First Epistle of Peter

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The First Epistle of Peter is a book in the New Testament of the Christian Bible generally attributed by the church to Peter when he was the Bishop of Rome. The letter is generally dated around 60 CE - 100 CE.

Scholars doubt Peter (the Fisherman, the apostle of Jesus, and later the Bishop of Rome) is the true author, due to the likelihood that Peter would have been illiterate, or nearly so, and the language of 1 Peter is quite flowery and highbrow. The letter itself lacks any personal references to Jesus, something that would have been a natural appeal to authority had there been an actual relationship between its author and Jesus. The Biblical references in 1 Peter are from the Greek Septuagint, which is not likely for a fisherman from Galilee. Oh, and with that dating, he would also probably be dead already.

Yeah, but what's it say?[edit]

  • Only reference to Jesus going down to hell before his Ascension.
  • Stay true to God.
  • Be holy.
  • Not much else.

1 Peter 3:19 and 4:6 contain references to Christ preaching to the spirits of the dead in "prison". This cannot mean hell, because preaching cannot avail the damned, and it cannot mean heaven because preaching is redundant to the saved. So Catholics use these verses to support their idea of a third place called purgatory.

See also[edit]