![]() ![]() First, then, those who confessed membership were arrested then, on their information, great numbers were convicted, not so much of guilt for the conflagration as of hatred of the human race. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, had been condemned to death in the reign of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate, and the pernicious superstition, thus suppressed for the moment, was breaking out again not only in Judea, the original source of this evil, but even in Rome, where all things horrible or shameful from all parts of the world collect and become popular. Consequently, to scotch the rumor, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures upon a group hated for their abominations, whom the populace called Christians. “But all human efforts, all the largesses of the emperor, all the propitiations of the gods, failed to dispel the sinister belief that the conflagration had been ordered. The historian Tacitus described the ruthless persecution that followed. ![]() 64, Nero set fire to Rome and then to absolve himself blamed the Christians for the act. In the same way, the First Epistle of Peter seems to be trying to prepare the early Saints for the terrible persecutions that they would soon face. Today we know that the Lord and His prophet were trying to prepare the Saints for the Jackson County persecutions. He pled with them to “remember this, which I tell you before, that you may lay it to heart, and receive that which is to follow” (D&C 58:5). The Lord reminded those Saints, “Blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven” (D&C 58:2). For after much tribulation come the blessings” (D&C 58:3–4). Amid that idealism, the message of the revelation may have seemed confusing, for therein the Prophet issued this warning: “Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation. It was a time of great excitement, enthusiasm, and optimism for them. The Saints hoped to build Zion in the land and usher in the millennial reign of the Savior. In this context the epistle can be understood to be serving the same purpose as the 58th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, which is a revelation given on 1 August 1831 through Joseph Smith to the Saints then eagerly gathering to Jackson County, Missouri. ![]() Yet another widely held and helpful approach is to view the letter as being written to warn, prepare, and bolster the Saints for difficult times ahead-times when their lives would be threatened and their faith challenged. Some have viewed it as a baptismal sermon or liturgy, others as a collection of hymnic material and commentary, and still others as a simple ethical treatise. Even the very purpose of this short letter, written to elect strangers residing in Asia Minor (see 1 Peter 1:1–2), is an issue of debate and differing opinions. Peter’s first epistle is a challenging text for students and scholars of the New Testament. Ball was associate dean of religious education at Brigham Young University when this was published. ![]()
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