The First Letter of Peter

Five regions. The letter is addressed to Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia (1:1), Roman territory in Asia Minor, today's Turkey. Paul's journeys touched some of this land, but not all of it. Nothing in the New Testament tells us how the Gospel reached Pontus or Cappadocia. This is a letter meant to travel from church to church.

Exiles at home. Peter calls his readers "aliens and exiles" (2:11). Some think that this describes their legal standing, as people without full rights in the towns where they lived. Most read it as a description of the Christian life: our true home lies ahead. Either way, they had come out of "the futile ways inherited from your ancestors" (1:18). They no longer joined their old friends at parties and at pagan feasts, and those friends took offence (4:3 to 4).

What kind of suffering? The letter speaks of slander, insults and false charges (2:12; 3:16; 4:4; 4:14). Slaves suffered from harsh masters (2:18), and wives from husbands who did not believe (3:1). It does not describe an organised state campaign, although "the fiery ordeal" (4:12) shows that things were serious. To be known by the name "Christian" (4:16) was itself becoming a risk. About the year 112, Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia, one of these very regions, wrote to the Emperor Trajan to ask how Christians should be tried.

Rome, called Babylon. "Your sister church in Babylon" sends greetings at the end (5:13). There is no early tradition of Peter in the Babylon of Mesopotamia. Eusebius (Church History 2.15) reports that the letter was written in Rome, and that Peter names the city "by a figure". The Book of Revelation uses the same name for Rome. For Jews, Babylon was the place of exile; a church there, writing to exiles, is saying that they all share one lot (see 5:9).

The Church's tradition. The letter opens with the name of Peter, and it was accepted early and widely.

• St Polycarp, writing to the Philippians early in the second century, uses the words of 1:8 without naming their source (Philippians 1).
• Papias, according to Eusebius, "uses testimonies from the first Epistle of John and from that of Peter likewise" (Church History 3.39).
• Eusebius counts it among the books accepted by all: "One epistle of Peter, that called the first, is acknowledged as genuine" (3.3; see 3.25).
• St Irenaeus, Tertullian, St Clement of Alexandria and Origen quote it as Peter's, as the Catholic Encyclopedia records.
• The Council of Trent (1546) lists "two of Peter the apostle" in the canon.

Peter speaking. He calls himself "a witness of the sufferings of Christ" (5:1). Benedict XVI, on 24 May 2006, hears in this letter the old Peter, near the end of his life: a man no longer sure of himself, whose faith has passed through denial and forgiveness. Peter's hearers would have heard the echo in his own words: he asks the elders to tend the flock (5:2), as Jesus had asked of him (Jn 21:15 to 17). He speaks of Mark as "my son" (5:13).

Silvanus. "Through Silvanus, whom I consider a faithful brother, I have written this short letter" (5:12). This may be the Silas who travelled with Paul. He may have carried the letter, or he may have helped to write it, or both. The text does not settle the matter.

A scholarly note. Traditionally the letter is by Peter. Some scholars point to its fine Greek, its use of the Greek Bible, and the wide spread of Christianity that it assumes, and they think that a disciple or a circle at Rome wrote it in Peter's name soon after his death. Others answer that a secretary such as Silvanus explains the Greek. The Church teaches that God is the author of Scripture and that the human writers were true authors (Dei Verbum 11), and she has received the letter as apostolic. The question of who held the pen does not touch its inspiration.

Peter afterwards. According to tradition Peter died at Rome under Nero, by crucifixion (Eusebius, Church History 2.25 and 3.1). His feast with Paul falls on 29 June, and the Chair of St Peter is kept on 22 February in the Latin Church.

Many scholars have noticed how often the letter speaks of new birth, water and first food (1:3; 1:23; 2:2; 3:21), and some have suggested that it draws on early teaching given around Baptism. This cannot be proved, but it is a good way to read it.

• Living hope. Hope here is no mood. It rests on an event, the Resurrection (1:3; Catechism 654), and on an inheritance kept in heaven (1:4). So a Christian can rejoice even in trials (1:6 to 9; Catechism 2627). The image of gold tested by fire (1:7) is one of the texts the Catechism cites in its teaching on purification after death (1031).
• Baptism saves. Noah's family came through water; "baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you" (3:20 to 21). The Catechism reads this as an example of how the Old Testament points to Christ (128, 1094) and sees in the ark a figure of Baptism (1219) and of the Church (845). The new birth comes through "the living and enduring word of God" (1:23; Catechism 1228).
• A royal priesthood. All the baptized are "a holy priesthood", offering spiritual sacrifices through Christ (2:5, 9; Catechism 1141, 1268, 1546). This common priesthood of the faithful does not replace the ministerial priesthood. The Catechism sets out the two together and says that they differ essentially, while each shares in its own way in the one priesthood of Christ (1547). The same letter speaks of elders set over the flock (5:1 to 4).
• Christ the living stone. Rejected by people, chosen by God (2:4 to 8; Catechism 552, 756). We are built on him into one house.
• Ransomed by blood. "Not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ" (1:18 to 19; Catechism 602). He "bore our sins in his body on the cross" (2:24; Catechism 612).
• Suffering with Christ. Unjust suffering, borne patiently, follows his steps (2:21; Catechism 618). To share his sufferings is a reason for joy (4:13; Catechism 1499). This never makes suffering good in itself, and the letter asks no one to seek it. "It is better to suffer for doing good ... than to suffer for doing evil" (3:17).
• Return a blessing. Do not repay evil with evil (3:9; Catechism 1669). Answer those who question you "with gentleness and reverence" (3:16). This is one of the earliest calls to Christian witness that is both ready and respectful.
• Citizens and rulers. Honour everyone and honour the emperor (2:13 to 17; Catechism 1899, 2238). Peter wrote this under Nero. Honour is not surrender: the Catechism adds the right, and sometimes the duty, to speak against what harms human dignity (2238), and Peter himself had told the council that one must obey God rather than any human authority (Acts 5:29).
• Slaves and the household. Peter speaks to slaves as people with their own dignity and calling (2:18 to 25), which ancient household rules rarely did. He does not defend slavery, and the Church condemns it (Catechism 2414). To wives he speaks about winning a husband by holy conduct, and he tells husbands to honour their wives as "also heirs of the gracious gift of life" (3:1 to 7; see Catechism 2204). The social setting is that of the first century; the mutual love is for all time.
• The Lord's descent to the dead. Christ "made a proclamation to the spirits in prison" (3:19), and "the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead" (4:6). The Catechism takes these verses as a witness to his going down to the realm of the dead as Saviour (632, 634). It adds that he went to free the just who had gone before him, and not to deliver the damned or to destroy the hell of damnation (633). Scholars debate the details of these difficult verses, and some see fallen angels in 3:19.
• Love, hospitality, service. "Love covers a multitude of sins" (4:8; Catechism 1434). Be hospitable without complaining (4:9), and use every gift for others (4:10 to 11).
• Shepherds and flock. Elders must lead by example, not by force, and not for money (5:2 to 3; Catechism 893, 1551). Christ is the chief shepherd (5:4; Catechism 754). Peter's calling himself "an elder" is humility, and it takes nothing from the first place that the Lord gave him among the Apostles (Catechism 881).
• Watch. "The end of all things is near" (4:7; Catechism 670, 1806) leads to prayer and love, and never to fear or date-setting. The devil prowls (5:8; Catechism 2849), and God will "restore, support, strengthen, and establish you" (5:10).

"God's own people". Peter applies to the Church words said of Israel in Exodus and Hosea (2:9 to 10). This must not be read as God's turning away from the Jewish people. The Church teaches that the Jews remain very dear to God, whose gifts and call are irrevocable (Nostra Aetate 4; Rom 11:28 to 29; Catechism 839). In the same way, "they stumble" (2:8) speaks of anyone who refuses the word, and it is no judgment on a people.

• The unseen one who is loved. "Although you have not seen him, you love him" (1:8). Benedict XVI drew this verse out as the mature faith of Peter himself.
• The spotless Lamb. Destined before the foundation of the world, revealed for our sake (1:19 to 20; Catechism 602).
• The Servant of Isaiah. The verses of 2:22 to 25 are woven from Isaiah 53: no deceit, no threats, sins carried, healed by his wounds. Peter once tried to talk Jesus out of the cross (Mk 8:32). Here he preaches it.
• Shepherd and guardian. "You were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls" (2:25). Peter, told to feed the sheep, knows that they belong to another.
• Risen and reigning. He "has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him" (3:22). That is why hope is reasonable.
• The one who will be revealed. The word "revealed" runs through the letter (1:7; 1:13; 4:13; 5:1). The story is not finished, and his glory will be seen.

The Catechism draws on this letter throughout: the priesthood of the baptized, 1141, 1268, 1546; Baptism, 845, 1094, 1219, 1228; the Passion, 602, 612, 618; the descent to the dead, 632 to 634; the Church as a building, 756; the Spirit of glory, 693 (on 4:14); the Word and prayer, 2769 (on 1:23 and 2:1 to 10).

Dei Verbum 20 says that the apostolic writings besides the Gospels confirm what concerns Christ, explain his teaching and proclaim the saving power of his work.

The Fathers, in substance. St Polycarp already echoes its words of hope. Eusebius says that the elders of old used this letter freely in their writings as beyond dispute (Church History 3.3).

Benedict XVI has no catechesis on this letter alone. In his audience of 24 May 2006 on Peter he uses 1:8 and 5:1 to show what Peter became after his fall and his forgiveness.

In the liturgy.

• Syro-Malankara. In the 2026 to 2027 calendar we examined, 1 Peter is read at the Holy Qurbono on many Sundays: for example 1 Pet 2:1 to 12 on Qudos Eetho Sunday, 1 Pet 1:3 to 12 on New Sunday (the Lord appears to Thomas), and 1 Pet 4:12 to 19 on Samio Sunday in the Great Fast.
• Latin. In Year A the second reading on the Sundays of Easter comes from 1 Peter (from the Second Sunday to the Seventh). 1 Pet 3:18 to 22 is read on the First Sunday of Lent in Year B, and 1 Pet 5:1 to 4 on the Chair of St Peter. On weekdays it is read in the Eighth Week of Ordinary Time in Year II.
• Syro-Malabar. In the 2026 to 2027 calendar we examined: 1 Pet 1:3 to 7 on the Second Sunday of the Dedication of the Church, and on weekdays 1 Pet 5:1 to 4 and 1 Pet 2:1 to 10 in the same season, and 1 Pet 3:8 to 12 in the Great Fast.

The whole letter takes about fifteen minutes. Read it once straight through, as those first readers heard it. Then take it slowly over a week:

• Day 1: 1:1 to 12. What has God already given you?
• Day 2: 1:13 to 2:3. Holiness, and the price paid for you.
• Day 3: 2:4 to 10. Read it on the day of a Baptism, or remembering your own.
• Day 4: 2:11 to 3:7. How to live with those who do not share your faith.
• Day 5: 3:8 to 4:6. Pause at 3:15 and practise your answer.
• Day 6: 4:7 to 19. Trial and joy.
• Day 7: 5:1 to 14. Give God your worries by name (5:7).