Journal: Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal
Volume: DBSJ 30:1 (NA 2025)
Article: “The End Of All Things Is Near”: Eschatology And Motivation In First Peter
Author: Timothy E. Miller

DBSJ 30 (2025) p. 139

“The End Of All Things Is Near”: Eschatology And Motivation In First Peter

Timothy Miller1

It could be argued that Peter dwells so frequently on eschatology that his readers would be, as the old phrase goes, “too heavenly-minded to be of any earthly good.” A better reading is that Peter’s letter demonstrates that the old-fashioned wisdom is wrong. In Peter’s readers’ situation, they needed to focus their attention on eschatology to live faithful Christian lives. This is represented well in one of the central motivating passages in 1 Peter, where Peter tells the readers to “Set their hope fully on the grace that will be brought to them at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 1:13).

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the way Peter uses eschatology as a motivation for transformed living. My argument is that Peter is a master weaver, threading seven eschatologically laden themes together with careful intentionality. Each of these strands serves a different dimension of motivation. Together, the threads create a weave symbolizing a well-integrated vision that holds strong against the strains of suffering and hardship. Stated simply, Peter believed that the readers had to focus on the future to live faithfully in the present.

Eschatological Identity

Peter calls his readers to consider eschatology from the very first words of his epistle: “Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect-exiles.”2 These two datives (ἐκλεκτοῖς παρεπιδήμοις) juxtaposed without a conjunction suggests unity and equality. Though some have suggested that one or the other is primary, it is better to read them together.3 The readers are at one and the same time elect of God and yet

DBSJ 30 (2025) p. 140

exiles in their world. They did not use to be such. At one time, they lived according to the ways of the Gentiles (4:3). These are likely converts in Asia Minor, who abandoned their former way of life to embrace the Way of Christianity.

Peter’s concept of exilic identity derives chiefly from the OT.4 This fact is further confirmed in 1 Peter 2:11, where he calls the readers sojourners and exiles (παροίκος καὶ παρεπιδήμος). This combination of words is not accidental. The combination of these two words occurs in the Septuag...