The Use Of The Old Testament For Christian Ethics In 1 Peter -- By: Gene L. Green

Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 41:2 (NA 1990)
Article: The Use Of The Old Testament For Christian Ethics In 1 Peter
Author: Gene L. Green


The Use Of The Old Testament For Christian Ethics In 1 Peter

Gene L. Green

How did the author of 1 Peter use the OT to develop Christian ethics? In the quest for moral guidance for his readers he drew from sections of OT teaching and did not quote or allude to this teaching in isolation from its context. His selection of texts was based upon the correlation between the situation of the people of God in the OT and that of his readers. The teaching he extrapolated from the OT was then developed in the author’s own terminology to show its relevance for the suffering Christian communities in Asia Minor.1

I. The Readers And Their Situation

There are few books in the NT which make more extensive use of the OT than 1 Peter. This is rather surprising since the Christian communities to which the author writes were not composed of Jewish but rather Gentile converts.2 This is evident from 4:3 where it is stated that the readers had done the will of the Gentiles in the past. The list of vices Peter enumerates includes idolatry and focuses on sins connected with sexual and alcoholic excess. In 1:18 Peter reminds his readers that they were redeemed from this ‘vain’ way of life inherited from their forefathers. The word used is μάταιος which was often employed in critiques of pagan cult idolatry, a background which is probably reflected here.3 And 1:14 calls the readers

not to be conformed to their former lustful life which they lived in ignorance, undoubtedly a reference to their ignorance of the true God.4 The descriptions of the reader’s past state makes it highly unlikely that the audience was in the main Jewish and not Gentile.5 Yet despite their non-Jewish heritage, the apostle draws on the OT at almost every turn in order to interpret the working of God in the present time and to give moral direction to his readers.

The adverse situation in which the readers find themselves heightens the need for a proper understanding of God’s work and the Christian’s moral obligations.6 The Christian communities were being persecuted by the society whose lifestyle they had rejected (4:3, You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
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