1 Peter 1 - Expositor's Greek Testament vs Calvin John

1 Peter 1

1 Peter 1:1

1 Peter 1:1-2. Peter the High Commissioner of Jesus, who is Messiah of Greeks as of Jews, sends greeting after the Christian fashion, in which the Greek and Jewish formulas have been combined and transformed, to the Churches of Northern Asia Minor. They are the dispersion of the New Israel, chosen out of the whole world in accordance with God’s foreknowledge of their fitness, to undergo the hallowing of His Spirit, and with a view to their reception into His Church. For the result, and therefore the purpose, of their election is that they may profess obedience and receive the outward sign of sprinkling, being baptised into the death of Jesus Christ. For them may grace (and not mere greeting) and peace (God’s peace not man’s) be multiplied! For discussion of writer and readers see Introduction.

1 Peter 1:1. ἐκλεκτοῖς παρεπιδήμοις διασπορᾶς, elect sojourners of dispersion, a combination of titles of Israel appropriated to Christians in accordance with the universal principle of the early Church. (1.) The Jews were the chosen race (1 Peter 2:9 from Isaiah 43:20) as Moses said, Because He loved thy fathers therefore He chose their seed after them (Deuteronomy 4:37; cf. Romans 11:28). So Jesus said to His disciples, I have chosen you (John 15:16; John 15:19, etc.), and refers to them in the eschatological discourse as the elect (Mark 13:20). (2.) Being chosen out of the world—in the world, indeed, but not of it, John 15:16 ff.—Christians are alien sojourners during their life on earth. Their fatherland is the city that hath foundations (1 Peter 1:7, 1 Peter 2:11; Hebrews 13:14; Php 3:20). In Hebrews 11:9-13 the Patriarchs are credited with the same idea and Philo says that the sages of Moses’ school are all introduced as sojourners (p. 416 M). So Abraham said to the Sons of Heth, “I am a stranger and sojourner (πάροικος καὶ παρεπίδημος = גר ותושב) with you” (Genesis 23:4); Jacob speaks of the days of the years of my pilgrimage (מגורי ἃς παροικῶ); and the psalmist anticipates peter and Heb. in the generalisation I am a stranger and sojourner (πάροικος καὶ παρεπίδημος) in the earth as all my fathers were (Psalm 39:13). Deissmann (Bible Studies, p. 149) quotes two examples of παρεπίδημος from wills of the third century B.C., one of a Jew resident in the Fayyüm (Ἀπολλώνιον [παρεπ]ίδημον ὃς καὶ συριστὶ Ἰωνάθας). In P. Tor. 8 (B.C. 118) παρεπιδημοῦντες and κατοικοῦντες are contrasted. (3.) Moses said to Israel thou shalt be scattered among the kingdoms of the earth (Deuteronomy 28:25); and the rendering of the LXX διασπορά is probably the earliest example of the technical designation (cf. John 7:35) of the Jews, who—for whatever reason—lived outside the Holy Land. The collective term (Rabbinic גולה) implies the real unity of these scattered communities, whose scattering is no longer regarded as God’s punishment for sin. It thus serves well the purpose of one, who, like St. Paul, insists on the unity of the whole brotherhood of Christians (e.g., 1 Peter 5:9); but this application of the principle that the Church is the Israel of God is subordinate to others which imply that there is no earthly correlative to it. When St. James addresses the twelve tribes which are in Dispersion, he may on the other hand be contrasting the saints of Jerusalem with those abroad (as St. Paul did in the matter of the Collection) if indeed he is not speaking simply to his fellow-countrymen as a Jew to Jews. But St. Peter writes from “Babylon” and the capital of Christendom is no longer Jerusalem. The collocation of παρεπιδήμοις and διασπορᾶς implies that this scattering, which in the case of the type was God’s punishment for sin, will not be permanent for the antitype. For the Christian Church the Jewish hope of the ingathering will be fulfilled, as is indicated by the emphatic ἐκλεκτοῖς—for Jesus said, “The Son of Man … shall gather together his elect … from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven” (Mark 13:26-27; cf. Deuteronomy 30:4). Compare Didache ix. 4, “For as this was broken [bread] scattered over the hills and being gathered together became one, so may thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into thy kingdom” and Justin Martyr, Dial. 113, “As Moses … so also Jesus the Christ (corresponding to J., the Son of Nun) shall turn again the Dispersion of the People … shall give us the possession eternally”.

Πόντου … Ἀσίας. The order indicates the route of the messenger, who landed presumably at Sinope or Amastris and, if the omission of καὶ Βιθυνίας be accepted, left the country at Ephesus or Smyrna. The (Armenian) Acta of Phocas (Martyr of Sinope under Trajan) are addressed to the brethren dwelling in Pontus and Bithynia in Paphlagonia and in Mysia in Galatia and in Cappadocia and in Armenia (Conybeare, Monuments of Early Christianity, p. 103). See Introduction.

1 Peter 1:2

1 Peter 1:2. The three clauses κατὰ …, ἐν …, and εἰς … qualify ἐκλεκτοῖς and perhaps also ἀπόστολος (as Oecumenius) Peter himself is elect and shares their privileges but had no need to magnify his office, as had St. Paul. Yet see Acts 15:7 ff.

κατὰ πρόγνωσιν.… The noun occurs only in Acts 2:23 (speech of St.Peter) in reference to the slaying of Christ τῇ ὡρισμένῃ βουλῇ καὶ προγνώσει τοῦ θεοῦ, cf. 1 Peter 1:20. The use of nouns instead of verbs is characteristic of this Epistle. The same idea is expressed more elaborately by St. Paul in Romans 8:29 (q.v.). Cf. Origen, Philocalia, 15. Oecumenius infers that the Apostle is thus the equal of the prophets, especially Jeremiah (v. Jeremiah 1:5).—ἐν ἁγιασμῷ πνεύματος, subjective genitive like θεοῦ, being elect they are within the sphere of the proper work of the Holy Spirit. The context excludes the rendering hallowing of the (human) spirit. Peter uses the stereotyped phrase; cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 (which corresponds exactly to the whole context) εἵλατο ὑμᾶς ὁ θεὸς ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς (κατὰ πρ. θ. π.) … ἐν ἁγιασμῷ πνεύματος καὶ πίστει ἀληθείας (εἰς ὑπ.).—εἰς ὑπακοὴν … Ι. Χριστοῦ, the goal or purpose of their election. Obedience is a technical term: sc. to God; cf. 1 Peter 1:14, where it is contrasted with the ignorant disobedience of their past lives (1 Peter 1:22). As Christians, they obeyed God and not men (Acts 4:19; Acts 5:29); God gives His Holy Spirit to them that obey Him (Acts 5:32). Compare the Pauline obedience of faith. This obedience implies a change of mind in Jew and in Gentile, which is effected by the sprinkling of blood of Jesus Christ. They are now cleansed from sin, which is disobedience in Jew or Gentile. Jesus Christ, the mediator of the new covenant, sprinkles those whom God selected with His own blood, as Moses sprinkled the children of Israel who had promised obedience with the blood of oxen (Exodus 24:7 f.; cf. Hebrews 9:19). But references to other sprinklings of the O.T., unconnected with obedience, must not be excluded. The word ῥαντισμός is appropriated, for example, to the water in which the ashes of the heifer were dissolved (Numbers 19); and a less obvious explanation is supported by Barnabas, “that by the remission of sins we might be purified, that is in the sprinkling of His blood for it stands writte.… by His bruise we were healed (Isaiah 53:5)”. Indeed the best commentary is supplied by the Epistle to the Hebrews in which evidence of the O.T. is reviewed and the conclusion drawn that according to the law everything is cleansed by blood. All the types were summed up in the fulfilment (see especially Hebrews 9.) whether they related to the Covenant or to the Worship. So in Hebrews 12:24 the blood of Abel the first martyr is drawn into the composite picture of typical blood sheddings. It would be possible to take ὑπακοήν with Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, and to render either that ye might obey Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Peter 1:22; 2 Corinthians 10:5) being sprinkled with His blood or that ye might obey as He obeyed even unto death (cf. Hebrews 5:8; Php 2:8). χάρις … πληθυνθείη· This full formula is found also in 2 Peter and Jude. For precedent see Dan. 3:31. Its use here is not merely a convention peculiar to the Petrine school; grace and peace are multiplied to match the growth of hostility with which the Christians addressed are confronted, lest the word of Jesus be fulfilled διὰ τὸ πληθυνθῆναι τὴν ἀνομίαν ψυγήσεται ἡ ἀγάπη τῶν πολλῶν (Matthew 24:12); cf. Romans 5:20 f. In the Pastoral Epistles ἔλεος (cf. 1 Peter 1:3) is inserted between χ. and εἰρ., so 2 John 1:3. From Galatians 6:16 it appears that ἔλεος stood originally in the place which χάρις usurped (as distinctively Christian and reminiscent of the familar χαίρειν); so that the source will be Numbers 6:24-26. κύριος … ἐλεήσαι σε … καὶ δῴη σοι εἰρήνην.

1 Peter 1:3

1 Peter 1:3-12. Benediction of the Name. The mention of God is followed by the Benediction of the Name as Jewish piety prescribed; the formula the Holy One, blessed be He, being amplified by the Christian appreciation of their fuller knowledge. The Apostle surpasses the fervour of the Psalmist, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel inasmuch as the last mighty work surpasses all previous deliverances. It falls naturally into three divisions. 1 Peter 1:3-5 have as their central figure the Father, 1 Peter 1:6-9 the Son, and 1 Peter 1:10-12 the Spirit who is at last given, who inspired the prophets of old and now inspires the Christian missionaries. From the past which preceded their acceptance of God’s choice of them and its outward sign St. Peter turns to consider their present condition and to illuminate it with the light of the future glory.

1 Peter 1:3-5. Blessed be God whom we have come to know as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For He has granted to us the crowning manifestation of His great mercy. He has raised Jesus Christ from the dead and us thereby to newness of life. So you may hope for and in part enjoy the inheritance which was prefigured by the Promised Land. This heavenly treasure God has kept for those whom He guards with His power. So your faith respond, He is guarding you for the salvation which will be revealed at the last.

1 Peter 1:3. εὐλογητός. The verbal adjective is recognised, perhaps coined by the LXX as proper to the Benediction of the Name. This usage is reflected in N.T., Romans 1:25; Romans 9:5; 2 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 11:31; Ephesians 1:3; note Mark 14:61. ὁ θεὸς … ἡμῶν, part of the formula (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:3; Ephesians 1:3)—based on the saying “I ascend to your father and my father, unto your God and my God” (John 20:17). κατὰ τὸ πολὺ ἔλεος, the more elaborate κατὰ τὸ πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ of Ephesians 1:7 (cf. 1 Peter 2:4). ἀναγεννήσας (cf. 1 Peter 1:23). Else the verb only occurs in N.T. as variant to γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν in Old Latin (and Irenæus) text of John 3:5, which prompted St. Peter’s Christian use of the word, see especially 1 Peter 1:23. Later it is used to describe the outward sign of baptism (e.g., Justin Apol. i. 51) for the benefit of pagans as to the limitation of worshippers of Isis (Apuleius, Met. xi. 26, ut renatus quodammodo staatim sacrorum obsequio desponderetur). And of Mithras (in aeternum renati). Here the regeneration of the Christian corresponds to the resurrection of Christ (Chrysostom on John) and implies a previous mystical or figurative death to sin—see 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:17 f.; 1 Peter 4:1—which is repeated in the practice of their unnatural virtue (1 Peter 4:1-4). The simple idea of regeneration underlies St. Paul’s elaborations of the doctrine of the καινὴ κτίσις. Hort refers to Philo, de incorruptibilitate mundi (ii. 489 M.) where ἀναγέννησις is used for the more usual παλιγγενεσία—rebirth of the world—of the Stoics. ἐλπίδα ζῶσαν. The omission of the definite article is characteristic of St. Peter. The Hope is a recognised technical term (Acts 23:6, etc.) of the Pharisees, corresponding to בטחרו. ζῶσαν stamps the Christian hope as Divine since life is God’s prerogative (cf. 1 Peter 1:23 and the living bread, water of John) and effective (cf. the corresponding use of dead faith, Jam 2:17; Jam 2:26). Cf. Sap. 1 Peter 3:4, ἡ δὲ ἐλπὶς αὐτῶν ἀθανασίας πλήρης. διʼ ἀ. with ἀναγεννήσας rather than ζῶσαν: three prepositional clauses are thus attached to ἀ. as to ἐκλεκτοῖς (and ἀπόστολος) in 1 Peter 1:2. The resurrection of Jesus is the means and guarantee of the spiritual resurrection of the Christian (1 Corinthians 15:14; 1 Corinthians 15:17) from the death of the sinful and fleshly life.

1 Peter 1:4

1 Peter 1:4. εἰς κληρ … ἀμάραντον, as God’s sons in virtue of their regeneration they are God’s heirs (Galatians 4:7) and have an heavenly inheritance. The accumulated adjectives recall various images employed to describe it—and emphasise the fact that it is eternal (Hebrews 9:15) and spiritual. It is ἄφθαρτον, incorruptible (cf. 1 Peter 1:23, 1 Peter 3:4) because it belongs to the future life which the risen dead (1 Corinthians 15:52) share with God Himself (Romans 1:23; 1 Timothy 1:17). It is set where “moth doth not corrupt (διαφθείρει, Luke 12:33 : Matthew 6:19 ff. has ἀφανίζει),” apart from this corruptible world (cf. Isaiah 24:3). It is the incorruptible crown (1 Corinthians 9:25). The second epithet ἀμίαντον is applied to the great High Priest, Hebrews 7:26 (cf. Hebrews 13:4; Jam 1:27) and implies again separation from this sinful world of which it is written ἐμιάνατε τὴν γῆν μου καὶ τὴν κληρονομίαν μου ἔθεσθε εἰς βδέλυγμα (Jeremiah 2:7). Compare the description of virtue in Sap. 1 Peter 4:2, στεφανηφοροῦσα πομπεύει τὸν τῶν ἀμιάντων ἄθλων ἀγῶνα νικήσασα. ἀμάραντον is peculiar to 1 Peter in N.T., cf. ἀμαράντινον (1 Peter 1:4): it is perhaps derived from Sap. 6:12, ἀμάραντός ἐστιν ἡ σοφία, and thus presupposes the identification of eternal life with knowledge of God (John 17:3). Compare the application of Isaiah 40:6 f. (cited infra 24) in Jam 1:11. All three suit or are associated with the wreath presented to the victor in the games—a metaphor which the Lord Himself used according to the Apocalypse (1 Peter 2:10, cf. 1 Peter 5:4; Jam 1:12). Origen (?) in Cramer’s Catena notes that the words contradict Chiliasm. τετηρημένην εἰς ὑμᾶς, reserved (1) with a view to you, cf. John 12:7, ἵνα εἰς τὴν ἡμέραν … τηρήσῃ, 2 Peter 2:4, εἰς κρίσιν τηρουμένους; for same use of εἰς in similar context see Romans 8:18. (2. until you came—a sense which would suit the other examples of τηρεῖν εἰς. (3) … for you, εἰς = ל = dative (so Syriac), the writer or translator being influenced by εἰς above and below. The inheritance is still, as it has always been, kept back, but the Christians are sure to succeed to it. So Enoch refers to the secrets of the righteous which shall be revealed (xxxviii. 3); the lot of the righteous which the Son of Man preserves (xlviii. 7); and says Blessed are ye ye righteous and elect for glorious will be your lo … it will be said to the holy that they should seek in heaven the secrets of righteousness the heritage of faith (lviii. 5).

1 Peter 1:5

1 Peter 1:5. The Christians addressed are—to complete the metaphor from other passages in the Epistle—a spiritual house (2 5.), which is besieged by the devil (1 Peter 1:8) but guarded and garrisoned by God’s Power. So long as they have faith (1 Peter 1:9) they are safe: “our faith lays hold upon this power and this power strengthens faith and so we are preserved” (Leighton). Without responsive faith God’s power is powerless to heal or to guard (cf. Mark 6:5 f. and accounts of Jesus’ miracles generally, Jam 1:6 f.). The language seems to echo Romans 1:16, δύναμις θεοῦ εἰς σωτηρίαν παντὶ τῷ πιστεύοντι, combined with Galatians 3:23 (cf. Php 4:7) where also the distinctive φρουρεῖν occurs in similar context. The Power (גבורתא) of God is put for Jehovah in the Targum of Isa. xxxiii. 21; and the corresponding use of ἡ δύναμις is found in Mark 14:62 (see Dalman, 200 f.; and add ἡ μεγαλωσύνη, a more exact rendering, of Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1). In Philo God’s powers are personified self-manifestations. εἰς σωτηρίαν, κ.τ.λ., is probably the third clause qualification of φρουρ. (cf. 1 Peter 1:2-3). Below, the salvation of souls is described as the goal of faith (9) in a passage where the ἑτοίμην, κ.τ.λ., qualify σωτηρίαν rather than κληρονομίαν which is explained by σωτ … ἐσχάτῳ. Salvation is to St. Peter that salvation which is to be revealed in the future (cf. 1 Peter 1:9, 1 Peter 2:2; so Romans 13:11, νῦν ἐγγύτερον … ἡ σωτηρία). Partial anticipations he neglects; for them as for Christ the glory follows the present suffering. The idea of the revelation of salvation comes from Psalm 98:2 (cf. Isaiah 56:1) which has influenced St. Paul also (Romans 1:16 f.). ἑτοίμην seems to be simply the equivalent of צתיר prepared, which St. Paul renders with more attention to current usage than etymology by μέλλουσαν (Romans 8:18; Galatians 3:23; so 1 Peter 5:1). This weaker sense begins with Deuteronomy 32:35 (LXX, πάρεστιν ἕτοιμα. as Peter here) and prevails in new Hebrew (Tarphon sai … the recompense of the reward of the righteous is for the time to come. העתיר לבא, Aboth, ii. 16). But the proper significance of the word is recognised and utilised in the Parables of Jesus, Matthew 24:4; Matthew 24:8.

καιρῷ ἐσχάτῳ, still anarthrous as being technical term—indefinite as the time is unknown as well as in accordance with authors’ custom (cf. δύναμις, πιστέως, σωτηριαν above); cf. John 2:18.

1 Peter 1:6

1 Peter 1:6-9. Exult then. These various temptations to which you are exposed cause present grief. But they are part of God’s plan for you. Even material perishable gold is tried in the fire. So is your faith tested that it may be purged of its dross and the good metal be discovered when Jesus Christ is revealed. You love Him whom you never saw; though you see Him not you believe on Him. Exult then with joy that anticipates your future glory. You are winning the prize of your faith, the ultimate salvation of souls. St. Peter returns to the present and regards it from the point of view of those whom God is guarding—but only to advance again to the glorious future (7 fin, 9) when Jesus Christ the present object of their love and faith shall be revealed. He is the central figure of this section which is based upon two of His sayings which are appropriate to the circumstances of these His persecuted followers (Song of Solomon 4:13) v. Matthew 5:12 = Revelation 19:7 from Psalm 21:1; Psalm 118:24. Compare Jam 1:2-4 and John cited below.

1 Peter 1:6. ἐ ν ᾧ. There are four possible antecedents. (1) καιρῷ, (2) Jesus Christ, (3) God, (4) the state of things described in 3–5. (1) would imply that they must live in the future and is least probably right. (2) is supported by 8 but is unlikely at this point. The choice lies between (3), God being hitherto the dominating figure; and (4): cf. Luke 1:47 = 1 Samuel 2:1 α—ἀ. with ἐν in LXX as well as ἐπὶ. ἀγαλλιᾶσθε. Indicative (with or without quasi future meaning) rather than Imperative. Bye form of ἀγάλλομαι (Homer downwards) first found in LXX especially as assonant rendering of גיל: used later in bad sense (λοιδορεῖται, Hesych): here borrowed from Matthew 5:11 f. χαίρετε καὶ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε. ὀλίγον, (1) for a little time, or (2) to a small extent (contrast John 16:6, ἡ λύπη πεπλήρωκεν ὑμῶν τὴν καρδίαν). εἰ δέον, they cannot but feel grief at their trials (John 16:20, ὑμεῖς λυπηθήσεσθε ἡ δὲ λύπη ὑμῶν εἰς χαρὰν γενήσεται), but they must not indulge their natural weakness. To take the “necessity” as referring to their trials (for not all the Saints are oppressed, Oec.) limits λυπ. to the external sense of vexation without reference to the feelings of the grieved corresponding to the feelings implied in ἀγ. The contrast is thus destroyed, but this sense harass would suit the other military metaphor, τοὺς φρουρουμένους.—ἐν ποικίλοις πειρασμοῖς, the adjective rules out the limitation of π. to external trials which St. James who has the entire phrase seems to put upon it.

1 Peter 1:7

1 Peter 1:7. τὸ δοκίμιον. The evidence of the papyri (Deissmann, Bible Studies, pp. 259 ff.) shows that δοκίμιος is a bye form of the adjective δόκιμος approved; so Psalm 12:7, ἀργύριον πεπυρωμένον δοκίμιον (cf. 1 Chron. 39:4; Zechariah 11:3, where it occurs as v.l. for δόκιμον). Hence the phrase (here and in Jam 1:3?) corresponds exactly to St. Paul’s τὸ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀγάπης γνήσιον—“the genuineness of your faith or “the approvedness”). So Arethas on Revelation 9:4, οἱ δὲ τὸ δοκίμιον ἑαυτῶν διὰ πυρὸς παρεχόμενοι. The substantive δ. = “means of trial, testing” which does not suit this context, or a specimen of metal to be tested.—πολυτιμότερον, to justify the common rendering (A.V., R.V.) according to which π. κ.τ.λ. are taken as in apposition to τὸ δοκ., ὄν, must be supplied as if omitted by haplography after πολ. But there is no need for emendation, if πολ. be taken as predicate thrown forward for the sake of emphasis.—χρυσοῦ κ.τ.λ. St. Peter adapts the familiar comparison of man’s suffering to the fining-pot of precious metal, insisting on the superiority of the spiritual to the material gold. The stress lies on διὰ πυρός. True faith is tested by trials, just as gold is proved by fire. It is more valuable than gold which is perishable. If men test gold thus, much more will God test faith which outlives the present age, cf. Hebrews 9:23. Cf. use of πύρωσις, 1 Peter 4:12. For the image, Zechariah 13:9, δοκιμῶ αὐτοὺς ὡς δοκιμάζεται τὸ χρυσίον; Psalm 66:10; Proverbs 17:3; Sir 2:5, etc.—Τοῦ ἀπολλυμένου, cf. John 6:27, τὴν βρῶσιν τὴν ἀπ. (contrasted with imperishable food; here gold generally is contrasted with faith) and φθαρτοῖς ἀργυρίῳ καὶ χροσίῳ below.—εὑρεθῇ, cf. 2 Peter 3:14, σπουδάσατε ἄσπιλοι καὶ ἀμώμητοι αὐτῷ εὑρεθῆναι ἐν εἰρήνῃ; Psalm 17:3, ἐδοκίμασας τὴν καρδίαν μου … καὶ οὐχ εὑρέθη ἐν ἐμοὶ ἀδικία.—εἰς ἔπαινον … must be taken with the whole sentence, unless ὂν be supplied. So εἰς might introduce the predicate (better stronger) of εὑρ., cf. Romans 7:10. εἰς taken as = ל expressing transition into a new state or condition (as Romans 7:10).—ἔπαινον is the verdict. “Well done good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” The Christian is the true Jew and receives at last the praise which the name Judah signifies. In Romans 2:29, ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖος … οὗ ὁ ἔπαινος οὐκ ἐξ ἀνθρωπων ᾀλλʼ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, Paul follows the alteration of the original ἐξομολόγησις (Genesis 29:35, LXX, and Philo) consequent upon the transference of the praise (תודה) from God to men (cf. Genesis 49:8, Ἰούδα σε αἰνέσαισαν οἱ ἀδελφοί σου). The old Israel set their hope on praise from the congregation (Sir 39:10) or glory from men, John 5:44; John 12:42 f. The new Israel looked for praise from God to balance the dispraise of men (Matthew 5:11 f.); so St. Peter adds ἐπ. to the usual formula δόξαν καὶ τιμήν, Romans 2:7; Romans 2:10 (Psalm 8:6) δόξῃ καὶ τιμῄ ἐστεφάνωσας ἄνθρωπον, cf. σκεῦος εἰς τιμήν, Romans 9:21, for the less obvious word. Hort compares Marcus Aurelius 12:11, μὴ ποιεῖν ἅλλο ἢ ὅπερ μέλλει ὁ θεὸς ἐπαινεῖν.—ἐν ἀποκαλύψει Ιυ. Χυ., when Jesus Christ is revealed. The expression is derived from the saying κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ ἔσται ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀποκαλύπτεται (Luke 17:30). As Judge He will pronounce the verdict of approval and bestow glory and honour. The reference to present glorified joy in the midst of trial suggests that the writer has advanced beyond the simple belief in a final theophany and contemplates a spiritual revelation of Jesus Christ as each Christian (cf. Galatians 1:16) realises the meaning of His Resurrection; but cf. μὴ ὁρῶντες below.

1 Peter 1:7. The Christians addressed were not personal disciples of Jesus but converts of the Apostles (12). As such they could claim Beatitude μακάριοι οἱ μὴ ἰδόντες καὶ πιστεύσαντες (John 20:29). Their love began and continues without sight of Him; even now when they expect His coming they must still believe without seeing Him and exult. The Latin version of Augustine, gives three distinct clauses referring to the past, the present and the future climax whom you knew not; in whom now—not seeing ye believe; whom when you see you will exult. But for lack of support it must be set aside in favour of the Greek text (which regards present as leading up to future culmination without a break) as being a redaction of the passage for separate use. εἰς ὃν, with πιστεύοντες, μὴ ὁρῶντες being parenthesis added to explain force of πιστ. (Hebrews 11:1; Romans 8:24).—χαρᾷ ἀνεκλαλήτῳ καὶ δεδοξασμένῃ. Their faith enables them to pass beyond their present sufferings to the joy which belongs to the subsequent glories. Thus their joy being heavenly is unspeakable and glorified. Language cannot express the communion with God which the Christian like St. Paul may enjoy (2 Corinthians 12:3 f.); compare Romans 8:26, αὐτὸ τὸ πνεῦμα ὑπερεντυγχάνει στεναγμοῖς ἀλαλήτοις. And this joy is glorified because it is an earnest of the glory which shall be revealed; cf. 1 Peter 4:14.

1 Peter 1:8

1 Peter 1:9

1 Peter 1:9. The connexion with mention of persecution suggests that the writer is here thinking of the saying, in your patience ye shall win your souls and perhaps also of the contrast between the persecuton who has only power over the body. Whatever happen to the body the conclusion—the consummation of their faith—is assured them.—κομιζόμενοι implies that already they are receiving what is due to them (cf. 1 Peter 5:4) and therefore they rejoice with Hannah in God the Saviour. In the Attic Orators who use a refined form of colloquial Greek the verb is common in the sense of recovering debts, as in Matthew 25:27, ἐκομισάμην ἂν τὸ ἐμόν. St. Paul applies it to future recompense (2 Corinthians 5:10, ἵνα κομίσηται ἕκαστος τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος; Ephesians 6:8; Colossians 3:25; cf. 2Ma 8:33, τὸν ἄξιον τῆς δυσσεβείας ἐκομίσατο μισθόν); in Hebrews 3:4, it is used of receiving promises.—τὸ τέλος. The common meaning fulfilment or consummation gives a fair sense but the connection with κομιζόμενοι is thus somewhat strange. The parallel of 1 Peter 1:4, taken with Pindar, Ol. x(xi.) 81, Δόρυκλος δʼ ἔφερε πυγμᾶς τέλος, suggests as a possible rendering because ye receive the reward. The Septuagint, again (Numbers 31:28, etc.), uses τ. to translate מבס = proportion to be paid, tax. And this use is well established in Greek literature for τὰ τέλη, cf. λυσιτελεῖν, etc. Accordingly Suidas defines τέλος as τὸ διδόμενον τοῖς βασιλεῦσι. The particular connotations can hardly be pressed here but these uses give some colour of support to the Syriac rendering recompense and the mercedem of Augustine; cf. Romans 6:22.—σωτηρίαν ψυχῶν ͂ = σωτηρίαν above. ψυχῶν is added to console the readers for their sufferings in accordance with Mark 8:35, ὃς δʼ ἂν ἀπολέσει τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἕνεκεν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου σώσει αὐτήν = John 12:25; cf. Luke 21:19; Jam 1:21. The soul for St. Peter is the self or personality as for Jesus Himself.

1 Peter 1:10

1 Peter 1:10-12.—The ancient prophets prophesied concerning the grace which was destined for you and enquired diligently about this salvation. They were the unconscious instruments of the revelation of God and their first duty done continued to pore over the inspired descriptions of the sufferings and subsequent glories of the Messiah. They asked themselves to whom does this refer and when shall these things be. And to them the revelation was made that they were only the administrators of an estate which others—you in fact should enjoy. The subjects of their prophecies have now been proclaimed to you by your Christian teachers who, like the prophets, were inspired by the Holy Spirit—with this difference that now the Spirit has been sent from heaven whereas of old He dwelt only in minds of a few. And these are the mysteries into which angels long to peep.

St. Peter has utilised a saying of Jesus to explain the great problem of unfulfilled prophecy and expounded it. Among the prophets he includes the so-called apocalyptic writers like Daniel and his successors. Gradually the coming of the Messiah and the dawn of the new age had been pushed further and further back until the inspired prophets realised that—as the Christians held—he Messiah would only come just before the end of all. The Messiah was not Hezekiah despite the Rabbis, nor yet the best of the Hasmonean house as Enoch hoped. ἀπεκαλύφθη. Such was the revelation or Apocalypse from which the latest of the prophets derive their common name; and St. Peter credits all the line with the curiosity which characterised the last of them and his own contemporaries; cf. Acts 2. and Hebrews 11:13 ff. The saying in question on which St. Peter builds is reported differently: According to Matthew 13:17, Jesus said, πολλοὶ προφῆται καὶ δίκαιοι ἐπεθύμησαν … according to Luke 10:24, προφῆται καὶ βασιλεῖς ἠθέλησαν … according to St. Peter προφῆται (10) καὶ ἄγγελοι. The mention of the righteous derives support from Hebrews 11:13-16, and John 8:56, and an original ישרים “the righteous” would easily be altered in the course of transmission into שרים = princes earthly or heavenly (cf. Daniel 10:21; LXX, Μιχαὴλ ὁ ἄγγελος). The motive which prompted the interpretation ἄγγελοι is due to the influence of the Book of Enoch (see note below) which explains the writer’s conception of the prophets.

1 Peter 1:10. The prophets were concerned with the Messianic salvation and searched their own writings and those of their predecessors for definite information about it. They are honoured by the Christians who realise that as a matter of fact they prophesied concerning the grace which was destined for the Christian Church.—τῆς εἰς ὑμᾶς χάριτος, the grace which belongs to you, cf. τὰ εἰς χριστὸν παθ. (11).

1 Peter 1:11

1 Peter 1:11. The construction of εἰς τ. κ. π. καιρόν and of προμαρτ. is doubtful. ἐραυνῶντες takes up ἐξεζήτησαν κ.τ.λ. (10); the run of the sentence seems to naturally connect τὰ … δόξας with προμαρτ. and εἰς … καιρόν with ἐδήλου. So Vulgate in quod vel quale tempus significare … spiritus … praenuntians … passiones. But if εἰς … καιρὸν be unfit to be a direct object and προμαρτ., perhaps, to have one of this kind. τὰ … δόξας must be governed by ἐδήλου. It is possible also to dissociate τίνα from καιρὸν and to render in reference to whom and what time the Spirit signified …; cf. Ephesians 5:22, ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω εἰς Χριστόν, Acts 2:25. If τίνα be taken with καιρόν, the two words correspond to the two questions of the disciples, When?… and what shall be the sign? (Mark 13:4). Failing to discover at what time, the prophets asked at what kind of time; their answer received a certain endorsement in the eschatological discourse of Jesus (Mark 13:5 ff. and parallels).—ἐδήλου, cf. Hebrews 9:8, τοῦτο δηλοῦντος τοῦ Πνεύματος. The word implies discernment on the part of the student (Hebrews 12:27, τὸ δὲ ἔτι ἅπαξ δηλοῖ …). What time … did point unto of R.V. is unjustifiable; a simple accusative is required, i.e., either (1.) ποῖον κ. or (2.) τίνα ἢ π. κ. (εἰς being deleted as dittography of -ες) or (3.) τὰ … δόξας.—τὸ πνεῦμα [Χριστοῦ], the full phrase is a natural one for a Christian to employ—Christ being here the proper name = Jesus Christ and not the title. κύριος in the O.T. was commonly interpreted as referring to Our Lord; and XC. is a frequent v.l. for [144] [145]. Hence Barnabas (v.q.), οἱ προφῆται ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ ἔχον τὴν χάριν εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπροφήτευσαν.—προμαρτυρόμενον only occurs here. If μαρτύρομαι (the proper sense) determine the meaning of the compound render “protesting (calling God to witness) beforehand”. It usage justify confusion with μαρτυρεῖν, be witness [of] render testifying beforehand or (publicly.)—τὰεἰς Χν παθήματα, the doctrine that the Messiah must suffer and so enter into His glory was stated by the prophets (e.g. Isaiah 3.) but neglected by the Jews of the first century (John 12:34). Believers were reminded of it by the risen Lord Himself (Luke 24:26; Luke 24:46) and put it in the forefront of their demonstratio evangelica (Acts 3:18; Acts 17:3; Acts 26:23). The phrase corresponds exactly to the original חבלי של״: εἰς standing for the ל (periphrasis for construct. state).—τὰς μετὰ ταῦτα δόξας, the plural glories implies some comprehension of the later doctrine, e.g., John, which recognised that the glory of Jesus was partially manifested during His earthly life; although the definition subsequent reflects the primitive simplicity and if it be pressed the glories must be explained as referring to the resurrection ascension triumph over angels as well as the glorious session (John 8:21 f.).—οἷς ἀπεκαλύφθη, so St. Peter argues that Joel prophesied the last things (cf. Sir 48:24) and that David foresaw and spoke concerning the resurrection (Acts 2:17; Acts 2:31; cf. Acts 3:24). Compare Daniel 9:2; Daniel 12:4, etc., for examples of partial revelations of this kind proper to apocalyptic writers. Heb. l.c. supr. credits the Patriarchs with the same insight.—οὐχ ἑαυτοῖς ὑμῖν δέ, negative and positive presentation of the past for emphasis is common in this Epistle.—διηκόνουν αὐτά, “they were supplying, conveying the revelations granted to them—primary the prophecy and the revealed solution of it alike,” cf. 1 Peter 4:10, εἰς ἑαυτοὺς αὐτὸ διακονοῦντες. The context shows, if the word διακονεῖν does not itself connote it, that herein they were stewards of God’s manifold grace—channels of communication. For Acc. with διακον. cf, 2 Corinthians 3:3, ἐπιστολὴ Χριστοῦ διακονηθεῖσα ὑφʼ ἡμῶν, 2 Corinthians 8:19, τῇ χάριτι ταύτῃ τῇ διακονουμένῃ ὑφʼ ἡμῶν, from which it may be inferred that δ. connotes what the context here suggests, cf. ἃ νῦν ἀνηγγέλη, have been at the present dispensation declared; ἀ. is taken from the great proof text relating to the calling of the Gentiles, οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη ἀκούουσιν, Isaiah 52:15 cited Romans 15:21. “But St. Peter probably meant more by the word … the phrase includes not only the announcement of the historical facts of the Gospel, but, yet more, their implicit teachings as to the counsels of God and the hopes revealed for men” (Hort).—διὰ τῶν εὐαγγ. ὑμας, God spake through the evangelists (cf. Isaiah 61:1, apud Romans 10:15) as through the prophets, Matthew 1:22; Matthew 2:15, etc. Both are simply God’s messengers. For accusative after εὐαγγ. cf. use of בשר = gladden with good tidings (Isaiah 61:1). So πτωχοὶ εὐαγγελίζονται (Matthew 11:5; Luke 7:22) is substituted for the original πτωχοῖς εὐαγγελίζεσθαι (Luke 4:18 = Isaiah 61:1) if the prophecy which Jesus appropriated and which forms the basis of the Christian use of the word.—πνεύματι κ.τ.λ. The evangelists preached by the Spirit, as Stephen spoke (Acts 6:10), τῷ πνεῦματι ᾧ ἐλάλει. In Sir 48:24, if the Greek and Hebrew texts are trustworthy, πνεύματι the simple Dative (πνεύματι μεγάλῳ εἶδεν τὰ ἔσχατα i.e. Isaiah) corresponds to ברוח: cf. insertion of ἐν here in v. l. The visible descent of the Holy Spirit is contrasted with the indwelling Spirit which inspired the prophets. The Holy Spirit was given, when Jesus was glorified, as never before, οὐκ ἐκ μέτρου (John 3:34). Vulgate renders by ablative absolute.—εἰς ἃ … παρακύψαι, after expanding the first part of Jesus’ saying (and its context ye see) St. Peter at last reaches the second in its secondary form. He combines with it as its proper Scripture, the prophecy of Enoch (ix. 1) καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ τέσσαρες μεγάλοι ἀρχάγγελοι … παρέ κυψαν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἐκ τῶν ἁγίων τοῦ αὐρανοῦ. St. Paul spiritualises the idea “to me … this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles … in order that now might be made known to the principalities and the authorities in heavenly places by means of the Church the very-varied wisdom of God” (Ephesians 3:8 ff.). St. Peter reproduces faithfully the simplicity of the original and represents this longing as still unsatisfied since the Church is not yet perfect or complete. It thus becomes part of the sympathetic groaning and travailing of the whole creation (Romans 8:22 f.). In Romans 8:21 St. Peter states on the same authority that Christ preached to the spirits in prison; adding that when he ascended all angels were subjected to Him. The apparent contradiction is due to the discrepancy between the ideal and its gradual realisation and not to an imperfect coordination of these conceptions of the universal sovereignty of God. See 1 Corinthians 15:25 f., Hebrews 2:7 f., not yet do we see …—παρακύψαι has lost its suggestion of peeping through its use in the LXX for שקף look forth though it is not employed by them in the places where God is said to look down from heaven (Psalm 14:2, etc.). The patristic commentators seem to hold by the Evangelist rather than the Apostle in respect to the saying, as they refer exclusively for illustration to the O.T. figures, Moses (Hebrews 11:26), Isaiah (John 12:41). Oecumenius notes that Daniel is called by the angel a man of longings (Daniel 9:25). That the angels of Peter are due to Enoch and secondary seems to be borne out by the Targum of Ecclesiastes 1:8, “In all the words that are prepared (about) to come to pass in the world the ancient prophets wearied themselves and could not find their ends”.

[144] Codex Mosquensis (sæc. ix.), edited by Matthæi in 1782.

[145] Codex Ephraemi (sæc. v.), the Paris palimpsest, edited by Tischendorf in 1843.

1 Peter 1:12

1 Peter 1:13

1 Peter 1:13-21. Practical admonitions. In this section St. Peter is engrossed with the conception of the Church as the new Israel which has been delivered from idolatry—the spiritual Egypt—by a far more excellent sacrifice. Jesus Himself endorsed such adaptation of the directions given for the typical deliverance (Luke 12:35) and the principle that the worshippers of Jehovah must be like Him (John 4:23 f.; Matthew 5:48, etc.).

1 Peter 1:13. διό introduces the practical inference.—ἀναζωσάμενοι, κ.τ.λ., the reference to the directions for celebration of the Passover (Exodus 12:11, οὕτως δὲ φάγεσθε αὐτό· αἱ ὀσφύες ὑμῶν περιεζωσμέναι … μετὰ σπουδῆς) is unmistakable. The actual deliverance of the Christians is still in the future; they must be always ready against the coming of the Lord. Oec. refers to Job 38:3. The particular compound occurs only twice in LXX—once in this phrase of the manly woman in Proverbs 31:17, ἀναζωσαμένη ἰσχυρῶς τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτῆς, where it implies preparation for serious work. In 2 Kings 4:29 ff. (Elisha’s mission of Gehazi which is in some ways a type fulfilled by Jesus’ mission of the Seventy, cf. Luke 10:4), ζῶσαι τὴν ὀσφύν σου is the preparation for an urgent errand. The addition of τῆς διανοίας implies that the readiness required is spiritual. St. Paul uses καρδία in the same way (Ephesians 1:18, πεφωτισμέ νους τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τῆς καρδίας ὑμῶν) and from Mark 12:30 = Deuteronomy 6:4 f. it appears that διάνοια is a recognised equivalent of לבב heart.—νήφοντες τελείως. In cases like this it is natural to take the adverb with the preceding verb. τελείως (only here in N.T.) has much the same force as τῆς διανοίας; so the adjective is applied to the antitype as contrasted with the type in Hebrews 9:11, τῆς … τελειοτέρας σκηνῆς and Jam 1:25, νόμον τέλειον τὸν τῆς ἐλευθερίας. For νήφοντες cf. 1 Peter 4:7 and 1 Peter 5:8, νήψατε γρηγορήσατε, 1 Thessalonians 5:8, γρηγορῶμεν καὶ νήφωμεν. Sobriety is necessary to watchfulness. The origin of this use of the word (not in the LXX) is to be found in the parable of Luke 12:45 f.; it has special point in view of the κώμοις and πότοις, in which they were prone to indulge.—τὴν φερομένην ὑμῖν χάριν is an adaption of the common Greek idiom (Homer downwards) φέρειν χ., to confer a favour (cf. Sir 8:19, μὴ ἀναφερέτω σοι χάριν) and is thus analogous to St. Paul’s use of χαρίζεσθαι (see Romans 8:32). The present participle has its natural force. Peter does not distinguish between the present and the climax; already the new age which is the last has begun. The χάρις is the final deliverance and its use here is another link with the type: ἔδωκεν ὁ Κύριος τὴν χάριν τῷ λαῷ αὐτοῦ (Exodus 12:36).—ἐν ἀποκαλύψει Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, Jesus Christ is being revealed or is revealing the salvation. The revelation began with the resurrection cf. φανερωθέντος and continues to the culmination (7).

1 Peter 1:14

1 Peter 1:14. ὡς, inasmuch as you are, cf. 1 Peter 2:2; 1 Peter 2:5, 1 Peter 3:7, etc.—τέκνα ὑπακοῆς, obedient corresponds to St. Paul’s υἱοὶ τῆς ἀπειθείας (Colossians 3:6; Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 5:6). Both phrases reflect the Hebrew use of בן, “followed by word of quality characteristic, etc.” (B.D.B., s.v., 8). For τέκνα in place of usual υἱοί in this idiom, cf. Hosea 9, τέκνα ἀδικίας and Ephesians 2:3, τέκνα ὀργῆς. Here it suits better with βρέφη (1 Peter 2:1).—συσχηματιζόμεναι, from Romans 12:2, μὴ συσχηματίζεσθε τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ. The feminine is peculiar to [146] whose scribe was perhaps influenced by the Alexandrian identification of woman with the flesh (John 1:13) or regarded such conformity as womanish. The participle has the force of an imperative. The Christians needed to be warned against conformity to the manners and morals of their countrymen, which were incompatible with their new faith (see 1 Peter 5:2-4). The use of σχῆμα in Isaiah 3:17, perhaps assists the use of συσχ. in connection with lusts.—ἐντῇ ἀγνοίᾳ ὑμῶν. It was a Jewish axiom that the Gentiles were ignorant (Acts 17:30; Ephesians 4:17 f.). Christian teachers demonstrated the equal ignorance of the Jews (Peter, Acts 3:17; Paul, in Rom.). So Jesus had pronounced even the teachers of Israel to be blind and promised them knowledge of the truth (John 8:32 ff., cf. interview with Nicodemus); whereas speaking to the Samaritan woman He adopted the Jewish standpoint (John 4:22)—cf. 2 Kings 17:29-41 with Isaiah 2:3; Bar 4:4, μακάριοί ἐσμεν Ἰσραὴλ ὅτι τὰ ἀρεστὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῖν γνωστά ἐστιν.

[146] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

1 Peter 1:15

1 Peter 1:15 f. The command Ye shall be holy for I am holy is connected originally with the deliverance from Egypt and the distinction between clean and unclean, which lays down the principle of separation involved in the Exodus (Leviticus 11:44-46, etc.; cf. Isaiah 52:11). St. Peter combines the Scripture with the Word of Jesus for κατὰ τὸν … corresponds to ὡς of Matthew 5:48. Gentiles needed God’s summons before they could regard Him as their heavenly Father; hence Him that called you. Compare Deuteronomy 18:13 (whence τέλειος of Matt. l.c.) where also contrast with abominations of the heathen.—ἅγιον is better taken as predicate than as substantive, since ὁ καλέσας (καλῶν) is well-established as a title of God in His relation to Gentile Christians (cf. 1 Peter 2:9, etc.).—ἐν πάσῃ ἀναστροφῇ, cf. 1 Peter 1:18, 1 Peter 2:12, 1 Peter 3:1-2; 1 Peter 3:16; Tob 4:19, ἴσθι πεπαιδευμένος ἐν πάσῃ ἀ. σου. The corresponding verb, ἀναστρέφεσθαι is found as rendering of הלך in the same sense (Proverbs 20:7, ἀναστρέφεται ἄμωμος); both verb and noun are so used in late Greek authors (especially Epictetus).—γενήθητε become as you were not or show yourselves as you are; the latter sense suits ἀ. which is distinctively outward behaviour.

1 Peter 1:16

1 Peter 1:17

1 Peter 1:17, cf. Romans 2:10 f., εἰ πατέρα ἐπικαλεῖσθε, if ye invoke as Father:—reminiscence of Jeremiah 3:19, εἰ πατέρα ἐπικαλεῖσθέ με (so Q[147] perhaps after 1 Peter, for εἶπα πατέρα καλέσετέ με) cf. Psalm 89:27, αὐτὸς ἐπικαλέσεται με Πατήρ μου εἶ σύ. There may be a reference to the use of the Lord’s Prayer (surname the Judge Father); but the context of Jer. l.c. corresponds closely to the thought here: “All the nations shall be gathered … to Jerusalem, neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those day.… Judah and Israel shall come together out of the land of captivity … and I said ‘My father ye shall call me’.”—ἀπροσωπολήμπτως summarises St. Peter’s inference from experience at Caesarea (Acts 10:34) καταλαμβάνομαι ὅτι οὔκ ἐστιν προσωπολήμπτης ὁ θεός. Adjective and adverb are formed from λαμβάνειν πρόσωπον of LXX = נשא פוי receive (lift up) the face of, i.e., be favourable and later partial, to. The degeneration of the phrase was due to the natural contrast between the face and the heart of a man, which was stamped on the Greek equivalent by the use of πρόσωπον for mask of the actor or hypocrite.—κρίνοντα. If the tense be pressed, compare the saying of Jesus recorded in John 12:31, νῦν κρίσις ἐστιν τοῦ κόσμου τούτου. Romans 2:16 is referred to the last Judgment by διὰ χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ. But the present participle may be timeless as in ὁ καλῶν, ὁ βαπτίζων, etc.—κατὰ τὸ ἑκάστου ἔργον, a commonplace Jewish and Christian, cf. Ps. 12:12 (cited Romans 2:6), σὺ ἀποδώσεις ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ (Hebrew has the work). R. Aqiba used to say … The world is judged by grace and everything is according to the work (Pirqe Aboth., iii. 24). For collective singular lifework, cf. also 1 Corinthians 3:13-15, etc.—ἐν φόβῳ, Fear is not entirely a technical term in N.T. Christians needed the warning to fear God (so Luke 12:5; 2 Corinthians 5:10), although love might be proper to the perfect—Gnostic or Pharisee—1 John 4:18. The natural and acquired senses exist side by side, as appears in the use of ἄφοβος. Compare ἄφοβος οὐ δύναται δικαιωθῆναι (Sir 1:22) with ἐν τούτῳ ἄφοβός εἰμι (Psalm 27:2, Symmachus) = in Him I am confident.—τὸν τῆς παροικίας χρονον, during your earthly pilgrimage, which corresponds to the sojourn of Israel in Egypt (Acts 13:17). If God is their Father, heaven must be their home (1 Peter 1:4); their life on earth is therefore a sojourn (see on 1 Peter 1:1). St. Paul has his own use of the metaphor (Ephesians 2:19). Gentile Christians are no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow-citizens of the saints.

[147]. An eighth century version of Codex Vaticanus

1 Peter 1:18

1 Peter 1:18. Amplification of Isaiah 52:3 f., Δωρεὰν ἐπράθητε καὶ οὐ μετὰ ἀργυρίου λυτρωθήσεσθε (cf. Isaiah 45:13 … εἰς Αἴγυπτον κατέβη ὁ λαός μου τὸ πρότερον παροικῆσαι ἐκεῖ. The deliverance from Babylon corresponds to the deliverance from Egypt. To these the Christians added a third and appropriated to it the descriptions of its predecessors.—οὐ φθαρτοῖς, κ.τ.λ. The preceding negative relief to positive statement is characteristic of St. Peter, who here found it in his original (Isa. l.c.). φθαρτοῖς echoes ἀπολλυμένου and is probably an allusion to the Golden Calf of which it was said These be thy gods O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt (Exodus 32:14). According to Sap. 14:8, it is the proper name for an idol: τὸ δὲ φθαρτὸν θεὸς ὠνομάσθη. So the dative represents the agent and not only the instrument of the deliverance.—ματαίας supports the view taken of φθ., for the gods of the nations are vanity, μάταια הבל (Jeremiah 10:3, etc.).—πατροπαραδότου, ancestral, hereditary. The adjective indicates the source of the influence, which their old way of life—patrius mos, patriritus—still exercised over them. The ancient religion had a strength—not merely vis inertiae—which often baffled both Jewish and Christian missionaries: “to subvert a custom delivered to us from ancestors the heathen say is not reasonable” (Clem. Ac. Protr. x.). This power of the dead hand is exemplified in the pains taken by the Stoics and New Pythagoreans to conserve the popular religion and its myths by allegorical interpretation. Among the Jews this natural conservatism was highly developed; St. Paul was a zealot for the ancestral laws. But the combination of patriarch and tradition does not prove that the persons addressed were Jewish Christians. The law, according to which the Jews regulated their life, was Divine, its mediator Moses; and there is a note of depreciation in the words not that it is derived from Moses only from the Fathers (John 7:22). πατρο is contrasted with πατέρα (17) as παραδότου with the direct calling.

1 Peter 1:19

1 Peter 1:19. The blood of Christ, the true paschal lamb, was the (means or) agent of your redemption. The type contemplated is composite; the lamb is the yearling sheep (שה πρόβατον, but Targum-Onkelos has אמר lamb and שה is rendered ἀμνός in Leviticus 12:8; Numbers 15:11; Deuteronomy 14:4) prescribed for the Passover (Exodus 12:5). But the description perfect (τέλειον תמים) is glossed by ἀμώμου (cf. Hebrews 12:14), which is the common translation of תמים in this connection, and ἀσπίλου which summarises the description of sacrificial victims generally (v. Leviticus 22:22, etc.). ἀμωμος would be unintelligible to the Gentile, because it has acquired a peculiar meaning from the Hebrew מום blemish. ἄσπιλος is used by Symmachus in Job 15:15, for זכך. Hesychius treats ἄσπιλος. ἄμωμος and καθαρός as synonyms.—τιμίῳ is set over against φθαρτοῖς as πολυτιμ. against ἀπολλυμένου; cf. Psalm 116:15, τίμιος ἐναντίον Κυρίου ὁ θάνατος τῶν ὁσίων and λίθος … ἔντιμον (1 Peter 2:4).

1 Peter 1:20

1 Peter 1:20. As the paschal lamb was taken on the tenth day of the month (Exodus 13:3) so Christ was foreknown before the creation and existed before His manifestation. The preexistence of Moses is stated in similar terms in Assumption of Moses, i. 12–14, “God created the world on behalf of His people. But He was not pleased to manifest this purpose of creation from the foundation of the world in order that the Gentiles might thereby be convicted.… Accordingly He designed and devised me and He prepared me before the foundation of the world that I should be the mediator of His Covenant.” So of the Messiah, Enoch (xlviii. 3, 6) says: “His name was called before the Lord of spirits before the sun and the signs of the zodiac were created.… He was chosen and hidden with God before the world was created. At the end of time God will reveal him to the world.” Alexandrian Judaism took over from Greek philosophy (Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle) the doctrine of the preexistence of all souls. So in the Secrets of Enoch (xxiii. 5) it is said “Every soul was created eternally before the foundation of the world”. The author of Wisdom was a goodly child and obtained a good soul or rather being good came into a body undefiled (Sap. 8:19 f.); and Philo found Scriptural warrant in the first of the two accounts of Creation (Genesis 1:26 f.). Outside Alexandria, apart from the Essenes (Joseph, B. J., ii. 154–157) the general doctrine does not appear to have been accepted. But the belief in the preexistence of the Name of the Messiah if not the Messiah Himself was not unknown in Palestine and was latent in many of the current ideals. The doctrine of Trypho was probably part of the general reaction from the position reached by the Jewish thinkers (A.D.) and appropriated by the Christians. There are many hints in the O.T. which Christians exploited without violence and the development of angelology offered great assistance. Current conceptions of Angels and Wisdom as well as of the Messiah all led up to this belief. Apart from the express declarations of Jesus recorded by St. John, it is clear that St. Peter held to the real and not merely ideal pre-existence of Christ, not deriving it from St. Paul or St. John and Heb. It is no mere corollary of God’s omniscience that the spirit of Christ was in the prophets.—προεγνωσμένου, cf. κατὰ πρόγνωσιν, 1 Peter 1:2; only here of Messiah, perhaps as a greater Jeremiah (cf. Jeremiah 1:5)—but see the description of Moses cited above.—πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου. The phrase does not occur in LXX but Matthew 13:35 = Psalm 78:2 renders מני קדם by ἀπὸ καταβολῆς (LXX ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς) Philo has καταβολὴ γενέσεως) and αἱ καταβολαὶ σπερμάτων and uses ἐκ κ. = afresh. In 2Ma 2:29, καταβολή is used of the foundation of a house; cf. κατασκευάζειν in Heb.—φανερωθέντος, of the past manifestation of Christ. In 1 Peter 5:1 of the future implies previous hidden existence, cf. 1 Timothy 3:16 (quotation of current quasi-creed) ἐφανερώθη ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ. The manifestation consists in the resurrection and glorification evidenced by descent of spirit (21): cf. Peter’s sermon in Acts 2, risen, exalted, Jesus has sent the spirit: therefore let all the house of Israel know surely that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ. St. Paul speaks in the same way of the revelation of the secret, which is Christ in you; see especially Colossians 1:25-27. Compare John 1:14.—ἐπʼ ἐσχάτου τῶν χρόνων, at the end of the times, cf. ἐπʼ ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν (Hebrews 1:1 and LXX). The deliverance effected certo tempore by Christ’s blood is eternally efficacious, cf. αἰώνιον λύτρωσιν εὑράμενος Hebrews 9:12 and the more popular statement of the same idea in Revelation 13:8, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

1 Peter 1:21

1 Peter 1:21. διʼ ὑμᾶς, for the sake of you Gentiles, i.e., ἵνα ὑμᾶς προσαγάγῃ τῷ θεῷ, 1 Peter 3:18. The resurrection of Jesus and His glorification are the basis of their faith in God and inspire not merely faith but hope.—διʼ αὐτοῦ. Compare for form Acts 3:16, ἡ πίστις ἡ διʼ αὐτοῦ and for thought Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:18—πιστοὺς εἰς θεόν. This construction occurs not infrequently in the Bezan text and is simply equivalent to π. with the Dative (Acts 16:15) corresponding to נאמן ל֙. But π. keeping construction has changed its meaning. Already it is semi-technical = believing, sc. in Jesus and here πίστιν … εἰς θεόν follows immediately. So the verb πιστεύοντας is a true gloss; the addition of εἰς θεόν corrects the common conception of faith, which ultimately gave rise to a distinction between belief in Christ and belief in God.—δόξαν αὐτῷ δόντα, so e.g., the prophecy (Isaiah 52:13) ὁ παῖς μου … δοξασθήσεται σφόδρα was fulfilled when the lame man was healed by St. Peter and St. John; ὁ θεὸς Ἁβραὰμ … ἐδόξασεν τὸν παῖδα αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν (Acts 3:13). But the glory is primarily and generally the glorious resurrection and ascension, in which state Jesus sent the Holy Spirit (ἦν τὸ πνεῦμα ὅτι οὔπω ἐδοξάσθη, John).—ὥστε … θεόν. καὶ ἐλπίδα may be part of the subject of εἶναι εἰς θεόν, so that your faith and hope are in God, or predicate so that your faith is also hope in God. In either case ἐλπίς is rather confidence than hope, in accordance with LXX usage (= בטחה), and supplies an adequate climax—patient faith leads up to the appropriation of the Hope of Israel.

1 Peter 1:22

1 Peter 1:22-25. The combination of purification of souls with love of the brotherhood suggests that the temptations to relapses were due to former intimacies and relationships which were not overcome by the spiritual brotherhood which they entered. Different grades of society were doubtless represented in all Christian churches and those who were marked out for leaders by their wealth and position were naturally slow to love the slaves and outcasts. As at Corinth old intimacies and congenial society led the better classes (1 Peter 4:3 f.) to fall back on the clubs to which they had belonged and in the company of their equals to sneer at their new brothers—“the brethren” (1 Peter 2:1). St. Peter reminds them that they must purify their souls from the taint—with a side-glance perhaps at the rites proper to the associations in question. They must love the brotherhood and its members as such. Earthly relationships are done away by their regeneration; they have exchanged the flesh for the spirit. The section is full of echoes; compare ἡγνικότες with ἅγιοι (15), ἐν ἁγιασμῷ (2), τῇ ὑπακοῇ with τέκνα ὑ. (14), ἀναγεγεννημένοι with ἀναγεννήσας (3), φθαρτῆς with φθαρτοῖς (18), εὐαγγελισθέν with τῶν εὐαγγελισαμένων (12). It should be compared throughout with Ephesians 4:18-24.—τὰς … ἡγνικότες from Jeremiah 6:16,“see what is the good way and walk in it and you shall find purification (ἁγνισμόν LXX) to your souls. ἁ. usually of ceremonial purification in LXX. Compare Jam 4:8, ἁγνίσατε καρδίας δίψυχοι (cf. ἀνυπόκριτον). The perfect participle is used as indicating the ground of the admonition, so ἀναγεγεννημένοι (23). Pagan rites professed to purify the worshipper but cannot affect the soul, the self or the heart any more than the Jewish ceremonies can (Hebrews 9:9 f.). Scripture declares ὁ φόβος Κυρίου ἁγνός (Psalm 19:10). They must realise that they have cleansed themselves ideally at baptism, cf. 1 John 3:3; 1 John 3:15 f. above with context.—ἐν τῇ ὑπακοῇ τῆς ἀληθείας, in your obedience to the truth, cf. Jer. l.c. above. They are no longer ignorant (14) but have learned the truth (cf. John 17:17-19, and γνώσεσθε τὴν ἀ., John 8:32) from the missionaries. They must persist in the obedience to it which they then professed, in contrast with those who are disobedient to the truth (Romans 2:8; cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:12). Hortsays: “St. Peter rather means the dependence of Christian obedience on the possession of the truth,” relying on Ephesians 4:24, and the probability that “St. Peter would have distinctly used some such language as ἐν τῷ ὑπακούειν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ”. In regard to the latter point it should be observed that St. Peter is curiously fond of using nouns instead of verbs (e g., 2).—εἰς φιλαδελφίαν, love of the brethren, Vulgate, in fraternitalis amore, mutual love which exists between brothers. It is the primary Christian duty, Matthew 23:8, the first fruits of their profession of which St. Paul has no need to remind the Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 4:9.—ἀνυπόκριτον, unfeigned, contrasted with the love which they professed towards their fellow Christians (cf. 1 Peter 2:1) which was neither hearty nor eager. There was pretence among them whether due to imperfect sympathy of Jew for Gentile or of wealthy and honourable Gentiles for those who were neither the one nor the other. For a vivid illustration of this feigning see Jam 2:15 f. and 1 Peter 2:1-5, etc., for the friction between rich and poor.—ἀλλήλους ἀγαπήσατε. St. John’s summary of the teaching of Jesus (John 13:34 f., John 15:12; John 15:17) which he repeated in extreme old age at Ephesus, till the disciples were weary of it: “Magister quare semper hoc loqueris”. His answer was worthy of him: “Quia praeceptum Domini est et si solum fiat sufficit (Hieron. in Galatians 6:10).—ἐκτενῶς, intentius (Vulg.), in LXX of “strong crying to God” (Jonah 3:8 = בחזקה violently, cf. Jdg 4:12; Joel 1:14; 3Ma 5:9 : in Polybius of a warm commendation (xxxi. 22, 12) a warm and friendly welcome (viii. 21, 1), a warm and magnificent reception (xxxiii. 16 4).

1 Peter 1:23

1 Peter 1:23. ἀναγεγεννημένοι. So St. John ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους ὅτι … πᾶς ὁ ἀγαπῶν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγέννηται; cf. Ephesians 4:17; Ephesians 5:2.—ἐκ σπορᾶς ἀφθάρτου, i.e., of God regarded as Father and perhaps also as Sower (cf. 1 Peter 1:24); the two conceptions are combined in 1 John 3:9, πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ ὅτι σπέρμα αὐτοῦ μένει. Compare Philo, Leg. All., p. 123 M. Λείαν … ἐξ οὐδενὸς γεννητοῦ λαμβάνουσαν τὴν σπορὰν.… ἀλλʼ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ.—διὰ λόγου … μένοντος, the connection of ζῶντος κ. μέν. is doubtful; the following quotation might justify the abiding word and Hebrews 4:12, the living word in accordance with Deuteronomy 32:47—cf. 3, ἐλπίδα ζῶσαν. On the other hand the rendering of the Vulgate, per verbum dei vivi et permanentis, is supported by Daniel 6:26 (αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν θεὸς μένων καὶ ζῶν) and supports St. Peter’s argument: earthly relationships must perish with all flesh and its glory; spiritual kinship abides, because it is based on the relation of the kinsfolk to God living and abiding. For the word of God as the means of regeneration, cf. Jam 1:18, βουληθεὶς ἀπεκύησεν ἡμᾶς λόγῳ ἀληθείας. For its identification with ῥῆμα of the quotation, cf. Acts 10:36 f.

1 Peter 1:24

1 Peter 1:24 f. = Isaiah 40:6-8, adduced as endorsement of the comparison instituted between natural generation and divine regeneration, with gloss explaining the saying of Jehovah (cf. Hebrews 1:1 f.). The only divergences from the LXX (which omits—as Jerome notes, perhaps through homoedeuton—quia spiritus dei flavit in eo: vere foenum est populus; asuit foenum cecidit flos) are that ὡς is inserted before χ. (so Targum), and that αὐτῆς is put for ἀνθρώπου (so Heb., etc.) and Κυρίου for τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν (in accordance with the proper reading of Jehovah in the omitted verse).

1 Peter 1:25

1 Peter 1:25. τὸ εὐαγγελισθὲν comes from ὁ εὐαγγελιζόμενος Σειὼν of Isaiah 40:9 which the Targum explains as referring to the prophets.

1 Peter 1

1. Peter, an apostle What in this salutation is the same with those of Paul, requires no new explanation. When Paul prayed for grace and peace, the verb is left out; but Peter adds it, and says, be multiplied; still the meaning is the same; for Paul did not wish to the faithful the beginning of grace and peace, but the increase of them, that is, that God would complete what he had begun.

To the elect, or the elected. It may be asked, how could this be found out, for the election of God is hid, and cannot be known without the special revelation of the Spirit; and as every one is made sure of his own election by the testimony of the Spirit, so he can know nothing certain of others. To this I answer, that we are not curiously to inquire about the election of our brethren, but ought on the contrary to regard their calling, so that all who are admitted by faith into the church, are to be counted as the elect; for God thus separates them from the world, which is a sign of election. It is no objection to say that many fall away, having nothing but the semblance; for it is the judgment of charity and not of faith, when we deem all those elect in whom appears the mark of God’s adoption. And that he does not fetch their election from the hidden counsel of God, but gathers it from the effect, is evident from the context; for afterwards he connects it with the sanctification of the Spirit As far then as they proved that they were regenerated by the Spirit of God, so far did he deem them to be the elect of God, for God does not sanctify any but those whom he has previously elected.

However, he at the same time reminds us whence that election flows, by which we are separated for salvation, that we may not perish with the world; for he says, according to the foreknowledge of God This is the fountain and the first cause: God knew before the world was created whom he had elected for salvation.

But we ought wisely to consider what this precognition or foreknowledge is. For the sophists, in order to obscure the grace of God, imagine that the merits of each are foreseen by God, and that thus the reprobate are distinguished from the elect, as every one proves himself worthy of this or that lot. But Scripture everywhere sets the counsel of God, on which is founded our salvation, in opposition to our merits. Hence, when Peter calls them elect according to the precognition of God, he intimates that the cause of it depends on nothing else but on God alone, for he of his own free will has chosen us. Then the foreknowledge of God excludes every worthiness on the part of man. We have treated this subject more at large in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, and in other places.

As however in our election he assigns the first place to the gratuitous favor of God, so again he would have us to know it by the effects, for there is nothing more dangerous or more preposterous than to overlook our calling and to seek for the certainty of our election in the hidden prescience of God, which is the deepest labyrinth. Therefore to obviate this danger, Peter supplies the best correction; for though in the first place he would have us to consider the counsel of God, the cause of which is alone in himself; yet he invites us to notice the effect, by which he sets forth and bears witness to our election. That effect is the sanctification of the Spirit, even effectual calling, when faith is added to the outward preaching of the gospel, which faith is begotten by the inward operation of the Spirit.

To the sojourners (4) They who think that all the godly are thus called, because they are strangers in the world, and are advancing towards the celestial country, are much mistaken, and this mistake is evident from the word dispersion which immediately follows; for this can apply only to the Jews, not only because they were banished from their own country and scattered here and there, but also because they had been driven out of that land which had been promised to them by the Lord as a perpetual inheritance. He indeed afterwards calls all the faithful sojourners, because they are pilgrims on the earth; but the reason here is different. They were sojourners, because they had been dispersed, some in Pontus, some in Galatia, and some in Bithynia. It is nothing strange that he designed this Epistle more especially for the Jews, for he knew that he was appointed in a particular manner their apostle, as Paul teaches us in Gal 2:8. In the countries he enumerates, he includes the whole of Asia Minor, from the Euxine to Cappadocia. (5)

Unto obedience He adds two things to sanctification, and seems to understand newness of life by obedience, and by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ the remission of sins. But if these be parts or effects of sanctification, then sanctification is to be taken here somewhat different from what it means when used by Paul, that is, more generally. God then sanctifies us by an effectual calling; and this is done when we are renewed to an obedience to his righteousness, and when we are sprinkled by the blood of Christ, and thus are cleansed from our sins. And there seems to be an implied allusion to the ancient rite of sprinkling used under the law. For as it was not then sufficient for the victim to be slain and the blood to be poured out, except the people were sprinkled; so now the blood of Christ which has been shed will avail us nothing, except our consciences are by it cleansed. There is then to be understood here a contrast, that, as formerly under the law the sprinkling of blood was made by the hand of the priest; so now the Holy Spirit sprinkles our souls with the blood of Christ for the expiation of our sins.

Let us now state the substance of the whole; which is, that our salvation flows from the gratuitous election of God; but that it is to be ascertained by the experience of faith, because he sanctifies us by his Spirit; and then that there are two effects or ends of our calling, even renewal into obedience and ablution by the blood of Christ; and further, that both are the work of the Holy Spirit. (6) We hence conclude, that election is not to be separated from calling, nor the gratuitous righteousness of faith from newness of life.

(4) Inquilinis ; they are those who dwell in a hired house, tenants. The original, παρεπιδήμοις, means those who dwell among a people, that is, not their own. Sojourners or pilgrims would be the best word. The sentence literally is, “To the sojourners of the dispersion of Pontus.” etc. — Ed.

(5) On this question both ancient and modern divines have differed. It is to be decided by the contents of the Epistle only. There is nothing decisive in favor of the opinion that it was written only to believing Jews; but there is a passage, 1Pe 4:3, which seems clearly to shew that Peter included the believing Gentiles; for “the abominable idolatries” could only refer to them, as the Jews, since the Babylonian captivity, had never fallen into idolatry. — Ed.

(6) The meaning would be more clear, were we to make a change in the order of the words, “Elected, according to the foreknowledge of God, unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, through (or, by) the sanctification of the Spirit,” that is, they were elected in order that they might obey the gospel, and be cleansed from the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ, through the sanctifying power of the Spirit. It was not their obedience that made them the elect, but they were chosen that they might obey, and thus obey through the influence of the Spirit. This is clearly the doctrine of this passage. See 2Th 2:13 — Ed.



3. Blessed be God We have said that the main object of this epistle is to raise us above the world, in order that we may be prepared and encouraged to sustain the spiritual contests of our warfare. For this end, the knowledge of God’s benefits avails much; for, when their value appears to us, all other things will be deemed worthless, especially when we consider what Christ and his blessings are; for everything without him is but dross. For this reason he highly extols the wonderful grace of God in Christ, that is, that we may not deem it much to give up the world in order that we may enjoy the invaluable treasure of a future life; and also that we may not be broken down by present troubles, but patiently endure them, being satisfied with eternal happiness.

Further, when he gives thanks to God, he invites the faithful to spiritual joy, which can swallow up all the opposite feelings of the flesh.

And Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Understand the words thus, — “Blessed be God who is the Father of Jesus Christ.” For, as formerly, by calling himself the God of Abraham, he designed to mark the difference between him and all fictitious gods; so after he has manifested himself in his own Son, his will is, not to be known otherwise than in him. Hence they who form their ideas of God in his naked majesty apart from Christ, have an idol instead of the true God, as the case is with the Jews and the Turks. Whosoever, then, seeks really to know the only true God, must regard him as the Father of Christ; for, whenever our mind seeks God, except Christ be thought of, it will wander and be confused, until it be wholly lost. Peter meant at the same time to intimate how God is so bountiful and kind towards us; for, except Christ stood as the middle person, his goodness could never be really known by us.

Who hath begotten us again He shews that supernatural life is a gift, because we are born the children of wrath; for had we been born to the hope of life according to the flesh, there would have been no necessity of being begotten again by God. Therefore Peter teaches us, that we who are by nature destined to eternal death, are restored to life by God’s mercy. And this is, as it were, our second creation, as it is said in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians. Lively or living hope, means the hope of life. (7) At the same time there seems to be an implied contrast between the hope fixed on the incorruptible kingdom of God, and the fading and transient hopes of man.

According to his abundant mercy He first mentions the efficient cause, and then he points out the mediating cause, as they say. He shews that God was induced by no merits of ours to regenerate us unto a living hope, because he assigns this wholly to his mercy. But that he might more completely reduce the merits of works to nothing, he says, great ( multam ) mercy. All, indeed, confess that God is the only author of our salvation, but they afterwards invent extraneous causes, which take away so much from his mercy. But Peter commends mercy alone; and he immediately connects the way or manner, by the resurrection of Christ; for God does not in any other way discover his mercy; hence Scripture ever directs our attention to this point. And that Christ’s death is not mentioned, but his resurrection, involves no inconsistency, for it is included; because a thing cannot be completed without having a beginning; and he especially brought forward the resurrection, because he was speaking of a new life.



(7) ”This is a Hebraism,” says Macknight, “for a hope of life. Accordingly, the Syriac version hath here, in spem vitae — to a hope of life.” The begetting again seems not to refer to inward renovation, but to what God did by raising Christ from the dead. To beget, sometimes means to put one in a new state or condition; as the expression, “This day have I begotten thee,” means, that God had then constituted his Son a king, publicly invested him, as it were, with that office. Similar is the meaning here: God through the resurrection of Christ restored to the hope of life his desponding followers: hence the import of the word “again;” though Macknight thinks the reference to be to the covenant of grace made with our first parents after the fall, and that believers were begotten the second time to the same hope by the resurrection of Christ. The word for “begetting again,” is only found here, and in a passive sense in 1Pe 1:23, where it has a different meaning, as it evidently refers to the renovation of the heart. — Ed.



4. To an inheritance (8) The three words which follow are intended to amplify God’s grace; for Peter (as I have before said) had this object in view, to impress our minds thoroughly as to its excellency. Moreover, these two clauses, “to an inheritance incorruptible,” etc., and “to salvation ready to be revealed,” I deem as being in apposition, the latter being explanatory of the former; for he expresses the same thing in two ways.

Every word which follows is weighty. The inheritance is said to be reserved, or preserved, that we may know that it is beyond the reach of danger. For, were it not in God’s hand, it might be exposed to endless dangers. If it were in this world, how could we regard it as safe amidst so many changes? That he might then free us from every fear, he testifies that our salvation is placed in safety beyond the harms which Satan can do. But as the certainty of salvation can bring us but little comfort, except each one knows that it belongs to himself, Peter adds, for you For consciences will calmly recumb here, that is, when the Lord cries to them from heaven, “Behold, your salvation is in my hand and is kept for you.” But as salvation is not indiscriminately for all, he calls our attention to faith, that all who are endued with faith, might be distinguished from the rest, and that they might not doubt but that they are the true and legitimate heirs of God. For, as faith penetrates into the heavens, so also it appropriates to us the blessings which are in heaven.



(8) Pareus puts, “that is, to an inheritance,” making this sentence explanatory of “the hope,” as hope here is a metonymy for its object. It is an inheritance “incorruptible,” not to be destroyed by a flood or by fire, — “undefiled,” not like the land of Canaan, its type, which was defiled by its inhabitants, — “unfading,” different from any worldly inheritance, for the world passeth away. — Ed.



5. Who are kept by the power of God We are to notice the connection when he says, that we are kept while in the world, and at the same time our inheritance is reserved in heaven; otherwise this thought would immediately creep in, “What does it avail us that our salvation is laid up in heaven, when we are tossed here and there in this world as in a turbulent sea? What can it avail us that our salvation is secured in a quiet harbour, when we are driven to and fro amidst thousand shipwrecks?” The apostle, therefore, anticipates objections of this kind, when he shews, that though we are in the world exposed to dangers, we are yet kept by faith; and that though we are thus nigh to death, we are yet safe under the guardianship of faith. But as faith itself, through the infirmity of the flesh, often quails, we might be always anxious about the morrow, were not the Lord to aid us. (9)

And, indeed, we see that under the Papacy a diabolical opinion prevails, that we ought to doubt our final perseverance, because we are uncertain whether we shall be tomorrow in the same state of grace. But Peter did not thus leave us in suspense; for he testifies that we stand by the power of God, lest any doubt arising from a consciousness of our own infirmity, should disquiet us. How weak soever we may then be, yet our salvation is not uncertain, because it is sustained by God’s power. As, then, we are begotten by faith, so faith itself receives its stability from God’s power. Hence is its security, not only for the present, but also for the future.

Unto salvation As we are by nature impatient of delay, and soon succumb under weariness, he therefore reminds us that salvation is not deferred because it is not yet prepared, but because the time of its revelation is not yet come. This doctrine is intended to nourish and sustain our hope. Moreover, he calls the day of judgment the last time, because the restitution of all things is not to be previously expected, for the intervening time is still in progress. What is elsewhere called the last time, is the whole from the coming of Christ; it is so called from a comparison with the preceding ages. But Peter had a regard to the end of the world.

(9) The meaning would be somewhat different, but the sentence would be more intelligible, were we to render it thus, “Who are kept by faith in the power of God unto salvation.” Salvation here means that of the body as well as of the soul at the resurrection. — Ed.



6. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, or, In which ye exult. Though the termination of the Greek verb is doubtful, yet the meaning requires that we read, “ye exult,” rather than “exult ye.” In which refers to the whole that is said of the hope of salvation laid up in heaven. But he rather exhorts than praises them; for his object was to shew what fruit was to come from the hope of salvation, even spiritual joy, by which not only the bitterness of all evil might be mitigated, but also all sorrow overcome. At the same time to exult is more expressive than to rejoice. (10)

But it seems somewhat inconsistent, when he says that the faithful, who exulted with joy, were at the same time sorrowful, for these are contrary feelings. But the faithful know by experience, how these things can exist together, much better than can be expressed in words. However, to explain the matter in a few words, we may say that the faithful are not logs of wood, nor have they so divested themselves of human feelings, but that they are affected with sorrow, fear danger, and feel poverty as an evil, and persecutions as hard and difficult to be borne. Hence they experience sorrow from evils; but it is so mitigated by faith, that they cease not at the same time to rejoice. Thus sorrow does not prevent their joy, but, on the contrary, give place to it. Again, though joy overcomes sorrow, yet it does not put an end to it, for it does not divest us of humanity. And hence it appears what true patience is; its beginning, and, as it were, its root, is the knowledge of God’s blessings, especially of that gratuitous adoption with which he has favored us; for all who raise hither their minds, find it an easy thing calmly to bear all evils. For whence is it that our minds are pressed down with grief, except that we have no participation of spiritual things? But all they who regard their troubles as necessary trials for their salvation, not only rise above them, but also turn them to an occasion of joy.

Ye are in heaviness, or, Ye are made sorrowful. Is not sorrow also the common lot of the reprobate? for they are not free from evils. But Peter meant that the faithful endure sorrow willingly, while the ungodly murmur and perversely contend with God. Hence the godly bear sorrow, as the tamed ox the yoke, or as a horse, broken in, the bridle, though held by a child. God by sorrow afflicts the reprobate, as when a bridle is by force put in the mouth of a ferocious and refractory horse; he kicks and offers every resistance, but all in vain. Then Peter commends the faithful, because they willingly undergo sorrow, and not as though forced by necessity.

By saying, though now for a season, or, a little while, he supplied consolation; for the shortness of time, however hard evils may be, does not a little lessen them; and the duration of the present life is but a moment of time. If need be; the condition is to be taken for a cause; for he purposed to shew, that God does not, without reason, thus try his people; for, if God afflicted us without a cause, to bear it would be grievous. Hence Peter took an argument for consolation from the design of God; not that the reason always appears to us, but that we ought to be fully persuaded that it ought to be so, because it is God’s will.

We must notice that he does not mention one temptation, but many; and not temptations of one kind, but manifold temptations It is, however, better to seek the exposition of this passage in the first chapter of James



(10) Some take the verb in a future sense, “At which (time) ye shall exult;” and some as being an imperative, “On account of which exult ye;” but neither of these comports with the context; for the 8th verse proves that he speaks of present joy, and that he states the case as it was among them. It is better with Calvin to refer “wherein,” or, “on account of which,” to the fact stated in the previous verse, that they were kept by God’s power for salvation ready to be revealed. — Ed.



7. Much more precious than of gold The argument is from the less to the greater; for if gold, a corruptible metal, is deemed of so much value that we prove it by fire, that it may become really valuable, what wonder is it that God should require a similar trial as to faith, since faith is deemed by him so excellent? And though the words seem to have a different meaning, he yet compares faith to gold, and makes it more precious than gold, that hence he might draw the conclusion, that it ought to be fully proved. (11) It is moreover uncertain how far he extends the meaning of the words, “tried” δοκιμάζεσθαι and “trial” δοκίμιον

Gold is, indeed, tried twice by fire; first, when it is separated from its dross; and then, when a judgment is to be formed of its purity. Both modes of trial may very suitably be applied to faith; for when there is much of the dregs of unbelief remaining in us, and when by various afflictions we are refined as it were in God’s furnace, the dross of our faith is removed, so that it becomes pure and clean before God; and, at the same time, a trial of it is made, as to whether it be true or fictitious. I am disposed to take these two views, and what immediately follows seems to favor this explanation; for as silver is without honor or value before it be refined, so he intimates that our faith is not to be honored and crowned by God until it be duly proved.

At the appearing of Jesus Christ, or, when Jesus Christ shall be revealed. This is added, that the faithful might learn to hold on courageously to the last day. For our life is now hidden in Christ, and will remain hidden, and as it were buried, until Christ shall appear from heaven; and the whole course of our life leads to the destruction of the external man, and all the things we suffer are, as it were, the preludes of death. It is hence necessary, that we should cast our own eyes on Christ, if we wish in our afflictions to behold glory and praise. For trials as to us are full of reproach and shame, and they become glorious in Christ; but that glory in Christ is not yet plainly seen, for the day of consolation is not yet come. (12)



(11) The seeming difference in meaning referred to, arises from this, that the Apostle uses two nouns (a common thing in Scripture) instead of a noun and an adjective or participle — “the trial of your faith,” instead of “your tried faith,” or, “your faith when tried.” — Ed.

(12) The “praise, honor, and glory,” refer to tried faith; it will be praised or approved by the Judge, honored before men and angels, and followed by eternal glory. — Ed.



8. Whom having not seen, or, Whom though ye have not seen. He lays down two things, that they loved Christ whom they had not seen, and that they believed on him whom they did not then behold. But the first arises from the second; for the cause of love is faith, not only because the knowledge of those blessings which Christ bestows on us, moves us to love him, but because he offers us perfect felicity, and thus draws us up to himself. He then commends the Jews, because they believed in Christ whom they did not see, that they might know that the nature of faith is to acquiesce in those blessings which are hid from our eyes. They had indeed given some proof of this very thing, though he rather directs what was to be done by praising them.

The first clause in order is, that faith is not to be measured by sight. For when the life of Christians is apparently miserable, they would instantly fail, were not their happiness dependent on hope. Faith, indeed, has also its eyes, but they are such as penetrate into the invisible kingdom of God, and are contented with the mirror of the Word; for it is the demonstration of invisible things, as it is said in Heb 11:1. Hence true is that saying of Paul, that

we are absent from the Lord while we are in the flesh;

for we walk by faith and not by sight.

(2Co 5:6.)

The second clause is, that faith is not a cold notion, but that it kindles in our hearts love to Christ. For faith does not (as the sophists prattle) lay hold on God in a confused and implicit manner, (for this would be to wander through devious paths;) but it has Christ as its object. Moreover, it does not lay hold on the bare name of Christ, or his naked essence, but regards what he is to us, and what blessings he brings; for it cannot be but that the affections of man should be led there, where his happiness is, according to that saying,

“Where your treasure is, there is also your heart.” (Mat 6:21.)

Ye rejoice, or, Ye exult. He again refers to the fruit of faith which he had mentioned, and not without reason; for it is an incomparable benefit, that consciences are not only at peace before God, but confidently exult in the hope of eternal life. And he calls it joy unspeakable, or unutterable, because the peace of God exceeds all comprehension. What is added, full of glory, or glorified, admits of two explanations. It means either what is magnificent and glorious, or what is contrary to that which is empty and fading, of which men will soon be ashamed. Thus “glorified” is the same with what is solid and permanent, beyond the danger of being brought to nothing. (13) Those who are not elevated by this joy above the heavens, so that being content with Christ alone, they despise the world, in vain boast that they have faith.



(13) After “unspeakable,” “glorified” must mean something greater, or it may be viewed as more specific, it is a joy unspeakable, it being a glorified joy in a measure, or the joy of the glorified in heaven. According to this view the words may be thus rendered, “with joy unspeakable and heavenly.” Doddridge gives this paraphrase, “With unutterable and even glorified joy, with such a joy as seems to anticipate that of the saints in glory.” — Ed.



9. Receiving the end of your faith He reminds the faithful where they ought to direct all their thoughts, even to eternal salvation. For this world holds all our affections ensnared by is allurements; this life and all things belonging to the body are great impediments, which prevent us from applying our minds to the contemplation of the future and spiritual life. Hence the Apostle sets before us this future life as a subject of deep meditation, and he indirectly intimates that the loss of all other things is to be deemed as nothing, provided our souls be saved. By saying receiving, he takes away all doubt, in order that they might more cheerfully go on, being certain of obtaining salvation. (14) In the meantime, however, he shews what the end of faith is, lest they should be over-anxious, because it is as yet deferred. For our adoption ought now to satisfy us; nor ought we to ask to be introduced before the time into the possession of our inheritance. We may also take the end for reward; but the meaning would be the same. For we learn from the Apostle’s words, that salvation is not otherwise obtained than by faith; and we know that faith leans on the sole promise of gratuitous adoption; but if it be so, doubtless salvation is not owing to the merits of works, nor can it be hoped for on their account.

But why does he mention souls only, when the glory of a resurrection is promised to our bodies? As the soul is immortal, salvation is properly ascribed to it, as Paul sometimes is wont to speak, —

“That the soul may be saved in the day of the Lord.”

(1Co 5:5.)

But it is the same as though he had said “Eternal salvation.” For there is an implied comparison between it and the mortal and fading life which belongs to the body. At the same time, the body is not excluded from a participation of glory when annexed to the soul.

(14) It is necessary either to give a future meaning to this participle, “Being about to receive;” or to view the Apostle as speaking of the salvation of the soul now, as distinct from the salvation of the soul and body hereafter. The latter view seems most appropriate to the passage. The soul is now saved by faith. The end of faith, its object and accomplishment, is reconciliation with God, and reconciliation is salvation. — Ed.



He hence commends the value of salvation, because the prophets had their minds intensely fixed on it; for it must have been a great matter, and possessing peculiar excellency, which could have thus kindled in the prophets a spirit of inquiry respecting it. But still more clearly does God’s goodness toward us shine forth in this case, because much more is now made known to us than what all the prophets attained by their long and anxious inquiries. At the same time he confirms the certainty of salvation by this very antiquity; for from the beginning of the world it had received a plain testimony from the Holy Spirit.

These two things ought to be distinctly noticed: he declares that more has been given to us than to the ancient fathers, in order to amplify by this comparison the grace of the gospel; and then, that what is preached to us respecting salvation, cannot be suspected of any novelty, for the Spirit had formerly testified of it by the prophets. When, therefore, he says that the prophets searched and sedulously inquired, this does not belong to their writings or doctrine, but to the private desire with which every one boiled over. What is said afterwards is to be referred to their public office.

But that each particular may be more evident, the passage must be arranged under certain propositions. Let the first then be this, — that the Prophets who foretold of the grace which Christ exhibited at his coming, diligently inquired as to the time when full revelation was to be made. The second is, — that the Spirit of Christ predicted by them of the future condition of Christ’s kingdom, such as it is now, and such as it is expected yet to be, even that it is destined that Christ and his whole body should, through various sufferings, enter into glory. The third is, — that the prophets ministered to us more abundantly than to their own age, and that this was revealed to them from above; for in Christ only is the full exhibition of those things of which God then presented but an obscure image. The fourth is, — that in the Gospel is contained a clear confirmation of prophetic doctrine, but also a much fuller and plainer explanation; for the salvation which he formerly proclaimed as it were at a distance by the prophets, he now reveals openly to us, and as it were before our eyes. The last proposition is, — that it hence appears evident how wonderful is the glory of that salvation promised to us in the Gospel, because even angels, though they enjoy God’s presence in heaven, yet burn with the desire of seeing it. Now all these things tend to shew this one thing, that Christians, elevated to the height of their felicity, ought to surmount all the obstacles of the world; for what is there which this incomparable benefit does not reduce to nothing?

10Of which salvation Had not the fathers the same salvation as we have? Why then does he say that the fathers inquired, as though they possessed not what is now offered to us? The answer to this is plain, that salvation is to be taken here for that clear manifestation of it which we have through the coming of Christ. The words of Peter mean no other thing than those of Christ, when he said,

“Many kings and prophets have desired to see the things which ye see, and have not seen them.” (Mat 13:17.)

As then the prophets had but a limited knowledge of the grace brought by Christ, as to its revelation they justly desired something more. When Simeon, after seeing Christ, prepared himself calmly and with a satisfied mind for death, he shewed that he was before unsatisfied and anxious. Such was the feeling of all the godly.



11. And what they inquired is pointed out when he adds, Searching what, or what manner of time There was a difference between the law and the gospel, a veil as it were being interposed, that they might not see those things nearer which are now set before our eyes. Nor was it indeed proper, while Christ the Sun of righteousness was yet absent, that the full light should shine as at mid-day. And though it was their duty to confine themselves within their prescribed limits, yet it was no superstition to sigh with a desire of having a nearer sight. For when they wished that redemption should be hastened, and desired daily to see it, there was nothing in such a wish to prevent them patiently to wait as long as it pleased the Lord to defer the time. Moreover, to seek as to prophecies the particular time, seems to me unprofitable; for what is spoken of here is not what the prophets taught, but what they wished. Where the Latin interpreters render, “of future grace,” it is literally, “of the grace which is to you.” But as the meaning remains the same, I was not disposed to make any change.

It is more worthy of observation, that he does not say that the prophets searched according to their own understanding as to the time when Christ’s kingdom would come, but that they applied their minds to the revelation of the Spirit. Thus they have taught us by their example a sobriety in learning, for they did not go beyond what the Spirit taught them. And doubtless there will be no limits to man’s curiosity, except the Spirit of God presides over their minds, so that they may not desire anything else than to speak from him. And further, the spiritual kingdom is a higher subject than what the human mind can succeed in investigating, except the Spirit be the guide. May we also therefore submit to his guidance.

The Spirit of Christ which was in them First, “who was in them,” and secondly, “testifying,” that is, giving a testimony, by which expression he intimates that the prophets were endued with the Spirit of knowledge, and indeed in no common manner, as those who have been teachers and witnesses to us, and that yet they were not partakers of that light which is exhibited to us. At the same time, a high praise is given to their doctrine, for it was the testimony of the Holy Spirit; the preachers and ministers were men, but he was the teacher. Nor does he declare without reason that the Spirit of Christ then ruled; and he makes the Spirit, sent from heaven, to preside over the teachers of the Gospel, for he shews that the Gospel comes from God, and that the ancient prophecies were dictated by Christ.

The sufferings of Christ That they might bear submissively their afflictions, he reminds them that they had been long ago foretold by the Spirit. But he includes much more than this, for he teaches us, that the Church of Christ has been from the beginning so constituted, that the cross has been the way to victory, and death a passage to life, and that this had been clearly testified. There is, therefore, no reason why afflictions should above measure depress us, as though we were miserable under them, since the Spirit of God pronounces us blessed.

The order is to be noticed; he mentions sufferings first, and then adds the glories which are to follow. For he intimates that this order cannot be changed or subverted; afflictions must precede glory. So there is to be understood a twofold truth in these words, — that Christians must suffer many troubles before they enjoy glory, — and that afflictions are not evils, because they have glory annexed to them. Since God has ordained this connection, it does not behove us to separate the one from the other. And it is no common consolation, that our condition, such as we find it to be, has been foretold so many ages ago.

Hence we learn, that it is not in vain that a happy end is promised to us; secondly, we hence know that we are not afflicted by chance, but through the infallible providence of God; and lastly, that prophecies are like mirrors to set forth to us in tribulations the image of celestial glory.

Peter, indeed, says, that the Spirit had testified of the coming afflictions of Christ; but he does not separate Christ from his body. This, then, is not to be confined to the person of Christ, but a beginning is to be made with the head, so that the members may in due order follow, as Paul also teaches us, that we must be conformed to him who is the first-born among his brethren. In short, Peter does not speak of what is peculiar to Christ, but of the universal state of the Church. But it is much fitted to confirm our faith, when he sets forth our afflictions as viewed in Christ, for we thereby see better the connection of death and life between us and him. And, doubtless, this is the privilege and manner of the holy union, that he suffers daily in his members, that after his sufferings shall be completed in us, glory also may have its completion. See more on this subject in the third chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians, and in the fourth of the first Epistle to Timothy.



12Unto whom it was revealed This passage has been strangely perverted by fanatics, so as to exclude the fathers who lived under the law from the hope of eternal salvation. For it does not deny that the prophets usefully ministered to their own age, and edified the church, but teaches us that their ministry is more useful to us, because we are fallen on the ends of the world. We see how highly they extolled the kingdom of Christ, how assiduous they were in adorning it, how diligently they stimulated all to seek it; but they were by death deprived of the privilege of seeing it as it now is. What else then was this, but that they spread the table, that others might afterwards feed on the provisions laid on it. They indeed tasted by faith of those things which the Lord has by their hands transmitted to be enjoyed by us; and they also partook of Christ as the real food of their souls. But what is spoken of now is the exhibition of this blessing, and we know that the prophetic office was confined as it were within limits, in order that they might support themselves and others with the hope of Christ, who was to come. They therefore possessed him as one hidden, and as it were absent — absent, I say, not in power or grace, but because he was not yet manifested in the flesh. Therefore his kingdom also was as yet hid as it were under coverings. At length descending on earth, he in a manner opened heaven to us, so that we might have a near view of those spiritual riches, which before were under types exhibited at a distance. This fruition then of Christ as manifested, forms the difference between us and the prophets. Hence we learn how they ministered to us rather than to themselves.

But though the prophets were admonished from above that the grace which they proclaimed would be deferred to another age, yet they were not slothful in proclaiming it, so far were they from being broken down with weariness. But if their patience was so great, surely we shall be twice and thrice ungrateful, if the fruition of the grace denied to them will not sustain us under all the evils which are to be endured.

Which are now reported to you, or announced to you. He again marks the difference between the ancient doctrine and the preaching of the gospel. For as the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel, having a testimony from the law and the prophets, so also the glory of Christ, of which the Spirit testified formerly, is now openly proclaimed. And at the same time he hence proves the certainty of the gospel, because it contains nothing but what had been long ago testified by the Spirit of God. He further reminds them, that under the banner of the same Spirit, by his dictation and guidance, the gospel was preached, lest they might think of anything human in this case.

Which things the angels desire to look into It is indeed the highest praise to the gospel, that it contains treasures of wisdom, as yet concealed and hidden from angels. But some one may object, and say that it is not reasonable that things should be open and known to us which are hidden from angels, who always see the face of God, and are his ministers in ruling the church, and in the administration of all his blessings. To this I answer, that things are open to us as far as we see them in the mirror of the word; but our knowledge is not said to be higher than that of angels; Peter only means that such things are promised to us as angels desire to see fulfilled. Paul says that by the calling of the Gentiles the wonderful wisdom of God was made known to angels. for it was a spectacle to them, when Christ gathered into one body the lost world, alienated for so many ages from the hope of life. Thus daily they see with admiration the magnificent works of God in the government of his church. How much greater will their admiration be, at witnessing the last display of divine justice, when the kingdom of Christ shall be completed! This is as yet hidden, the revelation of which they still expect and justly wish to see.

The passage indeed admits of a twofold meaning; either that the treasure we have in the gospel fills the angels with a desire to see it, as it is a sight especially delightful to them; or that they anxiously desire to see the kingdom of Christ, the living image of which is set forth in the gospel. But the last seems to me to be the most suitable meaning.



From the greatness and excellency of grace he draws an exhortation, that it surely behoved them the more readily to receive the grace of God, as the more bountifully he bestowed it upon them. And we must notice the connection: he had said, that so elevated was the kingdom of Christ, to which the gospel calls us, that even angels in heaven desire to see it; what then ought to be done by us who are in the world? Doubtless, as long as we live on earth, so great is the distance between us and Christ, that in vain he invites us to himself. It is hence necessary for us to put off the image of Adam and to cast aside the whole world and all hinderances, that being thus set at liberty we may rise upwards to Christ. And he exhorted those to whom he wrote, to be prepared and sober, and to hope for the graces offered to them, and also to renounce the world and their former life, and to be conformed to the will of God. (15)

Then the first part of the exhortation is, to gird up the loins of their mind and to direct their thoughts to the hope of the grace presented to them. In the second par, he prescribes the manner, that having their minds changed, they were to be formed after the image of God.

13Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind It is a similitude taken from an ancient custom; for when they had long garments, they could not make a journey, nor conveniently do any work, without being girded up. Hence these expressions, to gird up one’s-self for a work or an undertaking. He then bids them to remove all impediments, that being set at liberty they might go on to God. Those who philosophize more refinedly about the loins, as though he commanded lusts to be restrained and checked, depart from the real meaning of the Apostle, for these words mean the same with those of Christ,

“Let your loins be girded about, and burning lamps in your hands,”

(Luk 12:35,)

except that Peter doubles the metaphor by ascribing loins to the mind. And he intimates that our minds are held entangled by the passing cares of the world and by vain desires, so that they rise not upward to God. Whosoever, then, really wishes to have this hope, let him learn in the first place to disentangle himself from the world, and gird up his mind that it may not turn aside to vain affections. And for the same purpose he enjoins sobriety, which immediately follows; for he commends not temperance only in eating and drinking, but rather spiritual sobriety, when all our thoughts and affections are so kept as not to be inebriated with the allurements of this world. For since even the least taste of them stealthily draws us away from God, when one plunges himself into these, he must necessarily become sleepy and stupid, and he forgets God and the things of God.

Hope to the end, or, Perfectly hope. He intimates that those who let their minds loose on vanity, did not really and sincerely hope for the grace of God; for though they had some hope, yet as they vacillated and were tossed to and fro in the world, there was no solidity in their hope. Then he says, for the grace which will be brought to you, in order that they might be more prompt to receive it. God ought to be sought, though far off; but he comes of his own will to meet us. How great, then, must be our ingratitude if we neglect the grace that is thus set before us! This amplification, then, is especially intended to stimulate our hope.

What he adds, At the revelation of Jesus Christ, may be explained in two ways: that the doctrine of the Gospel reveals Christ to us; and that, as we see him as yet only through a mirror and enigmatically, a full revelation is deferred to the last day. The first meaning is approved by Erasmus, nor do I reject it. The second seems, however, to be more suitable to the passage. For the object of Peter was to call us away beyond the world; for this purpose the fittest thing was the recollection of Christ’s coming. For when we direct our eyes to this event, this world becomes crucified to us, and we to the world. Besides, according to this meaning, Peter used the expression shortly before. Nor is it a new thing for the apostles to employ the preposition ἐν in the sense of εἰς. Thus, then, I explain the passage, — “You have no need to make a long journey that you may attain the grace of God; for God anticipates you; inasmuch as he brings it to you.” But as the fruition of it will not be until Christ appears from heaven, in whom is hid the salvation of the godly, there is need, in the meantime, of hope; for the grace of Christ is now offered to us in vain, except we patiently wait until the coming of Christ.



(15) Pareus observes, that the Apostle, in this part of the chapter, exhorted the faithful to sobriety, holiness, humility, and brotherly love, by five reasons: 1, because they were the children of God, 1Pe 1:14; 2, because God is holy, and requires holiness, 1Pe 1:15; 3, because God is no respecter of persons, 1Pe 1:17; 4, because of the value of the price for their redemption, 1Pe 1:18; and 5, because they had been born again of an immortal seed, 1Pe 1:23. — Ed.



14As obedient children He first intimates that we are called by the Lord to the privilege and honor of adoption through the Gospel; and, secondly, that we are adopted for this end, that he might have us as his obedient children. For though obedience does not make us children, as the gift of adoption is gratuitous, yet it distinguishes children from aliens. How far, indeed, this obedience extends, Peter shews, when he forbids God’s children to conform to or to comply with the desires of this world, and when he exhorts them, on the contrary, to conform to the will of God. The sum of the whole law, and of all that God requires of us, is this, that his image should shine forth in us, so that we should not be degenerate children. But this cannot be except we be renewed and put off the image of old Adam.

Hence we learn what Christians ought to propose to themselves as an object throughout life, that is, to resemble God in holiness and purity. But as all the thoughts and feelings of our flesh are in opposition to God, and the whole bent of our mind is enmity to him, hence Peter begins with the renunciation of the world; and certainly, whenever the Scripture speaks of the renewal of God’s image in us, it begins here, that the old man with his lusts is to be destroyed.

In your ignorance The time of ignorance he calls that before they were called into the faith of Christ. We hence learn that unbelief is the fountain of all evils. For he does not use the word ignorance, as we commonly do; for that Platonic dogma is false, that ignorance alone is the cause of sin. But yet, how much soever conscience may reprove the unbelieving, nevertheless they go astray as the blind in darkness, because they know not the right way, and they are without the true light. According to this meaning, Paul says,

“Ye henceforth walk not as the Gentiles, in the vanity of their mind, who have the mind darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them.”

(Eph 4:17.)

Where the knowledge of God is not, there darkness, error, vanity, destitution of light and life, prevail. These things, however, do not render it impossible that the ungodly should be conscious of doing wrong when they sin, and know that their judge is in heaven, and feel an executioner within them. In short, as the kingdom of God is a kingdom of light, all who are alienated from him must necessarily be blind and go astray in a labyrinth.

We are in the meantime reminded, that we are for this end illuminated as to the knowledge of God, that we may no longer be carried away by roving lusts. Hence, as much progress any one has made in newness of life, so much progress has he made in the knowledge of God.

Here a question arises, — Since he addressed the Jews, who were acquainted with the law, and were brought up in the worship of the only true God, why did he charge them with ignorance and blindness, as though they were heathens? To this I answer, that it hence appears how profitless is all knowledge without Christ. When Paul exposed the vain boasting of those who wished to be wise apart from Christ, he justly said in one short sentence, that they did not hold the head. (Col 2:19.) Such were the Jews; being otherwise imbued with numberless corruptions, they had a veil over the eyes, so that they did not see Christ in the Law. The doctrine in which they had been taught was indeed a true light; but they were blind in the midst of light, as long as the Sun of Righteousness was hid to them. But if Peter declares that the literal disciples even of the Law were in darkness like the heathens, as long as they were ignorant of Christ, the only true wisdom of God, with how much greater care it behoves us to strive for the knowledge of him!



15He who hath called you is holy He reasons from the end for which we are called. God sets us apart as a peculiar people for himself; then we ought to be free from all pollutions. And he quotes a sentence which had been often repeated by Moses. For as the people of Israel were on every side surrounded by heathens, from whom they might have easily adopted the worst examples and innumerable corruptions, the Lord frequently recalled them to himself, as though he had said, “Ye have to do with me, ye are mine; then abstain from the pollutions of the Gentiles.” We are too ready to look to men, so as to follow their common way of living. Thus it happens, that some lead others in troops to all kinds of evil, until the Lord by his calling separates them.

In bidding us to be holy like himself, the proportion is not that of equals; but we ought to advance in this direction as far as our condition will bear. And as even the most perfect are always very far from coming up to the mark, we ought daily to strive more and more. And we ought to remember that we are not only told what our duty is, but that God also adds, “I am he who sanctify you.”

It is added, In all manner of conversation, or, in your whole conduct. There is then no part of our life which is not to be redolent with this good odour of holiness. For we see that in the smallest things and almost insignificant, the Lord accustomed his people to the practice of holiness, in order that they might exercise a more diligent care as to themselves.



17And if ye call on the Father They are said here to call on God the Father, who professed themselves to be his children, as Moses says, that the name of Jacob was called on Ephraim and Manasseh, that they might be counted his children. (Gen 48:16.) According to this meaning also, we say in French reclamer But he had a regard to what he had said before, “as obedient children.” And from the character of the Father himself, he shews what sort of obedience ought to be rendered. He judges, he says, without looking on the person, that is, no outward mask is of any account with him, as the case is with men, but he sees the heart, (1Sa 16:7;) and his eyes look on faithfulness. (Jer 5:3.) This also is what Paul means when he says that God’s judgment is according to truth, (Rom 2:2;) for he there inveighs against hypocrites, who think that they deceive God by a vain pretense. The meaning is, that we by no means discharge our duty towards God, when we obey him only in appearance; for he is not a mortal man, whom the outward appearance pleases, but he reads what we are inwardly in our hearts. He not only prescribes laws for our feet and hands, but he also requires what is just and right as to the mind and spirit.

By saying, According to every man’s work, he does not refer to merit or to reward; for Peter does not speak here of the merits of works, nor of the cause of salvation, but he only reminds us, that there will be no looking to the person before the tribunal of God, but that what will be regarded will be the real sincerity of the heart. In this place faith also is included in the work. It hence appears evident how foolish and puerile is the inference that is drawn, — “God is such that he judges every one of us by the integrity of his conscience, not by the outward appearance; then we obtain salvation by works.”

The fear that is mentioned, stands opposed to heedless security, such as is wont to creep in, when there is a hope of deceiving with impunity. For, as God’s eyes are such that they penetrate into the hidden recesses of the heart, we ought to walk with him carefully and not negligently. He calls the present life a sojourning, not in the sense in which he called the Jews to whom he was writing sojourners, at the beginning of the Epistle, but because all the godly are in this world pilgrims. (Heb 11:13.)



18Forasmuch as ye know, or, knowing. Here is another reason, drawn from the price of our redemption, which ought always to be remembered when our salvation is spoken of. For to him who repudiates or despises the grace of the gospel, not only his own salvation is worthless, but also the blood of Christ, by which God has manifested its value. But we know how dreadfully sacrilegious it is to regard as common the blood of the Son of God. There is hence nothing which ought so much to stimulate us to the practice of holiness, as the memory of this price of our redemption.

Silver and gold For the sake of amplifying he mentions these things in contrast, so that we may know that the whole world, and all things deemed precious by men, are nothing to the excellency and value of this price.

But he says that they had been redeemed from their vain conversation, (16) in order that we might know that the whole life of man, until he is converted to Christ, is a ruinous labyrinth of wanderings. He also intimates, that it is not through our merits that we are restored to the right way, but because it is God’s will that the price, offered for our salvation, should be effectual in our behalf. Then the blood of Christ is not only the pledge of our salvation, but also the cause of our calling.

Moreover, Peter warns us to beware lest our unbelief should render this price void or of no effect. As Paul boasts that he worshipped God with a pure conscience from his forefathers, (2Ti 1:3,) and as he also commends to Timothy for his imitation the piety of his grandmother Lois, and of his mother Eunice, (2Ti 1:5,) and as Christ also said of the Jews that they knew whom they worshipped (Joh 4:22,) it may seem strange that Peter should assert that the Jews of his time learnt nothing from their fathers but mere vanity. To this I answer, that Christ, when he declared that the way or the knowledge of true religion belonged to the Jews, referred to the law and the commandments of God rather than to the people; for the temple had not to no purpose been built at Jerusalem, nor was God worshipped there according to the fancies of men, but according to what was prescribed in the Law; he, therefore, said that the Jews were not going astray while observing the Law. As to Paul’s forefathers, and as to Lois, Eunice, and similar cases, there is no doubt but that God ever had at least a small remnant among that people, in whom sincere piety continued, while the body of the people had become wholly corrupt, and had plunged themselves into all kinds of errors. Innumerable superstitions were followed, hypocrisy prevailed, the hope of salvation was built on the merest trifles; they were not only imbued with false opinions, but also fascinated with the grossest dotages; and they who had been scattered to various parts of the world, were implicated in still greater corruptions. In short, the greater part of that nation had either wholly fallen away from true religion, or had much degenerated. When, therefore, Peter condemned the doctrine of the fathers, he viewed it as unconnected with Christ, who is the soul and the truth of the Law.

But we hence learn, that as soon as men depart from Christ, they go fatally astray. In vain is pretended in this case the authority of the Fathers or an ancient custom. For the Prophet Ezekiel cried to the Jews,

“Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers.”

(Eze 20:18.)

This ought also to be no less attended to by us in the present day; for, in order that the redemption of Christ may be effectual and useful to us, we must renounce our former life, though derived from the teaching and practice of our fathers. Thrice foolish, then, are the Papists, who think that the name of Fathers is a sufficient defense for all their superstitions, so that they boldly reject whatever is brought forward from the Word of God.



(16) ‘The verb λυτρόω means properly to redeem by a price from tyranny or bondage, but its meaning here, and in Luk 24:21, and Titus 2:14, is merely to deliver. “Vain conversation” signifies a useless, profitless mode of living. — Ed.



19As of a lamb He means by this similitude, that we have in Christ whatever had been shadowed forth by the ancient sacrifices, though he especially alludes to the Paschal lamb. But let us hence learn what benefit the reading of the Law brings us in this respect; for, though the rite of sacrificing is abolished, yet it assists our faith not a little, to compare the reality with the type, so that we may seek in the former what the latter contains. Moses ordered a whole or perfect lamb, without blemish, to be chosen for the Passover. The same thing is often repeated as to the sacrifices, as in Lev 23:0; in Num 28:0; and in other places. Peter, by applying this to Christ, teaches us that he was a suitable victim, and approved by God, for he was perfect, without any blemish; had he had any defect in him, he could not have been rightly offered to God, nor could he pacify his wrath.



20Who verily was foreordained He again by a comparison amplifies the grace of God, with which he had peculiarly favored the men of that age. For it was not a common or a small favor that God deferred the manifestation of Christ to that time, when yet he had ordained him in his eternal council for the salvation of the world. At the same time, however, he reminds us, that it was not a new or a sudden thing as to God that Christ appeared as a Savior; and this is what ought especially to be known. For, in addition to this, that novelty is always suspicious, what would be the stability of our faith, if we believed that a remedy for mankind had suddenly occurred at length to God after some thousands of years? In short, we cannot confidently recumb on Christ, except we are convinced that eternal salvation is in him, and always has been in him. Besides, Peter addressed the Jews, who had heard that he had already been long ago promised; and though they understood nothing true or clear or certain respecting his power and office, yet there remained among them a persuasion, that a Redeemer had been promised by God to the fathers.

It may yet be asked, As Adam did not fall before the creation of the world, how was it that Christ had been appointed the Redeemer? for a remedy is posterior to the disease. My reply is, that this is to be referred to God’s foreknowledge; for doubtless God, before he created man, foresaw that he would not stand long in his integrity. Hence he ordained, according to his wonderful wisdom and goodness, that Christ should be the Redeemer, to deliver the lost race of man from ruin. For herein shines forth more fully the unspeakable goodness of God, that he anticipated our disease by the remedy of his grace, and provided a restoration to life before the first man had fallen into death. If the reader wishes for more on this subject, he may find it in my Institutes.

But was manifest, or manifested. Included in these words, as I think, is not only the personal appearance of Christ, but also the proclamation of the Gospel. For, by the coming of Christ, God executed what he had decreed; and what he had obscurely indicated to the fathers is now clearly and plainly made known to us by the Gospel. He says that this was done in these last times, meaning the same as when Paul says,

“In the fullness of time,” (Gal 4:4;)

for it was the mature season and the full time which God in his counsel had appointed.

For you He does not exclude the fathers, to whom the promise had not been useless; but as God has favored us more than them, he intimates that the greater the amplitude of grace towards us, the more reverence and ardor and care are required of us.



21Who believe The manifestation of Christ refers not to all indiscriminately, but belongs to those only on whom he by the Gospel shines. But we must notice the words, Who by him believe in God: here is shortly expressed what faith is. For, since God is incomprehensible, faith could never reach to him, except it had an immediate regard to Christ. Nay, there are two reasons why faith could not be in God, except Christ intervened as a Mediator: first, the greatness of the divine glory must be taken to the account, and at the same time the littleness of our capacity. Our acuteness is doubtless very far from being capable of ascending so high as to comprehend God. Hence all knowledge of God without Christ is a vast abyss which immediately swallows up all our thoughts. A clear proof of this we have, not only in the Turks and the Jews, who in the place of God worship their own dreams, but also in the Papists. Common is that axiom of the schools, that God is the object of faith. Thus of hidden majesty, Christ being overlooked, they largely and refinedly speculate; but with what success? They entangle themselves in astounding dotages, so that there is no end to their wanderings. For faith, as they think, is nothing else but an imaginative speculation. Let us, therefore, remember, that Christ is not in vain called the image of the invisible God, (Col 1:15;) but this name is given to him for this reason, because God cannot be known except in him.

The second reason is, that as faith unites us to God, we shun and dread every access to him, except a Mediator comes who can deliver us from fear. For sin, which reigns in us, renders us hateful to God and him to us. Hence, as soon as mention is made of God, we must necessarily be filled with dread; and if we approach him, his justice is like fire, which will wholly consume us.

It is hence evident that we cannot believe in God except through Christ, in whom God in a manner makes himself little, that he might accommodate himself to our comprehension; and it is Christ alone who can tranquillize consciences, so that we may dare to come in confidence to God.

That raised him up from the dead He adds, that Christ had been raised up from the dead, in order that their faith and hope, by which they were supported, might have a firm foundation. And hereby again is confuted the gloss respecting universal and indiscriminate faith in God; for had there been no resurrection of Christ, still God would remain in heaven. But Peter says that he would not have been believed in, except Christ had risen. It is then evident, that faith is something else than to behold the naked majesty of God. And rightly does Peter speak in this manner; for it belongs to faith to penetrate into heaven, that it may find the Father there: how could it do so, except it had Christ as a leader?

“By him,” says Paul, “we have confidence of access.”

(Eph 3:12.)

It is said also, in Heb 4:16, that relying on our high priest, we can come with confidence to the throne of grace. Hope is the anchor of the soul, which enter into the inner part of the sanctuary; but not without Christ going before. (Heb 6:19.) Faith is our victory against the world, (1Jo 5:4) and what is it that makes it victorious, except that Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth, has us under his guardianship and protection?

As, then, our salvation depends on the resurrection of Christ and his supreme power, faith and hope find here what can support them. For, except he had by rising again triumphed over death, and held now the highest sovereignty, to protect us by his power, what would become of us, exposed to so great a power as that of our enemies, and to such violent attacks? Let us, therefore, learn to what mark we ought to direct our aim, so that we may really believe in God.



22Seeing ye have purified your souls, or, Purifying your souls. Erasmus badly renders the words, “Who have purified,” etc. For Peter does not declare what they had done, but reminds them of what they ought to do. The participle is indeed in the past tense, but it may be rendered as a gerund, “By purifying, etc. ” The meaning is, that their souls would not be capable of receiving grace until they were purified, and by this our uncleanness is proved. (17) But that he might not seem to ascribe to us the power of purifying our souls, he immediately adds, through the Spirit; as though he had said, “Your souls are to be purified, but as ye cannot do this, offer them to God, that he may take away your filth by his Spirit.” He only mentions souls, though they needed to be cleansed also from the defilements of the flesh, as Paul bids the Corinthians, (2Co 7:1;) but as the principal uncleanness is within, and necessarily draws with it that which is outward, Peter was satisfied with mentioning only the former, as though he had said, that not outward actions only ought to be corrected, but the very hearts ought to be thoroughly reformed.

He afterwards points out the manner, for purity of soul consists in obedience to God. Truth is to be taken for the rule which God prescribes to us in the Gospel. Nor does he speak only of works, but rather faith holds here the primacy. Hence Paul specially teaches us in the first and last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, that faith is that by which we obey God; and Peter in Acts, Act 15:9, bestows on it this eulogy, that God by it purifies the heart.

Unto love of the brethren, or, Unto brotherly love. He briefly reminds us what God especially requires in our life, and the mark to which all our endeavors should be directed. So Paul in Eph 1:4 the Epistle to the Ephesians, when speaking of the perfection of the faithful, makes it to consist in love. And this is what we ought the more carefully to notice, because the world makes its own sanctity to consist of the veriest trifles, and almost overlooks this the chief thing. We see how the Papists weary themselves beyond measure with thousand invented superstitions: in the meantime, the last thing is that love which God especially commends. This, then, is the reason why Peter calls our attention to it, when speaking of a life rightly formed.

He had before spoken of the mortification of the flesh, and of our conformity with the will of God; but he now reminds us of what God would have us to cultivate through life, that is, mutual love towards one another; for by that we testify also that we love God; and by this evidence God proves who they are who really love him.

He calls it unfeigned, (ἀνυπόκριτον), as Paul calls faith in 1Ti 1:5; for nothing is more difficult than to love our neighbors in sincerity. For the love of ourselves rules, which is full of hypocrisy; and besides, every one measures his love, which he shews to others, by his own advantage, and not by the rule of doing good. He adds, fervently; for the more slothful we are by nature, the more ought every one to stimulate himself to fervor and earnestness, and that not only once, but more and more daily.

(17) It is better to keep the tense of the participle, — “Having purified (or, since ye have purified) your souls by obeying the truth through the Spirit to an unfeigned love of the brethren, love ye one another fervently from a pure heart; having been born again,” etc.

The order here is similar to what is often found in Scripture; purification is mentioned before regeneration, as being the most visible and the effect; then what goes before it as being in a manner the cause. — Ed.



23Being born again Here is another reason for an exhortation, — that since they were new men and born again of God, it behoved them to form a life worthy of God and of their spiritual regeneration. And this seems to be connected with a verse in 1Pe 2:2 respecting the milk of the word, which they were to seek, that their way of living might correspond with their birth. It may, however, be extended wider, so as to be connected also with what has gone before; for Peter collected together those things which may lead us to an upright and a holy life. The object, then, of Peter was to teach us that we cannot be Christians without regeneration; for the Gospel is not preached, that it may be only heard by us, but that it may, as a seed of immortal life, altogether reform our hearts. (18) Moreover, the corruptible seed is set in opposition to God’s word, in order that the faithful might know that they ought to renounce their former nature, and that it might be more evident how much is the difference between the children of Adam who are born only into the world, and the children of God who are renewed into a heavenly life. But as the construction of the Greek text is doubtful, we may read, “the living word of God,” as well as, “the word of the living God.” As, however, the latter reading is less forced, I prefer it; though it must be observed, that the term is applied to God owing to the character of the passage. For, as in Heb 4:12, because God sees all things, and nothing is hid from him, the apostle argues that the word of God penetrates into the inmost marrow, so as to discern thoughts and feelings; so, when Peter in this place calls him the living God, who abides for ever, he refers to the word, in which the perpetuity of God shines forth as in a living mirror.



(18) Most commentators, like Calvin, represent the seed as the word; but the construction does not admit this; the words are, “Having been begotten from a seed, not corruptible, but incorruptible, through the living word of God, and for-ever abiding.” The “seed” denotes evidently the vital principle of grace, the new nature, the restored image of God; it is the same with what John means when he says,

“His seed (that is, of God) remaineth in him.” (1Jo 3:9.)

Then “the word” is set forth as the means or instrument by which this seed is implanted. The “living” here does not mean life-giving, as some interpret it, but stands opposed to what ceases to be valid: and “for-ever abiding” more fully expresses its meaning. The metaphor in the parable of the sower is quite different: the word there is compared to a seed sown on bad or good ground; but here the turning of a bad into a good ground is the subject; and in this process the word is employed as an instrument. — Ed.



24For all flesh He aptly quotes the passage from Isaiah to prove both clauses; that is, to make it evident how fading and miserable is the first birth of man, and how great is the grace of the new birth. For as the Prophet there speaks of the restoration of the Church, to prepare the way for it, he reduces men to nothing lest they should flatter themselves. I know that the words are wrongly turned by some to another sense; for some explain them of the Assyrians, as though the Prophet said, that there was no reason for the Jews to fear so much from flesh, which is like a fading flower. Others think that the vain confidence which the Jews reposed in human aids, is reproved. But the Prophet himself disproves both these views, by adding, that the people were as grass; for he expressly condemns the Jews for vanity, to whom he promised restoration in the name of the Lord. This, then, is what I have already said, that until their own emptiness has been shewn to men, they are not prepared to receive the grace of God. In short, such is the meaning of the Prophet: as exile was to the Jews like death, he promised them a new consolation, even that God would send prophets with a command of this kind. The Lord, he says, will yet say, “Comfort ye my people;” and that in the desert and the waste, the prophetic voice would yet be heard, in order that a way might be prepared for the Lord. (Isa 40:6.)

And as the obstinate pride which filled them, must have been necessarily purged from their minds, in order that an access might be open for God, the Prophet added what Peter relates here respecting the vanishing glory of the flesh. What is man? he says — grass; what is the glory of man? the flower of the grass. For as it was difficult to believe that man, in whom so much excellency appears, is like grass, the Prophet made a kind of concession, as though he had said, “Be it, indeed, that flesh has some glory; but lest that should dazzle your eyes, know that the flower soon withers.” He afterwards shews how suddenly everything that seems beautiful in men vanishes, even through the blowing of the Spirit of God; and by this he intimates, that man seems to be something until he comes to God, but that his whole brightness is as nothing in his presence; that, in a word, his glory is in this world, and has no place in the heavenly kingdom.

The grass withereth, or, has withered. Many think that this refers only to the outward man; but they are mistaken; for we must consider the comparison between God’s word and man. For if he meant only the body and what belongs to the present life, he ought to have said, in the second place, that the soul was far more excellent. But what he sets in opposition to the grass and its flower, is the word of God. It then follows, that in man nothing but vanity is found. Therefore, when Isaiah spoke of flesh and its glory, he meant the whole man, such as he is in himself; for what he ascribed as peculiar to God’s word, he denied to man. In short, the Prophet speaks of the same thing as Christ does in Joh 3:3, that man is wholly alienated from the kingdom of God, that he is nothing but an earthly, fading, and empty creature, until he is born again.



25But the word of God The Prophet does not shew what the word of God is in itself, but what we ought to think of it; for since man is vanity in himself, it remains that he ought to seek life elsewhere. Hence Peter ascribes power and efficacy to God’s word, according to the authority of the Prophet, so that it can confer on us what is real, solid, and eternal. For this was what the Prophet had in view, that there is no permanent life but in God, and that this is communicated to us by the word. However fading, then, is the nature of man, yet he is made eternal by the word; for he is re-moulded and becomes a new creature.

This is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you, or, which has been declared to you. He first reminds us, that when the word of God is mentioned, we are very foolish if we imagine it to be remote from us in the air or in heaven; for we ought to know that it has been revealed to us by the Lord. What, then, is this word of the Lord, which gives us life? Even the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel. Those who wander beyond these limits of revelation, find nothing but the impostures of Satan and his dotages, and not the word of the Lord. We ought the more carefully to notice this, because impious and Luciferian men, craftily allowing to God’s word its own honor, at the same time attempt to draw us away from the Scriptures, as that unprincipled man, Agrippa, who highly extols the eternity of God’s word, and yet treats with scurrility the Prophets, and thus indirectly laughs to scorn the Word of God.

In short, as I have already reminded you, no mention is here made of the word which lies hid in the bosom of God, but of that which has proceeded from his mouth, and has come to us. So again it ought to be borne in mind, that God designed by the Apostles and Prophets to speak to us, and their mouths is the mouth of the only true God.

Then, when Peter says, Which has been announced, or declared, to you, he intimates that the word is not to be sought elsewhere than in the Gospel preached to us; and truly we know not the way of eternal life otherwise than by faith. But there can be no faith, except we know that the word is destined for us.

To the same purpose is what Moses said to the people,

“Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven, etc.; nigh is the word, in thy mouth and in thy heart.”

(Deu 30:12.)

That these words agree with what Peter says, Paul shews Rom 10:6, where he teaches us that it was the word of faith which he preached.

There is here, besides, no common eulogy on preaching; for Peter declares that what is preached is the life-giving word. God alone is indeed he who regenerates us; but for that purpose he employs the ministry of men; and on this account Paul glories that the Corinthians had been spiritually begotten by him. (1Co 4:15.) It is indeed certain that those who plant and those who water, are nothing; but whenever God is pleased to bless their labor, he makes their doctrine efficacious by the power of his Spirit; and the voice which is in itself mortal, is made an instrument to communicate eternal life.