An Exposition of 1Peter, Part 1: Introduction

1 Peter 1:1–2 NKJV

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

Introduction

We live in difficult times here today in America. In other parts of the world, persecution is far greater for the sake of Jesus Christ. The future shows that persecution is likely to increase. We do take a moment to rejoice that along with the persecution, God is at work. The church in Iran, for example, lives under constant threat. Occasionally, Christians are arrested and sent to jail or even executed. Yet the church there is the fastest growing church in the world. In this, we rejoice in the faithfulness of the believers there and in other dangerous parts of the world. This proves that the Christian message can thrive even in the most difficult conditions.

We are going to begin a study of the Book of 1 Peter because the early churches which Peter addresses in the epistle were going through similar times. It is hoped that this might inform us how we should live in this world. So let us now begin our study.

Authorship: The Apostle Peter

Although there are many scholars today who claim that it is unlikely that Peter wrote the epistle, One of the main arguments put forth is that the quality of the Greek it is written would be above the ability of a Galilean fisherman who was of limited formal education. These scholars would entertain that Peter might have known some Greek as it was the language of commerce in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. If Peter sold fish to Gentiles as well as Jews, he would at least have to speak some Greek. These scholars would expect a much more rustic Greek such as we find in the second epistle of Peter. However, this argument is less than persuasive if Peter used Silvanus (Silas) (See 1 Peter 5:12). We don’t know anything about Silas’ ability in Greek, but scribes were often employed to polish the grammar of the author. The Holy Spirit is, of course, capable of using perfect Greek. Since we believe that all Scripture is God-breathed by the Holy Spirit as Paul tells Timothy, then the style of the Greek is no obstacle.

There are other arguments put forth as well, but I don’t want to bog down this study trying to answer these at this time. I don’t want to get bogged down in speculations as it gets away from the clear message of the text.

Peter and his brother, Andrew, we called from the business of fishermen. At first we might think that Peter was a poor fisherman. Even though fishing was looked down upon by the purists like the Pharisees because fishermen handled dead animals, it was actually a middle-class trade. The Jewish authorities tried to paint Peter as a rustic Galilean, calling him and John “agrammatoi” (without letters) and “idiotai” (think “idiots”) Peter was bolder than the rest of the Apostles, but he also had the tendency to put his foot in his mouth. When told by Jesus that Peter would deny Him three times, Peter rashly replied that he would not. He even made an attempt to take on the Temple guard and two cohorts of a Roman legion with his sword. But deny he did three times.

By the grace of God, Peter was restored by Jesus after the resurrection. His calling was changed from “fishers of men” to that of a pastor (John 21). In the Book of Acts, Peter acted as the chief spokesman for the Apostles in the first half of the Book of Acts. He was both bold and eloquent in his proclamation of Jesus, far above what would be considered the ability of a Galilean fisherman. He became the first to proclaim the Gospel to Gentiles.

He had a part in what is called “The Jerusalem Council in 49 AD which dealt with the place of Gentiles in the church in which he stood solidly with the rights of the Gentiles even though his sphere was to be Apostle to the Jews in contradistinction to Paul who was sent to the Gentiles. But this distinction should not be set in stone. We already saw that Peter evangelized Gentiles and Paul came to the synagogues first when he came to a new city.

Other than a reference to Peter’s inconstancy for standing up for the Gentiles as recorded by Paul in Galatians, the New Testament is silent about Peter after this until the time of the writing of 1 Peter. All kinds of speculations to fill in the gaps have been written, including the idea that Peter went early to Roma and became the first Pope. There is no Biblical support for this idea. But early tradition tells us that he eventually died by being crucified upside-down at his request in Rome somewhere about 67 AD. John also verifies Peter’s martyrdom. We would like to know more, but this is all we have that is solid.

Did Peter write 1 Peter from Rome?

This is another question we would like to know. 1 Peter 5:13 gives greetings to the recipients from the “church that is in Babylon.” Is Babylon a code word for Rome? It certainly is a possibility. Peter indicates that “Marcus his son” is with him. If this is John Mark, then we last hear of Mark in 2 Timothy just before the death of Paul in Rome. He was supposed to bring the parchments and a cloak. It could be that Peter joined up with John Mark there again in Rome. An equally interesting theory is that there was a Babylon in Egypt. Tradition makes John Mark as being the first bishop of Alexandria in Egypt. So is this the Babylon? Or is it the Babylon on the Euphrates river in what is today Iraq. The answer is that we don’t know. It would be interesting to know. But it does not alter the message of the epistle which is what we are interested with here.

Where were these churches that Peter addresses?

The five regions to which 1 Peter is addressed were located in what is today called Turkey. There were probably groups of house churches scattered in all the provinces as the introduction seems to indicate. We know little how these churches were started or when. We know Paul started several churches in Galatia and addressed an epistle to the Galatians. Scholars are divided whether the churches to which Galatians was written were those he visited on his first missionary journey which was part of the Roman administration of Galatia, even though it wasn’t originally part of the area of the Galatian people proper or whether it addressed unknown churches in the original territory of Galatia. Did Peter ever even visit these churches before, or was he made aware of their plight by Silas who had ministered with Paul? All we do know is that Peter was aware of the difficulties these churches were facing and was led by the Spirit to address them. This epistle was preserved and passed on to us in Scripture for our instruction.

When was 1 Peter written?

If we trust the tradition that Peter was martyred by the Emperor Nero in 67 AD, this would place the writing somewhat earlier than that. It was probably written in the 60’s AD as these times became increasingly difficult for Christians. The Jews wanted to disavow the Christians as not being a sect of Judaism. This would remove them from the special protections afforded the Jews by the Roman Empire. The epistle, as we have noted, demonstrates that Christians there were being persecuted, and martyrdom was a real possibility. This is similar to the situation to which the Book of Hebrews was addressed, also in the 60’s. But even here, we cannot be sure. Unlike 2 Peter, Peter does not see his immediate death on the horizon, so the epistle could have been written at an earlier time. Persecution of the church happened throughout the Apostolic and up to the modern times for that matter. Let it be enough that Peter is addressing the persecution of believers in Asia Minor, and how they should conduct themselves in their present reality.

Exposition of the Text

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ — Most letters in the ancient world began with the identity of the writer as compared to informal letters today which address the recipient at the beginning and the writer at the end. Peter identifies himself as an apostle. Most all of the churches in the Roman Empire had heard of Peter. So, even if Peter had never visited them or even communicated with them before, they would at least know the importance and authority of the Apostle Peter. Peter addressing himself as “apostle” might actually show that Peter had not met the churches in person or else he might simply have addressed himself by the simple “Peter.” What we need to understand that the Apostle Peter is long departed from this world and cannot be made known personally to us until the return of Jesus. But his words speak with authority to us as well.

To the elect pilgrims scattered in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, greeting — Peter describes who the believers are. First of all, they are the elect (chosen). There has been and is a lot of controversy over what “elect” and “election” mean, but the New Testament frequently addresses the believers this way, and not just in 1 Peter. The Greek word for “church” is “ecclesia” which has the root meaning “those who have been called out,” The emphasis of this is not our choosing Him but His choosing us. The text makes this clear with the words: “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” God has known from the beginning who His people would be. The people addressed in 1 Peter are among them. The emphasis of Scripture is always upon God’s choice rather than our own. Whatever we might make of our choice, we would have no choice at all if God had not chosen first. This is biblically beyond dispute. God acted in our salvation by an act of His free will and freely offers us grace in the person of Jesus Christ. Let us affirm this together, even if we might disagree over the freedom of our receiving Christ in return. The security of our salvation is based upon who God is and what He has done, not our works or merit.

Another Greek word in this verse I have chosen to translate “pilgrim”. The word has a meaning of “stranger.” This is important because many of the members of the churches were residents of the area. They grew up in the towns and communities among the Pagans. Peter now says that they had become Christians. they had become strange or foreign to the people among whom the lived. Another descriptor is translated “scattered.’ The actual Greek word is “diaspora.” We get the word “dispersed” from this Greek word. This word was also used as a technical term as well to refer to Jewish communities which were scattered in the cities and villages of the Roman Empire. Some commentators see this as an indicator that Peter is addressing churches mostly comprised of Jewish believers. After all, wasn’t Peter the “Apostle to the Jews” while Paul was the “Apostle to the Gentiles?” The text of the epistle does not clearly affirm the ethnic identity of the believers. It is certainly the intent of God that there be no divisions in the church based upon Jew or Gentile. The church as a whole considered itself to be the new and reunited Israel. Christians were dispersed throughout the Empire as well, and I think it best to understand this here as well.

Unto sanctification by the Spirit— One of the purposes which the Father foresaw was the sanctification of the believers by the Holy Spirit. The word “sanctify” properly means “to be set apart.” This fits with the idea of pilgrim which was previously mentioned. There is a transformation which happens in the believer which is demonstrated in the change of status of the life they lived beforehand in the company and conversation of the ungodly to that of being set apart to be God’s chosen people. This change of status is to be demonstrated by our actions which must conform to the new reality. This reality is that we are to be obedient to our Lord and not to our former conformity to the rules of the Pagan world, especially where they are on conflict with the new reality.

By the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ — This is the means by which both our salvation and our sanctification unto obedience are based. We are st apart in Jesus Christ who has saved us and shed His blood for us. This is the common identity of the Christian. God foreknew this from the beginning as well. In the Old Testament, the altar of the Tabernacle was sanctified by the sprinkling of blood of an animal upon it. The Christian knows that the new altar has been sprinkled with much more precious blood. Jesus paid a great cost in our behalf that we might be the Chosen. We should also remember that Aaron and his garments were also sprinkled with blood. We read in Revelation 1 that Jesus has made us both a kingdom as well as made us priests unto God. This “universal priesthood” of believers mans that we have all been sprinkled with the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Grace and peace unto you. May it be multiplied — Here we have the combination of the blessing of both grace and peace. This was commonly used by Paul as well. It says more than just a wish for two things we earnestly desire. Greek letters normally used “grace” in their greeting, and the Jews used “peace.” The use of these two terms together reflects the reality that God has called His church equally from both Gentiles and Jews. The coordinating conjunction “and” is used to combine words, phrases, or thoughts of equal importance. We should realize that the Christian has a completely different understanding of “grace” and “peace.” To the world, these terms are a general and polite wish for their well-being. But the Christian has a deep understanding of grace. We realize that grace refers to God’s unmerited favor He shows upon us in saving us by Jesus Christ. It is a gift and not earned. The wish for peace is also profound. It is more than a general desire to avoid conflict of various sorts. Christian peace is not just a wish for the Christian to prosper in spirit. Christian peace is based upon the suffering Christ endured on our behalf. Christian peace is not dependent upon outward circumstances. We are to have peace even when we are persecuted and the world seems to be crumbling around us. The recipients of the epistle were undergoing the promised persecution that all believers are told they are going to face. They were to be at peace even in these circumstances. The same is true for us also.

Application

We should understand that the introductions of the New Testament epistles are not mere formalities. Rich theological truth is to be gathered from them. Martyn Lloyd-Jones notes this at the beginning of his 8 volume commentary on Ephesians. He intentionally takes care to exposit the introduction before going into the rich theology of the epistle. The same is true here. It sets the foundation for our understanding of the rest of the epistle.

As I put my studies on the Internet for Christian communities everywhere in the world, I must admit that I don’t know the struggles that you might be facing in your local churches. I do know that in general, every church who boldly professes Christ is going to face persecution. We can take comfort that whatever situation we find ourselves that we are special to God. We have been called in Christ who knows what it means to suffer, We know that there is purpose in our suffering if indeed we are suffering for the sake of Christ. We know that we have been set apart for His purpose. We know that we are to live according to the new reality. As we go further into our study in 1 Peter we shall learn how we are to live within our new identity as His children.