1 Peter 1:4

1 Peter 1:4. To an inheritance— St. Peter had spoken of the hope of life, 1 Peter 1:3. He now explains what he meant by thatlife; even the greatest felicity that canbe enjoyed, which he compares to an inheritance, or large estate, a thing most generally esteemed here upon earth. But there is also a further allusion; for parents beget their children to the hopes of living and enjoying their estates or inheritance after them; God had regenerated these Gentile Christians to the hope of a firmer and more durable inheritance: for mortal men in general are born to a short-lived inheritance; the pious are regenerated to one that is everlasting, and not only everlasting, but undefiled;—oneneithergottennordetainedbyanywickedmethods;nor shall persons polluted with vice have any share therein. See Revelation 21:27. The inheritance of wicked men, or the land where they dwell, is said to be defiled by their own sins; to which perhaps there may be an allusion here. It is added, which withereth not away;—so the word αμαραντον properly signifies. Temporal possessions are soon lost, all the glory of them withereth like the grass; (James 1:11.) but the future inheritance of the saints shall not remove from one person or family to another; it is no fading inheritance. The faithful lose it not while they live, neither shall they ever die and leave it to their heirs.