True to our native land, p.97
True to Our Native Land, page 97
Like other Greco-Roman letters (including the letters of Paul), 1 Peter begins with a salutation that includes the identification of the sender, the addressees, and good wishes.6
In the name of the apostle Peter, the sender informs the reader of the position or authority of Peter, who was an apostle of Jesus Christ. One of the Twelve, Peter was a member of Jesus’s inner circle. He was a complex apostolic leader who suffered greatly, partly because of his threefold denial of the Lord after Jesus’s arrest on the eve of his crucifixion.
Strangers in a Strange Land: Harriet Tubman
“For too long, African Americans have lived as strangers in a strange land in America and throughout the diaspora. Harriet Tubman observed this as a slave in the way that she was treated and disrespected by planters.”
—Kate C. Larson, Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero (New York: Random House, 2004), 88.
The intended readers are referred to as exiles of the dispersion, who were scattered throughout five Roman provinces: Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. As exiles they were considered strangers in a strange land, on the margins of their societies as outcasts. They were set apart as resident aliens who lacked social roots and could not readily discover their ethnic origins. They also suffered because they lost their native tongues and culture, like Africans of the diaspora, and had no political access or religious affinities. They were also viewed as a threat to the status quo. These sojourners were forbidden to marry outside of their ranks.7
Despite their status and place in society, the implied author, Peter, considered them elect, chosen and destined by God the Father, sanctified by the Spirit, and sprinkled with the very blood of Jesus Christ. Over and against their social and religious sufferings, they were secure in the Godhead, which preserved their status and position in obedience to Jesus Christ. Indeed, despite their perils, they were already the recipients of an abundance of grace and peace to fortify them in a hostile and aggressive situation.
The Structure of the Typical New Testament Letter
1. opening (sender, addressees, greeting)
2. thanksgiving or blessing
3. body
4. paraenesis (instruction or teaching)
5. closing (doxology, greeting)
Exiles
Parepidemous. One who lives alongside of, sojourner. The word is used of those who are temporary residents, not permanent settlers in the land; who have deep attachments and a higher allegiance in another sphere. The word emphasizes both alien nationality and temporary residence.
—Fritz Rienecker, A Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Regency Reference Library, 1980), 743.
This salutation bears many parallels to the social status and plights of Africans scattered throughout the world. They, too, are considered strangers, aliens, and sojourners in strange lands apart from their homelands, culture, religions, and languages. Unlike the addressees in 1 Peter, Africans were stolen from their homelands, stripped of their humanity, and forcefully treated as chattel enslaved people to support their respective societies’ economic and social infrastructures. Faced with hegemonic forms of oppression, they found a faith that promised them a new, elect status and freedom as human beings chosen and secured by God. Indeed, like the readers of 1 Peter, African Americans felt and received God’s Divine favor and experienced and exemplified God’s shalom in a foreign land. Despite the oppression that they somehow felt each day, they have celebrated and appreciated the multitude of God’s goodness in abundance in terms of grace and peace.
1:3–12, A Hope Not Deferred
To scoffers who denied God’s active involvement and presence in the world, the implied author establishes the scene with a prayer that blesses the lively hope brought about by God’s greatest act, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The implied author explicitly deals with future gifts—described as imperishable, undefiled, and unfading—which are kept in an otherworldly realm. These gifts establish that righteous believers are already blessed in heaven (v. 4), a statement representing the active, continual protection of God’s power. Moreover, in this opening blessing, Peter responds to the scoffers by saying that these things will be revealed “in the last time” (v. 5).
In v. 6, the implied author indicates the impending and actual sufferings and trials facing the new converts. Instead of their becoming dismayed or discouraged by these trials, Peter encourages them with a unique perspective, a positive, constructive view that the readers should have during tough times. He commends them for being able to “rejoice” among such trials. He assures them that such trials will be extended only “for a little while.” Moreover, he insists that such a being would be built up and fortified in a way that is more “precious than gold.”
This kind of steadfastness is often exhibited in African American worship contexts, in which the stranger proceeds to thank God for possessions yet obtained, yet near, and yet real, though these have not yet been revealed to the natural eye. With such a lively hope, they also have received the outcome, the faith, which is the “salvation of your souls” (v. 9). In such a salvation, African Americans of faith are already assured of their otherworldly possessions, yet they also resisted the depressing signifiers accompanying racism. They are still hoping against hope, believing without first seeing the significance of their liberated salvation, without first realizing the true justice for their tired and weary souls.
1:13–25, Summoned to Prepare for Effective Ministry
In v. 13, the implied author summons the readers to secure victory over their oppressors. This liberating action requires mental, physical, and spiritual preparation. Based on the challenges that this faith community faces and will certainly continually encounter, they must spiritually prepare their “minds for action.” They must also “discipline” themselves so that they might be able to resist the hegemony of the false teachers and of society. This discipline for the new converts suggests that the sufferings that they experience too shall be overcome and will necessitate a firm grasp on the traditions of the past (v. 18). Like Jews preparing for Passover, God also called these believers to establish a spiritual base for total liberation. In v. 22 the author acknowledges that they had begun this hard work of purifying their minds, wills, and emotions in their obedience to the truth.
Nonetheless, readers are summoned to an authentic life, which is prescribed as a strategy against all suffering and oppression. Because African Americans survived the horrors of years of oppression from a system that seemed indestructible, they are soulful folks and continue to resist and struggle in each generation against their oppressors. They prepare their minds, souls, and bodies daily basis to confront whatever foe they faced: economic, political, legal, social, sexist, racist, classist, and homophobic. They do so because of their love and devotion to the true master of their fate, obeying or giving credence to the fate of their full humanity and dignity.
In v. 13c, the author instructs the reader to “hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.” This futuristic, eschatological hope rests on the parousia of Jesus Christ; in order to survive in the present, one must have a telos, a goal much bigger than one can realize alone. This hope is central to this section because it is through hope that the reader is mentally and spiritually strengthened. There is also a past foundation for this hope, namely, Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, which resulted in his glorification.
“Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” [The Black National Anthem] by James Weldon Johnson
Lift ev’ry voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty; Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us;
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on, till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chast’ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our parents sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered;
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by thy might Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee;
Shadowed beneath thy hand, May we forever stand.
True to our God, True to our native land.
Like Paul’s admonition to Christians in Romans 12:2,8 Peter also urges the readers not to be conformed by worldly matters, “the desires that you formerly had in ignorance (v. 14).” Rather, Peter strings together a set of admonitions: (1) Be hospitable through giving. (2) Bless the oppressor. (3) Rejoice and weep. (4) Live in harmony, in peace with all people. Overall, Peter provides a string of instructions on living in a strange land (1:13—2:3). These instructions are designed to guide resistance to secure peace and to live in reverence to God. Peter begins with preparation (of the mind and soul), moves on to virtues that the new convert needs in a foreign, alien land, and ends with a “song” that proclaims the eternal nature of the Word, representing a new disposition.
It is no secret that song has played a central role in the African American experience. From its spirituals, to blues, jazz, bebop, gospel, R & B, hip-hop, African American music has greatly assisted us in the developing and maintaining a disposition of African souls.9
1 Peter 2: Rules of Conduct in a Roman and American Society
2:1–10, A Virtuous People of God
In vv. 1–10, Peter speaks to these new converts, who were formerly lost and insignificant in their communities. Even though they were considered strangers, rejects, unacceptable waste, and chattel, Peter now considers their virtuous positions before God. In vv. 4–5, the writer stresses the fact that because Jesus was a living stone, they too will now represent the same identity. They, like Jesus, are precious and priceless in God’s sight.
In this new identification, Peter uses several appellations or titles to describe the status of the new converts (vv. 9–10): a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own. In this new identification, Peter does not focus on their status but collectively they are living stones joined together by God through Jesus Christ. Together they represent a spiritual house, wherein they are a holy priesthood, and Jesus Christ stands as the chief cornerstone, holding the entire people in unity with God.
2:11–25, A Higher Bar of Expectation and Excellence: Be Subject to No One but God
Peter raises the bar of expectations concerning the private and public ethical behavior of the new converts to Christ as exiles and foreigners. They are expected to be nourished with spiritual milk and grow up into salvation. In vv. 9–10, they are considered a royal priesthood, “priests” who are called to manage their spirituality. They are expected to be nourished with spiritual milk and grow into salvation.
This section is similar to Jeremiah 29, in which Jeremiah admonishes Jews in Babylon on how to conduct themselves in a foreign land. Likewise, Peter provides ethical guidelines for the foreigners and exiles so that they can avoid further maltreatment by non-Christians. The strangers are in a strange land among strange peoples and are held in contempt and persecuted as a result. Peter provides ethical prescriptions to prevent further persecution as wrongdoers.
He instructs them to keep away from immoral desires that war against their souls. He advises them to maintain good conduct to serve as witnesses and present a testimony when God appears as Judge. Seeing such good behavior also would be an occasion for the non-Christians (Gentiles or non-Jews) to praise God.
The Prophet Jeremiah Writes to the Exiles in Babylon
“Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
—Jeremiah 29:5–7
This section focuses on the Haustafeln, or household codes, common rules of proper conduct within Roman society. Peter expands it so that it becomes deconstructed in a non-suffering period (cf. 2:11; 3:1–22). Moreover, Peter presents the annotated household code to instruct new converts on how to resist oppression and avoid suffering wrongly as wrongdoers. The central deconstruction happens when the believer becomes subject to everyone, good or evil. On the surface, it appears to be quite oppressive and restrictive to those at the bottom of the hierarchy,10 where they are instructed to be subject to husbands, good or evil, masters, and good and gentle or perverse. This code, however, was not intended to be relevant for all times, only those times when persecution and trials would necessitate resistance to avoid persecution as wrongdoers.
Because the Christian readers are experiencing violence from non-Christians and the Roman hegemonic system of oppression, Peter provided additional ethical guidelines that now include actions and dispositions toward the government (vv. 13–14). His desire is for them to live their lives peacefully in a hostile, foreign land. He wants them to avoid all conflict and confrontation beyond what they will face as strangers. Since they are away from their homes, essentially homeless, Peter requires them to live as freed persons, rather than to use their freedom as a license to indulge in immoral conduct, in private or public. This will require non-Christians or foolish people to treat them as freed persons, and thereby they will eliminate any form of blame or accusations for any immoral activities (v. 15).
The Proper Order of the Haustafeln
God, kings, governors, human institutions, husbands, wives, and slaves.
See Clarice J. Martin, “The Haustafeln (Household Codes) in African American Biblical Interpretation: ‘Free Slaves’ and Subordinate Women,’” in Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation, ed. Cain Hope Felder (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991), 208.
In the standard household code, the enslaved were expected to be subject to their masters. Peter, however, includes additional guidelines, in which the enslaved were to be subject also to their perverse enslavers, whose subhuman treatment of them, in the standard code, they would be expected to resist physically. Peter believes that the enslaved who are subject will find God’s favor, which in afore times would be attributed as an unmerited privilege. In vv. 20–21, Peter asks a rhetorical question, “For what credit is it if you sin and are mistreated and endure it?” to direct the newly converted enslaved people to follow not their own conscience but to engage Jesus’s example of doing good and suffering, thereby finding favor with God. Peter quotes Isaiah 53:7 to indicate how Jesus suffered. By doing so, Jesus’s wound will heal them; even though they once wandered, now they will “turn back to the shepherd and guardian of their souls” (v. 25).
1 Peter 3: Senseless Suffering of the Abused
3:1–12, Suffering in Domestic Situations
Peter continues the annotated household code, “In the same way, wives, be subject to your own husbands” (3:1). The social consequences of appropriating this concept of suffering righteously have tremendous calamities for African American women and others who suffer in domestic situations. Here, women would be instructed in nonsocial oppressive conditions, like the readers in 1 Peter, to suffer as Christ did in order to find God’s favor. This is erroneous and fatal, at worse. Instead, women who are in abusive situations should seek help and shelter away from the abuser. This principle applies to men, children, and women in abusive contexts.
3:13–22, Unhindered Prayers
Peter instructs the new converts to be in a particular relationship with one another. Because they are called to inherit a blessing, they should bless others. They should be “harmonious, sympathetic, affectionate, compassionate, and humble” toward their fellow sufferers. Verse 7 also instructs husbands to treat women with dignity and respect so that their prayers will not be hindered. As support for this claim, in 3:10–12 Peter cites Psalms 34:12–16 to suggest that God’s ears are opened to the one who keeps evil from their speech. Indeed, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. suggests that African Americans should not return evil for evil, “eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth,” for in the end that would result in many toothless and eyeless people.
Christians should not only respond passively to persecution by suffering righteously. They should also “give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess” (3:15). This answer may serve as a message to the persecutor that they are grounded spiritually rather than in any worldly way.
The Phenomenological Nature of the Call to Christian Ministry
