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New Defender's Study Bible Notes

1:1 Peter. Peter apparently wrote this first epistle from Babylon (see I Peter 5:13) which was still a thriving city at the time, even though it had lost most of its former glory. There was a large Jewish community there, and Peter had evidently gone there to evangelize them and plant a church.


1:1 strangers. These persecuted Jewish Christians may have been viewed as “strangers” to those among whom they lived, but in God’s sight they were “elect” (I Peter 1:2). The phrase “strangers scattered” means, in effect, “foreigners, dispersed” from their homeland. The five Roman provinces were all in what is now Turkey. Presumably Peter had also worked in the churches of these provinces. Cappadocia, in particular, was not too far from Babylon. Thus Peter’s epistles, like that of James, were written primarily to Jewish Christians of the dispersion, although it is evident that there were also Gentiles in the churches.


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