«By His Wounds you have been healed»: A Christological portrait in 1Pe 2:18-25

Delio Ruiz

doi:10.46553/teo.60.140.2023.p9-34

Authors

Delio Ruiz Universidad Agustiniana de Bogotá

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46553/teo.60.140.2023.p9-34

Keywords:

Christology, First Peter, Christ Passion, Isaiah 53, Suffering Servant, Exemplarity, Atonement, Oblation, Self-offering, Endurance

Abstract

The First Peter speaks of wounded people in a Christian community living in the situation of suffering. The metaphor “a trial by fire” (1Pe 4:12) allows the reader to guess how distressed this situation is. The author draws the passion of Christ from Isaiah’s Suffering Servant song (vv. 21-22; see Isa 53:9). This portrait underlines that the salvific purpose of Jesus Christ’s historical journey gives meaning to his disciples’ sufferings and constitutes for them the foundation of their hope. Peter’s most profound Christological statement, with terms of which are not found elsewhere in Scripture, comes in Peter’s address to slaves (1Pe 2:22-25). Nonetheless, the reader today must take up this striking message, in his own context. Some
questions emerge from the passage: How does Christ’s example of self-gift on the cross speaks to wounded people today? How does the call to imitate Christ offers reassurance and hope to wounded people? To answer them, this article aims to provide some elements, which are also valuable to deepen the dimensions of “atoning death, vicarious and substitutionary suffering” and “exemplarity” that the Christological portrait in the First Letter of Peter reveals.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Achtemeier, P.J. 1 Peter. A Commentary on First Peter. Minneapolis: Hermeneia, 1996.

Biblia de la Iglesia en América. Buenos Aires – Bogotá: Ediciones PPC – CELAM, 2019.

Boring, M.E. 1Peter. ANTC. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999.

Brown, Sherri. “1 Peter” in: John J. Collins & Others, editors. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. London: T & T Clark, 2022, 1811-1820.

Carter, Craig A. Interpreting Scripture with the Great Tradition. Recovering the Genius of Premodern Exegesis. Grand Rapid: Baker Academic, 2018.

Childs, Brevard S. Isaiah: A Commentary. Old Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2001.

Clifford, Richard J. SJ, «Second Isaiah», in: John J. Collins & Others, editors. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. London: T & T Clark, 2022.

Elliott, John H. 1 Peter, AB 37B. New York: Doubleday, 2000.

Feldmeier, Reinhard, The First Letter of Peter. A Commentary on the Greek Text. Translated from the German by Peter H. Davids. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2008.

Gabarrón, José Cervantes. Las cartas de Pedro. Reseña Bíblica 32. Estella: Navarra, 2001.

Goldingay, John and Payne, David. Isaiah 40-55: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2006.

Guevara, Roberto Conrado O. On the Recovery of the ‘sense of Exile’: The Contribution of the Jewish Interpretation of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 to the Christian Understanding and Witness (Quezon City: Doctoral Dissertation, Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo de Manila University, 2011).

Harrington, Daniel J. 1 Peter, Jude, and 2 Perter. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2008.

Hofius, Otfried. «The Fourth Servant Song in the New Testament Letters», in: Janowski Bernard and Stuhlmacher, Peter (Eds.), The Suffering Servant. Isaiah 53 in Jewish and Christian Sources. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004, 163-188.

Hooker, M.D. «Did the Use of Isaiah 53 to Interpret His Mission Begins with Jesus? » in: Bellinger, W. H. Jr and Farmer W. R. (Eds.): Jesus and the Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 and the Christian Origins. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International, 1998), 88-103.

Keating, Daniel. First and Second Peter, Jude. CCSS. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011.

Motyer, J. Alec. Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1993.

Osborne, Thomas P. «Guide Lines for Christian Suffering: A Source-Critical and Theological Study of 1 Peter 2,21-25», in: Biblica. Vol. 64.3 (1983), 381-408.

Ruiz, Delio. Minister of Christ Jesus: A Study of Cultic Language in Romans 15:14-21 in the Context of Paul’s Missionary Framework. Quezon City: Doctoral Dissertation, Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo de Manila University, 2018.

Sargent, Benjamin. Written to Serve. The use of Scripture in 1Peter. New York: T&T Clark, 2018.

Scharbaugh, Patricia A. «Acquainted with Grief: A Hymn of Redemptive Love in 1Peter», BibToday 51 (2013), 159-164.

Senior, Donald P. 1Peter. Sacra Pagina 15. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2008.

Weiss, Konrad. «φέρω, κτλ. » TDNT 9, 56-87.

Williams, Travis B. «Reciprocity and Suffering in 1 Peter 2,19-20: Reading ‘charis’ in Its Ancient Social Context», in: Biblica. Vol. 97 (2016), 421-439.