Letters from Babylon

No one wants to suffer; we’re going to avoid it if we can. But “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2Tim 3:12). So what do we do when it comes, when it’s unavoidable? We have more wisdom from “Babylon” on that matter.

The early church saw Rome as a new Babylon, embodying its power, wickedness, and oppression. Peter, writing from there, saw what was coming for the church and wanted to help them not just survive but honor Christ under persecution.

Wide-scale, systematic persecution of Christians, which already exists in some parts of the world, may never come to the West. Or it may come next year. But, as Paul says, some kind of persecution will come if we try to live for Jesus. So how do we react to that? How do we prepare our children to live through that?

The first thing Peter does is remind us this world is not our home.

His letter is written to “God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia” (1:1). That exile status may have been literal, too, but it applies to all of us. We are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (2:9). As Paul says, “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil 3:20), so Peter calls us “foreigners and exiles” (2:11).

All this stems from the Lord’s words:

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (John 15:18-20)

We used to sing things like “this world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through.” But it’s been so easy to get comfortable here that we tend to forget this truth.

Well, things change, and it’s time we were reminded: We don’t belong here. We’re not like them. We’re trying to be like the one they rejected, so we must expect them to treat us like they treated him. And we must know how to respond wisely.

For the next few weeks, I’ll be trying to distill Peter’s guidance on living in a world where you don’t belong. And I hope you’ll indulge me in a bit of creative writing as I try to imagine what Peter would say to the 21st century church if he could write to us directly.


The Letters:
Remember the Gospel
The Value of Persecution
Suit Up
Prepare for the Race

Image via Pixabay