TJieodore W. Jennings, Jr. The Meaning of ... - Quarterly Review

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translations understand it as neuter, which allows the sentence to be broken up into more readable units in an English translation. However, the structure of the sentence calls for understanding it as a masculine pronoun ("in whom), referring back to God, 13 as does all else in this doxological sentence. This reflects the biblical idea of rejoicing in God, as does Mary's song in Luke 1:47-55. 1:3,4, 7 are explicidy eschatological affirmations but only reflect one outcropping of the eschatological substructure that undergirds the whole letter. There are other explicit statements such as 1:13 and 4:7, but an implicit eschatological perspective pervades the letter throughout. For example, the remainder of this long sentence—not included as part of the lectionary reading, 1:10-12—speaks of both the Hebrew prophets and the heavenly angels as envying the Christian community, since they participate in the eschatological events into which prophets and angels would love to peek. Eschatology is not "taught" or "explained." The living hope is already celebrated in the duress of the church's present, for the revelation of God's glory, not obvious now, will be revealed in the eschatological future. The church already lives in view of this eschatological reality, and without turning away from this world, gives praise to God for the reality of this hope. The living hope is not an explanation that someday there will be a resurrection and things will be different but a celebration that there has already been a resurrection, and things are already different. 1 Peter 1:17-23 For this writer, God is defined, or rather has defined himself, as "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1:3). The Bible's patriarchal imagery for God has become problematic for some in the church. This is not the place to discuss a large, important, and complex issue, on which there is already an enormous bibliography. Here I would only note that the issue posed by such texts is whether responsible Christian preaching is to replace biblical imagery or interpret it. Before one decides to replace biblical images for God, at least two questions must be faced: first, has the biblical imagery been understood in its own terms? In the present instance, is the content of the word Father for God filled in from cultural patriarchal structures (ancient or modern), or from the reinterpretation of the 100 QUARTERLY REVIEW/SPRING 1993
word accomplished by Jesus, who called God "Father" in a radically new way? It should be noted, for instance, that in this text God as "Father" is the one who judges impartially (1:17), i.e., this Father sees human beings without prejudice to their gender, race, and social status. Second, does the Bible continue to function as canon if its imagery is replaced by images derived elsewhere? Since there are other, non-patriarchal images of God in the Bible itself, no claim is being made here for an exclusive use of male imagery for God. But in interpreting 1 Peter, may we simply set aside its imagery without inquiring what "Father" in 1 Peter means and still regard it as canonical? While in some situations "Father" may have become such a red-flag word that the preacher must help the congregation get past its resistance to the image in order to be addressed by the text of the Bible, this was not the problem in the original setting of 1 Peter. There, Christians who had come to experience themselves as displaced persons within a culture oriented to other religious value systems needed to experience the Christian community as their true spiritual home in this world (cf. the opening words addressing the readers as "exiles of the Dispersion," and 2:11). God-as-Father is inherent in the family language of 1 Peter ("spiritual house," 2:5; "family of believers," 2:17; "your brothers and sisters in all the world," 5:9). 14 The theme of new birth that occurs in 1:3, 1:23, and 2:2 should be interpreted not individualistically but as part and parcel of this family imagery. In 1:23-25, the theme of rebirth is taken up again, forming an inclusion with 1:3, where it is the result of the generative power of the word of God. This word is identified with the preaching of the gospel (1:25), which is itself an activity of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. The mundane chores of preaching are here placed in the context of Holy Spirit and Word of God: these exalted terms are not left in the transcendent realm but are brought down to earth in the "ordinary" acts of the ministry ofthe church. This is presented not in the mode of doctrine or explanation but of praise. 1 Peter 2:2-10 In this text the fundamental family imagery for the church discussed above modulates into the imagery of the church as temple, INTERPRETING 1 PETER AS A LETTER 101
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Quarterly Review A Journal of Theol
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VOL. 13, NO. 1 SPRING 1993 Contents
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I have always rather liked the gruf
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of discipleship in the New Testamen
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imagine a week without visiting the
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transform all of life, and all that
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Contemporary North American Christi
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We must now see what it is that cha
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saying "call no one your father in
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13:12). There is no following of Je
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Both New Testament discipleship and
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17. "The Duty of Constant Communion
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earliest Christian congregations be
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his baptism to the experience of Ch
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Holy Spirit comes down willingly fr
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The Sacramental Nature of the Bapti
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to save them from "the wrath to com
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aptism—for mature youth and adult
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purpose of a rite of maturity is to
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church, namely, thatbaptism-chrisma
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31. John Wesley, Works, X: 151. 32.
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In Baptismal Covenant I, in the "In
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of God without being born of water
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they urged a stronger claim for a p
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After analyzing how American Method
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eferred to as "a symbol of an inner
Page 56 and 57: of baptism is "the washing away the
Page 58 and 59: Although there is only scant likeli
Page 60 and 61: ut the inner man, where we have put
Page 62 and 63: Notes 1. Lawrence Hull Stookey, "Th
Page 64 and 65: 44. Borgen, 159f.; Stein, 319, f, 1
Page 66 and 67: I am not a liturgical scholar or pr
Page 68 and 69: ounden duty...to consecrate our chi
Page 70 and 71: formed in the gospel not only by le
Page 72 and 73: life, for one could always lose gra
Page 74 and 75: However, I have focused on human ac
Page 76 and 77: Osborne, Kenan B. The Christian Sac
Page 78 and 79: It was raining pretty hard one Satu
Page 80 and 81: the same time a young man came to s
Page 82 and 83: theologically unpacked. A pastoral
Page 84 and 85: Elizabeth Achtemeier's Preaching fr
Page 86 and 87: prophets by the traditions of ancie
Page 88 and 89: eading; it seems as if one is heari
Page 90 and 91: Brueggemann's discussion of royal v
Page 92 and 93: limitations, even in quite valuable
Page 95 and 96: M. Eugene Boring Interpreting 1 Pet
Page 97 and 98: particular way. The particularity o
Page 99 and 100: in the capital of the empire felt m
Page 101 and 102: location but about the way we relat
Page 103 and 104: answer: Read. Interpret. Examine. B
Page 105: in liturgical settings. Yet all of
Page 109 and 110: community that does what priests do
Page 111 and 112: kings, slavery as a divinely author
Page 113 and 114: wives and husbands. To each it migh
Page 115 and 116: etained some of the oral style appr
Page 117 and 118: Brox, Norbert. Der erste Petrusbrie
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