RTW 2024

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.  These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

1 Peter 1:6-7

Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.
Hebrews 13:1-3

• There are three different time periods that have been suggested as the background for 1 Peter:
  1. Nero (most likely) (54-68 AD)
  2. Domitian (81-96 AD)
  3. Trajan (98-117 AD)
• A fire broke out in Rome in 64 AD but suspiciously did not destroy the estates of Nero. Nero targeted Christians as the scapegoat, and was known for his cruelty and injustice toward Christians. 
• Romans viewed Christians as anti-social, “atheists” (for rejecting the gods), “cannibals” (for claiming to eat and drink Jesus’ “body and blood”.
• According to Tacitus, second-century historian, Nero killed Christians in severe ways, such as burning them alive to light his garden at night.
• 1 Peter 1:3-12 constitutes one long sentence in Greek, and was considered a long skillful sentence/speech.‍
• IVP Bible Background Commentary

Remember and know: God never originally intended for us to endure trials, but He will not let suffering have the last word.