1Pet
PETER TO THE DISPERSION
Peter's epistles correspond with Peter's personal experiences. In contrast with Paul, he was a devout Israelite who accepted the Messiah at the beginning of His ministry, not a fierce persecutor after His ascension. His name was changed from Simon (Hearing), the son of John,
to Peter (Rock), the son of Jonah (Dove). As such he becomes the foundation on which the Circumcision ecclesia is founded. He was the chief of the twelve apostles, yet was superseded by the Lord's brother, James, who was no apostle, when the Pentecostal ecclesia became sectarian. He was given the keys to the kingdom-repentance and baptism-and he used them in opening its proclamation. He was chosen to open it to proselytes, as Cornelius, but obeyed only after receiving a special vision. His course was much criticised by the Jerusalem ecclesia. If it were not for his epistles we would be much puzzled as to "what had become of Peter", for he (as well as the rest of the twelve apostles) vanishes from the history in the book of Acts soon after Paul becomes prominent. The character of Peter's epistles is indicated by the personal commission given him by the Lord after His resurrection (Joh_20:15-19). They are based on his special fondness for his Lord. In these he carries out the command to graze the lambs and tend the sheep of His flock. And in these he reflects the sufferings with which he himself was about to glorify His Lord. These epistles are especially suited to the believing remnant in Israel who suffer and die in the terrible persecutions which precede the inauguration of the kingdom. They are in contrast with John's epistles, in that he and his writings are especially in point for those who (like himself, in spirit) live through the time of trial and enter the kingdom without dying. The special occasion of Peter's writing seems to have been the great persecution of the Christians under Nero, because of the false charge that they had burned Rome. Not only were they put to terrible torture in the imperial city but the persecution spread to the provinces throughout the sphere of Roman rule. Peter wrote to the expatriates of the dispersion in the upper provinces of what is now called Asia Minor. This conclusively confines it to the Circumcision, for the gentiles were never scattered there from their own land. This cannot, however, refer to the general dispersion of the Jews, for few of them were of the faith. It doubtless refers to the fact that, from the dispersion at the stoning of Stephen, continuous persecutions in the land had driven many Jewish Christians into exile. After seeking an asylum from their fierce fellow countrymen among the idolators, they now find that these, too, turn persecutors because of Nero's edict. While these epistles can have no present interpretation, they doubtless will flnd their fullest application to the sons of Israel after the present economy of God's grace has passed by, and God deals once more with the Circumcision at the opening of the day of the Lord. Then judgment will begin at the house of God, and they will be beset with trials, such as these epistles foretell and provide for. Only in such an atmosphere and at such a time will the message Peter brings be fully appreciated and really understood. Just as it was difficult for him to apprehend the epistles of Paul (2Pe_3:16), so it is only by an earnest effort to place ourselves in the position of those to whom these epistles are sent, that we shall be able to partially apprehend their message. Peter received his commission to write these epistles from the Lord, after His ascension. On the shores of the sea of Tiberius, after the miraculous draught of fishes, he is charged to graze His lambkins and to tend His sheep (Joh_21:15-17). This is the ministry which he fulfills in these two pastoral epistles. The people addressed, unlike "the church which is his body", are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation ".