I PETER: AUTHORSHIP

It has been noted by scholars of all theological stances that I Peter, unlike II Peter, is written in excellent, polished Greek. Because of that, as you can see below, many scholars are openly dubious that it could have come from the apostle Peter. Although most of the actual ideas expressed in the epistle have close correspondences with the speeches and life of Peter, the sophistication of the writing seems to be beyond what Peter would have been capable of.

        “It is unthinkable that Peter as a fisherman from Galilee had command of the Greek language to the degree reflected in the letter, according to our stylistic analysis.” L. Goppelt, A Commentary on I Peter, p. 50

        “The person responsible for the poor Greek of 2 Peter could not have written 1 Peter and vice versa.” P. H. Davids, The First Epistle of Peter, p. 4

        “Such a letter could not have been written by him, the illiterate fisherman, if he had lived to be over a hundred.” F. W. Beare, The First Epistle of Peter

I had pretty much finished analyzing all of the NT books when I decided to compare their structures with one another. I noticed that three of the books stood apart from the rest in having a unique type of organization. They were I Peter and I and II Thessalonians, and they all took this form.

Introduction

        A

                B

        A'

        -----------

        A

                B

        A'

Conclusion

I wondered if there was any significance to this similarity, and then read the opening words of I and II Thessalonians: “Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians.” Turning to I Peter 5:12, we read, “Through Silvanus, whom I consider a faithful brother, I have written this short letter...” Some scholars have taken this last verse to mean that Silvanus (also called Silas) was just the carrier of Peter's letter, but the similarities in organization of the three letters makes it clear that he served as a trained amanuensis, or secretary, to polish Peter's grammar and style. That effectively explains away the objection to the traditional authorship of I Peter and makes it quite likely that Silvanus was a co-author of the letters to the Thessalonians.