AUTHOR
AUTHOR
The letter claims to have been written by "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:1); the author is "a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings” (5:1). The claim to be a witness is supported by a number of expressions scattered through the letter, so that Selwyn can say, "This impression of eyewitness runs through the Epistle, and gives it a distinctive character.” 1He cites a number of expressions that would come very naturally from one who had been with Jesus during his earthly ministry. For example, he refers to 2:20-25, which contains references to buffeting (see Mark 14:65), following Jesus (Mark 8:34), following his footsteps (Mark 10:32), and Jesus being the Shepherd (Mark 14:27) and bearing sins (see reference to redemption in 1:18; Mark 10:45). There are many such resemblances.
There are likewise some noteworthy resemblances between this letter and words attributed to Peter in Acts. Thus Christ is the "stone” of Psalm 118:22 (Acts 4:10-11; 1 Peter 2:7-8) and his cross is "the wood” (το ξύλον [to xylon], Acts 10:3, 9; 1 Peter 2:24). 2Such examples do not, of course, prove Petrine authorship. But they show that the letter is compatible with the claim made in its opening words.
The Petrine authorship is, however, denied by many recent scholars.
1. They point to the excellent Greek, which they think could not have been written by an "unschooled, ordinary” man (Acts 4:13). To this it is retorted that the description in Acts should be taken to mean that Peter and John were not skilled in rabbinic learning, not that they were uneducated. Greek was widely spoken in Palestine, and we have no real reason for saying that a Galilean could not have considerable competence in the language. 3In any case, we are told that the letter was written 4"with the help of Silas” (1 Pet. 5:12; the name is really Silvanus), which may mean that Silvanus was the secretary who polished up the language (this seems better than viewing him as the bearer of the letter). 5
A kindred objection is that the use of the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament is inconsistent with a Galilean author. This sounds as though it might have force, but what do we really know about the text a Greek-speaking Galilean would use? As the letter is written in Greek, it is not in the slightest surprising that the Greek version of the Old Testament is the one that is used.
2. The letter is said to be too dependent on Pauline theology to have been written by the apostle Peter. To this we should say that the differences between Petrine and Pauline teaching have probably been exaggerated. 6There is no reason for affirming that they were in contradiction on the essentials of the faith, and at least some of the passages in 1 Peter that are said to have been derived from Paul are better understood as part of the common tradition of the early church. 7We should also bear in mind N. Brox’s warning "against too sharp a contrast between Pauline and Petrine theology which would be anachronistic if projected back into the first century.” 8Moreover, Paul wrote a very significant letter to the Roman church. If Peter was linked with that church before his death, it would not be surprising if he had become acquainted with the teaching of Romans. We should also recall the parallels with the letter of James, for example the links between 1 Pet. 1:6-7 and James 1:2-3, 1:24 and James 1:10-11, 4:8 and James 5:20, 5:5-6 and James 4:6-7. We should not minimize the amount shared in the common Christian tradition.
3. There is no evidence of a knowledge of the events in Jesus’ life, which would have been natural in a letter coming from Peter. There are general references to Jesus’ sufferings, but Peter would have been more explicit. But this is a very subjective objection. Selwyn has cited a number of expressions that come naturally from Peter. 9In any case the author was not indulging in "reminiscences of life with Jesus” but "encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God” (1 Pet. 5:12). There is no real reason why Peter should have included more references to Jesus.
4. There are four passages referring to persecution (1 Pet. 1:6; 3:13-17; 4:12-19; 5:9), and these are said to demand a persecution like that under Domitian or Trajan. We know of no such persecution during the lifetime of the apostle. Against this is the fact that traditionally most students have found these references compatible with the Neronic persecution, which Peter experienced. Actually the letter nowhere says that there was an empirewide persecution: "There are no tribunals, nor judges, not even confiscation.” 10In fact, the letter includes statements that view the civil authorities very favorably (e.g., 2:13-14, 17), statements that are unlikely to have been made while the whole church was being persecuted. Local officials may well have played havoc with particular congregations; indeed there are passages that seem to show that private individuals, not the state, were responsible for the trouble in which the Christians found themselves (e.g., 2:12; 4:4). All the indications are that there were scattered and local persecutions in many places, and no first-century Christian can have felt very safe (see 5:9). 11But this does not mean that the emperor had instigated a worldwide suppression of Christianity at the time of this letter.
Despite the confidence with which some scholars deny that Peter wrote the letter, it seems that we should accept it as coming from that apostle. The definite claim made in the opening words and the Petrine language throughout the letter, together with the inconclusive nature of the objections, mean that the verdict should go in favor of Peter as the author. We should not overlook the fact that no convincing reason seems ever to have been brought forward as to why the name Peter was attached to the writing if Peter was not the author. As Childs says, "No obvious reason—historical, sociological, doctrinal—has been established for assigning the letter to the apostle. Nor is there any clear legitimating function provided by the appeal to Peter’s authority.” 12