Who was 1 Peter written to?

[Jacob]

All Christians, be they of Jewish or Gentile background are living in a "foreign land" if their true citizenship is in heaven.

When the term is used in Hebrews 11:13, it says the people of faith were aliens and strangers on earth. They weren't strangers merely because they had moved from one place on earth to another. They were strangers on earth, simply because they were on earth, and not in heaven.

The writer makes this plain in vs. 16.

"Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

Acts 7:6 NASB - 6 "But God spoke to this effect, that his DESCENDANTS WOULD BE ALIENS IN A FOREIGN LAND, AND THAT THEY WOULD BE ENSLAVED AND MISTREATED FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS.

Ephesians 2:19 NASB - 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household,

1 Peter 1:1 NASB - 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen

1 Peter 2:11 NASB - 11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

 

[Bright Raven]

Written from Babylon to believers.

 

[Jacob]

Written from Babylon to believers.

I am not sure that is a fact.

 

[Aaron the Tall]

Acts 7:6 NASB - 6 "But God spoke to this effect, that his DESCENDANTS WOULD BE ALIENS IN A FOREIGN LAND, AND THAT THEY WOULD BE ENSLAVED AND MISTREATED FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS.

Ephesians 2:19 NASB - 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household,

1 Peter 1:1 NASB - 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen

1 Peter 2:11 NASB - 11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

A bit of commentary would be nice so I know what you trying to emphasize.

Acts 7:6 - yes there is a literal meaning of "aliens and strangers" - and the Israelites fit that description while they were living in Egypt.

There is also a spiritual description of "aliens and strangers".

Hebrews 11:8-10 said Abraham was living in the promised land, but was still like a stranger in a foreign country because "he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

Eph 2:19 - shows again the spiritual meaning of "aliens and strangers". The Gentile church to whom Paul was writing were not literal physical aliens and strangers. They likely lived in their country of origin. However, in relationship to the promised City of God - Gentile followers were not natural heirs. They were borrowing the promises - but in Christ they have become natural heirs.

I Peter 2:11 - makes more sense in the light of them being spiritual "aliens and strangers" because Peter says that as such they should abstain from sinful desires. It is because they don't belong to this earth that they should not indulge in its pleasures. It is not because they aren't natural citizens of a certain specific country that they should not indulge in its pleasures.

 

[Jacob]

A bit of commentary would be nice so I know what you trying to emphasize.

Acts 7:6 - yes there is a literal meaning of "aliens and strangers" - and the Israelites fit that description while they were living in Egypt.

There is also a spiritual description of "aliens and strangers".

Hebrews 11:8-10 said Abraham was living in the promised land, but was still like a stranger in a foreign country because "he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

Eph 2:19 - shows again the spiritual meaning of "aliens and strangers". The Gentile church to whom Paul was writing were not literal physical aliens and strangers. They likely lived in their country of origin. However, in relationship to the promised City of God - Gentile followers were not natural heirs. They were borrowing the promises - but in Christ they have become natural heirs.

The verse talks about who they were formerly vs. who they are now. I don't know that they were considered Gentiles.

I Peter 2:11 - makes more sense in the light of them being spiritual "aliens and strangers" because Peter says that as such they should abstain from sinful desires. It is because they don't belong to this earth that they should not indulge in its pleasures. It is not because they aren't natural citizens of a certain specific country that they should not indulge in its pleasures.

I don't know that Peter was writing to Gentiles. He was writing to believers.

 

[Interplanner]

Untell:
your last line is incoherent. Believers are from all ethnos.

 

[Jacob]

Untell:
your last line is incoherent. Believers are from all ethnos.

But is a believer in the church considered or not considered a Jew or a Gentile?

 

[Interplanner]

Sorry I can't answer compound double negative questions. You have to drop one negative or one answer.

 

[tetelestai]

Peter is writing to believing Jews who are dispersed in other countries.

Impossible!

Peter makes it very clear who he was writing to:

(1 Peter 2:10) Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

There was only one group of people who were told they were not a people and who were told God would have no mercy on them.


Those people were the Israelites from the 10 tribes of the Northern Nation.

Those Israelites were NOT Jews.

 

[Jacob]

Sorry I can't answer compound double negative questions. You have to drop one negative or one answer.

Galatians 3:28 NASB - 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 10:32 NASB - 32 Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God;

1 Peter 2:11-12 NASB - 11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

The point is that Peter may not have been writing to Gentiles.

 

[oatmeal]

Was it that these were Gentiles and needed to have their behavior excellent among the Gentiles? Or were these not Gentiles who but needed to have their behavior excellent among the Gentiles?

Are those who are born again Gentiles? Are those who are born again not Gentiles? Who is being referred to here?

1 Peter 1:3, 23 NASB - 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ... 23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.

1 Peter 1:1-2 NASB - 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

When we use the words Judean, Gentile and the church of God, we need to realize that God uses these words perfectly accurately in light of what God wisely chooses to convey.

In God's reckoning or wisdom, these three are distinct separate groups.

The entire human race fits into one of these three groups as we see from I Corinthians 10:32 KJV

Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:

None, as used here is all inclusive.

Judeans are not Gentiles are not the church of God.

Those in the church of God were formerly either Judean or Gentile. When they believed on the name of the lord Jesus Christ, they became part of the church of God.

 

[Jacob]

When we use the words Judean, Gentile and the church of God, we need to realize that God uses these words perfectly accurately in light of what God wisely chooses to convey.

In God's reckoning or wisdom, these three are distinct separate groups.

The entire human race fits into one of these three groups as we see from I Corinthians 10:32 KJV

Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:

None, as used here is all inclusive.

Judeans are not Gentiles are not the church of God.

Those in the church of God were formerly either Judean or Gentile. When they believed on the name of the lord Jesus Christ, they became part of the church of God.

But the reasoning comes from Paul, therefore:

1 Peter 2:12 NASB - 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

However, when I speak of a believer, I am thinking of born again which is consistent with Peter (it is referred to in Peter), but I believe I am influenced by other scriptures to then be able to say that those who are born again are believers.

I have also used the phrase before "born again believers". But in the context of Peter I simply know that those who are born again are believers and yet all I can tell is that who the aliens and strangers are deals with the question of if Peter's audience is not Gentile.

 

[tetelestai]

The point is that Peter may not have been writing to Gentiles.

Peter wasn't writing to Jews.

Anyone who wasn't a Jew was a Gentile.

 

[Jacob]

Peter wasn't writing to Jews.

Anyone who wasn't a Jew was a Gentile.

1 Peter 1:1-2 NASB - 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

1 Peter 2:11-12 NASB - 11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

 

[tetelestai]

1 Peter 1:1-2 NASB - 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

1 Peter 2:11-12 NASB - 11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

They weren't Jews

God only told the Israelites from the 10 tribes that He would not have mercy on them:

(Hosea 1:6) ...I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel;..

The Jews were told that God would have mercy on them:

(Hosea 1:7) But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah...

Only the Israelites from the 10 tribes were told they were "not a people":

(Hosea 1:9) Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

God divorced these Israelites from the 10 tribes. That never happened to the Jews.

God also promised that one day in the future, He would tell the Israelites: "you are my people"

(Hosea 2:23) I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one.' I will say to those called 'Not my people,' 'You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.'"

Now let's look at what Peter said about 800 years later after Hosea:

(1 Peter 2:10) Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

The Jews were never told they were "not a people", and the Jews were never told they wouldn't have mercy.

It's impossible that Peter was addressing Jews after reading the prophecies in Hosea, and comparing them to 1 Peter 2:10

 

[Aaron the Tall]

But the reasoning comes from Paul, therefore:

1 Peter 2:12 NASB - 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

However, when I speak of a believer, I am thinking of born again which is consistent with Peter (it is referred to in Peter), but I believe I am influenced by other scriptures to then be able to say that those who are born again are believers.

I have also used the phrase before "born again believers". But in the context of Peter I simply know that those who are born again are believers and yet all I can tell is that who the aliens and strangers are deals with the question of if Peter's audience is not Gentile.

As the Ephesians 2 passage shows, the term "aliens and strangers" is not exclusive to Jews. It can be used in a spiritual sense, as it was applied to the Gentiles by Paul.

 

[Jacob]

They weren't Jews

God only told the Israelites from the 10 tribes that He would not have mercy on them:

(Hosea 1:6) ...I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel;..

The Jews were told that God would have mercy on them:

(Hosea 1:7) But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah...

Only the Israelites from the 10 tribes were told they were "not a people":

(Hosea 1:9) Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

God divorced these Israelites from the 10 tribes. That never happened to the Jews.

God also promised that one day in the future, He would tell the Israelites: "you are my people"

(Hosea 2:23) I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one.' I will say to those called 'Not my people,' 'You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.'"

Now let's look at what Peter said about 800 years later after Hosea:

(1 Peter 2:10) Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

The Jews were never told they were "not a people", and the Jews were never told they wouldn't have mercy.

It's impossible that Peter was addressing Jews after reading the prophecies in Hosea, and comparing them to 1 Peter 2:10

I cannot confirm your answer.

Was the question if he was writing to Gentiles?

1 Peter 2:12 NASB - 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

 

[Jacob]

As the Ephesians 2 passage shows, the term "aliens and strangers" is not exclusive to Jews. It can be used in a spiritual sense, as it was applied to the Gentiles by Paul.

I don't know that Peter is referring to Jews or Gentiles.

1 Peter 2:12 NASB - 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

 

[tetelestai]

I cannot confirm your answer.

Was the question if he was writing to Gentiles?

1 Peter 2:12 NASB - 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Peter wrote to the Israelites from the 10 tribes.

They weren't Jews.

 

[Interplanner]

Tet,
doesn't your #35 go against any distinctions made by Paul. In Rom 9B, the four OT quotes, Israel v Judah doesn't matter. I don't get it.

"Jews were never told they were not a people." Really? Mt 21: I will give the vineyard to another nation who will produce its fruit...