “Do not be surprised at the fiery trial … If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed.”
    9. 5:10: “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

  4. Defining the nature of the persecution

    1. Probably not yet official, world-wide persecution of Christians by the Roman government.
      1. More general hostility, discrimination, and slander.
      2. The Pliny-Trajan correspondence was from a later time (ca. 110), but it does shed light on the pagan persecution of Christians in Asia Minor.
    2. Why were these Christians being persecuted?
      1. For refusing to participate in worship of pagan gods.
      2. For refusing to participate in pagan immorality and debauchery (4:4).
      3. Their church meetings aroused suspicion.

Outline

Section titled “Outline”

  1. 1:1-2: Letter Opening

  2. 1:3–5:11: Letter Body

    1. 1:3–2:12: Basic theological framework
      1. 1:3-13: Born again to a living hope
      2. 1:14-25: Called to holiness
      3. 2:1-12: Living as the new people of God
    2. 2:13–3:8: Submission to authority
      1. 2:13-17: Submission to the civil authorities
      2. 2:18-25: Submission of slaves to masters
      3. 3:1-7: Submission of wives to husbands
      4. 3:8: Unity in the church
    3. 3:9–4:6: Dealing with unjust suffering
      1. 3:9-12: Don’t repay evil for evil
      2. 3:13-17: Prepared to make a defense
      3. 3:18-22: The victory of Christ
      4. 4:1-6: Dead to the flesh
    4. 4:7-11: Love and gifts in the church
    5. 4:12-19: Suffering as a Christian
    6. 5:1-5: Exhortation to elders
    7. 5:6-11: Concluding exhortation

  3. 5:12-14: Letter Closing

Main thrust of First Peter

Section titled “Main thrust of First Peter”

This letter is a Christ-centered pastoral encouragement to Christians who are being persecuted for their faith.

  1. Peter exhorts them to remain steadfast in their faith and live righteously before our adversaries.

  2. His basic argument is the eschatology of the gospel:

    1. They have been redeemed by Christ’s blood and, through Christ’s resurrection, they have been born again to a living hope, that is, to inherit heaven.
    2. As heirs of heaven they can rejoice in the midst of their sufferings and live in a godly and respectful way, since they have a heavenly hope that no enemy (human or demonic) can take away from them.

  3. “Resident aliens of the dispersion” - “These terms give us the key to Peter’s whole letter” (Clowney).

  4. “Since they are citizens of heaven, and have another country to which they are going, they are strangers, transients in the world in which they live. In relation to their homeland, they are the Diaspora; in relation to their place of residence, they are aliens. They carry another passport; they are on pilgrimage to the city of God” (Clowney).

  5. Even though we presently feel like aliens, by faith we know we have an eternal home “kept in heaven” (1:4).

  6. Peter is writing this letter from “Babylon,” so he feels this alienation himself.