1 Peter: Key Terms

A short glossary. Once these words are in your bones, the letter reads as one sustained argument: a holy priesthood living out a living hope.

Parepidēmos / paroikos παρεπίδημος / πάροικος: Sojourner, exile, resident alien. Peter’s signature name for believers: not tourists, but residents who do not belong. Earth is not home; heaven is. The posture shapes holiness, hope, and how we bear slander. Key text: 1 Pet 1:1, 17; 2:11.
Elpis ἐλπίς: Hope, but not wishful thinking, a confident, living expectation anchored in Christ’s resurrection and an inheritance kept in heaven. “Set your hope fully on the grace” (1:13). Key text: 1 Pet 1:3, 13, 21; 3:15.
Anagennaō / anagennēsis ἀναγεννάω: To beget again, cause to be born again. The new birth, through the living and enduring word of God, “into a living hope” (1:3). Imperishable seed, imperishable life. Key text: 1 Pet 1:3, 23.
Ekteneōs ἐκτενῶς: Earnestly, strenuously, at full stretch. The kind of love Peter commands: not polite affection but a love that strains and reaches, that “covers a multitude of sins” (4:8). The same word is used of the Lord’s earnest prayer in Luke 22:44. The Church’s love under trial is to have this stretched, unflagging quality. Key text: 1 Pet 1:22; 4:8.
Hagios ἅγιος: Holy, set apart. “As he who called you is holy, be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” Holiness is the family likeness of God’s people. Key text: 1 Pet 1:15-16; 2:5, 9.
Basileion hierateuma βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα: Royal priesthood. The series’ through-line. Every believer is a priest: access to God directly through Christ, and a calling to offer spiritual sacrifices and proclaim God’s excellencies. No separate priestly caste. Key text: 1 Pet 2:5, 9.
Laos eis peripoiēsin λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν: A people for God’s own possession. Drawn from Ex 19:5-6 and applied now to the church, Jew and Gentile together. God’s treasured possession, formed to display His glory. Key text: 1 Pet 2:9-10.
Oikodomeō / oikos pneumatikos οἰκοδομέω / οἶκος πνευματικός: To build / a spiritual house. Christ the living cornerstone, believers the living stones built into a temple where God dwells by His Spirit. Corporate before it is individual. Key text: 1 Pet 2:4-5.
Paschō / pathēma πάσχω / πάθημα: To suffer / suffering. Not a detour but a calling: believers are “called” to it because Christ suffered for them, leaving an example (2:21). Suffering tests, refines, and participates in Christ’s own path to glory. Key text: 1 Pet 2:19-21; 3:14, 17; 4:1, 12-13, 15-16, 19; 5:9-10.
Hypotassō ὑποτάσσω: To submit, order oneself under. A voluntary placing of oneself within God’s appointed structures (civil authority, masters, marriage, the flock), as unto the Lord. Submission is not inferiority; it is trust in God’s sovereignty. Key text: 1 Pet 2:13, 18; 3:1, 5; 5:5.
Anastrephō / anastrophē ἀναστρέφω / ἀναστροφή: To conduct oneself / way of life. Peter’s recurring call for a visible holiness: a “good way of life” that silences ignorance and commends the gospel. Key text: 1 Pet 1:15, 18; 2:12; 3:1-2, 16.
Tapheinophrosynē / tapeinoō ταπεινοφροσύνη / ταπεινόω: Humility of mind / to humble oneself. “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another” (5:5). The garment of the priesthood, under the mighty hand of God. Key text: 1 Pet 3:8; 5:5-6.
Poimainō / poimnion ποιμαίνω / ποίμνιον: To shepherd / flock. Elders shepherd the flock of God willingly, eagerly, by example, under the Chief Shepherd who will appear. A model of servant leadership for the assembly. Key text: 1 Pet 5:2-4.
Grēgoreō / nēphō γρηγορέω / νήφω: Be watchful / be sober-minded. The end-time posture of the priesthood: alert against the prowling devil, self-controlled in hope, resisting him firm in the faith. Key text: 1 Pet 1:13; 4:7; 5:8.
Silvanus Σιλουανός: Silas, Peter’s faithful co-worker and the letter’s amanuensis (5:12), the same Silas who served with Paul (Acts 15-18). A quiet bridge between the Petrine and Pauline circles. Key text: 1 Pet 5:12.