Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Peter 5:10
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle [you.]
10. But the God of all grace ] Rather, as there is no implied contrast, “ And the God of all grace.” The epithet, like “the God of all comfort,” in 2Co 1:3, implies that God is the Author and Giver of all grace that the child of God needs. In connexion with this attribute of God, there follows the fact that He had called those to whom the Apostle writes to nothing less than a share in His “eternal glory.” It may be noted, as bearing on the question as to the authorship of the Second Epistle, that the same description occurs there also (2Pe 1:3). But this calling is “in Christ,” i.e not merely by Him as the instrument through whom the call came, but as being “in Him,” i.e. by virtue of our union with Him.
after that ye have suffered a while ] Literally, suffered a little; but the context, contrasting the transient suffering with the eternal glory, as well as the use of the same adverb in chap. 1Pe 1:6, justifies us in taking the word of time rather than degree.
make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you ] The English verb follows the Received Text in taking the Greek verb as optative. Most of the better MSS., however, give the future tense, “ will make you perfect ,” expressing not the prayer of the Apostle, but his firm and steadfast confidence. Each verb has a distinct meaning. That for “make you perfect” implies, as in Mat 4:21; Luk 6:40 ; 1Co 1:10, restoring to completeness; that for “stablish,” as 2Th 2:17; 2Th 3:3, the fixity of Christians; that for “strengthen” (not found elsewhere in the New Testament) giving power to resist attack. In “settle” (literally, to lay a foundation), as in Mat 7:25, Luk 6:48, which may well have been in the Apostle’s thoughts, we have the idea of building up the spiritual life upon Christ as the one foundation (1Co 3:11).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But the God of all grace – The God who imparts all needful grace. It was proper in their anticipated trials to direct them to God, and to breathe forth in their behalf an earnest and affectionate prayer that they might be supported. A prayer of this kind by an apostle would also be to them a sort of pledge or assurance that the needed grace would be granted them.
Who hath called us unto his eternal glory – And who means, therefore, that we shall be saved. As he has called us to his glory, we need not apprehend that he will leave or forsake us. On the meaning of the word called, see the notes at Eph 4:1.
After that ye have suffered a while – After you have suffered as long as he shall appoint. The Greek is, having suffered a little, and may refer either to time or degree. In both respects the declaration concerning afflictions is true. They are short, compared with eternity; they are light, compared with the exceeding and eternal weight of glory. See the notes at 2Co 4:16-18.
Make you perfect – By means of your trials. The tendency of affliction is to make us perfect.
Stablish – The Greek word means to set fast; to fix firmly; to render immovable, Luk 16:26; Luk 9:51; Luk 22:32; Rom 1:11; Rom 16:25; 1Th 3:2, 1Th 3:13, et al.
Strengthen – Give you strength to bear all this.
Settle you – Literally, found you, or establish you on a firm foundation – themelioses. The allusion is to a house which is so firmly fixed on a foundation that it will not be moved by winds or floods. Compare the notes at Mat 7:24 ff.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Pe 5:10
The God of all grace.
Triple perfection
The Revised Version makes two changes of some importance in this passage. The word settle is removed to the margin. And the form of the whole passage is changed from that of a prayer to that of an assurance: The God of all grace shall Himself perfect, stablish, strengthen you. It may be taken as a revelation.
I. First of all, what God actually is-a God of all grace; that is, of grace for all men, and of every kind of grace. Its contents may perhaps be defined best as unmerited goodwill, showing itself in act or waiting in perpetual eagerness for an opportunity to show itself. Now it is one of the peculiarities of the Christian religion that it represents God as in eternal possession of such grace, and as always ready and disposed to exercise it towards man. Other religions are apt to confine the goodwill of the God within the limits of the country, or the tribe, or the association of tribes, or to represent the God as gracious only to some men, although ungracious and His heart entirely closed against others. To all our dull questionings whether God really loves us, the one reply the New Testament makes is simply that He is the God of all grace, in such a sense that no higher degree of grace on the one hand, and on the other no defect or arbitrary restraint of grace, can be conceived of Him.
1. That reply is worth lingering upon, in order that we may teach ourselves more confidently to adore. Through all nature it is easy to trace Gods grace or effective goodwill towards man, nor is it necessary to suppose that it is altogether confined to man. That He Himself feels pleasure at the beautiful things He makes, whether they spring into being as the product of a fresh creation or evolve their glories out of some closely packed germ, may be inferred from the phrase in Genesis (He saw that it was good.) In the shapes of the leaves, the colours of the flowers, and all the fragrance of the garden, it is possible to see not only the skill of the Creator in providing for the vital purposes of nature, but His generosity also in weaving beauty and use in His processes and decking His handiwork with glories that are almost superfluous but for pleasure.
2. It is much the same with history, Gods providential administration of the world. Grace of every kind and degree, of patience, and discipline, and spiritual help, may be traced all through it, vindicating the interests of righteousness, leading men on to ever clearer moral perception and completer moral attainment. To that statement it is questionable whether any exception can be taken. On the part of some men, indeed, it is customary to hold that the testimony is divided, that whilst in certain places the race has declined and fallen, in others only has it risen and advanced. But there is a distinction, of primary importance in human affairs, which does not seem to warrant such a conclusion. Mans progress through the centuries appears at times to be confused and slow. But that is exactly what might have been expected from man; and if any long period is taken, and his condition at the close compared with his condition at the beginning, as far as morality and the highest and innermost interests of the man are concerned, it will not be easy to question either that the progress has been very real and great, or that the cause of it all has been the overflowing grace of God.
3. But no manifestation of that grace in any other sphere can compare with its manifestation in religion. Who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus. This states that the grace is so great as to be able to satisfy itself with nothing less than that we should be with God, partakers of His nature and sharers through eternity of His glory. Of course the apostle added by Christ Jesus, for no Christian with the thought of Gods grace in his mind can keep it separate long from its companion thought of the Saviour. For that there are at least two reasons. Whenever a man wants to know the heart of God, the best mode is to dwell upon the kindliness and patience and love of the Saviour amongst men, to trace them all back to the Divine source from which they come, and to regard them as but sparks and emanations, dulled in their passage earthwards, of the ever-glowing Love that sits upon the throne of the heavens. Secondly, and chiefly, the gift of Jesus Christ is at once the most magnificent and the most irrefragable proof Jehovah could give that His grace is like His justice, without defect and without limit.
II. Let us turn now to the revelation the verse contains of what man may become.
1. The same second phrase, called to His eternal glory, sets it forth in part, but is almost too ideal dud even inconceivable for exposition. For what the glory of God is, in the sense in which the word is used here, His own state of blessedness, the eternal beatitude that fills and surrounds Him, of necessity no man can tell. It must include all the gratifications that pure spirit is capable of receiving, with no liability to interruption or loss, and with all kinds of associated joys, each of which exceeds mans highest imagination. And all this glory is to be ours-the discord and strife of our natures forever quieted; the whole moral nature beatified, perfected, assimilated to God. In that respect, too, the Christian religion does not believe in limitations.
2. The other part of the revelation of what man may become can be more easily understood. God shall Himself perfect, stablish, strengthen you, writes the apostle; and he may also have added settle you. The first word implies such adjustment as issues in exact fitness to relationship-the making a man precisely what he ought to be in regard of his attitude towards God, towards his fellow men, towards his own conscience and sense of duty. The second word means radically power to resist and stand firm; and the third, power of effective strength by means of which conquests are made and obstacles overborne. The last word, settle, denotes the laying of a firm foundation, like the rock of which our Saviour speaks, whereon if a man build, his house will be able to defy the vehemence of wind and weather. There is thus a triple perfectness, set before us and even pledged to us in this verse, as the revelation of what man may become; fitness to all moral relationships, strength to resist every assault of Satan, power of progress and triumph which nothing can hinder, and all this resting upon, nay, built into a foundation so firm that the might of hell cannot shake it. There are, however, two or three facts frequently familiar to the thought of every one, which make the prospect opened up by St. Peter very blessed, but sometimes very dubious. The one is our almost constant consciousness that the motives of our best acts are mixed, some right, but others in every way unworthy. That alloy of impure motive-at times it seems to be a defect we cannot escape from, tainting our best moments, turning mens mistaken praise into the parent of humiliation and self-reproach. But that is not the worst. Moralists teach that the range of mans duty is co-extensive within the range of his moral consciousness; or, in other words, that the standard at which he aims should contain the completeness of everything, which his conscience when most sensitive recognises as dutiful and right. Two miserable results immediately follow. Every one knows that his performances day after day insist upon lingering a great way behind his standard; and every one must occasionally fear that the standard itself has shrunk, because the conscience has been dulled by past trifling and sin. The emphatic positiveness of this verse will not, however, permit itself to be overlooked. And instead of giving way to doubt and questioning the possibility of our perfecting, it is better that we should set ourselves to find out how such a blessing may be certainly ensured and enjoyed. St. Peter does not hesitate in his teaching or qualify his words in any way. He says distinctly that only God can do it for us, and that He will do it because His grace is complete and full. We must therefore get the Spirit of God into our hearts by trust in Him, and become possessed of Him, or the thing remains of necessity hopeless. There are indeed at the present day, as there have ever been, strong tendencies to look in other directions for the power that will confer the greatest benefit upon society anal upon the individual. Sometimes it assumes the shape of the study of some form of art or branch of science, of devotion to an impossible equality or an unreasonable hierarchy, of a kind of progress that slaughters the unit and passes on to a remote and general triumph, of culture, or combination, or the coercion of the will. Doubt, however, is long-lived and hard to kill; and still it may be our fears are whispering to us, Can He perfect me, and will He? It is almost certain that Peter was an old man when he wrote these words; and an old mans counsel and assurance, especially when they are based upon his own actual experience, are not to be despised. In his youth and earlier manhood he had lacked steadfastness. If, therefore, reason and experience have any validity at all, there is no room left for doubt. It is an argument in which no possible flaw can be found; the grace of God is not liable to exhaustion or abatement, and therefore whatever it has actually done for others it can do for us. The God of all grace will do it for us. That grace of His will go with us wherever we go, constantly compassing us about, sustaining our hearts, preparing us for blessedness. (R. W. Moss.)
The God of all grace
Our first experience in reading this verse is amazement that borders on bewilderment. The whole is a perfect blaze of diamonds. Keep your eyes upon the verse, and see what words we have: God, all grace, called, eternal glory, Christ Jesus, dominion forever. And, as if these were not enough, we find also perfection thrown in as well: make you perfect. And these marvellous words daze us all the more because of their contrast to that which has gone before. The devil, a roaring lion, suffering, adversary, God, grace, eternal glory, perfection. Now we will seek to put the words in order, and link them together. And observe that, though this text reads as a prayer, it is really a promise. Instead of the first word being but, it should be and. In the previous verses the Holy Ghost has been telling us what we have to do. Now He tells us what God has promised to do. We must never separate the things that God has joined together. If God says in one line, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, He says in the next, for it is God that worketh in you. And so, if here I am told that I am to be sober and vigilant, and that I am to resist a roaring devil, and I say, How can it be? It is more than I can do, He who bids me do it tells me what He will do: And He Himself shall perfect, strengthen, and stablish you. The words, you see, are beginning to fall into order. But there is one important point which I question whether many of you have seen, because in nine cases out of ten that sentence, after that ye have suffered a while, is linked with the last clause of the verse, whereas it belongs to the first; and if you look you will see what a difference it makes. The God of all grace who hath called us, after that we have suffered a while, to His eternal glory, will Himself, whilst we are suffering-during this little interval that lies between the grace and the glory-so sanctify the suffering, that it shall perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle us. The sufferings come between the grace and the glory.
I. Who shall rise to the height of this first expression, the God of all grace? It does not mean that God is gracious in His tendency, or simply gracious by His nature, but that He Himself is the reservoir, the home, the source, the supply, of grace in all its manifestations. Need I recapitulate them to you? Divine choice with all its inscrutable mysteries. Redemption by a dying Christ. Justification also in all its wondrous harmony between mercy and perfect equity. Yes, and regeneration too, with its heaven-born purity, and its new-created tendencies within the soul. All these are covered by the word grace. These things are only different manifestations of one and the same sublime attribute. But, when I mention these, I have only just touched the spray of the wave. There are deeps that lie beneath in this expression, the God of all grace, for it contains all the graces which the soul must possess before it can enter eternal glory. Most certainly there must be the grace of repentance. The cry of God be merciful to me is a cry that comes down from heaven before ever it can break from my lips. The God of all grace. But repentance must ever be followed by faith. It is the gift of God. Then there are other graces yet to be manifested. Faith worketh by love. But love is born of God, for God is love, and if I love Him, it is because He first loved me. But no man can see the Lord apart from holiness. How can this poor, sin-stained man become holy? And the answer is, that it is the Spirit of the Lord that worketh holiness; and so, whilst He is the God of all manifestations of grace, He is the God of all the graces that I possess. But I have hardly begun yet with this enumeration. This text covers much more, for it includes all the supplies of grace that are needed along the road. It is a weary road: I need refreshing grace. It is a sorrowing path, because it is a sinful one: I need comforting grace. As a wandering sheep, I need restoring grace. Being weak as a babe, I need upholding grace. And everything that a saint can need from the moment of my new birth to that ecstatic instant when I stand before His eternal glory, without spot or wrinkle, lies centred in God.
II. This God of all grace calls us to eternal glory. Let us begin at the beginning. He has called you. The call that is intended here is, as Archbishop Leighton beautifully puts it, that call which goes deeper than the ear, touches the heart within, throws open the door, and admits the Christ. And consequently you will find that the word called becomes the title of the true Christian. A man of God is one who has been called. But how is he called? It is unto His eternal glory in Christ; not simply, mark you, for Christs sake. That is true, but it is not the truth here taught. He has called us to eternal glory in Christ. He called Christ into glory, and, when He called Christ into glory, He called me, because I am in Christ. The call that I receive is a call that sounds in the Sons ear. It is a call to His glory. We share His blessedness. Gods glory is Himself. There is nothing more glorious about His glory than Himself. The only way in which God can glorify Himself is to reveal Himself. Come, lave thy spirit in the eternal blaze of Deity. Come, be at home with Me. That one word glory covers all joy, all blessing, all bliss. God has called us unto His eternal glory. But this is only the beginning of the theme. You have to put the word eternal into the scale. It is not a call for an age or for a millennium. Oh, fools that we are to weep our eyes out over earths sorrows, and to grumble our spirits into wretchedness because of a passing moment of care!
III. He allows a little interval of suffering which is itself full of blessing. Ah, we too often want to leave that bit out, After that ye have suffered a while. The call comes, but the glory does not come immediately after the call. The suffering is part of the call, as well as the glory. It is not a haphazard thing that comes in. It is all a part of the plan. When God calls you to glory, He calls you to come to glory through a little while of suffering. How this takes away all the acidity of ones sorrows! It is part of the road to the eternal glory. It is just as much included in the plan as all the rest, And then, you see, it says that it is only a little while. Really the word while is not there. It is after ye have suffered a little; and you can choose, if you like, whether it means degree or duration. You say, But why can I not go to heaven at once? The answer is found in the last line of our text. He Himself will make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. He will do it through this little interval of suffering. He will perfect you. Ah, there is nothing about us that is not imperfect. There are many little rents in us, and the Lord allows us to go through this little while of suffering so that He may repair the imperfections. Bad as you are, you would be worse if you had less trouble. There is not here, today, a child of God who is not the richer and the holier for the little while of suffering. The next word is stablish, and that implies fixity. Oh, we are very prone to fluctuation. Some times nothing but a heavy heart will give weight to a character, and so God says, I cannot let that light and frivolous child remain like a piece of thistledown floating at the dictation of every breath of air. I must pass him through a little while of suffering. That is stablishing. The word settle does not appear in the R.V. The last word there is strengthen, and the meaning of the word is made powerful to resist attack. There is the devil. He is roaring. Do you think you can resist the great adversary? Never! But the Lord steps ill, and says, If I bid you meet the roaring lion, I will pass you through a little season of suffering which shall repair and stablish you, and put spiritual thews and sinews into you, so that in My strength you may overcome. (A. G. Brown.)
Grace all in all
I. First, we are taught that the true conversion of the soul to God is a divine work, a work which the mercy of Heaven must begin, and the power of heaven carry forward, otherwise it never can be performed.
1. As to the source from whence conversion proceeds. St. Peter distinctly acknowledges it to be of God; he refers expressly to Him as the Author of that great change which had taken place in his own soul, and in the souls of those to whom he was writing. Consider in how many ways grace must be bestowed upon us in order to our salvation: we want grace to draw us, grace to enable us to believe, grace to strengthen us, grace to make us persevere; grace was wanting to contrive the scheme of our redemption; grace to carry it into execution, and grace to finish that glorious work.
2. As to the manner in which we are made partakers of this inestimable mercy: it is by calling God, who hath called us. Here is another proof that this change is not of the will of man, but of God. He makes ready, and He invites; we ourselves have no more to do with the preparing of that rich provision which is made for our souls in the gospel, than the guest has with the feast set before him by some hospitable entertainer. Nay, we have not naturally even the wish to partake of it.
3. As to the means by which it is accomplished: it is by Jesus Christ. That the children of God are called, that they are converted, that they are justified, that they are sanctified, that they shall be glorified, is all owing to, is all accomplished by, our blessed Lord and Saviour.
4. As to the end to which it leads: that end is Gods eternal glory. It is His, His own glory, His brightest gift, His choicest possession: it is that gift of God which Christ shed His precious blood to purchase. It is eternal; it is not like our poor fleeting pleasures; not like earthly riches, which make themselves wings and flee away; not like the pomps of this world, of a fashion which is always changing; but a glory which is without change, without end; a sun of brightness which shall never set.
II. That they in whom this work of grace is going on, called as they are to eternal glory, are by no means to consider themselves as free from sufferings or trial; on the contrary, the apostle seems to speak of these things as if they were certain to befall them; or rather, I should say, he addresses his converts as being, for the present, actually under tribulation.
1. They find their spiritual good thereby promoted.
2. They find that when trouble is nigh, God is also present.
3. They find not only that their troubles will soon be over-past, but far over-paid.
III. That what grace has begun we should be very earnest that the same grace will perfect. This is the blessing which the apostle asks for in his prayer. And now let me address-
1. Those who are under the influence of that grace of which the apostle is speaking; who have felt its power in turning them from their sins, in drawing them to Christ for salvation.
(1) Learn to prize the grace you have received; remember from whom it cometh; at what a price it was purchased; remember how it is conveyed to your souls by that blessed Spirit whose office it is to sanctify all the elect people of God,
(2) Be careful how you quench or slight it; do nothing contrary to its suggestions; endeavour to do all things according to its guidance.
(3) Endeavour to improve it; strive to show that you have not received the grace of God in vain; do not take the beginning of a Christian life for the end of it, and sit down at the entrance, when you ought rather to be pressing forward on the way; go on from strength to strength; aim high.
2. I would address myself to those whose consciences tell them they are as yet strangers to this grace, or, at least, are not living under its power.
(1) Oh, I will not endeavour to set before you the vanity of a life spent in search of things temporal; there must be some moments of seriousness. Point to that glory which you think so little about, and in preference to which you choose earthly things as your portion.
(2) Let me also remind you that to this glory, with all its brightness and all its reality, and all its eternity, you are invited. (F. Lear.)
The God of all the graces
You know that the word grace has many meanings, both in the original language of the verse and in our own language. As we use it familiarly, it is often beauty. So that we have it, The God of all beauty. And when you are admiring the gracefulness of some human form, in its finished delicacy; or looking upon the loveliness of nature-never forget that He is the God of beauty. Let us look at it in another of its meanings. Grace is, properly, a free gift, arid since every good thing is utterly undeserved by us, every good thing is of grace. All that raises and gladdens life-all goes to make the grace of God. But we generally accept the word as having reference to spiritual good, For instance, we take it as relating to the Christian virtues, the fruits of the Spirit; and we call them the graces. And He is the God of all the graces. Now, there are some graces that, at this moment, you feel that you particularly need. Remind yourself, and remind God, that He is the God of that grace; that it is all His: His to give; a part of His province; an attribute of His sovereignty. But grace is more distinctly the pardon of sin. The pardon of sin is a grace; a privilege; not purchased-by anything we can say, or do, or think, or pray, or believe. But pardon is not all you want. From the spiritual cradle to the gate of heaven, it is all of grace. You may safely, then, reason thus: Lord, Thou didst call me. Thou didst it of Thy free favour. Therefore carry on, and perfect Thine own work. And in life, as it goes on, your providences want their graces. And every providence requires its own appropriate and comforting grace. Sorrow and joy, bodily health and sickness, successes and disappointments-all want their own proper, rectifying, effectual grace. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Who hath called us unto His eternal glory.–
Glory
I. What, then, is the destiny of the saints? God has called us unto His eternal glory. Glory! does not the very word astound you? Think of glory for us who have deserved eternal shame! Glory for us poor creatures who are often ashamed of ourselves!
1. This glory has been promised. What said David? (Psa 73:24).
2. It is to this glory that we have been called. We are called to repentance, to faith, to holiness, we are called to perseverance, and all this that we may afterwards attain unto glory. We have another Scripture of like import in 1Th 2:12.
3. And we are not only called to it, but glory is especially joined with justification (Rom 8:30). If you are justified by the righteousness of Christ, you shall be glorified through Christ Jesus, for thus hath God purposed, and so must it be. Do you not remember how salvation itself is linked with glory? (2Ti 2:10). The two things are riveted together, and cannot be separated.
4. The saved ones must partake of the glory of God, for this are they being prepared every day (Rom 9:23). This is the process which commenced in regeneration, and is going on in us every day in the work of sanctification. We cannot be glorified so long as sin remains in us; we must first be pardoned, renewed, and sanctified, and then we are fitted to be glorified.
5. Thus, then, it seems we are called to glory, and we are being prepared for it; is it not also a sweet thought that our present fellowship with Christ is the guarantee of it? (Rom 8:17). No cross, no crown: but he that has shared the battle shall partake in the victory.
6. I have not yet done, for there is a text, in Heb 2:10, which is well worthy of our consideration: we are to be brought to glory. We might despair of ever getting into the glory land if we had not One to bring us there, for the pilgrims road is rough and beset with many foes.
7. This glory will be for our entire manhood, for our body as well as for our soul. It will be rendered perfect. The body of a child will be fully developed, and the dwarf will attain to full stature. The blind shall not be sightless in heaven, neither shall the lame be halt, nor shall the palsied tremble. The deaf shall hear, and the dumb shall sing Gods praises.
II. Wherein doth this destiny consist?
1. Reckon that glory to a saint means, first of all, purified character. Gods Holy Spirit, when He has finished His work, will leave in us no trace of sin; no temptation shall be able to touch us, there will be in us no relics of our past and fallen state.
2. Next, I understand by glory our perfected manhood. Hero we are but in embryo: our minds are but the seeds, or the bulbs, out of which come the flower and glory of a nobler manhood. Your body is to be developed into something infinitely brighter and better than the bodies of men here below: and as for the soul, we cannot guess to what an elevation it shall be raised in Christ Jesus.
3. Further, by glory and coming to glory I think we must understand complete victory.
4. An invaluable ingredient in true glory is the Divine approval. One approving glance from the eye of Jesus, one accepting word from the mouth of the Father, will be glory enough for any one of us.
5. But this is not all: children of God will have the glory of reflecting the glory of God. When any of Gods unfallen creatures shall wish to see the greatness of Gods goodness, and mercy, and love, they that dwell in heaven will point out a glorified saint. Whenever any spirit from far off regions desires to know what is meant by faithfulness and grace, some angel will reply, Go and talk with those who have been redeemed from among men. Oh, this shall be our glory, that God shall shine through us to the astonishment of all.
6. In certain cases a mans glory lies in his relationships. If any of the royal family should come to your houses you would receive them with respect; yes, and even as they went along the street they would be spied out, and passers-by would say, That is the prince! and they would honour the son of our good Queen. But royal descent is a poor business compared with being allied to the King of kings.
7. Then there will be connected with this the fact that we shall be connected with Jesus in everything. For do not you see it was because of our fall that Christ came here to save men; when He wrought out a perfect righteousness, it was all for us; when He died, it was all for us; and when He rose again, it was all for us? And what is more, we lived in Christ, we died in Him, we were buried in Him and rose in Him, and we shall ascend into heaven to reign with Him.
8. And yet this is not all, for there in heaven we shall dwell in the immediate presence of God. We shall dwell with Him in nearest and dearest fellowship! All the felicity of the Most High will be our felicity.
9. Highest of all our glory will be the enjoyment of God Himself. He will be our exceeding joy: this bliss will swallow up every other, the blessedness of God. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. Our God shall be our glory.
10. Yet bear with me, I have left out a word again: the text has it, Unto His eternal glory. Ay, but that is the gem of the ring. The glory which God has in reserve for His chosen will never come to an end: it will stay with us, and we shall stay with it, forever. It will always be glory, too; its brightness will never become dim; we shall never be tired of it, or sated with it.
III. What influence should all this have upon our hearts?
1. I think it ought to excite desire in many here present that they might attain unto glory by Christ Jesus.
2. This ought to move us to the feeling of fear. If there be such a glory as this, let us tremble lest by any means we should come short of it.
3. If we are right, how this ought to move us to gratitude! What a contrast to our deserts!
4. It should move us to a dauntless courage. If this glory is to be had, do we not feel like the heroes in Bunyans picture? Before the dreamer there stood a fair palace, and he saw persons walking upon the top of it, clad in light, and singing. Around the door stood armed men to keep back those who would enter. Then a brave man came up to one who had a writers ink horn by his side, and said, Set down my name; and straightway the warrior drew his sword, and fought with all his might, until he had cut his way to the door. Will you not draw your swords and fight against sin till you have overcome it? (C. H. Spurgeon)
After that ye have suffered a while.–
The consolations and sufferings of the believer, and their effects upon his character
I. The consolation here set before us. God hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus. In such wonderful terms the Word of God expresses the blessed remedy which His mercy hath provided for the evils of mans fallen state; and you cannot fail to observe how much more they express than a mere relief from such evils. It is a call to a state of actual happiness. It is a call to a state of positive excellence or holiness. It is, finally, a call to a state which we have no language to describe, nor material of thought to imagine-namely, a state of glory.
II. The course through which you must pass. After that ye have suffered a while. Men have sometimes made it an objection against the goodness of God, that there is so much suffering in this world. This they might do with more reason if they could show that men are innocent in this world and deserve no correction, or even that they are, willing to be prepared for the happiness of another world and need no such calls to serious consideration; but, in the present sinful state of fallen man, the very goodness of God requires that there should be suffering. That suffering is indeed, in justice, the punishment for sin, but at the same time it is, in mercy, the corrective of our wanderings. God hath called us to His eternal glory; but how little do men naturally care even for eternal glory, so long as they can find their pleasure elsewhere? The very bounties of their Creator unhappily rather drive them to a greater distance from Him, instead of drawing them nearer. He needs to wither these comforts, or to interrupt our enjoyment of them, before we can see their insufficiency and remember the better blessings awaiting us. It is generally, in short, only after we have suffered a while, that we think of the eternal glory to which God hath called us. You cannot indeed be supposed to wish for afflictions, or to welcome them as your choice. This is always your best consolation under them, that they are neither sent idly nor borne uselessly. They not only serve to show you more dearly the true value of the eternal glory which awaiteth you, but also to prepare your souls the better for its enjoyment. In this view they bring a blessing which compensates for their evil.
III. The effect to be produced both by your consolations and sufferings as Christians, viz., that you may be made perfect, stablished, strengthened, settled. (J. Brewster, D. D.)
The Churchs present and future
I. The churchs present lot. After that ye have suffered a while. It seems a strange thing to say that there is a necessity for suffering while here. The Churchs lot is not here intended to be anything else; not that it is always the same in amount of suffering, but that it never is wholly free from it. The suffering may be inward or it may be outward. But mark, the apostle says it is a little while. We read of much tribulation and great tribulation, but here it is for a little. Our light affliction which is but for a moment. Perhaps it may seem long to us.
II. The churchs perfection, completion, or consummation through means of suffering. Make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. Make you perfect. As if thus-Make you perfect: that is to say, stablish, strengthen, settle you. Perfect. The word is, literally, fully equip you, equip you as a soldier is equipped for warfare. There are many things that go to equip a soldier: not merely his armour, not merely his sword and his shield, but his bodily frame. Now the word first of all is a full fit out, and a full equipment, so that he shall in the end, when the process is completed, be fully ready for that which is before him. Make you perfect is the meaning of every trial.
1. Stablish is more exactly rendered by firm, consolidate, make firm. This, I should say, is the first part of the threefold part of the process which these three words describe: the consolidation of the Christian character, making him firm in all parts of his spiritual frame.
2. Strength. There is strength as well as consolidation needed. There are many things that are firm and consolidated that are not strong. Gods object is to make us strong.
3. The third thing here specified is settling, that is, firmly rooting and grounding, so that we shall not be moved. These words describe the process that is going on through the discipline which God is exercising through every son that He receiveth. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
Suffering and perfection
Peter speaks of our having suffered a while, and then being made perfect. What a consolatory juxtaposition have we here-suffering first, and perfection afterwards. To make me enjoy heaven, He causes me to weep a while here. Music is all the more delicious when preceded by discord; peace is the more prized after war; health after sickness; and life, in all its beauty and vigour, will be only truly enjoyed after that we have suffered while. Thanks to Peter for that little word awhile. It is not always night. It shall be day when the sun gets up. It shall not be always suffering with us. No-no; already the handkerchief is shaken out, wherewith tears are to be wiped away. (John Macfarlane, D. D.)
An apostolic prayer
It is the first duty of Christian minister to endeavour to convert sinners to God. The second object of the Christian ministry is the improvement of those already converted. Those trees of righteousness are not only to be planted in the garden of the Lord, but to be watered also.
I. The character of jehovah. He is called the God of all grace.
II. As operation. Who hath called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus. This glory is eternal. A future state of being is intended to develop all our spiritual excellences, and therefore it is called glory.
III. We have here a prayer. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. Peter here has a pleonasm which shows how earnestly he felt it in his own mind; he was deeply impressed, but could hardly find words to express his meaning and desire. Do for you exceeding abundantly above all that ye can ask or think. There are, however, in this prayer three things which we may distinctly observe.
1. First, it includes much progress ill religion: Make you perfect. Christians should never be satisfied. In your secular affairs you wish not only to go on, but to prosper. Why not show the same concern in your religious affairs? A little does not satisfy you in temporals, why should it in spirituals? especially since the latter is much more necessary and desirable; and you are commanded not only to have the Spirit, but to be filled with the Spirit.
2. Another thing to be observed in this prayer is confirmation. For it is to little purpose to gain unless you retain also. Stablish, strengthen, settle you.
3. But observe, thirdly, the Divine agency necessary for this. Peter not only admonishes, but prays for them. Who is to make them so? Why, said he, the God of all grace, who hath called us to His eternal glory. Who is to be the finisher but He who is the Author? He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. He shall fulfil in you all the good pleasure of His will, and the work of faith with power.
IV. Consider the concession. After that ye have suffered a while. First, a suffering state is to precede their finishing their course with joy. Yes, before you reign with Him you are to suffer with Him. In the beginning of the gospel the sufferings of Christians arose much from persecution. I have known persons who have probably suffered more than many of the martyrs. The martyr has had public excitement; these have suffered in obscurity: the martyrs sufferings have soon ended; but here the melancholy experience stretches out from week to week, and even from year to year. These sufferings are needful: God, who loves His people infinitely, would not allow them to suffer without some gracious design. Yes, the fallow ground requires the ploughshare to prepare it for the seed. Even the vine needs the pruning knife, that it may bring forth fruit. (W. Jay, M. A.)
Stablish, strengthen, settle you.–
The good and means of establishment
Some think these words are spoken in the way of a promise from God; others think they are spoken in the way of prayer to God.
1. The mercy and blessing prayed for. It is expressed in four words: Perfect, stablish, strengthen, and settle you. The first word, which we render perfect, should, I think, be translated otherwise. It is the same word that is used in Mat 4:21 and Mar 1:19 for mending of their nets; and the same that is used in Gal 6:1 : You that are spiritual restore such an one with the spirit of meekness; and it signifies such a restoring as is of unjointed members. Now these Christians being scattered, the apostle prays that God would please to joint them again. Thus the God of all grace, after you have suffered and been shattered, bring you into order, restore and repair you. It is a great blessing of God, and worthy of all our prayer, to be established and settled in the truth and good ways of God. Settling grace and mercy, in opposition both to outward and inward trouble, is a great mercy and well worth praying for.
1. First, it is a great mercy and blessing for a nation or kingdom to be in a settled state and condition outwardly; for it is the mercy promised, and promised mercies are no small mercies (Jer 24:6; Jer 32:37; Jer 32:41; 2Sa 7:16).
2. Secondly, as it is a mercy for a nation to be settled and established, so for the Church of God; for when the Church hath this rest, then it is edified, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost (Act 9:31). Establishment is the mercy promised to the Church also (Isa 2:2). It is that mercy and blessing which the apostles laboured for continually (Act 14:21). This they also prayed for; and therefore as the Apostle Peter shuts up his Epistle with this prayer for the dispersed Christian-Jews, so the Apostle Paul doth close up his Epistle to the Corinthians with the same desire and prayer for them (2Co 13:1-14) And Rom 16:25. And as it is the mercy prayed for, so sometimes it is made the signal mercy whereby the Church is declared to be the Church of Christ: Whose house ye are, saith the apostle to the Hebrews, if you hold fast the confidence of your rejoicing stedfast to the end.
3. But especially it is a great mercy for a particular soul to be settled in the truth and established in the good ways of God. It is the ground of all our fruitfulness: ye know how it is with a tree or plant, though in itself it be never so good, yet if it be not settled in the earth it bringeth forth no fruit: if the plant be good and the soil good, it may bring forth good fruit; but if you be always removing it from one place to another, it cannot bring forth fruit. It is the bottom of all our praises. The birds do not ordinarily sing till they be set; they do not usually sing flying; but when they are fixed: so saith David, My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; and what then? then saith he, I will sing and give praise; but not till then. And what is the reason that many pass so many years of their lives in doubtings and fears, never praising God for any love or mercy to them? but because they are unsettled in their spiritual estate and condition. It is the beginning of our perseverance: then I begin to persevere when I begin to settle and to be established. As instability is the beginning of apostasy, so settledness is the beginning of perseverance. It is that good thing which pleaseth God exceedingly. God was so pleased with Jehoshaphat upon that account that He passed by his infirmities, even because his heart was fixed and established (2Ch 19:2). And it is also the character of a good and gracious person, whereby he is distinguished from the ungodly of the world. A good man lives and dwelleth at the sign of a settled conversation; he is planted by the rivers of water (Psa 1:1-6); the wicked are as the chaff that is driven to and fro, not settled, not planted.
II. It is worthy of all our prayers. It is a great blessing, and worthy of all our prayers, to be settled and established in the good ways of God. It is that mercy, grace, and blessing which we all need. It is God only who doth give out this grace, it belongs unto Him alone to establish nations, churches, and persons. He is able to establish those who do come to Him for it: Now to Him that is of power to establish you, etc. (Rom 16:25). He is willing to do it: But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and keep you from evil (2Th 3:3). He is engaged to do it, for He hath promised to do it, as hath been proved already, and it is His prerogative: Now He which establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God (2Co 1:21). What shall we do, then, that we may be established?
1. As for a nation or Christian state. It must first settle religion, for religion is the mainmast, and if that be not strengthened all the tackling will be loose (Isa 33:23). Then must there be care taken for a succession of godly magistrates. And therefore let them and all the people remember the good counsel of Jehoshaphat (2Ch 20:20).
2. As for a Church. If particular churches would be settled and established, they must have all the officers and ordinances of Christ then; as a ship under sail, with all its sails out, is beautiful and doth move evenly, so shall they also do. Oh, that churches therefore would take heed of these great sins, pride, and covetousness, which will always keep them in an unsettled condition. But especially it is the duty of all the churches to pray much for this great mercy of establishment (Isa 62:6).
3. As for particular persons. Wouldst thou be established in the truth and good ways of God? Then observe what those things are which do make others unsettled, and take heed thereof. Surely either it is because they do want primitive breakings; for the stony ground comes to nothing at the last, though it hath much joy at the first, because it wants depth of earth. The stick that is thrust into the earth is more easily pulled up than the plant which is rooted in the earth. So are all those who have no root in themselves. Or because they take up great resolutions without answerable pre-deliberations; whereas we know that the needle must play about the polar point before it comes to stand and settle; he that would hit the mark must take his level before he parts with his arrow. And if men resolve before they have fully considered, they will ere long be unresolved again. Or because men do not walk by a settled rule: he can never be settled that doth not walk by a settled rule. So long as I want the Divine counsel of the Word, my heart is like a vagrant that is most unstable, said Bernard; for whilst I am not subject to God, I am contrary to myself. Or because they are divided in their own hearts. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways-a heart for the world, yet a good mind to Christ; how is it possible but they should be most unsettled? Or because they are too confident of their own strength and judgment: whereas the only way to be firm and stedfast is to be sensible of ones own infirmity. Or because men do forsake the ministry which Christ hath given to the churches for their edification, perfection, and establishment (Eph 4:11-14). Or because they have too fair an opinion of those that are erroneous, thinking that they may be godly, though they be never so unsound in their judgments. Or because that men do not improve their Christian communion for the life and power of godliness, but for light only, and discoursing notions: whereas Paul saith (1Ti 6:20-21). Or because they have not been built on the rock Christ, but on some sandy foundation: whereas the Psalmist saith, He set my feet on a rock, and established my goings (Psa 40:2). But what shall I do that I may be more settled in regard of my judgment, and that I may be established in the present truth? Get a clear and distinct understanding in the things and truths of the gospel: labour, not only to know, but to get a clear and judicious apprehension and clearness in the truths of Christ. Be sure that you do not make any impression the rule and square of your judgment; judge not doctrines by impressions. We have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye shall do well that you take heed, as unto a light shining in a dark place (1Pe 1:19). The Word of God without is my rule, the light within is my help to understand that rule; but if I judge of doctrines by impressions of the Word on my heart I can never be settled; therefore take heed of that. Get into the house of God; Gods house is an house of establishment; there He commandeth His blessing, and life forever more; there the Lord hath promised to make men pillars for stedfastness (Rev 3:12). Whatever truth you know do not only know it in a spiritual way, but put the same into practice; the way to be established in the truth is to walk therein (Col 2:6-7). But what shall I do that 1 may be more settled in my life and established in the good ways of God? You must be very sensible of your own unsettled ness, and be humbled for it; he is not far from establishment that is very sensible of his own unsettledness. Labour for a solid and a serious spirit: a serious spirit and an established heart go together (Pro 4:26). Be sure that you do not live upon your condition itself, but on the God of your condition; that is perpetual which hath a perpetuating cause. The more delight and contentment that you find in the good ways of God, the more your hearts will be fixed, established, and staked down to them; comfort and establishment go together (2Th 2:17). Do you desire to be fixed and established? labour more and more, then, to make your way to heaven easy and comfortable to you. (W. Bridge, M. A.)
Christian stability, strength, and establishment
Through suffering, and alter the suffering will come four things: Make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
1. By the first, I understand theft God will knit you together, one part with another. So that, as we say of anything which is entire and unbroken, It is perfect, so it will be with you. Your mind, your affections, and your soul, and your body one-living for the same end, living the same life, by the same Christ. Yourself one man, a whole, perfect.
2. Then, made one with yourself, His one Spirit animating the whole being, He will stablish you, give you firmness and stability. Now is not it exactly what you want? Not feelings, principles-stability. You shall feel your foundation under you deeper than the everlasting hills!
3. He will fulfil His beautiful promise. Will He plead against me with His great power? No; but He will put strength into me. You will become-that which in such a world as this you need-that which is the secret of all peace, of all decision, of all usefulness in life-a strong character.
4. And so we travel to the highest, the last, and the best-He will settle you. He will give you rest. Heaven has been beautifully defined the rest of desire. But how is settling, rest? To settle, is to repose upon your foundation; to settle, is to have an attraction, and to that attraction always to point. The ship settles to her anchor; the mountains settle to their base; the magnet settles to its pole. So God will settle you on Christ. And not only that. Every brick put into the wall, every storey added to a well-built house, settles the whole structure. In like manner God, enabling you to add work to work and usefulness to usefulness, will so settle you, by your increase, while He builds you up in your own most holy faith; and then settled on Christ, in Christ, to Christ, for Christ, with Christ, you will not be the restless creature you once were; you will not need to go about here and there for satisfaction, for you have a resting place, and in that place of your rest you will understand the wisdom and the order of the arrangement and the exquisite completeness of the Divine plan. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
A New Years benediction
Peter turns from exhortation to prayer. Having exhorted believers to walk stedfastly he bends his knee and commends them to the guardian care of Heaven, imploring upon them one of the largest blessings for which the most affectionate heart ever made application.
I. What the apostle asks for all to whom this epistle was written. He asks for them: perfection, establishment, strengthening, settling.
1. Perfection. Indeed, though this be a large prayer, and the jewel is a diamond of the first water and of the finest size, yet is it absolutely necessary to a Christian that he should ultimately arrive at perfection. What were a Christian if he were not perfected? Have you never seen the human face divine starting out from the chiselled marble? You have seen the exquisite skill of the sculptor, and you have said within yourself, What a marvellous thing will this be! what a matchless specimen of human skill! But, alas I it never was completed, but was left unfinished. And do you imagine, any of you, that God will begin to sculpture out a perfect being and not complete it? Hath God taken us as unhewn stones out of the quarry, and hath He begun to work upon us and show His Divine art, His marvellous wisdom and grace, and will He afterwards cast us away? Oh, the prayer shall be fulfilled. After that ye have suffered a while, God shall make you perfect, if He has begun the good work in you. But it must be after that ye have suffered a while. There is no way of ridding you of your dross and your tin but by the flames of the furnace of affliction.
2. Let us now proceed to the second blessing of the benediction-establishment. What is a Christian man better than the flower of the field, which is here today, and which withers when the sun is risen with fervent heat, unless God establish him? Oh, may God fulfil to you this rich benediction, that your goodness may not be as the morning cloud and as the early dew which passeth away; may every good thing that you have be abiding. May your character be not a writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the rock. But mark, we cannot have this blessing until after we have suffered a while. It is of no use our hoping that we shall be well-rooted if no March winds have passed over us. The young oak cannot be expected to strike its roots so deep as the old one.
3. Now for the third blessing, which is strengthening. Ah, this is a very necessary blessing too for all Christians. There be some whose characters seem to be fixed and established. But still they lack force and vigour. Oh, may God strengthen you this year! But remember, if He does do so, you will then have to suffer. After that ye have suffered a while, may He strengthen you. There is sometimes an operation performed upon horses which one must consider to be cruel-the firing of them to make their tendons strong. Now, every Christian man before he can be strengthened must be fired. He must have his nerves and tendons braced up with the hot iron of affliction.
4. And now I come to the last blessing of the four-settling. I will not say that this last blessing is greater than the other three, but it is a stepping stone to each; and, strange to say, it is often the result of a gradual attainment of the three preceding ones. Settle you! Oh, how many there are that are never settled! The tree which should be transplanted every week would soon die. Nay, if it were moved, no matter how skilfully, once every year, no gardener would expect fruit from it. How ninny Christians there be that are transplanting themselves constantly, even as to their doctrinal sentiments! Stand firm and steadfast by that which ye have been taught, and ever seek the spirit of the Apostle Paul, If any man preach any other gospel than that which we have received, let him be accursed. If, however, I wished you to be firm in your doctrines, my prayer would be that you may be especially settled in your faith. You believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, and you rest in Him. But sometimes your faith wavers, then you lose your joy and comfort. I pray that your faith may become so settled that it may never be a matter of question with you whether Christ is yours or not, but that you may say confidently, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded, etc. Then I pray that you may be settled in your aims and designs. See what niche it is that God would have you occupy. Stand in it, and dont be got out of it by all the laughter that comes upon you. If you believe God has called you to a work, do it. Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season ye shall reap if ye faint not. Be ye settled. But you will not be settled unless you suffer. You will become settled in your faith and settled in your aims by suffering.
II. The reasons why the apostle peter expected that his prayer would be heard.
1. Did not unbelief whisper in Peters ear, Peter, thou askest too much. If thou hadst said, Lord, make them holy, had it not been a sufficient prayer? No, saith Peter, I am sure I shall receive what I have asked for, for I am in the first place asking it of the God of all grace. Not only the God of the little graces we have received already, but the God of the great boundless grace which is stored up for us in the promise, but which as yet we have not received in our experience. The God of all grace; of quickening grace, of convincing grace, of pardoning grace, of believing grace, the God of comforting, supporting, sustaining grace. Surely when we come to Him we cannot come for too much.
2. Unbelief might have said, Ah, Peter, it is true that God is the God of all grace, but He is as a fountain shut up, as waters sealed. Ah, saith Peter, get thee hence, Satan; thou savourest not the things that be of God. It is not a sealed fountain of all grace, for it has begun to flow. The God of grace hath called us. Calling is the first drop of mercy that trickleth into the thirsty lip of the dying man. Calling is the first golden link of the endless chain of eternal mercies. If God has called me, I may ask Him to establish and keep me; I may pray that the bush may burn, but not be consumed. Dare I ask that to lifes latest hour I may be faithful to God, because God is faithful to me? Yes, I may ask it, and I shall have it too; because the God that calls will give the rest.
3. But I think there is a stronger reason coming yet: The God of all grace, who hath called us unto tits eternal glory. Has God called me to heaven, and is there anything on earth He will deny me? If He has called me to dwell in heaven, is not perfection necessary for me? May I not, therefore, ask for it? If He has called me to glory, is it not necessary that I should be strengthened to fight my way thither? May I not ask for strengthening?
4. The last reason why the apostle expected that his benediction would be fulfilled was this: Who hath called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus. It is not a hard thing to believe that Christs blood was sufficient to purchase every blessing for me. If I go to Gods treasury without Christ, I am afraid to ask for anything, but when Christ is with me I can then ask for everything. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. But the God of all grace] The Fountain of infinite compassion, mercy, and goodness. Mohammed has conveyed this fine description of the Divine Being in the words with which he commences every surat or chapter of his Koran, two excepted; viz.;
[ A r a b i c ]
Bismillahi arrahmani arraheemi.
Of which the best translation that can be given is that of the apostle, In the name of the God of all grace; the God who is the most merciful and the most compassionate, who is an exuberant Fountain of love and compassion to all his intelligent offspring.
Who hath called us] By the preaching of the Gospel.
Unto his eternal glory] To the infinite felicity of the heavenly state.
By Christ Jesus] Through the merit of his passion and death, by the influence of his Holy Spirit, by the precepts of his Gospel, and by the splendour of his own example.
After that ye have suffered a while] Having suffered a little time; that is, while ye are enduring these persecutions, God will cause all to work together for your good.
Make you perfect] , , , All these words are read in the future tense by the best MSS. and versions.
He will make you perfect. – Put you in complete joint as the timbers of a building.
Stablish] Make you firm in every part; adapt you strongly to each other, so that you may be mutual supports, the whole building being one in the Lord.
Strengthen] Cramp and bind every part, so that there shall be no danger of warping, splitting, or falling.
Settle] Cause all to rest so evenly and firmly upon the best and surest foundation, that ye may grow together to a holy temple in the Lord: in a word, that ye may be complete in all the mind that was in Christ; supported in all your trials and difficulties; strengthened to resist and overcome all your enemies; and after all abide, firmly founded, in the truth of grace. All these phrases are architectural; and the apostle has again in view the fine image which he produced 1Pet 2:5, where see the notes.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But the God of all grace; i.e. the author and giver of all grace, from whom ye have received what you have, and expect what you want.
Who hath called us unto his eternal glory; that eternal glory whereof believers at the last day shall be made partakers, which is called Gods glory, because it is that which he hath promised to them, and will at last put them in possession of: see 1Pe 5:1; Rom 5:2; and because they shall after a sort partake of the Divine glory which they behold.
By Christ Jesus; for Christs sake, as the meritorious cause of our effectual calling, and by him as the great Apostle of our profession, Heb 3:1. Or, by Christ Jesus may refer to glory, Christ being the cause of their glorification as well as calling.
After that ye have suffered a while; this he adds for their encouragement, that whatsoever they suffered would be but short, as 1Pe 1:6; 2Co 4:17.
Make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you; either:
1. Perfect that which is begun, Heb 13:20,21, stablish that which is right, 2Th 2:16, strengthen that which is weak, settle or found (by a firm union and conjunction unto Christ) that which is already built, Eph 3:17,18; Col 1:23; or:
2. These four words may be but different expressions whereby the apostle sets forth the same thing, viz. Gods confirming and establishing those saints unto their final perseverance; and his using so much variety of expressions may imply, that it is a matter of very great difficulty to hold on our Christian course, without failing or coming short of the goal, and therefore we need singular assistance from God to enable us to it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. Comforting assurance thatGod will finally “perfect” His work of “grace” inthem, after they have undergone the necessary previous suffering.
ButOnly do you watchand resist the foe: God will perform the rest [BENGEL].
of all grace(Compare1Pe 4:10). The God to whom asits source all grace is to be referred; who in grace completes whatin grace He began. He from the first “called (so the oldestmanuscripts read for “us”) unto (with a view to) glory.”He will not let His purpose fall short of completion. If He does soin punishing, much more in grace. The three are fitly conjoined: thecall, the glory to which we are called, and the way(suffering); the fourth is the ground of the calling, namely,the grace of God in Christ.
byGreek, “in.”Christ is He in virtue of whom, and in union with whom,believers are called to glory. The opposite is “in the world”(1Pe 5:9; Joh 16:33).
after that ye havesufferedJoin to “called you”: suffering, as anecessary preliminary to glory, was contemplated in God’scalling.
a whileshort andinconsiderable, as compared with the glory.
perfect, c.The twooldest manuscripts, and Vulgate and Coptic versions,read, “shall perfect (so that there shall be nothingdefective in you), stablish, strengthen,” and omit”settle,” literally, “ground,” or “fix on afoundation.” ALFORDreads it in spite of the oldest manuscripts The authority of thelatter I prefer moreover the climax seems to require rather a verb ofcompleting the work of grace, than, as the Greek means,founding it. The Greek has, “shall HIMSELFperfect you”: though you are called on to watch andresist the foe, God Himself must really do all in andthrough you. The same God who begins must Himself complete thework. The Greek for “stablish” (so as to be”steadfast in the faith,” 1Pe5:9) is the same as “strengthen,” Lu22:32. Peter has in mind Christ’s charge, “When thou artconverted, strengthen thy brethren.” His exhortationaccords with his name Peter, “Thou art Peter, andupon this rock I will build My Church.” “Stablish,”so as not to waver. “Strengthen” with might in the innerman by His Spirit, against the foe.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But the God of all grace,…. Who has riches of grace, an immense plenty of it in himself, has treasured up a fulness of grace in his Son; is the author of all the blessings of grace, of electing, adopting, justifying, pardoning, and regenerating grace; and is the giver of the several graces of the Spirit, as faith, hope, love, repentance, c. and of all the supplies of grace and by this character is God the Father described as the object of prayer, to encourage souls to come to the throne of his grace, and pray, and hope for, and expect a sufficiency of his grace in every time of need; as well as to show that the sufferings of the saints here are but for a while; that they are in love and kindness; and that they shall certainly enjoy the glory they are called unto by him; and which is the next thing by which he stands described,
who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ. This “call” is not a mere external one by the ministry of the word, which is not always effectual and unto salvation; but an internal, special, and efficacious one, and which is high, holy, heavenly, and unchangeable. The persons who are the subjects of it are us, whom God has chosen in Christ, and are preserved in him, and redeemed by him; and who are a select people, and distinguished from others, and yet in themselves no better than others; nay, often the vilest, meanest, and most contemptible. Some ancient copies read “you”, and so do the Arabic and Ethiopic versions: what they are called to is “his eternal glory”; that which is glorious in itself, and is signified by what is the most glorious in this world, as a kingdom, crown, throne, inheritance, c. and lies in constant and uninterrupted communion with Father, Son, and Spirit in a complete vision of the glory of Christ, and in perfect conformity to him; in a freedom from all evil, and in a full enjoyment of all happiness: and this is “his”, God the Father’s; which he has prepared and provided for his people of his own grace, and which he freely gives unto them, and makes them meet for: and it is “eternal”; it will last for ever, and never pass away, as does the glory of this world; it is a continuing city, a never fading inheritance, an eternal weight of glory: and to this the saints are called “by”, or “in Jesus Christ”; the glory they are called to is in his hands; and they themselves, by being called unto it, appear to be in him, and as such to belong unto him, or are the called of Christ Jesus; and besides, they are called by him, by his Spirit and grace, and into communion with him, and to the obtaining of his glory.
After that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you; some copies, and also the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions, read these words in the future tense, not as a prayer, but as a promise, “shall make you perfect”, c. the sense is the same for if it is a prayer, it is a prayer in faith, for what shall be done; for God will make his people “perfect”: and which respects not their justification; for in that sense they are perfect already in Christ, their head, who has perfectly fulfilled the law for them, and fully expiated their sins; has completely redeemed them, and procured for them the pardon of all their trespasses; and has justified them from all their iniquities: but their sanctification; for though all grace is implanted in them at once, yet it is gradually brought to perfection; there is a perfection of parts, of all the parts of the new man, or creature, but not of degrees; and there is a comparative perfection with respect to themselves, before conversion, or with respect to hypocrites; for perfection oftentimes means no other than integrity and sincerity; or with respect to other Christians, who are weaker in knowledge and experience: and there is a perfection of holiness in Christ, who is their sanctification, but not in themselves; for every part of the work of grace is imperfect, as faith, love, knowledge, c. and sin dwells in them, and they stand in need of fresh supplies of grace and even the best of them disclaim perfection, though they greatly desire it, as here the apostle prays for it; and which shows that, as yet, they had it not, though they will have it hereafter in heaven, where there will be perfect knowledge, and perfect holiness, and perfect happiness. He also prays that God would “stablish” them, or believes and promises that he would. The people of God are in a safe and established state and condition already; they are in the arms of everlasting love, and in the hands of Christ, and in a sure and inviolable covenant of grace, and are built on the rock of ages; and are in a state of grace, of justifying, adopting, and sanctifying grace, from whence they can never finally and totally fall; and yet they are very often unstable in their hearts and frames, and in the exercise of grace, and discharge of duty, and in their adherence to the doctrines of the Gospel; and need to be established, and to have a more firm persuasion of their interest in the love of God, and a more steady view of their standing in Christ, and the covenant of his grace, and a more lively and comfortable exercise grace on him, and a more constant discharge of duty, and a more firm and closer adherence to the truths and ordinances of the Gospel; and they will have a consummate stability in heaven, where are sure dwelling places. Another petition, or promise, is, that God would “strengthen” them; which supposes them to be weak and feeble, not as to their state and condition, for their place of defence is the munition of rocks; nor in the same sense as natural men are, or as they themselves were before conversion; nor are they all alike weak, some are weaker in faith and knowledge, and of a more weak and scrupulous conscience than others, and are more easily drawn aside by corruptions and temptations, and are in greater afflictions: and this is to be understood, not of bodily, but spiritual strength; that God would strengthen their souls, and the work of his grace in them, their faith, hope, and love; and strengthen them to perform their duties, to withstand temptations, oppose their own corruptions, bear the cross, reproaches, and persecutions, and do their generation work: and he further adds, and “settle” you, or “found” you; not that God would now lay the foundation, Christ, for he had been laid by him ready in his counsels and decrees, and in the covenant of his grace, in the mission of him into this world, and by his Spirit in their hearts; nor that he would afresh lay them on Christ, the foundation, for they were there laid already, and were safe; but that he would build them up, and settle their faith on this foundation, that they might be rooted and grounded in the love of God, have a lively sense and firm persuasion of their interest in it, and be grounded and settled in the faith of the Gospel; be settled under a Gospel ministry, have a fixed abode in the house of God, enjoy the spiritual provisions of it, and have fellowship with Christ, and his people here; and at last enter and dwell in the city which has foundations, where they will be never more subject to wavering, instability, and inconstancy, and from whence they will never be removed; this will be their last and eternal settlement: and this will be “after” they have “suffered awhile”; in their bodies, characters, and estates, through the malice and wickedness of men; and in their souls, from their own corruptions, the temptations of Satan, and the hidings of God’s face; which will be but for a very little while, for a moment, as it were; these are only the sufferings of this present time, and in the present evil world; nor are they inconsistent with God being the God of all grace unto them, or with their being called to eternal glory, the way to which lies through them; and they are the means of perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and settling them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Apostle’s Prayer. | A. D. 66. |
10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand. 13 The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son. 14 Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
We come now to the conclusion of this epistle, which,
I. The apostle begins with a most weighty prayer, which he addresses to God as the God of all grace, the author and finisher of every heavenly gift and quality, acknowledging, on their behalf, that God had already called them to be partakers of that eternal glory, which, being his own, he had promised and settled upon them, through the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ. Observe,
1. What he prays for on their account; not that they might be excused from sufferings, but that their sufferings might be moderate and short, and, after they had suffered awhile, that God would restore them to a settled and peaceable condition, and perfect his work in them–that he would establish them against wavering, either in faith or duty, that he would strengthen those who were weak, and settle them upon Christ the foundation, so firmly that their union with him might be indissoluble and everlasting. Learn, (1.) All grace is from God; it is he who restrains, converts, comforts, and saves men by his grace. (2.) All who are called into a state of grace are called to partake of eternal glory and happiness. (3.) Those who are called to be heirs of eternal life through Jesus Christ must, nevertheless, suffer in this world, but their sufferings will be but for a little while. (4.) The perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and settling, of good people in grace, and their perseverance therein, is so difficult a work, that only the God of all grace can accomplish it; and therefore he is earnestly to be sought unto by continual prayer, and dependence upon his promises.
2. His doxology, v. 11. From this doxology we may learn that those who have obtained grace from the God of all grace should and will ascribe glory, dominion, and power, to him for ever and ever.
II. He recapitulates the design of his writing this epistle to them (v. 12), which was, 1. To testify, and in the strongest terms to assure them, that the doctrine of salvation, which he had explained and they had embraced, was the true account of the grace of God, foretold by the prophets and published by Jesus Christ. 2. To exhort them earnestly that, as they had embraced the gospel, they would continue stedfast in it, notwithstanding the arts of seducers, or the persecutions of enemies. (1.) The main thing that ministers ought to aim at in their labours is to convince their people of the certainty and excellency of the Christian religion; this the apostles did exhort and testify with all their might. (2.) A firm persuasion that we are in the true way to heaven will be the best motive to stand fast, and persevere therein.
III. He recommends Silvanus, the person by whom he sent them this brief epistle, as a brother whom he esteemed faithful and friendly to them, and hoped they would account him so, though he was a ministers of the uncircumcision. Observe, An honourable esteem of the ministers of religion tends much to the success of their labours. When we are convinced they are faithful, we shall profit more by their ministerial services. The prejudices that some of these Jews might have against Silvanus, as a minister of the Gentiles, would soon wear off when they were once convinced that he was a faithful brother.
IV. He closes with salutations and a solemn benediction. Observe, 1. Peter, being at Babylon in Assyria, when he wrote this epistle (whither he travelled, as the apostle of the circumcision, to visit that church, which was the chief of the dispersion), sends the salutation of that church to the other churches to whom he wrote (v. 13), telling them that God had elected or chosen the Christians at Babylon out of the world, to be his church, and to partake of eternal salvation through Christ Jesus, together with them and all other faithful Christians, ch. i. 2. In this salutation he particularly joins Mark the evangelist, who was then with him, and who was his son in a spiritual sense, being begotten by him to Christianity. Observe, All the churches of Jesus Christ ought to have a most affectionate concern one for another; they should love and pray for one another, and be as helpful one to another as they possibly can. 2. He exhorts them to fervent love and charity one towards another, and to express this by giving the kiss of peace (v. 14), according to the common custom of those times and countries, and so concludes with a benediction, which he confines to those that are in Christ Jesus, united to him by faith and sound members of his mystical body. The blessing he pronounces upon them is peace, by which he means all necessary good, all manner of prosperity; to this he adds his amen, in token of his earnest desire and undoubted expectation that the blessing of peace would be the portion of all the faithful.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The God of all grace ( ). See 4:10 for (of the variegated grace of God).
In Christ ( ). A Pauline phrase (2Co 5:17-19), but Petrine also. For God’s “calling” us () see 1Thess 5:23; 1Cor 1:8; Rom 8:29.
After that ye have suffered a little while ( ). Second aorist active participle of , antecedent to the principal verbs which are future active (, to mend, Mark 1:19; Gal 6:1, , for which see Luke 9:51; Luke 22:32, from and so far a like according to Hesychius). For see 1:6.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Who hath called us [ ] . But the tense is the aorist, and the true reading is uJmav, you, instead of us. Render, therefore, as Rev., who called you; before the foundation of the world. See Rom 8:29, 30, and compare unto his eternal glory and them he also glorified.
By Christ Jesus [ ] . The best texts omit Jesus. So Rev., which also renders, better, in Christ, denoting the sphere or element in which the calling and its results take place : “Christ as the life, head, and very principle of all existence to the Christian” (Cook).
Awhile [] . Rev., more literally, a little while. See on ch. 1Pe 1:6. Make you perfect, etc. The Tex. Rec. makes this and the three following verbs in the optative mood, expressing a wish. So the A. V. But the best texts make them all indicative future, and thus convert the wish or prayer into an assurance. Thus, then, Shall himself perfect [ ] . The A. V. overlooks the aujtov, himself, which is very significant as indicating God ‘s personal interest and energy in the work of confirming his children.
Shall perfect. Rev. reads restore, in margin. The root of this word appears in arw or ajrariskw, to fit or join together. So arqron means a joint. The radical notion of the verb is, therefore, adjustment – the putting of all the parts into right relation and connection. We find it used of mending the nets (Mt 4:21), and of restoring an erring brother (Gal 6:1); of framing the body and the worlds (Heb 10:5; Heb 11:3); of the union of members in the church (1Co 1:10; 2Co 13:11). Out of this comes the general sense of perfecting (Mt 21:16; Luk 6:40; 1Th 3:10).
Shall stablish [] . The word is akin at the root to stereov, steadfast (ver. 9), and is the very word used by Christ in his exhortation to Peter, “strengthen thy brethren” (Luk 22:32). Possibly there is a reminiscence of this in Peter’s use of the word here. Compare 1Th 3:13; 2Th 2:17; Jas 5:8; Rev 3:2. Shall strengthen [] . Only here in New Testament. Compare Eph 3:16.
Shall settle [] . Omitted by some texts, and by Rev. From qemeliov, a foundation. The radical notion of the word is, therefore, to ground securely. It occurs in Mt 7:25, of the house founded on a rock; in Heb 1:10, of laying the foundations of the earth. In Eph 3:18, it is joined with rooted. The massings of these expressions, unconnected by conjunctions, indicates strong feeling. Bengel thus sums up the whole : “Shall perfect, that no defect remain in you : shall stablish, that nothing may shake you : shall strengthen, that you may overcome every adverse force. A saying worthy of Peter. He is strengthening his brethren.”
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But the God of all grace “ (Greek ho de theos pases charitos) moreover, in addition to this the God, source of all grace — there is no other source of Grace. Eph 2:8-9; 2Co 12:9.
2) “Who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus.” The God of all grace has made it available, offered it to all men, by faith in Jesus Christ, and called all men to accept this grace, that they may have eternal glory with Him. He has decreed His grace for all men and called all to accept it in Christ, but forces none to accept it. Rev 22:17.
3) “After that ye have suffered a while.” (Greek oligon pathontas) “ye having suffered a little while” In comparison with eternity and the suffering of Christ, His children are called to suffer but little and for a little while. Heb 10:36-37.
4) “Make you perfect.” (Greek autos katartisei) himself will adjust, reconstruct you, or make you perfect, — giving you a new body, Mat 5:48; Eph 1:14; Rom 8:23.
5) “Stablish, strengthen, settle you.” The terms stablish, strengthen, and (Greek themeliosei) to “found” or strengthen one describes what the grace of God shall ultimately accomplish in his children. 1Co 2:9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
10 But the God of all grace After having sufficiently dwelt on admonitions, he now turns to prayer; for doctrine is in vain poured forth into the air, unless God works by his Spirit. And this example ought to be followed by all the ministers of God, that is, to pray that he may give success to their labors; for otherwise they effect nothing either by planting or by watering.
Some copies have the future tense, as though a promise is made; but the other reading is more commonly received. At the same time, the Apostle, by praying God, confirms those to whom he was writing, for when he calls God the author of all grace, and reminds them that they were called to eternal glory, his purpose no doubt was, to confirm them in the conviction, that the work of their salvation, which he had begun, would be completed.
He is called the God of all grace from the effect, from the gifts he bestows, according to the Hebrew manner. (56) And he mentions expressly all grace, first that they might learn that every blessing is to be ascribed to God; and secondly, that one grace is connected with another, so that they might hope in future for the addition of those graces in which they were hitherto wanting.
Who hath called us This, as I have said, serves to increase confidence, because God is led not only by his goodness, but also by his gracious benevolence, to aid us more and more. He does not simply mention calling, but he shews wherefore they were called, even that they might obtain eternal glory. He further fixes the foundation of calling in Christ. Both these things serve to give perpetual confidence, for if our calling is founded on Christ, and refers to the celestial kingdom of God and a blessed immortality, it follows that it is not transient nor fading.
It may also be right, by the way, to observe that when he says that we are called in Christ, first, our calling is established, because it is rightly founded; and secondly, that all respect to our worthiness and merit is excluded; for that God, by the preaching of the gospel, invites us to himself, it is altogether gratuitous; and it is still a greater grace that he efficaciously touches our hearts so as to lead us to obey his voice. Now Peter especially addresses the faithful; he therefore connects the efficacious power of the Spirit with the outward doctrine.
As to the three words which follow, some copies have them in the ablative case, which may be rendered in Latin by gerunds ( fulciendo, roborando, stabiliendo ) by supporting, by strengthening, by establishing. (57) But in this there is not much importance with regard to the meaning. Besides, Peter intends the same thing by all these words, even to confirm the faithful; and he uses these several words for this purpose, that we may know that to follow our course is a matter of no common difficulty, and that therefore we need the special grace of God. The words suffered a while, inserted here, shew that the time of suffering is but short, and this is no small consolation.
(56) We read in 1Pe 4:10, of “the manifold grace of God,” which may be viewed as explanatory of “the God of all grace.” — Ed.
(57) It seems that the preponderance as to readings is in favor of this construction, for Griesbach has introduced into his text these three words as nouns, στηρίξει, σθενώσει, θεμελιώσει, but it is a harsh construction. The probability is, that this reading has been introduced because of the sense, as it was not seen how these words could come after “make perfect.” But the order is according to the usual style of the prophets, examples of which are also found in the New Testament: the ultimate object is mentioned first, and then what leads to it. The writer, as it were, retrogrades instead of going forward. See on this subject the preface to the third volume of Calvin’s Commentaries on Jeremiah.
Divested of this peculiarity, the words would run thus: “may he establish, strengthen, confirm, perfect you;” that is, to give the words more literally, “may he put you on a solid foundation, render you strong, render you firm, make you perfect.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
1Pe. 5:12. Silvanus.See Notes on Verses.
1Pe. 5:13. Babylon.Precisely, the sentence reads: the co-elect one [fem. sing.] in Babylon. This makes it the greeting of an individual, not of a Church. It might be the message of St. Peters wife. Whether the term Babylon is descriptive or symbolic is disputable. A new city had arisen near the old one, and a considerable population dwelt in it. There is no good reason for resisting the conclusion that the letter was sent from this town. There was a military fortress in Egypt named Babylon, but it is not probable that St. Peter was there.
1Pe. 5:14. Kiss of charity.Or love (Rom. 16:16; 1Co. 16:20; 2Co. 13:12). This was an accompaniment of that social worship which marked Christianity, and arose from the tendency of the Christian religion to encourage honour towards all men, as men, and to cherish the softer affections of the heart. The early custom almost only survives in the use of the Osculatorium, or kissing token, known as the Pax (sometimes a relic, sometimes an ivory or metal tablet, with sacred symbols cut on it), which was passed through the congregation, and kissed by each in turn.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.1Pe. 5:10-14
Soul-Strength out of Life-Strain.The God of all grace shall Himself perfect, stablish, strengthen you.
I.
God can.For He is the God of all grace.
II.
God meant to.For He called you with that very purpose in view.
III.
God does.For the present stablishing is with a view to future perfecting.
IV.
God is keeping on doing.Though He may be pleased to put the completion, the perfecting of His work into the future, and make you wait awhile, and make the waiting time a time of sore trial, of this you may be absolutely assured, there is some needs be for the delay; but the work is in steady progress, all through the time of delay, and the issue will be in every way higher and better because of the delay. We have to suffer awhile, and God knows best how long the while should be.
The Promise.He Himself is the emphatic language of the apostle here; for from the same fountain of grace as the call to eternal glory came, will come all the gifts essential to its attainment.
I. He will perfect you.The believer is at first, and for a while, very deficient in many respectsin wisdom, prudence, charity, patience, and all other virtues of the Christian character. Must those defects remain in him? and must he carry them to the grave? No; ere he enters the eternal glory he must be blameless, harmless, and without rebuke, and therefore made perfect in every good word and work. He cannot, however, make himself perfect. God must do it; and He will do it, never leaving His servant until He has done for him all that He has promised.
II. He will stablish you, or make you fast.He set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings, said David; and Jesus said to Peter, I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. There are Christians who, when the storm sets in, are like trees which wave to and fro in the wind, and which, having but a slender hold of the soil, are in danger of being blown down; but God can give them such support that they shall be like majestic oaks that defy the fiercest blast, or like a lighthouse on a rock that stands unmoved amid the billows of the raging sea.
III. He will strengthen you.For ordinary warfare, bodily strength is necessary; for the warfare in which the Christian is engaged, spiritual strength is essential. A feeble, timid Christian will fly before the enemy, but one who is strong in the Lord and in the power of His might will go and meet him with all confidence. And God gives strength to His people. They are strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, and when temptation comes they are able to resist it, and in every conflict they come off victorious.
IV. He will settle you.The word means He will ground, or fix you, as on a sure foundation, so that, like a mighty fortress, you shall stand unmoved, even though assailed by hosts of foes. A precious promise this; for our enemies sometimes come upon us like an army set in array, threatening to storm a citadel, and to take possession of it by force. But our citadel will prove too strong for them, and they shall be driven back, like the armies of Sennacherib when they threatened to invade the Holy City. In these several words there is a striking rise and development. The believers character is first perfected, then he becomes firm in the faith; he is then strengthened to endure the assaults of the foe, and then he becomes settled or made fast, and is as a tower of strength which none of his enemies can shake.Thornley Smith.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
1Pe. 5:10. Stablished, Strengthened, Settled.The word settled is sometimes used in describing a building which comes to rest securely on its foundations. In common phraseology we speak of the settling of a house when the structure consolidates and comes to abide surely and immovably in its place. It takes years, in some instances, for that process to complete itself; and, as it goes on, flaws are discovered, and rents are sometimes made, showing clearly where the strength of the house liesnot in the mere walls, but in that firm foundation on which they rest, and on which the several parts settle themselves broadly and wholly. We cannot but remember in this connection the one ultimate foundation of a sinners trust, other than which no man can layJesus Christ, and the truth as it is in Him; and that the whole great process of Christian life and education is with a view to solidify the trust, and fix the faith immovably on Him. Gods first work in a man is largely potential. He builds the framework of a new life. He gives enough, when used, to supply all the need. Yet, when the need arises, it is many a time very great. Through hunger, and thirst, and weariness, and storm, and battle, the soul makes wayoften apparently with extremest difficultytroubled on every side, perplexed, persecuted, cast downbearing about in the body the death-pains of the Son of God. But lo! by means of all this searching and conflict and endeavour, there comes by degrees the growing fulness of the better life. Temptation brings increase of strength; assaults of the enemy, repulsed, give new courage; change carries away many a treasure, but, to fill the void, brings ever more and more of the unsearchable riches. Castles in the air, built on vain confidence, melt from the sight, and the heart, convinced of its folly, comes to rest, with a childs simplicity of trust, and yet with a mans certainty of conviction, on Him who is able to keep that which is committed to Him, and is stablished, strengthened, settled, at last. It is literally at last with many a one. The final settlement is often just before the dying. It sometimes takes God a lifetime to teach us to flee from false refugesto teach us to be humble, and to trust entirely in His Son, and in His own love, as brought near in Him. From many a pale, bloodless face there looks out at length the calmness, almost celestial, of a perfect trust. On many a dying bed you see the features which have been seamed and scarred and almost worn away by earthly care, and by spiritual sorrow and fear, which seemed, never-ending, smoothed at last into a serenity and a beauty caught directly from heaven. And from many a low voice, sinking into the last, murmurs, you might, if you were near, catch the whisper of the departing one: I am at peace now; settled at last! We may all have settlement in Christ; it is intended and promised that we should have it, if we will, before the end of life comes. God grant that, if we have not this good thing earlier, we may all have it then.A. Raleigh, D.D.
1Pe. 5:12. The True Grace of God.St. Peter affirms that, no matter what disabilities may attach to their Christian profession, it was the true grace of God in which they stood, and in it they must still stand steadfast. The position they now occupied was one which the favour of God had brought them into. The expression, the true grace of God, may be opened and illustrated in three relations.
1. True grace regarded as Revelationin the Song of Solomon 2. True grace regarded as Redemptionin the self-sacrifice of the Song of Solomon 3. True grace regarded as Sanctificationin the power of the suffering innocence of the Son.
The Gospel of the Grace of God.
1. That the economy of the gospel is, throughout its constitution and influences, a grand display of Divine grace.
(1) The announcements of the gospel, as to the methods by which blessings are meritoriously secured.
(2) The influence by which blessings are actually imparted.
(3) The nature of those blessings themselves.
(4) The extent to which these blessings are to be diffused.
2. That the economy of the gospel, as such, impresses important demands on all to whom it is proclaimed.
(1) It should be cordially believed.
(2) It must be steadfastly adhered to.
(3) It must be zealously diffused.James Parsons.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 5
1Pe. 5:13. The Church at Babylon.The rendering of this verse in our Authorised Version probably results from the old ecclesiastical figment that Peter was founder and Bishop of the Roman Church, and that he here says Babylon mystically for Rome. But for the influence of this idea it is improbable that our translators would have supplemented the verse by introducing the word Church. Neander renders it, Syneclecte, who is at Babylon, greets you, and so does my son Marcus. By Syneclecte he understands Peters wife, whom here he mentions by name. That he was married we learn from Mat. 8:14. That his wife accompanied him on his journeys is implied in Pauls language, 1Co. 9:5, Have not I a right to take a believing wife ( ) with me on my journeys, like Cephas? Neander quotes Clem. Alex. Strom., to the effect that Peter, seeing his wife led by to martyrdom, called to her by name, and said, Oh, remember the Lord. I can hardly think, however, that Neander is right in his idea that Syneclecte is a proper name. Probably the word should be translated. Its equivalent would be some such phrase as your sister in the faith. The verse would then read, Your sister in the faith, who is at Babylon, salutes you, and so does my son Marcus. This, of course, would leave Neanders view of the passage untouched, that it is his wife and son, then with him at Babylon, who send greetings, and not the Church.Baptist Magazine.
Babylon.Three places have claimed to be understood under this name:
1. A little place called Babylon in Egypt, which has nothing to plead for itself except the unlikelihood of St. Peter ever being at the Oriental Babylon, coupled with the difficulty of supposing that the name is used quite figuratively. Perhaps, also, we should mention the traditional connection of St. Mark with Egypt. No one now, however, maintains this view.
2. The literal Babylon in the East. This has for itself the simple way in which St. Peter uses the word, without any circumlocution. But it has nothing else for it to set against all the overwhelming arguments in favour of the third claimant; besides which we learn from Josephus of a great expulsion of Jews from the Oriental Babylon a few years before this date. These Jews might, of course, however, have gathered there again, as they did at Rome, in spite of frequent expulsions.
3. It may be called the established interpretation that the place meant Rome. We never hear of St. Peters being in the East, and the thing in itself is improbable, whereas nothing but Protestant prejudice can stand against the historical evidence that St. Peter sojourned and died at Rome. Whatever theological consequences may flow from it, it is as certain that St. Peter was at Rome as that St. John was in Ephesus. Everything in the letter also points to such a state of things as was to be found at Rome about the date when we believe the letter to have been written. It is objected that St. Peter would not gravely speak of Rome under a fanciful name when dating a letter; but the symbolism in the name is quite in keeping with the context. St. Peter has just personified the Church of the place from which he writes, which seems quite as unprosaic a use of language as to call Rome Babylon. And it seems pretty clear that the name was quite intelligible to Jewish readers, for whom it was intended. The Apocalypse (Rev. 17:18) is not the only place where Rome is found spoken of under this title. One of the first of living Hebraists told the present writer that no Hebrew of St. Peters day would have had need to think twice what city was meant, when Babylon was mentioned. And on the mention of the name all the prophecies of the vengeance to be taken on the city which had desolated the Holy Land would rush with consolation into the minds of the readers, and they would feel that St. Peter, though supporting St. Paul, was still in full sympathy with themselves. Finally, as M. Renan suggests, there were reasons of prudence for not speaking too plainly about the presence of a large Christian society in Rome. The police were still more vigilant now than when St. Paul wrote in guarded language about the Roman Empire to the Thessalonians. It might provoke hostilities if the epistle fell into the hands of a delator, with names and places too clearly given.A. J. Mason, M.A.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
1Pe. 5:10-11 And the God of all grace, who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen[31] you. To him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
[31] Many manuscripts add the word settle (themelioo). Its meaning is: firmly establish, ground, render firm and unwavering, make stable. It is omitted in the Vatican and Alexanderian manuscripts, but included in the Sinaitic and other manuscripts and versions. Nestles text includes it, but most modern translations omit it.
Expanded Translation
And after you have suffered a little (while), the God of all grace, favor, and kindness, who called you into his eternal glory in Christ (or, by Christ), shall himself put you in proper order, confirm, strengthen you. To him be the might and dominion for ever and ever (literally, unto the ages of the ages). Amen.
_______________________
And the God of all grace
All the blessings of our lives we can trace to Gods goodness (Jas. 1:17). Salvation, that grace by which we are saved, comes from him as its Author and Source.
after that ye have suffered a little while
Literally, a little. The word may refer to the degree, as well as to the duration, of the sufferings. They are transient and passing; the glory is eternal. For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory (2Co. 4:17).
shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen you
Here is what God can do!
PERFECTkatartizo. This word basically means to finish, complete, or repair. It is used in the account of the calling of Peter, Andrew, James and John, by the Sea of Galilee, when the latter two were in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending (katartizontas) their nets. That is, they were putting them in good shape. God will repair, adjust, and place in proper order what is lacking or maladjusted in the character of his people, if we will conscientiously strive to adhere to his word. He can make us fit vessels for the tasks he has given us to accomplish!
ESTABLISHsterizo, Literally, to set up, fix firmly, support. (And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed . . . Luk. 16:26.) Figuratively, it means to confirm, establish, or strengthen. Jesus had said to this very apostle, When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren (Luk. 22:32), employing this same word.
STRENGTHENsthenoo, a word similar in meaning to the previous: to make strong, put strength into.
to him be the dominion for ever and ever
See also 1Pe. 4:11. This seems to be a spontaneous outburst of praise, honor, and glory to God, straight from the heart of the apostle.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(10) Who hath called us unto his eternal glory.The true reading is, who called you, not us. The moment of the call was that when St. Paul and the others first preached there. (See 1Pe. 1:12; 1Pe. 1:25, and Notes.) The God who now bestows all grace, by the giving of that grace calls us into glory.
The men of grace have found
Glory begun below.
By Christ Jesus.On the whole it seems best, with Tischendorf, to drop the name of Jesus out of the text: the title Christ will then stand between the eternal glory, which we possess in Him (not by Christ Jesus, as our version has it, but by virtue of our union with the Christ), and the immediate mention of suffering. In Him the two are drawn inseparably together.
Suffered a while.The Greek says distinctly, a little while, as in 1Pe. 1:6. All time is short in comparison of what comes after. The original looks as if St. Peter meant not only after that ye have suffered, but also by the fact of your having suffered.
Make you perfect.Strictly these are futures, shall (or, will) make you perfect &c. This verb occurs again in 1Th. 3:10, and elsewhere. It implies the reduction to order and fitness for work of what is disordered or broken. The others, which are all very similar in meaning, are heaped up after St. Peters manner. Bengel thus explains them: Make you perfect, that there remain no defect in you. Stablish, that nothing shake you. Strengthen, that you may overcome all force brought against you. The word for to settle means to found, to give a solid foundation. All this is to take place at the close of the short spell of suffering which is the means to it. St. Peter seems, therefore, to contemplate the passing off of the persecution before the end of the world; for these verbs could hardly be so naturally used to express our education in the world to come.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Benedictions, salutations, and conclusion, 1Pe 5:10-14.
10. Over against the fearful picture just drawn is the brighter one of eternal glory.
The God grace The fountain and giver of grace, all needed grace, and grace for every occasion. That he called us is proof of his grace, while both the grace and the call are through the merit of Christ Jesus, and the ultimate purpose of both is, to bring all who obediently accept the call, and faithfully use the grace, unto his eternal glory. But the road to that glory lies through tribulations; and in the fire of suffering, grace often does its most perfect work.
Suffered awhile Suffered a little, either in time or in amount. If the former, how short the suffering prelude to the eternity of glow; if the latter, how light the affliction in view of the “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!” 2Co 4:17.
Make you perfect So that in your religious life will remain no defect. In the best texts, these verbs are future. Will himself make you perfect.
Stablish Make you firm in all duty.
Strengthen By giving inward power.
Settle Ground you, making you immovable.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after that you have suffered a little while, will himself make whole, establish, strengthen you.’
But Peter assures them that they have nothing to fear from such persecution, for it is the God of all grace Who will be their strengthener and upholder. Let them then also remember that He has called them to His eternal glory in Christ, and has sufficiency of grace for every situation. We can compare, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness’ (2Co 12:9; and see also 2Co 9:8).
So by His sufficiency of grace He will ‘make whole, establish and strengthen them’. The verbs tend to intertwine with each other. The first (katartizo) means to ‘make whole, restore, give a sure footing, establish, prepare in readiness, refresh’. It occurs for example in Psa 18:33 LXX, ‘He establishes my feet like hind’s feet’, in other words gives me a sure footing (compare also Psa 17:5; Psa 29:9); in Psa 40:6 LXX, ‘a body have you prepared for me’; in Psa 68:9 LXX, ‘O God, you will grant to your inheritance a gracious rain, for it was weary, but you refreshed it’; in Psa 74:16 LXX, ‘The day is yours, and the night is yours; you have prepared (made ready, set in place) the sun and the moon’; in Psa 80:15 LXX, ‘ restore what your right hand has planted’ (restore because it has been devastated); in Psa 89:37 LXX, ‘and as the moon which is established for ever, and as the faithful witness in heaven’. So the idea behind it is to make sure and strong, to restore and refresh.
The second (sterizo) is found in Psa 51:12 LXX, ‘ renew (restore) a right (directing) spirit within me’; in Psa 104:15 LXX, ‘and bread which strengthens (nourishes) man’s heart’; in Psa 111:7-8 LXX, ‘The works of His hands are truth and judgment, all his commandments are sure, established for ever and ever’; in Psa 112:8 (LXX), ‘His heart is established, he will not be afraid’; in Pro 15:25 (LXX), ‘he establishes the border of the widow’; Psalm 16:30 LXX (compare Psalm 27:20 LXX), ‘and the man who fixes his eyes devises perverse things.’ These examples demonstrate that it covers a similar area to katartizo.
The third (sthenein) is not found in LXX but means ‘to strengthen, make strong’. Thus He will firmly and strongly renew, refresh, establish, make sure, and strengthen them for what lies ahead.
Note firstly that He is the God of all ‘grace’ (in this context this refers to ‘gracious strengthening and power’). In other words He is the source and provider of unlimited supplies of His gracious and powerful working on behalf of all who are His own (compare Eph 3:16-19).
Note secondly that His aim is to perfect, establish and strengthen them, through the testing of their faith (1Pe 1:7), so that they can face the future with calmness. And this is so even though for a little while they may be called on to suffer. For as a result of that suffering they will be made all the stronger (1Pe 1:7; 1Pe 4:1-2). It should also be noted that having a vision of the eternal glory, Peter then brings them right back to earth. Their pilgrim journey has still some way to go, but the God Who has called them to His eternal glory, will now sustain them for the rest of the way.
Note thirdly, however, that this royal summons (‘called’) from the One Who has all dominion (1Pe 5:11) is a call to eternal glory. ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him’ (1Co 2:9), ‘for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory’ (2Co 4:17). And the promise is that through His grace it is all to be theirs.
Note fourthly how this ties in with their being sojourners in 1Pe 1:1; 1Pe 2:13. It explains why they are seen as sojourners. It is because they are travelling onwards to the eternal glory, with their eyes fixed on the One Who died for them and rose again in order that they may be with Him in glory. The whole letter is aiming towards this. And yet it confirms that their journey is not yet over, but that they will be given full strength and sustenance in the way (compare Isa 40:31; Isa 43:2).
‘Called –to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus.’ It is this that makes whatever we have to face worthwhile, and confirms all that Peter has pointed to previously. Compare in this regard 1Pe 1:4-5 ; 1Pe 1:9; 1Pe 1:13; 1Pe 1:11 ; 1Pe 1:21; 1Pe 3:15; 1Pe 4:13. It is describing our inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled which is reserved in Heaven for us (1Pe 1:4-5); it is the final consequence of the salvation of our ‘inner lives’ (1Pe 1:9); it is the culmination of the glories that will follow the sufferings of Christ (1Pe 1:11); it is the consequence of the gracious and abundant outpouring of His love which is to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1Pe 1:13); it results from the glory given to Jesus Christ at His resurrection (1Pe 1:21), the glory which He had had with the Father before the world was (Joh 17:5); it is the glorious hope of the saints of God (1Pe 1:21; 1Pe 3:15); it is one reason why, at the revelation of the glory of Christ, we will rejoice with exceeding joy (1Pe 4:13), not only because He has received His glory, but because He has graciously dispensed it upon us.
In 1Pe 1:2 we were ‘chosen by God the Father, through sanctification in the Spirit, unto the obedience of Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of His blood’, with the result that we had become just sojourners in the world (1Pe 1:1; 1Pe 2:13), called by Him into His most marvellous light (1Pe 2:9), but with the recognition that we must be purified in the crucible of life (1Pe 1:7; ). And here now we find the final end of that calling (1Pe 2:9), a participation in His eternal glory in Christ Jesus (1Pe 1:11; 1Pe 5:1; 1Pe 5:4; compare Heb 2:10). It is the final consequence of being made partakers in the inheritance of the saints in light (Col 1:12). Compare for this participation in His glory Rev 21:23; Rev 22:5, ‘and there shall be night no more, and they need no light of flaming torch nor light of sun, for the Lord God shall give them light, and they will reign for ever and ever’. And see 2Co 3:18 to 2Co 4:6 which is preparation for it.
But even as we rightly rejoice in that glory let us not overlook the fact that we are to enjoy some of it now. For we have even now ‘been called out of darkness into His most marvellous light’ (1Pe 2:9), while ‘the glories that will follow’ (1Pe 1:11) include the triumphs of His people in the present age, as He sees the incoming of His seed and the bringing about of God’s pleasure (Isa 53:10). And the reason that we can show forth His excellencies (1Pe 2:9) is precisely because we ourselves have seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2Co 4:6), a vision that has transformed our lives. Thus for to a certain limited extent we are already enjoying the inheritance of the saints in light (Col 1:12; Eph 5:8-10; Joh 8:12; Joh 12:46).
So it is fitting that the one into whose heart the glory of Jesus had been burned by his experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, should now be the one to make known to God’s people the promise of participation in the eternal glory that he had momentarily experienced there. Neither Peter (2Pe 1:16-18) nor John (Joh 1:14; Rev 1:13-16) could ever forget the vision of glory that they had been privileged to see, and they wanted to pass it on to others. Meanwhile James had already gone to experience it for himself (Act 12:2), and Stephen also had seen it as the first martyr (Act 7:55-56).
‘In Christ.’ Along with 1Pe 5:14 this is the only mention in Peter of this very Pauline idea. But its double mention in these verses emphasises how much Peter also saw us as ‘in Christ’. It is indeed because we are ‘in Christ’ that we can enjoy the certainty of this promise. It is just that he has been expressing it differently.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Conclusion – 1Pe 5:10-14 serves as the conclusion of the epistle of 1 Peter. In his closing remarks he gives a benediction, which actually summarizes the theme of his epistle (1Pe 5:10-11) and then gives his closing farewell greetings (1Pe 5:12-14).
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Benediction 1Pe 5:10-11
2. Final Greetings 1Pe 5:12-14
1Pe 5:10-11 Benediction In 1Pe 5:10-11 we have a closing benediction.
1Pe 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
1Pe 5:10
1Pe 5:10 “after that ye have suffered a while” – Comments – We do not like the word “suffer.” But it is often the times of trials coupled with our patience endurance the effects the most change in us. It may be in the long discipline of obtaining a college degree, or it may be learning how to cope with a divorce or the loss of a loved one. However, in all of our efforts to behave ourselves in a godly manner when suffering, we find ourselves becoming a strong person.
1Pe 5:10 Comments – In these concluding remarks in 1Pe 5:10 we again see the same emphasis upon the office and ministry of God the Father in calling us into His eternal glory as is reflected in his opening remarks. Peter opened this Epistle by referring to the Father’s election, and closes with our role of having to suffer in order to partake of this divine election. We are able to endure such suffering through the hope of eternal life that Peter mentions by weaving this primary theme of the need to persevere throughout the Epistle.
1Pe 5:11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
1Pe 5:12-14
1Pe 5:12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.
1Pe 5:12
1Pe 5:13 Comments – These remarks in 1Pe 5:13 about Silvanus, or Silas as he was also known in the book of Acts, indicated that he served as Peter’s amanuensis or secretary, and that he may well have delivered this epistle to the churches of Asia Minor.
1Pe 5:13 The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.
1Pe 5:14
A. The Early Church Fathers – The early Church fathers favored Rome as its place of writing. Ancient Church tradition favors a metaphorical interpretation of the word “Babylon.” For example, Eusebius tells us that Peter wrote his first epistle while in Rome.
“And Peter makes mention of Mark in his first epistle which they say that he wrote in Rome itself, as is indicated by him, when he calls the city, by a figure, Babylon, as he does in the following words: ‘The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.’” ( Ecclesiastical History 2.15.2)
Jerome agrees with this interpretation of Babylon.
“Peter also mentions this Mark in his first epistle, figuratively indicating Rome under the name of Babylon “She who is in Babylon elect together with you saluteth you and so doth Mark my son.” ( Lives of Illustrious Men 8)
B. There is No Evidence that Peter Ever Visited Babylon – It is improbable that Peter ever visited Babylon, since there is no historical account of such a visit. Although the ancient city Babylon held a prominent role in Old Testament history, it held little importance during the Roman era. According to Josephus there was a large Jewish population that lived in ancient Babylon, located along the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia ( Antiquities 15.2.2; 15.3.1), which is somewhat confirmed by Philo of Alexandria; [119] but it was probably disseminated toward the end of the reign of Caligula around A.D. 40 ( Antiquities 18.9.1-9). In addition, there is no evidence that a church was ever located in Babylon. However, many scholars who argue for a literal interpretation believe that Babylon did have a significant amount of Jews residing there, and that it served as the center of the Eastern Jewish Diaspora.
[119] Philo writes, “I say nothing of the countries beyond the Euphrates, for all of them except a very small portion, and Babylon, and all the satrapies around, which have any advantages whatever of soil or climate, have Jews settled in them.” ( On the Virtues and Office of Ambassadors 36) See C. D. Yonge, The Works of Philo Judaeus, the Contemporary of Josephus, vol. 4 (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855), 161.
C. The Name “Babylon” Was Used Metaphorically in Ancient Times – The name “Babylon” was used as a designation for the city of Rome on numerous occasions, both in the Scriptures, in the Old Testament Apocrypha and by the early Church fathers. For example, we note that John the apostle used the term “Babylon” metaphorically of the city of Rome in his book of Revelation (Rev 14:8; Rev 16:19; Rev 17:5; Rev 18:2; Rev 18:10; Rev 18:21), in which he also used the term “Sodom and Egypt” metaphorically to refer to Jerusalem (Rev 11:8). We can also note that Paul likened Hagar and Mount Sinai to Jerusalem (Gal 4:25). When we look in the Old Testament, we find Isaiah calling Jerusalem by the figurative names “Sodom” and “Gomorrah” (Isa 1:10). Jeremiah compares Jerusalem to Sodom and Gomorrah (Jer 23:14). In addition, Barry Smith provides a list of metaphorical uses of the word Babylon in the Old Testament Apocryphal writings (2 Bar 10:1-2; 11:1; 67:7; 4 Ezra 3:1-2, 28, 31; Sib. Or. 5.143, 158-59). [120] One reason for Peter using the term “Babylon” metaphorically is because of the danger he may have placed the church at Rome in danger by identifying their existence in the city of Rome.
[120] Barry D. Smith, The New Testament and its Context: The First Letter of Peter (Crandall University, 2009) [on-line]; accessed 5 September 2010; available from http://www.abu.nb.ca/courses/ntintro/1Pet.htm; Internet.
However, many scholars believe that a literal interpretation should be accepted within the text because there is no suggestion of figurative language within Peter’s first epistle. Yet, we can object to this statement because Peter does use the phrase “Diaspora” in a broad since to refer to the Church rather than the Jews who were dispersed abroad.
The term “Babylon” was most likely applied to Rome because this city was the seat of the Roman Empire where the center of widespread opposition and persecution against Christianity began, much like Babylon in ancient times was the seat of persecutions and destruction upon Jerusalem. In addition, for the Jews the term “Babylon” represented a place of exile, which would have appropriately applied to the early Church in the hostile environment of the Roman Empire. Thus, Peter could have accurately called his readers “strangers and pilgrims” living in a land of exile and persecutions.
According to the Greek historian Strabo (63 B.C. to A.D. 24), there was also a lesser known city called Babylon, located near modern-day Cairo in Egypt, which served as a Roman military outpost in ancient times; [121] but because this city played no significant role in ancient history, and because there is no indication of a church in this location for the first four centuries, this place is not seriously considered by modern scholarship.
[121] Strabo writes, “And, having sailed farther up the river [the Nile], one comes to Babylon, a stronghold, where some Babylonians had withdrawn in revolt and then successfully negotiated for permission from the kings to build a settlement; but now it is an encampment of one of the three legions that guard Aegypt.” ( Geography 17.1.30) See The Geography of Strabo, vol. 8, trans. Horace Leonard Jones, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, c1932, 1967), 85-86.
In summary, it is widely believed by modern scholarship that Peter was using the term “Babylon” as a symbolic name for Rome, who became the persecutor of the Church during this period in history. However, there are still credible scholars who understand the name to be used in a literal sense.
Comments (2) – The first kingdom in the history of mankind was started by Nimrod, who founded the kingdom of Babel. This is the first time that man forces his rule over other cultures and nations. The context of chapter 11 of Genesis reveals from the story of the tower of Babel that this kingdom was a rebellious kingdom, in defiance against God. It is out of this same people that the kingdom of Assyria will one day rise and destroy the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. It is the same spiritual force of Satan that will one day conquer southern Judah in 596 B.C. under the rule of Nebuchadnezzer. Peter recognized this as the same spirit that raised up the Roman Empire and will launch large-scale persecutions against the Church until the time of Constantine. It is the spirit that raised up Islam to persecute the Jews and Christians. It is the same spirit of anti-christ that John the apostle mentions in his first epistle. He refers to Babylon as the major foe against the Lord in the book of Revelation.
Peter used this title for the city of Rome in the same sense that Jesus called John the Baptist by the name of Elijah, since John bore the same spirit as Elijah bore.
Mat 11:14, “And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.”
Luke refers to the “spirit of Elijah.”
Luk 1:17, “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias , to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
It is the same spiritual force that will rise up in the last days in the book of Revelation in the form of the antichrist. John refers to the “spirit of antichrist” in his first epistle.
1Jn 4:3, “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist , whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”
As the ancient kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon were anti-Semitic, so is the Babylon found in the book of Revelations. It is the powers of darkness at war against God’s people, both Jews and Christians alike. The New Testament refers to different types of spirits, such as unclean spirit, spirits of infirmity, spirits of divination, deaf and dumb spirits, seducing spirits, etc. The spirit of antichrist is a particular spirit that will focus on making war against the children of God. 1Jn 4:3 tells us that this spirit is already in the world and has been making war with God’s children since his day. Jesus describes the antichrist when He told His disciples, “that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.”
Joh 16:2, “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.”
Jesus also refers to this spirit in Matthew 24-25.
Mat 24:9, “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.”
1Pe 5:14 “elected together with you” Comments – The word “elect” using in the closing greetings of 1 Peter is the same word used in its opening verse when Paul addressed the “elect strangers scattered throughout the Diaspora of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Thus, the underlying theme of the office and ministry of God the Father’s office and ministry in our perseverance of divine election is reflected in the opening and closing verses of this Epistle, as well as being woven throughout it.
1Pe 5:14 “and so doth Marcus my son” Comments – According to Eusebius, Papias (A.D. c. 60-130), bishop of Hierapolis, said that John Mark was a follower of Peter, and wrote his Gospel based upon the memoirs of Peter. He says that those who followed Peter’s teachings were so overwhelmed at the apostle’s death in Rome that they besought John Mark, who was also a close follower of Peter, to record the Gospel that Peter had taught them. They so prevailed upon John Mark that he consented and wrote his Gospel. [122] Jerome calls John Mark “the disciple and interpreter of Peter.” [123] John Mark was the nephew to Barnabas (Col 4:10); and there is Scriptural evidence that Peter may have been paternally related to John Mark as well (1Pe 5:13). However, it is generally agreed that John Mark’s relationship to Peter was a close spiritual bond, so that the use of the phrase “Marcus my son” meant that John Mark was a convert or disciple or assistant to Peter. Paul calls Timothy and Titus his sons in a spiritual sense (1Ti 1:2; 1Ti 1:18, 2Ti 1:2; 2Ti 2:1, Tit 1:4).
[122] Eusebius writes, “And thus when the divine word had made its home among them, the power of Simon was quenched and immediately destroyed, together with the man himself. And so greatly did the splendor of piety illumine the minds of Peter’s hearers that they were not satisfied with hearing once only, and were not content with the unwritten teaching of the divine Gospel, but with all sorts of entreaties they besought Mark, a follower of Peter, and the one whose Gospel is extant, that he would leave them a written monument of the doctrine which had been orally communicated to them. Nor did they cease until they had prevailed with the man, and had thus become the occasion of the written Gospel which bears the name of Mark.” ( Ecclesiastical History 2.15.1) and, “‘This also the presbyter said: Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately, though not in order, whatsoever he remembered of the things said or done by Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor followed him, but afterward, as I said, he followed Peter, who adapted his teaching to the needs of his hearers, but with no intention of giving a connected account of the Lord’s discourses, so that Mark committed no error while he thus wrote some things as he remembered them. For he was careful of one thing, not to omit any of the things which he had heard, and not to state any of them falsely.’ These things are related by Papias concerning Mark.” ( Ecclesiastical History 3.39.15) See Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, trans. Arthur C. McGiffert under the title The Church History of Eusebius, in A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, A New Series, vol. 1, eds. Henry Wace and Philip Schaff (Oxford: Parker and Company, c1890, 1905), 115-116, 172-173.
[123] Jerome writes, “Mark the disciple and interpreter of Peter wrote a short gospel at the request of the brethren at Rome embodying what he had heard Peter tell. When Peter had heard this, he approved it and published it to the churches to be read by his authority as Clemens in the sixth book of his Hypotyposes and Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, record. Peter also mentions this Mark in his first epistle, figuratively indicating Rome under the name of Babylon ‘She who is in Babylon elect together with you saluteth you and so doth Mark my son.”’ ( Lives of Illustrious Men 8) See Jerome, Lives of Illustrious Men, trans. Ernest C. Richardson, in A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series, vol. 3, eds. Henry Wace and Philip Schaff (New York: The Christian Literature Company, 1906), 364.
Col 4:10, “Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister’s son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;)”
1Pe 5:13, “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.”
1Pe 5:14 Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
1Pe 5:14
[124] James D. G. Dunn, Romans 1-8, in Word Biblical Commentary: 58 Volumes on CD-Rom, vol. 38A (Dallas, Texas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), comments on Romans 16:16.
Rom 16:16, “Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.”
1Co 16:20, “All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an holy kiss.”
2Co 13:12, “Greet one another with an holy kiss.”
1Th 5:26, “Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss.”
1Pe 5:14 “Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus” – Comments – In a similar way that the early apostles were instructed by Jesus to let their peace come upon the home of their host (Mat 10:13), so did Paul the apostle opening every one of his thirteen New Testament epistles with a blessing of God’s peace and grace upon his readers, and Peter did the same in his two epistles. Mat 10:13 shows that you can bless a house by speaking God’s peace upon it.
Mat 10:13, “And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.”
This practice of speaking blessings upon God’s children may have its roots in the Priestly blessing of Num 6:22-27, where God instructed Moses to have the priests speak a blessing upon the children of Israel. We see in Rth 2:4 that this blessing became a part of the Jewish culture when greeting people. Boaz blessed his workers in the field and his reapers replied with a blessing.
Rth 2:4, “And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.”
We also see this practiced by the king in 2Sa 15:20 where David says, “mercy and truth be with thee”.
2Sa 15:20, “Whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us? seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back thy brethren: mercy and truth be with thee.”
Peter was speaking a blessing on the churches of Asia Minor, especially that God would grant them more of His grace and abiding peace that they would have otherwise not known. In faith, we too, can receive this same blessing into our lives. Peter actually pronounces and invokes a blessing of divine grace and peace upon his readers with these words, “Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” I do not believe this blessing is unconditional, but rather conditional. In other words, it is based upon the response of his hearers. The more they obey these divine truths laid forth in this epistle, the more God’s grace and peace is multiplied in their lives. We recall how the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, with six tribes standing upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people and six tribes upon Mount Ebal to curse the disobedient (Deu 27:11-26). Thus, the blessings and curses of Deu 28:1-68 were placed upon the land. All who obeyed the Law received these blessings, and all who disobeyed received this list of curses. In the same way Peter invokes a blessing into the body of Christ for all who will hearken unto the divine truths of this epistle.
1Pe 5:14 “Amen” Comments – In the Textus Receptus the word “Amen” is attached to the end of all thirteen of Paul’s epistles, as well as to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, and to the General Epistles of Hebrews , 1 and 2 Peter , 1 and 2 John, and to the book of Revelation. However, because “Amen” is not supported in more ancient manuscripts many scholars believe that this word is a later liturgical addition. For example, these Pauline benedictions could have been used by the early churches with the added “Amen.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Greetings and benediction:
v. 10. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
v. 11. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
v. 12. By Silvanus, a faithful brother, unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.
v. 13. The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus, my son.
v. 14. Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen. That the battle against the might and the guile of Satan is not a matter of man’s own strength and wisdom is a truth of which Christians must be conscious at all times. It is for this reason that the apostle adds his fervent prayer: But the God of all grace, He that called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself, after you have suffered for a little, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, ground you. That is the source of the Christian’s strength. He, the God of all grace, who is so immeasurably rich in His mercy toward men, in Christ Jesus, He that always does more than we ask for or understand, He has called us to His eternal glory, He has brought us to the communion of His dear Son, His object being finally to lead us to His eternal glory. It is true that we, in our calling as Christians, must suffer for a short while, as long as the few years of this earthly life endure, Act 14:22. But it is true also that we have His promise to bring us to final perfection, to realize His purpose in us, Php_1:6 ; 1Co 1:8-9; 1Th 5:24. To this end He Himself will establish, confirm us, that our feet may not become uncertain; He will strengthen our faith, He will set us on the firm foundation of His Word unto the end. Thus our ability to resist the adversary, to cling in firm faith to Christ and to His Word, is the work of God in us. And this fact is our guarantee that He will also continue to strengthen and keep us, in spite of all temptations and tribulations, unto our end. Therefore we say with the apostle: To Him be glory and power forever and ever. We acknowledge His power, we give all honor to Him, both now and in that glorious future which awaits us at the end of time. This is most certainly true.
The apostle now adds some personal remarks: Through Silvanus, a faithful brother in my opinion, I have written to you briefly, admonishing and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you are standing. Silvanus, or Silas, the companion of the Apostle Paul on his second missionary journey, was a valued assistant in the missionary work of the early Church, personally known, moreover, to many of the readers of this letter. Not only Paul, but also Peter considered him a faithful brother in Christ. The letter, as the apostle here remarks, is only brief, but it certainly contains enough of admonition and of testimony to convince any believer that his faith in the grace of God, as assured to him in the Gospel-message, was not an imaginary, futile thing, but was a solid foundation, on which he might well continue to stand.
In conclusion, St. Peter writes: The congregation at Babylon, elected together with you, greets you and Mark, my son. With the common personification of the Church as we find it in the early letters, the apostle says, literally, that she who is elected together with you in Babylon (Rome) salutes yon. The members of the congregation at Rome were elected and called by the same Lord, in the same manner as those in Asia Minor. They were therefore united by the bonds of the same faith and hope and love, hence the brotherly greeting. Mark was Peter’s spiritual son, standing about in the same relation to this apostle as Timothy did to Paul. The apostle, in closing, bids the members of the congregations greet one another with the kiss of love, a custom which was observed for a number of centuries at a certain point in the communion service, the men saluting the men and the women the women. His very last word is that peace, true peace, based upon the love of God in Christ Jesus, on the reconciliation earned through His obedience, might be with them all. Christ is our Peace: with this thought we may well close this letter and with it close our eyes in death.
Summary
The apostle exhorts the pastors to be faithful in their oversight of the Lord’s flock, admonishes all Christians to show humility, vigilance, and steadfastness in resisting the devil, and closes with greetings and a benediction.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
1Pe 5:10. But the God of all grace That is, “The most merciful and gracious God.” It is remarkable, that St. Paul has usually given God a title, according to the subject whereof he is treating. If he was treating of peace, then he was the God of peace; if of love, he was the God of love; if of grace, he was the God of grace. St. Peter has with like propriety styled him, the God of all grace, or favour; and the two favours which he particularly mentions are, the calling of these Gentiles to be Christians, and thereby raising them to the hope of eternal glory; and the delivering them from their present persecution: which deliverance they might expect would be shortly. They were to suffer for a little while, Heb 10:37. Wis 3:5. This life is short, compared with eternity; but they were to be delivered from their sufferings before death; for their enemies were to be destroyed speedily. , he, or the same, is sometimes redundant; but here it seems to have a peculiar force and emphasis: “May he himself,that same God of all favour, who hath called you to be Christians, fit, support, &c.” The words here used, seem to be all taken from building; , fit you to each other; as stones are hewn, cut, or polished, to make them fit one another: 1Co 1:10. , to support, and , to strengthen, as magnificent buildings are, with well-adjusted pillars: Rom 16:25. , to lay the foundation, upon which the whole structure depends for its support and stability. In such apt words did St. Peter pray that these Christians might be established in their holy faith, and persevere to the end, that they might be saved!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Pe 5:10-11 . Promise of blessing and doxology.
, placed by way of emphasis at the beginning. That which has gone before has told the readers what they should do; in contrast to this ( ), the apostle now says what God will do (Schott); with the expression: , cf. 2Co 1:3 : . God as the author of all grace; conceived as a possession. Like the whole promise of blessing, this very designation of God serves to comfort and strengthen the readers in their afflictions.
, . . .] cf. 1Th 2:12 (2Th 2:14 ); that is: to participation in His (God’s) own . The participation is here thought of as future, although for believing Christians it is even now present in its beginning (2Pe 1:4 ). In this calling there is already contained the pledge of the promises that follow: . . .
belongs to , more nearly defined by etc. (de Wette, Wiesinger, Schott), not to (Hofmann). God possesses the glory not first in Christ, as Hofmann says, but He has had it from all eternity, although in Christ it is first revealed. Gerhard interprets incorrectly: propter meritum Christi. is by several interpreters inaccurately taken as equivalent to ; but though denote instrumentality, this is of a more inward nature than that expressed by . The sense is: by God having brought you into union with Christ (thus also de Wette, Wiesinger, Schott). The connection of . with . following (Glossa interl.: sicut membra in illo patientes; Nicol de Lyra) has nothing to commend it.
] , as in chap. 1Pe 1:6 : “a little while.”
is to be joined with . . . (Steiger, de Wette, Wiesinger), but in such a way that in sense it does not apply so much to , as to the obtaining of the of God, since the aorist must not arbitrarily be interpreted as a present. Hofmann rightly observes: “Peter subjoins this aorist participle as if it had been preceded by .” [281] Lachmann and Tischendorf (om. after ) have connected these words with what follows, as also the Vulg. translates: modicum passos ipse perficiet (so also Wichelhaus). Many, particularly among the older commentators, even retaining the , have adopted this construction; Luther: “The same will make you, that suffer a little while, fully prepared,” etc. Opposed to this, however, is as much the fact that the does not take place after the afflictions only, but during them, as that the present affliction and the future glory belong closely together; cf. 1Pe 5:1 .
If, as is highly probable, the after be spurious, it must be supplied out of the that precedes.
] is placed emphatically: the God , who hath called you, He will, etc., the same God; the calling already contains the guarantee for the , . . .
, . . .] , Luk 6:40 ; 1Co 1:10 ; Heb 13:21 ; Luther rightly translates: “ fully prepare ;” Bengel: ne remaneat in vobis defectus.
, 2Th 2:17 ; 2Th 3:3 , and other passages. Bengel: ne quid vos labefactet.
, . . Bengel: ut superetis vim omnem adversam.
(see the critical notes); in its proper sense, Mat 7:25 ; Luk 6:48 ; figuratively: Eph 3:18 ( synonymous with ); Col 1:23 (synonymous with ).
The future expresses the sure expectation that, as the apostle wishes, God will perfect, etc., the believers.
If be read, this form must not be taken as the infinitive (Pott), but as the optative. [282]
The heaping up of expressions connected by asyndeton is rhetorical, and arises from the natural impulse of an agitated heart to find full expression for its feelings. 1Pe 5:11 . The same doxology as in chap. 1Pe 4:11 . It sets the seal on the hope just expressed.
[281] Schott’s explanation, that “to the apostle as he looks from the present, in so far as it already contains their completion, back on the present of actual reality, the sufferings appear as past,” is inappropriate.
[282] Erasmus, by first reading and then , etc., understands this and the subsequent words as substantives: perficiet fultura confirmatione, fundatione.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2415
GODS GOODNESS AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER
1Pe 5:10-11. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
AMONGST the various testimonies of affection which faithful ministers will give to their people, that of praying for them is the most unequivocal, and most important. And in this the Apostles eminently distinguish themselves in all their epistles. In the petitions before us, we behold the glowing zeal of Peter, studious to exalt the honour of his God, and to promote to the utmost the welfare of the saints.
His words scarcely admit of any profitable distribution: we shall therefore make some observations on them, in the order in which they lie.
The first thing that calls for our attention is, the honourable appellation he gives to God
[God is the only fountain of all grace. There is none in the creature, which has not been derived from him [Note: Joh 1:16.]. But in him is all grace; converting, comforting, sanctifying, establishing grace. He is the God of all grace: all kinds of it, and all degrees, are in him. Whatever be the grace that we severally want, we shall find an inexhaustible fulness of it treasured up in him. And, if we ask of him in terms of the most extensive import, and then stretch our imaginations far beyond what it is in the power of language to express, it still will be true, that he giveth more grace [Note: Jam 4:6.]; and giveth it freely too, according to his own sovereign will [Note: Mat 20:15, 1Co 12:11.], even to the very chief of sinners.]
Next we have an account of what God has done for his believing people
[God has called them, not merely by the outward ministry of his Gospel, (for that he has vouchsafed to thousands who reject him,) but by the inward operation of his grace. Nor is it to any common mercy that he has called them, but to his glory, yea, to the eternal enjoyment of it. What a stupendous act of grace! Yet this is greatly heightened by the means which he has used for the communication of this blessing. He has sent it by the ministry, (by the ministry, do I say?hear, O ye heavens, and be astonished, O earth!) He imparts it through the mediation of Christ Jesus, his only dear Son.
O that this glorious description of the Deity might always be remembered by us in our addresses at the throne of Grace!]
The petitions which the Apostle offered on behalf of the saints, were exactly such as their state required
[They were now enduring a great fight of afflictions: and, in order that they might persevere unto the end, it was necessary that they should be established in the faith, strengthened in the profession, and settled in the enjoyment of the Gospel. For these things therefore the Apostle prayed; knowing, by bitter experience, that they must come from God, the only Author of such inestimable blessings [Note: , though not noticed in the translation, seems to have considerable force.]. For these things also should our prayers be offered: and the consideration of what God is in himself, and has done for us, may well encourage us to offer the most enlarged petitions. If we open our mouth ever so wide, we need not doubt but that he will fill it [Note: Psa 81:10.].]
His prayers, however, were qualified with a very necessary concession
[God has not given us any reason to expect an exemption from suffering: on the contrary, he has told us plainly, that our road to heaven lies through much tribulation [Note: Act 14:22.]. Even Christ himself was made perfect through sufferings; and every child of man must be conformed to him in this respect. Sufferings are sent to try, to illustrate, and to confirm our grace; and finally, to work out for us a proportionable weight of glory. The Apostle therefore did not presume to interfere with the established order of things; but only to pray, that their trials might be as light and transient, as would consist with the accomplishment of their proper ends [Note: .]. In this respect he sets us a good example; and teaches us to desire rather a sanctified use of our afflictions, than a premature removal of them.]
To these he added a doxology well suited to the occasion
[Who can reflect on what God is in himself, or on what he has done for us, or on what he is ready to do for us, and not desire that his name may be glorified, and that every thought may be subjected to his holy will? When the Apostle says, To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever; who is not ready to exclaim with ardent affection, Amen, and amen?
O brethren, let such views occupy our attention, and such prayers and praises be ever ascending from the altar of our hearts!]
This subject may be of use,
1.
For reproof
[How far are the generality of professing Christians from such exalted views of God, or such deep concern for the welfare of mens souls! If they think of God in the quality of a Governor and Judge, they are not conscious of any defect, though they scarce ever raise their minds to him as their adorable Benefactor: and, if they occasionally promote the comfort of mens bodies, they seem to themselves excused for not attending to their souls. But, beloved, let us not be contented to live in so low a region, or to exercise so little grace: but let our love to God and man bear some affinity and proportion to the love that God has shewn to us.]
2.
For encouragement
[What is there that we may not expect at the hands of such a God? We may go to him for ourselves; we may go to him for others: we may ask of him all manner of grace: the weakest may obtain strength; and the most wavering may obtain establishment in the divine life. Let us know the privilege of prayer. Let us, especially under our afflictions, betake ourselves to a throne of grace: and if, while we are praying to him, our trials increase [Note: This was the case with the Israelites, Exo 5:5-19. with 12:33.], let us not be discouraged: only let us tarry his leisure; and our sorrows shall ere long be turned to joy, and our prayers to praise [Note: Eph 3:20.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you .
Ver. 10. But the God of all grace ] Thus the apostle divides his time between preaching and prayer, according to his own advice, Act 6:4 , and the practice of those ancient ministers, Deu 33:10 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
10, 11 .] Final assurance of God’s help and ultimate perfecting of them after and by means of these sufferings .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
10 .] But (q. d. however you may be able to apprehend the consolation which I have last propounded to you, one thing is sure: or as Bengel, “vos tantum vigilate et resistite hosti: ctera Deus prstabit”) the God of all grace (who is the Source of all spiritual help for every occasion: see reff.) who called you (which was the first proof of His grace towards you) unto (with a view to; ‘consolationis argumentum:’ He who has begun grace with a view to glory, will not cut off grace till it be perfected in glory. Cf. 1Th 2:12 ; 2Th 2:14 ) His eternal glory in Christ Jesus ( . . belongs to , which has since been defined by . . . . Christ Jesus is the element in which that calling took place. The words cannot, as Calov., al., be joined with what follows), when ye have suffered a little while (these words belong to what has gone before, . . ., not to what follows, as is decisively shewn by the consideration that all four verbs must belong to acts of God on them in this life , while these sufferings would be still going on. The expresses the condition of their calling to glory in Christ, viz. after having suffered for a short time. , as in all cases of an aor. part. connected with a future verb, is to be taken in the strictness of its aoristic meaning as a futurus exactus: the are over when the comes in), shall Himself ( , solemn and emphatic: “ostendit enim Apostolus ex eodem grati fonte et primam ad gloriam clestem vocationem et ultimam hujus beneficii consummationem provenire,” Gerhard) perfect ( you ) (see ref. Heb. and note: “ne remaneat in vobis defectus,” Beng.), shall confirm (establish you firmly, so as to be : “ne quid vos labefactet,” Beng.), shall strengthen (the word belongs to later Greek), shall ground ( you ) (fix you as on a foundation, “ut superetis omnem vim adversam. Digna Petro oratio. Confirmat fratres suos,” Bengel. Cf. Luk 22:32 , : and 2Ti 2:19 , ):
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Pe 5:10 . Your adversary assails you, but God has called you to His eternal glory; first for a little you must suffer, His grace will supply all your needs. 1Pe 5:9 is practically a parenthesis; stands over against (1Pe 5:8 ) as shows. , for the promise of sustenance implied in the calling; cf. 1Th 5:23 f.; 1Co 1:8 f. goes with ; God called them in Christ and only as they are in Christ can they enter the glory; cf. 2Co 5:17-19 , . , after you have suffered for a little while . The same contrast between temporary affliction and the eternal glory is drawn by St. Paul in 2Co 4:17 , , where in addition to the antithesis between eternal glory and temporary suffering the weight of glory (play on meanings of root ) is opposed to the lightness of tribulation. has the force of (1Th 5:24 ). , shall perfect . When Simon and Andrew were called to leave their fishing and become fishers of men James and John were themselves also in a boat mending their nets (Mar 1:16-19 ). The process was equally necessary in their new fishing and the word was naturally applied to the mending of the Churches or individual Christians who by their good behaviour must catch men (see e.g. , 1Co 1:10 ). Only God can fully achieve this mending of all shortcomings; cf. Heb 13:21 . , shall confirm; cf. 2Th 2:17 , etc.; when the Kingdom of Heaven was stormed the stormers needed confirmation (Act 18:23 ). This was the peculiar work assigned to St. Peter thou having converted confirm the brethren (Luk 22:32 ). is only apparently unique, being equivalent to or (Hesychius) cf. Col 1:11 , and Heb 11:34 , (parallel to . above).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
grace. App-184. Compare Act 7:2.
hath. Omit.
us. The texts read “you”.
eternal. App-151.
Christ Jesus. App-98. but the texts omit “Jesus”.
after that ye have = having.
a while-a little (time). The contrast is between the affliction now and the glory hereafter. Compare 2Co 4:17.
make you, &c The texts read “shall Himself perfect you”, &c
perfect. Compare Heb 13:21. See App-125.
stablish. See Rom 1:11.
strengthen. Greek. sthenoo. Only here.
settle = ground, as on a foundation. Greek. themelioo. Compare Eph 3:17. Col 1:23, and App-146. These four verbs describe God’s working, not after, but during the suffering.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
10, 11.] Final assurance of Gods help and ultimate perfecting of them after and by means of these sufferings.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Pe 5:10. ) of all and unmixed grace, which begins and completes, which calls and settles (founds). [It is an act of grace, when GOD sends even sufferings upon us.-V. g.]-, in) Taken with who hath called.-, a little) However great it seems, it is little and short in comparison with eternal glory.-, when you have suffered) Some sufferings are to be endured, then perfection comes, etc.-, He Himself) [without the aid of man]. Do you only watch, and resist the enemy: God will perform the rest. Comp. the I, Jos 13:6; Jos 13:1.-, will perfect) so that no defect remain in you. The Doxology which follows agrees with the Indicative, rather than with the Optative, which some here read.[42] Comp. 1Ti 1:17; 2Ti 4:18.-, will stablish) so that nothing may cause you to waver.-, will strengthen) so that you may overcome all the violence of your adversaries. A saying worthy of Peter. He is strengthening his brethren.
[42] , , etc., in the Future, is the reading of AB and most Versions, except that, whilst many MSS. of Vulg. read confirmabit, Amiat. MS. reads confirmavit: the latter, however, has perficiet. Rec Text reads the optative, , , etc.-E.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Pe 5:10-11
SECTION FIVE
CONCLUSION,
1Pe 5:10-14
1. BENEDICTION
1Pe 5:10-11
10 And the God of all grace, who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen you.–“Grace” is the unmerited favor of God. He is the God of “all grace” as he is the God of “all comfort” (2Co 1:3), because he is the sole source and giver of the grace and comfort the saints so sorely need. These to whom Peter wrote had been “called”; this calling had been accomplished by means of the gospel (2Th 2:13-14) the calling was to a share of God’s eternal glory; and the sphere was Christ.
Compared with the glories that are to be revealed they were to know that, however severe the trials of the moment, it was for “a little while,” working for them “more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.” (2Co 4:17.)
“Perfect,” “establish,” and “strengthen” are verbs in the future tense. “Perfect” (katartidzo, to mend, repair, used of fishermen repairing their nets, Mar 4:21) indicates the action of God in eliminating the deficiencies of the saints and bringing them to a standard of usefulness .in his service; “establish” (sterizo, to make fast, to support that which totters) refers to the fixity and immobility of those who rely on the Lord, the term being used by the Lord in his admonition to Peter, “When thou bast turned again, establish (sterizo) thy brethren.” (Luk 22:32.) “Strengthen” (sthenoo, to impart strength), a word meaning to supply strength to resist attack, occurs nowhere else in the New Testament.
11 To him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.–See the comments on 1Pe 4:11. One who has been perfected, established, and strengthened will rejoice to ascribe to him who is the source of all grace, and the supplier of all strength “dominion for ever and ever,” and with fervency and adoration indeed exclaim, “Amen!”
Commentary on 1Pe 5:10-11 by N.T. Caton
1Pe 5:10-But the God of all grace.
He is the God of all grace, for he alone can bestow the grace the suffering of earth need.
1Pe 5:10-Who hath called us unto his eternal glory.
God is the author and provider of the great reward, and he it is who has called us by Christ Jesus. This reward will be bestowed after we have suffered a little while.
1Pe 5:10-Make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
Make you complete in all the virtues. Support you in all Christian exercises. Add to your power to resist temptation, and settle you firmly in your belief of the gospel and its divine origin and inestimable rewards.
1Pe 5:11-To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Another doxology. To him, that is, God, the glory is ascribed and dominion forever, for none else in the universe has the right to control, and so, acknowledging God’s supreme right, solemnly we say Amen.
Commentary on 1Pe 5:10-11 by Burton Coffman
1Pe 5:10 –And the God of all grace, who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen you.
In Christ … Peter’s usage of this mighty phrase, both here and at the end of the epistle, indicates his respect and appreciation of the doctrine, no less than that of Paul, despite the fact that he did not emphasize it as Paul did.
After ye have suffered a little while … A while should here be understood for “the whole of life,” and not as indicating the short duration of the persecutions. In the relative sense, even a long life is but “a little while.”
Perfect … This verb is the same that is used of “preparing” the earthly body for the incarnation of Christ in Heb 10:5;[30] and is therefore strongly suggestive of other passages in the New Testament where total and absolute perfection is the obvious meaning, as in Mat 5:48. However, there is another scriptural meaning of it. It is the “word for mending nets (Mar 1:19) or setting a broken bone”[31] and this is the meaning that many commentators prefer. This writer cannot resist the conviction, however, that “the absolute perfection of Christians in Christ” is what this speaks of. The very proximity of the phrase “in Christ” seems to suggest this. For discussion of the whole theology of perfection, see in my Commentary on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, pp. 130-133. Taking the word in the other sense also yields some very beautiful thoughts, as in Barclay, who understood it to mean “restore,” as Moffatt translated it. He wrote as an illustration of the thought:
Sir Edward Elgar once listened to a young girl singing a solo from one of his own works. She had a voice of exceptional purity and clarity … When she had finished, he said, “She will be really great when something happens to break her heart.”[32]
Something was about to happen which would indeed break the hearts of many Christians, recalling the words spoken by the blessed Christ who “learned obedience by the things which he suffered, having been made perfect” (Heb 5:8-9). Many of the precious saints would be “made perfect” in the same sense, through the awful things they were about to suffer.
Establish … This word means “to fix, to make fast, to set,”[33] as when concrete sets.
Strengthen … means “to make strong,”[34] and suggests the strengthening that comes to steel, or iron, when it is heated with fire and suddenly cooled, thus “tempering” it and giving it much greater hardness and strength. The onset of the fires of persecution would harden and strengthen the faith of many.
[30] W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1940), vol. 3p. 175.
[31] Archibald M. Hunter, op. cit., p. 157.
[32] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 273.
[33] W. E. Vine, op. cit., vol. 2p. 41.
[34] Ibid., vol. 4p. 81.
1Pe 5:11 –To him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
“This is the true consolation in trouble, to extol the power of God.”[35] If God indeed has the dominion for ever and ever, the Christian may safely rest his case in God.
ENDNOTE:
[35] A. J. Mason, op. cit., p. 435.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
all grace
Grace (imparted). 1Pe 5:5; 1Pe 5:10; 2Pe 1:2; Rom 6:1; 2Pe 3:18
perfect See note, (See Scofield “Mat 5:48”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the God: Exo 34:6, Exo 34:7, Psa 86:5, Psa 86:15, Mic 7:18, Mic 7:19, Rom 5:20, Rom 5:21, Rom 15:5, Rom 15:13, 2Co 13:11, Heb 13:20
who: 1Pe 1:15, Rom 8:28-30, Rom 9:11, Rom 9:24, 1Co 1:9, 1Th 2:12, 2Th 2:14, 1Ti 6:12, 2Ti 1:9, 2Pe 1:3
eternal: 2Co 4:17, 2Ti 2:10, Heb 9:15, 1Jo 2:25
after: 1Pe 1:6, 1Pe 1:7, 2Co 4:17
make: 2Co 13:11, 2Th 2:17, Heb 13:21, Jud 1:24
stablish: Col 2:7, 2Th 2:17, 2Th 3:3
strengthen: Psa 138:7, Zec 10:6, Zec 10:12, Luk 22:32, Phi 4:13, Col 1:22, Col 1:23
settle: 1Pe 4:11
Reciprocal: Deu 28:9 – establish 2Ch 17:5 – the Lord Neh 6:9 – Now therefore Job 2:3 – Hast thou Job 5:11 – those Psa 7:9 – but Psa 59:10 – The God Psa 138:3 – strengthenedst Pro 4:26 – let all thy ways be established Isa 11:10 – his rest Luk 9:31 – appeared Joh 17:23 – made Act 2:39 – as many Act 14:22 – Confirming Act 14:23 – they commended Act 15:32 – confirmed Act 16:5 – so Rom 1:11 – to the Rom 3:23 – of Rom 5:4 – patience Rom 8:30 – he justified Rom 16:25 – to him Rom 16:27 – God 1Co 1:8 – confirm 1Co 2:6 – them 1Co 2:7 – unto 2Co 1:21 – stablisheth 2Co 7:1 – perfecting 2Co 13:9 – even Gal 1:15 – and Eph 1:18 – his calling Eph 4:1 – vocation Eph 6:10 – be Phi 1:6 – will Phi 3:12 – already perfect Phi 3:14 – the high Phi 4:19 – glory 1Th 3:8 – if 1Th 3:13 – he may 1Th 5:23 – God 1Th 5:24 – calleth 2Th 1:11 – calling 2Ti 3:12 – shall Heb 2:10 – glory Heb 3:1 – the heavenly Heb 6:1 – let Heb 12:8 – General Jam 1:4 – perfect and Jam 1:12 – when Jam 3:2 – a perfect 1Pe 3:9 – called 1Pe 4:13 – ye are 2Pe 1:12 – and be 2Pe 3:18 – To him
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
STEPS TOWARDS PERFECTION
But the God of all grace, Who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
1Pe 5:10
If the Christian danger is that of drifting, there can be no doubt that the Christians need is that of perfection. You and I can be satisfied with nothing short of trying for this perfection, Be ye perfect, even as your Father Which is in heaven is perfect. How, then, are we to try for this perfection? How can we gain it? By mans effort and by Gods grace, the former hopeless without the latter; the latter only given on condition of the former. In order to gain, or try our best to gain this perfection, we must first of all cultivate a sense of need, and, I think, that may be best done by considering for what God has made us, and what He means us to be, contrasted with what we are, and what even now we might be, if we really tried our utmost. This comparison, carefully and honestly worked out, will result in our attaining to another essential of perfection, another great means whereby we may advance towards perfection, and that is a deep conviction of sin.
I. Conviction of sin.It is one of the most difficult things in the world to get this deep conviction of sin. It is an intellectual difficulty, for we hardly know what sin is; and it is a moral difficulty, for when we know that certain things are contrary to the law of God, and sin, as we know, is the transgression of the law, we are so blind that we are not able to understand the exceeding sinfulness of sin. This difficulty is accounted for by a variety of circumstances. There is our great familiarity with sin which is around us, about us, within and without us, wherever we go. But, after all, this conviction of sin should not be so hard to attain if we really are anxious to know what sin is, and God has in nature and in revelation made it pretty clear to any one who has eyes to see and ears to hear what a terrible thing this transgression of the law of God really is. Look into the world around, and see the misery and the devastation which is caused by sin. The various plans for the amelioration of the human race need to be followed up and to be carefully watched and continued; but, after all, sin, with its terrible consequences, will never be altogether eradicated, and some trouble will never altogether cease. Or if you turn from the world to revelation, what do we see as to Gods judgment with regard to sin? Take but two examples: take the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, acknowledged by all as He is to be the best and holiest of men, absolutely sinless, and yet He Who knew no sin became sin for us. What does it all mean? It means nothing else than this: the horror of God at the smallest sin. Or, once again, look at another revelation which we have in ScriptureI mean the revelation of hell. There can be no question in our mind, whether we look at the world as we know it, or think of the Cross, or think of hell, as to the awfulness of sin in the sight of God; and this thought should lead us to a deeper conviction of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. And if it does, if there is this sense of need and this conviction of sin, then there must follow, cannot but follow, a determination to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, to leave no stone unturned in order that we may work out that repentance whereby we forsake sin.
II. Repentance of sin.Repentance is another step towards perfection. It clears the way for the full working of that which alone can make us perfect, the indwelling presence of Christ. For this repentance, for this clearing of the way for the incoming and the indwelling of Christ, there must be first sorrow for sin. One of the chief works of the Holy Ghost is to convince the world of sin, and one of the chief duties of the Church, working by the Holy Spirit, is to help us in attaining this contrition of sorrow. Repentance, of course, is even more than this godly sorrow; repentance is a change of life towards God, a change of heart and mind towards God and towards sin; but this godly sorrow is a step towards repentancerepentance which leads us to Christ, and it is of this repentance that this godly sorrow is an integral part; it is this godly sorrow which is so hard to get; it is this godly sorrow for which you and I must for ever be beseeching the throne of grace, and we may be sure that if we do really ask for it God will not withhold it from us.
III. Acknowledgment of sin.And if there is this godly sorrowa sorrow which is by far the most important part of repentance because it includes everything elsethere will then be, I will not say a desire, but a necessity to acknowledge our sins. The detailing to our doctor the sicknesses of our body is but a very shadowy type of the necessity of detailing our sins before God. Of course, we have often to make confession one to another for things we have done wrong to each other. If we have done any harm to any one we are boundare we not?to acknowledge that harm. We all acknowledge that if wrong has been done, until such confession has been made, no restoration to entire love and confidence between parent and child, husband and wife, is in any way possible. A guilty secret between those who are in close companionship is the most terrible thing that there can be. But it is not of this sort of confession that I am thinking, rather is it that of which St. John speaks. And this confession of sin, of course, can only be to God. We confess to each other when we have done each other harm; we must confess to God when we have done Him the greatest of harm by transgressing His law, by trampling on His precious Blood, by grieving His Holy Spirit. You and I, whether we like it or not, ought to realisefor we are constantly sinningthat we have to make our confession to Godnight after night in our private prayers, day by day, or at any rate Sunday by Sunday, in the public offices of the Church.
IV. Amendment of life.But with this sorrow for sin and confession of sin there must also go, of course, a full purpose of amendment of life, repentance whereby we forsake sin. This, of course, involves two things. It involves turning away from sin, determining that, God being our Helper, we will try our very utmost not to sin again. It does not mean that we shall never sin again; but, of course, it would be the worst possible hypocrisy, and so the worst possible sin, to say one is sorry for ones sins and then to go and commit them again. It must be repentance whereby we forsake sin. But it must be more than thatit must be restitution, it must be giving up that in which, maybe, we have profited by our sinpaying our debts, restoring things falsely gotten. There must be restitution if we are really anxious to arrive at this perfection. We must be prepared to make apologies for harm done, to make up any quarrels we may have. We must not stand upon our rights. Even after all this is done it is not perfection, but it is on the way to perfection, and I expect that you and I will not get much further than that on the way. If only we can get on the way and trudge along to the end of our lives, we shall in the next world attain our desire; we shall be like Christ, for we shall see Him as He is.
Rev. Canon C. E. Brooke.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
SUFFERING AND ITS RESULTS
Through suffering, and by reason of the suffering, and after the suffering will come four things as they stand in this well-ordered text. Make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
I. By the first, I understand that God will knit you together; one part with another.So that, as we say of anything which is entire and unbroken, It is perfect, so it will be with you. Your mind, your affections, and your soul, and your body one, living for the same end, living the same life, by the same Christ. Yourselfwhat can never be said of anybody but a Christianyourself one man, a whole, perfect. Some may not see the power of this promise. But those who have known the trouble of beingeven within the little compass of their own little selvesnot one man, but manysuch oppositions in themselves, such strange contradictions, such clashings of one part with another, such rushings of counter-tides of feelingsthey will treat it as a blessed thing. God will unite you. He will tune every string of life to one pitch. It shall be all harmony. He will make you perfect and truetrue to your higher nature, and true to yourself; He will perfect you.
II. Then, made one with yourself, His one Spirit pervading and animating the whole being, He will stablish you, give you firmness and stability. Like a house upon a rock. Now is not it exactly what you want? Not feelings, principles, stability. You shall feel your foundation under you faster and deeper than the everlasting hills! Then you will exchange vacillation for unchangeableness, inconstancy for continuance; and you will stand. Oh, what a peace there is in that thought: I shall stand! And having done all things, I shall stand. No longer fluctuating, with every change of people and things about you, and doing just according to the atmosphere you happen to breathe; but fixed, My heart is fixed. Pray for that upon the spot. Command it. God has said it at this moment. It is what you want more than anything else in the whole world. Lord, root me on the rock. Stablish you.
III. And so He will fulfil His beautiful promiseWill He plead against me with His great power? No; but He will put strength into me. You will becomethat which in such a world as this you needthat which is the secret of all peace, of all decision, of all usefulness in life, of all effectual servicea strong character. Never be content till you are a strong character, for it is a promised thing: strong for your duties; strong for your difficulties; strong for your trials; strong for your dangers; strong for your whole life; for He has said itHe will strengthen you.
IV. And so we travel to the highest, the last, and the bestHe will settle you. He will give you rest. Heaven has been beautifully defined the rest of desire. But how is settling, rest? To settle is to repose upon your foundation; to settle is to have an attraction, and to that attraction always to point. The ship settles to her anchor; the mountains settle to their base; the magnet settles to its pole. So God will settle you on Christ. And not only that. Every brick put into the wall, every storey added to a well-built house, settles the whole structure. In like manner, God, enabling you to add work to work, and usefulness to usefulness, will so settle youby your increase, while He builds you up in your own most holy faith; and then, settled on Christ, in Christ, to Christ, for Christ, with Christ, you will not be the restless creature you once were; you will not need to go about, here and there, for satisfaction, for you have a resting-place, and in that place of your rest you will understand the wisdom and the order of the arrangement, and the exquisite completeness of the Divine planafter that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
Rev. James Vaughan.
Illustration
God does not keep us in the furnace of trial longer than is needful for us. We may lengthen our own trials by being impatient and unsubmissive under them. The metal that does not melt has to stay in the crucible a longer time than that which does. If the heart is hard, then it takes more trials, and a longer time, and a severer discipline, till its stubbornness is gone, and itself is brought into conformity with the blessed will of God. That teaches us the lesson of submission. We ought to be ready to accept the teaching of Gods Holy Spirit. Whatever our trial may be, bear it, not because you must, but because it is Gods will concerning you. You may be sullen under a trial, and mutinousmany of us are, I am afraid. That will not make your trouble a bit the less. You will not get rid of it by being sullen under it. You will have to bear it all the same, andyou will lose the benefit of it.
(THIRD OUTLINE)
REMEDIAL PUNISHMENT
Suffering is one of the great facts of humble life. It is a part of every ones experience. The shadow of suffering is cast by the light of life, and that of necessity.
There are two classes of sufferingsthose which God sends us, and those which are caused by our own fault.
I. Sin and its penalty.If a man spends his money in profligacy, or wastes it by idleness, or throws it away foolishly, he becomes poor; but the poverty is his own doing. If a man commits sins in his youth, and then finds in his old age that those sins have found him out, then he has only himself to thank for it. If a man is drunken or dishonest, and finds after a time that he has lost his character and his health, then he must look upon that as his own work. He is reaping as he has sown. Be sure your sin will find you out, says the Apostle. Gods world is so constructed that sin is sure to be followed by suffering, by pain of some kind or other, sooner or later. Just as you burn your hand when you touch fire, so you lay up for yourself punishment, pain, when you meddle with sin. God has laid down the law once for all. If you incur the penalty it is at your own peril. If you commit the sin and so have to suffer the penalty (as you certainly will), then you must not blame any one but yourself. We may get good indeed out of such punishments as these. They will make us wiser, if we take them in a proper spirit. They will teach us (like the burnt child dreading the fire) to avoid such sins for the future. But the text does not refer to pains and sufferings like these, because they are of our own causing. God intends them to do us good. His laws are evidently intended to be what is called remedial, i.e. just as you punish a naughty boy to make it better.
II. But the Apostle was not referring to the retributive punishment that follows upon sin.He did not contemplate when writing that Christians would live in sin, and so he did not contemplate their being punished. But still he knew that they would have to suffer. Jesus suffered. He, even the Holy One, did not live His life without suffering. And shall His people expect to do so? Shall the Master be forced to cry out, All thy waves and storms have gone over Me, and his people desire to sail idly on a summer sea? Not so. We must take up the cross, too. Sorrow is a part of the discipline and training of life, and God will give it to every one of us. This is the other class of trials, those which God sends. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. As the wrestler, or the runner, or the rower, is trained to his work with severe exercise and self-denial, so the Christian is trained by the experience of gladness and of sorrow, especially of the latter. And now we see why Christians are sure to have some sorrowbecause it is good for them. It teaches them to bear the cross. God is too wise to err; too good to be unkind. What is the lesson that He desires to teach us? Our first fathers sin, as you know, was disobedience. Therefore we require to learn obedience. He learned obedience, said St. Paul, even of our Lord Jesus Himself (and a wonderful mystery it is), by the things which He suffered. Patience and submissiveness, too; those are great graces; and there is no way of learning them except by suffering. When we are smarting under an affliction sent upon us, not by any fault of our own, but by the Providence of God, then if we strive to bear the blow patiently, and take it in faithso as to believe that it was and is for our good, though we cannot see howthen suffering becomes a blessing, the uses of adversity become indeed sweet. God reveals himself at length in grace to our souls. We may not see why the blow has fallen; let it be enough that God sees why. After that ye have suffered a while (God) make you perfect.
ST.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1Pe 5:10. God of all grace. Since grace means the unmerited favor of God, it is fitting that all such favors should be attributed to Him. This is especially true since it pertains to the favor of saving mankind from his sins, when strict justice would demand that he be condemned. God alone through his Son has the power to bestow such a favor on human beings. An item of this unmerited favor is the calling of man into the eternal glory of serving God in this world and of enjoying His presence in the world to come. This call is made by Christ Jesus and the instrument with which it is accomplished is the Gosnel. After that ye have suffered a while. The last word is used in a comparative sense, and has the same thought as Paul’s remarks in 2Co 4:17 and Rom 8:18. The last part of the verse is a wish on behalf of the brethren for certain blessings to be given to them by the God of all grace. Perfect means to be complete in Christ; stablish denotes being confirmed in the faith; strengthen is general and means to enable them to be strong in the Lord; to settle signifies giving one a firm and definite position in the service of Christ.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Pe 5:10. But the God of all grace, who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have Buffered a little while, will himself perfect, stablish, strengthen you. Several changes must be made upon the A. V. here, which have been rightly recognised by the R. V. Weight of documentary evidence displaces us by you, turns the tenses into futures, inserts himself before these verbs, and excludes the final settle. It is also probable that we should read in Christ or in the Christ, instead of in Christ Jesus. The verse, therefore, is an assurance, not a prayer. It thus conveys far greater encouragement to those who have to face persecution, and resist the devils roarings and seductions. This assurance is introduced as a contrast with, or qualification of, what has been said of the burdens of believers. Hence the opening but, or moreover (not and). Such things they must expect from the adversary, but what may they not expect from God? They are themselves appointed to the trying duty of strenuous resistance; but, if so, God also will act with them in the perilous situation. As it is Gods part that Peter is now urging for the final comfort of his readers, that name is set emphatically first, and the solemn Himself (which is missed by Tyndale, Cranmer, and the A. V., but caught by Wycliffe and the Versions of Geneva and Rheims) is brought in before the verbs which state the things which He is certain to do (cf. 1Th 3:11; 1Th 5:23). The designation of God as the God of all grace, the God who is so rich in grace that all grace comes from Him, adds to the strength of the assurance. The title is itself a consolation. Still higher, if possible, might these drooping saints be lifted into the rare atmosphere of a gracious confidence, by the thought of what God had done for them in the decisive change which first gave them Christian hope. He had called them in His Son (by uniting them with Him), and that with the very object of bringing them in the end to His eternal glory. So great an act of grace was the pledge of further gifts of grace. Unless so great an object is to be frustrated, it must be that God will carry them through their sufferings, and make these the means of perfecting, stablishing, and strengthening them with a view to that glory. The glory, indeed, into which they were called is to be theirs only after suffering. Yet the space of suffering will be brief. The a while of the A. V. does not fairly represent the original. Tyndale is betterafter ye have suffered a little affliction. What Peter has in mind is not the need of suffering at least for a time, but the shortness of the suffering. The idea conveyed by the perfect is that of preparing completely, equipping fully, bringing into fault less order, so that nothing shall be wanting. It is the term which is used for perfect in such passages as Luk 6:10, 1Co 1:10, 1Th 3:10, Heb 13:21; and it is applied to the mending of broken nets (Mat 4:21), and the restoring of one in fault (Gal 6:1), etc. The stablish means to plant firmly, to make fast, so that there shall be no tossing or overturning. The strengthen recalls Christs commission to Peter himself, the commission which he was discharging by this very writing, When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren (Luk 22:32). Some have supposed the terms in which Peter, with a confidence touched with emotion, rapidly unfolds what God may be trusted to do, to be all figures drawn from the one conception of the Church as a building, the house already noticed in chap. 1Pe 2:5. Bengel speaks of them as language worthy of Peter (a rock), and gives the points briefly thusperfectso that no defect can remain in you; stablishso that nothing shall shake you; strengthenso that ye may overcome every opposing force.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our apostle concludes and closes his epistle with an affectionate prayer for these afflicted Christians and suffering saints, beseeching Almighty God, who is the author of all grace, and who hath called them by his gospel, to the participation of that grace, which will entitle them to eternal glory, that, after they have suffered a while in the world, he would perfect the work of grace begun in them, establish, strengthen, and settle them, in the truth of the gospel; and to this infinitely gracious God he desires glory and dominion should be for ever ascribed.
Observe here, 1. That God is the God of all grace; seed, growth, and perfection, all from him; restraining grace, renewing grace, sanctifying grace, all from the fountain of all grace.
Observe, 2. That serious Christians are called by God to eternal glory and happiness: they are called to the hope and expectation of this glory, upon the account of the promise of it which God made to Christ, Tit 1:2 and they are brought into a state of preparation for it; God hath by his word and Spirit wrought them for this same thing.
Observe, 3. They are called to eternal glory through Christ Jesus; he reveals it to them, he purchases it for them, he works that faith and repentance in them which qualifies them for, and entitles them unto, this heavenly glory.
Observe, 4. That some afflictions must be expected and endured by all Christians, how dear to God soever they are or may be. Was there any patriarch, prophet, or apostle, primitive or modern Christian, that did not suffer a while? Saints must suffer a while from the remains of sin, from the temptations of Satan, from the enemies of religion, and from the friends of religion, yea, from God himself, their best friend.
Observe, 5. That after serious Christians have suffered a while, they shall enter into glory: their title is sure by the promise of God, by the purchase of Christ, by the inhabitation of the Spirit.
Observe, 6. That the perfecting, stablishing, strengthening, of the Christian in grace and comfort, is from God, to whom all glory and dominion is and ought for ever to be ascribed.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
1Pe 5:10. The God of all grace Of all mercy, compassion, and free, unmerited goodness; and the source of all those influences of the Holy Spirit, by which alone true spiritual light and life, peace, purity, and consolation, can be attained; who hath called Invited; us unto his eternal glory And not merely to behold, but to possess it; and hath sent us the invitation by Christ Jesus His Word made flesh; that is, not only through him, as Mediator, who hath procured the inestimable blessing for us by his obedience unto death, but by him as a Divine Messenger, the greatest that ever appeared among men, confirming and enforcing his message by a most holy life, by extreme sufferings, by mighty miracles, by an ignominious, painful death, and a most glorious resurrection. After that ye have suffered a while Such trials as his infinite wisdom shall see fit to appoint. Observe, reader, sufferings must precede glory! See 1Pe 2:19; 1Pe 2:23; 1Pe 3:14; 1Pe 4:12; Rom 8:17; Rom 8:35; 2Ti 2:12. But it is only a while the disciples of Christ are called to suffer; a very short while compared with eternity. Or St. Peter may use the word , here rendered a while, and which means a little, in respect of the degree as well as of the duration of suffering; for, compared with the joys of heaven, the sufferings of this life are light as well as momentary, 2Co 4:17. Make you perfect That no defect may remain in your Christian knowledge, experience, or practice. See on Heb 13:21. Stablish That nothing may overthrow your faith or hope, damp the flame of your love, or interrupt the constancy of your obedience; strengthen That ye may conquer all your enemies, and may do, be conformed to, and suffer the will of God to the end; and settle you As a house upon a rock. Or, inverting the order of the words, and taking the last particular first, as preparatory to the others, (which the sense of the several expressions seems to require, according to the usual progress of the work of grace in the hearts of believers,) the meaning will be, 1st, May he place you on your foundation, (so the word , here rendered settle you, properly signifies,) even on the foundation which God hath laid in Zion, (1Co 3:11,) Christ Jesus, or on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, (Eph 2:20,) namely, the fundamental doctrines attested by them. 2d, May he strengthen you, that no power of earth or hell may move you from that foundation. In consequence of this, 3d, May he establish you in his truth and grace, in faith, hope, love, and new obedience, that you may be steadfast and immoveable in your adherence to the doctrines, your possession of the graces and privileges, and your performance of the duties of your holy calling. And in this way, 4th, May he make you perfect, or complete Christians, lacking nothing, destitute of no grace or virtue, and possessing every one in a mature state, a state of meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light. Thus the apostle, being converted, does now strengthen his brethren.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
5:10 {13} But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle [you].
(13) He seals up as with a seal the former exhortation with a solemn prayer, again willing them to ask increase of strength at his hands, of whom they had the beginning, and hope to have the accomplishment: that is, of God the Father in Christ Jesus, in whom we are sure of the glory of eternal life.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
We have on our side One who is able to overcome our adversary the devil. Furthermore God gives sufficient grace (2Co 12:9). He has called us to experience eternal glory ultimately (1Pe 1:1). Both our calling and our glory are in Christ. God will make us complete (Gr. katartizo, "to mend [nets]," Mat 4:21) establish us, strengthen us for service, and give us peace in His will.
"What Peter has done is pile up a number of closely related terms that together by their reinforcing one another give a multiple underscoring of the good that God is intending for them and even now is producing in their suffering." [Note: Davids, p. 196.]