First Peter - Lorin

μὴ συντρεχόντων ὑμῶν εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν τῆς ἀσωτίας ἀνάχυσιν (They are surprised that you no longer join them in
the same excesses of dissipation). Their pagan neighbors were shocked that these new Christians would not
join them in an immoral lifestyle any longer. Now the new believers should not be shocked by the opposition
they are facing by living true to Christ. 17 To the Jewish Christians in the congregations, facing opposition would
not have seemed so unusual, since as Diaspora Jews they had faced hostility from non-Jewish neighbors for
a couple or so centuries. But to the Gentile converts in the churches, to be faced with such intense hostility
could well have seemed shocking, since they had not encountered this before. 18
The suffering these first readers were experiencing is described as τῇ ἐν ὑμῖν πυρώσει πρὸς πειρασμὸν
ὑμῖν γινομένῃ ὡς ξένου ὑμῖν συμβαίνοντος (at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though
something strange were happening to you). It is first τῇ ἐν ὑμῖν πυρώσει, “the fiery ordeal.” 19 The persecution was
like having to walk through an intense fire. It also was πρὸς πειρασμὸν ὑμῖν (to test you). The suffering was
designed to establish the genuineness of the faith commitment of these believers. 20 The image put before us
here is the same as the earlier one in 1:6-7,
6 ἐν ᾧ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε, ὀλίγον ἄρτι εἰ δέον λυπηθέντες ἐν ποικίλοις πειρασμοῖς, 7 ἵνα τὸ δοκίμιον ὑμῶν τῆς πίστεως
πολυτιμότερον χρυσίου τοῦ ἀπολλυμένου διὰ πυρὸς δὲ δοκιμαζομένου εὑρεθῇ εἰς ἔπαινον καὶ δόξαν καὶ τιμὴν ἐν
ἀποκαλύψει Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.
6 In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7 so that the genuineness
of your faith — being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire — may be found to result
in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Believers should face their sufferings as an opportunity to demonstrate that their faith is real and made of
deep conviction. Additionally these sufferings were γινομένῃ, “happening.” They were not theoretical nor remote
17 “Although he does not say so explicitly, it is evident from the reference in v 13 to ‘the sufferings of Christ,’ and from the
allusion in v 14 to Jesus’ beatitude on those ridiculed for his sake, that the words and the example of Jesus are the reasons Peter
believes a ‘fiery ordeal’ should come as no surprise. If Jesus himself suffered and predicted suffering for his followers, they have no
reason to think it strange when his experiences are repeated and his predictions fulfilled (cf. Matt 10:24–25; Luke 6:40; John 13:16;
15:18–21; 16:1–4; 1 John 3:13). Within 1 Peter itself, the inevitability of suffering was intimated already in the εἰ δέον, ‘must’ or ‘by
necessity,’ of 1:6, based possibly on the conspicuous use of δεῖ, ‘it is necessary,’ in the Jesus tradition (see Comment on εἰ δέον in
1:6).” [J. Ramsey Michaels, vol. 49, Word Biblical Commentary: 1 Peter, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated,
2002), 260.]
18 “Unlike the Jews who had for generations been a foreign and culturally distinct minority in the diaspora (and suffered as
all such minorities suffer) and since the persecution under Antiochus IV Epiphanes (cf. 1 and 2 Maccabees) had had a developed
theology of suffering and martyrdom, these Gentile converts had no experience of being a cultural minority. Before their conversion
they were perfectly at home in their city. And instead of rebelling against God they had accepted the gospel message. But now they
were experiencing cultural isolation and personal hostility, not what they might have expected as the blessing of God. Well might
they have wondered if something had not gone wrong. Thus our author reassures them: persecution is not something ‘strange’ or
foreign to their existence as Christians. 1 What is happening is right in line with Christ’s predictions (Matt. 5:11–12; 10:34; Mark
13:9–13; John 15:18–20).” [Peter H. Davids, The First Epistle of Peter, The New International Commentary on the New Testament
(Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), 164.]
19 “πύρωσις, ‘fiery ordeal,’ is used of Sodom’s destruction in Josephus, Ant. 1.203, and of the eschatological destruction of evil
‘Babylon’ by fire in Rev 18:9, 18. The latter parallel may be significant in view of Peter’s own claim in 5:13 to be writing from
‘Babylon.’ πύρωσις is also eschatological in Did. 16.5: ‘Then the human creation shall come to the fiery ordeal for testing (εἰς τὴν
πύρωσιν τῆς δοκιμασίας), and many shall be offended and be lost, but those who endure in their faith shall be saved by the curse
itself.’ In 1 Peter, however, the present participle γινομένῃ, ‘breaking out,’ locates the ‘fiery ordeal’ in the contemporary situation of
the writer and his readers. Although a present participle can have a future reference in 1 Peter (cf. 1:13), the contrast in v 13 between
present suffering and future rejoicing makes it clear that a future meaning is not intended in v 12.” [J. Ramsey Michaels, vol. 49,
Word Biblical Commentary : 1 Peter, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), 260.]
20 “The term pyrōsis (‘fiery ordeal’) is related linguistically to pyr, ‘fire,’ and has a range of meanings in the Bible and extrabiblical
literature, 563 the most relevant of which is the ‘fiery process’ by which metal ore is separated from dross, freed of its impurities and
refined; see Prov 27:21, ‘the fiery ordeal is the test of silver and gold’ (dokimion argyrōi kai chrysōi pyrōsis); Did. 16:5, ‘the fiery
ordeal of testing’ (hē pyrōsis tēs dokimasias). Its related verb, pyroō, is often used in this same sense of ‘testing, refining by fire.’ 564
Since our author has already used this metaphor in 1:6–7 in speaking of faith as more precious than ‘perishable gold tested by fire,’
this sense of pyrōsis is clearly implied here as well. In both passages the analogy of a metallurgical process is used to provide a
positive interpretation of innocent suffering (pathēmasin, v 13; cf. lypēthentes, 1:6) as a divine testing of faith’s constancy. In the
context of this letter, fiery ordeal thus serves as a graphic comprehensive image for all of the hostility, slander, and abuse directed
against the faithful and the suffering it has caused.” [John H. Elliott, 1 Peter: A New Translation With Introduction and Commentary
(New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 771-72.]
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