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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - 1 Peter 1:1 - 1:1
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Peter (Petros). Greek form for the Aramaic (Chaldaic) Cēphās, the nickname given Simon by Jesus when he first saw him (Joh 1:42) and reaffirmed in the Greek form on his great confession (Mat 16:18), with an allusion to petra, another form for a rock, ledge, or cliff. In 2Pe 1:1 we have both Simōn and Petros. Paul in his Epistles always terms himself Paul, not Saul. So Peter uses this name, not Cephas or Simon, because he is writing to Christians scattered over Asia Minor. The nominative absolute occurs here as in Jam 1:1, but without chairein as there, the usual form of greeting in letters (Act 23:26) so common in the papyri.
An apostle of Jesus Christ (apostolos Iēsou Christou). This is his official title, but in 2Pe 1:1 doulos is added, which occurs alone in Jam 1:1. In 2 John and 3 John we have only ho presbuteros (the elder), as Peter terms himself sunpresbuteros in 1Pe 5:1. Paul’s usage varies greatly: only the names in 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians, the title apostolos added and defended in Galatians and Romans as also in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians and Colossians and Ephesians and 2 Timothy with “by the will of God” added, and in 1 Timothy with the addition of “according to the command of God.” In Philippians Paul has only “doulos (slave) Christou Iēsou,” like James and Jude. In Romans and Titus Paul has both doulos and apostolos, like 2 Peter, while in Philemon he uses only desmios (prisoner) Iēsou Christou.
To the elect (eklektois). Without article (with the article in Mat 24:22, Mat 24:24, Mat 24:31) and dative case, “to elect persons” (viewed as a group). Bigg takes eklektois (old, but rare verbal adjective from eklegō, to pick out, to select) as an adjective describing the next word, “to elect sojourners.” That is possible and is like genos eklekton in 1Pe 2:9. See the distinction between klētoi (called) and eklektoi (chosen) in Mat 22:14.
Who are sojourners (parepidēmois). Late double compound adjective (para, epidēmountes, Act 2:10, to sojourn by the side of natives), strangers sojourning for a while in a particular place. So in Polybius, papyri, in lxx only twice (Genesis 23:4 or Psalm 38:13), in N.T. only here, 1Pe 2:11; Heb 11:13. The picture in the metaphor here is that heaven is our native country and we are only temporary sojourners here on earth.
Of the Dispersion (diasporās). See Joh 7:35 for literal sense of the word for scattered (from diaspeirō, to scatter abroad, Act 8:1) Jews outside of Palestine, and Jam 1:1 for the sense here to Jewish Christians, including Gentile Christians (only N T. examples). Note absence of the article, though a definite conception (of the Dispersion). The Christian is a pilgrim on his way to the homeland. These five Roman provinces include what we call Asia Minor north and west of the Taurus mountain range (Hort). Hort suggests that the order here suggests that Silvanus (bearer of the Epistle) was to land in Pontus from the Euxine Sea, proceed through Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, to Bithynia, where he would re-embark for Rome. This, he holds, explains the separation of Pontus and Bithynia, though the same province. Only Galatia and Asia are mentioned elsewhere in the N.T. as having Christian converts, but the N.T. by no means gives a full account of the spread of the Gospel, as can be judged from Col 1:6, Col 1:23.