Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] First Peter in a Nutshell by Bart Ehrman.
[00:00:05] The book of First Peter is a kind of circular letter written in the name of the apostle Peter to the exiles of the dispersion in several of the provinces of Asia Minor, specifically Pontus Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. That's 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 1.
[00:00:24] The author addresses his readers by calling them exiles and also aliens in chapter 2, verse 11.
[00:00:30] Most scholars have understood these to be figurative designations of Christians whose real home is heaven and who are therefore exiles in this world for the time being.
[00:00:40] Supporting this interpretation are verses where the author indicates that his readers are in exile only for a while. That's chapter one, verse 17, and that their real allegiance is to their heavenly calling.
[00:00:53] Chapter 1, verse 13.
[00:00:55] He emphasizes the point because things are not going well in the current world of exile.
[00:01:01] These were Christian believers who were undergoing suffering, and this author is trying to tell them how to deal with it.
[00:01:08] The word for suffering occurs more often in this short letter than in any other book of the New Testament, even more than in the much longer works of Luke and Acts combined.
[00:01:19] Even where the author is not talking directly about how to handle suffering, he appears to be speaking about it indirectly.
[00:01:25] Throughout the letter, for example, he urges his readers to live moral lives so that those on the outside can see that they are doing nothing wrong and causing nobody any harm.
[00:01:35] They are to be obedient slaves, submissive wives and tender husbands, and they are to obey all governing authority and to be devoted subjects of the emperor.
[00:01:45] These are not simply pieces of moral advice. They are also guidelines for avoiding persecution from suspicious authorities and for putting to shame those who wrongfully cause abuse.
[00:01:58] The other evidence we have from roughly the time of the letter, that is to say, the Book of Acts, the letter of the Roman governor Pliny describing issues in western Asia Minor, suggests that the most persecutions at this time, even if Roman officials came to be involved, started at the grassroots level.
[00:02:15] Correspondingly, First Peter indicates that the Christians to whom he's writing are principally opposed by their former colleagues and friends, who are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excess of dissipation.
[00:02:27] That's chapter four, verse four.
[00:02:29] That is to say, the Christian converts have caused a good deal of consternation for those with whom they used to spend their time.
[00:02:37] There has been a public outcry, apparently by those who feel abandoned by their former friends and spouses perhaps, and it may have reached the point of mob violence or administrative intervention.
[00:02:49] Thus the author speaks of the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you. In chapter 4, verse 12, persecution often functions to solidify the ties that bind a social group together, giving the members of the group a greater sense of cohesion and belonging as they realize that they're all in it together.
[00:03:08] Although the author of First Peter was obviously not versed in modern sociological theory, he was clearly attuned to the social dimensions of suffering as they were being experienced in the communities that he addressed.
[00:03:19] One of his goals was to keep these communities together, which meant keeping individual members from leaving as the pressure from the outside mounted.
[00:03:29] He constantly reminds his readers that they acquired a privileged status when they joined God's household.
[00:03:35] They were chosen specially by God, they were sanctified by the Spirit, and they were sprinkled with Christ's blood. That's chapter one, verse two.
[00:03:44] He wants them to remember that they have been brought into this new family by means of a new birth. He says this in chapter one, verses three and 23, and that they are now children of God, their father, chapter one, verses 14 and 17, having been purchased by the precious gift of Christ's blood. That's chapter one, verse 19.
[00:04:04] They are the chosen people, set apart from the rest of the world, belonging to God alone.
[00:04:12] Indeed, they are the place of God's residence, his own temple, where sacrifices are made to God. At the same time, they are the holy priests who make these sacrifices.
[00:04:22] See chapter 2, verses 4 to 9.
[00:04:25] Clearly, these believers are special before God and unique in the world.
[00:04:30] Indeed, to some extent, they are suffering because they are so distinct.
[00:04:35] Outsiders can't fathom why the members of God's house behave so differently, and in their ignorance, they lash out at what they don't understand.
[00:04:44] That's chapter four, verses three to five.
[00:04:46] In this they are driven on by the devil himself, God's cosmic enemy.
[00:04:51] That's chapter five, verse eight.
[00:04:54] Christians then should expect to suffer and should not be surprised when they do so. That's chapter 4, verse 12.
[00:05:01] For just as Christ suffered, so too must his followers.
[00:05:05] 4, 13.
[00:05:07] They must not suffer for doing what is wrong, however, but only for doing what is right. They are therefore to live moral, upright lives. This comes from chapter 3, verses 14 to 17, and chapter 4, verses 14 to 15.
[00:05:21] Moreover, when they suffer in this way, they must be prepared to defend themselves by explaining who they are and what they stand for.
[00:05:31] So the author writes, always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and reverence.
[00:05:43] That's chapter three, verses 15 and 16.
[00:05:47] By making this kind of defense, Christians will put their enemies to shame. That's chapter three, verse 17.
[00:05:53] Thus the author of 1 Peter is concerned not only to create solidarity in the Christian communities, but also, and perhaps primarily to bring an end to the suffering. He makes precisely this point when he urges his readers to conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles so that though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God. That's from chapter two, verse 11.
[00:06:18] His injunctions to moral behavior appear to be designed to win over the sceptical. See chapter three, verse one.
[00:06:25] In a world in which the Christian community is regarded as antisocial, the believers are to accept the authority of every human institution, whether of the emperor as supreme or of governors assent to him to punish those who do wrong and praise those who do right.
[00:06:41] For it is God's will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish. That's chapter three, verses 13 to 15.
[00:06:49] The ultimate reward for those who remain steadfast in suffering will be the salvation that is soon to come. According to chapter one, verses one to three and verse nine.
[00:07:00] This author has not abandoned the eschatological hope of the earliest Christian communities. He embraces it, confident that God will soon bring the believer's suffering to an end. And that's chapter four, verse 17, and chapter five, verse 10.
[00:07:16] But who was the author? Was it actually Peter, Jesus's own disciple?
