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means “rock.” This is the nickname given to him by Jesus Christ and he was the first of all Jesus’ disciples
to have identified Him as the Messiah, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16; cf. Mark 8:29; Luke 9:20).
In some Pauline epistles, Peter is also called Cephas (cf. Gal. 2:9, 11, 14). Cephas comes from Aramaic
which also means rock (cf. John 1:40-42). Peter was also Simon, the biological brother of Andrew (cf.
Mark 1:16-17). So, Peter had three names (including the nickname from Jesus Christ); Peter, Simon, and
Cephas.
Even though the letter itself is very clear in ascribing the authorship to Peter, some have gone ahead in
claiming that someone while retaining the name of Peter had written it. In theological circles, this is
known as pseudonym. It is defined as writing a letter under a false name. In first century, that practice
was common. In most cases, popular names, especially those of Jesus’ disciples were being used in some
writings in order for those written documents to sell quickly. Some of the reasons for the denial of Peter
as the writer are as follows. 1) The type of Greek being used in this epistle is too good to be used by
Peter who was merely a “Galilean fishermen,” “uneducated and untrained” (Acts 4:13). 2) The chain of
command of church leadership mentioned in 1 Peter is beyond Peter’s lifetime. 3) The letter seems to
rely on Pauline letters of Romans and Ephesians. And 4) Christianity and the persecutions of Christians
did not extend to the recipients’ residential areas during Peter’s lifetime.
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To those unstable claims—especially on the first one—I might argue that Peter’s Semitic background
(people from Jewish) combined with Jesus’ ministry with him for a good number of years, would have
been enough to have allowed him to become conversant with good Greek as some of the rulers and
elders of the Jewish people observed (Acts 4:8, 14). Otherwise, he could have employed “a scribe” to
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write the epistle. In the first century, it was not uncommon practice for churches to appoint elders as it
is stated in Acts (Acts 11:30; 14:23). On the third claim, it is possible to have some similarities. But to
suggest that 1 Peter relies on Pauline letters of Romans and Ephesians is extreme because it would
require all those three letters to have the same expressions such as life, death, resurrection. But in this
case, that sameness of expression of those terms is not consistently seen. On the fourth claim, there
seems to be a possibility of the spreading of both Christianity and persecution during Peter’s lifetime
due to early conversions of people or through migrating Christians who would bring the faith in those
new regions. Based on Peter’s writing (1 Pet. 1:6; 2:18; 4:3—4, 14), the kind of persecution seemed to
be social exclusion and harassment rather than “the official-state sponsored persecution.”
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D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo—in support of the authorship of Peter—quoted that the “letter of
Polycarp to the Philippians reveals acquaintance with 1 Peter. Irenaeus . . . is the first patristic writer to
mention 1 Peter by name, it is only 1 Peter that Eusebius classifies among the ‘undisputed’ N.T. books
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(H. E. 3.3.1 and 3.4.2).” “Traditionally and already in the ancient Church, this apostle has been
considered the author of 1 Peter.”
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Where (Provenance) and When (Date) did Peter Write 1 Peter?

Provenance.
In his final greetings to his audience Peter notes: “She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you,
sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark” (1 Per. 5:13). It is clear that Peter was in Babylon.
But which Babylon is in view here? Some have said that he meant the Babylon where the Judeans (those
Israelites who were residing in Southern part of Palestine [Judea, Jerusalem, etc.]) were held captive as
exiles. While others have said that Babylon in 1 Peter symbolized Rome. The later representation for
Babylon seems convincing and plausible as Stephen Motyre notes.

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