1 Peter 3:4

the hidden man of the heart The phrase is identical in meaning with the "inward man" of Romans 7:22; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Ephesians 3:16. The word for "man" is one which takes within its range women as well as men. The "hidden humanityof the heart" would be somewhat too abstract in its form, and "the hidden human," though the word has the sanction of one or two poets of mark, would sound too grotesque, but either would express the meaning of the word adequately. The "hidden man of the heart" (the genitive expresses the fact that the life of the "hidden man" manifests itself in the sphere of the feelings and affections) is the "new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15), the "Christ formed in us" (Galatians 4:19), on which St Paul loves to dwell. Men do not see it with the outward eye, but they can be made to recognise its presence.

in that which is not corruptible The contrast rests on the same sense of the perishableness even of the gold and silver and gems which men looked on as most durable, that we have seen in chap. 1 Peter 1:18. These pass away, but the true ornament of the hidden man has its being in the region of the imperishable.

of a meek and quiet spirit The New Testament usage of the second adjective is confined to this passage and to 1 Timothy 2:2. So far as we can distinguish, where it is almost impossible to separate, "meekness," the absence of self-assertion, of any morbid self-consciousness, may be thought of as the cause, and "quietness," the calm tranquillity which is not only not an element of disturbance, but checks the action of such elements in others, as the effect. In their union the Apostle, speaking, we may hope, from his own experience, rightly finds a charm, a kosmos, compared with which gold and jewels are as nothing.

of great price The Greek word is the same as that used of the "very preciousointment" in Mark 14:3 and the "costlyarray" of 1 Timothy 2:9. The connexion of St Peter with St Mark's Gospel (see Introduction) gives a special interest to the first of these references. He had learnt the lesson that God's estimate of value differs altogether from man's, and is not to be measured by the standard which the world commonly applies.