1 Petrus 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Peter, ¹  an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those temporarily residing ²  abroad ³  (in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the province of Asia, ⁴  and Bithynia) who are chosen ⁵ 

1 Petrus 1:5

1:5 who by God’s power are protected through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Petrus 1:21

1:21 Through him you now trust ⁶  in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1 Petrus 2:20

2:20 For what credit is it if you sin and are mistreated and endure it? But if you do good and suffer and so endure, this finds favor with God. ⁷ 

1 Petrus 4:16

4:16 But if you suffer as a Christian, ⁸  do not be ashamed, but glorify ⁹  God that you bear such a name. ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Grk “Peter.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

² tn Or “to those living as resident aliens,” “to the exiles.” This term is used metaphorically of Christians who live in this world as foreigners, since their homeland is heaven.

³ tn Grk “in the Diaspora.” The Greek term διασπορά (diaspora, “dispersion”) refers to Jews not living in Palestine but “dispersed” or scattered among the Gentiles. But here it is probably metaphorical, used of Gentile Christians spread out as God’s people in the midst of a godless world.

⁴ tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.

⁵ tn Or “to the chosen sojourners…” On this reading the phrases in v. 2 describe their entire existence as sojourners, etc., not just their election.

⁶ tc Although there may be only a slight difference in translation, the term translated as “trust” is the adjective πιστούς (pistous). This is neither as common nor as clear as the verb πιστεύω (pisteuw, “believe, trust”). Consequently, most mss have the present participle πιστεύοντας (pisteuonta"; Ì⁷² א C P Ψ 1739 Ï), or the aorist participle πιστεύσαντες (pisteusante"; 33 pc), while A B pc vg have the adjective. Thus, πιστούς is to be preferred. In the NT the adjective is routinely taken passively in the sense of “faithful” (BDAG 820 s.v. πιστός 1). That may be part of the force here as well: “you are now faithful to God,” although the primary force in this context seems to be that of trusting. Nevertheless, it is difficult to separate faith from faithfulness in NT descriptions of Christians’ dependence on God.

tn Grk “who through him [are] trusting,” describing the “you” of v. 20. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

⁷ tn Grk “For this [is] favor/grace with God,” used as a metonymy as in vs. 19 of that which pleases him, which he looks on with favor (cf. BDAG 1079 s.v. χάρις 2).

⁸ tn The verb is implied by the context but not expressed; Grk “but if as a Christian.”

⁹ tn These are third-person imperatives in Greek (“if [one of you suffers] as a Christian, let him not be ashamed…let him glorify”), but have been translated as second-person verbs since this is smoother English idiom.

¹⁰ tn Grk “in this name.”