372 Ora Delmer Foster, 



it came from Babylon in Egypt or Old Cairo, while still others hold 

 that is was penned in Babylon on the Tiber, or Rome. Obviously 

 therefore the location of the time and place of authorship of the 

 First Epistle of Peter would be of the greatest value to the History 

 of Christian Origins. 



Two means of dating are open to us, i. e., (1) the internal evidence, 

 so far as concerned with the happenings of the time, and (2) the 

 literary relations. These must necessarily be kept apart, for any 

 suspicion of one affecting the other tends to invaHdate the proof. 



Much has been written concerning the date required by the stratum 

 of theological thought found in the Epistle. Many have discussed 

 at great length the date implied by the allusions to the persecutions 

 which were being waged against the Christians at the time of writing. 

 Some also have elaborated lengthy arguments concerning the date 

 implied from the incidental references to ecclesiastical institutions 

 and government. Many New Testament Introductions and Commen- 

 taries on I Peter point out some of the more probable points of 

 contact with other literature, but nowhere have these relations 

 been exhaustively or systematically treated. This thesis is limited 

 to the last line of approach, i. e., the Literary Relations. 



Nevertheless we may mention briefly some of the problems con- 

 nected with the external conditions of the Church in the Sub-Apos- 

 tolic Age. Obviously the Epistle was written during a fiery ordeal, 

 to encourage and to exhort the Christians to endure to the end and 

 to order their conduct in such a way as to avoid as far as possible 

 both social and civil odium. The sv ttw /v6o-[j.(.) (5 ; 9) seems to 

 indicate that the Imperial Government had adopted a definite poHcy 

 toward the Christians throughout the world. This inference seems 

 to be borne out by the general tenor of the Epistle. They were 

 persecuted " for the name." Arnold and others are right who claim 

 that the persecutions of Nero did not extend beyond the Capital 

 and its immediate vicinity. The confHct here referred to cannot 

 have been that inaugurated by Nero, nor was it earlier than Domitian. 

 Ramsay has no real evidence for saying that " the Neronian policy 

 was resumed under Vespasian. (C. R. E. p. 282.) Nor need we 

 suppose that the persecutions alluded to are later than Domitian, as 

 many contend. The conditions here are practically the same as 

 those reflected in Hebrews, Revelation and Clement of Rome. These 

 four writings have a common background. They look back to the 

 Neronian outbreak as something that occurred in former times, 

 whereas the present one is a " strange thing." Apparently then this 

 is the beginning of Governmental punishment of the Christians as 



