Overview of the Book of 1 Peter

The overview of the week for this Sunday is the book of 1st Peter, written around 64 to 65

AD. The theme of the letter is suffering and glory. Peter, if you remember, was considered the main apostle to the

Jews. So Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, Peter to the Jews. So he begins his letter this way,

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

He calls them elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. In sanctification of the spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, he says, grace to you and peace be multiplied.

So Peter is writing to the chosen pilgrims. These are

Jews who had accepted Jesus as the Messiah, who because of persecution were dwelling in a land that was not their home.

So number one, they're Jews living outside of the land of Israel. And number two, for any believer, this world is not our home since our citizenship is in heaven.

Peter in this letter says that he's writing from Babylon, which most commentators agree this is likely a reference to Rome.

So Peter is trying to encourage the saints that even though they are suffering, they should rejoice because as Christians, they have a living hope.

He reminds them in chapter one, verses four through six, that they have an inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled.

He says that does not fade away, reserved for you in heaven.

There are also a lot of great doctrinal passages in this letter. At the end of chapter one, he makes this statement about how we were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ and how this was foreordained from the foundation of the world.

He also speaks of the preservation of scripture and how the word of the Lord endures forever.

And then in chapter two, he reminds them how Christians are not to be rebels and revolutionaries.

Rather, we are to be submissive. Chapter two, verse 17 says, honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear

God and honor the king. So Christians are to take this posture of submission because that's what

Jesus did. When Jesus was reviled, he did not revile in return.

In chapter three, Peter tells wives to be submissive to your own husbands.

Then he says to men, husbands, honor your wives. In chapter five, he says, likewise, the younger people submit yourselves to your elders.

Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility.

For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And then

I'll close with what he says in chapter five, verses six and seven. Therefore, based on all of that, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care on him.