In Pliny’s letter to the Emperor Trajan he outlines a series of wrong doings by people in his community. These people are on trial because they were denounced as Christians. Pliny’s general impression of Christians was not good. He felt that they were liars or imitators who weren’t actually Christian. He interrogated and tortured those he felt were guilty making a comment that those we were stubborn and inflexible “deserve to be punished.” The outcome of this trial I believe would be disappointing to Pliny. Trajan said that “it is not possible to lay down any general rule to serve as a kind of fixed standard.” He said if they were proved guilty then they should be punished but if there was no evidence or proof against someone there was no place for prosecution.

The first letter of Peter was written as encouragement to the Christians in a time of persecution. Peter mentions so many different ways for Christians to think about themselves. In 1:1 peter says, “be holy yourselves in all your conduct;” and 1:22, “love one another deeply from the heart.” In the beginning of chapter two he encourages the people to “Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.” (2:1) This is just the beginning of his advice to the Christian people. One last one that felt important to me was 2:16 -17 – “As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” Peter not only gives advice on how people should view themselves but how to simply live in a time of such hostility. He gives encouragement in 2:15 when writing: “For it is God’s will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish.” Peter goes on to say in 5:8 “Discipline yourselves, keep alert.” A reoccurring theme that stood out to me most was the number of times Peter used the word “love,” I think that is interesting to point out and maybe that is the main point of what he is trying to get at. I think also that Peter added the household code because it goes along with hour Christians should think about and conduct themselves. I also think that it was another form of encouragement to the Christian people trying to survive through a time of such turmoil.