The duty which is next to be urged is introduced by ‘wherefore,' and is thus given as one which follows naturally upon what has just been stated. The pulse of two thoughts, which have ruled the preceding section, beats in this new paragraph that of brotherly love and that of the new birth. Of these... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:1. HAVING PUT OFF. The noun connected with this verb is used by Peter in the _caveat_ which he throws in on the subject of the antitypical relation of the waters of baptism to those of the flood, where he explains that what he has in view is ‘not the putting away of the filth of the flesh'... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:2. AS NEW-BORN BABES. Of two words for child, one of which corresponds etymologically to our ‘infant,' and means the child yet incapable of speech, and then more generally (as in Galatians 4:1) a minor, the other the child at the stage of birth; or at the tenderest age (cf. Luke 18:15; Act... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:3. IF INDEED YE TASTED THAT THE LORD IS GOOD. A condition is added which represents the previous charge as one which is applicable indeed only to those who have a particular personal experience (expressed as _tasting_). but obviously applicable to such, and certain to recommend itself to t... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:4. TO WHOM COMING. The relative form of the sentence indicates its intimate connection with the previous section. The connection, however, is not between an exhortation and a statement of privilege appended in support of the exhortation, but between two exhortations which, while in themsel... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:5. BE YE ALSO AS LIVING STONES BUILT UP. The verb admits of being construed either as indicative or as imperative. The former is preferred by the E. V., in which it follows Tyndale, Cranmer, and the Geneva. The same rendering is adopted by not a few of the best interpreters (Bengel, Wiesin... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:6. BECAUSE IT LA ALSO CONTAINED IN SCRIPTURE (or, _in a scripture_). The passage in Peter's mind is the section of Isaiah (Isaiah 28:16) in which the prophet's stern declaration of the fate of Samaria and unsparing invective against the official classes of Judah break suddenly into ‘words... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:7. FOR YOU, THEREFORE, WHO BELIEVE IS THE HONOUR. The statement of the dignity of the Christian standing is introduced in the form both of an inference from the revealed will of God as declared by the prophet, and a direct application of the Old Testament assurance to these New Testament b... [ Continue Reading ]
The central thing in the preceding paragraph was the Stone with the structure erected on it. The sudden transition from the figure of babes growing to that of stones built up, is by no means characteristic only of Peter. In Paul we have even bolder instances of apparent confusion of metaphors, as wh... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:8. AND, A STONE OF STUMBLING AND ROOK OF OFFENCE. The second passage is taken from Isaiah 8:14, and is given according to the Hebrew, not according to the singularly divergent version of the LXX. What is said there of Jehovah of hosts, namely, that, while He is a sanctuary to those who san... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:9. BUT YE ARE AN ELECT RACE. From these thoughts of terror Peter returns to the brighter side of the compensation which the believer has for temporal loss and trial, and instances in a single breath four great titles of Christian honour. These express the incomparable superiority of the li... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:10. WHO ONCE WERE NO PEOPLE, BUT ARE NOW GOD'S PEOPLE. A solemn and summary conclusion, sketching in two bold strokes the vast contrast between their present and their past. The contrast is drawn in order that in the recollection of their past they may find an incentive to adhere at any co... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:11. BELOVED, I BESEECH YOU AS STRANGERS AND SOJOURNERS. The injunction is given in terms of tender urgency. The opening designation occurs no less than eight times in the Epistles of Peter, and in every case except the present the A. V. translates it simply ‘beloved,' not ‘dearly beloved.'... [ Continue Reading ]
The mode of address indicates a distinct point of transition in the Epistle. The writer has dealt so far with what holds good absolutely of Christian privilege and Christian responsibility. He begins now to enforce what Christians are concerned to be and to do in certain particular circumstances and... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:12. HAVING YOUR MANNER OF LIFE AMONG THE GENTILES SEEMLY. The negative abstention from impurities is now defined as involving a positive purity. The life of self restraint in the heart of corrupting heathen associations is to be a life so _honest,_ or rather (with Wycliffe and the Rhemish)... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:13. SUBMIT YOURSELVES. The verb has this middle sense here rather than the purely passive force of ‘be subjected,' or (as the R.V. puts it) ‘be subject.' TO EVERY HUMAN INSTITUTION. The noun is variously rendered in our A. V. _creation_ (Mark 10:16; Mark 13:19; Romans 1:20; Romans 8:22; 2... [ Continue Reading ]
The relative duties of Christians are now taken up as essentially concerned in that self-restraint and seemliness of conduct which was to be the best refutation of mischievous misrepresentation, and the best victory over adversaries. Civil and political relations are handled first of all as those wh... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:14. OR TO GOVERNORS, _I.E_ administrators of provinces, procurators, propraetors, proconsuls, as also Asiarchs and other officials. Wycliffe renders it ‘dukes;' Tyndale, Cranmer, the Genevan and the Rhemish, ‘rulers.' AS SENT THROUGH HIM, that is, through the _king;_ not, as some (includ... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:15. FOR SO IS THE WILL OF GOD, _i.e_ the will of God is to _the following effect_ (cf. Matthew 1:18, where the same word is rendered ‘on this wise ‘), namely, THAT BY WELL DOING YE SILENCE THE IGNORANCE OF THE FOOLISH MEN. The ‘well-doing,' which might mean doing deeds of _kindness_ or mer... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:16. AS FREE, AND NOT AS HAVING YOUR FREEDOM FOR A COVERING OF WICKEDNESS, BUT AS BOND SERVANTS OF GOD. Liberty is apt to degenerate into licence. Milton speaks of those who ‘Bawl for freedom in their senseless mood, And still revolt when truth would set them free; Licence they mean when... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:17. HONOUR ALL MEN. A group of four precepts now follows, which Leighton compares to ‘a constellation of very bright stars near together.' They are remarkable for the clear-cut form of expression in which they are cast, and for their absolute tone. Each is perfectly intelligible in itself.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:18. SERVANTS, SUBMIT YOURSELVES to your MATTERS. The term for ‘servants' here is different from the one by which Paul so frequently expresses the idea of the bond-servant. It occurs only thrice again in the N. T., once in Paul's writings (Romans 14:4), and twice in Luke's (Gospel, Luke 16:... [ Continue Reading ]
The household is next dealt with as an institution obviously included under the ‘every ordinance of man' (1 Peter 2:13). And in the house the duty of servants is first declared. The bond-servant formed an extremely numerous class both in Greek and in Roman society. Rich citizens possessed slaves som... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:19. FOR THIS IS ACCEPTABLE. The ‘this' refers to the case immediately to be stated. The Greek for ‘acceptable' here is the usual word for ‘grace.' Hence some take the sense to be=it is a work of grace, or a gift of grace (Steiger, Schott); others, =it is a sign of grace, a proof that you a... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:20. FOR WHAT GLORY IS IT (or, _what kind of glory is it_). This particular term for ‘glory,' with the general sense of _credit,_ though of very frequent use in the Classics, occurs only this once in the N. T. IF, WHEN YE DO WRONG AND ARE BUFFETED, YE SHALL TAKE IT PATIENTLY. Peter has mor... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:21. FOR UNTO THIS WERE YE CALLED. Patient endurance of undeserved suffering should be deemed no strange thing (cf. 1 Peter 4:12). Painful as it was, it was involved in their Christian vocation. In being called by God to the grace of Christ, they were called to take up His cross (Matthew 10... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:22. WHO DID NO SIN, NEITHER WAS GUILE FOUND IN HIS MOUTH. Of all the apostles, Peter, with the single exception of John, had known the Christ of history most intimately, and had seen Him in the circumstances, both public and private, most certain to betray the sinfulness of common human na... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:23. WHO, WHEN REVILED, REVILED NOT AGAIN; WHEN SUFFERING, THREATENED NOT. Peter continues to speak partly under the influence of Isaiah's description (Isaiah 53:7 seems clearly in his mind, although he no longer reproduces the very words), and partly under that of personal recollection of... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:24. WHO HIMSELF bore our SINS IN HIS BODY ON THE TREE, or, as in margin of the R. V., _carried up _... _to the tree._ From Christ's fellowship with us in suffering, and from His innocence and patience as a Sufferer, we are now led up to the crowning glory of the example which He has left o... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Peter 2:25. FOR YE WERE GOING ASTRAY AS SHEEP. Continuing Isaiah's strain, Peter adds a reason for what he has just said of a restoration to righteousness, or soundness of life. The figure passes from that of sickness into that of error. As the better-sustained reading gives the participle in the... [ Continue Reading ]