Who. What. Where. When. Series

NORTH PINE BAPTIST CHURCH

Sunday 29th June 2025

1 Peter 1:1-2

“Who. What. Where. When.”

You can listen to this, all all NPBC sermons, at https://www.npbc.org.au/podcasts/media

Today we are going to start a new sermon series.

Over the next 3 months we are going to make our way through the books of 1 & 2 Peter.

If you haven’t read these books recently, I would encourage you to do so. Reading through a book in one sitting helps to give a reminder of the big picture and the flow of the books.

As we make our way through this series the words of these books will keep equipping us to live as the people of Jesus in a world that does not want Jesus – but who need Jesus.

Particularly in 1 Peter … Peter will focus on how believers can use their daily life and Christian example as a part of the process which will lead people to glorify God.

Which means the book is practical.

It also means the book has an evangelistic focus.

And the book is also a reminder of our identity as followers of Jesus – and the impact this identity will have on the world around us.

So that is what we can look forward to.

Prayer

When starting a new series, with the plan to systematically make our way through a book of the Bible, it helps to have an understanding of the bigger picture questions.

These bigger picture questions are answered by reading the first two verses of 1 Peter.

1 Peter 1:1-2

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To God’s elect, exiles, scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

This book, and also 2 Peter, are written by the Apostle Peter.

Now, when we say that a book is “written by” a certain person, we want to stop and be more specific in what we are saying.

Firstly, while Peter is the human author, all Scripture is God’s Word.

Peter himself is very aware of this. In 2 Peter 1:21 Peter describes the process of writing Scripture as humans who spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. The theological name for this process is “inspiration”.

Whenever we talk about a book of the Bible being written by a certain person, we always do so remembering that, ultimately, all Scripture is written by the Triune God.

Also, when talking about who “wrote” a certain book we want to remember is that, on some occasions especially with the NT letters, the person whose name is on the letter is not the one who wrote the words down on paper. Peter admits that much in 1 Peter 5:12

12 With the help of Silas (Silvanus) whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.

The “help” which Silas gave was to write down the words which Peter told him to write. The technical name for this job is “amanuensis”.

For those taking notes, it is spelt a-m-a-n-u-e-n-s-i-s

Peter isn’t the only Bible author who does this.

In Romans … Romans being a letter of Paul … in Romans 16:22 we read

22 I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.

In Jeremiah 36:4 we read

4 So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll.

So we see, it is not unusual for the author of a letter to use the help of an amanuensis.

The words that the amanuensis writes are dictated to them by the author.

The author who speaks is One who has been inspired by the Holy Spirit.

The result, which we call the Bible, is the inspired Word of God.

Why do we want to know this?

Because we can look at an author like Peter and make assumptions.

Peter is a fisherman.

We might think, “ You don’t need to be that smart to be a fisherman.”

“That is why Peter used an amanuensis – because Peter couldn’t write.”

These are all false assumptions.

Peter wasn’t just a fisherman – he had a fishing business.

Doing books. Writing invoices. Running a business. Peter could do that.

Asking for help from Silas doesn’t say anything about the education level of Peter.

And even if it was true that Peter couldn’t write … so what?

A specific education level is not a pre-requisite for being an author of Scripture.