B. SOCIAL DUTIES. 1 Peter 2:13 to 1 Peter 3:12 13 This warfare against heathen principles of living does not mean the subversion of the necessary bonds of society. Rather it deepens and intensifies them. God has instituted various forms of authority among men, and to those you must submit yourselv... [ Continue Reading ]
ὉΜΟΊΩΣ. In accordance with the same principle of submission to God’s ordinances for mankind. The wife, like the slave, was raised to new dignity by the Gospel; and, especially in cases where the husband remained a heathen while the wife had become a Christian, the duty of submission to marital autho... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΠΟΠΤΕΎΣΑΝΤΕΣ, see note on 1 Peter 2:12. The idea of _seeing behind the scenes_ would aptly describe the husband’s opportunities of observing his wife’s character. But it may mean merely _looking on at a spectacle_. ἘΝ ΦΌΒΩΙ might refer to the reverence of the wife for her husband, cf. Ephesians 5:3... [ Continue Reading ]
We have a similar description of true and false adornment for women in 1 Timothy 2:9-10. ΧΡΥΣΊΑ is often used of gold ornaments, 1 Timothy 2:9; Revelation 17:4; Revelation 18:16. ΚΌΣΜΟΣ is used in the LXX. in the sense of _ornament_ but only here in the N.T.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ ΚΡΥΠΤῸΣ ἌΝΘΡΩΠΟΣ, cf. Romans 7:22 τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον. ἌΝΘΡΩΠΟΣ does not mean man as opposed to woman but is a neutral term, like homo. Here it means _the inner character_, cf. τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον … τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον, Ephesians 4:22-24. ἘΝ ΤΩ͂Ι�. Probably a neuter adjective used as a substantive... [ Continue Reading ]
ΑἹ ἍΓΙΑΙ ΓΥΝΑΙ͂ΚΕΣ perhaps = _women of the chosen people_.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΎΡΙΟΝ ΚΑΛΟΥ͂ΣΑ. The only passage where Sarah is actually described as calling Abraham her “lord” is in Genesis 18:12, but St Peter is referring to her habitual attitude towards Abraham. ἯΣ ἘΓΕΝΉΘΗΤΕ ΤΈΚΝΑ. Those who regard the epistle as addressed to Jewish readers explain ἐγενήθητε to mean _whose... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΥΝΟΙΚΕΙ͂Ν here only in N.T. but is frequently used in the LXX. of marital intercourse and doubtless the sexual aspect of marriage is specially included here as in 1 Corinthians 7:3-5; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4. ΚΑΤᾺ ΓΝΩ͂ΣΙΝ, cf. Romans 10:2 and 1 Thessalonians 4:5 where the duty of Christians with reg... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸ ΔῈ ΤΈΛΟΣ, _finally_, an adverbial expression not used elsewhere in the N.T. St Paul generally uses λοιπόν or τὸ λοιπόν = all that remains to be said. The phrase does not imply that St Peter was intending to draw his Epistle to a close, but merely sums up the instructions given above about special... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜῊ�. So Romans 12:17 and 1 Thessalonians 5:15. Doubtless St Peter is borrowing from St Paul, but the words may have been a kind of proverb and the converse ἀποδίδωσι κακὰ� occurs in Proverbs 17:13. ΛΟΙΔΟΡΊΑΝ … ΕΥ̓ΛΟΓΟΥ͂ΝΤΕΣ, cf. 1 Corinthians 4:12 λοιδορούμενοι εὐλογοῦμεν. The words are an unmistak... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ ΘΈΛΩΝ ΖΩῊΝ�. In the LXX. the words are ὁ θέλων ζωήν, ἀγαπῶν ἡμέρας ἰδεῖν�. St Peter’s phrase must mean “He who is determined to love life,” _i.e._ to set his affections on spiritual life. In another sense our Lord has said “He that loveth (φιλῶν) his life (ψυχήν) loseth it” John 12:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
From Psalms 34; (12–16) quoted in 1 Peter 2:3 “Taste and see that the Lord is gracious.” It is a Psalm of confident trust in God’s protection of the righteous in spite of their constant afflictions. It would therefore be specially appropriate to the times of threatened persecution in which St Peter... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΚΚΛΙΝΆΤΩ. The word is used in a bad sense, “turning aside,” “gone out of the way,” in Romans 3:12 quoting from Psalms 14:3 and so often in the LXX., but in Romans 16:17 it is used of “keeping out of the way of” and so also in Proverbs. ΔΙΩΞΆΤΩ. It may need prolonged effort to overtake peace.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΠῚ ΔΙΚΑΊΟΥΣ … ἘΠῚ ΠΟΙΟΥ͂ΝΤΑΣ ΚΑΚΆ. The preposition (ἐπί) is the same in both cases, but in one case God’s eyes look down in love and in the other in wrath, cf. Exodus 14:24.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ΤΊΣ Ὁ ΚΑΚΏΣΩΝ ὙΜΑ͂Σ. The verb κακοῦν is used of the Egyptians ill-treating the Hebrews Acts 7:6, cf. Acts 7:19; Acts 12:1; Acts 18:10. But in Acts 14:2 it is used of the Jews making the Gentiles ill-affected towards the Christians. Here it might mean (1) _Who can do you any real harm?_ cf. the L... [ Continue Reading ]
Such is God’s prescribed method for those who desire to see good days. 13 If only you zealously devote yourselves to what is good my injunction not to requite evil with evil will be almost unnecessary, for who is likely to do evil to you in that case? 14 But even supposing that such an optimistic... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 3:13 to 1 Peter 4:6. GOOD AND EVIL DOING IN RELATION TO SUFFERING AT THE HANDS OF HEATHEN, ILLUSTRATED BY THE SUFFERINGS OR CHRIST AND THEIR EFFECTS... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸ ΚΑῚ ΠΆΣΧΟΙΤΕ. The καὶ throws the emphasis upon the words which follow, _e.g._ 1 Corinthians 7:21 εἰ καὶ δύνασαι ἐλεύθερος γενέσθαι means “if you _do_ have the chance of obtaining your freedom.” So here the meaning is “If after all you _should_ be called upon to suffer” in spite of what I have sai... [ Continue Reading ]
ἉΓΙΆΣΑΤΕ. The verb is occasionally applied to God in the LXX. _e.g._ of Moses and Aaron failing to sanctify Him in the eyes of the people. (Deuteronomy 32:51.) In Isaiah it was perhaps selected because Jehovah is described as the sanctuary “or place of asylum to be consecrated as an object of fear.”... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΥΝΕΊΔΗΣΙΝ�, cf. 1 Peter 3:21. _A good conscience, mens conscia recti_, is essential if the defence offered by Christians is to convince their opponents. To this St Paul laid claim in making his defence, Acts 23:1; Acts 24:16, cf. also 1 Timothy 1:5; 1 Timothy 1:19. ἘΝ ὯΙ, _in the matter in which_,... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΓΑΘΟΠΟΙΟΥ͂ΝΤΑΣ, cf. 1 Peter 2:15; 1 Peter 2:20. ΕἸ ΘΈΛΟΙ. The optative is read by the best MSS. instead of the indicative and denotes a possible but uncertain contingency, cf. 1 Peter 3:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 3:17 to 1 Peter 4:6. _The blessedness of suffering in the flesh_ The interpretation suggested for this confessedly difficult passage may be best explained by a paraphrase of the whole section with illustrations from other parts of the N.T. Other interpretations of it will be discussed in an... [ Continue Reading ]
18 (_a_) When His sufferings culminated in death (reading ἀπέθανεν for ἔπαθεν) it was the, doing away of sin (περὶ ἁμαρτιῶν) once for all (ἅπαξ), cf. Romans 6:10; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 4:2. (_b_) Death was to Him an opportunity for wider and more fruitful service. He Himself said “I have a baptism t... [ Continue Reading ]
19 (_d_) This activity was not confined merely to the unrighteous who are alive like yourselves. In His Spirit thus quickened by death He journeyed to the underworld. He descended into Hell there to proclaim (good) tidings to the spirits in prison. 20 Of these the most notorious and typical example... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΟΤΕ. The days of their disobedience are described as being long past at the time when the tidings was preached to them. ἈΠΕΞΕΔΈΧΕΤΟ is read by nearly all Greek MSS. The reading of the T.R. ἅπαξ ἐξεδέχετο seems to have been a conjectural reading of Erasmus—but ἅπαξ ἐδέχετο is read by some cursives;... [ Continue Reading ]
ὃ is omitted by א* 73 aeth. but is read by all the best authorities. The T.R. reads ᾦ which is found in several cursives, and Hort regards ὅ as a primitive error for ᾧ on the ground that it is impossible to take ἀντίτυπον as an epithet agreeing with βάπτισμα and scarcely less difficult to take it wi... [ Continue Reading ]
ὍΣ ἘΣΤΙΝ ἘΝ ΔΕΞΙΑ͂Ι ΘΕΟΥ͂. Some MSS. of the Vulgate and the Latin writers, Augustine, Fulgentius, Cassiodorus and Bede, add the words “having swallowed up death that we might be made heirs of eternal life,” but there is no Greek authority for this addition. The first part of it may be derived from I... [ Continue Reading ]