Chapter 1:
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Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 James 2 Peter
1 Peter 1
1:2 1
Elect according to the
a foreknowledge
of God the Father, through
b
sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
(
1) Peter purposing to speak of the duties of a
Christian life, reasons first of the principles and beginnings of all
Christian actions, rising far higher than nature, and carrying us also far
above the same. For he shows that we who are otherwise by nature sinners, were
through the free mercy of God the Father first chosen from everlasting: then
according to that everlasting decree. We were by a certain second creation
made his sons in Christ his only begotten, by whose Spirit we are inwardly
changed and by whose blood we are also reconciled. To the end, that as Christ
himself rose again from the dead, we also might be received into that same
heavenly and everlasting glory.
(
a) Or, according to the purpose of God, who
never alters nor changes the same.
(
b) That being set apart from the rest of this
wicked world, through the working of the Holy Spirit, they should be
consecrated to God; (
Ephesians
1:5)
1:3 Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto
a
c lively hope by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead,
(
c) Everlasting hope.
1:5 2
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be
revealed in the
d last time.
(
2) Now he shows by what way we come to that
glory, that is, through all types of afflictions. Wherein nonetheless faith
maketh us so secure, that we are not overcome with sorrow. But through the
beholding of God himself (who otherwise is invisible) with the eyes of faith,
we are made unspeakably joyful. Because all such things, as they are but for a
time, so are they not applied unto us to destroy us, but as it were by fire to
purge us, and to make us perfect that at length we may obtain salvation.
(
d) This is that time which Daniel calls the time
of the end, when the great restoring of all things shall be, which all
creation looks for; (
Romans
8:19)
1:7 That the trial of your
faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried
with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the
e
appearing of Jesus Christ:
(
e) He speaks of the second coming of Christ.
1:10
3 Of which salvation the prophets have
enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace [that should come]
unto you:
(
3) He makes a difference between true faith,
that is to say, that faith which only has an eye to the doctrine of the
prophets and apostles, and false faith. Afterward he makes two degrees of one
and the same faith, according to the manner of the various revelations, when
as in deed it is but one only faith. Thirdly, he says that the preaching of
the apostles is the fulfilling of the preaching of the prophets, although the
latter end of it be as yet looked for by the very angels.
1:12 Unto whom it was
revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things,
which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you
with the Holy Ghost
f sent down from
heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
(
f) He alludes to the prophecy of Joel, which was
exhibited upon the day of Pentecost, in the Apostles, as it were in the first
fruits of the Holy Spirit, which this same prophecy Peter declares; (
Acts
2:6)
1:13 4
Wherefore
g gird up the loins of your
mind, be sober, and
5 hope
h
to the end for the grace
6 that is to be
brought unto you
7 at the revelation of
Jesus Christ;
(
4) He goes from faith to hope, which is indeed a
companion that cannot be separated from faith. He uses an argument taken by
comparison: We should not be wearied in looking for so excellent a thing,
which the very angels wait for with great desire.
(
g) This is a borrowed speech, taken from common
use among them: for since they wore long garments, they could not travel
unless they girded up themselves: and hence it is that Christ said, Let your
loins be girded up. (
5) He sets forth very
briefly, what manner of hope ours ought to be, that is, continual, until we
enjoy the thing we hope for: then, what we have to hope for, that is, grace
(that is, free salvation) revealed to us in the gospel, and not that, that men
do rather and fondly promise to themselves.
(
h) Soundly and sincerely. (
6)
An argument to stir up our minds, seeing that God does not wait until we seek
him, but causes so great a benefit to be brought even unto us. (
7)
He sets out the end of faith, lest any man should promise himself, either
sooner or latter, that full salvation, that is, the latter coming of Christ.
In addition warns that that which we are now, is not yet revealed.
1:14 8
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in
your ignorance:
(
8) He passes from faith and hope, to the fruits
of them both, which are understood in the name of obedience. It consists in
two things, in renouncing our lusts, and living godly: which lusts have their
beginning in that blindness in which all men are born: but holiness proceeds
that the father and the children may be of one disposition.
1:16 9
Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
(
9) He shows that sanctification does necessarily
follow adoption.
1:17 10
And if ye
i call on the Father, who
without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the
time of your sojourning [here] in fear:
(
10) As before he distinguished true faith and
hope from false, so does he now obedience, setting the quick and sharp sight
of God, against an outward mask, and earnest reverence against vain severity.
(
i) If you will be called the sons of that
father.
1:18
(
11) Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed
with corruptible things, [as] silver and gold, from your vain conversation
[received] by tradition from your fathers;
(
11) An exhortation, in which he sets forth the
excellency and greatness of the benefit of God the Father in sanctifying us by
the death of his own Son. And he partly sets the purifyings of the law against
the thing itself, that is, against the blood of Christ, and partly also
men's traditions, which he condemns as utterly vain and superstitious, be
they never so old and ancient.
1:20 12
Who verily was foreordained before the
k
foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
(
12) The taking away of an objection: what was
done to the world, before Christ was sent into the world? was there no
holiness before, and was there no Church? The apostle answers, that Christ was
ordained and appointed to redeem and deliver mankind, before mankind was: much
less was there any Church without him before his coming in the flesh: yet we
are happiest about the rest, to whom Christ was exhibited indeed, in this that
he having suffered and overcome death for us, does now most effectually work
in us by the power of his Spirit, to create in us faith, hope, and charity.
(
k) From everlasting.
1:22 13
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto
unfeigned love of the brethren, [see that ye] love one another with a pure heart
fervently:
(
13) He commends the practice of obedience, that
is, charity: earnestly repeating again, that he speaks not of any common
charity, and such as proceeds from that our corrupt nature, but of that whose
beginning is the Spirit of God, which purifies our souls through the word laid
hold on by faith, and engenders also in us a spiritual and everlasting life,
as God himself is most pure and truly living.
1:24 14
For all
l flesh [is] as grass, and all
the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower
thereof falleth away:
(
14) A reason why we need this heavenly birth,
that is, because men, though their glory may not be great, are by nature void
of all true and sound goodness.
(
l) The word, "flesh", shows the
weakness of our nature, which is chiefly to be considered in the flesh itself.
1:25 15
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you.
(
15) Again lest any man should seek that
spiritual force and virtue in feigned imaginations, the apostle calls us back
to the word of God: teaching us furthermore, that there is no other word of
the Lord to be looked for than this that is preached, in which we must trust
alone.
Chapter 1:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 James 2 Peter
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalm
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
