When was 1 Peter written? It would be really nice to know. If it was the work of the Apostle Peter (as is explicitly claimed in the first four words), then latest it could possible have been written was around 66 CE — the traditional date of the apostle’s martyrdom in Rome. For those advocating this date, the suggestion is often that it was written very shortly prior to his death, so we can place 66 as the earliest possible. The latest date seems to be about 96 CE, when Clement of Rome appears to make use of the letter in his own writing to the churches of Corinth.
This discussion is not so much to provide an answer as to aid our study of the background of the recipients of the letter. We previously looked at the background leading up to and including Paul’s journeys through (or avoidance of) these regions, but now we look forward and find two interesting accounts of this region. These can perhaps give us context closer to the letter — or, at least, to answer the often unasked, what happened to these churches when Paul, Peter, John, and others were departed. For one accustomed to the (relative) completeness provided in Acts and the letters (especially of Paul), the subsequent decades (if not centuries) leave us with so little data. Asia and Bithynia are notable exceptions. The former was visited by the bishop of Antioch, Ignatius, while the latter was described in some detail by Pliny the Younger. Both accounts reflect the persecutions undergone by Christians, echoing the message of 1 Peter.
In Antioch, a persecution of Christians arose in perhaps 108. Persecutions tended to be short-lived and local — think of the trials of Paul. Sure, he couldn’t return to the city, but most converts could stay around, as long as Paul didn’t return. This is perhaps the model of early Christian persecution: small scale squabbles, quite possibly related to the failure to appreciate some god or other. Well, in this short-lived Antiochene concern, most of the problems were alleviated when the bishop, Ignatius, found himself bound and escorted by a set of ten soldiers bound for Rome. It is unclear why he was led to Rome rather than just being executed in Antioch.
During his journey, he enjoyed the hospitality (and his guards permitted this hospitality) of numerous churches in Asia, to which he subsequently addresses a handful of letters, exhorting them to be good Christians, and thanking them for their kindness.
A few themes come out of these works. First, the strong Jewish influence in the region, especially on Christian practice. This Ignatius found abhorrent, but many of these practices (e.g., the date for celebrating Passover/Easter) continued for some time in Asia, even though they tended to be rejected in the rest of the Christian world. (We will turn to these in a later post, with particular interest in the view provided by Polycarp.) It is possible these views got him into trouble in Antioch? Christianized Jews (as most early Christians were) retained too many Jewish practices for his liking?
Second, we find in Ignatius a strong sense of Jesus as divine. One may find such a comment unnecessary, but it is helpful — not so much that early Christians didn’t think Jesus was divine, but that the evidence of early Christian belief and practice is often difficult to assess. Here, Ignatius kindly fills in some missing pieces:
There is one Physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary and of God; first passible and then impassible, even Jesus Christ our Lord.
Letter to EphesUS 7
Third, we also have the first (surviving) mention of the church seen as a single universal body: the catholic church ((catholic here means ‘universal’ rather than the Roman Catholic Church)):
Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be. Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the καθολικη ἐκκλησία. It is not lawful to baptize or give communion without the consent of the bishop.
Letter to SmyrnA 8
Ignatius is martyred in Rome with echoes of the paradigmatic martyr story — and also with the news that the short-lived troubles in Antioch were over. More troublesome and enduring, the story of Ignatius’ martyrdom raises a typical anxiety about Christian martyrdom, as Ignatius expresses an excitement — no, an ebullience, to suffer and die at the hands of wild beasts in the Roman arena. He requests that his Christian contacts in Rome do not intervene in his rescue. Though, others would later argue, surely one should not leap to death with open arms? Surely one who suffers for the faith is worthy of praise, but surely one ought not to so anxiously volunteer to leave this life?
Next, we turn to Pliny the Younger, the vociferous letter writer from whom we learn much about the man — not just regarding his family, like his father’s death in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, but also his sycophantic ways which allowed him to rise in through the ranks.
One of his final posts before his death in 113 was to the rather troublesome province of Bithynia et Pontus. He was appointed by the Emperor Trajan, and works on suppressing “clubs” as potentially revolutionary gatherings. This, of course, included the Christian gatherings. In one of his letters, he boasts how the previously empty temples were once again filled, his having put pressure on Christians in the region.
Many persons of every age, every rank, and also of both sexes are and will be endangered. For the contagion of this superstition has spread not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms. But it seems possible to check and cure it. It is certainly quite clear that the temples, which had been almost deserted, have begun to be frequented, that the established religious rites, long neglected, are being resumed, and that from everywhere sacrificial animals are coming, for which until now very few purchasers could be found. Hence it is easy to imagine what a multitude of people can be reformed if an opportunity for repentance is afforded.
Pliny’s writings also include one of our earliest references to the ‘Christian test’: to weed out Christians, compel them to curse Christ. “None of those who are really Christians, it is said can be force to [curse Christ].”
Those who denied that they were or had been Christians, when they invoked the gods in words dictated by me, offered prayer with incense and wine to your image, which I had ordered to be brought for this purpose together with statues of the gods, and moreover cursed Christ — none of which those who are really Christians, it is said, can be forced to do — these I thought should be discharged. Others named by the informer declared that they were Christians, but then denied it, asserting that they had been but had ceased to be, some three years before, others many years, some as much as twenty-five years. They all worshiped your image and the statues of the gods, and cursed Christ.
Pliny also tells us about some of early Christian practice.
They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of Christian's fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so.
Christianity remained influential in these regions, and continued to grow and thrive, despite sporadic persecutions. In our next, we will consider the life of Polycarp of Smyrna, a student of the apostle John, as we reflect on Asia Minor’s continued influence on the growth and development of Christianity.