Introduction
Overview
The early church struggled with threats from both the outside (persecution) and the inside (false teaching). When the threat is from persecution, as it was for the recipients of 1 Peter, the solution is to stand firm in the grace of God (5:12). God’s grace will allow believers to continue living a holy life even in the midst of suffering.
Audience and Occasion
Peter’s first letter is considered a General Epistle in that it was written not to one person or church but to all the churches greeted in 1:1. The precise regions listed are uncertain, for the terms could refer either to the Roman provinces so named or to the old ethnic groups and their associated areas, from which the Romans later adopted their official province names. It is most likely that the letter was addressed to all the churches in the northern half of Asia Minor (modern Turkey).
It is clear that Peter’s readers were facing persecution for their faith, and this has occasioned debate among scholars on several counts. Who instigated this persecution, and why? Was it official or unofficial? Was the persecution merely a threat, or was it already a reality? The answers to these questions are not easy to determine, but the following seems to be most likely. The persecution was probably unofficial and local, instigated by pagan neighbors of the Christian believers, perhaps with the support of minor local officials. It was certainly a present reality for some, if not all, of Peter’s readers. While the Roman Empire had an ambivalent attitude toward Christianity, and persecution was occasionally launched officially, this was rare compared with spasmodic local outbursts of hatred. And in this letter, the reasons given for the persecution are purely local. Peter mentions, for example, the annoyance caused by the Christians’ refusal to join in riotous festivals (4:4).
Because of this setting, 1 Peter has been called “the Job of the NT”—the NT book that handles the theme of suffering most directly and intensely.
Authorship and Date
Many scholars today hold that the letter was not actually written by the apostle Peter, largely on the grounds of style and language. First Peter is one of the finest examples of Greek prose in the NT, and these scholars argue that Peter, who was an “untrained” fisherman (Ac 4:13), could not have produced such a work. In addition, the letter shows close affinities with Paul’s writings, particularly the Letter to the Romans, and this too weighs against Petrine authorship. Alternative suggestions are that Silvanus (Silas) drafted it as Peter’s secretary (see 5:12), so that the style is his but the substance Peter’s, or that it was written by another individual after Peter’s death and then attributed to him out of respect for his memory.
Yet why should it have been impossible for Peter to compose a letter in Greek? Growing up in Galilee, Peter would have spoken both Greek and Aramaic. And if the letter was written from Rome, as 5:13 suggests, the influence of the Letter to the Romans is hardly surprising. The ascription to Peter is universal in the manuscript tradition and attested early by the church fathers.
Granted Peter’s authorship, this letter was probably written from Rome toward the end of his life, perhaps in AD 64–65, when the persecution under the emperor Nero was looming, or had already broken out.
The early church faced threats not only from the outside (persecution addressed by 1 Peter) but also from within (false teaching addressed by 2 Peter and Jude).
Outline
1. Suffering as a Christian (1:1–2:10)
A. The Hidden Inheritance, the Hidden Lord (1:1–9)
B. Preparation for Action (1:10–2:3)
C. The Hidden Spiritual House (2:4–10)
2. At Home, but Not in This World (2:11–3:12)
A. The Christian’s Inner Life (2:11–12)
B. A Life of Submission (2:13–3:7)
C. The Christian’s Corporate Life (3:8–12)
3. Suffering—The Road to Glory (3:13–4:19)
A. Suffering for Doing Good (3:13–22)
B. Living for God (4:1–11)
C. Sharing the Sufferings of Christ (4:12–19)
4. Final Exhortations and Greetings (5:1–14)