The Narrative Substructure of 1 Peter

1 Introduction

History is at its most powerful when it is expressed as a coherent story or narrative which embraces those who hear it. Nowhere has this been seen more clearly in recent years than in the speeches of Barak Obama in preparation for his presidential election victory in 2008. Obama offered voters a place within an historical narrative alongside pioneers and freedom fighters: a narrated vision of what it meant to be an American. Narrative of this sort can foster a powerful sense of identity amongst those to whom it is aimed and consequently can provide a potent incentive to act in a particular way.

In the New Testament, the most beautifully rhetorical example of historical narrative is Hebrews 11:4-12:3 which recounts great feats of faithfulness from Israel’s past in narrative order culminating in the faithfulness of Jesus. Just as Abraham, Moses and Gideon acted by faith, so too the audiences are invited to become the next link in the great chain of the faithful: they are invited into the narrative of faithful Israel. It could be argued that each New Testament author held to a theological narrative which informs his message, whether articulated or not. Often theological narrative exists as part of the substructure of a book or letter: part of the conceptual world behind the text. The salvation-historical narrative assumed and alluded to in Luke-Acts is perhaps the most notable example of narrative as substructure. Hans Conzelmann’s thesis of a five-stage salvation-history behind Luke-Acts is well known and has contributed to this aspect of Luke’s theology being among the most discussed. ¹

Like other books of the New Testament, 1 Peter betrays a theological narrative of salvation history. Occasionally in the epistle, this narrative is expressed explicitly or alluded to. Brief examples of the former are 1 Pet 1:10-12, which narrates the prophetic witness and its fulfilment, and 1:18-21, which narrates in a very general manner the conversion of members of the communities addressed by the epistle with reference to the eternal narrative of God’s plan in v.20. An example of the latter might be 1 Pet 2:10 which alludes to community members’ change of status at a moment in history whilst also alluding to Hos 1:6, 9 and 2:25: οἵ ποτϵ οὐ λαὸς νῦν δὲ λαὸς θϵοῦ, οἱ οὐκ ἠλϵημένοι νῦν δὲ ἐλϵηθέντϵς (‘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’). Recent studies which have focused upon the identification and articulation of this narrative substructure have shed considerable light on the theology of the epistle in general and upon the use of scriptural material in the epistle in particular. ² However, this recent research has often stressed the continuity of Israel’s past and the communities’ present further than the evidence warrants. This short study suggests that there is an important element of historical discontinuity within the narrative substructure of 1 Peter which informs much of the use of Scripture in the epistle.

2 Recent approaches to narrative in 1 Peter

J. de Waal Dryden’s study of paraenesis in 1 Peter has been influential in its discussion of theological narrative. Dryden argues that one feature of Peter’s ³ paraenetic strategy seen also in Greco-Roman paraenetic writing is the assertion of a narrative worldview which encompasses the audience and gives them an identity from which certain beliefs or actions can be expected. ⁴ J. H. Elliott had previously made a similar association between doctrinal narrative and ethical action in the epistle, drawing upon the sociological work of E. Shils.

The function of such ideology is not only to interpret but to motivate. Sectarian ideology is designed to assure members of their contact with the ultimate power(s) of existence and thereby reinforce their motivation to act. Members “will gain courage from perceiving themselves as part of a cosmic scheme” and undertake actions that “now have the legitimacy which proximity to the sacred provides.” ⁵

The commentary on 1 Peter by Joel B. Green, as well as the recent study by A. P. Joseph, employ narratological research to explain, among other things, the use of Scripture in the epistle. Green argues that the identity of the communities and the use of Scripture in 1 Peter is grounded in the theological narrative, or fabula, which the epistle assumes and occasionally articulates. According to Green, this narrative is centred on the notion of ‘the vindication of the suffering righteous’ and stresses the continuity of Israel and the communities to which 1 Peter is addressed: just as Israel is a holy priesthood and a chosen people in the past, so too are these communities in the present. ⁶ This analysis enables Green to view some uses of Scripture in 1 Peter as typological and to draw comparisons between the use of Scripture in 1 Peter and some Patristic exegesis. Whilst it is easy to believe that Peter must have understood the flood narrative to refer to an event in the past as well as baptism in 3:21 (as suggested by the use of the term ἀντίτυπος), there is no evidence that the theological narrative of 1 Peter demands such a nuanced treatment of Scripture. For example, 1 Peter lacks the explicit comparison of God’s people in the past and present which one finds in Heb 3:16-4:11. Similarly, Joseph offers a detailed account of the scriptural hermeneutic employed in 1 Peter by exploring the theological narrative substructure of the epistle. ⁷ He argues that the use of Scripture is both controlled by, and contributes to, a narrative with four central themes: election, suffering, steadfastness and vindication. These themes are seen to relate to Israel, Christ and the communities addressed by 1 Peter and so provide a sense of historical continuity made possible by the work of Christ with whom the communities are associated. Because of this association, Scripture is seen to address the communities directly, just as it addressed Israel in the past. Yet to what extent is this continuity warranted by actual expressions of narrative substructure within 1 Peter? Whilst it is clear that 1 Peter applies scriptural titles for Israel to the communities, is there any evidence that these titles are understood as applying to both Israel in the past as well as the communities in the present?

3 1 Peter 1:10-12

1 Pet 1:10-12 is a good example of an expression of the narrative substructure of the epistle. ⁸ In this case narrative is primarily alluded to in order to explain the grandeur of the salvation mentioned in 1:9 and secondarily to establish the relation of Scripture to the communities addressed by Peter.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours made careful search and inquiry, inquiring about the person or time that the Spirit of Christ in them indicated, when it testified in advance to the sufferings destined for Christ and the subsequently glory. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things that have now been announced to you through those who brought you good news by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven – things into which angels long to look. ⁹

This expression, however, seems to posit a radical disjuncture between the past and the present. This sense of separation and distinction is noted by the majority of commentators. Rather than indicating that the prophets’ messages had meaning for their own times in the past, the general view is that 1:10-11 proclaims the prophets’ ignorance prior to revelation from the Holy Spirit that their messages refer exclusively to a later time in the narrative. ¹⁰ According to 1:11, the prophetic witness relates purely to Χριστὸν παθήματα καὶ τὰς μϵτὰ ταῦτα δόξας (‘the sufferings of Christ and the glories after this’). This is a later series of events whether one understands Χριστὸν παθήματα (‘sufferings of Christ’) to refer to the sufferings of Christ himself on the cross or to the sufferings of his followers, akin to the Messianic Woes. ¹¹ Against this trend in scholarship, Paul J. Achtemeier suggests that the author applies scriptural terms to Israel by means of a narrative of continuity in 1:10-12. ¹² Achtemeier draws an implicit comparison with texts from St Paul (Rom 4:23-24, 15:4, 1 Cor 9:10 and 10:11) which, he considers, indicate a dual reference for Scripture: that they possessed meaning in their own time as well as in the present of 1 Peter. However, 1 Pet 1:10 implies that the prophets had no real sense of the meaning of their utterances or writings for their own times, hence they sought it with great effort. 1 Peter, rather like certain Qumran texts, views its communities as occupying an exalted place within a narrative of God’s dealings with his creation. They alone stand at the climax of history for which the prophets searched and into which angels long to look. As K. H. Schelkle explains,

This salvation is expected from all creation. The ancients expected it. The prophets have predicted it. The angels desire to see it. But the present generation is the one that is blessed: it is proclaimed by the Holy Ghost. ¹³

This future orientation is confirmed by the assertion in 1:12 that the prophets’ status is that of servants to the communities now addressed by 1 Peter. 1 Pet 1:10-12 posits a radical disjunction between the past, in which even the prophets were ignorant, and the present for which the prophets spoke. Because the communities addressed by the epistle stand at the climax of the theological narrative, it is not surprising that 1 Peter applies Scripture to them directly, without a thought for its meaning in the past. The concentration of the narrative upon the communities allows Scripture to be treated as though its meaning is determinate: it refers directly and exclusively to the communities and their experience because of their importance in the grand narrative behind the epistle. Scripture refers to these communities in a way that it did not to those at the time of the prophets who occupy a less privileged position with the narrative.

4 1 Peter 1:19-20

The sense of discontinuity and climax is also felt in 1 Pet 1:19-20, the culmination of a description of how members of the communities addressed by Peter have broken with their past, possibly pagan, lives. ¹⁴

…but by the worthy blood of Christ as a lamb without spot or defect, who was foreknown before the foundation of the world but has now been revealed upon the end of times. ¹⁵

Again the narrative alluded to appears to contrast a past in which Christ was unknown with a ‘now’ in which he has been made known. Those who inhabited the earlier period of Israel’s history are clearly disadvantaged. The ‘now’ of the last days are those in which the communities addressed by Peter are to find themselves. Again, this is an unparalleled narrative position of privilege. This allusion to the narrative that bestows such dignity upon these communities serves Peter’s paraenetic purpose in calling his audiences apart from pagan society.

5 Conclusion

The study of the narrative substructure of 1 Peter is of great significance to an understanding of the message of this epistle. In particular, the sense in which the communities addressed by Peter stand at the climax of history which the prophets yearned for and at which angels stare in wonder, helps us to understand the use of Scripture in 1 Peter, as well as its ‘ecclesiology’ and paraenesis. At the same time, the relation of narrative to the scriptural hermeneutic of 1Peter is an important reminder that theological hermeneutics and theological narrative belong together. Biblical hermeneutics should be forged through an engagement with theological accounts of scriptural texts and their relation to the interpreting Christian or Christian community. Too often biblical hermeneutics have been defined by anything other than a Christian narrative of what it means to be a reader of Scripture. Interestingly, the narrative substructure of 1 Peter is used in the epistle to justify a particularly unpopular idea in theological hermeneutics: determinate meaning – the view that texts have a single meaning. Because the prophets of Israel’s past wrote or spoke exclusively for later Christian communities, their message had no other meaning specific to their time of writing and so the prophets had to search for its meaning. This is the claim Peter makes. Determinate meaning has been an important (perhaps essential) feature of historical criticism, yet one which is remarkably absent from theological accounts of biblical hermeneutics which generally favour indeterminacy or polysemy.

Musical Greek Lessons

H. Daniel Zacharias, The Singing Grammarian: Songs and Visual Presentations for Learning New Testament Greek Grammar (Kregel Academic & Professional, 2011. MOV File for digital download. $17.99. ISBN: 978-0-8254-4167-7).

Teaching Beginners’ Greek always involves a wide array of imaginative activities and ploys to try to help the valiant scholars assimilate large amounts of grammar very quickly, with as little pain as possible. I have tried everything I can think of to help the medicine go down, including diverse uses of chanting, charades, Greek conversation, juggling balls, coloured pens, drawings, chocolate, pumpkin buckets, plastic skeletons, string, boxes, flashing lightbulb toys …. One thing I cannot do, however, is sing. In primary school I was the only person in my year who was unable to get into the choir, despite auditioning about seven times. Yet for many students singing is a helpful way of learning, and one hears of such inspiring initiatives as Adash for Hebraists in the Czech Republic (http://adash.osu.cz/kdo-jsme-eng.php). Hence, when I learnt of The Singing Grammarian, I was excited, hoping for something I could play via the computer in class, and, better, lend to individual students who were struggling, so that they could take it home and work with it. However, I must confess that despite some excellent features, I find The Singing Grammarian disappointing. It does not come in CD form, so is unsuitable for lending purposes either as an individual or as a library (but perhaps everyone uses iPhones now?). The quality of the sound is extremely poor: it crackles disconcertingly. The grammar songs are reasonably lively; the tunes are diverse; the visuals are brilliant, and overall the songs do a good job of analysing patterns and relationships in the various paradigms that need to be learnt. Indeed, this is their principal value, and it is a significant contribution. However, most of the songs do not actually offer music for the paradigms themselves, hence they will never replace the need for ordinary rote learning, chanting and writing out. Typically, the songs comment on the grammatical forms, without singing them through in full. There are also some awkward idiosyncracies, such as the presentation of the definite article in a way that suggests learning it by gender rather than by case, a practice which is problematic in the long run. Much better (though not without problems) is the YouTube rap of the definite article, freely available to all, which one of my best students pointed out to me this week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIOlov1rbyw.