1 Peter (2nd Edition)

Summary

1 Peter is written to believers who are learning what it means to live as strangers and exiles. It is not a manual for winning cultural battles, but a letter that teaches the church how to suffer without losing hope, how to live honourably among unbelievers, and how to anchor identity in the mercy of God. A technical commentary should help us make careful sense of Peter’s language, but it should also help us grasp the letter’s pastoral realism. Karen H. Jobes offers a commentary that aims to do both. She works closely with the text, and she repeatedly draws attention to the social setting and rhetorical strategy that shape Peter’s exhortations.

The letter is rich in Old Testament imagery. Peter speaks of election, exile, priesthood, sacrifice, and inheritance. He is not borrowing religious language for effect, he is teaching the church to see itself in the light of God’s saving story. Jobes helps us follow those connections and weigh their implications. That matters because Peter’s ethics are rooted in identity. The church lives differently because it has been made new. We endure because we have been born again to a living hope.

For pastors, the particular value of a careful commentary on 1 Peter is that it keeps us from flattening the letter into generic encouragement. Peter is precise. He speaks to fear, to speech, to relationships, and to the temptation to retaliate. Jobes aims to keep our preaching as precise as the text itself.

Strengths

First, the exegesis is attentive to flow. 1 Peter can feel like a chain of exhortations, but Jobes helps us see how sections hang together. The imperatives are carried by indicatives. The calls to holiness are grounded in the character of God and the saving work of Christ. The calls to honour authorities and to do good are framed as witness, not as passivity. When we can see the logic, we can preach the commands with gospel texture rather than moral pressure.

Second, the commentary pays serious attention to the letter’s context. Peter writes to communities who are marginal, misrepresented, and under pressure. That context helps us understand why he insists on good conduct, why he speaks so strongly about speech and suffering, and why he places such weight on hope. Jobes helps us avoid anachronism. She does not treat 1 Peter as a modern political manifesto. She treats it as apostolic instruction for Christian life under social strain.

Third, she is careful with Old Testament background. Peter’s use of Scripture is foundational. The themes of exile and priesthood, and the way Peter applies texts about Israel to the church in Christ, are not optional. Jobes helps us handle these connections responsibly, so that our teaching is rooted in the canon and not in rhetorical flourish. That is particularly helpful in passages like vv.4 to 10 in ch.2, where identity language is dense and deeply theological.

Fourth, the commentary helps us keep Christ at the centre of suffering and holiness. Peter does not only give an example in Christ, he proclaims salvation through Christ. Jobes emphasises the relationship between the atoning work of Christ and the transformed life of believers. We are not called to suffer to earn standing with God. We are called to suffer as those already ransomed, already adopted, already bound for an imperishable inheritance.

Limitations

Because the commentary is compact in length, some readers may wish for more extended engagement with certain debates, especially around household codes and the details of social setting. Jobes often gives enough to make sense of the passage, but not always enough to satisfy specialist curiosity. Also, as with many technical works, the detail can sometimes crowd the page, and it can be harder to extract a single clean preaching outline without doing additional synthesis work.

We should also remember that a commentary can clarify meaning, but it cannot do our pastoral discernment for us. Applying 1 Peter in a modern context still requires wisdom. Jobes helps with the textual foundation, and we must still do the work of careful application with our people.

How We Would Use It

We would use this commentary as a text driven companion for preaching and teaching through 1 Peter. It is especially useful for clarifying the sense of key phrases, for tracing how exhortations are grounded in identity, and for handling the Old Testament echoes with care. In a preaching series, we would consult Jobes early in preparation, to test our reading of the passage and to ensure we have not missed contextual cues that shape interpretation.

In pastoral ministry, we would use the insights of the letter, sharpened by careful exegesis, to help believers endure well. 1 Peter does not offer empty optimism. It offers living hope grounded in the resurrection. It calls the church to visible goodness, to truthful speech, and to steady courage. This commentary helps us teach those themes with precision and restraint.

Closing Recommendation

This is a serious, careful, and pastorally aware commentary on 1 Peter. It will serve those who want close reading, and it will support preaching that is both realistic about suffering and confident in the mercy of God in Christ.