Hope as the Motivation of Love: 1 Peter 3: 9–12

Abstract

1 Our discussion of ethical motivation in I Peter will not be exhaustive: the motivation cited in 3. 1 (the desire to win the unbelieving husband) and the idea of imitating Christ (e.g. 2. 21) and God (1. 15, 16) will not be discussed. The aim here is not to give a comprehensive view of ethical motivation in I Peter but to uncover an (I believe the) essential aspect of that motivation by grappling with two apparently contradictory motifs (see Part 1).

The Peaceable, Tolerant Community and the Legitimate Role of the State: Ethics and Ethical Dilemmas in Romans 12:1–15:13

“…The exhortation not to return evil for evil clearly became an established element in early Christian paraenesis: the tradition is reproduced, in similar form, in 1 Thess 5:15 and 1 Pet 3:19, as well as here in Romans. 16 Instead of meeting evil with evil, violence with violence, Christians are to pursue the route of goodness and peace These seven verses have caused more unhappiness and misery in the Christian East and West than any other seven verses in the New Testament by the license they have given to tyrants, and the support for tyrants the Church has felt called on to offer as a result of the presence of Romans 13 in the canon.…”