1 Peter 5:12-14

1 Peter 5:12-14

Analysis:—Remarks on the object of the Apostle’s writing, salutations and benediction

12By Silvanus, a39 faithful brother unto you,40 as I suppose,41 I have written briefly,42 13exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.4344The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus 14my son. Greet45 ye one another with a kiss of charity.46 Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus.47 Amen.

The first of Peter.48

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1 Peter 5:12. By Silvanus—in few words.—Silvanus is very probably the same as Silas, Acts 15:22; Acts 15:27; Acts 15:32; Acts 15:34; Acts 15:40; Acts 16:19; Acts 16:25; Acts 16:29; Acts 17:10; Acts 17:14; Acts 18:5; the companion of St. Paul (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:9). He accompanied the Apostle on his second missionary journey, and was with him at Corinth in A. D. 53.Acts 18:5. The statements of Lachmann, that Silvanus and Silas are different persons, cannot be substantiated. See Weiss.—ὑμῖν is to be joined with ἔγραψα, not with τοῦ πιστοῦ, which would require: τοῦ ὑμῖν πιστοῦ. Grotius explains ἔγραψα of a lost Epistle, but this is quite arbitrary, cf. 2 Peter 3:1. I wrote by Silvanus, may mean, I have called in his assistance in writing; this exposition seems to be sustained by the tradition, that Peter was obliged to use an amanuensis; or rather, I send you this Epistle by the hand of Silvanus, so Acts 15:23, and in the subscriptions of several of Paul’s Epistles.—The apposition τοῦ πιστοῦ, of the brother faithful to Jesus and the Church, and worthy of all confidence, and the circumstance that 1 Peter 5:13 specifies no salutation from him, favour the latter view. But ὡς λογίζομαι, I reckon, I suppose, is decisive. Some connect it with δἰ ὀλιγῶν: I have written in few words, it seems to me, as I think, considering the importance of the subject. But such an apposition would have been more appropriate in Hebrews 13:22. Hence others join it with τοῦ πιστοῦ, saying that Peter did not know, from personal experience, the fidelity of Silvanus in his peculiar relation to those congregations. Still this would not fail to indicate a problematical opinion of this brother, even though ὡς λογίζομαι should be rendered, “as I am fully convinced concerning him,” cf. Romans 3:28; Romans 6:11. Beza already remarks, that it is doubtful that Peter should have praised a man, who belonged to the ἡγουμένοις, Acts 15:22, in such vague terms, particularly if he intended to recommend him as the bearer of the Epistle. The most natural exposition is obtained by connecting ὡς λογί̣ζομαι with διὰ Σιλουανοῦ ἕγραψα, “I calculate that you will receive this Epistle by the hands of Silvanus,” which was the less certain since it was designed to pass through the hands of several congregations. If this interpretation is correct, ἔγραψα διὰ refers decidedly to the transmission, and not to the composition of the Epistle. [But the above exposition of ὡς λογίζομαι as connected with τοῦ πιστοῦ, is hardly exhaustive. It seems to be the most natural connection, and indicates, says Alford, the Apostle’s judgment concerning Silvanus, given, not in any disparagement of him, nor indicating, as De Wette and Bengel, that he was not known to St. Peter, but as fortifying him in his mission to the churches addressed, with the Apostle’s recommendation, over and above the acquaintance which the readers may already have had with him.—M.]

[Wordsworth:—St. Peter avouches to his readers, that St. Paul’s fellow-labourer among them, Silas, is “their faithful brother.” He calls St. Mark his son, who had once faltered in the faith, but who had afterwards preached to them in Asia (See Colossians 4:10; Philemon 1:24), and whom St. Paul, writing from Rome to the churches of Phrygia, mentions as being there among his own tried and trusted friends, and calls him “Sister’s son to Barnabas.”

St. Paul, as well as St. Peter, now also, at the close of his career, writes to Timothy about the same time as the date of this Epistle of St. Peter, and bears witness that Mark “is profitable to him for the ministry,” (2 Timothy 4:11). And St. Peter here joins Mark with Silas, who had once been preferred in his room.

So may all wounds be healed, and all differences cease in the Church of Christ. So may all falterers be recovered, and Christian charity prevail, and God’s glory be magnified in all persons and in all things, through Jesus Christ!—M.]

δἰ ὀλίγων, an expression of modesty, and an exhortation to use the little conscientiously.

Exhorting.—παρακαλεῖν, to cheer, encourage and console. This is the main design of the Epistle, and the fulfilment of the charge Christ gave him: “Strengthen thy brethren,” Luke 22:32.

Testifying.—ἐπιμαρτυρῶν.—Bengel refers ἐπὶ to the testimony of Paul, which Peter intended to confirm. Without reason. It rather denotes the confirmation of the oral announcement they had received. The result, the substance of all, is contained in what follows.

That this is the true grace of God, viz.: that you have been made partakers of the grace of God truly, and not only imaginarily; that you stand on the right foundation, from which you must not suffer yourselves to be pushed away; see 1 Peter 1:10; 1 Peter 1:20; 1 Peter 2:4. By means of the preaching of the Gospel, they had been brought through faith to the possession and enjoyment of the grace of God. Therein they should stand firm and grow, cf. 1 Peter 1:8; 1 Peter 1:21; 1 Peter 2:7; 1 Peter 2:9-10.—In two ways they might come to doubt if they were right and standing in the grace of God: first, by being surprised at their sufferings, second, by false teachers. “Jewish teachers of the law called in question, ‘Whether the Galatians were standing in the true grace of God.’ Afterwards other seducers, whom Peter denounces in his second Epistle, may have arisen in those countries, and tried to make those Christians believe that they were not standing in the true grace of God.” Roos.

εἰς ἣν ἑστήκατε—in which ye have come to stand and still stand. [See note in Appar. Crit. Fronmüller considers ἑστήκατε as most authentic, but the probability is strong that it is a correction from Romans 5:2; 1 Corinthians 15:2; see Alford.—M.]

1 Peter 5:13. She that is elected together with you in Babylon saluteth you.—“The design of the salutation which follows is to assure them that other believers have their perseverance in the faith and ultimate salvation greatly at heart.”—ἡ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι συνεκλεκτή.—The most current exposition is that it denotes a congregation at Babylon, cf. 1 Peter 1:1. So the ancient versions, the fathers and reformers down to the eighteenth century; see Weiss. The view of others, who explain it of Peter’s wife or some noble lady at Babylon, has in its favour the circumstance that the names of individuals are mentioned immediately before and after this salutation; but it would be rather singular that Peter should describe his wife or another lady so periphrastically as she that is elected together with you in Babylon. This would require: my co-elect (one) who is now in Babylon. 2 John 1:13 probably refers to a congregation. Hofmann. Wiesinger.—Some expositors see in Babylon a reference to Rome, on account of its hostility to Christianity, cf. Revelation 14:8; Revelation 17:5; Revelation 17:18; Revelation 18:2; Revelation 18:10; others to Jerusalem, and others again to Babylon in Egypt, but which was only a Roman military post. We prefer, with Weiss, the exposition according to which the literal Babylon in Chaldea is meant, although we have no account of a journey of Peter to Babylon. The designation of Rome by the term Babylon seems only to fit a later period, and to be ill-suited to the style of the Epistle and the sending of salutations. According to Schöttgen, the Jews did not begin to call Rome Babylon until after the destruction of Jerusalem.

Marcus, my son.—Probably not his actual son, as we have no information on that head, but his spiritual son, Mark the Evangelist, cf. Acts 12:12; Colossians 4:10; Phil, 24.; 2Ti 4:11; 2 Timothy 1:2; 1 Corinthians 4:15; Galatians 4:19; Matthew 12:27. Papias reports him to have been Peter’s interpreter, so Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria. But the statements of these fathers do not warrant the inference that the Epistle was written in Rome, as a spurious subscription in several manuscripts declares.

1 Peter 5:14. Salute ye one another in a kiss of love.—Cf. 1Co 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26; Romans 16:16. The custom of a holy brotherly kiss was at that time universally observed among Christians. “It was designed to be the seal of His love in whose name they kissed one another, but also the seal of their own mutual love, for without taking its existence for granted such a charge could hardly have been given.” Wiesinger. [For a full account of this custom, see Winer, Real-Wörtebuch, s. v. Kuss.—M.]

Peace—Amen.—εἰρήνη, see 1 Peter 1:2; Romans 16:24; Ephesians 6:23-24; Ephesians 3:0 Jno. 15. It is the peace flowing from grace. It is enjoyed only by those who are in Christ Jesus, but by all thus situated, 1 Corinthians 1:3; Philippians 1:2; Colossians 1:2.—ἀμήν is wanting in many manuscripts.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Which are the infallible marks of the state of grace? “It is a great guilt to make those who stand in the true grace of God doubt their state of grace, or at least to endeavour to make them believe that they will always remain beginners in Christianity, because, forsooth, they are unwilling to castigate their bodies with some uncommonly hard discipline, to join some peculiar party, and to receive some uncommonly high and profound wisdom of which that party, without any warrant of Holy Writ, makes boast, cf. Galatians 5:10; Gal 1:8-9; 2 Peter 3:17-18.” Roos.

Starke:—Believers stand ever in need both of instruction and exhortation to constancy under the cross in the course of Christianity, Proverbs 9:9.—Many a one may imagine himself to stand in grace, though he is under wrath and losing his hope. How much depends upon one’s being found in the true grace of God, and of being vitally assured thereof both inwardly and outwardly, 2 Timothy 3:5.—It was a custom of long duration that each sex, male and female separately, kissed, Luke 7:45-46. Peace and Christ, the Prince of Peace, go together.—Whoso desireth peace, must be in Christ. Whoso is in Him has true peace with all the blessings of salvation forever and ever, John 16:33.

Lisco:—Do you stand in the grace of God?

[Leighton:—To testify the true grace of God—the end of our preaching.—M.]

[Neander:—“The fraternal kiss with which every one, after being baptized, was received into the community, by the Christians into whose immediate fellowship he entered—which the members bestowed on each other just before the celebration of the Communion, and with which every Christian saluted his brother, though he never saw him before—was not an empty form, but the expression of Christian feelings, a token of the relation in which Christians conceived themselves to stand to each other. It was this, indeed, which, in a cold and selfish age, struck the Pagans with wonder: to behold men of different countries, ranks, stages of culture, so intimately bound together; to see the stranger who came into a city, and by his letter of recognition (his Epistola formata) made himself known to the Christians of the place as a brother beyond suspicion, finding at once among them to whom he was personally unknown all manner of brotherly sympathy and protection.”—M.]

Footnotes: 

1 Peter 5:12; 1 Peter 5:12. [τοῦ πιστοῦ . = the faithful brother.—M.]

1 Peter 5:12; 1 Peter 5:12. [ὑμῖν, not as E. V., “a faithful brothel unto you,” but dependent on ἔγραψα, “By Silvanus, etc., I have written to you.”—M.]

1 Peter 5:12; 1 Peter 5:12. [Better retain the position of ὡς λογίζομαι in the original, and render, “By Silvanus, the faithful brother, as I reckon, etc.”—M.]

1 Peter 5:12; 1 Peter 5:12. [δἰ ὀλίγων=in (by means of) few words.—M.]

1 Peter 5:12; 1 Peter 5:12. [εἰς ἥν στῆτε. A. B. Cod. Colb. Cod. Sin., so Lachmann and Alford; εἰς ἣν ἑστήκατε = K. L., Tischendorf and others. The weight of authority is on the side of the first. We may render, with E. V., “in which ye stand,” or, with Alford, “in which stand ye.”—M.]

1 Peter 5:13; 1 Peter 5:13. [ἡ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι συνεκλεκτή=“She that is elected together with you in Babylon;” so German. See note below.—M.]

1 Peter 5:14; 1 Peter 5:14. [Better render ἀσπάσασθε as ἀσπάζεται, 1 Peter 5:13, “salute.”—M.]

1 Peter 5:14; 1 Peter 5:14. [A kiss of love.—M.]

1 Peter 5:14; 1 Peter 5:14. [Rec. with K. L., and many versions inserts ἰησοῦ after χριστῷ.—M.]

1 Peter 5:14; 1 Peter 5:14. [The subscription πετρου A. occurs in A. B.; Sin. του αγιου αποςτολου πετρου καθολικη επιςτολη ά L.—M.]