Chapter One
Where Thereâs Christ, Thereâs Hope
(1 Peter 1:1; 5:12â14)
While thereâs life, thereâs hope!â That ancient Roman saying is still quoted today and, like most adages, it has an element of truth but no guarantee of certainty. It is not the fact of life that determines hope, but the faith of life. A Christian believer has a âliving hopeâ (1 Peter 1:3 NASB) because his faith and hope are in God (1 Peter 1:21). This âliving hopeâ is the major theme of Peterâs first letter. He is saying to all believers, âBe hopeful!â
Before we study the details of this fascinating letter, letâs get acquainted with the man who wrote it, the people to whom he sent it, and the particular situation that prompted him to write.
THE WRITER (1:1)
He identified himself as âPeter, an apostle of Jesus Christâ (1 Peter 1:1). Some liberals have questioned whether a common fisherman could have penned this letter, especially since Peter and John were both called âunlearned and ignorant menâ (Acts 4:13). However, this phrase only means âlaymen without formal schoolingâ; that is, they were not professional religious leaders. We must never underestimate the training Peter had for three years with the Lord Jesus, nor should we minimize the work of the Holy Spirit in his life. Peter is a perfect illustration of the truth expressed in 1 Corinthians 1:26â31.
His given name was Simon, but Jesus changed it to Peter, which means âa stoneâ (John 1:35â42). The Aramaic equivalent of âPeterâ is âCephas,â so Peter was a man with three names. Nearly fifty times in the New Testament, he is called âSimon,â and often he is called âSimon Peter.â Perhaps the two names suggest a Christianâs two natures: an old nature (Simon) that is prone to fail, and a new nature (Peter) that can give victory. As Simon, he was only another human piece of clay, but Jesus Christ made a rock out of him!
Peter and Paul were the two leading apostles in the early church. Paul was assigned especially to minister to the Gentiles, and Peter to the Jews (Gal. 2:1â10). The Lord had commanded Peter to strengthen his brethren (Luke 22:32) and to tend the flock (John 21:15â17; also see 1 Peter 5:1â4), and the writing of this letter was a part of that ministry. Peter told his readers that this was a letter of encouragement and personal witness (1 Peter 5:12). Some writings are manufactured out of books, the way freshmen students write term papers, but this letter grew out of a life lived to the glory of God. A number of events in Peterâs life are woven into the fabric of this epistle.
This letter is also associated with Silas (Silvanus, 1 Peter 5:12). He was one of the âchief menâ in the early church (Acts 15:22) and a prophet (Acts 15:32). This means that he communicated Godâs messages to the congregations as he was directed by the Holy Spirit (see 1 Cor. 14). The apostles and prophets worked together to lay the foundation of the church (Eph. 2:20), and, once that foundation was laid, they passed off the scene. There are no apostles and prophets in the New Testament sense in the church today.
It is interesting that Silas was associated with Peterâs ministry, because originally he went with Paul as a replacement for Barnabas (Acts 15:36â41). Peter also mentioned John Mark (1 Peter 5:13) whose failure on the mission field helped to cause the rupture between Paul and Barnabas. Peter had led Mark to faith in Christ (âMark, my sonâ) and certainly would maintain a concern for him. No doubt one of the early assemblies met in John Markâs home in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12). In the end, Paul forgave and accepted Mark as a valued helper in the work (2 Tim. 4:11).
Peter indicated that he wrote this letter âat Babylonâ (1 Peter 5:13) where there was an assembly of believers. There is no evidence either from church history or tradition that Peter ministered in ancient Babylon which, at that time, did have a large community of Jews. There was another town called âBabylonâ in Egypt, but we have no proof that Peter ever visited it. âBabylonâ is probably another name for the city of Rome, and we do have reason to believe that Peter ministered in Rome and was probably martyred there. Rome is called âBabylonâ in Revelation 17:5 and 18:10. It was not unusual for persecuted believers during those days to write or speak in âcode.â
In saying this, however, we must not assign more to Peter than is due him. He did not found the church in Rome nor serve as its first bishop. It was Paulâs policy not to minister where any other apostle had gone (Rom. 15:20); so Paul would not have ministered in Rome had Peter arrived there first. Peter probably arrived in Rome after Paul was released from his first imprisonment, about the year AD 62. First Peter was written about the year 63. Paul was martyred about 64, and perhaps that same year, or shortly after, Peter laid down his life for Christ.
THE RECIPIENTS (1:1)
Peter called them âstrangersâ (1 Peter 1:1), which means âresident aliens, sojourners.â They are called âstrangers and pilgrimsâ in 1 Peter 2:11. These people were citizens of heaven through faith in Christ (Phil. 3:20), and therefore were not permanent residents on earth. Like Abraham, they had their eyes of faith centered on the future city of God (Heb. 11:8â16). They were in the world, but not of the world (John 17:16).
Because Christians are âstrangersâ in the world, they are considered to be âstrangeâ in the eyes of the world (1 Peter 4:4). Christians have standards and values different from those of the world, and this gives opportunity both for witness and for warfare. We will discover in this epistle that some of the readers were experiencing suffering because of their different lifestyle.
These believers were a âscatteredâ people as well as a âstrangeâ people. The word translated âscatteredâ (diaspora) was a technical term for the Jews who lived outside of Palestine. It is used this way in John 7:35 and James 1:1. However, Peterâs use of this word does not imply that he was writing only to Jewish Christians, because some statements in his letter suggest that some of his readers were converted out of Gentile paganism (1 Peter 1:14, 18; 2:9â10; 4:1â4). There was undoubtedly a mixture of both Jews and Gentiles in the churches that received this letter. We will notice a number of Old Testament references and allusions in these chapters.
These Christians were scattered in five different parts of the Roman Empire, all of them in northern Asia Minor (modern Turkey). The Holy Spirit did not permit Paul to minister in Bithynia (Acts 16:7), so he did not begin this work. There were Jews at Pentecost from Pontus and Cappadocia (Acts 2:9), and perhaps they carried the gospel to their neighboring province. Possibly Jewish believers who had been under Peterâs ministry in other places had migrated to towns in these provinces. People were âon the moveâ in those days, and dedicated believers shared the Word wherever they went (Acts 8:4).
The important thing for us to know about these âscattered strangersâ is that they were going through a time of suffering and persecution. At least fifteen times in this letter Peter referred to suffering, and he used eight different Greek words to do so. Some of these Christians were suffering because they were living godly lives and doing what was good and right (1 Peter 2:19â23; 3:14â18; 4:1â4, 15â19). Others were suffering reproach for the name of Christ (1 Peter 4:14) and being railed at by unsaved people (1 Peter 3:9â10). Peter wrote to encourage them to be good witnesses to their persecutors, and to remember that their suffering would lead to glory (1 Peter 1:6â7; 4:13â14; 5:10).
But Peter had another purpose in mind. He knew that a âfiery trialâ was about to beginâofficial persecution from the Roman Empire (1 Peter 4:12). When the church began in Jerusalem, it was looked on as a âsectâ of the traditional Jewish faith. The first Christians were Jews, and they met in the temple precincts. The Roman government took no official action against the Christians since the Jewish religion was accepted and approved. But when it became clear that Christianity was not a âsectâ of Judaism, Rome had to take official steps.
Several events occurred that helped to precipitate this âfiery trial.â To begin with, Paul had defended the Christian faith before the official court in Rome (Phil. 1:12â24). He had been released but then was arrested again. This second defense failed, and he was martyred (2 Tim. 4:16â18). Second, the deranged emperor, Nero, blamed the fire of Rome (July AD 64) on the Christians, using them as a scapegoat. Peter was probably in Rome about that time and was slain by Nero, who had also killed Paul. Neroâs persecution of Christians was local at first, but it probably spread. At any rate, Peter wanted to prepare the churches.
We must not get the idea that all Christians in every part of the empire were going through the same trials to the same degree at the same time. It varied from place to place, though suffering and opposition were pretty general (1 Peter 5:9). Nero introduced official persecution of the church, and other emperors followed his example in later years. Peterâs letter must have been a tremendous help to Christians who suffered during the reigns of Trajan (98â117), Hadrian (117â138), and Diocletian (284â305). Christians in the wo...