At Trinity Central church this past Sunday we made a start on our series in the letter of 1 Peter, and I’m really looking forward to working our way through this letter together.
Peter writes to believers in churches spread around what would now be Northern Turkey, quite possibly churches planted by people who he had relationship with and who had benefited from his apostolic ministry. Later on in the letter he goes on to exhort the elders of the churches, making it clear that Peter isn’t just writing to individuals spread throughout that area, but to church communities with foundations and elders who led and served them.
I love it that the Bible gives us the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to the people God chooses to use! It makes it possible for us to relate with them. Peter most likely wrote the letter from Rome (he refers to it as “Babylon” in 1 Pet 5:13), and scholars think that he wrote the letter around AD62-AD64, during the period of time after Paul had left Rome and before Nero’s great persecution of the Church had broken out.
If that dating is accurate then he writes the letter some 30 years after Jesus’ death.
He writes as an apostle, likely well into his fifties, a man full of God’s grace, wisdom, and love for the Church. But it wasn’t always this way! Peter had a pretty bumpy start.
Scripture gives us very frank insight into Peter’s betrayal of Jesus (after he had arrogantly predicted that even though the other disciples might desert Jesus, he never would), his ‘rebuking’ of Jesus when He predicted His death, his cutting off the ear of the High Priest’s servant. He likely participated in arguments about who was the greatest disciple, he may have been one of the disciples who tried to stop children coming to Jesus.
And even as an apostle he was surprised when the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles at Cornelius’ house – he still hadn’t understood that the Gospel was for all people! And later on Paul had to confront him (you can read about it in Galatians) when he began to withdraw from the Gentiles because of the pressure coming from Jewish believers.
God chooses people who get it wrong, who make mistakes, who mess it up. Just like you and me.
But Peter was also a man of faith, and we see wonderful evidence of this even before the Holy Spirit had fallen on him. It was Peter who got out of the boat and walked on water when Jesus called him. It was Peter who had the revelation that Jesus was the Christ. It was Peter who proclaimed that, apart from Jesus, he had nothing!
Peter writes to these churches wanting them to understand God’s love for them, and the hope which they needed to set their hearts upon. He encourages them through trials, gives them direction on how to live, and seeks to give them clarity on their identity in Christ. As with Paul, Peter majors on who they are before he talks about behaviour. This is because he knows that behaviour flows from identity, not the other way around.
As we walk through this letter together I’d encourage you to read it a few times, to become familiar with it. Allow it to soak into you, and let God change your sense of identity as we work through it together!
