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. Psalms 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 (Psalms 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