This installment of 1 Peter within the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (BECNT) series is, on the whole, simply outstanding. Biblical commentator and associate professor of New Testament at Westmont College, Karen Jobes exhibits considerable skill and learning in this valuable and well-written resource for pastors, seminarians, and learned laypersons.
High standards were set early in this series with the publication of Darrell L. Bock's colossal two-volume commentary on the Gospel of Luke and continued with additional releases (John, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Philippians, and Revelation), finally yielding this comprehensive, erudite, and comparatively concise volume on an epistle Martin Luther believed contained all that is necessary for a Christian to know. Jobes adeptly navigates a legion of existing commentaries and scholarly articles, covering a whole spectrum of hermeneutical traditions, schools, and ideological allegiances, and in the process posits consistently reliable biblical exegesis, without muting the theological implications inherent in disputed texts, such as 1 Peter 3:18-22.
Particularly noteworthy is the author's enlightened isagogical presentation. Jobes's introduction is a delight to read not merely because it is expertly composed, but because it also contains the seeds and development of an original theoretical proposal and two compositional clarifications that collectively serve as a stimulating contribution to the exegetical and expository study of 1 Peter.
Jobes's innovative theory pertains to the historical background of the book of 1 Peter, in which the discussion about Petrine authorship and epistolary recipients is inextricably intertwined. Here the author structures a carefully argued scenario in which the "foreigners and resident alien" recipients of this early Catholic epistle (usually thought to be indigenous Christians of Asia Minor converted either by the evangelization of Peter en route between Jerusalem and Rome or by anonymous evangelists from Pauline churches in adjoining regions) may be understood to be Christians probably converted in Rome and holding shared associations with the Apostle Peter but then, as likely participants in a Roman colonization program, were displaced to Asia Minor: hence Peter's fitting but familiar exilic allusions and nomenclature. Jobes adds,
"[Her] colonization theory also provides a more specific motivation for the letter, motivation that is lacking if the description of the recipients is read solely as spiritual metaphor. Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ, was addressing Christians who had been converted elsewhere … and he writes to encourage them in their Christian commitment when they find themselves scattered across a desolate and pagan Asia Minor" (41).
The author's first of two compositional contributions is to render Peter's usage of the Septuagint (LXX)-the scriptural context in which the apostle wrote-accessible to readers as a hermeneutical apparatus "truer to the historical origins of the letter" (xi). This exegetical method not only underscores 1 Peter's intertestamental correlations and realized eschatological perspective of the kingdom of grace (as opposed to glory) in Christ, but also it highlights the apostle's text-based, Christological approach to pastoral care and theologizing.
Jobes's second exegetical contribution entails an analysis of the syntax of 1 Peter based on principles of bilingual interference, challenging the oft-repeated renunciation of Petrine authorship due to the (purported) high quality of the epistle's Greek and thereby justifying future research of a Semitic author for whom Greek was a second language. Her objective and quantifiable analysis, substantially augmented by a detailed fourteen-page excursus (325-338), concludes that the syntax exhibits elements consistent with a Semitic-speaking author for whom Greek was a subordinate tongue.
Further critical analysis shall determine whether or not Jobes's syntactical research and isagogical proposal concerning the recipients of 1 Peter shall be an abiding legacy in Petrine studies. In the meantime, Jobes's contributions warrant due consideration and, to be sure, enhance the overall profitability of her admirable commentary.
But because this commentary purposes to be omni-accessible, it possesses unavoidable limitations for every type of reader. Technicians are apt to complain that the scholia has been unreasonably truncated and that Jobes has not sufficiently probed the nuances and quality of 1 Peter's Greek syntax despite the scholarly excursus that concludes the volume; meanwhile, nonspecialists will find the linguistic analysis and evaluations of source, form, redaction, literary, and rhetorical criticisms (from nearly everyone who has so much as written a sticky note on 1 Peter), tedious and pedantic, if not distracting and disconcerting. Additionally, stylistic, production, and formatting curiosities (such as the forfeiting of comparative Greek and English pericopes for an exclusively English rendition of text at the beginning of each chapter; the redundant and perhaps unwelcome employment and over-usage of transliterations; a cumbersome citation policy; and Baker's stingy margin allotment) needlessly detract from the qualitative presentation of Jobes's otherwise laudable work.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned, 1 Peter by Karen H. Jobes is to be preferred for its Protestant exegetical approach and Reformational theological sensitivities over a number of favorite evangelical commentaries, including Bruce B. Barton's contribution to the Life Application Bible Commentary series and Scott McKnight's volume in The NIV Application Commentaries, taking its place instead alongside Peter H. David's and Ramsey Michaels's distinguished commentaries on 1 Peter. Beyond the excellent introduction, which warrants a thorough reading at the time of purchase, the exegetical and exposition portions of 1 Peter in BECNT prove themselves insightful on most passages, resulting in a commentary that should be a dependable companion for discerning homilogicians and teachers of the New Testament.
