First Letter of Peter, Chapter One

Much of what is written for this lesson is from John H. Elliott's book, 1 Peter, published by The Anchor  Yale Bible.

¹ Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ² chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Just a brief review of what Vicar Smith covered. … The reason 1 Peter is classified as a general or catholic letter is that it is addressed to a far wider expanse of communities than Paul’s letters. 1 Peter is addressed to four Roman provinces of Asia Minor. (See 1:1 and map.)

While the letter is ascribed to Peter, two others, Silvanus and Mark (5:12), were also important figures of the early Palestinian and Antioch phases of the “Jesus movement.” Their association with Rome indicates that this movement has already spread from the eastern to the western borders of the Mediterranean world.

Both senders and recipients shared commonalities because of Christ’s vicarious death. First, they experienced sin’s termination and a life of righteousness. Second, they shared membership in the household of God. (Peter used familial terms used freely, which is new in Christian literature. Paul used “household of God” and other familial terms, but not as liberally.)

The letter opens with an address to “the elect strangers of the Diaspora.” These are strangers in society, yet elected by God. Both terms signal the precarious social condition of the addressees in the midst of an alien, Gentile society. Dislocated from their actual place of origin and belonging, they are disenfranchised, and subject to the ignorance, slander, and hostility of the locals who are suspicious of their pedigrees, intentions and allegiances. Such was the perennial predicament of strangers in the ancient (xenophobic) world.

The Diaspora or the dispersion of Israelites beyond the borders of the Holy Land came about because of war, exile, forced dislocation or voluntary resettlement due to commerce and trade.

When Peter addresses members of the early Christian movement, he is writing to an alien people scattered in territories beyond the borders of the traditional homeland. They faced the perennial problem encountered by all displaced peoples: the maintenance of a distinctive communal identity, social cohesion, and commitment to group values, traditions, beliefs and norms in the face of constant pressures urging assimilation and conformity to the dominant values, standards and allegiances of the broader society. Judeans – so-called because of their allegiance to Judea and the Jerusalem Temple – could always be forced out of cities where they had taken up residency. This made the existence of Jews and Christians in the first century vulnerable. It is part of the reason why 1 Peter was written and later included in the Bible.

The expression “elect strangers” is paradoxical. On the one hand, it articulates the vulnerable condition and lowly status of “the brotherhood” in society. On the other hand, the same people are elevated to an elite status with God. “Elect strangers” share the same paradoxical condition with their Lord and Savior – vulnerable and lowly, yet elevated to an elected status. Peter conveys the idea that they share the same status with him (Peter) and their Lord in order to provide them with hope even in the face of suffering.

How did it happen that these followers of Jesus came to be qualified as an elect people? It was through the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying action. The Holy Spirit hallowed, purified, consecrated and set apart this community of people. The Holy Spirit marked this community as select and set apart from all other peoples. Following Christ’s example of obedience and submission to God’s will, which served as a model for Christians for the next 2,000 years, they sealed their deal through the sprinkling of Christ’s blood, that is, baptism. …

To close out verses 1-2, two major themes will be developed throughout the letter. First, the suffering of Christ including His shedding of His blood; and second, the fact that Christian election, holiness, and obedience to God in the face of innocent suffering are rooted in the election, holiness and obedience of Christ.

Before I move on to the next section, let me compare this opening to an opening of … Pheme Perkins … How important would such a letter be from a man like Peter?

Verses 3-12  “A Living Hope”

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and to an inheritance, which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God’s power are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, ⁷ so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸ Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. ⁹ As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰ The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired about this salvation; ¹¹ they inquired what person or time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them when predicting the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things which have now been announced to you by those who preached the good news to you through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

A point I learned in preaching in the Lutheran Church is that it is traditional to open and close each sermon with prayer. This stems from the practice of early Christian writings – as we read in Paul and other letters – that open and close with praise and thanks for benefits received.  The body of 1 Peter opens as it closes – on a note of blessing and praise. It also provides the foundation for the moral exhortation (how Christians are to live) that follows in the remainder of the letter.

The term “Father” in v. 3 expresses an intimate, familial relationship to both Jesus Christ and to the believing members of the Christian community. How does incorporation into the family of God occur? Baptism.

Baptism involves entry into a kinship-like relationship with God; and Peter is quite familiar with the practice of baptism in both Israelite practice and early Christianity. This baptismal theme – the theme of rebirth or new birth – permeates this section as a metaphor for the radical transformation of the believer’s relation to God, Jesus Christ, one another and society.

While the transformation of their relationship started with their baptism, the original source was God, the merciful Father (1:3), and His word (1:23), the good news about the Lord Jesus Christ (1:25) and his resurrection (1:3, 21). Like all newborns, these new Christians drew sustenance from the milk of the word (2:2-3). They also needed to break from their former way of life and its ungodly desires (1:17; 2:11; 4:2), loyalties (1:18; 4:3), and behavior (2:1; 4:15). They are now holy children of God (1:14-17), redeemed by the holy Christ (1:18-19), and children whose hope and trust are in God (1:21). … For the modern Christian, this begs the question of how you see your baptism as a new beginning and a break from your former life. It should cause us to ponder at what point in our lives our merciful Father profoundly changed us.

How does Peter say that God accomplished all this? Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Christ’s resurrection demonstrates God’s animating and saving power and the basis for hope and trust in God despite all adversity.

The readers of the original letter realize that they share in the inheritance that has been given to them by their merciful Father. This Christian inheritance, however, differs greatly from the territorial concept of inheritance that the Israelite would have had in mind, and it distinguishes Christians in four ways.

1.                The Christian focus of hope is no longer the reacquisition of the land (Israel) and the restoration of its political autonomy.

2.                Christians are not defined by land. It is a worldwide movement.

3.                The holy community supersedes the holy land.

4.                This inheritance cannot perish, be defiled or fade because – as verse 4 states, it will be “kept in the heavens for you.”

Think of what it means for strangers and resident aliens who would be ineligible to own land to receive this promise. … Even more promising is that the believers themselves will be kept and guarded by God the Father. This promise of protection and guarding is well known to the residents of these rural Roman provinces. They are military terms denoting the numerous forts that dotted the landscape used by their rulers to protect the countryside. … How are they kept safe? Peter continues, “through faith.”

A word about salvation. Salvation for the ancients meant that physicians, nobles, emperors, and the gods, including the God of Israel and Jesus, were credited by their grateful beneficiaries for their acts of deliverance or healing. The followers of Jesus credited Him for guarding them “through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” This separated them from the other Israelite factions living at the time – those who followed John the Baptist and other groups like the Essenes. This is why our ancestors were called Christian, because they credited Jesus Christ for delivering them from sin and evil and for healing them. So, salvation inaugurated by Jesus and His resurrection are a reality to which believers have access through faith and baptism. … In other words, these people were not with the earthly Jesus, but through faith and baptism they encountered the Risen Christ and were delivered from their sin.

Still, Peter reminds these particular readers that they will have to suffer. In fact, they are suffering. What does Peter mean by suffering? First, their suffering is not due to a catastrophe, sickness, or even random acts of violence, such as floods, earthquakes, tornados, cancer, AIDs, heart disease, a car accident or a stray bullet. His original readers are suffering affliction for the faith from hostile outsiders.

Peter reminds Christians that suffering is potentially part of the Christian experience. You may have to suffer, but it is not totally necessary that you will. God does not call you to suffer. God calls you to obey.

Second, suffering is not permanent. Suffering is “for a little while.” Finally, your suffering is a test to demonstrate that your faith is genuine. Such faith is more precious than gold.

In v. 10, Peter delves into the prophets who diligently investigated something to occur in the future. This was not the usual role of the prophet. The prophet lived in a particular time and place and under certain circumstances. Each spoke God’s word to God’s people concerning their behavior. Still, as Christians re-read the Scriptures in light of the Resurrection, they readily saw how the prophets pointed to Jesus the Christ. When he wrote this, Peter recalled the Suffering Servant Songs of Isaiah (ch 52-53). Therefore, this prophesied grace is intended specifically for the readers. They receive this divine favor because of their rebirth into the family of God.

Then, Peter unabashedly returns to the fundamental issue of suffering. Dealing with the issue head-on, he reminds his readers that the innocent suffering of Christians resulting from abuse by nonbelieving outsiders is linked to Christ’s sufferings.

If you boil down Peter’s gospel to one phrase, it would be verse 11: the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. The innocent, suffering Messiah who was then glorified is the model for his readers. Join your innocent sufferings to Christ’s and share in His glory.

Reinforcing this hopeful message to his readers, Peter returns attention to the prophets. They searched and served not for themselves, but “for you.” The prophets spoke God’s message not for their own benefit, but for believers. Now, how does that sound to 1^st century Christians living amidst abusive unbelievers?

In verse 12, Peter refers to earlier missionaries who evangelized this audience when he writes, “the things which have now been announced to you by those who preached the good news to you.” Although he does not mention them by name, we know from Acts 2 that men from Pontus and Cappadocia were present when he preached at Pentecost. Could it be that some of these men took the Gospel to these provinces?

Verses 13-21

¹³ Therefore gird up your minds, be sober, set your hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵ but as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; ¹⁶ since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” ¹⁷ And if you invoke as Father him who judges each one impartially according to his deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile. ¹⁸ You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰ He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you have confidence in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

This section ties together hope and holiness. The message of hope frames the call to holiness (diagram):

A.              Hope (v. 13)

B.               Holiness (vv. 14-16)

B.¹    Holiness (vv. 17-21b)

A.¹    Hope (v. 21c)

The phrase “gird up your minds” tells the readers that because Christ is returning, they are to do two things: 1) be mentally prepared for action (Contrast that with “your former ignorance.”); and 2) be morally responsible (“Be holy in your conduct.”).

The theme of obedience to God and good conduct is the fundamental exhortation of 1 Peter. The obedience of Jesus Christ provides the basis and model for the obedience of the believers and their subordination to God’s will.

In v. 14, he writes, “do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.” In some texts, this is worded, “do not allow yourselves to be molded by the cravings.” Translated, its meanings overlap, and depending if you stand in the Greco-Roman, Israelite or Christian circle, it can mean insatiable craving, selfish yearning, sexual lust, uncontrolled passion, coveting, compulsive ambition or self-indulgence. Here it describes the control that insatiable craving and self-indulgence had over believers prior to their conversion. … It is an exhortation not to return to that lifestyle.

The Israelites thought of Gentiles or non-Israelites as ignorant because they lacked knowledge of the true God and His law. From the Christian perspective, ignorance could be attributed to all people who lacked knowledge of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. In Acts 3, Peter states, “brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers” (v.17). In Galatians 4, Paul writes, “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were in bondage to beings that by nature are no gods” (v.8). And in Ephesians 4, “they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them” (v.18). … Believers have been liberated from this ignorance and pollution that typifies their society, and as a people made holy they know and obey the truth. Believers were to be holy in all their conduct.

In the ancient world, holiness, conceived as a mysterious radiating power with a force field with constructive and destructive power was associated with the divinity, the gods and their cults. In the Bible, Yahweh was “the Holy One” par excellence, and all that was dedicated, consecrated or set apart for God and for use in worship was considered holy, including the sanctuary, the priests and the sacrifices. The covenant that God made with the Israelites made them a “holy people.” Exodus 19:6 – “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The prophets stressed the ethical implications of God’s holiness and the people’s.

After the exile, required holiness and purity established boundaries between the holy people of God and their unholy neighbors. During the time of John the Baptist, the Qumran sect distanced itself from wicked Israelites. Those who followed Jesus saw holiness as an essential quality both of God and His people, but now regarded Jesus as “the holy one” (John 6:69) who provided all people with access to the holy God.

Called to holiness, Peter stresses holiness as a quality that unites believers with the Triune God, and distinguishes them from nonbelievers. Believers are holy because of their election by the Father, their redemption through the sprinkling of Christ’s blood, and their sanctification by the Holy Spirit. Holy identity then requires holy conduct in conformity with God’s holiness and nonconformity to the ways of the values and conduct of those around them.

V. 17 begins with “And if you invoke the Father” or “since you call upon a Father.” Jesus’ followers, like Jesus and Israel, conceptualized God as father. They also saw Jesus as God’s Son, and after His death, continued to pray as He taught them, calling God their Father, a practice that continues today. The whole idea of God as Father forms Peter’s ecclesiology, or study of Church, in that believers are called into the family or household of God through baptism.

God is also seen as judge. This too is commonplace in the Bible. God is an impartial judge, and his impartiality is based not on our face or earthly father, but solely on our behavior. Because Christians saw God as judge, they “conducted themselves with fear” or reverence. Keep in mind, in that culture fathers were not treated like Al Bundy or Ward Cleaver. Fathers were revered, feared if you will, and often seen as judge. Awe or fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 1:7), motivated people to keep His commandments and set them apart from ignorant Gentiles.

Christians saw themselves as set apart from others. They saw themselves as aliens on foreign soil. They were strangers living among hostile natives who are ignorant of their origins, their families, and their history, and are suspicious of their commitments and conduct. … Peter drives home the point that you are different because you have been elected by God and obey His commands.

This reminded me of a comment a woman who lived near the church I pastored in Oakmont, PA, when we were converting an old house into an apartment for a family of refugees. The building code stated that only 4 people could occupy the house. Yet, this woman went before Borough Council and insisted that she did not want 20 Bantu tribesmen in her backyard. … How then were Christians viewed by others? Here is a piece of advice given by Maecenas to Augustus in Cassius Dio’s Roman History. Although it is from the early 3^rd century, it reflects long-standing sentiments. Christianity would be charged with violating the conservative sensibilities of the Roman Empire.

Therefore, if you desire to become in very truth immortal, act as I advise; and furthermore both yourself worship the Divine Power everywhere and in every way in accordance with the traditions of our fathers and compel all others to honor it. Those who attempt to distort our religion with strange rites you should abhor and punish, not merely for the sake of the gods, but because such men, by bringing in new divinities in place of the old, persuade many to adopt foreign practices, from which spring up conspiracies, factions and cabals, which are far from profitable to a monarchy. Do not, therefore, permit anybody to be an atheist or a sorcerer.

Discussion and Reflection Questions

1.    Peter opens his letter with, “To the exiles of the Dispersion … chosen and destined by God the Father.” How did you/we come to be qualified as God’s elect people? Do you think of yourself as the elect people of God? If so, when was the last time you thought that? If not, why not?

2.    As we read 1 Peter, we discover that trials are related not to natural disasters of catastrophic illnesses, but to a person’s individual Christian confession. Wicked people who have been stirred by sin inflict evil on Christians, attempting to demonstrate that believers are not who they profess to be. Wicked people want Christians to react sinfully. If you have suffered these trials from unbelievers because you confessed faith in Christ, how did you respond to their evil words and deeds? What persecutions are Christians enduring from nonbelievers today?

3.    In 1:5, we read that we “by God’s power are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” As grateful beneficiaries, when is the last time we credited Jesus with healing or deliverance?

4.    1 Peter assumes its readers interact with unbelievers who do not share their faith. When you share your faith with unbelievers who are family and friends, and they do not come to embrace faith, do you feel dejected by their lack of interest or joyful about the challenge to share the Gospel of Christ with others?

5.    When you share the Christian message, do you promise that it will lead to peace or prosperity in this life? How do those promises align with 1 Peter?

6.    In 1:12, we read, “the things which have now been announced to you by those who preached the good news to you through the Holy Spirit.” When did you first hear the Word of God preached that it touched your heart? How was that evangelist responsible for your introduction into the Christian faith?

7.    Peter called readers to be sober and alert (1:13). How can you better adhere to Peter’s command to be a more disciplined Christian? How would that help you live your faith?