1 Peter 1:4

εἰς κληρ … ἀμάραντον, as God's sons in virtue of their regeneration they are God's heirs (Galatians 4:7) and have an heavenly inheritance. The accumulated adjectives recall various images employed to describe it and emphasise the fact that it is eternal (Hebrews 9:15) and spiritual. It is ἄφθαρτον, incorruptible (cf. 1 Peter 1:23; 1 Peter 3:4) because it belongs to the future life which the risen dead (1 Corinthians 15:52) share with God Himself (Romans 1:23; 1 Timothy 1:17). It is set where “moth doth not corrupt (διαφθείρει, Luke 12:33 : Matthew 6:19 ff. has ἀφανίζει),” apart from this corruptible world (cf. Isaiah 24:3). It is the incorruptible crown (1 Corinthians 9:25). The second epithet ἀμίαντον is applied to the great High Priest, Hebrews 7:26 (cf. Hebrews 13:4; James 1:27) and implies again separation from this sinful world of which it is written ἐμιάνατε τὴν γῆν μου καὶ τὴν κληρονομίαν μου ἔθεσθε εἰς βδέλυγμα (Jeremiah 2:7). Compare the description of virtue in Sap. 1 Peter 4:2, στεφανηφοροῦσα πομπεύει τὸν τῶν ἀμιάντων ἄθλων ἀγῶνα νικήσασα. ἀμάραντον is peculiar to 1 Peter in N.T., cf. ἀμαράντινον (1 Peter 1:4): it is perhaps derived from Sap. 6:12, ἀμάραντός ἐστιν ἡ σοφία, and thus presupposes the identification of eternal life with knowledge of God (John 17:3). Compare the application of Isaiah 40:6 f. (cited infra 24) in James 1:11. All three suit or are associated with the wreath presented to the victor in the games a metaphor which the Lord Himself used according to the Apocalypse (1 Peter 2:10, cf. 1 Peter 5:4; James 1:12). Origen (?) in Cramer's Catena notes that the words contradict Chiliasm. τετηρημένην εἰς ὑμᾶς, reserved (1) with a view to you, cf. John 12:7, ἵνα εἰς τὴν ἡμέραν … τηρήσῃ, 2 Peter 2:4, εἰς κρίσιν τηρουμένους; for same use of εἰς in similar context see Romans 8:18. (2. until you came a sense which would suit the other examples of τηρεῖν εἰς. (3) … for you, εἰς = ל = dative (so Syriac), the writer or translator being influenced by εἰς above and below. The inheritance is still, as it has always been, kept back, but the Christians are sure to succeed to it. So Enoch refers to the secrets of the righteous which shall be revealed (xxxviii. 3); the lot of the righteous which the Son of Man preserves (xlviii. 7); and says Blessed are ye ye righteous and elect for glorious will be your lo … it will be said to the holy that they should seek in heaven the secrets of righteousness the heritage of faith (lviii. 5).