Context No. 677 of 4322 · 1 Peter

1 Peter 5:8-14: in context

8Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings. 10But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. 12Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. 13She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you. So does Mark, my son. 14Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to all of you who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

First Peter is a letter to Christians scattered across Asia Minor and taking abuse for their faith, and this is its close. The warning is stark. Be sober, be watchful, because your adversary the devil prowls like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, Peter says, firm in your faith. But the very next clause turns the warning into comfort: you are not the only one in his path. Your brothers and sisters throughout the world are going through the same sufferings. The lion is real, and it is not hunting you alone.

Then Peter promises the trial has an end and a hand behind it. After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace will himself restore you, establish, strengthen, and settle you. And the letter signs off warmly and specifically. He wrote it through Silvanus. Greetings come from the church he calls Babylon, an old code for Rome, and from Mark, whom he names his son. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. The roaring lion gets four verses; the shared family and the God who restores get the rest.

Peter answered the prowling lion by naming everyone else walking the same road. When I feel hunted, what makes me forget that I am not the only one under it?

Sources

1 Peter 4:12-13: the fiery trial the readers face, and the call not to be surprised by it
Luke 22:31-32: Satan asking to sift Peter like wheat, behind his own warning of the prowling lion
1 Peter 5:13: greetings from Babylon, an early cipher for Rome, where Peter is taken to have written