Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Peter 1:7
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
7. that the trial of your faith ] The use of the self-same phrase as in Jas 1:3 strengthens the conclusion suggested in the previous note as to St Peter’s knowledge of this Epistle. Test, perhaps even proof or probation, would better express the force of the Greek word. Faith is not known to be what it is until it is tested by suffering.
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth ] The words suggest at once a natural similitude and point out its incompleteness. That “gold is tried and purified by fire” was a familiar analogy, as in Pro 17:3; Pro 27:21, Sir 2:5 , 1Co 3:13, but the gold so purified belongs still to the category of perishable things, while the faith which is purified by suffering takes its place among those that are imperishable.
might be found unto praise and honour and glory ] The words stand somewhat vaguely in the Greek as in the English, and might possibly express that what men suffer is for God’s glory. The context, however, and the parallelism of Rom 2:7, make it certain that they refer to the “praise” [found here only in conjunction with the familiar combination (Rom 2:7; Rom 2:10, 1Ti 1:17) of “honour and glory”] which men shall receive (comp. 1Co 4:5), when sufferings rightly borne have done their work, in and at the revelation of Jesus Christ in His Second Coming as the Judge of all men.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
That the trial of your faith – The putting of your religion to the test, and showing what is its real nature. Compare Jam 1:3, Jam 1:12.
Being much more precious than of gold – This does not mean that their faith was much more precious than gold, but that the testing of it, ( dokimion,) the process of showing whether it was or was not genuine, was a much more important and valuable process than that of testing gold in the fire. More important results were to be arrived at by it, and it was more desirable that it should be done.
That perisheth – Not that gold perishes by the process of being tried in the fire, for this is not the fact, and the connection does not demand this interpretation. The idea is, that gold, however valuable it is, is a perishable thing. It is not an enduring, imperishable, indestructible thing, like religion. It may not perish in the fire, but it will in some way, for it will not endure forever.
Though it be tried with fire – This refers to the gold. See the Greek. The meaning is, that gold, though it will bear the action of fire, is yet a destructible thing, and will not endure forever. It is more desirable to test religion than it is gold, because it is more valuable. It pertains to that which is eternal and indestructible, and it is therefore of more importance to show its true quality, and to free it from every improper mixture.
Might be found unto praise – That is, might be found to be genuine, and such as to meet the praise or commendation of the final judge.
And honor – That honor might be done to it before assembled worlds.
And glory – That it might be rewarded with that glory which will be then conferred on all who have shown, in the various trials of life, that they had true religion.
At the appearing of Jesus Christ – To judge the world. Compare Mat 25:31; Act 1:11; 1Th 4:16; 2Th 2:8; 1Ti 6:14; 2Ti 4:1, 2Ti 4:8; Tit 2:13. From these two verses 1Pe 1:6-7 we may learn:
I. That it is desirable that the faith of Christians should be tried:
(a) It is desirable to know whether that which appears to be religion is genuine, as it is desirable to know whether that which appears to be gold is genuine. To gold we apply the action of intense heat, that we may know whether it is what it appears to be; and as religion is of more value than gold, so it is more desirable that it should be subjected to the proper tests, that its nature may be ascertained. There is much which appears to be gold, which is of no value, as there is much which appears to be religion, which is of no value. The one is worth no more than the other, unless it is genuine.
(b) It is desirable in order to show its true value. It is of great importance to know what that which is claimed to be gold is worth for the purposes to which gold is usually applied; and so it is in regard to religion. Religion claims to be of more value to man than anything else. It asserts its power to do that for the intellect and the heart which nothing else can do; to impart consolation in the various trials of life which nothing else can impart; and to give a support which nothing else can on the bed of death. It is very desirable, therefore, that in these various situations it should show its power; that is, that its friends should be in these various conditions, in order that they may illustrate the true value of religion.
(c) It is desirable that true religion should be separated from all alloy. There is often much alloy in gold, and it is desirable that it should be separated from it, in order that it may be pure. So it is in religion. It is often combined with much that is unholy and impure; much that dims its lustre and mars its beauty; much that prevents its producing the effect which it would otherwise produce. Gold is, indeed, often better, for some purposes, for having some alloy mixed with it; but not so with religion. It is never better for having a little pride, or vanity, or selfishness, or meanness, or worldliness, or sensuality mingled with it; and that which will remove these things from our religion will be a favor to us.
II. God takes various methods of trying his people, with a design to test the value of their piety, and to separate it from all impure mixtures:
(1) He tries his people by prosperity – often as decisive a test of piety as can be applied to it. There is much pretended piety, which will bear adversity, but which will not bear prosperity. The piety of a man is decisively tested by popularity; by the flatteries of the world; by a sudden increase of property; and in such circumstances it is often conclusively shown that there is no true religion in the soul.
(2) He tries his people in adversity. He lays his hand on them heavily, to show:
(a)Whether they will bear up under their trials, and persevere in his service;
(b)To show whether their religion will keep them from murmuring or complaining;
(c)To show whether it is adapted to comfort and sustain the soul.
(3) He tries his people by sudden transition from one to the other. We get accustomed to a uniform course of life, whether it be joy or sorrow; and the religion which is adapted to a uniform course may be little suited to transitions from one condition of life to another. In prosperity we may have shown that we were grateful, and benevolent, and disposed to serve God; but our religion will be subjected to a new test, if we are suddenly reduced to poverty. In sickness and poverty, we learn to be patient and resigned, and perhaps even happy. But the religion which we then cultivated may be little adapted to a sudden transition to prosperity; and in such a transition, there would be a new trial of our faith. That piety which shone so much on a bed of sickness, might be little suited to shine in circumstances of sudden prosperity. The human frame may become accustomed either to the intense cold of the polar regions, or to the burning heats of the equator; but in neither case might it bear a transition from one to the other. It is such a transition that is a more decisive test of its powers of endurance than either intense heat or cold, if steadily prolonged.
III. Religion will bear any trial which may be applied to it, just as gold will bear the action of fire.
IV. Religion is imperishable in its nature. Even the most pure gold will perish. Time will corrode it, or it will be worn away by use, or it will be destroyed at the universal conflagration; but time and use will not wear out religion, and it will live on through the fires that will consume everything else.
V. Christians should be willing to pass through trials:
- They will purify their religion, just as the fire will remove dross from gold.
- They will make it shine more brightly, just as gold does when it comes out of the furnace.
- They will disclose more fully its value.
- They will furnish an evidence that we shall be saved; for that religion which will bear the tests that God applies to it in the present life, will bear the test of the final trial.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold] As by the action of fire gold is separated from all alloy and heterogeneous mixtures, and is proved to be gold by its enduring the action of the fire without losing any thing of its nature, weight, colour, or any other property, so genuine faith is proved by adversities, especially such as the primitive Christians were obliged to pass through. For the word was then, “Renounce Jesus and live,” “Cleave to him and die;” for every Christian was in continual danger of losing his life. He then who preferred Christianity to his life gave full proof, not only of his own sincerity, but also of the excellency of the principle by which he was influenced; as his religion put him in possession of greater blessings, and more solid comforts, than any thing the earth could afford.
Though it be tried with fire] That is: Though gold will bear the action of the fire for any given time, even millions of years, were they possible, without losing the smallest particle of weight or value, yet even gold, in process of time, will wear away by continual use; and the earth, and all its works, will be burnt up by that supernatural fire whose action nothing can resist. But on that day the faith of Christ’s followers will be found brighter, and more glorious. The earth, and universal nature, shall be dissolved; but he who doeth the will of God shall abide for ever, and his faith shall then be found to the praise of God’s grace, the honour of Christ, and the glory or glorification of his own soul throughout eternity. God himself will praise such faith, angels and men will hold it in honour, and Christ will crown it with glory. For some remarks on the nature and properties of gold see at the end of the chapter.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That the trial of your faith; i.e. your faith when tried. He compares the faith of the saints with gold, and argues from the less to the greater: q.d. If men do so far esteem their gold, that they will make the excellency and preciousness of it appear by trying it in the fire, which purgeth away the dross, and discovers the goodness of the metal; no wonder if God will have the faith of the saints (more precious to him than gold is to men) tried by afflictions, that the excellency of it may more fully be discovered.
Being much more precious than of gold; i.e. than the trial of gold; or gold tried, compared with faith tried.
That perisheth; is worn away, and consumed by use, as many particles of it likewise may be in the very trial of it, 1Pe 1:18; whereas faith is not consumed nor wasted, but increased by being used, and made more conspicuous by being tried.
Might be found unto praise and honour and glory; i.e. may be found to be, or to have turned, to praise, &c., the dignity of it being by that means evidenced. These several words show whither present trials tend, and in what they issue; they may be reproachful and ignominious now, Heb 12:2, but they end in glory. We need not be critical about the difference of these three words, praise, honour, and glory, which may be synonymous expressions (by way of amplification) of the same thing, yet they are mentioned distinctly with relation to believers elsewhere; praise, 1Co 4:5, honour, 1Sa 2:30; Joh 12:26, glory, as well as honour, Rom 2:10.
At the appearing of Jesus Christ; i.e. at the day of judgment, frequently so called, as 1Pe 1:13; 5:4; Col 3:4; 2Th 1:7. Christs glory is at present hid and obscured, while he is instructing his elect, and training them up unto patience, and defers his judging of his enemies; but at last it will be fully manifested in the face of the world, when he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, &c., Rev 1:7.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. Aim of the “temptations.”
trialtesting, proving.That your faith so proved “may be found (aorist; oncefor all, as the result of its being proved on the judgment-day)unto (eventuating in) praise,” c., namely, the praise to bebestowed by the Judge.
than that of goldrather,”than gold.”
though“whichperisheth, YET is triedwith fire.” If gold, though perishing (1Pe1:18), is yet tried with fire in order to remove dross and testits genuineness, how much more does your faith, which shall neverperish, need to pass through a fiery trial to remove whatever isdefective, and to test its genuineness and full value?
glory“Honor”is not so strong as “glory.” As “praise” is inwords, so “honor” is in deeds: honorary reward.
appearingTranslate asin 1Pe 1:13, “revelation.”At Christ’s revelation shall take place also the revelation of thesons of God (Ro 8:19,”manifestation,” Greek, “revelation” 1Jo3:2, Greek, “manifested . . . manifested,” for “appear. . . appear”).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
That the trial of your faith,…. This is the principal end which God has in afflictive providences, to try the faith of his people; so the faith of Abraham, Job, Habakkuk, and others, have been tried:
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth: the grace of faith is much more precious than gold; since that perisheth by using, but faith does not; and since it is so valuable as not to be obtained by it; and since those that have it, though poor in this world, are rich, and heirs of a kingdom: but the trying of it is abundantly more precious than gold; for not only as gold being tried in the fire is purged from its dross, and is proved to be genuine and shines the brighter, so faith, being tried in the fire of afflictions, is purged from unbelief; and the believer is purged from his dross and tin, and his iniquity is purged, and the fruit of all is to take away sin; and he is tried and proved to be a true believer, and his faith shines the more illustriously, as in the above instances; yea, the very trying of it has an influence on other graces, for great usefulness; for the trying of faith works patience, and that, experience, and that, hope:
though it be tried with fire: either though gold be tried with fire, and so is greatly refined, yet it is more precious than that; or though faith be tried with the fire of afflictions, yet it is precious, and more precious than gold: and it is tried for this purpose,
that it might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ; who is now in the highest heavens, and out of sight, but will appear a second time without sin unto salvation, and every eye shall see him; and when the believer will be found in him, and his faith be found unto praise by him, he will have praise of him himself; it will be said unto him, “Well done, good and faithful servant”; his faith will be praised for its steadiness and constancy, notwithstanding all persecutions and tribulations; and his good works, the fruits of faith, will be taken notice of by him with commendation; he will be honoured, by being placed on the right hand of Christ, and by being set down with him in his throne, and having a crown of righteousness given to him; and he will be glorified both in soul and body; his body will be made like to Christ’s glorious body, and his soul will have a glory revealed in it; and in his whole person he shall appear, when Christ does, with him in glory.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The proof of your faith ( ). The identical phrase in Jas 1:3 and probably derived from there by Peter. See there for discussion of (the test or touchstone of faith).
Being more precious (). No word for “being” () in the Greek. The secondary uncials have . The text is the comparative of , late adjective (Plutarch) from and (of great price) as in Mt 13:46.
Than gold (). Ablative case after the comparative adjective.
That perisheth ( ). Present middle articular participle of to destroy. Even gold perishes (wears away).
Though it is proved by fire ( ). Present passive articular participle (in the ablative like ) of (common verb for testing metals) with , which gives a concessive sense to the participle. Faith stands the test of fire better than gold, but even gold is refined by fire.
That might be found ( ). Purpose clause with and the first aorist passive subjunctive of , common verb, to find. As in 2Pe 3:14, this is the result of the probation by God as the Refiner of hearts.
Unto praise and glory and honour ( ). Here probably both to God and man in the result. Cf. Matt 5:11; Rom 2:7; Rom 2:10; 1Tim 1:17.
At the revelation of Jesus Christ ( ). So also in 1Pet 1:13; 1Pet 4:13; 2Thess 1:7; 1Cor 1:7; Luke 17:30 of the second coming of Christ as the Judge and Rewarder (Bigg).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Trial [] . Only here and Jas 1:3. Rev., proof. The word means a test. As the means of proof, however, is not only the touchstone itself, but the trace of the metal left upon it, the sense here is the result of the contact of faith with trial, and hence the verification of faith. The expression is equivalent to your approved faith. Compare Rom 2:7, 10. Than of gold. Omit the of, and read than gold. The comparison is between the approved faith and the gold; not between the faith and the proof of the gold.
Though it be tried [] . Kindred with dokimion, proof, and better rendered by Rev., proved. The verb is used in classical Greek of assaying or testing metals, and means, generally, to approve or sanction upon test. It is radically akin to decesqai, to receive, and hence implies a proof with a view to determine whether a thing be worthy to be received. Compare 1Co 3:13; Gal 6:4; 1Jo 4:1. It thus differs from peirazein, to try or tempt (see on peirasmoiv, ver. 6), in that that verb indicates simply a putting to proof to discover what good or evil is in a person; and from the fact that such scrutiny so often develops the existence any energy of evil, the word acquired a predominant sense of putting to the proof with the design or hope of breaking down the subject under the proof – in other words, of temptation in the ordinary sense. Hence Satan is called oJ peirazwn, the tempter, Mt 4:3; 1Th 3:5. See on Mt 6:13. Archbishop Trench observes that “dokimazein could not be used of Satan, since he never proves that he may approve, nor tests that he may accept.”
Might be found [] . In accord with the preceding expressions, and indicating discovery as the result of scrutiny.
Praise and glory and honor. Such is the order of the best texts, and so. Rev. Glory and honor often occur together in the New Testament, as Rom 2:7, 10; 1Ti 1:17. Only here with praise. Compare spirit of glory, ch. 4 14.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “That the trial of your faith.” (Gk. hina) In order that or so that the (Gk. dokimion) testing or proving of the faith of you – the Spiritual gift that brought you salvation, 1Co 13:13; Eph 2:8-9.
2) “Being much more precious than gold that perisheth (Gk. polutimoteron) being or existing as much or abundantly more precious than (chrusiou) gold of the perishing nature or kind.
3) “Though it be tried by fire.” Gk. dia puros) through fire even (Gk. dokimazomenou) being tested or proved.
4) “Might be found unto praise and honor and glory.” (Gk. euretha eis epainon) may or might be found unto praise, even glory and honor.
5) “At the appearing of Jesus Christ.” (Gk. en pokalupsei) in the unveiling or revelation of Jesus Christ.
6) The word suffering” is the key word in 1 Peter, and it is used some 17 times. That Christians should be willing to suffer and endure it for the sake of Jesus Christ is set forth as a disciplinary Christian virtue that leads to maturity and eventual rewards and glory at the coming of the Lord, 1Pe 4:13; 2Ti 2:12.
TRIED AND TRUE
When a founder has cast his bell he does not at once put it into the steeple, but tries it with the hammer, and beats it on every side, to see if there is a f law. So when Christ converts a man, He does not at once convey him to heaven, but suffers him to be beaten upon by many temptations and afflictions, and then exalts him to his crown. As snow is of itself cold, yet warms and refreshes the earth, so afflictions, though in themselves grievous, keep the Christian’s soul warm and make it fruitful.
–Fellowship News.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
7. Much more precious than of gold The argument is from the less to the greater; for if gold, a corruptible metal, is deemed of so much value that we prove it by fire, that it may become really valuable, what wonder is it that God should require a similar trial as to faith, since faith is deemed by him so excellent? And though the words seem to have a different meaning, he yet compares faith to gold, and makes it more precious than gold, that hence he might draw the conclusion, that it ought to be fully proved. (11) It is moreover uncertain how far he extends the meaning of the words, “tried” δοκιμάζεσθαι and “trial” δοκίμιον
Gold is, indeed, tried twice by fire; first, when it is separated from its dross; and then, when a judgment is to be formed of its purity. Both modes of trial may very suitably be applied to faith; for when there is much of the dregs of unbelief remaining in us, and when by various afflictions we are refined as it were in God’s furnace, the dross of our faith is removed, so that it becomes pure and clean before God; and, at the same time, a trial of it is made, as to whether it be true or fictitious. I am disposed to take these two views, and what immediately follows seems to favor this explanation; for as silver is without honor or value before it be refined, so he intimates that our faith is not to be honored and crowned by God until it be duly proved.
At the appearing of Jesus Christ, or, when Jesus Christ shall be revealed. This is added, that the faithful might learn to hold on courageously to the last day. For our life is now hidden in Christ, and will remain hidden, and as it were buried, until Christ shall appear from heaven; and the whole course of our life leads to the destruction of the external man, and all the things we suffer are, as it were, the preludes of death. It is hence necessary, that we should cast our own eyes on Christ, if we wish in our afflictions to behold glory and praise. For trials as to us are full of reproach and shame, and they become glorious in Christ; but that glory in Christ is not yet plainly seen, for the day of consolation is not yet come. (12)
(11) The seeming difference in meaning referred to, arises from this, that the Apostle uses two nouns (a common thing in Scripture) instead of a noun and an adjective or participle — “the trial of your faith,” instead of “your tried faith,” or, “your faith when tried.” — Ed.
(12) The “praise, honor, and glory,” refer to tried faith; it will be praised or approved by the Judge, honored before men and angels, and followed by eternal glory. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) That the trial of your faith.This depends grammatically on having been grieved. The purpose of Gods providence in sending the griefs is that the trial of your faith might be found unto praise. The word trial here does not mean exactly the same as in the passage of St. James; in that passage it signifies the active testing of faith, here it has rather the meaning of the cognate word translated assurance in Rom. 5:4, proof in 2Co. 2:9, Php. 2:22, i.e., the attested worth, the genuine character. This seems necessitated by the comparison of the trial with the gold itself, as we shall see. You cannot compare an act or process with gold, but you can compare the genuine character brought out by the process properly enough. Besides, that which you wish to praise at Christs coming is not the process by which the faith was proved, but the worth of the faith itself. Faith seems to mean the same as in 1Pe. 1:5.
Being much more precious than of gold.There is no reason, or indeed any grammatical right, to insert the of. It should be, more exceedingly valuable than gold. He does not say your faith is more valuable than gold, but your faiths genuineness is more valuable than gold. It is worth anything to establish the true character of your faith; it would be a most serious loss to leave a chance of an imputation upon your Christianity.
That perisheth, though it be tried with fire.Rather, which is a thing that perisheth, and yet is tried through fire. The argument is this. Gold is a perishable thing, and comes to an end with the rest of the world, or is worn away with handling and is lost; and yet men take great pains to test it and show that it contains no dross, and do so by means of fire. How much more may we expect a fiery trial (1Pe. 4:12) to test the character of our belief in the unseen Christ, when that belief is never to come to an end (1Co. 13:13), and on its freedom from alloy everything depends!
Might be found.That is, might clearly prove to be. The time will come when the gold will be inspected, and the Judge, and all the spectators, will find that the testing was sufficient and the character satisfactory. Found unto praise, or, found for a praise, is a Hebraism, meaning found to be a matter of praise. St. Peter is fond of heaping up words of like signification. (See 1Pe. 1:4, and 1Pe. 5:10.) Praise is the language that will be used about these mens faith; honour, the rank in which they will be placed; glory, the fervent admiration accorded to them: the three words correspond to the regions of word, act, and feeling.
At the appearing of Jesus Christ.Revelation would have been better, as the word in the Greek is the same as in 1Pe. 1:5. This gives the date at which the trial will have done its work: it is the same as the last time when the deliverance will be revealed. Remember that all through the afflictions and assaults the men are being guarded by the power of God. There are several words and thoughts in this whole passage which would suggest that Daniel 12 was before the mind of the Apostle more or less consciously.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. That the trial It is a part of God’s plan that the faith of his people shall be tested and proved. So Abraham was tried, (Heb 11:17,) and Jesus himself underwent the terrible ordeal. The troubles and afflictions incident to all earthly conditions fall under this head, as do also the allurements of the world, and whatever would draw us from Christ. As gold, which is destroyed in the using, is so precious in the eyes of men that they nevertheless prove and purify it with fire, so faith, in God’s sight much more precious than gold, must undergo a like fiery ordeal; and the faith that endures the test will be found at the judgment to be pure and genuine, and will receive, as the result, praise, honour, and glory from the Judge.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Pe 1:7. That the trial of your faith, &c. “Though gold loses nothing in the furnace, yet will it by length of time wear away, or be affected with rust, though not so soon as some other metals; and it will at farthest perish in the general conflagration: but faith will then stand the trial, and come out brighter and more glorious.” Some would read this, That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold and silver which had been tried in the fire. Afflictions are to men’s faith, what the furnace is to gold; that is, to try whether it is proof or no; and, if it be proof, will purify, refine, make it brighter and more valuable. St. Peter therefore calls a severe persecution , a fiery trial. Ch. 1Pe 4:12. See Job 23:10.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Pe 1:7 . ] states the aim of the , in order to console the readers with respect to it, “ that the approvedness of your faith may be found more precious than (that) of gold, which perisheth, yet it is tried by fire, to (your) praise, and glory, and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ .”
here, as in Jas 1:3 (cf. in loco ), equal to , the approvedness as the result of the trial ( Rom 5:3-4 ; 2Co 2:9 ; 2Co 9:13 ; Phi 2:22 ). [64] The strict signification “ medium of proof” is inappropriate, inasmuch as the aim of the cannot be stated as the glorification of these , but as only that of faith in its approvedness (in opposition to Steinmeyer). Unsuitable, too, is the interpretation “trial” (Brckner, Wiesinger), being taken for , inasmuch as it is not the trial of the faith, but the faith being tried that is to be compared with the gold. This substitution of ideas is not justifiable, inasmuch as the process applied to an object cannot be put for the object itself to which it is applied. Only if denote a quality of faith, can a substitution of this kind take place. must be taken as: “ approvedness ,” and by approvedness of faith, the “approved,” or rather “the faith approving itself.” [65]
[64] in the N. T. has either an active or a passive signification; in the former it means: “the trial which leads to approvedness,” as in 2Co 8:2 ; in the latter: “the approvedness effected by trial,” as in the passages quoted; or better still: “a distinction must be drawn between a present and a perfect force, in that “ has a reflexive sense, either, then, the having approved itself, or the approving itself,” Cremer, s.v .
[65] Brckner raises the following objections to this interpretation: (1) That can linguistically only be understood as: means of proof, trial; and (2) That the part, pres., standing in opposition to ( ), does not presuppose the purification of the gold to have already taken place, and that, consequently, the only can be considered as compared with . But against this it must be observed that has only the signification of “means of proof,” not of trial; and (3) That in the above interpretation it is not the already approved faith, but that faith which is being approved, or approving itself in tribulation, which is contrasted with gold which is being tried.
REMARK.
What Schott had formerly alleged with respect to is repeated by Hofmann, only by him it is carried further. By an highly artificial interpretation of Psa 11:7 , LXX., and by the application of the rule established by him, “that the neuter of the adjective does not stand in the place of an abstract attributive, but expresses the condition of something as a concrete reality, and in conjunction with a genitive denotes the object thereby named in this its condition,” Hofmann makes out that it is here affirmed that “at the revelation of Christ it will be found that the faith of the readers has been subjected to purification, and is in consequence free from dross.” This whole interpretation is a pure matter of fancy, for a circumstance which both Schott and Hofmann have left unnoticed is not an adjective, but a real substantive; for .
Cremer explains: “ . is not the touchstone only, in and for itself, but the trace left behind on it by the metal; therefore . is that which results from the contact of with , that by which faith is recognised as genuine, equal to the proof of faith.” But in opposition to this it must be remarked that fire and not touchstone is here conceived as the means of testing.
. . .] is by most interpreters closely connected with , by others again (Wolf, Pott, Steinmeyer, Wiesinger, Hofmann) separated from it, and considered as in apposition to . . . The following facts, however, are decisive against the latter construction: (1) That as Wiesinger admits this appositional clause expresses “something understood of itself.” (2) That the intention here is not to make an observation on faith, but to state what is the design of sorrow, namely, that the faith which is approving itself may be found to be one . (3) That thus would be deprived of any nearer definition, in that the subsequent has reference not to alone, but to the whole idea expressed. Yet it cannot well dispense with a nearer definition (in opposition to Hofmann).
The genitive is, as almost all the interpreters take it, to be joined in sense directly with the comparative: “ than the gold ,” so that the of the faith is compared with the gold. Some commentators, like Beza, Grotius, Vorstius, Steinmeyer, Hofmann, assume an ellipsis (cf. Winer, p. 230 [E. T. 307]), supplying before the words . In opposition it may be urged, however, not precisely “that this is cumbrous” (Brckner), but that the point of comparison is not properly the approval of faith, but the faith in the act of approving itself. Whilst comparing the faith with the gold, the apostle places the former above the latter; the reason of this he states in the attribute connected with , by which reference is made to the imperishable nature of faith. To this first attribute he subjoins the second: , in order to name here also the medium of proving, to which the , with respect to faith, correspond. Accordingly Wiesinger and Steinmeyer are wrong in asserting that in the interpretation here given the attribute is inappropriate.
: , cf. 1Pe 1:18 ; 1Pe 1:23 ; also Joh 6:27 . For the position of the adjective with art. after an anarthrous subst., see Winer, p. 131 f. [E. T. 174].
] The particle seems to place this second adjunct in antithesis to the first ( ) (thus de Wette: “which is perishable, and yet is proved by fire;” so also Hofmann). But opposed to this view is the circumstance that the trial and purification of what is perishable is by no means anything to occasion surprise; it is therefore more correct to find the purpose of the adjunct in this, that by it the idea of the is brought prominently forward. Vorstius remarks to the point: aurum igni committitur non ad iteritum, sed ad gloriam, sic fides cruci ad gloriam subjicitur.
For this comparison, see Job 23:10 ; Pro 17:3 ; Zec 13:9 .
] The verb , “ to be found to be ,” is more significant than (cf. Winer, p. 572 f. [E. T. 769 f.]), and has reference to the judicial investigation on the last day of judgment. The words following form an adjunct to the whole preceding thought: . Beza rightly: hic agitur de ipsorum electorum laude, etc.; thus: “to your praise, glory, and honour.” Schott quite arbitrarily interprets as in itself: “the judicial recognition” (as opposed to this, cf. Phi 1:11 ; Phi 4:8 ); : “the moral estimation of the person arising therefrom” (as opposed to this, cf. 1Pe 3:7 ), and : “the form of glory” (as opposed to this, cf. Gal 1:5 ; Phi 1:11 ). Steinmeyer incorrectly applies the words not to the persons, but to their faith. and in the N. T. stand frequently together; in connection with , here only. The juxtaposition of these synonymous expressions serves to give prominence to the one idea of honourable recognition common to them all. Standing as does between and , it cannot signify: “the allotment of the possession of glory” (Wiesinger), but it is: “glory, praise.”
] not: “ through ,” but: “ at ,” the revelation of Jesus Christ, that is, on the day of His return, which is at once the (Rom 2:5 ) and the (Rom 8:19 ).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
XIX
UNDESERVED CHRISTIAN SUFFERING
1Pe 1:7-25
We have considered in two chapters the New Testament life of Peter, all the passages referring to Peter in their chronological order, and we have had a chapter on the special introduction to the first letter of Peter, and in addition have proceeded in the expository analysis of that letter down to verse 6.
That brings us to the seventh item of the expository analysis. The preceding items were these:
1. Peter’s doctrine of election.
2. The effect of Christ’s resurrection on the hope of the disciples.
3. The great inheritance to which that hope points.
4. The preservation of the heirs of that inheritance.
5. The consummation of the salvation.
6. Joy in grief that paradox.
The seventh item of the expository analysis, the one which we are to discuss in this chapter, is suggested by the following words: “Ye have been put to grief in manifold trials that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold that perisheth, though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” That declaration introduces the value and purpose of the Christian’s undeserved suffering in this life. Peter makes some references to the Christian’s suffering where it is deserved through his faults. But the problem is that of undeserved Christian suffering in this life. This is the problem of the book of Job, also the problem of Psa 73 . It is the old story of the burning bush and of the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar. But 1 Peter throws more light on it than all the books of the Old Testament put together.
The following passages in this letter continue to bring up the subject: 1Pe 2:20 ; 1Pe 3:14 ; 1Pe 3:17 ; 1Pe 4:1 ; 1Pe 4:12-18 ; 1Pe 5:10 . So that in every chapter of this letter there is a discussion of the problem of undeserved suffering. If we were to gather all the statements in the letter bearing upon that subject, we would reach the following results:
1. One object of undeserved Christian suffering is to try our faith, and his illustration is “like gold that is tried in the fire.” By fusing gold in the crucible the pure metal is separated from the alloy; the gold is not destroyed by being fused, but it is cleansed and purified. We find the same thought in the book of Malachi, where he says, “Jesus will sit as a refiner of silver.” The refiner puts the silver in the crucible and keeps increasing the heat and watching it, and as soon as it is thoroughly melted, then there is a separation of the dross from the silver. Let us fix the thought in our mind that God’s object, or one of his objects, in permitting or sending undeserved trouble, is to refine us. It is the fiery trial of our faith. Peter did not understand that when he was subjected to the sifting trial at the request of the devil: “Simon, Satan hath obtained you apostles by asking that he may sift you as wheat.” He could not have gotten the permission for another purpose, but he did get it for that purpose, for wheat ought to be sifted; it does not hurt it even if the devil shakes the sieve. We thereby get rid of the chaff.
2. These trials, no matter who the immediate agent, are by the will of God. The will of the devil was indeed in that trying of Peter, but so was the will of God. In other words, the devil’s will in the matter was permissive and limited. We may be slandered and the man or demon who slanders us may be prompted by envy, hatred, or malice, but if we are submissive to the dominant and benevolent divine will, great good accrues.
3. “Beloved brethren, think it not strange concerning this fiery trial that has come upon you.” That is the first impression of the average Christian. He is amazed at what has come upon him. A strange, a very strange providence!
There are several reasons why he should not think it strange. One reason is that such trials are common to all of God’s people; always have been and always will be. Paul says, “No temptation hath come to you but such as is common to man.” In other words, “It isn’t worth while to try to make a martyrD out of yourself by supposing that you are a special case.” Another reason why we should not think it strange is that that is the only way to accomplish certain good results results that are intensely beneficial. A good sister in the church in Waco when I was pastor, wanted me to join with her in prayer that she might have patience, and I asked her how she wanted that patience to come, handed down in a sealed package from heaven, or by God’s method? She said of course God’s method. “Then, my dear sister,” I said to her, “there is only one mill that I know of that grinds the grist of patience, and that is tribulation.” “Tribulation worketh patience,” and desiring patience we must not complain of the antecedent and necessary tribulation.
If we want permanent relief from an incorrigible tooth, we must endure the ordeal of extraction.
4. Our patient endurance of affliction is a powerful means of convicting sinners of sin. A Christian who meekly endures, without murmuring, what God puts on him, and goes right on saying in his heart and in his life that the Judge of all the earth doeth right, that man convicts sinners. They know they can’t do that and that he has something they have not. And not only is it a way of convicting sinners, but it is an evidence, a token of our salvation, that we belong to the elect, that we belong to God’s people.
5. This endurance of undeserved affliction is acceptable with God. No matter what it costs us to bear a thing patiently, we have this consolation: “It hurts me, but it is acceptable with God.”
6. The next thought he sets forth is, that we are called unto these things. Every man that is a Christian in some way received a call. Just as Jesus met Paul in the middle of the road, and said, “Saul! Saul!” So in a way through the gospel we are called. There was a time when we felt that call. Now that very first intimation to us that God’s Holy Spirit sent us, called us unto suffering. When Jesus called Saul he spoke to Ananias and said, “I will show him how great things he must suffer for my sake.”
7. The next thought that Peter presents with very great force is the example of Christ. The servant should not seek to be better than his master; to be exempt from things that his master has to bear; it was in the mind of Christ to be a sufferer. It was a joy to him, as he looked to the recompense of the reward, and so Peter says that Christ suffered that he might put before us an example. True, there are some things in which the sufferings of Christ are not an example to us. We can’t follow Christ as a vicarious expiation for sin. But we can follow Christ in most of the sufferings that came upon him when he was in the flesh. “Can you be baptized with the baptism that I am to be baptized with?” And he answers the question: “Ye shall indeed be baptized with that baptism. The waves roll over you.”
Then Peter makes this point that looks like it is too simple for a statement, yet when we keep turning it over in our minds, we get something out of it. He says, “It is better to suffer wrongfully than justly.” Everybody in the world suffers; there is no escape from that. Some people suffer justly; they deserve it; and some suffer wrongfully. Peter says of the two, it is better to suffer wrongfully than to suffer justly. He then makes this capital point that whenever we have a trial as a Christian, when something that we didn’t deserve has come upon us, we then share with Christ; a partnership is established between us and the Lord.
When he was on his way to the cross, and it was heavy, and he had been subjected to great maltreatment and was hungry and weary and wasted, as he staggered under his burden, “Simon, a Cyrenian, they compelled to bear the cross” of Jesus. I don’t suppose Simon did it voluntarily, but somebody laid hold of this passer-by and compelled him to share that burden with Christ. And though unwilling to suffer voluntarily as a Christian, somebody will compel us to bear the cross of Christ; some outsider will take a hand in it, and so we might as well volunteer. Peter says that whenever we thus suffer, it is an evidence that the Spirit of glory and of God resteth on us.
Frequently he makes this point: That judgment must commence at the house of God. That is where it has to commence and there is a judgment in this world and a judgment in the world to come, and if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and the ungodly appear? We must take our choice: The judgment now or hereafter. Where will we have ours? We are wise to let the hand of God rest on us as heavy as it may in this life; that makes it easier in the time to come. They are exceedingly foolish who dodge suffering in this life; who shut their eyes to the fact that somewhere, some time, every man must render an account of himself to God and must be a burden-bearer. Let us take it as heavy as we can stand it in this life, and it will be all the better in the next.
Take the case of David to illustrate it: In that case it was deserved. God says to him, “I have put away thy sin,” that is, so far as the future’s concerned. “When you get to heaven there won’t be the weight of a pin against you up there; but you sinned down here on earth and you must be chastened.” But that is different from the problem we are considering here. He says, “If any man suffer, let him not suffer as a wrongdoer, for if when you are buffeted for your faults, what glory is it if you take it patiently? But if ye suffer as a Christian, the Spirit of glory and of God resteth on you.” He winds up his letter with a climax on that problem. It is a precious text to me, and it was to Spurgeon: “The God of all grace” grace in the daytime and at night; in sickness and in health; in good and evil report; in this world and in the world to come. “The God of all grace, after that ye have suffered a while, will perfect you himself; himself strengthen you; himself establish you, himself perfect you.”
The eighth item of the expository analysis is based on this scripture: “Whom having not seen, ye love; on whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory; receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” What a theme for preaching! I have it this way in my analysis: Loving, believing, rejoicing, and receiving without seeing. In the first chapter on the life of Peter we were examining those experiences or observations on his own life that made the most impression on his own mind, and one of the things so noted was Peter’s presence when Thomas said, “Except I put my fingers in the print of the nails in his hands, and thrust my hand in his side, I will not believe.” Peter was also present when Jesus came into the assembly and said, “Thomas, behold my hands, reach hither your fingers, thrust your hand in my side.” And Thomas believed, but Jesus said, “Blessed are they who not seeing, yet believe.”
That saying made a great impression on Peter, believing without seeing. Andrew Fuller in his works, has a sermon on what faith is contrasted with. He says faith is not contrasted with frames and feelings. If we feel good today and felt bad yesterday, that is what he means by frames and feelings, but faith is contrasted with sight. “We walk by faith, not by sight.” Faith takes hold of the invisible. Moses endured as seeing him who is invisible. In other words, faith is the eye to the soul. Our carnal eye cannot see heaven, invisible to natural sight. To give an illustration: If we step out at night and throw our eyes up toward heaven, we see a splash across the sky called the Milky; Way. The natural eye cannot discern between the parts of the whiteness, but when we look at it through the big telescopes in the observatory, that splash of whiteness differentiates; it separates into millions of distinct worlds. What the telescope is to the natural eye, so faith is to the soul. It brings distant things near and outlines them so we can take hold of them. Peter says not only are we called on to believe without seeing, but we are to love without seeing, and we are to rejoice with joy unspeakable without seeing, and we are to receive the salvation of our souls without seeing. It is all visible by faith. Faith gives substance to things hoped for, and is the evidence of the things not seen.
The ninth item of the analysis is the unity and glory of the plan of salvation based on 1Pe 1:10-11 : “Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. To whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto you, did they minister these things, which now have been announced unto you through them that preached the gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven, which things angels desire to look into.” Analyzing that compound sentence we get the following thoughts:
1. The unity of the two testimonies; they strike hands. What these Old Testament prophets foretold, our New Testament apostles proclaimed as facts and proclaimed them with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. The two parts fit into each other; one is the development of the other, so that there is a unity in the plan of revelation.
2. Wherever a revelation comes from God in the form of a prophecy, it becomes a subject of inquiry to the receiver of it. Imagine Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, looking upon that mysterious suffering servant of the Lord revealed to him: “Who hath believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? His visage was marred more than that of any of the sons of men. He was esteemed stricken and afflicted of God. All our sins were put on him.” Immediately the question came up in his mind: “What time and what manner of time will this be?” Those prophets searched diligently. Searched on what point? As to the time and manner of time that the things they foretold would take place. But not only the prophets tried to look into it, but the angels tried to look into it. It attracted the attention of the angels: “Which things the angels desire to look into.”
3. When they so searched, it was revealed unto them that these things which they were foretelling were not for themselves, but for us, to come long after they had passed away. God let them see that these wonderful things about Christ’s sufferings and those marvelous glories that would follow his sufferings, would not come in their time. Observe the analogy of the New Testament prophecy and notice how now, as well as then, men want to get at the time and manner of time of the second advent. When Christ predicted the destruction of the temple and the end of the world, Peter, with others, asked, “Lord, when shall these things be?” Notice that he had that inquiring spirit which the old prophets had, the curiosity to look into the question of time and circumstance, and every one of us is an interrogation point on the same things. A brilliant lady in the days of Queen Anne made this remark about Alexander Pope, the great poet: “Why is Pope like an interrogation point? Because he is a little crooked thing that asks questions.” The witticism was brutally cruel in its reference to his small, malformed body. But every one of us is an interrogation point on the time and the manner of the second coming of Christ. “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom?” “Lord, will it be next week?” “Lord, can’t we figure it out as we do an eclipse, and make it known to the people, the day that all these things take place?” But how foolish, for when the wheels of time roll around they grind into powder all their mathematical calculations.
Our Lord would not answer that question. He would answer us just as he answered the prophets. He can reveal to us as he revealed to them, that these things are certain, that they are coming and that they are for somebody, but not for us. Peter was one of them. He knew the second advent was not for him, because Christ had told him that he would die by crucifixion; so he knew it would not come in his time. So the Thessalonians went wild until corrected by Paul. It is one of the most curious things in psychology a man’s curiosity to know the very things of the least concern to him. Wouldn’t one rather be saved than to know the time of salvation? Wouldn’t we rather be sure of our salvation than of the time of it? “When Thou, home. 0! how can I bear the piercing thought, what if my my righteous Judge, shall come to take thy ransomed people name should be left out?” Had we not rather be sure of the fact that we will not be left out than to be sure of the day?
Let me assure you solemnly that the great power of the second advent, just like the first, is not in the day of its coming, but it is in the fact of its coming and what follows.
I once took up this line of thought: “Which things the angels desire to look into,” and I followed it all through the Bible. When we get on an angel’s-trail, we are on a good trail. I followed it up all through the Bible to see, just as far as revelation would show, about the angels. I found them intensely interested in the affairs of this world from away back yonder when God made the world, and the sons of God shouted for joy. I found that from the time that he made it angels above, and angels below, angels of love, and angels of woe, concentrated their attention on the problems of man’s earthly and eternal life, and therefore, in those symbolical representations in Solomon’s Temple, the cherubim were carved as bending over the mercy seat and looking down there where the blood falls, intently looking down (that is what the word means). They were investigating the question of salvation by the shedding of blood.
Then their figures were represented on the veil, and when we come to the New Testament we find that they take stock in everything from the announcement on. They are not only at the cradle, but at the tomb, and a shining angel announced the resurrection. Paul says that whenever God’s people come together let the women have covering on their heads because of the angels; they are there. There are angels hovering round. They are students. They have not omniscience they have to learn by studying, by looking, therefore, Paul says that the church is the instructor of angels. “It shall be made known unto the angels the manifold wisdom of God by the church.” Newt here we have this plan of salvation with the angels studying about it and the prophets studying about it.
This brings us to the first exhortation in the book: “Wherefore,” that is, the “wherefore” looks back at every preceding thing, “girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” In other words, “That is the thing to think about. Don’t you set your mind on the time when, but on the grace that is to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” “As children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance, but like as he who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living, because it is written, ‘Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.’ “
That is his first exhortation. Peter does not let the taste get out of our mouth when giving a doctrine until he has a practical use for it. Doctrine is not something to be debated about, but assimilated in the life. A man may be go sound in doctrine that he is nothing but sound. Doctrine must be applied. We must so apply every revelation of God; every truth of God. Peter was a practical man.
The next point in my analysis I call, “What prayer entails.” “And if ye call on him as a Father who, without respect of persons, judgeth according to each man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear.” If we pray, what follows? Let us pass the time of sojourning here in fear. In other words, Christian prayer is a lot of foolishness if it is like school children slipping along down the street, running up to the front door and ringing the bell, then running off before anybody comes. If we ring the bell, if we pray, there is an obligation entailed when we pray. If we call on him as Father, we should pass the time of our sojourning here in fear. That covers his thought so well we will go to the next.
Our next division is “The Cost of Redemption,” and it covers a great deal of space. Let us read it: “Knowing that ye are redeemed, not with corruptible things) with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life, handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ.”
So, in discussing redemption, the first thing presented is its cost. What does it mean? To redeem is to buy back. It is the buying back of a lost soul. What did it cost? He says, “You were bought back, not with money, silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ”; that is the price he paid for it. He then says, following his thought on redemption, “Who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of the times for your sake.” This was the redeemer who, on the cross, paid the price of our redemption. But that was not the beginning of it. He was foreknown from the foundation of the world.
What took place on Calvary was the result of what took place before the world was made. It was not accidental, it was not an emergency prompted by the startled and surprised mind of God, seeing the devil had gotten away with the human race. At the beginning, and before God ever said, “Let the world be,” Christ knew all about it, and Christ, the Redeemer, was then in covenant with the Father. While he was foreknown before the foundation of the world, he was manifested in those last times, the fullness of time. Think of it, four thousand years I That will give us some conception of God. A thousand years are with God as one day, or like a watch in the night. Four thousand years that purpose of the Redeemer seemed to be slumbering. Every now and then a star would flash out a prophetic light, coming yet nearer and nearer to the truth: through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, etc., he must come; he must be born in Bethlehem of Judea. Getting nearer and nearer, at last he was manifested. God was manifested. The Redeemer came. And so will be the next advent.
Continuing the thought of redemption, he says, “Who through him are believers in God.” We should stop to think where our faith came from, and how utterly unknowable God is without Christ; now we can get hold of him. My own heart leaped for joy at the revelation of God the Father, when my soul by faith-took hold on Jesus Christ the Son. I never before had understood God. Jesus revealed God to me. It was through him that I believed in God. I saw God now to be loving and near, tender, and compassionate.
The redemption proof. The next thought that Peter presents is, “God the Father who raised him from the dead and gave him glory.” How calm was he at the last, when the three hours of darkness passed! Our Lord Jesus Christ, the only undisturbed soul in the universe, lifts up his eyes and prays, “Father, I have done what you told me to do; I have finished the work that you told me to do. Now, Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with you before the world was.” And he went down to death in unshaken faith that God would raise him and take him back to glory.
The next thought on redemption is its method of application, as presented in this verse: “Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth.” Now the application of the redemption “having been begotten again” we were begotten once of our earthly fathers and their seed, corruptible seed. That birth introduces us to the depravity of our sires. But when we get in touch with redemption we have a new birth, a birth from above and of a different seed, a different sire; the next time our sire is God. In the other case it was man, and since God is our sire in this regeneration we are born, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed, and the instrumentality employed is the word of God. “Of his own will he brought us forth with the words of truth,” says James. Peter himself adds: “having been begotten, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth.” ‘Tor all flesh withereth, and the flower falleth, but the word of the Lord abideth forever.” Some old-time Baptists contended that the word was not the seed, but the instrument of seed-planting, that the seminal principle of life was communicated through the word.
QUESTIONS
1. What the problem of the book of Job, of Psa 73 , and of this book?
2. What two symbolic representations of this problem in the Old Testament?
3. How does the discussion in this book compare with the Old Testament light on the subject?
4. On the undeserved suffering of the righteous answer: (1) What one of the objects? (2) By what are they permitted? (3) What usually the first impression made by them, and why should the Christian not think it strange? (4) What the effect of the patient endurance of them on the world? (5) What the consolation of undeserved affliction? (6) How is this subject related to the purpose of God? (7) What encouragement by way of example? (8) What distinction does Peter make on the subject of human suffering?
5. What great text for preaching? Give the author’s analysis.
6. What incident in Peter’s life brought forth this statement from him?
7. With what is faith contrasted, and what sermon cited?
8. Give an analysis of 1Pe 1:10-11 .
9. What is a more important question than the question of time?
10. What interest displayed in man’s salvation?
11. What the first exhortation in the book?
12. What does prayer entail?
13. What did our redemption cost?
14. What the meaning of “foreknown,” 1Pe 1:20 ?
15. How are we through Christ believers in God?
16. What is the redemption proof?
17. What the method of the application of redemption?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Ver. 7. That the trial of your faith ] If affliction (which is the trial of our faith) be so exceeding precious, what is faith then, and the promises whereon faith lays hold? There are those who by the trial of faith understand here a well tried faith, which is called “gold tried in the fire,” Rev 3:18 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
7 .] that (end and aim of these temptations) the proof (see on ref. James) of your faith (= the fact of your faith being proved, and so, by an easy transition, the result of that proof, the purified and proved faith itself), more precious than gold which perisheth ( is in apposition with above, forming part of the subject of , not a predicate after it. No supply before ‘gold,’ such as “ of ,” E. V., or ‘ that of ,’ is legitimate. It is not ‘ the proof ’ which is precious, though the literal construction at first sight seems to be this, but the faith itself: see above), yet is (usually, habitually) proved by fire (the in this clause brings out this, that gold though perishable yet needs fire to try it the inference lying in the background, how much more does your faith, which is being proved for eternity, not for mere temporary use, need a fiery trial?), may be found (finally and once for all, aor., as the result of the judicial trial at that day = ‘evadat.’ . , see ref. Rom.) unto (having as its result: belongs to , not (De W.) to the whole sentence) praise and glory and honour ( whose? “Hic agitur de ipsorum electorum laude,” Beza, rightly: and so most of the Commentators. Some have pressed the meanings of the separate words: being the praise from the Judge, His : , admission into His glory, ch. 1Pe 5:1 ; 1Pe 5:10 ; , the dignity and personal honour thence accruing, ch. 1Pe 3:7 . But perhaps, as in Rom 2:7 , we should rather regard them here as cumulative) in (i. e. ‘at the day of:’ the element, in time, in which it shall be manifested) the revelation of Jesus Christ (i. e. His return, who is now withdrawn from our sight, but shall then appear again: and with His shall come also the , Rom 8:19 ; 1Jn 3:2 ):
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Pe 1:7 . . The evidence of the papyri (Deissmann, Bible Studies , pp. 259 ff.) shows that is a bye form of the adjective approved ; so Psa 12:7 , ( cf. 1 Chron. 39:4; Zec 11:3 , where it occurs as v.l. for ). Hence the phrase (here and in Jas 1:3 ?) corresponds exactly to St. Paul’s “the genuineness of your faith or “the approvedness”). So Arethas on Rev 9:4 , . The substantive . = “means of trial, testing” which does not suit this context, or a specimen of metal to be tested. , to justify the common rendering (A.V., R.V.) according to which . . . . are taken as in apposition to ., , must be supplied as if omitted by haplography after . But there is no need for emendation, if . be taken as predicate thrown forward for the sake of emphasis. . . . St. Peter adapts the familiar comparison of man’s suffering to the fining-pot of precious metal, insisting on the superiority of the spiritual to the material gold. The stress lies on . True faith is tested by trials, just as gold is proved by fire. It is more valuable than gold which is perishable. If men test gold thus, much more will God test faith which outlives the present age, cf. Heb 9:23 . Cf. use of , 1Pe 4:12 . For the image, Zec 13:9 , ; Psa 66:10 ; Pro 17:3 ; Sir 2:5 , etc. , cf. Joh 6:27 , . (contrasted with imperishable food; here gold generally is contrasted with faith) and below. , cf. 2Pe 3:14 , ; Psa 17:3 , . must be taken with the whole sentence, unless be supplied. So might introduce the predicate (better stronger) of ., cf. Rom 7:10 . taken as = expressing transition into a new state or condition (as Rom 7:10 ). is the verdict. “Well done good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” The Christian is the true Jew and receives at last the praise which the name Judah signifies. In Rom 2:29 , , Paul follows the alteration of the original (Gen 29:35 , LXX, and Philo) consequent upon the transference of the praise ( ) from God to men ( cf. Gen 49:8 , ). The old Israel set their hope on praise from the congregation ( Sir 39:10 ) or glory from men, Joh 5:44 ; Joh 12:42 f. The new Israel looked for praise from God to balance the dispraise of men (Mat 5:11 f.); so St. Peter adds . to the usual formula , Rom 2:7 ; Rom 2:10 (Psa 8:6 ) , cf. , Rom 9:21 , for the less obvious word. Hort compares Marcus Aurelius 12:11, . . ., when Jesus Christ is revealed . The expression is derived from the saying (Luk 17:30 ). As Judge He will pronounce the verdict of approval and bestow glory and honour. The reference to present glorified joy in the midst of trial suggests that the writer has advanced beyond the simple belief in a final theophany and contemplates a spiritual revelation of Jesus Christ as each Christian ( cf. Gal 1:16 ) realises the meaning of His Resurrection; but cf. below.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
1Pe 1:7 . The Christians addressed were not personal disciples of Jesus but converts of the Apostles (12). As such they could claim Beatitude (Joh 20:29 ). Their love began and continues without sight of Him; even now when they expect His coming they must still believe without seeing Him and exult. The Latin version of Augustine, gives three distinct clauses referring to the past, the present and the future climax whom you knew not; in whom now not seeing ye believe; whom when you see you will exult . But for lack of support it must be set aside in favour of the Greek text (which regards present as leading up to future culmination without a break) as being a redaction of the passage for separate use. , with , being parenthesis added to explain force of . (Heb 11:1 ; Rom 8:24 ). . Their faith enables them to pass beyond their present sufferings to the joy which belongs to the subsequent glories. Thus their joy being heavenly is unspeakable and glorified . Language cannot express the communion with God which the Christian like St. Paul may enjoy (2Co 12:3 f.); compare Rom 8:26 , . And this joy is glorified because it is an earnest of the glory which shall be revealed; cf. 1Pe 4:14 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
1 Peter
THE TRUE GOLD AND ITS TESTING
1Pe 1:7
The Apostle is fond of that word ‘precious.’ In both his letters he uses it as an epithet for diverse things. According to one translation, he speaks of Christ as ‘precious to you which believe.’ He certainly speaks of ‘the precious blood of Christ,’ and of ‘exceeding great and precious promises,’ and here in my text, as well as in the Second Epistle, he speaks about ‘precious faith.’ It is a very wide general term, not expressing anything very characteristic beyond the one notion of value. But in the text, according to our Authorised Version, it looks at first sight as if it were not the faith, but the trial of the faith that the Apostle regards as thus valuable. There are difficulties of rendering which I need not trouble you with. Suffice it to say that, speaking roughly and popularly, the ‘trial of your faith’ here seems to mean rather the result of that trial, and might be fairly represented by the slightly varied expression, ‘your faith having been tried, might be found,’ etc.
I must not be tempted to discourse about the reasons why such a rendering seems to express the Apostle’s meaning more fully, but, taking it for granted, there are just three things to notice–the true wealth, the testing of the wealth, and the discovery at last of the preciousness of the wealth.
I. Peter pits against each other faith that has been tried, and ‘gold that perisheth’; he puts away all the other points of comparison and picks out one, and that is that the one lasts and the other does not.
Now I must not be seduced into going beyond the limits of my text to dilate upon the other points of contrast and pre-eminence; but I would just notice in a sentence that everybody admits, yet next to nobody acts upon, the admission that inward good is far more valuable than outward good. ‘Wisdom is more precious than rubies,’ say people, and yet they will choose the rubies, and take no trouble to get the wisdom. Now the very same principles of estimating value which set cultivated understandings and noble hearts above great possessions and large balances at the bankers, set the life of faith high above all others. And the one thought which Peter wishes to drive into our heads and hearts is that there is only one kind of wealth that will never be separated from its possessor. Nothing is truly ours that remains outside of us.
‘‘Twas mine, ‘tis his, and has been slave to thousands.’
Nothing that is there whilst I am here is really mine. I do not own it if it is possible that I shall lose it. And so with profound meaning our Lord speaks about ‘that which is another’s’ in comparison with ‘that which is your own.’ It is another’s because it passes, like quicksilver under pressure, from hand to hand, and no man really holds it, but it leaps away from his grasp. And if a man retains it all his days, still, according to the grim old proverb, ‘shrouds have no pockets,’ and when he dies his hands open, or sometimes they clutch together, but there is nothing inside the palms, and they only close upon themselves. Dear brethren, if there is anything that can be filched away from us, anything about which it is true that, on the one hand, ‘moth and rust’–natural processes–’do corrupt’ it, on the other hand, ‘thieves break through and steal’–accidents of human conduct can deprive us of it, then we may call it ours, but it is not ours. It possesses us, if we are devoted to it as our best good, and fighting and toiling, and sometimes lying and cheating, and flinging the whole fierce energy of our nature into first gripping and then holding it; it possesses us; we do not possess it. But if there is anything that can become so interwoven and interlaced with the very fibres of a man’s heart that they and it cannot be parted, if there is anything that empty hands will clasp the closer, because they are emptied of earth’s vanities, then that is truly possessed by its possessor. And our faith, which will not be trodden in the grave, but will go with us into the world beyond, and though it be lost in one aspect, in sight, it will be eternal as trust, will be ours, imperishable as ourselves, and as God. Therefore, do not give all the energy of your lives to amassing the second-best riches. Seek the highest things most. ‘Covet earnestly the best gifts,’ and let the coveting regulate your conduct. And do not be put off with wealth that will fail you sooner or later.
II. Note, again, the testing of the wealth.
I need not dwell upon that very familiar metaphor of the furnace for gold, and the fining-pot for silver, only remember that there are two purposes for which metallurgists apply fire to metals. The one is to test them, and the other is to cleanse them, or, to use technical words, one is for the purpose of assaying them, and the other is for the purpose of refining them. And so, linking the words of my text with the words of the previous verse, we find that the Apostle lays it down that the purpose of all the diverse trials, or ‘temptations’ as he calls them, that come to us, is this one thing, that our faith should be ‘tried,’ and ‘found, unto praise and honour and glory.’ The fire carries away the dross; it makes the pure metal glow in its lustre. It burns up the ‘wood, hay, stubble’; it makes the gold gleam and the precious stones coruscate and flash.
And so note this general notion here of the intention of all life’s various aspects being to test character is specialised into this, that it is meant to test faith, first of all. Of course it is meant to test many other things. A man’s whole character is tested by the experiences of his daily life, all that is good and all that is evil in him, and we might speak about the effect of life’s discipline upon a great many different sides of our nature. But here the whole stress is put upon the effect of life in testing and clarifying and strengthening one part of a Christian’s character, and that is his faith. Why does Peter pick out faith? Why does he not say ‘trial of your hope,’ of your ‘love,’ of your ‘courage,’ of half a dozen other graces? Why ‘the trial of your faith?’ For this reason, because as the man’s faith is, so is the man. Because faith is the tap-root, in the view of the New Testament, of all that is good and strong and noble in humanity. Because if you strengthen a man’s trust you strengthen everything that comes from it. Reinforce the centre and all is reinforced. Your faith is the vital point from which your whole life as Christians is developed, and whatever strengthens that strengthens you. And, therefore, although everything that befalls you calls for the exercise of, and therefore tests, and therefore, rightly undergone, strengthens a great many various virtues and powers and beauties in a human character, the main good of it all is that it deepens, if the man is right, his simple trust in God manifested by his trust in and love to Jesus Christ: and so it reinforces the faith which works by love, and thus tends to make all things in life good and fair.
Now if thus the main end of life is to strengthen faith, let us remember that we have to give a wider meaning to the word ‘trials’ than ‘afflictions.’ Ah! there is as sharp a trial of my faith in prosperity as in any adversity. People say, ‘It is easy to trust God when things are going well with us.’ That is quite true. But it is a great deal easier to stop trusting God, or thinking about Him, when things are going well with us, and we do not seem to need Him so much, as in the hours of darkness. You remember the old story about the traveller, when the sun and the wind tried which could make him take off his cloak; and the sun did it. Some of us, I daresay, have found out that the faith which gripped God when we felt we needed Him, because we had not anything else but Him, is but too apt to lose hold of Him when fleeting delights and apparent treasures come and whisper invitations in our hearts. There are diseases that are proper to the northern, dark, ice-bound regions of the earth. Yes! and there are a great many more that belong to the tropics; as there is such a thing as sunstroke, which is, perhaps, as dangerous as the cramping cold from the icebergs of the north. Some of us should understand what that Scripture means: ‘Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.’ Prosperity, untroubled lives, lives even as the lives of those of the majority of mankind now, have their own most searching trials of faith.
But on the other hand, if there are ‘ships that have gone down at sea, when heaven was all tranquillity,’ there come also dark and nights of wild tempest when we have to lay to and ride out the gale with a tremendous strain on the cable. Our sorrows, our disappointments, our petty annoyances, and the great irrevocable griefs that sooner or later darken the very earth, are all to be classified under this same purpose, ‘that the trial of your faith … might be found unto praise and honour and glory.’ And so, I beseech you, open your eyes to the meaning of life, and do not suppose that you have found the last word to say about it when you say ‘I am afflicted,’ or ‘I am at ease.’ The affliction and the ease, like two wheels in some great machine working in opposite directions, fit with their cogs into one another and move something beyond them in one uniform direction. And affliction and ease cooperate to this end, that we might be partakers of His holiness.
I believe experience teaches the most of us, if we will lay its lessons to heart, that the times when Christian people grow most in the divine life is in their times of sorrow. One of the old divines says, ‘Grace grows best in winter’; and there are edible plants which need a touch of frost before they are good to eat. So it is with our faith. Only let us take care that the fire does not burn it up, as ‘wood, hay, stubble,’ but irradiates it and glorifies it, as ‘gold, silver, and precious stones.’
III. Now a word, lastly, about the ultimate discovery.
‘Might be found unto praise and honour and glory.’ Note these three words, which I think are often neglected, and sometimes misunderstood–’praise, honour, glory.’ Whose? People sometimes say ‘God’s,’ since His people’s ultimate salvation redounds to His praise; but it is much better to understand the praise as given to the Christians whose faith has stood the testing fires. ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’–is not that praise from lips, praise from which is praise indeed? As Paul says, ‘then shall every man have praise of God.’ We are far too much afraid of recognising the fact that Jesus Christ in Heaven, like Jesus Christ on earth, will praise the deeds that come from love to Him, though the deeds themselves may be very imperfect. Do you remember ‘She hath wrought a good work on Me,’ said about a woman that had done a perfectly useless thing, which was open to a great many very shrewd objections? But Jesus Christ accepted it. Why? Because it was the pure utterance of a loving heart. And, depend upon it, though we have to say ‘Unclean! unclean! We are unprofitable servants,’ He will say ‘Come! ye blessed of My Father.’ Praise from Christ is praise indeed.
‘Honour.’ That suggests bystanders, a public opinion, if I may so say; it suggests ‘have thou authority over ten cities,’ and that men will have their deeds round them as a halo, in that other world. As ‘praise’ suggests the redeemed man’s relation to his Lord, so ‘honour’ suggests the redeemed man’s relation to the fellow-citizens of the New Jerusalem. ‘Glory’ speaks of the man himself as transfigured and lifted up into the light and lustre of communion with, and conformity to, the image of the Lord. ‘Then shall we appear with Him in glory. Then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun in My heavenly Father’s Kingdom.’
‘Shall be found.’ Ah! there will be many surprises yonder. Do you remember that profound revelation of our Master when He represents those on whom He lavishes His eulogies as the Judge, as turning to Him and saying, ‘Lord! when saw we Thee in … prison and visited thee?’ They do not recognise themselves or their acts in Christ’s account of them. They have found that their lives were diviner than they knew. There will be surprises there. As one of the prophets represents the ransomed Israel, to her amazement, surrounded by clinging troops of children, and asking, ‘These! Where have they been? I was left alone,’ so many a poor, humble soul, fighting along in this world, having no recognition on earth, and the lowliest estimate of all its own actions, will be astonished at the last when it receives ‘praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
That = In order that. Greek. hina.
the trial of your faith = your tested faith, as in Jam 1:3.
perisheth. Greek. apollumi. See first occurance: Mat 2:13.
with. App-104. 1Pe 1:1.
glory. See p. 1511.
at. App-104.
appearing. App-106.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
7.] that (end and aim of these temptations) the proof (see on ref. James) of your faith (= the fact of your faith being proved, and so, by an easy transition, the result of that proof, the purified and proved faith itself), more precious than gold which perisheth ( is in apposition with above, forming part of the subject of , not a predicate after it. No supply before gold, such as of, E. V., or that of, is legitimate. It is not the proof which is precious, though the literal construction at first sight seems to be this, but the faith itself: see above), yet is (usually, habitually) proved by fire (the in this clause brings out this, that gold though perishable yet needs fire to try it-the inference lying in the background, how much more does your faith, which is being proved for eternity, not for mere temporary use, need a fiery trial?), may be found (finally and once for all, aor., as the result of the judicial trial at that day = evadat. . , see ref. Rom.) unto (having as its result: belongs to , not (De W.) to the whole sentence) praise and glory and honour (whose? Hic agitur de ipsorum electorum laude, Beza, rightly: and so most of the Commentators. Some have pressed the meanings of the separate words: being the praise from the Judge, His : , admission into His glory, ch. 1Pe 5:1; 1Pe 5:10; , the dignity and personal honour thence accruing, ch. 1Pe 3:7. But perhaps, as in Rom 2:7, we should rather regard them here as cumulative) in (i. e. at the day of: the element, in time, in which it shall be manifested) the revelation of Jesus Christ (i. e. His return, who is now withdrawn from our sight, but shall then appear again: and with His shall come also the , Rom 8:19; 1Jn 3:2):
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Pe 1:7. , the trial) That is, your faith, which is thus tried; for it is compared with gold.-, much more precious) The epithet belongs to the subject.- , which perisheth) Gold perishes with the world, 1Pe 1:18; nor will it then profit any one. The same participle occurs, Joh 6:27.-, but[7]) Faith is compared with gold, not with reference to the perishing of gold, but with reference to its being tried by fire.-, may be found) For it does not now appear; but it will appear when other things shall perish.-, praise) in words.-, honour) in deeds.-, glory) in the award bestowed at the judgment.-, at the revelation) 1Pe 1:13.
[7] The is held a good reading in the judgment of Ed. 2, rather than according to the larger Ed., although it is not given in the Germ. Vers.
ABC Rec. Text have . Vulg. Omits , and therefore also . Orig. has .-E.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
might
Suffering, in First Peter, is set in the light of:
(1) assured salvation, 1Pe 1:2-5.
(2) the greater glory at Christ’s appearing, 1Pe 1:7;
(3) Christ’s sufferings and coming glories, 1Pe 1:11
(4) the believer’s association with Him in both, 1Pe 2:20; 1Pe 2:21; 1Pe 3:17; 1Pe 3:18 1Pe 4:12; 1Pe 4:13.
(5) the purifying effect of suffering, 1Pe 1:7; 1Pe 4:1; 1Pe 4:2; 1Pe 5:10.
(6) that Christ is now glorified in the believer’s patient suffering, 1Pe 4:16.
(7) that suffering is disciplinary, 1Pe 4:17-19; 1Co 11:31; 1Co 11:32; Heb 12:5-13.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the trial: 1Pe 4:12, Job 23:10, Psa 66:10-12, Pro 17:3, Isa 48:10, Jer 9:7, Zec 13:9, Mal 3:3, Rom 5:3, Rom 5:4, Jam 1:3, Jam 1:4, Jam 1:12, Rev 2:10, Rev 3:10
precious: 1Pe 2:4, 1Pe 2:7, Pro 3:13-15, Pro 8:19, Pro 16:16, 2Pe 1:1, 2Pe 1:4
that: Ecc 5:14, Jer 48:36, Luk 12:20, Luk 12:21, Luk 12:33, Act 8:20, Jam 5:2, Jam 5:3, 2Pe 3:10-12, Rev 18:16, Rev 18:17
tried: 1Pe 4:12, Job 23:10, Psa 66:10, Pro 17:3, Isa 48:10, Zec 13:9, 1Co 3:13, Rev 3:18
might: 1Sa 2:30, Mat 19:28, Mat 25:21, Mat 25:23, Joh 5:44, Joh 12:26, Rom 2:7, Rom 2:29, 1Co 4:5, 2Th 1:7-12, Jud 1:24
at: 1Pe 1:5, Rev 1:7
Reciprocal: Gen 22:1 – God Exo 15:25 – proved Exo 37:4 – with gold Num 5:28 – And if Num 31:23 – abide Deu 8:2 – prove thee Deu 8:16 – to do thee Jdg 3:1 – prove 1Sa 30:3 – burned 1Ki 17:13 – make me thereof 1Ki 17:17 – the son of the woman 2Ch 32:31 – to try him Job 1:22 – In all this Job 2:3 – holdeth Job 7:18 – try Job 28:1 – where they fine it Psa 11:5 – trieth Psa 17:3 – proved Psa 37:34 – exalt Psa 94:19 – General Psa 111:10 – his praise Psa 139:23 – know Pro 21:21 – findeth Pro 25:3 – is unsearchable Pro 25:4 – General Pro 27:21 – the fining Pro 31:30 – she Isa 11:10 – his rest Isa 24:15 – glorify Isa 43:4 – thou hast been Jer 6:29 – the founder Jer 30:19 – I will Eze 39:13 – a renown Dan 11:35 – to try Dan 12:10 – shall be Mat 6:18 – shall Mat 7:25 – the rain Luk 19:17 – Well Joh 12:43 – the praise of God Rom 2:10 – glory Rom 8:18 – I reckon Rom 8:23 – even we Rom 8:28 – we know Rom 16:10 – approved 1Co 3:12 – gold 1Co 10:13 – hath 2Co 4:8 – yet 2Co 4:17 – far 2Co 5:2 – we 2Co 10:18 – but 2Co 12:10 – I take Phi 1:19 – I know 2Th 1:12 – and ye 1Ti 6:14 – until 2Ti 2:21 – a vessel 2Ti 4:1 – at Tit 2:13 – the glorious Heb 11:1 – faith Heb 11:17 – when Heb 11:25 – Choosing Jam 5:11 – and have 1Pe 1:6 – if 1Pe 1:18 – corruptible 1Pe 5:10 – after 1Jo 2:28 – when Rev 15:2 – mingled
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Pe 1:7. It was their faith that was more precious than gold, even after the metal has withstood the test of the fire. The reason is that the very best of precious metals or any other like substance of earthly valuables, is subject to destruction when other earthly things shall cease to be. Also even while the earth remaineth, the joys that gold may procure for us are uncertain and often flee like the dew of morning. But the happiness that is obtained by an enduring faith will not pass away. Of course this is all on condition that the faith is found to be steadfast until the appearing of Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Pe 1:7. that the proof of your faith, etc. The statement now introduced connects itself closely with the conditional notice of suffering. It points them at once to the ultimate object of their possible subjection to many painful things now. If this subjection is only as God deems needful, it also looks to an end gracious enough to cast the light of comfort back into the dark and grievous present. In regard, however, both to the sense of particular words and to the mutual relations of the clauses, the verse is one of some difficulty. The term rendered trial in the A. V. is found nowhere else in the N. T. except in Jas 1:3. A cognate form, however, occurs more frequently, sometimes with a present reference and sometimes with a past (see Cremer, sub voce), so that it means both actively the process of putting to the proof (2Co 8:2), and passively the proof, the evidence itself (2Co 13:3), or the attestation, the approvedness resulting from the process (Rom 5:3-4; 2Co 2:9; 2Co 9:13; Php 2:22). If the present term, therefore, were strictly parallel to that, it might mean either the act of testing, as many take it to be in Jas 1:3; the medium of testing, as in the Classics (Plato, e.g., using it of the touchstone), and at least once in the Sept. (Pro 27:21); or the result of testing. Of these three senses the first would be analogous to what is expressed by another cognate term in Heb 3:9. It is inapposite here, however, because the act or process of testing cannot well be the thing that is to be to their praise at the last. The second, which is adopted by Steinmeyer, etc., would make the temptations themselves, as the criteria of faith, the thing that shall be to their praise. The third, therefore, is the natural sense here, the approvedness (Huther) of your faith. The idea is thus much the same as your proved faith, your faith as attested by probation. Mr. Hort, however, holds that the term can mean nothing else than the instrument of trial, and supposes that an early confusion may have crept into the text between this word and a very similar form, the neuter of an adjective, meaning that which is approved, which is supported by two of the better cursives.
more precious as surely it is than gold which perisheth, and yet is tried by fire. With the best editors the simple more precious is to be read for the much more precious of the A. V. Some make the clause dependent on the subsequent verb (so Steiger, de Wette, Huther, etc.). Thus it would form a part of the predicate, and the sense would be = that the approvedness of your faith may be found more precious than that of gold which perisheth and yet is tried by fire, unto your praise, etc. It is more consistent, however, with the position of the clause, the qualifying idea expressed by it, and the point of the comparison with gold, to take it as in apposition to the terms, the approvedness of your faith. The of inserted by the A. V. before gold must be omitted. What the original sets over against the proof of faith, or the approved faith, is the gold itself, and not its proof. The particle translated though by the A. V. means but, or yet, and expresses something which takes place in spite of something else. The participles rendered which perisheth and is tried are in the present tense, as denoting facts which hold good now and at any time, the sense being that it is of the nature of gold to perish, and it is the fact nevertheless that it is tested by fire. The comparison between the probation of character and the testing of metals, which occurs so often elsewhere (cf. Job 23:10; Pro 17:3; Pro 27:21; Psa 66:10; Zec 13:9; Mal 3:2-3; 1Co 3:13, etc.), has a limited application here. No direct comparison is instituted between the proving of faith and that of gold, nor between the worth of proved faith and the worth of proved gold. There is an indirect comparison between the perishable nature of gold and the opposite nature of faith, and the idea is that, if the former is proved by fire, although itself and the benefits of the process pass speedily away according to their kind, the latter, which, as tested, is seen to be a possession superior to the risks of decay and loss, and more precious than the most valued treasure, may well be subjected to similar action. The sentence, therefore, is introduced in order to remove the apparent strangeness, and to suggest the purifying intention, of the suffering which faith has to endure.
might be found unto praise and honour and glory. With the best editors (Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott, and Hort) the order runs rather praise, and glory, and honour. This is the only instance in the N. T. in which the three terms come together, although the conjunction of honour and glory is common enough (Rom 2:7; Rom 2:10; 1Ti 1:17, etc.). Distinctions are drawn between the terms, and it is attempted to exhibit a climax in the order of the A. V., e.g., from judicial approval to the moral esteem following on that, and then to the reward or form of glory (Schott, etc.); or from the language of praise to the rank of honour and the feeling of admiration (Mason); or from the commendation of the Judge to the personal dignity of the subject, and thence to his admission to the Lords own glory. But the descriptions are cumulative rather than ascensive, word being added to word in order to convey some faint conception of the gracious reward which is to be found (a strong term indicating the open discovery of something, the proving of an object to be something after scrutiny) at last to have been the end in view.
in the revelation of Jesus Christ; that is, in the time of His unveiling, the time of His return, when the hidden Christ, the righteous judgment of God (Rom 2:5), and the sons of God (Rom 8:19), shall all appear finally as they are.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 7
That perisheth, though it be tried with fire; that is, though it stands the test of fire, it is not indestructible;–being often lost or consumed by means of other causes.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the {e} appearing of Jesus Christ:
(e) He speaks of the second coming of Christ.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Trials do to faith what fire does to gold. They purify it and show it to be what it really is (cf. Jas 1:3). Peter anticipated his readers would respond to their trials properly. God purifies our faith with trials by helping us realize the inadequacy of anything but trust in Him in these situations. He shows that our faith is genuine by demonstrating that our joy in trials rests solely on confidence in Him and His promises. Both results bring praise, glory, and honor to God ultimately, though they also benefit us.
"Glory is never said to be the possession of humans except as we share God’s glory in the parousia (e.g., Rom 8:17; Col 3:4), although we contribute to this glory by our actions now (1Co 10:31; Eph 1:12)." [Note: Davids, p. 58.]
The Greek word parousia means "presence" and, specifically, the presence of one coming, hence the coming of Christ. The "revelation" (uncovering, appearing, Gr. apokalypsis) of Jesus Christ to Christians will take place at the Rapture, and His revelation to the world will take place at the Second Coming. Both events seen as a whole seem to be in view here (cf. 1Pe 1:13). Peter’s emphasis was not on when this would happen relative to other events yet future but on the fact that it would happen in the future rather than now.