1 Peter 3:8

1 Peter 3:8. Finally, be ye all; or, to retain the immediate dependence which the previous counsels had upon the general exhortations of 1 Peter 2:11-12, or 1 Peter 2:13, finally being all. It is, says an old Greek interpreter, as if the apostle had written, ‘Why should I give particular directions? I say simply to all.'

like-minded. What Peter sets in the forefront of this summary of universal Christian duties is that oneness of judgment and inclination on which Paul so often touches (Romans 12:16; Romans 15:5; 1Co 1:10; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 2:2; Philippians 3:15; Ephesians 4:3). It is expressed by an adjective, which occurs nowhere else in the N. T. It denotes the agreement of those whose mind and will are set upon the same objects (Schott), or unity in sentiment, and, therefore, in faith (Steiger, Bengel). It is not to be limited to agreement in doctrinal opinion. It is the harmony of many minds which ‘springs from the sense of a common origin, from common relations, and interests, and aims, and hopes' (Lillie).

compassionate, or, better, sympathetic. This is the solitary occurrence of the adjective in the N. T., although the cognate verb is found twice (Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 10:34). It denotes oneness in feeling, and covers Paul's ‘rejoice with them that do rejoice,' as well as his ‘weep with them that weep' (Romans 12:15). The unity of mind and the unity of feeling are associated again in Romans 12:15-16, and Philippians 2:1-2.

loving as brethren, or, loving the brethren; another adjective found nowhere else in the N. T. See on 1 Peter 1:22, where the noun is used, as it is also in 2 Peter 1:7; Romans 12:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:9; Hebrews 13:1.

compassionate, or, as it is rendered in its only other N. T. occurrence (Ephesians 4:32), tender-hearted. In classical Greek the adjective and the cognate noun (the former being rare) have either a purely physical sense or denote stout-heartedness. They owe to Christianity their delicate ethical tone, and the sense of the kinship of man with man which softens and enriches them.

humble-minded. So we must read instead of the very poorly-attested term of the Textus Receptus, which our A. V. rather unhappily renders ‘courteous,' as if it referred to manners, or external demeanour. Lowliness of mind in the classical Ethics ranked not as a virtue, but as a fault or infirmity, that of meanness of spirit or faint-heartedness. The adjective which Peter uses (which occurs only here and in Proverbs 29:23) has even in Plutarch's writings an unfavourable sense. The noun for ‘humble-mindedness' occurs in no Greek writer prior to the Christian era. In Christianity it becomes a grace, contrasted with the heathen virtue of ‘high-mindedness,' and born of the sense of un-worthiness. It is the thinking ourselves little because we are little. So Bernard defines it as the virtue which teaches a man out of the truest knowledge of himself to esteem himself lightly. In the N. T. it denotes humility toward God (Acts 15:19) and toward our fellow-men (1 Peter 5:5; Philippians 2:3). Primarily it is the former. Hence it is opposed both to the mock-humility of morbid feeling which has so often shown itself in the history of Christ's Church, and to ‘slavish deference to men' (see specially Neander, Planting of Christianity, i. pp. 483-5, Bohn). The connection between these precepts is variously understood. Some (e.g. Hofmann, Huther) take the first three to be notes of what Christians should be among themselves, and the others to be notes of what they should be towards all without distinction of Christian and non-Christian. Their relations are probably of a less external kind than that. The primary duty of like-mindedness or unity in sentiment naturally carries with it the unity of feeling which makes us enter into the joys and sorrows of others as if they were our own; and this oneness in mind and feeling, when it is exhibited toward our fellow-Christians, means nothing less than brotherly affection which takes a living interest in all that concerns others, expressing itself in all tenderness of regard for them, and inspiring us with that disposition to think others better than ourselves without which love remains less than it should be. There is a notice-able analogy between this train of precepts and the briefer series given by Paul in Colossians 3:12. In the one, as in the other, humility crowns the list. And justly so. For it is the safeguard of all the social graces, the virtue which makes all other virtues, lovely in themselves, proof against assault, and safe from exaggeration.