An Introduction to 1 Peter

AUTHOR: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ"

A Quick Biography: (1) his given name was Simon son of Jonah (Matthew 16:17); (2) he was a fisherman from the village of Bethsaida in the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee (John 1:44); (3) Jesus called him to be one of His disciples (Mark 1:16-18) and he later became an apostle; Jesus gave him the nickname Peter (Cephas in its Aramaic form) or rock, which soon became better known than his given name (John 1:42; Matthew 16:17-18)

Liberal View: The author was an unknown person writing in Peter’s name. Arguments for this view: (1) the letter’s excellent Greek (Peter is described as “unschooled” and “ordinary” in Acts 4:13); (2) the supposed dependence on Pauline theology; (3) the author’s apparent lack of any “insider” knowledge of the events of Jesus’ life; (4) the absence of the kind of persecution described in the letter during Peter’s lifetime (1:6; 3:13-17; 4:12-19; 5:9)

Evidence: (1) it claims to be written by Peter (1:1); (2) the author claims to be “a witness of Christ’s sufferings” (5:1); (3) there are similarities between this letter and words attributed to Peter in Acts; (4) a number of expressions are used that would naturally come from an eyewitness of Jesus’ ministry (one example of this is 2:20-25); (5) Peter's description as “unschooled” and “ordinary” probably refers to the fact that Peter was not skilled in rabbinic training; (6) Greek was widely spoken in Palestine (there is no real reason for saying that a Galilean could not have considerable competence in the language); (7) the letter was written with the help of Silas (5:12), who may have polished up the language; (8) similarities between Peter and Paul’s theology are not surprising since they were both apostles and in agreement theologically (and to be expected if their letters were inspired by God); (9) the persecution described could have occurred under Nero instead of Trajan (the letter nowhere says that there was an empire-wide persecution)

DATE: Probably in the early 60s

Evidence: (1) it cannot be placed earlier than 60 since it shows familiarity with Paul’s prison letters (e.g., Colossians and Ephesians, which are to be dated no earlier than 60; compare 1:1-3 with Eph. 1:1-3; 2:18 with Col. 3:22; 3:1-6 with Eph. 5:22-24); (2) cannot be dated later than 67/68, since Peter was martyred during Nero’s reign

RECIPIENTS: “Strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia” (1:1)

Their Identity: (1) 1:18 seems to suggest that the recipients were mostly Gentiles; (2) however, this conclusion could be questioned since “the pilgrims of the Dispersion [Diaspora]” (NKJV) would normally be thought of as Jews (at that time there were about one million Jews living in Palestine and two to four million outside of it); (3) Peter was known as the apostle to the Jews (Galatians. 2:7); (4) it was possibly a circular letter (a letter than traveled from church to church)

PURPOSE: To encourage Christians to live godly lives in the midst of suffering (the suffering that Peter’s readers were experiencing was suffering caused by being a Christian, not simply bad events)