Читать книгу 1, 2 Peter and Jude Through the Centuries - Rebecca Skaggs - Страница 30

Early writers as well as modern scholars are interested in Peter’s “faith during trials.” Didymus the Blind is one of the earliest to explain, “Those who are afflicted in various ways because of Christ and who persevere to the end have their faith tested and proved” (Comm. on 1 Peter, PG 39: 1756: my tr.). Others interpret these trials as the persecution being experienced by Peter’s church community. For example, the Shepherd of Hermas says:

Just as gold is tried by fire and becomes useful, so also you who live in the world are tried in it. So then, you who remain in it and pass through the flames will be purified. (Shepherd, “Visions” 3.1. FC 1:259: ccel.org)

It is noteworthy that since, most likely, the Shepherd of Hermas was written in Rome around the second century, this author may have had the severe persecution by Nero in mind here.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296–298) has a similar understanding of suffering as present persecution in fire (Festal Letters, 10: CWS: 70). Also see Bede, Comm., 1985: 72). It should be noted that there is a hint here of the concept to be developed later in the epistle about the special nature of suffering as a Christian. The concept of suffering is a recurring theme in 1 Peter.