I once got into some minor trouble at church for telling someone, a little flippantly, that Peter didn't write the epistle of I Peter. I hurriedly explained that Silvanus was certainly the person who wrote down Peter's ideas (see I Peter 5:12) and arranged them in order, but the damage was already done. (My reasons for saying this are found in my post “I Peter: Introduction to the Literary Structure.”) That person went to the Pastor of Education and demanded that I not be allowed to teach in Sunday school. I was in good company since a little later that same person demanded of our Senior Pastor that another teacher be banned from giving any future lectures.
In part to atone for my past misstatements on this subject, I would like to present the course outline I came up with years ago for our Sunday school class to follow as we studied I and II Peter. I named that semester's topic “Peter's Principles” as a take-off on The Peter Principle, the title of a once popular management book by L. J. Peter which states that people within an organization always rise to the level of their incompetence. Leaving that tidbit of information aside, the whole gist of the semester's study was to pair up passages in Peter's epistles with incidents in his life and with speeches of his recorded in the Book of Acts. The conclusion I reached after putting this outline together was that Peter was certainly the driving force behind both letters under his name. You may find the course outline below of use in group or individual Bible studies.
Subject Peter's epistles Peter's life Peter's speeches
Peter the Apostle I Pet. 1:1-2 Luke 5:1-11 Acts 1:15-22
Our Salvation I Pet. 1:3-12 Luke 24:33-35 Acts 2:25-36
John 20:2-10
Be Holy and Love I Pet. 1:13-25 Acts 3:1-26 Acts 11:1-18
the Brethren Acts 10
A Spiritual House I Pet. 2:1-10 Matt. 16:13-20 Acts 4:1-12
John 1:40-42
John 6:66-69
Witness in the World I Pet. 2:11-17 Matt. 17:24-27
Acts 4:13-22
Christian Relationships I Pet. 2:18-3:12 I Cor. 9:5
Suffering in Christ I Pet. 3:13-4:6 Matt. 26:50-54 Acts 2:37-42
John 18:10-27
Living in the Last Days I Pet. 4:7-19 Acts 9:32-42
Acts 15:5-11
Christian Leadership I Pet. 5:1-6 John 13:1-17
John 21:15-17
Closing Exhortations I Pet. 5:7-14 Matt. 16:21-23
Luke 22:31-32
Faith and Its Result II Pet. 1:1-21 Luke 9:28-36 Acts 2:22-24
John 13:36-38
John 21:18-19
False Teachers II Pet. 2:1-22 Acts 5:1-11
Acts 8:9-24
Acts 12
The Lord's Coming II Peter 3:1-15a Mark 13 Acts 2:14-21
Luke 12:35-48
Steadfast II Peter 3:15b-18 Matt. 14:22-33
Gal. 2
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