A. The writer(s), the place, and the time: This book was written by Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ (1:1), to the Jewish believers dispersed among the Gentile nations (see 1:1 and footnotes 4 and 5). The time of its writing should be prior to Paul’s martyrdom (see 5:13 footnote 3), so it may have been written around A.D. 64. It was written in Babylon, a large city on the Euphrates (see 5:13 and footnote 2).
B. The subject: the Christian life under the government of God.
C. The background: [The reason the two Epistles of Peter were written, especially the first, was that the dispersed Jewish believers were suffering persecution. They were undergoing a fiery trial. Peter compares this persecution to the burning of a furnace. Because the believers were troubled and perhaps doubting, Peter wrote to instruct them and also to comfort them. In 5:10 he says, “But the God of all grace, who called you into His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground you.” Here Peter seems to be telling the believers that there is no need for them to doubt, for God is perfecting them. Just as stones are cut in order to be fit together in a building, we also need to be “cut” in order to be perfected, established, strengthened, and grounded. Peter wrote to comfort the suffering, persecuted saints, showing them that all of them were under God’s government. The exercise of God’s government is first upon His own children.]
D. The central thought: [In his two Epistles Peter is on the subject of God’s universal government. These two books speak concerning the universal government of God.]
[God’s government covers the entire universe. We know this by the fact that Peter speaks of the new heavens and new earth. This indicates God’s universal government. Eventually, in eternity future, everything will be right and in good order, for righteousness will dwell in the new heavens and new earth. Today the earth is filled with unrighteousness and disorder. Nevertheless, God is still governing heaven and earth.
God governs by judging. This is the way God carries out His government.] [In 1 and 2 Peter we have a record of God’s judgment.]
[What is the purpose of God’s governing judgment? God judges in order to clear up His universe. The universe was created by God for a positive purpose, but Satan came in to defile it. Now God is cleansing the universe through judgment. He is doing a thorough work of cleaning the entire universe. Eventually, the universe will be new.]
[God will not live or dwell in a place that is unclean. Thus, God is cleansing, purifying, the universe. First He purifies us, His household. We are now the center of His cleaning work.] After He finishes His cleaning work on us, He will clean the universe during the tribulation and the millennium. After everything is cleansed, the new heaven and new earth will be brought in.
E. The general sketch: [The purpose of the book of 1 Peter is to establish and strengthen the suffering believers who have been chosen by God, sanctified by the Spirit from the world unto God, sprinkled by the redeeming blood of Christ, and regenerated by God the Father unto a living hope, unto an inheritance kept in the heavens for them (1:1-4), yet are as pilgrims still sojourning on this earth (1:1, 17; 2:11). In their sojourn, sufferings are unavoidable. They are used by God to test and prove their faith (1:7), to see whether they will follow Christ in suffering for doing good (2:19-23; 3:14-18). The sufferings are used to arm them with a mind against the flesh, that they might not live in the lusts of men, but in the will of God (4:1-2), that they might share the sufferings of Christ and rejoice at the unveiling of His glory (4:12-19), that they might be witnesses of the sufferings of Christ (5:1), and that they might be perfected, established, strengthened, and grounded for the eternal glory into which God has called them (5:8-10). This is wholly under God’s government that He might judge His chosen people (1:17), to begin His judgment from His own house (4:17). Hence, this book may also be considered a book concerning God’s government.]
F. The sections: 1) introduction—to the pilgrims in dispersion under the operation of the Triune God (1:1-2), 2) full salvation of the Triune God and its issues (1:3-25), 3) growth in life and its results (2:1-10), 4) Christian life and its sufferings (2:11—4:19), 5) the elders’ shepherding and its reward (5:1-4), 6) the mighty hand of God and its goal (5:5-11), and 7) conclusion (5:12-14).