Themes of subversion in 1 Peter 5:1-14
Wearable humility, invisible efficacy, and an upside-down politic
…those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”5:1-51
As in chapters 2 and 3, there is some semblance to other ancient household codes in Peter’s words, but as before they subvert expectations and ask of the reader something counterintuitive. Authority within the church is at least as legitimate as authority outside it—probably more so—but it doesn’t look like outside authorities. We might be reminded of the call to Christian husbands in 3:7 to in some way imitate Christian slaves and wives in their relationships with “weaker vessels.” The elders are called to be “shepherds” in imitation of Christ, the Chief Shepherd. It’s a call to marginality, as I have written about elsewhere: to fulfill this role relegates one more and more to the social and economic margins, in the tradition of other shepherds like Amos. The more marginal we are, ironically, the better suited we are for the position of leadership.
Peter himself, an aging elder in the early church, seems to have been unsuited for the role in his earlier years if we allow our imaginations a little room to breathe in the Gospels—although he never lacked eagerness.
Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me…”
Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”
But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.”
Matthew 26:31-352
By the time Peter wrote this letter, he had been humbled beyond any of the early leaders of the church—probably, only Paul had experienced a similar level of shame for his mistakes. It makes sense that these two would preach more earnestly than anyone else on earth that we should become the servants of others and suffer in the imitation of Christ. By the time Peter wrote this letter, he had probably learned to reflect on the deeper meanings of the words of his Rabbi, given only a few hours before he committed his most shameful (and relatable) act:3
Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.
Luke 22:25-27
“The greatest should be like the youngest.” But it’s reciprocal, it’s complementary, as Peter has come to understand it. For “you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders.” Paul says to clothe yourself with Christ, and Peter with humility, and their meanings are compatible. Our self-subjection to powers outside the church is a subversive one that heaps burning coals on their heads, but our self-subjection within the church is a mutual upbuilding and a display to the world that God offers a different way of living.
“Another world is possible. Another world is necessary. Another world is already here.” — Shane Claiborne & Chris Haw
4The world has its strategies for improving society; Christians have theirs. The world worships knowledge, comfort, efficiency, and a freedom it can’t articulate; Peter asks us to put our faith in something else, and it starts with wearing the humility of Christ as a garment. We started this series of meditations on 1 Peter by reflecting on how the right attitude towards suffering transforms it into something transcendental, something that allows us to see reality in multiple planes at once. I don’t say I deserve to live; I say I get to, because my eyes are open to some infinitesimal fraction of what I’ve been given. Peter brings us full circle:
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
5:6-11
Eternal glory and humility, hand in hand. Suffer in solidarity with all disciples of Christ.
Peter’s postscript reminds us once more that he always means more than he says:
With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.
She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love.
Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
5:12-14
“She who is in Babylon sends her greetings.” I am no scholar, but I agree with the majority of them who understand this to be a not-so-veiled reference to the church congregation in Rome, the heart of the empire. Peter has already called us to submit to this empire in the letter, but what are we to make of it, of Rome? How are we to understand this entity?
A Jewish Christian in the first century reading Paul’s letter would understand immediately. Babylon is the empire set against God’s people. All who are against God’s people5 are Babylon or its victim, its slave or its prostitute. And it has a lot of victims, which perhaps makes it clear why simple rebellion and building an alternative “Christian empire” doesn’t work.
No, says Jesus and His servant Peter. We spew blessings, not hate. Even when it hurts us. Even when it makes us suffer. Even though the world doesn’t understand.
But that brings us to the crux of Peter’s letter, pun intended. Does it work? Does this illogical strategy accomplish the upside-down Kingdom of God? In the words of J. Bronson Barringer,
Some might question whether this approach really “works,” but this question seems foreign, or at least secondary to Peter and to the other New Testament writers. They simply are not utilitarian enough because they trust that ultimately God will set all things right even if humans fail. However, this does not mean they are not concerned with human thriving: the New Testament writers articulate a vision for a different sort of society, a society within society, lived out in the political community called the church…our hope lies not in our own ability to make history turn out right, but in the fact that our witness will be used by God’s Spirit to challenge domineering systems to forsake their oppressive ways in exchange for the upside-down Kingdom where it is the servants who exemplify honourable behaviour.6
A truly biblical perspective admits that our actions are vanity whether we use the world’s logic or not, but in faith we can rest in the hope that the Holy Spirit will use some of our acts for God’s design. It is literally impossible to bring about the world we’re called to embody, but that shouldn’t bother us. The world is concerned with effective action, but we who have been buried in baptism can know another type of efficacy: the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, visible to those with eyes to see by faith.
“But finally we have also to realize that this efficacy will never be evident to the world. The action we attempt will always be regarded by the world as a failure, and the more so the more it is authentically faithful. We cannot be successful or show the church to be effective in the world unless we adopt the world's criterion of efficacy, which means adopting its means as well.
As the world sees it, action which is faithful to God will always fail, just as Jesus Christ necessarily went to the cross. Such action always leads to a dead end. It is always a fiasco from the standpoint of worldly power. But this should not worry us. It does not mean that our action is in truth ineffectual. Efficacy measured in terms of faithfulness cannot be compared at any point with efficacy measured in terms of success…
the efficacy we seek can only be that of a radical alteration of the world and society. It is the efficacy of event as opposed to institution, of tension against the accepted line, of nonconformity. In sum, it is an efficacy which stands opposed to that of the world. Yet it is no less real.
Our only guarantee of efficacy is the achievement of nonconformity. But this is a vocation one cannot take up alone…this incarnate presence of the Wholly Other at the heart of the world is itself our efficacy.” — Jacques Ellul
7About 100 years ago, another man, incidentally named Peter, dedicated his life to becoming part of this upside-down Kingdom alongside one of my personal heroes of the faith, Dorothy Day. A few years after his death, Dorothy reflected on his vision:
He wanted them to be able to produce what was needed in the way of homes, food, clothing, so that there was enough of these necessities for everyone. A synthesis of “cult, culture, and cultivation,” he called it, as he tried to give me the long view, the vision.
It was hard for me to understand what he meant, thinking as I always had in terms of cities and immediate need of men for their weekly pay check. Now I can see clearly what he was talking about, but I am faced with the problem of making others see it. I can well recognize the fact that people remaining as they are, Peter’s program is impossible. But it would become actual, given a people changed in heart and mind, so that they would observe the new commandment of love, or desired to.8
“It would become actual, given a people changed in heart and mind.” I love that. I think it fits the political element of books like 1 Peter, too. I’ve been known to remark to my friends and family, not so jokingly, that my politics derive from Isaiah 36, where God says,
I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.
Isaiah 36:24-28
We have a heart of stone that has to be transformed into a heart of flesh. That’s Peter’s response to political authorities, and it should be ours, too.
Peter says in his letter, “peace to all of you who are in Christ,” but his letter was to the church. I speak into the void of the internet, so I say peace to all else also.
Bible quotations are in NIV. Verse addresses without a book reference are for 1 Peter.
Cf. Mark 14, Luke 22, John 13.
In Matthew and Mark’s narrative, this speech occurs earlier.
Quote from Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne & Chris Haw, pg 312. Zondervan, 2008.
I’m not making any sort of comment whatsoever to do with the Israeli nation in the modern era. My anarchist bent should make that clear, but I just want to be sure.
J. Bronson Barringer, Subordination and Freedom: Tracing Anarchist Themes in First Peter, pg 137-138. In: Christoyannopaulos, A. and Adams, M.S. (eds.), Essays in Anarchist and Religion, Vol. II. Stockholm University Press, 2018.
Quote from The Politics of God and the Politics of Man by Jacques Ellul, translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley.
Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness, 1952. Pg 171 in my copy (Harper Collins 1997).
Reminds me that my expectations are still so often not aligned well and truthfully with the upside-down version in God's Word.