Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 23:3 (Fall 2019)
Article: The Missiological Motivation Of 1 Peter
Author: Paul Akin

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The Missiological Motivation Of 1 Peter

Paul Akin

Paul Akin is Dean of the Billy Graham School and Assistant Professor of Christian Missions at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Akin earned his MDiv and PhD from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, North Carolina. He has previously served as Team Leader for the International Mission Board and Adjunct Professor of Christian Mission at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is married to Kari, and they have four children.

Over a century ago, German theologian Martin Kähler offered a provocative but salient insight when he argued that mission is “the mother of theology.”1 Kähler, a Professor of Systematic Theology in Halle, Germany, contended that theology was birthed out of a context of mission. In other words, it was as the apostles were living on mission in the world that they penned and produced theology for the early church. The late South African missiologist David Bosch, writes, “The New Testament writers were not scholars who had the leisure to research the evidence before they put pen to paper. Rather, they wrote in the context of an ‘emergency situation,’ of a church which because of its missionary encounter with the world, was forced to theologize.”2 Thus, the first theologizing of the early church emerged as it was attempting to explain the Scriptures and the good news of Christ’s resurrection to people across the Roman Empire.

Based on the above claim that missions is the mother of theology and that theology initially emerged out of a context of mission, this article will examine the missiological motivation and intent of the epistle of 1 Peter. Peter’s encouragement and exhortation to exiles in this first century letter specifically addresses how Christians are to live and minister in the world. Reading and interpreting 1 Peter through a missiological lens and from a

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missional perspective emphasizes the missionary nature of this text. In this article I will seek to establish the missiological motivation of 1 Peter by examining the identity, lifestyle, message, and hope Peter expresses in this letter.

Eckhard Schnabel notes, “The First Epistle of Peter is a ‘missionary document’ precisely because it raises the most fundamental question about the church: How should Christians live in a non-Christian society as a new community of people who have a discernibly different lifestyle?”3 Torrey Seland adds, “According to my reading, mission is mu...