Outposts of Hope

First Peter's Christ for Culture Strategy

Douglas D. Webster

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781498200660
  9781498222662
• eBook ISBN:
  9781498200677
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

The original recipients of the Letter of First Peter inhabited a radically different social context from our own. We do not live under Roman imperial rule. Slave labor is not the driving force of our economy. Women are not under patriarchal domination in our culture as they once were. Society has changed, but what is beyond dispute is that Western culture remains antithetical to God's will and hostile to the Jesus way. The imperial Caesar has been replaced by the imperial self. The Pax Romana has been replaced by the American Dream. Western capitalism still trades in the bodies and souls of human beings. Culture obsesses over sexual freedom and material indulgence. Idolatry is pervasive. Autonomous individualism is the ideal. First Peter is about the inevitable clash with culture that ensues because of the good news of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter's bottom-up profile of costly discipleship is far more radical than we may realize. Hostility against the church is the believer's opportunity under pressure to reveal the goodness of God. Suffering and submission are essential for Peter's Christ for culture strategy. Sacrifice is the leverage of the gospel. Cross-bearing humility is the strategy for relating to culture and Christlike humility is essential for living in the household of God.

1

Chosen Outsiders

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. To elect strangers scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, because of the obedience of Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. 1 Peter 1:1–2

In our age of post-biblical Christianity, 1 Peter waits to be discovered. It is not written in secret code or designed to be obscure, but its message remains hidden. Believers have their reasons for ignoring the book of Revelation with its symbols and images, but 1 Peter is as straightforward as it can be, reflecting the personality and method of its author. The letter and the apostle are dynamic. Peter is immersed in the Great Commission, in the struggle for making disciples from every tribe and people group.

The years Peter spent learning from the Master echo in every verse. His theological and ethical compatibility with the Apostle Paul is significant. Instead of arguing over sources and dependencies, we should marvel at how in sync 1 Peter is with the rest of the New Testament. If the quality of the Greek is a little more literary than we imagine a Galilean fisherman producing after thirty years of interaction with native Greek speaking believers, Silas may deserve some credit. Silas, Peter’s esteemed coworker, skilled in communications, was in on the ground floor of the Gentile mission. It would be odd if Silas did not have a hand in the literary and theological composition of 1 Peter.

In the past, when I turned to 1 Peter for a sermon text I pulled out a line like, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for hope you have” (1 Pet 3:15). Or, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Pet 5:7). Sadly, my approach evaded the social impact of the letter and the Spirit-inspired message remained hidden in plain sight. My cultural blinders and homiletical habits conspired against the text. Instead of relying on the wisdom of careful biblical scholars, I constructed my “points” more on what I brought to the text than what was in the text. Human interest anecdotes and illustrations carried the day. I failed to wrestle with what it meant to be a foreigner in my home culture. I overlooked Peter’s strategy of vulnerability and submission in a hostile culture. I equated the institutional church with Peter’s vivid description of the household of God without challenging the incompatibility of the two realities. Simply put, I missed the essence of 1 Peter. The thrust of my sermons had little to do with the heart of Peter’s message. It wasn’t until I saw the letter as an integrated whole and felt the poignancy of Peter’s christological focus that I began to grasp 1 Peter’s impact.

Elect Exiles

Peter wrote to “exiles scattered to the four winds.”14 Diaspora literally means “the scattering of seed.” These elect exiles or chosen aliens were dispersed throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. The area encompassed by these five regions is known as the Anatolian peninsula and covers some 300,000 square miles.15 In Peter’s day, the region was predominately rural and divided by natural boundaries—mountains, rivers, lakes, and forests. The diverse topography “helped to perpetuate its economic, political, and cultural heterogeneity down through late antiquity.”16

Most of the New Testament was written to the followers of Jesus Christ living in cities. First Peter is the exception. Peter wrote his letter to believers living in small villages and rural communities. His “hearers” included farmers, fishermen, miners, homemakers, slaves, carpenters, masons, and cattle herders. His mixed audience of Jews and Gentiles was spread over thousands of miles. “Asia, Bithynia, and Pontus were more completely Hellenized, Galatia and especially Cappadocia to a lesser extent. . . . The area enjoyed for the most part competent administration on the part of the Romans during the time 1 Peter was written.”17

The rural character of 1 Peter’s recipients is significant. Peter’s message is as intellectually and spiritually challenging as the Apostle Paul’s urban letters. There is no hint that Peter scales back the depth of his message because of the demographics. Peter assumes a level of intellectual comprehension and interaction that rivals the most sophisticated New Testament audience. He anticipated the believers’ ability and maturity to hold in tension their low position in society with their high calling in Christ. He expected them to discern the difference between cultural conformity and faithful engagement. His spiritual direction is deeply rooted in Old Testament theology and Jesus’ kingdom ethic. His theology is consistent with the Apostle Paul’s Christology and his cruciform social ethic.18

First Peter is the outsider’s guide to living the Christian life. Peter wrote to the followers of Christ scattered over five rural Roman provinces. Their newfound faith in Christ literally changed their social standing. They became homeless in their home culture. Because of Christ they were perceived as outsiders, foreigners, and strangers in their home culture. First Peter is about the social impact of the gospel. It is about finding our true home in the household of God. Today, we face the same challenge “to take up, dwell in, and live out” our identity in Christ.19

What if all this talk of suffering and trials, submission and humility, vulnerability and patience, only distances the modern Christian from this first-century book? It is not too difficult to see how Peter’s emphasis on “strangerhood” might be a turn-off to those who pride themselves on leveraging consumer appeal to make the gospel more attractive. It is easy to see how we might be tempted to write off 1 Peter’s “strangeness factor” and conclude that Peter’s letter is especially relevant for Christians living in Central Africa or in the Middle East or in China.

What did Peter mean when he referred to Christ’s followers as “elect exiles” (1 Pet 1:1; 2:11) and “foreigners” (1 Pet 1:17; 2:11)? New Testament scholars debate the meaning of these terms and struggle with culturally equivalent meanings. Was Peter using these terms in a literal, technical sense, with a specific political meaning, the way we might refer to undocumented immigrants or political refugees? Or was he intending a more metaphoric meaning, employing a cultural term for the social alienation experienced by the followers of Christ?

Most everyone agrees that the recipients of 1 Peter suffered as “strangers in a strange land,” but John Elliott goes further and narrowly attributes this strangeness to their social status prior to their conversion to Christ. Those designated as foreigners, strangers, and “by-dwellers” were either displaced from their original homeland or strangers temporarily visiting or passing through Asia Minor.20 “Their different languages, clothing, customs, religious traditions, and foreign roots set these aliens apart and exposed them to suspicion and hostility on the part of the native population . . .”21 They were strangers and socially ostracized before their conversion to Christ. They were like foreign students visiting the West or political refugees fleeing their home country. It was in this state of social alienation that they became Christians and discovered their new home in the household of God. Elliott argues against a spiritualized reduction of 1 Peter that recasts the letter as a theological message for “‘pilgrims and exiles in this world’ based on a contrast between present life on earth and a future life in the heavenly home.”22

Elliott’s insistence on a sociological definition of “strangeness” prior to Christian conversion has the unintended effect of spiritualizing 1 Peter for contemporary believers. If the impact of the New Testament letter is primarily intended for displaced people who come to Christ, its application is narrow. If the letter is focused on social dislocation and discrimination prior to conversion, then Peter’s message “must be rearranged dramatically in order to speak to a situation where Christians experience little suffering.”23

Elliott’s interpretation of “resident aliens” places too much stock on a narrow, political definition and not enough on the theological and social impact of people coming to Christ. The case for “resident aliens” and “strangerhood” is best made not on preconversion social status, but on the social upheaval brought about by personal faith in Jesus Christ.24 It is more accurate to say that “social estrangement has its origin in the electing grace of God.” Conversion leads to the social divide between the people of God and the unbelieving world. This estrangement “is not simply an unfortunate reality to be coped with, but something to be fostered.”25

The recipients of 1 Peter were not displaced refugees who found Christ during their difficult and disorienting exile in Asia Minor. On the contrary, they were indigenous people, very much at home in their native culture—that is, until they became Christians. By virtue of their newfound faith in Christ they became strangers in their homeland. They didn’t need to cross any borders or learn a new language to be considered “foreign” and “strange.” They became “resident aliens” without moving or changing their dress or dialect. Conversion to Christ had a dramatic sociological impact. On life’s surface everything staye...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Chosen Outsiders
• Chapter 2: The New Reality
• Chapter 3: Deep Obedience
• Chapter 4: Living Stones
• Chapter 5: Resident Aliens
• Chapter 6: God’s Slaves
• Chapter 7: Mutual Love
• Chapter 8: Christ’s Passion Embraced
• Chapter 9: Living God’s Way
• Chapter 10: A Christ for Culture Strategy
• Chapter 11: Good Shepherds
• Chapter 12: Humility
• Bibliography