The Letters
- When
- c. AD 62–64, from Rome
- Written by
- Peter
- Chapters
- 5
The big idea
To scattered Christians facing suffering Peter writes of a living hope, a royal priesthood, and how to follow Christ’s example when treated unjustly.
Themes
- A living hope
- Suffering for doing good
- Holiness
- A royal priesthood
Memory verse
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
Key passages
- 1:3–9A living hope
- 2:4–10Living stones
- 2:21–25Christ our example
- 3:15A reason for your hope
- 5:6–9Cast all your care upon him
Links to other Scripture
- Exodus 19:5–6A priestly kingdom
- Isaiah 53By his stripes
- Psalm 34Who is the man who desires life?
- Matthew 16:18Thou art Peter
Read the text
Choose a chapter to read it here in the King James Version. Verses with a dotted underline have notes from Bible scholars. Tap one to open them.
Notes from
Chapters
King James text and the commentaries of Henry, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Gill, Clarke, Calvin, and Keil and Delitzsch are in the public domain. Tyndale Open Study Notes are used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license, from tyndaleopenresources.com. Texts were reformatted for this site.
Journal prompts
Keep a journal or notebook for your study. Write your answers there, in your own words.
- Where do you see Christ in this book?
- Peter calls believers living stones. What is your place in the building?
- “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.” What would you say?
- Cast all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Write out the cares and then hand them over one at a time.
- In one sentence, this book is about…