Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Peter 1:5
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
5. who are kept by the power of God through faith ] In the word for “kept,” we have, as in 2Co 11:32 in its literal, and Php 4:7 in its figurative sense, the idea of being “guarded” as men are guarded in a camp or citadel. Of that guarding we have (1) the objective aspect, the “power of God” being as the force that encompasses and protects us, and (2) the subjective faith, as that through which, as in the vision of Elisha’s servant (2Ki 6:16), we feel that we are guarded, and see that “those that are with us are more than they that be against us.”
unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time ] It is clear that the word “salvation” is used here, with its highest possible connotation, as including not only present pardon and peace, but also, as in Rom 13:11 , 1Th 5:8, the full consummation of blessedness. In this sense it is identical with the “manifestation of the sons of God” of Rom 8:19, the “glory which shall be revealed.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Who are kept by the power of God – That is, kept or preserved in the faith and hope of the gospel; who are preserved from apostacy, or so kept that you will finally obtain salvation. The word which is used here, and rendered kept, ( phroureo,) is rendered in 2Co 11:32, kept with a garrison; in Gal 3:23, and here, kept; in Phi 4:7, shall keep. It does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament. It means to keep, as in a garrison or fortress; or as with a military watch. The idea is, that there was a faithful guardianship exercised over them to save them from danger, as a castle or garrison is watched to guard it against the approach of an enemy. The meaning is, that they were weak in themselves, and were surrounded by temptations; and that the only reason why they were preserved was, that God exerted his power to keep them. The only reason which any Christians have to suppose they will ever reach heaven, is the fact that God keeps them by his own power. Compare the Phi 1:6 note; 2Ti 1:12; 2Ti 4:18 notes. If it were left to the will of man; to the strength of his own resolutions; to his power to meet temptations, and to any probability that he would of himself continue to walk in the path of life, there would be no certainty that anyone would be saved.
Through faith – That is, he does not keep us by the mere exertion of power, but he excites faith in our hearts, and makes that the means of keeping us. As long as we have faith in God, and in his promises, we are safe. When that fails, we are weak; and if it should fail altogether, we could not be saved. Compare the notes at Eph 2:8.
Unto salvation – Not preserved for a little period, and then suffered to fall away, but so kept as to be saved. We may remark here that Peter, as well as Paul, believed in the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. If he did not, how could he have addressed these Christians in this manner, and said that they were kept by the power of God unto salvation? What evidence could he have had that they would obtain salvation, unless he believed in the general truth that it was the purpose of God to keep all who were truly converted?
Ready to be revealed in the last time – That is, when the world shall close. Then it shall be made manifest to assembled worlds that such an inheritance was reserved for you, and that you were kept in order to inherit it. Compare Mat 25:34. This verse, then, teaches that the doctrine that the saints will persevere and be saved, is true. They are kept by the power of God to salvation; and as God has all power, and guards them with reference to this end, it cannot be but that they will be saved. It may be added:
(a)That it is very desirable that the doctrine should be true. Man is so weak and feeble, so liable to fall, and so exposed to temptation, that it is in itself every way a thing to be wished that his salvation should be in some safer hands than his own.
- If it is desirable that it should be true, it is fair to infer that it is true, for God has made all the arrangements for the salvation of his people which are really desirable and proper.
- The only security for the salvation of anyone is founded on that doctrine.
If it were left entirely to the hands of people, even the best of people, what assurance could there be that anyone could be saved? Did not Adam fall? Did not holy angels fall? Have not some of the best of men fallen into sin? And who has such a strength of holiness that he could certainly confide in it to make his own salvation sure? Any man must know little of himself, and of the human heart, who supposes that he has such a strength of virtue that he would never fall away if left to himself. But if this be so, then his only hope of salvation is in the fact that God intends to keep his people by his own power through faith unto salvation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. Who are kept] . Who are defended as in a fortress or castle. There is a remarkable correspondence between the two verbs used in this sentence: the verb , signifies to keep, watch, guard; and , is a place of custody or prison. And , from , a sentinel, signifies to keep as under a military guard. See on Gal 3:22; Gal 3:23. The true disciples of Christ are under the continual watchful care of God, and the inheritance is guarded for them. In some countries military posts are constantly kept on the confines, in order to prevent irruptions from a neighbouring people; and, in many cases, heirs, while in their minority, are kept in fortified places under military guards.
By the power of God] By the mighty and miracle-working power of God; for nothing less is necessary to keep and preserve, in this state of continual trial, a soul from the contagion that is in the world. But this power of God is interested in the behalf of the soul by faith; to believe is our work, the exertion of the almighty power is of God. No persevering without the power, and no power without faith.
Ready to be revealed] Or rather, Prepared to be revealed. The inheritance is prepared for you; but its glories will not be revealed till the last time-till ye have done with life, and passed through your probation, having held fast faith and a good conscience. Some by salvation understand the deliverance of the Christians from the sackage of Jerusalem, the end of the Jewish polity being called the last time; others suppose it to refer to the day of judgment, and the glorification of the body and soul in heaven.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Who are kept: lest it should be objected, that though the inheritance be safe in heaven, yet the heirs are in danger here upon earth, by reason of the power and stratagems of enemies, and their own imprudence and weakness; he adds, that not only their inheritance is reserved for them, but they preserved unto it, kept securely and carefully, as with a garrison, (for so the word signifies), against all the assaults, incursions, and devices of the devil and the world.
By the power of God; which power is infinite and invincible, and therefore able to keep them, Joh 10:28,29; Ro 8:31,38,39; 2Ti 1:12.
Through faith; which, resting on the power of God, overcomes all their enemies, the flesh, 1Jo 3:9, the devil, 1Pe 5:9; Eph 6:16, and the world, 1Jo 5:4. It implies, that not only they themselves are kept through faith, whereby they rely on the power of their Keeper, and his promises of keeping them, but that they and their faith too are kept by the power of God.
Unto salvation; viz. full and complete in glory, and not only begun and imperfect here.
Ready; as being already purchased, prepared, and laid up for them; and so he intimates, that their not as yet possessing it, is not because it is not ready for them, but because the time of their being put in possession of it is not yet come.
To be revealed: it was said to be reserved in heaven, 1Pe 1:4, kept safe, but close too, as a rich treasure, the greatness of it is not yet known, even to them that are the heirs of it, Col 3:3,4; 1Jo 3:2; here he adds, that it is to be revealed, and made known to them, so soon as the time of its manifestation shall come.
In the last time; simply and absolutely the last, viz. the day of judgment, which is called the last day, Joh 6:39,40; 11:24; 12:48.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. keptGreek, “whoare being guarded.” He answers the objection, Of what use is itthat salvation is “reserved” for us in heaven, as in a calmsecure haven, when we are tossed in the world as on a troubled sea inthe midst of a thousand wrecks? [CALVIN].As the inheritance is “kept” (1Pe1:4) safely for the far distant “heirs,” so must theybe “guarded” in their persons so as to be sure of reachingit. Neither shall it be wanting to them, nor they to it. “We areguarded in the world as our inheritance is kept in heaven.“This defines the “you” of 1Pe1:4. The inheritance, remember, belongs only to those who “endureunto the end,” being “guarded” by, or IN”the power of God, through faith.” Contrast Lu8:13. God Himself is our sole guarding power. “It isHis power which saves us from our enemies. It is Hislong-suffering which saves us from ourselves” [BENGEL].Jude 1, “preserved in ChristJesus”; Phi 1:6; Phi 4:7,”keep”; Greek, “guard,” as here. Thisguarding is effected, on the part of God, by His “power,”the efficient cause; on the part of man, “through faith,”the effective means.
byGreek, “in.”The believer lives spiritually in God, and in virtue of Hispower, and God lives in him. “In” marks that the cause isinherent in the means, working organically through them with livinginfluence, so that the means, in so far as the cause worksorganically through them, exist also in the cause. The power of Godwhich guards the believer is no external force working upon him fromwithout with mechanical necessity, but the spiritual power of God inwhich he lives, and with whose Spirit he is clothed. It comes downon, and then dwells in him, even as he is in it [STEIGER].Let none flatter himself he is being guarded by the power of God untosalvation, if he be not walking by faith. Neither speculativeknowledge and reason, nor works of seeming charity, will avail,severed from faith. It is through faith that salvation is bothreceived and kept.
unto salvationthefinal end of the new birth. “Salvation,” not merelyaccomplished for us in title by Christ, and made over to us on ourbelieving, but actually manifested, and finally completed.
ready to be revealedWhenChrist shall be revealed, it shall be revealed. The preparations forit are being made now, and began when Christ came: “All thingsare now ready“; the salvation is already accomplished,and only waits the Lord’s time to be manifested: He “is ready tojudge.”
last timethe last day,closing the day of grace; the day of judgment, of redemption, of therestitution of all things, and of perdition of the ungodly.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Who are kept by the power of God,…. This is a description of the persons for whom the inheritance is reserved in heaven; they are not only chosen to salvation, and begotten again to an inheritance, but they are preserved unto it; their happiness is very great; their inheritance is safe in heaven for them, and they are kept below, amidst a thousand snares and difficulties, till they safely arrive to the possession of that: they are kept, not in and by themselves, the way of man is not in himself; nor in the hands of angels, for no such trust does God put in them; but in the hands of Jesus Christ, where they are safe, and out of which none can pluck them; on him, as a foundation, and in him, as a strong hold; they are kept in the love of God, and on his heart, from whence they can never be separated, and in the covenant of grace, out of which they will never be put; and in a state of justification, and shall never enter into condemnation; and in the family of God, for, being sons, they are no more servants; and in a state of grace and holiness, in the fear of God, and faith of Christ, and love to both; and in the path of truth, from whence they can never finally and totally fall: for though they are not kept from the being of sin, and the workings of it, and slips and falls into it, yet from being destroyed by it; and though not from Satan, and his temptations, yet from being overcome by them; and though not entirely from unbelief, doubts, and fears, yet from final unbelief; for Christ prays for them, that their faith fail not; and from a final and total falling away from grace into sin: and they are kept thus, not by their own power and might, or that of any mere creature, but “by the power of God”; meaning, not the Gospel, nor the Spirit of God, but the perfection of his power; by which they are kept, as with a guard, or in a garrison, as the word here used signifies; not only angels encamp about them, and salvation is for walls and bulwarks, all around them; but God himself, in the perfection of his power, is a wall of fire to them; he is round about them from henceforth and for ever; their place of defence is the munition of rocks; his name is a strong tower, where they run and are safe: it is added,
through faith; some versions read it, “and by faith”, as the Syriac and Ethiopic; by that faith which is of the operation of God, of which Christ is the author and finisher, and shall never fail, it being supported by the same power the saints are kept; through faith in the power and faithfulness of God; through faith looking to Christ, leaning on him, and living upon him; by faith getting the victory over the world, and every other enemy, and being more than conquerors, through Christ. That to which the saints are kept is, “unto salvation”; salvation is already obtained for them, by the obedience and sufferings of Christ, and is applied to them in conversion, by the Spirit of Christ; but the full enjoyment of it, which is here intended, is reserved for them in heaven; and to this they are kept, being heirs of it, and shall certainly possess it: and which
is ready to be revealed in the last time; it is “ready”, being a kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, and a salvation obtained by the blood of Christ, and a mansion of glory made fit for them, through the presence and intercession of their Redeemer: and it is ready “to be revealed”; in a short time it will be made manifest; at present it is much out of sight; eye has not seen, nor ear heard the full glories of it; saints themselves as yet do not know what they shall be, and have: but “in the last time”, when Christ shall come a second time to judge the world, he will raise the dead bodies of his saints; and then this salvation shall be fully manifested to them; and they shall enjoy it both in soul and body to all eternity.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
By the power of God ( ). No other (power) like this (Col 1:3).
Are guarded (). Present (continuous process) passive articular () participle of , to garrison, old verb (from sentinel), a military term (Acts 9:24; 2Cor 11:32), used of God’s love (Php 4:7) as here. “The inheritance is kept; the heirs are guarded” (Bengel).
Through faith ( ). Intermediate agency (), the immediate being (, in, by) God’s power.
Unto a salvation ( ). Deliverance is the goal () of the process and final salvation here, consummation as in 1Th 5:8, from (Saviour, from , to save).
Ready (). Prepared awaiting God’s will (Gal 3:23; Rom 8:18).
To be revealed (). First aorist passive infinitive of , to unveil. Cf. Col 3:4 for (to manifest) in this sense.
In the last time ( ). This precise phrase nowhere else, but similar ones in John 6:39; Acts 2:17; Jas 5:3; 2Tim 3:1; 2Pet 3:3; Heb 1:2; Judg 1:18; 1John 2:18. Hort translates it here “in a season of extremity,” but it is usually taken to refer to the Day of Judgment. That day no one knows, Jesus said.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Kept [] . A military term. Lit., garrisoned. Rev., guarded. Compare 2Co 11:32, and the beautiful metaphorical use of the word at Phi 4:7, “shall guard your hearts.” The present participle indicates something in progress, a continuous process of protection. Hence, lit., who are being guarded. “The inheritance is kept; the heirs are guarded” (Bengel).
By [] the power; through [] faith; unto [] salvation. By, indicating the efficient cause; through, the secondary agency; unto, the result.
Salvation. Note the frequent occurrence of this word, vv. 9, 10. Ready [] . Stronger than about to be, or destined to be, implying a state of waiting or preparedness, and thus harmonizing with reserved.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Who are kept by the power of God.” (Gk. tous phrouroumenous) The ones being guarded or who are guarded, (Gk. en dunamei) in dynamics or power of God – God like (not human) power. Jud 1:24; Psa 34:7; Luk 16:22; Heb 1:14.
2) “Through faith unto Salvation” (Gk. dia pisteos) through the media or instrument of faith, first of the three spiritual gifts, man’s salvation is procured (obtained) and secured (sustained) to the glory hour or resurrection inheritance, Eph 2:8-10; 1Pe 2:6-7.
3) “Ready to be revealed.” The prepared place, territory, inheritance for each prepared and begotten one in Christ, is ready, waiting, held in safe keeping, to be unveiled, like a bride in her beauty, at the appointed time.
4) “In the last time.” The race is run ere the crown be given — the inheritance comes at last (end) of “fixed time” and in time for eternal habitation by its owner. There’s glory to be revealed, Rom 8:17-18; 1Pe 5:1.
KEPT BY GOD
The Re J. H. Brooks, D. D., says: “If your final salvation depends on your holding out or holding on, you will most certainly be lost. Two ministers were conducting a meeting together, and at its close one of them said, ‘I picked up a Dublin tract on a railroad train the other day, and with great interest and profit ” although it teaches a doctrine I don’t believe. “What is the doctrine?’ asked his friend. ‘The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints,’ he answered. ‘Neither do I believe it,’ was the reply. ‘Is it possible?’ exclaimed the first, ‘I thought you were decided in your belief of it.’ ‘No, I am not. I once believed it, but since I have come to know more about the saints, and especially about myself, I believe all of us would go to the devil if left to ourselves; but I believe very firmly in the perseverance of the Lord; and they shook hands to show their fellowship in this earth.”
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
5 Who are kept by the power of God We are to notice the connection when he says, that we are kept while in the world, and at the same time our inheritance is reserved in heaven; otherwise this thought would immediately creep in, “What does it avail us that our salvation is laid up in heaven, when we are tossed here and there in this world as in a turbulent sea? What can it avail us that our salvation is secured in a quiet harbour, when we are driven to and fro amidst thousand shipwrecks?” The apostle, therefore, anticipates objections of this kind, when he shews, that though we are in the world exposed to dangers, we are yet kept by faith; and that though we are thus nigh to death, we are yet safe under the guardianship of faith. But as faith itself, through the infirmity of the flesh, often quails, we might be always anxious about the morrow, were not the Lord to aid us. (9)
And, indeed, we see that under the Papacy a diabolical opinion prevails, that we ought to doubt our final perseverance, because we are uncertain whether we shall be tomorrow in the same state of grace. But Peter did not thus leave us in suspense; for he testifies that we stand by the power of God, lest any doubt arising from a consciousness of our own infirmity, should disquiet us. How weak soever we may then be, yet our salvation is not uncertain, because it is sustained by God’s power. As, then, we are begotten by faith, so faith itself receives its stability from God’s power. Hence is its security, not only for the present, but also for the future.
Unto salvation As we are by nature impatient of delay, and soon succumb under weariness, he therefore reminds us that salvation is not deferred because it is not yet prepared, but because the time of its revelation is not yet come. This doctrine is intended to nourish and sustain our hope. Moreover, he calls the day of judgment the last time, because the restitution of all things is not to be previously expected, for the intervening time is still in progress. What is elsewhere called the last time, is the whole from the coming of Christ; it is so called from a comparison with the preceding ages. But Peter had a regard to the end of the world.
(9) The meaning would be somewhat different, but the sentence would be more intelligible, were we to render it thus, “Who are kept by faith in the power of God unto salvation.” Salvation here means that of the body as well as of the soul at the resurrection. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) Who are kept.This explains the word you: those, I mean, who are under the guardianship of Gods power. Bengel says, As the inheritance hath been preserved, so are the heirs guarded; neither shall it fail them, nor they it.
Through faith.The Apostle is fearful lest the last words should give a false assurance. God can guard none of us, in spite of His power, unless there be a corresponding exertion upon our partwhich is here called faithcombining the notions of staunch fidelity and of trustfulness in spite of appearances. It is through such trustful fidelity that we are guarded.
Unto salvation.These words unto arise like point beyond point in the endless vista. Begotten unto an inheritance, which hath bee reserved unto you, who are kept safe unto a deliverance. This Salvation, spoken of again in 1Pe. 1:9, must not be taken in the bald sense of salvation from damnation. Indeed, the thought of the perdition of the lost does not enter at all into the passage. The salvation, or deliverance, is primarily a deliverance from all the trials and persecutions, struggles and temptations of this lifean emergence into the state of peace and rest, as we can see from the verses that follow.
Ready to be revealed in the last time.How such an assurance helps to form the very faith through which the treasure is secured! That perfect state of peace, that heavenly inheritance, is not something to be prepared hereafter, but there it is. If only our eyes were opened, we should already see it. It is all ready, only waiting for the great moment. The tense of the word revealed implies the suddenness of the unveiling. It will be but the work of an instant to put aside the curtain and show the inheritance which has been kept hidden so long behind it. This, however, will not take place till the exact period (so the word for time suggests; comp. 2Th. 2:6), and that period will be the last of the worlds history. For such teaching the Hebrews would be well prepared by the Old Testamentfor instance, comp. Dan. 12:9; Dan. 12:13and it was the earliest kind teaching culled for converts out of the oracles of God (Heb. 5:12; Heb. 6:2).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Kept A military word implying guarding, as in a fortress. The inheritance is kept in heaven for you; you are kept on earth for the inheritance. Old Testament imagery sets forth God as a shield, refuge, fortress, and tower, showing the perfect security of them who dwell in him. Blessed are they whose guard Omnipotence becomes! Note on Joh 17:12; Rom 8:35.
By the power Literally, who in the power of God are being guarded through faith. Power is the element in which they live and are kept; but it is the power of the Holy Spirit, abiding with all believers. Carnal professors and Christless backsliders know it not. Only through faith on man’s part, as the means, continually laying hold of the Holy Spirit, does the power of God become efficient.
Unto salvation Showing the end of the being kept; namely, the actual possession of the inheritance. It is complete and final deliverance from the curse of sin, including victory over death in the resurrection; and it is also, on the positive side, entrance into the fulness of eternal glory.
Ready It is fully prepared; but its certain and glorious manifestation will be only at the day of judgment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Who by the power of God are being guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.’
And all these things are guaranteed to us because we are ‘being continually closely guarded’ (a direct military term) by the power of God, (compare Joh 10:27-29), Who has our salvation always in view, so that we will be made ready to be manifested and openly revealed ‘at the last time’. This is a security enjoyed by us ‘through faith’. But it should be noted that it is not the faith that ensures the guarding. It is not saying that our being guarded is dependent on our faith. Rather the faith receives it, and rests in it, and rejoices in it. It is a reminder that, while not being dependent on our faith, God’s work never goes on without man’s involvement (compare Php 2:12-13), for once God has begun to work it must eventually become apparent to all.
The fact that we (or our salvation) must be ‘revealed at the last time’, that is, at the consummation of the age, is a reminder that it is His purpose to present us before Himself, holy, without blemish and unreproveable (Col 1:22). It is a reminder that salvation not only involves our being made acceptable in His sight, but also involves our being made like Him (Rom 8:29; 1Jn 3:2-3). That is why we must be changed from glory into glory (2Co 3:18). That is why He is at work within us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:13). It is because He intends to make us like Himself. It is because He has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom 8:29). But there is no salvation without the intention of, and desire for, transformation on our part. It is all a part of God’s working, but we must nevertheless ‘work it out’ with greatest care (Php 2:12).
‘Unto salvation.’ Salvation is a primary thought of this passage, compare 1Pe 1:9-10, although there our present salvation is more in mind. Behind all God’s activity it is our ‘salvation’, our being redeemed to obedience and eternal life, which is in view. And here in this verse in Peter it is specially the final full salvation which is in view, when all is completed and we are presented in His image ( Rom 8:29-30 ; 1Jn 3:1-2; Col 1:22).
Note On Salvation In The New Testament.
Salvation in the New Testament is in fact presented in four tenses. In Tit 3:5; 2Ti 1:9 Paul speaks of ‘having been saved’. This is in the aorist tense, and indicates something that has happened once for all when a person genuinely responds to Christ. At that moment the person who believes enters into the sphere of Gods salvation. He becomes a sheep in the flock of the Good Shepherd with his future guaranteed (Joh 10:27-29). He becomes a patient of the Great Physician (Mar 2:17).
He also speaks of ‘having been saved and therefore now being saved’ (Eph 2:5; Eph 2:8). This is in the perfect tense which indicates something that has happened in the past the benefit of which continues to the present time. This is what is in mind when we say a person has been ‘saved’, and is therefore now ‘saved’. This salvation has begun and is on its way to certain completion because the saving is done by Him. Such a person is being daily fed and cared for by the Good Shepherd (Joh 10:4; Joh 10:27-28).
But the Bible also speaks of us as those who “are being saved” (1Co 1:18; 2Co 2:15) in the present tense and thus as being part of a process which is going on as God ‘works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure’ (Php 2:13). We enjoy and experience continually His saving work. This is probably what is in mind in 1Pe 1:9, ‘receiving continually the salvation of your innermost beings’.
And it speaks of those who will be saved ( 1Co 3:15 ; 1Co 5:5; 2Co 7:10; 1Th 5:9; 2Th 2:13), the future tense and its equivalents (as found here in 1Pe 1:5) reflecting something yet to be brought to full completion. In other words, when God ‘saves’ someone they are saved once and for all, and it is fully effective, but if it is genuine it means that it will then result in a process by which they are being ‘changed from glory into glory’ by God (2Co 3:18), with the final guarantee of a completed process, when they are presented before Him holy and without blemish. It is ‘unto salvation’ (1Pe 1:5). If our salvation is not progressing, even though slowly, then its genuineness must be questioned. The Saviour does not fail in His work.
Consider a man drowning at sea, in a fierce storm, clinging to a life raft with one hand, his other arm broken and trailing behind, and both his legs paralysed, having been many hours in the freezing water and suffering from hypothermia, more dead than alive. Then along comes the life boat and drags him out and he gasps, hardly able to speak because of the seriousness of his condition, “I am saved”. Well, it is true. He is no longer doomed. But he has a long way to go. He would not have much confidence in his salvation if they put him to one side in the bow of the boat, with the waves lashing over him, and said to him, “Well, you’re saved now”, and then went off and played cards and then practised turning the lifeboat over. His confidence and dependence lie in a fully trained and capable crew who are dedicated to warming him up, treating him and getting him to hospital so that he can be fully restored.
So as they get to work on him, wrapping him in a blanket and gently warming his frozen limbs, trying to set his broken arm and doing everything else necessary to restore him to some kind of normality, he can begin to have hope and think gratefully to himself, “I am being saved”. But he may well still be aware of the winds howling round, and the boat heaving in the heavy seas, and the pain and agony of his limbs, and he may then look forward to the comfort of the hospital and think, “I will soon be saved”. If those crewmen, and the ambulance waiting for him on shore on that terrible night, can be so dedicated, can we think that the One Who died on a cross for us on an even more terrible night, can be less dedicated? And His lifeboat is unsinkable. But He does not just want us in the lifeboat. He wants us fully restored. And that is what He is determined to have. And we can be sure that the Good Shepherd and Great Physician will not fail in His task. But if we want to be saved it is full salvation that we must want! We cannot say, ‘Lord, save me, but leave me as I am’. And that is what Peter is stressing here.
End of note.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Pe 1:5. Who are kept by the power of God The word , which we translate kept, is very strong and expressive: it does not mean being kept after any manner, but with the most constant and vigilant care; as a tower or a city is watched by a military garrison, which keeps guard day and night, and plants the greatest number of centinels where the place is weakest, or there is most danger. Such is the watchful care of God over his people: as long as they continue faithful, nothing shall be able to hurt them; no enemies or persecutors can deprive them of their reward. Through faith, , would be read most properly during faith; and the verse may be paraphrased thus: “who, as long as you steadily adhere to the Christian faith, are guarded and defended by the mighty power of God, and preserved unto that salvation or eternal happiness, which is prepared, and will certainly be revealed at last; that is, at the end of the world:” for at the general conflagration, or when the present state of things comes to an end, then shall the greatest and final salvation be revealed. In speaking of the last time, possibly St. Peter might allude to Dan 9:13. See Joh 6:39; Joh 11:24.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Pe 1:5 . As the basis of the thought: , the apostle subjoins to the additional , by which is expressed not the condition on which the readers might hope for the heavenly , but the reason why they possess expectations of it. The chief emphasis lies not on (Schott), but on , inasmuch as the former expression serves only to define the more precisely. Gerhard incorrectly makes the accusative depend on . The prep. (as distinguished from the following ) points out the as the causa efficiens (Gerhard), so that Luther’s: “ out of God’s power ” is in sense correct; the is based on the . . Steinmeyer wrongly explains, referring to Gal 3:23 , the as the within which the Christians as believers ( equal to !) are kept, velut sub vetere T. lex carcerum instar exstitit, in quibus custodiebantur. To assume an antithesis between the . and the law in explanation of this passage, is entirely unjustifiable. By . is not to be understood, with de Wette and Weiss (p. 189), the Holy Spirit; He is never in any passage of the N. T. (not even in Luk 1:35 ) designated by these words. The means by which the power of God effects the preservation is the , [55] the ultimate origin of which nevertheless is also the gracious will of God.
On , Vorstius rightly remarks: notatur talis custodia, quae praesidium habet adjunctum. [56] The word by which the apostle even here makes reference to the subsequent , 1Pe 1:6 , has its nearer definition in the following , which by Calvin (haec duo membra appositive lego, ut posterius sit prioris expositio, rem unam duobus modis exprimit), Steiger, and others is joined to as a co-ordinate adjunct to . It is preferable to connect them with ; the more so that , “with its predicates, so fully characterizes the object of hope, that . . . would add nothing further” (Wiesinger). The introduction of , too, is decidedly opposed to the former construction. There is nothing to support the connection with , in which would be regarded as the object of faith. According to the correct construction, the verbal conception is more nearly defined by the addition of the origin, means, and end, cf. 1Pe 1:2-3 . [57] The word is here as the conjoined shows a positive conception; namely: the salvation effected and completed by Christ, not simply a negative idea, “deliverance from ” (Weiss, p. 79). It does not follow from the circumstance that and are synonymous terms, that the former is “only the negative side of the completed salvation.”
The verb is here, as elsewhere, used to denote the disclosure of what is already in existence (with God , 1Pe 1:4 ), but as yet hidden. is here, like often, joined cum. inf. pass. (see Gal 3:23 . On the use of the inf. aor. in this connection, see Winer, p. 311 f. [E. T. 419 f.]); nevertheless has a less strong force. The future salvation lies ready to be revealed, that is to say: , by which is denoted the time when the world’s history will be closed (not “the relatively last; Bengel: in comparatione temporum V. T.; but absolutely the last time . . , 1Pe 1:7 .” Wiesinger [58] ). When this time will be, the apostle does not say; but his whole manner of expression indicates that in hope it floated before his vision as one near at hand; cf. chap. 1Pe 4:7 .
[55] implies the entire and full Christian faith; not simply confidence in God (Weiss), nor the mere “confident assurance of the salvation which is ready to be revealed” (Hofmann); these are single elements which it includes, but which do not exhaust the idea. According to Schott, the apostle has omitted the article, in order to emphasize the fact that he means “that faith which, as to its inmost nature, is not dependent on sight”(!).
[56] Aretius rightly observes: militare est vocabulum : praesidium. Pii igitur, dum sunt in periculis, sciant totidem eis divinitus parata esse praesidia: millia millium custodiunt eos. Finis est salus. Bengel also aptly says: haereditas servata est; haeredes custodiuntur, neque ilia his, neque hi deerunt illi.
[57] Schott justly calls attention to the relation of to : “If the reserving of the inheritance for Christians is not to be fruitless, it must be accompanied by a preserving of them on earth for that inheritance.” He states the difference between the two expressions thus: “As regards the inheritance, it is only necessary that its existence should not cease. Christians, on the other hand, must be guarded and preserved from influences endangering their state of salvation,”
[58] Schott unjustifiably supposes that the want of the article indicates that “the would take place at a time which, from this very fact, must be regarded as the last.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Ver. 5. Who are kept ] , as with a guard, or as in a garrison, that is, well fenced with walls and works, and so is made impregnable.
By the power of God ] Much seen in the saints’ perseverance. “My Father is stronger than all; none therefore can take you out of my hands, since I and the Father are one,”Joh 10:29-30Joh 10:29-30 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
5 .] who are being guarded (“Quid juvat, salutem nobis in clo esse repositam, quum nos in mundo tanquam in turbulento mari jactemur? quid juvat, salutem nostram statui in tranquillo portu, quum inter mille naufragia fluctuemur? Prvenit apostolus ejusmodi objectiones,” &c. Calvin. “Hreditas servata est: hredes custodiuntur: neque illa his, neque hi deerunt illi. Corroboratio insignis.” Bengel. “Militare est vocabulum : prsidium. Pii igitur dum sunt in periculis, sciant totidem eis divinitus parata esse prsidia: millia millium custodiunt eos.” Aretius, in Huther) in ( , of the power in which, and by virtue of which, the is effectual: not, as Steinmeyer, al., “ in ,” as in a or fortress) the power of God by (the was the efficient cause: now we come to the effective means) faith (“The causes of our preservation are two: 1. Supreme, the power of God; 2. Subordinate, faith. Our faith lays hold upon this power, and this power strengthens faith, and so we are preserved.” Leighton) unto (the end and limit of the : cf. the very similar expression, in ref. Gal., . Calvin, Steiger, al. take this as co-ordinate with . above, and this clause as a second (third) pendant on : “Rem unam duobus modis exprimit,” Calv. But it seems better, as in Gal. l. c., to attach to ) salvation ( , though in itself a merely negative idea, involves in itself, and came to mean in the N. T., the positive setting in bliss of the people of God: cf. 1Pe 1:9 ; Jam 1:21 al. fr.) ready (stronger than , Gal 3:23 ; Rom 8:18 ; ch. 1Pe 5:1 ) to be revealed (see the two last cited places. The stress of the is, as Wiesinger well remarks, not the nearness of the , but the fact of the salvation being ready to be revealed: not yet to be brought in and accomplished, but already complete, and only waiting God’s time to be manifested. On the inf. aor. after , here giving the rapid completion of the act of as contrasted with the enduring , see Winer, 44. 7, b, c ) in the last time (not, as Bengel, “in comparatione ad tempora V. T.,” but absolutely, as in . It is otherwise in Jud 1:18 , where see):
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Pe 1:5 . The Christians addressed are to complete the metaphor from other passages in the Epistle a spiritual house (2 5.), which is besieged by the devil (1Pe 1:8 ) but guarded and garrisoned by God’s Power. So long as they have faith (1Pe 1:9 ) they are safe: “our faith lays hold upon this power and this power strengthens faith and so we are preserved” (Leighton). Without responsive faith God’s power is powerless to heal or to guard ( cf. Mar 6:5 f. and accounts of Jesus’ miracles generally, Jas 1:6 f.). The language seems to echo Rom 1:16 , , combined with Gal 3:23 ( cf. Phi 4:7 ) where also the distinctive occurs in similar context. The Power ( ) of God is put for Jehovah in the Targum of Isa. xxxiii. 21; and the corresponding use of is found in Mar 14:62 (see Dalman, 200 f.; and add , a more exact rendering, of Heb 1:3 ; Heb 8:1 ). In Philo God’s powers are personified self-manifestations. , . . ., is probably the third clause qualification of . (cf. 1Pe 1:2-3 ). Below, the salvation of souls is described as the goal of faith (9) in a passage where the , . . ., qualify rather than which is explained by . Salvation is to St. Peter that salvation which is to be revealed in the future ( cf. 1Pe 1:9 , 1Pe 2:2 ; so Rom 13:11 , ). Partial anticipations he neglects; for them as for Christ the glory follows the present suffering. The idea of the revelation of salvation comes from Psa 98:2 ( cf. Isa 56:1 ) which has influenced St. Paul also (Rom 1:16 f.). seems to be simply the equivalent of prepared , which St. Paul renders with more attention to current usage than etymology by (Rom 8:18 ; Gal 3:23 ; so 1Pe 5:1 ). This weaker sense begins with Deu 32:35 (LXX, . as Peter here) and prevails in new Hebrew (Tarphon sai the recompense of the reward of the righteous is for the time to come . , Aboth, ii. 16). But the proper significance of the word is recognised and utilised in the Parables of Jesus, Mat 24:4 ; Mat 24:8 .
, still anarthrous as being technical term indefinite as the time is unknown as well as in accordance with authors’ custom ( cf. , , above); cf. Joh 2:18 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Proverbs
KEEPING AND KEPT
Pro 4:23
The former of these texts imposes a stringent duty, the latter promises divine help to perform it. The relation between them is that between the Law and the Gospel. The Law commands, the Gospel gives power to obey. The Law pays no attention to man’s weakness, and points no finger to the source of strength. Its office is to set clearly forth what we ought to be, not to aid us in becoming so. ‘Here is your duty, do it’ is, doubtless, a needful message, but it is a chilly one, and it may well be doubted if it ever rouses a soul to right action. Moralists have hammered away at preaching self-restraint and a close watch over the fountain of actions within from the beginning, but their exhortations have little effect unless they can add to their icy injunctions the warmth of the promise of our second text, and point to a divine Keeper who will make duty possible. We must be kept by God, if we are ever to succeed in keeping our wayward hearts.
I. Without our guarding our hearts, no noble life is possible.
That solemn thought that every one of us has a definite moral character, and that our deeds are not an accidental set of outward actions but flow from an inner fountain, needs to be driven home to our consciences, for most of the actions of most men are done so mechanically, and reflected on so little by the doers, that the conviction of their having any moral character at all, or of our incurring any responsibility for them, is almost extinct in us, unless when something startles conscience into protest.
It is this shrouded inner self to which supreme care is to be directed. All noble ethical teaching concurs in this-that a man who seeks to be right must keep, in the sense both of watching and of guarding, his inner self. Conduct is more easily regulated than character-and less worth regulating. It avails little to plant watchers on the stream half way to the sea. Control must be exercised at the source, if it is to be effectual. The counsel of our first text is a commonplace of all wholesome moral teaching since the beginning of the world. The phrase ‘with all diligence’ is literally ‘above all guarding,’ and energetically expresses the supremacy of this keeping. It should be the foremost, all-pervading aim of every wise man who would not let his life run to waste. It may be turned into more modern language, meaning just what this ancient sage meant, if we put it as, ‘Guard thy character with more carefulness than thou dost thy most precious possessions, for it needs continual watchfulness, and, untended, will go to rack and ruin.’ The exhortation finds a response in every heart, and may seem too familiar and trite to bear dwelling on, but we may be allowed to touch lightly on one or two of the plain reasons which enforce it on every man who is not what Proverbs very unpolitely calls ‘a fool.’
That guarding is plainly imposed as necessary, by the very constitution of our manhood. Our nature is evidently not a republic, but a monarchy. It is full of blind impulses, and hungry desires, which take no heed of any law but their own satisfaction. If the reins are thrown on the necks of these untamed horses, they will drag the man to destruction. They are only safe when they are curbed and bitted, and held well in. Then there are tastes and inclinations which need guidance and are plainly meant to be subordinate. The will is to govern all the lower self, and conscience is to govern the will. Unmistakably there are parts of every man’s nature which are meant to serve, and parts which are appointed to rule, and to let the servants usurp the place of the rulers is to bring about as wild a confusion within as the Ecclesiast lamented that he had seen in the anarchic times when he wrote-princes walking and beggars on horseback. As George Herbert has it-
‘Give not thy humours way;
God gave them to thee under lock and key.’
But again, seeing that the world has more evil than good in it, the keeping of the heart will always consist rather in repelling solicitations to yielding to evil. In short, the power and the habit of sternly saying ‘No’ to the whole crowd of tempters is always the main secret of a noble life. ‘He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down and without walls.’
II. There is no effectual guarding unless God guards.
We need an outward motive which will stimulate and stir to effort. Our wills are lamed for good, and the world has strong charms that appeal to us. And if we are not to yield to these, there must be somewhere a stronger motive than any that the sorceress world has in its stores, that shall constrainingly draw us to ways that, because they tend upward, and yield no pabulum for the lower self, are difficult for sluggish feet. To the writer of this Book of Proverbs the name of God bore in it such a motive. To us the name of Jesus, which is Love, bears a yet mightier appeal, and the motive which lies in His death for us is strong enough, and it alone is strong enough, to fire our whole selves with enthusiastic, grateful love, which will burn up our sloth, and sweep our evil out of our hearts, and make us swift and glad to do all that may please Him. If there must be fresh reinforcements thrown into the town of Mansoul, as there must be if it is not to be captured, there is one sure way of securing these. Our second text tells us whence the relieving force must come. If we are to keep our hearts with all diligence, we must be ‘kept by the power of God,’ and that power is not merely to make diversion outside the beleaguered fortress which may force the besiegers to retreat and give up their effort, but is to enter in and possess the soul which it wills to defend. It is when the enemy sees that new succours have, in some mysterious way, been introduced, that he gives up his siege. It is God in us that is our security.
III. There is no keeping by God without faith.
That divine Power is exerted for our keeping on condition of our trusting ourselves to Him and trusting Him for ourselves. And that condition is no arbitrary one, but is prescribed by the very nature of divine help and of human faith. If God could keep our souls without our trust in Him He would. He does so keep them as far as is possible, but for all the choicer blessings of His giving, and especially for that of keeping us free from the domination of our lower selves, there must be in us faith if there is to be in God help. The hand that lays hold on God in Christ must be stretched out and must grasp His warm, gentle, and strong hand, if the tingling touch of it is to infuse strength. If the relieving force is victoriously to enter our hearts, we must throw open the gates and welcome it. Faith is but the open door for God’s entrance. It has no efficacy in itself any more than a door has, but all its blessedness depends on what it admits into the hidden chambers of the heart.
I reiterate what I have tried to show in these poor words. There is no noble life without our guarding our hearts; there is no effectual guarding unless God guards; there is no divine guarding unless through our faith. It is vain to preach self-governing and self-keeping. Unless we can tell the beleaguered heart, ‘The Lord is thy Keeper; He will keep thee from all evil; He will keep thy soul,’ we only add one more impossible command to a man’s burden. And we do not apprehend nor experience the divine keeping in its most blessed and fullest reality, unless we find it in Jesus, who is ‘able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
1 Peter
BY, THROUGH, UNTO
1Pe 1:5
The Revised Version substitutes ‘guarded’ for ‘kept,’ and the alteration, though slight, is important, for it not only more accurately preserves the meaning of the word employed, but it retains the military metaphor which is in it. The force of the expression will appear if I refer, in a sentence, to other cases in which it is employed in the New Testament. For instance, we read that the governor of Damascus ‘kept the city with a garrison,’ which is the same word, and in its purely metaphorical usage Paul employs it when he says that ‘the peace of God shall keep’–guard, garrison–’your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.’ We have to think of some defenceless position, some unwalled village out in the open, with a strong force round it, through which no assailant can break, and in the midst of which the weakest can sit secure. Peter thinks that every Christian has assailants whom no Christian by himself can repel, but that he may, if he likes, have an impregnable ring of defence drawn round him, which shall fling back in idle spray the wildest onset of the waves, as a breakwater or a cliff might do.
Then there is another very beautiful and striking point to be made, and that is the connection between the words of my text and those immediately preceding. The Apostle has been speaking about ‘the inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,’ and he says ‘it is reserved in Heaven for you who are kept.’ So, then, the same power is working on both sides of the veil, preserving the inheritance for the heirs, and preserving the heirs for the inheritance. It will not fail them, and they will not miss it. It were of little avail to care for either of the two members separately, but the same hand that is preparing the inheritance and making it ready for the owners is round about the pilgrims, and taking care of them till they get home.
So, then, our Apostle is looking at this keeping in three aspects, suggested by his three words ‘by,’ ‘through,’ ‘unto,’ which respectively express the real cause or power, the condition or occasion on which that power works, and the end or purpose to which it works. So these three little words will do for lines on which to run our thoughts now–’by,’ ‘through,’ ‘for.’
I. In the first place, what are we guarded for?
‘Guarded … unto salvation.’ Now that great word ‘salvation’ was a new and strange one to Peter’s readers–so new and strange that probably they did not understand it in its full nobleness and sweep. Our understanding of it, or, at least, our impression of it, is weakened by precisely the opposite cause. It has become so tarnished and smooth-rubbed that it creates very little definite impression. Like a bit of seaweed lifted out of the sunny waves which opened its fronds and brightened its delicate colours, it has become dry and hard and sapless and dim. But let me try for one moment to freshen it for our conceptions and our hearts. Salvation has in it the double idea of being made safe, and being made sound. Peril threatening to slay, and sickness unto death, are the implications of the conditions which this great word presupposes. The man that needs to be saved needs to be rescued from peril and needs to be healed of a disease. And if you do not know and feel that that is you, then you have not learned the first letters of the alphabet which are necessary to spell ‘salvation.’ You, I, every man, we are all sick unto death, because the poison of self-will and sin is running hot through all our veins, and we are all in deadly peril because of that poison-peril of death, peril arising from the weight of guilt that presses upon us, peril from our inevitable collision with the Divine law and government which make for righteousness.
And so salvation means, negatively, the deliverance from all the evils, whether they be evils of sorrow or evils of sin, which can affect a man, and which do affect us all in some measure. But it means far more than that, for God’s salvation is no half-and-half thing, contented, as some benevolent man might be, in a widespread flood or disaster, with rescuing the victims and putting them high up enough for the water not to reach them, and leaving them there shivering cold and starving. But when God begins by taking away evils, it is in order that He may clear a path for flooding us with good. And so salvation is not merely what some of you think it is, the escape from a hell, nor only what some of you more nobly take it to be, a deliverance from the power of sin in your hearts; but it is the investiture of each of us with every good and glory, whether of happiness or of purity, which it is possible for a man to receive and for God to give. It is the great word of the New Testament, and they do a very questionable service to humanity who weaken the grandeur and the greatness of the Scriptural conception of salvation, by weakening the darkness and the terribleness of the Scriptural conception of the dangers and the sicknesses from which it delivers.
But, then, there is another point that I would suggest raised by the words of my text in their connection. Peter is here evidently speaking about a future manifestation of absolute exemption from all the ills that flesh and spirit are heir to, and radiant investure with all the good that humanity can put on, which lies beyond the great barrier of this mortal life. And that complete salvation, in its double aspect, is obviously the end for which all that guarding of life is lavished upon us, as it is the end for which all the discipline of life is given to us, and as it is the end for which the bitter agony and pain of the Christ on the Cross were freely rendered. But that ultimate and superlative perfection has its roots and its beginning here. And so in Scripture you find salvation sometimes regarded as a thing in the past experience of every Christian man which he received at the very beginning of his course, and sometimes you have it treated as being progressive, running on continually through all his days; and sometimes you have it treated, as in my text, as laid up yonder, and only to be reached when life is done with. But just a verse or two after my text we read that the Christian man here, on condition of his loving Jesus Christ and believing in Him, rejoices because he here and now ‘receives the end of his faith, even the salvation of his soul.’ And so there are the two things–the incipient germ to-day, the full-foliaged fruit-bearing tree planted in the higher house of the Lord.
These two things are inseparably intertwined. The Christian life in its imperfection here, the partial salvation of to-day demands, unless the universe is a chaos and there is no personal God the centre of it, a future life, in which all that is here tendency shall be realised possession, and in which all that here but puts up a pale and feeble shoot above the ground, shall grow and blossom and bear fruit unto life eternal. ‘Like the new moon with a ragged edge, e’en in its imperfections beautiful,’ all the characteristics of Christian life on earth prophesy that the orb is crescent, and will one day round itself into its pure silvery completeness. If you see a great wall in some palace, with slabs of polished marble for most of its length, and here and there stretches of course rubble shoved in, you would know that that was not the final condition, that the rubble had to be cased over, or taken out and replaced by the lucent slab that reflected the light, and showed, by its reflecting, its own mottled beauty. Thus the very inconsistencies, the thwarted desires, the broken resolutions, the aspiration that never can clothe themselves in the flesh of reality, which belong to the Christian life, declare that this is but the first stage of the structure, and point onwards to the time when the imperfections shall be swept away, ‘and for brass He will bring gold, for iron He will bring silver,’ and then the windows shall be set ‘in agates, and the gates in carbuncles, and all the borders in pleasant stones.’ Perfect salvation is obviously the only issue of the present imperfect salvation.
That is what you are ‘kept’ for. That is what Christ died to bring you. That is what God, like a patient workman bringing out the pattern in his loom by many a throw of a sharp-pointed shuttle, and much twisting of the threads into patterns, is trying to make of you, and that is what Christ on the Cross has died to effect. Brethren, let us think more than we do, not only of the partial beginnings here, but of that perfect salvation for which Christian men are being ‘kept’ and guarded, and which, if you and I will observe the conditions, is as sure to come as that X, Y, Z follow A, B, C. That is what we are kept for.
II. Notice what we are guarded by.
‘The power of God,’ says Peter, laying hold of the most general expression that he can find, not caring to define ways and means, but pointing to the one great force that is sure to do it.
Now if we were to translate with perfect literality, we should read, not by the power of God, but in the power of God. And whilst it is quite probable that what Peter meant was ‘by,’ I think it adds great force and beauty to the passage, and is entirely accordant with the military metaphor, which I have already pointed out, if we keep the simple local sense of the word, and read, ‘guarded in the power of God.’ And that suggests a whole stream of Scriptural representations, both in the Old and in the New Testament. Let me recall one or two. ‘The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe.’ ‘He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.’ ‘Israel shall dwell safely,’ says one of the old prophets, ‘in unwalled villages, for I will be a wall of fire round about her.’ The psalmist said, ‘The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him.’ And all these representations concur in this one thought, that we are safe, enclosed in God, and that He, by His power, compasses us about. And so no foe can get at us who cannot break down or climb over the encircling wall of defence. An army in an enemy’s country will march in hollow square, and put its most precious treasures, or its weaker members, its sick, its women, its children, its footsore, into the middle there, and with a line of lances on either side, and stalwart arms to wield them, the feeblest need fear no foe. We ‘are kept in the power of God unto salvation.’
But do not forget how, far beyond the psalmist and prophet, and in something far more sublime and wonderful than a poetic figure, the New Testament catches up the same phrase, and gives us, as the condition of vitality, as the condition of fertility, as the condition of tranquillity, as the condition of security, the same thing–’in Christ.’ Remember His very last words prior to His great intercessory prayer, in which He spoke about keeping those that were given Him in His name. And just before that He said to them, ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation, but in Me ye shall have peace.’ Kept, guarded as behind the battlements of some great fort, which has in its centre a quiet, armoured chamber into which no noise of battle, nor shout of foeman, can ever come. ‘In Christ,’ though the world is all in arms without, ‘ye shall have peace.’ ‘Guarded in the power of God unto salvation.’
III. Lastly, what we are kept through.
‘Through faith.’ Now there we come across another of the words which we know so well that we do not understand them. You all think that it is the right thing for me to preach about ‘faith.’ I daresay some of you have never tried to apprehend what it means. And I daresay there are a great many of you to whom the utterance of the word suggests that I am plunging into the bathos and commonplaces of the pulpit. Perhaps, if you would try to understand it, you would find it was a bigger thing than you fancied. What is faith? I will give you another expression that has not so many theological accretions sticking to it, and which means precisely the same thing–trust. And we all know that we do not trust with our heads, but with our hearts and wills. You may believe undoubtedly, and have no faith at all, for it is the heart and the will that go forth, and clutch at the thing trusted; or, as I should rather say, at the person trusted; for, at bottom, what we trust is always a person, and even when we ‘trust to nature,’ it is because, more or less clearly, we feel that somehow or other at the back of nature there is a Will and an Intelligence that are working and trustworthy. However, that is a subject that I do not need to touch upon here. Faith is trust, trust in a Person, trust that, like the fabled goddess rising, radiant and aspiring to the heavens, out of the roll of the tempestuous ocean, springs from the depths of absolute self-distrust and diffidence. There is a spurious kind of faith which has no good in it, just because it did not begin with going down into the depths of one’s own heart, and finding out how rotten and hopeless everything was there. My friend, no man has a vigorous Christian faith who has not been very near utter despair. ‘Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee.’ The zenith, which is the highest point in the sky above us, is always just as far aloft as the nadir, which is the lowest point in the sky at the Antipodes, is beneath us. Your faith is measured by your self-despair.
Further, why is it that I must have faith in order to get God’s power at work in me? Many people seem to think that faith is appointed by God as the condition of salvation out of mere arbitrary selection and caprice. Not at all. If God could save you without your faith, He would do it. He does not, because He cannot. Why must I have faith in order that God’s power may keep me? Why must you open your window in order to let the fresh air in? Why must you pull up the blind in order to let the light in? Why must you take your medicine or your food if you want to be cured or nourished? Why must you pull the trigger if your revolver is to go off? Unless I trust God, distrusting myself, and the spark of faith is struck out of the rock of my heart by the sharp steel in the midst of the darkness of despair, God cannot pour out upon me His power. There is nothing arbitrary about it. It is inseparable from the very nature of the case. If you do not want Him, you cannot have Him. If you do not know that you need Him, you cannot have Him. If you do not trust that He will come to you and help you, you will not have Him.
So then, brother, your faith, my faith, anybody’s faith is nothing of itself. It is only the valve that opens and lets the steam rush in. It is only the tap you turn to let Thirlmere come into your basins. It is not you that saves yourself. It is not your faith that keeps you, any more than it is the outstretched hand with which a man, ready to stumble, grasps the hand of a stalwart, steadfast man on the pavement by his side that keeps him up. It is the other man’s hand that holds you up, but it is your hand that lays hold of him. It is God that saves, it is God that guards, it is God that is able to keep us from falling, and to give us an inheritance among all them that are sanctified. He will do it if we turn to Him, and ask and expect Him to do it. If you will comply with the conditions and not else, He will fulfil His promise and accomplish His purpose. But my unbelief can thwart Omnipotence, and hinder Christ’s all-loving purpose, just as on earth we read that ‘He could there do no mighty works because of their unbelief.’ I am sure that there are people here who all their lives long have been thus hampering Omnipotence and neutralising the love of Christ, and making His sacrifice impotent and His wish to save them vain. Stretch out your hands as this very Peter once did, crying, ‘Lord, save, or I perish’; and He will answer, not by word only, but by act: ‘According to thy faith be it unto thee.’ Salvation, here and hereafter, is God’s work alone. It cannot be exercised towards a man who has not faith. It will certainly be exercised towards any man who has.
Help us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, to live the lives which we live in the flesh by the faith of the Son of God. And may we know what it is to be in him, strengthened within the might of His spirit.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
kept. See 2Co 11:32.
by. App-104.
power. App-172.
through. App-104. 1Pe 1:1.
faith. App-150.
salvation. Compare 1Th 5:9, 1Th 5:10.
to be revealed. App-106.
last time. Compare Act 2:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
5.] who are being guarded (Quid juvat, salutem nobis in clo esse repositam, quum nos in mundo tanquam in turbulento mari jactemur? quid juvat, salutem nostram statui in tranquillo portu, quum inter mille naufragia fluctuemur? Prvenit apostolus ejusmodi objectiones, &c. Calvin. Hreditas servata est: hredes custodiuntur: neque illa his, neque hi deerunt illi. Corroboratio insignis. Bengel. Militare est vocabulum : prsidium. Pii igitur dum sunt in periculis, sciant totidem eis divinitus parata esse prsidia: millia millium custodiunt eos. Aretius, in Huther) in (, of the power in which, and by virtue of which, the is effectual: not, as Steinmeyer, al., in, as in a or fortress) the power of God by (the was the efficient cause: now we come to the effective means) faith (The causes of our preservation are two: 1. Supreme, the power of God; 2. Subordinate, faith. Our faith lays hold upon this power, and this power strengthens faith, and so we are preserved. Leighton) unto (the end and limit of the : cf. the very similar expression, in ref. Gal., . Calvin, Steiger, al. take this as co-ordinate with . above, and this clause as a second (third) pendant on : Rem unam duobus modis exprimit, Calv. But it seems better, as in Gal. l. c., to attach to ) salvation (, though in itself a merely negative idea, involves in itself, and came to mean in the N. T., the positive setting in bliss of the people of God: cf. 1Pe 1:9; Jam 1:21 al. fr.) ready (stronger than , Gal 3:23; Rom 8:18; ch. 1Pe 5:1) to be revealed (see the two last cited places. The stress of the is, as Wiesinger well remarks, not the nearness of the , but the fact of the salvation being ready to be revealed: not yet to be brought in and accomplished, but already complete, and only waiting Gods time to be manifested. On the inf. aor. after , here giving the rapid completion of the act of as contrasted with the enduring , see Winer, 44. 7, b, c) in the last time (not, as Bengel, in comparatione ad tempora V. T., but absolutely, as in . It is otherwise in Jud 1:18, where see):
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Pe 1:5. , by the power of God) He Himself does it, and will do it entirely: ch. 1Pe 5:10. Comp. 2Pe 1:3.[4] No one can propose to himself, in what way he may wish to arrive at the goal. It is the power of God which gives us safety against our enemies; it is the long-suffering of the Lord which gives us safety against ourselves: 2Pe 3:15. The apostles themselves are a proof of this.-, who are guarded) The inheritance is kept in safety; the heirs are guarded. Neither shall it be wanting to them, nor they to it. A remarkable confirmation [sample of how the word of God strengthens and guards believers] occurs, 2Pe 3:17.- , by faith) It is by faith that salvation is both received and kept.- , ready to be revealed) The revelation takes place at the last day: the preparations for it began to be made when Christ came.-, to be revealed) A frequent word in this Epistle: 1Pe 1:7; 1Pe 1:12-13; 1Pe 4:13; 1Pe 5:1.- , in the last time) Peter considers the whole of the time, from the beginning of the New Testament to the coming of Christ in glory, as one time, and that short, in comparison with the times of the Old Testament. Comp. note on Act 1:11. Therefore in depends upon ready.[5]
[4] 1Th 5:24; Mat 19:26. If deprived of this protection, how could we continue stedfast in the presence of the adversary? 1Pe 5:8.-V. g.
[5] Not as Engl. Vers. upon revealed. The preparations for its being revealed take place in this present, i.e. the last time.-E.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
kept: 1Sa 2:9, Psa 37:23, Psa 37:24, Psa 37:28, Psa 103:17, Psa 103:18, Psa 125:1, Psa 125:2, Pro 2:8, Isa 54:17, Jer 32:40, Joh 4:14, Joh 5:24, Joh 10:28-30, Joh 17:11, Joh 17:12, Joh 17:15, Rom 8:31-39, Phi 1:6, Jud 1:1, Jud 1:24
through: Rom 11:20, 2Co 1:24, Gal 2:20, Eph 2:8, Eph 3:17, 2Ti 3:15, Heb 6:12
unto: Isa 45:17, Isa 51:6, 1Th 1:3, 1Th 1:4, 2Th 2:13, 2Th 2:14, Heb 9:28
ready: 1Pe 1:13, 1Ti 6:14, 1Ti 6:15, Tit 2:13, 1Jo 3:2
in: Job 19:25, Joh 12:48
Reciprocal: Gen 7:16 – the Exo 15:13 – guided Exo 39:15 – chains at the ends Exo 40:18 – reared Lev 25:28 – he shall Lev 26:5 – dwell Num 6:24 – keep thee Num 23:20 – I cannot Deu 33:3 – all his saints Deu 33:27 – underneath 1Sa 25:29 – with the Lord Job 1:10 – an hedge Job 17:9 – hold on Psa 12:7 – thou shalt Psa 26:1 – I shall Psa 31:19 – laid up Psa 34:22 – none Psa 36:10 – continue Psa 37:18 – their Psa 51:12 – uphold Psa 55:22 – suffer Psa 73:24 – receive Psa 92:15 – To show Psa 94:18 – My foot Psa 97:10 – preserveth Psa 119:117 – Hold Psa 121:3 – will not Psa 145:20 – preserveth Pro 1:33 – whoso Ecc 9:1 – that the Son 4:4 – neck Isa 63:1 – mighty Isa 66:22 – so shall Jer 23:4 – neither Eze 41:6 – have hold Mic 5:4 – shall abide Mat 7:25 – for Mat 13:21 – dureth Mat 14:31 – and caught Mat 24:24 – insomuch Mat 25:34 – inherit Mat 26:75 – And he Mar 10:21 – treasure Luk 10:42 – which Luk 15:5 – he layeth Luk 16:12 – that which is your Luk 22:32 – I have Joh 6:39 – I should Act 20:32 – and to give Rom 8:35 – shall tribulation Rom 14:4 – he shall 1Co 10:13 – who Phi 4:7 – through Col 1:23 – ye continue 2Th 2:16 – everlasting 2Ti 1:8 – according 2Ti 1:12 – keep 2Ti 4:18 – and will Phm 1:6 – the acknowledging Heb 10:39 – but Heb 12:28 – a kingdom 1Pe 1:7 – at 1Pe 4:13 – when 2Pe 1:10 – never 1Jo 2:17 – abideth 1Jo 2:18 – it is
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
IN HIS KEEPING
Kept by the power of God.
1Pe 1:5
In other words, heaven is kept for Gods people, and they are kept for heaven. To every true Christian such a thought is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable consolation.
I. What the text does not mean.
(a) It does not mean that Gods children are kept from sin. God is indeed able to guard you from stumbling, as St. Jude tells us (24, R.V.). Yet, as a matter of fact, if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
(b) It does not mean that Gods children are kept from sorrow. The shadows of life fall on the Christians pathway and the Christians home as they do on those of other men. God has indeed promised that He will wipe out every tear from the eyes of His people. But that time is not yet.
(c) It does not teach that Gods people are kept from danger. Sometimes they are killed by an earthquake or a railway accident, slain in battle or drowned in the cruel sea.
(d) Nor are Gods people kept from sickness. Some of His dearest saints have been grievously afflicted. Yet even here, as in all else, the Christian has the best of it; for God makes all his bed in his sickness, and surprises him with sweet visits of love.
(e) Nor are Gods people kept from temptation. He has never promised they shall be free from temptation in this world, though He has said that He will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that they may be able to bear it (1Co 10:13).
II. What, then, does the text mean?It means that their souls are safe. It does mean that as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even for ever (Psa 125:2). It means that every soul that has been led by grace to flee to Christ alone will be kept by the power of God, and shall never perish.
III. Kept through faith.God first puts faith into the hearts of His people, then He takes care of it. He tries it in the furnace, He lets it fall into the sea of sorrow or persecution, but all the time He keeps it alive. Faith is a tender flower which only God Himself can planta flower which never grows of itself in natures barren soil, a flower which even, if once planted, must be watered and tended by the same gracious Hand that planted it. Like a lovely fern, whose home is a warmer clime than ours, it needs constant care and skill to protect its life. This God promises in the text.
Rev. F. Harper.
Illustrations
(1) There is a grand sermon by one of the greatest of Welsh preachers, Christmas Evans, which beautifully illustrates the text. He describes the evil spirit spreading his wings and flying through the air, when on one of the wide Welsh moors he espied a young lad, in the bloom of his strength, sitting on the box of his cart driving to the quarries. There he is, said Satan; his veins are full of blood, his bones are full of marrow; I will cast my sparks into his bosom, and set all his passions on fire. I will lead him on, and he shall rob his master, and lose his place, and find another, and rob again, and do worse, and he shall go on from worse to worse, and then his soul shall sink, never to rise again, into the pit of fire! But just as the devil was about to dart a fiery temptation into the heart of the youth, the dismayed evil one heard him sing
My God, the spring of all my joys,
The life of my delights,
The glory of my brightest days,
And comfort of my nights.
The fiery dragon fled away, because the youth was kept by the power of God.
(2) But I saw him pass on, said the preacher, hovering like a vulture in the air. There, beneath the eaves of a little cottage, he saw a girl of some eighteen years of age, a flower among the flowers. She was knitting or sewing at the cottage door. Said Satan, She will do for me: I will whisper the evil thought into her heart, and she shall turn it over and over, again and again, until she learns to love it; and then the evil thought shall be an evil deed, and then she shall be obliged to leave her village, and go to the great town, and she shall live a life of evil, all astray from the paths of my Almighty enemy. So he hastened to approach to dart into the mind of the maiden; but while he was approaching all the hills and crags seemed to break out into singing, as her sweet voice rose high and clear, chanting out the words
My God, I am Thine;
What a rapture divine!
What a blessing to know that my Saviour is mine!
In the heavenly Lamb
Thrice happy I am,
And my soul it doth dance at the sound of His name.
Here, again, the dragon fled away, for the maiden was kept by the power of God.
(3) So he passed from the valley among the hills, hut with hot rage. I will try the old, and all in good time for me. For he saw an old woman; she too was sitting at the door of her cot, and spinning there on her wheel. Ah! said Satan, it will be good to lay hold of her grey hairs, and make her to taste of the lake that burneth with fire. And he descended on the eaves of her cottage; but as he approached near he heard the trembling, quavering voice of the old woman murmuring to herself lowlily, For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. And the words hurt the evil one as well as disappointed him. And he fled away, for the old saint was kept by the power of God.
(4) And now, said the preacher, it was night, and he passed through another Welsh village, the white cottages gleaming out in the pure moonlight on the sloping hillside. And there was a cottage, and in the upper room was a faint light trembling, and, said the devil, There is old Williams, slowly, surely wasting away. The evil spirit enters the room; there was the old man lying on the poor bed; his hands and fingers were thin and wasted, his eyes closed, the long silvery hair falling over the pillow. But as Satan himself moved before the bed, to dart into the mind of the old man, the patriarch rose, stretched forth his hands, and pinned his enemy to the wall, as he exclaimed, Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. The old man sank back; it was all over, kept to the last by the power of God; and those words beat Satan down to the bottom of his own bottomless pit.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1Pe 1:5. Not only is the inheritance safely cared for, but the heirs are also assured that they will “live to see the estate settled” as the expression is often heard concerning an earthly estate. Kept is defined “being guarded” and it is by the power of God. However, the heirs must cooperate by being faithful until the time of the distribution. Revealed in the last time. On the day of judgment all intelligent creatures in the universe will see who are to be given the eternal riches.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Pe 1:5. Who in Gods power are being guarded through faith. A still better reason why they should lift a thankfully confident eye to the heavenly inheritance. The possession might be reserved for them, and the reservation be to no purpose, if they themselves were left to the risks of earth and their own weakness. All the more insecure of it might they seem in their present circumstances of danger and temptation. But if the inheritance is kept for the people, the people are also kept for the inheritance. The word indicates a different kind of keeping from that expressed by the reserved. It is the military term used both literally (of the keeping of a city as with a garrison, 2Co 11:32) and figuratively (of the keeping of the heart, Php 4:7, and of the keeping of the Israelite in ward under the law, Gal 3:23). The perfect tense used of the reserving of the inheritance (where a past act abiding in its effect was in view) changes now into the present, as only a continuous process of protection can make the people safe against themselves. The efficient cause (so Huther, Gerhard, etc.) of this sustained protection, or, as the preposition may be more strictly taken, the sphere within which it moves, the force behind which they are shielded as by a garrison, is nothing weaker than Gods power,a phrase to be understood here in the ordinary sense, and not as a title of the Holy Spirit (as Weiss, de Wette, etc., suppose on the false analogy of Luk 1:35). The instrumental cause of this protection, or the means through which the force works to guard us, is faith,not to be taken in any limited sense (such, e.g., as faith in the future, or a general reliance upon God, with Hofmann, Weiss, etc.), but in the specific Christian sense, the faith which grasps Gods power, and which, while itself Gods gift, is the subjective response to what is objectively offered. Thus, with the Lord Himself encompassing them as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, and with the hand of faith clinging to the shelter of His power, the people on earth are secure as is the inheritance in heaven.
unto salvation. This is dependent neither upon the immediately preceding term faith (as if the secret of their security was a faith which had this salvation as its specific object), nor with the remote begat us again (so Calvin, Steiger, etc.; as if the hope, the inheritance, and the salvation were three co-ordinate states into which Gods regenerating act brought us), but with the guarded, our salvation being the object which all this protection has in view. This great word salvation, so often upon Peters lips, and occurring thrice within half-a-dozen verses here, seems used by him preferentially in the eschatological sense. Occasionally in the N. T. it has the simple sense of deliverance from enemies (Luk 1:71; Act 7:25), or preservation of life (Act 27:34; Heb 11:7), but it occurs for the most part as the technical term for spiritual salvation, or the Messianic salvation (Joh 4:22; Act 4:12; Rom 11:11, etc.), now in the limited sense of the opposite of perdition (Php 1:28), and again in the general sense of eternal salvation; now in the sense of a present salvation (Php 1:19; 2Co 1:6), again in that of a progressive salvation (1Pe 2:2), and yet again in that of the completed salvation, which is to enter with Christs return (Rom 13:11; 1Th 5:8-9; Heb 9:28, etc.). Here it is the future salvation, and that not as mere exemption from the fate of the lost, but (as the underlying idea of the present distresses and fears of the readers indicates) in the widest sense, somewhat parallel to that of the inheritance, but with a more direct reference to the state of trial, of final relief from the world of evil, and completed possession of all Messianic blessing.
ready to be revealed. The expression points to the certainty of the advent of this salvation (in the term ready, stronger than the usual about to be, or destined to be, and indicating a state of waiting in preparedness), and perhaps also (in the tense of the verb) to the rapid completion of the act of its revelation in contrast with the long process of the guarding of its subjects (Alford). The word revealed has here the familiar sense of bringing to light something already existent, but unknown or unseen.
in the last time: that is, the time closing the present order of things, and heralding Christs return. The N. T. writers, following an O. T. conception, regard all history as having two great divisions, one covering the whole space prior to Messiahs times, the other including all from these times. The former period began to fade to its extinction with Messiahs First Advent. The second period would enter conclusively with Messiahs Second Advent. The former was known as this age, to which, although Christ had once appeared, the apostles own time was spoken of as belonging. The latter was called the age to come, the final reality of which (although in principle it began with Messiahs first appearing) was as near as was Messiahs glorious return. This Second Advent, therefore, was the crisis once for all separating the two, and the time which marked the end of the one period and ushered in the other was the last day (Joh 6:39; Joh 11:24; Joh 12:48), the last time, etc. The salvation needs but the lifting of the veil at Gods set time, and that time is on the wing. Christs return will announce the close of the last time of the old order, and in a moment uncover what God has prepared in secret. Peter does not measure the interval, or give a chronology of Messiahs comings. Yet if we compare this statement with others (1Pe 4:5; 1Pe 4:7) touching on Christs return, we may say with Huther that his whole manner of expression indicated that in hope it floated before his vision as one near at hand.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here our apostle seems to pre-occupate and prevent an objection. Some might say, “Though the saints’ inheritance be safe in heaven, yet they are in danger here on earth:” Be it so, as if our apostle had said, yet they are and shall be kept by God’s power, and their own faith, to eternal salvation.
Note here, 1. We are kept; it implies we are in danger, in great danger of missing salvation, by reason of the number, power, and policy, of our spiritual enemies, corruption and sin within, the devil and the world without; but we are kept as in a garrison; so the word signifies: saints are preserved like beseiged cities; the general whom they fight under, and hold out for, preserves them, by sending in fresh recruits, supplies from the Holy Spirit, and by cutting off such succours as our lusts and spiritual enemies would send forth against us, so that they starve, and shall not vanquish us, but we them. We are kept; eternal thanks for such a keeper!
Note, 2. What it is believers are kept and preserved to, namely, salvation: he does not say they are or shall be kept from trouble and affliction; that their fingers shall not ache in this world: he has made no such promise, and we must expect no such promise, and we must expect no such preservation, but the contrary: In the world ye shall have tribulation, says Christ, the captain of our salvation, Joh 16:1 But safety and rest, happiness and ease, shall be our portion in the coming world.
Note, 3. The means by which we are thus kept unto salvation.
1. On God’s part, almighty power. If left one moment to ourselves, we become a prey to every temptation. How did the devil baffle and befool Adam in innocency, when he had his wits about him, by being left in the hand of his own counsels! Lord, in a worst hand thou canst not leave us than our own!
2. On our part we are kept through faith. Our own endeavour must accompany God’s power, in order to our preservation. We are kept by the power of God through faith; by both jointly, by neither singly. God’s power will not keep us without our care, neither can our care secure us without the help of his power. We and our faith must be kept by the power of God; what God does for us, he does by us; he requires the use of our faculties, and the concurrence of our own endeavours, in order to our salvation.
Note, 4. The time when the saints’ complete salvation shall be revealed to them, and they have the full and final fruition of that;– Ready to be revealed in the last time.
Mark, the saints’ salvation in heaven is a mystery, an hidden mystery, not yet revealed; revealed only to saints on earth by faith, to saints in heaven by sight; but the full revelation is not to be expected and enjoyed by glorified saints before the day of judgment, called here the last time: Ready to be revealed in the last time.
Our apostle told us, 1Pe 1:4, it was reserved in heaven for us, kept safe for us, but kept close in heaven: it is an inestimably rich treasure; they that are heirs of it on earth, yea, they that are possessed of it in heaven, do not as yet fully understand and know the transcendency of it, but it shall be revealed to them at the last day.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
1Pe 1:5. Who are kept Who, though now surrounded with many apparent dangers, are not left defenceless, but are guarded, kept as in a garrison, as the word signifies; by the power of God Which worketh all in all; or secured from all real harm, under the observation of his all-seeing eye, and the protection of his almighty hand; through faith Through the continued exercise of that faith, by which alone salvation is both received and retained. The clause is very emphatical: It represents, says Macknight, believers as attacked by evil spirits and wicked men, their enemies, but defended against those attacks by the power of God, through the influence of their faith, (1Jn 5:4,) just as those who remain in an impregnable fortress are secured from the attacks of their enemies by its ramparts and walls. Ready , prepared, to be revealed In all its glory; in the last time The time of Christs second coming; the grand period, in which all the mysteries of divine providence shall beautifully and gloriously terminate. Some have thought that by the salvation here spoken of, the apostle meant the preservation from the destruction brought on the Jewish nation by the Romans, which preservation the disciples of Christ obtained, by observing the signs mentioned in their Masters prophecy concerning that event. For, when they saw these signs take place, they fled from Jerusalem to places of safety, agreeably to their Masters order, Mat 24:16. But what is said, 1Pe 1:9-12, concerning this salvation; that it is a salvation, not of the body, but of the soul, to be bestowed as the reward of faith; that the prophets, who foretold this salvation, searched diligently among what people, and at what time, the means of procuring it were accomplished; that it was revealed to the prophets that these means were to be accomplished, not among them, but among us; and that these things were to be preached by the apostles as actually come to pass: I say, the above- mentioned particulars concerning the salvation to be revealed in the last time, do not agree to the deliverance of the Christians from the destruction of Jerusalem, but are applicable only to the salvation of believers in general from eternal death, by a resurrection to an immortal life in heaven, at the time of Christs coming, when this salvation is to be revealed; and that time is called the last time, because it will be the concluding scene of Gods dispensations relating to our world. Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 5
In the last time; at the end of the world.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
1:5 {2} Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the {d} last time.
(2) Now he shows by what way we come to that glory, that is, through all types of afflictions. Wherein nonetheless faith maketh us so secure, that we are not overcome with sorrow. But through the beholding of God himself (who otherwise is invisible) with the eyes of faith, we are made unspeakably joyful. Because all such things, as they are but for a time, so are they not applied unto us to destroy us, but as it were by fire to purge us, and to make us perfect that at length we may obtain salvation.
(d) This is that time which Daniel calls the time of the end, when the great restoring of all things shall be, which all creation looks for; Rom 8:19
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Not only is God protecting our inheritance, but He is also protecting us by His power. All Christians will undoubtedly obtain an eternal inheritance one day (cf. Php 1:6; 1Co 1:8). Our faith in Christ for salvation is, on the human side, what guarantees our final realization of the fullness of our salvation (i.e., our glorification). Peter was not saying our faith keeps us saved. He said God’s power keeps us saved. Our faith is the means by which we receive salvation initially and, therefore, our inheritance.
Some Christians (mainly in the Reformed tradition) believe this verse teaches that true Christians will inevitably continue in the faith, that they will never abandon Christianity or stop believing that Jesus is the Christ. They view the faith referred to in this verse as ongoing faith rather than initial faith. One advocate of this view wrote the following.
"Those who have true faith can lose that faith neither totally nor finally." [Note: Anthony A. Hoekema, Saved by Grace, p. 234. See also John MacArthur, Faith Works, pp. 175-92.]
I do not believe the apostle meant that the elect will inevitably continue in faith, namely, continue to believe the truths of the gospel. Paul warned that Christians can stop believing the truth (e.g., 1Ti 4:1; 2Ti 2:17-18). Rather Peter meant that God’s power keeps believers saved in spite of their sins because we have placed saving faith in Christ in the past. In this sense we never lose our faith.
There is much misunderstanding about the Bible’s teaching concerning the perseverance of the saints. Joseph Dillow has the most helpful and biblically consistent discussion of perseverance that I have found. [Note: Joseph C. Dillow, The Reign of the Servant Kings. See his Subject Index for his many references to it.] Scripture does not teach that Christians will inevitably continue to persevere in the faith, that is, continue believing the truth, walking with the Lord, or doing good works. It does teach that God will persevere in His commitment to bring all who have trusted in Him to heaven. If someone asks me if I believe in the perseverance of the saints, I ask him what he means by the perseverance of the saints. If he means that a believer is eternally secure, I say that I believe that. If he means that a believer will inevitably continue to believe the truth or follow God faithfully to the end of his or her life, even with occasional lapses, I say I do not believe that.
The salvation ready to be revealed in the last time is the aspect of salvation that we have yet to enjoy, namely, our glorification. When God glorifies us, He will save us from the presence of sin forever. This will happen when we see our Savior and are from then on with Him (1Th 4:17). This glorification will become ours at death or the Rapture, whichever event comes first.
"Every preparation for the final unveiling of this salvation is completed." [Note: Davids, p. 54.]
Salvation is the subject of 1Pe 1:3 to 1Pe 2:10. Note the recurrence of the word "salvation" (Gr. soteria) in 1Pe 1:5; 1Pe 1:9-10, and 1Pe 2:2. Peter referred primarily to the future aspect of our salvation in this epistle, namely, our glorification.