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Bui a dispute arose between them , which led to a separation . " Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus ; and Paul chose Silas , " ( ver . 39 , 40 , ) and entered upon a circuit through the staets of Asia Minor . Here , then , in all probability , was the journey on which Silvanus distributed copies of Peter ' s Epistle ; for Silas and Silvanus were doubtless the same person , as any one may convince himself by comparing 2 Cor . i . 19 , with Acts xviii . 1—5 .
A formidable objection , however , presents itself in this stage of our inquiry , in the name of the place from which the Epistle is dated ; for Peter seems to write not from Antioch , or any other city in Syria , but from Babylon . " The church that is at Babylon , elected together with you , saluteth you . " ( Ver . 13 . ) This text has puzzled and confounded every commentator who has written upon it . Some interpreters , understanding the word Babylon in its literal
sense , have contended that the Epistle must have been written either at Babylon in Assyria , or Babylon in Egypt . Others again , supposing the word Babylon to have been used figuratively , have understood it to denote Rome or Jerusalem . But there is no ground for believing that Peter was ever either in Assyria or Egypt . Ecclesiastical history does not contain the remotest hint from which it can be inferred that he visited either of
these countries : nor can any rational motive be assigned why Peter should have dated his Epistle from Babylon , if it was written at Jerusalem or Rome . Arguing , then , on the supposition that Babylon is the true reading , it is incumbent upon us to shew , if possible , not only that Mark and Silvanus were with Peter at that place , but also that it was just at a time when Silvanus was about to undertake a long journey through the states , of Asia Minor . Of this , however , we have by no means sufficient proof , as it will be the object of the following remarks to shew .
Silvanus was Paul ' s principal companion on his second journey into Asia Minor till he arrived in Greece . ( Acts xviii . 1—5 . ) During this journey the Apostle wrote the two Epistles addressed to the Thessalonians , and probably one or two others . Those addressed to the Thessalonians were written in the joint names of himself , and Silvanus , and Timothy ; ( 1 and 2 Thess . i . 1 ;) but , as we find no further mention of Silvanus
after his arrival at Corinth , either in the Acts of the Apostles or in the writings of Paul , it seems reasonable to conclude that his personal connexion with the apostle ceased about this time , probably in consequence of his being superseded by Timothy , of whose peculiar fitness for the work in which he was engaged Paul speaks in the very highest terms . Of Mark we lose all traces from the time that he joined Barnabas in his voyage to the island of Cyprus , ( Acts xv . 39 , ) till the second year of Paul ' s imprisonment
at Rome , ( Col . iv . 10 , Philem . 24 , ) a space of about ten or twelve years , ending A . D . 62 . The interval may have been spent partly in the company of Barnabas , and partly in that of Peter , to the latter of whom Mark is represented , by the concurrent testimony of ecclesiastical antiquity , as bearing the office of interpreter . Assuming the year 54 , then , as the date of the two Epistles to the Thessalonians , a period is left of no less than eight years , dur ing which Mark and Silvanus may have been together in the company of Peter ; and
this would allow ample time for a visit either to Babylon in Assyria , or Babylon in Egypt , as well as for a mission to the churches of Asia Minor : but on this supposition , the First Epistle of Peter must have been written after Paul ' s second journey into Asia Minor , in which he is known to have been accompanied b y Silvanus ; and in this case the omission of the southern states in the inscription occasions an insurmountable difficulty ; for there is not a single atoni of evidence to prove that Peter himself ever visited the
Untitled Article
24 Remarks on the First Epistle of Peter .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1829, page 24, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2568/page/24/
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