range than that of St. Paul. The
figures are drawn from birth and family life (i. 3, 14, 17, 22; ii. 2),
nomadic life (i. 1, 17; ii. 11), temple and worship (ii. 3; iii. 15),
building (ii. 4), fields and pastoral life (i. 4; v. 2, 8), military
life (i. 5; ii. 11, iv. 1), painting (ii. 21), working in metals (i. 7;
iv. 12). Some of these figures suggest that the author was a Jew by
birth, and also that he was not a mere copyist of St. Paul.

{240}

Again, we must notice that 1 Peter shows a dependence upon James.[2]
While we therefore grant that the author of this Epistle seems to have
made use of St. Paul's writings, we must be prepared to grant that he
also made use of a document written by one who has been frequently
declared by modern critics to have been antagonistic to St. Paul. A
tradition found as early as Origen, and in itself extremely probable,
represents St. Peter as having organized the Church at Antioch, and St.
Peter probably became acquainted with the Epistle of St. James while at
Antioch and before his arrival at Rome. In any case, the author shows
himself by no means exclusively indebted to St. Paul, and the candid
student must therefore admit that it is unreasonable to discredit this
Epistle on the ground that it represents St. Peter as preaching
"Paulinism."

It is also asserted that the Greek is too flowing to have been written
by St. Peter, especially if Papias is right in saying that St. Peter
required the services of St. Mark as "interpreter." The style of the
Greek is, indeed, good. It contains a considerable number of classical
Greek words, though it is also saturated with the language of the
Septuagint. It is simple, correct, and impressive. But the large
extent to which Greek was spoken in Palestine, and the fact that it was
the language of Antioch, make it quite possible that St. Peter obtained
a considerable mastery over Greek. We cannot attach a quite definite
meaning to the word "interpreter." It need not imply that St. Peter
always, or even at any time in his later life, required his Aramaic to
be translated into Greek. It is not unusual for a clever modern
missionary to lecture and write in correct Chinese after a very few
years of practice, and there would be nothing strange if St. Peter soon
acquired a comparatively easy language such as Hellenistic Greek. It
is therefore quite unnecessary for {241} some half-hearted apologists
to suggest that the Epistle was mainly or