Expedition 44

1 Peter 2 and Romans 13 have some parallelisms. Yet in 1 Peter there’s no mention of 1) Taxes, 2) Wrath, 3) governing officials being God’s servants, and 4) the discussion of “fear” is in relation to God and not authorities in 1 Peter vs Romans. The American/Western interpretation of Romans 13 (4 myths) From Luther’s justification of the prince killing peasants in a revolt to Hitler and the holocaust to the apartheid in Africa, Romans 13 has been used to justify the “divine right of kings” and the goodness of the government. Recently Jeff Sessions used Rom 13 to justify splitting immigrant families up at the border because the government has the right to because it was ordained by God. #1- Everyone should “obey” the government #2- God chooses government leaders #3- God approves of the government’s use of violence (bearing the sword) #4- Christians can/should work in government An Alternative Examination of Romans 13 The Context of Romans A Deuteronomy 32 Worldview Submit to Governing Authorities Ordained by God Bear the sword and avengers of wrath Authorities are God’s servants and Ministers of God Taxes 3 Options of interpretation Western view Paul is telling everyone to “obey” government God chooses even the leaders God approves of Government’s use of the sword (war and capital punishment) Since this is all approved and God ordained, it is a good thing for even Christians to work in government and military Anti-Imperial view Romans 12 is about the Christian, Romans 13 is about the hardest enemy to love- the state, because it is anti-Kingdom of God (the Greek voice changes between these chapters) God allows the system government to keep peace and justice until Jesus returns, but it is ultimately a rejection of God Christians should not revolt or take revenge but leave that to God, zealotry and patriotism go against the Romans 12/Sermon on the Mount way of life. This leads to the fact that Christians should not work in Government. “The sword” is about local civil justice (policing) Evil nations were used for God’s purposes in the OT and this explains the “servants” and “ministers” of God verses. It doesn’t mean that God approved of them. God uses Assyria to punish Israel but then God condemned them for the excessive violence. Need to keep “Wrath” in its context in Romans (God handing people over to the consequences of that they chose). Taxes are given but not owed- Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and God what is God’s. The only debt owed is love (Rom 13:8). Neighborhood view Based on historical findings and the literary context of the weak and the strong, it seems like Paul is talking about interpersonal relationships in the local neighborhood. Rome was divided up into neighborhoods with an “authority” appointed (like an HOA manager). The authorities were in charge of keeping order. These people were not necessarily “government officials” but they did manage the neighborhood for Caesar and the state. Christians may have been tempted to not pay the “dues” (not a tax) due to how the money might be used (upkeep of altars, pagan festivals, etc). Paul’s concern is that they should still pay them but what is “owed” is love alone. This fits with the context of Romans 12 which is all about how to live and love as a living sacrifice. Similar to 1 Peter 2 this behavior may lead to the winning over of their pagan neighbors.

1 Peter Conclusions ·  Christoformity is the major theme of the letter. In mind and in behavior. ·  Christians should have the mindset of exile within the kingdoms of the world ·  Family identity permeates the letter. God is father and Jesus is our brother and example. The ethos of the family dictates what is honorable and not what society does. We bear God’s name. ·  Suffering is not something we should look for, but it is something we should be willing to do for Christ. It shows our participation in Christ and trials form our faith. Christ suffered at the hands of the world and his followers likely will too. ·  Upside-down kingdom identity- Peter uses many phrases that are derogatory in the culture to describe Christians as honorable o  Elect/beloved exile- Basically loved or chosen homeless person o  Christian- Identifying with someone crucified as your leader o  Spirit of humility- having the mind of a slave Peter offers hope to persecuted Christians and guides them with practical instruction on following Jesus.

Topics in 1 Peter 4:12-19  Fiery Ordeal  •      Christians should not see suffering as strange because of the backwards way of their kingdom Suffer for the Name  o   Christians should not be surprised at their suffering since they are in participation with Christ who suffered at the hands of the world.   o   Reproaches should be seen as a test of allegiance  o   Suffering is bearing witness for Christ and a cause to rejoice  o   Suffering looks like shame to the world, but it is actually glory   o   Those who suffer innocently can with confidence put themselves in God’s hands who will make all things right  Judgement in the Household of God  •      Judgement beginning in the household of the Lord is an OT concept (Ez 9:6, Amos 3:2, Mal 3:1-5).   •      Judgement does not necessarily equal punishment for the believers. It is connected to the testing/fiery ordeal    Topics in 1 Peter 5:1-7  Witness  •      The early followers of Jesus weren’t just ordinary witnesses who could be called upon to give their testimony in a court setting. By bearing witness or sharing their experience with the risen Jesus, they ran the risk of persecution and even death. What’s interesting is that the Greek word for witness, μάρτυς (mártus) began over time to carry the connotation of martyr—someone who is willing to suffer or even die for bearing witness to King Jesus. In the New Testament, we begin to see this association with witnesses and martyrdom.    Elders, Shepherds, Flocks  •      Considering the sufferings of Christ Peter exhorts church leaders in their responsibility towards God’s flock. They are not merely caretakers for a time, but they are to equip the church to persevere.    Young, Old, and Humility  o   The Greek word for humility here was a derogatory word meaning “the mindset of a slave/servant”. But for the Christians this was the way of Christ (Phil 2:1-11= Kenosis).  Topics in 1 Peter 5:8-14  The Devil and resistance  o   Peter is seeing the persecution connected to the deceiver the one who is behind the false gods, idols, and empire.   Stand firm  •      Jesus is the example. He humbled himself in submission to God even to death on the cross. The cross in the world POV looks like a loss, not a victory, but it was actually the greatest victory of all. Christians are called to do likewise.    Perfection (in Christ)  •      Perfection is better thought of as wholeness or completeness, not in a strictly moral sense.   •      Peter uses Paul’s favorite phrase for Christianity- “In Christ”  •      This indicates the importance of location. Either in Christ or in the world  •      God in Christ will bring about all the things in this verse, but we must be connected to him through submission, humility, and allegiance.    If you have questions on 1 Peter please email Ryan@expedition44.com or matt@mtzn.com and we’ll try to address them in the series conclusion episode

1 Peter 3:8-4:11 Empire/rulers, Slavery/Masters, Patriarchy/Pagan Husbands. Sermon on the mount • Tapeinophron Psalm 34 Earlier Peter uses Psalm 34 (LXX) 1 Peter 3:13-17 Suffering for Righteousness Be prepared to give an account Honor and Shame 1 Peter 3:18-22 Died for sins o Peri/Dia- because of. o Huper- For a benefit Put to death/Made alive in Spirit Proclamations to Spirits in prison o 1 Enoch12:4-13:2 Baptism 1 Peter 4:1-6 The Purpose of Christ Separate from the world Gospel preached to the dead? 1 Peter 4:7-11 End of all things? Love and Hospitality Stewards of Grace

Aliens and strangers Evangelism by behavior/christoformity • “Submission Authorities and Freedom 1st Century Slavery Treatment Suffering Favor with God Hypogrammos is the word for example here. It has a meaning of discipleship, a pattern to follow. Literally it means to follow in the footsteps. Peter’s use of Isaiah 53 Heb 9:28 uses the same word as 1 Peter 2:24, anaphero (bare/bore) Isaiah 53 and Atonement Conclusions Slaves (and all believers) are to be like Jesus displaying an attitude in suffering that does not fight back, knowing that through their suffering they may bring healing to the ones causing the suffering. And when one suffers unjustly, we know that God is a just judge who will do righteousness because he is the protector of our souls. 1 Peter 3:1-6- Believing wives and unbelieving husbands Unbelieving husbands and submission Adornment Abraham and Sarah Conclusion o A major take away is that all 3 of these examples (empire, slaves, and patriarchal household codes) were structures of human making. None of them are ordained by God. Christians might be called to endure this as they lived in these societies, but these structures were never said to be set forth by God in the Bible. o The Christian response to all of these structures were to live as witnesses and let the power of the Spirit change those who were in power. If these witnesses won over their governors, masters, husbands then we’d see the transforming power of God take place in the systems. God is not interested in “baptized” versions of these systems. 1 Peter 3:7- Believing husbands and wives Weaker body, vessel, person o Skeuos- does it mean body, vessel, or person? Fellow Heirs in Grace Your Prayers will not be hindered

1 Peter 1:13-2:10 Prepare your minds Future grace Obedient children Conformed Holiness and Sanctification • Watch Bible Project: Holiness • The root of holy (hagios) is the same word for saint. But a better term is to be a “holy one” Judgement based on works • Ransom: Lutron in Greek. Means the price of release or manumission (release from slavery). In its primary usage, the lutron/kōpher referred to neither a sacrifice for sin nor a punishment for transgression, but a price of release or a price of return. • Luke uses Lutrosin (from Lutron) to describe the Exodus in Luke 1:68 and 2:38, and the verb form in 24:21, and the compound in 21:28. Luke, Mark, and Matthew all use this word to talk about slaves being set free, specifically in an Exodus motif. • This is the ransom atonement theory which is often conflated with substitution. • To answer the age-old question- “who was the ransom paid to?” (God, the Devil, Death?) we need to look at the exodus because Peter is connecting this word ransom/redemption to Jesus’ blood. Blood and Exodus A few things to notice… • In this there is no one getting paid off. Not debts are getting collected. The gods are getting their butts kicked and slaves are being set free. • The blood represents life as we see in Leviticus. So, the blood/life of the lamb gives life to those in the house. Death does not touch them. • The blood has nothing to do with sin or forgiveness in Exodus. It’s about protection in a cosmic battle. It marks out God’s people from God’s enemies. Jesus as foreknown (Corporate election and participation) Last times? Obedience and Love Born again and seed Babies and Milk Jesus the living stone & the Church as living stones Priesthood and sacrifices Stumbling stone and offense at Jesus Chosen Race Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation, & God’s Possession Darkness, Light, and Mercy

1 Peter 1:1-12   Topics in 1 Peter 1:1-2  Aliens/Exiles  Elect/Chosen  Dispersed/Diaspora  Foreknown  Trinitarian action in sanctification   In his introduction Peter exhorts his audience to view themselves as exiles in society, to be defined as set apart for obedience to Jesus and displaying him.     Topics in 1 Peter 1:3-12  Born Again  Family language in 1 Peter  Salvation, inheritance, & resurrection  Faith and testing/trials  Prophecy   Application   We are primarily Gentiles living in a post-Christian nation, though still with less persecution than Peter or his audience, our “suffering” and social pressures may or may not be as intense as the author and audience. We do still face trials and share in the same hope as the author and audience and submit to the same authority of God and the same Spirit inspired texts.    We belong to a new family because of God. We should understand the magnitude of the inheritance.     Jesus is the hope of all ancient and modern eschatological expectations.   Sufferings in the present have a purpose, as they always have. The goal of our sufferings is to give honor, glory, and praise to God. Likewise, sufferings prove to be part of our sanctification: to be formed into the image of Christ. Christ suffered so we should be willing to suffer.    The sweep of human history points us to Christ. The testimony of the Spirit from the Old Testament to the present is Christ-centered, and so should we be Christoform too.

Significance of 1 Peter The life of Jesus and the believer’s life are inseparable in Peter’s thought. First Peter encourages a transformed understanding of Christian self-identity that redefines how one is to live as a Christian in a world that is hostile to the basic principles of the gospel. First Peter challenges Christians to reexamine our acceptance of society’s norms and to be willing to suffer the alienation of being a visiting foreigner in our own culture wherever its values conflict with those of Christ. The new birth that gives Christians a new identity and a new citizenship in the kingdom of God makes us, in whatever culture we happen to live, visiting foreigners and resident aliens there. Date and Authorship The weightiest evidence that 1 Peter is a pseudonymous work has rested on 3 points: (1) the Greek of the epistle is just too good for a Galilean fisherman-turned-apostle to have written. (2) the book’s content suggests a situation both in church structure and in social hostility that reflects a time decades later than Peter’s lifetime. (3) Christianity could not have reached these remote areas of Asia Minor and become a target for persecution until a decade or more after Peter had died, at the earliest. Date- Arguments for a 64-ish AD date Tradition universally has Peter in Rome at time of his death (66 a.d.) and the “coded” Babylon location is almost universally considered Rome (as in 2nd Temple literature and Revelation). Virtually silent that he was much anywhere else (Acts 12:17) except Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, etc. Peter could have easily traveled to and from Rome to Jerusalem and elsewhere after release in Jerusalem to his martyrdom. Paul and Peter may have overlapped areas, but not necessarily communities. Persecution in region fits Nero's early reign. Audience Arguments for a Jewish Audience The letter contains direct quotations from the OT and abounds in allusions to it, in phrases, characters (Sarah and Abraham), and in references that evoke Jewish history (dispersion, 1:1; exiles and aliens, 2:11; Babylon, 5:13). Absence in the letter of any reference to tension with Christians of Jewish origin, as one regularly finds in Acts and the Pauline epistles, for example, could also argue for a Jewish origin of the readers. Those who take a Jewish audience at times do so out of dispensational eschatology and “replacement theology” concerns putting a distinction between the church and Israel. Arguments for a Gentile Audience References to the unholy state of their pre-conversion life (e.g., 1:14, 18; 2:10, 25; 4:3–4) On the basis of 1:18, most modern commentators disagree that the audience was primarily Jewish Christian; that verse refers to the “the useless way of life you inherited from your ancestors” This understanding is reinforced by the further description in 4:3, “For the time past was [more than] enough to do what the Gentiles like to do, as you went along with acts of abandon, lust, drunkenness, revelry, carousing, and licentious idolatries.” Conclusions The metaphors of exile can be attributed to both Jews and Gentiles. Jews in the classical definition of being in exile (out of the promise land) and gentiles in the sense of being in exile in their homeland based on their citizenship in God’s kingdom. Regardless of whether the audience is primarily Jewish or Gentile it should be seen as written to the church, which is defined as Jew and gentile in the NT. Peter encourages these churches with phrases connected with God’s chosen people in the OT such as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, God’s possession, and people of God.

What in world does God want?    We get 2 ditches: Legalism (Keep every law and be perfect) and Libertinism (Jesus paid it all so I do nothing). Both are wrong.      Walk before me and be perfect (Gen 17:1)  Be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect (Matt 5:48)   Tamim  Shalem  Righteousness  Jesus and perfection   Fulfilling the Law   • The Hebrew and Greek terms we’ve looked at denote someone who is whole, intact, mature, and wholehearted. In no instance do they denote what our English word perfect communicates: flawless, without error.   • To Torah called for Israel’s faithfulness to God, for whole heartedness in relation to God and his ways, and for loving-kindness/mercy that reflected God’s character. This is expressed in the idea of tamim, shalem, and telios.   • What does God require? 12 And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? (Deut 10:12-13)   Tamim/Telios is to be of a God Centered, allegiant, loyal life and of God like impossible perfection.  It is about the trajectory of your life- the consistent path.

Christoformity  Image of God/Image of Christ   Bearing the Name/Faithfulness of Christ   The Example (Phil 2:1-11)/Kenosis Read Phil 2:1-11   The Kingdom of God and the Gospel   5 elements of the Kingdom   Kingdom as both present and future     The Gospel: Gospel mean good news. It was usually a royal announcement in the ancient world  The Way of the Exile    Nationalism is an “idol”   Mark of the Beast  Live as Exiles   Romans 12:2- Be transformed by the renewing of our minds… We don’t think in the ways of this world. We have the minds of the King and the Kingdom, with his rule in focus.