This first teaching describes the culture in which the first recipients of this epistle lived and the challenges their church had, living on the edge of a society where their pagan gods were intertwined into the fashion, food and economic activities that took place. Peter will address the early Christian's suffering in such a culture and answer the question, why be a Christian at all? The Roman citizens considered it their patriotic duty to participate in the civic activities dictated by their gods. As such, their life in the culture resulted in attending the numerous religious festivals, eating the foods and wearing the necessary clothes. We can see where this would be a problem for the Christian in those days. Rome did not care what you believed in your heart, but only cared if you participated in the civic cultural activities outwardly. Peter throughout the epistle reminds them of their identity as a Christian, how they were chosen, by God, by what means they became Christians, baptism, and who they must look to during their suffering, Christ the living stone.