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First Peter – A Quick Introduction
Image by Cara Harris from Pixabay
On Sundays, we talk a lot about epistles. An epistle is a letter, a poem, or some sort of literary work. In the case of scripture, it is typically a letter from an apostle. Or, in many cases, a letter attributed to an apostle. For this Eastertide we will be reading the First Letter of Peter on Sundays. This is a short letter near the back pages of the bible. It is not exactly dated, but with evidence such as the way in which the author refers to Rome (the author uses the term “Babylon” to refer to Rome 5:13) and the feeling that Christianity has already been widely spread to Europe, we can assume a date between 70 CE and 90 CE. However, unlike Revelation which describes the mortal struggle between the early Jesus movement and Rome in the 90’s, this epistle only hints at the starts of such a struggle. That means we can safely place it at around the late 80’s CE for its authorship.
The Greek used in the manuscripts is considered a very high Greek, which leads most scholars to believe this is a pseudonymous epistle. That is a fancy churchy way of saying “borrowing the name of a famous apostle and using it.” Most of the work attributed to Peter is not written by his hand. In our current canon we have two letters, First Peter and Second Peter, attributed to “the Rock” (as Jesus calls Peter). Additionally, there are three extracanonical works that focus on Peter. One, the Gospel of Peter, is attributed to him much like the epistles. Secondly, there is the Apocalypse of Peter. Interestingly enough this almost made it into the canon in place of Revelation. If you want a Dantesque sort of read that will keep you awake at night…then the Apocalypse of Peter is for you. Otherwise, I would say it should bear a rather large content warning and be read by only those wishing to have nightmares. Finally, there is an early writing called the Acts of Peter. The Acts of the Apostles (which we will study on Sundays and Mondays) is the only history book of its kind in the canon. However, the Acts of [insert name] are historical accounts that have been written since the early first century. Some are good. Some are not so good.
For our current concern, let us take in the lessons from First Peter. These have great baptismal imagery and offer a glimpse into the early Jesus movement during a precarious time in our history. If we are interested in pursuing more information on the canonical or even the extra canonical texts, I would happily look into organizing that.
In peace,
Pr. Jason
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