1 Peter 1

1 Peter 1:1-12

The apostle Peter begins his address to his brethren, who were dispersed abroad, with congratulating their happiness in being called to the glorious privileges and hopes of the gospel; and takes occasion to expatiate upon the sublime manner in which it was introduced both by the prophets and apostles. 1 Pet. I. 1—12.

PETER I. 1. PETER, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the 1 PETER I. 1. PETER, who has the honour to be invested with the office of an apostle of Jesus Christ, inscribes and addresses this epistle to the elect strangers who are scattered abroad; to those

Scattered abroad] Lord Barrington, (Miscel Sacr. Essay II p. 84—88,) strenuously maintains, that St Peter wrote only to the converted proselytes of the gate; and in favour of this opinion he urgeth their being called strangers; which he thinks is the stile peculiar to those who avenging renounced idolatry, and receiving the seven precepts of Noah, were et strangers to the commonwealth of Israel He supposes they must have been Gentiles, because they are said, once not to have been a people, chap. ii. 9, 10, and to have been ignorant, verse 14, and to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, chap. iv 3; and he also pleads, from chap i. 22, where they are said to have purified their souls by obeying in the truth, that it is likely they were pros-

St. Peter inscribes his epistle to the e ect stra

Christians whom Providence has dispersed through various countries, and whom Divine grace has taught to consider themselves, wherever they dwell, as strangers and sojourners on earth; and particularly to those who inhabit the regions of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia and those in the provinces of Asia and Bithynia. I call you [elect] because you are indeed chosen according to the fore knowledge of God the Father, who has projected all his schemes with the most consummate wisdom, and perfect discerning of every future event. He has been pleased, according to the steady purposes of his grace, to bring you by means of the sanctification of the Spirit, by the sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost operating upon your souls, to evangelical obedience. He has subdued all your prejudices against the gospel, and effectually engaged you to submit to it; and thus you are interested in the pardon of sin, and in all the other blessings which proceed from the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, whereby forgiveness is obtained for us Christians as it was for the Jews under the law upon sprinkling the blood of the sacrifices; and may this, and every other instance and degree of grace, and all the peace consequent upon it, be multiplied unto you all, wherever you are, and whatever your condition and circumstances in life may be. Whatever your afflictions are in this variable and troublesome world, I hope you never will forget, how indispensably, you are obliged to thankfulness on account of

elytes of the gate, because a parallel expression is used by St. Peter concerning Cornelius and his friends, (Acts xv. 9. See Vol. III § 33, note b,) whom he supposes to have been such. He likewise argues from their being addressed in these words, If ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons, judgeth according to every man’s work, (chap. i. 17.) by St. Peter, who had himself addressed Cornelius in almost the same terms (Acts x. 34, 35. See Vol. III § 23, note c.) He pleads in support of the same opinion, their being called Christians, (chap. iv. 16.) a title which he supposes was first given to the converted proselytes of the gate, of which the church at Antioch,

where they were first called Christians, in his apprehension, consisted. (Acts xi. 26. See Vol. III. § 25, note c.) But all this appears to me to be utterly inconclusive; it is in part obviated already in my notes on the Acts; and as for the force which may seem to remain in his lordship’s arguments, arising from the phrases in which St. Peter addresses those to whom he writes, it is, I think, entirely annihilated, by supposing that the epistle was written both to the converted Jews and Gentiles; of which the reader will be able to form a judgment, by observing whether my paraphrase of the several passages in question be natural and easy.

d, who had regenerated them to a lively hope : 185

your Christian privileges ; and to such thank fulness let me now excite you and myself : blessed therefore [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy hath regenerated us to a great, important and lively hope of future happiness by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ; upon whom indeed, and upon whose resurrection, all our hopes depend. And by whom we are brought to the cheerful and confident expectation of an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading, which nothing can spoil, which nothing can pollute, and which is incapable of any internal decay, as well as external violence. This inheritance is reserved in the heavens for you, and for all true believers ; Who, though now surrounded with many apparent dangers, are not left defenceless, but are guarded, as in a strong and impregnable garrison, by the almighty power of God, through the continued exercise of that faith which this almighty power wrought in your hearts ; and he will still maintain it unto that blessed hour, when you shall receive the complete and eternal salvation which is already prepared, and though now kept as under a veil, is to be revealed in its full radiance of glory, in the last time, the grand period, in which all the mysteries of Divine Providence shall beautifully terminate. This is the blessed state and condition to which by the gospel you are brought, in which, and in the glorious hopes which it inspires, you cannot but rejoice, though now for a little while, if it be necessary, you are grieved, and distressed

b Undefiled.] That is, into which nothing that polluteth can enter The land of Canaan was said to be defiled by sinners ; to which perhaps there may here be an allusion. Compare Rev. xxi. 27.

c Are guarded, &c.] The original word, φρυμμίνες, is very emphatical, and properly signifies, being kept as in an impregnable garrison, secure from harm, under the observation of an all seeing eye, and protection of an almighty hand. Blackwall’s Sac. Classics, Vol. I. p. 196. Compare 2 Cor. xi. 32, in the Greek.

d In the last time.] This plainly refers to the second appearance of Christ, called the last time, because it will be the con-

cluding scene of all the Divine dispensations relating to this world. For the same reason it is called the last day, John vi. 39 ; and xi. 24. And the design of the passage before us confirms this interpretation, since the apostle is here speaking of the full manifestation of the future happiness reserved in heaven for them. Somwould connect, in the last time, with their being kept by the power of God ; and understand it, as if the apostle had said, Though our lot is cast in the last time, when the temptations to apostasy are so great an powerful, we are, notwithstanding, preserved from all the dangers to which we are exposed.

Believing in him, whom, though unseen, the

amidst various trials. You know they are all under the direction of the infinite wisdom of your heavenly Father, who would not subject you to them, did he not see them to be subservient to your truest happiness; and they will ere long be brought to an everlasting period. His intention in all is most kind and gracious, namely, that the little trial of your faith, which is far more precious and valuable than that of gold which perishes and wears out in time, though it be tried by fire, and purified to the highest degree; may be found to praise and honour and glory, in the great day of the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Divine Author and Finisher of our faith, who having endured yet sorer trials, will rejoice to applaud and reward the fidelity of his servants in his cause: I say, in the revelation of Jesus Christ, that glorious Redeemer, whom not having seen with your bodily eyes, nor personally conversed with him, ye nevertheless love, and in whom, though now you see [him] not, yet assuredly believing, ye rejoice, as your almighty Saviour, Friend and Protector, with unutterable and even glorified joy, with such a joy as seems to anticipate that of the Saints in glory; Receiving with unspeakable delight, as a full equivalent of all your trials, the great end of your faith, even the complete salvation of [your] souls; a prize of infinitely greater importance, than all you can be called to sacrifice for its sake! Concerning which salvation, the prophets, who predicted the grace of the gospel [which was appointed] to you, sought and diligently inquired; Searching with the deepest and most attentive reflection, to what period, or to what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them, did refer when he testified long before

• Not having seen.] It is very possible that among these dispersed Christians, there might be some who had visited Jerusalem whilst Christ was there, and might have seen, or even conversed with him; but as the greater part had not, St. Peter speaks, according to the usual apostolic manner, as if they all had not. Thus he speaks of them all as loving Christ, though

there might be some among them who were destitute both of this Divine principle, and of that joy which he speaks of, as, &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c.

• Spirit of Christ which was in them, &c ] It is well worthy our notice, that the Spirit which dictated to the prophets, is called the Spirit of Christ; which (as Mr Fleming observes, Christol. Vol. I. p. 185) both

the prophets, and the Holy Ghost bare witness.

they came to pass, the various sufferings which were to come upon Christ, and the exalted and permanent glory which was to succeed them, and render him and his kingdom so perpetually illustrious, and his servants so completely happy. To the memorable testimony of these prophets it becomes us to pay a sincere and profound regard, to whom such extraordinary discoveries were made, as no attentive reader can view without conviction and astonishment; and it was revealed g to them among other things, that [it was] not to themselves, but to us, that they ministered these things; they knew that we, when the events arose, should have a more complete understanding of these oracles, than any who declared them, had. Consider then, how happy you are in that dispensation under which you now live, when those Divine mysteries, which were only in a more obscure manner hinted at by the prophets, are most clearly and expressly declared to you, by those who have published the glad tidings of the gospel among you, by the evident authority and attestation, as well as by the assistances of the Holy Spirit, sent down from heaven with such visible glory, and testifying his continued residence among us by such wonderful effects. And indeed, the doctrines which they preach, are things of so great excellence and importance, as to be well worthy the regard of angels, as well as men; and accordingly, (as the images of the cherubim on the mercy seat, seemed to bow down, to look upon the tables of the law laid up in the ark,) to those celestial spirits do, from their heavenly abode, desire to bend downh to [contemplate]

roves his existence before his incarnation, d illustrates the full view he himself had f all he was to do and suffer under the character of our Redeemer; the particulars of which therefore must have been comprehended in the stipulations between im and the Father. The apostle in dis-oursing so largely concerning the prophets, seems to have a special reference to the converted Jews, who would enter more thoroughly into this part of his reasoning, an the converted Gentiles.

g To whom it was revealed, &c.] I think

this text plainly proves, that the prophets had some general intimation, that their prophecies referred to the Messiah; but that they did not understand every clause of them in their full force, nor so well as we understand them, who are capable of comparing them with the event.

h Angels desire to bend down, &c.] Thus it is in the original, ἐπιθυμωσιν ἀναχακυψις, desire to stoop down to; in allusion, no doubt, (as Mr. Saurin, Disser. Vol II. p. 266, has beautifully illustrated it, and many others have remarked,) to the bending posture in

VOL. 6.

Reflections on the happiness of the elect of God.

szer. such glorious displays of Divine wisdom and goodness, and attentively to survey those important scenes that are opening upon us here on earth; which is become so much more considerable than it would otherwise be, as it is honoured with being the theatre of such glorious events.

IMPROVEMENT.

ARE we desirous of rendering it apparent to ourselves, and all around us, that we are indeed the elect of God? Let it be, by an humble application to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, on the one hand, and by the evident fruits of the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, on the other.

The abundant mercy of God, hath begotten real Christians to the lively hope of an incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance, reserved in heaven for them: let us keep it steadily in view, and earnestly pray that God would preserve us by his mighty power through faith unto salvation. Whilst we are waiting for this salvation, it is very possible, yea probable, affliction may be our portion; but let us remember, it is, if need be, that we are in heaviness through manifold temptations. Our faith, and our other graces, are as it were thrown into the furnace, not to be consumed, but refined; that they may be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearance of Jesus Christ. Even at present, may this divine faith produce that love to an unseen Jesus, which is here so naturally expressed by the apostle; and though now we see him not, yet may that love be eminently productive of joy, even that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory; and in the lively and vigorous exercise of these graces, may we all receive the end of our faith, even the everlasting salvation of our souls!

Let what we are here told of the prophetic writers be improved as it ought, to confirm our faith in that glorious gospel, of which these holy men have given in their writings such wonderful intimations and predictions; writings which we have such excellent advantages for more distinctly and clearly understanding, than even they themselves did. What exalted ideas should we entertain of a dispensation introduced by such a series of wonders, preached by the inspired prophets, and by the Holy Ghost in his miraculous gifts and salutary influence sent down from heaven: a dispensation into the glories of which the angels desire to pry;

which they were represented on the mercel, but the humility of their adoration, cy seat. And Mr Blackwall observes, whereas it is very probable that their apos- (Sacred Classics, Vol. I. p. 431,) that it tate brethren refused to stoop to such a may denote, not only the attentive curiosity scheme. with which they may inquire into the gos-

They should therefore gird up the loins of their mind.

how much more worthy then, the attention of the children of men, who are so nearly concerned in it, who were redeemed from everlasting destruction by the blood of the Son of God? O! let us review it with the closest application, and improve it to the infinitely gracious and important purposes for which it was intended. Then will grace and peace be multiplied to us; and however we may now be dispersed and afflicted, pilgrims and strangers, we shall ere long be brought to our everlasting home, and meet together in the presence of our dear and condescending Saviour; where having a more lively sense of our obligations to him, and beholding his glory, we shall love him infinitely better than at this distance we have been capable of, and feel our joy in him increased in a proportionable degree.

1 Peter 1:13-16

The apostle enforces his general exhortations to watchfulness, to sobriety, to love, and to obedience, by an affecting representation of our relation to God, our redemption by the invaluable blood of Christ, the vanity of all worldly enjoyments, and the excellence and perpetuity of the gospel dispensation. 1 Pet. I. 16, to the end.

PETER I. 13.

WHEREFORE, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

PETER I. 13.

I HAVE been endeavouring to give you some general ideas of the excellence and importance of the gospel dispensation; reminding you of the wonderful manner in which it was introduced by the united labours of the prophets and apostles, and of the regard paid to it by the native inhabitants of the heavenly world. Regard it therefore as worthy the closest attention; and let the blessings of it be most vigorously pursued; and girding up the loins of your mind, that you may be capable of the most strenuous action, and being continually sober, and temperate, and watchful against every thing that would ensnare and pollute you, hope unto the end for the grace and mercy which shall be brought unto you, in the great and glorious day of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Live in the view of his second appearance, and think every labour, and every self denial, happily bestowed, which may subserve your pros-

As obedient pect of felicity in that important day. You have now the honour to be adopted into the

ii 1 Pet. i. 13

Being redeemed from their vain conversation by family of God; conduct yourselves therefore as his obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts, which you indulged in the time of your ignorance, when you knew not this gospel, and were many of you in heathen darkness, and others under the imperfect dispensation of Moses: But as he that has called you to this glorious light, and participation of such invaluable blessings, is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in the whole of [your] conversation, in every thing you say and do; aspiring after this as your greatest honour, to bear the image of God in the moral perfections of his nature; For it is written in several passages of the Mosaic scriptures, (Lev. xi. 44; xix. 2; xx. 7.) Be ye holy, for I am holy. There is the same force in the argument now, respecting us Christians, which there was with regard to the Jews; yea, greater force, in proportion to the degree in which the sanctity of the Divine Being is now more illustriously displayed; And accordingly let me exhort you, if ye call upon the God and Father of all, who without respect of persons, or any kind of partiality, whether to Jews or Gentiles, judges every one according to [his] works, to converse during the time of your sojourning here, with all becoming reverence, and humility, in the religious fear of God; And so much the rather, knowing the price of your redemption to have been so rich and invaluable. This is an important article of Divine knowledge, of which no Christian can be ignorant, that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as with silver and gold, which however regarded by men, have no value in the sight of God; this, I say, was not the price which bought you from your vain, trifling, and unprofitable conversation, received by tradition from your fathers, from those hereditary super- ᵃ Redeemed with corruptible things, with silver and gold, &c.] Some think here is an allusion to the lamb, which made an atonement, and was bought at the common expense furnished by the contribution of the half-shelled, as an atonement for their souls. Compare Exod. xxx. 11. &c. As for these that think there is a reference to the stamp of a lamb on the Jewish coin, I am neither sure of the truth of the fact, nor can I perceive the elegance of the supposed allusion. Compare Wells’s Geog. of the Old Testament, Vol. I. p. 275 ᵇ Received by tradition, &c.] Some think this refers to the Jewish traditions.

as appointed before the world began:

stitions, follies, and vices, which had in succeeding generations assumed the name and the garb of religion, and from the guilt which they had brought upon your souls. Ineffectual had all the treasures of the earth been to purchase help for us under so sad and deplorable a circumstance. But God was pleased to find out the only ransom, and has redeemed us with the precious blood of Christ his Son, as of a lamb unblemished and unspotted, free from the least degree of moral pollution, and therefore properly represented by those lambs, free from all corporeal spots and blemishes, which the Jews were required to offer as an expiation for their souls. And as the paschal lamb was chosen, and set apart some time before it was sacrificed, so the Lord Jesus Christ, who was indeed typified by it, was known, approved, and fore appointed from the foundation of the world, but made manifest in these latter times, by the clear preaching of the gospel, for your sakes, that ye might obtain redemption and salvation by him; Even ye all, who by him, and the manifestations of the Divine grace and mercy in him, are brought to repose your trust and confidence in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him such exalted glory and majesty in the celestial world; that so your faith and hope might be in God, and ye might be encouraged to commit all your concerns to him with cheerful confidence, when he has appointed you such a Saviour; and to expect all blessings from that friendship with him which is founded upon the incarnation, atonement, and blood of his own Son. Let it be your care, therefore, that having purified your souls, by an application to this fountain which God has opened, and by that obedience to the truth which will, through the assistance of the Spirit be the result of such an application; and since the whole genius and design of this religion,

but perhaps it may express those vain rites of worship which for successive ages had been delivered down from parents to their children in the Gentile world.

Who by him trust in God. This phrase is remarkable, and I think with Mr. Hallet, (see his Notes and Discourses, Vol. I.

p. 58,) that the meaning is, that Christians, who before their conversion were ignorant of the true God, learnt his Bein and Providence from the great fact of Christ’s resurrection, and the power with which God invested him on his ascension into heaven.

And being born by the incorruptible seed of God

which you have imbibed and professed, leads to an undissembled brotherly love; let it be your care, I say, to enter affectionately into its design and tendency; and to love one another out of a pure heart, operating fervently and intensely, and not to rest merely in those deceitful forms and professions of affection, with which the men of the world amuse themselves and each other; or in those trifling instances of friendship which can do little to approve its reality and sincerity. The temper and conduct which I recommended, may justly be expected from you, considering your relation to God, and to each other; as having been regenerated, not by corruptible seed, not by virtue of any descent from human parents, but by incorruptible; not laying the stress of your confidence on your pedigree from Abraham, if you had the honour to descend from that illustrious patriarch; for that descent could not entitle you to the important blessings of the gospel. It is by means of the efficacy of the word of God upon your hearts, even that powerful word which lives and endures for ever, that you are become entitled to these glorious evangelical privileges. For as the prophet Isaiah testifies, (Isaiah xl. 6,) all flesh [is] as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass, which is yet frailer than that; the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth; quickly deprived of its blooming honours, it drops, blasted and dying, to the ground. And thus precarious and uncertain are all the dependencies which we can have on perishing creatures; But the word of the Lord abideth for ever in undiminished force and vigour, nor can ten thousand succeeding ages prevent or abate its efficacy. Now this, which the prophet refers to in the oracle I have just been quoting, is the word which is preached to you in the gospel: show therefore your regard to it by such a temper,

⁴ Intensely.] So I think the word properly signifies; according to the sense in which it is used by Polybius and Herodotus. See Raphelius, Annot. in loc.

⁵ The word of God, which lives and endures for ever.] This is rendered by some,

Who lives and endures for ever, referring it to God himself. But it is more agreeable to the design of the apostle, and (as Wolfius imagines to the order of the original words) to refer this clause to the word of God, which is here styled incorruptible seed.

Reflections on the stability of the Divine word, &c.

and behaviour, both towards God and man, as it was intended to inculcate and produce.

IMPROVEMENT.

LET it be matter of our daily delightful meditation, that while we clearly discern the uncertainty of all human dependencies, which wither like the grass, and fall like the flower of the field, the word of God is permanent and immutable. Let us cheerfully repose our souls on this stable, unfailing security; gratefully acknowledging the goodness of God, that he hath condescended to lay a foundation for our hope, so firm and durable as his own infallible word, and to make that word the incorruptible seed of our regeneration. If we have indeed experimentally known its efficacy and power, so that our souls are purified by obeying the truth, let us carefully express our obedience to it, by undissembled, fervent brotherly love; and animated by our glorious and exalted hopes as Christians, even that Divine and illustrious hope of the grace to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ, let us set ourselves to the vigorous discharge of every duty, as knowing that we should be children of obedience, having the excuse of ignorance no longer to plead for the indulgence of our lusts, but by a holy God being called with a holy calling, and instructed to invoke him, at once, as our gracious Father and impartial Judge.

It is worthy of our special remark, that the blessed apostle urges us to pass the transitory and limited time of our sojourning here in fear, from the consideration of our being redeemed by the blood of the Son of God, which is a price of infinitely more value than all the treasures of the universe. And certainly there is a mighty energy in the argument; for as it is a very amiable, so it is also a very awful consideration. What heart so hardened, as not to tremble at trampling on the blood of the Son of God, and frustrating, as far as in him lies, the important design of his death? Frustrating the design of a scheme, projected from eternity in the councils of heaven, and at length made manifest with every circumstance to convince our judgments, and engage our affections. And while we are reflecting on the resurrection and exaltation of our Redeemer, as the great foundation of our eternal hopes, let us dread to be found opposing him, whom God hath established on his own exalted throne; and with the utmost reverence let us kiss the Son, in token of our grateful acceptance of his mercy, and cheerful and humble submission to his authority. (Psal. ii. 12.)

They should desire that rational unmingled milk ;