Page "First Epistle of Peter" Paragraph 17

Some scholars believe that the epistle's addressees were sufferings were social in nature, specifically in the form of verbal derision.

Internal evidence for this includes the use of words like “ malign ” ( 2: 12 ; 3: 16 ), and “ reviled ” ( 4: 14 ).

Biblical scholar John Elliott notes that the author explicitly urges the addressees to respect authority ( 2: 13 ) and even honor the emperor ( 2: 17 ), strongly suggesting that they were unlikely to be suffering from official Roman persecution.

It is significant to him that the author notes that “ your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering ” ( 5: 9 ), indicating suffering that is worldwide in scope.

Elliott sees this as grounds to reject the idea that the epistle refers to official persecution, because the first worldwide persecution of Christians officially meted by Rome did not occur until the persecution initiated by Decius in AD 250.