ANALYSIS. To comfort and strengthen the suffering Christians living in those regions mentioned in the first verse was the main design of Peter in writing this Epistle. To accomplish these objects in rugged sentences containing thoughts that blaze and burn, in a few words the writer first alludes to... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 1 PETER, AN APOSTLE OF JESUS CHRIST. In the very outset the author of this Epistle gives his name Peter. Around this name many sacred memories are entwined. The Lord himself chose the writer hereof, and selected him as the one who should first announce the gospel of peace to the awe-stricken J... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 2 ELECT ACCORDING TO THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD. Around this word "elect" have swept the wildest winds of religious controversy, and the gale is not in the least abated at the mention of the term "foreknowledge." While this is all true, I can see but little cause for the humble, teachable discip... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 3 BLESSED BE GOD. The writer breaks forth in this ejaculation of thankfulness to God for the exhibition of his mercy to the children of men. It is called an abundant mercy; that is, an overflowing mercy, a great mercy. It is a marvelous mercy that God should beget us again to a lively hope a... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 4 TO AN INHERITANCE INCORRUPTIBLE AND UNDEFILED. Here the apostle describes that for which we hope, and he adds to the same the fact that the elect are heirs. The word "inheritance" conveys the idea of heirship. Think of it, ye elect heirs of God, joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spiri... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 5 WHO ARE KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD. Kept; that is, guarded. God, by his revealed will, has made provisions by which his elect are kept or guarded or defended against the prince of evil and all of his instrumentalities, through their faith. UNTO SALVATION. Final salvation or deliverance. This... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 6 WHEREIN YE GREATLY REJOICE. That is to say, in the living hope you have of this final salvation you are exceedingly glad, although it is true that now for a little time you are in heaviness; that is, you are sorry, or undergoing sorrow brought about by the afflictions with which you are vis... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 7 THAT THE TRIAL OF YOUR FAITH."Manifold temptations" of the sixth verse are here referred to as trials of faith. Persecutions by stripes, imprisonment and death are the severest tests of one's fidelity to the cause of Christ. Maintaining loyalty throughout these trials, enduring without falte... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 8. WHOM, HAVING NOT SEEN, YE LOVE. These dispersed ones had not seen the Savior while he was here on earth, and did not, at the time Peter wrote, see him with the human eye, yet they believed in him, and all accounts given by the apostles of him, and trusted him and relied unwaveringly upon h... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 9 RECEIVING THE END OF YOUR FAITH. The result you so greatly desire, the recompense or reward for your fidelity; that inheritance heretofore mentioned. That is, the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 10 OF WHICH SALVATION THE PROPHETS HAVE INQUIRED. As the ages passed, God, from time to time, by words through the prophets and by their hands, exhibited types and symbols relating to the coming Christ and the salvation through the gospel for the world which the same prophets did not comprehe... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 11 SEARCHING WHAT OR WHAT MANNER OF TIME. Now, the Spirit of Christ that was in these prophets caused them to testify that the Christ would come, and of his sufferings and the consequent glory that should follow, both to the Christ and to the children of men. And yet they knew not in what cha... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 12 UNTO WHOM IT WAS REVEALED. The prophets were taught that the things of which they spake concerning the coming One were to be in the future, therefore they, in so predicting, were not ministering unto themselves, but for future generations. BUT UNTO US THEY DID MINISTER. Now, we in this a... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 13 WHEREFORE GIRD UP THE LOINS OF YOUR MIND. While the expression is rugged, it is striking and bold, and characteristic of its author. The metaphor is drawn from eastern customs. The angel that delivered Peter from prison said to him: "Gird thyself, and cast thy garments about thee" (Acts 12:... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 14 AS OBEDIENT CHILDREN, NOT FASHIONING YOURSELVES. Recognized as children that is, children and heirs as set forth in verse 4. And more than children obedient children; you must not fashion yourselves as you once did. You well remember that before you became children you followed a course of... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 15 BUT AS HE WHICH HATH CALLED YOU IS HOLY. God called you. God is holy. Now, as you are called of God, and are his children, God is your Father. Every obedient child seeks to please, and, as far as in him lies, strives to be like that Father in character and conduct. His obligation and duty... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 16 BECAUSE IT IS WRITTEN, BE YE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY. I take this to be a quotation from Leviticus 19:2, which reads: "Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." Twice before, God had uttered the same thought... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 17 AND IF YE CALL ON THE FATHER. The idea is, if God is called on as Father, which would follow as a matter of course if we be his children, then we should pass the time in fear. To call on the Father is to worship him as he directs. To observe his commands, doing just what he requires, and in... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 18 FORASMUCH AS YE KNOW THAT YE WERE NOT REDEEMED. This is as much as to say that the parties here addressed did know, for the sense is, since ye know how they were redeemed. The apostle states the manner of their redemption first negatively, and afterwards affirmatively. Redemption from what... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 19 BUT WITH THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST. Here the manner of the redemption is stated affirmatively. Negatively, not with gold or silver; affimatively, with the precious blood of Christ. Under the Jewish economy a sacrifice had to be without blemish. (See Leviticus 22:21-23.) So the precious b... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 20 WHO VERILY WAS FOREORDAINED. Christ as the sacrifice was foreordained. In the purpose of God as the sacrifice was determined upon, was appointed as the center and the soul of the scheme of human redemption. This appointment was made before the foundation of the world. MANIFEST IN THE LAST... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 21 WHO BY HIM DO BELIEVE IN GOD, WHO RAISED HIM UP FROM THE DEAD. Who by him that is, by Christ do believe in God. Now, this can not be said of the Jew. He believed in God before Christ came. Of the Gentile, however, it can be truly said. It was through the gospel preached, and through this c... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 22 SEEING YE HAVE PURIFIED YOUR SOULS. This purification here referred to is moral, and includes the pardon of their sins, and, further, the living of a pure, chaste and holy life. IN OBEYING THE TRUTH. The apostle tells them how the leading of pure lives was by them accomplished. It was in... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 23--BEING BORN AGAIN, NOT OF CORRUPTIBLE SEED. This may, and does, no doubt, refer the parties addressed back to their conversion. This is compared to a birth. Such a result is produced from an adequate cause life first, birth afterward. Life is implanted by seed. The apostle says the seed wa... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 24 FOR ALL FLESH IS AS GRASS. To make the declaration that God's word is living and eternal to stand out with more boldness, the apostle presents by the way of contrast, a quotation from the prophet Isaiah 40:6-8. Everything pertaining to man is weak like the grass, and his highest earthly gl... [ Continue Reading ]
VERSE 25 BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURETH FOREVER. The contrast brought forward in the former verse is now plainly seen. While man is like the _grass,_ and his decay is certain, it is far different with the word of the Lord. That Word endures, abides, remains forever. AND THIS IS THE WORD BY WHIC... [ Continue Reading ]