I like to call this study on the book of First Peter, “How do you solve a problem like Jesus?” Before you start humming the tune “Maria”[1] from “The Sound of Music” we need take a quick look at the condition of the church at the time Peter wrote this epistle.
There are five books of the New Testament that are often called the “Messianic Jewish Epistles” or the “Hebrew Christian Epistles.” Those being the book of Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, and Jude. While each were written to a specific group, that being believing Jews, we need to remember, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) The text may not have been written to all believers, but every word is for every believer. The Jews, for the most part, understood who God is and how to live under His law, but now with the law fulfilled by Jesus, they didn’t know how to live as Christians. Away from their homeland and away from any teachers and pastors, they needed instruction, which is the primary motivation of each of the five book authors.
In the book of Acts we read that hostility against Christians was growing, especially against Jewish followers of Jesus. Following Stephen’s stoning (see Acts chapter seven), many believing Jews were forced to leave Jerusalem to avoid persecution, and as a result they became scattered in a number of places outside their homeland. Some went into Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), while others, including Peter, went to the city of Babylon, a major center for Jews away from Israel at that time. Even though this letter was probably written before Emperor Nero’s persecution and martyring of Christians campaign began (Nero was well known for his executions, including his own mother, and persecutions of Christians, such as burning them alive), Christians were under constant physical abuse and antagonism. Not surprising, there was a lot of confusion by those believers as to why these things were happening.
It appears that Peter wrote this epistle as a letter of comfort (often referred to as the letter of hope) as they prepare for the coming rise in persecution. Peter points out that Christians should be obedient to God’s Word and that act of obedience would testify to the world the truth. Peter in closing his first epistle reminds all Christians to stand firm in the true grace of God (see 1 Peter 5:12).
This epistle is believed to have been written before the year 64 A.D. (the year Nero started his major campaign against Christians) since there is no mention of martyrdom. The early church never doubted or questioned the letter even though by this time many false letters and phony ‘gospels’ started to show up. Several fake documents claiming to be written by Peter slowly started to appear during the first three centuries after Jesus ascended, including the Gospel of Peter, Acts of Peter and the 12 Apostles, Apocalypse of Peter, Letter of Peter to Philip, and the Acts of Peter, just to name a few! Even though accepted by the early church and early commentators, there has been an on-going effort that questions if Peter was truly the author of this book. However, the opposition to accept Peter as the author of this epistle is mild compared to the opposition of Peter being the author of his second epistle (see Chapter 29 - Introduction of 2 Peter, for a more thorough discussion on this issue).
There are a number of similarities of this book to the book of James especially regarding trials and living honorably during suffering. In a sense Peter picks up where James ends. This epistle was appropriate and definitely needed during Peter’s time and in my opinion is even more appropriate and needed during our time. Our world today is poking its finger at Christians and antagonizing them in new and different ways but the issue of suffering is still the same. The world still sees Jesus as a problem, its only answer is to fight, annoy and sometimes martyr His followers. Christians are once again questioning why these things are happening.
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[1] “Maria.” By Rodgers and Hammerstein from The Sound of Music, 1959.