THE FIRST GENERAL EPISTLE OF PETER. _Chronological Notes relative to this Epistle._ -Year of the Constantinopolitan era of the world, or that used by the Byzantine historians, and other eastern writers, 5568. -Year of the Alexandrian era of the world, 5562. -Year of the Antiochian era of the wor... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Peter 1:2. _ELECT ACCORDING TO THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD_] If the apostle had directed his letter to persons _elected to eternal_ _life_, no one, as Drs. Lardner and Macknight properly argue, could have received such a letter, because no one could have been sure of his election in this way t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Peter 1:3. _BLESSED BE THE GOD AND FATHER_] Ευλογητος ὁ Θεος και Πατηρ· _Blessed be God even the Father_, or _blessed be God, the_ _Father of our Lord Jesus Christ_. The και, _and_, is omitted by the _Syriac_, Erpen's _Arabic_, and the _AEthiopic_. But if we translate και, _even_, a meaning... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Peter 1:4. _TO AN INHERITANCE_] Called an _inheritance_ because it belongs to the _children_ of God. Eternal life cannot be a gift to any but _these_; for, even in heaven, the _lot_ is dealt out according to _law_: if _children_, then _heirs_; if _not children_, then _not_ _heirs_. _INCORRU... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Peter 1:5. _WHO ARE KEPT_] φρουρουμενονς. _Who are defended as in_ _a fortress_ or _castle_. There is a remarkable correspondence between the two verbs used in this sentence: the verb τηρεω, signifies to _keep, watch, guard_; and τηρησις, is a _place of_ _custody_ or _prison_. And φρουρεω,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 6. _WHEREIN YE GREATLY REJOICE_] Some refer _wherein_, ενω, to the salvation mentioned above; others, to the _last time_, καιρωεσχατω, in 1 Peter 1:5; others think that it applies to the _being kept by the power of God through faith_; and others, that it refers to all the preceding advantages... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 7. _THAT THE TRIAL OF YOUR FAITH, BEING MUCH MORE_ _PRECIOUS THAN OF GOLD_] As by the action of fire gold is separated from all alloy and heterogeneous mixtures, and is proved to be gold by its enduring the action of the fire without losing any thing of its nature, weight, colour, or any other... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 8. _WHOM HAVING NOT SEEN, YE LOVE_] Those to whom the apostle wrote had never seen Christ in the flesh; and yet, such is the _realizing_ nature of faith, they loved him as strongly as any of his disciples could, to whom he was _personally known_. For faith in the Lord Jesus brings him into the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 9. _RECEIVING THE END OF YOUR FAITH_] Ye are put in possession of the salvation of your souls, which was the thing presented to your faith, when ye were called by the Gospel of Christ. Your faith has had a proper issue, and has been crowned with a proper recompense. The word τελος, _end_, is o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 10. _OF WHICH SALVATION THE PROPHETS HAVE INQUIRED_] The incarnation and suffering of Jesus Christ, and the redemption procured by him for mankind, were made known, in a general way, by the prophets; but they themselves did not know the time when these things were to take place, nor the peopl... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 11. _THE GLORY THAT SHOULD FOLLOW._] Not only the glory of his resurrection, ascension, exaltation, and the effusion of his Spirit; but that grand manifestation of God's infinite love to the world in causing the Gospel of his Son to be everywhere preached, and the glorious moral changes which... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 12. _UNTO WHOM IT WAS REVEALED_] We may presume that, in a great variety of cases, the prophets did not understand the meaning of their own predictions. They had a general view of God's designs; but of particular circumstances, connected with those great events, they seem to have known nothin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 13. _GIRD UP THE LOINS OF YOUR MIND_] Take courage from this display of God's love now made known to you; and though you must expect trials, yet fortify your minds with the consideration that he who has given you his Son Jesus will withhold from you no manner of thing that is good. The allusio... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 14. _NOT FASHIONING YOURSELVES_] As the _offices_ of certain persons are known by the _garb_ or _livery_ they wear, so are transgressors: where we see the _world's livery_ we see the _world's_ _servants_; they _fashion_ or _habit_ themselves according to their _lusts_, and we may guess that th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 15. _BUT AS HE WHICH HATH CALLED YOU_] Heathenism scarcely produced a god whose example was not the most abominable; their greatest gods, especially, were paragons of impurity; none of their philosophers could propose the objects of their adoration as objects of imitation. Here Christianity ha... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 17. _AND IF YE CALL ON THE FATHER_] Seeing ye invoke the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and your Father through Christ, and profess to be _obedient children_, and _sojourners_ here below for a short time only, see that ye maintain a godly _reverence_ for this Father, walking in all his testi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 18. _YE WERE NOT REDEEMED WITH CORRUPTIBLE THINGS_] To _redeem_, λυτροω, signifies to procure life for a captive or liberty for a slave by _paying a price_, and the _precious blood of Christ_ is here stated to be the _price_ at which the souls of both Jews and Gentiles were redeemed; is was a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 19. _THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST_] τιμιω αιματι. _The_ _valuable blood; how valuable_ neither is nor could be stated. _AS OF A LAMB_] Such as was required for a _sin-offering_ to God; and THE _Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world_. _WITHOUT BLEMISH_] In himself, and _without spo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 20. _WHO VERILY WAS FOREORDAINED_] προεγνωσμενου. _Foreknown; appointed_ in the Divine purpose to be sent into the world, because infinitely _approved_ by the Divine justice. _BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD_] Before the law was given, or any sacrifice prescribed by it. Its whole sacrific... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 21. _WHO BY HIM DO BELIEVE IN GOD_] This is supposed to refer to the _Gentiles_, who never knew the true God till they heard the preaching of the Gospel: the Jews had known him long before, but the Gentiles had every thing to learn when the first preachers of the Gospel arrived amongst them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 22. _SEEING YE HAVE PURIFIED YOUR SOULS_] Having purified your souls, _in obeying the truth_-by believing in Christ Jesus, _through_ the influence and teaching of _the Spirit_; and giving full proof of it by _unfeigned love_ to the _brethren_; ye _love one_ _another_, or _ye will love each ot... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 23. _BEING BORN AGAIN_] For being born of Abraham's seed will not avail to the entering of the kingdom of heaven. _NOT OF CORRUPTIBLE SEED_] By no human generation, or earthly means; _but of incorruptible _- a Divine and heavenly principle which is not liable to decay, nor to be affected by t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 24. _FOR ALL FLESH_ IS _AS GRASS_] Earthly seeds, earthly productions, and earthly generations, shall fail and perish like as the grass and flowers of the field; for the _grass withereth_, and _the flower falleth off_, though, in the ensuing spring and summer, they may put forth new verdure an... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Peter 1:25. _BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD_] The doctrine delivered by God concerning Christ endureth for ever, having, at _all times_ and in _all seasons_, the same excellence and the same efficacy. _AND THIS IS THE WORD_] τοπνμα, _What is spoken_, by the Gospel preached unto you. "This is a q... [ Continue Reading ]