Joining Israel: Gentiles in 1 Peter's Ethnic Imagination

Noel Cheong provides a comprehensive investigation of ethnicity in 1 Peter, focusing on the epistle's use of terms denoting peoplehood such as Gamma ni ni (2.9) and thni (2.12; 4.3). He asks what these terms imply about the readers' relationship with Israel and concludes that the letter presents Gentile believers as foreigners who have joined Israel in a manner analogous to the Old Testament incorporation of non-Israelites into God's people. Methodologically, the author offers a historical-critical analysis of 1 Peter, situating the letter's ethnic language within the first-century Jewish and Graeco-Roman world. To this end, he compares 1 Peter with sources such as Greek inscriptions, the Qumran writings, and the Mishnah. This is complemented by social-scientific approaches to ethnicity, which treat ethnic categories as attempts to mark difference on the basis of supposedly immutable traits, even though group boundaries remain fluid. Accordingly, terms like "Gentile" and "Israel" are not fixed but often reflect the desire to emphasise difference or similarity between individuals. On this basis, the author reassesses the widespread assumption that biblical Israel was imagined as an ethnically homogeneous entity. He demonstrates instead that the Old Testament regularly depicts Israel as including individuals and groups who are not biological descendants of Jacob, such as the Gibeonites and the resident foreigners who were involved in Israel's social and cultic life. The author concludes that 1 Peter articulates a thoroughly Jewish vision of Gentile inclusion, consonant with scriptural expectations of the incorporation of non-Jews into the redemption of Israel. In doing so, he challenges prevailing interpretations of Jewish conversion and Christian supersessionism in New Testament scholarship.