Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Peter 1:22
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, [see that ye] love one another with a pure heart fervently:
22. Seeing ye have purified your souls ] It may be noted that the use of the Greek verb “purify,” in this spiritual sense, is peculiar to St Peter, and to his friends St James (Jas 4:8) and St John (1Jn 3:3). In Joh 11:55, Act 21:24; Act 21:26; Act 24:18, it is found in its ceremonial significance. In Act 15:9 and Tit 2:14, the Greek verb is different. The purity implied is prominently, as commonly with the cognate adjective, freedom from sensual lust, but includes within its range freedom from all forms of selfishness. The instrument by which, or the region in which, this work of purification is to be accomplished, is found in “obedience to the truth;” the Truth standing here for the sum and substance of the revelation of God in Christ.
unto unfeigned love of the brethren ] The Greek noun which answers to the last four words is, in its wide range of meaning, almost, if not altogether, a coinage of Christian thought. The names of Ptolemy Philadelphus (= the lover of his brother) and of the city of Philadelphia (Rev 3:7) had probably given a wide currency to the adjective. St Paul uses it in Rom 12:10, 1Th 4:9, St Peter here and in 2Pe 1:7. The general bearing of the passage runs parallel to St Paul’s “the end of the commandment is charity (better, love) out of a pure heart and faith unfeigned” (1Ti 1:5).
love one another with a pure heart fervently ] The better MSS. omit “pure” which may have been inserted from a reminiscence of 1Ti 1:5. The adverb is strictly “intensely” rather than “fervently.” It is noticeable that the only other passage in which it meets us in the New Testament is in Act 12:5, where it, or the cognate adjective, is used of the prayer offered by the Church for St Peter.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Seeing ye have purified your souls – Greek, Having purified your souls. The apostles were never afraid of referring to human agency as having an important part in saving the soul Compare 1Co 4:15. No one is made pure without personal intention or effort – any more than one becomes accomplished or learned without personal exertion. One of the leading effects of the agency of the Holy Spirit is to excite us to make efforts for our own salvation; and there is no true piety which is not the fair result of culture, as really as the learning of a Person, or the harvest of the farmer. The amount of effort which we make in purifying our souls is usually also the measure of our attainments in religion. No one can expect to have any true piety beyond the amount of effort which he makes to be conformed to God, any more than one can expect wealth, or fame, or learning, without exertion.
In obeying the truth – That is, your yielding to the requirements of truth, and to its fair influence on your minds, has been the means of your becoming pure. The truth here referred to is, undoubtedly, that which is revealed in the gospel – the great system of truth respecting the redemption of the world.
Through the Spirit – By the agency of the Holy Spirit. It is his office to apply truth to the mind; and however precious the truth may be, and however adapted to secure certain results on the soul, it will never produce those effects without the influences of the Holy Spirit. Compare Tit 3:5-6; the notes at Joh 3:5.
Unto unfeigned love of the brethren – The effect of the influence of the Holy Spirit in applying the truth has been to produce sincere love to all who are true Christians. Compare the Joh 13:34 note; 1Th 4:9 note. See also 1Jo 3:14-18.
See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently – Compare the Heb 13:1 note; Joh 13:34-35 notes; Eph 5:2 note. The phrase with a pure heart fervently, means:
(1)That it should be genuine love proceeding from a heart in which there is no guile or hypocrisy; and,
(2)That it should be intense affection, ( ektenos;) not cold and formal, but ardent and strong.
If there is any reason why we should love true Christians at all, there is the same reason why our attachment to them should be intense. This verse establishes the following points:
(1) That truth was at the foundation of their piety. They had none of which this was not the proper basis; and in which the foundation was not as broad as the superstructure. There is no religion in the world which is not the fair developement of truth; which the truth is not suited to produce.
(2) They became Christians as the result of obeying the truth; or by yielding to its fair influence on the soul. Their own minds complied with its claims; their own hearts yielded; there was the exercise of their own volitions. This expresses a doctrine of great importance:
- There is always the exercise of the powers of the mind in true religion; always a yielding to truth; always a voluntary reception of it into the soul.
- Religion is always of the nature of obedience. It consists in yielding to what is true and right; in laying aside the feelings of opposition, and in allowing the mind to follow where truth and duty lead.
- This would always take place when the truth is presented to the mind, if there were no voluntary resistance. If all people were ready to yield to the truth, they would become Christians. The only reason why all people do not love and serve God is that they refuse to yield to what they know to be true and right.
(3) The agency by which this was accomplished was that of the Holy Spirit. Truth is adapted in itself to a certain end or result, as seed is adapted to produce a harvest. But it will no more of itself produce its appropriate effects on the soul, than seed will produce a harvest without rains, and dews, and suns. In all cases, therefore, the proper effect of truth on the soul is to be traced to the influence of the Holy Spirit, as the germination of the seed in the earth is to the foreign cause that acts on it. No man was ever converted by the mere effect of truth without the agency of the Holy Spirit, any more than seed germinates when laid upon a hard rock.
(4) The effect of this influence of the Holy Spirit in applying the truth is to produce love to all who are Christians. Love to Christian brethren springs up in the soul of everyone who is truly converted: and this love is just as certain evidence that the seed of truth has germinated in the soul, as the green and delicate blade that peeps up through the earth is evidence that the seed sown has been quickened into life. Compare the 1Th 4:9 note; 1Jo 3:14 note. We may learn hence:
(a)That truth is of inestimable value. It is as valuable as religion itself, for all the religion in the world is the result of it.
- Error and falsehood are mischievous and evil in the same degree. There is no true religion which is the fair result of error; and all the pretended religion that is sustained by error is worthless.
- If a system of religion, or a religious measure or doctrine, cannot be defended by truth, it should be at once abandoned. Compare the notes at Job 13:7.
- We should avoid the places where error is taught. Pro 19:27, cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.
- We should place ourselves under the teachings of truth, for there is truth enough in the world to occupy all our time and attention; and it is only by truth that our minds can be benefitted.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Pe 1:22-23
Seeing ye have purified your souls
The individual and social influence of religion
I.
The individual influence of religion. Ye have purified your souls. This implies that personal corruption is an obstacle to beneficial influence over society, and that, in order to benefit others, we must first become pure ourselves. This purifying process is brought about-First, by the influence of the truth. Sanctify them through Thy truth. The Word of God is like the sun, showing everything in its true colour; and its whole tendency is to purify the heart, by opposing all evil and promoting all good. Secondly, by the influence of the Spirit. Through the Spirit. Thirdly, by the influence of obedience. In obeying. This combines the work of man in union with the truth and Spirit of God in the purification of his heart.
II. The social influence of religion. Ye have purified your souls unto unfeigned love of the brethren. The spirit of love is essential to the welfare of every society. There is no unfeigned love of the brethren but from the purified soul. First, the spirit of selfishness is obliterated from the purified soul. Secondly, the purified soul is God-like in its nature and influence. Be ye holy, for I am holy. God is love. Thirdly, the feelings of the purified soul are always loving and compassionate. (H. E. Thomas.)
Love one another with a pure heart fervently.
Brotherly love
The obedience and holiness mentioned in the foregoing verses comprehend the whole duties and frame of a Christian life towards God and men; and having urged that in the general, he specifies this grace of mutual Christian love as the great evidence of our sincerity and the truth of our love to God, for men are subject to much hypocrisy this way, and deceive themselves. They can come constantly to the church, and pray, it may be, at home too, and yet cannot find in their hearts to forgive an injury.
I. The due qualifications of brotherly love.
1. Love must be unfeigned. It appears that dissimulation is a disease that is very incident in this particular. St. Paul hath the same word (Rom 12:9), and St. John speaks to the same effect (1Jn 3:18). He requires that our love have that double reality which is opposed to double dissembled love; that it be cordial and effectual; that the professing of it arise from truth of affection, and, as much as may be, be seconded with action; that both the heart and the hand may be the seal of it rather than the tongue. When after variances men are brought to an agreement, they are much subject rather to cover their remaining malices with superficial verbal forgiveness than to dislodge them and free the heart of them. This is a poor self-deceit. As the philosopher said to him who, being ashamed that he was espied by him in a tavern in the outer room, withdrew himself to the inner, That is not the way out; the more you go that way, you will be the further within it; so when hatreds are, upon admonition, not thrown out, but retire inward to hide themselves, they grow deeper and stronger than before.
2. It must be pure, with a pure heart. Call it good fellowship or what you will, all the fruit that in the end can be expected out of unholy fellowship in sinning together is to be tormented together, and to add each to the torment of the other. The mutual love of Christians must be pure, arising from such causes as are pure and spiritual, from the sense of our Saviours command and of His example (Joh 13:34). They that are indeed lovers of God are united; by that their hearts meet in Him as in one centre: they cannot but love one another. Where a godly man sees his Fathers image, he is forced to love it. And as the Christians love is pure in its cause, so in its effects and exercise. His society and converse with any tends mainly to this, that he may mutually help and be helped in the knowledge and love of God.
3. We must love fervently, not after a cold indifferent manner. Let the love of your brethren be as a fire within you, consuming that selfishness which is so contrary to it and is so natural to men. Let it set your thoughts on work to study how to do others good. Let your love be an active love, intense within you, and extending itself in doing good to the souls and bodies of your brethren as they need and you are able.
II. Love of the brethren. In this is implied our obligation after a special manner to love those of the household of faith, because they are our brethren. There is in this fervent love sympathy with the griefs of our brethren, desire and endeavour to help them, bearing their infirmities, and recovering them too, if it may be; admonishing and reproving them as is needful, sometimes sharply, and yet still in love; rejoicing in their good, in their gifts and graces, so far from envying them that we be glad as if they were our own. You are brethren by the same new birth and born to the same inheritance, and such an inheritance as shall not be an apple of strife amongst you, to beget debates and contentions: no, it is enough for all, and none shall prejudice another, but you shall have joy in the happiness one of another, seeing you shall then be perfect in love, all harmony, no difference in judgment nor in affection, all your harps tuned to the same new song, which you shall sing forever. Let that love begin here which shall never end. (Abp. Leighton.)
The life of love and purity
I. Mutual love the duty of the pure.
II. Purity, obedience, love are the signs of a new life which the Christian is living.
III. The forces out of which this new life grows are deathless.
1. Seed-
(1) Appears insignificant.
(2) Is often hidden,
(3) Is vital and vitalising.
2. Incorruptible. Truth itself never dies, nor love.
IV. The Word of God is the imperishable means by which these forces of life are brought into the very soul of man. (U. R. Thomas.)
Christian brotherly love
I. Brotherly love illustrated.
1. The objects and elements of this love.
(1) It is called the love of the brethren, brotherly kindness, as contradistinguished from that charity which has for its object the whole race of man (2Jn 1:2).
(2) This circumstance, which necessarily limits this principle as to its range, gives it greater comprehension of elementary principles and greater intensity of influence and activity of operation. It includes goodwill in its highest degree; but to this it adds moral esteem, complacential delight, tender sympathy.
2. The distinctive characters of Christian love.
(1) With a pure heart.
(a) The leading idea here is genuineness-sincerity. It must be real love, not affected or put on (Rom 12:9; 1Jn 3:18).
(b) It includes freedom from all low, selfish motives and ends.
(2) Fervently.
(a) This term conveys the idea of constancy. A Christian brother, when he acts like himself, loves at all times. No change of circumstances, especially to the worse, on the part of its object, should affect it except in the way of increasing it.
(b) The word also conveys the idea of intensity and power. Our Christian love should be so fervent as that many waters of neglect, infirmities, offences, petty injuries, shall not quench it, or even damp its ardour. And it should manifest its strength, not merely by overcoming opposing obstacles, but by making exertions and sacrifices.
(3) There is one character which it is of peculiar importance that our mutual affection as Christians should be distinguished by-it should be love like Christs (Joh 13:34). His love was free and ready, considerate and wise, laborious and expensive, generous and self-sacrificing; looking to all their interests, but chiefly to their highest interests; not forgetting that they had bodies, but chiefly concerned about their souls; and such should be our brotherly love.
II. Brotherly love recommended.
1. The intimate and indissoluble mutual relation between Christians as brethren, arising out of their intimate and indissoluble common relation to God as their Father, is a strong motive to the cultivation and exercise of Christian brotherly kindness.
2. The common character to which all Christians have been formed by the agency of the same Spirit, and the instrumentality of the same Word, is another strong motive. (J. Brown, D. D.)
Catholic charity
I. Its necessity.
1. The injunctions of Christ (Joh 13:34-35; Joh 15:12; Mat 5:24; Mat 25:34-35; Mat 25:41-42).
2. The teachings of His apostles (Rom 13:8-10; Gal 5:22; 1Co 13:1-13.; 1Jn 4:7; 1Jn 4:16; 1Jn 4:20, etc.).
II. Its extent.
1. To all mankind. The more general it is, the more Christian and the more like Gods love.
2. The more special objects of our love ought to be those who agree with us in a common faith (Gal 6:10)-i.e., all Christians, as Christians, and because such. To love those that are of our way, humour, and opinion, is not charity, but self-love; tis not for Christs sake, but our own.
III. Its excellence.
1. It is the image of God, and of all the graces renders us most like our Maker, for God is love and the lover of men. And is it not a glorious excellency that makes men like the fountain of all perfection?
2. It is the spirit of angels, glorified souls, and the best of men.
3. Love is an eminent branch of the Divine life and nature (1Jn 4:7-8).
4. Love is the bond and type of Christian communion.
5. Love is the most Catholic grace, and upon that account the most excellent, since that which promotes the good of the whole is better than any private perfection.
6. Love commends Christianity to those without, and cleanseth the profession of it from many spots it hath contracted.
IV. The means of attaining this excellent and catholic temper.
1. Directions.
(1) Acknowledge worth in any man. Whatever is good is from God, and He is to be loved and owned in all things, as well in the paint upon the butterflys wing as in the glorious uniform lustre of the sun; in the least herb under our feet as well as in the stupendous fabric of the heavens over us. And moral perfections are to be acknowledged, as wall as these natural ones. And we must take care that we make not our relish the measure of worth and goodness. Say not this is excellent because it is agreeable to your particular palates, and that on the other hand is vile because it is distasteful to your genius. Let us, then, be so ingenious as to own the virtue and the goodness that is in all parties and opinions; let us commend and love it.
(2) Be much in the contemplation of the love of God. He that knows how much God hath loved him, hath a mighty reason to love his brother (1Jn 4:11).
(3) Make the great design of religion yours; and know that the intent of that is, not to teach us systems of opinion, but to furnish our minds with encouragements of virtue and instances of duty; to direct us to govern our passions and subdue our appetites and self-wills, in order to the glory of God, the good of societies, and our own present and eternal interests.
(4) Study the moderate, pacific ways and principles, and run not in extremes. Both truth and love are in the middle. Extremes are dangerous.
2. Considerations.
(1) Love is part of religion; but opinions, for the sake of which we lose charity, are none. The first I have proved already, and for the other we may consider that religion consists, not in knowing many things, but in practising the few plain things we know.
(2) Charity is certainly our duty, but many of the opinions, about which we fall out, are uncertainly true; viz., as to us. The fundamental points of faith are indeed as firm as the centre, but the opinions of men are as fluctuating as the waves of the ocean. The root and body of a tree is fast and unshaken, while the leaves are made the sport of every wind. And colours sometimes vary with every position of the object and the eye, though the light of the sun be an uniform splendour. The foundation of God standeth sure, but men often build upon it what is very tottering and uncertain. The great truths of religion are easily discernible, but the smaller and remoter ones require more acuteness to descry them; and the best light may be deceived about such obscure and distant objects. The apostle tells us that we know but in part (1Co 13:9), and makes confidence an argument of ignorance (1Co 8:2).
(3) Christian love is necessary, but agreement in opinions is neither necessary nor possible.
(4) Errors of themselves are infirmities of the understanding, and not enormities of the will, for no man is willing to be deceived. So that they ought not to be the objects of our hatred but our pity. We all are pilgrims in our way to the Jerusalem that is above. If some will go in this path, some in the other, these in a circuit, and those amongst the rocks, we may be sure it is because they know not the danger and inconveniences which they choose.
(5) We ought to make allowance for education, authority, and fair pretences, which have a mighty power, even over honest minds, and do often unavoidably lead them into error. For let us consider how easily we receive the first impressions, and how deeply they sink into our souls.
(6) In many things we err ourselves; and, therefore, shall have need of the charity of others.
3. Cautions.
(1) Beware of inordinate admiration and love of any sect. When we passionately admire a party, we are apt to despise them that differ from it.
(2) Avoid eager and passionate disputes. In these charity is always lost, and truth seldom or never found. If thou art desirous to prevail with thy friend to lay down his opinion, assault him not by the fierceness of disputes; for such attempts will but raise his passion, and that will make him stick the closer to his error; but shine upon him with a calm light, insinuate thy better principle by modest and gentle suggestions.
(3) Beware of zeal about opinions, by which I mean all the propositions of less certainty or consequence.
(4) Beware of censuring and affixing odious names and consequences upon the persons or opinions of others. (Joseph Glanvil.)
Christian love
What is that love of which our Lord and His apostles speak? Not only, or primarily, kind feelings or generous impulses. Not certainly the sentimentality which breathes itself out in sighs and raptures. Not merely the fond attachment which clings as the rose against the trellis. But, above all things, service-self-denial and self-giving. To put anothers well-being before our own, not because it is pleasant to do it, but because it is right. To make another the pivot around which the wheel of activity revolves. To check the hasty word, the unkind speech, the damaging criticism.
I. The marks of such love.
1. Unfeigned. Dissimulation is a disease very antagonistic to Christian love. How subtly we are tempted to maintain appearances because of some ulterior gain. Our politeness is often but skin deep. Our smiles assumed for a purpose. Our words smoother than butter, whilst our hearts are drawn swords.
2. Pure. Hearts may be cemented by impurity, by ungodly conversation and society in sin, as in uncleanness or drunkenness.
3. Fervently. On the stretch. Our love seldom gets beyond temperate, and never to boiling point.
II. The efficient cause of such low. It will come through obeying the truth.
1. We must know the truth. Put two burnished mirrors opposite each other, and there will be no glow of light on either; but if a candle stand between, the beams of light are flung to and fro, to an extent impossible to either or both alone. So the mere contact of Christian with Christian will not necessarily produce the burning heart, unless there be also between them the Truth of God.
2. We must also obey the truth. Do, and you shall know. Obey, and you will love.
3. As we obey the truth, we shall be purified by it. Young men cleanse their way by taking heed to the Divine Word.
III. The divine origin of the life within. It is not of man, or of the will of the flesh, but of God. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Christian love
I. Purity.
1. The word for purified is not that denoting the infusion of virtue, but that which signifies the expulsion from the soul of all defilement, and especially of selfishness. Worldly philosophies and religions only required external lustration-the purification of the life; Christianity inculcates inward sanctity-the purification of the soul.
2. The way to effect this is by believing obedience to the truth as revealed in the Gospel. Christian truths, different from the truths of mathematics and of art, exert a sanctifying influence on the heart. This is the main purpose of their revelation. But how do they accomplish this object? By being obeyed.
3. Truth is only the wire along which the electric current flows from the spirit of God to the spirit of man, only the vehicle to convey holy influences direct from the Holy Ghost to the human soul, which influences set up a spiritual ferment within, making the impurities rise like scum to the surface, finally to be cast off altogether. What, then, is the result of this refining, purifying process? Unfeigned love of the brethren. A new word has been ostentatiously introduced into recent literature, namely, altruism. What is its meaning? That man should think more and care more for others than for himself, that he should be ready to sacrifice himself, if need be, for the sake of others. This idea is couched in more intelligible, because simpler, language in the text.
II. Unfeignedness. Unfeigned love of the brethren-genuine love, without dissimulation, free from hypocrisy.
1. We read of faith unfeigned, that is to say, faith which is firm and solid to the core. Faith is oftentimes hollow, simulated. Faith unfeigned-faith that will move forward through all the miry bogs of infidelity, that will brave the storm and stress of life.
2. Love unfeigned-what then is this? Love which will not give way under trial, that will suffer a burden to be put on its back.
III. Fervour.
1. This implies that our love of the brethren should be powerful enough to overcome all sinful obstacles in our own nature, to burn up all the relies of selfishness in our own souls, so that we may find our supreme delight in serviceableness to our fellow men.
2. It is further implied that our love should be so intense as to overcome all national and sectarian differences. Love one another fervently, of whatever nation you may chance to be. (J. C. Jones, D. D.)
Fervent love of the brethren
I. The work accomplished. See ye have purified your souls. There is the beginning of all. Many men are disposed to work from without, and not from within; but the Spirit works from within. Men think that if they whitewash the sepulchre it is enough. No, it must be cleansed. See to it then, and keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life and death.
II. The instrument of its accomplishment. Ye obey the truth. God works by instruments in the order of His providential creation and government. God has appointed, in order to the purifying of mens souls, a divinely constituted means. We have the word of truth, the incorruptible seed of which His people are born again.
III. One special result of this work. Unfeigned love of the brethren. (H. Stowell, M. A.)
Fervently
The word thus translated means extended, or on the stretch. It conveys the idea of a constant tension such as is supplied in machinery by a steel spring. In one department of a sewing machine all depends on the thread being kept constantly tight, so that the moment any slackness occurs, the loose portion is picked up instantly and without fail. If that operation were left dependent on the watchfulness and quickness of a human operator, it would entirely fail. The worker would grow weary, would forget, would hasten to tighten the thread after the time was past, and all would go to wreck and ruin. But by entrusting the watch and the work to a bent elastic steel wire, an absolute infallibility is secured. The watcher never forgets, the worker never wearies. The work is done perfectly, and always done at the right moment. The spring is always on the stretch and never misses. Though it is obliged to watch the slackening, and pull the thread instantly tight, a hundred times a minute, all day long for twenty years, it never once forgets or fails. The precept requires a love of this sort watching and working in a Christians heart. If you need to remember your duty every time that a sudden injury occurs, you will not be in time with the soft answer that turns away wrath. Before love has gathered itself up, and determined on its course, the opportunity will be past. The disciple of Christ will appear as irascible, passionate, and revengeful as other men. There must be a spring-a law of love set once for all as a faculty of the new heart, that will operate instantaneously and uniformly. (W. Arnot.)
Being born again.-
Regeneration
I. The nature of regeneration.
1. A change of qualities or dispositions: not a change of the substance of the soul.
2. A supernatural change (Joh 3:5).
3. A change into the likeness of God (2Co 3:18).
4. A universal change (2Co 5:17).
5. A lasting change.
(1) The mind is savingly enlightened. In the knowledge of God, sin, self, Jesus Christ, vanity of world (Psa 119:96). Spiritual things (1Jn 2:20).
(2) The will is renewed (Eze 36:26). Cured of its utter inability to will what is good. Imbued with a fixed aversion to evil (Gal 5:17). Endowed with an inclination and propensity to good.
(3) The affections are rectified and regulated.
(4) The conscience is renewed.
(5) As the memory wanted not its share of depravity, it is also bettered by regenerating grace. It is strengthened for spiritual things.
(6) There is a change made on the body, and the members thereof, in respect of their use; they are consecrated to the Lord (1Co 6:13; Rom 6:13), servants to righteousness unto holiness (Rom 6:19).
(7) This gracious change shines forth in the conversation. A new heart makes newness of life.
II. Why this change is called regeneration, a being born again. It is so called, because of the resemblance between natural and spiritual generation, which lies in the following particulars.
1. Natural generation is a mysterious thing: and so is spiritual generation (Joh 3:8).
2. In both, the creature comes to a being it had not before.
3. As the child is passive in generation, so is the child of God in regeneration.
4. There is a wonderful contexture of pasts in both births. Oh the wonderful contexture of graces in the new creature!
5. All this, in both cases, has its rise from that which is in itself very small and inconsiderable.
6. Natural generation is carried on by degrees.
7. In both there are new relations. The regenerate may call God Father; for they are His children (Joh 1:12-13), begotten of Him (1Pe 1:3). They are related, as brethren, to angels and glorified saints; the family of heaven.
8. There is a likeness between the parent and the child (2Pe 1:4).
9. As there is no birth without pain, so there is great pain in bringing forth the new creature. The soul has sore pains when under conviction and humiliation. (T. Boston, D. D.)
The new life
1. Unlike mans mortal life, this new moral life is independent of the earth. The productions of the earth cannot support it; the blasts and the storms of the earth cannot destroy it.
2. Unlike mans mortal life, this new moral life is ever progressive. Like the trees of the forest and the beasts of the field, mans mortal life reaches a culminating point and then dies out. Not so with this new moral life.
3. Unlike mans mortal life, this new moral life is essentially a blessing. Mans mortal life may become, and often is, a curse. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Born again
A man shall never have occasion to curse the day of his new birth. (J. Trapp.)
A new creature
In passing from nature to grace you did not pass from a lower to a higher stage of the same condition-from daybreak to sunshine, but from darkest night to dawn of day. Unlike the worm which changes into a winged insect, or the infant who grows up into a stately man, you became, not a more perfect, but a new creature in Jesus Christ. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible.-
The incorruptible seed
I. Christianity must satisfy the intellectual requirements of every age.
1. In order to this, Christianity in its statements, historical and doctrinal, must be in perfect accord with the demonstrations of science in the various departments of knowledge to which it devotes itself.
2. To be perpetuated as the religion of the race, Christianity must not only harmonise with the conclusions of the intellect in other provinces, but must continue to offer new problems of its own. The moment the Bible will be an understood book, it will be a moribund book. And what it proves itself to be to individual man in innumerable eases, that it claims to be to man universal. Let the ages be yet cultivated with greater diligence and trained to a higher point in knowledge than anything we have so far witnessed, and the Gospel has its questions for them, problems which will utterly baffle the finest cultured minds. This assuredly is one element which contributes powerfully to its perpetuity, that the intellect can never minster it.
3. But in a religion which claims perpetuity you would further expect it would stimulate the understanding into greater activity, and infuse new life into all its pursuits. That is to say, it must become the prime factor in the history of the world. Christianity does exercise restraint, not upon progress but upon retrogression; not upon truth but upon sin; not upon the intellect but upon the spirit which is now working in the children of disobedience. It checks the spirit of the nineteenth century, it spurs its science.
II. If Christianity is to live forever, it must meet the moral requirements of every age.
1. This implies that it must accord with the distinct dictates of our moral nature.
2. Another requisite, in order to its perpetuation, is that it be in advance of the moral performances of any particular age.
3. Christianity, to endure forever, must enter into the morals of the world as a refining element. War-ferocity-butchery-is that your civilisation? demand our opponents. We answer, Certainly not; that is barbarism. That is not Christianity, but its opposite, and a cogent reason why Christianity should not be thrown aside till they at least have been exterminated.
III. If the gospel is to endure to the end of time, it must continue to meet the spiritual wants of man. If it do not this it is inevitably doomed to extinction.
1. As a sinner, man needs a Saviour. The sinner finds true inward rest in the atonement of the Gospel, the sense of guilt is cancelled.
2. As a creature he needs God. Cast a glance over the history of the world; everywhere the great want is God. What then can give us God? Science does not profess to be able to give Him. Professor Huxley says that the state of mind becoming men of science on this subject is a sort of know nothingarianism or Agnosticism. Well then, if science cannot do it, is there any religion besides Christianity that can? Mahometanism declares the unity and supremacy of God. But to say that God is, and that He is the supreme Ruler, is one thing; to bring Him to the conscious enjoyment of the soul quite another. The religion of India strives to bridge the gap; but instead of communion between man and God, it ends in the absorption of man in God. But however much we desire communion, we quite as much dread absorption. These meet only a fragment of our nature. But Christianity meets the whole man; it presents God to our contemplation in Him in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily, and to our consciousness by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. As long as man is a sinner needing a Saviour, and a creature needing a God, Christianity will live in the grateful affection of myriads of our race. (J. C. Jones, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 22. Seeing ye have purified your souls] Having purified your souls, in obeying the truth-by believing in Christ Jesus, through the influence and teaching of the Spirit; and giving full proof of it by unfeigned love to the brethren; ye love one another, or ye will love each other, with a pure heart fervently. These persons, First, heard the truth, that is, the Gospel; thus called in a great variety of places in the New Testament, because it contains THE truth without mixture of error, and is the truth and substance of all the preceding dispensations by which it was typified. Secondly, they obeyed that truth, by believing on Him who came into the world to save sinners. Thirdly, through this believing on the Son of God, their hearts were purified by the word of truth applied to them by the Holy Spirit. Fourthly, the love of God being shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, they loved the brethren with pure hearts fervently, , intensely or continually; the full proof that their brotherly love was unfeigned, , a fraternal affection without hypocrisy.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Your souls; i.e. yourselves; the whole person is implied, the soul being the principal part.
In obeying the truth; in subjecting yourselves to the truth of the gospel, by faith, to which the purification of the heart is ascribed, Act 15:9, not only as to justification, and purging away the guilt of sin, but as to sanctification, and cleansing from the defilement of it: q.d. Seeing ye have begun to purify your hearts by faith in Christ, set forth in the gospel, and made sanctification to them that believe, 1Co 1:30.
Through the Spirit; by the operation of the Spirit working faith in you.
Unto unfeigned love of the brethren; without hypocrisy, and which is not in word only, but in deed and in truth, 1Jo 3:18. Love to the brethren in Christ, and for Christs sake. This notes one great end of our sanctification, viz. the exercise of brotherly love, whereby our love to God is likewise manifested, when we love them upon his acconut. The whole clause may likewise be understood, as an exhortation to purify themselves more and more by faith, that so they might (being purged from carnal affections) be the better able, and more disposed, to love one another.
Love one another with a pure heart; as the source and fountain of your love to each other, and from whence it proceeds, 1Ti 1:5; 2Ti 2:22.
Fervently; or, vehemently, and intensely, strongly. The word seems to be a metaphor taken from a bow, which the more it is bent, with the greater force it sends forth the arrow; so love, the more fervent and strong it is, the more abundantly it puts forth itself for the benefit of others.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22. purified . . . in obeying thetruthGreek, “in your (or ‘the‘)obedience of (that is, ‘to‘) the truth (the Gospel way ofsalvation),” that is, in the fact of your believing. Faithpurifies the heart as giving it the only pure motive, love to God(Act 15:9; Rom 1:5,”obedience to the faith”).
through the Spiritomittedin the oldest manuscripts. The Holy Spirit is the purifier bybestowing the obedience of faith (1Pe 1:2;1Co 12:3).
untowith a view to:the proper result of the purifying of your hearts by faith.”For what end must we lead a chaste life? That we may thereby besaved? No: but for this, that we may serve our neighbor”[LUTHER].
unfeigned 1Pe 2:1;1Pe 2:2, “laying aside . . .hypocrisies . . . sincere.”
love of the brethrenthatis, of Christians. Brotherly love is distinct from commonlove. “The Christian loves primarily those in Christ;secondarily, all who might be in Christ, namely, all men, as Christas man died for all, and as he hopes that they, too, may become hisChristian brethren” [STEIGER].BENGEL remarks that ashere, so in 2Pe 1:5-7,”brotherly love” is preceded by the purifying graces,”faith, knowledge, and godliness,” &c. Love tothe brethren is the evidence of our regeneration and justification byfaith.
love one anotherWhenthe purifying by faith into love of the brethren has formedthe habit, then the act follows, so that the “love”is at once habit and act.
with a pure heartTheoldest manuscripts read, “(love) from the heart.”
ferventlyGreek,“intensely”: with all the powers on the stretch (1Pe4:8). “Instantly” (Ac26:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Seeing ye have purified your souls,…. The apostle passes to another exhortation, namely, to brotherly love; the ground of which he makes to be, the purification of their souls; and which supposes that they had been impure; and indeed, their whole persons, souls and bodies, were so by nature; even all the members of their bodies, and all the powers and faculties of their souls: it is internal purity, purity of the heart, that is here particularly respected; though not to the exclusion of outward purity, for where there is the former, there will be the latter; but there may be an external purity, where there is not the inward one: this the apostle ascribes to the saints themselves, but not without the grace of God, the blood of Christ, and the operations of his Spirit; as appears by a following clause; but they are said to purify themselves, inasmuch as having the grace of faith bestowed on them, they were enabled, under the influences of the Spirit of God, to exercise it on the blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin:
in obeying the truth; of the Gospel, by receiving, believing, and embracing it in the love of it; which teaches outward purity, and is a means in the hand of the spirit of inward purity, and of directing to the purifying blood of Jesus, who sanctifies and cleanses by the word:
through the Spirit; this clause is left out in the Alexandrian copy, and some others, and in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, but is in the Arabic version, and ought to be retained; for, as Christ died to purify to himself a peculiar people, the Spirit of Christ does from him purify the heart by faith in his blood; by sprinkling that on the conscience, and by leading the faith of God’s people to the fountain of it, to wash it for sin, and for uncleanness; even both their consciences and their conversation, garments; whereby they obtain inward and outward purity:
unto unfeigned love of the brethren; which is the end of sanctification, and an evidence of it; when the saints are loved as brethren, and because such; and with a love without dissimulation, not in word and in tongue only, but in deed and in truth: this being the case, the exhortation follows:
[see that ye] love one another with a pure heart fervently: this is Christ’s new commandment, and the evidence of regeneration; a distinguishing badge of Christianity, and without which all profession of religion is a vain and empty thing: this should he mutual and cordial; should proceed from the heart, and from an heart sprinkled from an evil conscience; and should be with warmth and fervency, and not with coldness and indifference; though the word here used, , may not only design the intenseness of it, but the extensiveness of it also; as that it should reach to all the saints, the poor as well as the rich, and the lesser as well as the greater and more knowing believers; and likewise may denote the continuance of it; it ought to be continually exercised, and to last always; and so the Arabic version renders it, “with a perpetual love”.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Seeing ye have purified (). Perfect active participle of , old verb from (pure), here with (souls), with (hearts) in Jas 4:8 as in 1Jo 3:3 of moral cleansing also. See the ceremonial sense of the word as in LXX in John 11:55; Acts 21:24; Acts 21:26; Acts 24:18.
In your obedience ( ). With repetition of the idea in 1Pet 1:2; 1Pet 1:14 (children of obedience).
To the truth ( ). Objective genitive with which compare John 17:17; John 17:19 about sanctification in the truth and 2Th 2:12 about believing the truth. There is cleansing power in the truth of God in Christ.
Unfeigned (). Late and rare double compound, here alone in Peter, but see Jas 3:17; 2Cor 6:6, etc. No other kind of (brotherly love) is worth having (1Thess 4:9; Heb 13:1; 2Pet 1:7).
From the heart fervently ( ). Late adverb (in inscriptions, Polybius, LXX). The adjective is more common (1Pe 4:8).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Purified [] . The Septuagint translation of the Old – Testament technical term for the purification of the people and priests (Jos 3:5, 1Ch 14:12; 1Sa 16:5). Also, of the separation from wine and strong drink by the Nazarite (Num 6:2 – 6). In this ceremonial sense, Joh 11:55; Act 21:24, 26; Act 24:18. In the moral sense, as here, Jas 4:8; 1Jo 3:3. Compare kaqarisav, purifying, Act 14:9.
Obeying [] . Rev., obedience. A peculiarly New Testament term unknown in classical Greek. In the Septuagint only 2Sa 22:36; rendered in A. V. gentleness. Rev., condescension, in margin.
Unfeigned [] . ‘A, not, uJpokrithv, actor. The latter word is from uJpokrinesqai, to answer on the stage, and hence to play a part or to act. A hypocrite is, therefore, an actor.
With a pure heart [ ] . The best texts reject kaqarav, pure. Render, therefore, as Rev., from the heart.
Fervently [] . Used by Peter only, and only in this passage. He uses the kindred adjective ejktenhv, without ceasing, in Act 12:5, where the narrative probably came from him, and also at ch. 4 8; “fervent charity.” The words are compounded with the verb teinw, to stretch, and signify intense strain; feeling on the rack.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Seeing ye have purified your souls.” When one has exercised the gift of faith by placing it in Jesus Christ, of his own Holy Spirit convicted will, he is said to have purified or made his soul pure. Eph 2:8-9; Act 15:9.
2) “in obeying the truth through the Spirit.” For a convicted sinner to obey God’s call to repentance and faith through the Spirit he is said to be made holy or “purify his soul.” Trusting in Jesus Christ is declared to be obeying the gospel – not baptism. Rom 10:16.
3) “Unto unfeigned love of the brethren.” this soul purifying salvation experience enables one to love brethren and express it without pretence or hypocrisy. (Gk. anupokriton) Rom 12:9.
4) “See that ye love one another.” Hortatively, with fatherly exhortation, Peter says to pure-souled brethren “see after it” – make it a matter of effort that ye love one another. Joh 13:34-35.
5) “With a pure heart fervently.” (Gk. ek kardias) out from the source of the purified heart (Act 15:9) love one another earnestly, fervently. (Gk. ektenos). 1Jn 3:23; 2Jn 1:5.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
22 Seeing ye have purified your souls, or, Purifying your souls. Erasmus badly renders the words, “Who have purified,” etc. For Peter does not declare what they had done, but reminds them of what they ought to do. The participle is indeed in the past tense, but it may be rendered as a gerund, “By purifying, etc. ” The meaning is, that their souls would not be capable of receiving grace until they were purified, and by this our uncleanness is proved. (17) But that he might not seem to ascribe to us the power of purifying our souls, he immediately adds, through the Spirit; as though he had said, “Your souls are to be purified, but as ye cannot do this, offer them to God, that he may take away your filth by his Spirit.” He only mentions souls, though they needed to be cleansed also from the defilements of the flesh, as Paul bids the Corinthians, (2Co 7:1😉 but as the principal uncleanness is within, and necessarily draws with it that which is outward, Peter was satisfied with mentioning only the former, as though he had said, that not outward actions only ought to be corrected, but the very hearts ought to be thoroughly reformed.
He afterwards points out the manner, for purity of soul consists in obedience to God. Truth is to be taken for the rule which God prescribes to us in the Gospel. Nor does he speak only of works, but rather faith holds here the primacy. Hence Paul specially teaches us in the first and last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, that faith is that by which we obey God; and Peter in Acts, Act 15:9, bestows on it this eulogy, that God by it purifies the heart.
Unto love of the brethren, or, Unto brotherly love. He briefly reminds us what God especially requires in our life, and the mark to which all our endeavors should be directed. So Paul in Eph 1:4 the Epistle to the Ephesians, when speaking of the perfection of the faithful, makes it to consist in love. And this is what we ought the more carefully to notice, because the world makes its own sanctity to consist of the veriest trifles, and almost overlooks this the chief thing. We see how the Papists weary themselves beyond measure with thousand invented superstitions: in the meantime, the last thing is that love which God especially commends. This, then, is the reason why Peter calls our attention to it, when speaking of a life rightly formed.
He had before spoken of the mortification of the flesh, and of our conformity with the will of God; but he now reminds us of what God would have us to cultivate through life, that is, mutual love towards one another; for by that we testify also that we love God; and by this evidence God proves who they are who really love him.
He calls it unfeigned, (ἀνυπόκριτον), as Paul calls faith in 1Ti 1:5; for nothing is more difficult than to love our neighbors in sincerity. For the love of ourselves rules, which is full of hypocrisy; and besides, every one measures his love, which he shews to others, by his own advantage, and not by the rule of doing good. He adds, fervently; for the more slothful we are by nature, the more ought every one to stimulate himself to fervor and earnestness, and that not only once, but more and more daily.
(17) It is better to keep the tense of the participle, — “Having purified (or, since ye have purified) your souls by obeying the truth through the Spirit to an unfeigned love of the brethren, love ye one another fervently from a pure heart; having been born again,” etc.
The order here is similar to what is often found in Scripture; purification is mentioned before regeneration, as being the most visible and the effect; then what goes before it as being in a manner the cause. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
5. Brotherly Love 1:2225
1Pe. 1:22-23 Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently: having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incurruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth.
Expanded Translation
Having purified and cleansed your souls in your hearkening, submission, and obedience to the truth that issues into undisguised (i.e., real, sincere) love of the brethren, you must love one another out of your heartintensely and fervently; having been begotten again (regenerated), not from corruptible or perishable seed, but from incorruptible or imperishable, through the Word of God which keeps on living and keeps on abiding.
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Seeing ye have purified
All one word in the original. The perfect tense is used here, indicating action in the past with presently existing results. They had been and were now cleansed, and are to continue living in such a way as to remain pure.
your souls
i.e., their lives, beings, selves.
in your obedience to the truth
This is how the purification was accomplishedby responding to and submitting to the truth of Gods Word. Souls are not purified when one submits to false teaching or deceitful doctrines. If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (Joh. 8:31-32).
unto unfeigned love of the brethren
That is, one of the results or effects of a purified life is brotherly love. The word unto (eis), may signify here, into the realm of. Peter, it seems to me, is saying that one of the natural outcomes of a life given over to Jesus IS brotherly love. The purified life issues into the realm of brotherly affection.
love one another
Imperative: You must love one another . . . But why do we have here a further exhortation concerning brotherly love, when the Apostle had just complimented them for possessing this virtue? Some say the reason for the second exhortation is found in the two different words rendered love. In the first (philadelphia) we find philos, from the verb phileo, a word that is supposed to have personal pleasure or joy as a motive of the lover. In the second love (agapao), we have a nobler word, where the lover loses his affection on the worthiness and preciousness of the thing or person loved. If this be a clear-cut distinction which holds true here, Peters exhortation is to further develop and grow from a phileo type of love to an agapao type.[2]
[2] See W. E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, under love. He states that phileo (the first love) more nearly represents tender affection, and that the two verbs are never used indiscriminately in the same passage. . . . if each is used with reference to the same objects . . . each word retains its distinctive and essential character.
from the heart
Literally, out of the heart. Such love must be from within one. How needful is this virtue among Gods children!
fervently
An adverb defined as earnestly, fervently, intensely. The adjective occurs in 1Pe. 4:8 (being fervent). The root verb from which this word is derived signifies to stretch out or stretch forth, as when one is reaching out to acquire something. Effort is involved in true Christian brotherliness!
having been begotten again
See 1Pe. 1:3, notes. The phrase looks to the whole process of regeneration.
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible
On corruptible see 1Pe. 1:18, on incorruptible see 1Pe. 1:4, Gods Word has a permanent, imperishable, nondecaying quality. It shall never fade away (Mat. 24:35), and neither will those in whose hearts it is planted and in whose lives it is continually retained.
through the Word of God, which liveth and abideth
In our first birth the begetting was with perishable seed. Not so with the new birth!
The last two verbs, liveth . . . abideth, are present participles in the original: . . . the continually living word and the continually enduring word. Note the Expanded Translation. These verses, then, are inseparably connected with those that follow.
1Pe. 1:24-25 For,
All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, and the flower falleth;
But the Word of the Lord abideth for ever.
And this is the word of good tidings which was preached unto you.
Expanded Translation
Inasmuch as,
All flesh is like grass,
And all of its glory (splendor, brightness) is like the flower of grass.
The grass withers and dries up, and the flower falls off,
But the Word of the Lord remains and abides into the agesforever.
And this word of good tidings is the very word which was preached unto you.
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The passage here referred to is Isa. 40:6-8, but this is not an exact quotation. New Testament writers sometimes take their thought from an Old Testament passage without attempting to quote verbatim.
For
Or inasmuch as or because. In these verses, then, we have added confirmation concerning the eternal nature of Gods Word, which liveth and abideth.
All flesh is as grass
Both are temporal and transitory in nature.
And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass
The word thereof, autes, is feminine and must, therefore, refer back to the word flesh, which is the same gender. The glory of man is, like the glory of the flower, short-lived! The Psalmist remarked concerning our days, Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow; for it is soon gone (A.V. soon cut off), and we fly away (Psa. 90:10).
The grass withereth and the flower falleth
i.e., they both come to an end after a short life. The same is true of man, and also of mans word and wisdom.
But the Word of the Lord abideth forever
In view of what is stated in the latter part of the verse, it seems this prophecy, though in all likelihood having immediate application to Gods message to Israel through the prophet, had a future reference to the Gospel Age and the teachings of Christ. Jesus said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away (Mat. 24:35). Note that the prophecy just preceding this one in Isaiah is also Messianic (Isa. 40:3).
Do not miss Peters point! In 1Pe. 1:23 he speaks of our being begotten again, not with perishable seed as we were the first time by our human parents, but with the imperishable seed from our Heavenly Father by His Eternal Word. 1Pe. 1:24 illustrates this truth, by likening humanity to the grass of the field and its flower. All flesh (including human flesh with which we were first begotten), is such as quickly perishes! Not so with the Word of God![3]
[3] A similar thought is found in 2Co. 4:16-18.
And this is the word of good tidings which was preached unto you
The term good tidings, evaggelidzo, means, basically, to address with good tidings or news. But its most frequent use in the New Testament is in reference to the Gospel Message, the message of salvation through the Son of God.[4]
[4] See further comments under 1Pe. 4:6.
This last phrase brings the whole subject of the Apostles discussion to bear with great force upon the Christians. The eternal word was not just the Old Testament message, but the Gospel that had been preached to them, and by which they had been begotten! We are begotten when we believe the Gospel, the good tidings of the New Testament.
Having been begotten again by such as the Word of God is, it should truly cause us to love one another, 1Pe. 1:22.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(22) Purified your souls in obeying.Bengel well points us to 2Pe. 1:5-7, where, in like manner, St. Peter delights to exhibit gradations of grace. Obeying the truth here will correspond to knowledge there, with its immediate consequences of self-mastery, endurance, and reverence; after which we pass on to love of the brethren, and thence, as to a higher grace, to love or charity. On this last point see Note on 1Th. 4:9. Perhaps the literal in the obedience of the truth (i.e., the Christian gospel) does not exactly coincide with obeying the truth, as implying rather the obedience (to God) which the truth (i.e., the knowledge of the truth) demands. Truth has a claim, not only to be accepted intellectually, as truth, but to alter moral conduct in accordance (comp. Joh. 17:17): a doctrine which lies at the bottom of the Socratic maxim, Virtue is knowledge. That Socratic maxim, however, does not sufficiently take into account the inertness of the will to act on principle; and no doubt it was under some such instinct that some copyist first added as a gloss the words (not found in the original text) through the Spirit. The first effect of such knowledge of the truth, under the Spirits influence, is to purify the soul of selfish aims, and to give it that altruism (as they call it now), or desire for the benefit of the community rather than self, which is here described as love of the brethren. (See Notes on 1Th. 3:13; 1Th. 4:6.)
Unfeigned love of the brethren.The epithet unfeigned, in itself, would suggest that St. Peter was uneasy about the depth of their brotherly kindness. And the brotherly kindness is here, as usual, attachment to other members of the Church, special point being added to the word here because of the notion of regeneration running through the whole passage. (See 1Pe. 1:14.) Is it not possible that some coolness had arisen between the Jewish and Gentile members of the Church, and that St. Peter finds it necessary to remind the former that they are truly brethren, sons of one Father, and that they ought not only unaffectedly to have done with all jealousy of the Gentile members, but to be far beyond that, loving one another from the heart (the word pure is not part of the original text, and interrupts the run of the sentence) strenuously?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
d. Exhortation to fervent love to one another, 1Pe 1:22-25 .
22. Purified In a degree, at least, and by the means that the gospel provides.
By obeying Literally, in obedience, for only so is the faith possible by which purity is wrought. Thus, Mr. Wesley teaches that the sanctifying Spirit is to be looked for, “not in careless indifference, or indolent inactivity, but in vigorous, universal obedience; in denying ourselves, and in taking up our cross daily: as well as in earnest prayer and fasting, and a close attendance on all the ordinances of God.” Works, vol. vi, page 505.
The truth Of the gospel. Yielded to, it subjects to itself those who receive it, and leads them to faith and the Holy Spirit, the Purifier.
Unfeigned Without hypocrisy or pretence.
Love of the brethren Higher and stronger than common love, from which both St. Peter and St. Paul distinguish it.
Fervently Intensely, with all the powers on the stretch, as will be if it truly come out of a purified heart.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently, having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and abides.’
The result of our entering into these great truths and of our being sanctified into the obedience of Christ, should be that we have ‘purified our souls in our obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of our brothers and sisters’. The purifying of our souls, resulting from our being conjoined with the obedience of Jesus Christ and from our having had sprinkled on us the purifying and redeeming blood of Jesus Christ (1Pe 1:2; 1Pe 1:19), and from our being begotten again by God (1Pe 1:3; 1Pe 1:23), has brought about in us obedience to the truth, which has resulted in a true love of our brothers and sisters who are one with us in all that has happened. We are therefore to ensure that that love is fully revealed in our ‘loving one another fervently (with heart and soul)’.
Here we have emphasised what we saw earlier, that our salvation is not just for our own benefit as individuals, but as joining us together as one whole in Christ, just as the covenant ceremony and the covenant blood did for the multinational gathering at Sinai (compare Exo 12:38). The God Who has called us out and has redeemed us, has now united us together in Him. And He has done it by ‘begetting us again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides for ever’. Essentially it is the water of the word of God as it moves our consciences and our hearts (Eph 5:26), not the water of baptism, that saves. God has spoken and has brought it about by sowing in our hearts the seed of His word (compare Mar 4:14; Mar 4:20), which is incorruptible and indestructible, like our future inheritance (1Pe 1:4). And it is this that has resulted in our being purified in and by His obedience, with the consequence that His divine love is to be revealed through our hearts (Mat 5:44-48), especially to our brothers and sisters in Christ. ‘By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another’ (Joh 13:35).
‘The word (logos) of God which lives and abides.’ What God has spoken bears within it the seed of eternal life, and produces such life in men’s hearts for ever. Compare the ‘living hope’ to which we have been begotten in 1Pe 1:3.
Note on ‘Purifying Your Souls.’
It will be noticed by those who are using commentaries that while Peter has not mentioned baptism some commentaries constantly bring it in. However, we are wise not to bring in ideas here which are largely based on people’s theories about liturgical use. Had Peter been speaking of baptism he would have said so. In fact when he does so in 1Pe 3:21 it is not as something that removes defilement, but as the response of a good conscience towards God.
‘Purifying’ comes from the word hagnizow, ‘to purify, sanctify’. It is never connected with water in the New Testament. (The word used in Joh 2:6 is a different one). It rather links up with the sanctifying work of the Spirit in 1Pe 1:2. Nor does it refer to washing with water in the Old Testament. It refers to them setting themselves apart for a certain length of time. Any washing with water is merely preparatory to the major requirement.
The truth is that baptism does not tend to be linked with purifying in the New Testament. Apart from Ananias’ words to Paul in Act 22:16 about ‘washing’, where the words probably have in mind Isa 1:16 and refer to the forgiveness in mind in Mar 1:4, baptism is never connected with cleansing and purifying. Rather baptism points to the receiving of the Holy Spirit, and renewal of life in Christ. John the Baptist had the same emphasis on renewal. He compared his baptism with the coming ‘drenching with the Holy Spirit’, and spoke in terms of fruitful trees and harvesting wheat, indicating that his baptism was to be pictured in terms of the Old Testament references to the coming of the Holy Spirit in terms of rain (Isa 32:15; Isa 44:1-5) along with the accompanying eschatological forgiveness (Mar 1:4).
Nor did water cleanse and purify in the Old Testament, except when mixed with the ashes of a heifer, which in 1Pe 1:2 is replaced by the blood of Jesus Christ. In all cases the person who bathed in the Old Testament ritual did so in order to remove dirt and sweat from his body, in Peter’s words ‘the defilement of the flesh’ (1Pe 3:21), preparatory for his approach to God. He was not ‘made clean’ by the water. That required a period of waiting before God ‘until the evening’.
In the New Testament a kind of cleansing takes place through ‘the washing of water with the word’ (Eph 5:26), but the reference to the word suggests rather the medium of washing is the preaching of the Gospel. Compare 1Co 1:17-18 where the preaching of the Gospel is specifically disconnected from baptism. Here in 1 Peter ‘purifying’ is also by ‘obedience to the truth’ and is associated with being begotten again of the word (1Pe 1:3; 1Pe 1:23), and with the sanctifying work of the Spirit in applying to the believer the benefits of the obedience of Jesus Christ and of the sprinkling of His blood. In 1Jn 1:7 also cleansing is by the blood of Jesus Christ. We can compare also Jesus’ words, ‘sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth’ (Joh 17:18). But nowhere is ‘making holy’ linked with baptism. Thus to introduce baptism here is against New Testament precedent.
End of note.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Being Begotten Again Of The Living And Eternal Word of God Has Purified Their Souls In Obedience To The Truth, And This Must Work Itself Out In Love For One Another ( 1Pe 1:22-25 ).
He now outlines what should be their resultant behaviour. In all the Apostolic letters the expounding of divine truth leads on to the requirement for righteous living.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Sanctification: The Love Walk In 1Pe 1:22-25 Peter turns his discussion back to our call to be holy by describing it as the love walk. Our spiritual growth and sanctification come by the natural process of partaking of the living Word of God on a regular basis, which Word initially redeemed us. Our sanctification is manifested to others by walking in love with our brethren (1Pe 1:22) as well as fearing the Lord (1Pe 1:14-16). In other words, holiness is a process of being sanctified in our relationship with both God and man. For example, we can see this two-fold application within the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments are directed towards our relationship with God, while the other six commandments emphasize our relationship with men. Jesus explained it well in Mat 22:37-40 in His reply to the Pharisees about the greatest commandment.
Mat 22:37-40, “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Love is the goal of our sanctification (1Ti 1:5), and it becomes our testimony to the world that we are God’s children (Joh 13:35).
1Ti 1:5, “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:”
Joh 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
This spiritual growth is effected by partaking of the same Living and Eternal Word of God that brought us into salvation (1Pe 1:23). Peter then quotes from Isa 40:6-8 to emphasize the living, eternal nature of God’s Word with the power to transform us into maturity (1Pe 1:24-25).
The Eternal Nature of God’s Word 1Pe 1:22-25 describes the eternal nature of God’s Word. No other passage in Scripture gives such a description of God’s Word. Peter gives it this description from the perspective of the Father’s divine plan of election in the life of the believer, which is the underlying theme woven throughout this Epistle.
1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
1Pe 1:22
1Pe 1:14, “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:’
God the Father has provided the Holy Spirit to empower us to live a life of sanctification and obedience unto Him. We are able to also purify our souls through repentance, which cleansing is made possible by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, a reference to our Saviour standing at the right hand of the Father making intercession for the saints (1Pe 1:2).
1Pe 1:2, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”
1Pe 1:22 “see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently” – Comments – We see in 1Pe 1:22 man’s role in his divine election, which is to walk in love with his brethren. We are reminded of Paul’s statement in 1Ti 1:5 that the goal of the commandment is love. Thus, the objective of our indoctrination is to walk in love.
1Ti 1:5, “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:”
Peter will expound upon the believer’s role of loving the brethren later in this epistle when he teaches on submission to one another.
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1Pe 1:23
1Pe 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
1Pe 1:25 1Pe 1:24-25
Isa 40:6-8, “The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The quality of Christian love:
v. 22. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently
v. 23. being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
v. 24. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away;
v. 25. but the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you. Just as earnestly as the apostle emphasized the necessity of faith and of unwavering trust in God, just so strongly he brings out the need of Christian love: Having your hearts purified in the obedience of the truth to unfeigned love of the brethren, from the heart love one another intently. The characteristic of faith is that it is obedient to the truth of the Gospel, that it is eager to give every manifestation of sonship towards God. This obedience of the Christians has purified their hearts from the former selfishness, from the natural love of self. They are able and willing now to show real, genuine, unfeigned love, without a trace of hypocrisy or affectation. But although this is true only in the same degree as a Christian has made progress in sanctification, yet the faculty, the ability, is there and is being fostered carefully by the Christians. Therefore they can and do accept the admonition of the apostle to love one another from their hearts, fervently, intently, assiduously. The argument is virtually this: Since you Christians can do it, since your faith has given you the ability to give proof of its existence in brotherly love, be sure to exercise this ability with all cheerful eagerness.
This love should appear in the entire life of the Christians on the basis of their regeneration: Since you are born again, not of perishable, but of imperishable seed, through the living and abiding Word of God. The new birth, which took place in us when God kindled faith in our hearts, is supposed to have effected a thorough purification of our hearts, has, in fact, done so, if our faith is of the right kind. And so the fruit of this faith will be a genuine, unselfish love for the brethren. Just why the fact of our regeneration should prove such a strong motive to us to give evidence of our faith in love is shown in the description of regeneration, when the apostle states that this new birth in our hearts is not the result of perishable, corruptible seed, as the growth of earthly plants would be, but of an incorruptible, imperishable seed, the Word of God, the Gospel of the Savior Jesus Christ. This Word of God is in itself living, full of life and of life-giving power. And it abides in eternity; even after the form of the Word, in Scripture and preaching, has passed away, the content of the Gospel will remain in eternity. Thus the life which is wrought in the hearts of men through the Gospel is a true, divine, and therefore imperishable life, and it will continue in the life of eternity.
The apostle substantiates the statement just made by a quotation from the Old Testament: For, All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of the grass; the grass dries up, and the flower falls off, but the Word of the Lord lasts forever. Isa 40:6-8. All flesh, all mankind, as it now exists, with its nature corrupted by sin, is like grass; and of the grass it is true that it withers, it dries up. All the handsomeness, the beauty, the glory which man is able to produce, with which he delights to boast; honor, art, culture, wisdom, virtue, righteousness: all is vain, without lasting value, subject to the same rapid change and decay as the flowers of the field that fall off even before the stalk is withered. They that trust in the things of this world will find themselves bitterly disappointed at the last. For only God’s Word has lasting value; it endures throughout eternity, it alone stands firm and unmoved in the midst of this world of death. If we but place our trust in this Word, in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it will lift and take us safe through the uncertainty and decay and misery and wretchedness of this world to the eternal life of salvation. Once more, then, the apostle calls out: But this is the Word which in the Gospel is preached to you. If we place our trust in this Word, in this glorious Gospel, then we are safe here in time and hereafter in eternity.
Summary. After the address the apostle launches forth in a hymn of praise to God for the gifts of His grace in Christ Jesus, to which he adds an admonition to be firm in Christian hope, in sanctification, and in brotherly love, the motive being the regeneration through the Word of God.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
1Pe 1:22-23. Seeing ye have purified your souls, &c. When through the Spirit ye have purged your hearts by obeying the truth, so that you are become capable of fraternal affection without disguise, See that you love one another with a clean heart fervently, or intensely; 1Pe 1:23. As persons who are regenerated, not of corruptible seed, but that which is incorruptible; even the efficacious and eternal word of God; Heylin: who observes, that the ground of fraternalaffectionamongChristians,istheirregenerationbythesamedivineprinciple. St. Peter here says, that they had purified their souls from sin, and attained to high degrees of holiness and piety, by obeying the truth; that is, by obeying the gospel: for truth is above fifty times in the New Testament put for the gospel, which contains the most clear and important truths. The love of the brethren, is the love of Christians: in human friendship there is sometimes a mixture of hypocrisy; but Christians love one anotherunfeignedly, or without hypocrisy. They love one another for their holiness and piety, and from a pure heart; not out of merely temporal views, but from views the most generous and disinterested. See 2Co 6:6. Gomarus observes, that the word , fervently, or intensely, is a metaphor taken from a bow-string, or the strings of a musical instrument; for, as a bow-string, when it is intense, or stretched to a proper degree, sends out the arrow with more force and to a greater distance; and the musical chord, when it is intense, or stretched to a proper degree, gives a more clear sound, and is heard better and by more persons; so Christian love, the greater and more intense it is, exerts, itself further, and wider, and is of more universal advantage. To promote this love is one principal design of the Christian revelation. See ch. 1Pe 4:8. The reason why we should love all the Christian brotherhood out of a pure heart intensely, is given in 1Pe 1:23 because by being born again, we become brethren of the same family, and children of the same immortal Father. When we are considered merely as descending from mortal parents, we are born to die like grass, or flowers, which soon wither away; but our being born again by the gospel, is a very different thing from a plant or animal’s being produced by the seed of another plant or animal, and has very different effects: for the first renders us mortal, but the latter immortal. Christians are in some places represented, as born again by the Spirit; but in other places, as here, they are said to be regenerated by the word of God, or the everlasting gospel, Rev 14:6. The two phrases come to much the same; for bythe Spirit the gospel was revealed, and confirmed by many of his miraculous operations; and when men are born again, there are no new revelations made to them by the Spirit; but they are born again by the word of God, as it was first preached by men, under the immediate inspiration of the Spirit, and is now contained in the sacred scriptures, and applied by the divine Spirit to the believing heart. See Tit 3:5.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Pe 1:22 . From 1Pe 1:22 to 1Pe 1:25 the third exhortation, [99] and its subject is love one of another. Gerhard incorrectly joins this verse with verse 17, and regards 1Pe 1:18-21 as a parenthesis.
] The participle does not here express the accomplished act as the basis of the exhortation, as if it were: “after that ye, or since ye, have purified” (Bengel, Wiesinger), but it stands closely linked on to the imperative, and denotes the duty which must ever be fulfilled (hence the perf.) if the is to be realized (de Wette-Brckner, Schott, Fronmller); [100] Luther inexactly: “make chaste and,” etc.
, a religious idea denoting in the first instance the outward, and afterwards the inward consecration and sanctifying also (cf. Joh 11:55 ; Act 21:24 ; Act 21:26 ; Act 24:18 ); in passages too, as here, where it expresses moral cleansing from all impurity (here more especially from selfishness), it does not lose its religious significance; cf. Jas 4:8 ; 1Jn 3:3 . [101]
] is the truth revealed and expressed in the gospel in all its fulness. Calvin’s limitation of the idea is arbitrary: veritatem accipit pro regula , quam nobis Dominus in evangelio praescribit.
, not “faith” (Wiesinger), but “obedience.” The genitive is not the gen. subj.: “the obedience which the truth begets,” but the gen. obj.: “obedience to the truth.” This , however, consists in believing what the truth proclaims, and in performing what it requires (thus Weiss also).
The preposition exhibits as the element in which the Christian must move in order to procure the sanctification of his soul.
If the reading be adopted, the is not the human spirit, but the Spirit of God ; Luther incorrectly: that the apostle here means to observe that the word of God must not only be heard and read, but be laid hold of with the heart .
] does not belong to the following, either as denoting the terminus of love, and the sense being: diligite vos in fraternam caritatem, i.e. in unum corpus fraternae caritatis; or as: (Oecumenius), and thus pointing out the “agency by which;” nor, finally, is it embatic: ita ut omnibus manifestum fiat, vos esse invicem fratres (Gerhard); but it is to be taken in conjunction with , and specifies the aim towards which the is to be directed. Sanctification towards love, by the putting away of all selfishness, must ever precede love itself.
] love of the brethren peculiar to Christians, cf. 2Pe 1:7 ; Rom 12:9-10 ; 1Th 4:9 .
With , cf. 1Jn 3:18 , where true unfeigned love is described.
( ) ] is not to be joined with what precedes, it being thus a somewhat cumbrous adjunct, but with what follows, setting forth in relief an essential element of love; with the expression , cf. Rom 6:17 ; Mat 18:35 ( ); on the Rec. , see 1Ti 1:5 . [102]
] is not to be limited, as Wiesinger proposes, “to the manifestation of love in act;” the passages, chap. 1Pe 4:8 , 1Jn 3:18 , do not justify this limitation.
, “ with strained energies ;” it denotes here “ the persevering intensity of love ” (in like manner Weiss, p. 336; Fronmller, Hofmann); Luther translates “ ardently ;” Schott without any reason asserts that in all the N. T. passages the word is used only in the temporal sense of duration, and therefore is so to be taken here; Luk 22:24 , Act 12:5 ; Act 26:7 , 1Pe 4:8 , are evidence not for , but against Schott’s assertion. The chief emphasis lies not on , but on ( ) and .
[99] Hofmann, without any sufficient reason, supposes the third exhortation to begin with ver. 18, although the amplifications contained in vv. 18 21 serve eminently to inculcate the preceding exhortation. The expression can be joined either with a preceding or a subsequent idea, yet it must be observed that in the N. T. the first combination is more frequent than the second, and that in the latter case is always accompanied by a particle, by which it is marked as the first word of a subsequent set of phrases; Hofmann altogether overlooks this. Here undoubtedly would have been prefixed to .
[100] Hofmann declares himself opposed to both of these interpretations, or rather he seeks to unite them after a fashion, by assuming that the participial clause partakes of the imperative tone of the principal clause. He likewise characterizes personal purification, presupposed by that love which is ever and anon manifested, as that which should have been accomplished once for all (as if it were possible to command that something should have taken place); he then adds that he who has not yet dedicated his soul to brotherly love must do so still(!).
[101] Schott leaves this religious reference entirely unnoticed. He states that the original meaning of the word , “is that purity of mind which regards one thing only as the foundation and aim of all practical life the truly moral.” Cremer, too, thinks that although originally it had the religious sense “to dedicate,” it is (Joh 11:55 , Act 21:24 ; Act 21:26 ; Act 24:18 excepted) as a term, techn. foreign to the N. T., and is here only equal to “to purify,” “to cleanse” (without the secondary meaning “to dedicate”).
[102] This participial clause joins itself naturally with what precedes, and is not, with Hofmann, to be taken with what follows (chap. 1Pe 2:1 ); , as shows, begins a new sentence. The connection proposed by Hofmann would give rise to a very clumsy phraseology. Were it true that regeneration has nothing to do with brotherly love, then of course neither has it anything to do with the laying aside of those lusts which are opposed to love, spoken of in chap. 1Pe 2:1 . Hofmann says, indeed, that 1Pe 2:1 describes the contraries of (childlike simplicity), not of ; but is not the opposite of the one the opposite of the other also? The construction in Rom 13:1 ff. is only in appearance similar to that which Hofmann understands as occurring here.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
1Pe 1:22-25
Analysis:Exhortation to pure and fervent brotherly love, as characteristic of those who have been born to love by the life-seed of the eternal word.
22Seeing ye have purified30 your souls in obeying31 the truth through the Spirit32 unto un-feigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with33 a pure heart fervently:34 23Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.35 24For all flesh36 is as grass, and all the glory of man37 as the flower of grass.38 The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1Pe 1:22. Connection. The exhortation (1Pe 1:13) Hope perfectly for the grace, fully corresponds to the second leading exhortation, Love one another fervently. The former was founded (in a participial sentence) on the concentration of thoughts and constant sobriety; the latter is founded (also in a participial sentence) on purifying the soul in obedience of the truth. Brotherly love must be the exponent of the nature, strength and fruit of regeneration.
Purified. denotes the laying aside of evil, the putting off lust, hatred, envy and hypocrisy; , on the other hand, the positive putting on the opposite good and growing therein, cf. 1Pe 2:1. The Perfect shows that the purifying does not belong exclusively to the past but is affected by the imperative form . [The German reads so (instead of ) on the authority of the Codex Colbertinus Cent. XI.M.], and indicates that such pure love cannot exist without the antecedent purifying of the soul. The Apostle means a constantly needed purifying, not one merely begun in regeneration. Augustine: Chastity of the soul consists in sincerity of faith and purifying the heart from unchaste flames.
In obedience of the truth.By absolute subjection to the truth given in the word of God, by keeping it and causing it to work in the heart. Obedience to the faith and moral obedience are again comprised in one. Truth has a purifying and separating power, removing all obstacles to the exercise of brotherly love, such as selfishness, obstinacy, self-sufficiency, men-pleasing, ambition, flattery, in fact, all manifestations of egotism. Because true believers are the children of God, 1Pe 1:3; 1Pe 1:14; 1Pe 1:17, they should act as brethren one to another. This is one of the principal commandments of Christ Himself, and consequently one of the main ends of holiness, Mat 22:40; Mar 12:31; Luk 10:28; Joh 13:34-35; cf. 1Pe 2:17; 1Pe 5:9. But because selfishness, deceit, hypocrisy and flattery are frequently hidden under the cloak of love, the word is added.
By the spirit, is wanting in several MSS. If, as is probable, authentic, it should be joined to not to . It denotes the Holy Spirit, by whom alone the soul can be purified, Act 15:8-9; Rom 8:13; 1Co 12:3; Eph 5:9. is also without the article in 1Pe 1:2.
Unfeigned love of the brethren.Brotherly love being thus rendered possible, its free and actual exhibition ought to follow. There being two kinds of love, pure and impure, heavenly and earthly, the Apostle expressly adds, out of a pure heart. Lachman strikes out of the text. Purity of heart is equally demanded in other passages, Mat 5:8; 1Ti 1:5; 2Ti 2:22. Bengel nicely remarks that purifying qualities, as antecedents to brotherly love, are also insisted upon at 2Pe 1:5-6.
is a very pregnant addition. It denotes stretching out, straining, putting forth strenuous effort, hence (a) by straining and extending every energy, by untiring elasticity, (b) by sustained perseverance, (c) by extending it to such brethren as appear less worthy of love. Weiss: With lasting, persevering energy, that cannot be tired out by the cumulating guilt of our neighbour, 1Pe 4:8. The possibility of such a mode of conduct belongs to the state of regeneration, 1Pe 1:23; cf. Mat 18:21-22; see above on 1Pe 1:3. Steiger. As natural relationship produces natural affection, so spiritual relationship produces spiritual affection. It is lasting, because emanating from an eternal source of life.
1Pe 1:23. Of (out of) incorruptible sowing. denotes begetting, sowing, not seed, as many translate, cf. Joh 1:13. Regeneration is not the effect of a transient act of begetting, but of the power of the Holy Ghost. The means He uses is the word of God, Jam 1:18; 1Co 4:15. Paul laying claim in the latter passage to the new birth or new-begetting of the Corinthians means nothing beyond his having been an instrument of the Holy Ghost. [The full idea is brought out by noticing the force of the prepositions and . The Apostle says, Being born again, not of, that is, out ofcorruptible seed (like semen humanum), but out of incorruptible begettingby means of the word of God. The of origination rests in God himself, the Father, who begat us, of His own will: the of instrumentality moves on and abides forever. Alford.M.]
By means of the word of God living and abiding forever. belong to , as is evident from the sequel, 1Pe 1:25. The Apostle does not speak of the Being of God, but of the nature of the word of God. It is living, cf. Heb 4:12, because it has life in itself, is indued with eternal, with divine power and therefore begets life in its turn, cf. Act 7:38. Luther: If I put the cup, containing the wine, to my lips, I drink the wine without swallowing the cup. Such also is the word, which brings the voice; it sinks into the heart and becomes alive, while the voice remains without and passes away. It is therefore a Divine power, yea, it is God himself, cf. Exo 4:11. It is able to kill, Rom 7:10, and to make alive. . (The last three words are wanting in important MSS. and therefore omitted by Griesbach and others). It remains forever in its nature, power and effects. [Dean Jackson on the Creed, book 7, 1Peter 28, vol. 7, p. 1Peter 270: If Christs flesh and blood be the seed of Immortality, how are we said to be born again by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever? Is this Word, by which we are born, the same with that immortal seed, of which we are born? It is the same, not in nature, but in person. May we not, in that speech of St. Peter, by the Word, understand the word preached unto us by the Ministers who are Gods seedsmen? In a secondary sense we may, for we are begotten and born again by preaching, as by the instrument or means. Yet born again we are by the Eternal Word (that is, by Christ Himself), as by the proper and efficient cause of our new birth And Christ Himself, who was put to death for our sins, and raised again for our justification, is the Word which we all do or ought to preach. The Son of God manifested in the flesh, was that Word which, in St. Peters language, is preached by the Gospel, and if we do not preach this Word unto our hearers, if all our sermons do not tend to one of these two ends, either to instruct our auditors in the articles of their creed concerning Christ, or to prepare their ears and hearts that they may be fit auditors of such instructions, we do not preach the Gospel unto them, we take upon us the name of Gods ambassadors, or of the ministers of the Gospel, in vain.M.]
[A Lapide: This sense is a genuine and sublime one, because in our Regeneration, Christ Himself is personally communicated to us, so that the Deity thenceforth dwells in us as in a Temple, and we are made partakers of the Divine Nature, 2Pe 1:4. See Jam 1:18-21.M.]
1Pe 1:24. introduces the proof of the difference between corruptible begetting and incorruptible. The begetting is like the instrument of begetting. The words quoted by Peter are found Isa 40:7, etc.; his citation is free, not literal. Flesh signifies here the whole living world, inasmuch as it is under the power of transitoriness and surrounded by weakness. Bengel: The old man, man of the old birth, especially self-righteousness, on which man is wont to found his confidence. Calvin: Whatever is highly esteemed in things human, beauty, bodily strength, learning, riches, posts of honour. It includes also the life of the natural mind, as long as it remains unoccupied and without the animation of the Spirit of God. Hence the Scripture speaks of fleshly-mindedness, Rom 8:5-7, and reckons also hatred, anger and pride among the works of the flesh, 1Co 3:3; Gal 5:19; Eph 2:3; Col 2:18. The flesh as well as the spirit, has its glory and flower. It appears robed in the forms of beauty, wisdom, nobleness, patriotism and even of holiness. It develops itself in forms of government, in art and science, in philosophical systems and theories of religion, so far as they are not penetrated by the Spirit of God. Hence they vanish as fast as they grow, yea fasterlike the flower of grass (Griesbach and others read after . See Appar. Crit. above), whose leaves fall asunder, cf. Psa 103:15; Psa 37:2; Jam 1:10; Isa 40:6-7. Peter refers to the last passage as given by the LXX., where the past tense is used, which describes with graphic effect the rapidity of the change.
1Pe 1:25. But the word of the Lord endureth forever, ever green and in vigour of life; it is continually valid and efficient, enduring to eternity, and so is whatever emanates from or originates in it, cf. Psa 119:89; Luk 21:33. Luther: You need not open your eyes wide how you may get to the word of God; it is before your eyes, it is the word which we preach. Deu 30:11; Rom 10:6, etc. The word of the Gospel preached to Christians is essentially one with the kernel of the word of the Old Testament, cf. Rom 16:26; Eph 2:20; Eph 3:5. , it has been brought unto you and implanted in you. The circumstance of Peter taking for granted that his readers are familiar with the word of the Old Testament, furnishes a hint that he writes to Jewish Christians. [Wordsworth: The transition from the Incarnate Word to the spoken and written word, and vice vers, is, as might be anticipated, of not unfrequent occurrence in Holy Writ: see Heb 4:12;. Jam 1:18-23.Observe, also, that St. Peter here returns to the principal person, Christ, and speaks of Him, who is the Living Word, as being also the Living Stone, ii. 4.M.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1 The necessity of purifying the soul was recognized even in the systems of the philosophers, e. g., in the Platonic and Neoplatonic schools; but the only means of accomplishing it was unknown to them: subjection to revealed truth, appropriating and practising it.
2. Purification must begin and without interruption continue in the soul, the stronghold and seat of sin.
3. Essential unity of the message of salvation in the Old and New Testaments, 1Pe 1:25.
4. Regeneration or new-birth, the first implanting into the new, spiritual life, must be distinguished from quickening and conversion. The Scripture clearly teaches that regeneration takes place through Baptism by means of the word and through the Spirit who animates it, Joh 3:5; Tit 3:5; Rom 6:3; Gal 3:26-27; Eph 5:25-27; 1Pe 3:21. Compare the lucid exposition of Kurz in Christ. Religion (Christliche Religionslehre) p. 196, 197, 5th ed.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Incorruptible sowing or generation yields incorruptible fruit, a new man. As is the origin of life, so are the effects that flow from it.While the non-christian loves in Adam, the believer loves in Christ. The former passes off carnal inclination for true love.Regeneration is not the completion but the beginning of Christianity. The word of God, which is intrinsically spirit and life must also become alive in us. It is a fire, but it cannot prove its power, as long as it touches us only superficially.
Starke:Hearty brotherly love comprises also brotherly correction, which should take place in a loving and gentle spirit, Gal 6:1.The analogy between the word of God and seed in the field exhibits the following particulars: 1. The seed has in itself the power of growth, and does not receive it from the field. The word of God has power within itself and manifests itself as a spiritual growth. 2. The seed requires a well-prepared field; the word of God a soul ready to be qualified for receiving it and bearing fruit. 3. The seed needs a sower to scatter it in due season and in the right manner; the word of God needs the office of teachers, or spiritual husbandmen. 4. The scattered seed must be harrowed in, in order to be thoroughly mixed up with the soil and in order to grow above to strike root below; so the word of God, which is therefore called the implanted word, Jam 1:21; Jam 1:5. The seed bears no fruit unless it be quickened by warm sunshine and fertile showers from above: so also the word of God, which although it has living power in itself, requires the supply of grace by the Holy Ghost. 6. The seed of one kind, scattered on differing soil, good, bad and indifferent, owing to the inequality of the soil, does not yield the same fruit: so it is with the word of God.Christianity insists not so much on a mere externally blameless conversation as on regeneration, Gal 6:15; Php 2:5.We know no other word of God than that which was preached by Christ and the Apostles throughout the whole world, is put on imperishable record and still continues before, our eyes.
Lisco:Of what passes away and of what remains.
[1Pe 1:22. The properties of brotherly love. 1. It is unfeigned, more of the heart and the hand than of the lip. 2. It is pure, beginning and ending in God. 3. It is fervent with all the energies of the soul on the stretch. The sympathy of the whole body with any injured or diseased member a Scriptural illustration.M.]
[Leighton:The true reason why there is so little truth of this Christian mutual love amongst those that are called Christians, is, because there is so little of this purifying obedience to the truth, whence it flows; faith unfeigned would beget this love unfeigned: men may exhort to them both, but they require the hand of God to work them in the heart.
1Pe 1:24. The philosopher said of his countrymen that they eat as if they meant to die to-morrow and yet build as if they were never to die.Archimedes was killed in the midst of his demonstration. Cf. Psa 146:4.We in our thoughts shut up death into a very narrow compass, namely, in the moment of our expiring; but the truth is, as the moralist observes, it goes through all our life; for we are still losing and spending it as we enjoy it, yea, our very enjoying it, is the spending it; yesterdays life is dead today and so shall this days life be to-morrow.M.]
[What is the great defect in all human greatness and beautyin earth-born riches and pleasures?Transitoriness.M.]
[Macknight:
1Pe 1:25. This is a quotation from Isa 40:6-8, where the preaching of the gospel is foretold and recommended from the consideration that every thing which is merely human, and among the rest, the noblest races of mankind, with all their glory and grandeur, their honour, riches, beauty, strength and eloquence; as also the arts which men have invented and the works they have executed, shall decay as the flowers of the field. But the gospel, called by the prophet the word of the Lord, shall be preached while the world standeth.M.]
[Leighton:As the word of God itself cannot be abolished, but surpasses the endurance of heaven and earth, as our Saviour teaches, and all attempts of men against the Divine truth of that word to undo it, are as vain as if they should consent to pluck the sun out of the firmament, so likewise is the heart of a Christian, it is immortal and incorruptible.M.]
Footnotes:
[30]1Pe 1:22. [ , having purified; castificantes, Vulg., making chaste, Wiclif.M.]
[31]1Pe 1:22. [ = in obedience of, Germ.M.]
[32] 1Pe 1:22. [ omitted in A B C. Cod. Sin., inserted in Rec. K. L.M.]
[ = by, nor through, see 1:33.M.]
[33] 1Pe 1:22. [ . , out of, from, Germ.; omitted in A B, inserted in Rec. C. K. L.M.]
[Cod. Sin. **. .M.]
[34]1Pe 1:22. [ = intente.M.]
[35] 1Pe 1:23. [ = by the word of God living and enduring.M.]
[Cod. Sin. omits * .M.]
[36]1Pe 1:24. [ = because.M.]
[37]1Pe 1:24. [ in Rec. for . If the latter reading is preferred, we must render and all the glory of it, i. e. of flesh. So Wiclif and Reims.M.]
[38] 1Pe 1:24. [ , , aorists, statement as in a narrative; viz.: the grass hath withered and the flower thereof is fallen away; Wiclif and Reims: Exaruit fnum et flos ejus decidit. Vulgate. German.M.]
[Cod. Sin. (**improb.). . .**. . .Without .M.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 2390
LOVE TO THE BRETHREN
1Pe 1:22. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.
AS our Christian profession lays us under peculiar obligations to holiness, so our Christian experience should influence us to exert ourselves as much as possible in the service of our God. The more we have attained, the more we should aspire after still higher attainments. To this effect is St. Peters exhortation in the passage before us. In his words we may observe,
I.
What he takes for granted respecting all true Christians
The Apostle, writing to those who professed to be followers of Christ, gives them credit that they were his disciples indeed; and takes for granted,
1.
That they had obeyed the truth
[To obey the truth is, in scripture-language, the same as to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The substance of the divine record is, that in Christ Jesus there is life, and that we either have life or are destitute of it, according as we possess, or are destitute of, the knowledge of Christ [Note: 1Jn 5:11-12.]. This is the true record of God, which we are enjoined to receive with all humility and thankfulness; and when we so embrace it as to found all our hopes of salvation entirely upon it, then we may properly be said to obey the truth. Now this every Christian does; he does not merely give his assent to any propositions about Christ, but he flees to Christ for refuge, and relies upon him as his only Saviour. And the Apostle takes for granted (with good reason too) that they to whom he was writing, had so received Christ: for, however they might have been baptized into the faith of Christ, they were no better than mere heathens, if they had not truly believed in him.]
2.
That in obeying the truth they had also purirified their souls
[We may cleanse the outward part of our conduct by various means. A regard to our reputation, a self-righteous desire of recommending ourselves to God, or a spirit of pride and self-complacency, will be sufficient to rectify in a measure our external behaviour; but it is the property of faith alone to purify the heart [Note: Act 15:9.]. And as nothing but faith will prevail for this end, so wherever faith is, it will infallibly produce this effect [Note: 1Jn 3:3.]. The faith that has not this fruit is dead; and will no more avail for our salvation than the faith of devils [Note: Jam 2:19-20.]. Well therefore does the Apostle take it for granted, that they, to whom he wrote, experienced this effect of their faith; seeing that it is the principal intent of the Gospel to ensure and produce it [Note: Tit 2:11-12.].]
3.
That they had so purified their souls as to have attained an unfeigned love of the brethren
[As faith purifies the heart, so in a more especial manner it works by love [Note: Gal 5:6.]. The love of the brethren never was nor ever can be, found in an unrenewed soul. There may be a semblance of it; there may be a partial attachment to our own sect and party, or a carnal attachment to a person who is spiritually-minded; but there never can be a love to spiritual persons simply on account of their relation to Christ, and their conformity to his image. But let the smallest portion of true grace be imparted to the soul, and instantly will this love spring up in the heart. Many things indeed may occur in the mind to restrain its exercise for a season, and to impede its growth; but it may be taken for granted that this principle both abides and operates in the heart of every true Christian; he that loveth him that begat, cannot but love those who are begotten of him [Note: 1Jn 5:1.].]
4.
That they had attained all this through the influence of the Holy Spirit
[Faith itself cannot exist in the heart, till the Spirit of God has wrought it in us: he must overcome our reluctance, and make us willing to obey the truth [Note: Psa 110:3.]. Neither can our hearts be purified but by the same almighty power. Faith indeed is the instrument whereby our sanctification is effected; but the Holy Spirit is the agent. Every progressive step of it must be wrought by him [Note: Rom 8:13.]. Our love can now from no other source; whatever be the grace that is exercised by us, He must be acknowledged as the author of it; it is the same Spirit that worketh all in all [Note: 1Co 12:7-11.].]
If what is here taken for granted be really found in us, nothing will be more acceptable than,
II.
The exhortation grounded upon it
The end of the commandment, says the Apostle, is charity; and our profession as Christians supposes that it exists, and operates, in our hearts. But care must be taken that it be exercised,
1.
With sincerity
[There is a politeness and civility which is only a counterfeit of Christian love: but it is not this which the text inculcates. We are indeed commanded in other parts of Scripture to be courteous; and it would be well if some professors of religion paid more attention to this command. But the love enjoined in the text, is an unfeigned love to all the saints, arising from a view of their relation to God, and to ourselves. It must be an abiding principle in our hearts, operating uniformly in the whole of our conduct towards them. It must lead us to exercise meekness, forbearance, and forgiveness, and to seek both their temporal and spiritual welfare, as occasion may serve [Note: 1Co 13:4-7.]. In short, our love must be without dissimulation [Note: Rom 12:9.]; it must be not in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth [Note: 1Jn 3:18.].]
2.
With purity
[Even where there is a portion of Christian love, there may be a considerable alloy mixed with it. We may be influenced too much by selfish considerations. We may be seeking our own interest or honour, while we imagine that we are giving a testimony of Christian love. Yea, our love which was pure at first, may easily degenerate into mere carnal affection. The greatest caution is necessary, especially among young persons, lest our hearts betray us into indiscretion of any kind, and Satan take advantage of us to lead us into sin.]
3.
With fervour
[An empty profession of benevolence to the poor will not be deemed equivalent to an actual relieving of their wants; nor will a cold expression of regard to the brethren fulfil the sacred duty of love to them. In the latter especially, it should know no bounds, but those which were affixed to the love of Christ. Did he love us to such a degree as to lay down his life for us? we ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren [Note: 1Jn 3:16.]. There is no service, however difficult or self-denying, which we should not render them for good. We should love one another, as the Greek word means, intensely [Note: .]. To sum up all in one word, we should love one another, as Christ has loved us [Note: Eph 5:1-2. Joh 15:12.].]
Application
Let us,
1.
Inquire whether the things here taken for granted be found in us
[Have we indeed received the Holy Ghost? and through his almighty influence have we believed in Christ, and purified our souls, and got a principle of holy love implanted in us? And do these attainments become so many motives to diligence, and means of spiritual advancement! Let this be duly weighed, and it will serve to shew us what we are. If we be in the faith, our self-examination will increase our comfort; and, if we be not in the faith, it may be the means of carrying conviction to the soul. Let us be assured that faith, love, and holiness universally characterize the Christian, and that our evidences of conversion will bear an exact proportion to our attainments in these things [Note: Joh 13:35 and Isa 61:9.]. Let therefore our exercise of these graces be so manifest and undeniable, that the Spirits agency in us may be confessed by all [Note: 1Jn 3:19.].]
2.
Endeavour to fulfil the duties that are here imposed on us
[A sweeter command cannot possibly be given. To obey it is to enjoy a heaven upon earth. Heaven is a region of ineffable, unceasing love; and the more we have of that divine principle the more happy shall we be. Let us then strive to mortify whatever may retard its growth in our souls. Let us beware lest through the abounding of iniquity it wax cold. And let us strive to exercise it with all that purity and fervour which become persons so highly privileged.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Ver. 22. Ye have purified ] Animabus vestris castificatis. A metaphor from the legal purifications.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
22 25 .] Third exhortation, to LOVE OF ONE ANOTHER, from the consideration of their new birth by the word of God .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
22 .] Having purified (i. e. ‘seeing that ye have purified:’ the part. carries with it an inferential force as to the exhortation, and besides, assumes that as a fact to which it covertly exhorts. “Luther has rendered it, not exactly, but according to the sense: machet keusch und ” Huther. , of moral purification, as in ref.) your souls (the , as the centres of personality, though here described as purified by the persons themselves, yet are not so except by a process in which the whole person is employed: the habit of obedience) in (the course of: the region, in which the purification takes place) your obedience of (‘ to ,’ so that . is gen. objective. It might be, obedience brought about by the truth, gen. subjective: but not so simply. ‘The truth’ is that of the Gospel of Christ in its largest sense, not merely as Calv., “regula, quam nobis Dominus in evangelio prscribit:” and nearly = . ( ) , Rom 1:5 and elsewhere. Compare St. Peter’s own saying, Act 15:9 , ) the truth (see above), unto (‘ with a view to ,’ ‘ in the direction of ,’ it might be with or without intention: the legitimate tendency of that purification, which ought to have been going on in your souls, was toward) unfeigned (reff.) brotherly love (love of Christians towards one another: see reff.), love one another from the heart earnestly ( is the seat of the affections: let the love come straight and pure from thence, not short of it, from any secondary purpose as its origin. is proscribed by Phrynichus, p. 311, where see Lobeck’s note. But the adj. is not, as sometimes stated, a word of later Greek: we have in sch. Suppl. 990. ‘ Intente ’ exactly gives the sense: with the energies on the stretch):
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Pe 1:22-25 . The combination of purification of souls with love of the brotherhood suggests that the temptations to relapses were due to former intimacies and relationships which were not overcome by the spiritual brotherhood which they entered. Different grades of society were doubtless represented in all Christian churches and those who were marked out for leaders by their wealth and position were naturally slow to love the slaves and outcasts. As at Corinth old intimacies and congenial society led the better classes (1Pe 4:3 f.) to fall back on the clubs to which they had belonged and in the company of their equals to sneer at their new brothers “the brethren” (1Pe 2:1 ). St. Peter reminds them that they must purify their souls from the taint with a side-glance perhaps at the rites proper to the associations in question. They must love the brotherhood and its members as such. Earthly relationships are done away by their regeneration; they have exchanged the flesh for the spirit. The section is full of echoes; compare with (15), (2), with . (14), with (3), with (18), with (12). It should be compared throughout with Eph 4:18-24 . from Jer 6:16 ,“ see what is the good way and walk in it and you shall find purification ( LXX) to your souls . . usually of ceremonial purification in LXX. Compare Jas 4:8 , ( cf. ). The perfect participle is used as indicating the ground of the admonition, so (23). Pagan rites professed to purify the worshipper but cannot affect the soul, the self or the heart any more than the Jewish ceremonies can (Heb 9:9 f.). Scripture declares (Psa 19:10 ). They must realise that they have cleansed themselves ideally at baptism, cf. 1Jn 3:3 ; 1Jn 3:15 f. above with context. , in your obedience to the truth, cf. Jer. l.c. above. They are no longer ignorant (14) but have learned the truth ( cf. Joh 17:17-19 , and ., Joh 8:32 ) from the missionaries. They must persist in the obedience to it which they then professed, in contrast with those who are disobedient to the truth (Rom 2:8 ; cf. 2Th 2:12 ). Hortsays: “St. Peter rather means the dependence of Christian obedience on the possession of the truth,” relying on Eph 4:24 , and the probability that “St. Peter would have distinctly used some such language as ”. In regard to the latter point it should be observed that St. Peter is curiously fond of using nouns instead of verbs ( e g. , 2). , love of the brethren , Vulgate, in fraternitalis amore , mutual love which exists between brothers. It is the primary Christian duty, Mat 23:8 , the first fruits of their profession of which St. Paul has no need to remind the Thessalonians, 1Th 4:9 . , unfeigned , contrasted with the love which they professed towards their fellow Christians ( cf. 1Pe 2:1 ) which was neither hearty nor eager. There was pretence among them whether due to imperfect sympathy of Jew for Gentile or of wealthy and honourable Gentiles for those who were neither the one nor the other. For a vivid illustration of this feigning see Jas 2:15 f. and 1Pe 2:1-5 , etc., for the friction between rich and poor. . St. John’s summary of the teaching of Jesus (Joh 13:34 f., Joh 15:12 ; Joh 15:17 ) which he repeated in extreme old age at Ephesus, till the disciples were weary of it: “Magister quare semper hoc loqueris”. His answer was worthy of him: “Quia praeceptum Domini est et si solum fiat sufficit (Hieron. in Gal 6:10 ). , intentius (Vulg.), in LXX of “ strong crying to God” (Jon 3:8 = violently, cf. Jdg 4:12 ; Joe 1:14 ; 3Ma 5:9 : in Polybius of a warm commendation (xxxi. 22, 12) a warm and friendly welcome (viii. 21, 1), a warm and magnificent reception (xxxiii. 16 4).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
1 Peter
PURIFYING THE SOUL
1Pe 1:22 .
Note these three subsidiary clauses introduced respectively by ‘in,’ ‘through,’ ‘unto.’ They give the means, the Bestower, and the issue of the purity of soul. The Revised Version, following good authorities, omits the clause, ‘through the Spirit.’ It may possibly be originally a marginal gloss of some scribe who was nervous about Peter’s orthodoxy, which finally found its way into the text. But I think we shall be inclined to retain it if we notice that, throughout this epistle, the writer is fond of sentences on the model of the present one, and of surrounding a principal clause with subsidiary ones introduced by a similar sequence of prepositions. For instance, in this very chapter, to pass over other examples, we read, ‘Kept by’ or in ‘the power of God through faith unto salvation.’ So, for my present purpose, I take the doubtful words as part of the original text. They unquestionably convey a true idea, whether they are genuine here or no.
One more introductory remark–’Ye have purified your souls’–a bold statement to make about the vast multitude of the ‘dispersed’ throughout all the provinces of Asia Minor whom the Apostle was addressing. The form of the words in the original shows that this purifying is a process which began at some definite point in the past and is being continued throughout all the time of Christian life. The hall-mark of all Christians is a relative purity, not of actions, but of soul. They will vary, one from another; the conception of what is purity of soul will change and grow, but, if a man is a Christian, there was a moment in his past at which he potentially, and in ideal, purified his spirit, and that was the moment when he bowed down in obedience to the truth. There are suggestions for volumes about the true conception of soul-purity in these words of my text. But I deal with them in the simplest possible fashion, following the guidance of these significant little words which introduce the subordinate clauses.
First of all, then, we have here the great thought that
I. Soul purity is in, or by, obedience.
Now, of course, ‘the truth’–truth with the definite article–is the sum of the contents of the Revelation of God in Jesus Christ, His life, His death, His Glory. For to Peter, as to us He should be, Jesus Christ was Truth Incarnate. ‘In Him were hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’ The first thought that is suggested to me from this expression–obedience to the truth–is that the revelation of God in Jesus Christ is, as its ultimate intention, meant to be obeyed. There are plenty of truths which have no influence on life and conduct, for which all is done that they can demand when they are accepted. But the truth is no inert substance like the element which recent chemical discoveries have found, which is named ‘argon,’ the do-nothing: the truth is, as physiologists say, a ferment. It is intended to come into life, and into character, and into the inmost spirit of a man, and grip them, and mould them, and transform them, and animate them, and impel them. The truth is to be ‘obeyed.’
Now that altogether throws over two card-castles which imperfect Christians are very apt to build. One which haunted the thoughts of an earlier generation of Christians more than it does the present, is that we have done all that ‘the truth’ asks of us when we have intellectually endorsed it. And so you get churches which build their membership upon acceptance of a creed and excommunicate heretics, whilst they keep do-nothing and uncleansed Christians within their pale. But God does not tell us anything that we may know. He tells us in order that, knowing, we may be and do. And right actions, or rather a character which produces such, is the last aim of all knowledge, and especially of all moral and religious truth. So ‘the truth’ is not ‘argon’, it is a ferment. And if men, steeped to the eyebrows in orthodoxy, think that they have done enough when they have set their hands to a confession of faith, and that they are Christians because they can say, ‘all this I steadfastly believe,’ they need to remember that religious truth which does not mould and transform character and conduct is a king dethroned; and for dethroned kings there is a short step between the throne from which they have descended and the scaffold on which they die.
But there is another–what I venture to call a card-castle, which more of us build in these days of indifference as to creed–and that is that a great many of us are too much disposed to believe that ‘the truth as it is in Jesus’ has received from us all which it expects when we trust to it for what we call our ‘salvation,’ meaning thereby forgiveness of sins and immunity from punishment. These are elements of salvation unquestionably, but they are only part of it. And the very truths on which Christian people rest for this initial salvation, which is forgiveness and acceptance, are meant to be the guides of our lives and the patterns for our imitation. Why, in this very letter, in reference to the very parts of Christ’s work, on which faith is wont to rest for salvation,–the death on the Cross to which we say that we trust, and which we are so accustomed to exalt as a unique and inimitable work that cannot be reproduced and needs no repetition, world without end–Peter has no hesitation in saying that Christ was our ‘Pattern,’ and that, even when He went to the Cross, He died ‘leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps.’ So, brethren, the truth needs to be known and believed: the truth needs not only to be believed but to be trusted in; the truth needs not only to be believed and to be trusted in, but to be obeyed.
Still further, another thought following upon and to some extent modifying the preceding one, is suggested here, and that is that the faith, which I have just been saying is sometimes mistakenly regarded as being all that truth calls for from us, is itself obedience. As I have said, the language in the original here implies that there was a given definite moment in the past when these dispersed strangers obeyed, and, by obeying the truth, purified their souls. What was that moment? Some people would say the moment when the rite of baptism was administered. I would say the moment when they bowed themselves in joyful acceptance of the great Word and put out a firm hand of faith to grasp Jesus Christ. That is obedience. For, in the very act of thus trusting, there is self-surrender, is there not? Does not a man depart from himself and bow himself humbly before his Saviour when he puts his trust in Him? Is not the very essence of obedience, not the mere external act, but the melting of the will to flow in such directions as His master-impulse may guide it? Thus, faith in its depth is obedience; and the moment when a man believes, in the deepest sense of the word, that moment, in the deepest realities of his spirit, he becomes obedient to the will and to the love of his Saviour Lord, Who is the Truth as He is the Way and the Life. We find, not only in this Epistle, but throughout the Epistles, that the two words ‘disobedience’ and ‘unbelief,’ are used as equivalents. We read, for instance, of those that ‘stumble at the word, being disobedient,’ and the like. So, then, faith is obedience in its depth, and, if our faith has any vitality in it, it carries in it the essence of all submission.
But then, further, my text implies that the faith which is, in its depth, obedience, in its practical issues will produce the practical obedience which the text enjoins. It is no mere piece of theological legerdemain which counts that faith is righteousness. But, just as all sin comes from selfishness, so, and therefore, all righteousness will flow from giving up self, from decentralising, as it were, our souls from their old centre, self, and taking a new centre, God in Christ. Thus the germ of all practical obedience lies in vital faith. It is, if I might so say, the mother-tincture which, variously combined, coloured, and perfumed, makes all the precious things, the virtues and graces of humanity, which the believing soul pours out as a libation before its God. It is the productive energy of all practical goodness. It is the bottom heat in the greenhouse which makes all the plants grow and flourish. Faith is obedience, and faith produces obedience. Does my faith produce obedience? If it does not, it is not faith.
Then, with regard to this first part of my subject, comes the final thought that practical obedience works inwards as well as outwards, and purifies the soul which renders it. People generally turn that round the other way, and, instead of saying that to do right helps to make a man right within, they say ‘make the tree good, and its fruit good’–first the pure soul, and then the practical obedience. Both statements are true. For every act that a man does reacts upon the doer, just as, whether the shot hits the target or not, the gun kicks back on the shoulder of the man that fired it. Conduct comes from character, but conduct works back upon character, and character is largely the deposit from the vanished seas of actions. So, then, whilst the deepest thought is, be good and you will do good, it is not to be forgotten that the other side is true–do good, and it will tend to make you good. Obedience purifies the soul, while, on the other hand, a man that lives ill comes to think as he lives, and to become tenfold more a child of evil. ‘The dyer’s hand is subdued to what it works in.’ ‘Ye have purified your souls,’ ideally, in the act of faith, and continuously, in the measure in which you practically obey the truth.
We have here
II. Purifying through the Spirit.
I have already said that these words are possibly no part of the original text, but that they convey a true Christian idea, whether the words are here genuine or no. I need not enlarge upon this part of my subject at any length. Let me just remind you how the other verse in this chapter, to which I have already referred as cast in the same mould as our text, covers, from a different point of view, the same ground exactly as our text. Here there is put first the human element: ‘Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth,’ and secondly the Divine element; ‘through the Spirit.’ The human part is put in the foreground, and God’s part comes in, I was going to say, subordinately, as a condition. The reverse is the case in the other text, which runs: ‘Kept in the power of God through faith’–where the Divine element is in the foreground, as being the true cause, and the human dwindles to being merely a condition–’Kept by’ or in ‘the power of God through faith.’ Both views are true; you may take the vase by either handle. When the purpose is to stimulate to action, man’s part is put in the foreground and God’s part secondarily. When the purpose is to stimulate to confidence, God’s part is put in the foreground and the man’s is secondary. The two interlock, and neither is sufficient without the other.
The true Agent of all purifying is that Divine Spirit. I have said that the moment of true trust is the moment of initial obedience, and of the beginning of purity. And it is so because, in that moment of initial faith, there enters into the heart the communicated Divine life of the Spirit, which thenceforward is lodged there, except it be quenched by the man’s negligence or sin. Thence, from that germ implanted in the moment of faith, the germ of a new life, there issue forth to ultimate dominion in the spirit, the powers of that Divine Spirit which make for righteousness and transform the character. Thus, the true cause and origin of all Christian nobility and purity of character and conduct lies in that which enters the heart at the moment that the heart is opened for the coming of the Lord. But, on the other hand, this Divine Spirit, the Source of all purity, will not purify the soul without the man’s efforts. ‘Ye have purified your souls.’ You need the Spirit indeed. But you are not mere passive recipients. You are to be active co-operators. In this region, too, we are ‘labourers together with God.’ We cannot of ourselves do the work, for the very powers with which we do it, or try to do it, are themselves in need of cleansing. And for a man to try to purify the soul by his own effort alone is to play the part of the sluttish house-wife who would seek to wipe a dish clean with a dirty cloth. You need the Divine Spirit to work in you, and you need to use, by your own effort, the Divine Spirit that does work in you. He is as ‘rushing, mighty wind’; but, unless the sails are set and the helm gripped, the wind will pass the boat and leave it motionless. He is Divine fire that burns up the dross and foulness; but, unless we ‘guard the holy fire’ and feed it, it dies down into grey cold ashes. He is the water of life; but, unless we dig and take heed to keep clear the channels, no refreshing will permeate to the roots of the wilting flowers, and there will be dryness, thirst, and barrenness, even on the river’s banks.
So, brethren, neither God alone nor man alone can purify the soul. We need Him, else we shall labour in vain. He needs us, else He will bestow His gift, and we shall receive ‘the grace of God in vain.’
Lastly, we have here–
III. Purifying … unto … love.
The Apostle was speaking to men of very diverse nationalities who had been rent asunder by deep gulfs of mutual suspicion and conflicting interests and warring creeds, and a great mysterious, and, as it would seem to the world then, utterly inexplicable bond of unity had been evolved amongst them, and Greek and barbarian, bond and free, male and female, had come together in amity. The ‘love of the brethren’ was the creation of Christianity, and was the outstanding fact which, more than any other, amazed the beholders in these early days. God be thanked! there are signs in our generation of a closer drawing together of Christian people than many past ages, alas, have seen.
But my text suggests solemn and great thoughts with regard to Christian love and unity. The road to unity lies through purity, and the road to purity lies through obedience. Yes; what keeps Christian people apart is their impurities. It is not their creeds. It is not any of the differences that appear to separate them. It is because they are not better men and women. Globules of quicksilver will run together and make one mass; but not if you dust them over. And it is the impurities on the quicksilver that keep us from coalescing.
So then we have to school ourselves into greater conformity to the likeness of our Master, to conquer selfishness, and to purify our souls, or else all this talk about Christian unity is no better than sounding brass, and more discordant than tinkling cymbals. Let us learn the lesson. ‘The unfeigned love of the brethren’ is not such an easy thing as some people fancy, and it is not to be attained at all on the road by which some people would seek it. Cleanse yourselves, and you will flow together.
Here, then, we have Peter’s conception of a pure soul and a pure life. It is a stately building, based deep on the broad foundation of the truth as it is in Jesus; its walls rising, but not without our effort, being builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit, and having as the shining apex of its heaven-pointing spire ‘unfeigned love to the brethren.’ The measure of our obedience is the measure of our purity. The measure of our purity is the measure of our brotherly love. But that love, though it is the very aim and natural issue of purity, still will not be realised without effort on our part. Therefore my text, after its exhibition of the process and issues of the purifying which began with faith, glides into the exhortation: ‘See that ye love one another with a pure heart’–a heart purified by obedience–and that ‘fervently.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Pe 1:22-25
22Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 23for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. 24For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, 25But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.
1Pe 1:22 “in obedience” Obedience is a recurrent theme in chapter one (cf. 1Pe 1:2; 1Pe 1:14; 1Pe 1:22). It refers to receiving the gospel (i.e., truth, cf. Joh 17:17; 2Th 2:12) and walking in it. Remember the gospel is (1) a person; (2) truth about that person; and (3) a life like that person. Jesus expressed the importance of obedience so clearly in Luk 6:46. Obedience is the evidence that we have truly met Him and been changed by Him. Eternal life has observable characteristics.
“to the truth” Literally “by obedience of the truth,” which is an objective genitive. Truth is the characteristic of both God and His children. See Special Topic: Truth at 2Pe 1:12.
“purified your souls” This is a perfect active participle. Obedience to the truth issues in a personal purging (cf. Jas 4:8; 1Jn 3:3). This spiritual purging does not earn God’s love and acceptance, but reflects it instead. This purifying process starts at salvation and continues throughout life (perfect active participle). It results in a sincere love of the brothers (cf. 1Jn 4:7-21). Christianity is both (1) an individual faith response to God’s offer of salvation through Christ and (2) a corporate experience of service to the body of Christ (cf. 1Co 12:7). Believers express their love for God by loving His other children (cf. Rom 14:1 to Rom 15:13). See fuller note on “souls” at 1Pe 1:9.
“love of the brethren. . .fervently love another” The first use of “love” in this phrase is in a compound Greek word philadelphi (brotherly love). The second is an aorist active imperative of the verb agapa. These terms (phile and agapa)were used interchangeably in the NT (cf. Joh 5:20 versus Joh 3:25 and Joh 16:27 versus Joh 17:23). In some passages like Joh 21:15-17, they might convey different aspects of love. The early church took a relatively unused noun (agap) and began using it to express the unique self-giving love of God in Christ.
1Pe 1:23 “for you have been born again” This is a perfect passive participle. This develops the theological thought from 1Pe 1:3. It is a family metaphor used to describe Christians as new members of God’s family through their faith in Christ (cf. Joh 1:12-13). It is similar in meaning to John’s “born from above” in Joh 3:3.
Notice the marvelous truth conveyed in the verb.
1. perfect tense = our salvation started in the past and continues into a current state of being
2. passive voice = we did not save ourselves, it was an outside act by the Triune God
3. This same verb form (different Greek word) is found in Eph 2:5; Eph 2:8, which is also a wonderful verse on the believer’s assurance and security.
“not of seed which is perishable” Seed is a biblical metaphor for (1) procreation (i.e., used by the rabbis for sperm) or (2) physical descent (i.e., Gen 12:1-3 for Abraham’s descendants). It is that which brings forth life.
“through the living and enduring word of God” Gospel preaching is personified as the means by which the Father has brought forth believers (cf. Jas 1:18). This Apostolic preaching of the truth of the gospel is described as both alive and remaining (cf. Heb 4:12), which are both aspects of YHWH!
1Pe 1:24 1Pe 1:24-25 a are a quote from the LXX of Isa 40:6-8 (cf. Job 14:1-2; Psa 90:5-6; Psa 103:15-17) which also emphasized the frailty and finitude of human life (cf. Jas 1:10-11) versus the eternality of God’s Word (cf. Jas 1:21). In their original context these verses referred to Israel, but now they refer to the church (cf. 1Pe 2:5; 1Pe 2:9). This transfer is characteristic of 1 Peter.
1Pe 1:25 “the word of the Lord” There are two Greek words usually translated “word” or “message.” In Koine Greek logos (cf. Joh 1:1; 1Pe 1:23) and rma (cf. the OT quote from the Septuagint in 1Pe 1:25 a and alluded to in 1Pe 1:25 b) are usually synonymous. Context, not a lexicon, determines synonymity. God has revealed Himself (i.e., revelation)!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Seeing ye have = Having.
purified. Greek. hagnizo. See Act 21:24.
souls. App-110.
obeying = the obedience of.
through the Spirit. All the texts omit.
unfeigned. Greek. anupokritos. See Rom 12:9 (without dissimulation).
love, &c. Greek. Philadelphia. See Rom 12:10.
pure. The texts omit. Read “from the heart”.
fervently = intently. Greek. ektenos. Only here. See the adjective in 1Pe 4:8. Act 12:5, and the comparative in Luk 22:44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
22-25.] Third exhortation, to LOVE OF ONE ANOTHER, from the consideration of their new birth by the word of God.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Pe 1:22. , your souls) Without the copula, as 1Pe 1:14-15.-, ye who have purified) who have undergone purification of your souls. Hence follows presently , pure. The word denotes both chastity and all other purity. See Septuagint.-, in obedience) This is faith, to which love is accustomed to be joined: for Peter attributes purification to faith, Act 15:9.- , of the truth) revealed in Christ.- , by the Spirit) The Holy Spirit bestows that obedience and purity. Comp. ch. 1Pe 1:2.- -, unto love of the brethren-love ye) These are two steps: comp. 2Pe 1:7; from which the statements concerning the graces which go before [these two steps of love], here in the 22d verse, and there in 5th and 6th, may in like manner be compared.-, unfeigned) For it flows from the truth. Comp. ch. 1Pe 2:1-2.-, love ye) The sentiments agree, ch. 1Pe 2:3; 1Pe 2:10.-, earnestly) ch. 1Pe 4:8.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Pe 1:22-25
2. BROTHERLY LOVE ENJOINED
1Pe 1:22-25
22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren,–“Have purified,” is, literally, “having purified” from the perfect participle derived from hagnizo, to purify morally, to reform. The perfect tense places the action in the past, with existing results. Their souls had been, at some time in the past, purified; and they remained so. The manner in which such purification was accomplished was through obedience to the truth, and resulting from it was “unfeigned love of the brethren.” Obedience to the truth thus became the ground of their godliness, and love of the brethren an effect of it. It is important to note the extent to which human agency is here made responsible for the purification of the soul. These words are reminiscent of those in the famous speech of Acts 2, when Peter, near the conclusion of that sermon, said, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” (Act 2:40.) Their souls were purified by (a) hearing the truth, which is the word of God (Joh 17:17; Rom 10:17); (b) obeying it (Mat 7:21; 1Jn 2:4; 2Th 1:7-8); (c) the results were a pure heart; and (d) love of the brethren.
The love for the brethren which they thus experienced is described as “unfeigned” (literally, not hypocritical from a, not; and play hupocrites, actor, one who exhibits the character of another, and in consequence, a hypocrite). Unfeigned love is, therefore, sincere affection, without admixture of deceit or affectation. It is love which is not in word only, but also in deed, and in truth. (1Jn 3:18.) The words, “love of the brethren,” are translated from one word–philadelphia–a term well known as the name of cities both ancient and modern. (Rev 3:7.) It is compounded from philos, love; and adelphos, a brother. The term is thus vividly descriptive of affection obtaining between brethren.
Love one another with a pure heart fervently:–Since their obedience had led to “unfeigned love” of the brethren, why did the apostle immediately admonish them to “love one another from the heart fervently”? The explanation is to be sought in the different words used for love in these clauses. In the expression, “love of the brethren,” the word for love is philos, affection, fondness, human attachment or regard, friendship maintained because of the congeniality of the parties motivated by it whereas, the word love in the second clause–“love one another from the heart fervently” –is from the Greek agapao, love which finds its origin, and is based on the worthiness or preciousness of the person loved. The two words and their difference in meaning may be seen in the Lord’s query to Peter, “Simon, son, of John, lovest (agapao) thou me more than these?” and the apostle’s answer, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love (phileo) thee.” (Joh 21:15.) Humbled by his recent experiences, Peter was unwilling to admit the greater love for the Lord, being content to use the humbler and more common term.
“Fervently,” from ektenos, intensely, describes an emotion that is vivid and forceful, earnest and pointed. Ektenos originally had a musical significance, referring to the drawing out, or stretching, of a string. It thus signified to draw out; to stretch. Children of God are not to love one another indifferently, or loosely, as an unstrung instrument, but with the full tension of heartstrings drawn out fully. Such love does indeed for a symphony, the harmony of which rises to heaven, and falls pleasingly on the ears of our heavenly Father.
23 Having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth.–“Having been begotten” is from the same verb as “begat” in verse 3. Reference to “love of the brethren,” in verse 22, prompted Peter to recall for his readers the highest possible motive for such love, their common parenthood. Being children of the same Father, it was meet that they should indeed “be loving as brethren.” (1Pe 3:8.) Sonship and brotherhood are related terms; in becoming sons, we also become brothers, with all the duties and privileges belonging thereto. “Corruptible seed” is that by which the natural birth is produced “incorruptible,” the spiritual birth. The seed by which we are born into the world is the difference in the manner in which these births are accomplished. It is “of” (Greek, ek, out of) corruptible seed that we are born into the world of fleshly parents; but it is “through” (dia) the word of God that we are born spiritually. Ek (out of) indicates that the corruptible seed is the originating cause of the fleshly birth; dia, that the word of God is the instrumental cause of the spiritual birth. The seed by which we are born into the world is styled “corruptible” (subject to death) because mortality is a universal characteristic of that which pertains to the flesh. We are born into the world only to begin the journey which leads inevitably to the grave, and that which originates such life may therefore quite properly be styled corruptible. That by which we are born from above, however, is incorruptible, because the life which thus originates does not decay with the passing of the years. It is also incorruptible because the seed itself “liveth” (zontos, is possessed with life and vigor), and “abideth” (menonto, continues constant and unchanging). In Luk 8:11, the “seed” is declared to be the word of God; here, there appears to be a verbal distinction between the “word” and the “seed,” in that it is through the word of God that the seed begets, the word being the instrument of the begettal. The idea is parallel with that of Joh 3:6, “That which is born (literally begotten) of the Spirit is spirit,” the Holy Spirit there being made the germinal principle of life. This principle, however, finds expression only through the word, operating in no other fashion. Children of God become such by being begotten through the word, a word which is preached, believed, and obeyed. An example of the manner in which individuals are begotten and born again may be seen in the events of Pentecost when Peter, for the first time in the name of the risen Lord (Act 2:1-47), preached the conditions of salvation, and three thousand souls in obedience thereto were born of the Word. (Cf. Jas 1:18; 1Co 4:15.)
24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth, but the word of the Lord abideth for ever.–In proof of his assertion that the word of God is constant and unchanging, therefore abiding forever, Peter cites this statement from the prophet Isaiah. (Isa 40:6-8.) The quotation is from the Septuagint Version, slightly modified. In Jas 1:10-11, there is a reference to the same passage. All flesh, like grass (chortos, herbiage of the field, grass, hay flowers), which withers and ultimately fades and perishes, will eventually go the way of all the earth; and the glory of man, like the flower of the grass which shrivels and falls, shall perish and fail and be forgotten, and the pride and the beauty and accomplishments attendant thereon vanish. In contrast with all such, “The word of the Lord abideth for ever.”
25 And this is the word of good tidings which was preached unto you.–“Word” in verse 23 is logos, here it is rhema, a term more concrete, meaning an utterance, a thing said. The word which the apostles preached through the providence of Asia Minor Peter here declares to be the word (logos) which abides forever. It was the word of good tidings, because it brought to all who received it the knowledge of salvation through Christ. Here, again, emphasis is given to the fact that the means of their birth was the word preached unto them. Only where the word is preached it is possible for men to be born again.
Commentary on 1Pe 1:22-25 by N.T. Caton
1Pe 1:22-Seeing ye have purified your souls.
This purification here referred to is moral, and includes the pardon of their sins, and, further, the living of a pure, chaste and holy life.
1Pe 1:22 –In obeying the truth.
The apostle tells them how the leading of pure lives was by them accomplished. It was in obedience to the truth, obeying the commands of the gospel. It is through the Spirit, because the word of truth comes to the world of mankind through that instrumentality, and is inseparable from it. In fact, the entire gospel age is the ministration of the Spirit.
1Pe 1:22 –Unto unfeigned love of the brethren.
The purity of their lives had reached to that extent that their affection for the brethren was sincere, and not a mere pretense. This all being true, the exhortation of the apostle comes with irrestible force: “See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.” That is, in sincerity of heart; love them continually. This love enjoined is the same in kind we find in the church of Jeruselem, when our author was in prison. “But prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him” (Act 12:5). On this point Dr. McKnight’s description is worthy of commendation. He says: “Peter’s description of Christian love is excellent. It springs up in a heart purified by truth through the assistance of the Spirit. It is sincere in its operation. It is unmixed with carnal passions, and it is permanent.”
1Pe 1:23 –Being born again, not of corruptible seed.
This may, and does, no doubt, refer the parties addressed back to their conversion. This is compared to a birth. Such a result is produced from an adequate cause-life first, birth afterward. Life is implanted by seed. The apostle says the seed was not corruptible, but incorruptible, and immediately adds “by the word of God” The cause is adequate; life is produced. God’s word is living, and of course can impart life. God’s word is in the gospel, and the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. This, heard and understood, moves to a new life, and birth follows. By obedience, born again.
1Pe 1:23 -Liveth and abideth forever.
God’s word ever lives, for it is eternal, as God is eternal. Quotations from the sacred volume are wholly unnecessary. The thought is too plain.
1Pe 1:24-For all flesh is as grass.
To make the declaration that God’s word is living and eternal to stand out with more boldness, the apostle presents by the way of contrast, a quotation from the prophet Isa 40:6-8. Everything pertaining to man is weak like the grass, and his highest earthly glory like the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls. So man in his best estate, with all his earthly achievements, quickly decays. He is soon gone. James uses to some extent the same illustration. (Jas 1:11.)
1Pe 1:25-But the word of the Lord endureth forever.
The contrast brought forward in the former verse is now plainly seen. While man is like the grass, and his decay is certain, it is far different with the word of the Lord. That Word endures, abides, remains forever.
1Pe 1:25 –And this is the word by which the gospel is preached.
They had heard this gospel. It was preached to them by Paul and his assistants, and it may also be gathered that Peter desired them to understand that it is the same Word proclaimed by all the apostles of the Lord, himself included.
Commentary on 1Pe 1:22-25 by Burton Coffman
1Pe 1:22 –Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently:
Hart paraphrased the meaning of the first clause here thus, “They must realize that they have cleansed themselves ideally at baptism”;[55] and that this is surely the meaning of it appears to be certain when the passage is compared with Act 2:40. On Pentecost Peter admonished those whom he was exhorting to be baptized to “save yourselves from this crooked generation.” Here it is evident exactly what Peter meant by one’s saving himself or purifying himself, the same being references to one’s obeying the gospel of Christ. Of course, Peter did not mean by this that a man is his own saviour, or that he is in any sense the causative force of his purification; therefore, we should ask, “In what way is a person able to save himself or purify his soul?” Both here and in Act 2:38 ff, it is clear enough that he does so by obeying the gospel, and that is something that the man himself must do. He must fulfill the conditions that are prior to his being saved; and, through the fulfillment of such antecedent conditions, the Christian, in the sense of his having done that, saves himself. It was altogether proper for an apostle of Jesus Christ thus to speak with reference to people’s saving themselves, because there are certain things one must do to be saved; and the people who do them are indeed saved, and those who neglect or refuse to do them cannot be saved at all, at least as far as any promise of the Christian gospel is concerned. Wesley’s notion that “The Spirit bestows upon you freely both obedience and purification,”[56] has no foundation in the New Testament. While true enough that the Spirit of God aids Christians in their obedience after their conversion, there is a prior, antecedent obedience that must precede the Spirit’s entry into Christian hearts; that obedience must be provided by the one who would be saved; and it is of this that Peter speaks here.
Seeing ye have purified … “This is the perfect tense, pointing to a past act of obedience which has enduring results.”[57] It is therefore a clear reference to the conversion which comes at the beginning of the Christian life, and not to subsequent spiritual endowments of the Christian.
In your obedience to the truth … means simply, “by your obeying the gospel.” As Dummelow put it, “The truth is the substance of the gospel.”[58]
Unto unfeigned love of the brethren … One is not merely saved, but saved for some holy purpose; and, in this passage, the love of the brethren is identified as that holy purpose.
Love one another from the heart fervently … See in the introduction for Peter’s fidelity in conforming his teaching to that of the Master. This shows that Peter had not forgotten the Saviour’s commandments to this very end. Of particular interest is the word “Fervently,” which may also be translated “earnestly.” Wheaton cited four usages of this word in the New Testament, here, in 1Pe 4:8, and in Luk 22:44, and in Act 12:5, the latter reference being to the prayer offered on behalf of Peter himself. “It denotes with supreme effort, `with every muscle strained.'”[59]
[55] J. H. A. Hart, op. cit., p. 52.
[56] John Wesley, as quoted by Roy S. Nicholson, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 10 Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 276.
[57] G. J. Polkinghorne, op. cit., p. 588.
[58] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 1042.
[59] David H. Wheaton, op. cit., p. 1240.
1Pe 1:23 –having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth.
Having been begotten again … This is awkward, and the renditions of the RSV and the New English Bible (1961) are superior, “Ye were born again.” This is positive proof that Peter was speaking of the new birth in the preceding verse.
Not of corruptible seed, …. “Peter in this stressed that “It is the word of God through which God brings forth new creatures?[60] The apostle James taught the same thing (Jas 1:18), as did also the evangelist Luke (Luk 8:11); “The seed is the word of God.” In the present era, a great deal more needs to be made of the seed. The notion that the seed is weak and helpless and must have the direct operation of some external force (such as the Holy Spirit) in order to make it alive, effective, powerful or otherwise able to reproduce in the divine manner intended – all such thoughts are vain. The seed is able of itself to reproduce (Mar 4:26-29). The seed itself is living and active (Heb 4:12). It is the seed itself which produces the new birth and the consequent indwelling of the Spirit. It is the word of God that abideth forever.
ENDNOTE:
[60] Raymond C. Kelcy, op. cit., p. 40.
1Pe 1:24 –For, All flesh is as grass, And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth: But the word of the Lord abideth forever. And this was the word of good tidings which was preached unto you.
The Scripture quotation here is from Isa 4:6-6; but the passage seems to have been quoted with more in mind than the mere corroboration of the grand truth that the word of God abides forever, although that is indeed marvelous enough. The passage in Isaiah stands in the forefront of magnificent proclamations of the Messianic kingdom, especially as that pertained to “all flesh” and not merely to Jews only. “Peter was here calling attention to the absolute equality of Jew and Gentile.”[61] By his absolute identification of the holy gospel proclaimed by the apostles as that “word of God” which abides forever, it would appear that this is certainly true.
Zerr’s interesting comment on this verse is:
The new birth does not consist of some mysterious operation of God upon sinful men; it is a simple matter of believing and obeying the gospel
The reader is not left in any uncertainty as to what is meant by the spiritual seed of reproduction … it is the gospel.[62]
Barnes’ eloquent tribute to the power and beauty of the gospel is:
It is unremoved, fixed, permanent. Amidst all the revolutions on earth, the fading glories of natural objects, and the wasting strength of man, God’s truth remains unaffected. Its beauty never fades; its power is never enfeebled. The gospel system is as lovely now as when it was first revealed to man, and it has as much power to save as it had when first applied to the human heart.[63]
People may busy themselves with studies of theology and a multitude of religious matters, but the means of saving the world from sin is the same as it always has been, namely, that of preaching the gospel to all people. It is not the deductions that people make from the sacred text, but the word itself that saves. The church’s chief mission on earth is the proclamation of the word Peter mentioned here; failing in that, a church becomes not merely useless but abhorrent. What can give people the new birth and save their souls? The answer lies in the last verse of this chapter: It is, “The word of good tidings which was preached unto you.”
[61] A. J. Mason, op. cit., p. 399.
[62] E. M. Zerr, op. cit., p. 255.
[63] Albert Barnes, op. cit., p. 132
“THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER”
Chapter One
OBJECTIVES IN STUDYING THIS CHAPTER
1) To consider terms used by Peter to describe the people of God: “Pilgrims of the Dispersion”, “elect”, “obedient children”
2) To reflect upon the salvation, inheritance, and grace to come at the revelation of Jesus Christ
3) To note how we have been served by prophets, apostles, angels, the Holy Spirit, and Christ
4) To be reminded of the need to live holy lives, conducted with reverence toward God and with fervent and sincere love toward brethren
SUMMARY
Peter begins his first epistle to Christians in Asia Minor by acknowledging their election according to God’s foreknowledge, made possible by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, and for obedience and sprinkling by the blood of Jesus (1Pe 1:1-2).
He then praises God for their living hope, incorruptible inheritance,
and glorious salvation to be revealed at the coming of Christ. Despite grievous trials, the power of God and their genuine faith protects them and gives them inexpressible joy. Their salvation to come was foretold by the prophets, and preached in the gospel by those inspired by the Holy Spirit (1Pe 1:3-12).
In view of this salvation, Peter prescribes conduct becoming the people of God. They are to focus their mind and hope on the grace that will brought to them at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, they should conduct themselves in holiness and fear, imitating their holy Father who judges without partiality, ever mindful they have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ through whom their faith and hope are in God. They are to love one another fervently with pure hearts, since they have purified their souls for that very purpose through their obedience to the truth, and have been born again by the incorruptible Word of God which lives and abides forever (1Pe 1:13-25).
OUTLINE
I. INTRODUCTION (1Pe 1:1-2)
A. THE AUTHOR (1Pe 1:1 a)
1. Peter
2. An apostle of Jesus Christ
B. THE RECIPIENTS (1Pe 1:1-2)
1. Pilgrims of the Dispersion
2. In Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia
3. Elect (chosen)…
a. According to the foreknowledge of God the Father
b. In sanctification of the Spirit
c. For obedience and sprinkling of blood of Jesus Christ
C. GREETINGS (1Pe 1:2 c)
1. Grace and peace
2. Be multiplied
II. OUR SALVATION IN CHRIST (1Pe 1:3-12)
A. BORN AGAIN TO A LIVING HOPE (1Pe 1:3-5)
1. Because of God’s abundant mercy
2. Because Jesus has been raised from the dead
3. Because of our wonderful inheritance
a. Incorruptible, undefiled, and that does not fade away
b. Reserved in heaven
4. Because of being safely kept
a. By the power of God through faith
b. For salvation ready to be revealed in the last time
B. PRODUCING JOY IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING (1Pe 1:6-9)
1. Great joy, though for a little while grieved by various trials
2. The genuineness of faith tested by fire
a. Proving more precious than gold that perishes
b. May be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation
of Jesus Christ
3. Rejoicing with joy inexpressible and full of glory
a. For loving Him whom you have not seen
b. For believing Him whom you have not seen
4. Receiving the end of such faith – the salvation of your souls
C. SERVED BY PROPHETS AND APOSTLES (1Pe 1:10-12)
1. Regarding our salvation the prophets inquired and searched
diligently
a. Wondering what and when the Spirit of Christ in them was
indicating
b. When He testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and
the glories to follow
2. They were ministering such things not to themselves, but to us
a. Things now reported by those who preached the gospel by the
Holy Spirit
b. Things which angels desire to look into
III. OUR DUTY IN CHRIST (1Pe 1:13-25)
A. HOLY CONDUCT (1Pe 1:13-21)
1. Gird up the loins of your mind
a. Be sober
b. Rest your hope fully upon the grace to be brought at the
revelation of Jesus Christ
2. Be holy in all your conduct
a. As obedient children
b. Not conforming to former lusts done in ignorance
c. As He who called you is holy, just as it is written
3. Conduct yourselves during your stay in fear
a. Since you call on the Father who judges each one without
partiality
b. Knowing that you redeemed
1) Not with corruptible things like silver and gold
2) From your aimless conduct received by tradition from your
fathers
3) With the precious blood of Christ
a) As of a lamb without blemish and without spot
b) Foreordained before the foundation of the world
c) Manifest in these last times for you
d) Through whom you believe in God
1] Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory
2] So that your faith and hope are in God
B. FERVENT AND PURE LOVE (1Pe 1:22-25)
1. Since you have purified your souls
a. In obeying the truth through the Spirit
b. In sincere love of the brethren
2. Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but
incorruptible
a. Through the word of God which lives and abide forever
1) All flesh is as grass, all the glory of man as the flower
of the grass
2) The grass withers, its flower falls away
3) The word of the Lord endures forever
b. The word which by the gospel was preached to you
REVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE CHAPTER
1) What are the main points of this chapter?
– Introduction (1Pe 1:1-2)
– Our salvation in Christ (1Pe 1:3-12)
– Our duty in Christ (1Pe 1:13-25)
2) To whom does Peter address this epistle? Where were they located? (1Pe 1:1)
– To the pilgrims of the Dispersion; Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, Bithynia
3) What three things are said concerning their election? (1Pe 1:2)
– According to the foreknowledge of God
– In sanctification of the Spirit
– For obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ
4) What has God done for us according to His abundant mercy? How was
this done? (1Pe 1:3)
– Begotten us against to a living hope
– Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
5) What kind of inheritance does the Christian have? Where is it now?
(1Pe 1:4)
– Incorruptible, undefiled, and that does not fade away; reserved in
heaven
6) How are Christians kept (guarded) for their salvation? (1Pe 1:5)
– By the power of God
– Through faith
7) In what do Christians greatly rejoice? (1Pe 1:5-6)
– Their salvation ready to be revealed in the last time
8) What benefits can come out of enduring grievous trials? (1Pe 1:6-7)
– The testing of genuine faith
– Praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ
9) Though they had not seen Jesus, what is said about Peter’s readers?
(1Pe 1:8)
– They loved Jesus
– They believed Jesus
– They rejoiced with joy inexpressible and full of glory
10) What would they receive as the end of their faith? (1Pe 1:9)
– The salvation of their souls
11) What did the prophets of old testify about? (1Pe 1:10-11)
– Of the salvation and grace that would come
– Of the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow
12) When these prophets wondered about they were prophesying, what were
they told? (1Pe 1:12)
– They were not serving themselves, but us (Christians)
– They were ministering things that have now been reported by those
who preached the gospel
13) Upon what are Christians to rest their hope? (1Pe 1:13)
– The grace to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ
14) As obedient children, what three admonitions are given to
Christians? ( 1Pe 1:14-17)
– Do not conform to the former lusts
– Be holy in all your conduct
– Conduct yourselves during your sojourn in fear
15) What three reasons are given to obey these admonitions (1Pe 1:14-19)
– God is holy
– The Father judges each one’s work without partiality
– We were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ
16) What four things are said about Christ? (1Pe 1:20-21)
– He was foreordained before the foundation of the world
– He was manifest in these last times for us
– He was raised from the dead and given glory
– Through Him we believe and have hope in God
17) What did God do to Jesus so that our faith and hope are in God? (1Pe 1:21)
– Raised Him from the dead (resurrection) and gave Him glory
(ascension)
18) What two reasons are given for us to love one another fervently with
a pure heart? (1Pe 1:22-23)
– We have purified our souls in obeying the truth
– We have been born again of the Word of God
19) What is said of the Word of God? (1Pe 1:23-25)
– Incorruptible seed
– Lives and abides forever
– Endures forever
– By the gospel was preached to them
20) What is said about flesh and the glory of man? (1Pe 1:24)
– Flesh is as grass which withers; the glory of man as the flower
which falls away
THE LIVING HOPE IN CHRIST 1Pe 1:1-25
1. How does the writer of this letter describe himself? Ans. 1Pe 1:1.
2. To whom is the letter addressed? Ans. 1Pe 1:1.
3. Their election and salvation was according to what? Ans. 1Pe 1:2.
4. How had they been blessed by the abundant mercy of God? Ans. 1Pe 1:3.
5. Describe their inheritance. Ans. 1Pe 1:4.
6. By what, through what, and unto what were they guarded and kept? Ans. 1Pe 1:5.
7. How would their joy be affected by manifold trials? Axis. 1Pe 1:6.
8. Their faith was more precious than what? Ans. 1Pe 1:7.
9. How could the trial of their faith result in their good? Ans. 1Pe 1:7.
10. Their unspeakable joy was caused by their love for whom? Ans. 1Pe 1:8.
11. What would they receive as the end and object of their faith? Ans. 1Pe 1:9.
12. Concerning what did the prophets speak and search? Ans. 1Pe 1:10-11.
13. What did the angels desire to look into? Ans. 1Pe 1:12.
14. How should God’s elect prepare themselves for the promised grace? Ans. 1Pe 1:13.
15. When will this grace be brought to the Lord’s people? Ans. 1Pe 1:13.
16. Name four characteristics which should distinguish the children of God from the children of this world. Ans. 1Pe 1:14-16.
17. How does God judge every man? Ans. 1Pe 1:17.
18. How should the sojourner pass the time? Ans. 1Pe 1:17.
19. From what and by what have God’s people been redeemed? Ans. 1Pe 1:18-19.
20. When and for whose sake was God’s eternal purpose in Christ manifested? Ans. 1Pe 1:20.
21. What did God do for the Christ to establish our faith and hope in him? Ans. 1Pe 1:21.
22. How is the soul purified? Ans. 1Pe 1:22.
23. What is the incorruptible seed which produces a new birth and a new creature? Ans. 1Pe 1:23.
24. All flesh is compared to what? Ans. 1Pe 1:24.
25. How long will the word of the gospel live and abide? Ans. 1Pe 1:25.
Questions by E.M. Zerr On 1 Peter 1
1. State the official positions of Peter.
2. Why does he say “strangers”?
3. In what country are the provinces named?
4. Give another name for elect.
5. According to whose foreknowledge’
6. How does this admit of our responsibility?
7. In what manner does the Spirit sanctify?
8. Unto obedience to what law is meant here?
9. How is the blood of Christ sprinkled?
10. What quantity of the grace and peace of God given?
11. What is the relation of God to Christ?
12. He hath begotten whom again?
13. Unto what kind of hope?
14. What was their former hope?
15. By what event was that hope killed?
16. By what event was the new one brought forth?
17. To what kind of inheritance is the new one?
18. Where is it reserved?
19. For whom is it reserved?
20. What power of God is used for its keeping?
21. Through what on their part?
22. When is it to be revealed?
23. Why are these brethren now in heaviness?
24. How should it affect their hope?
25. How precious is this tried faith?
26. In what condition will it be found?
27. At what time will this appear?
28. Why love Christ though not seeing him?
29. In what degree do they rejoice?
30. State the end or object of their faith.
31. Who had written concerning this salvation?
32. What spirit of inquiry did they have?
33. Of what did the Spirit in them testify?
34. How much of the subjects was revealed to them?
35. Who is antecedent of “them,” verse 12?
36. With what power did they preach?
37. When was this H. G. sent down from heaven?
38. Who else desired to see into these things?
39. Why was it kept from all these? Eph 3:10.
40. Repeat exhortation based on above.
41. To what event should hope extend?
42. Conduct themselves as what kind of children?
43. What was their condition of mind formerly?
44. According to what example should they walk?
45. What scripture is here cited?
46. How does the Father regard persons?
47. In what manner will he judge?
48. How pass the time of our sojourn?
49. Does “sojourn” agree with “strangers,” verse I?
50. How were they not redeemed?
51. From what had they been redeemed?
52. By what had they been redeemed?
53. From when was he foreordained for this use?
54. Manifest in what times?
55. What class of persons is benefited by it?
56. How had they purified their souls?
57. How was the truth given to the world?
58. What mutual service should this cause?
59. Of what source were they born again?
60. Why is this not like grass and human glory ?
61. By what means is the Word preached to us?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
II. THE BLESSINGS AND PRIVILEGES OF ALL BELIEVERS
CHAPTER 1:22-2:10
1. The new birth (1Pe 1:22-25)
2. Spiritual growth (1Pe 2:1-3)
3. The privileges of believers as the holy and royal priesthood (1Pe 2:4-10)
1Pe 1:22-25
The relationship of those who are thus redeemed, whose faith and hope is in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, whose souls are purified by obedience to the truth, unto unfeigned love of the brethren, is stated first: Love one another with a pure heart fervently. All the elect through the foreknowledge of God the Father are covered by the same love, are redeemed by the same Lamb, washed in the same precious blood, have the same Father. They are one; they are brethren and as such love must characterize them. But this love, loving one another out of a pure heart fervently, is the fruit of the new nature which all possess who have believed and are redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. The Word of God, living and abiding, under the operation of the Spirit (the Word is the water of which our Lord spoke to Nicodemus) is the agent of the new birth. It is not corruptible seed, but incorruptible, hence the nature is an incorruptible, a holy nature. There are three incorruptible things mentioned in this chapter. An incorruptible inheritance, an incorruptible redemption price, and an incorruptible seed giving an incorruptible nature. And that new nature must love that which is of God, therefore the exhortation of loving one another, which is more fully developed in the great family Epistle, the first Epistle of John.
But the new birth carries with it another blessing. For all flesh is as grass and all the glory of it as the flower of the grass. The grass hath withered and the flower fallen, but the Word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
The old creation is left behind, the world with all its glory and boastings, is judged. All is as grass and the glory of man as the flower of the grass. Those born again do no longer belong to this world, as He prayed: They are not of the world, as I am not of the world. The words concerning the grass and the flower of the grass are a quotation from Isaiah (Isa 40:6; Isa 40:8). But the quotation is changed a little. In Isaiah we read: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, and here it is, The grass hath withered and the flower fallen, that is how faith must look upon the world and all its glory, as withered and fallen, with no more attraction for the heart which knows God. But those who are born again are linked with that which abideth for ever, the Word of the Lord, preached in that ever blessed Gospel.
1Pe 2:1-3
Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envyings and all evil-speakings as new born babes desire earnestly the pure milk of the Word that ye may grow by it unto salvation, if ye have tasted that the Lord is good.
Those who are born again of incorruptible seed, in possession of a new nature, are still in the world, though they are no longer of it. Evil is on all sides and there is still the old nature, the flesh, in every child of God though believers are reckoned as being no longer in the flesh (Rom 8:9). The old things of the flesh must be put off, completely laid aside. This is the necessary thing for spiritual growth; if there is no putting off of these there can be no progress. Peter speaks of believers as new-born babes.
The sense in which this expression is used here differs from the use of it in 1Co 3:1 : And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. The spiritual growth of the Corinthians had been arrested and dwarfed; they never developed, but remained babes, a spiritual monstrosity. But the meaning here is entirely different. Believers should be at all times like new-born babes hungering for that which the Lord has provided for spiritual growth, the milk in all its purity as found in His Word. The mother by which we are begotten again, that is the living and abiding Word of God, has also the nourishment for the life we have received. In this sense the child of God must always be like a healthy babe, always craving, hungering and thirsting for the pure milk as provided in His Word. All that we need, yea, every need is provided there, and as we go to that fountain which never runs dry, which never fails nor disappoints, we shall grow thereby.
One of the most subtle delusions is found among some Pentecostal sects, who imagine that they are so filled with the Spirit that they can dispense with the reading of and feeding on the Word. In the Authorized Version two words are missing which belong in the text; they are the words unto salvation… that ye may grow thereby unto salvation. They were omitted in some manuscripts, but belong here. Salvation here has the same meaning as in the first chapter, it looks forward to the end in glory.
And if we have felt that the Lord is gracious, have tasted of His loving kindness, we shall desire more and more of it, crave for still more. Peter surely had tasted that the Lord is gracious. We think of his denial, and when the Lord turned and looked upon him, Peter went out and wept bitterly. He had tasted that the Lord is gracious, and more so, when the Lord dealt so graciously with him at the meal His blessed hands had prepared for His disciples on the lakeshore (Joh 21:1-25), and His loving voice asked: Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these? The sentence, If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, is a quotation from the Psalms (Psa 34:8). David, like Peter, had shamefully failed and like Peter he had tasted that the Lord is gracious. All His saints have had the same experience of the graciousness of the Lord.
1Pe 2:4-10
The testimony of Peter which follows is of great importance. The fisherman of Galilee knew nothing of what would happen centuries later. He did not know that ritualism would exalt him to a position of supremacy, claiming that he was and is the rock upon which the Church is built, that he was a bishop who communicated in Rome his apostolic authority to another, as it is claimed to one by name of Linus, and Linus handed over the same authority to Cletus and Cletus to Clemens, Clemens to Anacletus, Anacletus to Sixtus and so on from one generation to the other, each adding a little more till the harlot system of the mystical Babylon, the papacy became what it is today. But while Peter did not know the future, the Holy Spirit knew and He inspired his pen to write that which is the complete refutation of popery and a man-made priesthood.
Not Peter is the living stone upon which everything rests, but the Lord Jesus Christ is the rock foundation, the Stone upon whom all is built. Not Peter was rejected by men, then chosen of God and precious, but it is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures had announced this fact beforehand. Isa 28:16 is quoted in Verse 6. This is followed by a quotation from Psa 118:22 and Isa 8:14. The Lord Jesus while on earth had made use of these prophecies given by His Spirit (Mat 21:42). The Holy Spirit after Pentecost reminded the rulers, elders and scribes of the people once more of this great prophecy concerning the rejection of the Messiah by the nation (Act 4:9-12). And when the Lord Jesus quoted this prophecy from Psa 118:1-29 He added, what is cited here in 1Pe 2:8, whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, that is what happened to the nation Israel.
The second half of this statement of our Lord in Mat 21:44 is still unaccomplished-but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. This will happen at the close of the times of the Gentiles, when the stone strikes the feet of the prophetic image (Dan 2:1-49). Israel had rejected the Stone and therefore was unfit as a nation to build the spiritual house, as the Lord had likewise announced: the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruit thereof. They had as a nation a house called The House of the Lord, where He delighted to dwell, but it was not a spiritual house, but a house made with hands, a shadow of the better things to come.
When Israel rejected the Messiah and the kingdom He had offered, when they had delivered Him up and He died, after His resurrection from among the dead and His exaltation to the right hand of God, the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, came to earth for the purpose of building amongst men the habitation of God, a spiritual house, and that house is the church. Thus Peter bears witness to Christ as the Living Stone, the rock upon which the Church the spiritual house is being built. He with all other believers, including ourselves, are the living stones. As mentioned in the introduction, Christ is the Petra, the Rock, Peter and every other child of God is a petros, a little rock, a living stone with Himself (Mat 16:17-18). And His Son whom man dishonored and rejected is precious to God; He is His delight; He is precious to those who have believed; He is our delight. While God says that His delight is in Him, we too confess that all our delight is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, all believers constitute a holy priesthood. Peter does not claim an exclusive priesthood vested in him, but his inspired testimony is that all members of the body of Christ, the living stones, are a priesthood. In the Old Testament the priesthood of Christ was foreshadowed in Aaron and the priesthood of believers by the sons of Aaron. (See annotations in Leviticus.) No longer are needed sacrifices of animals, for He has brought the one sacrifice, by which he has made the new and living way by His blood into the Holiest, so that every believer can draw nigh with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and bodies washed with pure water (Heb 10:19-22). This completely disposes of the ritualistic priesthood, vested in ordained men, that system which has been and still is and always will be, the corruption of Christianity. It also answers the blasphemous mass, which is an act of idolatry.
The function of the holy priesthood of believers consists in bringing spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His Name (Heb 13:15). It is worship in the spirit and truth; it is praise and adoration as well as the ministry of intercession.
Once more Peter mentions the fact of the Christian priesthood. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the excellencies of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light; which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy (Hos 2:23). Israel was chosen, Israel was called to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, they were called to show forth His praises. They never attained it, because they were not a holy nation, though constituted a separated nation by Gods calling. But these believing Jews through grace in Christ had become a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. As a remnant of the nation they possessed now what the nation never possessed. Of course that remnant was embodied in the church, and is a part of the body of Christ. Yet the application to them as a remnant must not be lost sight of.
Nor must we forget that there will be a future remnant of the nation, the nation which is now dispersed, which will become a holy nation, a royal priesthood in connection with the other nations. The promises, the gifts and callings of God, will all be accomplished, and those who had not obtained mercy will yet obtain mercy; that will be when He whom they pierced comes again and when they shall look upon Him in that day. Apart from this application to them as believing Jews, to whom the Epistle was addressed, all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, have a royal priesthood. Christ is a holy Priest and a royal Priest; both aspects of His priesthood believers share in Him. We are holy priests to go in to God to represent man before God; we are royal priests to represent God before man, to show forth His excellencies. The royal priesthood of Christ, is the priesthood after the order of Melchisedec. He was the King-Priest who came to Abraham and made known God and His glory to Abraham. Thus in Christ we behold the glory of God and as identified with Christ, indwelt by Him, our royal priesthood is to make Him and His excellencies known among men.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
ye have: Joh 15:3, Joh 17:17, Joh 17:19, Act 15:9, Rom 6:16, Rom 6:17, 2Th 2:13, Jam 4:8
in: 1Pe 3:1, 1Pe 4:17, Act 6:7, Rom 1:5, Rom 2:8, Gal 3:1, Gal 5:7, Heb 5:9, Heb 11:8
through: Rom 8:13, Gal 5:5, 2Ti 1:14, Heb 9:14
unto: 1Pe 2:17, 1Pe 3:8, 1Pe 4:8, Joh 13:34, Joh 13:35, Joh 15:17, Rom 12:9, Rom 12:10, 2Co 6:6, Eph 4:3, 1Th 4:8, 1Th 4:9, 1Ti 1:5, Heb 6:10, Heb 13:1, Jam 2:15, Jam 2:16, 2Pe 1:7, 1Jo 3:11, 1Jo 3:14-19, 1Jo 3:23, 1Jo 4:7, 1Jo 4:12, 1Jo 4:20, 1Jo 4:21, 1Jo 5:1, 1Jo 5:2
see: Phi 1:9, 1Th 3:12, 2Th 1:3, Rev 2:4
a pure: 1Ti 1:3, 1Ti 4:12, 1Ti 5:2
Reciprocal: Gen 13:8 – brethren Num 11:17 – I will take Psa 51:10 – clean Pro 16:6 – mercy Pro 21:8 – but Eze 18:31 – make Eze 36:27 – I will Dan 12:10 – shall be Zep 2:3 – seek righteousness Mat 5:8 – are Mat 25:40 – Inasmuch Luk 17:5 – Increase Joh 3:7 – Ye Joh 3:21 – that his Joh 4:14 – shall be Joh 15:12 – General Joh 18:37 – Every Act 9:17 – Brother Rom 10:16 – obeyed Rom 12:11 – fervent Rom 16:1 – our Rom 16:14 – and 1Co 6:11 – but ye are sanctified 2Co 7:1 – let 2Co 8:7 – see 2Co 8:8 – prove 2Co 10:5 – the obedience Gal 3:14 – might Gal 5:16 – Walk Gal 5:22 – love Eph 1:15 – love Eph 4:15 – speaking the truth Eph 4:16 – edifying Eph 5:15 – See Eph 5:26 – by Phi 2:1 – if any fellowship Phi 4:8 – are true Col 1:8 – General Col 3:23 – whatsoever 1Th 5:15 – See 2Ti 1:5 – unfeigned 2Ti 1:7 – of love 2Ti 2:21 – purge Tit 2:14 – purify Phm 1:16 – a brother Heb 9:13 – the purifying Heb 12:25 – See Jam 3:17 – hypocrisy 1Pe 1:2 – unto 2Pe 3:1 – pure 1Jo 3:18 – let 2Jo 1:1 – whom 2Jo 1:5 – that we Rev 3:15 – that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Pe 1:22. The writer of this epistle is the speaker in Act 15:9 where he declares that the heart is purified by faith. The thought of that passage is equivalent to the one in our verse, the heart and soul being virtually the same, likewise faith being according to the truth. Through the Spirit is stated because the truth which they had obeyed was given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Unto means in order to love the brethren, meaning that was one of the objects to be attained by this purification. Having gone that far, the apostle means for them to carry out that purpose by loving each other with a pure heart. That denotes a heart that is not mixed up with unrighteous sentiments. Fervently means earnestly and denotes a love for the brethren that is warm and sympathetic.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Pe 1:22. Having purified your souls. The verb translated purified is one which occurs only seven times in the New Testament. It is of frequent occurrence, however, in the Old, being the technical term used by the Greek Version for the ceremonial purification of the priests in preparation for Divine service, and applied also to the ceremonial sanctification of the people (Jos 3:5, etc.), to the separation from wine and strong drink which the Nazarite vow involved (Num 6:2-6), etc. In four out of the seven New Testament occurrences (Joh 11:55; Act 21:24; Act 21:26; Act 24:18), it has the religious or ceremonial sense which it invariably has in the Old Testament. In the present passage, as well as in Jas 4:8, and 1Jn 3:3, it has the ethical sense (expressed also by another verb, e.g. in Act 15:9), although the original idea of a religious consecration or separation also adheres to it. What it implies, therefore, is a moral purification from everything inconsistent with a religious destination. And the subject of this is your souls, the word soul having here the sense of the region of the feelings, affections, and impulses, of all that peculiarly individualizes and personifies (Ellicott). The purification is to go, therefore, to the very centre of the personal life, and to purge out there the selfishness that is inconsistent with their Divine destination. And this is represented as the moral condition on which the fulfilling of the precept necessarily depends. This seems to be the point of the participle which, being in the perfect, exhibits the purification neither under the aspect of a process which must be continually sustained (so Calvin, the Vulgate, etc., deal with it as if it were a present), nor under that of a thing made good once for all at the crisis of conversion and now taken as the ground for the exhortation (so Bengel, Wiesinger, the seeing that of the E. V., etc., as if the tense had been the simple narrative past). It is intimately connected with the following imperative. Yet neither so as to become itself an imperative co-ordinate with that (Luther, etc.), nor as denoting what must always be attended to whenever effect is to be given to the charge (Schott, Huther, etc.), but either as pointing to the fact that faith even in its first actings had purified, and in its continuous exercise was still purifying their souls (Lillie), or as simply indicating a mental preparation which they are instructed to attend to as the sine qu non to their observance of the charge. This last brings out best the marked difference between the tense of the participle and the tense of the imperative, and gives the pertinent idea, that in order to exhibit the acts of love of the kind here enjoined on all the particular occasions which may arise for them, they must first see to have the disposition of lovethe disposition of souls cleansed of selfishness.in the obedience of the truth. The same term (a peculiarly New Testament term, unknown to classical Greek, and occurring only once in the Greek Version of the Old Testament) for obedience is used here as in 1Pe 1:2; 1Pe 1:14, and is not to be identified with faith, but taken in the sense of obedience to Gods will, and specially to that will as revealed in Christ. Truth, too, has here the objective sense of the contents of the Christian revelation, or the Christian salvation itself; so far as being an unique and eternal reality, it has become manifest, and is set forth as the object of knowledge or faith (Cremer). Subjection, therefore, to the permanent realities of grace, or to the saving will of God as revealed in Christ, is here the sphere or element in which alone this purified disposition at the very centre of the personal life can be attained. The best authorities are at one in regarding the clause, through the Spirit, which the E. V. inserts, as no part of the original text.
unto brotherly love unfeigned. The unto may express either the end or object which the purification aims at, or the result it actually reaches. The latter is more appropriate here, the idea being that if they have been so purified, they cannot fail to have the disposition here in view. The purification implies, the creation of a disposition which is alien to all love that is unreal or selfish. The term for brotherly love is of less frequent occurrence in the New Testament than might be expected, being confined to the writings of Peter (here and in 2Pe 1:7) and Paul (Rom 12:10; 1Th 4:9), and the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 13:1). Under various forms of expression, however, a large place is given by the New Testament writers, on the basis of Christs own teaching (Joh 13:31), to the peculiar love which Christians are to cherish to each other. While Peter and Paul, however, exhibit it in its more general aspects, as an active grace taking shape in deeds of self-sacrifice, and as in some respects secondary to the wider grace of charity, it is John who specially unfolds it in the grandeur and newness which the new motive drawn from Christs love, and the new standard presented in Christs example, give to brotherly love. It is here described as unfeigned, not hypocritical or wearing a mask, as the term implies. For, as Leighton puts it, men are subject to much hypocrisy this way, and deceive themselves; if they find themselves diligent in religious exercises, they scarce once ask their hearts how they stand affected this way, namely, in love to their brethren.
from the heart love one another intensely. That is, see that ye have the purified personality which comes by receiving what God has revealed in Jesus Christ; and having the disposition of unfeigned brotherly love which that purification creates, let it display itself heartily, and without hesitation or hindrance, in acts of love to your fellow-believers. The phrase from the heart (the adjective pure, inserted by the E. V., is better omitted, the sentence being on the whole adverse to its genuineness) is to be attached not to the previous clause, but to the love one another, and expresses one quality of the affection, its spontaneousness (Rom 6:17) and sincerity; let the clearness of the stream that brightens and gladdens the scenes of your daily intercourse attest the purity of the fountain whence it flows (Lillie). The adverb fervently (an adverb of degree, not of time, meaning, therefore, more than merely continuously) adds the note that it is to be with strained energies, as Huther, etc. put it; or unfalteringly, as Humphrey suggests. Here, therefore, as elsewhere, Peter speaks of the degree of grace (cf. 2Pe 3:18). But while he limits himself here to the measure which brotherly love should itself attain, the Second Epistle (1Pe 1:7) represents brotherly love as rather a step in a gradation of which charity is the height. So Paul (1Th 3:12) urges an increase and abounding in love, not merely in the form of brotherly love, but as if the one, so far from arresting, promoted the other, in the larger form of a love embracing all men.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Division 2. (1Pe 1:22-25; 1Pe 2:1-10.)
New Testament relationships, in place of the Old Testament ones forfeited and broken off.
We are still led on by the apostle to contemplate these New Testament relationships which are ours in still fuller contrast with those Old Testament ones now broken off. Between the new covenant and the old, all, as we know, is contrast; and the apostle now goes on to dwell upon that rejection of Christ as the Living Stone, the Foundation of all that abiding nearness to men which a house amongst men implies -a rejection which necessarily set aside the Jewish builders as entirely incompetent. But Israel had failed long before this, and even from the beginning, as their priesthood in one family only constantly bore witness. Instead of being nationally brought near to God, as He would have it and as His very speech with them at mount Sinai bore witness, they had chosen a place of distance from Him, and had to be left, as a consequence, in that place which they had chosen. God has now come in to fulfil all these things in a better and more perfect way.
1. The apostle first of all speaks here of the company into which faith introduces the soul. The only purification of it is “by obedience to the truth,” a truth which disperses the shadows and sets aside all the perversions of the adversary and deceiver. Thus they had come into connection with those who had been begotten by the same truth, “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,” by the living and abiding word of God. Here, indeed, was a brotherhood which had never had in Israel -could not as yet have -its proper recognition. The children of God were by the legal system scattered abroad.” Even in Israel they were so; while, of course, outside of Israel there were still souls that sought God according to the light they had. Israel could not gather these. It was itself but a mixture of the true and the false, and thus it could not gather to itself the true out of the false. There was no power as yet for any proper discrimination. This is the misery of all mixtures, and which the confusion which obtains in Christendom at the present time should make us, indeed, realize. How blessed a company of those drawn together by ardent desire for the same things, by the enjoyment of the same blessings, by their allegiance to the same revelation, to God perfectly revealed as He is now revealed, so as to attract and fill the heart with Himself! Here love can indeed flow out. There is nothing to check it. There is no matter, so far as this character is retained, for selfish strife with one another. The objects enjoyed are the possession of all alike, and the enjoyment of them by one only enhances, and cannot hinder, the joy of others. Here, then, was indeed an essential difference between the company of Christians and the nation of Israel. We have gone back indeed, in various degrees, to that old company, as if, after all, we had tasted the new wine but to say, the old is better.” We have even taken, in measure at least, the Israelitish community (with, more or less, its ordinances as well) as that which God has designed for His people all the way through. We have introduced a fancied regeneration by baptism to manufacture fictitious children of God, who have none of the reality; and then we have invoked the judgment of charity not to distinguish between the manufactured Christians and the true ones! The effect has necessarily followed; and “because iniquity abounds” in consequence “the love of many,” even among the true children of God, has “grown cold.” There is a lack of communion amongst the people of God; for communion with the world is absolutely incompatible with this. The true birth, -as Peter shows us here, -the true entrance into the family, is by the reception of the living and abiding word of God,* “the word which by the gospel is proclaimed.” There can be no possibility, one would say, of confounding this with any result whatever of an ordinance. Here alone is the secret of that which, as eternal life, abides. Those who receive it belong no more, in this way, to that flesh which “is as grass, and all the glory of it but as the flower of grass.” That which is merely natural withers and its flower falls, “but the word of the Lord abideth forever.” Thank God for Peter’s testimony! Let those who profess so much obedience to Peter listen to it! They will find here not only an authoritative Word, but that which finds, most of all, its authority in the sweetness of the truth which is proclaimed. Born again by the gospel good-news, what gladness and happiness does this infer for the life into which we enter!*
{*Let it be noted what light this verse throws upon the subject of new birth -it is “by the word of God.” That it is a sovereign act of God, by His Spirit, none can question. But this verse forbids us from separating, as has sometimes been done, new birth from faith in the gospel. It has been taught that new birth precedes faith; here we are told that the word of God is the instrument in new birth. “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God,” “the word which by the gospel is preached.” Thus while we can distinguish between faith and new birth, we cannot separate them. Joh 3:3; Joh 3:16, must ever go together. There is no such anomaly possible as a man born again, but who has not yet believed the gospel. -S.R.
{*It is interesting to note the three “incorruptible” things we have in this first chapter -an incorruptible inheritance (ver. 4), an incorruptible redemption (vers. 18, 19), and an incorruptible word by which we are born (ver. 23). Thus we have a nature which is taintless, fitted for the enjoyment of a taintless inheritance and on the basis of a redemption which never can lose its value. How the stamp of eternal perfection is upon all, and what a fitting companion to these is that “incorruptible” ornament of a meek and quiet spirit (1Pe 3:4). -S.R.}
2. The apostle goes on, therefore, to insist upon this word of God, to which we owe everything, as still being the essential need for us, that we may “grow up by it,” as the expression is here, “unto salvation.” It is a strange expression apparently, as we first think of it -a growth unto salvation; but the salvation here is, of course, that final salvation of which he has already spoken, as what is ready to be revealed in its fulness in the last time. There is a salvation which the gospel brings, and with which we begin; but salvation is needed also all along the road; and as long as we are in the body, by that very fact, we need salvation still. “We look for the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, who shall change our body of humiliation into the likeness of His own glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able to subdue even all things to Himself.” But still, a growth unto salvation deserves serious consideration. Growth is that which is proper to life. The accretion of matter in a stone, for instance, is not “growth.” Salvation, in the thought which we are getting of it here, is, in fact, more and more known as we grow in the apprehension of the things which are revealed to us, and which separate us more and more, therefore, from everything that is inconsistent with them. Thus, at the outset we are called to lay aside “all malice and all guile, and hypocrisies and envies and all evil-speakings” -things which cannot possibly consist with the enjoyment and pursuit of the truth; and we are always to be, as to the word of God, like babes just born, who crave, as the one thing necessary to them, the milk which God has provided for them. Here we must remember that we are not in the line of that which Paul says to the Corinthians, where he reproaches them as being such that have need of milk only, in opposition to solid food. The Corinthians were babes indeed, but they were babes when they ought to have been far beyond this. They were babes because growth was stunted with them through their carnality. A true babe is not “carnal,” and can never be; but here we are to be only in one character like babes, and, indeed, babes “new-born.” Even the Corinthians were not babes “new-born.” That was the evil of it, that they were babes that were not new-born; but we are to be always, “as new-born babes,” just in the simplicity of our craving for that which as milk God has provided for us in His own precious Word, to sustain a growth which is continual in one who is the possessor of eternal life. While we are here, if Christians and in a right condition, we are continually growing. We have to grow up, all of us, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Which of us has attained it? In this sense we are, after all, all of us but as babes “new-born;” and in this character God has provided for us, in His word, that which has all the elements proper for nourishment in it, as milk has. The Word, the whole of it, the deepest things in it, is thus pure milk, and only milk. There is nothing to be rejected; there is only that which enters into the constitution of the Christian -as we may say, becomes really part of himself. How beautiful in that way this figure of milk, and how earnest the craving which is here implied, and which we are exhorted to, for that which can thus minister to all the necessities of our nature! Let us desire it earnestly, says the apostle, if we have tasted that the Lord is good. Have we tasted this? If so, can we make light of the precious Word, which is indeed the provision which God has made, in His goodness, for our souls?*
{*We are to “lay aside,” -as in Heb 12:1-29, where it is the weights which would hinder progress, -what is contrary to the new nature we have received, and what unfits for the enjoyment of the mutual family relationships. Malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, and evil-speaking all have reference to our attitude toward others and are the opposite of that “fervent love” already enjoined. It will be noted that they refer largely to the state of heart, rather than grosser forms of immorality. Alas, they are not upon the list of the world’s forbidden things and are all too easily indulged in by the Lord’s people, without their losing caste in society. Note also that “evil-speaking” is not necessarily wicked speech in the way of falsehood or profanity. It is really “speaking against,” and refers to occupation with another’s ways in a spirit that does not desire his help. This is most important for our conscience. -S.R.}
3. We come now to that rejection of the Living Stone on the part of Israel, which disqualified them as the builders of God’s spiritual house. It was about those who were prominently builders that the Lord spoke at the time of His last proffer of Himself to them as Israel’s King, as well as of their foreseen rejection of it. In a matter of such fundamental importance it was necessary that God should have provided for His people the assurance of what was coming with regard to those to whom they looked as their spiritual guides. “The house of God” was that which distinguished Israel from all the nations of the earth. It was that dwelling-place of God with man which, although as yet only in type, declared the desire of His heart to be with man abidingly. Thus it was the place of that glory which, though already unseen by man, yet Ezekiel saw, as having lingered with them in love as long as possible, until finally forced out by their abominations. Yet their house, as we know, was not, after the manner in which the apostle speaks here, a “spiritual house.” It was “a house made with hands,” which could not, therefore, set forth God’s design in the full way in which He desired. Forsaken of God, it became, like a vacant tomb, the witness only of the life which had departed. Yet God could not give up His thought. Thus, He who came seeking God’s treasure upon earth always proclaimed that house (though in the idea of it, not the then reality) His Father’s house; and it was there that He presented Himself when He came as King to His own, and His own refused Him. It was then entirely their own house (Mat 23:38) which He had to leave desolate. But God had not given up His thought; and, driven back in His love, He only, according to His constant manner, declared that love, and the purpose of it, in a fuller way than ever. Thus the Lord could say to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up; but He spake of the temple of His body.” In Him was indeed the perfect Witness of what was in the divine heart, and that for man; and in Him God really possessed a dwelling-place among men that could not be set aside. He was indeed rejected, and as such went back to the Father; nevertheless, the divine thought was not thus frustrated, but as the fruit of His own work the Spirit of God came down upon earth to build a habitation for God which should never cease to be this. The house was now “a spiritual house.” The Lord had spoken of it to Peter when He said that upon that Rock which Peter had confessed, He would build His assembly; but as yet the thought of a habitation of God could not come fully out. Peter now explains the Lord’s word to him, as we see here, in the clearest way. He sets aside all possibility of men saying, with any real semblance of truth, that Peter was himself the foundation of what the Lord spoke. It is Christ, he says, who is the Living Stone, the Foundation upon whom alone the living stones (of whom was Peter himself, according to the meaning of his name) are built up. The living stones here are the assurance of the Lord’s promise that the gates of Hades should not prevail against that which He would build. They live in a power of life which cannot be touched of death; and of Himself also was this true, who, if He went down into death, was only to lay there the foundation of all blessing, and to reveal in Himself that which abolished death and brought “life and incorruption to light through the gospel.” Thus, the whole building stands upon this Foundation, which is that from the beginning, “chosen of God” as “precious,” and now in the present time revealing, as the apostle says directly, its preciousness. The house is “a spiritual house,” the fulfilment of the promise by the prophet: “I will dwell in them and walk in them:” the Spirit of God filling and energizing that in which He dwells, so that it is not a mere shrine of the Spirit, but itself a spiritual reality; and this connects, according to the thought which we have already traced in Hebrews (Heb 3:1-19), of a “spiritual house,” with a “holy priesthood.” Here we have the activity of those brought near to God in this way. They are revealed as those who, while God manifests Himself in them, have themselves, as one may say, their faces Godward and in their hearts the Spirit of relationship -a holy priesthood, capable, therefore, of this, with spiritual sacrifices now replacing the sacrifices of old, acceptable to God by Him who has made, once for all, that which was the true sacrifice in atonement for sin. Thus, the altar stands only inside the house now, the antitype of that golden altar which was in Israel’s sanctuary. The brazen altar has had its fulfilment, and has thus disappeared, while the power of that acceptable sacrifice, which abides ever in its value before God, is that by which all spiritual offerings alone become acceptable. The incense upon the unbloody altar is the witness of One come up out of death, who is before God for us, in whom we stand, and in whom all acceptance is. Here, says the apostle, is the fundamental fulfilment of that scripture, “Behold, I lay in Sion a corner Stone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.” But to the prophet was not revealed as yet the wondrous preciousness which belongs in its full value now to those who believe; and here is one of those things in which the prophets of old predicted, as Peter has just said to us, things that went beyond their own intelligence, and which they realized to have respect, in their full meaning, to others than themselves. Alas, to Israel, that Stone which the builders rejected, while it has become, indeed, “the Head of the corner,” yet is but “a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence to those who stumble at the Word, being disobedient.” This, too, had been appointed, for it followed of necessity from the very blessedness of that which was in it -grace revealed to a carnal people who had built themselves up in pride of heart against it. It was the necessary result, they being what they were, that they stumbled at the Word through the spirit of disobedience which was in their heart, and there was no help indeed if the very wonder of God’s grace was that which made them stumble.*
{*There is no thought in this of the unscriptural doctrine of reprobation, man’s addition to God’s precious truth of His election of His people. The ungodly are not appointed to be ungodly, but being ungodly God appointed that this should be fully manifest in their rejection of Christ. Thus Pharaoh (Rom 9:1-33) was “raised up,” put upon the throne with opportunities for rejection of God’s message, and of showing the wickedness and enmity that was always in his heart -S.R.}
The apostle returns from this to contemplate with satisfaction how God nevertheless has carried out His thoughts in a more wonderful way. They were themselves now the partakers of those blessings which God had proffered to Israel of old, but which had so manifestly been without avail for them. “Ye shall be to Me,” He had said, “a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.” It was necessary for them to be the latter in order to be the former. It was only in the white robe which typified the purity required by God that even the typical high priest could draw near to Him; but it was not therefore the nation that drew near. The nation and the priesthood became emphatically distinguished from one another, while the priest himself could no more really draw nigh. There was but the witness of that which was in God’s thoughts, along with the witness that as yet it was not a practical reality. Now God has accomplished this. Christians have become this holy nation, -not one of the nations of the earth, -and a royal priesthood, more even than was offered to Israel -a people who are not only priests but kings, a people thus for God’s possession, such as He can openly manifest as His and claim by the Spirit indwelling them, a people able to set forth the virtues of Him who has called them out of darkness into His own marvelous light -no earthly one, but the light of His own Presence revealed to those brought nigh. Here are those to whom the words of the prophet could be applied, a people “who once were not a people, but are now the people of God; who once had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” This does not, of course, set aside the application of such a promise to Israel themselves in days to come; but God has left in it a largeness which gives room for us also, who were indeed in God’s thoughts before ever the earth was, and in whom God has, more than Israel themselves can ever manifest it, shown the unchanging character of His purpose.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
The next duty which our apostle exhorts these Christians to, is the duty of brotherly love, to a gracious propensity of heart which a Christian bears for Christ’s sake to his neighbours, whereby he wills, and to his power procures, all good for him; a brotherly affection which every true Christian chiefly bears to all his fellow-members in Christ for grace sake. This duty of brotherly love is often urged and enforced by Christ and his apostles.
St. Peter here tells them, that seeing, by the power of Christ’s Spirit, and obedience of the gospel, they had purfied themselves in some measure from pride and self-love, they should now labour to grow in the fervency and sincerity of their love one towards another.
And the argument he uses to persuade them to love one another, is drawn from their relation to each other; they are all born again, and born alike; not brethern by corruptible generation only, but begotten of incorruptible seed, the word of God; therefore should they live in love together, as children of the same Father.
Note here, The commendation given go the word of God, not to any inward word infused, but the outward word preached, it is styled incorruptible seed; from whence it follows, that in the ministry of the word is the ordinary means of the new birth, and the instrumental cause of our regeneration: Being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, the word of God.
Note farther, That such as are born of this incorruptible seed, ought to bear an incorruptible seed, ought to bear an incorruptible love to each other, as an evidence of their incorruptible and gracious nature: See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Purified In Obeying the Truth
The purification Peter spoke of in verse 22 took place in the new birth. The new birth takes place through the word of God ( Luk 8:11 ; Jas 1:18 ). Babies are born of corruptible seed, as are all fleshly and physical things, but Christians are born of a seed that will never perish, God’s word (compare Joh 3:1-7 ). It is alive in the sense that it is always active and is able to give life. It abides in that it will never perish ( 1Pe 1:23 ; Mat 24:35 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
1Pe 1:22-23. Seeing you have purified your souls By applying to this fountain which God has opened for sin and for uncleanness, and by believing and obeying the truth, which God hath appointed to be the grand means of sanctification, delivering such as obey it from the power, and purifying them from the defilement of sin, Joh 8:32; Joh 17:17; through the Spirit working by the word, unto the unfeigned love of the brethren For the fruit of the Spirit is love to the children of God, as well as to God their heavenly Father. See that ye love one another with a pure heart A heart purified from all earthly and sensual affections, and corrupt passions; from all selfish, interested views, designs, and desires; and that fervently as Christ loved the church; and so as to be willing, if called to it, to lay down your lives for the brethren, 1Jn 4:16. Peters description of Christian love here is excellent; it springs up in a heart purified by the truth of God, through the influence of his Spirit. It is sincere in its operation, it is unmixed with carnal passions, and it is fervent and increasing. Being born again Born from above, born of the Spirit of God, and therefore his genuine children; a consideration which lays you under an indispensable obligation to love all your brethren and sisters in Christ, who are born of the same Spirit. See the note on Joh 3:3. Not of corruptible seed Not by virtue of any descent from human parents; but of incorruptible Namely, the truth of God, rendered effectual through his grace; which liveth Is full of divine virtue and vital energy; and abideth for ever Produces effects which will continue for ever, or begets in us that spiritual life which will issue in life eternal.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
ARGUMENT 6
REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION
22, 23. Having purified your souls in obedience the truth unto brotherly love free from hypocrisy, love one another with divine love fervently out of the heart, having been born again not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through the Word of God, who liveth and abideth. Peter is a powerful exponent of the great double salvation which inundates the Bible from the alpha of Genesis to the omega of Revelation. In this isolated sentence, comprising two verses, he clearly, specifically, and unequivocally sets forth in their connection the two works of grace, i.e., regeneration and sanctification. The Word of God is here symbolized by the seed sown in the field, germinating and producing the abundant harvest. As none but God can make the seed sprout, so the Holy Spirit is the only Agent in regeneration. We preach the Word, which is the seed of the kingdom, and the Holy Spirit develops out of it divine life, thus raising the dead human soul into spiritual vitality. Having purified your souls. This is spoken of the regenerate who are now obedient to the truth revealed in Gods Word, and is a beautiful description of the modus operandi by which we are sanctified through the truth, pursuant to our Saviors valedictory prayer, John 17. The Bible is a wonderful book, delectably beautiful in variety. In the plan of salvation, there is a perfect co-operation of the human and divine agency. In this passage the human is brought to the front and conspicuously emphasized. Unto brotherly love free from hypocrisy. Nothing but entire sanctification can fully and finally expurgate the heart from every tincture of hypocrisy, which is one of the most subtle emissaries of Satan, lurking clandestinely in the deep subterranean jungles of the fallen soul. Love one another fervently out of the heart with divine love. In the Greek Scriptures agapee, which never occurs in heathen literature, means divine love, i.e., the divine nature, for God is love, while philia always means human love, being the word used by the heathen Greek writers. Unfortunately, the English Scripture has obscured this great and valuable truth by translating agapee and philia simply by the same word, love. Myriads have been swept into the popular churches on a profession of love to God and the brethren, when it was nothing but human love, utterly destitute of salvation, as all wicked people have it, and even Dives in hell loved his brethren, so that he wanted to send them a missionary to save their souls. The divine agapee is never in a human heart till imparted by the Holy Ghost in regeneration. Rom 5:5.
24. In this verse we are exhorted, from the evanescence of the flower which blooms today and fades tomorrow, to remember the transiency of probationary opportunities, to be constantly on our watch towers looking out for the enemy, with our eye on Jesus, ready to go at His bidding and come at His beck, ever mindful that these fugitive days and years constitute our only opportunities to be regenerated into the kingdom of grace and sanctified for the realms of glory.
25. While this world with its emoluments and aggrandizements is fleeting as the falling leaf and fading flower, Peter reminds us that the Word of the Lord, the glorious Gospel, which it is our heaven-born privilege to proclaim to a dying world, will abide forever, judging us and all mankind when we stand before the flaming tribunal.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
1Pe 1:22 to 1Pe 2:10. The Christians, who were formerly pagans, are created a new race in Christ Jesus, and consecrated as a special priesthood of service to the whole world. Their life must be in accordance with this profession. They are to manifest to one another brotherly love, that noblest jewel in the diadem of early Christianity (Gunkel), and as children naturally seek milk for nourishment, so their desire is to be for spiritual refreshment in the purity of faith. By a changed figure they are to become living stones in a living temple founded on a living Lord, who of old time was termed by the prophets the Corner Stone. To them He is a precious possession, but to those who refuse Him, He is like a stone in the path to trip over, as a rock in the way, over which one may fall.
1Pe 1:22. love of the brethren: not brotherly love, but brother-love. Not love men as though they were your brothers, but love men because they are your brothers. As Maurice finely said, There can be no brotherhood without a common father (Masterman).
1Pe 1:23. word of God is here transitional between the written word, and the personal Word of the Fourth Gospel. It is better to take liveth and abideth as referring to word than to God (mg.).
1Pe 2:2. spiritual milk: a curious phrase, but meaning nourishment that belongs to the spiritual nature.
1Pe 2:6. Two of the OT passages here quoted are found in combination in Romans 9, and in the same chapter is the reference to Hos. made below (1Pe 2:10). From this and similar instances it has been suggested that selections of Messianic passages were already in use by Christian teachers (p. 700).
1Pe 2:7. the preciousness: the phrase may be understood in various ways, but probably for you is the honour is most likely in contrast with shame mentioned in 1Pe 1:6 and referred to throughout. On the other hand, precious may refer back to the quotation in the sense of the inherent unique quality of Christ.
1Pe 2:9. royal: because belonging to a king, not as consisting of kings.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
1:22 {13} Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, [see that ye] love one another with a pure heart fervently:
(13) He commends the practice of obedience, that is, charity: earnestly repeating again, that he speaks not of any common charity, and such as proceeds from that our corrupt nature, but of that whose beginning is the Spirit of God, which purifies our souls through the word laid hold on by faith, and engenders also in us a spiritual and everlasting life, as God himself is most pure and truly living.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. A life of love 1:22-25
Peter next turned his attention from the believer’s duty to God to the believer’s duty to his or her Christian brethren. He did so to explain further the implications of living joyfully during trials and suffering. He returned to what he set out to do in 1Pe 1:13, namely, to spell out the implications of Christian faith and hope. However, he continued to reflect on the theological basis of our ethical responsibilities. He would get into practical Christian ethics later. Obedience to the truth produces a sincere love for the brethren (1Pe 1:22-25), repentance from sin (1Pe 2:1), and a desire for spiritual growth (1Pe 2:2). [Note: Roger M. Raymer, "1 Peter," in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament, p. 844.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The purification to which Peter referred occurred at conversion as a result of believing the gospel (cf. Joh 13:10). This cleansing made it possible for us to love other Christians unremittingly (Gr. ektenos). Now Peter urged his readers to do everything out of love for the brethren. We do not need to love one another as though we were brethren. We can love one another because we really are brethren.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 5
CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD: ITS CHARACTER AND DUTIES
1Pe 1:22-25; 1Pe 2:1-3
THAT holy lives have been lived in solitude none would venture to dispute, and that devout Christians have found strength for themselves and given examples to the world by withdrawal from the society of their fellows is attested more than once in the history of Christendom. But with lives of such isolation and seclusion the New Testament exhibits little sympathy. To whatever preparation the Christian is exhorted, it is never with a view to himself. Though not of the world, he is to be in the world, that men may profit by his example. The prayer of the Lord for His disciples ere he left them was, not that they might be taken out of the world, but protected from its evils.
Christs intention was to found a Church, a communion, a brotherhood, and all His language looks that way: “One is your Master, and all ye are brethren”; “So let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” And of like character is the teaching of the Epistles: “Be kindly affectioned in love of the brethren”; {Rom 12:10} “Let brotherly love continue”. {Heb 13:1} We are in no way surprised therefore when St. Peter turns from his exhortations to personal sobriety, obedience, and holiness, and addresses the converts on the application of these virtues, that through them they may bind in closer bonds the brotherhood of Christ: “Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently.” Obedience is the sole evidence by which the believer can show that Gods call has wrought in him effectually. His election is of the Fathers foreknowledge, his sanctification is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and it is the sprinkling of the blood of Christ which makes him fit for entry into the house of the Father. In the Christian, so called and so aided, there must be a surrender of himself to the guidance of that spirit which deigns to guide him. The law in his members must be mortified, and another and purer law accepted as the rule of his life. This law St. Peter calls “the truth because it has been made manifest in its perfection in the life of Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Of this example St. Paul testifies as the truth which is in Jesus.” He therefore who would cherish the Christian hope will purify himself even as Christ is pure. The way and means unto such purification is obedience.
This first and most needful step the Apostle believes, from his knowledge of their lives, that these Asian converts have taken in earnest, and thus have attained to a love of their brethren which differs utterly from the love which the world exhibits, which is true, sincere, unfeigned. But the believers life is a life of constant progress. Daily advance is the evidence of vitality. All the language which Scripture applies to it proclaims this to be its character. It is called a walk, a race, a pilgrimage, a warfare. The Christian all his life through will find himself so far from what Christ intends to make him that he must ever be pressing forward. Hence, though they have attained to a stage of purification, have put off in some degree the old man, the Apostles exhortation is “Press forward”; “Love one another from the heart fervently.” The English word describes a warmth and earnestness of love which is deep-seated and true, but the original expresses more than this, more of the sustained effort to which St. Peter is urging them. It points to incessant striving, to a constancy like that of the prayers of the Church for the Apostle himself when he was in prison, a prayer made unto God without ceasing. So steadfast must be the Christian love; and such love the purified, undistracted heart alone can manifest, a heart which has been released from the entanglements of earthly ambitions and strivings, whose affections are fully set on the things above.
Such souls must be filled with the Spirit; a steadfastness like this comes only of the new birth. And of this the converts are reminded in the words which follow: “having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God.” It is true they are but at the outset of their Christian course: but if any man be in Christ, he is made a new creature. And in this connection the word of God might be taken in a twofold sense. First, the Word who was made flesh, in whom was light; and the light was the life of men. Through His resurrection God has begotten men again to a life which shall know no corruption. But the figure which the Apostle presently employs of the withering grass and the falling flower carries our mind rather to Christs explanation of His own parable. The seed is the word of God, which liveth and abideth. And throughout the New Testament the life-possessing and life-giving power of the Gospel is made everywhere conspicuous. When it was first proclaimed, we read again and again, “The word of God grew mightily and prevailed”; {Act 12:24} and the figurative language used to describe its character shows how potent is its might. It is the sword of the Spirit; {Eph 6:16} “It is quick and powerful”. {Heb 4:12} By it Christ foiled the tempter. It makes those strong in whom it abides. {1Jn 2:14} It is free, and not bound. {2Ti 2:9} St. Paul calls it “the power of God unto salvation,” {Rom 1:16} “the word of truth, the gospel of salvation” {Eph 1:13} and says, “It comes, not in word only, but in power”. {1Th 1:5} This is the incorruptible seed of which St Peter speaks. And his words force on our thoughts that for such a seed a fitting ground must be prepared, if the new life of which it is the source is to bear its due fruit. This preparation it is which the Apostle is anxious to enforce, the purifying and cleansing of the seed-plot of mens hearts. They must not be hardened so as to forbid it access, and leave it for every chance enemy to trample on or carry away; they must not be choked with alien thoughts and purposes: the cares of life, the pleasures of the world. Such things perish in the using, and can have no affinity with the living and abiding word of God, which, even as He, is eternal and unchanging.
And herewith is bound up a very solemn thought. The word may be neglected, may be choked, in individual hearts; but still it liveth and abideth, and will appear to testify against the scorners: “He that rejecteth Me and receiveth not My words hath one that judgeth Him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of Myself”. {Joh 12:48} But for those who accept the message of the word and live thereby St. Peters language is full of comfort, especially to those who are in like affliction with these Asian Christians. For them the acceptance of the faith of Jesus must have meant the rending asunder of earthly ties; the natural brotherhood would be theirs no longer. But they are enrolled in a new family-a family which cannot perish, whose seed is incorruptible, whose kinship shall stretch forward and be ever enlarging through all time and into eternity. For they, like the word by which they are begotten again, will live and abide for evermore.
And confirming this lesson by the prophecy of Isaiah, {Isa 40:6-8} the Apostle thus links together the ancient Scriptures and the New Testament. But in so doing he shows by his language how he regards the latter as more excellent and a mighty advance upon the former. The margin of the Revised Version helpfully indicates the difference of the words. In Isaiah the teaching is styled a saying. It was the word whereby God, through some intermediary, made known his will to the children of men. But under the Gospel the word is that living, spiritual power which is used as synonymous with the Lord Himself. The word of good tidings has now been spoken unto men by a Son, the very image of the Divine substance, the effulgence of Gods glory, and now possesses a might quick even to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. This is verily the living word of God. {Heb 4:12}
And we of today can see what ground there was for the Apostles faith and for his teaching, how true the prophetic word has been found in the events of history. “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth: but the, word of the Lord abideth forever.” When we cast our thoughts back to the time when St. Peter wrote, we see the converts who had accepted the word of God a mere handful of people amid the throngs of heathendom, the religion which they professed the scorn of all about them, to the Jews a stumbling-block, to the Greeks foolishness, and its preachers in the main a few poor, untrained, un-influential men, of no rank or conspicuous ability. On the other hand, worshipping crowds proclaimed the greatness of Diana of the Ephesians, and the power of the Roman Empire was at its height, or seemed so, with the whole of the civilized world owning its sway. And now that worlds wonder, the temple at Ephesus, is a pile of ruins, and over the Roman power such changes have passed that it has utterly faded out of existence; but the doctrines of the Galilean, who claimed to be the Incarnate Word of God, are daily extending their influence, proving their vitality to be Divine.
But though in his language he has seemed to mark the superiority of the Gospel message, the Apostle is deeply conscious that the office of the preacher has much, nay, its chief character, in common with that of the prophet. Hence he proceeds to call the Gospel message, now that it is left to the lips of Evangelists and Apostles to proclaim, a saying like that of Isaiah. In this way he links the New Testament to the Old, the prophet to the preacher. Both spake the same word of God; both were moved by the same spirit; both proclaimed the same deliverance, the one looking onward in hope to the coming Redeemer, the other proclaiming that the redemption had been accomplished. “This is the telling” (the saying) “of good tidings which was preached unto you.” Here Peter seems to allude to a preaching earlier than his own, and to none can we attribute the evangelization of these parts of Asia with more probability than to St. Paul and his missionary colleagues. But there was no note of disagreement between these early ambassadors of Christ. They could all say of their work, “Whether it were I or they, so we preached, and so ye believed.” Having spoken of the seed, the Apostle now turns to the seed plot which needs its special preparation. It must be cleared and broken up, or the seed, though scattered, will have small chance of roothold.
But here St. Peter recurs to his former metaphor. He has spoken {1Pe 1:13} of the Christians equipment, how with girded loins he should prepare himself for the coming struggle. He now speaks of what he must lay aside. He has been purified, or made to long after purification, through his obedience to the truth, so that he can with earnest desire seek to make known his love to the brethren; and the word of God is powerful to overcome such dispositions as are destructive of brotherly love. Hence it is to no hopeless, unaided conflict that the Apostle urges his converts when he writes of their “putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings.” It is a formidable list of evils, but St. Peters words treat them as forming no part of the true man. These are overgrowths, which can be stripped away, though the operation will many a time be painful enough; they have enveloped and enclosed the sinner, and cling close about him, but the sanctification of the Spirit can help him to be unclothed of them all. They are the forces which make for discord. The word of good tidings began with “peace on earth, good will towards men.” Hence those who hearken to the message must put away everything contrary thereto. First in the Apostles enumeration stands a general term, wickedness, those which follow it being various forms of its development. We learn how utterly alien this wickedness is to the spirit of Christ when we notice the employment of the word to describe the sin of Simon: “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right before God”. {Act 8:22} Such a man had no comprehension of the source of the Apostolic powers; the sacred things of God were unknown to one who could treat such gifts as merchandise. And it is full of interest in the present connection to observe that what our English Version there renders “matter” is really, as the margin (R.V.) shows, “word.” It was the word of God which was mighty in the first preachers, which was growing and prevailing as they testified unto Christ, and in this “word” a heart like Simons could have no share. He was no fit member of the fellowship of Christ. Guile was the sin of Jacob, a sin which brake the bond of brotherhood between him and Esau, and wrought so much misery in the whole of Jacobs family history. Guile was not found in Nathanael. The searching eye of Jesus saw that the sin of the “supplanter” was not in him. Hence he is pointed out as an example of the true Israel, that which the race of Jacob was intended to become.
That hypocrisy is a foe to brotherhood our Lord makes evident as he reproaches the Pharisees for this sin. “I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, nor even as this publican,” are words which could never rise to the lips of him whose heart was purified by the Spirit of God; and envy brings hatred in its train. It was by envy that Saul was incited to seek the death of David; it was from envy that Josephs brethren sold him into Egypt; through envy a greater than Joseph was sold to be crucified, {Mat 27:18} and this sin led to war in heaven itself.
From evil-speaking these Asian converts themselves had to suffer, and would know by experience its mischievous effects. They were spoken against as evil-doers, as the Apostle notes twice over. {1Pe 2:12} This evil adds cowardice to its other baneful qualities, for it takes advantage of the absence of him against whom it is directed, and is that vice which in 2Co 12:20 is described as backbiting, a rendering which the Revised Version leaves undisturbed, while those who indulge in it are called backbiters. {Rom 1:30} St. James has much to say in its dispraise: “Speak not one against another, brethren. He that speaketh against a brother or judgeth his brother speaketh against the law, and judgeth the law.” {Jam 4:11} Such a one is intruding into the prerogative of God Himself, and passing sentence where he can have no sure knowledge of the acts which he judges. “Evil-speaking,” says one of the Apostolic Fathers, “is a restless demon, never at peace. So speak no evil of any, nor take pleasure in listening thereto.” By good works St. Peter instructs his converts to live down such cowardly slanders, that those who revile their good manner of life in Christ may be put to shame thereby. Purity will overcome iniquity, innocence gain the day against deceit.
But the transformation to which the Apostle exhorts them must be verily to become a new creation, and so he goes on to speak of their condition as one akin to that of newborn babes. These, by natural instincts, turn away from all that will hurt them, and seek only what can nourish and support. To such right inclinations, to such simplicity of desire, must the Christian be brought. He has been born again of the word of God. From this he is to seek his constant nurture, as instinctively as the babe turns to its mothers breast. This is able to save the soul, {Jam 1:21} but it cannot be received unless the vices which war against it be put away, and a spirit of meekness take their place. They seek other and less pure food for their support.
Christians are to long for the spiritual milk which is without guile. This food for babes in Christ is the word, which is taken by the Spirit and offered a nurture for the soul. But there must be a longing for, a readiness to accept, what is offered. For the spiritual appeals to the reason of man, and though offered, is not forced on him. The Spirit takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto us. And the purification, the clearing off and putting away corrupt dispositions, about which the Apostle speaks so earnestly, applies an eye-salve to the inward vision which helps us to see things in their true light, and so to long for what is really profitable food without guile, which does not disappoint the hope of those that seek it. “That ye may grow thereby unto salvation.” It is called the word of salvation. “To you,” says St. Paul to the men of Antioch, {Act 13:26} is the word of this salvation sent forth; and through it is proclaimed the remission of sins. The healthy condition of the life of the soul is evidenced by these two signs: longing for proper food and growth by partaking thereof. For there is no standing still in spiritual life, any more than in the natural life.
Where there is no growth, decay has already set in; if there be no waxing of the powers, they have already begun to wane. To the natural human growth there must needs come this waning; the body will decay: but the spiritual increase can continue, must continue, until the stature of the fullness of Christ be attained, till we come to be made like unto Him when we see Him as He is. Watch, then, strive and pray for growth, “if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” The true food once found and appreciated, the joy of this support will be such that no other will ever be desired. Hence St. Peter adopts, or rather adapts, the words of the Psalmist {Psa 34:9} who tells of the blessedness of trusting in the Lord. The angels of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him and setteth them free. This is the initial stage: the deliverance from the power of evil. Then come the desire and longing for the true strength. “O taste and see that the Lord is gracious; blessed is the man that findeth refuge in Him.” The joy of such a refuge can come even to those who are suffering after the fashion of the Asian converts. But the Psalmists words are full of teaching. Gods training is empirical. Spiritual experience comes before spiritual knowledge. Well does St. Bernard say of this lesson, though his words pass the power of translation, “Unless you have tasted you will not see. The food is the hidden manna; it is the new name which no one knows but he who receives it. It is not external training, but the unction of the Spirit, which teaches; it is not knowledge (scientia) which grasps the truth, but the conscience (conscientia) which attests it.”