ITS GENUINENESS is attested by 2Pe 3:1. On the authority of Second Peter, see the Introduction. Also by POLYCARP (in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 4.14]), who, in writing to the Philippians, quotes many passages: in the second chapter he quotes 1Pe 1:13, 21; 3:9; in the fifth chapter, 1Pe 2:11. EUSEBIUS says of PAPIAS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.39] that he, too, quotes Peter's First Epistle. IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 4.9.2] expressly mentions it; and in [4.16.5], 1Pe 2:16. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA [Miscellanies, 1.3, p. 544], quotes 1Pe 2:11, 12, 15, 16; and [p. 562], 1Pe 1:21, 22; and [4, p. 584], 1Pe 3:14-17; and [p. 585], 1Pe 4:12-14. ORIGEN (in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 6.25]) mentions this Epistle; in [Homily 7, on Joshua, vol. 2, p. 63], he mentions both Epistles; and [Commentary on Psalm 3 and on John], he mentions 1Pe 3:18-21. TERTULLIAN [Antidote to the Scorpion's Sting, 12], quotes expressly 1Pe 2:20, 21; and [Antidote to the Scorpion's Sting, 14], 1Pe 2:13, 17. EUSEBIUS states it as the opinion of those before him that this was among the universally acknowledged Epistles. The Peschito Syriac Version contains it. The fragment of the canon called MURATORI'S omits it. Excepting this, and the Paulician heretics, who rejected it, all ancient testimony is on its side. The internal evidence is equally strong. The author calls himself the apostle Peter, 1Pe 1:1, and "a witness of Christ's sufferings," and an "elder," 1Pe 5:1. The energy of the style harmonizes with the warmth of Peter's character; and, as ERASMUS says, this Epistle is full of apostolic dignity and authority and is worthy of the leader among the apostles.
PETER'S PERSONAL HISTORY.--Simon, Or Simeon, was a native of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee, son of Jonas or John. With his father and his brother Andrew he carried on trade as a fisherman at Capernaum, his subsequent place of abode. He was a married man, and tradition represents his wife's name as Concordia or Perpetua. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA says that she suffered martyrdom, her husband encouraging her to be faithful unto death, "Remember, dear, our Lord." His wife's mother was restored from a fever by Christ. He was brought to Jesus by his brother Andrew, who had been a disciple of John the Baptist, but was pointed to the Saviour as "the Lamb of God" by his master ( Joh 1:29). Jesus, on first beholding him, gave him the name by which chiefly he is known, indicative of his subsequent character and work in the Church, "Peter" (Greek) or "Cephas" (Aramaic), a stone ( Mt 4:18). He did not join our Lord finally until a subsequent period. The leading incidents in his apostolic life are well known: his walking on the troubled waters to meet Jesus, but sinking through doubting ( Mt 14:30); his bold and clear acknowledgment of the divine person and office of Jesus ( Mt 16:16; Mr 8:29; Joh 11:27), notwithstanding the difficulties in the way of such belief, whence he was then also designated as the stone, or rock ( Mt 16:18); but his rebuke of his Lord when announcing what was so unpalatable to carnal prejudices, Christ's coming passion and death ( Mt 16:22); his passing from one extreme to the opposite, in reference to Christ's offer to wash his feet ( Joh 13:8, 9); his self-confident assertion that he would never forsake his Lord, whatever others might do ( Mt 26:33), followed by his base denial of Christ thrice with curses ( Mt 26:75); his deep penitence; Christ's full forgiveness and prophecy of his faithfulness unto death, after he had received from him a profession of "love" as often repeated as his previous denial ( Joh 21:15-17). These incidents illustrate his character as zealous, pious, and ardently attached to the Lord, but at the same time impulsive in feeling, rather than calmly and continuously steadfast. Prompt in action and ready to avow his convictions boldly, he was hasty in judgment, precipitate, and too self-confident in the assertion of his own steadfastness; the result was that, though he abounded in animal courage, his moral courage was too easily overcome by fear of man's opinion. A wonderful change was wrought in him by his restoration after his fall, through the grace of his risen Lord. His zeal and ardor became sanctified, being chastened by a spirit of unaffected humility. His love to the Lord was, if possible, increased, while his mode of manifesting it now was in doing and suffering for His name, rather than in loud protestations. Thus, when imprisoned and tried before the Sanhedrim for preaching Christ, he boldly avowed his determination to continue to do so. He is well called "the mouth of the apostles." His faithfulness led to his apprehension by Herod Agrippa, with a view to his execution, from which, however, he was delivered by the angel of the Lord.
After the ascension he took the lead in the Church; and on the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he exercised the designed power of "the keys" of Christ's kingdom, by opening the door of the Church, in preaching, for the admission of thousands of Israelites; and still more so in opening (in obedience to a special revelation) an entrance to the "devout" (that is, Jewish proselyte from heathendom) Gentile, Cornelius: the forerunner of the harvest gathered in from idolatrous Gentiles at Antioch. This explains in what sense Christ used as to him the words, "Upon this rock I will build my Church" ( Mt 16:18), namely, on the preaching of Christ, the true "Rock," by connection with whom only he was given the designation: a title shared in common on the same grounds by the rest of the apostles, as the first founders of the Church on Christ, "the chief corner-stone" ( Eph 2:20). A name is often given in Hebrew, not that the person is actually the thing itself, but has some special relation to it; as Elijah means Mighty Jehovah, so Simon is called Peter "the rock," not that he is so, save by connection with Jesus, the only true Rock ( Isa 28:16; 1Co 3:11). As subsequently he identified himself with "Satan," and is therefore called so ( Mt 16:23), in the same way, by his clear confession of Christ, the Rock, he became identified with Him, and is accordingly so called ( Mt 16:18). It is certain that there is no instance on record of Peter's having ever claimed or exercised supremacy; on the contrary, he is represented as sent by the apostles at Jerusalem to confirm the Samaritans baptized by Philip the deacon; again at the council of Jerusalem, not he, but James the president, or leading bishop in the Church of that city, pronounced the authoritative decision: Ac 15:19, "My sentence is," &c. A kind of primacy, doubtless (though certainly not supremacy), was given him on the ground of his age, and prominent earnestness, and boldness in taking the lead on many important occasions. Hence he is called "first" in enumerating the apostles. Hence, too, arise the phrases, "Peter and the Eleven," "Peter and the rest of the apostles"; and Paul, in going up to Jerusalem after his conversion, went to see Peter in particular.
Once only he again betrayed the same spirit of vacillation through fear of man's reproach which had caused his denial of his Lord. Though at the Jerusalem council he advocated the exemption of Gentile converts from the ceremonial observances of the law, yet he, after having associated in closest intercourse with the Gentiles at Antioch, withdrew from them, through dread of the prejudices of his Jewish brethren who came from James, and timidly dissembled his conviction of the religious equality of Jew and Gentile; for this Paul openly withstood and rebuked him: a plain refutation of his alleged supremacy and infallibility (except where specially inspired, as in writing his Epistles). In all other cases he showed himself to be, indeed, as Paul calls him, "a pillar" ( Ga 2:9). Subsequently we find him in "Babylon," whence he wrote this First Epistle to the Israelite believers of the dispersion, and the Gentile Christians united in Christ, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
JEROME [On Illustrious Men, 1] states that "Peter, after having been bishop of Antioch, and after having preached to the believers of the circumcision in Pontus, &c. [plainly inferred from 1Pe 1:1], in the second year of Claudius went to Rome to refute Simon Magus, and for twenty-five years there held the episcopal chair, down to the last year of Nero, that is, the fourteenth, by whom he was crucified with his head downwards, declaring himself unworthy to be crucified as his Lord, and was buried in the Vatican, near the triumphal way." E USEBIUS [Chronicles, Anno 3], also asserts his episcopate at Antioch; his assertion that Peter founded that Church contradicts Ac 11:19-22. His journey to Rome to oppose Simon Magus arose from JUSTIN'S story of the statue found at Rome (really the statue of the Sabine god, Semo Sanctus, or Hercules, mistaken as if Simon Magus were worshipped by that name, "Simoni Deo Sancto"; found in the Tiber in 1574, or on an island in the Tiber in 1662), combined with the account in Ac 8:9-24. The twenty-five years' bishopric is chronologically impossible, as it would make Peter, at the interview with Paul at Antioch, to have been then for some years bishop of Rome! His crucifixion is certain from Christ's prophecy, Joh 21:18, 19. DIONYSIUS OF CORINTH (in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 2.25]) asserted in an epistle to the Romans, that Paul and Peter planted both the Roman and Corinthian churches, and endured martyrdom in Italy at the same time. So TERTULLIAN [Against Marcion, 4.5, and The Prescription Against Heretics, 36, 38]. Also Caius, the presbyter of Rome, in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 2.25] asserts that some memorials of their martyrdom were to be seen at Rome on the road to Ostia. So EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 2.25, and Demonstration of the Gospel, 3.116]. So LACTANTIUS [Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died, 2]. Many of the details are palpably false; whether the whole be so or not is dubious, considering the tendency to concentrate at Rome events of interest [ALFORD]. What is certain is, that Peter was not there before the writing of the Epistle to the Romans (A.D. 58), otherwise he would have been mentioned in it; nor during Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, otherwise he would have been mentioned in some one of Paul's many other Epistles written from Rome; nor during Paul's second imprisonment, at least when he was writing the Second Epistle to Timothy, just before his martyrdom. He may have gone to Rome after Paul's death, and, as common tradition represents, been imprisoned in the Mamertine dungeon, and crucified on the Janiculum, on the eminence of St. Pietro in Montorio, and his remains deposited under the great altar in the center of the famous basilica of St. Peter. AMBROSE [Epistles, 33 (Edition Paris, 1586), p. 1022] relates that St. Peter, not long before his death, being overcome by the solicitations of his fellow Christians to save himself, was fleeing from Rome when he was met by our Lord, and on asking, "Lord, whither goest Thou?" received the answer, "I go to be crucified afresh." On this he returned and joyfully went to martyrdom. The church called "Domine quo vadis" on the Appian Way, commemorates the legend. It is not unlikely that the whole tradition is built on the connection which existed between Paul and Peter. As Paul, "the apostle of the uncircumcision," wrote Epistles to Galatia, Ephesus, and Colosse, and to Philemon at Colosse, making the Gentile Christians the persons prominently addressed, and the Jewish Christians subordinately so; so, vice versa, Peter, "the apostle of the circumcision," addressed the same churches, the Jewish Christians in them primarily, and the Gentile Christians also, secondarily.
TO WHOM HE ADDRESSES THIS EPISTLE.--The heading, 1Pe 1:1, "to the elect strangers (spiritually pilgrims) of the dispersion" (Greek), clearly marks the Christians of the Jewish dispersion as prominently addressed, but still including also Gentile Christians as grafted into the Christian Jewish stock by adoption and faith, and so being part of the true Israel. 1Pe 1:14; 2:9, 10; 3:6; 4:3 clearly prove this. Thus he, the apostle of the circumcision, sought to unite in one Christ Jew and Gentile, promoting thereby the same work and doctrine as Paul the apostle of the uncircumcision. The provinces are named by Peter in the heading in the order proceeding from northeast to south and west. Pontus was the country of the Christian Jew Aquila. To Galatia Paul paid two visits, founding and confirming churches. Crescens, his companion, went there about the time of Paul's last imprisonment, just before his martyrdom. Ancyra was subsequently its ecclesiastical metropolis. Men of Cappadocia, as well as of "Pontus" and "Asia," were among the hearers of Peter's effective sermon on the Pentecost whereon the Spirit decended on the Church; these probably brought home to their native land the first tidings of the Gospel. Proconsular "Asia" included Mysia, Lydia, Caria, Phrygia, Pisidia, and Lyaconia. In Lycaonia were the churches of Iconium, founded by Paul and Barnabas; of Lystra, Timothy's birthplace, where Paul was stoned at the instigation of the Jews; and of Derbe, the birthplace of Gaius, or Caius. In Pisidia was Antioch, where Paul was the instrument of converting many, but was driven out by the Jews. In Caria was Miletus, containing doubtless a Christian Church. In Phrygia, Paul preached both times when visiting Galatia in its neighborhood, and in it were the churches of Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse, of which last Church Philemon and Onesimus were members, and Archippus and Epaphras leaders. In Lydia was the Philadelphian Church, favorably noticed in Re 3:7, &c.; that of Sardis, the capital, and of Thyatira, and of Ephesus, founded by Paul, and a scene of the labors of Aquila and Priscilla and Apollos, and subsequently of more than two whole years' labor of Paul again, and subsequently censured for falling from its first love in Re 2:4. Smyrna of Ionia was in the same quarter, and as one of the seven churches receives unqualified praise. In Mysia was Pergamos. Troas, too, is known as the scene of Paul's preaching and raising Eutychus to life ( Ac 20:6-10), and of his subsequently staying for a time with Carpus ( 2Ti 4:13). Of "Bithynia," no Church is expressly named in Scripture elsewhere. When Paul at an earlier period "assayed to go into Bithynia" ( Ac 16:7), the Spirit suffered him not. But afterwards, we infer from 1Pe 1:1, the Spirit did impart the Gospel to that country, possibly by Peter's ministry, In government, these several churches, it appears from this Epistle ( 1Pe 5:1, 2, "Feed," &c.), were much in the same states as when Paul addressed the Ephesian "elders" at Miletus ( Ac 20:17, 28, "feed") in very similar language; elders or presbyter-bishops ruled, while the apostles exercised the general superintendence. They were exposed to persecutions, though apparently not systematic, but rather annoyances and reproach arising from their not joining their heathen neighbors in riotous living, into which, however, some of them were in danger of falling. The evils which existed among themselves, and which are therefore reproved, were ambition and lucre-seeking on the part of the presbyters ( 1Pe 5:2, 3), evil thoughts and words among the members in general, and a want of sympathy and generosity towards one another.
HIS OBJECT seems to be, by the prospect of their heavenly portion and by Christ's example, to afford consolation to the persecuted, and prepare them for a greater approaching ordeal, and to exhort all, husbands, wives, servants, presbyters, and people, to a due discharge of relative duties, so as to give no handle to the enemy to reproach Christianity, but rather to win them to it, and so to establish them in "the true grace of God wherein they stand" ( 1Pe 5:12). However, see on 1Pe 5:12, on the oldest reading. ALFORD rightly argues that "exhorting and testifying" there, refer to Peter's exhortations throughout the Epistle grounded on testimony which he bears to the Gospel truth, already well known to his readers by the teaching of Paul in those churches. They were already introduced "into" (so the Greek, 1Pe 5:12) this grace of God as their safe standing-ground. Compare 1Co 15:1, "I declare unto you the Gospel wherein ye stand." Therefore he does not, in this Epistle, set forth a complete statement of this Gospel doctrine of grace, but falls back on it as already known. Compare 1Pe 1:8, 18, "ye know"; 1Pe 3:15; 2Pe 3:1. Not that Peter servilely copies the style and mode of teaching of Paul, but as an independent witness in his own style attests the same truths. We may divide the Epistle into: (I) The inscription ( 1Pe 1:1, 2). (II) The stirring-up of a pure feeling in believers as born again of God. By the motive of hope to which God has regenerated us ( 1Pe 1:3-12); bringing forth the fruit of faith, considering the costly price paid for our redemption from sin ( 1Pe 1:14-21). Being purified by the Spirit unto love of the brethren as begotten of God's eternal word, as spiritual priest-kings, to whom alone Christ is precious ( 1Pe 1:22; 2:10); after Christ's example in suffering, maintaining a good conversation in every relation ( 1Pe 2:10; 3:14), and a good profession of faith as having in view Christ's once-offered sacrifice, and His future coming to judgment ( 1Pe 3:15; 4:11); and exhibiting patience in adversity, as looking for future glorification with Christ, (1) in general as Christians, 1Pe 4:12-19; (2) each in his own sphere, 1Pe 5:1-11. "The title "Beloved" marks the separation of the second part from the first, 1Pe 2:11; and of the third part from the second, 1Pe 4:12" [BENGEL]. (III). The conclusion.
TIME AND PLACE OF WRITING.--It was plainly before the open and systematic persecution of the later years of Nero had begun. That this Epistle was written after Paul's Epistles, even those written during his imprisonment at Rome, ending in A.D. 63, appears from the acquaintance which Peter in this Epistle shows he has with them. Compare 1Pe 2:13 with 1Ti 2:2-4; 1Pe 2:18 with Eph 6:5; 1Pe 1:2 with Eph 1:4-7; 1Pe 1:3 with Eph 1:3; 1Pe 1:14 with Ro 12:2; 1Pe 2:6-10 with Ro 9:32, 33; 1Pe 2:13 with Ro 13:1-4; 1Pe 2:16 with Ga 5:13; 1Pe 2:18 with Eph 6:5; 1Pe 3:1 with Eph 5:22; 1Pe 3:9 with Ro 12:17; 1Pe 4:9 with Php 2:14; Ro 12:13 and Heb 13:2; 1Pe 4:10 with Ro 12:6-8; 1Pe 5:1 with Ro 8:18; 1Pe 5:5 with Eph 5:21; Php 2:3, 5-8; 1Pe 5:8 with 1Th 5:6; 1Pe 5:14 with 1Co 16:20. Moreover, in 1Pe 5:13, Mark is mentioned as with Peter in Babylon. This must have been after Col 4:10 (A.D. 61-63), when Mark was with Paul at Rome, but intending to go to Asia Minor. Again, in 2Ti 4:11 (A.D. 67 or 68), Mark was in or near Ephesus, in Asia Minor, and Timothy is told to bring him to Rome. So that it is likely it was after this, namely, after Paul's martyrdom, that Mark joined Peter, and consequently that this Epistle was written. It is not likely that Peter would have entrenched on Paul's field of labor, the churches of Asia Minor, during Paul's lifetime. The death of the apostle of the uncircumcision, and the consequent need of someone to follow up his teachings, probably gave occasion to the testimony given by Peter to the same churches, collectively addressed, in behalf of the same truth. The relation in which the Pauline Gentile churches stood towards the apostles at Jerusalem favors this view. Even the Gentile Christians would naturally look to the spiritual fathers of the Church at Jerusalem, the center whence the Gospel had emanated to them, for counsel wherewith to meet the pretensions of Judaizing Christians and heretics; and Peter, always prominent among the apostles in Jerusalem, would even when elsewhere feel a deep interest in them, especially when they were by death bereft of Paul's guidance. B IRKS [Horæ Evangelicæ] suggests that false teachers may have appealed from Paul's doctrine to that of James and Peter. Peter then would naturally write to confirm the doctrines of grace and tacitly show there was no difference between his teaching and Paul's. BIRKS prefers dating the Epistle A.D. 58, after Paul's second visit to Galatia, when Silvanus was with him, and so could not have been with Peter ( A.D. 54), and before his imprisonment at Rome, when Mark was with him, and so could not have been with Peter ( A.D. 62); perhaps when Paul was detained at Cæsarea, and so debarred from personal intercourse with those churches. I prefer the view previously stated. This sets aside the tradition that Paul and Peter suffered martyrdom together at Rome. ORIGEN'S and EUSEBIUS' statement that Peter visited the churches of Asia in person seems very probable.
The PLACE OF WRITING was doubtless Babylon on the Euphrates ( 1Pe 5:13). It is most improbable that in the midst of writing matter-of-fact communications and salutations in a remarkably plain Epistle, the symbolical language of prophecy (namely, "Babylon" for Rome) should be used. JOSEPHUS [Antiquities, 15.2.2; 3.1] states that there was a great multitude of Jews in the Chaldean Babylon; it is therefore likely that "the apostle of the circumcision" ( Ga 2:7, 8) would at some time or other visit them. Some have maintained that the Babylon meant was in Egypt because Mark preached in and around Alexandria after Peter's death, and therefore it is likely he did so along with that apostle in the same region previously. But no mention elsewhere in Scripture is made of this Egyptian Babylon, but only of the Chaldean one. And though towards the close of Caligula's reign a persecution drove the Jews thence to Seleucia, and a plague five years after still further thinned their numbers, yet this does not preclude their return and multiplication during the twenty years that elapsed between the plague and the writing of the Epistle. Moreover, the order in which the countries are enumerated, from northeast to south and west, is such as would be adopted by one writing from the Oriental Babylon on the Euphrates, not from Egypt or Rome. Indeed, COSMAS INDICOPLEUSTES, in the sixth century, understood the Babylon meant to be outside the Roman empire. Silvanus, Paul's companion, became subsequently Peter's, and was the carrier of this Epistle.
STYLE.--Fervor and practical truth, rather than logical reasoning, are the characteristics, of this Epistle, as they were of its energetic, warm-hearted writer. His familiarity with Paul's Epistles shown in the language accords with what we should expect from the fact of Paul's having "communicated the Gospel which he preached among the Gentiles" (as revealed specially to him) to Peter among others "of reputation" ( Ga 2:2). Individualities occur, such as baptism, "the answer of a good conscience toward God" ( 1Pe 3:21); "consciousness of God" (Greek), 1Pe 2:19, as a motive for enduring sufferings; "living hope" ( 1Pe 1:3); "an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away" ( 1Pe 1:4); "kiss of charity" ( 1Pe 5:14). Christ is viewed less in relation to His past sufferings than as at present exalted and hereafter to be manifested in all His majesty. Glory and hope are prominent features in this Epistle ( 1Pe 1:8), so much so that WEISS entitles him "the apostle of hope." The realization of future bliss as near causes him to regard believers as but "strangers" and "sojourners" here. Chastened fervor, deep humility, and ardent love appear, just as we should expect from one who had been so graciously restored after his grievous fall. "Being converted," he truly does "strengthen his brethren." His fervor shows itself in often repeating the same thought in similar words.
In some passages he shows familiarity with the Epistle of James, the apostle of special weight with the Jewish legalizing party, whose inspiration he thus confirms (compare 1Pe 1:6, 7 with Jas 1:2, 3; 1Pe 1:24 with Jas 1:10; 1Pe 2:1 with Jas 1:21; 1Pe 4:8 with Jas 5:20, both quoting Pr 10:12; 5:5 with Jas 4:6, both quoting Pr 3:34). In most of these cases Old Testament quotations are the common ground of both. "Strong susceptibility to outward impressions, liveliness of feeling, dexterity in handling subjects, dispose natures like that of Peter to repeat afresh the thoughts of others" [S TEIGER].
The diction of this Epistle and of his speeches in Acts is very similar: an undesigned coincidence, and so a mark of genuineness (compare 1Pe 2:7 with Ac 4:11; 1Pe 1:12 with Ac 5:32; 1Pe 2:24 with Ac 5:30; 10:39; 1Pe 5:1 with Ac 2:32; 3:15; 1Pe 1:10 with Ac 3:18; 10:43; 1Pe 1:21 with Ac 3:15; 10:40; 1Pe 4:5 with Ac 10:42; 1Pe 2:24 with Ac 3:19, 26).
There is, too, a recurrence to the language of the Lord at the last interview after His resurrection, recorded in Joh 21:15-23. Compare "the Shepherd . . . of . . . souls," 1Pe 2:25; "Feed the flock of God," "the chief Shepherd," 1Pe 5:2, 4, with Joh 21:15-17; "Feed My lambs . . . sheep"; also "Whom . . . ye love," 1Pe 1:8; 2:7, with Joh 21:15-17; "lovest thou Me?" and 2Pe 1:14, with Joh 21:18, 19. WIESINGER well says, "He who in loving impatience cast himself into the sea to meet the Lord, is also the man who most earnestly testifies to the hope of His return; he who dated his own faith from the sufferings of his Master, is never weary in holding up the suffering form of the Lord before his readers to comfort and stimulate them; he before whom the death of a martyr is in assured expectation, is the man who, in the greatest variety of aspects, sets forth the duty, as well as the consolation, of suffering for Christ; as a rock of the Church he grounds his readers against the storm of present tribulation on the true Rock of ages."
1Pe 1:1-25. ADDRESS TO THE ELECTED OF THE GODHEAD: THANKSGIVING FOR THE LIVING HOPE TO WHICH WE ARE BEGOTTEN, PRODUCING JOY AMIDST SUFFERINGS: THIS SALVATION AN OBJECT OF DEEPEST INTEREST TO PROPHETS AND TO ANGELS: ITS COSTLY PRICE A MOTIVE TO HOLINESS AND LOVE, AS WE ARE BORN AGAIN OF THE EVER-ABIDING WORD OF GOD.
1. Peter--Greek form of Cephas, man of
rock.
an apostle of Jesus Christ--"He
who preaches otherwise than as a messenger of Christ, is
not to be heard; if he preach as such, then it is all one
as if thou didst hear Christ speaking in thy presence"
[LUTHER].
to the strangers scattered--literally,
"sojourners of the dispersion"; only in
Joh 7:35 and Jas 1:1, in New Testament, and the
Septuagint,
Ps 147:2, "the outcasts of Israel"; the
designation peculiarly given to the Jews in their
dispersed state throughout the world ever since the
Babylonian captivity. These he, as the apostle of the
circumcision, primarily addresses, but not in the limited
temporal sense only; he regards their temporal condition as
a shadow of their spiritual calling to be strangers
and pilgrims on earth, looking for the heavenly Jerusalem
as their home. So the Gentile Christians, as the
spiritual Israel, are included secondarily, as having the
same high calling. He (
1Pe 1:14; 2:10; 4:3) plainly refers to Christian
Gentiles (compare
1Pe 1:17; 1Pe 2:11). Christians, if they rightly
consider their calling, must never settle themselves here,
but feel themselves travellers. As the Jews in their
dispersion diffused through the nations the
knowledge of the one God, preparatory to Christ's first
advent, so Christians, by their dispersion among the
unconverted, diffuse the knowledge of Christ, preparatory
to His second advent. "The children of God scattered
abroad" constitute one whole in Christ, who
"gathers them together in one," now partially and
in Spirit, hereafter perfectly and visibly.
"Elect," in the Greek order, comes before
"strangers"; elect, in relation to heaven,
strangers, in relation to the earth. The
election here is that of individuals to eternal life by
the sovereign grace of God, as the sequel shows.
"While each is certified of his own election by the
Spirit, he receives no assurance concerning others, nor are
we to be too inquisitive [
Joh 21:21, 22]; Peter numbers them among the
elect, as they carried the appearance of having been
regenerated" [CALVIN]. He calls the whole Church by
the designation strictly belonging only to the better
portion of them [CALVIN]. The election to hearing,
and that to eternal life, are distinct. Realization
of our election is a strong motive to holiness. The
minister invites all, yet he does not hide the truth that
in none but the elect will the preaching effect eternal
blessing. As the chief fruit of exhortations, and even of
threatenings, redounds to "the elect"; therefore,
at the outset, Peter addresses them. S TEIGER
translates, to "the elect pilgrims who form the
dispersion in Pontus.", &c. The order of
the provinces is that in which they would be viewed by one
writing from the east from Babylon (
1Pe 5:13); from northeast southwards to Galatia,
southeast to Cappadocia, then Asia, and back to Bithynia,
west of Pontus. Contrast the order,
Ac 2:9. He now was ministering to those same peoples as
he preached to on Pentecost: "Parthians, Medes,
Elamites, dwellers in Mesopotamia and Judea," that is,
the Jews now subject to the Parthians, whose capital was
Babylon, where he labored in person; "dwellers
in Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Bithynia," the
Asiatic dispersion derived from Babylon, whom he ministers
to by letter.
2. foreknowledge--foreordaining love (
1Pe 1:20), inseparable from God's
foreknowledge, the origin from which, and
pattern according to which, election takes place.
Ac 2:23, and Ro 11:2, prove "foreknowledge"
to be foreordination. God's foreknowledge
is not the perception of any ground of action out of
Himself; still in it liberty is comprehended, and all
absolute constraint debarred [ANSELM in S TEIGER]. For so
the Son of God was "foreknown" (so the
Greek for "foreordained,"
1Pe 1:20) to be the sacrificial Lamb, not against, or
without His will, but His will rested in the will of the
Father; this includes self-conscious action; nay, even
cheerful acquiescense. The Hebrew and Greek
"know" include approval and
acknowledging as one's own. The Hebrew marks
the oneness of loving and choosing, by having
one word for both, bachar (Greek,
"hairetizo," Septuagint). Peter
descends from the eternal "election" of God
through the new birth, to the believer's
"sanctification," that from this he might again
raise them through the consideration of their new
birth to a "living hope" of the heavenly
"inheritance" [HEIDEGGER]. The divine three are
introduced in their respective functions in
redemption.
through--Greek, "in";
the element in which we are elected. The
"election" of God realized and manifested itself
"IN" their sanctification. Believers are
"sanctified through the offering of Christ once for
all" (
Heb 10:10). "Thou must believe and know that thou
art holy; not, however, through thine own piety, but
through the blood of Christ" [LUTHER]. This is the
true sanctification of the Spirit, to obey the Gospel, to
trust in Christ [BULLINGER].
sanctification--the Spirit's
setting apart of the saint as consecrated to God. The
execution of God's choice (
Ga 1:4). God the Father gives us salvation by
gratuitous election; the Son earns it by His
blood-shedding; the Holy Spirit applies the merit of the
Son to the soul by the Gospel word [CALVIN]. Compare
Nu 6:24-26, the Old Testament triple blessing.
unto obedience--the result or end
aimed at by God as respects us, the obedience
which consists in faith, and that which flows from faith;
"obeying the truth through the Spirit" (
1Pe 1:22).
Ro 1:5, "obedience to the faith," and
obedience the fruit of faith.
sprinkling, &c.--not in
justification through the atonement once for all, which is
expressed in the previous clauses, but (as the order
proves) the daily being sprinkled by Christ's blood,
and so cleansed from all sin, which is the privilege of
one already justified and "walking in the
light."
Grace--the source of
"peace."
be multiplied--still further than
already.
Da 4:1, "Ye have now peace and grace, but still
not in perfection; therefore, ye must go on increasing
until the old Adam be dead" [LUTHER].
3. He begins, like Paul, in opening his Epistles with
giving thanks to God for the greatness of the salvation;
herein he looks forward (1) into the future (
1Pe 1:3-9); (2) backward into the past (
1Pe 1:10-12) [ALFORD].
Blessed--A distinct Greek word
(eulogetos, "Blessed BE") is used of God,
from that used of man (eulogemenos, "Blessed
IS").
Father--This whole Epistle accords
with the Lord's prayer; "Father,"
1Pe 1:3, 14, 17, 23; 2:2; "Our,"
1Pe 1:4, end; "In heaven,"
1Pe 1:4; "Hallowed be Thy name,"
1Pe 1:15, 16; 3:15; "Thy kingdom come,"
1Pe 2:9; "Thy will be done,"
1Pe 2:15; 3:17; 4:2, 19; "daily bread,"
1Pe 5:7; "forgiveness of sins,"
1Pe 4:8, 1; "temptation,"
1Pe 4:12; "deliverance,"
1Pe 4:18 [BENGEL]; Compare
1Pe 3:7; 4:7, for allusions to prayer.
"Barak," Hebrew "bless,"
is literally "kneel." God, as the original source
of blessing, must be blessed through all His works.
abundant--Greek,
"much," "full." That God's
"mercy" should reach us, guilty and
enemies, proves its fulness. "Mercy" met our
misery; "grace," our guilt.
begotten us again--of the
Spirit by the word (
1Pe 1:23); whereas we were children of wrath naturally,
and dead in sins.
unto--so that we have.
lively--Greek,
"living." It has life in itself, gives life, and
looks for life as its object [DE WETTE]. Living is a
favorite expression of Peter (
1Pe 1:23; 1Pe 2:4, 5). He delights in contemplating
life overcoming death in the believer. Faith and
love follow hope (
1Pe 1:8, 21, 22). "(Unto) a lively hope" is
further explained by "(To) an inheritance
incorruptible . . . fadeth not away," and
"(unto) salvation . . . ready to be revealed
in the last time." I prefer with BENGEL and STEIGER to
join as in Greek, "Unto a hope living
(possessing life and vitality) through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ." Faith, the subjective
means of the spiritual resurrection of the soul, is wrought
by the same power whereby Christ was raised from the dead.
Baptism is an objective means (
1Pe 3:21). Its moral fruit is a new life. The
connection of our sonship with the resurrection appears
also in
Lu 20:36; Ac 13:33. Christ's resurrection is the
cause of ours, (1) as an efficient cause (
1Co 15:22); (2) as an exemplary cause, all the saints
being about to rise after the similitude of His
resurrection. Our "hope" is, Christ rising from
the dead hath ordained the power, and is become the pattern
of the believer's resurrection. The soul, born again
from its natural state into the life of grace, is after
that born again unto the life of glory.
Mt 19:28, "regeneration, when the Son of man shall
sit in the throne of His glory"; the resurrection of
our bodies is a kind of coming out of the womb of the earth
and entering upon immortality, a nativity into another life
[BISHOP P EARSON]. The four causes of our salvation are;
(1) the primary cause, God's mercy; (2) the proximate
cause, Christ's death and resurrection; (3) the formal
cause, our regeneration; (4) the final cause, our eternal
bliss. As John is the disciple of love, so Paul of
faith, and Peter of hope. Hence, Peter, most
of all the apostles, urges the resurrection of Christ; an
undesigned coincidence between the history and the Epistle,
and so a proof of genuineness. Christ's resurrection
was the occasion of his own restoration by Christ after his
fall.
4. To an inheritance--the object of our "hope"
(
1Pe 1:3), which is therefore not a dead, but a
"living" hope. The inheritance is the
believer's already by title, being actually assigned to
him; the entrance on its possession is future, and hoped
for as a certainty. Being "begotten again" as a
"son," he is an "heir," as earthly
fathers beget children who shall inherit
their goods. The inheritance is
"salvation" (
1Pe 1:5, 9); "the grace to be brought at the
revelation of Christ" (
1Pe 1:13); "a crown of glory that fadeth not
away."
incorruptible--not having within the
germs of death. Negations of the imperfections which meet
us on every side here are the chief means of conveying to
our minds a conception of the heavenly things which
"have not entered into the heart of man," and
which we have not faculties now capable of fully knowing.
Peter, sanguine, impulsive, and highly susceptible of
outward impressions, was the more likely to feel painfully
the deep-seated corruption which, lurking under the
outward splendor of the loveliest of earthly things, dooms
them soon to rottenness and decay.
undefiled--not stained as earthly
goods by sin, either in the acquiring, or in the using of
them; unsusceptible of any stain. "The rich man is
either a dishonest man himself, or the heir of a dishonest
man" [JEROME]. Even Israel's inheritance was
defiled by the people's sins. Defilement intrudes
even on our holy things now, whereas God's service
ought to be undefiled.
that fadeth not away--Contrast
1Pe 1:24. Even the most delicate part of the heavenly
inheritance, its bloom, continues unfading. "In
substance incorruptible; in purity undefiled;
in beauty unfading" [A LFORD].
reserved--kept up (
Col 1:5, "laid up for you in heaven,"
2Ti 4:8); Greek perfect, expressing a fixed
and abiding state, "which has been and is
reserved." The inheritance is in security, beyond
risk, out of the reach of Satan, though we for whom it is
reserved are still in the midst of dangers. Still, if we be
believers, we too, as well as the inheritance, are
"kept" (the same Greek,
Joh 17:12) by Jesus safely (
1Pe 1:5).
in heaven--Greek, "in the
heavens," where it can neither be destroyed nor
plundered. It does not follow that, because it is
now laid up in heaven, it shall not
hereafter be on earth also.
for you--It is secure not only in
itself from all misfortune, but also from all alienation,
so that no other can receive it in your stead. He had said
us (
1Pe 1:3); he now turns his address to the elect in
order to encourage and exhort them.
5. kept--Greek, "who are being guarded."
He answers the objection, Of what use is it that salvation
is "reserved" for us in heaven, as in a calm
secure haven, when we are tossed in the world as on a
troubled sea in the midst of a thousand wrecks? [CALVIN].
As the inheritance is "kept" (
1Pe 1:4) safely for the far distant "heirs,"
so must they be "guarded" in their persons so as
to be sure of reaching it. Neither shall it be wanting to
them, nor they to it. "We are guarded in the
world as our inheritance is kept in
heaven." This defines the "you" of
1Pe 1:4. The inheritance, remember, belongs only to
those who "endure unto the end," being
"guarded" by, or IN "the power of God,
through faith." Contrast
Lu 8:13. God Himself is our sole guarding power.
"It is His power which saves us from our
enemies. It is His long-suffering which saves us
from ourselves" [BENGEL].
Jude 1, "preserved in Christ Jesus";
Php 1:6; 4:7, "keep"; Greek,
"guard," as here. This guarding is effected, on
the part of God, by His "power," the efficient
cause; on the part of man, "through faith," the
effective means.
by--Greek, "in." The
believer lives spiritually in God, and in virtue of
His power, and God lives in him. "In" marks that
the cause is inherent in the means, working organically
through them with living influence, so that the means, in
so far as the cause works organically through them, exist
also in the cause. The power of God which guards the
believer is no external force working upon him from without
with mechanical necessity, but the spiritual power of God
in which he lives, and with whose Spirit he is clothed. It
comes down on, and then dwells in him, even as he is in it
[STEIGER]. Let none flatter himself he is being guarded by
the power of God unto salvation, if he be not walking by
faith. Neither speculative knowledge and reason, nor
works of seeming charity, will avail, severed from faith.
It is through faith that salvation is both received and
kept.
unto salvation--the final end of the
new birth. "Salvation," not merely accomplished
for us in title by Christ, and made over to us on our
believing, but actually manifested, and finally
completed.
ready to be revealed--When Christ
shall be revealed, it shall be revealed. The preparations
for it are being made now, and began when Christ came:
"All things are now ready"; the salvation
is already accomplished, and only waits the Lord's time
to be manifested: He "is ready to judge."
last time--the last day, closing the
day of grace; the day of judgment, of redemption, of the
restitution of all things, and of perdition of the ungodly.
6. Wherein--in which prospect of final salvation.
greatly rejoice--"exult with
joy": "are exuberantly glad."
Salvation is realized by faith (
1Pe 1:9) as a thing so actually present as to cause
exulting joy in spite of existing afflictions.
for a season--Greek, "for
a little time."
if need be--"if it be God's
will that it should be so" [ALFORD], for not all
believers are afflicted. One need not invite or lay a cross
on himself, but only "take up" the cross which
God imposes ("his cross");
2Ti 3:12 is not to be pressed too far. Not every
believer, nor every sinner, is tried with afflictions
[THEOPHYLACT]. Some falsely think that notwithstanding our
forgiveness in Christ, a kind of atonement, or expiation by
suffering, is needed.
ye are in heaviness--Greek,
"ye were grieved." The "grieved" is
regarded as past, the "exulting joy"
present. Because the realized joy of the coming salvation
makes the present grief seem as a thing of the
past. At the first shock of affliction ye were
grieved, but now by anticipation ye rejoice,
regarding the present grief as past.
through--Greek, "IN":
the element in which the grief has place.
manifold--many and of various kinds
(
1Pe 4:12, 13).
temptations--"trials"
testing your faith.
7. Aim of the "temptations."
trial--testing, proving. That your
faith so proved "may be found (aorist; once for
all, as the result of its being proved on the
judgment-day) unto (eventuating in) praise," &c.,
namely, the praise to be bestowed by the Judge.
than that of gold--rather, "than
gold."
though--"which perisheth, YET is
tried with fire." If gold, though perishing (
1Pe 1:18), is yet tried with fire in order to remove
dross and test its genuineness, how much more does your
faith, which shall never perish, need to pass through a
fiery trial to remove whatever is defective, and to test
its genuineness and full value?
glory--"Honor" is not so
strong as "glory." As "praise" is in
words, so "honor" is in deeds: honorary
reward.
appearing--Translate as in
1Pe 1:13, "revelation." At Christ's
revelation shall take place also the revelation of the sons
of God (
Ro 8:19, "manifestation," Greek,
"revelation";
1Jo 3:2, Greek, "manifested . . .
manifested," for "appear . . .
appear").
8. not having seen, ye love--though in other cases it is
knowledge of the person that produces love to
him. They are more "blessed that have not seen and yet
have believed," than they who believed because they
have seen. On Peter's own love to Jesus, compare
Joh 21:15-17. Though the apostles had seen Him, they
now ceased to know Him merely after the flesh.
in whom--connected with
"believing": the result of which is "ye
rejoice" (Greek, "exult").
now--in the present state, as
contrasted with the future state when believers
"shall see His face."
unspeakable-- (
1Co 2:9).
full of glory--Greek,
"glorified." A joy now already encompassed
with glory. The "glory" is partly in present
possession, through the presence of Christ, "the Lord
of glory," in the soul; partly in assured
anticipation. "The Christian's joy is bound
up with love to Jesus: its ground is faith;
it is not therefore either self-seeking or
self-sufficient" [STEIGER].
9. Receiving--in sure anticipation; "the end of your
faith," that is, its crowning consummation, finally
completed "salvation" (Peter here confirms
Paul's teaching as to justification by faith):
also receiving now the title to it and the
first-fruits of it. In
1Pe 1:10 the "salvation" is represented as
already present, whereas "the prophets"
had it not as yet present. It must, therefore, in this
verse, refer to the present: Deliverance now from a
state of wrath: believers even now "receive
salvation," though its full "revelation" is
future.
of . . . souls--The immortal
soul was what was lost, so "salvation"
primarily concerns the soul; the body shall share in
redemption hereafter; the soul of the believer is
saved already: an additional proof that "receiving
. . . salvation" is here a thing present.
10. The magnitude of this "salvation" is proved
by the earnestness with which "prophets" and even
"angels" searched into it. Even from the
beginning of the world this salvation has been testified to
by the Holy Spirit.
prophets--Though there is no
Greek article, yet English Version is right,
"the prophets" generally (including all
the Old Testament inspired authors), as
"the angels" similarly refer to them in
general.
inquired--perseveringly: so the
Greek. Much more is manifested to us than by diligent
inquiry and search the prophets attained. Still it is not
said, they searched after it, but concerning
(so the Greek for "of") it. They were
already certain of the redemption being about to come. They
did not like us fully see, but they desired
to see the one and the same Christ whom we fully see in
spirit. "As Simeon was anxiously desiring previously,
and tranquil in peace only when he had seen Christ, so all
the Old Testament saints saw Christ only hidden, and as it
were absent--absent not in power and grace, but inasmuch as
He was not yet manifested in the flesh" [CALVIN]. The
prophets, as private individuals, had to reflect on
the hidden and far-reaching sense of their own prophecies;
because their words, as prophets, in their public
function, were not so much their own as the
Spirit's, speaking by and in them: thus Caiaphas. A
striking testimony to verbal inspiration; the words
which the inspired authors wrote are God's words
expressing the mind of the Spirit, which the writers
themselves searched into, to fathom the deep and precious
meaning, even as the believing readers did.
"Searched" implies that they had determinate
marks to go by in their search.
the grace that should come unto
you--namely, the grace of the New Testament: an earnest of
"the grace" of perfected "salvation
. . . to be brought at the (second) revelation of
Christ." Old Testament believers also possessed the
grace of God; they were children of God, but it was as
children in their nonage, so as to be like servants;
whereas we enjoy the full privileges of adult sons.
11. what--Greek, "In reference to what,
or what manner of time." What expresses the
time absolutely: what was to be the era of
Messiah's coming; what manner of time; what
events and features should characterize the time of His
coming. The "or" implies that some of the
prophets, if they could not as individuals discover the
exact time, searched into its characteristic
features and events. The Greek for "time"
is the season, the epoch, the fit time in God's
purposes.
Spirit of Christ . . . in
them-- (
Ac 16:7, in oldest manuscripts, "the Spirit of
Jesus";
Re 19:10). So JUSTIN MARTYR says, "Jesus was He
who appeared and communed with Moses, Abraham, and the
other patriarchs." CLEMENT OF A LEXANDRIA calls Him
"the Prophet of prophets, and Lord of all the
prophetical spirit."
did signify--"did give
intimation."
of--Greek, "the sufferers
(appointed) unto Christ," or foretold in
regard to Christ. "Christ," the
anointed Mediator, whose sufferings are the
price of our "salvation" (
1Pe 1:9, 10), and who is the channel of "the grace
that should come unto you."
the glory--Greek,
"glories," namely, of His resurrection, of His
ascension, of His judgment and coming kingdom, the
necessary consequence of the sufferings.
that should follow--Greek,
"after these (sufferings),"
1Pe 3:18-22; 5:1. Since "the Spirit of
Christ" is the Spirit of God, Christ is God. It
is only because the Son of God was to become our Christ
that He manifested Himself and the Father through Him in
the Old Testament, and by the Holy Spirit, eternally
proceeding from the Father and Himself, spake in the
prophets.
12. Not only was the future revealed to them, but this
also, that these revelations of the future were given them
not for themselves, but for our good in Gospel times. This,
so far from disheartening, only quickened them in
unselfishly testifying in the Spirit for the partial good
of their own generation (only of believers), and for the
full benefit of posterity. Contrast in Gospel times,
Re 22:10. Not that their prophecies were unattended
with spiritual instruction as to the Redeemer to their own
generation, but the full light was not to be given till
Messiah should come; it was well that they should have this
"revealed" to them, lest they should be
disheartened in not clearly discovering with all their
inquiry and search the full particulars of the coming
"salvation." To Daniel (
Da 9:25, 26) the "time" was revealed.
Our immense privileges are thus brought forth by
contrast with theirs, notwithstanding that they had the
great honor of Christ's Spirit speaking in them; and
this, as an incentive to still greater earnestness on our
part than even they manifested (
1Pe 1:13, &c.).
us--The oldest manuscripts read
"you," as in
1Pe 1:10. This verse implies that we,
Christians, may understand the prophecies by the
Spirit's aid in their most important part, namely, so
far as they have been already fulfilled.
with the Holy Ghost sent down--on
Pentecost. The oldest manuscripts omit Greek
preposition en, that is, "in"; then
translate, "by." The Evangelists speaking by the
Holy Spirit were infallible witnesses. "The Spirit of
Christ" was in the prophets also (
1Pe 1:11), but not manifestly, as in the case of the
Christian Church and its first preachers, "SENT down
from heaven." How favored are we in being ministered
to, as to "salvation," by prophets and apostles
alike, the latter now announcing the same things as
actually fulfilled which the former foretold.
which things--"the things now
reported unto you" by the evangelistic preachers
"Christ's sufferings and the glory that should
follow" (
1Pe 1:11, 12).
angels--still higher than "the
prophets" (
1Pe 1:10). Angels do not any more than ourselves
possess an INTUITIVE knowledge of redemption. "To look
into" in Greek is literally, "to bend over
so as to look deeply into and see to the bottom of a
thing." See on Jas
1:25, on same word. As the cherubim stood bending over
the mercy seat, the emblem of redemption, in the holiest
place, so the angels intently gaze upon and desire to
fathom the depths of "the great mystery of godliness,
God manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels" (
1Ti 3:16). Their "ministry to the heirs of
salvation" naturally disposes them to wish to
penetrate this mystery as reflecting such glory on the
love, justice, wisdom, and power of their and our God and
Lord. They can know it only through its manifestation in
the Church, as they personally have not the direct share in
it that we have. "Angels have only the contrast
between good and evil, without the power of conversion from
sin to righteousness: witnessing such conversion in the
Church, they long to penetrate the knowledge of the means
whereby it is brought about" [HOFMAN in A LFORD].
13. Wherefore--Seeing that the prophets ministered unto you
in these high Gospel privileges which they did not
themselves fully share in, though "searching"
into them, and seeing that even angels "desire to look
into" them, how earnest you ought to be and watchful
in respect to them!
gird up . . .
loins--referring to Christ's own words,
Lu 12:35; an image taken from the way in which the
Israelites ate the passover with the loose outer robe
girded up about the waist with a girdle, as ready for a
journey. Workmen, pilgrims, runners, wrestlers, and
warriors (all of whom are types of the Christians), so gird
themselves up, both to shorten the garment so as not to
impede motion, and to gird up the body itself so as to be
braced for action. The believer is to have his mind (mental
powers) collected and always ready for Christ's coming.
"Gather in the strength of your spirit" [H
ENSLER]. Sobriety, that is, spiritual
self-restraint, lest one be overcome by the allurements
of the world and of sense, and patient hopeful
waiting for Christ's revelation, are the true ways of
"girding up the loins of the mind."
to the end--rather,
"perfectly," so that there may be nothing
deficient in your hope, no casting away of your
confidence. Still, there may be an allusion to the
"end" mentioned in
1Pe 1:9. Hope so perfectly (Greek,
"teleios") as to reach unto the end
(telos) of your faith and hope, namely, "the
grace that is being brought unto you in (so the
Greek) the revelation of Christ." As grace
shall then be perfected, so you ought to hope
perfectly. "Hope" is repeated from
1Pe 1:3. The two appearances are but different stages
of the ONE great revelation of Christ, comprising the New
Testament from the beginning to the end.
14. From sobriety of spirit and endurance of
hope Peter passes to obedience, holiness, and
reverential fear.
As--marking their present actual
character as "born again" (
1Pe 1:3, 22).
obedient children--Greek,
"children of obedience": children to whom
obedience is their characteristic and ruling nature, as
a child is of the same nature as the mother and father.
Contrast
Eph 5:6, "the children of disobedience."
Compare
1Pe 1:17, "obeying the Father" whose
"children" ye are. Having the obedience of
faith (compare
1Pe 1:22) and so of practice (compare
1Pe 1:16, 18). "Faith is the highest obedience,
because discharged to the highest command"
[LUTHER].
fashioning--The outward fashion
(Greek, "schema") is fleeting, and
merely on the surface. The "form," or
conformation in the New Testament, is something deeper
and more perfect and essential.
the former lusts in--which were
characteristic of your state of ignorance of God: true of
both Jews and Gentiles. The sanctification is first
described negatively (
1Pe 1:14, "not fashioning yourselves,"
&c.; the putting off the old man, even in the outward
fashion, as well as in the inward
conformation), then positively (
1Pe 1:15, putting on the new man, compare
Eph 4:22, 24). "Lusts" flow from the original
birth-sin (inherited from our first parents, who by
self-willed desire brought sin into the world), the
lust which, ever since man has been alienated from God,
seeks to fill up with earthly things the emptiness of his
being; the manifold forms which the mother-lust assumes are
called in the plural lusts. In the regenerate, as
far as the new man is concerned, which constitutes
his truest self, "sin" no longer exists; but in
the flesh or old man it does. Hence arises the conflict,
uninterruptedly maintained through life, wherein the new
man in the main prevails, and at last completely. But the
natural man knows only the combat of his lusts with one
another, or with the law, without power to conquer them.
15. Literally, "But (rather) after the pattern of Him
who hath called you (whose characteristic is that He is)
holy, be (Greek, 'become') ye yourselves
also holy." God is our grand model. God's
calling is a frequently urged motive in Peter's
Epistles. Every one that begets, begets an offspring
resembling himself [E PIPHANIUS]. "Let the acts of the
offspring indicate similarity to the Father"
[AUGUSTINE].
conversation--deportment, course of
life: one's way of going about, as distinguished from
one's internal nature, to which it must outwardly
correspond. Christians are already holy unto God by
consecration; they must be so also in their outward walk
and behavior in all respects. The outward must
correspond to the inward man.
16. Scripture is the true source of all authority in
questions of doctrine and practice.
Be ye . . . for I am--It is
I with whom ye have to do. Ye are mine. Therefore abstain
from Gentile pollutions. We are too prone to have respect
unto men [CALVIN]. As I am the fountain of holiness, being
holy in My essence, be ye therefore zealous to be
partakers of holiness, that ye may be as I also am
[DIDYMUS]. God is essentially holy: the creature is holy in
so far as it is sanctified by God. God, in giving the
command, is willing to give also the power to obey it,
namely, through the sanctifying of the Spirit (
1Pe 1:2).
17. if ye call on--that is, "seeing that ye
call on," for all the regenerate pray as
children of God, "Our Father who art in
heaven" (
Mt 6:9; Lu 11:2).
the Father--rather, "Call upon
as Father Him who without acceptance of persons (
Ac 10:34; Ro 2:11; Jas 2:1, not accepting the Jew above
the Gentile,
2Ch 19:7; Lu 20:21; properly said of a judge not
biassed in judgment by respect of persons) judgeth,"
&c. The Father judgeth by His Son, His Representative,
exercising His delegated authority (
Joh 5:22). This marks the harmonious and complete unity
of the Trinity.
work--Each man's work is
one complete whole, whether good or bad. The
particular works of each are manifestations of the general
character of his lifework, whether it was of faith and love
whereby alone we can please God and escape
condemnation.
pass--Greek, "conduct
yourselves during."
sojourning--The outward state of the
Jews in their dispersion is an emblem of the
sojourner-like state of all believers in this world,
away from our true Fatherland.
fear--reverential, not slavish. He who
is your Father, is also your Judge--a thought which may
well inspire reverential fear. THEOPHYLACT observes, A
double fear is mentioned in Scripture: (1)
elementary, causing one to become serious; (2)
perfective: the latter is here the motive by which
Peter urges them as sons of God to be obedient. Fear
is not here opposed to assurance, but to carnal
security: fear producing vigilant caution lest we
offend God and backslide. "Fear and hope
flow from the same fountain: fear prevents us from
falling away from hope" [BENGEL]. Though
love has no fear IN it, yet in our present state
of imperfect love, it needs to have fear going ALONG WITH
It as a subordinate principle. This fear drowns all other
fears. The believer fears God, and so has none else to
fear. Not to fear God is the greatest baseness and folly.
The martyrs' more than mere human courage flowed from
this.
18. Another motive to reverential, vigilant fear (
1Pe 1:17) of displeasing God, the consideration of the
costly price of our redemption from sin. Observe, it is
we who are bought by the blood of Christ, not heaven.
The blood of Christ is not in Scripture said to buy heaven
for us: heaven is the "inheritance" (
1Pe 1:4) given to us as sons, by the promise of
God.
corruptible--Compare
1Pe 1:7, "gold that perisheth,"
1Pe 1:23.
silver and gold--Greek,
"or." Compare Peter's own words,
Ac 3:6: an undesigned coincidence.
redeemed--Gold and silver being liable
to corruption themselves, can free no one from spiritual
and bodily death; they are therefore of too little value.
Contrast
1Pe 1:19, Christ's "precious
blood." The Israelites were ransomed with half a
shekel each, which went towards purchasing the lamb
for the daily sacrifice (
Ex 30:12-16; compare
Nu 3:44-51). But the Lamb who redeems the spiritual
Israelites does so "without money or price."
Devoted by sin to the justice of God, the Church of the
first-born is redeemed from sin and the curse with
Christ's precious blood (
Mt 20:28; 1Ti 2:6; Tit 2:14; Re 5:9). In all these
passages there is the idea of substitution, the
giving of one for another by way of a ransom or equivalent.
Man is "sold under sin" as a slave; shut up under
condemnation and the curse. The ransom was, therefore, paid
to the righteously incensed Judge, and was accepted as a
vicarious satisfaction for our sin by God, inasmuch as it
was His own love as well as righteousness which appointed
it. An Israelite sold as a bond-servant for debt might be
redeemed by one of his brethren. As, therefore, we could
not redeem ourselves, Christ assumed our nature in order to
become our nearest of kin and brother, and so our God or
Redeemer. Holiness is the natural fruit of redemption
"from our vain conversation"; for He by
whom we are redeemed is also He for whom we are
redeemed. "Without the righteous abolition of the
curse, either there could be found no deliverance, or, what
is impossible, the grace and righteousness of God must have
come in collision" [STEIGER]; but now, Christ having
borne the curse of our sin, frees from it those who are
made God's children by His Spirit.
vain--self-deceiving, unreal, and
unprofitable: promising good which it does not perform.
Compare as to the Gentiles,
Ac 14:15; Ro 1:21; Eph 4:17; as to human philosophers,
1Co 3:20; as to the disobedient Jews,
Jer 4:14.
conversation--course of life. To know
what our sin is we must know what it cost.
received by tradition from your
fathers--The Jews' traditions. "Human piety is a
vain blasphemy, and the greatest sin that a man can
commit" [LUTHER]. There is only one Father to be
imitated,
1Pe 1:17; compare
Mt 23:9, the same antithesis [BENGEL].
19. precious--of inestimable value. The Greek order is, "With precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish (in itself) and without spot (contracted by contact with others), (even the blood) of Christ." Though very man, He remained pure in Himself ("without blemish"), and uninfected by any impression of sin from without ("without spot"), which would have unfitted Him for being our atoning Redeemer: so the passover lamb, and every sacrificial victim; so too, the Church, the Bride, by her union with Him. As Israel's redemption from Egypt required the blood of the paschal lamb, so our redemption from sin and the curse required the blood of Christ; "foreordained" ( 1Pe 1:20) from eternity, as the passover lamb was taken up on the tenth day of the month.
20. God's eternal foreordination of Christ's
redeeming sacrifice, and completion of it in these last
times for us, are an additional obligation on us to our
maintaining a holy walk, considering how great things have
been thus done for us. Peter's language in the history
corresponds with this here: an undesigned coincidence and
mark of genuineness. Redemption was no afterthought, or
remedy of an unforeseen evil, devised at the time of its
arising. God's foreordaining of the Redeemer
refutes the slander that, on the Christian theory, there is
a period of four thousand years of nothing but an incensed
God. God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the
world (
Eph 1:4).
manifest--in His incarnation in the
fulness of the time. He existed from eternity before He was
manifested.
in these last times--
1Co 10:11, "the ends of the world." This last
dispensation, made up of "times" marked by great
changes, but still retaining a general unity, stretches
from Christ's ascension to His coming to judgment.
21. by him--Compare "the faith which is by
Him,"
Ac 3:16. Through Christ: His Spirit, obtained
for us in His resurrection and ascension, enabling us to
believe. This verse excludes all who do not "by Him
believe in God," and includes all of every age and
clime that do. Literally, "are believers in
God." "To believe IN (Greek,
'eis') God" expresses an
internal trust: "by believing to love God, going
INTO Him, and cleaving to Him, incorporated into His
members. By this faith the ungodly is justified, so that
thenceforth faith itself begins to work by
love" [P. LOMBARD]. To believe ON
(Greek, "epi," or dative case)
God expresses the confidence, which grounds itself
on God, reposing on Him. "Faith IN (Greek,
'en') His blood" (
Ro 3:25) implies that His blood is the element IN which
faith has its proper and abiding place. Compare with this
verse,
Ac 20:21, "Repentance toward (Greek,
'eis,' 'into,' turning
towards and going into) God and faith toward
(Greek, 'eis,' 'into')
Christ": where, as there is but one article to both
repentance and faith, the two are inseparably
joined as together forming one truth; where
"repentance" is, there "faith" is; when
one knows God the Father spiritually, then he must know the
Son by whom alone we can come to the Father. In Christ we
have life: if we have not the doctrine of Christ, we have
not God. The only living way to God is through Christ and
His sacrifice.
that raised him--The raising of Jesus
by God is the special ground of our "believing":
(1) because by it God declared openly His acceptance of Him
as our righteous substitute; (2) because by it and His
glorification He received power, namely, the Holy Spirit,
to impart to His elect "faith": the same power
enabling us to believe as raised Him from the dead. Our
faith must not only be IN Christ, but BY and THROUGH
Christ. "Since in Christ's resurrection and
consequent dominion our safety is grounded, there
'faith' and 'hope' find their stay"
[CALVIN].
that your faith and hope might be in
God--the object and effect of God's raising
Christ. He states what was the actual result and fact,
not an exhortation, except indirectly. Your
faith flows from His resurrection; your
hope from God's having "given Him glory"
(compare
1Pe 1:11, "glories"). Remember God's
having raised and glorified Jesus as the anchor of your
faith and hope in God, and so keep alive these graces.
Apart from Christ we could have only feared, not
believed and hoped in God. Compare
1Pe 1:3, 7-9, 13, on hope in connection with
faith; love is introduced in
1Pe 1:22.
22. purified . . . in obeying the
truth--Greek, "in your (or
'the') obedience of (that is,
'to') the truth (the Gospel way of
salvation)," that is, in the fact of your
believing. Faith purifies the heart as giving it the
only pure motive, love to God (
Ac 15:9; Ro 1:5, "obedience to the
faith").
through the Spirit--omitted in the
oldest manuscripts. The Holy Spirit is the purifier by
bestowing the obedience of faith (
1Pe 1:2; 1Co 12:3).
unto--with a view to: the proper
result of the purifying of your hearts by faith.
"For what end must we lead a chaste life? That we may
thereby be saved? No: but for this, that we may serve our
neighbor" [LUTHER].
unfeigned--
1Pe 2:1, 2, "laying aside . . .
hypocrisies . . . sincere."
love of the brethren--that is, of
Christians. Brotherly love is distinct from common
love. "The Christian loves primarily those in
Christ; secondarily, all who might be in Christ, namely,
all men, as Christ as man died for all, and as he hopes
that they, too, may become his Christian brethren"
[STEIGER]. BENGEL remarks that as here, so in
2Pe 1:5-7, "brotherly love" is preceded by
the purifying graces, "faith, knowledge, and
godliness," &c. Love to the brethren is the
evidence of our regeneration and justification by
faith.
love one another--When the
purifying by faith into love of the brethren has formed
the habit, then the act follows, so that the
"love" is at once habit and
act.
with a pure heart--The oldest
manuscripts read, "(love) from the heart."
fervently--Greek,
"intensely": with all the powers on the
stretch (
1Pe 4:8). "Instantly" (
Ac 26:7).
23. Christian brotherhood flows from our new birth of an
imperishable seed, the abiding word of God. This is the
consideration urged here to lead us to exercise
brotherly love. As natural relationship gives rise to
natural affection, so spiritual relationship gives rise to
spiritual, and therefore abiding love, even as the
seed from which it springs is abiding, not transitory
as earthly things.
of . . . of . . .
by--"The word of God" is not the material of the
spiritual new birth, but its mean or medium. By means of
the word the man receives the incorruptible seed
of the Holy Spirit, and so becomes one "born
again":
Joh 3:3-5, "born of water and the
Spirit": as there is but one Greek article
to the two nouns, the close connection of the sign
and the grace, or new birth signified is implied. The
word is the remote and anterior instrument;
baptism, the proximate and sacramental instrument. The
word is the instrument in relation to the individual;
baptism, in relation to the Church as a society (
Jas 1:18). We are born again of the Spirit, yet
not without the use of means, but by the word of God. The
word is not the beggeting principle itself, but only that
by which it works: the vehicle of the mysterious
germinating power [ALFORD].
which liveth and abideth for ever--It
is because the Spirit of God accompanies it that the word
carries in it the germ of life. They who are so born again
live and abide for ever, in contrast to those who
sow to the flesh. "The Gospel bears incorruptible
fruits, not dead works, because it is itself
incorruptible" [BENGEL]. The word is an eternal divine
power. For though the voice or speech vanishes, there still
remains the kernel, the truth comprehended in the voice.
This sinks into the heart and is living; yea, it is God
Himself. So God to Moses,
Ex 4:12, "I will be with thy mouth" [LUTHER].
The life is in God, yet it is communicated to us
through the word. "The Gospel shall
never cease, though its ministry shall" [CALOVIUS].
The abiding resurrection glory is always connected
with our regeneration by the Spirit. Regeneration
beginning with renewing man's soul at the
resurrection, passes on to the body, then to the
whole world of nature.
24. Scripture proof that the word of God lives for ever, in
contrast to man's natural frailty. If ye were born
again of flesh, corruptible seed, ye must also perish again
as the grass; but now that from which you have derived life
remains eternally, and so also will render you
eternal.
flesh--man in his mere earthly
nature.
as--omitted in some of the oldest
manuscripts.
of man--The oldest manuscripts read,
"of it" (that is, of the flesh). "The
glory" is the wisdom, strength, riches, learning,
honor, beauty, art, virtue, and righteousness of the
NATURAL man (expressed by "flesh"), which all are
transitory (
Joh 3:6), not OF MAN (as English Version reads)
absolutely, for the glory of man, in his true ideal
realized in the believer, is eternal.
withereth--Greek, aorist:
literally, "withered," that is, is withered as a
thing of the past. So also the Greek for
"falleth" is "fell away," that
is, is fallen away: it no sooner is than it is gone.
thereof--omitted in the best
manuscripts and versions. "The grass" is the
flesh: "the flower" its glory.
25. (
Ps 119:89.)
this is the word . . .
preached unto you--That is eternal which is born of
incorruptible seed (
1Pe 1:24): but ye have received the incorruptible seed,
the word (
1Pe 1:25); therefore ye are born for eternity, and so
are bound now to live for eternity (
1Pe 1:22, 23). Ye have not far to look for the word; it
is among you, even the joyful Gospel message which we
preach. Doubt not that the Gospel preached to you by
our brother Paul, and which ye have embraced, is the
eternal truth. Thus the oneness of Paul's and
Peter's creed appears. See my
Introduction, showing Peter addresses some of
the same churches as Paul labored among and wrote to.
1Pe 2:1-25. EXHORTATIONS.
To guileless feeding on the word by the sense of their privileges as new-born babes, living stones in the spiritual temple built on Christ the chief corner-stone, and royal priests, in contrast to their former state: also to abstinence from fleshly lusts, and to walk worthily in all relations of life, so that the world without which opposes them may be constrained to glorify God in seeing their good works. Christ, the grand pattern to follow in patience under suffering for well-doing.
1. laying aside--once for all: so the Greek aorist expresses as a garment put off. The exhortation applies to Christians alone, for in none else is the new nature existing which, as "the inward man" ( Eph 3:16) can cast off the old as an outward thing, so that the Christian, through the continual renewal of his inward man, can also exhibit himself externally as a new man. But to unbelievers the demand is addressed, that inwardly, in regard to the nous (mind), they must become changed, meta-noeisthai (re-pent) [STEIGER]. The "therefore" resumes the exhortation begun in 1Pe 1:22. Seeing that ye are born again of an incorruptible seed, be not again entangled in evil, which "has no substantial being, but is an acting in contrariety to the being formed in us" [T HEOPHYLACT]. "Malice," &c., are utterly inconsistent with the "love of the brethren," unto which ye have "purified your souls" ( 1Pe 1:22). The vices here are those which offend against the BROTHERLY LOVE inculcated above. Each succeeding one springs out of that which immediately precedes, so as to form a genealogy of the sins against love. Out of malice springs guile; out of guile, hypocrises (pretending to be what we are not, and not showing what we really are; the opposite of "love unfeigned," and "without dissimulation"); out of hypocrisies, envies of those to whom we think ourselves obliged to play the hypocrite; out of envies, evil-speaking, malicious, envious detraction of others. Guile is the permanent disposition; hypocrisies the acts flowing from it. The guileless knows no envy. Compare 1Pe 2:2, "sincere," Greek, "guileless." "Malice delights in another's hurt; envy pines at another's good; guile imparts duplicity to the heart; hypocrisy (flattery) imparts duplicity to the tongue; evil-speakings wound the character of another" [AUGUSTINE].
2. new-born babes--altogether without "guile" (
1Pe 2:1). As long as we are here we are
"babes," in a specially tender relation to God
(
Isa 40:11). The childlike spirit is indispensable if we
would enter heaven. "Milk" is here not elementary
truths in contradistinction to more advanced Christian
truths, as in
1Co 3:2; Heb 5:12, 13; but in contrast to "guile,
hypocrisies," &c. (
1Pe 2:1); the simplicity of Christian doctrine in
general to the childlike spirit. The same "word of
grace" which is the instrument in regeneration, is the
instrument also of building up. "The mother of
the child is also its natural nurse" [STEIGER]. The
babe, instead of chemically analyzing, instinctively
desires and feeds on the milk; so our part is not
self-sufficient rationalizing and questioning, but simply
receiving the truth in the love of it (
Mt 11:25).
desire--Greek, "have a
yearning desire for," or "longing after," a
natural impulse to the regenerate, "for as no one
needs to teach new-born babes what food to take, knowing
instinctively that a table is provided for them in their
mother's breast," so the believer of himself
thirsts after the word of God (
Ps 119:1-176). Compare TATIUS' language as to
Achilles.
sincere--Greek,
"guileless." Compare
1Pe 2:1, "laying aside guile."
IRENÆUS says of heretics. They mix chalk with the
milk. The article, "the," implies that besides
the well-known pure milk, the Gospel, there is no
other pure, unadulterated doctrine; it alone can make us
guileless (
1Pe 2:1).
of the word--Not as ALFORD,
"spiritual," nor "reasonable," as
English Version in
Ro 12:1. The Greek "logos" in
Scripture is not used of the reason, or mind,
but of the WORD; the preceding context requires that
"the word" should be meant here; the adjective
"logikos" follows the meaning of
the noun logos, "word."
Jas 1:21, "Lay apart all filthiness
. . . and receive with meekness the
engrafted WORD," is exactly parallel, and confirms
English Version here.
grow--The oldest manuscripts and
versions read, "grow unto salvation."
Being BORN again unto salvation, we are also to
grow unto salvation. The end to which growth leads is
perfected salvation. "Growth is the measure of
the fulness of that, not only rescue from destruction, but
positive blessedness, which is implied in
salvation" [A LFORD].
thereby--Greek, "in
it"; fed on it; in its strength (
Ac 11:14). "The word is to be desired with
appetite as the cause of life, to be swallowed in the
hearing, to be chewed as cud is by rumination with the
understanding, and to be digested by faith" [T
ERTULLIAN].
3. Peter alludes to
Ps 34:8. The first "tastes" of God's
goodness are afterwards followed by fuller and happier
experiences. A taste whets the appetite [BENGEL].
gracious--Greek,
"good," benignant, kind; as God is revealed to us
in Christ, "the Lord" (
1Pe 2:4), we who are born again ought so to be
good and kind to the brethren (
1Pe 1:22). "Whosoever has not tasted the word to
him it is not sweet it has not reached the heart; but to
them who have experienced it, who with the heart believe,
'Christ has been sent for me and is become my
own: my miseries are His, and His life
mine,' it tastes sweet" [LUTHER].
4. coming--drawing near (same Greek as here,
Heb 10:22) by faith continually; present tense: not
having come once for all at conversion.
stone--Peter (that is, a
stone, named so by Christ) desires that all similarly
should be living stones BUILT ON CHRIST, THE TRUE
FOUNDATION-STONE; compare his speech in
Ac 4:11. An undesigned coincidence and mark of
genuineness. The Spirit foreseeing the Romanist perversion
of
Mt 16:18 (compare
Mt 16:16, "Son of the LIVING God," which
coincides with his language here, "the LIVING
stone"), presciently makes Peter himself to refuse it.
He herein confirms Paul's teaching. Omit the as
unto of English Version. Christ is positively
termed the "living stone"; living, as
having life in Himself from the beginning, and as raised
from the dead to live evermore (
Re 1:18) after His rejection by men, and so the source
of life to us. Like no earthly rock, He lives and
gives life. Compare
1Co 10:4, and the type,
Ex 17:6; Nu 20:11.
disallowed--rejected, reprobated;
referred to also by Christ Himself: also by Paul; compare
the kindred prophecies,
Isa 8:14; Lu 2:34.
chosen of God--literally,
"with (or 'in the presence and judgment
of') God elect," or, "chosen out"
(
1Pe 2:6). Many are alienated from the Gospel, because
it is not everywhere in favor, but is on the contrary
rejected by most men. Peter answers that, though rejected
by men, Christ is peculiarly the stone of salvation
honored by God, first so designated by Jacob in his
deathbed prophecy.
5. Ye also, as lively stones--partaking of the name and
life which is in "THE LIVING STONE" (
1Pe 2:4; 1Co 3:11). Many names which belong to Christ
in the singular are assigned to Christians in the plural.
He is "THE SON," "High Priest,"
"King," "Lamb"; they, "sons,"
"priests," "kings," "sheep,"
"lambs." So the Shulamite called from Solomon
[BENGEL].
are built up--Greek, "are
being built up," as in
Eph 2:22. Not as ALFORD, "Be ye built up."
Peter grounds his exhortations,
1Pe 2:2, 11, &c., on their conscious sense of their
high privileges as living stones in the course of being
built up into a spiritual house (that is, "the
habitation of the Spirit").
priesthood--Christians are both the
spiritual temple and the priests of the
temple. There are two Greek words for
"temple"; hieron (the sacred
place), the whole building, including the courts
wherein the sacrifice was killed; and naos
(the dwelling, namely, of God), the inner shrine
wherein God peculiarly manifested Himself, and where, in
the holiest place, the blood of the slain sacrifice
was presented before Him. All believers alike, and not
merely ministers, are now the dwelling of God (and are
called the "naos," Greek, not the
hieron) and priests unto God (
Re 1:6). The minister is not, like the Jewish priest
(Greek, "hiercus"), admitted nearer
to God than the people, but merely for order's sake
leads the spiritual services of the people. Priest
is the abbreviation of presbyter in the Church of
England Prayer Book, not corresponding to the Aaronic
priest (hiereus, who offered literal
sacrifices). Christ is the only literal
hiereus-priest in the New Testament through whom alone
we may always draw near to God. Compare
1Pe 2:9, "a royal priesthood," that is, a
body of priest-kings, such as was Melchisedec. The
Spirit never, in New Testament, gives the name
hiereus, or sacerdotal priest, to ministers of
the Gospel.
holy--consecrated to God.
spiritual sacrifices--not the literal
one of the mass, as the Romish self-styled disciples of
Peter teach. Compare
Isa 56:7, which compare with "acceptable to
God" here;
Ps 4:5; 50:14; 51:17, 19; Ho 14:2; Php 4:18.
"Among spiritual sacrifices the first place belongs to
the general oblation of ourselves. For never can we offer
anything to God until we have offered ourselves (
2Co 8:5) in sacrifice to Him. There follow afterwards
prayers, giving of thanks, alms deeds, and all exercises of
piety" [CALVIN]. Christian houses of worship are never
called temples because the temple was a place for
sacrifice, which has no place in the Christian
dispensation; the Christian temple is the congregation of
spiritual worshippers. The synagogue (where reading of
Scripture and prayer constituted the worship) was the model
of the Christian house of worship (compare Note, see
on Jas 2:2, Greek,
"synagogue";
Ac 15:21). Our sacrifices are those of prayer, praise,
and self-denying services in the cause of Christ (
1Pe 2:9, end).
by Jesus Christ--as our mediating High
Priest before God. Connect these words with "offer
up." Christ is both precious Himself and makes
us accepted [BENGEL]. As the temple, so also the
priesthood, is built on Christ (
1Pe 2:4, 5) [BEZA]. Imperfect as are our services, we
are not with unbelieving timidity, which is close akin to
refined self-righteousness, to doubt their acceptance
THROUGH CHRIST. After extolling the dignity of Christians
he goes back to CHRIST as the sole source of it.
6. Wherefore also--The oldest manuscripts read,
"Because that." The statement above is so
"because it is contained in
Scripture."
Behold--calling attention to the
glorious announcement of His eternal counsel.
elect--so also believers (
1Pe 2:9, "chosen," Greek,
"elect generation").
precious--in Hebrew,
Isa 28:16, "a corner-stone of preciousness."
See on Isa 28:16. So in
1Pe 2:7, Christ is said to be, to believers,
"precious," Greek,
"preciousness."
confounded--same Greek as in
Ro 9:33 (Peter here as elsewhere confirming Paul's
teaching. See
Introduction; also
Ro 10:11), "ashamed." In
Isa 28:16, "make haste," that is, flee in
sudden panic, covered with the shame of confounded
hopes.
7. Application of the Scripture just quoted first to the
believer, then to the unbeliever. On the opposite effects
of the same Gospel on different classes, compare
Joh 9:39; 2Co 2:15, 16.
precious--Greek, "THE
preciousness" (
1Pe 2:6). To you believers belongs the
preciousness of Christ just mentioned.
disobedient--to the faith, and so
disobedient in practice.
the stone which . . . head
of . . . corner-- (
Ps 118:22). Those who rejected the STONE were all the
while in spite of themselves unconsciously contributing to
its becoming Head of the corner. The same magnet has two
poles, the one repulsive, the other attractive; so the
Gospel has opposite effects on believers and unbelievers
respectively.
8. stone of stumbling, &c.--quoted from
Isa 8:14. Not merely they stumbled, in that
their prejudices were offended; but their stumbling implies
the judicial punishment of their reception of
Messiah; they hurt themselves in stumbling over the
corner-stone, as "stumble" means in
Jer 13:16; Da 11:19.
at the word--rather, join "being
disobedient to the word"; so
1Pe 3:1; 4:17.
whereunto--to penal stumbling;
to the judicial punishment of their unbelief. See
above.
also--an additional thought; God's
ordination; not that God ordains or appoints them to
sin, but they are given up to "the fruit of
their own ways" according to the eternal counsel
of God. The moral ordering of the world is altogether of
God. God appoints the ungodly to be given up unto
sin, and a reprobate mind, and its necessary
penalty. "Were appointed," Greek,
"set," answers to "I lay,"
Greek, "set,"
1Pe 2:6. God, in the active, is said to appoint
Christ and the elect (directly). Unbelievers, in the
passive, are said to be appointed (God acting less
directly in the appointment of the sinner's awful
course) [BENGEL]. God ordains the wicked to punishment, not
to crime [J. CAPPEL]. "Appointed" or
"set" (not here "FORE-ordained")
refers, not to the eternal counsel so directly, as to the
penal justice of God. Through the same Christ whom sinners
rejected, they shall be rejected; unlike believers, they
are by God appointed unto wrath as FITTED for it.
The lost shall lay all the blame of their ruin on their own
sinful perversity, not on God's decree; the saved shall
ascribe all the merit of their salvation to God's
electing love and grace.
9. Contrast in the privileges and destinies of believers.
Compare the similar contrast with the preceding
context.
chosen--"elect" of God, even
as Christ your Lord is.
generation--implying the unity of
spiritual origin and kindred of believers as a class
distinct from the world.
royal--kingly. Believers, like Christ,
the antitypical Melchisedec, are at once kings and
priests. Israel, in a spiritual sense, was designed
to be the same among the nations of the earth. The full
realization on earth of this, both to the literal and the
spiritual Israel, is as yet future.
holy nation--antitypical to
Israel.
peculiar people--literally, "a
people for an acquisition," that is, whom God
chose to be peculiarly His:
Ac 20:28, "purchased," literally,
"acquired." God's "peculiar
treasure" above others.
show forth--publish abroad. Not
their own praises but His. They have no
reason to magnify themselves above others for once they had
been in the same darkness, and only through God's grace
had been brought to the light which they must henceforth
show forth to others.
praises--Greek,
"virtues," "excellencies": His glory,
mercy (
1Pe 2:10), goodness (Greek,
1Pe 2:3; Nu 14:17, 18; Isa 63:7). The same term is
applied to believers,
2Pe 1:5.
of him who hath called you-- (
2Pe 1:3).
out of darkness--of heathen and even
Jewish ignorance, sin, and misery, and so out of the
dominion of the prince of darkness.
marvellous--Peter still has in mind
Ps 118:23.
light--It is called "His,"
that is, God's. Only the (spiritual) light is
created by God, not darkness. In
Isa 45:7, it is physical darkness and evil, not moral,
that God is said to create, the punishment of sin,
not sin itself. Peter, with characteristic boldness, brands
as darkness what all the world calls light;
reason, without the Holy Spirit, in spite of its vaunted
power, is spiritual darkness. "It cannot apprehend
what faith is: there it is stark blind; it gropes as one
that is without eyesight, stumbling from one thing to
another, and knows not what it does" [LUTHER].
10. Adapted from
Ho 1:9, 10; 2:23. Peter plainly confirms Paul, who
quotes the passage as implying the call of the Gentiles to
become spiritually that which Israel had been literally,
"the people of God." Primarily, the prophecy
refers to literal Israel, hereafter to be fully that which
in their best days they were only partially, God's
people.
not obtained mercy--literally,
"who were men not compassionated." Implying that
it was God's pure mercy, not their merits, which
made the blessed change in their state; a thought which
ought to kindle their lively gratitude, to be shown
with their life, as well as their lips.
11. As heretofore he exhorted them to walk worthily of
their calling, in contradistinction to their own former
walk, so now he exhorts them to glorify God before
unbelievers.
Dearly beloved--He gains their
attention to his exhortation by assuring them of his
love.
strangers and pilgrims-- (
1Pe 1:17). Sojourners, literally, settlers
having a house in a city without being
citizens in respect to the rights of citizenship; a
picture of the Christian's position on earth; and
pilgrims, staying for a time in a foreign land. FLACIUS
thus analyzes the exhortation: (1) Purify your souls (a) as
strangers on earth who must not allow yourselves to
be kept back by earthly lusts, and (b) because these lusts
war against the soul's salvation. (2) Walk piously
among unbelievers (a) so that they may cease to calumniate
Christians, and (b) may themselves be converted to
Christ.
fleshly lusts--enumerated in
Ga 5:19, &c. Not only the gross appetites which we
have in common with the brutes, but all the thoughts of the
unrenewed mind.
which--Greek, "the
which," that is, inasmuch as being such as
"war." &c. Not only do they impede, but they
assail [BENGEL].
the soul--that is, against the
regenerated soul; such as were those now addressed. The
regenerated soul is besieged by sinful lusts. Like Samson
in the lap of Delilah, the believer, the moment that he
gives way to fleshly lusts, has the locks of his strength
shorn, and ceases to maintain that spiritual separation
from the world and the flesh of which the Nazarite vow was
the type.
12. conversation--"behavior";
"conduct." There are two things in which
"strangers and pilgrims" ought to bear themselves
well: (1) the conversation or conduct, as subjects
(
1Pe 2:13), servants (
1Pe 2:18), wives (
1Pe 3:1), husbands (
1Pe 3:7), all persons under all circumstances (
1Pe 2:8); (2) confession of the faith (
1Pe 3:15, 16). Each of the two is derived from the
will of God. Our conversation should correspond to our
Saviour's condition; this is in heaven, so ought that
to be.
honest--honorable, becoming, proper
(
1Pe 3:16). Contrast "vain conversation,"
1Pe 1:18. A good walk does not make us pious, but we
must first be pious and believe before we attempt to lead a
good course. Faith first receives from God, then love gives
to our neighbor [L UTHER].
whereas they speak against
you--now (
1Pe 2:15), that they may, nevertheless, at some time or
other hereafter glorify God. The Greek may be
rendered, "Wherein they speak against you
. . . that (herein) they may, by your good
works, which on a closer inspection they shall
behold, glorify God." The very works "which
on more careful consideration, must move the heathen to
praise God, are at first the object of hatred and
raillery" [STEIGER].
evildoers--Because as Christians they
could not conform to heathenish customs, they were accused
of disobedience to all legal authority; in order to rebut
this charge, they are told to submit to every ordinance
of man (not sinful in itself).
by--owing to.
they shall behold--Greek,
"they shall be eye-witnesses of";
"shall behold on close inspection"; as
opposed to their "ignorance" (
1Pe 2:15) of the true character of Christians and
Christianity, by judging on mere hearsay. The same
Greek verb occurs in a similar sense in
1Pe 3:2. "Other men narrowly look at (so
the Greek implies) the actions of the
righteous" [BENGEL]. TERTULLIAN contrasts the early
Christians and the heathen: these delighted in the bloody
gladiatorial spectacles of the amphitheater, whereas a
Christian was excommunicated if he went to it at all. No
Christian was found in prison for crime, but only for the
faith. The heathen excluded slaves from some of their
religious services, whereas Christians had some of their
presbyters of the class of slaves. Slavery silently and
gradually disappeared by the power of the Christian law of
love, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,
do ye even so to them." When the pagans deserted their
nearest relatives in a plague, Christians ministered to the
sick and dying. When the Gentiles left their dead unburied
after a battle and cast their wounded into the streets, the
disciples hastened to relieve the suffering.
glorify--forming a high estimate of
the God whom Christians worship, from the exemplary conduct
of Christians themselves. We must do good, not with a view
to our own glory, but to the glory of
God.
the day of visitation--of God's
grace; when God shall visit them in mercy.
13. every ordinance of man--"every human
institution" [ALFORD], literally, "every human
creation." For though of divine appointment,
yet in the mode of nomination and in the exercise of their
authority, earthly governors are but human institutions,
being of men, and in relation to men. The
apostle speaks as one raised above all human things. But
lest they should think themselves so ennobled by faith as
to be raised above subordination to human authorities, he
tells them to submit themselves for the sake of
Christ, who desires you to be subject, and who once was
subject to earthly rulers Himself, though having all things
subject to Him, and whose honor is at stake in you as His
earthly representatives. Compare
Ro 13:5, "Be subject for conscience'
sake."
king--The Roman emperor was
"supreme" in the Roman provinces to which this
Epistle was addressed. The Jewish zealots refused
obedience. The distinction between "the king as
supreme" and "governors sent by him" implies
that "if the king command one thing, and the
subordinate magistrate another, we ought rather to obey the
superior" [AUGUSTINE in GROTIUS]. Scripture prescribes
nothing upon the form of government, but simply subjects
Christians to that everywhere subsisting, without entering
into the question of the right of the rulers (thus
the Roman emperors had by force seized supreme authority,
and Rome had, by unjustifiable means, made herself mistress
of Asia), because the de facto governors have not
been made by chance, but by the providence of God.
14. governors--subordinate to the emperor,
"sent," or delegated by Cæsar to preside
over the provinces.
for the punishment--No tyranny ever
has been so unprincipled as that some appearance of equity
was not maintained in it; however corrupt a government be,
God never suffers it to be so much so as not to be better
than anarchy [CALVIN]. Although bad kings often oppress the
good, yet that is scarcely ever done by public authority
(and it is of what is done by public authority that Peter
speaks), save under the mask of right. Tyranny harasses
many, but anarchy overwhelms the whole state [HORNEIUS].
The only justifiable exception is in cases where obedience
to the earthly king plainly involves disobedience to the
express command of the King of kings.
praise of them that do well--Every
government recognizes the excellence of truly Christian
subjects. Thus PLINY, in his letter to the Emperor Trajan,
acknowledges, "I have found in them nothing else save
a perverse and extravagant superstition." The
recognition in the long run mitigates persecution (
1Pe 3:13).
15. Ground of his directing them to submit
themselves (
1Pe 2:13).
put to silence--literally, "to
muzzle," "to stop the mouth."
ignorance--spiritual not having
"the knowledge of God," and therefore ignorant of
the children of God, and misconstruing their acts;
influenced by mere appearances, and ever ready to open
their mouths, rather than their eyes and ears. Their
ignorance should move the believer's pity, not his
anger. They judge of things which they are incapable of
judging through unbelief (compare
1Pe 2:12). Maintain such a walk that they shall have no
charge against you, except touching your faith; and so
their minds shall be favorably disposed towards
Christianity.
16. As free--as "the Lord's freemen,"
connected with
1Pe 2:15, doing well as being free.
"Well-doing" (
1Pe 2:15) is the natural fruit of being freemen
of Christ, made free by "the truth" from the
bondage of sin. Duty is enforced on us to guard against
licentiousness, but the way in which it is to be
fulfilled, is by love and the holy instincts of Christian
liberty. We are given principles, not
details.
not using--Greek, "not
as having your liberty for a veil (cloak) of
badness, but as the servants of God," and
therefore bound to submit to every ordinance of man
(
1Pe 2:13) which is of God's appointment.
17. Honour all men--according to whatever honor is due
in each case. Equals have a respect due to them. Christ
has dignified our humanity by assuming it; therefore we
should not dishonor, but be considerate to and honor our
common humanity, even in the very humblest. The first
"honor" is in the Greek aorist imperative,
implying, "In every case render promptly every
man's due" [ALFORD]. The second is in the
present tense, implying, Habitually and
continually honor the king. Thus the first is the
general precept; the three following are its three great
divisions.
Love--present: Habitually love
with the special and congenial affection that you ought to
feel to brethren, besides the general love to all
men.
Fear God . . . the king--The
king is to be honored; but God alone, in the highest
sense, feared.
18. Servants--Greek, "household servants":
not here the Greek for "slaves." Probably
including freedmen still remaining in their
master's house. Masters were not commonly
Christians: he therefore mentions only the duties of the
servants. These were then often persecuted by their
unbelieving masters. Peter's special object seems to be
to teach them submission, whatever the character of
the masters might be. Paul not having this as his prominent
design, includes masters in his monitions.
be subject--Greek, "being
subject": the participle expresses a particular
instance of the general exhortation to good conduct,
1Pe 2:11, 12, of which the first particular precept is
given
1Pe 2:13, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of
man for the Lord's sake." The general exhortation
is taken up again in
1Pe 2:16; and so the participle
1Pe 2:18, "being subject," is joined to the
hortatory imperatives going before, namely,
"abstain," "submit yourselves."
"honor all men."
with--Greek,
"in."
all--all possible: under all
circumstances, such as are presently detailed.
fear--the awe of one subject: God,
however, is the ultimate object of the "fear":
fear "for the Lord's sake" (
1Pe 2:13), not merely slavish fear of masters.
good--kind.
gentle--indulgent towards errors:
considerate: yielding, not exacting all which justice might
demand.
froward--perverse: harsh. Those bound
to obey must not make the disposition and behavior of the
superior the measure of the fulfilment of their
obligations.
19. Reason for subjection even to froward masters.
thankworthy-- (
Lu 6:33). A course out of the common, and especially
praiseworthy in the eyes of God: not as Rome
interprets, earning merit, and so a work of supererogation
(compare
1Pe 2:20).
for conscience toward God--literally,
"consciousness of God": from a conscientious
regard to God, more than to men.
endure--Greek, "patiently
bear up under": as a superimposed burden
[ALFORD].
grief--Greek,
"griefs."
20. what--Greek, "what kind of."
glory--what peculiar
merit.
buffeted--the punishment of slaves,
and suddenly inflicted [BENGEL].
this is--Some oldest manuscripts read,
"for." Then the translation is, "But if when
. . . ye take it patiently (it is a glory),
for this is acceptable."
acceptable--Greek,
"thankworthy," as in
1Pe 2:19.
21. Christ's example a proof that patient endurance
under undeserved sufferings is acceptable with God.
hereunto--to the patient endurance of
unmerited suffering (
1Pe 3:9). Christ is an example to servants, even as He
was once in "the form of a servant."
called--with a heavenly calling,
though slaves.
for us--His dying for us is the
highest exemplification of "doing well" (
1Pe 2:20). Ye must patiently suffer, being innocent, as
Christ also innocently suffered (not for Himself, but
for us). The oldest manuscripts for "us
. . . us," read, "you . . .
for you." Christ's sufferings, while they are for
an example, were also primarily sufferings "for
us," a consideration which imposes an everlasting
obligation on us to please Him.
leaving--behind: so the
Greek: on His departure to the Father, to His
glory.
an example--Greek, "a
copy," literally, "a writing copy" set by
masters for their pupils. Christ's precepts and sermons
were the transcript of His life. Peter
graphically sets before servants those features
especially suited to their case.
follow--close upon: so the
Greek.
his steps--footsteps, namely,
of His patience combined with innocence.
22. Illustrating Christ's well-doing (
1Pe 2:20) though suffering.
did--Greek aorist. "Never
in a single instance did" [ALFORD]. Quoted from
Isa 53:9, end, Septuagint.
neither--nor yet: not even [ALFORD].
Sinlessness as to the mouth is a mark of
perfection. Guile is a common fault of servants.
"If any boast of his innocency, Christ surely did not
suffer as an evildoer" [C ALVIN], yet He took it
patiently (
1Pe 2:20). On Christ's sinlessness, compare
2Co 5:21; Heb 7:26.
23. Servants are apt to "answer again" (
Tit 2:9). Threats of divine judgment against
oppressors are often used by those who have no other arms,
as for instance, slaves. Christ, who as Lord could have
threatened with truth, never did so.
committed himself--or His
cause, as man in His suffering. Compare the type,
Jer 11:20. In this Peter seems to have before his mind
Isa 53:8. Compare
Ro 12:19, on our corresponding duty. Leave your case in
His hands, not desiring to make Him executioner of your
revenge, but rather praying for enemies. God's
righteous judgment gives tranquillity and consolation
to the oppressed.
24. his own self--there being none other but
Himself who could have done it. His voluntary
undertaking of the work of redemption is implied. The
Greek puts in antithetical juxtaposition, OUR, and His
OWN SELF, to mark the idea of His substitution for
us. His "well-doing" in His sufferings is set
forth here as an example to servants and to us all (
1Pe 2:20).
bare--to sacrifice: carried and
offered up: a sacrificial term.
Isa 53:11, 12, "He bare the sin of
many": where the idea of bearing on Himself is
the prominent one; here the offering in sacrifice is
combined with that idea. So the same Greek means in
1Pe 2:5.
our sins--In offering or
presenting in sacrifice (as the Greek for
"bare" implies) His body, Christ offered in it
the guilt of our sins upon the cross, as upon the
altar of God, that it might be expiated in Him, and so
taken away from us. Compare
Isa 53:10, "Thou shalt make His soul an offering
for sin." Peter thus means by "bare" what
the Syriac takes two words to express, to
bear and to offer: (1) He hath borne our
sins laid upon Him [namely, their guilt, curse, and
punishment]; (2) He hath so borne them that He
offered them along with Himself on the altar. He refers
to the animals upon which sins were first laid, and which
were then offered thus laden [VITRINGA]. Sin or
guilt among the Semitic nations is considered as a burden
lying heavily upon the sinner [GESENIUS].
on the tree--the cross, the proper
place for One on whom the curse was laid: this curse
stuck to Him until it was legally (through His death as the
guilt-bearer) destroyed in His body: thus the handwriting
of the bond against us is cancelled by His death.
that we being dead to sins--the effect
of His death to "sin" in the aggregate, and to
all particular "sins," namely, that we should be
as entirely delivered from them, as a slave that is
dead is delivered from service to his master.
This is our spiritful standing through faith by
virtue of Christ's death: our actual mortification of
particular sins is in proportion to the degree of
our effectually being made conformable to His death.
"That we should die to the sins whose collected
guilt Christ carried away in His death, and so LIVE TO THE
RIGHTEOUSNESS (compare
Isa 53:11. 'My righteous servant shall
justify many'), the gracious relation to God which
He has brought in" [STEIGER].
by whose stripes--Greek,
"stripe."
ye were healed--a paradox, yet true.
"Ye servants (compare 'buffeted,' 'the
tree,'
1Pe 2:20, 24) often bear the strife; but it is
not more than your Lord Himself bore; learn from Him
patience in wrongful sufferings.
25. (
Isa 53:6.)
For--Assigning their natural need of
healing (
1Pe 2:24).
now--Now that the atonement for all
has been made, the foundation is laid for individual
conversion: so "ye are
returned," or "have become converted
to," &c.
Shepherd and Bishop--The designation
of the pastors and elders of the Church
belongs in its fullest sense to the great Head of the
Church, "the good Shepherd." As the
"bishop" oversees (as the
Greek term means), so "the eyes of the Lord are
over the righteous" (
1Pe 3:12). He gives us His spirit and feeds and guides
us by His word. "Shepherd," Hebrew,
"Parnas," is often applied to
kings, and enters into the composition of names, as
"Pharnabazus."
1Pe 3:1-22. RELATIVE DUTIES OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES: EXHORTATIONS TO LOVE AND FORBEARANCE: RIGHT CONDUCT UNDER PERSECUTIONS FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS' SAKE, AFTER CHRIST'S EXAMPLE, WHOSE DEATH RESULTED IN QUICKENING TO US THROUGH HIS BEING QUICKENED AGAIN, OF WHICH BAPTISM IS THE SACRAMENTAL SEAL.
1. Likewise--Greek, "In like manner," as
"servants" in their sphere; compare the reason of
the woman's subjection,
1Co 11:8-10; 1Ti 2:11-14.
your own--enforcing the obligation: it
is not strangers ye are required to be subject to.
Every time that obedience is enjoined upon women to their
husbands, the Greek, "idios,"
"one's own peculiarly," is used, while the
wives of men are designated only by heauton,
"of themselves." Feeling the need of leaning on
one stronger than herself, the wife (especially if joined
to an unbeliever) might be tempted, though only
spiritually, to enter into that relation with another in
which she ought to stand to "her own spouse (
1Co 14:34, 35, "Let them ask their own
[idious] husbands at home"); an attachment to
the person of the teacher might thus spring up, which,
without being in the common sense spiritual adultery, would
still weaken in its spiritual basis the married relation [S
TEIGER].
that, if--Greek, "that
even if." Even if you have a husband that obeys
not the word (that is, is an unbeliever).
without the word--independently of
hearing the word preached, the usual way of
faith coming. But B ENGEL, "without word,"
that is, without direct Gospel discourse of
the wives, "they may (literally, in oldest
manuscripts, 'shall,' which marks the almost
objective certainty of the result) be won"
indirectly. "Unspoken acting is more powerful than
unperformed speaking" [Œ CUMENIUS]. "A soul
converted is gained to itself, to the pastor, wife,
or husband, who sought it, and to Jesus Christ; added to
His treasury who thought not His own precious blood too
dear to lay out for this gain" [LEIGHTON]. "The
discreet wife would choose first of all to persuade her
husband to share with her in the things which lead to
blessedness; but if this be impossible, let her then alone
diligently press after virtue, in all things obeying him so
as to do nothing at any time against his will, except in
such things as are essential to virtue and salvation"
[C LEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA].
2. behold--on narrowly looking into it, literally,
"having closely observed."
chaste--pure, spotless, free from all
impurity.
fear--reverential, towards your
husbands. Scrupulously pure, as opposed to the noisy,
ambitious character of worldly women.
3. Literally, "To whom let there belong (namely, as
their peculiar ornament) not the outward adornment (usual
in the sex which first, by the fall, brought in the need of
covering, Note, see on 1Pe
5:5) of," &c.
plaiting--artificial braiding, in
order to attract admiration.
wearing--literally, "putting
round," namely, the head, as a diadem--the arm, as a
bracelet--the finger, as rings.
apparel--showy and costly. "Have
the blush of modesty on thy face instead of paint, and
moral worth and discretion instead of gold and
emeralds" [MELISSA].
4. But--"Rather." The "outward
adornment" of jewelry, &c., is forbidden, in so
far as woman loves such things, not in so far as she uses
them from a sense of propriety, and does not abuse
them. Singularity mostly comes from pride and throws
needless hindrances to religion in the way of others. Under
costly attire there may be a humble mind. "Great is he
who uses his earthenware as if it were plate; not less
great is he who uses his silver as if it were
earthenware" [SENECA in ALFORD].
hidden--inner man, which the
Christian instinctively hides from public
view.
of the heart--consisting in the
heart regenerated and adorned by the Spirit. This
"inner man of the heart" is the subject of the
verb "be,"
1Pe 3:3, Greek: "Of whom let the inner man
be," namely, the distinction or adornment.
in that--consisting or standing in
that as its element.
not corruptible--not transitory, nor
tainted with corruption, as all earthly adornments.
meek and quiet--meek, not
creating disturbances: quiet, bearing with
tranquillity the disturbances caused by others. Meek
in affections and feelings; quiet in words,
countenance, and actions [BENGEL].
in the sight of God--who looks to
inward, not merely outward things.
of great price--The results of
redemption should correspond to its costly price (
1Pe 1:19).
5. after this manner--with the ornament of a meek and
quiet spirit (compare the portrait of the godly wife,
Pr 31:10-31).
trusted--Greek,
"hoped." "Holy" is explained by
"hoped in (so as to be 'united to,'
Greek) God." Hope in God is the spring of true
holiness [BENGEL].
in subjection--Their ornament
consisted in their subordination. Vanity was forbidden (
1Pe 3:3) as being contrary to female subjection.
6. Sara--an example of faith.
calling him lord-- (
Ge 18:12).
ye are--Greek, "ye have
become": "children" of Abraham and Sara by
faith, whereas ye were Gentile aliens from the
covenant.
afraid with any
amazement--Greek, "fluttering alarm,"
"consternation." Act well, and be not thrown
into sudden panic, as weak females are apt to be, by
any opposition from without. B ENGEL translates, "Not
afraid OF any fluttering terror coming from
without" (
1Pe 3:13-16). So the Septuagint,
Pr 3:25 uses the same Greek word, which Peter
probably refers to. Anger assails men; fear, women.
You need fear no man in doing what is right: not thrown
into fluttering agitation by any sudden outbreak of temper
on the part of your unbelieving husbands, while you do
well.
7. dwell--Greek, "dwelling": connected
with the verb,
1Pe 2:17, "Honor all."
knowledge--Christian knowledge:
appreciating the due relation of the sexes in the design of
God, and acting with tenderness and forbearance
accordingly: wisely: with wise consideration.
them . . . giving
honour to the wife--translate and punctuate the
Greek rather, "dwelling according to knowledge
with the female (Greek adjective, qualifying
'vessel'; not as English Version, a noun) as
with the weaker vessel (see on
1Th 4:4. Both husband and wife are vessels in God's
hand, and of God's making, to fulfil His gracious
purposes. Both weak, the woman the weaker. The sense
of his own weakness, and that she, like himself, is
God's vessel and fabric, ought to lead him to
act with tender and wise consideration towards her who is
the weaker fabric), giving (literally,
'assigning,' 'apportioning')
honor as being also (besides being man and wife) heirs
together," &c.; or, as the Vatican manuscript
reads, as to those who are also (besides being your wives)
fellow heirs." (The reason why the man should give
honor to the woman is, because God gives honor to
both as fellow heirs; compare the same argument,
1Pe 3:9). He does not take into account the case of an
unbelieving wife, as she might yet believe.
grace of life--God's
gracious gift of life (
1Pe 1:4, 13).
that your prayers be not hindered--by
dissensions, which prevent united prayer, on which
depends the blessing.
8. General summary of relative duty, after having
detailed particular duties from
1Pe 2:18.
of one mind--as to the faith.
having compassion one of
another--Greek, "sympathizing" in the joy
and sorrow of others.
love as brethren--Greek,
"loving the brethren."
pitiful--towards the afflicted.
courteous--genuine Christian
politeness; not the tinsel of the world's politeness;
stamped with unfeigned love on one side, and
humility on the other. But the oldest manuscripts read,
"humble-minded." It is slightly different from
"humble," in that it marks a conscious
effort to be truly humble.
9. evil--in deed.
railing--in word.
blessing--your revilers; participle,
not a noun after "rendering."
knowing that--The oldest manuscripts
read merely, "because."
are--Greek, "were
called."
inherit a blessing--not only passive,
but also active; receiving spiritual blessing from God by
faith, and in your turn blessing others from love [GERHARD
in ALFORD]. "It is not in order to inherit a blessing
that we must bless, but because our portion is
blessing." No railing can injure you (
1Pe 3:13). Imitate God who "blesses" you. The
first fruits of His blessing for eternity are
enjoyed by the righteous even now (
1Pe 3:10) [BENGEL].
10. will love--Greek, "wishes to love." He
who loves life (present and eternal), and desires
to continue to do so, not involving himself in troubles
which will make this life a burden, and cause him to
forfeit eternal life. Peter confirms his exhortation,
1Pe 3:9, by
Ps 34:12-16.
refrain--curb, literally, "cause
to cease"; implying that our natural inclination and
custom is to speak evil. "Men commonly think that they
would be exposed to the wantonness of their enemies if they
did not strenuously vindicate their rights. But the Spirit
promises a life of blessedness to none but those who are
gentle and patient of evils" [CALVIN].
evil . . . guile--First he
warns against sins of the tongue, evil-speaking, and
deceitful, double-tongued speaking; next, against
acts of injury to one's neighbor.
11. In oldest manuscripts, Greek,
"Moreover (besides his words, in
acts), let him."
eschew--"turn from."
ensue--pursue as a thing hard
to attain, and that flees from one in this troublesome
world.
12. Ground of the promised present and eternal life of
blessedness to the meek (
1Pe 3:10). The Lord's eyes are ever over
them for good.
ears . . . unto their
prayers-- (
1Jo 5:14, 15).
face . . . against--The
eyes imply favorable regard; the face of
the Lord upon (not as English Version,
"against") them that do evil, implies that He
narrowly observes them, so as not to let them really and
lastingly hurt His people (compare
1Pe 3:13).
13. who . . . will harm you--This fearless
confidence in God's protection from harm, Christ, the
Head, in His sufferings realized; so His members.
if ye be--Greek, "if ye
have become."
followers--The oldest manuscripts read
"emulous," "zealous of" (
Tit 2:14).
good--The contrast in Greek is,
"Who will do you evil, if ye be zealous of
good?"
14. But and if--"But if even." "The promises
of this life extend only so far as it is expedient
for us that they should be fulfilled" [CALVIN]. So he
proceeds to state the exceptions to the promise (
1Pe 3:10), and how the truly wise will behave in such
exceptional cases. "If ye should suffer";
if it should so happen; "suffer," a milder word
than harm.
for righteousness--"not the
suffering, but the cause for which one suffers, makes the
martyr" [AUGUSTINE].
happy--Not even can suffering
take away your blessedness, but rather promotes
it.
and--Greek, "but." Do
not impair your blessing (
1Pe 3:9) by fearing man's terror in
your times of adversity. Literally, "Be not terrified
with their terror," that is, with that which they try
to strike into you, and which strikes themselves when in
adversity. This verse and
1Pe 3:15 is quoted from
Isa 8:12, 13. God alone is to be feared; he that fears
God has none else to fear.
neither be troubled--the threat of the
law,
Le 26:36; De 28:65, 66; in contrast to which the Gospel
gives the believer a heart assured of God's favor, and
therefore unruffled, amidst all adversities. Not only be
not afraid, but be not even agitated.
15. sanctify--hallow; honor as holy, enshrining Him
in your hearts. So in the Lord's Prayer,
Mt 6:9. God's holiness is thus glorified in our
hearts as the dwelling-place of His Spirit.
the Lord God--The oldest manuscripts
read "Christ." Translate, "Sanctify
Christ as Lord."
and--Greek, "but," or
"moreover." Besides this inward
sanctification of God in the heart, be also ready always
to give, &c.
answer--an apologetic answer defending
your faith.
to every man that asketh you--The last
words limit the universality of the "always"; not
to a roller, but to everyone among the heathen who inquires
honestly.
a reason--a reasonable account. This
refutes Rome's dogma, "I believe it, because the
Church believes it." Credulity is believing without
evidence; faith is believing on evidence. There is no
repose for reason itself but in faith. This verse does not
impose an obligation to bring forward a learned proof and
logical defense of revelation. But as believers deny
themselves, crucify the world, and brave persecution, they
must be buoyed up by some strong "hope"; men of
the world, having no such hope themselves, are moved by
curiosity to ask the secret of this hope; the
believer must be ready to give an experimental
account "how this hope arose in him, what it
contains, and on what it rests" [STEIGER].
with--The oldest manuscripts read,
"but with." Be ready, but with
"meekness." Not pertly and arrogantly.
meekness-- (
1Pe 3:4). The most effective way; not self-sufficient
impetuosity.
fear--due respect towards man, and
reverence towards God, remembering His cause does not need
man's hot temper to uphold it.
16. Having a good conscience--the secret spring of
readiness to give account of our hope. So
hope and good conscience go together in
Ac 24:15, 16. Profession without practice has no
weight. But those who have a good conscience can
afford to give an account of their hope "with
meekness."
whereas-- (
1Pe 2:12).
they speak evil of you, as of
evildoers--One oldest manuscript reads, "ye are spoken
against," omitting the rest.
falsely
accuse--"calumniate"; the Greek expresses
malice shown in deeds as well as in words. It is
translated, "despitefully use,"
Mt 5:44; Lu 6:28.
conversation--life, conduct.
in Christ--who is the very element of
your life as Christians. "In Christ" defines
"good." It is your good walk as
Christians, not as citizens, that calls forth malice
(
1Pe 4:4, 5, 14).
17. better--One may object, I would not bear it so ill if I
had deserved it. Peter replies, it is better that
you did not deserve it, in order that doing well and yet
being spoken against, you may prove yourself a true
Christian [GERHARD].
if the will of God be so--rather as
the optative is in the oldest manuscripts, "if the
will of God should will it so." Those who honor
God's will as their highest law (
1Pe 2:15) have the comfort to know that suffering is
God's appointment (
1Pe 4:19). So Christ Himself; our inclination does not
wish it.
18. Confirmation of
1Pe 3:17, by the glorious results of Christ's
suffering innocently.
For--"Because." That is
"better,"
1Pe 3:17, means of which we are rendered more like to
Christ in death and in life; for His death brought the best
issue to Himself and to us [B ENGEL].
Christ--the Anointed Holy One
of God; the Holy suffered for sins, the
Just for the unjust.
also--as well as yourselves (
1Pe 3:17). Compare
1Pe 2:21; there His suffering was brought forward as an
example to us; here, as a proof of the blessedness of
suffering for well-doing.
once--for all; never again to suffer.
It is "better" for us also once to suffer with
Christ, than for ever without Christ We now are suffering
our "once"; it will soon be a thing of the past;
a bright consolation to the tried.
for sins--as though He had Himself
committed them. He exposed Himself to death by His
"confession," even as we are called on to
"give an answer to him that asketh a reason of our
hope." This was "well-doing" in its highest
manifestation. As He suffered, "The Just," so we
ought willingly to suffer, for righteousness'
sake (
1Pe 3:14; compare
1Pe 3:12, 17).
that he might bring us to
God--together with Himself in His ascension to the right
hand of God (
1Pe 3:22). He brings us, "the unjust,"
justified together with Him into heaven. So the result of
Christ's death is His drawing men to Him;
spiritually now, in our having access into the
Holiest, opened by Christ's ascension; literally
hereafter. "Bring us," moreover, by the same
steps of humiliation and exaltation through which He
Himself passed. The several steps of Christ's progress
from lowliness to glory are trodden over again by His
people in virtue of their oneness with Him (
1Pe 4:1-3). "To God," is Greek dative
(not the preposition and case), implying that God wishes
it [BENGEL].
put to death--the means of His
bringing us to God.
in the flesh--that is, in respect
to the life of flesh and blood.
quickened by the Spirit--The oldest
manuscripts omit the Greek article. Translate with
the preposition "in," as the antithesis to the
previous "in the flesh" requires, "
IN spirit," that is, in respect to His Spirit.
"Put to death" in the former mode of life;
"quickened" in the other. Not that His Spirit
ever died and was quickened, or made alive again,
but whereas He had lived after the manner of mortal men in
the flesh, He began to live a spiritual
"resurrection" (
1Pe 3:21) life, whereby He has the power to
bring us to God. Two ways of explaining
1Pe 3:18, 19, are open to us: (1) "Quickened in
Spirit," that is, immediately on His release
from the "flesh," the energy of His undying
spirit-life was "quickened" by God the Father,
into new modes of action, namely, "in the Spirit He
went down (as subsequently He went up to
heaven,
1Pe 3:22, the same Greek verb) and heralded [not
salvation, as ALFORD, contrary to Scripture, which
everywhere represents man's state, whether saved or
lost, after death irreversible. Nor is any mention made of
the conversion of the spirits in prison. See on 1Pe 3:20. Nor is the phrase here
'preached the Gospel' (evangelizo),
but 'heralded' (ekeruxe) or
'preached'; but simply made the announcement
of His finished work; so the same Greek in
Mr 1:45, 'publish,' confirming Enoch and
Noah's testimony, and thereby declaring the virtual
condemnation of their unbelief, and the salvation of Noah
and believers; a sample of the similar opposite effects of
the same work on all unbelievers, and believers,
respectively; also a consolation to those whom Peter
addresses, in their sufferings at the hands of unbelievers;
specially selected for the sake of 'baptism,' its
'antitype' (
1Pe 3:21), which, as a seal, marks believers as
separated from the rest of the doomed world] to the spirits
(His Spirit speaking to the spirits) in
prison (in Hades or Sheol, awaiting the judgment,
2Pe 2:4), which were of old disobedient when,"
&c. (2) The strongest point in favor of (1) is the
position of "sometime," that is, of old,
connected with "disobedient"; whereas if the
preaching or announcing were a thing long past, we
should expect "sometime," or of old, to be
joined to "went and preached." But this
transposition may express that their disobedience
preceded His preaching. The Greek participle
expresses the reason of His preaching,
"inasmuch as they were sometime
disobedient" (compare
1Pe 4:6). Also "went" seems to mean a
personal going, as in
1Pe 3:22, not merely in spirit. But see the
answer below. The objections are "quickened" must
refer to Christ's body (compare
1Pe 3:21, end), for as His Spirit never ceased
to live, it cannot be said to be "quickened."
Compare
Joh 5:21; Ro 8:11, and other passages, where
"quicken" is used of the bodily
resurrection. Also, not His Spirit, but His
soul, went to Hades. His Spirit was commended by Him at
death to His Father, and was thereupon "in
Paradise." The theory--(1) would thus require that His
descent to the spirits in prison should be after His
resurrection! Compare
Eph 4:9, 10, which makes the descent precede the
ascent. Also Scripture elsewhere is silent about
such a heralding, though possibly Christ's death had
immediate effects on the state of both the godly and the
ungodly in Hades: the souls of the godly heretofore in
comparative confinement, perhaps then having been, as some
Fathers thought, translated to God's immediate and
heavenly presence; but this cannot be proved from
Scripture. Compare however,
Joh 3:13; Col 1:18. Prison is always used in a
bad sense in Scripture. "Paradise" and
"Abraham's bosom," the abode of good spirits
in Old Testament times, are separated by a wide gulf from
Hell or Hades, and cannot be called "prison."
Compare
2Co 12:2, 4, where "paradise" and the
"third heaven" correspond. Also, why should the
antediluvian unbelievers in particular be selected as the
objects of His preaching in Hades? Therefore explain:
"Quickened in spirit, in which (as distinguished from
in person; the words "in which," that is,
in spirit, expressly obviating the objection that
"went" implies a personal going) He went
(in the person of Noah, "a preacher of
righteousness,"
2Pe 2:5: ALFORD'S own Note,
Eph 2:17, is the best reply to his argument from
"went" that a local going to Hades in
person is meant. As "He CAME and preached
peace" by His Spirit in the apostles and
ministers after His death and ascension: so before His
incarnation He preached in Spirit through Noah to the
antediluvians,
Joh 14:18, 28; Ac 26:23. "Christ should
show," literally, "announce light to the
Gentiles") and preached unto the spirits in prison,
that is, the antediluvians, whose bodies indeed seemed
free, but their spirits were in prison, shut up in the
earth as one great condemned cell (exactly parallel to
Isa 24:22, 23 "upon the earth . . . they
shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered
in the pit, and shall be shut up in the
prison," &c. [just as the fallen angels are
judicially regarded as "in chains of darkness,"
though for a time now at large on the earth,
1Pe 2:4], where
1Pe 3:18 has a plain allusion to the flood, "the
windows from on high are open," compare
Ge 7:11); from this prison the only way of escape was
that preached by Christ in Noah. Christ, who in our times
came in the flesh, in the days of Noah preached in
Spirit by Noah to the spirits then in prison (
Isa 61:1, end, "the Spirit of the Lord God hath
sent me to proclaim the opening of the prison
to them that are bound"). So in
1Pe 1:11, "the Spirit of Christ" is said to
have testified in the prophets. As Christ suffered even to
death by enemies, and was afterwards quickened in virtue of
His "Spirit" (or divine nature,
Ro 1:3, 4; 1Co 15:45), which henceforth acted in its
full energy, the first result of which was the raising of
His body (
1Pe 3:21, end) from the prison of the grave and His
soul from Hades; so the same Spirit of Christ enabled Noah,
amidst reproach and trials, to preach to the disobedient
spirits fast bound in wrath. That Spirit in you can enable
you also to suffer patiently now, looking for the
resurrection deliverance.
20. once--not in the oldest manuscripts.
when . . . the
long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah--Oldest
manuscripts. Greek, "was continuing to wait
on" (if haply men in the hundred twenty years of
grace would repent) until the end of His waiting
came in their death by the flood. This refutes ALFORD'S
idea of a second day of grace having been given in Hades.
Noah's days are selected, as the ark and the destroying
flood answer respectively to "baptism" and the
coming destruction of unbelievers by fire.
while the ark was a-preparing-- (
Heb 11:7). A long period of God's
"long-suffering and waiting," as Noah had few to
help him, which rendered the world's unbelief the more
inexcusable.
wherein--literally, "(by having
entered) into which."
eight--seven (the sacred number) with
ungodly Ham.
few--so now.
souls--As this term is here used of
living persons, why should not "spirits"
also? Noah preached to their ears, but Christ in
spirit, to their spirits, or spiritual
natures.
saved by water--The same water which
drowned the unbelieving, buoyed up the ark in which the
eight were saved. Not as some translate, "were brought
safe through the water." However, the sense of
the preposition may be as in
1Co 3:15, "they were safely preserved through the
water," though having to be in the water.
21. whereunto--The oldest manuscripts read,
"which": literally, "which (namely,
water, in general; being) the antitype (of the water of
the flood) is now saving (the salvation being not yet fully
realized by us, compare
1Co 10:1, 2, 5; Jude 5; puts into a state of
salvation) us also (two oldest manuscripts read
'you' for 'us': You also, as
well as Noah and his party), to wit, baptism." Water
saved Noah not of itself, but by sustaining the ark built
in faith, resting on God's word: it was to him
the sign and mean of a kind of regeneration, of the
earth. The flood was for Noah a baptism, as the passage
through the Red Sea was for the Israelites; by baptism in
the flood he and his family were transferred from the old
world to the new: from immediate destruction to lengthened
probation; from the companionship of the wicked to
communion with God; from the severing of all bonds between
the creature and the Creator to the privileges of the
covenant: so we by spiritual baptism. As there was a Ham
who forfeited the privileges of the covenant, so many now.
The antitypical water, namely, baptism, saves you also not
of itself, nor the mere material water, but the spiritual
thing conjoined with it, repentance and faith, of which it
is the sign and seal, as Peter proceeds to explain. Compare
the union of the sign and thing signified,
Joh 3:5; Eph 5:26; Tit 3:5; Heb 10:22; compare
1Jo 5:6.
not the, &c.--"flesh"
bears the emphasis. "Not the putting away of the filth
of the flesh" (as is done by a mere water
baptism, unaccompanied with the Spirit's baptism,
compare
Eph 2:11), but of the soul. It is the ark (Christ and
His Spirit-filled Church), not the water, which is the
instrument of salvation: the water only flowed round the
ark; so not the mere water baptism, but the water when
accompanied with the Spirit.
answer--Greek,
"interrogation"; referring to the
questions asked of candidates for baptism; eliciting a
confession of faith "toward God" and a
renunciation of Satan ([A UGUSTINE, The Creed, 4.1];
[C YPRIAN, Epistles, 7, To Rogatianus]),
which, when flowing from "a good conscience,"
assure one of being "saved." Literally, "a
good conscience's interrogation (including the
satisfactory answer) toward God." I prefer this
to the translation of WAHL, ALFORD and others,
"inquiry of a good conscience after
God": not one of the parallels alleged, not even
2Sa 11:7, in the Septuagint, is strictly in
point. Recent Byzantine Greek idiom (whereby the
term meant: (1) the question; (2) the stipulation; (3) the
engagement), easily flowing from the usage of the word as
Peter has it, confirms the former translation.
by the resurrection of Jesus--joined
with "saves you": In so far as baptism applies to
us the power of Christ's resurrection. As Christ's
death unto sin is the source of the believer's death
unto, and so deliverance from, sin's penalty and power;
so His resurrection life is the source of the
believer's new spiritual life.
22. (
Ps 110:1; Ro 8:34, 38; 1Co 15:24; Eph 1:21; 3:10; Col 1:16;
2:10-15). The fruit of His patience in His voluntary
endured and undeserved sufferings: a pattern to us,
1Pe 3:17, 18.
gone-- (
Lu 24:51). Proving against rationalists an actual
material ascension. Literally, "is on the right hand
of God, having gone into heaven." The oldest
manuscripts of the Vulgate and the Latin
Fathers, add what expresses the benefit to us of
Christ's sitting on God's right hand, "Who is
on the right hand of God, having swallowed up death that
we may become heirs of everlasting life";
involving for us A STATE OF LIFE, saved, glorious, and
eternal. The Greek manuscripts, however, reject the
words. Compare with this verse Peter's speeches,
Ac 2:32-35; 3:21, 26; 10:40, 42.
1Pe 4:1-19. LIKE THE RISEN CHRIST, BELIEVERS HENCEFORTH OUGHT TO HAVE NO MORE TO DO WITH SIN.
As the end is near, cultivate self-restraint, watchful prayerfulness, charity, hospitality, scriptural speech, ministering to one another according to your several gifts to the glory of God: Rejoicing patience under suffering.
1. for us--supported by some oldest manuscripts and
versions, omitted by others.
in the flesh--in His mortal body of
humiliation.
arm-- (
Eph 6:11, 13).
the same mind--of suffering with
patient willingness what God wills you to
suffer.
he that hath suffered--for instance,
Christ first, and in His person the believer: a general
proposition.
hath ceased--literally, "has been
made to cease," has obtained by the very fact
of His having suffered once for all, a cessation from
sin, which had heretofore lain on Him (
Ro 6:6-11, especially,
1Pe 4:7). The Christian is by faith one with Christ: as
then Christ by death is judicially freed from sin; so the
Christian who has in the person of Christ died, has no more
to do with it judicially, and ought to have no more to do
with it actually. "The flesh" is the sphere in
which sin has place.
2. That he, &c.--"That he (the believer, who has once for all obtained cessation from sin by suffering, in the person of Christ, namely, in virtue of his union with the crucified Christ) should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God" as his rule. "Rest of his time in the flesh" (the Greek has the preposition "in" here, not in 1Pe 4:1 as to Christ) proves that the reference is here not to Christ, but to the believer, whose remaining time for glorifying God is short ( 1Pe 4:3). "Live" in the truest sense, for heretofore he was dead. Not as ALFORD, "Arm yourselves . . . with a view no longer to live the rest of your time."
3. may suffice--Greek, "is sufficient."
Peter takes the lowest ground: for not even the past time
ought to have been wasted in lust; but since you cannot
recall it, at least lay out the future to better
account.
us--omitted in oldest
manuscripts.
wrought--Greek, "wrought
out."
Gentiles--heathen: which many of you
were.
when, &c.--"walking as ye
have done [ALFORD] in lasciviousness"; the
Greek means petulant, immodest, wantonness,
unbridled conduct: not so much filthy lust.
excess of
wine--"wine-bibbings" [ALFORD].
abominable--"nefarious,"
"lawless idolatries," violating God's most
sacred law; not that all Peter's readers (see on
1Pe 1:1) walked in these, but
many, namely, the Gentile portion of them.
4. Wherein--In respect to which abandonment of your former
walk (
1Pe 4:3).
run not with them--eagerly, in troops
[BENGEL].
excess--literally,
"profusion"; a sink: stagnant water remaining
after an inundation.
riot--profligacy.
speaking evil--charging you with
pride, singularity, hypocrisy, and secret crimes (
1Pe 4:14; 2Pe 2:2). However, there is no "of
you" in the Greek, but simply
"blaspheming." It seems to me always to be used,
either directly or indirectly, in the sense of impious
reviling against God, Christ, or the Holy Spirit, and
the Christian religion, not merely against men as such;
Greek,
1Pe 4:14, below.
5. They who now call you to account falsely, shall have to
give account themselves for this very evil-speaking (
Jude 15), and be condemned justly.
ready--very speedily (
1Pe 4:7; 2Pe 3:10). Christ's coming is to the
believer always near.
6. For--giving the reason for
1Pe 4:5, "judge the dead."
gospel preached also to
. . . dead--as well as to them now living, and to
them that shall be found alive at the coming of the Judge.
"Dead" must be taken in the same literal sense as
in
1Pe 4:5, which refutes the explanation "dead"
in sins. Moreover, the absence of the Greek
article does not necessarily restrict the sense of
"dead" to particular dead persons, for there is
no Greek article in
1Pe 4:5 also, where "the dead" is universal
in meaning. The sense seems to be, Peter, as representing
the true attitude of the Church in every age, expecting
Christ at any moment, says, The Judge is ready to judge the
quick and dead--the dead, I say, for they,
too, in their lifetime, have had the Gospel preached to
them, that so they might be judged at last in the same way
as those living now (and those who shall be so when Christ
shall come), namely, "men in the flesh," and that
they might, having escaped condemnation by embracing the
Gospel so preached, live unto God in the spirit (though
death has passed over their flesh),
Lu 20:38, thus being made like Christ in death and in
life (see on 1Pe 3:18). He says,
"live," not "made alive" or quickened;
for they are supposed to have been already "quickened
together with Christ" (
Eph 2:5). This verse is parallel to
1Pe 3:18; compare Note, see on 1Pe 3:18. The Gospel, substantially, was
"preached" to the Old Testament Church; though
not so fully as to the New Testament Church. It is no valid
objection that the Gospel has not been preached to
all that shall be found dead at Christ's coming.
For Peter is plainly referring only to those within reach
of the Gospel, or who might have known God through His
ministers in Old and New Testament times. Peter, like Paul,
argues that those found living at Christ's
coming shall have no advantage above the dead who
shall then be raised, inasmuch as the latter live
unto, or "according to," God, even
already in His purpose. ALFORD'S explanation is wrong,
"that they might be judged according to men as regards
the flesh," that is, be in the state of the
completed sentence on sin, which is death after the
flesh. For "judged" cannot have a different
meaning in this verse from what "judge" bears in
1Pe 4:5. "Live according to God" means, live
a life with God, such as God lives, divine; as
contrasted with "according to men in the flesh,"
that is, a life such as men live in the flesh.
7. Resuming the idea in
1Pe 4:5.
the end of all things--and therefore
also of the wantonness (
1Pe 4:3, 4) of the wicked, and of the sufferings of the
righteous [BENGEL]. The nearness meant is not that of mere
"time," but that before the Lord; as he
explains to guard against misapprehension, and defends God
from the charge of procrastination: We live in the last
dispensation, not like the Jews under the Old Testament.
The Lord will come as a thief; He is "ready" (
1Pe 4:5) to judge the world at any moment; it is only
God's long-suffering and His will that the Gospel
should be preached as a witness to all nations, that
induces Him to lengthen out the time which is with Him
still as nothing.
sober--"self-restrained."
The opposite duties to the sins in
1Pe 4:3 are here inculcated. Thus "sober" is
the opposite of "lasciviousness" (
1Pe 4:3).
watch--Greek, "be soberly
vigilant"; not intoxicated with worldly cares and
pleasures. Temperance promotes wakefulness or
watchfulness, and both promote prayer. Drink makes drowsy,
and drowsiness prevents prayer.
prayer--Greek,
"prayers"; the end for which we should exercise
vigilance.
8. above all things--not that "charity" or
love is placed above "prayer," but because
love is the animating spirit, without which all
other duties are dead. Translate as Greek,
"Having your mutual (literally, 'towards
yourselves') charity intense." He presupposes its
existence among them; he urges them to make it more
fervent.
charity shall cover the multitude,
&c.--The oldest manuscripts have "covereth."
Quoted from
Pr 10:12; compare
Pr 17:9. "Covereth" so as not harshly to
condemn or expose faults; but forbearingly to bear the
other's burdens, forgiving and forgetting past
offenses. Perhaps the additional idea is included,
By prayer for them, love tries to have them covered by
God; and so being the instrument of converting the
sinner from his error, "covereth a (not 'the,'
as English Version) multitude of sins"; but the
former idea from Proverbs is the prominent one. It
is not, as Rome teaches, "covereth" his
own sins; for then the Greek middle voice would
be used; and
Pr 10:12; 17:9 support the Protestant view. "As
God with His love covers my sins if I believe, so must I
also cover the sins of my neighbor" [LUTHER].
Compare the conduct of Shem and Japheth to Noah (
Ge 9:23), in contrast to Ham's exposure of his
father's shame. We ought to cover others' sins only
where love itself does not require the contrary.
9. (
Ro 12:13; Heb 13:2.) Not the spurious hospitality which
passes current in the world, but the entertaining of those
needing it, especially those exiled for the faith,
as the representatives of Christ, and all hospitality to
whomsoever exercised from genuine Christian love.
without grudging--Greek,
"murmuring." "He that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity," that is open-hearted sincerity; with
cordiality. Not secretly speaking against the person whom
we entertain, or upbraiding him with the favor we have
conferred in him.
10. every--"even as each man hath
received," in whatever degree, and of whatever kind.
The Spirit's gifts (literally, "gift of
grace," that is, gratuitously bestowed) are
the common property of the Christian community, each
Christian being but a steward for the edifying of the
whole, not receiving the gift merely for his own use.
minister the same--not discontentedly
envying or disparaging the gift of another.
one to another--Greek as in
1Pe 4:8, "towards yourselves"; implying that
all form but one body, and in seeking the good of other
members they are promoting the good of
themselves.
stewards--referring to
Mt 25:15, &c.; Lu 19:13-26.
11. If any . . . speak--namely, as a prophet, or
divinely taught teacher in the Church
assembly.
as the, &c.--The Greek has
no article: "as oracles of God." This may be due
to Greek: "God," having no article, it
being a principle when a governed noun omits the
Greek article that the governing noun should omit it,
too. In
Ac 7:38 also, the Greek article is wanting; thus
English Version, "as the oracles of God,"
namely, the Old Testament, would be
"right," and the precept be similar to
Ro 12:6, "prophesy according to the analogy of
the faith." But the context suits better thus,
"Let him speak as (becomes one speaking)
oracles OF GOD." His divinely inspired words are
not his own, but God's, and as a
steward (
1Pe 4:10) having them committed to him, he ought so to
speak them. Jesus was the pattern in this respect (
Mt 7:29; Joh 12:49; 14:10; compare Paul,
2Co 2:17). Note, the very same term as is applied in
the only other passages where it occurs (
Ac 7:38; Ro 3:2; Heb 5:12), to the Old Testament
inspired writings, is here predicated of the inspired
words (the substance of which was afterwards committed
to writing) of the New Testament
prophets.
minister--in acts; the other
sphere of spiritual activity besides speaking.
as of--"out of" the store of
his "strength" (Greek, physical power in
relation to outward service, rather than moral and
intellectual "ability"; so in
Mr 12:30).
giveth--Greek,
"supplieth"; originally said of a
choragus, who supplied the chorus with all
necessaries for performing their several parts.
that God in all things may be
glorified--the final end of all a Christian's
acts.
through Jesus Christ--the mediator
through whom all our blessings come down to us, and also
through whom all our praises ascend to God. Through Christ
alone can God be glorified in us and our sayings and
doings.
to whom--Christ.
be--Greek,
"is."
for ever and ever--Greek,
"unto the ages of the ages."
12. strange--they might think it strange that God
should allow His chosen children to be sore tried.
fiery trial--like the fire by which
metals are tested and their dross removed. The Greek
adds, "in your case."
which is to try you--Greek,
"which is taking place for a trial to you."
Instead of its "happening to you" as some
strange and untoward chance, it "is taking
place" with the gracious design of trying you;
God has a wise design in it--a consolatory reflection.
13. inasmuch as--The oldest manuscripts read, "in
proportion as"; "in as far as" ye by
suffering are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that
is, by faith enter into realizing fellowship with them;
willingly for His sake suffering as He suffered.
with exceeding joy--Greek,
"exulting joy"; now ye rejoice
amidst sufferings; then ye shall EXULT, for ever free from
sufferings (
1Pe 1:6, 8). If we will not bear suffering for Christ
now, we must bear eternal sufferings hereafter.
14. for--Greek, "IN the name of Christ,"
namely, as Christians (
1Pe 4:16; 3:14, above); "in My name,
because ye belong to Christ." The emphasis lies
on this:
1Pe 4:15, "as a murderer, thief," &c.,
stands in contrast. Let your suffering be on account of
Christ, not on account of evil-doing (
1Pe 2:20).
reproached--Reproach affects
noble minds more than loss of goods, or even bodily
sufferings.
the spirit . . . upon
you--the same Spirit as rested on Christ (
Lu 4:18). "The Spirit of glory" is His
Spirit, for He is the "Lord of glory" (
Jas 2:1). Believers may well overcome the
"reproach" (compare
Heb 11:26), seeing that "the Spirit of
glory" rests upon them, as upon Him. It cannot
prevent the happiness of the righteous, if they are
reproached for Christ, because they retain before God their
glory entire, as having the Spirit, with whom
glory is inseparably joined [CALVIN].
and of God--Greek, "and
the (Spirit) of God"; implying that the
Spirit of glory (which is Christ's Spirit) is at
the same time also the Spirit of God.
on their part he is evil spoken of,
but on your part he is glorified--omitted in the two oldest
Greek manuscripts and Syriac and Coptic
versions, but supported by one very old manuscript,
Vulgate, Sahidic, CYPRIAN, &c. "Evil spoken
of," literally, "blasphemed"; not merely do
they "speak against you," as in
1Pe 3:16, but blasphemously mock Christ and
Christianity itself.
15. But--Greek, "For." "Reproached
in the name of Christ" I say (
1Pe 4:14), "FOR let none,"
&c.
as . . . as
. . . as . . . as--the
"as" twice in italics is not in the Greek.
The second Greek, "as," distinguishes the
class "busybody in other men's matters," from
the previous class of delinquents. Christians, from
mistaken zeal, under the plea of faithfulness, might
readily step out of their own calling and make themselves
judges of the acts of unbelievers. Literally, "a
bishop in what is (not his own, but) another's"
province; an allusion to the existing bishops or
overseers of the Church; a self-constituted bishop in
others' concerns.
16. a Christian--the name given in contempt first at
Antioch.
Ac 11:26; 26:28; the only three places where the term
occurs. At first believers had no distinctive name, but
were called among themselves "brethren,"
Ac 6:3; "disciples,"
Ac 6:1; "those of the way,"
Ac 9:2; "saints,"
Ro 1:7; by the Jews (who denied that Jesus was the
CHRIST, and so would never originate the name
Christian), in contempt, "Nazarenes." At
Antioch, where first idolatrous Gentiles (Cornelius,
Ac 10:1, 2, was not an idolater, but a proselyte) were
converted, and wide missionary work began, they could be no
longer looked on as a Jewish sect, and so the
Gentiles designated them by the new name
"Christians." The rise of the new name marked a
new epoch in the Church's life, a new stage of its
development, namely, its missions to the Gentiles. The idle
and witty people of Antioch, we know from heathen writers,
were famous for inventing nicknames. The date of this
Epistle must have been when this had become the generally
recognized designation among Gentiles (it is
never applied by Christians to each other, as it was in
after ages--an undesigned proof that the New Testament was
composed when it professes), and when the name exposed one
to reproach and suffering, though not seemingly as yet to
systematic persecution.
let him not be ashamed--though the
world is ashamed of shame. To suffer for one's own
faults is no honor (
1Pe 4:15; 1Pe 2:20), --for Christ, is no shame
(
1Pe 4:14; 1Pe 3:13).
but let him glorify God--not merely
glory in persecution; Peter might have said as the
contrast, "but let him esteem it an honor to
himself"; but the honor is to be given to God,
who counts him worthy of such an honor, involving exemption
from the coming judgments on the ungodly.
on this behalf--The oldest manuscripts
and Vulgate read, "in this name,"
that is, in respect of suffering for such a name.
17. Another ground of consolation to Christians. All must
pass under the judgment of God; God's own household
first, their chastisement being here, for which they should
glorify Him as a proof of their membership in His family,
and a pledge of their escape from the end of those whom the
last judgment shall find disobedient to the Gospel.
the time--Greek,
"season," "fit time."
judgment must begin at the house of
God--the Church of living believers. Peter has in mind
Eze 9:6; compare
Am 3:2; Jer 25:29. Judgment is already begun, the
Gospel word, as a "two-edged sword," having the
double effect of saving some and condemning others, and
shall be consummated at the last judgment. "When power
is given to the destroyer, he observes no distinction
between the righteous and the wicked; not only so, but he
begins first at the righteous" [WETSTEIN from
Rabbins]. But God limits the destroyer's power over
His people.
if . . . at us, what shall
the end be of them, &c.--If even the godly have
chastening judgments now, how much more shall the ungodly
be doomed to damnatory judgments at last.
gospel of God--the very God who is to
judge them.
18. scarcely--Compare "so as by fire,"
1Co 3:15; having to pass through trying chastisements,
as David did for his sin. "The righteous" man has
always more or less of trial, but the issue is certain, and
the entrance into the kingdom abundant at last. The
"scarcely" marks the severity of the ordeal, and
the unlikelihood (in a mere human point of view) of the
righteous sustaining it; but the righteousness of Christ
and God's everlasting covenant make it all sure.
ungodly--having no regard for God;
negative description.
sinner--loving sin; positive; the same
man is at once God-forgetting and sin-loving.
appear--in judgment.
19. General conclusion from
1Pe 4:17, 18. Seeing that the godly know that their
sufferings are by God's will, to chasten them
that they may not perish with the world, they have good
reason to trust God cheerfully amidst sufferings,
persevering in well-doing.
let them--Greek, "let them
also," "let even them," as
well as those not suffering. Not only under ordinary
circumstances, but also in time of suffering,
let believers commit. (Compare Note, see
on 1Pe 3:14).
according to the will of God--(See on
1Pe 3:17). God's will that the
believer should suffer (
1Pe 4:17), is for his good. One oldest manuscript and
Vulgate read, "in well-doings";
contrast ill-doings,
1Pe 4:15. Our committing of ourselves to God is to be,
not in indolent and passive quietism, but accompanied with
active well-doings.
faithful--to His covenant
promises.
Creator--who is therefore also our
Almighty Preserver. He, not we, must keep our souls.
Sin destroyed the original spiritual relation between
creature and Creator, leaving that only of government.
Faith restores it; so that the believer, living to the
will of God (
1Pe 4:2), rests implicitly on his Creator's
faithfulness.
1Pe 5:1-14. EXHORTATIONS TO ELDERS, JUNIORS, AND ALL IN GENERAL. PARTING PRAYER. CONCLUSION.
1. elders--alike in office and age (
1Pe 5:5).
I . . . also an elder--To
put one's self on a level with those whom we exhort,
gives weight to one's exhortations (compare
2Jo 1, 2). Peter, in true humility for the Gospel's
sake, does not put forward his apostleship here,
wherein he presided over the elders. In the
apostleship the apostles have no successors, for "the
signs of an apostle" have not been transmitted. The
presidents over the presbyters and deacons, by whatever
name designated, angel, bishop, or moderator,
&c., though of the same ORDER as the
presbyters, yet have virtually succeeded to a
superintendency of the Church analogous to that exercised
by the apostles (this superintendency and priority existed
from the earliest times after the apostles [TERTULLIAN]);
just as the Jewish synagogue (the model which the Church
followed) was governed by a council of presbyters, presided
over by one of themselves, "the chief ruler of the
synagogue." (Compare VITRINGA [Synagogue and
Temple, Part II, chs. 3 and 7]).
witness--an eye-witness of
Christ's sufferings, and so qualified to exhort you to
believing patience in suffering for well-doing after
His example (
1Pe 4:19; 2:20). This explains the
"therefore" inserted in the oldest manuscripts,
"I therefore exhort," resuming exhortation from
1Pe 4:19. His higher dignity as an apostle is
herein delicately implied, as eye-witnessing was a
necessary qualification for apostleship: compare
Peter's own speeches,
Ac 1:21, 22; 2:32; 10:39.
also--implying the righteous
recompense corresponding to the sufferings.
partaker of the glory--according to
Christ's promise; an earnest of which was given in the
transfiguration.
2. Feed--Greek, "Tend as a shepherd," by
discipline and doctrine. Lead, feed, heed: by prayer,
exhortation, government, and example. The dignity is marked
by the term "elder"; the duties of
the office, to tend or oversee, by
"bishop." Peter has in mind Christ's
injunction to him, "Feed (tend) My sheep
. . . Feed (pasture) My lambs" (
Joh 21:16). He invites the elders to share with him the
same duty (compare
Ac 20:28). The flock is Christ's.
which is among you--While having a
concern for all the Church, your special duty is to
feed that portion of it "which is among
you."
oversight--Greek,
"bishopric," or duty of bishops, that is,
overseer.
not by constraint--Necessity is laid
upon them, but willingness prevents it being felt, both in
undertaking and in fulfilling the duty [BENGEL]. "He
is a true presbyter and minister of the counsel of God who
doeth and teacheth the things of the Lord, being not
accounted righteous merely because he is a presbyter, but
because righteous, chosen into the presbytery"
[CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA].
willingly--One oldest manuscript,
Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic, add, "as God
would have it to be done" (
Ro 8:27).
not for filthy lucre-- (
Isa 56:11; Tit 1:7).
of a ready mind--promptly and
heartily, without selfish motive of gain-seeking, as the
Israelites gave their services willing-heartedly to
the sanctuary.
3. being lords--Greek, "lording it":
implying pride and oppression. "Not that we have
dominion over your faith."
God's
heritage--Greek, "the inheritances," that
is, the portions of the Church committed severally
to your pastoral charge [BENGEL]. It is explained by
"the flock" in the next clause. However, in
1Pe 5:2, "flock of God which is among
you," answering to "(God's) heritages"
(plural to express the sheep who are God's
portion and inheritance,
De 32:9) committed to you, favors English
Version. The flock, as one whole, is God's
heritage, or flock in the singular. Regarded in
relation to its component sheep, divided among
several pastors, it is in the plural "heritages."
Compare
Ac 1:17, 25, "part" (the same Greek).
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, wrote to Pope Eugene, "Peter
could not give thee what he had not: what he had he gave:
the care over the Church, not
dominion."
being--Greek,
"becoming."
ensamples--the most effective
recommendation of precept (
1Ti 4:12).
Tit 2:7, "patterns." So Jesus. "A
monstrosity it is to see the highest rank joined with the
meanest mind, the first seat with the lowest life, a
grandiloquent tongue with a lazy life, much talking with no
fruit" [BERNARD].
4. And--"And so": as the result of "being
ensamples" (
1Pe 5:3).
chief Shepherd--the title peculiarly
Christ's own, not Peter's or the pope's.
when . . . shall
appear--Greek, "be manifested" (
Col 3:4). Faith serves the Lord while still
unseen.
crown--Greek,
"stephanos," a garland of victory,
the prize in the Grecian games, woven of ivy, parsley,
myrtle, olive, or oak. Our crown is distinguished
from theirs in that it is "incorruptible"
and "fadeth not away," as the leaves of theirs
soon did. "The crown of life." Not a
kingly "crown" (a different Greek
word, diadema): the prerogative of the Lord Jesus
(
Re 19:12).
glory--Greek, "the
glory," namely, to be then revealed (
1Pe 5:1; 1Pe 4:13).
that fadeth not away--Greek,
"amaranthine" (compare
1Pe 1:4).
5. ye younger--The deacons were originally the
younger men, the presbyters older; but subsequently
as presbyter expressed the office of Church ruler or
teacher, so Greek "neoteros" means
not (as literally) young men in age, but
subordinate ministers and servants of the Church. So
Christ uses the term "younger." For He explains
it by "he that doth serve," literally, "he
that ministereth as a deacon"; just as He explains
"the greatness" by "he that is chief,"
literally, "he that ruleth," the very word
applied to the bishops or presbyters. So
"the young men" are undoubtedly the deacons of
the Church of Jerusalem, of whom, as being all
Hebrews, the Hellenistic Christians subsequently
complained as neglecting their Grecian widows,
whence arose the appointment of the seven others,
Hellenistic deacons. So here, Peter, having exhorted
the presbyters, or elders, not to lord it over those
committed to them, adds, Likewise ye neoters or
younger, that is, subordinate ministers and deacons, submit
cheerfully to the command of the elders [M OSHEIM]. There
is no Scripture sanction for "younger" meaning
laymen in general (as ALFORD explains): its use in
this sense is probably of later date. The "all
of you" that follows, refers to the
congregation generally; and it is likely that, like
Paul, Peter should notice, previous to the general
congregation, the subordinate ministers as well as
the presbyters, writing as he did to the same region
(Ephesus), and to confirm the teaching of the apostle of
the Gentiles.
Yea--to sum up all my exhortations in
one.
be subject--omitted in the oldest
manuscripts and versions, but TISCHENDORF quotes the
Vatican manuscript for it. Then translate, "Gird
(
1Pe 1:13; 4:1) fast on humility (lowliness of mind) to
one another." The verb is literally, "tie on with
a fast knot" [WAHL]. Or, "gird on
humility as the slave dress
(encomboma)": as the Lord girded Himself with a
towel to perform a servile office of humility and love,
washing His disciples' feet, a scene in which Peter had
played an important part, so that he would naturally have
it before his mind. Compare similarly
1Pe 5:2 with Joh 21:15-17. Clothing was the original
badge of man's sin and shame. Pride caused the need of
man's clothing, and pride still reigns in dress; the
Christian therefore clothes himself in humility (
1Pe 3:3, 4). God provides him with the robe of
Christ's righteousness, in order to receive which man
must be stripped of pride.
God resisteth the proud--Quoted, as
Jas 4:6, from Pr 3:34. Peter had James before his mind,
and gives his Epistle inspired sanction. Compare
1Pe 5:9 with Jas 4:7, literally, "arrayeth Himself
against." Other sins flee from God: pride alone
opposeth itself to God; therefore, God also in turn
opposes Himself to the proud [GERHARD in ALFORD].
Humility is the vessel of all graces [AUGUSTINE].
6. under the mighty hand--afflicting you (
1Pe 3:15): "accept" His chastisements, and
turn to Him that smiteth you. He depresses the proud and
exalts the humble.
in due time--Wait humbly and patiently
for His own fit time. One oldest manuscript and
Vulgate read, "In the season of visitation,"
namely, His visitation in mercy.
7. Casting--once for all: so the Greek
aorist.
care--"anxiety? The advantage
flowing from humbling ourselves under God's hand
(
1Pe 5:6) is confident reliance on His goodness.
Exemption from care goes along with humble submission to
God.
careth for you--literally
"respecting you." Care is a burden which
faith casts off the man on his God. Compare
Ps 22:10; 37:5; 55:22, to which Peter alludes;
Lu 12:22, 37; Php 4:6.
careth--not so strong a Greek
word as the previous Greek "anxiety."
8. Peter has in mind Christ's warning to himself to
watch against Satan, from forgetting which he
fell.
Be sober . . .
vigilant--"Care," that is, anxiety, will
intoxicate the soul; therefore be sober, that is,
self-restrained. Yet, lest this freedom from care
should lead any to false security, he adds, "Be
vigilant" against "your adversary." Let this
be your "care." God provides, therefore do not be
anxious. The devil seeks, therefore watch [BENGEL].
because--omitted in the oldest
manuscripts The broken and disjointed sentences are more
fervid and forcible. LUCIFER OF CAGLIARI reads as
English Version.
adversary--literally, "opponent
in a court of justice" (
Zec 3:1). "Satan" means opponent.
"Devil," accuser or slanderer (
Re 12:10). "The enemy" (
Mt 13:39). "A murderer from the beginning"
(
Joh 8:44). He counteracts the Gospel and its agents.
"The tempter."
roaring lion--implying his violent and
insatiable thirst for prey as a hungry lion. Through
man's sin he got God's justice on his side against
us; but Christ, our Advocate, by fulfilling all the demands
of justice for us, has made our redemption altogether
consistent with justice.
walketh about-- (
Job 1:7; 2:2). So the children of the wicked one
cannot rest. Evil spirits are in
2Pe 2:4; Jude 6, said to be already in chains of
darkness and in hell. This probably means that this is
their doom finally: a doom already begun in part;
though for a time they are permitted to roam in the world
(of which Satan is prince), especially in the dark air that
surrounds the earth. Hence perhaps arises the miasma of the
air at times, as physical and moral evil are closely
connected.
devour--entangle in worldly
"care" (
1Pe 5:7) and other snares, so as finally to destroy.
Compare
Re 12:15, 16.
9. (
Lu 4:13; Eph 6:11-17; Jas 4:7.)
steadfast--Compare established in the
truth,"
2Pe 1:12. Satan's power exists only in respect to
the unbelieving; the faithful he cannot hurt (
1Jo 5:18). Faith gives strength to prayer, the great
instrument against the foe (
Jas 1:6, &c.).
knowing, &c.--"encouragement
not to faint in afflictions": your brethren suffer the
same; nothing beyond the common lot of Christians befalls
you (
1Co 10:13). It is a sign of God's favor rather than
displeasure, that Satan is allowed to harass you, as he did
Job. Your fellow Christians have the same battle of faith
and prayer against Satan.
are--are being accomplished
according to the appointment of God.
in the world--lying in the wicked one,
and therefore necessarily the scene of
"tribulation" (
Joh 16:33).
10. Comforting assurance that God will finally
"perfect" His work of "grace" in them,
after they have undergone the necessary previous
suffering.
But--Only do you watch and resist the
foe: God will perform the rest [BENGEL].
of all grace--(Compare
1Pe 4:10). The God to whom as its source all grace is
to be referred; who in grace completes what in grace He
began. He from the first "called (so the oldest
manuscripts read for "us") unto (with a view to)
glory." He will not let His purpose fall short of
completion. If He does so in punishing, much more in grace.
The three are fitly conjoined: the call, the
glory to which we are called, and the way
(suffering); the fourth is the ground of the
calling, namely, the grace of God in Christ.
by--Greek, "in."
Christ is He in virtue of whom, and in union
with whom, believers are called to glory. The opposite
is "in the world" (
1Pe 5:9; Joh 16:33).
after that ye have suffered--Join to
"called you": suffering, as a necessary
preliminary to glory, was contemplated in God's
calling.
a while--short and inconsiderable, as
compared with the glory.
perfect, &c.--The two oldest
manuscripts, and Vulgate and Coptic versions,
read, "shall perfect (so that there shall be
nothing defective in you), stablish,
strengthen," and omit "settle," literally,
"ground," or "fix on a foundation." A
LFORD reads it in spite of the oldest manuscripts The
authority of the latter I prefer; moreover the climax seems
to require rather a verb of completing the work of
grace, than, as the Greek means, founding it.
The Greek has, "shall HIMSELF perfect
you": though you are called on to watch and
resist the foe, God Himself must really do all
in and through you. The same God who begins must
Himself complete the work. The Greek for
"stablish" (so as to be "steadfast in the
faith,"
1Pe 5:9) is the same as "strengthen,"
Lu 22:32. Peter has in mind Christ's charge,
"When thou art converted, strengthen thy
brethren." His exhortation accords with his name
Peter, "Thou art Peter, and upon this
rock I will build My Church."
"Stablish," so as not to waver.
"Strengthen" with might in the inner man by
His Spirit, against the foe.
11. To him--emphatic. To Him and Him alone: not to
ourselves. Compare "Himself," see on 1Pe 5:10.
glory and--omitted in the oldest
manuscripts and versions.
dominion--Greek,
"the might" shown in so
"perfecting," you,
1Pe 5:10.
12. Silvanus--Silas, the companion of Paul and
Timothy: a suitable messenger by whom to confirm, as Peter
here does, Paul's doctrine of "the true
grace of God" in the same churches (compare
2Pe 3:16). We never meet with Silvanus as Paul's
companion after Paul's last journey to Jerusalem. His
connection with Peter was plainly subsequent to that
journey.
as I suppose--Join "faithful unto
you [STEIGER], as I suppose." Silvanus may have stood
in a close relation to the churches in Asia, perhaps having
taken the oversight of them after Paul's departure, and
had afterwards gone to Peter, by whom he is now sent back
to them with this Epistle. He did not know, by
positive observation, Silvanus' faithfulness to
them; he therefore says, "faithful to you,
as I suppose," from the accounts I hear; not
expressing doubt. ALFORD joins "I have written unto
you," which the Greek order favors. The
seeming uncertainty, thus, is not as to Silvanus'
faithfulness, which strongly marked by the Greek
article, but as to whether he or some other would prove to
be the bearer of the letter, addressed as it was to five
provinces, all of which Silvanus might not reach:
"By Silvanus, that faithful brother, as expect,
I have Written to you" [BIRKS].
briefly--Greek, "in few
(words)," as compared with the importance of the
subject (
Heb 13:22).
exhorting--not so much formally
teaching doctrines, which could not be done in so
"few words."
testifying--bearing my testimony in
confirmation (so the Greek compound verb
implies) of that truth which ye have already heard from
Paul and Silas (
1Jo 2:27).
that this--of which I have just
written, and of which Paul before testified to you (whose
testimony, now that he was no longer in those regions, was
called in question probably by some; compare
2Pe 3:15, 16).
2Pe 1:12, "the present truth," namely, the
grace formerly promised by the prophets, and now
manifested to you. "Grace" is the keynote of
Paul's doctrine which Peter now confirms (
Eph 2:5, 8). Their sufferings for the Gospel made them
to need some attestation and confirmation of the truth,
that they should not fall back from it.
wherein ye stand--The oldest
manuscripts read imperatively, "Stand ye."
Literally, "into which (having been already
admitted,
1Pe 1:8, 21; 2:7, 8, 9) stand (therein)." Peter
seems to have in mind Paul's words (
Ro 5:2; 1Co 15:1). "The grace wherein we stand
must be true, and our standing in it true also"
[BENGEL]. Compare in "He began his Epistle with grace
(
1Pe 1:2), he finishes it with grace, he has besprinkled
the middle with grace, that in every part he might teach
that the Church is not saved but by grace."
13. The . . . at Babylon--ALFORD, BENGEL, and
others translate, "She that is elected together with
you in Babylon," namely, Peter's wife, whom
he led about with him in his missionary journeys.
Compare
1Pe 3:7, "heirs together of the grace of
life." But why she should be called "elected
together with you in Babylon," as if there had
been no Christian woman in Babylon besides, is inexplicable
on this view. In English Version the sense is clear:
"That portion of the whole dispersion (
1Pe 1:1, Greek), or Church of Christianized
Jews, with Gentile converts, which resides in
Babylon." As Peter and John were closely associated,
Peter addresses the Church in John's peculiar province,
Asia, and closes with "your co-elect sister
Church at Babylon saluteth you"; and John
similarly addresses the "elect lady," that is,
the Church in Babylon, and closes with "the
children of thine elect sister (the Asiatic Church) greet
thee"; (compare
Introduction to Second John). ERASMUS explains,
"Mark who is in the place of a son to me":
compare
Ac 12:12, implying Peter's connection with Mark;
whence the mention of him in connection with the
Church at Babylon, in which he labored under Peter
before he went to Alexandria is not unnatural. P APIAS
reports from the presbyter John [E USEBIUS,
Ecclesiastical History, 3.39], that Mark was
interpreter of Peter, recording in his Gospel the facts
related to him by Peter. Silvanus or Silas had been
substituted for John Mark, as Paul's companion, because
of Mark's temporary unfaithfulness. But now Mark
restored is associated with Silvanus, Paul's companion,
in Peter's esteem, as Mark was already reinstated in
Paul's esteem. That Mark had a spiritual connection
with the Asiatic' churches which Peter addresses, and
so naturally salutes them, appears from
2Ti 4:11; Col 4:10.
Babylon--The Chaldean Babylon on the
Euphrates. See
Introduction, ON THE PLACE OF WRITING this Epistle,
in proof that Rome is not meant as Papists assert;
compare L IGHTFOOT sermon. How unlikely that in a
friendly salutation the enigmatical title of Rome
given in prophecy (John,
Re 17:5), should be used! Babylon was the center from
which the Asiatic dispersion whom Peter addresses
was derived. PHILO [The Embassy to Gaius, 36] and
JOSEPHUS [Antiquities, 15.2.2; 23.12] inform us that
Babylon contained a great many Jews in the apostolic age
(whereas those at Rome were comparatively few, about eight
thousand [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 17.11]); so it
would naturally be visited by the apostle of the
circumcision. It was the headquarters of those whom he had
so successfully addressed on Pentecost,
Ac 2:9, Jewish "Parthians . . . dwellers
in Mesopotamia" (the Parthians were then masters of
Mesopotamian Babylon); these he ministered to in
person. His other hearers, the Jewish "dwellers in
Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia," he now
ministers to by letter. The earliest distinct authority for
Peter's martyrdom at Rome is DIONYSIUS, bishop
of Corinth, in the latter half of the second century. The
desirableness of representing Peter and Paul, the two
leading apostles, as together founding the Church of the
metropolis, seems to have originated the tradition. CLEMENT
OF ROME [First Epistle to the Corinthians, 4.5],
often quoted for, is really against it. He mentions Paul
and Peter together, but makes it as a distinguishing
circumstance of Paul, that he preached both in the East and
West, implying that Peter never was in the West. In
2Pe 1:14, he says, "I must shortly put off
this tabernacle," implying his martyrdom was near, yet
he makes no allusion to Rome, or any intention of his
visiting it.
14. kiss of charity--
Ro 16:16, "an holy kiss": the token of
love to God and the brethren. Love and
holiness are inseparable. Compare the instance,
Ac 20:37.
Peace--Peter's closing salutation;
as Paul's is, "Grace be with you," though he
accompanies it with "peace be to the brethren."
"Peace" (flowing from salvation) was
Christ's own salutation after the resurrection, and
from Him Peter derives it.
be with you all that are in Christ
Jesus--The oldest manuscripts omit "Jesus." In
Eph 6:24, addressed to the same region, the same
limitation of the salutation occurs, whence, perhaps, Peter
here adopts it. Contrast, "Be with you
all,"
Ro 16:24; 1Co 16:23.