Preface

This is the second volume in a series of confessional Lutheran studies of the New Testament letters. The first took up the Epistle of James; this one turns to the First Epistle of Peter. There is a logic to the pairing. James and Peter were brother apostles in Jerusalem in the years before each of them was martyred for the faith. Both letters address Christian communities under pressure — James to the dispersed, Peter to the elect exiles of the Roman provinces. Both letters give pastoral wisdom rather than systematic theology. And both letters belong, by the testimony of the Church across the centuries, to the canonical Word of God.

If James has had a complicated reception in Lutheran history, Peter has had the opposite. Luther loved this letter. He preached through it in 1522 and published those sermons the following year. He found in it the same Gospel he found in Paul, expressed pastorally to a Christian community living through hard times. The doctrine of justification by faith, the priesthood of all believers, the sufficiency of Baptism, the suffering Servant whose blood ransomed us — all are here, in Peter’s voice, in pastoral form. Lutherans have no Luther’s-preface controversy to navigate when they open this letter. They have a beloved apostolic voice speaking words their ears have long been trained to hear.

This book is the fruit of teaching First Peter to ordinary congregations and small groups. Like the volume on James, it is written for adult Bible study classes, for small group settings, for Sunday school teachers preparing lessons, and for individuals who want to read this letter carefully with a confessional Lutheran guide at their elbow. It assumes nothing more than a willingness to open the Scriptures and to take their teaching seriously.

The ten sessions follow First Peter in order. Session One does the necessary introductory work — meeting the apostle Peter as he writes from Rome at the end of his life, locating his audience as scattered Christians in five Roman provinces, naming the situation of social hostility they faced, and drawing out the theological theme of being “elect exiles” that runs through the whole letter. Sessions Two through Nine work through the letter passage by passage, with particular attention given in Session Five to the theme of vocation and submission, and in Session Seven to the remarkable Baptism passage at the end of chapter three. Session Ten gathers the threads of the whole letter and turns the reader toward continued life in the apostolic faith.

Each session is built for use in a single class meeting of about an hour. The teaching content is followed by a “Gathering the Threads” synthesis and a set of discussion questions designed for group conversation but useful also for individual reflection. A “Looking Ahead” paragraph and a closing prayer round out each session. Group leaders may wish to read the session in advance, mark the passages they want to highlight, and select a subset of the discussion questions appropriate to the time available.

My hope is that those who use this book will come away from First Peter not only better informed about its argument but more deeply formed by its pastoral wisdom — formed as elect exiles, formed in living hope, formed as members of the royal priesthood, formed to bear witness with gentleness and respect, formed to entrust their souls to a faithful Creator. Peter wrote to a Church under pressure. The pressures of our own time are different, but the Christian’s standing is the same: chosen by God, displaced in the world, sustained by living hope. May the same Spirit who spoke through Peter speak through this study to those who use it. To God alone be the glory.

Larry Herzog Jr.

April 2026