Good Works in 1 Peter: Negotiating Social Conflict and Christian Identity in the Greco-Roman World

In scholarship on 1 Peter, most interpreters understand the letter’s call to do good as an admonition to behave in a manner which was consistent with popular standards of conduct. As such, many contend that the Petrine readers could expect their good works to be favorably acknowledged by Greco-Roman society. This fact is significant considering that good works are one of the primary paraenetic themes in the epistle, providing the readers with a strategic plan of response for the conflict in which they are engaged. For many years, this consensus reading of good works has shaped and directed investigations of the letter’s social strategy. Travis B. Williams’ goal is to challenge the modern consensus regarding the meaning and function of good works in 1 Peter in order to thereby provide a fresh reading of the letter’s social strategy. Drawing on recent insights from postcolonial theory and social psychology the author demonstrates that the exhortation to do good envisages a pattern of conduct which stands opposed to popular values. The Petrine author appropriates terminology that was commonly associated with wealth and social privilege and reinscribes it with a new meaning in order to provide his marginalized readers with an alternative vision of reality, one in which the honor and approval so valued in society is finally available to them. The good works theme thus articulates a competing discourse which challenges dominant social structures and the hegemonic ideology which underlies them.