Summary: Bible - Book of 1 Peter

The GIST

1 Peter is a letter written to people who feel like foreigners in their own towns. It is addressed, in the name of the apostle Peter, to Christians "scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia," five Roman provinces in Asia Minor. They are a small minority and they are suffering for it. Their neighbors think their new way of life strange, speak against them as wrongdoers and insult them for bearing the name of Christ. The letter does not promise that this will stop. It tells them who they are, a chosen people with a living hope, and how to conduct themselves so that slander is answered by goodness.

In five chapters it moves from praise to exhortation and back again, and it is among the warmest and most carefully written documents in the New Testament. Its picture of the church as strangers and pilgrims, its counsel on suffering unjustly, and several of its phrases, "a royal priesthood," "casting all your care upon him," have entered deep into Christian speech. Whether the fisherman from Galilee wrote its polished Greek himself is debated, and is discussed below.

What It Says

Greeting and praise (1:1 to 12). The readers are addressed as strangers, people scattered and away from home, and in the same breath as chosen by God. Then the letter breaks into a blessing. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." They have been born into an inheritance that cannot decay, be spoiled or fade, kept in heaven for them while they themselves are guarded by God's power.

This is the ground for joy in present trouble. For a little while they may have to suffer various trials, but these test the genuineness of their faith, which is worth more than gold refined by fire. And though they have never seen Jesus, they love him: "Whom having not seen, ye love." The prophets of old searched and inquired about this salvation and were shown that they were serving a later generation, the readers' own.

Called to be holy (1:13 to 2:3). Hope leads to a way of living. They are to prepare their minds for action, set their hope fully on the grace to come, and leave behind the desires of their former ignorance. "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation," where conversation, in the older English of the King James Version, means conduct. They are to live out the time of their sojourning in reverence, remembering the price of their freedom. They were ransomed not with silver or gold but "with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." They are to love one another deeply, since they have been born again through the living word of God. "The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away," the letter quotes, "But the word of the Lord endureth for ever." Like newborn infants they should crave pure spiritual milk and grow.

Living stones (2:4 to 10). The letter now gives its readers an identity. Christ is a living stone, rejected by people but chosen and precious to God, and they are living stones too, being built into a spiritual house. Several passages of Scripture about stones are woven together: the cornerstone laid in Zion, the stone the builders rejected, the stone that makes people stumble. Then come the titles: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." Once they were not a people. Now they are the people of God.

Good conduct among outsiders (2:11 to 3:12). As "strangers and pilgrims" they are to keep their behavior honorable among those who do not share their faith, so that people who now accuse them of wrongdoing may see their good deeds and come to glorify God. What this means is then worked out in one relationship after another.

Toward the state: they are to submit to every human authority, the emperor and his governors, because God wants them to silence ignorant talk by doing good. They are free, and must not use freedom as a cover for evil. Four terse commands sum it up: "Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king."

Toward masters: household slaves are to be respectful, even to harsh masters. There is no credit in enduring a beating one has earned, but to suffer patiently for doing right is commendable before God. Here the letter reaches its deepest point, because the model for this is Christ himself. "Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." He did no wrong. When he was insulted he did not answer with insults, and when he suffered he made no threats but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He "bare our sins in his own body on the tree," and by his wounds they have been healed. They were like straying sheep, and have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of their souls.

In marriage: wives are to be subject to their husbands, so that husbands who do not believe may be won over without argument by their wives' conduct. Their beauty should not be a matter of braided hair, gold or fine clothes but of the inner self, a gentle and quiet spirit. Husbands in turn are to live considerately with their wives and show them honor as fellow heirs of the grace of life, so that their prayers are not hindered.

Toward everyone: be of one mind, sympathetic, loving, tender-hearted and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing.

Suffering for doing right (3:13 to 4:11). Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? Yet even if they should suffer for righteousness, they are blessed. They are not to be afraid, but to be ready with an answer: "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." A clear conscience is its own defense, for those who slander good behavior will be put to shame. "For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing."

Again the pattern is Christ, who "hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." What follows is the most puzzling passage in the letter. Put to death in the flesh and made alive by the Spirit, Christ "went and preached unto the spirits in prison," those who had been disobedient in the days of Noah, when eight people were saved through water in the ark. That water is compared to baptism. The passage ends with Christ at God's right hand, with all angels, authorities and powers subject to him.

The readers have spent enough time living as their neighbors do, in drunkenness, carousing and idolatry. Those neighbors are surprised that they no longer join in, and abuse them for it. With the end of all things near, they should be clear-headed for prayer and, above everything, keep loving one another earnestly, "for charity shall cover the multitude of sins." They are to offer hospitality without grumbling and to use whatever gift each has received in the service of the others, as good stewards of God's varied grace.

The fiery trial (4:12 to 19). "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you." They should rejoice at sharing in the sufferings of Christ. If they are insulted for his name, they are blessed. No one should suffer as a murderer or thief or meddler. "Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed." Those who suffer according to God's will should entrust themselves to a faithful Creator and go on doing good.

Shepherds and flock (chapter 5). The author addresses the elders as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. They are to shepherd God's flock willingly, not for gain and not by lording it over people but by example, and when the chief Shepherd appears they will receive an unfading crown. The younger are to defer to the elders, and all are to clothe themselves with humility. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time," it says, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." They must also stay alert, because their adversary the devil prowls like a roaring lion; they are to resist him, knowing that believers all over the world face the same sufferings. After they have suffered a little while, the God of all grace will himself restore and strengthen them.

The letter closes with a note that it has been written by way of Silvanus, a faithful brother, and with greetings from the church "at Babylon" and from Mark, whom the author calls his son.

Why It Matters

1 Peter offers a way of being a minority without bitterness and without surrender. It asks its readers to keep their distinct way of life, to respect their neighbors and rulers, to refuse retaliation, and to let patient goodness make the case for their faith. It grounds all of this in the example of Christ, whose unjust suffering is both the means of their rescue and the pattern for their own.

Its description of the church as a chosen people and a royal priesthood gives ordinary, hard-pressed believers a very high dignity. The verse about Christ preaching to the spirits in prison lies behind the traditional belief in his descent to the dead, sometimes called the harrowing of hell, which later entered the Apostles' Creed; interpreters have always found the passage difficult. The instructions to wives and to slaves are read today with their original setting in mind, alongside the instruction to husbands and the comparable passages in Paul's letters.

Scholars differ over what kind of persecution the letter reflects. Some see local hostility and verbal abuse, noting that the readers are told to honor the emperor. Others think of official proceedings, under the emperor Domitian or under the governor Pliny in the early second century. On authorship, tradition and the text name the apostle Peter, and "Babylon" is generally taken as a name for Rome. Most scholars, however, think the letter comes from a circle in Rome associated with Peter and not from the apostle directly, pointing to its educated Greek and its affinities with Paul's letters. Defenders of Peter's authorship point to echoes of sayings of Jesus, to early attestation, and to the possibility that a secretary such as Silvanus helped with the writing. The question remains open.

Who Should Read It

Read 1 Peter if you are going through something hard that you did not deserve, or if you feel out of step with the culture around you. It is short, tender and bracing by turns. It is particularly valuable for anyone trying to work out how to hold convictions firmly while treating opponents with gentleness and respect.