THE
MISSION IN 1 PETER
SNTS
Aberdeen 2006
Armand
Puig i Tàrrech
(Barcelona)
1 Peter 1:1 addresses the letter to
five Roman provinces in Asia Minor. The text lists, clockwise (N-E-S-W),
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. Acts
2:9-10 also names five territories in Asia Minor. Three coincide with 1 Peter (Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia) and one (Phrygia) corresponds
roughly to Galatia. The last one, Bithynia, could be included as part of the
province of Pontus, as it was united with Pontus by Pompey in 64 BC. So, it may
be that Acts 2 and 1 Peter 1 provide us with some information about the first
Christian expansion in Asia Minor and, perhaps, Rome. Curiously, in both
documents (Acts 2:10 and 1Pe 5:13) there is a reference to the capital of the Empire
a cryptic one in 1 Peter, where Rome appears under the symbolic name of
Babylon. (1) In short, the Christian mission in Asia Minor may have been truly
ancient, close in time to those of Syria (Antioch, Damascus), Egypt
(Alexandria) and Rome. Although the identity of the missionaries cannot be
ascertained, Christian mission was active early. In fact, based on the
information given in Acts 2:9-10, we can say that it is quite possible that the
gospel may have reached Asia Minor in three ways: from the east (Cilicia as a gateway to Cappadocia),
from the south (from Pamphylia towards the centre of
Anatolia) and from the west (Ephesus to Bithynia-Pontus, in the north).
(2)
1. Preaching rooted in Asia Minor
In 1 Peter 1:12 there is direct
reference to those who have preached to you the gospel. These are the
anonymous missionaries of largest areas of Asia Minor. The successful task of
those preachers is linked to the divine intervention of the Holy Spirit,
confirmed by the angels, who are longing to look into the message proclaimed to
the new Christians. In this way, the addressees are given greater importance
than the angels (see 3:22)! The missionaries, on the other hand, have preached
the same message that had been announced by the ancient prophets, who were also
acting under the guidance of the Spirit. Is this link with ancient prophecy a
sign that the preaching of the gospel had a prophetic stamp? Did the
missionaries present themselves as prophets, like the wandering prophets of
the Syria-Palestine area? Or did the author of 1 Peter build up the
relationship to stress the fulfilment of the salvation brought by Jesus
Christ?
In any case, 1 Peter
shows Christianity at work in Asia Minor half a century later. The first
generation of believers has reached a degree of maturity, although their
ancestors were pagans and the world around them did not share the Christian
faith. The author speaks to people who are glad to follow the Christian
doctrine and way of life. The audience is a religious and social minority,
struggling to maintain its identity within a world which is, at times, hostile
and normally not in tune with Christianity. The strength of the convictions and
keeping to the rules aided bonding in the communities, which were scattered throughout
a large area (275,000 km2), uniting them as the people of God. Christians were
probably increasing in numbers slowly but surely, and this very fact may have
aroused suspicion, envy and even hate from non-believers. This opposition would
have represented a major obstacle to the peaceful presence of the Christian
communities and to the proposal of the Christian gospel to those who were not
familiar with it. (3)
The first thing to be noted is that
a Christian community, by the very fact of its existence, represents a
challenge to society. The conduct, attitudes and ethos shown by Christians move
people to different kinds of reactions, no one is left indifferent. The mission
begins spontaneously, without previsions or programmes, as it is reflected in 1
Peter 2:9, where the point of beginning of the new people is to proclaim the
virtues of God. Indeed, the beginning of the Christian mission in a particular
place coincides with the foundation of the local church. A Christian
congregation leads people to question the nature and ethics of the Church.
Although there is no explicit campaign to call for conversion, the attraction
of the new belief may be strong. As community life intensifies, so too does
this attraction. (4) In 1 Peter these conditions are fulfilled, so the author
stresses the Christian identity that spreads both inwards (ad intra) and
outwards (ad extra).
2. The basis of the mission:
identity inwards and outwards
1 Peter has been
written taking into account the situation of the audience. Proof of this can be
seen in the series of metaphors appearing throughout the letter. There are
metaphors and images related to agriculture (seed), to cattle (shepherd, flock,
lamb, lion), to everyday life (milk for the children, gold for jewellery, braided
hair, fine clothes), to the army (garrison, crown, fighting) and to human and
social relationships (house / household, stones for buildings, administrators
of the estates).
The Christian
community has a father, who is God (1:2.3). This is His name, used to invoke
Him (1:17). The members speak of themselves as brothers; indeed, the community
refers to itself as the brotherhood, a term designating the local Church
(2:17) as well the universal one (5:9). Thus, the community is known as the
household of God, the familia Dei
(4:17). The main text for this is 2:4-10, where the image of the stone
relates to Jesus, the precious cornerstone, and to the believers, living stones
making a house filled with the Holy Spirit (2:5; 4:14). (5) Obviously, the image
of the building invokes a strong personal relationship binding those who are
the people of God, the populus Dei
(2:10). God has built His house / household (2:5) and will not abandon His
beloved family; on the contrary, He will protect and care for it until the end,
when, like any good architect, He will restore, confirm, strengthen and give to
the elect Christians a sound foundation. Gods work is conceived in terms of a
building process, from now until the eternal glory (5:10). (6) This will be
the result of Gods power (1:5). In another metaphorical expression, God is
the great owner who will provide a heavenly and indestructible heritage (1:4).
(7) Gods care for His people is expressed throughout the letter. The Christian
community must be extremely strong and united (4:11), as it is elect and holy
(2:9). (8) In other words, it belongs to God, the Father. Christians are a
community: Gods people (2:10), Gods household (4:17) and Gods flock (5:2).
These three names for the Christian community (populus,
familia, grex
Dei) reflect the communitys own name for itself brotherhood (fraternitas) (2:17; 5:9). All of them are
interwoven, so that the cohesion within the community may never be broken.
The strong internal bonds act as the
basis for the Christian identity outwards, ad extra. Aside from the Book of
Acts (11:26; 26:28), 1 Peter is the only NT document where the name Christian
appears (4:16). This common use points to the links between Antioch and Asia
Minor. According to Acts 11:26 the disciples were called by this name for the
first time in Antioch, the city where, similarly, the gospel was preached to
Jews and non-Jews alike for the first time. Christian is, then, a noun
created by the non-believers who realise that Christ is the name of the god
worshipped by their neighbours. Echoing 1 Peter (4:16), Pliny the Younger
informs us that, in Bithynia-Pontus around 110 AD, the so-called Christians
usually sang hymns to Christ every Sunday before sunrise (Letters 10:96).
Therefore, this name had been common in Asia Minor since the end of the 1st
century and the start of the 2nd. To Antioch and Asia Minor we have to add
Rome. Tacitus tells us that in the time of Nero,
people called christianos the adherents to the
superstition which began with a certain Christus
(Annales 15:44). In short, four sources (Acts, 1
Peter, Tacitus and Pliny), related to Antioch, Asia
Minor and Rome, lead to the same result: the believers in Jesus Christ were
popularly known as Christians. This term, originating from outside the
Church, identified its members as something different to Jews and the other
inhabitants of the Roman Empire. This identification is a clear sign of the
active presence of the Christian community in the aforementioned areas and indirect
evidence of a Christian mission. (9)
Nonetheless, there is also direct evidence as
to the way the Christians conceived their presence in the society which they
formed part of. Perhaps the most expressive term in 1 Peter in this sense is avnastrofh. (conduct,
behaviour, way of life), which is found six times in the letter (1:15.18;
2:12: 3:1.12.16). For the letter, doing good is the main way in which
non-Christians can find out what it means to follow the Christian faith.
Secondly, the author puts forward a proposal concerning the kind of role the
believers must play in the world in terms of the idea of being an alien or
stranger (1:1; 1:17; 2:11). This proposal, however, does not affect the concept
of mission: the paradox lies in the fact that whoever maintains their Christian
identity patiently will, in fact, contribute to the mission, i.e. to the
positive attraction of the Christian faith for those who do not believe.
Thirdly, the attitude of the believers must help them overcome the mistrust and
misunderstanding. They need to rely on dialogue and exchange. Christians are
supposed to give a personal answer to those who ask them the reasons for their
hope (3:15-16). This answer, based on dialogue, is accompanied by people being
able to witness their good deeds, and is clearly a missionary tool for a
community that does not turn its back on the world around it.
3. The importance of doing good
What does it mean to live as a
minority, as strangers, among a majority to whom one had earlier belonged? What
should the response be to the social pressure felt by the Christians? If this
response was self-imposed isolation, Christian minority could not establish any
relationship with the non-Christian majority? The letter (4:3.15) summons
believers to keep to the ten commandments and the laws faithfully (avoiding
murder, adultery, robbery or crime), whilst also showing complete respect for
those who are not Christians (2:17). This is the most likely sense of the
difficult word avllotriepi,skopoj (4:15):
the believers must not interfere in the affairs of the other social groups or
associations (the famous haeteriae)
and respect everybody. The ethical commitment of the believers, alongside
worship, is then the main focus for Asian Christianity, as Pliny states in his
letter (10:96) to Trajan: the Christians swear not to
steal (furta), do evil (latrocinia)
or be adulterous (adulteria), e.g., not
perform any crimes at all (in scelus aliquod).
The similarities between First Peter and Plinys letter are striking.
Indeed, the Christian motto for both documents could be the statement found in
1 Pe 3:17: It is better (for the Christians) to
suffer for doing good (avgaqopoiou/ntaj) than for doing wrong (kakopoiou/ntaj). Although Christians refuse to follow the customs of the majority,
the mox maiorum,
handed down from their ancestors (1:18; 4:3), and similarly to worship false
gods (4:3), they have not broken the personal links with their former
neighbours or friends. On the contrary, they should behave like Jesus Christ,
who had done nothing wrong (2:22) and, when he was despised and insulted, did
not retaliate with insults or threads. As it is said in 3:9, they must not
repay one wrong with another, or one abusive word with another. Envy and
criticism from those who do not believe can only be defeated with good deeds.
Thus, doing good is vital for an active presence, which becomes missionary as
neighbours begin to change their opinions and look sympathetically on the
Christians. Obviously, the author of the letter considers this change to be
progressive, with its culminating in definitive and complete acknowledgement at
the end of time, on the day of reckoning (2:12). Meanwhile, until that day
comes, Christians are urged to continue doing good, so that those who slander
your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their accusations (3:16).
Indeed, mission begins where slanders end, or even in spite of them. In fact,
what is really decisive in attracting interest and new members, is the
Christian witness for doing good.
4. Maintaining the identity
We have already mentioned how unity
of hearts and feelings is essential to resist and not to be swallowed up by
the devil
looking for someone to devour (5:8). Those who decide to live as
Christians are put on trial and there is a real danger of their returning to
their old Gentile convictions. Therefore, the Christian struggle is against the
earthly desires of the flesh, which would look to overcome the resistance of
the aliens and strangers, attacking their soul and destroying their good
conscience given to God as part of the baptism (2:11; 3:21). In other words,
mission is only possible because the Christians remain aliens and strangers
to this world and to its principles. (10) If Christians returned to their old
way of life, they would no longer be able to discern their criteria from the
rest of the world and their identity would disappear completely. The mission
rests on the faith and ethics of the believers.
The point of departure for 1 Peter
is the divine choice. God has made the Christians of Asia Minor elect and
holy (1:1-2). Their human condition is so new, that it can be compared to a
new birth, made possible by the divine seed, the living and enduring word of
God (1:23). He has called them to a living hope, to an incorruptible heritage
and to a magnificent salvation, which is the goal of their faith (1:3-9). Thus,
their life leads to the revelation and the glory that will be bestowed upon
them (4:11). They are also filled with an inexplicable joy. The principles of
Christian life state that divine election precedes human conversion and that
the merciful grace of God is the definitive reason for the mission. When
somebody decides to enter the community of believers, that means he / she is
hearing the word of God sown in their soul. Believers experiencing this divine
grace and love are astonished and thankful, and feel that this gift has to be
bestowed on others. The very fact that the divine mercy fills their hearts is
the first and last reason for the existence of the mission. Mission begins with
the action of the Holy Spirit in a specific place or territory. The idea
presented in 1 Peter in terms of the salvation for believers and the subsequent
joy that embraces them are pillars of the Christian mission. It is true then,
as N. Brox stresses, that the mission is Gods
matter. (11) In this light, when the Christian identity is maintained, the
mission becomes a growing reality.
5. Beyond a closed community
In 1 Peter the mission is carried
out by a community committed to society, through an active presence and an
authentic witness of how to live according to the gospel. Christians should not
think of themselves as a society within the society. They believe in God,
they love the other members of the community and they respect everyone,
including the emperor (2:17). Conviviality and care for non-Christians are
among the strategies included by the author in his letter. This comes as a
greater surprise given that the society which surrounds them mistrusts and
slanders them, and even fights them. In this sense it is quite possible that
the phrase the fire which is taking place among you (4:12) may refer to a
worsening of the situation and an increasing of the social difficulties the
Christians have to face. (12) However, Christian communities do not seem to
have modified their conduct and they bear all their ills with the conviction
that they are sharing in the sufferings of Christ (4:13).
Moreover, they are invited to live
their faith without complexes and fear and to communicate the Christian message
without hesitation. Being alien to the criteria which conform non-Christians
everyday life does not mean that they are confined by the Christian option and
have to respond with fear or violence. Quoting Is 8:12, the author of 1 Peter
admonishes his audience saying: Have no dread of them (= the non Christians);
have no fear (3:14). The strategy proposed by the author of 1 Peter is based
on Christian people witness for doing good as a general attitude and part of
everyday life. Christians have to explain their choices to the others. Since
their hope is so great and marvellous, they should not remain silent. If they
are asked about their faith, they should try to tell how and why they are Christians.
Mission is the answer to the ordinary questions that may arise in a
conversation on the street or in the fields. (13) Hence, the author stresses
the need to explain ones inner feelings with courtesy, but adds: Have always
your answer ready for people who ask (aivtou/nti) you the reason for the hope that you have (3:15). (14) Christian
identity must not be something cryptic or hidden. When somebody shows interest
in Christian beliefs, which is not always the case, they deserve an answer. The
gospel is to be communicated always, without restrictions. The antipathy
towards the Christian minority must to be changed into sympathy. Even when the
hostility may lead to a report before the Roman court, the answer must not be
revenge, but dialogue and, if necessary, self-defence. (15) The author insists
on using friendly conviviality as the main tool for spreading the Christian
identity and the Christian mission.
The communities addressed by the letter were scattered throughout a very
large area and this must have increased the feeling of isolation amidst a
society which is somewhat recalcitrant to the Christian way of life. However,
in 1 Peter 1:1, it is made clear that Christianity has reached the whole Asia
Minor: one gets the impression that all the Roman provinces mentioned have
heard the gospel preached. In fact, not only this area of the Empire but the
whole world (5:9) has been reached by Christs message. (16) Obviously, we
are faced with a theological doctrine that sees the mission as the presence of
the gospel throughout the world, not the conversion of its entire population.
(17) Perhaps the use of the multifaceted concept of the diaspora, in 1:1 has been chosen to underline the universal nature of the mission
and, likewise, the actual conditions in which Christian communities live. The
term diaspora,, which must not be confused
with exile, is borrowed from Jewish theology and indicates that the whole
world has been filled with Jewish communities. In this positive sense, seen
both in Philo and Josephus, diaspora,
(all the countries outside Israel) and the world are one and the same. In
this way, the five provinces presented in 1 Peter 1:1 form part of this
dispersion. (18) From the other side, the use of the term dispersion points
to the conditions prevailing in the Christian communities, akin to those of
Jewish congregations. In both cases, there is a minority which is scattered and
relatively isolated amongst large areas of Gentile population. Moreover, this
minority is alien, in the sense that it does not share the dominating values
and criteria. Its life is diasporic as it differs
from the surrounding world and culture. As is stated in Diognetus
in relation to Christians: They live in their homeland, but as aliens (paroi,koi) (5:5). Or, they live in the world, but do not belong to the world
(6:3). Yet, in spite of this, their conduct is wonderful and full of surprise
(5:4).
6. Conclusion
1 Peter is a NT document which opens
new paths, to be continued later by Diognetus and
other Christian writers. Christianity shows a remarkable strength, whereby
believers can be found not only in the towns and cities, but also in rural
areas, (most of them on the outskirts of these towns and cities), as metaphors
in the letter point out. This is echoed in the description provided by Pliny:
(Christian) superstition has spread not only to the cities but also to the
villages and farms (sed vicos etiam atque
agros) (Letter 10:96). This trend was to continue
in the coming years, as Tertullian (Apologeticum 1:7) and Origens
(Contra Celsum 3:9)
show. The key to understanding the success of the Christian mission is to be
found in the personal commitment of every Christian for doing good, the effort
to maintain an alternative identity whilst faced with that of the world and
cultures around them, and a welcoming attitude towards everybody, even those
who show hostility and rebuke. Mission becomes a necessary choice, carried out
without strategies or well-designed plans. It is a choice deeply rooted in the
personal conscience of every baptised, called to communicate the Gospel with
inner conviction. It goes hand in hand with a responsible Christian presence in
the world.
NOTES
(1)
The list in Acts 2:9-11 has
warranted the attention of many scholars. Luke is certainly willing to
enumerate the known world according to Graeco-Roman
culture: from the Parthians to the city of Rome (from
east to west) and coming back to Jerusalem (this is why he mentions at the end
of his list Cretans and Arabs, peoples who flank Jerusalem respectively from
the west and from the east). However, as E. Haenchen
has pointed out, the historical interest of the author cannot be ignored: the
countries named possessed a considerable Jewish minority (The Acts of the Apostles. A Commentary [Philadelphia: Westminster,
1971] 169). This interest could have had something to do with the expansion of
Christianity. We find in the list Judaea and Cappadocia (the line Palestine-Syria-Cilicia-Cappadocia),
Pontus and Asia (north-west and northern Asia Minor), Phrygia and Pamphylia (southern and central Asia Minor), Egypt and
the regions of Lybia round Cyrene
and Rome. The three main centres of Eastern Christianity (Antioch, Alexandria
and Rome) are included in the Lukan map, as well as
Rome. This would fit into the first two decades of Christianity (thirties and
forties). Greece does not appear at all, though it does plays an important role
in the Christian mission, whereas Asia Minor is broadly represented. Greece will
be the main and new! field for the Pauline mission in the fifties (see note
14).
(2)
It should be noted that the
churches founded by Paul in Asia Minor are located in Pisidia
(Antioch) and Lycaonia (Iconium,
Lystra -Timothys homeland- and Derbe,
and the surrounding country, Acts 14:6). All of them lie in the centre of
Asia Minor and belong to the province of Galatia. In the province of Asia, the
only names that can be ascertained, but as result of the missionary activity of
Epaphras, Pauls companion in the country, are Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis in the Hinterland (see Col 4:13; Acts
19:10). Ephesus, the provincial capital, was already the seat of a church (Acts
18:19; 19:1). Apparently, Paul never visited either Cappadocia
or Bithyinia-Pontus. Most of the Pauline founding
activity took place in Europe, in the Greek provinces of Macedonia and Achaia
(Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea and Corinth). It
seems clear then that, according to his principle to preach the gospel only
where the name of Christ has not already been heard (Rm
15:20), Paul restricted himself to preach the Christian message throughout Asia
Minor and founded communities in the regions of Pisidia
and Lycaonia, in southern Galatia, probably the only
territories not reached by any Christian mission in the area before him
(according to Acts 2:9-10).
(3)
Most of the critical
questions regarding 1 Peters communities can be found in the classical
commentaries on 1 Peter (Selwyn, Goppelt, Reicke, Spicq, Brox, Elliott, Achtemeier). I have
tried to explain my own position in Le milieu de la Première Épître de Pierre, Revista Catalana de Teologia 5/1
(1980) 95-129 and 5/2 (1980) 331-402. Recently, I have introduced some
modifications to my previous conclusions in the article Els
cristians com a forasters
en la Primera Carta de Pere, in: A. Puig i Tàrrech (ed.), La Bíblia i els immigrants (Scripta Biblica 6; Barcelona:
PAM-ABCat, 2005) 197-242. 1 Peters audience includes
people of different ages, sexes and socioeconomic status. They come from the Graeco-Roman population, not from the Jewish one, and are
gathered in small urban and rural communities scattered throughout a very large
area.
(4)
Brox rightly notes that the ancient Church worried greatly about the
spirituality of the communities, in der Zuverschicht, dass das deutlich und unverwaschen gelebte Ideal die Menschen am wirksamsten auf die Wahrheit des Christentums aufmerksam macht (Zur christlichen Mission in der Spätantike, in K. Kertelge [ed.],
Mission im Neuen Testament [QD 93; Freiburg-Basel-Wien:
Herder, 1982] 211).
(5)
This would be the best
interpretation of the Greek phrase oi=koj pneumatiko.j (2:5). It is worth noting
that the prophecy in Is 11:2, referring to the Messiah, is applied in 1 Peter
4:14 to the Christians. Jesus always offers an exemplary role model for
believers: (he) left an example for you
(2:21).
(6)
See my article Milieu,
350. The three / four verbs in 5:10 are most likely related to the world of
building. Eternal reward is completely assured.
(7)
Three emphatic adjectives in
1:4, all of them beginning with the Greek prefix a-, explain, as in 5:10, the
firm basis of the heavenly heritage. The inclusion between the two verses
envelops the whole text.
(8)
For this expression see J. H. Elliott, The Elect and the Holy. An Exegetical Examination of 1Peter 2:4-10 and
the phrase basi,leion i`era,teuma (NTSuppl 12; Leiden:
Brill, 1966).
(9)
There is an interesting
coincidence between (some of) those who appear in Jerusalem for Pentecost and
who hear the first gospel preaching according to Acts 2:9-11 (see note 13), and
the areas where the name Christian seems to be used: Antioch (indirectly),
Asia Minor and Rome.
(10) Cf.
P. J. Achtemeier, 1
Peter (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996): The status of exile and alien
describes the condition within which Christians must continue to pursue their
good conduct (175).
(11) It
is worthwhile reproducing the words of N. Brox: Gott hat zur Rettung
davor berufen, wen er will, und tut das weiter
die Bekehrung vieler oder sogar aller
Menschen ist im Grunde also seine Sache (Mission, 207).
(12)
There may be an echo of this situation in Pliny (Letter 10:96). Here it is said
that some former believers who had abandoned the faith twenty years before did
not have any difficulty in cursing Christ and worshiping the statues of the
gods and the emperor, when they were requested by Pliny to do so. There is a
coincidence in time between their apostasy and the time when 1 Peter was
supposedly written (around 90 AD).
(13) The
term aivtou/nti
(3,15) indicates conversation rather than police enquiry (E. Selwyn, The First Epistle of St. Peter [London: Macmillan, 1947] 193).
(14) See
D. Senior C. Stuhlmueller,
The Biblical Foundations for Mission,
London: SCM, 1983: The author (of 1 Peter) does not speak of itinerant mission
preaching, but he does insist that the community members turn their interests
and involvement outside the
community (302).
(15) The
judicial pressure against Christians would seem to be confirmed in 4:15-16 (see
also 2:14). Likewise, in 3:15 terminology does not exclude a judicial context:
the formula aivte,w lo,gon (ask the reason) fits with a judicial interrogation and avpologi,a (answer)
indicates the right to reply of somebody being interrogated in court.
(16) The
author refers to the universal Church as brotherhood throughout the world (th/| evn
Îtw/|Ð ko,smw| u`mw/n avdelfo,thti) at the end of his letter (5:9). Throughout the text, the author refers
to the community in a broad sense, without making a clear distinction between a
local congregation and the universal Church. The only territorial references
are at the beginning (1:1: the five Roman provinces) and at the end (5:9: the
whole world). Note that the term used here is ko,smoj and not oivkoume,nh.
The perspective is as universal as possible, even beyond the borders of the
Empire. Similarly, Diognetus 6.2: There are
Christians in all the cities of the world.
(17) 1
Peter is one of the first Christian documents to make the distinction between
the universal spreading of the message and the actual conversion of all
individuals to the Christian faith. N. Brox
concludes: Auf der ganzen
Welt sind, wenn auch verstreut und nicht massiert, Christen
(Mission, 207).
(18) Indeed, the letter begins with the term diaspora,,
the general term that should be used to describe the five provinces. See also Jm 1:1, which mentions the twelve tribes of the
Dispersion, i.e., scattered throughout the world.