Having looked briefly at the OT background of ‘sojourning’, we return now to the NT and to Peter’s first letter. Here, too, we see the literal leading to the metaphorical – though the journey is much shorter. The letter is addressed to “the elect, expatriates (‘parepidemoi’) of the diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia” (1.1). The word ‘diaspora’ (a direct transliteration of the Greek word) was the normal term for those Jews living outside the borders of the land of Israel, ‘scattered’ (its literal meaning) among the gentiles. Such Jews would be as much ‘sojourners’ among the people they lived with as were their forefathers, the patriarchs (hence my translation ‘expatriates’). But it is very likely that Peter was writing not just to Jewish Christians but also to the gentiles who must have constituted a majority of these churches in Asia Minor. These, presumably, were living as citizens in their native lands, so that the NIV’s translation “strangers in the world” (AV just has ‘strangers’, preserving the ambiguity) is, for them, entirely appropriate – and it prepares the ground for the verse we have already looked at (1.17), where he talks of life in this world as “the time of your sojourning here”. Finally, in 2.11, having already used ‘parepidemoi’ and ‘paroikia, separately, he now makes his metaphorical purpose entirely clear, and also its OT roots, by combining the two: “My beloved brothers and sisters, I call upon you, as those who are merely strangers and sojourners in this world, to restrain yourselves from the lusts of the flesh.” Peter’s point, of course, is that since Christians do not really belong in this world, but are citizens of heaven, they should not conform to the world’s standards and ‘go native’; they should remember they are tent-dwellers.
Sunday, 18 December 2011
SKENE 3b: NT i - Peter
Having looked briefly at the OT background of ‘sojourning’, we return now to the NT and to Peter’s first letter. Here, too, we see the literal leading to the metaphorical – though the journey is much shorter. The letter is addressed to “the elect, expatriates (‘parepidemoi’) of the diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia” (1.1). The word ‘diaspora’ (a direct transliteration of the Greek word) was the normal term for those Jews living outside the borders of the land of Israel, ‘scattered’ (its literal meaning) among the gentiles. Such Jews would be as much ‘sojourners’ among the people they lived with as were their forefathers, the patriarchs (hence my translation ‘expatriates’). But it is very likely that Peter was writing not just to Jewish Christians but also to the gentiles who must have constituted a majority of these churches in Asia Minor. These, presumably, were living as citizens in their native lands, so that the NIV’s translation “strangers in the world” (AV just has ‘strangers’, preserving the ambiguity) is, for them, entirely appropriate – and it prepares the ground for the verse we have already looked at (1.17), where he talks of life in this world as “the time of your sojourning here”. Finally, in 2.11, having already used ‘parepidemoi’ and ‘paroikia, separately, he now makes his metaphorical purpose entirely clear, and also its OT roots, by combining the two: “My beloved brothers and sisters, I call upon you, as those who are merely strangers and sojourners in this world, to restrain yourselves from the lusts of the flesh.” Peter’s point, of course, is that since Christians do not really belong in this world, but are citizens of heaven, they should not conform to the world’s standards and ‘go native’; they should remember they are tent-dwellers.
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