THE SALUTATION. — A comparison of this salutation with those of St. James, St. Jude, and St. John (Second and Third Epistles, and Revelation 1:4), will show that it is not distinctively a Pauline form of beginning a letter, but one common to all the early Christians. The same may be observed in the... [ Continue Reading ]
PETER, AN APOSTLE. — The authoritative tone of this Epistle is shown at the outset. The writer assumes his full titles; not (as in the Second Epistle) his merely human name of Simeon, nor his humble capacity of “servant,” but the Rock-name which Christ had given him, and the official dignity of an “... [ Continue Reading ]
ELECT. — A _true_ chosen people. This word marks them off from the rest of the Jewish settlers in those parts. It is an evasion of the difficulty to say that they were elect only in the mass, as a body. The election was individual and personal. God selected these particular Hebrews out of the whole... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESSED. — A form consecrated to God alone (_e.g.,_ Mark 14:61; Romans 9:5; 2 Corinthians 11:31), a completely different word from the “blessed,” or _happy,_ of the Beatitudes; and differing from the “blessed” of the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:28; Luke 1:42) in that _this_ form implies that blessing is alw... [ Continue Reading ]
(3-12) PANEGYRIC OF THE GOSPEL FROM A HEBREW POINT OF VIEW. — The Apostle thanks God for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That fact is a regeneration of us, and a pledge of future glory, in view of which such afflictions as beset the Asiatic Hebrews were seen to serve a purpose, and that purpose th... [ Continue Reading ]
TO AN INHERITANCE. — This is structurally parallel to and explanatory of, the clause “into a living hope” We are, as the saying is, born to an estate. This notion of an “inheritance,” or property, that we have come in for, is particularly Hebrew, occurring very frequently in the Old Testament. The P... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO ARE KEPT. — This explains the word “you:” “those, I mean, who are under the guardianship of God’s power.” Bengel says, “As the inheritance hath been preserved, so are the heirs guarded; neither shall it fail them, nor they it.” THROUGH FAITH. — The Apostle is fearful lest the last words should... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREIN YE GREATLY REJOICE. — “His scope,” says Leighton, “is to stir up and strengthen spiritual joy in his afflicted brethren; and therefore having set the matter of it before them in the preceding verses, he now applies it, and expressly opposes it to their distresses.” There is a little doubt as... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THE TRIAL OF YOUR FAITH. — This depends grammatically on “having been grieved.” The purpose of God’s providence in sending the griefs is “that the trial of your faith might be found unto praise.” The word “trial” here does not mean exactly the same as in the passage of St. James; in that passag... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOM, HAVING NOT SEEN. — Said in contrast to the word “revelation” in the last verse: “whom you love already, though He is not yet revealed, so that you have not as yet seen Him.” There seems to be a kind of tender pity in the words, as spoken by one who himself had seen so abundantly (Acts 4:20; Ac... [ Continue Reading ]
RECEIVING THE END OF YOUR FAITH. — The “_end_ of our faith” means, the _object_ to which our faith is directed, the thing we believed _for._ And “faith” catches up the “believing” of last verse, so that, in reading, the accent of the sentence falls on “end,” not on “faith;” and the whole clause is a... [ Continue Reading ]
Now St. Peter brings his doctrine home to the hearts of his readers of the Dispersion, by showing them how scriptural it is. Surely they will not “draw back” (Hebrews 10:39), but believe on to the purchasing of their souls, when they consider that all the prophets looked forward with envy to the pri... [ Continue Reading ]
SEARCHING. — This further explains the “inquired and searched” above; it particularises the object of the inquiry. They knew that they spoke “concerning a salvation,” but they did not know the _details._ The present passage is perhaps the most striking in the whole New Testament in regard to the doc... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO WHOM IT WAS REVEALED. — As 1 Peter 1:11 expanded and expounded the words “inquired and searched,” so the first part of 1 Peter 1:12 expounds the words “prophesied of the grace in reserve for you.” That is to say, the revelation here spoken of is not a special revelation sent in answer to their... [ Continue Reading ]
GIRD UP THE LOINS OF YOUR MIND. — A metaphor from persons gathering up the flowing Oriental dress (which had been let down for repose), so as to be ready for energetic action (_e.g.,_ 1 Kings 18:46, for running; Job 38:3, for arguing). What exact kind of action St. Peter meant them here to prepare f... [ Continue Reading ]
(13-25) GENERAL APPLICATION OF THE FOREGOING. — This salvation being so magnificent, the Asiatic Hebrews must cling to it tenaciously, in holiness, in reverence caused by consideration of the cost of it, and in charity: the gospel they have received cannot be improved upon.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS OBEDIENT CHILDREN. — Literally, _as children of obedience_ — children, _i.e.,_ in the sense of relationship, not of age. It is characteristic of the writer to keep one thought underlying many digressions, and so here, the appeal to them as “children” is based on the “begotten again” of 1 Peter 1:... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT AS HE WHICH HATH CALLED YOU IS HOLY. — More correctly, _But according to_ (or, _after, i.e.,_ in the likeness of: see Ephesians 4:24, “after God”) _the Holy One who called you._ The “calling” is mentioned because of the obligation it imposes upon us. Bengel notices how fond St. Peter is of the w... [ Continue Reading ]
BE YE HOLY; FOR I AM HOLY. — The better reading here is, _Ye shall he holy;_ it is still, however, a command, not a promise — except that all God’s commands are promises. The command comes some five or six times in the Book of Leviticus, addressed not only to the Levites, but to all the people. It w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF. — The “if” casts no doubt, but, on the contrary, serves to bring out the necessary logical connection between invoking the Father — and such a Father — and fear. (See Note on 1 Thessalonians 4:14.) YE CALL ON THE FATHER. — We might paraphrase by “if you use the Lord’s Prayer.” (Refer again... [ Continue Reading ]
FORASMUCH AS YE KNOW. — This correctly paraphrases the simple original _knowing._ Security, which is the opposite of the fear of the Father, is incompatible with knowing by whose and what anguish alone the inheritance could be purchased for us. CORRUPTIBLE THINGS. — St. Peter’s contempt for _“_silve... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST. — “Precious” means, not “much prized by us,” but _costly,_ precious in itself; opposed to the perishableness of gold and silver. Notice that it is not “Jesus,” but “Christ,” _i.e.,_ the Messiah. No price short of the “blood,” _i.e.,_ the death, of the Messiah could... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO VERILY WAS FOREORDAINED. — There is a sharp contrast intended between the two clauses of this verse, and in the Greek the tenses are different. “Who _had been foreknown,_ indeed, before the foundation of the world, but for your benefit _was_ (_only_)_ pointed out_ at the end of the times.” St, P... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO BY HIM DO BELIEVE IN GOD. — The sentence is joined on to the foregoing verse just as in 1 Peter 1:5, “Who are kept.” The “who” might be rendered by “and you;” and the clause adds a kind of proof of the foregoing statement, drawn from the result of God’s manifestation of Christ to them. “This Chr... [ Continue Reading ]
PURIFIED YOUR SOULS IN OBEYING. — Bengel well points us to 2 Peter 1:5, where, in like manner, St. Peter delights to exhibit gradations of grace. “Obeying the truth” here will correspond to “knowledge” there, with its immediate consequences of “self-mastery,” “endurance,” and “reverence;” after whic... [ Continue Reading ]
BEING BORN AGAIN. — Rather, _Having been begotten again._ It is not part of the exhortation, as though they had still to be thus begotten, but assigns the moral grounds for the exhortation. It is logically parallel with “seeing ye have purified,” and might be rendered, _seeing that ye have been bego... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ALL FLESH IS AS GRASS. — The citation is from Isaiah 40:6, and varies between the Hebrew and the LXX. in the kind of way which shows that the writer was familiar with both. But the passage is by no means quoted only to support the assertion, in itself ordinary enough, that the Word of the Lord a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WORD WHICH BY THE GOSPEL IS PREACHED. — An incorrect rendering of the original tense. It literally runs, _And this is the word which was preached unto you._ The whole magnificent peroration of this paragraph, as of the last, leads up to this: that, in the opinion of St. Peter, the Gospel, as del... [ Continue Reading ]