…Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

1 Peter 5:14

Our study ends with Peter’s promise to the persecuted Christians of the early church that “after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (5:10).  It’s fitting that the apostle describes Yahweh as “the God of all grace” because He is indeed the source of the grace which saves us (Eph. 2:8).  It’s even more appropriate that Peter reminds these disciples who were undergoing persecutions that brought severe suffering and hardship that none of it was in vain because the God they serve has called them “to his eternal glory.”  It would likewise do us good, brethren, to force our eyes away from the trials of this life which bring us down for “a little while” and remember that as Christians we have “eternal glory” waiting for us!  Not only that, but as God did with them so He does with us.  He “restores” us (katartidzo, repairs, perfects).  He “confirms” us (sterizo, steadfastly sets, turns us resolutely in the right direction).  He “strengthens” us (sthenoo, gives us power and might).  He “establishes” us (themelioo, grounds us, sets us on the proper foundation).  Indeed, all “dominion” (kratos, power, might, strength) does truly belong to Him “forever and ever.  Amen” (5:11), and rightly so.

As was brought out in the first article in this series, the Silas who spent the night with Paul in a Philippian jail (Acts 16) is likely the “Silvanus” who was Peter’s companion and the scribe who wrote this letter under Peter’s dictation (5:12a).  Referring to the letter he and Silvanus had just written to them, the former fisherman then exhorted his readers that “this is the true grace of God” before pleading with them, “Stand firm in it” (5:12b).  As we have seen in our studies throughout these articles, 1 Peter is full of directives on how to live as Christ would have us to live while encountering and experiencing the burdens, persecutions, unfairness, and trials of life within this fallen world; the epistle also contains promises of the reward waiting for us once beyond this life within eternity, as we just saw in the previous verses above.  All of this is due to God’s grace.  Faithful, penitent obedience is how we “stand firm in it” (cf. 1 Cor. 15:1-2; Heb. 3:12-14; 10:26-31).

As was common in New Testament epistles, Peter ends by giving his readers greetings from his companions.  He first sends salutations from “she who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen” (5:13a).  The Greek phrasing is feminine, which is why the ESV translates it as “she.”  The translators of the King James Version thought this was a church who was at Babylon; the American Standard translators inserted into the margin of this verse the possibility that it could be a church or “The sister.”  As for “Babylon,” Peter could have been referring to the few parts of the by then mostly ruined city on the Euphrates which were still inhabited at that time.  There might have been a church or a sister in Christ who resided there.  It is this writer’s opinion that he more likely used the name of the capital of Nebuchadnezzar’s empire in a figurative sense as John would later do in Revelation, likely referring to a city the Christians would associate with governmental persecution like Rome or possibly even Jerusalem.  Interestingly, he also sends greetings from “Mark, my son” (5:13b).  This is almost certainly the same John Mark whose desertion of Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:13) would later lead to a parting of the ways between them (Acts 15:36-40), the same Mark many believe authored the gospel bearing his name.

Finally, Peter closes by urging his readers to greet each other lovingly with the kiss that was the common form of greeting of that era (cf. Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20), before bidding farewell to them by saying, “Peace to all of you who are in Christ” (5:14; cf. Eph. 6:23).  I wish the same to all of you.  I hope this study of 1 Peter has been as profitable for you as it has been for me.

— Jon