James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude

Gerald L. Bray, Thomas C. Oden, Thomas C. Oden, Gerald L. Bray

• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9780830897537

Christianity Today Award of Merit winnerBecause the Catholic Epistles focus on orthodox faith and morals, the Fathers drew on them as a means of defense against the rising challenge of heretics. Many of the Fathers saw in these letters anticipatory attacks on Marcion and strong defenses against the Arians. They did so quite naturally because in their view truth was eternal and deviations from it had existed from the beginning.Above all, the Fathers found in the Catholic Epistles a manual for spiritual warfare, counsel for the faithful in the cosmic struggle between good and evil. In them was sound instruction in the ways of self-sacrifice, generosity, and humility, through which the cosmic forces could be defeated.Allusions to these letters go back as far as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian, but the first commentary derives from Clement of Alexandria. Didymus the Blind was the next significant Greek-speaking commentator, though his commentary is fully extant only in Latin translation. Many of the comments from the early centuries have been passed on to us through Latin catenae, or chain commentaries, in which a later commentator collected comments from a variety of sources and chained them together in a fashion much like that of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture in English. Among Latin commentators on these letters, pride of place must be given to Bede the Venerable.This volume opens up a treasure house of ancient wisdom that allows these faithful witnesses, some appearing here in English translation for the first time, to speak with eloquence and intellectual acumen to the church today.

THE FIRST EPISTLE
OF PETER

PETER INTRODUCES HIMSELF
1 PETER 1:1-2

OVERVIEW: With few exceptions, the Fathers believed that this letter was written by the apostle Peter and sent to Jewish Christians in the Diaspora (EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA, DIDYMUS, ANDREAS, OECUMENIUS). They recognized that the letter has close resemblances to James, and they accounted for this by saying that both men were apostles to the Jews, though Peter seems to have concentrated more on those who lived outside Palestine (ANDREAS). Peter explains his calling from God with a trinitarian promise, and the Fathers were quick to pick this up (ANDREAS, BEDE). They recognized him as the chief of the apostles and believed that this letter had been sent from Rome. Foreknowledge is God’s knowledge of things God foresees as coming to pass (DIDYMUS). The Peter of this letter was compared with the Peter of Acts (ISHO‘DAD).

1:1 An Apostle Speaks to the Exiles of the Dispersion

THE TRAJECTORY OF PETER’S GENTILE MISSION. EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: Peter seems to have preached in Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia and Asia to the Jews of the dispersion, and afterwards, having come to Rome, he was crucified head downwards, for he himself had asked to suffer so. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 3.1.1

A PILGRIM AND STRANGER. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: Why does Peter, an apostle to the Jews, write to those who are scattered in the dispersion, when most of them were still living in Judea at that time? To understand his meaning, we have to compare what he says with texts like “I am a pilgrim and stranger on earth, as were all my forefathers.”2 The souls of all are like strangers who are joined to bodies for as long as they dwell in time. If these souls were thought to be the substance of the body, they would be natives on earth. But these souls are concealed in a covering of flesh and are in fact like strangers on earth. They feel the pains of the flesh because they are quite assimilated into natural bodies. This is why terrors are brought on the inhabitants of the earth, which affect both the things which are earthly in themselves and the souls which are covered in an earthly image. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.3

TO JEWS IN DIASPORA. ANDREAS: This apostle was appointed to preach to those of the circumcision, but he deliberately did not limit his preaching to those who lived in Judea. Instead, by sending this circular letter, he sought to preach to Jews scattered all over the world, to the effect that they must hold onto the faith which they have received, for by keeping it they would inherit many great, good, eternal and heavenly things. CATENA.4

TO ALL JEWS EVERYWHERE. OECUMENIUS: Like James, Peter was an apostle to the Jews, but he was sent to all Jews everywhere, and not just to those who lived in Palestine. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.5

COMPARED WITH THE PETER OF ACTS. ISHO‘DAD OF MERV: This epistle is by somebody called Peter, but although its teaching is more sublime and perfect in both style and arrangement than James, it is very inferior to the exactness of the teachings of Peter as they are found in the Acts of the Apostles. COMMENTARIES.6

1:2a Destined by God the Father

FOREKNOWLEDGE HAS BECOME KNOWLEDGE. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: What Peter says agrees with the statements of Paul, such as: “He has chosen us in himself before the foundation of the world, to be holy and spotless before him in love, predestinating us to be adopted as sons.”7 . . . Foreknowledge is not to be regarded as anything other than the contemplation of the future. It becomes knowledge as the things which are foreseen come to pass. Therefore, although the people to whom Peter was writing had once been chosen according to God’s foreknowledge, by the time he was writing to them their election had already taken place. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.8

BEFORE BIRTH I KNEW YOU. OECUMENIUS: Peter is showing here that although he is later in time, he is in no way inferior to the prophets of old. For he is the equal of Jeremiah, to whom God said: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.”9 He goes on to say that he has been sent by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, whose mission was to separate, by spiritual gifts, those who were obedient to the gospel of Christ’s suffering and who were sprinkled by his blood, from all other peoples. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.10

1:2b Sanctified by the Spirit for Obedience to Jesus Christ

THE SPIRIT KNOWS ETERNALLY. ORIGEN: We must not suppose that the Spirit knows God as we do, only through the historic revelation of the Son. For if the Holy Spirit knows God only in this way, then he has passed from ignorance to knowledge, and it is certainly as impious as it is foolish to confess him as the Holy Spirit and then ascribe a prior ignorance to him. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1.3.4.11

FATHER, SON AND SPIRIT. ANDREAS: See how Peter says that he was called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the foreknowledge of God the Father. Furthermore, he explains what his apostleshi...