Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 60:1 (NA 2009)
Article: Reading First Peter In The Context Of Early Christian Mission
Author: Christoph W. Stenschke

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Reading First Peter In The Context Of Early Christian Mission

Christoph Stenschke

Summary

This paper argues that 1 Peter should be read against the background of early Christian mission. The readers of 1 Peter have a predominantly Gentile background. The letter assures these Gentile Christians that they now share the status and spiritual privileges of Israel. However, this cherished status also includes an existence as exiles and strangers in the world they live in. This experience was hitherto unknown to them. As God’s people they have a new task: to share their faith in Christ by conduct and by word. Their experience of slander and persecutions cannot and need not bring their calling into question but is part and parcel of being God’s people in the world.

1. Introduction

While 1 Peter does ‘not address the issue of missionary work explicitly’,1 some scholars see much of its content as relevant for mission. Some of the recent studies of mission in the New Testament have sections on 1 Peter on its own, so for example E. J. Schnabel in his magisterial volumes Early Christian Mission;2 or as part of a section on the General Epistles, so for example A. Köstenberger.3 Köstenberger writes: ‘Peter’s teaching on the continuity of the old and new covenant people, the necessity of holiness, and the suffering of

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Jesus serves to clarify the nature of the mission task.’4 I want to argue that 1 Peter not only contains sections that ‘clarify the nature of the mission task’, but that the letter as a whole can and should be read against the background of the early Christian mission. 1 Peter addresses issues directly related to the spread of the Gospel and the consequences of conversion for the new Gentile converts: the new identity of the predominantly Gentile Christian readers (section 2), the nature of their missionary task in difficult circumstances (section 3) and challenges which the first generation of Gentile Christians faced (section 4).

Obviously, other New Testament books can and should also be read against the backdrop of early Christian mission as this background is not unique to 1 Peter. Yet in this perspective, the theological themes of the letter come together to form a coherent whole.

1.1 The Addressees Of 1 Peter

The question of the identity of the addressees needs to be raised, as it affects our argument. It seems ambiguous at first sight: Peter applies to them names and de...

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