Born Again?
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice. The first letter of Peter is addressed : ‘to the elect dwelling in the diaspora,’ in the dispersion. Sadly, it is unclear which one: Jerusalem has been sacked repeatedly and the Jewish people exiled just as many times. It could be written by the apostle peter from prison in Rome… but that would be surprising as this letter is written in very elegant, literary Greek, which would be surprising from the pen of Peter… whose Aramaic accent even, was not the best. As soon as he opened his mouth, Peter betrayed his humble origins in Galilee. So this letter could also have been written after the second Jewish revolt, that of Bar Kochva which ended with the mass suicide in the fortress of Massada, which many of you visited, in 135AD. It was a pretty conclusive defeat, annihilation really… so why does Peter, let’s call him Peter, wri