Divine Christology in 1 Peter

There are a few passages in 1 Peter that subtly present a very high Christology. While the evidential implications of this for the development of Christology are limited given the tendency to date 1 Peter into the 80's AD or later, it remains relevant in the debate over early Christology and serves to complicate unitarian readings of Scripture. I plan to write soon on the authorship of 1 Peter, which will be relevant for dating the epistle and thus for the evidential import of the high Christology. That post will be linked here when it becomes available. Note that the author of 1 Peter will be referred to as Peter for ease of reading; I think that the traditional attribution of authorship is probably correct.

1 Peter 1.2
"...according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you."

In this salutation, Peter invokes God the Father, the Spirit, and Jesus Christ, emphasizing an inter-working between the three. Craig Keener notes that this may reflect a "trinitarian or triadic, prototrinitarian understanding", as in 2 Cor 13:13 ("The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.") (1 Peter: A Commentary, 59). A similar triadic formula is found in Matthew 28:19 and in other places in Scripture (Keener lists Romans 15.30, 1 Corinthians 12.4-6, Galatians 4.6, and Ephesians 4.4-6; also consult the accounts of Jesus' baptism in Mark 1.10-11, Matthew 3.16-17, and Luke 3.21-22). The three persons are again mentioned in close proximity in 1 Peter 4.14.

While this verse does not equate either the Son or the Spirit with God the Father, the linking of all three in the same place presupposes that they share some special identity. The consistency with which this understanding permeates various New Testament writings suggests it was a common view in early Christianity.

1 Peter 2.3-4
"...if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by people, but is choice and precious in the sight of God..."

As Craig Keener notes (ibid., 126), the first part of the verse "if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord" (egeuasthe hoti chrēstos ho kurios) is a quotation from LXX Psalm 33.9 (ET Ps. 34.8): "Taste and see that the Lord is good" (geusasthe... hoti chrēstos ho kurios). He goes on to say:

"The accusative pronoun hon in the Greek text of 2:4 refers back to the psalm allusion in 2:3; 'coming to' him evokes a line in that psalm's context (LXX Ps. 33:6 [missing in ET 34:5]). Yet whereas the Lord in the psalm is clearly YHWH, Peter refers in 2:4 to Jesus (to whom he applies the quotation in 2:6)." (ibid. 128)

The similarity of the wording leaves little doubt that Peter is invoking the Old Testament and the grammatical structure makes the most sense if Peter is applying the Psalm to Jesus. This would entail giving Jesus the divine name YHWH, meaning that he shares in the divine identity. Jesus is not equated with God the Father, as Peter's language elsewhere implies a distinction between the two (e.g. 1.3, 3.22). This similarity and yet distinction between Jesus and God the Father is quite consistent with the Trinity.

1 Peter 3.14-15a
"But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be in dread, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts..."

Similar to the previous example, this verse also applies an Old Testament passage about YHWH to Jesus in a way that strongly suggests a divine identity. The passage in question is Isaiah 8.12b-13: 

"And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.
It is the LORD of armies whom you are to regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread."

After quoting the first part of this passage as it stands, Peter continues right into the second part but applies it to Christ. Christians are to "sanctify" (e.g. "regard as holy") Christ, whereas Isaiah exhorts us to regard YHWH as holy. This suggests a divine Christology. 

Conclusion
A strong case can be made for the divinity of Jesus from 1 Peter. If it is agreed that the latter two texts teach that Jesus is God, we can reexamine the trinitarian formula from the beginning of the letter and infer that the Holy Spirit is probably divine as well, as the strict parallelism and consistent grouping makes it unlikely that only two of these three persons have a shared identity. Thus, the texts found in 1 Peter lend ample credence to the divine mystery later termed the Trinity.