1 Peter 1:3-12

1 Peter 1:3-12

Analysis:—God is praised for the grace of regeneration and for the hope of the heavenly inheritance, founded thereon. Sufferings should augment and intensify the Christian’s joy, for they serve to prove his faith. The Spirit of Christ had directed the inquiries of the prophets to this end of hope, yea, even the angels were desirous of looking into this salvation

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath4begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,5 4To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,6 5Who are kept7by the power of God through faith8unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.96Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through7 manifold temptations: That the10trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be11tried with fire, might be found12unto praise and honour and glory at the13appearing of Jesus Christ: 8Whom having not14seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:15169Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 10Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently,11 who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what,17or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 12Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us18 they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1 Peter 1:3. The praise of the Divine grace in the glorious hope of Christians flows like a deep and wide stream from the full heart of the Apostle 1 Peter 1:3-12. Paul praises in similar language with one long breath of joy the salvation given unto us, Ephesians 1:3-14. We have first the source and cause of our hope, 1 Peter 1:3, then its end and glory, 1 Peter 1:4, then the way we must take which ought not to make us hesitate 1 Peter 1:5-8, and lastly the means designed to encourage and strengthen us, 1 Peter 1:8-12.

Blessed be the God—Christ.—God is here blessed, as is frequently the case in the Epistles of Paul, not only as the Father but also as the God of Jesus Christ, 2Co 1:3; 2 Corinthians 11:31; Romans 15:6; Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 1:17; Colossians 1:3; cf. John 20:17. An important suggestion concerning the relation of the Logos to the Father. Only in Christ and through him do all find and possess God. The Paternity points to the eternal generation out of the Being of God, Psalms 2:3; and to the intimate relation to the Incarnate Son. Weiss derives this doxological formula from, what may be called, the liturgical usage of the primitive Church, cf. James 1:27; James 3:9. He thinks that said expression is insufficient as proof of the Essential Divinity and Preëxistence of Christ. Cf. on the other hand, Matthew 16:16; John 6:68.

Mercy, ἔλεος (חֶסֶד) the compassionating love of God, which condescends to the low estate of the helpless, the weak, the impotent, the wretched and the sinful. It is a manifold mercy, a wonderful riches thereof (Romans 2:4) which appears from the multitude of its gifts of grace, from the depth of our misery, from the extent and diversity of its efforts of deliverance.

Begotten again, ἀναγεννήσας etc. cf. John 3:3; Titus 3:5; James 1:18; Colossians 3:1; Ephesians 2:10. He has kindled in us a new spiritual life by Holy Baptism and the influences of the Holy Spirit connected therewith, cf. Ephesians 1:19-20. He has laid the foundation of recreating us into His image. “He has made us other men in a far more essential sense than it was once said to Saul: ‘Thou shalt be turned into another man’ 1 Samuel 10:6.” What is the principal fruit and end of this new generation? A living hope. Its object is not only our future resurrection (Grotius, Bengel, de Wette), but the whole plenitude of the salvation still to be revealed by Jesus Christ, even until the new heavens and the new earth shall appear, 2 Peter 3:13-14; Revelation 21:1. Birth implies life; so it is with the hope of believers, which is the very opposite of the vain, lost and powerless hope of the worldly-minded. It is powerful, and quickens the heart by comforting, strengthening, and encouraging it, by making it joyous and cheerful in God. Its quickening influence enters even into our physical life. ‘Hope is not only the fulfilment of the new life, created in regeneration, but also the innermost kernel of the same.’ Weiss.

By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.—δἰ , Calvin, Gerhard, Knapp, and Weiss join it to ἀναγενν.; it seems more natural to connect it with the immediately preceding ζῶσαν; so Œcumenius, Bengel, Steiger, Lachmann and de Wette. The life of this hope flows from the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. “If Christ had not risen from the dead, we should be without consolation and hope, and all the work and sufferings of Christ would be in vain.” Luther. As surely as He has conquered death and entered upon a heavenly life of joy, so surely will those who are members of the Body, whereof He is Head, follow Him, even as we sing: Does the head forget its members, And not draw them after it?

1 Peter 1:4. To an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away.—Believers are strangers here on earth, but citizens in heaven; they have therefore in heaven a possession and an inheritance which infinitely excels the inheritance of God’s ancient people in the land of Canaan. The heavenly inheritance (cf. Matthew 6:20; Luke 12:33; Luke 10:25; Luke 18:18; Mark 10:17) is (a) incorruptible. It is free alike from the germs of corruption and death, like all things earthly, even those which are seemingly most firm and indestructible, e. g. the precious metals, 1Pe 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23; cf. 1 John 2:17. “Rust does not corrupt it, decay does not consume it, death does not destroy it.” Besser. It comprehends union to Him, who only has immortality and is called ‘the Eternal’ 1 Timothy 1:17. How could it then be destroyed by any external power? It is (b) undefiled or unblemishable. The earth and the land of Canaan in particular were polluted by fearful bloodshedding and many other horrors. Leviticus 18:27-28; Numbers 35:33-34; Ezekiel 36:17; Jeremiah 2:7. Injustice, selfishness, hatred, envy and cunning cleave to temporal possessions. If gathered by avarice, they are compared to loathsome and thick mire, Habakkuk 2:6. Every human body and every human soul is stained with hateful desires and mostly, also, with outward sin. All earthly joy is mingled with displeasure and sorrow. But the possessions of the life above are pure, clean and unstained, and nothing impure can attach itself to them, (c) ‘It fadeth not away.‘ Here the beauty of earthly nature is rapidly passing away, there reigns perpetual spring; here a hot wind may change the most blooming gardens into a wilderness, cf. 1 Peter 1:24; Isaiah 40:6; there no such alternation of blossoming and fading is found, but every thing remains in the beauty of imperishable bloom and verdure. Weiss sees in the three predicates a striking climax. He says that the first denotes the freedom of the heavenly possession from the germs of destructibility and transitoriness, which are inherent in all earthly things, that the second denies its ability to be polluted by outward sin, and the third even the alternation, which makes the beauty of earthly nature pass away at least temporarily. [Ἄφθαρτος æternum durens;—Ἀμίαντος purum—cui nihil mali, nihil vitii est admixtum—ut purum gaudium—gaudium cui nihil tristitiæ admiscetur. ‘Ἀμάραντος non marcescens. Morus.—M.]

Reserved in heaven, τετηρημένην. While here below in the strange country of our pilgrimage all possessions are insecure, the inheritance above is in the surest custody, for it is in the Almighty hand of God. As it has been designed and prepared for believers from everlasting, so it is perpetually kept; and believers, on the other hand, are kept for it, 1 Peter 1:5, so that they can in no wise lose it, cf. Col 1:5; 2 Timothy 4:8; Matthew 25:34; John 10:28. τετηρ. implies both the certainty and present concealment of the heavenly inheritance. The figure is taken from parents who securely guard something for their children, and then surprise them with it.

1 Peter 1:5. Who are kept by the power of God, φρουρεῖν, a military term used of a guard for the protection of a place, or of a strongly garrisoned fortress. Fear not the enemies of your salvation, for you are surrounded by a strong, protecting body-guard, by the power of God and His holy angels, cf. 2 Corinthians 11:32; Philippians 4:7; Song of Solomon 3:7-8; Zechariah 2:5; 2 Kings 6:16-17. Nothing short of Divine power is needed to protect us from so many strong and subtle enemies, as Peter made experience in his own case. Weiss with Steiger and de Wette explain it of the Holy Ghost. δύναμις Θεοῦ is certainly used in that sense, Luke 1:35, but πνεῦμα ἅγιον goes before. The other passages adduced by them are inconclusive. It seems therefore arbitrary to abandon the relation of the expression to the Omnipotence of God. On what condition do we enjoy that guard? Faith, whose object is not mentioned here in particular, and should be supplied from 1 Peter 1:8. It is the same means by which salvation is first procured, then constantly kept up, viz.: acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah and confidently surrendering to Him, which is not identical with obedience, but the source of it, cf. Acts 3:16; Acts 10:43; Matthew 9:22; Mark 5:34; Luke 7:50.

Salvation ready, σωτηρία, יְשׁוּעָה negatively, deliverance from eternal destruction, and positively, introduction to the salvation prepared by Jesus, translation from the power of Satan, sin and death into the perfect life of liberty, righteousness and truth, Acts 2:40; Acts 4:12; Acts 5:31; Act 15:11; 1 Peter 1:9; Matthew 16:25; Luke 9:56. The former point is predominant as the latter lies rather in κληρονομία. With Peter σωτηρία appears in most intimate connection with the completion of salvation, 1 Peter 1:9; 1 Peter 4:17-18; Acts 2:21; 1 Peter 2:2. How much he has it at heart is evident from his using the word three times in this section. He thinks of it not as far distant, but as close at hand, as he says in 1 Peter 4:5, “Who shall give account to Him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead,“ cf. 1 Peter 4:7. Sharing the opinion of the other apostles concerning the nearness of Christ’s Advent to judgment, he describes σωτηρία as ready to be revealed (James 5:7-8; Revelation 1:3; Revelation 22:10; Revelation 22:20; Hebrews 10:25; Hebrews 10:37; Judges 18:0; 1 John 2:18; Romans 13:11-12; 1Co 15:51; 2 Corinthians 5:2-3; Philippians 4:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:17). “The inheritance to which you are ordained, has been acquired long since and prepared from the beginning of the world, but lies as yet concealed, covered and sealed; but in a short time, it will be opened in a moment and disclosed, so that we may see it.” Luther.

To be revealed, ἀποκαλυφθῆναι, denotes salvation fully disclosed, cf. 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 4:13; 1 Peter 5:1. At 1 Peter 1:13 it refers to the announcement of the first advent of Christ, cf. Romans 16:25; and to inward revelation at 1 Corinthians 2:10; Galatians 1:16; Galatians 3:23. In the last time, ἐν καιρῷ ἐσκάτῳ, in the completing period of salvation beginning with the return of Christ, this is elsewhere called συντέλεια τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, Matthew 13:39-40; Matthew 24:3; Matthew 28:20; or ἡ ἐσχάτη ἡμέρα John 11:24; John 12:24; John 12:48. In Hebrew אַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים Gen. 69:1; Numbers 24:14; Deuteronomy 4:39; Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1; Ezekiel 38:16; Daniel 10:14, where regard is had sometimes more to the beginning, sometimes more to the development of that period The last times of the present system of the world, of the αἰὼν οὖτος are also called ἔσχαται ἡμέραι, 2 Timothy 3:1; Judges 18; 1 Peter 1:20; 2 Peter 3:3, or ἐσχάτη ὣρα, 1 John 2:18; they border upon those συντέλεια, but do not coincide with them. Somewhat different appears the usus loquendi of the Ep. to the Hebrews (Hebrews 9:26). But ἐπὶ συντέλειᾳ may be rendered, near to the period of completion, which the author thought immediately impending.

1 Peter 1:6. Wherein ye greatly rejoice.—Ἐν ᾦ connect not with καιρός, but with the whole preceding sentence, 1 Peter 1:4-5. The thought of the great possessions reserved for you, justly fills you with exceeding joy. In this do not let yourselves be disconcerted by quickly passing sufferings of probation, which for your proof are necessary to the happiness of all Christians.

If need be.—Εἰ δέον supposes that the afflictions will not be of uninterrupted continuance and that their duration and measure have been decreed by the wisdom of God, and that they will not be continued one minute longer than is needful for us. Believers also need them in exact adjustment to the degree to which their nature remains as yet uncleansed of the poison of sin.

In heaviness through manifold temptations.—Sufferings cause to the outer man pain and grief, Hebrews 12:11, while the inner man can rejoice in them.

ποικίλοις πειρασμοῖς; πειρασμ. relates to afflictions differing in kind, sent or permitted by God as trials or tests of the reality of the Christian’s religious principles, as exercising his patience and developing his desire after heavenly things. Among the peculiar temptations to which believers who had left Judaism were exposed, we may mention the contempt and abuse they met at the hands of their former coreligionists, the temporal losses to which they had to submit and the efforts of false teachers to induce them to deny the truth and to effect a mixture of Judaism and Christianity. Cf. Hebrews 10:32; James 1:2; Acts 8:1; Acts 15:1; Acts 14:22; 1 Thessalonians 3:2 etc.; 2 Corinthians 11:23.

1 Peter 1:7. That the trial of your faith.—End of the temptations 1 Peter 1:7 : The splendour and preciousness of faith is to shine with a brilliancy inversely proportioned to their darkness [i. e. of the temptations, M.] Faith must be tested by temptations which are consequently unable to mar the joy of our hope in Christ.

Τὸ δοκίμιον τῆς πίστεως. δοκίμιον signifies proof-stone, proof, tried integrity. Here it can only be taken in the last sense. The proof of faith=faith abiding the proof or test, or faith verified by trial, cf. James 1:3. In the Old Testament, the proof or trial of faith is frequently compared to the trial of gold by the process of smelting or refining by fire, Job 23:10; Psalms 46:10; Jeremiah 9:7; Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:2. Gold is the most precious metal, but faith is even more precious; as gold is tried, proved and refined by fire, so faith must be proved and refined by the fire of temptations. As the heat of fire separates dross from gold, so all alloy must be separated from faith, all self-reliance on our own wisdom or strength, all dependence on the help of the creature,—ἀπολλυμ. Think of consumitur annulus usu. [Ignatius, a successor of Peter at Antioch, calls his chains “spiritual pearls.” Cyprian, speaking of the dress of virgins, says, that when Christian women suffer martyrdom with faith and courage, then their sufferings are like pretiosa monilia, costly bracelets. See Wordsworth in loco, who notices the following passage from Hermas, Pastor i. 4, p. 440, ed. Dressel: “Aurea pars vos estis; sicut enim per ignem aurum probatur, et utile fit, sic et vos probamini; qui igitur permanserint et probati fuerint, ab eis purgabuntur; et sicut aurum emendatur et remittit sordem suam, sic et vos abjicietis omnem tristitiam (ὀλίγον λυπηθέντες) et emendabimini instructuram turris.—M.”] εὑρεθῇ already now, since often the enemies of truth are constrained to acknowledge such fidelity of faith, innocence and patience, but more in the last days and in the great day of Christ. Mat 25:23; 2 Timothy 4:8; Hebrews 12:11; James 1:12; Revelation 2:8-10.

Unto praise and honour—Jesus Christ.—Εἰς ἕπαινον κ. τ. λ. The reward of grace which the elect shall receive at the return of Christ consists of (a) the praise of their fidelity of faith, cf. Matthew 25:21; 1 Corinthians 4:5; Romans 2:7; Romans 2:10; 2 Thessalonians 1:5; (b) the honour which Christ promises to His faithful servants and shows to them, in fact, by the honourable position to which He promotes them, John 12:26; cf. 1 Samuel 2:30; Revelation 22:4; Revelation 3:21; (c) of the glory, which the father has given to Christ, 1Pe 1:11; 1 Peter 1:21; Acts 3:13; and which He will communicate to all that are His, 1 Peter 4:13; 1Pe 5:1; 1 Peter 4:14. τιμή and δόξα occur often conjointly in Paul’s writings, 1 Timothy 1:17; Romans 2:7; Romans 2:10; Hebrews 2:7; Hebrews 2:9. The future glory affecting alike the soul and the body (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:43-49; Philippians 3:21,) appears as the end of the whole work of redemption, (Romans 9:23; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Corinthians 2:7), and therefore as the main object of Christian hope, Romans 5:2; Colossians 1:27. The effulgency of God will hereafter shine out of all believers, because they hold the most intimate communion with the glorified Jesus. The completion of the elect shall also redound to the praise, honour and glory of God Himself, cf. Revelation 4:11; Revelation 5:12-13. The object is probably not mentioned designedly.—Ἐν . vide 1 Peter 1:5.

1 Peter 1:8. Whom having not seen—full of glory.—For the confirmation of their hope the Apostle after having mentioned the name of Jesus, continues in allusion to John 20:29 : whom although you have not known by face, yet you love. The relation you sustain to Him is that of the heart. The simplest construction of εἰς ὅν is to connect it with ἀγαλλ., in expectation of whom, and because of whom you greatly rejoice. The present and the future are intertwined. χαρᾷ δεδοξασμένῃ in contrast with the idle and vain joy of the world, denotes a joy from which are separated all impure and obscuring elements, which according to the explanation of Steinmeyer and Weiss, contains glory in the germ, by which the future glory irradiates already the earthly life of Christians, and which anticipates, as it were, the future glory. Roos: “Joy clothed in glory.”

1 Peter 1:9. Receiving the end of your faith, κομιζόμενοι. Living hope regards the future as the present. The word is used of competitors in the games, who, upon proving victorious, carry off presents or prizes.—τὸ τέλος, the end to which competitors in the Christian race aspire, cf. 1 Corinthians 9:24 etc.; 2 Timothy 4:7-8; Hebrews 12:1.—The salvation of the soul is the end of faith and the reward of grace, given to the Christian at the completion of the contest, cf. Acts 15:11; 1 Peter 1:5.

1 Peter 1:10. Of which Salvation—grace that should come unto you.—Connection: This salvation increases in importance and precious-ness, if we consider that the prophets did with the utmost eagerness inquire into the means and time of salvation, and that even the happy angels desired to have an insight of this mystery. How happy are we to whom is revealed, what was concealed from them! ἐκζητεῖν, to make most diligent and zealous inquiry into a thing and to regard it from every point of view. ἐξερευνᾷν=כָּרָה חָקַר, used of miners engaged in digging for precious metals in the bowels of the earth. They have searched with a diligence like that displayed in the mining of gold and silver, cf. Job 28:15-19; Proverbs 3:14-18. περὶ τῆς εἰς ὑμᾶς χάριτος. They did prophesy of the saving grace, which by the life, the sufferings and the death of Christ has risen upon a sinful world (the whole world of sinners). This grace is no longer represented to you by various types, but has become real. Cf. John 1:17.

1 Peter 1:11. What, or what manner of time—glory that should follow.—Εἰς τίνα ἢ ποῖον καιρόν. Their inquiries were not only of a general character, how many years would have to elapse to the advent of the Messiah, but had also particular reference to the peculiar condition and characteristics of that time and to the relations of the Jewish people to foreign powers. τὸ ἐν αὐτο͂ς πν. Χριστοῦ. The explanation, ‘the spirit testifying of Christ,’ which is even found in Bengel, is inadmissible on grammatical grounds. Perhaps it may be conceived as follows: The same Spirit of God, the Messianic Spirit, who in the course of time operated in the person of Christ, revealed himself in the prophets; sic Schmid II., de Wette, Weiss. But more simple and natural appears the ancient interpretation, that it was the spirit belonging to the preëxisting Messiah from eternity, and which He was consequently able to impart to the prophets. Thus the preëxisting Messiah is mentioned at 1 Corinthians 10:4; 1 Corinthians 10:9. Weiss quotes Barnabas (Ephesians 5:0 Hefele patres apost. Opp. ed. 3, 1847,): prophetæ ab ipso habentes donum prophetarunt, and Calvin: veteres prophetias a Christo ipso dictatas, cf. 5:20; John 12:41; Colossians 1:17.—τὰ εἰς Χριστὸν παθήμ. Sufferings in store for, waiting for Christ.—τὰς μετὰ ταῦτα δόξας, sufferings and glory are thus connected, Luke 24:26; cf. Matthew 16:21. It is a treasure of glories, of which Christ has taken possession and which will be fully revealed at the marriage of the Lamb, Revelation 19:7.

1 Peter 1:12. Unto whom—look into. Ἀποκαλ. relates to the communication of things new, and previously unknown, cf. Matthew 10:26; Rom 1:18; 1 Corinthians 3:13. ὁτι—αὐτὰ. sc. παθημ. κ. δοξ. should be treated as a parenthesis in answer to the question, Why were those things revealed to them, seeing they were not permitted to realize their fulfilment? It was not done for their sake, but for ours; they were thereby to minister unto us.—εὐαγγελισαμένων ὑμᾶς, who have evangelized you, brought you the glad tidings. From this it may be inferred that others besides Peter had first preached the Gospel to those Christians, at all events that he was not their only teacher.—ἀποσταλέντι ̓ οὐραν. cf. Luke 24:49; Acts 2:2, etc.; Galatians 4:6; John 15:26. While in the Old Testament we frequently meet with the expression that the Spirit fell on the prophets, Ezekiel 8:1; Ezekiel 11:5; denoting the suddenness, the passing and overpowering nature of His influence, He is in the New Testament said to be sent.—παρακύψαι properly to stand by and stoop down, in order to examine something very closely, to look at something with the countenance bent down. The salvation, revealed by Jesus Christ, contains a wealth of thoughts and ideas that is unfathomable even to the angels, cf. James 1:25; Ephesians 3:10. Their looking into has already begun and is still continuing. This is indicated by the Aorist. [Wordsworth: This high and holy mystery which represents the angels themselves bending over the Word of God enshrined in the Ark of the Church, was symbolized by the figures of the Cherubimof Glory spreading their wings, and bending their faces, and shadowing the Mercy-seat, in the Holy of Holies, upon the Ark, in which were kept the Tables of the Law written by God (Exodus 25:18-22; Hebrews 9:4-5); and by the side of which was the Pentateuch. Deuteronomy 31:24-26.—M.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

(1). The circumstance that the first person in the Godhead is described as the God and Father of Jesus Christ, points indisputably to a certain dependence of the Being of Christ on the Father, not only with respect to the humanity of our Lord, but, also, with respect to His Divine nature. Thus Christ called the Father His God, even after His resurrection, John 20:17; Revelation 3:12; Revelation 2:7. With this agree the expressions of the Apostles, Ephesians 1:17; Rom 15:6; 2 Corinthians 11:31; Colossians 1:3. Where the three supreme names are mentioned together, the Father only is called God by emphasis, 1 Peter 1:1-2; 2Co 13:13; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; 1 Corinthians 3:23; 1 Corinthians 11:3; Revelation 1:4-6. Nevertheless, the Scriptures teach us firmly to maintain the true Divinity of Christ, although, the quo modo Of such simultaneous equality and dependence of Being transcends our powers of comprehension. The filial relation among men affords, however, an analogy. [Cf. the following section of the Athanasian Creed:—“Sed necessarium est ad æternam Salutem, ut Incarnationem quoque Domini nostri Jesu Christi fideliter credat. Est ergo Fides recta, ut credamus et confiteamur, quia Dominus noster Jesus Christus, Dei Filius, Deus pariter et Homo est. Deus est ex Substantia Patris ante sæcula genitus: Homo ex Substantia Matris in sæcula natus. Perfectus Deus, perfectus Homo ex anima rationali et humana carne subsistens. Æqualis Patri secundum Divinitatem: Minor Patre secundum Humanitatem. Qui licet Deus sit et Homo, non duo tamen, sed unus est Christus. Unus autem, non conversione Divinitatis in Carnem, sed adsumtione Humanitatis in Deum. Unus omnino, non confusione Substantiæ, sed unitate Personæ. Nam sicut Anima rationalis et Caro unus est Homo; ita Deus et Homo unus est Christus.” Fides Catholica 1:27–35.—M.]

(2). As corporeal life presupposes birth, so does spiritual life, John 3:3, and just as man is unable to beget and bring forth himself into physical and earthly life, so his spiritual generation and new-birth are equally independent of himself.

(3). As there are two men in every true Christian, a new man and an old one, so heaviness in manifold temptation and rejoicing may readily co-exist, 1 Peter 1:6.

(4). Our Lord’s return has been one of the fundamental articles of the faith of universal Christendom in every age of the Church’s history. To hide this important doctrine under a bushel, is at once a defect of teaching and in opposition to the mind of Christ and His apostles, 1 Peter 1:7. It is to be noticed that the return of Christ shall be preceded, not only by several ages, but also, by several ends of ages, with typical final judgments, as St. Paul speaks of τέλη τῶν αἰώνων. The flood, the dispersion of the ten tribes, the judgment on Judah, but especially the destruction of Jerusalem and the conquest of Palestine, were in a certain sense such final judgments, cf. 1 Corinthians 10:11.

(5). 1 Peter 1:10-12, afford us an insight into the mode of prophetic inspiration, and into the relation of the Divine influence and the free mental activity of the prophets. They met, as it were, the Spirit of God with their earnest longings for salvation; the Spirit communicated to them the main burden of prophecy; while the time and details of the beginning of salvation were left to their researches and inquiries. They made a free appropriation of what the Spirit had disclosed to them, and sought to apply it to time and circumstances.

[The Scripture facts on the subject of inspiration are as follows: the subjects of inspiration were permitted to make diligent and faithful research (Luke 1:1-4), to clothe the same thought in different language (cf. Matthew 26:26-27; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:24-25; also Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22), give distinctive colouring to their accounts; according to the circumstances that grouped round their individuality (compare the character and early associations of the four Evangelists, as well as the scope of each Gospel, compare, also, the style of Ezekiel and Isaiah, of John and Paul), to cite other inspired authorities (Psalms 108:0 and Psalms 57:7-11; Psalms 60:5-12, etc.), to use uninspired documents (Joshua 10:13; Numbers 21:14; Jude 1:9.14, Jude 1:15), they sometimes were uncertain of the precise meaning and application of their message (1 Peter 1:10-12; Daniel 12:8, etc.) and their message was delivered in language approved by the Divine Spirit (1 Peter 1:10-11; Daniel 12:8; 2 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 1:1; 1 Corinthians 2:12-13), see Angus’s Bible Handbook, §§ 146–150, for a brief account of Inspiration. “Inspiration is such an immediate and complete discovery by the Holy Spirit, to the minds of the sacred writers, of those things which could not have otherwise been known, and such an effectual superintendence as to those matters which they might have been informed of by other means—as entirely preserved them from error in every particular, which could in the least affect any of the doctrines or precepts contained in their books.” Scott’s Essays.—M.]

(6). Since, according to 1 Peter 1:11, the Spirit of Christ wrought in the prophets, the prophetical writings must possess an authority not inferior to the testimony of Christ in the New Testament. Both Testaments contain one and the same principle of revelation, one kernel and centre; but while the Old Testament is only the threshold and fore-testimony of the New Testament, the New Testament is the end and fulfilment of the Old.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Christianity is essentially a life of hope—it is founded on living hope. The eye of faith looks out for the glorious revelation of Jesus Christ from heaven, for the first resurrection, for the heavenly city of peace (Jerusalem), for the precious inheritance, for the new heaven and the new earth.—He that has become conscious of his sinfulness and manifold bondage and has fixed his eye on the heavenly treasure, must needs celebrate the praises of God.—Without regeneration there is no partaking ‘of the heavenly inheritance.—Nothing short of Divine power is sufficient to keep us unto salvation.—The hope of faith is the root out of which grows the fruit of a spiritual joy, serene and triumphant over pain.—When the Christian contemplates the glorious fruit and its consequences, he can rejoice at what most deeply pains the children of this world.The mystery of afflictions and temptations in believers.—The solution of the riddle lies in their scope—proof, separation from dross, exercise and purification.—The world’s joy never comes up to the terms in which its praises are published in speech or in song, while the opposite holds good of Christian joy.—What must be the character of such as desire to be partakers of the kingdom of Christ?—Disparity and similarity in the disposition and situation of believers of the Old and New Testaments.—The sweet harmony of the prophets in their predictions of Christ.—The Holy Ghost the best Teacher.The words of Jesus and the Apostles a precious key to the right understanding of prophecy.—If the angels greatly desire to look into the mysteries of the plan of salvation, who are represented by the Cherubim on the mercy-seat, how much more highly ought we to prize the knowledge of salvation in Christ!

Starke:—Would you give the consolation of 1 Peter 1:3-9 for an empire? If the hope be living, the inheritance is sure, viz., the crown that never fades, the treasure that none can steal. Abide the heat. How short is suffering—how long the glittering eternity! Heavenly life God will give above, evermore my heart shall praise Him.

Hedinger:—Regeneration is solely the work of God all-merciful, who helps the wretched from a spiritual death to spiritual life.—Children and friends inherit our goods; those therefore who desire to receive the heavenly inheritance must be the children and friends of God, Romans 8:16-17.—If you find this present time sorrowful and anxious, have patience; in the world you shall have tribulation: look joyfully forward to the last time that shall put an end to all grief, and bring you eternal glory.—God knows best what medicine He has to use for and what burdens He has to lay on each, in order to kill the old Adam.—As gold is the most precious metal, so faith is the most noble of the manifold gifts in the kingdom of grace, and as much passes for faith without being it, so the cross decides its genuineness.—The sum-total of the doctrine of Christ treats of His humiliation and exaltation. For Christ had to drink of the brook and therefore shall He lift up His head, Psalms 110:7; suffer and enter into glory.—If any be bowed down with grief, let him take comfort from the example of Christ and the words of the Apostle: suffering first, glory after. The reverse takes place among the children of this world, with them joy comes first, and then grief, 2 Timothy 2:12; Luke 6:25.—Kapff:—What is genuine faith? 1. A birth out of (emanating from) God; 2. an assurance of what is unseen; 3. an inheritance of eternal life.—Lisco:—Christian hope; (a) its foundation; (b) its object; (c) its power; (d) its glorious reward.—Eternal salvation: (a) it was the object of the longing of the holy prophets; (b) it is made to depend on a certain order; (c) it is announced to all as existing.—The blessedness of Christian hope; (a) it flows from mercy; (b) it is the most precious of all possessions; (c) nothing can pluck it from us. What is the glorious goal which the children of the kingdom go forth to meet? (a) This goal is the heavenly inheritance; (b) it is founded on the mercy of God; (c) the way to it, persevering faith, is not without manifold tribulation; (d) it was the object of the longing of all the saints of old.—The living hope to which we Christians are born again, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; 1. its preciousness in respect of its cause, object and influence; 2. its certainty; (a) the love and faith of the members of Christ; (b) from the declarations of the prophets and evangelists. The Christian’s gladness in sadness; 1. because of the life of regeneration; 2. because of his inheritance; 3. because of Divine protection; 4. because of suffering; 5. because of future joy.—Staudt.

[1 Peter 1:3-4, 1 Peter 1:1. The Christian’s title to the heavenly inheritance—begotten again; 2. his assurance of it—a lively hope; 3. the immediate cause of both—Jesus Christ. 4. The source—the abundant mercy of God.—A living hope; the world’s highest motto is ‘dum spiro spero,’ the Christian may add ‘dum expiro spero!’—Abundant mercy. Great sins and great miseries need great mercy, and many sins and many miseries need many mercies. (Bernard).—Love will stammer rather than be dumb.

1 Peter 5:5. “Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks;” what more safe than to be walled with salvation itself? cf. Proverbs 18:10.—1 Peter 5:6. The battle tries the soldier, the storm the pilot.—Christian militant—dignum Deo spectaculum.

1 Peter 5:7. An unskillful beholder may think it strange to see gold thrown into the fire and left there for a time; but he that puts it there, would be loath to lose it; his purpose is to make some costly piece of work of it; every believer gives himself to Christ, and He undertakes to present him blameless unto the Father; not one of them shall be lost, nor one drachm of faith; they shall be found, and their faith shall be found, when He appears. That faith that is here in the furnace, shall be then made up into a crown of pure gold, it shall be found unto praise and honour and glory.

1 Peter 5:8. The sun seems less than the wheel of a chariot; but reason teaches the philosopher that it is much larger than the whole earth; and the cause why it seems so little is its great distance. The naturally wise man is as far deceived by this carnal reason in his estimate of Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness, and the cause is the same, his great distance from Him, cf. Psalms 10:5.—“If I have any possessions, health, credit, learning, this is all the contentment I have of them, that I have somewhat I may despise for Christ, who is totus desiderabilis et totum desiderabile.” Greg Nazian. Orat. 1.—There is an inseparable intermixture of love with belief. If you ask, how shall I do to love, I answer, believe. If you ask, how shall I believe? I answer, love.—Joy unspeakable.—It were a poor thing if he that hath it, could tell it all out. (Pauperis est numerare pecus). And when the soul has most of it, then it remains most within itself, and is so inwardly taken up with it that it can then least of all express it. It is with joys, as they say of cares and griefs, leves loquuntur, ingentes stupent. The deepest waters run stillest. True joy is a solid, grave thing (Res severa est verum gaudium. Sen.), dwells more in the heart than in the face; whereas base and false joys are but superficial, skin-deep (as we say); they are all in the face.—Lauda mellis dulcedinem quantum potes, qui non gustaverit, non intelliget.—Aug.—1 Peter 1:12. The true preachers of the gospel, though their ministerial gifts are for the use of others, yet that salvation they preach, they lay hold on and partake of themselves, as your boxes wherein perfumes are kept for garments and other uses, are themselves perfumed by keeping them! From Leighton by M.]

Footnotes:

1 Peter 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3. [Regeneravit nos.—Vulg.—M.]

[5] 1 Peter 1:3. [German:—“Who, according to His manifold mercy, hath begotten us again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto a living hope.”—M.]

[Translate:……begat us again unto……through the resurrection, etc.—M.]

[Cod. Sin.—διὰ for δι’.—M.]

[6] 1 Peter 1:4. [Text. Rec. ἡμᾶς. A. B. C. K. L., ὑμᾶς; so also most of the Versions.—M.]

[Cod. Sin.—ἀμάρ. κ. ἀμίαντ·—ἐν οὐράνῳ—M.]

1 Peter 1:5; 1 Peter 1:5. [Guarded.—Galatians 3:23.—M.]

[8] 1 Peter 1:5. [εἰς, till.—Acts 4:3; Philippians 1:10; Galatians 3:13; Galatians 3:24; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; cf. also 2 Peter 2:4.—M.]

[Calvin:—Quid juvat, salutem nobis in cœlo esse repositam, quum nos in mundo tanquam in turbulento mari jactemur? quid juvat, salutem nostram statui in tranquillo portu, quum inter mille naufragia fluctuemur? Praevenit Apostolus ejusmodi objectiones, etc.—M.]

[Bengel: “Hæreditas servata est; hæredes custodiuntur; neque illa his, neque hi deerunt illi. Corroboratio insignis.”—M.]

[Aretius:—“Militare est vocabulum φρουρά: præsidium. Pii igitur dum sunt inpericulis, sciant totidem eis divinitus parata esse præsidia: millia millium custodeunt eos.”—M.]

[Cod. Sin.—ἑτοίμως.—M.]

[German:—“Which is already prepared.”—M.]

[9] 1 Peter 1:6. [ἐνᾦ, “in the which tyme.”—Tyndale.—M.]

[Cod. Sin.—*δέον without ἐστιν.—*λυπηθέντες.—M.]

[German:—“Whereat ye rejoice; who now, if it must be so, are for a little time (or a little) afflicted in manifold temptations.”—M.][Translate:—“In which (time) ye rejoice, for a little time at present (Alford), if it must be so, having been afflicted, in—“M.]

1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 1:7. [δοκίμιον probably = δοκιμασία, proof James 1:3. Proof comes nearer the German than trial.—M.]

[11] 1 Peter 1:7. [δοκιμάζειν probare, whence the German pruefen, erprobt, and the English prove.—M.]

[German:—“That your faith in its proof may be found much more precious than perishable gold, which is also proved by fire, unto praise and honour and glory in the revelation,” etc.—M.][Cod. Sin.—πολυτιμότερον.—δοκ. κ. τιμ.—M.]

1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 1:7. [εἰς, resulting in. See Robinson s. v. εἰς 3. a.—M.]

1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 1:7. [ ἀποκαλύψεͅι = in revelation. Vulg. Wicl.—M.]

[14] 1 Peter 1:8. [ Lachmann and Tischend. ἰδόντες, but εἰδότες is also strongly supported.—M.]

[Cod. Sin., agrees with the former.—M.]

1 Peter 1:8; 1 Peter 1:8. [ Laetitia glorificata—Vulg., Germ., Wicl., Geneva, Alford. Triumphant joy.—Brown.—M.]

[16] 1 Peter 1:9. [ Receiving the end of your faith; rather, “carrying off the end of your faith”.—M.]

[This is the sense of κομιζω in middle; see Liddell and Scott s. v. ii. 2.—Reportantes, Vulg.—M.]

1 Peter 1:10. [Cod. Sin.—ἐξηραύν. with A. B΄.—M.]

1 Peter 1:11. [Cod. Sin.—ἐραυν. with B΄.—M.]

1 Peter 1:11; 1 Peter 1:11. [ Quo et quali tempore.—Jaspis. “In relation to whom and what time.”—Purver.—M.]

[18] 1 Peter 1:12. [ ὑμῖν is the more authentic reading.—M.]

[ἡμῖν Rec. K. Syr. Copt, ὑμῖν A. B. C. L., Cod. Sin.—M.]