I've been studying 1 Peter lately, and as my study gets deeper and deeper, I am noticing parallels with this New Testament text and Jeremiah 29 (which my friend and former professor called "the most Christian text of the Old Testament"). The thought of a parallel came to me while working behind the bar, and when I got home, I started doing more research. While I didn't find in any of my books (or online for that matter) a mention of this parallel, I can't help but become more and more certain of it. I'm not saying that Peter (or whoever wrote 1 Peter) used Jeremiah 29 as a template, just that there are some parallels, and within these parallels, vistas are opened from which 1 Peter can be approached from different angles. Indeed, one's telescopic approach of the text may drastically change if the parallel is taken into account hermeneutically (which may or may not be a good idea). Throughout my studies, here are four striking parallels between 1 Peter and Jeremiah 29.
(a) both 1 Peter and Jeremiah 29 are addressed to exiles
(b) both 1 Peter and Jeremiah 29 are written to exiles in babylonian captivity (a literal captivity in Jeremiah 29 and a symbolic captivity in 1 Peter 5.13)
(c) both 1 Peter and Jeremiah 29 are written to instruct the exiles how to live in exile
(d) both 1 Peter and Jeremiah 29 frame exilic living in the framework of future hope (literal restoration in Jeremiah 29 and eschatological restoration in 1 Peter)
As a side-note, many of the commentaries and references that I've read have downplayed, significantly, the eschatological undertones (a better word may be overtones?) of 1 Peter. Most side-line the issue, perhaps adding it into the margins as an extended footnote; one reference work went so far as to say that the importance of eschatology in 1 Peter is overestimated and of meager importance. I think this is due to how eschatology has become just another segment of Christian doctrine without any real bearing on the present (other than we'd better be good 'cause Jesus will come back at any moment, and he'd better not find us engaging in oral sex). I think this understanding of eschatology is greatly flawed, and that the New Testament is riddled with eschatological importance. Perhaps this conviction is a key reason why I find parallels between 1 Peter and Jeremiah 29?
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