|
|
Post by Natalie on Oct 7, 2020 16:55:55 GMT -6
I mentioned that our Women's Bible study is starting 1 Peter this Thursday. Our pastor's wife leads the study and passed out questions on Sunday. So, I thought I'd post some resources and some thoughts for others.
So, I had already come to the conclusion that it was written to the Jews. I will list some of the reasons below:
Peter was the apostle to the Jews (Galatians 2:7-8)
Elect was what the Jews were called, God's chosen people. They are still known as such. 2 Tim 2:10, Isaiah 45:4 (chosen = elect check the NKJV)
"Exiles of the dispersion" or as it's called today the Diaspora. These are Jews outside the land of Israel. They are still called this today. In Amos (for an example) God said that He would shake the nation of Israel among the nations like one shakes a sieve. But reading the rest of Amos, it speaks of the regathering they wait for. They were exiles waiting for God to regather them and re-establish the nation of Israel as promised in the OT. (Amos 9:14-15, Deut 30, Jer 29) This term is also used two other times in the NT and each refers to Jews outside the land of Israel. (James 1:1, John 7:35) and the word is defined in Strong's Concordance as "the (converted) Israelite resident in Gentile countries."
In Acts 2:9 it mentions Jews from Pontus, Cappadocia, and Asia. The same area Peter is writing to. They would have come to Israel for Passover and stayed for Pentecost and heard the Gospel. They then went back to their homes outside of Israel and shared the Good News.
Some of his phrases make more sense to a Jewish audience
--for sprinkling with His blood – for purification, everything was sprinkled with blood but Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. It's a very Jewish phrase.
--prophets prophesying about the grace to be theirs, serving not themselves but the audience – God had sent the prophets to the Jews
--“futile ways inherited from your forefathers” (1:18) the word used here means traditions from their fathers. Those are the same things that Jesus confronted over and over. Traditions had been placed above the word of God.
--In 2:9 he is basically quoting things from Exodus 19:5-6 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation...” By following their Messiah they are obeying God's voice and fulfilling their calling. He's doing in the remnant what will one day happen in the nation.
--2:10 is a reference to Hosea that the Jews would have understood. The relationship with God had been broken, but it is restored through Messiah. (read Hosea 1:6-2:1)
--2:25 Straying like sheep but have returned to the Shepherd. Jews knew that God was their shepherd. Gentiles were not sheep that had wandered away and needed to return, but Jews were. (made me think of Matthew 9:35-36 when Jesus was preaching and healing and had compassion on them because they were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Or Is 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray...)
|
|
|
|
Post by Natalie on Oct 7, 2020 18:18:40 GMT -6
1 Peter 2:10 “Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” So, even though Gentile believers can say the same thing, Peter is pointing them to the book of Hosea which would have great meaning to Jews. They would know exactly what he was referencing. Here is 1:6-2:1 6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
How heartbreaking! The fellowship is broken. But they are not forgotten...
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel. (God will sow – see 1:4-5)
2:1 Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”
Fellowship will be restored under Messiah! I found this so beautiful. 1 Peter shows that God always has a remnant of believers in His chosen people. Fellowship can be restored. And the final outcome is that the nation will hear the same words. “...And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to Me forever. I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.
“And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel (God will sow)
and I will sow her for Myself in the land.
And I will have have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people.';
and he shall say, 'You are my God.'”
Hosea 2:18b-23 |
|
|
|
Post by Natalie on Oct 8, 2020 15:24:45 GMT -6
We had a discussion this morning on the phrase in verse 1:2 that says, "according to the foreknowledge of God." One lady saw it as the exiles knowledge God, specifically of Jesus. I'm not sure if that is a right interpretation, but being Jews they did have a lot of prior knowledge about God. They just needed to make the connection that Jesus was Messiah - which these had because Peter is writing to them as believers. My take on it is that it is God's knowledge of them. (The same word and tense is used in Acts 26:4-5 that the Jews "had known" Paul for a long time). God has known them. He is the one that had even set up the situation of them being exiles. He knew the Babylonian captivity would take place. He knew that Jews would be dispersed throughout Asia Minor. He knew they would go to Jerusalem for Passover and Pentecost. He knew they would take the Good News back to their families. He knows how to get the message out. 
There were some who took the more Calvinistic definition of foreknowledge and connected it to the word elect instead of to the phrase "elect exiles." Personally, I think elect describes who the exiles are (Jews - like 2 Tim 2:10) and they are exiles according to His prior knowledge. (If you read it in the interlinear elect is before exiles even though the NASB, NKJV, and KJV place it before "according to".) Any Jew living outside of Israel is an elect exile. They have been scattered but will be brought back. God knew all that and even stated it from the beginning (Deut 30:1-3) |
|
|
|
Post by Natalie on Oct 9, 2020 17:29:42 GMT -6
Peter uses the OT is a couple of different ways. Sometimes he quotes it directly (and we get footnotes to show that) and sometimes he just combines some stuff to pull several texts together. I learned a new word in the full article that is linked in the link I posted in the first post. "Pesher interpretations" Doing some googling, that's what it means. Pulling several texts together to comment on one thing. (I've been made aware of this in other places in the Bible but I can't think of where off hand) One of those places is 2:9-10 "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
(I already mentioned how verse 10 would have taken the audience right to the story of Hosea) Verse nine would remind the readers of the words God spoke to Moses. "Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. Exodus 19:5-7
These Jewish believers were fulfilling their calling. They were listening to His voice and keeping His covenant through Messiah, and so they were a chosen race (Jews), a royal priesthood, a holy nation (Israel though dispersed at the moment), and a treasured possession.
Yes, there is the priesthood of the believer, but it doesn't need this passage to explain that. Yes, Gentiles have been called out of darkness into His light, and we do belong to Him, but there are other verses for that, too. But I don't know of anywhere that the church is called a chosen race or a holy nation. The church is made of people of all tribes and tongues and nations. But the Jews were a chosen race (picked through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) and a holy nation (a single nation set apart for God).
I love when connections come together. I have read 1 Peter more than once or twice. I had caught the Hosea reference, but I missed the Exodus one. But it just fits together so well and it brings such rich deep meaning to things. I love how it shows that God has never given up on His chosen people. He knew them, knew where they would be, knew how to bless them, knew how to encourage them to keep walking with Him. And in seeing that, I know that He will do the same for me.
|
|
|
|
Post by Natalie on Oct 9, 2020 18:38:39 GMT -6
So, I was sitting and thinking and wondering if Peter actually references three different passages in 1 Peter 2:9-10
Here it is and I have bolded the part I have been pondering:
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Could he be talking about Isaiah 8:21-9:2?
God is warning them of the Assyrian invasion and then warning the people as to what they will be like. "They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy;"
(and then a little further on is the prophecy of the Child given to them)
In most of our Bibles chapter nine starts at "But there will be no gloom..." but my footnote says that "The people who walked in darkness..." is the start of chapter 9 in Hebrew. I usually thought of the Gentiles as being the ones in darkness, but in context, he's speaking of Israel.
We know Jesus spent most of His time around the area of Galilee and He is the Light of the world, so He would be the way that God called them out of darkness into His light.
Most modern commentaries are not helping me on this because they do not see Peter's audience as wholly Jewish. But I have been greatly blessed by pondering all of this.
(ETA: so, after posting, I found that Chuck Smith sees this connection to Isaiah also, but he sees the passage as connected to the church. And I do agree that God calls the Gentiles also out of darkness into the light. But again, that's found elsewhere, too Acts 26:18 for example)
|
|
|
|
Post by Natalie on Oct 12, 2020 13:34:40 GMT -6
I was reading through 1 Peter last night just to see if I could find other places Peter references the Old Testament. Some at the end of Chapter one and beginning of chapter two are clearly marked in my Bible and have footnotes at the bottom for them. Then there is places like 2:24-25 "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."
This reminded me of Isaiah 53:5-6
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
and then the idea that God is the Good Shepherd (like Psalm 23)
I also just googled "God guards our souls" and Psalm 121:7 came up. This is the NKJV version "The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul." ESV says life instead of soul. I am not sure if Peter was thinking of that verse.
Then I ran across two quotes, but there were not footnotes. 4:18 And "If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" and the end of 5:5 "God opposes the proud but give grace to the humble."
I did some looking and found that the first is Proverbs 11:31 and the other is Proverbs 3:34. However, Peter is quoting the Greek translation of the verses. So, if you look them up in your OT they are going to read a little bit differently.
|
|
|
|
Post by Natalie on Oct 24, 2020 12:42:03 GMT -6
Was doing a little internet browsing on the topic "was Peter in Babylon". The book ends with "She who is at Babylon...sends you greetings..." Some translations say "the church at Babylon". (I looked at the interlinear but I think it's just a translator decision on if it's a woman or a church) Anyway... I found this interesting. It's thoughts / research from three different people speaking of the Diaspora and how this helped Christianity spread. But what I had been looking for was where large Jewish populations were during the first century.
and this one:
I know there is debate on both sides - Did Peter actually mean Rome? Is it a code word? Is "church tradition" correct? But I think it's very possible that he did go to the Jews in Babylon. (I also found a couple of commentaries that use a plain reading of the text and say Peter did go to Babylon.)
It's one of those things that I don't know if we have a 100% answer for, but it was interesting to think about and read about. I know there is much out there on the topic.
|
|
|
|
Post by venge on Oct 25, 2020 7:59:46 GMT -6
So, I was sitting and thinking and wondering if Peter actually references three different passages in 1 Peter 2:9-10
Here it is and I have bolded the part I have been pondering:
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Could he be talking about Isaiah 8:21-9:2?
God is warning them of the Assyrian invasion and then warning the people as to what they will be like. "They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy;"
(and then a little further on is the prophecy of the Child given to them)
In most of our Bibles chapter nine starts at "But there will be no gloom..." but my footnote says that "The people who walked in darkness..." is the start of chapter 9 in Hebrew. I usually thought of the Gentiles as being the ones in darkness, but in context, he's speaking of Israel.
We know Jesus spent most of His time around the area of Galilee and He is the Light of the world, so He would be the way that God called them out of darkness into His light.
Most modern commentaries are not helping me on this because they do not see Peter's audience as wholly Jewish. But I have been greatly blessed by pondering all of this.
(ETA: so, after posting, I found that Chuck Smith sees this connection to Isaiah also, but he sees the passage as connected to the church. And I do agree that God calls the Gentiles also out of darkness into the light. But again, that's found elsewhere, too Acts 26:18 for example)
, Just 1 comment, I don't want to take up your thread. I think its both. Sometimes, I think we make it about wither the Church or the Jews. For me its neither. I don't really like the term "the church" because it feels like social distancing and for me, feels like a western nation thing. "The church" is made up of believers in Christ and God. All were in darkness before it. So whether Jew or Gentile, Greek or Roman...all in faith are a people who seen the light (tribes, nations, tongues..). What makes us a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a people for his possession is that we believed. I think Peter's ref. is to anyone who believed at that point. Some were Jews, some may have been Samaritans or other peoples...but his message was directed to those in faith. Just how I see it...continue on =P |
|
|
|
Post by Natalie on Oct 25, 2020 10:55:00 GMT -6
Thanks for your thoughts, venge. I have enjoyed considering Peter writing to a Jewish audience and what it might mean to them. How much richer their Scriptures become now that Messiah had come. But yes, that the truths apply to all believers no matter the background. All believers do indeed now walk in the Light and no longer in darkness. Praise to God. |
|
|
|
Post by Natalie on Nov 28, 2020 10:35:51 GMT -6
I love history, so I've enjoyed doing some digging into this stuff. I have found though that sometimes (and sometimes a lot of the time) tradition and history can get mushed together. The following is mostly history. If it is not, it is labeled as such. In Acts 2:5-11 We get a list of Jews dwelling in Jerusalem from different parts of the area. They would have been there for the celebration of Pentecost We have: Parthians (Iran and Iraq) and Medes (NW Iran) and Elamites (SW Iran) and residents of Mesopotamia (Iraq), Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, (5 in modern day Turkey), Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene (N Africa), and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretan and Arabians So we have some from these different areas: 1) the first 4 is the area of the Babylonian captivity 2) Judea where Jerusalem is 3) the next 5 are in what is Turkey today 4) the next three are northern Africa 5) Rome 6) the island of Crete 7) The area of Arabia (I read that this could be Syria/Jordan area). From my searching, the first 4 were the areas with the most Jewish residents. Some estimates have from 800,000 to 1,200,000 Jews living in the Babylon area. (Mesopotamia) The Parthians were the ones in control of Iran and Iraq during the first century. I have recently started studying James because it is a book I haven't really studied. I have run across people who think maybe James was writing to those in number 1. James and others would have ministered directly to those in number 2. 1 Peter addresses those in number 3. Tradition says that Mark went to Alexandria, N Africa which would be number 4.
I think it's neat how the news went from Jerusalem out, but God made provision for this by having the Jews come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts. Then they would take the Good News back to family and friends.
|
|
