Robert W. Wall on Teaching 1 Peter as Scripture

Robert W. Wall, ‘Teaching 1 Peter as Scripture’, Word & World 24, 4 (2004), 368-77.

In line with current discussions about theological interpretation (to which he has elsewhere contributed), Wall holds that the ‘crucial issue’ in handling 1 Peter for contemporary Christian congregations ‘turns on whether the reader approaches 1 Peter as Scripture’ (369). He commends such an approach to the letter as a sacred text, ‘and to a practice of teaching 1 Peter as “theological pedagogy” for and of the church’ (369).

‘Scripture, rightly read, has this remarkable capacity to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. Especially my congregation and my students, made comfortable by their undemanding variety of Christianity and the niceties of their middle-class lives, need more teaching about a holy God who demands a holy life; a suffering Christ who establishes the necessity of expending considerable personal cost in service of God; a community whose communicants are considered “aliens and strangers” by outsiders because of their radical commitment to a virtuous life and the unconditional obligations of real friendship; and a view of history that ends with the triumph of God rather than the triumph of some humanistic or nationalistic agenda’ (369-70).

That lengthy quotation captures the essence of the article in its five parts:

Teaching 1 Peter by the ‘Rule of Faith’

Early Christian thinkers (e.g., Clement, Irenaeus, Tertullian) measured interpretations of Scripture by a ‘rule of faith’, a ‘theological grammar’ which ‘summarized the heart of Christian faith and served as a theological boundary marker for Christian identity’ (371).

Creator

In line with the rule of faith, 1 Peter is theocentric in its ‘message of God’s existence as it relates to a suffering people who live in those places where the presence of a loving, powerful God may not be self-evident’ (372).

Christ

‘Scripture’s witness to Christ, as oriented by the rule of faith, is naturally divided into two relationships, the first his relationship with God and the second his communion with those who profess him as Lord’ (373).

The letter is ‘layered with christological affirmations’ (374), not least in 3:18-22 with its affirmation of belief in (1) ‘the reconciling death and resurrection of Christ’, (2) the proclamation of his triumph to the ‘spirits’ in prison (at the very least illustrating ‘the confidence a suffering people might have in a Messiah whose redemptive work has already defeated those invisible agents who are at work to wreak havoc’), and (3) the relationship, through baptism, of ‘Christ’s triumphant experience with that of his current followers and their experience of the living Christ’ (375).

Community

The letter’s portrayal of church ‘is a community of marginal ones – weak and powerless by societal standards – who are called forth out of a world utterly opposed to God’s agenda’ (375). Such a people bear witness to God by walking in the steps of the suffering servant. The language of the letter normalises ‘human suffering as the expected character of purified human existence within a profane world: Christian discipleship is cruciform by nature since believers follow a crucified Lord’ (376).

Consummation

‘The biblical narrative of God concludes where the rule of faith does: with salvation’s consummation in God’s triumph over evil and death’ (376). The triumph of the risen Christ provides hope for his followers (1:21; 3:15) who have a heavenly inheritance (1:3-5).