Jensens survey of the old testament adam 581
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E. THE CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY
OF PETER
The character of Peter has been
scrutinized perhaps more than that of any
other man or woman of the Bible. It is a
happy circumstance that the New Testament
reveals much about this interesting man.
A man’s character may change radically in
his lifetime, such as happens in the
conversion of his soul. His basic
temperament, however, is part of his
permanent image.6 For example, Peter was
always an aggressive man, full of energy. In
his early days as a disciple of Jesus, this
brought on unfortunate consequences, such
as Peter’s rash act of cutting o the ear of
the high priest’s servant, Malchus (John
18:10-11). After Pentecost, Peter was still
the man of action, but that basic
temperament had undergone some radical
experiences, including the Holy Spirit’s
baptism (Acts 2). This gave birth to a new
passion and a mature vision, so that now the
yet-aggressive man named Peter was the
powerful preacher and courageous leader of
the earliest New Testament church
community. Peter in Acts is a di erent
character from the Peter found in the
gospels, but his basic temperament is
essentially the same.
Various character traits have been
attributed to Peter at some time in his life.
Among the descriptions are: unstable,
daring,
weak,
humble,
energetic,
courageous, devoted as a servant, hasty,
strong in faith, impulsive, strong in
leadership, self-con dent. As to what kind of
man he was in the last decade or so of his
life, our only source is his inspired writing
during those years — the two epistles that
bear his name. After you have surveyed the
epistles, try arriving at a character
identification of the apostle at that time.
III. BACKGROUND
A. AUTHORSHIP
First Peter is one of those Bible books
whose authorship is identi ed by name.
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to …”
(1:1). As to genuineness of this authorship,
the epistle is one of the best attested books
of the New Testament. When Peter wrote
this letter he was an elderly man, as seen
from 5:1: “I … your fellow-elder” (cf. 5:5,
“younger”). How else did Peter identify
himself in 5:1?
B. DESTINATION
The natural, literal meaning of 1:1 is that
this epistle was sent to people who were
living in various Roman provinces of
northern Asia Minor, namely, Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (see
Map T, p. 296). They were believers (5:2),
and apparently had moved to those regions
because of persecution (“aliens, scattered,”
1:1). Peter’s interest in these areas may have
originated in evangelistic work to which he
had devoted himself some time between the
Jerusalem Council (Acts 15, A.D. 49) and the
Neronian persecutions at Rome (A.D. 64).
From the Acts account we learn that Paul
did not evangelize northern Asia Minor on
his missionary tours — in fact, on the one
occasion when he began to move northward
into this vicinity, he was forbidden by the
Holy Spirit, who directed him to Troas, from
there to Macedonia (Acts 16:6-12).
It is di cult to determine the exact
