1 Peter 1:17

And if ye call on the Father. "If" does not imply doubt; it introduces an hypothesis which, being taken for granted, involves a duty. Apparently there is here a reference to the Lord's Prayer, as in 2 Timothy 4:18 . You call on God as your Father; then pass your time in fear (comp. Ma 2 Timothy 1:6 , "If I be a Father, where is mine honor?"). He called you first; now ye call on him. The translation of the Revised Version is more exact than the Authorized Version, "If ye call on him as Father." Who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work. The adverb ἀπροσωπολήπτως , rendered "without respect of persons," occurs nowhere else in the New Testament; but the thought is familiar. St. Peter himself had said, when he was sent to receive Cornelius into the Church, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons" ( Acts 10:34 ). The disciples of the Pharisees had said the same of our Lord ( Matthew 22:16 ; comp. also Romans 2:11 ; Galatians 2:6 ; James 2:1-4 ). The Lord said ( John 5:22 ), "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son." But the Father is "Fens judicii," as Didymus says (quoted by Alford), "judicante Filio, Pater est qu;. judicat," for the Son judges as his Delegate; as it was through the Son that the Father made the worlds. He judges according to every man's work, regarding, not distinctions of rank, or wealth, or nationality, but only the character of the work. Observe that the word "work" ( ἔργον ) is in the singular number, as πρᾶξιν in Matthew 16:27 . God judges according to every man's work as a whole, according to the whole scope and meaning of his life as issuing from the one governing principle, whether faith or selfishness. So Bengel, "Unius hominis unum est opus, bouum malumve." Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. The verb here, ἀναστράφητε , corresponds with the noun ἀναστροφή ("conversation") of Matthew 16:15 ; both might be rendered (as Dean Plumptre suggests) by "conduct" (noun or verb)—"in all your conduct" in Matthew 16:15 ; and here, "conduct yourselves." The word "sojourning" reminds us of Matthew 16:1 of this chapter and of 1 Peter 2:11 , in which last place we have the corresponding Greek word. We are sojourners here, life is short; but the character of that short life determines our eternal condition; therefore live in fear. St. John says, "Perfect love casteth out fear;" but there is no contradiction, as some have said, between the two holy apostles; for the fear which cannot coexist with perfect love is slavish fear, selfish fear of death and punishment. The fear which St. Peter and St. Paul ( Philippians 2:12 ) commend is holy fear—the fear of a son for a loving father, the fear of displeasing God before whom we walk, God who gave his blessed Son to die for us, God who will judge us at the last. This fear is not cowardice. Our Lord said ( Luke 12:4 ), "Be not afraid of them that kill the body.… Fear him," etc. They who fear God need fear nothing else but God.