5.1. Exposition of the First Letter of Peter A. 1:1-2 Grace and Peace this is an example of the liturgical dialogue Grace proceeds from God, peace is our response to Grace. B. 1:3-5:11 The main body of the letter consists of Aggadah, a rabbinical homiletic commentary on biblical narrative. Aggadah explains and explicates the meaning of the biblical tale or story. 1. 1:3-2:10 Peter explains salvation and gives exhortations. Here is the germ of the Pope s role as supreme teacher of Faith and Morals, what we must believe and how we must live. a. 1:3-9 Peter describes a new, living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He says this is an inheritance, anticipating a salvation to be revealed at the end of days. The Christian life is a journey a passage through the desert of suffering and death, leading to the Promised Land of eternal life. This is the Pascha, the crossing. b. 1:10-12 Peter says that the holy prophets foresaw this salvation in the Holy Spirit, who testified before of Christ's sufferings and glory. This is the fulfillment of a promise again, the idea of motion, of movement (Augustine). c. 1:13-17 Peter instructs his readers to be holy and to move from their former way of life (unbelief and paganism). He reminds them that God judges each person's works. d. 1:18-21 Here is the Pascha, the Passover tale and its meaning (Aggadah). They are redeemed from slavery to sin by the blood of the lamb without spot or blemish.
Exodus 12:3-13 (NETS) Note: From here on I will use Pascha, Pesach, Passover and Exodus interchangeably. They all refer to the Passover Haggadah, the tale. e. 1:22-2:3 Their souls are purified by obedience to the truth. They have been born again through the word of God, they re like newborn babies, fed spiritual milk. The Rabbis characterized Israel, coming out of the desert in the Exodus as born again, the infant Israel led and fed by God (the Manna, the water from the rock) in the wilderness. Here again, Peter s allusion to the Exodus, the Passover Haggadah. f. 2:4-10 The descriptions of the Israel of the Exodus are applied to the Church: a chosen race (Deut 7:6; 10:15]); a royal priesthood, a holy nation (Ex. 19:5, 6 NETS). 2. 2:11-3:12 In this section he relates Christ s Passover to their lives, how they should live. a. 2:11-12 Peter s readers are like the Israelites in Egypt: they re to live as witnesses to God s reality and so cause the unbelievers to glorify God, as the Egyptians did at the Exodus. b. 2:13-17 Peter tells them to obey the civil authority, to love the Church and reverence God. c. 2:18-3:7 Peter teaches that this all pertains to their personal lives and relationships: Slaves and masters; wives and husbands. Like the Israelites in Egypt, if they suffer for doing good, they are following the example of Christ, who suffered and bore their sins on the tree - anheegken en tow somatic autou epi tow zulon Here the tree of cursing (Deut. 21:22f NETS). Chrysostom
If we wish to understand the power of Christ s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. Sacrifice a lamb without blemish, commanded Moses, and sprinkle its blood on your doors. If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ. In 2:21-25. Peter invokes Isa 53 in where he says by Christ's wounds "we are healed" (Isa 53:5) and referring to them in their former lives as sheep having gone astray (Isa 53:6). d. 3:8-12 Peter returns to relations within the Church; the prophets used language portraying Israel as one, though obviously made up of many. He quotes Ps 33 (NETS) 34 (Heb) to prove that blessing comes to those who dwell in unity and peace. 3. 3:13-4:19 Peter s Aggadah continues, commenting on the spiritual meaning of Noah, the deluge (baptism). Breathtaking: he derives all the hortatory matters in 3:21-4:6 from The Flood. What does this have to do with the Exodus? The Passover? The great Hebrew bible translator Everett Fox points out The stage is set for the Flood by means of a powerful sound reference. In Gen 5:29 Noah was named, ostensibly to comfort his elders sorrow over human pains in tilling the soil. 29. He called his name: Noah! Saying: Zeh yenahamenu/ May this-one comfort-our-sorrow From our toil, from the pains of our hands Coming from the soil, which YHWH has damned.
Here, in Gen 6:6 however, the meaning of [Noah s] name has been ironically reversed. The one supposed to bring comfort only heralds God s own being sorry and pained (vv 6-7) Then YHWH was sorry That he had made humankind on earth, And it pained his heart. A similar ironic word play, where the audience knows what the name-bestower does not, occurs in Ex. 2:3; curiously, the hero of that passage, the baby Moses, is also connected with an ark the term for the little basket in which he is set adrift (and I might add, water which saves him and ultimately, Israel!) Does Peter know this? Nu? a. 3:13-17 Those who suffer unjustly imitate Christ; they are not to fear and not to sin when suffering. He also tells them always to be ready to give an answer to those who ask them about their hope. Here is more Pascha language: Look at Ex. 13:14-16 (RSV) b. 3:18-22 Navarre Bible Vs 19 brings in the Church s belief in the descent of Christ into hell, a manifestation of the fact that salvation reaches all, irrespective of the age in which they live: In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down into the realm of the dead. He opened heaven s gates for the just who had gone before him (CCC, 637). The Compendium of the CCC states This hell was different from the hell of the damned. It was the state of all those, righteous and evil, who died before Christ Jesus went down to the just in hell who were awaiting their Redeemer so they could enter at last into the vision of God. (CCCC, 125). The passage theme continues from Gehenna to Eden. c. 4:1-6 Peter says that Christ's suffering is an example to those who suffer in the body. The Christian lives against sinful desires, his readers have been delivered.
d. 4:7-11 The Judgment continues the Aggadah: The Flood, the Sea (Ex 15:1,2) are judgments against sin and unbelief. The spared are the saved. e. 4:12-19 Peter encourages his readers not to be surprised at their own sufferings, but to rejoice that they are participating in Christ s sufferings. In the Latin Rite at the preparation of the Chalice is the prayer By the mystery of this water and wine May we come to share in the divinity of Christ Who humbled Himself to share in our humanity. The mystery is the paschal sacrifice, the emission of blood and water from the side of Christ, from which came forth frail humanity and restored humanity, the Church. Chrysostom There flowed from his side water and blood. Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without thought; it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said that water and blood symbolized baptism and the holy Eucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from baptism, the cleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit, and from the holy Eucharist. Since the symbols of baptism and the Eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the first man and makes him exclaim: Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh! As God then took a rib from Adam s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water after his own death. Do you understand, then, how Christ has united his bride to himself and what food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought into being and nourished. 4. 5:1-11 Final word to Church leaders.
A. 5:1-4 Exhortations to presbyterois, poimenois, episkopois, priests, pastors, bishops. Note: mention of Archepoimenos ( Chief Shepherd), Christ. (5:4) B. Exhortation to neoteroi, (neophytes, seminarians?) who are to obey the presbyterois, the presbyters or priests. Here Peter is exercising his authority and role as Servant of the Servants of God, Supreme Pontiff and Pastor of the Universal Church. C. 5:12-14 The conclusion of the letter: Composed with Silvanus and John-Mark, his secretaries and interpreters.