Exiles, Not Enemies: Petrine Self-Determination in the Face of Empire

Exile was part of the juridical system of the late Republican and early Imperial Rome. 1 Pet 2.11 adopts the language of exile to identify its audience’s place within the world. Subsequent verses indicate a disparity between their own place and the world, or wider community, but fall short of rejecting wholesale the apparatus of the Roman state and its socio-political conventions. The apparent self-identification of the community as exiles is a potential claim for autonomy, self-determination, and high status. Claims for exile in the context of the Diaspora (1 Pet 1.1) might also embrace a claim to be considered Jewish, members of an ancient tradition protected by long precedent, and so protected from some legal threats.