1 Peter, Volume 49

J. Ramsey Michaels, David Allen Hubbard, Glenn W. Barker, John D. W. Watts, Ralph P. Martin, David Allen Hubbard, Glenn W. Barker, John D. W. Watts, Ralph P. Martin

• Publisher: Zondervan Academic
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9780310588351
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship.

Overview of Commentary Organization

• Introduction—covers issues pertaining to the whole book, including context, date, authorship, composition, interpretive issues, purpose, and theology.
• Each section of the commentary includes:
• Pericope Bibliography—a helpful resource containing the most important works that pertain to each particular pericope.
• Translation—the author’s own translation of the biblical text, reflecting the end result of exegesis and attending to Hebrew and Greek idiomatic usage of words, phrases, and tenses, yet in reasonably good English.
• Notes—the author’s notes to the translation that address any textual variants, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions, basic meanings of words, and problems of translation.
• Form/Structure/Setting—a discussion of redaction, genre, sources, and tradition as they concern the origin of the pericope, its canonical form, and its relation to the biblical and extra-biblical contexts in order to illuminate the structure and character of the pericope. Rhetorical or compositional features important to understanding the passage are also introduced here.
• Comment—verse-by-verse interpretation of the text and dialogue with other interpreters, engaging with current opinion and scholarly research.
• Explanation—brings together all the results of the discussion in previous sections to expose the meaning and intention of the text at several levels: (1) within the context of the book itself; (2) its meaning in the OT or NT; (3) its place in the entire canon; (4) theological relevance to broader OT or NT issues.
  • General Bibliography—occurring at the end of each volume, this extensive bibliographycontains all sources used anywhere in the commentary.

1 Peter

Greeting (1:1–2)

Bibliography

Agnew, F. H. “1 Peter 1:2—An Alternative Translation.” CBQ 45.1 (1983) 68–73.

Chevallier, M. A. “1 Pierre 1/1 à 2/10: Structure littéraire et conséquences exégétiques.” RHPR 51 (1971) 129–42.

Elliott, J. H. A Home for the Homeless. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981. 21–100. ———. “Salutation and Exhortation to Christian Behavior on the Basis of God’s Blessings (1:1–2:10).” RevExp 79.3 (1982) 415–25.

Furnish, V. P. “Elect Sojourners in Christ: An Approach to the Theology of I Peter.” PSTJ 28 (1975) 1–11.

Hemer, C. J. “The Address of 1 Peter.” ExpTim 89 (1978) 239–43.

Hiebert, D. E. “Designation of the Readers in 1 Peter 1:1–2.” BS 137 (1980) 64–75.

Holzmeister, U. “Exordium prioris epistulae S. Petri (1 Petr. 1,1–2).” VD 2 (1922) 209–12.

Hort, F. J. A. The First Epistle of Peter, i.1–ii.17. Additional Notes I–III. 151–84.

Ramsay, W. M. “Roads and Travel (in NT).” Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible. Extra vol. 375–402.

Scharlemann, M. “An Apostolic Salutation: An Exegetical Study of 1 Peter 1, 1–2.” Concordia Journal 1 (1975) 108–18.

Verdière, E. A. la. “Covenant Theology in 1 Peter 1:1–2:10.” TBT 42 (1969) 2909–16.

Translation

1Peter, apostlea of Jesus Christ, to a chosen people, living as strangers in the diaspora of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithyniab 2[chosen]c in the foreknowledge of God the Father and consecrated by the Spirit for obedience [to the gospel]d and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ.

May grace and peace be yours many times over.

Notes

a. Neither the word “apostle” nor any other word in vv 1–2 has the definite article in Greek. The absence of the article does not imply indefiniteness; rather the tendency in epistolary introductions is to omit the article. In NT epistles this is commonly the case in the writer’s self-identification, in references to God or Christ, and in the “grace and peace” formula. Yet in no other epistolary introduction is the tendency carried quite so far as in 1 Peter, where even the addressees are designated without the use of the article.

b. Several ancient witnesses (

^* 048 and a few other Gr. MSS; some vg MSS, and some Lat citations in Eusebius) omit Asia from the list, perhaps with the understanding that it referred to the entire territory to which 1 Peter was addressed and was therefore redundant. Asia, however, belongs on the list (as the weight of MS evidence suggests) because it is used here specifically of the Roman province of that name, not of Asia Minor as a whole. One MS (B^*) omits Bithynia, perhaps on the assumption that because Pontus and Bithynia were one province, the inclusion of both must have been a mistake by earlier scribes. The longer, more difficult, reading represented by all other MSS and versions is clearly correct.

c. The bracketed word is supplied to make it clear that the three phrases which follow modify the word “chosen” in v 1, not the word “apostle.” If they modified “apostle of Jesus Christ,” they would have been placed between that designation and the designation of the addressees.

d. The bracketed words are supplied to make it clear that the obedience in view is the initial acceptance of the Christian gospel by which a person becomes part of the Christian community. See Comment.

Form/Structure/Setting

The form of these two verses defines the form of 1 Peter in its entirety: a letter, an encyclical letter, and a diaspora letter. The epistolary introduction exhibits the three-part structure common to the introductions of virtually all NT and early Christian letters; first the writer’s self-identification; second, a designation of those being addressed; and third, the salutation proper (most frequently introduced, as here, with the words “grace and peace”).

Customarily a theological formulation of some kind is attached to one or more of these parts. In this case the formulation (consisting of three prepositional phrases introduced by κατὰ, ἐν, and εἰς respectively) is attached to the second of the three parts, the designation of the addressees (v 2a). Its placement affords a clue that the issue is not to be the identity of Peter but rather the identity and responsibilities of the chosen people to whom he is writing. The formulation itself is not only triadic, but (with its “God the Father . . . Spirit . . . Jesus Christ” terminology) trinitarian in form. With it, Peter contemplates in summary fashion the whole divine work of salvation up to the point at which the readers now stand.

If the form of the introduction characterizes 1 Peter as a typical early Christian letter, the listing of five Roman provinces encompassing an area of over 300,000 square miles marks it as an encyclical letter comparable to the Book of Revelation (cf. Rev. 1:11) but geographically wider in its circulation. Although such encyclicals were known in the pagan world (e.g., a circular letter to Asia Minor is pseudonymously attributed to Alexander the Great in the third century— Pseudo-Callisthenes 2.11.2), the use of the term διασπορά in 1 Peter 1:1 suggests closer kinship with a long tradition of Jewish letters representing themselves as written from Jerusalem to the Jewish dispersion or diaspora communities in Babylon (Jer 29:4–23), Assyria (2 Apoc. Bar. 78–87), or Egypt (2 Macc 1:1–10a, 10b–2:18). That the diaspora letter form influenced early Christian correspondence can be seen from the Epistle of James (1:1: “James, servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are in the diaspora. Greetings!”) and perhaps as well from the Jerusalem Council’s letter “to the brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia who are Gentiles” (Acts 15:23–29). Like the second of these in particular, 1 Peter is a Gentile diaspora letter. In Acts 15 the Gentile Christians are addressed as those still under the authority of the Jewish-Christian Jerusalem Church, but in 1 Peter the predominantly Gentile churches of Asia Minor are secure enough in their own identity that they can be addressed by the Jewish Christian Peter as partners in a new Judaism.

The clearest evidence that the themes of 1 Peter are themes appropriate to a diaspora letter is furnished by 2 Apoc. Bar. 78–87. Although the parallels between this Jewish apocalyptic letter and 1 Peter come far short of suggesting literary dependence either way, each document conveys something of the solidarity of a people widely scattered in the world but sharing in the same experience of suffering and awaiting vindication. See Introduction, pp. xlviii–xlix.

Comment

1 Πέτρος ἀπόστολος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, “Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ.” “Peter” was the Greek equivalent of the Aramaic

(Kēphâaʾ, i.e., “rock”), the nickname Jesus had conferred on Simon either at his call (John 1:42) or when Jesus appointed the twelve apostles as a group. Sometimes he is referred to by both names, “Simon Peter” (e.g., often in John) or “Symeon Peter” (2 Pet 1:1; cf. “Symeon” in Acts 15:14), while Paul characteristically uses Κηφᾶς (written in English as “Cephas”), the Greek transliteration of

(Gal 1:18; 2:9, 11, 14; 1 Cor 1:12; 3:22; 9:5; 15:5). The Greek name Πέτρος or “Peter,” by itself is probably the name by which this apostle was most commonly known in the Greek-speaking churches (e.g., in Rome—1 Clem 5.4; Ign. Rom. 4.3; 2 Clem 5.3). Even Paul deviates twice from his normal usage to speak of Peter as having an “apostolic mission to the circumcision” in distinction from Paul’s own mission to the Gentiles (Gal 2:7, 8). Simon’s identity as “Peter” was inextricably bound up with his identity as “apostle of Jesus Christ,” so that together the two terms reinforce each other.

Peter’s use of the phrase “apostle of Jesus Christ” bears comparison with Paul’s. Paul identifies himself as an apostle at the beginning of nine of the epistles attributed to him (i.e., Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus). Five of these (2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1-2 Timothy) begin almost identically to 1 Peter, with the words, “Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus” (the word order “Christ Jesus” gives to Christ something of its original function as a title, while Jesus Christ, used in Paul’s salutations only in Titus, makes it part of the name). In all nine instances, Paul further explains his self-designation as apostle (e.g., “through the will of God,” in 1-2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, and 2 Timothy; cf. 1 Timothy and the longer formulations in Romans, Galatians, and Titus). Only in 1 Peter does the phrase “apostle of Jesus Christ” stand by itself, without elaboration of any sort.

Hort (18) and Selwyn (119) have argued that this is not the case, because the trinitarian formulation in v 2 modifies both “apostle” and “chosen people” (i.e., the same divine initiative and action that made Peter an apostle made the recipients of the epistle a chosen people). It is doubtful that a double reference is intended, or that Peter would have made such a profound point in such a subtle, almost invisible way (contrast Rom 1:1, 6, 7, where Paul explicitly repeats κλητός in such a way as to make it unmistakable that he and his readers share the common experience of being “called”).

How is the author’s identity as “Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ” reflected in the body of the epistle? Only rarely does he let his identity show by speaking in the first person singular. At two key junctures (2:11 and 5:1), he makes a personal appeal to his readers. “Dear friends,” he writes in 2:11, “I appeal to you as aliens and strangers: renounce your natural impulses, for they are at war with the soul.” The address as “dear friends” is repeated at the beginning of the last major division of the epistle (4:12), but the personal appeal is postponed to 5:1, where the author once more identifies himself: “To any elders among you, therefore, I appeal as fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of the Christ, and a sharer as well in the glory about to be revealed. . . .” If this language calls attention to that which the author has in common with his readers, and makes its appeal on that basis, the self-identification at 1:1 calls attention to what is unique to him. Only he, not the recipients of the epistle or their elders, is “apostle of Jesus Christ.” It is precisely because of this consciousness of a unique status and authority that he takes pains in 5:1 to establish common ground.

Near the end of the epistle, the “I” of Peter the apostle speaks again: “I have written to you these few lines through Silvanus (whom I consider a faithful brother) to make an appeal and bear testimony that this is true grace from God. For it you must stand” (5:12; cf. also the greeting in v 13 from “my son Mark”). Both in its summarization of the epistle’s message and in its special commendation of Silvanus, this passage leaves the reader aware of the unique personal authority of the apostle. Although this authority is not made constantly explicit throughout the epistle, it is assumed at the start with the words, “Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ.”

ἐκλεκτοῖς παρεπιδήμοις διασπορᾶς, “to a chosen people, living as...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Editorial Preface
• Author’s Preface
• Abbreviations
• Main Bibliography
• Introduction
• 1 Peter: Text and Commentary
• Indexes