The Letters of Peter – The New Testament In Its World – Notes

Simon bar-Jonah was one of the front rank of leaders in the early church. Jesus nicknamed him ‘rock’ (Aramaic Kêpā; Greek transliteration Cēphas; Greek translation Petros), from which we get the name ‘Peter’. Simon Peter was a fisherman from Bethsaida whom Jesus called to be his follower and fellow-worker. Not only was he one of the Twelve; he, along with the brothers James and John, was part of Jesus’ inner circle. It was Peter who made the dramatic pronouncement that Jesus was the Messiah. It was also Peter, notoriously, who denied Jesus in the high priest’s hall. However, he became a key witness to Jesus’ resurrection, not least through a personal meeting with the risen Jesus in which he was restored to his position of leadership.

The early chapters of Acts display Peter as a key leader in the early church, working in Judea and Samaria. Luke links him with the early stages of the gentile ‘breakthrough’. At the Jerusalem council, Peter became an advocate for gentile inclusion without male circumcision as practised in Antioch—despite his temporary lapse in Antioch itself.

According to tradition, Peter eventually journeyed to Rome, perhaps travelling via Corinth. The Roman churches were probably founded by Jewish Christians very early on, and Peter gravitated towards them as a possible mission-field. It was during the late 50s or early 60s that Peter probably wrote 1 Peter from Rome (that is, ‘Babylon’) to churches in Asia Minor. Tradition, once more, has it that Peter was martyred during Nero’s pogrom against Christians. It may have been shortly after that that John Mark wrote a gospel based largely on Petrine reminiscences.

Peter is remembered in Christian tradition as a fisherman who became a fisher of men and women, an apostle, a martyr, saint, and even the first pope. His memory is woven into the gospels, Acts, and the two epistles bearing his name, as well as into various apocryphal writings like the Gospel of Peter, the Preaching of Peter, the Acts of Peter, and the Apocalypse of Peter. An entire Petrine hagiography developed around his legacy. In the end, Peter can be lauded for his role as a successful organizer of the early churches, a mission strategist to Jews and gentiles, and a bridge-builder among factional divides.

CONTEXTUAL AND CRITICAL MATTERS

Many suppose the life-setting of the epistle to reflect a later period when Christians had spread into northern Asia Minor and believers were undergoing persecution like that under Domitian (AD 81–96) or Trajan (AD 98–117). Some have seen this letter not as the literary production of an early founder of the church, but as a post-70 pseudepigraphical writing which was attempting to universalize Peter’s memory and turn him into a generic apostle with Pauline traits. At most, say some, the letter is the product of a ‘Petrine school’ that attempted to offer a ‘fitting tribute to the quality, character, and content of what Peter was remembered as teaching and preaching’.

However, we should not too quickly assume that 1 Peter is pseudepigraphical. To begin with, we should not underestimate Peter’s facility in Greek. He grew up in Bethsaida, a Greek-speaking territory with a gentile majority. He spent a considerable amount of time in the Jewish Diaspora. In any case, as we have observed elsewhere, Greek was at least the second language of most males right across the old imperial lands of Alexander the Great. For Peter to be able to write good Greek is no more remarkable than for someone brought up speaking Arabic in the Gulf States to be able to write good English. In any case, while the Greek style of 1 Peter is proficient, it is hardly highbrow. Some have suggested that the syntax exhibits signs of bilingual influence from a person whose first language was semitic rather than Greek. Moreover, if Silvanus acted as Peter’s scribe or secretary (as well as carrying the letter), then maybe he could have edited or refined Peter’s expression. There are too many variables here to be on secure ground.

In fact, in musical terms, 1 Peter is hardly a Pauline cover, but more like a collection that incorporates several theological, intertextual, and ethical motifs that were current in various wings of the Christian church. The letter displays signs of the Jesus-tradition, as well as a residue of traditional materials. There are even plot similarities between 1 Peter, James, and Hebrews. As for the life-setting of 1 Peter, nothing here requires a post-70 date. The persecutions appear to consist mostly of social ostracism, not imperial suppression or official persecution. The readers seem to be facing the same kind of localized and periodic harassment that we see described in Acts, Paul’s letters, and Hebrews.

In the end, we surmise that Petrine authorship cannot be proven but remains entirely plausible. If so, we do not have to treat 1 Peter as a petrified tradition looking for apostolic legitimation by artificially borrowing a famous name. We are free to hear in the letter the authentic testimony of Peter himself.

Date of 1 Peter
Irenaeus made explicit citations of 1 Peter in the 180s AD.30 Polycarp echoed 1 Peter in his letter to the Philippians dated perhaps around 120 to 140 AD. 31 Even earlier, Papias’s testimony to 1 Peter (as recorded by Eusebius) may date as early as 110, though it might be a bit later. Some would even suggest influence from 1 Peter on 1 Clement, which would take us into the 90s, but this is less certain. If 1 Peter is pseudepigraphical, then a date around AD 80–110 is most likely. However, if the letter derives from the historical Peter himself, as we are proposing, then any time from the late 50s to the early 60s AD would do. The letter would then be written in the vicinity of Rome (referred to in the letter as ‘Babylon’) on the eve of Nero’s persecution.

Audience of 1 Peter
The letter is addressed to churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, which together encompass parts of western, northern, and central Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). We know a little (through Paul and Acts) of how Christianity came to the Roman province of Asia and the region of southern Galatia, but we do not know when the other regions mentioned first heard the gospel. Perhaps Jewish pilgrims visiting Jerusalem for the Pentecost of Acts 2 joined the Jesus-movement and took their new faith back to Asia Minor. We also know that the emperor Claudius (AD 41–54) established Roman colonies in all five of the regions mentioned in 1 Peter 1.1. It is quite possible that Jewish émigrés from Rome were settled there, or perhaps fled there after Claudius’s expulsion of Jewish Christians in AD 49.

Are the intended readers Jewish or gentile or both? In favour of a Jewish audience is the description of the believers (reminiscent of Jas. 1.1) as ‘foreigners’ and ‘exiles’, making it sound as though they were part of the Jewish Diaspora.

The motifs of election and holiness climax with the designation of the audience as ‘a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession’. The audience is also explicitly contrasted with the ‘Gentiles’. If Peter was the apostle to the ‘circumcision’, then this is exactly who we would expect his letter to be addressed to. Readers from Eusebius to Calvin have agreed: 1 Peter is addressed to a Jewish audience.

Others, however, have thought a gentile (or at least mixed) audience is intended. They point out remarks about the ‘evil desires’ the readers had during a time of ‘ignorance’, how they have left the ‘empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors’, mentioning a time when ‘you were not a people’, who were called ‘out of darkness’, who had been ‘like sheep going astray,’ and how they formerly ‘spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do.’

But, equally, we should remember that Paul sees gentile converts as having been grafted into the renewed people of Israel, and can address them in language very similar to that of the ostensibly ‘Jewish’ designations noted above. Perhaps it is best to remain agnostic on this question.

Asia Minor

Are the intended readers Jewish or gentile or both? In favour of a Jewish audience is the description of the believers (reminiscent of Jas. 1.1) as ‘foreigners’ and ‘exiles’, making it sound as though they were part of the Jewish Diaspora.37 It might then make sense to detect further signs of their Jewish identity in the scriptural designations of the audience as ‘Sarah’s children’,38 God’s ‘elect’,39 people called to the covenantal vocation of holiness.40 The motifs of election and holiness climax with the designation of the audience as ‘a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession’.41 The audience is also explicitly contrasted with the ‘Gentiles’.42 If Peter was the apostle to the ‘circumcision’, then this is exactly who we would expect his letter to be addressed to.43 Readers from Eusebius to Calvin have agreed: 1 Peter is addressed to a Jewish audience.44

Others, however, have thought a gentile (or at least mixed) audience is intended.45 They point out remarks about the ‘evil desires’ the readers had during a time of ‘ignorance’, how they have left the ‘empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors’, mentioning a time when ‘you were not a people’, who were called ‘out of darkness’, who had been ‘like sheep going astray,’ and how they formerly ‘spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do.’ All this would better describe a gentile audience.46 It is true that such language reminds us of fairly typical intra-Jewish prophetic rebukes, treating Israelites as if they were pagans. But, equally, we should remember that Paul sees gentile converts as having been grafted into the renewed people of Israel, and can address them in language very similar to that of the ostensibly ‘Jewish’ designations noted above.47 Perhaps it is best to remain agnostic on this question.

Genre and purpose of 1 Peter

In terms of genre, 1 Peter is much like James: it is a Diaspora letter with a mixture of exhortation and consolation. It was written to exhort Christians in Asia Minor to maintain their faith in the midst of social scorn, shaming, slander, and stigma. They do not appear to be facing organized persecution, sponsored officially by this or that city-state. Their adversaries are more likely local groups who have come to regard Christians as dangerous social deviants and are pressuring them, verbally and perhaps physically, to return to the normal web of socio-religious relationships and cultural and religious practices that characterized the city and/or province. .

We remind ourselves once more that in the ancient world those who abstained from worshipping the local gods were suspected of wishing trouble upon their city or region. Peter encourages the believers to hold fast, stressing the divine verdict about their identity: they may be disparaged by their neighbours, but in God’s eyes they are precious, royal, and holy.

They enjoy the promises given in Israel’s sacred history. They have experienced a new birth, purification, and redemption. They look forward to a future salvation with an imperishable inheritance. Peter further urges his readers to give outsiders no reason for malice; they should rest in their baptized identity as ‘Christians’. Jesus died for them, leaving them an example: the letter’s emphatic christology, supported by carefully crafted citations of and allusions to the Old Testament, underlies the entire appeal. One may legitimately regard the letter as a kind of christological exposition of Isaiah, Psalms, and Proverbs, applying scripture to a Christian audience facing severe hardships.

THE ARGUMENT OF 1 PETER

1. Letter opening (1.1–2)
   The letter begins with Peter identifying himself as an ‘apostle of Jesus Christ’ and addressing his letter to God’s ‘elect exiles’ scattered among the provinces of ‘Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia’. We detect here a clear consciousness of the church as a ‘renewed Israel’. According to Johnson: This should not be construed as evidence for a later form of Christianity that was distanced both chronologically and theologically from its Jewish beginnings. Rather, it reveals what was inherent in early Christianity from the start: God was forming a new people through Christ and all those who believe—both Jew and Gentile—are God’s ‘chosen.’

The readers’ chosen nature is elaborated further as indebted to God’s foreknowledge, operative through the sanctifying work of the spirit. Their calling is to be obedient to Jesus, who has cleansed them with his blood sprinkled for them like a sacrificial offering.

2. God’s salvation in Jesus Christ (1.3—2.10)
   Peter launches into an encomium of praise to God the father and the lord Jesus Christ because divine mercy has resulted in new birth into a living hope. According to Miroslav Volf: ‘The new birth is neither a conversion to our authentic inner self nor a migration of the soul into a heavenly realm, but a translation of a person into the house of God erected in the midst of the world.’97 Believers experience new life through Jesus’ resurrection and have received an inheritance that cannot spoil because it is kept safe in ‘heaven’, God’s space, not in order that believers may then ‘go to heaven’ to experience it but in order that in due time it will be revealed, transformatively, on the earth. Knowing this, the audience can rejoice in the midst of trials, knowing that faith is their divinely empowered shield, tested and proved through adversity. Peter praises his readers’ faith: although they have not seen Jesus in person, they believe in him, they love him, and they are filled with joy about him. The result of such faith is the salvation promised by the prophets, who pointed ahead to the Messiah’s sufferings and glory even though they never quite knew when or how this event would transpire (1.3–12).

Peter addresses the letter’s recipients with a series of ethical exhortations that follow on from the value of their faith and the certainty of their hope. They should be ready, literally, to ‘gird up the loins of your mind’ and ‘be fully sober’. Negatively, they must resist the evil desires that characterized them when they lived in ignorance. Positively, they are to be holy in all they do because the one who called them is himself holy (1 Pet. 1.13–16).

We could easily regard 1 Peter 1.17–21 as a synopsis of New Testament teaching:

God as Father, as impartial judge, redemption through the blood of Christ, Christ as sacrificial lamb, Christ as preexistent, Christians living in the last days, resurrection and exaltation of Christ by God, God as the one in whom Christians place their trust and hope.

The members of the audience, though ‘foreigners’ (Greek paroikia), must live in reverent fear, as is fitting for those for whom Christ died a redemptive and sacrificial death. They must trust in God through him, and wait for the fulfilment of their hope when he is revealed.

Attention shifts to the responsibility of the community members towards one another. They have been purified by obeying the word of truth. This leads to a moral renewal, where they can exhibit heartfelt and sincere love for one another. The source of their new birth is the living and enduring word of God, which contrasts with the transitory and fleeting nature of human life (1.22–25).

According to Achtemeier: The contrast between what is transitory and what is permanent . . . would be highly appropriate for a beleaguered community of Christians facing what gave every appearance of being the permanent, even eternal, power and glory of the Roman Empire. In such a situation, the announcement that the glitter, pomp, and power of the Roman culture was as grass when compared to God’s eternal word spoken in Jesus Christ, available through the gospel preached to and accepted by the Christians of Asia Minor, would give them courage to hold fast to the latter while rejecting the former.

Peter urges his readers to rid themselves of the many vices that interfere with their capacity to love one another. Since they are new babes, they need pure milk, God’s holy word, which nourishes them into salvation. They have tasted this salvation and therefore know that the ‘Lord is good’ (2.1–3).

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL THE MATERIAL ON THIS POST IS TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT IN ITS WORLD: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians
N. T. Wright (Author) , Michael F. Bird (Author), Zondervan SPCK, 2019.