(The following questions are part of a method developed for Law and Gospel preachers who seek to understand how the Word is functioning. These questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but are best used in conjunction with other fine sets of questions available to preachers and exegetes. For more on this method and Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)
1. How does the Word function in the text? This text is functioning almost entirely as Gospel. Over and over, the writer announces to the hearers what God has done. God has given a "new birth", an "inheritance" that is "imperishable, undefiled, and unfading." God is also protecting these hearers and even using their suffering to refine their faith to an even more glorious form.
2. How is the Word not functioning in the text? The Law, the Word functioning to highlight the need for a Savior, is almost completely absent. The one exception is the mention, in verse 6, of their suffering "various trials." Indeed, we learn from the greeting in verse 1:1 that these hearers are "exiles of the Dispersion," no small burden. Their suffering, we learn in the letter, is a direct result of their refusal to abandon their confession of Christ. They are bearing witness, and so are paying the price.
3. With whom are you identifying in the text? We best identify with those to whom the Word is addressed. In the days of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which we are now living, we are certainly suffering, although not because of our confession, rather because of this global plague. Nevertheless, we are among those who need to hear that we are not identified solely as victims of a plague, but as children of God, protected, beloved, and promised an unfading inheritance in Christ.
4. What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text? In verse 8 there is not so much a call to obedience as a commendation for living in response to God's mercy: "Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with and indescribable an glorious joy."
5. What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text? The language in the text, though not complete, suggests several couplets: death/new birth; impoverished/having a rich inheritance; abandoned/protected by God.
6. Exegetical work: It is important to understand the word peirasmos, which is translated as "trials" at the end of verse 6. This term does not refer to trials which come to us merely because we are part of the human race (e.g. illness, injury, calamity, etc.), but rather trials which come to us because we confess Christ as Lord. Kittel, in his extended article on this term, notes that "for the Christian suffering is participation in the sufferings of Christ, and hence in the last analysis it means joy." (Theological Dictionary of the NT, vol. VI, p. 30). This kind of suffering may be avoided if one abandons the confession of Christ. In other places in the NT this term is translated as "temptation." (e.g. in the Beatitudes) Pheme Perkins, in her commentary on this text, makes clear this point: "As we read through I Peter, we discover that the trials to which it refers are those that are in some sense related to a person's individual confession. They are inflicted by persons who fit the category of "the wicked" in Wisd. Sol. 3:1-6. Testimony to the truth of the gospel stirs up anger, taunting, skepticism, and the like, the aim of which is to demonstrate that the righteous are not in fact what they appear to be. The distinctive behavior of believers under trial witnesses to the power and truth of the gospel." (Interpretation series, First and Second Peter, James, and Jude, p. 32) Athanasius, 4th century bishop of Alexandria, also comments on this suffering: "Because the saints saw that the divine fire would cleanse them and benefit them, they did not shrink back from or get discouraged by the trials which they faced. Rather than being hurt by what they went through, they grew and were made better, shining like gold that has been refined in a fire." (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, NT, vol. XI, p. 71).
7. Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic? Fred Craddock was always concerned that the preacher brings the experience of the text to the listener. It will be the preacher's task to tap into like experiences of suffering for Christ and joy in Christ in order for the listeners to connect to this text.
Blessings on your proclamation!
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