Babylon is Rome in 1 Peter 5

There are those that try to deny that St. Peter was in Rome.  They often point out that in St. Paul’s epistle to the Romans, dozens of names are mentioned but Peter isn’t.  Now, the entire tradition of the Church has St. Peter in Rome.  Is this a contradiction?  Only if you want it to be.  You can simply say that St. Peter wasn’t in the city of Rome when this was written.

Now, if we look at St. Peter’s first epistle we find it addressed to a certain group of people.  We read:

To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,

– 1 Peter 1:1

So, he’s addressing this letter to Asia Minor so we can conclude that he wasn’t there at the time.  Asia Minor was one of the most important regions of the early Church.  It had a high density of Christians for the first century.  The only other regions that had a concentration as high as this were Rome and the holy land.  This doesn’t prove that he was in Rome but it certainly makes it a possibility.

Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

– 1 Peter 2:17

We see from this verse that the emperor is on the mind of St. Peter.  The Greek word used can technically be translated as king as well but we need to remember that this is the Roman Empire with an emperor.  There would have been a few almost-powerless vassal kings but the emperor took the day in the Empire.  Obviously he’s telling the Christians in Asia Minor to honour the emperor.  Obviously the Emperor would be on your mind when you’re in the capital of the empire.  This isn’t concrete proof but it’s a small piece of evidence in the direction of Peter being in Rome.

The last piece of evidence comes at the end of the letter.  We read:

She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.

– 1 Peter 5:13

Now, Babylon is traditionally in Iraq.  There is zero tradition of St. Peter being in Iraq.  Of course Babylon has significant OT meaning.  St. Peter being a Jew who is familiar with the OT knows that Babylon carries a bad theme.  Obviously Rome would be Babylon as it’s the capital of a pagan empire that is in opposition to Christianity.  We actually have the first historian of the Church claiming that St. Peter refers to Rome when he says Babylon.

And Peter makes mention of Mark in his first epistle which they say that he wrote in Rome itself, as is indicated by him, when he calls the city, by a figure, Babylon, as he does in the following words: “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, salutes you; and so does Marcus my son.”

– Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, Book 2, Chapter 15

The earliest historian testifies that Babylon refers to Rome.  It’s clear from reading 1 Peter and from reading early Church history that St. Peter was in Rome.