Apostles. Now, we know from Col. iv. 10 tbat St. Mark was nt Rome when St. Pnul wrote the Epistle to the Colossians, but was thinking of going into Asia. Minor; while St. Paul's Second Epistle to Timothy (iv. 11) makes it probable that he was at Ephesus abont the year 67. He may, therefore, have spent some portion of the interval between the dates of the two Epistles at Babylon with St. Peter. The alternative hypothesis, that Mark joined St. Peter after tbe death of St. Paul, is scarcely possible; for St. Peter himself in all probability suffered martyrdom at Rome nndN" tbe Emperor Nero, and room must be left for the writing of the Second Epistle before his journey to Rome. It seems, therefore, most probable that the First Epistle was written about the year 65.
IV. WHERE THE EPISTLE WA.S WRITTEN. From eh. v. 13 we infer that it was written "at Babylon." It bas, however, been held by many writers, ancient and modern, that St. Peter is using the word" Babylon" metaphorically, as a cryptograpb, and that he was really writing at Rome. This was the opinion, according to Eusebins (' Hist. Eccl.,' II. xv. 2), of Papias and Clement of Alexandria. Jerome and CEcumenius took the same view, which was generally accepted up to the time of the Reformation. It is also urged that there is no historical evidence of the existence of a Christian Church at Babylon, and thf:.t the large Jewish population which was once settled there, and to which St. Peter, as the apostle of the circumcision, would probably address his ministrations, had been destroyed or had migrated about A.D. 40 (see Josephus, 'Ant.,' xviii. 9). In answer to the last two arguments, it may be urged tbat the absence of any notice of a Babylonian Church does not prove that the gospel bad never been preached at Babylon : St. Peter's preaching may have been unsuccessful there. The apostle did not confine his ministrations to the Jews; he may have preached to Babylonian Gentiles; thongh, indeed, it is quite possible that many Jews may have returned to Babylon by the time of his visit. It may seem presumptuous to disregard the consent of the older writers; but the really ancient testimony is not very strong; the authorities are but few; the desire to find scriptural evidence of St. Peter's residence at Rome led subsequent writers to follow those few authorities and to exaggerate the weight of their testimony. In a mystical book like the Revelation of St. John, in such works us the Talmud or the Sibylline Oracles, we expect to find words and names used metaphorically. But in the New Testament generally, and more especially in a writing like this First Epistle of St. Peter, remarkable for its simplicity and directuess, we see no sufficient reason for supposing that one word is used in a symbolical sense, while all else is plain and literal. Such a use of the word would be unintelligible to the Christians of Asia Minor. Even if we were to accept the earliest date assigned to the Apocalypse, it is very improbable that that INTRODUOTION TO
book could have been generally known in the Church at tho dote of St. Peter:s Epistle. In that case St. Peter would probably have mentioned it, especially as the seven epistles of Rev. ii. and iii. a,re addressed to some of the Churches to which he was writing. Neither would there be sufficient reason for using a, cryptograph in this Epistle. Babylon is mentioned only once, and that incidentally, in a salutation, with no te1·ms of reproach or condemnation. There seem, therefore, to be no sufficient grounds for importin.,. a fi.,.nra.- tive meaning into St. Peter's words. If he was writing from Rom~, it s~ems strange that he should make no mention of St. Paul, who, if not then present at Rome, was so closely connected with the Roman Church, and so well 1..""Ilown to the Christians of Asia Minor; while the order in which the provinces are mentioned in eh. i. 1 furnishes at least some slight support to the hrrotbesis that the apostle was enumerating them M they would naturally occur, one after another, to a person writing from the East. It is true that we have no historical evidence of a journey to Babylon; but then we have no certain records of the apostle's history after the date of his leaving Antioch (Gal. ii. 11). We may, amid the confusion of romance and legend, see sufficient reason for accepting the ancient tradition of his preach- ing and martyrdom at Rome; bnt it cannot be said that even this belie£ rests on sure historical grounds. There was a Babylon in Egypt, a fortress mentioned by Strabo, bk. rvii. But if St. Peter had been writing from a place so little known, he would surely have described it as the Egyptian Babylon.
V. OBJECTS OF THE EPISTLE. St. Peter is often called the apostle of hope. He begins his Epistle with a thanksgiving for the living hope which God, in his abundant mercy, has granted to his chosen. Evidently the grace of hope was a living power in the heart of the apostle; he is constantly dwelling upon it, it occupies that central place in this Epistle which faith has in the writings of St. Paul, and lmie in those of St. John (see especially eh. i. 3, 7, 9, 13; iii. 9-15 ; iv. 13; v. 4). Throughout the Epistle his eye seems fixed on the glorious hope which lies before the true Christian; he employs that hope as tha principal topic of consolation in the prospect of the afflictions which were coming upon the Church. This is jtlBt what we should e.xpect from the sanguine character of the apostle. Indeed, that character was not what it had been when he said to Christ, "Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?" It had beeu chastened and refined; the old impetuosity and forwardness had been subdued; but there was still the same natural temperament, the same sanguine hope, not now directed to self-exaltation and pre-eminence above his brethren, but guided by the refining influences of the Holy Spirit to dwell on the glorious prospects open to all faithful souls. One object which St. Peter had in view when writing this Epistle was evidently to comfort the Christians of THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. xi