Lessons from I Peter for the Season of Easter in Year A
The letter received universal acceptance as part of the New Testament from its earliest circulation. We might say that the traditional view is that Peter wrote this letter from Rome (5:13 refers to Babylon, but clearly referring to Rome) around 64 AD. In support of this from the early church, Clement of Rome seems to have used the letter. Polycarp certainly did. Since Irenaeus, the early tradition attributed the letter to the apostle Peter. However, the letter reflects the style of Silvanus, although some think Silvanus (5:12) may well have given the letter its present form after Peter’s death.
The fixed idea that permeates the epistle, seen already in its opening words, is the notion that life is a difficult pilgrimage, demanding both insight and endurance, the successful completion of which brings a heavenly reward that has already begun to manifest itself: the salvation of believers. The salvation of which the epistle speaks is both immanent and transcendent, a tension found in numerous writings to emerging Christian churches.
Peter designed the letter to help the reader’s faith in time of trial. The letter focuses on the status as exiles in Asia Minor of Gentile Christians faced with persecution as a community of believers within a culture of disbelief. It provides a compelling vision of what true Christian living and genuine Christian community entail Many of its references suggest a baptismal context or an instruction to newly baptized believers. The letter makes important use of the Old Testament. We must note the image of the church as Israel. It simply adopts for the church theological images in the Old Testament applied to Israel.
"The impact of grace upon the readers' lives has brought them into situations of conflict with the expectations and norms of their society."[1] The pastoral thrust of I Peter is intended to address what one scholar (Neyrey) has called "the dislocation of conversion" experienced by Christians who found themselves, on the one hand, engulfed in the newfound joy of God's promised grace, and, on the other hand, alienated from pagan society for their faith in the one who suffered for others. Peter attempts to make sense of the persecution of Diaspora Christians, but if their sufferings are to prepare them for the glory that awaits them at Christ's return, the Gentile Christians must be true to their calling as God's people. The bulk of the epistle is devoted to explicating the implications of that calling. While its style may be unique, the concerns of the epistle of I Peter are remarkably like typical Christian exhortations: a stress on traditional ethical standards, lists of household duties, concern for the church's public role in pagan society, and appeals to established religious traditions (Neyrey, 1228).
Peter wrote this letter to encourage the church in a time of persecution, and its key concept is hope in Christ -- a hope that can carry the church through challenging times. The letter recognizes how difficult the status of the cultural outsider is. This epistle acknowledges the possibility of harassment and persecution as looming threats to these new churches. The Christians in the northern reaches of Asia Minor were in a far from ideal situation. They were a tiny, struggling minority amidst a powerful, belligerent pagan culture. Though Peter deals with their present suffering, he does not want that to hinder their expectation of future joy. The letter emphasizes both individual responsibility and communal attitudes by shifting the discussion from eschatology to ethics and back again. In addition to hope, the qualities of joy, optimism and exuberance characterize I Peter. Writing to those Jew and Gentile Christians who made their homes in the extreme northern reaches of Asia Minor, this author seeks to invest a beleaguered community with hope and joy. Yet, all these good tidings are celebrations of an eschatological future, not a humanly conceived time. Thus, the letter also spends as much time discussing suffering -- both Christ's and his followers -- as it does rejoicing. The circumstances and events surrounding these distant Christians were far from ideal. They were a tiny, struggling minority amidst a powerful, belligerent pagan culture. Acknowledging the place of suffering in their lives, however, does not mean that one should muffle their expectation of future joy. This letter calls these Christians to celebrate and love with confidence in God's eschatological promises.
I Peter 1:3-9 (Year A Second Sunday of Easter) expresses thankfulness for the Christian hope of salvation. While the readers live daily amid suffering, Peter reminds them of the power of God. Peter opens with praise of God for merciful actions, reminding them that it is because of this mercy his readers are in new relation with God and with each other. He identifies God as the Father of our Lord, Jesus, who is the promised Jewish Messiah. Through the mercy of God, we have received new birth through baptism and receive the new life that follows conversion. This rebirth is toward a living or lively hope. Such a living hope is that hope rooted in God's promises of the past, manifested in the crucible of the present, and orients itself toward the salvation of the future. This hope has an intimate connection with the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead. In contradiction to human experience, Christians believe in the salvation that God promises them in the resurrection of Jesus and that means new life after death.[2] The church learns about suffering through the shadow the cross casts over human life. Christian hope is not an obscure, neutral, or ambivalent future. Rather, it looks to the coming of Jesus Christ in its final form, a completion of His prophetic work and to His consummating manifestation. The Christian expectation of the future is the expectation of this event. The event is the “self-authentication” of the Word of Jesus Christ. Such witness involves thinking, speaking and action in hope. “Striding as a Christian into the future,” the witness of Jesus Christ becomes ‘works of hope,” testifying to the Lord who has not only come, and is not only present, but will come again in the future. The Christ in whom he witnesses and in whom he hopes is already present as the basis of this hope. [3] We need to learn suffering in this shadow, both as a community and as individuals. A shadow needs a light behind it, and that light is the resurrection.[4] The new life is the direct result of the mercy of God shown in Jesus' resurrection from the dead (v.3), which promises the imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance that awaits the believers in heaven (v.4). Such mercy is both protological in its basis in the past event of Jesus' resurrection, and eschatological in its orientation toward the future consummation of salvation in heaven. Those receiving this rebirth receive protection from the power of God, which contrasts sharply from the finite and temporal powers that persecute them. This protection occurs through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time (καιρῷ). The last age, the end of history, has begun. The already and the even now are forms of the coming action of Jesus Christ. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God was already mighty, holy, merciful, and glorious. In the power of the Holy Spirit, God is so today in our time, which is the time between and the last time.[5] These promises provide a salvation history or the beginnings of a Christian view of time as foundational for securing the hope for the future, allowing the readers to rejoice in their trials, a response that will demonstrate the quality of their faith. Like using fire to extract gold, so trials produce a faith more precious than gold. Such testing will have the result of bringing praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Their suffering now pales in comparison to the glory Christ brings them. Suffering is always a test of meaning. Many will voluntarily suffer for a worthy cause, but few can tolerate suffering without perceived meaning. Christians draw from their faith in Christ and their love for him the joyful certainty that God is storing up salvation for them. They are awaiting the revelation of Jesus.
If we suffer the way this passage suggests, we will find God at work in our afflictions. We naturally ask the question of why suffering happens. We are creatures who question. We live with many questions. Our questions drive our attempts to understand our world and our place in it. Suffering raises the question of “Why?” I must say, however, that too often the question of why God allows my moment of suffering to happen is the question of an observer of suffering. One who truly suffers and is alert to its role in life looks for healing, comfort, and strength amid the ambiguity that suffering brings into our lives.
I Peter 1:17-23 (Year A Third Sunday of Easter) admonishes the readers toward holy living. It has elements of a baptismal catechesis, hymn, and creedal affirmations. Invoking as Father, suggesting familiarity, tenderness, and concern, the one who judges all impartially in accord with their deeds, not on the basis of their knowledge of the covenant of the Lord with Israel or as the Lord further established a covenant with humanity in Jesus Christ, then this experience should lead them to live their lives with reverence, awe, and respect of to whom they pray and before whom they live. They are to live this way during the chronological span of time (χρόνον) that is their exile. He urges them to change their conduct to conform with their sated belief. He will then urge upon them to conform their lives to the call to holiness. They have been ransomed, redeemed (ἐλυτρώθητε). This term links the readers, most of whom are Gentiles, to the redemptive work of the God of Israel. Their ransom or redemption is from the ways of their ancestors, but not with the usual financial arrangements of redeeming a family member from slavery, but with the precious blood of Christ, the sacrifice of divine life, which form an analogy with the Old Testament practice of offering a lamb without defect in sacrifice to God, relying upon Exodus 12:5 and Isaiah 53:7, the latter referring to the Suffering Servant as a lamb. Thus, the apostle carefully welds this new Christian community of faith to the history of God's redemptive work carried out in the first rescue mission in Exodus and as foretold in Isaiah's prophetic witness of future deliverance. He reminds them they have been "ransomed" by the miracle of God's redemptive work, connecting them with the Old Testament exodus event and sacrificial terminology. The blood of the lamb redeems the Christian. The point of the plan of salvation that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ and his atoning death is the bringing of all people into participation in salvation by faith.[6] The declaration in I Peter 1: 20-21 suggests a creedal type of formula. The origin of salvation is in the eternity of God prior to all the chances of history. As important as is the foundation of redemption in the eternity of God, what is significant in the relation between God and the world is the event that reveals its reality to humanity. This event is a revelation at the end of the ages, adopting a common phrase of Jewish apocalyptic literature. It refers to the end of the cosmic times that God has ordained, but not to the end of time or timelessness as such. This means that in human history, and beyond all history, there is no other or higher law than that of the divine mercy, now revealed, established and applied in the oblation of the Lamb of God. This is no law developed by human beings, to be repealed by another of the same kind. One cannot relativize it. For the Lamb of God foreordained before the foundation of the world is the person and work in which this law had been revealed.[7] Peter then personalizes the creedal formula by saying that this event was for their sake. Christ is the one who will show grace to believers in the last time, acting as an advocate when the Father comes in judgment.[8] They trust in the God of Israel, who has raised Christ from the dead given him glory, resulting in the practical effect that they have set their faith and hope on God. God's past, present, and promised future are the basis for Christian trust in God. God's past, present and promised future redemptive activity is the cause for Christian "trust in God." Believing in Christ's resurrection both grows out of this trust and magnifies it. Christian "faith" and "hope" are dependent upon the trust they have in this redeeming God. The redemption by the blood of Christ and the resurrection was the outcome of the eternal plan of the Father, who in this way consecrated a new people. Christian hope is finally in God and in fellowship with divine life, rather than any analogy with human experience.[9] The admonition ends with baptism in the background, as they have purified their souls by obedience to the truth that centers in the redeeming/ransoming event of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which leads to genuine mutual love (φιλαδελφίαν) and a love (ἀγαπήσατε) that flows deeply from the heart. It is not enough to hold fast to the truth, for they need to cultivate a growing love for each other within their communal life. Love is the authenticating sign of a renewed life. They have been born anew or born again in their baptism, symbolizing their unity, and bringing individuals into the community as individuals receive new birth. The word of God becomes the power of God to bring about this rebirth.
I Peter 2:19-25 (Year A Fourth Sunday of Easter) is in the context of offering maxims for daily living. He offers his take on the traditional household codes of attitudes and behaviors. He is urging them to accept a different standard, one established by Jesus. Christians in that ancient culture were not religious in the sense of what that culture thought of as religious, for they did offer sacrifices and did have temples and altars in which to conduct worship. These early Christians were people of the book, that is, the Jewish scripture, and treasured the teaching of the apostles. Even the ancient household, composed of husband and wife, parents and children, and the master and the slave, was to undergo profound alteration. Whereas Romans often exposed unwanted babies to the elements leaving them to die, Christians raised their own children and even adopted some of those who were rejected by their neighbors. Women were expected to be faithful in marriage, but men could fool around at will. Christians, on the other hand, insisted that both women and men needed to be faithful to one another in monogamous, lifelong marriage. While Romans enjoyed the blood sport of the gladiator arena, it was the Christians who refused to play along. Indeed, many would die in the arena themselves as a result.[10] Each of these areas of difference with the culture created the possibility for persecution. The history of the persecuted church is that it is an anvil that has worn out many hammers.[11]Unjust suffering was part of what Christians expected. The message of the apostles and other teachers and preachers convinced many that God was at work in this new community. Thus, grace comes personally to the slave who suffers unjustly, a statement that already assumes the full humanity of the slave. The slave is not just property, revealing another difference between early Christians and their culture. Aristotle had even argued that it was logically impossible for a slave to suffer an "injustice" -- because slaves were simply property, not people. He is aware of the abuses many slaves have experienced. His exhortation is to look to another who suffered, Jesus of Nazareth. The suffering of the Son upon the cross for the sake of others, in part, is an opportunity for humanity to see the evil of which it is capable and repent of it. In an analogous way, if the slave can keep the suffering of the innocent Jesus of Nazareth in mind and imitate him, those who abuse the slave may see their inhumanity and repent. Of course, given the human historical record, humanity is fully capable of enjoying inflicting suffering upon others and even viewing it as commanded by God. Such is the blindness of humanity to the depths to which it can sink in its lack of goodness and morality.
Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.[12]
He addresses them as baptized and therefore called persons, already receiving grace and redemption, and calls upon them to endure injustice the way Jesus did because Christ suffered for them, leaving them an example, as they should following his steps. In any context, then, Christians who suffer injustice needed to recall the way Jesus suffered injustice. He invites the suffering believer to participate in the suffering of Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth has broken the trail, and the believer is to follow in his steps. Suffering is a natural consequence of a faithful Christian response to the world. Christians follow in the steps of Jesus in his inferiority and suffering.[13] Peter concludes the passage with an appeal to the Suffering Servant, focusing upon Isaiah 53:4-7, 9, in a form that has a creedal feel and sound. The image of Christ as the Suffering Servant further supports I Peter's concept that the obedient Christian must likewise experience suffering at the hands of others. Christians who suffer unjustly are a faint reflection of the suffering of Christ. The difference is that Christ bore our sins in his body on the cross, which is the work of redemption on our behalf, an indication of the expiation accomplished through the surrender of the life of Jesus as symbolized in the Lord’s Supper.[14] Since we are free from the burden of our sin, we can now live for righteousness in this world. The cross is healing the disease or sickness of sin, drawing from a therapeutic image of sin and redemption. The wounds and sufferings of Christ for our sins has a healing effect as we direct attention away from self and toward the work of Christ on the cross. It would be quite unthinkable, except as a reflection of the depth to which humanity can descend, to think that once Christ suffered in this way for us and our sins, we would then joyfully take our sins back and continue as before. The point of the healing power of the cross is to start the healing process of freeing us from the power of the disease of sins. Such healing will not reach its conclusion until our death and therefore our rising with Christ in glory. However, the process begins as we have faith in what God has done in Christ. We receive healing through the ultimate act of suffering Jesus endured (using the imagery of Isaiah 53:5b). As Christ’s own experience has made clear, even working to extend God’s righteous justice in the world is no guarantee that we can escape suffering. In fact, reflecting the righteous will of God in this world may well increase our suffering. In the immediate context related to deliverance from sin, clearly some of the recipients’ wounds are spiritual in nature. Nevertheless, quite likely the author has in mind more literal healings as well. The recipients' own bodies may have experienced “beatings” and the “pain” and “suffering” that would attend them. Christ’s “wounds” hold out the possibility for healing in this area as well. Yet healing is not necessarily equivalent to escape. Once more, in keeping with the pattern of Christ’s own experience, it may be final and complete healing and wholeness are received only from “the one who judges justly” in the life to come. Peter uses the image of straying sheep to refer to them, but they have now returned to Jesus as their shepherd.
Peter is giving specific advice to Christian slaves as to how they need to respond to unjust treatment. A misinterpretation of this passage would be to counsel people to use their freedom to stay in abusive and dangerous situations, mostly commonly at home, although such situations can arise at work as well. The slave of the ancient household had far less freedom than do members of the modern household. The ancient household was the basis of intimate family relationships as well as the heart of work and learning a trade. It often consisted of 15-30 people and had multiple families. Thus, if we understand this circumstance as an example, we could look upon other examples to gain insights. In the most trying of circumstances, they are to be aware of God, endure pain, do what is right, respond to violence with nonviolence, and live righteously. Doing what is right and awareness of God is not just for favorable circumstances. Obviously, Jesus did these things, and more, throughout the course of his life and in the most trying of circumstances. What did Jesus do? While sinless himself and without deceit (v. 22), he suffered for our sakes. When Jesus was abused, he did not abuse in return. When suffering, he did not threaten. His body carried the ravages of mistreatment. By the end of his life, scars marked his wrists and side. Thorns scratched his forehead. Leather cords weighted with sharp bones or stones shredded the flesh on his back. His feet were callused from walking throughout Galilee. His heart was broken when friends died, when the faithless walked away, when the ones he loved most failed to get it. The body of our Lord bore the marks of great pain and suffering. Yet, Jesus carried with him unspeakable beauty, power, and glory. Jesus teaches us to embrace our sufferings and the many imperfections of life, and then let them bring us to a beauty that is deep, compassionate, and unspeakably radiant. It is the pearl-in-the-oyster thing. Peter calls the endurance of unjust suffering an opportunity to receive God's blessing. Suffering when we live righteously brings a peculiar beauty that will not go unrewarded: "By his wounds [we] have been healed" (v.24).
I Peter 2:2-10 (Year A Fifth Sunday of Easter) focuses upon avoiding malice through being part of the new priesthood and adopting holy conduct, using many powerful metaphors that convey a significant spiritual truth. In referring to his readers as newborn infants, Peter addresses a baptismal setting, urging the newly baptized to long for the pure or genuine spiritual milk. In Hippolytus' Apostolic Tradition, newly baptized Christians received not only the bread and wine of the Eucharist meal, but a cup of milk mixed with honey, symbolizing the newborn status of the believer. This new birth has taken place through the living and enduring word of God (verse 23), the good news that had been announced to them (verse 25). Using the image of growth, they are to grow into salvation, drawing from Psalm 34:8, since they have tasted, suggesting developing a partially toward the Lord as that which is good. Drawing from imagery found in Exodus 19:5-6, Peter portrays a vision of who the church is. He moves quickly from the growth image to the image of a building. He urges them to come to Christ, who is paradoxically a living stone, which may suggest the altar/table of community, though rejected by human beings, this stone is chosen and precious in the sight of God, drawing from Psalm 118:22-3, also used in Mark 12:10-11. He will also draw from Isaiah 8:14, where the Lord a stone over which one stumbles. Such images suggest that while Jewish leaders rejected the messenger from God, Christians have welcomed him as Lord and promised Messiah. This reflects the imagery of Isaiah 28:16, where the Lord is laying a foundation stone, a tested and precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, in Zion, which Peter is thinking of as fulfilled in Christ. Rejection occurred because of disobedience to the word, which is the proclamation of the gospel that occurs through the church. This proclamation is consistent with apostolic teaching, today reflected in the witness of the New Testament. However, we must never limit the power of the word to the written text but expand it to include the living and preached word that encounters us in the reading of the text and in communal worship. Their rejection fulfilled their destiny, for it proved to be the means through which the privileges of Israel become possible for all peoples. However, if Christ is a living stone, then so are those who believers, who are also to be like living stones, allowing Christ to form them into a spiritual house, the true community of faith, which is the focus of Christ, imaging the risen Lord involved in a great construction project. Paul will refer to the local church as God’s temple, the Spirit of God dwelling in them, the temple is holy, and they are that temple (I Corinthians 3:16-7, II Corinthians 6:16). His readers are members of the household of God that has the foundation of the apostles and prophets, but Christ is the cornerstone, who joins together the entire structure, growing it into a holy temple of the Lord and who builds them together spiritually into a dwelling place for God (Ephesians 2:19-22). The individuality of the living stones is that they fit in community with other stones. This house is holy priesthood that offer spiritual sacrifices. Luther links the universal priesthood of believers to the offering of sacrifices in the sense of offering of their lives to the service of God and others.[15] To shift images again, the action of God has made them an elect or chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people of God. Christians are prophets, priests, and kings because Christ is this and has made Christians his own. The Reformation thesis of the priesthood of all believers supports the notion of the immediacy of individuals to Jesus Christ. For Luther, faith and baptism mean sharing in Jesus Christ and therefore sharing in the offices of Christ. Vatican II in the constitution on the church refers to this passage, as does Luther, and relates sharing in Christ to sharing in his offices. However, the issue here is not the individual relation to God, but rather, the Christian community as the people of God and royal priesthood, functions that only Israel possessed as the covenant people.[16] This transformation from newborn infants into a people chosen by God means they proclaim the mighty acts of the one who called them out of darkness into the marvelous light of God. Referring Hosea 2:23, while elect and chosen now, this leads to the humble reflection that they too once were not a people.
I Peter 3:13-22 (Year A Sixth Sunday of Easter) urges a fearless witness within a context of persecution. He does so by reminding them of the example Jesus provided in his patient suffering. Tradition is that Peter lost his life during the state-level persecution that occurred during the rule of Nero in 65 AD. The persecuted church has been a reality of history and remains so today. Modern pluralistic societies imagine themselves as have gotten beyond persecuting the church. Yet, is this so? Any church community that upholds traditional values regarding sexuality and the family is at risk of persecution today. The social ostracizing that occurs through shaming is subtle form of persecution that has the aim of isolating to the point of causing a change in values so that the group can fit in with the culture. Such moral disgust from the culture toward the church is a challenge, and the church has not always had a helpful response to it. As William F. Buckley noted long ago, you can mention religion once at a dinner party and it will be all right. If you bring it up twice, the host will not invite you back again. Christians have a profound hope, not in themselves, not in a political ideology, but in God. When the opportunity arises, Christians need to give verbal expression to their hope. They do so with love. They do so, making sure to respond to any negative attack with blessing. They do so, facing their fears instead of allowing their fears to control them. They do so, following the example of witness set by Jesus. Such is the challenge Christians in every age and culture face. Thus, Peter exhorts them to be zealous for good. For Peter, the persecution these Christians experienced and the suffering it clearly caused offered them was an opportunity to share the hope that was within them. Fulfilling our calling to witness to our culture in the uniqueness of this historical moment will always carry risks. The exhortation not to be intimidated by cultural response to the message of the church is always appropriate, a courage that arises from an internal decision of devotion to Christ as our Lord. Readiness to testify to the hope that energizes us as Christians is a good reminder, as is doing so with gentleness and reverence. Keeping the conscience clear, so that those who abuse the believer for doing good cause the moral sense in the other to arise and cause shame. The example of Jesus as a faithful witness is one from which believers of every age need to learn. The particular and unique suffering of Christ has the universal result of doing so for the sins of us all. here is a reminder that the persecutor today may become a fellow believer tomorrow. Just as Paul stated, "while we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8), Peter reminds his hearers that while they are to be righteous, they are not to forget that the unrighteous are also those for whom Christ died. This passage suggests that the nature and efficacy of the suffering and death of Jesus are central issues. The righteous one died for the sins of all human beings, who are the unrighteous, doing so to bring human beings to God. What Christians believe about the crucifixion of Jesus is very down-to-earth and very fleshly. It is important for Peter to stress the suffering of Jesus, for the Christians to whom Peter writes are suffering for their faith and need to receive support and encouragement. In suffering, the believer imitates Christ and becomes an example to the unbeliever. Yet, Peter does not make the opposite mistake - stressing the fleshly at the expense of the spirit. Again, we can see a pastoral and personal note to these words. If the believer is going to suffer like Jesus, then Peter wants them to know that they, too, will share the resurrection spirit with Jesus; in short, there is a reward for the present situation. The theology of Peter reflects an earlier strain of tradition. Peter is telling us that death is not a barrier God cannot get past. If death were the last word, then death and not God would be the Supreme Being. However, Peter knows that is not the case because God raised Jesus from the dead. Thus, Paul affirms, "For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living" (Romans 14:9). Peter asserts the supremacy of God over death itself. I Peter 3:19-20 presents another way in which Jesus is the example for believers. The emphasis is that Christ preached, and that he preached to these evil spirits. That is a model for Christians, who also need to speak boldly before the heathen rulers. Along with I Peter 4:6, this brief passage becomes the basis for the statement in the Apostles' Creed that Christ "descended into hell." Reflecting upon what he just said about death in the flesh and life in the spirit for Jesus, Peter then affirms 19 in which (form) also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison. Jesus is again an example, this time in preaching to the worst of sinners. The death and resurrection of Jesus have broken the power of paganism. This statement alludes to the descent of Christ to Hades between his death and resurrection. His flesh was decaying, so his spirit went there. Some think Matthew 12:40 refers to this event, where the Son of Man is in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. In addition, God frees Jesus from the pangs of Hades, for it was impossible for the power of Hades to hold him (Acts 2:24). God did not abandon Jesus to Hades, where his body did not experience corruption, as one might normally expect (Acts 2:31). Paul refers to going down to the depths and bringing Christ back from the dead (Romans 10:7). Christ had gone down to the deepest levels of the earth (Ephesians 4:9). "Holy ones" came out of their graves, rose from the dead, and appeared to several people (Matthew 27:52-53). The interpretation favored by Calvin, that Jesus died the hellish death of the truly wicked, can be helpful to us when we go through hellish experiences where we feel utterly alone. We can take comfort in knowing that we can go nowhere Christ has not already been. He is present for us even in the darkest places, and though we may feel all on our own, we are not ever godforsaken when we trust him. It suggests that the worst that can befall human beings is within the redeeming embrace of the cross. The reference to spirits in prison could refer to the chained demons mentioned in I Enoch 67:4-69:1, over whom Christ has authority. Peter raises the difficult matter concerning those who had died before Christ. He seems to reflect an earlier strand of tradition grounded in the imagery of the prophet Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones coming to life (Ezekiel 37:12-13). Peter goes on to identify those in prison as those 20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, suggesting the indifference of heathens to the gospel. The spirits in prison could also refer to those who died at the flood.[17] The legends surrounding the corruption of humanity prior to Noah were an important part of Jewish thinking. It is enough to note that by the first century after Christ, this legend had gone through considerable elaboration. Peter is making a statement for the graciousness of God who, through Christ, saves not only the righteous members of Noah's family, but saves even the unrighteous. Peter is stressing that the gospel itself is not limited to the time of Jesus and forward, but also is efficacious retroactively. We need to remember that the faithful dead of the Old Testament find inclusion in the people of God as understood in the New Testament. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab and other persons of faith and even that "All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them" (Hebrews 11:13). Further, the spirits in prison lived during the building of the ark, the ark referring to the church, which anticipates the coming disaster. Further still, in which a few, that is, eight persons, God saved through water, symbolizing baptism. The floods saved Noah from evil people; God saves Christians from evil through baptism. The flood signified death of the old world and beginning of the new, so baptism is death of the old person and birth of the new.
St. Gregory Nyssa also wrote an Easter homily called “‘The three-day period of the Resurrection of Christ.” In it, he said Christ purposely concealed his real identity from the devil when he died. So, Satan, thinking Jesus was just another dead human being, swallowed the bait and took Jesus into hell. Too late, Gregory said, Satan realized his mistake. By then, he had admitted the light of Christ into the dark, infernal abode. That meant that Satan had destroyed his own kingdom. The power of God prevailed, even in hell, and God had the last laugh.[18]
Peter states in 3:18-19, and again in 4:6, that after his death, but before his ascension, Christ also preached to those who were dead! Peter is here tracing back the resurrection to life to the Spirit. This means that after his own death, Christ made efforts to save sinners from the past, specifically those who did not heed the warning of Noah.[19] We can see a universal perspective in the notion of the descent of Christ into Hades, in that while specifically to those who died at the time of the flood and now in the realm of death, Peter is already using the notion as an expression of the universal significance of the death of Christ for salvation. In the patristic era, this idea expanded to the notion that he preached to all the righteous of preceding ages and even to all who died before the coming of Christ. It found entrance into the consciousness of the church as a guarantee of the reconciling power of the death of Christ. This image of sinful spirits in prison, and the connection to the era of the flood, also occurs in I Enoch 6-11, but in this case, the sinners are the fallen angels mentioned just prior to the flood story. Enoch goes to them to announce their condemnation by God and the judgment of their imprisonment. In I Peter, however, Jesus goes to those imprisoned to give them the good news of salvation![20] The example of the suffering of Christ should make them willing to endure great suffering, to bring others to God. All of this becomes a way for Peter to show that Jesus is the paradigm for the proper way to suffer, for his suffering brought salvation to all, righteous and unrighteous alike. The holy conduct of the community in the face of persecution is to serve as an example to the nations that would inspire conversions to the true faith.
Baptism saves in the way prefigured in the saving of a the few righteous around Noah were saved from the flood when they entered the Ark. As the flood purified the earth in ancient times, so waters of baptism involve a death of the old and the beginning of the new. Peter stresses now which could mean someone is reading the letter “now” during the baptismal exhortation, and thus, the service is going on “now.” Baptism concerns the acquisition of new virtues. However, while the ark saved only a few from drowning, baptism saves each of them personally, as submission to it constitutes an appeal to God for a good conscience, the internal moral compass we have. Peter is, in a gentle way, warning those who may be wavering not to try God's benevolent patience again. He reminds the reader that God has saved them through the waters of baptism just as God saved Noah through the waters of the flood - both by the grace of God.
Tertullian, in On Baptism, 8, refers to the flood as the baptism of the world, after which the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove became a herald of the movement from judgment to redemption and peace. Baptism brings the peace of God to the baptized. The Ark is the church, which saves those in it from judgment. both use this typology. This typology remained popular into the reformation era, where it reached its highest expression in the "Flood Prayer" of Martin Luther. God condemned the unbelieving world to judgment through the flood, but mercifully preserved Noah and his family. God also preserved a people through the Red Sea, and sanctified water in the baptism of the Son in the waters of Jordan. Water becomes a lavish washing away of sin. The prayer is that the one baptized would have true faith through the Holy Spirit. He prays for the drowning of inherited sin in the baptized through the flood of baptism. He also prays for the safety and security of the baptized as they take their place in the holy Ark of the church, separating themselves from the multitude of believers.
The hope I Peter offers is the reassurance that believers are more than able to withstand persecution through the power of Christ. Thus, the passage highlights the essentials of the story of salvation from a Christian perspective: Christ suffered and died, Christ rose again bringing the disobedient spirits along with him, Christ sits at the right hand of God. Yet, for Peter this creedal formulation is more than mere theological reflection - it has very practical and pastoral significance. The truth of the Gospel grounds the timid in their faith, reminds the unsure of the efficacy of baptism, and chides those who might be taken in by heresy to stand firm even in the face of suffering. There is to be no fear in heathen surroundings. He assures the listeners that all the inhabitants of heaven and earth are now under Christ's control. Even those unrighteous who persecute the community are eligible to receive the grace of Christ. Even the dead are not isolated from him, nor cut off from the message of salvation that he has to offer. There is great reassurance here, but there is also a challenge. The Christian community is to withstand persecution with patience and without fear. They know that Christ has sealed their fates. Peter does not endorse hatred of the persecutors, but rather, he refers to the sufferers' example of steadfastness as inspiration to even their tormentors to own the God and Savior who make such endurance possible. In this way, even the poison of persecution can heal.
I Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11 (Year A Seventh Sunday of Easter) discussing the importance of suffering for good. How do believers and the communities of the faithful cope during challenging times in an un-Christian world? What are the attitudes of the distinct enclave known as the church? The answer is: Endure, stay faithful, show mutual love, be steady, humble and patient; remember that other believers are suffering, too, and that the rewards of rule of God will come in time. He addresses them as beloved, and urges that they not be surprised by the apocalyptic nature of their ordeal, for it serves to test them. Their suffering is a form of sharing in the suffering of Christ. The way of the cross is not an easy one. When those who follow Jesus experience suffering due to their faith, they are only walking in the footsteps of Jesus. Suffering itself becomes a form of the sacramental presence of the risen Lord among them. Suffering is the way God purifies the community in the age before the promised end. An understanding of the eschatological future as revelation of the divine glory determines what I Peter says about the future of Jesus Christ. Such statements occur within the apocalyptic notion of revelation, which he discusses in the context of the multiplicity of biblical ideas of revelation. Here, believers await their sharing in this coming revelation of the glory of Jesus. Further, he finds the renewal and consummation of the world by world-changing judgment under the sign of the divine glory that will be manifest as the glory Jesus Christ, as we find in this verse, by the completing of his reconciling of believers for participation in his life.[21] In a paradoxical way, you are blessed when others revile you because of Christ. Their blessedness occurs through the spirit of glory and the power that is the Spirit of God resting upon them. the glory of Christ, which will find manifestation in the event of the final consummation and for which believers wait, will be the full bringing into view of the power and glory of the divine Spirit and the divine essence.[22] Peter continues with instructions for the faithful. Humility describes the attitude of every person before God, which gives an occasion for the power of God to reveal itself through them. Since God will exalt them, God expressing care for them, they have no need for anxiety. Peter recognizes that the greatest battle is within us to travel the path of the will of God regardless of where it might lead. They are to discipline themselves in a way that keeps them from mental confusion or momentary passions. This involves training mind and heart to focus upon God. They are to keep alert, since their adversary the devil is like a roaring lion seeking to devour them. The imagery is from Daniel 7:4-7 and is also in II Timothy 4:17. They can resist the devil by being steadfast in faith, receiving comfort from the fact that their brothers and sisters in Christ share in their ordeal. Their suffering is temporary, but the God of grace has called them in Christ to eternal glory and will restore, support, strength, and establish them, offering a final benediction that to God be the power forever, amen.
[1] (David W. Kendall, "1 Peter," Asbury Bible Commentary [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992], 1186).
[2] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume Three, 174)
[3] Barth, (ibid., [73.2], 929)
[4] Barth (Church Dogmatics, II.1 [30], 406)
[5] Barth (Church Dogmatics, IV.3 [73.1], 911)
[6] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume One, 211)
[7] Barth (Church Dogmatics, III.2 [47.1] 484)
[8] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume 3, 613.
[9] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume 3, 174)
[10] Larry Hurtado, Destroyer of the gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman Word, 2016
[11] May it please you, Sire, to remember: The church is an anvil which has worn out many hammers. --Theodore Beza to the King of France.
[12] Blowin’ in the Wind, Bob Dylan. When this song was published in Sing Out! in June 1962, it had some Bob Dylan's comments, "Too many of these hip people are telling me where the answer is but oh I won't believe that. I still say it's in the wind and just like a restless piece of paper it's got to come down some ..."
[13] Barth CD, IV.2 [64.3] 264, [66.6] 599, IV.3 [71.3] 535.
[14] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 418.
[15] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 373.
[16] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 126, 127, 128, 373.
[17] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 105.
[18] —Patricia Kasten, “Rejoice and laugh a little on Easter,” The Compass, March 28, 2018. thecompassnews.org. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
[19] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 6.
[20] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 616.
[21] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 1, 209, Volume 3, 626-7.
[22] Systematic Theology Volume 3, 624.
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