
1 Peter 1.1-9.
Simon Peter wrote a few letters before his death under Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus in the 60s. We have two of ’em in the New Testament—one which he wrote to the Christians of what is now Türkiye, and another which he wrote to Christians in general.
Some commentators think he wrote his letters under persecution, and some think he wrote ’em before. And of course that’s seriously gonna influence the way we interpret the letter. When Peter writes about “the testing of your faith” in verse 7 of today’s passage, we’re gonna wonder whether he’s writing about the usual difficulties of daily life in a largely pagan culture… or whether he’s writing about full-on tribulation, as the Romans tried to round up people whom they thought were terrorists. Nero blamed the Great Fire of Rome in 64 on them, and hunted them down like
I mean, 1 Peter can be applicable in both situations—under life’s usual trials, or under a fascist purge. Most scriptures are flexible like that. But we don’t know which of the two the west Asian Christians were going through, and I’m gonna presume Peter wrote it before the persecutions… otherwise there’d be way more about persecution in the letter.
Now, some Christians insist it had to have been written during persecution, ’cause Peter talks so much about
1 Peter 1.1-9 KWL 1 Peter, apostle of Christ Jesus,- to the “foreign” elect of the Diaspora—
- of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
- Asia Minor, and Bithynia.
2 By God the Father’s foreknowledge,- in the Holy Spirit’s holiness,
- into obedience—
- and the sprinkling of Christ Jesus’s blood—
- may grace to you, and peace, multiply!
3 Blessed are you God,- father of our Master, Christ Jesus.
- By his great mercy he makes us born again,
- into a living hope
- through Christ Jesus’s resurrection from the dead.
4 Born again into an inheritance,- unspoiled, untainted, unfading,
- under guard in the heavens for you all.
5 And you are guarded- by God’s power, through your faith,
- for the salvation he prepared,
- to be revealed in the End Time.
6 In that, you can jump for joy—- for now, briefly, it’s necessary to grieve
- from our various temptations.
7 Thus the testing of your faith,- which is more precious than gold,
- which perishes through fire,
- might be found proven,
- to the praise, glory, and honor
- at the revelation of Christ Jesus.
8 You don’t see him;- you still love him.
- You can’t look upon him just now,
- and you believers still jump
- for inexpressible and magnificent joy
9 at receiving the outcome of your faith:- Salvation of your souls.
Written to the Diaspora.
John, James, and Peter addressed their letters to the
The reason the apostles addressed them, is ’cause the ancient Christians were trying to spread Christianity through them. These were the guys with Messiah in their cultural background, which made it way easier to explain Jesus to them. That’s why Paul first went to
But just because the apostles addressed the Diaspora does not mean they didn’t expect gentiles to read these letters too. Gentiles joined the churches and became Christian. Peter was the guy who’d first shared the gospel with gentiles,
Peter starts with the usual Christian “grace and peace” greeting—the typical Roman greeting of
And from there we get to why God’s blessed—look at all this awesome stuff he’s done for us. We’re gonna inherit his kingdom! Jesus is coming back, and bringing it with him! Yeah, we don’t see it yet; yeah, we gotta wait for it, and put up with the usual suffering we undergo in our fallen world. We gotta keep resisting temptation, we gotta stretch our faith and keep growing it, and grow in it. And that’s why, even though Jesus hasn’t yet returned, we can still praise him, rejoice in him, love him, and follow him: We know he’s coming. We know we’re getting saved.
“Whom having not seen.”
The
The problem with a past-tense translation of this verse, is you’ll get preachers claiming, “These Christians had never seen Jesus.” And no, we can’t say that, because we have no idea whether they’ve ever seen Jesus. Peter had no idea either. Other apostles—including other members of the Twelve!—were in those provinces, proclaiming Jesus and leading churches, and they’d seen Jesus. More than 500 people had seen Jesus after he rose from the dead,
These preachers try to claim the people Peter wrote to, had faith in Jesus despite never seeing him; despite never firsthand witnessing a miracle. Again, we can’t say that, because we’ve no idea if they never saw a miracle. And since most cessationists claim God turned off the miracles only after the New Testament was complete, why on earth would they say people who lived in the days of an incomplete bible, never saw a miracle? Well, because they’re trying to relate those folks to us—and they want us to believe we’ve never seen a miracle, just like they believe they’ve never seen a miracle. Even though lots of us totally have. Including a surprising number of the miracle-deniers.
Peter’s point was not to say his readers had never seen Jesus; it’s only to say we don’t currently see Jesus. He’s not on earth; he’s in heaven at his Father’s right hand.
And if the Spirit deems it necessary for us to see Jesus, we will.
