INTRODUCTION.
The author of this letter leaves us in no doubt as to who he is. He says his name is Peter, and that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. In the New Testament he is first mentioned in Matthew 4:18, and yet it is possible that, in point of time, his appearance in connection with the history of Jesus is first mentioned in John 1:35. It is certain that upon this occasion the Savior bestowed upon him a name of much significance and full of promise Cephas, a stone. Peter was a resident of Bethsaida, situated upon the Sea of Galilee, where abode his father Jonas and his brother Andrew. These two brothers, upon the preaching of John the Baptist, became his disciples, and heard the testimony given by him concerning Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God," and were thereby constrained to follow Jesus. Peter was called by the Master as one of his twelve chosen witnesses. No brief sketch can do justice to this rugged character. All that is said of him in the sacred volume should pass before the mind before a just conception can be formed of him as a man or his importance and worth as a witness to the truth of Christ. It is enough to say that after his endowment by the Holy Spirit no flinching in the proclamation of the gospel is to be discovered. His boldness and courage at times, and his shrinking at other times exhibited before the Pentecostal morn, seem to have disappeared forever. He is the bold, yet humble, witness for Jesus.
WHERE WAS PETER AT TIME OF WRITING?
After carefully reading all that is said upon this point, no good reason appears why we may not take the expression contained in the fifth chapter, thirteenth verse, as settling, for all practical purposes, this question. Peter, when he composed the letter, was at Babylon, properly so called. We know from sources that are reliable that large bodies of Jews were living there, and at the time the letter was penned those Jews would have more or less communication with their own kind at Jerusalem. Besides, there is not in all the Epistle any reason for assigning to this name a spiritual significance any more than there is to the other names mentioned, Sylvanus and Mark.
WHEN WAS IT WRITTEN?
Many reasons are given for the time fixed by various writers when Peter penned this Epistle. Should all be mistaken, I can see but little loss to any one. A mistake as to the time is certainly no cause for condemnation. After all, the reasons assigned have been fully considered. A. D. 63, named by Bro. B. W. Johnson, seems to be as near right as any. At all events, that date will serve all practical purposes.
TO WHOM WRITTEN AND WITH WHAT AIM?
To those Jews who had embraced the faith of the gospel, then residing in certain provinces of Asia Minor, in the Epistle enumerated, was this letter written primarily, and to Gentile believers incidentally. I base my view upon the history given of the preaching in these localities by the apostle Paul and his companions, and the establishment of churches by them, wherein it is certain were many Gentile converts. It is true many such were Jewish proselytes, but equally true there were others who had not accepted the Mosaic economy. With this view, although Peter was an apostle of the circumcision especially, he had been taught by a miracle that God was no respecter of persons, and thereafter he did not confine his ministrations to the seed of Abraham. It is safe to say that his object was not solely for the benefit of those only who were Jews by birth. The aim and object of the writing is plain. Sufferings and persecutions were upon them. To comfort, strengthen and confirm them in the faith were the prime objects. To comfort in the day of trouble, and to so strengthen that none should apostatize, but remain steadfast in the faith, are the prime objects the apostle has in view throughout the letter. The great and glorious reward is grandly portrayed as one of the great incentives to fidelity, and the example of the Master is presented as all the assurance an honest, humble and sincere follower of the Lord could ask.