David Pawson - Peter Pt1

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THOUGHTFUL THOUGHTS  24.4.26 BY JOHN DUNNING.

Peter’s letters, Part 1

A). AUTHORSHIP.

It may seem boring to read about authorship but it is relevant for the first letter of Peter, because some “scholars” denied that Peter wrote the first letter - and therefore they try to exclude it from being a Bible book.

In the second letter (2 Peter 1:1 & 18) Peter actually said it was his second letter, in 3:1, and so that tells us he wrote the first letter. 

The critics say Peter couldn’t write, but Peter says he dictated to Silas. Peter says he wrote 1 Peter, (at 1:1), and also in 1 Peter 5:12 adding that Silas had written the letter for him, so Peter was up front about not being able to write.

Those that denied 1 Peter was from Peter tried to show that the letter had no scriptural authority, which is naughty of them. What’s more, Peter also says that John Mark was right there with him at the time of writing - and we already know Mark had written Mark’s Gospel for Peter.

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B). BACKGROUND.

Nero’s murder of Jesus’ followers.

Peter wrote these letters because a madman was now in charge of the Roman empire. Nero had burned Rome to the ground, whilst playing his fiddle. Nero torched Rome in order to have the capital city rebuilt, using his personal design. Rome would then be all about him, even after his death. The angry reaction by the citizens was so fierce that he became so afraid that he looked for a scapegoat;- and he found one… Who better to blame than the Christians? So, Christians found themselves facing severe persecution.

As a Roman citizen, Paul was not tortured to death but beheaded instead, which was a benefit of citizenship! 

The situation which Jewish believers found themselves in, meant that some defected back to their old synagogue, as Judaism was a legal religion under the Romans, but Gentiles couldn’t do that. 

As a Gentile, you either refused to deny Jesus and were then tortured to death, or went back to sacrificing to Roman gods. Many ran for their lives. They were not just being murdered but were being tortured to death.

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C). CHANGE

By now, Peter was a new man. Let’s see some of the ways in which he had changed.

i). After Peter witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, he became humble. 

Instead of boasting or riding roughshod over people, Peter simply says he is only a servant, (1 Peter 1:1).

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ii). Peter the servant.  

Peter shows his servanthood by actively mentoring John Mark, (1 Peter 5:13). He provided “one-on-one” training for the next generation. Peter who had once run away in fear, is now training another man who had run away in fear!

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iii). Peter the fearless. 

Now instead of running away, Peter asks to be crucified upside down, because he didn’t even feel worthy enough to even be crucified the same way up as Jesus. 

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And that’s my A, B, and C of Peter’s letters, part 1.

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EPILOGUE

There are many theologians who are not themselves Bible-believing Christians, just as the Sadducees were Jewish leaders who did not believe in the resurrection!

Billy Graham discovered at theological college that he had to learn the teaching of critical theological scholars. It troubled him so much that he promised God that he would believe that the Bible was His inspired Word regardless of what he was required to learn to pass his exams.

Reading the Bible for yourself is a great antidote to critical theologians, as you can ask questions like, “What does the Bible REALLY say?” We are told to be like the Bereans and check up on teachers by using the Bible. Next time, we will look at a summary of Peter’s letters – and what Jesus did whilst His body was in the tomb for three days.

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your friends… 

This is John Dunning signing off from “Thoughtful Thoughts” for another week.

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