Texts in Conversation
1 Peter uses the language of Isaiah 53 to describe one who suffers unjustly yet doesn't speak out, interpreting Jesus as the servant who endures violence without retaliation. Isaiah’s image of suffering becomes a model for interpreting Jesus’ suffering.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Isaiah 53:9
Septuagint
7 And he, because of his affliction, does not open his mouth: he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he does not open his mouth. 8 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken away from the earth: because of the iniquities of my people he was led to death. 9 And I will give the wicked for his burial, and the rich for his death; for he practiced no iniquity, nor was craft found in his mouth. 10 The Lord also wishes to cleanse him from his stroke. If you can give an offering for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived seed: the Lord also wishes to take away 11 from the labor of his soul, to show him light, and to form him with understanding; to justify the just one who serves many well; and he shall bear their sins.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
1 Peter 2:22
New Testament
20 For what credit is it if you sin and are mistreated and endure it? But if you do good and suffer and so endure, this finds favor with God. 21 For to this you were called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was maligned, he did not answer back; when he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness. By his wounds you were healed.
Date: 80–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The blood of the lamb had apotropaic rather than redemptive value. Since the New Testament references to Christ as paschal lamb leave no doubt about that context (1 Corinthians 5:7; John 19:36), and since the phrase does not occur in the description of the original Passover lamb, it seems likely that the primary reference here is not to Passover. Our author's citation of phrases from Isaiah 53 in 2:22-25 has called attention to Isaiah 53:7 as a possible source of this language, but the absence of any common vocabulary other than the word for lamb renders such an origin questionable ..."
Paul J. Achtemeier, 1 Peter: A Commentary on First Peter (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), 128–129.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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