1 Peter
A letter for people who feel like foreigners where they live.
Who wrote it: Says it is from Peter, written with Silvanus's help from 'Babylon', probably code for Rome. Some scholars accept that (early 60s AD); others think the polished Greek points to a follower writing in his name in the 70s to 90s.
What it is
The letter is addressed to 'foreigners in the Dispersion' across five regions of what is now Turkey: scattered Christians, mostly non-Jewish, who had become strangers in their own towns by changing what they worshipped. They were being slandered, shut out, and in some cases dragged before officials. Not yet the organized persecution of later decades, but the everyday cost of being the odd ones out. Peter writes to tell them who they are and how to carry it.
Who they are comes first. Born again to a living hope through the resurrection. An inheritance that cannot spoil. Bought with the precious blood of Christ. A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, called out of darkness into light: words that had belonged to Israel, now applied to a mixed crowd of ex-pagans in Asia Minor. Peter wants them to know that being outsiders in Bithynia does not mean being outsiders with God.
How to carry it takes up the rest. Live so well among the pagans that their slander looks stupid. Submit to rulers, even bad ones. Slaves, endure unjust masters the way Christ endured the cross, and here Peter gives one of the most moving descriptions of the crucifixion in the letters: he did not retaliate, he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly, by his wounds you were healed. Wives and husbands, be considerate. Everyone: be ready to explain your hope, gently. Don't be surprised by the fiery trial. Cast your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Your enemy prowls like a lion; resist him, and know that believers everywhere are going through the same thing.
The distinctive note is dignity under pressure without resentment. Peter, who once drew a sword in a garden and then denied he knew Jesus, writes to people who are afraid and tells them that fear is not the end of the story. It is the New Testament's most sustained answer to the question of how to be a minority without becoming bitter or invisible.
Verses worth keeping
- 1 Peter 1:3WEB
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsPraise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his huge mercy he's given us a new birth into a living hope, through Jesus Christ being raised from the dead.
'Living hope': not a wish, a thing that is alive because someone else is.
- 1 Peter 2:9WEB
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsBut you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who belong to God, so that you can announce how good the one is who called you out of darkness into his amazing light.
Every phrase here was said to Israel at Sinai. Peter says it to ex-pagans in Turkey.
- 1 Peter 3:15WEB
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear,
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsSet Christ apart as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you why you have this hope, and do it with humility and respect.
The assumption is that your life will make people ask. The instruction is about tone.
- Gen Zsame meaning, your words
Throw all your worries onto him, because he cares about you.
It is one verse in the middle of instructions about humility. Handing over worry is what humility looks like.
Read 1 Peter
The full text, every chapter, from the World English Bible, a modern public-domain translation. Pick a chapter below. The highlighted verses are the place to start if you have never read it.
1 Peter 2
1Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking, 2as newborn babies, long for the pure spiritual milk, that with it you may grow, 3if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4Come to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious. 5You also as living stones are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6Because it is contained in Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen and precious. He who believes in him will not be disappointed.”
7For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,”
8and, “a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.” For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.
9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10In the past, you were not a people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
11Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good works and glorify God in the day of visitation.
13Therefore subject yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether to the king, as supreme, 14or to governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and for praise to those who do well. 15For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. 16Live as free people, yet not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
17Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
18Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the wicked. 19For it is commendable if someone endures pain, suffering unjustly, because of conscience toward God. 20For what glory is it if, when you sin, you patiently endure beating? But if when you do well, you patiently endure suffering, this is commendable with God. 21For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps, 22who didn’t sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.” 23When he was cursed, he didn’t curse back. When he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds. 25For you were going astray like sheep; but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Questions about 1 Peter
What does 'preached to the spirits in prison' mean?
1 Peter 3:19-20 says Christ went and preached to spirits in prison who disobeyed in Noah's day. Nobody is sure. Options include: Christ proclaiming victory to fallen angels, Christ preaching to the dead between Good Friday and Easter (the source of 'he descended into hell' in the creed), or Christ preaching through Noah before the flood. Luther said it was the most obscure passage in the New Testament, and he was not alone.
Does 1 Peter tell people to just submit to abuse?
It tells slaves and wives in a first-century household, who had no legal way out, how to endure without losing themselves, and it holds up Christ as the model. It does not say abuse is good or that anyone with a way out should stay. Christians today, across traditions, agree that these passages are not a reason to remain in danger, and that using them that way is a distortion of a letter whose whole point was dignity for people the world stepped on.
Did Peter write this?
The letter says so. The Greek is very good for a Galilean fisherman, but 5:12 says it was written 'through Silvanus', which may explain the style. Some scholars date the persecution it describes to the 90s, after Peter's death; others say the pressure it describes fits the 60s well enough. Both views are held by serious people.