Verse 18
knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers;
Ye were redeemed ... This is one of the great ransom passages of the New Testament, along with Mark 10:45; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Timothy 2:5; Revelation 1:5, and many others.
Not with silver or gold ... These are some of the corruptible things cited as examples; nothing of earthly value or merit made up the purchase price of Christians, but only the blood of Christ.
From your vain manner of life ... Inherent in all redemption is the state from which we are redeemed, namely, a state of sin. Peter here notes that the Christians were redeemed "from the vain manner of life"; and this is in every way consonant with what the angel said to Joseph, speaking of Christ, "It is he that shall save his people from their sins." The vanity, futility, lustfulness and ignorance of the Christless life are pointedly stressed in this chapter.
Handed down from your fathers ... Ah, here is the secret of most of the error on earth. "In general, the strongest argument for false religions, as well as for errors in the true, is that men have received them from their fathers."[48]
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