Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Peter 1:18
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, [as] silver and gold, from your vain conversation [received] by tradition from your fathers;
18. as ye know that ye were not redeemed ] The idea of a ransom as a price paid for liberation from captivity or death, suggests the contrast between the silver and gold which were paid commonly for human ransoms, and the price which Christ had paid. In the word itself we have an echo of our Lord’s teaching in Mat 20:28, Mar 10:45. In this instance, it will be noted, stress is laid on the fact that the liberation effected by the ransom is not from the penalty of an evil life, but from the evil life itself.
from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers ] Better, as before, vain conduct. It has been somewhat rashly inferred from these words that the Apostle is speaking mainly, if not exclusively, of the converts from heathenism who were to be found in the Asiatic Churches. His own words, however, in Act 15:10, yet more the condemnation passed by our Lord on the traditions of the elders (Mat 15:2-6, Mar 7:3-13), and St Paul’s reference to his living after the traditions of the fathers (Gal 1:14), are surely enough to warrant the conclusion that he is speaking here of the degenerate Judaism of those whom he addresses, rather than turning to a different class of readers, or, at the least, that his words include the former.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Forasmuch as ye know – This is an argument for a holy life, derived from the fact that they were redeemed, and from the manner in which their redemption had been effected. There is no more effectual way to induce true Christians to consecrate themselves entirely to God, than to refer them to the fact that they are not their own, but have been purchased by the blood of Christ.
That ye were not redeemed – On the word rendered redeemed, ( lutroo,) see the notes at Tit 2:14. The word occurs in the New Testament only in Luk 24:21; Tit 2:14, and in this place. The noun ( lutron) is found in Mat 20:28; Mar 10:45, rendered ransom. For the meaning of the similar word, ( apolutrosis,) see the notes at Rom 3:24. This word occurs in Luk 21:28; Rom 3:24; Rom 8:23; 1Co 1:30; Eph 1:7, Eph 1:14; Eph 4:30; Col 1:14; Heb 9:15, in all which places it is rendered redemption; and in Heb 11:35, where it is rendered deliverance. The word here means that they were rescued from sin and death by the blood of Christ, as the valuable consideration on account of which it was done; that is, the blood, or the life of Christ offered as a sacrifice, effected the same purpose in regard to justice and to the maintenance of the principles of moral government, which the punishment of the sinner himself would have done. It was that which God was pleased to accept in the place of the punishment of the sinner, as answering the same great ends in his administration. The principles of his truth and justice could as certainly be maintained in this way as by the punishment of the guilty themselves. If so, then there was no obstacle to their salvation; and they might, on repentance, be consistently pardoned and taken to heaven.
With corruptible things, as silver and gold – On the word corruptible, as applicable to gold, see the notes at 1Pe 1:7. Silver and gold usually constitute the price or the valuable consideration paid for the redemption of captives. It is clear that the obligation of one who is redeemed, to love his benefactor, is in proportion to the price which is paid for his ransom. The idea here is, that a price far more valuable than any amount of silver or gold had been paid for the redemption of the people of God, and that they were under proportionate obligation to devote themselves to his service. They were redeemed by the life of the Son of God offered in their behalf; and between the value of that life and silver and gold there could be no comparison.
From your vain conversation – Your vain conduct, or manner of life. See the notes at 1Pe 1:15. The word vain, applied to conduct, ( mataias,) means properly empty, fruitless. It is a word often applied to the worship of idols, as being nothing, worthless, unable to help, Act 14:15; 1Ki 16:13; 2Ki 17:15; Jer 2:5, Jer 2:8,Jer 2:19 and is probably used in a similar sense in this place. The apostle refers to their former worship of idols, and to all the abominations connected with that service, as being vain and unprofitable; as the worship of nothing real (compare 1Co 8:4, We know that an idol is nothing in the world), and as resulting in a course of life that answered none of the proper ends of living. From that they had been redeemed by the blood of Christ.
Received by tradition from your fathers – The mode of worship which had been handed down from father to son. The worship of idols depends on no better reason than that it is that which has been practiced in ancient times; and it is kept up now in all lands, in a great degree, only by the fact that it has had the sanction of the venerated people of other generations.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things] To redeem, , signifies to procure life for a captive or liberty for a slave by paying a price, and the precious blood of Christ is here stated to be the price at which the souls of both Jews and Gentiles were redeemed; is was a price paid down, and a price which God’s righteousness required.
Corruptible things mean here any thing that man usually gives in exchange for another; but the term necessarily includes all created things, as all these are corruptible and perishing. The meaning of the apostle is, evidently, that created things could not purchase the souls of men, else the sacrifice of Christ had not been offered; could any thing less have done, God would not have given up his only-begotten Son. Even silver and gold, the most valuable medium of commerce among men, bear no proportion in their value to the souls of a lost world, for there should be a congruity between the worth of the thing purchased and the valuable consideration which is given for it; and the laws and customs of nations require this: on this ground, perishable things, or things the value of which must be infinitely less than the worth of the souls of men, cannot purchase those souls. Nothing, therefore, but such a ransom price as God provided could be a sufficient ransom, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the world.
Vain conversation] Empty, foolish, and unprofitable conduct, full of vain hopes, vain fears, and vain wishes.
Received by tradition from your fathers] The Jews had innumerable burdens of empty ceremonies and useless ordinances, which they received by tradition from their fathers, rabbins, or doctors. The Gentiles were not less encumbered with such than the Jews; all were wedded to their vanities, because they received them from their forefathers, as they had done from theirs. And this antiquity and tradition have been the ground work of many a vain ceremony and idle pilgrimage, and of numerous doctrines which have nothing to plead in their behalf but this mere antiquity. But such persons seem not to consider that error and sin are nearly coeval with the world itself.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Forasmuch as ye know; considering that ye were, &c.
That ye were not redeemed with corruptible things: see Tit 2:14. This implies them to have been in a servile condition, and in bondage to their own errors, till they were converted to Christ.
As silver and gold; the most precious things, of greatest esteem among men.
From your vain, because unprofitable to, and insufficient for, righteousness and salvation, conversation, viz. in your Judaism, wherein you were so much addicted to uncommanded rites and ceremonies, as to have little respect for Gods law.
Received by tradition; and so not only by their example and practice, but by their doctrine and precepts, Mat 15:3, &c.; Mar 7:7, &c. See likewise Gal 1:14.
From your fathers; either your ancestors, as Eze 20:18, or doctors and instructors, who are sometimes called fathers, 1Co 4:15.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. Another motive toreverential, vigilant fear (1Pe1:17) of displeasing God, the consideration of the costly priceof our redemption from sin. Observe, it is we who are boughtby the blood of Christ, not heaven. The blood of Christ is not inScripture said to buy heaven for us: heaven is the “inheritance”(1Pe 1:4) given to us as sons,by the promise of God.
corruptibleCompare 1Pe1:7, “gold that perisheth,” 1Pe1:23.
silver and goldGreek,“or.” Compare Peter’s own words, Ac3:6: an undesigned coincidence.
redeemedGold andsilver being liable to corruption themselves, can free no one fromspiritual and bodily death; they are therefore of too little value.Contrast 1Pe 1:19, Christ’s”precious blood.” The Israelites were ransomed withhalf a shekel each, which went towards purchasing the lamb forthe daily sacrifice (Ex30:12-16; compare Nu3:44-51). But the Lamb who redeems the spiritual Israelites doesso “without money or price.” Devoted by sin to the justiceof God, the Church of the first-born is redeemed from sin and thecurse with Christ’s precious blood (Mat 20:28;1Ti 2:6; Tit 2:14;Rev 5:9). In all these passagesthere is the idea of substitution, the giving of one foranother by way of a ransom or equivalent. Man is “sold undersin” as a slave; shut up under condemnation and the curse. Theransom was, therefore, paid to the righteously incensed Judge, andwas accepted as a vicarious satisfaction for our sin by God, inasmuchas it was His own love as well as righteousness which appointed it.An Israelite sold as a bond-servant for debt might be redeemed by oneof his brethren. As, therefore, we could not redeem ourselves, Christassumed our nature in order to become our nearest of kin and brother,and so our God or Redeemer. Holiness is the natural fruit ofredemption “from our vain conversation”; for He bywhom we are redeemed is also He for whom we are redeemed.”Without the righteous abolition of the curse, either therecould be found no deliverance, or, what is impossible, the grace andrighteousness of God must have come in collision” [STEIGER];but now, Christ having borne the curse of our sin, frees from itthose who are made God’s children by His Spirit.
vainself-deceiving,unreal, and unprofitable: promising good which it does not perform.Compare as to the Gentiles, Act 14:15;Rom 1:21; Eph 4:17;as to human philosophers, 1Co 3:20;as to the disobedient Jews, Jer4:14.
conversationcourse oflife. To know what our sin is we must know what it cost.
received by tradition fromyour fathersThe Jews’ traditions. “Human piety is a vainblasphemy, and the greatest sin that a man can commit” [LUTHER].There is only one Father to be imitated, 1Pe1:17; compare Mt 23:9, thesame antithesis [BENGEL].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Forasmuch as ye know,…. From the Scriptures of truth, by the testimony of the Spirit, by his work upon the soul, and by the application of the benefits of redemption, such as justification, pardon, adoption, and sanctification; see Job 19:25,
that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold. The redemption of a soul, which is of more worth than a world, requires a greater price than gold and silver; and those who have the largest share thereof, can neither redeem their own souls with it, nor the souls of others. The soul is immortal and incorruptible, but these are corruptible things, which may be cankered, or wear away, and perish by using; and therefore, seeing redemption is not obtained by anything corruptible, nothing corrupt in principle, or practice should be indulged. The allusion is to the redemption of the people of Israel, and of the firstborn, by shekels, Ex 30:12. Gold and silver do not mean pieces of gold and silver, but gold and silver coined; for only by such could redemption of anything be obtained d but these are insufficient for the redemption of the soul; which is a deliverance from the slavery of sin, the bondage, curse, and condemnation of the law, the captivity of Satan, and from a state of poverty, having been deep in debt, and sold under sin. It here follows,
from your vain conversation [received] by tradition from your fathers; meaning not the corruption of nature, which is propagated from father to son by natural generation, and lies in the vanity of the mind, and is the spring and source of an evil conversation; though the saints, as they are redeemed from all sin, so from this, that it shall not be their condemnation; not Gentilism, which lay in vain philosophy, in idolatry and superstition, and in evil and wicked conversation, encouraged by the example of their ancestors; but Judaism, and either regards the ceremonial law, which was delivered by Moses to the Jewish fathers, and by them handed down to their posterity; and which was vain, as used and abused by them, and was unprofitable to obtain righteousness, life, and salvation by, and therefore was disannulled by Christ, who has redeemed and delivered his people from this yoke of bondage; or rather the traditions of the elders, which our Lord inveighs against, Mt 15:3 c. and the Apostle Paul was brought up in, and zealous of, before conversion, Ga 1:14 as the Pharisees were. These were the inventions and decrees of them they called , “fathers”, to whose dogmas and decisions they paid the utmost respect. These made up their oral law, which the Jews say e Moses received from Sinai, and delivered to Joshua and Joshua to the elders; and the elders to the prophets; and the prophets to the men of the great synagogue, the last of which was Simeon the just; and from him it was delivered to another; and so from one to another to the times of Christ and his apostles and afterwards; and which consisted of many vain, useless, and unprofitable things; to walk according to which must be a vain conversation; and the saints now being redeemed by a greater price than that of silver and gold, and which is after mentioned, they ought not therefore to be the servants of men, no, not of these fathers, but of God and Christ.
d Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Beracot, c. 7. sect. 1. e Pirke Abot, c. 1. sect. 1, 2, &c.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Knowing (). Second perfect active participle of , causal participle. The appeal is to an elementary Christian belief (Hort), the holiness and justice of God with the added thought of the high cost of redemption (Bigg).
Ye were redeemed (). First aorist passive indicative of , old verb from (ransom for life as of a slave, Mt 20:28), to set free by payment of ransom, abundant examples in the papyri, in N.T. only here, Luke 24:21; Titus 2:14. The ransom is the blood of Christ. Peter here amplifies the language in Isa 52:3f.
Not with corruptible things ( ). Instrumental case neuter plural of the late verbal adjective from to destroy or to corrupt, and so perishable, in N.T. here, verse 1Pet 1:23; 1Cor 9:25; 1Cor 15:53; Rom 1:23. (silver or gold) are in explanatory apposition with and so in the same case. Slaves were set free by silver and gold.
From your vain manner of life ( ). “Out of” (), and so away from, the pre-Christian of verse 15, which was “vain” (. Cf. Eph 4:17-24).
Handed down from your fathers (). This adjective, though predicate in position, is really attributive in idea, like in Eph 2:11 (Robertson, Grammar, p. 777), like the French idiom. This double compound verbal adjective (, , ), though here alone in N.T., occurs in Diodorus, Dion. Halic, and in several inscriptions (Moulton and Milligan’s Vocabulary; Deissmann, Bible Studies, pp. 266f.). The Jews made a wrong use of tradition (Mt 15:2ff.), but the reference here seems mainly to Gentiles (1Pe 2:12).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Ye were redeemed [] . The verb occurs only in two other passages, Luk 24:21; Tit 2:14. It carries the idea of a ransom – price (lutron, from luw, to loose).
With silver or gold [ ] . Lit., with silver or gold money; the words meaning, respectively, a small coin of silver or of gold. Conversation. Rev., manner of life. See on ver. 15.
Received by tradition from your fathers [] . A clumsy translation; improved by Rev., handed down from your fathers. The word is peculiar to Peter.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Forasmuch as ye know.” (Gk. eidotes) Knowing, perceiving, or comprehending ye – the behavior of the redeemed should always be on the basis of his knowledge of salvation.
2) “That ye were not redeemed with corruptible things The redeemed were not bought from the-slave market of sin (elutrothete) with (phthartois) corrupt, inherently defiled, or externally contracted, impure things.
3) “As silver and gold” as or like silver (argurio) or (chrusio) gold. Even gold and silver canker – contract defilement, though the dross seems to be gone.
4) “From your vain conversation “ from your vain, empty, or sham course of life, living – the vanity pattern.
5) “Received by tradition from your fathers.” Received or given over to you from the source of your earthly fathers. Eph 2:1-3; Eph 2:12; Eph 4:18; Rom 3:9; Rom 3:22.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
18 Forasmuch as ye know, or, knowing. Here is another reason, drawn from the price of our redemption, which ought always to be remembered when our salvation is spoken of. For to him who repudiates or despises the grace of the gospel, not only his own salvation is worthless, but also the blood of Christ, by which God has manifested its value. But we know how dreadfully sacrilegious it is to regard as common the blood of the Son of God. There is hence nothing which ought so much to stimulate us to the practice of holiness, as the memory of this price of our redemption.
Silver and gold For the sake of amplifying he mentions these things in contrast, so that we may know that the whole world, and all things deemed precious by men, are nothing to the excellency and value of this price.
But he says that they had been redeemed from their vain conversation, (16) in order that we might know that the whole life of man, until he is converted to Christ, is a ruinous labyrinth of wanderings. He also intimates, that it is not through our merits that we are restored to the right way, but because it is God’s will that the price, offered for our salvation, should be effectual in our behalf. Then the blood of Christ is not only the pledge of our salvation, but also the cause of our calling.
Moreover, Peter warns us to beware lest our unbelief should render this price void or of no effect. As Paul boasts that he worshipped God with a pure conscience from his forefathers, (2Ti 1:3,) and as he also commends to Timothy for his imitation the piety of his grandmother Lois, and of his mother Eunice, (2Ti 1:5,) and as Christ also said of the Jews that they knew whom they worshipped (Joh 4:22,) it may seem strange that Peter should assert that the Jews of his time learnt nothing from their fathers but mere vanity. To this I answer, that Christ, when he declared that the way or the knowledge of true religion belonged to the Jews, referred to the law and the commandments of God rather than to the people; for the temple had not to no purpose been built at Jerusalem, nor was God worshipped there according to the fancies of men, but according to what was prescribed in the Law; he, therefore, said that the Jews were not going astray while observing the Law. As to Paul’s forefathers, and as to Lois, Eunice, and similar cases, there is no doubt but that God ever had at least a small remnant among that people, in whom sincere piety continued, while the body of the people had become wholly corrupt, and had plunged themselves into all kinds of errors. Innumerable superstitions were followed, hypocrisy prevailed, the hope of salvation was built on the merest trifles; they were not only imbued with false opinions, but also fascinated with the grossest dotages; and they who had been scattered to various parts of the world, were implicated in still greater corruptions. In short, the greater part of that nation had either wholly fallen away from true religion, or had much degenerated. When, therefore, Peter condemned the doctrine of the fathers, he viewed it as unconnected with Christ, who is the soul and the truth of the Law.
But we hence learn, that as soon as men depart from Christ, they go fatally astray. In vain is pretended in this case the authority of the Fathers or an ancient custom. For the Prophet Ezekiel cried to the Jews,
“
Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers.” (Eze 20:18.)
This ought also to be no less attended to by us in the present day; for, in order that the redemption of Christ may be effectual and useful to us, we must renounce our former life, though derived from the teaching and practice of our fathers. Thrice foolish, then, are the Papists, who think that the name of Fathers is a sufficient defense for all their superstitions, so that they boldly reject whatever is brought forward from the Word of God.
(16) ‘The verb λυτρόω means properly to redeem by a price from tyranny or bondage, but its meaning here, and in Luk 24:21, and Titus 2:14, is merely to deliver. “Vain conversation” signifies a useless, profitless mode of living. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
4.
The Christians Ransom 1:1821
1Pe. 1:18-19 knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ:
Expanded Translation
realizing that you were freed by ransom, not with perishable things such as silver and gold, from the hollow and useless life handed down from your ancestors; but rather with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
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knowing that ye were redeemed
That is, were liberated by payment of ransom. The word lutroo, according to Vine, signifies the actual deliverance, the setting at liberty. It was frequently used by the ancients when slaves were brought out of captivity. The slave was evaluated by the amount of money paid.[1] Living in the confines of sin, we were captives of Satan (2Ti. 2:26). But our Saviour tells us, He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives (Luk. 4:18). And what was the price the Father paid that He might have us back in His good graces? $100,000? No! Something far more valuable was paid!
[1] See the use of Lurron, the noun form, Lev. 19:20, Isa. 45:13 (Septuagint).
not with corruptible things, with silver or gold
Corruptible being used here in the sense of perishablei.e., liable to decay and ruin. The word phthartos, used here, stands opposed to aphthartos (incorruptible) which occurs in 1Pe. 1:4. The two words are vividly contrasted in 1Co. 9:25 : And every man that striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible (phthartos) crown; but we an incorruptible (aphthartos).
from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers
Their previous life was vain, devoid of success, useless, to no purpose, hence, corrupt, pervertedfor so the word mataios signifies. Surely several of them had been relatively successful in realms of business, politics, music, or farming. But until a man hands his life over to the Master, unconditionally surrendering his whole being to Him, his life is only a hollow void!
Their previous way of living had been passed down to them by their forefathers and ancestors. In the case of the Jews, it meant holding to the Law of Moses, along with all the accompanying traditions of the familys particular sect. In the case of the Gentile, it meant the perpetuation of Idolatry and often some heretical philosophy. It is human nature to want to preserve the status quo in the realm of religion, Ancestor worship is still extant and not only in China!
but with precious blood
Much more precious, costly, and dear in the mind of God than all the gold of Croesus! Here is the ransom money, and only Christ could pay it.
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot
The picture of the sacrificial lamb was familiar to all Peters readers, but especially to the Hebrews, and the latter well knew the requirements of perfection God demanded (Lev. 22:21-22). Christ is frequently referred to as such a lamb, sacrificed once and for all (Joh. 1:29; Joh. 1:36; Act. 20:28; Rev. 13:8; Rev. 5:6).
The contrast of these verses is one of values. The blood of our Saviour is far more valuable than any amount of money (silver and gold).
1Pe. 1:20 Who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of the times for your sake.
Expanded Translation
This sacrifice of Christ and the work it would accomplish was known by and provided for ahead of time by God; indeed, even before the world was cast into place (as a foundation is placed down); but this was all manifested at the end of the Mosaic dispensation in your behalf and for your salvation.
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Who
i.e., Christ.
was foreknown
Proginosko. See comments under 1Pe. 1:2, where the noun form of this verb occurs.
before the foundation of the world
The word foundation, katabole, is a compound word made up of kata, down, and ballo, throw or cast. Hence, literally, a throwing, laying, or casting down. The picture is one of God laying or casting the world into place, as likened unto a man who has thrown down a foundation for a building. Here, of course, the word must be taken as a figure of speech and not pressed into something literal! See Joh. 17:24, and especially Eph. 1:4. The phrase is equivalent to before the world was (Joh. 17:5); i.e., before it existed. The phrase from the foundation of the world occurs in a similar setting in Mat. 13:35; Mat. 25:34.
Though the word world (kosmos) may also mean age, it seems best here to leave it as it stands, for the phrase before the foundation of the world was a familiar expression, going back beyond any particular age or dispensation.
but was manifested at the end of the times for your sake
When was this time? When was the salvation of the world made available through the sacrifice of Christ? At the end of what times? The word end, eschatos, means last, utmost, extreme. The making known of Christs redemptive work was at, (epi upon, i.e., upon or at the conclusion of) the final stages of some period of history. It seems apparent that the reference can only be to the final times of the Mosaic periodthe period of approximately fifteen hundred years in which the Law of Moses was in force. In Act. 2:17, Peter, quoting the prophecy of Joel, tells us, And it shall come to pass in the last days (eschatais hemerais) . . . which prophecy had very specific reference to the nation of Israel. Concerning the impending doom of the Jews, see under 1Pe. 2:12 and 1Pe. 4:7.
1Pe. 1:21 who through him are believers in God, that raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.
Expanded Translation
(you) who through him (Christ) are believers in God, the one who raised him up out of the dead ones and bestowed glory upon him, so that your faith and hope might be in God.
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who through him are believers in God
The only way any man, Jew or Gentile, ever comes to know God is through the person of Christ. Joh. 14:6, Eph. 2:17-18.
that raised him from the dead
The resurrection and consequent glorification on Gods right hand of Christ, gives us a basis or reason for confidence in God. It was obviously His working, and it caused us to believe on Him through Christ. Peter lays great stress on the importance of the resurrection, not only in his epistles, but also in his speeches recorded in the Book of Acts (Act. 2:32-36; Act. 3:15; Act. 4:10).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(18) Forasmuch as ye know.This correctly paraphrases the simple original knowing. Security, which is the opposite of the fear of the Father, is incompatible with knowing by whose and what anguish alone the inheritance could be purchased for us.
Corruptible things.St. Peters contempt for silver and gold is shown early in his history (Act. 3:6; comp. 1Pe. 3:4). Gold and silver will come to an end with everything else that is material. Observe that, by contrast, the blood of Christ is implied to be not corruptible; and that, not because of the miraculous incorruption of Jesus Christs flesh, but because the blood of Christ of which the Apostle here speaks is not material. The natural blood of Jesus was only the sign and sacrament of that by which He truly and inwardly redeemed the world. (See Isa. 53:12, He poured out His soul unto death, and Heb. 10:9-10.)
Redeemed . . . from your vain conversation.We have to notice (1) what the redemption means, and (2) what the readers were redeemed from. Now (1) the word redeem is the same which is used in Luk. 24:21 (We used to hope that He was the person destined to redeem Israel), and in Tit. 2:14 (Gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity), and nowhere else. The substantive appears in Luk. 1:68; Luk. 2:38; Heb. 9:12, to represent the action of redeeming; and in Act. 7:35, of Moses, to represent the person who effects such a redemption. Properly it means to ransom a person, to get them out of slavery or captivity by paying a ransom (Mat. 20:28; Mar. 10:45; comp. 1Ti. 2:6). The notion of an actual ransom paid, however, was apt to slip away, as in the case of Moses just quoted, who certainly gave nothing of the nature of an equivalent to Pharaoh for the loss of his serfs. So that here, as in all passages relating to the Atonement, we must be very careful not to press the metaphor, or to consider it as more than a metaphor. The leading notion here is not that of paying an equivalent, but to call closer attention to the state in which the readers were before. It was a servitude like that of Egypt, or a captivity like that of Babylon, from which they needed a ransomer like Moses or Zerubbabel. What then was that condition? (2) St. Peter describes it as a vain conversation traditional from the fathers. The word conversation again catches up 1Pe. 1:15; 1Pe. 1:17, be holy in your conduct; let it be a conduct of fear; for your old vain conduct needed a terrible ransom before you could be set at liberty from it. The question is, whether a Gentile or Jewish mode of life is intended. If it meant merely as regards religious worship, it would suit either way, for it was of the essence of Roman state religion that it should be the same from generation to generation. (See Act. 24:14.) But conversation or manner of life is far too wide a word to be thus limited, and at the same time the word tradition implies (in the New Testament) something sedulously taught, purposely handed down from father to son as an heirloom, so that it could not be applied to the careless, sensual life of Gentiles, learned by example only. On the other hand, among the Jews tradition entered into the minutest details of daily life or conversation. (See Mar. 7:3-4the Petrine Gospel.) It was a matter of serious tradition how a cup was to be washed. Vain (i.e., frivolous) seems not an unnatural epithet to apply to such a mode of life, especially to one who had heard Mar. 7:7. It would seem, then, that the readers of this Letter were certainly Jews by birth. But would the Apostle of the Circumcision, the supposed head of the legal party in the Church, dare to call Judaism a vain conversation, to stigmatise it (the single compound adjective in the Greek has a contemptuous ring) as imposed by tradition of the fathers, and to imply that it was like an Egyptian bondage? We have only to turn to Act. 15:10, and we find him uttering precisely the same sentiments, and calling Judaism a slavish yoke, which was not only so bad for Gentiles that to impose it upon them was to tempt God, but also was secretly or openly felt intolerable by himself, by all the Jews there present, and even by the fathers who had imposed it. Judaism itself, then, in the form it had then assumed, was one of the foes and oppressors from which Christ came to ransom and save His people. (See Notes on 1Pe. 1:9-10, and comp. Act. 13:39.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. A second argument for fear is based upon the price of redemption.
Know And should bear in mind.
Redeemed By the payment of a ransom to the righteous Lawgiver and Judge, whose curse is upon all transgression. This legally opens the way for the actual deliverance of the ransomed. Both are here meant. Because of the ransom, they had been delivered from the vain, profitless life in which their idolatrous fathers had taught their children.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without spot, even the blood of Christ,’
And especially should we be filled with awe as we recognise the cost of what He has done for us. There we were living a vain manner of life, following in the footsteps of our fathers, counting silver and gold as the be-all and end-all of everything, and living as our fathers had done. And then our Father stepped in to act as our Redeemer and Deliverer. He delivered us from such a vain manner of living. He did not, however, redeem us with silver and gold, but with something infinitely more valuable, with the ‘precious’ blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot. He redeemed us through the obedience and death of Jesus. He lifted us into a new sphere.
Notice the stresses of the verse:
We were ‘redeemed’. That is we were set free through the payment of a price. We had been slaves to debt and sin, and our kinsman redeemer stepped in to pay the debt, and free us from the bondage of sin, from the bondage of our old manner of life. This illustration possibly looks back to the Law when someone who had become a bondslave in order to pay off an unpayable debt, was often set free by a kinsman coming in and paying off his debt, and thus ‘redeeming’ him (compareLev 25:47 ff. In the same way we owe an unpayable debt to God because of our failure to do His will, a debt that only Christ could pay.
Alternately Peter may have had in mind the Passover lamb. On the night when Israel were ‘redeemed’ from Egypt every household had to offer a Passover lamb in order to ‘redeem’ their firstborn from the sentence of death (Exodus 12), and the blood was sprinkled on the doorposts of their houses. And from that day on every firstborn son born in Israel had to be ‘redeemed’ from sentence of death by the slaying of a lamb or goat (Exo 13:13), and became dedicated to the service of God. At the same time the whole of Israel were ‘redeemed’ from Egypt by the powerful arm of God (Exo 6:6; Exo 15:13; Exo 20:2), a redemption continually celebrated at the Passover. And through Christ’s death and resurrection we too have been ‘redeemed’ in a similar way. Compare here 1Co 5:7, ‘even Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us’. Peter has remembered the words of John the Baptist, ‘Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (Joh 1:29).
This illustration would fit the whole passage well, for it includes the ideas of the sprinkling of the blood (1Pe 1:2), the dedication to obedience (1Pe 1:2; 1Pe 1:14), and the deliverance of God’s people from a life of bondage to the old ways, as they set off as sojourners on their way to their inheritance.
And the price that He paid was the ultra-precious ‘blood of Christ’. It was a necessary price, for it was a price paid to bring us into obedience and into cleanness (1Pe 1:2). Compare Paul’s ‘you were bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body’ (1Co 6:20). ‘The church of God which He purchased with His own blood’ (Act 20:28). ‘In Whom we have redemption through His blood’ (Eph 1:7). And that could only be done through the One Who was obedient in all things, and who, being spotlessly clean, offered Himself to pay the price of sin in dying for us.
‘A lamb without spot.’ The sacrificial lamb had to be perfect in every way (compareExo 12:5; Lev 22:19-20; Deu 15:21). In the same way Christ could only be offered because He was perfect in obedience.
‘From the vain manner of life handed down from your fathers.’ They had been brought up in the ways of idolatry and vain worship and useless living. They had lived for those who were no-gods. This was their heritage from their fathers. It emphasises that many of his readers were Gentiles. Godly Jewish Christians, descended from a godly Jewish home, would not have looked on their past in this way.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Pe 1:18 . The apostle strengthens his exhortation by reminding his readers of the redemption wrought out for them by the death of Christ. It is an assumption too far-fetched to suppose that this verse serves to show “the causal connection between the protasis and the apodosis of 1Pe 1:17 ” (Schott).
] not: “since ye know,” but: “considering,” “reflecting;” Gerhard: expendentes; cf. 2Ti 2:23 and my commentary on the passage.
] The negation is placed foremost in order the more to give prominence to the position.
, ] is not an adjective here (Luther: “with perishable silver and gold”), but a substantive: “ with perishable things ;” see Winer, p. 491 [E. T. 662].
Benson thinks that by the apostle alludes to the custom of paying money as a sign of reconciliation, according to Exo 30:12-16 ; Num 3:44-51 ; Num 18:16 ; this is possible, but not probable.
] is here used in its strict signification of, to ransom, or redeem by a (cf. Mat 20:28 ), as in Tit 2:14 , whilst in Luk 24:21 this definite application is lost sight of; with the thought, cf. 1Co 6:20 . The ransom is stated in the following verse.
] cf. 1Pe 1:14 . , “ empty, without real contents ,” does not occur in an ethical sense in the classics; LXX. Isa 32:6 translation of is not to be limited specially to the idolatry of the heathen (Carpzov, Benson, etc.), still less to the ceremonial service of the Jews (Grotius). [90]
] belongs to the whole idea preceding: (see Winer, p. 489 [E. T. 659]). Aretius explains it by innata nobis natura; but this is not appropriate to ; correctly Erasmus: quam ex Patrum traditione acceperatis; Steiger: “by upbringing, instruction, and example” (thus also de Wette-Brckner, Wiesinger, Weiss, Schott). This attribute emphatically shows that the is peculiar, not to the individual only, but to the whole race, and has been from the earliest times, and consequently is so completely master of the individual that he cannot free himself from it.
There is here no “special reference to Judaeo-Christian readers” (Weiss, p. 181).
[90] Although does not necessarily apply to the heathen (Schott), yet the expression more aptly characterizes their mode of life than the Jewish.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2388
REDEMPTION FROM A VAIN CONVERSATION
1Pe 1:18-19. Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
THE Christians duty is by no means easy to be performed. It requires the exercise of much firmness and self-denial. The inspired writers, aware of this, enforce it by every consideration that can influence our minds. In the passage before us the Apostle is recommending an holy fear and jealousy lest we should be drawn back into the love of this present world. He first urges this duty from a regard to the impartial tribunal of God [Note: ver. 17.], and then from the very intent of Christs death. This latter and most powerful argument calls for our attention at this time. To illustrate it we shall consider,
I.
The extent of mans redemption
The conversation of men in all ages and in all places has been the same
[Different customs indeed have obtained in different countries: but all have walked after the imagination of their own hearts: they have prohibited such things as they thought injurious to the welfare of society, but left themselves at liberty to consult their own inclinations in every thing else. Their practices in time formed a kind of law. What was sanctioned by one generation was followed by another. And the conversation received by tradition from their fathers was that which was adopted by every succeeding age.]
It is almost superfluous to observe that such conversation has been vain
[Let any one ask himself what has his past conversation profited him? Has it given him any solid satisfaction? No; the remembrance of it cannot at all assuage the anguish of a mind bowed down with affliction, much less of a mind burthened with a sense of guilt. Has it brought honour to God, or any real benefit to mankind? It has been the means of almost shutting out the knowledge of God from the world; but has never honoured him in any single instance: and as for mankind, if it have in any respect advanced their temporal interests, it has blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts, and encouraged them to walk in the broad way that leadeth to destruction.]
From this however the true Christian has been redeemed
[It is not only from hell that the Christian is delivered, but from sin. He once indeed walked according to the course of this world (which is the devils course [Note: Eph 2:2-3.]) fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind even as others: but now he has seen the vanity of such a life: he proposes to himself another pattern, even Jesus, who hath set us an example, that we should follow his steps: he is no longer conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of his mind. By the cross of Christ the world is become lothesome to him, even as a crucified object [Note: Gal 6:14.]: while he is in it indeed, he performs the duties of it in a conscientious manner: but he goes into it only, as a physician into an hospital, from a sense of duty, and for the good of others; and is glad enough to retire from it to a purer atmosphere.]
He endeavours to keep before his eyes,
II.
The price paid for him
Slaves and captives are redeemed with silver and gold; but gold was of no value in the redemption of our souls
[The whole world was not a sufficient price for one soul: it could not atone for our sin or reconcile an offended God: nor could it at all avail to change our carnal dispositions. Gold and silver might rivet our chains, and fix us more strongly in a vain conversation; but it could never detach us from the love of present things.]
That, which alone was of value sufficient, was, the precious blood of Christ
[The lamb that was offered daily in sacrifice to God was to be spotless and without blemish. By its blood, atonement was made for the sins of the Jewish nation; and they were preserved a holy and peculiar people. This was a typical ordinance: it represented Christ, who in due time offered himself without spot to God: and the benefits visibly, and in a figure, enjoyed by the Jewish nation, are invisibly, but really enjoyed by us. We have the substance of which they had the shadow. Well then might the Apostle call his blood precious. There is no bondage from which it does not deliver us. Were we under the curse and condemnation of the law? The blood of Christ redeems us from the penalty of all our transgressions: it gives peace to the guilty, and liberty to the captive, soul: it frees, moreover, from all the snares and entanglements of this vain world. This is mentioned both in the text and in other places as a principal end of Christs death [Note: Gal 1:4.]. Precious indeed is it, when its influence is thus felt. To a true Christian the blood of Christ is not less precious as delivering him from sin, than it is as delivering him from hell itself.]
While we wonder that such a price was ever paid, let us inquire into,
III.
The effect which the consideration of this price should have upon us
The Apostle introduces the text as an argument for passing our time in fear
[A slavish fear is one of those things from which we are delivered by the blood of Christ. We sprinkle that blood on our door-posts, and have no dread of the destroying angel. But there is a holy jealousy, which it is our duty ever to maintain. We are only sojourners in this world, and are hastening to our Fathers house. We are moreover in danger of being diverted from our path. We have a subtle adversary and a deceitful heart. Sin itself also is deceitful, and will beguile us, if we watch not against its wiles. We should therefore be on our guard, and pass the time of our sojourning here in fear.]
And well may this effect be produced by such a wonderful consideration
[Were we laden with bags of gold, we should be cautious how we ventured ourselves among thieves and robbers. And shall we be careless when we carry about with us what is of more value than the whole world? Shall we trifle with that which nothing but the precious blood of Gods own Son could redeem? Shall Satan as a roaring lion go about seeking to devour us, and we not stand on our guard against him? Shall we suffer him to destroy that for which Christ died? O let not that precious blood be so vile in our eyes. Let not our souls appear of so little value. Let us rather watch night and day. It is but a little time: soon we shall be at home; safe in the bosom of our Lord, safe beyond the reach of harm.]
Application
1.
Let us inquire what we know concerning these things
[The Apostle takes for granted that all Christians know them. But do ye know them? Do ye know that a worldly conversation is a vain conversation? Do ye know that no resolutions, no services, yea, nothing but the precious blood of Christ could ever redeem you from it? And do ye know by daily experience the efficacy of his blood in that view? Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith, and whether you have that deadness to the world, which alone can warrant a favourable conclusion. If ye be Christs, ye are not of the world, even as he was not of the world [Note: Joh 17:16.]: ye are dead to it, and have your conversation in heaven [Note: Php 3:20.].]
2.
Let us labour to experience them more and more
[There is something very fascinating in the temptations of the world. Its pleasures, riches, or honours are but too apt to draw us aside. But whenever ye are tempted, say, Shall I return to that bondage from which I have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ? Shall I trample under foot the Son of God, and crucify him afresh [Note: Heb 10:29.]? Shall I, as it were, see his dead corpse lying in my way, and go over that to the gratification of my base desires? Surely such reflections will not fail to animate your resolution, and to keep you at a distance from those scenes of vanity, where your steadfastness would be endangered. Let us live as citizens of a better country, and no more fashion ourselves according to our former lusts in our ignorance [Note: 1Pe 1:14.]. Let us drink of purer pleasures, even of that river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God. Thus, experiencing the full benefits of redeeming love on earth, we shall ere long sing its praises in heaven for evermore.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
Ver. 18. Ye were not redeemed with silver and gold ] These are poor things to purchase a soul with (more likely they are to drown it in perdition and destruction, 1Ti 6:9 ). Our Saviour, who only ever went to the price of souls, tells us that one soul is more worth than a world, Mat 16:26 .
Received by tradition ] Children are very apt to follow their parents’ example, whether of good or evil. Me ex ea opinione quam a maioribus accepi de cultu Deorum, nullius unquam movebit oratio, saith Cicero, I will never forsake that way of di vine service that I have received from my fore fathers.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
18 .] knowing (being aware: this argument enhances the duty of godly fear by the consideration of the inestimable price at which they were redeemed. This consideration is urged through 1Pe 1:18-21 ) that not (emphatic) with corruptible things ( subst.; not, as Luther, agreeing with . ), silver or gold (notice , not . The diminutive forms stand generally (not always, cf. Palm and Rost in ) for the coined or wrought metal: and such a sense would be applicable here), were ye redeemed (bought out of, by the payment of a , presently to be specified: see reff., and cf. , 1Co 6:20 ; 1Co 7:23 ; , Gal 3:13 ) out of your vain conversation ( ., “vana vivendi ratio, qu, ubi tempus prteriit, nil reliqui fructus habet.” Beng.) delivered to you from your fathers (“ unus Pater imitandus 1Pe 1:17 ; idem antitheton, Mat 23:9 .” Bengel. This again makes it probable that the persons here more especially addressed are Gentile Christians. The Apostle, himself a Jew, would hardly speak of the vain ungodly lives of Jews as , without more explanation.
Benson, in loc., imagines that there is an allusion to the Jewish practice of paying down money as a ransom for life, Exo 21:30 ; Exo 30:11-16 ; Num 3:44-51 ; Num 18:15 ; but there does not seem any ground for this view here: the words following on do not give countenance to it, but rather favour the view that it is the buying out of captivity which is in the Apostle’s mind: see below),
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Pe 1:18 . Amplification of Isa 52:3 f., ( cf. Isa 45:13 . The deliverance from Babylon corresponds to the deliverance from Egypt. To these the Christians added a third and appropriated to it the descriptions of its predecessors. , . . . The preceding negative relief to positive statement is characteristic of St. Peter, who here found it in his original (Isa. l.c. ). echoes and is probably an allusion to the Golden Calf of which it was said These be thy gods O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt (Exo 32:14 ). According to Sap. 14:8, it is the proper name for an idol: . So the dative represents the agent and not only the instrument of the deliverance. supports the view taken of ., for the gods of the nations are vanity , (Jer 10:3 , etc.). , ancestral, hereditary . The adjective indicates the source of the influence, which their old way of life patrius mos, patriritus still exercised over them. The ancient religion had a strength not merely vis inertiae which often baffled both Jewish and Christian missionaries: “to subvert a custom delivered to us from ancestors the heathen say is not reasonable” (Clem. Ac. Protr. x.). This power of the dead hand is exemplified in the pains taken by the Stoics and New Pythagoreans to conserve the popular religion and its myths by allegorical interpretation. Among the Jews this natural conservatism was highly developed; St. Paul was a zealot for the ancestral laws . But the combination of patriarch and tradition does not prove that the persons addressed were Jewish Christians. The law, according to which the Jews regulated their life, was Divine, its mediator Moses; and there is a note of depreciation in the words not that it is derived from Moses only from the Fathers (Joh 7:22 ). is contrasted with (17) as with the direct calling.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Forasmuch, &c. = Knowing. App-132.
redeemed. See Tit 2:14.
with = by. No preposition.
corruptible. See Rom 1:23.
received, &c. = handed down from your fathers. Greek. patroparadotos. Only here.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
18.] knowing (being aware: this argument enhances the duty of godly fear by the consideration of the inestimable price at which they were redeemed. This consideration is urged through 1Pe 1:18-21) that not (emphatic) with corruptible things ( subst.; not, as Luther, agreeing with . ), silver or gold (notice , not . The diminutive forms stand generally (not always, cf. Palm and Rost in ) for the coined or wrought metal: and such a sense would be applicable here), were ye redeemed (bought out of, by the payment of a , presently to be specified: see reff., and cf. , 1Co 6:20; 1Co 7:23; , Gal 3:13) out of your vain conversation ( ., vana vivendi ratio, qu, ubi tempus prteriit, nil reliqui fructus habet. Beng.) delivered to you from your fathers (unus Pater imitandus 1Pe 1:17; idem antitheton, Mat 23:9. Bengel. This again makes it probable that the persons here more especially addressed are Gentile Christians. The Apostle, himself a Jew, would hardly speak of the vain ungodly lives of Jews as , without more explanation.
Benson, in loc., imagines that there is an allusion to the Jewish practice of paying down money as a ransom for life, Exo 21:30; Exo 30:11-16; Num 3:44-51; Num 18:15; but there does not seem any ground for this view here: the words following on do not give countenance to it, but rather favour the view that it is the buying out of captivity which is in the Apostles mind: see below),-
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Pe 1:18. , not with corruptible things) 1Pe 1:23.-, vain) A vain course of life, which leaves no fruit behind, when the time has passed away.-, received from the fathers) There is only one Father to be imitated, 1Pe 1:17. There is the same antithesis, Mat 23:9. In religion men too willingly and pertinaciously tread in the footsteps of their fathers, and the Jews in particular.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
redeemed
(See Scofield “Rom 3:24”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
ye: Psa 49:7, Psa 49:8, 1Co 6:20, 1Co 7:23
corruptible: 1Pe 1:7
vain: Psa 39:6, Psa 62:10, Jer 4:11, Rom 1:21, 1Co 3:20
received: 1Pe 4:3, Jer 9:14, Jer 16:19, Jer 44:17, Eze 20:18, Amo 2:4, Zec 1:4-6, Mat 15:2, Mat 15:3, Act 7:51, Act 7:52, Act 19:34, Act 19:35, Gal 1:4
Reciprocal: Exo 12:5 – be without Exo 30:12 – a ransom Exo 37:4 – with gold Lev 1:3 – a male Lev 4:32 – a lamb Lev 4:34 – the horns of the altar Lev 4:35 – and the priest shall make Lev 12:6 – a lamb Lev 15:27 – General Num 3:46 – the two hundred Num 3:50 – General Num 7:15 – General 2Sa 21:4 – We will 1Ki 15:12 – all the idols 1Ki 20:39 – or else 2Ki 14:3 – he did according 2Ki 16:10 – saw an altar Job 33:24 – I Psa 19:14 – redeemer Psa 26:11 – redeem Psa 31:5 – thou Psa 34:22 – redeemeth Psa 107:2 – Let the Psa 111:9 – sent Pro 13:8 – ransom Pro 14:18 – inherit Isa 1:27 – redeemed Isa 29:22 – who redeemed Isa 35:9 – but Isa 44:22 – return Isa 45:13 – let go Isa 52:3 – General Isa 62:12 – The redeemed Isa 63:16 – General Jer 2:11 – a nation Jer 10:3 – customs Eze 18:14 – that seeth Hos 7:13 – though Zec 13:7 – smite Mat 20:28 – and to Mar 7:3 – the tradition Mar 8:37 – General Luk 24:21 – General Act 20:28 – which he Rom 3:24 – through Rom 3:25 – set forth Rom 4:25 – Who was Rom 12:2 – be not 1Co 1:30 – redemption 1Co 12:2 – even Gal 2:16 – we have Gal 3:13 – redeemed Gal 4:5 – redeem Eph 1:7 – whom Eph 2:13 – are Eph 4:22 – former Eph 5:25 – loved Col 2:8 – after the tradition 1Ti 2:6 – gave Heb 9:12 – by his 1Pe 2:1 – Wherefore 1Jo 3:16 – perceive Rev 5:9 – and hast
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Pe 1:18. What may be justly expected from servants who have been redeemed from bondage, will depend largely on what was exchanged for their freedom. These servants of God had formerly followed a conversation (manner of life) that was handed down by tradition from their heathen fathers. God did not procure their freedom by the use of silver and gold which are corruptible which means perishable.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Pe 1:18. Knowing that not with corruptible things, silver or gold, were ye redeemed. The injunction to a walk in godly fear, which is sustained by motives of this strength and variety, was implicitly enforced (as Huther rightly notices) by the relation which the cognate terms of 1Pe 1:15; 1Pe 1:17 indicate between the God who calls them and the elect who respond by calling on Him. It is now more explicitly enforced by a positive statement, the terms of which are difficult to construe, but the scope of which is that the thought of what it cost to help them to break with the old walk of heathenism should be argument enough for cultivating now a walk of gravity and circumspection. A redemption is in view which is expressed by a verb that is found in the N. T. only in other two passages (Tit 2:14; Luk 24:21), although several terms connected with it occur not unfrequently. It has radically the sense of redeeming by payment of a ransom price. Of the three New Testament occurrences one has the political or theocratic sense of delivering the kingdom of Israel, and the specific idea of price recedes into the background (Luk 24:21). The other two keep the idea of the ransom price in the foreground. In the Old Testament, the term and its cognates are used in a variety of cases, e.g. of recovering something which has been devoted by substituting an equivalent in its place (Lev 27:27), of buying back something that has been sold (Lev 25:25), of ransoming souls by a money payment to the Lord when Israel was numbered (Exo 30:12-16), of redeeming the first-born by a price paid to Aaron (Num 3:44-51). The terms apply in the New Testament to ransoming from the bondage of evil (Tit 2:14), as well as from the penalty of evil. Here the ransom price is stated first negatively as not corruptible (or perishable) things, not even the most valuable of these, such as silver or gold. The form of the words here used for silver and gold is that used generally, though not invariably, for the coined metals, pieces of money; hence some think that the writer has in mind here the sacred money paid for the redemption of the first-born or as the expiation-money for those who were enrolled by being numbered. But the contrast with the precious blood makes such a limitation inept. The A. V. here gives and for or, which is the case also in one or two other passages (Mar 6:11; 1Co 11:27), and is due (as is suggested by Lillie) probably to following the Genevan and Bishops Bibles.
from your vain walk handed down by your fathers. What they were ransomed from is a particular manner of life which formed a bondage too strong to be broken by any ordinary ransom. This manner of life is described as vain, the adjective here selected as the note of vanity implying not so much the hollowness of the life as its futility and resultlessnessthe fact that it missed its aim, and that nothing of real worth issued from it. It is further described by a term meaning ancestral, hereditary, or traditional, which indicates how mighty a spell it must have wielded over them. It was a life fortified and almost consecrated to their hearts by the venerableness of age and ancestral authority (Lillie), and thereby entrenched the more strongly in its vanity. Both these terms suit Gentile life. The vain expresses what a life is which has no relation to God. It rules the other phrase ancestral, or handed down from your fathers, and makes it descriptive of a Gentile life rather than a Jewish (see also the Introduction). What could set them free from the despotism of a life, poor as the life might be, which not only ran the course of natural inclination, but laid upon them those strong bonds of birth, respect for the past, relationship, habit, example? Nothing but a new moral power, Peter reminds them, which it cost something incalculably more precious than silver or gold to bring in, namely, the sinless life of the Messiah.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Still our apostle is pressing Christians to the love and practice of holiness, and a reverential fear of God, by fresh arguments and motives, particularly from their redemption; saying, that they could not but be sensible that they were redeemed with a very costly price, not with silver and gold, which yet would ransom kings, but by the precious blood of Christ, whom the paschal lamb typified, and who was from eternity fore-ordained to the office of a mediator, though he was not manifested in the flesh till these last days, for the good and benefit of those who by him do believe in God that raised Christ from the dead, and gloriously exalted him at his right hand, upon which account their faith and hope may safely and comfortably rest in God.
Note here, 1. The thraldom, bondage, and slavery, of our sinful state before we were redeemed.
Note, 2. The impotency and inability of all outward things, be they never so rich, precious, and costly, to redeem and ransom an enslaved sinner. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold. All the gold and silver in the world was no ransom for one soul, nay, the blood of all the creatures in the world offered up in sacrifice to the justice of God, could have been no sufficient compensation.
Note, 3. That the redemption of every soul cost no less than the precious blood of the Son of God, that spotless Lamb, who by the sacrifice of his death atoned divine displeasure.
Note, 4. That God the Father fore-ordained Jesus Christ his Son to this blessed office of a Redeemer before the foundation of the world, though he was not manifest in the flesh till these last times.
Note, 5. That by Christ the Redeemer we are taught to know God, and to believe in him who raised Christ from the dead.
Here observe, How the Socinians wrest and misapply this text, where we are said by Christ to believe in God. Thus they argue, “He by whom we believe in God, is not that God in whom we believe, because the means of faith can never be the object of faith; but Christ is he: the apostle says here, by whom we believe in God, therefore Christ is not God.”
Ans. Christ, considered in his human nature, in which he died, and was raised for us, is he by whom we believe in God, that is, own him to be able to raise us from the dead; but this hinders not his being God according to his divine nature, by which he did actually raise himself from the dead, Joh 10:18.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
The Priceless Nature of Christ’s Blood
Just as we buy insurance hoping we will never need to use it, God had a plan to save man from sin in the event man chose that course. That plan was made before the world was formed ( Eph 1:4 ). Notice Paul said God chose all those who are in Christ, not God chose those who should be in Christ. While the plan was in God’s mind for years, it was not made known until Christ came into the world ( Rom 16:25-26 ; Eph 3:1-6 ; Col 1:25-27 ).
Christ was made known for the sake of believers. In fact, it is through Christ that one is made a believer in God. The act that really proves Jesus was God’s Son, and indeed that there is a God, is his resurrection from the dead ( Act 2:32-36 ; Act 3:14-15 ; Act 4:10 ; Act 5:29-32 ; Act 13:29-33 ; Rom 1:4 ). Christ is now glorified in that he is seated at God’s right hand. All of this, as has been noted, produces faith in God ( 1Th 4:13-18 ; 1Co 15:16-23 ). Obviously, this is also the source of the Christian’s hope for a home in heaven ( 1Pe 1:20-21 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
1Pe 1:18-21. Forasmuch as ye know, &c. That is, be holy in your whole behaviour, because ye know what an immense price your redemption cost; that you were not redeemed with corruptible things Such as all visible and temporal things are; even silver and gold Highly as they are prized, and eagerly as they are sought; from your vain conversation Your foolish, sinful way of life, a way wholly unprofitable to yourselves, and dishonourable to God; received by traditions from your fathers Which you had been engaged in by the instruction or example of your forefathers. The Jews derived from their fathers that implicit regard for the traditions of the elders, by which they made the law of God of none effect, with a variety of other corrupt principles and practices. In like manner the Gentiles derived their idolatry, and other abominable vices, from the teaching and example of their fathers; for, in general, as Whitby justly remarks, the strongest arguments for false religions, as well as for errors in the true, is that men have received them from their fathers. But with the precious blood of Christ Blood of immense value, being the blood of the only-begotten Son of God, who had glory with the Father before the world was; as of a lamb without blemish and without spot See on Lev 22:21-22. The sacrifice of himself, which Christ offered to God without spot, being here likened to the sacrifice of the paschal lamb, and of the lambs daily offered as sin-offerings for the whole nation, we are thereby taught that the shedding of Christs blood is a real atonement for the sins of the world. Hence John the Baptist called him the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. And to show the extent of the efficacy of his sacrifice, that it reaches backward to the fall of man, as well as forward to the end of time, he is said (Rev 13:8) to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Who verily was foreordained , foreknown, before the foundation of the world Before God called the universe into being; but was manifested Namely, in the flesh, Joh 1:14; 1Jn 3:8; in these last times Of the Mosaic economy, or in the times of the gospel, the last dispensation of divine mercy; see note on Heb 1:2; for you Jews or Gentiles; who by him Through the virtue of his sacrifice, and the efficacy of his grace; do believe in God In the one living and true God, as your Friend and Father; that raised him up from the dead Thereby confirming his doctrine, showing the efficacy of his atonement, procuring for you the Holy Spirit, and assuring you of your resurrection; see on 1Pe 1:3; and gave him glory Placed him at his own right hand, and invested him with all power in heaven and on earth, for the salvation of his followers, and the destruction of his and their enemies. See Heb 10:13. That your faith and hope might be in God That you might be encouraged to believe in God as reconciled to you through Christ, that you might hope on good grounds that he will glorify you as he hath done Christ your Head; or, that your faith and hope might terminate in God the Father, or be ultimately fixed on him through the mediation of his Son.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 18
Your vain conversation; your life of folly and sin.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
1:18 (11) Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, [as] silver and gold, from your vain conversation [received] by tradition from your fathers;
(11) An exhortation, in which he sets forth the excellency and greatness of the benefit of God the Father in sanctifying us by the death of his own Son. And he partly sets the purifyings of the law against the thing itself, that is, against the blood of Christ, and partly also men’s traditions, which he condemns as utterly vain and superstitious, be they never so old and ancient.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Greek word for "redeemed" (elytrothete) means to ransom, to free by paying a price (cf. Mar 10:45; Luk 24:21; Tit 2:14).
"He [Peter] has some of the most noteworthy statements in the New Testament about the atoning value of Christ’s suffering." [Note: Leon Morris, New Testament Theology, p. 319. See 1:1-3, 18-25; 2:21-25; 3:18; 4:1, and Frederic R. Howe, "The Cross of Christ in Peter’s Theology," Bibliotheca Sacra 157:626 (April-June 2000):190-99.]
"Any representative first-century church would have three kinds of members: slaves, freemen [those who had never been slaves], and freed men. People became slaves in various ways-through war, bankruptcy, sale by themselves, sale by parents, or by birth. Slaves normally could look forward to freedom after a certain period of service and often after the payment of a price. Money to buy his freedom could be earned by the slave in his spare time or by doing more than his owner required. Often the price could be provided by someone else. By the payment of a price (lytron, antilytron), a person could be set free from his bondage or servitude. A freed man was a person who formerly had been a slave but was now redeemed." [Note: Blum, pp. 224-25.]
As the death of the Passover lamb liberated the Israelites from physical bondage in Egypt, so the death of Jesus Christ frees us from the spiritual bondage of sin (cf. Exo 12:5). In speaking of redemption Peter always emphasized our freedom from a previously sinful lifestyle to live a changed life here and now. [Note: Douglas W. Kennard, "Peterine Redemption: Its Meaning and Extent," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 30:4 (December 1987):399-405.] Jesus Christ’s life, represented by the blood, is of infinitely greater value than any mere metal, as precious as that metal may be (cf. Act 3:6; Act 8:20). "Futile" means vain or powerless, and it suggests that many of Peter’s readers were indeed Gentiles. We would normally expect this in view of where they lived (1Pe 1:1). This word better describes the lifestyle of an unsaved Gentile than that of an unsaved Jew (cf. 1Pe 1:14).