1 Peter 1

Ver. 1.—to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus &c.] The Apostle writes especially to the dispersion of the Jews, to whom the word “strangers,” or foreigners, here chiefly belongs: including also many devout Greeks and proselytes of the Gentiles, converted with them to the Christian faith. Compare chap. i. 18; ii. 10; iv. 3—6. Dr. Whitby, Pyle. For the situation of the countries here mentioned are the map of places mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. 2. Elect.] All you that have embraced the gracious

He blesseth God for his manifold spiritual graces. Anno DOMINI abcut 60.

sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

— according to the foreknowledge of God] Discovered in the Prophetical writings, which foretold of these blessings to be conveyed to them by the Messiah, who also is said to be foreknown before the foundation of the world; see ver. 20; that is, prophesied of from the beginning, Gen. iii. 15; but manifested for them in the last times. Dr. Whitby.

This the Apostle mentions, to shew the Jews that the believing Gentiles were not intruders into the church of God. He determined from the beginning to make them His people. Dr. Macknight.

— through sanctification of the Spirit, &c.] Through the grace of the Spirit sanctifying them, so as to enable them to be truly obedient to the Gospel, as well as believers in it; and consequently to entitle them to the benefits of the Gospel covenant, sealed as it were between God and them by the blood of Christ. Dr. Wells.

— when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ.] That the Messiah was to suffer, was foretold in the Old Testament. “It was written of the Son of man, that He must suffer many things,” Mark ix. 12; and here we read, that “the Spirit of Christ, which was in the Prophets, testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ.” He was to be “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, oppressed and afflicted, wounded and bruised, brought to the slaughter, and cut off out of the land of the living,” Isa. liii. The sufferings of Christ were also typified in the sacrifices of the law, and particularly in the passover. Our Saviour Himself forewarned His disciples of His passion; and St. Paul preached to the Thessalonians, that “Christ must needs have suffered,” Acts xvii. 3. If hunger and thirst, if revilings and contempt, if sorrows and agonies, if stripes and buffetings, if condemnation and crucifixion, be sufferings, Jesus suffered: if the infirmities of our nature, if the weight of our sins, if the malice of man, if the machinations of Satan, if the hand of God, could make Him suffer, our Saviour suffered: if the annals of time, if the writings of His Apostles, if the death of His martyrs, if the confession of the Gentiles, if the scoffs of the Jews, be testimonies, Jesus suffered. And therefore “those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all His Prophets that Christ should suffer, He hath so fulfilled,” Acts iii. 18. Bps. Tomline and Pearson.

1 Peter 1:3

3. — hath begotten us again] That is, as we were at first begotten by our natural fathers in respect of our natural life, so by bringing us to Christianity God has begotten us again in respect of our spiritual life. Dr. Wells.

— by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,] The resurrection of Jesus being both a proof and a pledge of our resurrection. Dr. Macknight.

1 Peter 1:4

4. — a living stone.] The Christian church being not a building made up of materials without life, as was the temple of Jerusalem, but a spiritual building, consisting of the members of Christ’s body, living by the Spirit communicated to them from Christ, their head, and the fountain of life, Eph. iv. 16; Col. ii. 19: He, who com-

1 Peter 1:5

5. Who are kept by the power of God through faith] Not that all, who have true faith, are kept by the power of God, so that they shall certainly continue in the faith; but that they shall be thus preserved, “if they continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not removed from the hope of the Gospel,” Col. i. 23; “if they hold fast their confidence firm unto the end,” Heb. iii. 6. Dr. Whitby.

— salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.] Or day of judgment. Dr. Wells. As there is mention of a double revelation of Jesus Christ; one, when He appeared as a Prophet to the world, another, when He shall appear at the day of judgment; see ver. 7, 13; 1 Cor. i. 7; 2 Thess. i. 7; 1 Pet. iv. 13; so is there a double revelation of the salvation promised in the Gospel; one, by the preaching of the Gospel, which “brought life and immortality to light,” 2 Tim. i. 10; and a farther revelation of it to be made hereafter, “when Christ who is our life shall appear,” Col. iii. 3, 4; 1 John iii. 2; styled “the glory that shall be revealed, when the great Shepherd shall appear,” 1 Pet. v. 1, 4; “the glory which shall be revealed at the redemption of our bodies,” Rom. viii. 18, 23. Dr. Whitby.

1 Peter 1:6

6. — if need be,] If God sees it best for you. Dr. Wells. This is a great consolation under all the afflictions of God’s servants, that they shall then only suffer affliction, when God sees it needful for the promotion of His glory, or for the furtherance of our salvation: as when they tend to make us “partakers of His holiness,” and to create in us “the peaceable fruit of righteous-

1 Peter 1:8

8. Whom having not seen, ye love: &c.] As the happiness, which is prepared in the other world for those, who love God our Saviour in this, is so great, that no heart is able to conceive it, according as it is written, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him,” 1 Cor. ii. 9; so even in this life it is so great, that no tongue is able to express it, as appears from this passage, where the Apostle, speaking of Christ to all that believe Him, having first said, “Whom having not seen, ye love,” immediately adds, “In whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.” It is joy unspeakable, while they do not see Him: what then will it be, when they do? Bp. Beveridge.

1 Peter 1:10

10. — who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.] Who long ago prophesied of that abundant grace, that should be given unto His church in these times of the Gospel. Bp. Hall.

1 Peter 1:11

11. Searching what, or what manner of time &c.] Bending their thoughts intensively upon the earnest inquiry into the revelation of that Spirit of Christ, whereby they were informed of future things; to know when, and at what time, Christ the Messiah should come into the world, and should suffer, and should re-enter into His glory. Bp. Hall.

— the Spirit of Christ] All the ancient Fathers agree in their interpretation of this passage, that Christ spake by His Spirit in the Prophets, they being inspired with His grace, and taught by His Spirit, their words proceeded from the Divine Word moving them, and by Him they prophesied: He spake in Isaiah, in Elias, and in the mouth of the Prophets. Dr. Whitby. In the Old Testament the Prophets constantly declared, that they had received from God the prophecies which they delivered; and it is acknowledged that none but God can foretell future events. St. Peter here represents Christ as enabling the Prophets to foretell His own coming, with His sufferings, and the glory which was to succeed them: “Of which salvation the Prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; searching what or 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.” This passage, therefore, proves both the pre-existence and the Divinity of Christ. The same Apostle in his other Epistle attributes these prophecies to the influence

1 Peter 1:12

12. — which things the angels desire to look into.] The wonderful mysteries of which Gospel it is no wonder if the Prophets desired to look into, whereas the very angels of heaven have longed to attain unto the knowledge and sight thereof. Bp. Hall.

And shall holy Prophets be so desirous to know the time when these things should happen, and holy angels so diligent to look into those glorious revelations; and shall we, to whom and for whose happiness this Gospel was revealed, neglect not only to obtain, but even to know, this great salvation? Dr. Whitby.

The redemption of mankind is a work, which, in the event, seems to concern men only: but, considered as a

Anno DOMINI aboot 66. The apostle exhorteth to a godly conversation. Anno DOMINE about 60. perfectly.

1 Peter 1:13

13. — gird up the loins of your mind.] A figurative expression taken from the customs of the Eastern nations, who, when they had occasion to exert themselves, as in journeying, running, and the like, used to bind up their long flowing garments by a girdle about their loins. Parkhurst.

— for the grace that is to be brought unto you &c.] For that perfection in holiness and glory, which God will certainly give us at the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ. Burkitt.

1 Peter 1:15

15. But as he which hath called you is holy, &c.] The peculiar character of Christ’s holiness appears plainly to be a distinction proper to Him, and to Him only. We are called upon to follow Him, to learn of Him, and to imitate Him without restriction: whereas we are required to follow the Apostles, only as they were followers of Christ, 1 Cor. xi. 1: and though we are here commanded to be “holy as He,” that is, Christ, “was holy in all manner of conversation;” that does no more prove that any man can arrive at that pitch, than our being commanded to “be perfect as our Father which is in heaven is perfect,” Matt. v. 48, will prove that we may become as perfect as God is: the import of these words being only this, that we ought in all things to make God and Christ our patterns, and that we ought to

1 Peter 1:17

17. And if ye call on the Father, &c.] And if you profess to be the children of that Father, namely, God, who is not partial to Jews above Gentiles, but judgeth both according to their actions, you will be concerned to walk reverently, strictly, and watchfully all your time; and being strangers among other nations, ver. 1, to behave yourselves like strangers; see chap. ii. 11. Dr. Hammond.

1 Peter 1:18

18. — ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, &c.] The verb, rendered “redeemed,” signifies to ransom, to deliver by paying a price. Particularly, it signifies to ransom a captive from the enemy. Parkhurst. The price paid for our redemption was the blood of the Son of God: the captivity, from which we were redeemed, was the bondage and slavery of sin.

— received by tradition from your fathers;] Or, ‘delivered down from your fathers or ancestors.’ Parkhurst. The Jews derived from their fathers that implicit regard for the tradition of the elders, by which they “made the commandment of God of none effect.” In like manner the Gentiles derived their idolatry and other vicious practices from the teaching and example of their fathers. For, in general, as Dr. Whitby observes, the strongest argument for false religions, as well as for errors in the true, is, that men have received them from their fathers. Dr. Macknight.

1 Peter 1:22

22. Seeing ye have purified your souls &c.] And since you have engaged to reform your lives by obedience to this pure religion, &c. Pyle. St. Peter says, “Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit;” that is, the purification of the souls of these Christians was in part owing to their own act in obeying the truth through the assistance of the Spirit. The same co-operation of man with the Spirit of God is acknowledged by St. Paul, when he tells the Romans, “if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live,” Rom. viii. 13. And speaking of

Anno DOMINE about 60. The apostle exhorteth them to lay aside all uncharitableness. Anne DOMINI about 6c.

the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

1 Peter 1:24

24. For all flesh is as grass, &c.] This is a quotation from Iasi. xl. 6-8, where the preaching of the Gospel is foretold, and recommended from the consideration, that every thing which is merely human, and, among the rest, the noblest races of mankind, with all their glory and grandeur, their honour, riches, beauty, strength and eloquence, as also the arts which men have invented, and the works they have executed, all decay as the flowers of the field. But the incorruptible seed, the Gospel, called by the Prophet the word of the Lord, shall be preached while the world standeth; and the Divine nature, which it is the instrument of conveying to believers, will remain in them to all eternity. Dr. Macbright.

Chap. II. The loving and charitable temper, spoken of chap. i. 22, is here farther and particularly recommended, from the great example of Christ, and the blessings of His religion. The believing Gentiles are received into its privileges, whilst the unbelieving Jews are rejected, according to the Scripture prophecies. The Jewish Christians are exhorted to pay all due obedience to the emperor and his officers, as obliged thereto by their Christianity, and as the only means to avoid the scandalous character of being seditious, as the Gentiles were apt to represent Christians in common with the Jewish nation. Christian servants or slaves are obliged to serve and respect even their heathen masters, though severe towards them, for their religion’s sake; encouraged thereto by the example of Christ’s meekness and patience under His sufferings. Pyle.

Ver. 2. As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, &c.] Being thus regenerated by the Christian faith, as newborn children are to be fed with the most simple and harmless diet, so ought you to put in practice the pure and reasonable precepts of the Gospel, whereby you may improve in all virtue and holiness. Pyle. The early Christians administered milk and honey, which was the ordinary food of infants, to such as were newly received into the church; shewing them by this sign, that by their baptism they were born again, and were bound to manifest the simplicity and innocence of infants in their lives and conversations. Mosheim.