Expedition 44

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.

The importance of land begins early in the biblical narrative in Eden. This is where heaven and earth overlap. Where God dwells and walks with his priests in the garden which is sacred space. Sacred space is the place were God and humanity dwell together. With Israel the promise land, the land of Israel, was sacred space. God’s temple was there, and he dwelt with his people. The temple was the new place where heaven and earth overlapped. Israel was exiled for polluting the land with their false worship and God’s presence left. In Jewish thought the land is essential to their eschatology and their theology. It would be crazy to think that God is a king with no country. What is Salvation? Our idea of what salvation is plays a lot into the land. In the west our view of salvation has been based on what we are saved from. We know we are saved from Hell, sin, death, and the Devil. But what are we saved for? Many Christians believe we are saved for heaven but is this true? We are saved for the redemption of creation to image God. The narrative begins with Eden and ends with Eden. What is the purpose of Heaven? Heaven is usually understood as a transcendent realm beyond time and space. Heaven is primarily characterized by fellowship with and worship of God. The final destiny of the faithful is conceived of as an unending worship service in God’s immediate presence in another world. In the Bible we see heaven as God’s throne room but also as the place where his rule and reign are perfect… Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Lord’s Prayer). We see very few mentions of going to heaven in the Bible, but it has become a huge part of Christian theology. Redemption What is our future? Life after death is not the goal… life after life after death is! Rom 8:18-25. Liberation from decay and the redemption of our BODIES is the hope we are saved for. And Why? To be the image of God bodily on earth. Creation is longing for us to be redeemed so it can be redeemed too. Jesus speaks of the regeneration when he sits on his throne. To Jews this was when God would rule on earth again. (Matt 19:28) Acts 3:21 speaks also of the restoration of all things. Colossians 1:20 talks about all things reconciled in Christ. Eph 1:10 speaks of all things being summed up in Christ. In heaven and on earth. Heaven and earth is what is mentioned in Gen 1:1 for all of the cosmic creation so that is what Paul has in view of what is redeemed. God pronounces creation “very good” Gen 1:31. Our task is to steward that creation not to escape from it to heaven (escapism is platonic and gnostic thinking). Resurrection 1 Cor 15:44-55- spiritual body is not being disembodied but being imperishable. Phil 3:20- our body will be like his. Jesus was resurrected bodily. John 5:28-29 The dead in their graves will rise The importance of the resurrection is so that the image of God can be restored to its vocation perfectly when death is defeated. Our concentration in salvation is usually being saved from going to hell but we often leave the resurrection behind. Jesus died to defeat death. Death was the result of separation from God in the garden and that is what needs to be reversed. Why?... Image of God New Heavens and New Earth- What is our destination? Rev 21:1-7. Heaven comes to earth. Koinos (renewed) is used here. Isaiah 65:17-25- Consistent with the OT. The Jews didn’t have a disembodied view of being human. They believe in God restoring his Eden mission. The meek will inherit the Earth!