The writer opens with a greeting which is equally remarkable for its wealth of idea and for its admirable reflection of the combined gravity, tenderness, and animation of the body of the Epistle. In form it reminds us more of the Pauline type of inscription than is the case with any of the Catholic... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:2. The following words are connected not with the title _apostle of Jesus Christ,_ but with the designation _elect sojourners._ They are not a vindication of the writer's claim to be an apostle, such as Paul offers (1Co 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1, etc.), but a definition of the position of the... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:3. BLESSED BE THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. The gifts of God's grace to the believer, and the believer's relation to God, depend upon the prior relation between God and Christ. Hence it is as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and neither as the God of Israel, nor... [ Continue Reading ]
Peter lifts his readers' eyes at once to the future. He speaks first of their hope, their inheritance, their final salvation, before he alludes to the burdens and fears of the present. There was that in Peter himself which leapt up in natural response to the new hope which came by the Gospel, and we... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:4. UNTO AN INHERITANCE. Some connect this closely with the _hope,_ as a definition of that to which it points a living hope looking to the inheritance. Most connect it with the _begat,_ the two clauses introduced by ‘unto' being regarded as dependent on the same verb, and the latter clause... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:5. WHO IN GOD'S POWER ARE BEING GUARDED THROUGH FAITH. A still better reason why they should lift a thankfully confident eye to the heavenly inheritance. The possession might be reserved for them, and the reservation be to no purpose, if they themselves were left to the risks of earth and... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:6. WHEREIN YE GREATLY REJOICE. As the parallel in 1 Peter 4:4 shows, the _wherein_ may be taken to summarize the _ideas_ previously expressed, whether in the immediately preceding sentence, or in the preceding paragraph as a whole. Some (Gerhard and Leighton) carry its reference, therefore... [ Continue Reading ]
Only now does Peter introduce the sufferings of his readers. Before naming these, he has made the bright realities of their privilege pass in rapid vision before their troubled eye. He has led them to look at the hope which is in them, and the future which is before them. And when he comes now to sp... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:7. THAT THE PROOF OF YOUR FAITH, etc. The statement now introduced connects itself closely with the conditional notice of suffering. It points them at once to the ultimate object of their possible subjection to many painful things now. If this subjection is only as God deems needful, it al... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:8. WHOM HAVING NOT SEEN, YE LOVE. With some good MSS. Scrivener reads _known_ here instead of seen. The latter, however, is the better supported reading. The verse has a historical interest, being quoted (from the second clause onward) in the Epistle addressed to the Philippians (chap. 1)... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:10. WITH REGARD TO WHICH SALVATION. The _salvation_ here in view is the salvation already introduced first as ‘ready to be revealed in the last time,' and then as a ‘salvation of souls.' It is not to be limited either to the completed salvation of the future, or to the partial salvation of... [ Continue Reading ]
The paragraph which now follows deals with the relation of the prophets to the salvation of which they prophesied. The salvation itself, however, continues to be the foremost thing. The notice of the prophetic ministry is not introduced with the view of indicating the essential identity of the offer... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:11. SEARCHING WHAT, OR WHAT MANNER OF TIME, or better, _searching with reference to what_ (_season_) _, or what kind of season._ This participial clause, introduced by the simple form of the in-tenser compound verb ‘earnestly searched,' takes up the prophetic study and specifies the partic... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:12. TO WHOM IT WAS REVEALED, THAT NOT UNTO THEMSELVES, BUT (rather) UNTO YOU THEY WERE MINISTERING THOSE THINGS. The better accredited reading here is ‘unto _you'_ (not unto _us_). Peter, therefore, still looks specially to the interest which Gentile Christians, like those here addressed,... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:13. WHEREFORE: the exhortation is thus made immediately dependent on the previous statement of grace. The duty is born of the privilege. The ‘wherefore,' however, points back to the idea which called forth the ascription of praise with which the introduction opened, and not merely to the t... [ Continue Reading ]
The rapid outline of the magnificence of the salvation prepares the way for what is to be urged in the form of duty. The Preface, which has so much of the Pauline style both in idea and in conciliatory intention, has closed by adding to the prophets and evangelists, who are named as ministers of tha... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:14. AS CHILDREN OF OBEDIENCE: A second counsel is thus introduced, dealing with a holiness which is to be not less complete than the hope. The one rises naturally out of the other. Hope is a sanctifying principle, promoting holiness, while it is itself also brightened and strengthened by i... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:15. BUT ACCORDING TO THE HOLY ONE WHO CALLED YOU, PROVE YE YOURSELVES ALSO HOLY. Instead of letting their life revert to the type of those renounced impurities, they must show it conformed to no lower standard than that of God. The A. V. misses the point here. What it rendered ‘as' means ‘... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:16. BECAUSE IT IS WRITTEN, YE SHALL BE HOLY; FOR I AM HOLY. The future, ‘ye shall be,' is better supported than the imperative, ‘be ye.' The sense, however, remains.substantially the same. Peter appends a reason for his counsel, and this he expresses in words which he takes from God's char... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:17. AND IF YE CALL ON HIM AS FATHER, WHO WITHOUT RESPECT OF PERSONA JUDGETH ACCORDING TO EACH MAN'S WORK. The A. V. misses the point by failing to notice that there are two distinct predications, namely, that He whom all believers invoke in prayer is Father indeed, but also and none the le... [ Continue Reading ]
The exhortation to a walk in holiness is followed immediately by an exhortation to a walk in godly fear. The way in which this section is connected with the preceding shows that the latter charge is given in intimate kinship with the former, as the former rises naturally out of the exhortation to ho... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:18. KNOWING THAT NOT WITH CORRUPTIBLE THINGS, SILVER OR GOLD, WERE YE REDEEMED. The injunction to a walk in godly fear, which is sustained by motives of this strength and variety, was implicitly enforced (as Huther rightly notices) by the relation which the cognate terms of 1 Peter 1:15; 1... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:19. BUT WITH PRECIOUS BLOOD, AS OF A LAMB BLAMELESS AND SPOTLESS, TO WIT CHRIST'S. The construction here is doubtful and difficult, owing to the term ‘Christ's' being thrown to the end. The view which is adopted of the peculiar arrangement of the words in the original affects our understan... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:20. WHO WAS FOREKNOWN INDEED BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. The cost of this redemption is still in view, and is presented in a yet stronger light by a statement bearing at once on the dignity of the Efficient Agent, the date of the Divine purpose, and the character of the subjects fo... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:21. WHO THROUGH HIM HAVE FAITH TOWARD GOD. The better accredited reading replaces the participle which the A. V. renders ‘who believe' by the adjective ‘believing,' or ‘faithful,' which is elsewhere used of having faith in the promises of God (Galatians 3:9), in Jesus as the Messiah and Au... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:22. HAVING PURIFIED YOUR SOULS. The verb translated ‘purified' is one which occurs only seven times in the New Testament. It is of frequent occurrence, however, in the Old, being the technical term used by the Greek Version for the ceremonial purification of the priests in preparation for... [ Continue Reading ]
The exhortation to brotherly love, which is next introduced, is not without a living connection with the preceding. The circumspect walk which has been enjoined is a walk such as befits those who are travelling toward a home which it would be misery to miss, and are conscious of what it cost to rede... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:23. BEING BORN AGAIN, or rather, HAVING BEEN BEGOTTEN AGAIN. On this see also 1 Peter 1:3. The tense denotes a subsisting state due to an act in the past, and, therefore, here a new life in which they stand in virtue of a decisive change equivalent to a new birth. If the three verses which... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 1:24. FOR ALL FLESH IS AS GRASS. Peter breaks off into the rapid, vivid terms in which the prophet of Isaiah 40 speaks of his commission. ‘The air is full of inspiration, of Divine calls and prophetic voices' (M. Arnold). The prophet hears a voice say to him, Cry; he asks what he shall cry,... [ Continue Reading ]