We do not know when the church started in northwest Asia Minor. Paul planted churches in the southern Galatian region in the late A.D. 40s (Acts 13–14), but when he later tried to extend this work westward into Asia or northwestward into Bithynia, the Spirit prohibited him (16:6–7), apparently because the Lord wanted to use Paul in Macedonia and Achaia (Greece; 16:10). Paul’s interest in those areas probably means that he did not know of churches there, for his general procedure was to go where the church did not yet exist (Rom. 15:20; 2 Cor. 10:14). Did the Lord know that some of the people cited in Acts 2:9 had already carried the gospel there, or was it his plan to leave the evangelization of that area to someone else at a later date? What we do know is that about fifteen years later 1 Peter witnesses to the existence of churches throughout this area. We should probably think of house churches scattered throughout the area, the larger ones consisting of thirty to forty members—sometimes several in one city (collectively forming the church in that city) and sometimes only one. They would be loosely connected as Christians traveled through the area for one reason or another, bringing news about other Christian groups as they went.

When missionaries arrived in these provinces, people listened to the gospel and believed. As a result their lifestyle changed. First and foremost, they stopped worshiping the various gods of their empire, city, trade guild, or family, and instead worshiped only “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:3). This change in behavior meant that they were now viewed as unpatriotic (worship of the genius of the emperor was equivalent to flag worship in modern America), disloyal to their city (since they would not take part in civic ceremonies involving worship), unprofessional in their trade (since guild meetings usually took place in pagan temples), and haters of their families (family gatherings and ceremonies also took place in temples, and household worship was thought to hold the family together). After all, no one was asking these Christians to believe in the gods (many of their neighbors did not really believe in them), but only to offer token worship as a sign of their familial or civic allegiance. People who were so obstinate as to refuse this simple duty surely had to be “haters of humankind,” as many in the Roman Empire considered them.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ (1:1). It was standard practice in the ancient world to begin a letter by identifying the sender. Normally the sender was viewed as the person who either dictated the letter or requested someone to write it for him, not the secretary who wrote down the dictated words or, if trusted, composed the letter on behalf of the sender. Our letter is from Peter (meaning “Rock”), and since that was a common name, he identifies which Peter is writing, namely, the one who was sent or commissioned (the meaning of “apostle”) by Jesus Christ.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! (1:3). A normal Greek letter followed the greeting with thanks to one or more of the gods for the benefits that had...