_Likewise, ye wives_ The sequence of thought is every way suggestive. The Apostle passes from the all but universal relation of the master and the slave as one element of social life, to the other, yet more universal, and involving from the Roman point of view almost as great a subordination, of hus... [ Continue Reading ]
_while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear_ On the verb "behold" see note on chap. 1 Peter 2:12. The word "coupled" is not in the Greek, and the true meaning of the word is that the "chaste CONDUCT " of the women who are addressed must have its ground and sphere of action in the r... [ Continue Reading ]
_that outward adorning of plaiting the hair_ So St Paul lays stress in 1 Timothy 2:9 on the "braided hair and gold and pearls" which were at the time conspicuous in the toilet of Greek and Roman women. The sculptures of the Empire at this period shew to what extent this "braiding" and "plaiting" was... [ Continue Reading ]
_the hidden man of the heart_ The phrase is identical in meaning with the "inward man" of Romans 7:22; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Ephesians 3:16. The word for "man" is one which takes within its range women as well as men. The "hidden _humanity_of the heart" would be somewhat too abstract in its form, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_For after this manner in the old time_ It is obvious from the special instance given in the next verse that the Apostle has in his mind exclusively the saintly wives and mothers of the Old Testament. The names of Penelope, Andromache, Alcestis, which are familiar to us as patterns of wifely excelle... [ Continue Reading ]
_even as Sara obeyed Abraham_ The tense which St Peter uses would seem to imply a reference to some special instance of obedience, but, as the history of Genesis supplies no such instance in act, we are left to infer that he saw in her use of "my lord," in speaking of her husband (Genesis 18:12), a... [ Continue Reading ]
_dwell with them according to knowledge_ It is significant that while the Apostle dwells emphatically on the case of Christian women who have unbelieving husbands, his exhortations to men seem to take for granted that their wives were of one mind with them. In the then existing state of society this... [ Continue Reading ]
_Finally, be ye all of one mind_ From the two special relations which were the groundwork of social life, the Apostle passes to wider and more general precepts. The adjective for "of one mind" (not found elsewhere in the New Testament) implies, like the corresponding verb in Romans 12:16; Romans 15:... [ Continue Reading ]
_not rendering evil for evil_ We may probably see in the words a verbal reproduction of the precept of Romans 12:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:15, an echo of the spirit of the teaching of Matthew 5:39. As this clause forbids retaliation in act, so that which follows forbids retaliation in words. _that ye a... [ Continue Reading ]
_For he that will love life_ The three verses are from the LXX. version of Psalms 34:12-16. It is characteristic of St Peter that he thus quotes from the Old Testament without any formula of citation. (See 2 Peter 2:22.) In this case, however, the quotation does not agree with the extant text of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_let him seek peace, and ensue it_ Better, perhaps, PURSUE or FOLLOW AFTER, as in 1 Timothy 6:11. The verb "ensue" has ceased almost, if not altogether, to be used transitively. It implies, both in itself, and by its position in the verse as a climax, the strongest form of seeking.... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous_ It may be noted that the "for" is added by the Apostle to emphasize the sequence of thought. There is no conjunction either in the Hebrew or the LXX. The disciples of Christ were to find peace and calmness in the thought of the Omniscience of God. He... [ Continue Reading ]
_And who is he that will harm you_ The quotation ceases and the Apostle adds the question, the answer to which seems to him a necessary inference from it. The form of the question reminds us of that of Romans 8:33-35, still more perhaps, of Isaiah 50:9, where the LXX. version gives for "condemn the... [ Continue Reading ]
_But and if ye suffer for righteousness" sake, happy are ye_ Better, "But EVEN if ye suffer, BLESSED are ye," as reproducing more closely the beatitude of Matthew 5:10. _be not afraid of their terror_ The words are taken (as before, without any formula of citation) from the LXX. of Isaiah 8:12-13.... [ Continue Reading ]
_but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts_ The better MSS. give THE LORD CHRIST. The original text was probably altered by transcribers to bring it into conformity with the LXX. text of Isaiah. To "sanctify Christ" or "God" was to count His Name as holy above all other names, His fear, as the only f... [ Continue Reading ]
_having a good conscience_ We note once more the reproduction by St Peter of one of St Paul's favourite phrases (Acts 23:1; Acts 24:16; 1 Timothy 1:5; 1 Timothy 1:19). Stress is laid on this condition as warning men that no skill of speech would do the work of the apologist rightly, if his life were... [ Continue Reading ]
_For it is better, if the will of God be so_ Literally, the Greek presenting a kind of emphatic pleonasm, IF THE WILL OF GOD SHOULD SO WILL. The Apostle falls back upon the thought of chap. 1 Peter 2:20. Men feel most aggrieved when they suffer wrongfully. They are told that it is precisely in such... [ Continue Reading ]
_For Christ also hath once suffered for sins_ As in the previous chapter (1 Peter 2:21-25), so here, the Apostle cannot think of any righteous sufferer needing comfort without thinking also of _the_righteous Sufferer whom he had known. And here also, as there, though he begins with thinking of Him a... [ Continue Reading ]
_by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison_ We enter here on a passage of which widely different interpretations have been given. It seems best in dealing with it to give in the first place what seems to be the true sequence of thought, and afterwards to examine the other views w... [ Continue Reading ]
_which sometime were disobedient_ The words that follow, however, appear to limit the range of the preaching within comparatively narrow boundaries. The "spirits" of whom St Peter speaks were those who had "once been disobedient:" the "once" being further defined as the time when "the long-suffering... [ Continue Reading ]
_The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us_ The MSS. present two readings; one that of the _Textus Receptus_, answering to the English Version as giving the relative pronoun in the dative, the other, supported by the better MSS., giving the pronoun in the nominative, "which also... [ Continue Reading ]
_who is gone into heaven_ The parallelism between the substance of this verse and that of 1 Timothy 3:16, and of both with the closing clauses of the second section of the Apostles" Creed, leaves scarcely any room for doubt that we have here a precious fragment of the baptismal profession of faith o... [ Continue Reading ]