Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Peter 1:8

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see [him] not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

8. whom having not seen, ye love ] Some of the better MSS. give whom not knowing ye love, but the reading adopted in the English version rests on sufficient authority and gives a better meaning. The Apostle, in writing the words, could hardly intend to contrast, however real the contrast might be, his own condition as one who had seen with that of these distant disciples. Did there float in his mind the recollection of the words “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed” (Joh 20:29)? In any case he emphasizes the fact that their love for Christ does not depend, as human love almost invariably does, upon outward personal acquaintance. He too, like St Paul, has learnt to know Christ no more after the flesh (2Co 5:16). The next clause, which seems at first almost a tame repetition of the same thought, really points to a new characteristic paradox in the spiritual life. The exulting joy of human affection manifests itself when the lover looks on the face of his beloved (Son 2:14). Here that joy is represented as found in its fulness where the Presence is visible not to the eye of the body, but only to that of faith. Like all deeper emotions it is too deep for words “unspeakable,” as were the words which St Paul heard in his vision of Paradise (2Co 12:4), as were the groanings of the Spirit making intercession for and with our spirits (Rom 8:26), and it was “full of glory” (literally, glorified) already, in its foretaste of the future, transfigured beyond the brightness of any earthly bliss.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Whom having not seen, ye love – This Epistle was addressed to those who were strangers scattered abroad, (See the notes at 1Pe 1:1) and it is evident that they had not personally seen the Lord Jesus. Yet they had heard of his character, his preaching, his sacrifice for sin, and his resurrection and ascension, and they had learned to love him:

(1) It is possible to love one whom we have not seen. Thus, we may love God, whom no eye hath seen, (compare 1Jo 4:20) and thus we may love a benefactor, from whom we have received important benefits, whom we have never beheld.

(2) We may love the character of one whom we have never seen, and from whom we may never have received any particular favors. We may love his uprightness, his patriotism, his benignity, as represented to us. We might love him the more if we should become personally acquainted with him, and if we should receive important favors from him; but it is possible to feel a sense of strong admiration for such a character in itself.

(3) That may be a very pure love which we have for one whom we have never seen. It may be based on simple excellence of character; and in such a case there is the least chance for any intermingling of selfishness, or any improper emotion of any kind.

(4) We may love a friend as really and as strongly when he is absent, as when he is with us. The wide ocean that rolls between us and a child, does not diminish the ardour of our affection for him; and the Christian friend that has gone to heaven, we may love no less than when he sat with us at the fireside.

(5) Millions, even hundreds of millions, have been led to love the Saviour, who have never seen him. They have seen – not with the physical eye, but with the eye of faith – the inimitable beauty of his character, and have been brought to love him with an ardor of affection which they never had for any other one.

(6) There is every reason why we should love him:

1. His character is infinitely lovely.
1. He has done more for us than any other one who ever lived among men.

He died for us, to redeem our souls. He rose, and brought life and immortality to light. He ever lives to intercede for us in heaven. He is employed in preparing mansions of rest for us in the skies, and he will come and take us to himself, that we may be with him forever. Such a Saviour ought to be loved, is loved, and will be loved. The strongest attachments which have ever existed on earth have been for this unseen Saviour. There has been a love for him stronger than that for a father, or mother, or wife, or sister, or home, or country. It has been so strong, that thousands have been willing, on account of it, to bear the torture of the rack or the stake. It has been so strong, that thousands of youth of the finest minds, and the most flattering prospects of distinction, have been willing to leave the comforts of a civilized land, and to go among the benighted pagans, to tell them the story of a Saviours life and death. It has been so strong, that unnumbered multitudes have longed, more than they have for all other things, that they might see him, and be with him, and abide with him forever and ever. Compare the notes at Phi 1:23.

In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing – He is now in heaven, and to mortal eyes now invisible, like his Father. Faith in him is the source and fountain of our joy. It makes invisible things real, and enables us to feel and act, in view of them, with the same degree of certainty as if we saw them. Indeed, the conviction to the mind of a true believer that there is a Saviour, is as certain and as strong as if he saw him; and the same may be said of his conviction of the existence of heaven, and of eternal realities. If it should be said that faith may deceive us, we may reply:

(1) May not our physical senses also deceive us? Does the eye never deceive? Are there no optical illusions? Does the ear never deceive? Are there no sounds which are mistaken? Do the taste and the smell never deceive? Are we never mistaken in the report which they bring to us? And does the sense of feeling never deceive? Are we never mistaken in the size, the hardness, the figure of objects which we handle? But,

(2) For all the practical purposes of life, the senses are correct guides, and do not in general lead us astray. So,

(3) There are objects of faith about which we are never deceived, and where we do act and must act with the same confidence as if we had personally seen them. Are we deceived about the existence of London, or Paris, or Canton, though we may never have seen either? May not a merchant embark with perfect propriety in a commercial enterprise, on the supposition that there is such a place as London or Canton, though he has never seen them? Would he not be reputed mad, if he should refuse to do it on this ground? And so, may not a man, in believing that there is a heaven, and in forming his plans for it, though he has not yet seen it, act as rationally and as wisely as he who forms his plans on the supposition that there is such a place as Canton?

Ye rejoice – Ye do rejoice; not merely ye ought to rejoice. It may be said of Christians that they do in fact rejoice; they are happy. The people of the world often suppose that religion makes its professors sad and melancholy. That there are those who have not great comfort in their religion, no one indeed can doubt; but this arises from several causes entirely independent of their religion. Some have melancholy temperaments, and are not happy in anything. Some have little evidence that they are Christians, and their sadness arises not from religion, but from the want of it. But that true religion does make its possessors happy, anyone may easily satisfy himself by asking any number of sincere Christians, of any denomination, whom he may meet. With one accord they will say to him that they have a happiness which they never found before; that however much they may have possessed of the wealth, the honors, and the pleasures of the world – and they who are now Christians have not all of them been strangers to these things – they never knew solid and substantial peace until they found it in religion And why should they not be believed? The world would believe them in other things; why will they not when they declare that religion does not make them gloomy, but happy?

With joy unspeakable – A very strong expression, and yet verified in thousands of cases among young converts, and among those in the maturer days of piety. There are thousands who can say that their happiness when they first had evidence that their sins were forgiven, that the burden of guilt was rolled away, and that they were the children of God, was unspeakable. They had no words to express it, it was so full and so new:

Tongue can never express.

The sweet comfort and peace

Of a soul in its earliest love.

And so there have been thousands of mature Christians who can adopt the same language, and who could find no words to express the peace and joy which they have found in the love of Christ, and the hope of heaven. And why are not all Christians enabled to say constantly that they rejoice with joy unspeakable? Is it not a privilege which they might possess? Is there anything in the nature of religion which forbids it? Why should not one be filled with constant joy who has the hope of dwelling in a world of glory forever? Compare Joh 14:27; Joh 16:22.

And full of glory –

1. Of anticipated glory – of the prospect of enjoying the glory of heaven.

(2)Of present glory – with a joy even now which is of the same nature as that in heaven; a happiness the same in kind, though not in degree, as that which will be ours in a brighter world.

The saints on earth partake of the same kind of joy which they will have in heaven; for the happiness of heaven will be but an expansion, a prolongation, and a purifying of that which they have here. Compare the notes at Eph 1:14.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 8. Whom having not seen, ye love] Those to whom the apostle wrote had never seen Christ in the flesh; and yet, such is the realizing nature of faith, they loved him as strongly as any of his disciples could, to whom he was personally known. For faith in the Lord Jesus brings him into the heart; and by his indwelling all his virtues are proved, and an excellence discovered beyond even that which his disciples beheld, when conversant with him upon earth. In short, there is an equality between believers in the present time, and those who lived in the time of the incarnation; for Christ, to a believing soul, is the same to-day that he was yesterday and will be for ever.

Ye rejoice with joy unspeakable] Ye have unutterable happiness through believing; and ye have the fullest, clearest, strongest evidence of eternal glory. Though they did not see him on earth, and men could not see him in glory, yet by that faith which is the evidence of things not seen, and the subsistence of things hoped for, they had the very highest persuasion of their acceptance with God, their relation to him as their Father, and their sonship with Christ Jesus.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Whom; which Christ.

Having not seen; with your bodily eyes. Most of these Jews lived out of their own country, and so had not seen Christ in the flesh; and this was the commendation of their love, that they loved him whom they had not seen, though sight doth ordinarily contribute toward the stirring up of affection.

Ye see him not; neither as others have done in the days of his flesh, nor as you yourselves hereafter shall in his glory; ye walk by faith, and not by sight, 2Co 5:7.

Ye rejoice, in hope of seeing and enjoying him.

With joy unspeakable; which cannot be expressed with words. See the like phrase, Rom 8:26; 2Co 9:15.

And full of glory; both in respect of the object about which this joy is conversant, the heavenly glory; the degree, it is the highest here in the world; the duration of it, it is most solid; as likewise in comparison of the joy of this world, which is vain and transitory, and whereof many times men are afterward ashamed.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8. not having seen, ye lovethoughin other cases it is knowledge of the person that produceslove to him. They are more “blessed that have not seenand yet have believed,” than they who believed because they haveseen. On Peter’s own love to Jesus, compare Joh21:15-17. Though the apostles had seen Him, they now ceased toknow Him merely after the flesh.

in whomconnected with”believing”: the result of which is “ye rejoice”(Greek, “exult”).

nowin the presentstate, as contrasted with the future state when believers”shall see His face.”

unspeakable (1Co2:9).

full of gloryGreek,“glorified.” A joy now already encompassed with glory.The “glory” is partly in present possession, through thepresence of Christ, “the Lord of glory,” in the soul;partly in assured anticipation. “The Christian’s joy isbound up with love to Jesus: its ground is faith; it isnot therefore either self-seeking or self-sufficient” [STEIGER].

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Whom having not seen, ye love,…. That is, Jesus Christ, whom they had never seen with their bodily eyes, being Jews, who dwelt not in Judea, when Christ was upon earth, but were scattered about in several parts of the Gentile world; and yet Christ being made known to them, through the preaching of the Gospel, they received and embraced him, and their affections were strongly set upon him: they loved him because of his excellencies and perfections, because of the loveliness of his person, and because he first loved them; they loved him because of the fulness of grace that was in him, because of what he had done for them, and was unto them, and because of the offices he sustained on their account, and the relations he stood in to them; they loved him above all creatures and things, and all of him, and that belong unto him, his people, truths, ordinances, ways, and worship; they loved him with all their hearts, and in the sincerity of their souls, though they had never seen his face in the flesh; whereas sight often begets and increases love: their love was not carnal, but spiritual; it was a fruit of the Spirit of God in their souls; was accompanied with faith in Christ, and proceeded upon the report the Gospel made of him:

in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing; the Arabic version adds, “in him”: that is, in Christ, who was then received up into heaven, and must be retained there until the time of the restitution of all things; and therefore not now to be beheld with corporeal sight: and yet these regenerate ones, and lovers of Christ, believed in him; see Joh 20:29 not with a notional, historical, and temporary faith, believing not merely what he said, or did, or does, or will do; but looking on him, and to him, for life and salvation; going out of themselves to him, embracing of him, leaning upon him as their Saviour and Redeemer; venturing their souls upon him, committing their all unto him, expecting all from him, both grace and glory: and so

rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; with a joy in believing on him, which is better experienced than expressed; a joy that not only strangers intermeddle not with, know nothing of, which entirely passes their understanding, but is such as saints themselves cannot speak out, or give a full and distinct account of; they want words to express it, and convey proper ideas of it to others: and it is a joy that is glorious; there is a rejoicing that is evil and scandalous; but this is honourable, and of which none need be ashamed; it is solid and substantial, and the matter of it always abiding, when the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment; it is a joy on account of the glory of God, which the believer lives in the hope and faith of; and it is a beginning, a presage and pledge of it; it is a glory begun here; it is the firstfruits, and a part also of it; and by it saints may know a little what heaven itself will be.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Whom (). Relative referring to Christ just before and accusative case, object of both and (ye love).

Not having seen ( ). Second aorist active participle of , to see, with rather than because it negatives an actual experience in contrast with (though not seeing, hypothetical case). On whom ( ) with common construction for “believing on” ( ). It is possible that Peter here has in mind the words of Jesus to Thomas as recorded in Joh 20:29 (“Happy are those not seeing and yet believing”). Peter was present and heard the words of Jesus to Thomas, and so he could use them before John wrote his Gospel.

Ye rejoice greatly (). Same form as in verse 6, only active here instead of middle.

With joy (). Instrumental case (manner).

Unspeakable (). Late and rare double compound verbal (alpha privative and ), here only in N.T., in Dioscorides and Heliodorus, “unutterable,” like Paul’s “indescribable” () gift (2Co 9:15, here alone in N.T.).

Full of glory (). Perfect passive participle of , to glorify, “glorified joy,” like the glorified face of Moses (Exod 34:29; 2Cor 3:10.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Full of glory [] . Lit., glorified, as Rev., in margin. Receiving [] . The verb originally means to take care of or provide for; thence to receive hospitably or entertain; to bring home with a view to entertaining or taking care of. Hence, to carry away so as to preserve, to save, rescue, and so to carry away as a prize or booty. Generally, to receive or acquire. Paul uses it of receiving the awards of judgment (2Co 5:10; Eph 6:8; Col 3:25). In Heb. it is used of receiving the promise (Heb 10:36; Heb 11:39), and of Abraham receiving back Isaac (xi. 19). Peter uses it thrice, and in each case of receiving the rewards of righteousness or of iniquity. See ch. 1Pe 5:4; 2Pe 2:13.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Whom having not seen, ye love” – whom not having visibly beheld ye love. Those specifically addressed in the five provinces of Asia Minor loved the Lord, as a fruit of their new nature, though they had not personally seen Him. Yet they believed and loved Him. Joh 20:29; Rom 4:18-20; 2Co 5:7.

2) “In whom, though now ye see Him not, ‘ (Gk. arti) at this instant or moment of time – though a believer can not look upon or behold his Lord’s physical presence.

3) “Yet believing” (Gk. pistuontes) still actively or progressively trusting Him and His Word.

4) “Ye rejoice with joy unspeakable.” (Gk. agalliasthe) ye exult or radiate (Chara) joy, jubilance (anekaleto) unspeakable or irrepressible in kind as Peter and John witnessed, Act 4:20.

5) “And full of glory. “ (Gk. kai dedoksasmene) even having been glorified or experienced joy of “preview -glory – nature” through this suffering, believing, loving experience, Act 5:41.

LOVING THE UNSEEN

A mother in England taught her little child that his father was away in India. As soon as he could lisp his father’s name, h is picture was shown him, and he was taught to say, “That’s my papa.” Though he had never seen his father to know him, yet through that mother’s faithful teaching he had learned to love him, One day, unexpectedly to all, the father returned from India, and as he entered the hall door, his little son was the first to greet him, exclaiming as he did so, “My dear papa, I am so glad to see you.” So the Bible pictures before us Christ, our Elder Brother, “whom having not seen, we love,” and of whom we sing, “He’s my Saviour.” Bye-and-bye, when we behold Him face to face, we shall know Him and meet Him, not as a stranger, but asa friend.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

8 Whom having not seen, or, Whom though ye have not seen. He lays down two things, that they loved Christ whom they had not seen, and that they believed on him whom they did not then behold. But the first arises from the second; for the cause of love is faith, not only because the knowledge of those blessings which Christ bestows on us, moves us to love him, but because he offers us perfect felicity, and thus draws us up to himself. He then commends the Jews, because they believed in Christ whom they did not see, that they might know that the nature of faith is to acquiesce in those blessings which are hid from our eyes. They had indeed given some proof of this very thing, though he rather directs what was to be done by praising them.

The first clause in order is, that faith is not to be measured by sight. For when the life of Christians is apparently miserable, they would instantly fail, were not their happiness dependent on hope. Faith, indeed, has also its eyes, but they are such as penetrate into the invisible kingdom of God, and are contented with the mirror of the Word; for it is the demonstration of invisible things, as it is said in Heb 11:1. Hence true is that saying of Paul, that

we are absent from the Lord while we are in the flesh; for we walk by faith and not by sight. (2Co 5:6.)

The second clause is, that faith is not a cold notion, but that it kindles in our hearts love to Christ. For faith does not (as the sophists prattle) lay hold on God in a confused and implicit manner, (for this would be to wander through devious paths;) but it has Christ as its object. Moreover, it does not lay hold on the bare name of Christ, or his naked essence, but regards what he is to us, and what blessings he brings; for it cannot be but that the affections of man should be led there, where his happiness is, according to that saying,

“

Where your treasure is, there is also your heart.” (Mat 6:21.)

Ye rejoice, or, Ye exult. He again refers to the fruit of faith which he had mentioned, and not without reason; for it is an incomparable benefit, that consciences are not only at peace before God, but confidently exult in the hope of eternal life. And he calls it joy unspeakable, or unutterable, because the peace of God exceeds all comprehension. What is added, full of glory, or glorified, admits of two explanations. It means either what is magnificent and glorious, or what is contrary to that which is empty and fading, of which men will soon be ashamed. Thus “glorified” is the same with what is solid and permanent, beyond the danger of being brought to nothing. (13) Those who are not elevated by this joy above the heavens, so that being content with Christ alone, they despise the world, in vain boast that they have faith.

(13) After “unspeakable,” “glorified” must mean something greater, or it may be viewed as more specific, it is a joy unspeakable, it being a glorified joy in a measure, or the joy of the glorified in heaven. According to this view the words may be thus rendered, “with joy unspeakable and heavenly.” Doddridge gives this paraphrase, “With unutterable and even glorified joy, with such a joy as seems to anticipate that of the saints in glory.” — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(8) Whom, having not seen.Said in contrast to the word revelation in the last verse: whom you love already, though He is not yet revealed, so that you have not as yet seen Him. There seems to be a kind of tender pity in the words, as spoken by one who himself had seen so abundantly (Act. 4:20; Act. 10:41; 2Pe. 1:16). In this and the following verse we return again from the sorrow to the joy, and to the true cause of that joy, which is only to be found in the love of Jesus Christ. There is another reading, though not so good either in sense or in authority, whom, without knowing Him, ye love. Bengel remarks that this is intended for a paradox, sight and knowledge being the usual parents of love.

Ye love.The word of calm and divinely-given attachment, in fact the usual word in the New Testament, that which Christ used in questioning the writer (Joh. 20:15), not the word of warm human friendship with which St. Peter then answered Him.

In whom.To be construed, not with ye rejoice, but with believing. The participles give the grounds of the rejoicing: because at present without seeing ye believe in Him none the less, therefore ye rejoice. The word rejoice takes us back to 1Pe. 1:6 : ye greatly rejoice, I repeat. Notice, again, the stress laid on faith: we have already had it three times mentioned. St. Peter, whose own faith gained him his name and prerogative, is, at least, as much the Apostle of faith as St. Paul is, though his conception of it, perhaps, slightly differs from St. Pauls. The definition given by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb. 11:1) might have been, perhaps was, drawn from a study of St. Peters writings. Our present verse gives us the leading thought of faith as it appears in both of these works addressed to Hebrews, viz., its being the opposite of sight, the evidence of things not seen, rather than as the opposite of works. And the main object of both these Epistles is to keep the Hebrews from slipping back from internal to external religion, i.e., to strengthen faith. (Comp. Heb. 3:12.) The Apostle is full of admiration for a faith which (unlike his own) was not based on sight. (See Joh. 20:29an incident which may have been in the writers mind.)

Unspeakable.The beautiful Greek word (which means unable to find expression in words) seems to have been coined by St. Peter.

Full of glory.Literally, that hath been glorified; i.e., a joy that has reached its ideal pitch, and feels no further sense of imperfection; a signification of the word found, for instance, in Rom. 8:30.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3. Joy in present blessedness, 1Pe 1:8-9.

8. Ye love This is the true order: faith in the crucified and risen, but yet unseen, Christ, with the deepest love as its fruit, producing the purest joy. It may be St. Peter’s comment on our Lord’s words to Thomas, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” Joh 20:29. The American people of the present generation have not seen Washington, yet they profoundly love him. But Christ will soon reveal himself to human sight.

Ye rejoice The same Greek as greatly rejoice, in 1Pe 1:6, meaning exultation expressing itself. Yet the joy cannot be fully told, for it is even now pervaded with the glory which will be complete in heaven.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Whom not having seen you love; on whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.’

The one thing above all that will sustain us is our love for Christ. Not some soft, sentimental emotion (although there is nothing wrong with that in the right place), but the love that springs from gratitude and appreciation of what He is, and what He has done for us. We love Him (and others) because He first loved us (1Jn 4:19).

Unlike us Peter had himself seen Him face to face. He had seen Him and had known Him in His daily life. But He recognised that for his readers and for us, faith takes the place of sight. It is not, however, blind faith. We do not just ‘believe’ in the dark, for we have Jesus revealed for us in the Gospels and can assess Him from them. True faith is based on illuminated reason (even when we do not realise it). That is why unbelief is without excuse. The evidence is there for all to see in His life and teaching, and even the words of critics cannot hide it, for its truth and beauty shine through. And when those whose hearts are open consider His life and assess His teaching, what He is will be opened up to them (Joh 7:17), for none other has ever taught like He did, none other has lived as He did, and they will know that He truly is ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’. One thing is sure, and that is that no one invented the life and teaching of Jesus (apart from Jesus). It is beyond man’s inventive capabilities.

Many talk as if faith and reason are contrary to each other, but on that basis we could believe anything. The truth is that (even though they may not recognise it) the humblest Christian believers exercise reason when they make their response of faith. They see Him for what He is revealed to be and their hearts respond to Him, because they recognise in that revelation the evidence of His divine Being. They know that there is no other explanation for Him. And the Holy Spirit, Who reveals this to them, confirms it in their hearts.

And it is because we have ‘seen’ Him through His life and teaching and death for us (Heb 2:9) that we love Him, so that, although we cannot see Him with our eyes, our hearts reach out to Him in love and we believe continually (present tense) with all our hearts, with the result that we rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Compare Jesus’ words in Joh 6:35. ‘He who comes to Me will never hunger and he who believes in Me will never thirst’. And the consequence of such a faith, both in the present and in the future, will be the salvation of our souls (see note above).

‘Receiving (continually) the salvation of your souls.’ For the significance of the verb ‘receiving’ compare ‘on Whom believing’. Both are in the present tense. The believing is a present experience and so is the receiving of salvation. It is going on even as we experience the trials, and it is guaranteed to the end. When we first truly believed (assuming that we have done so) we ‘were saved’ once for all. We were marked off as one of His elect. As we go on believing we go on being saved because we are one of His elect. The Holy Spirit continues His sanctifying work in us. And one day faith will turn into sight and then we will be fully saved. ‘He will gather together His elect — from one end of heaven to the other’ (Mat 24:31; compare 1Th 4:13-18). For it is all the result of the foreknowing of God and the sanctification in the Spirit.

The word for ‘receiving’ is in the middle voice and signifies the receiving for oneself of a promise, or of a benefit, or of one’s just deserts. The word is also used in respect of a person receiving wages in respect of what he has done. We can note its use in 2Co 5:10 where those before the judgment seat of Christ receive for themselves in respect of what they have done, whether it be good or bad; in Eph 6:8 where ‘whatever good thing each one does, the same will he receive for himself again from the Lord’; in Col 3:25, where ‘he who does wrong will receive for himself the wrong that he has done’; and in Heb 10:36, where Christians ‘have need of patient endurance that having done the will of God we may receive for ourselves the promise.’ Thus we receive the salvation of our souls through believing, because thereby the Holy Spirit makes fully applicable to us the obedience of Christ, and as we believe and obey so we receive. Is it then of merit? The answer is ‘no’. And the reason that it is not is because it is the result of what He works in us, not the result of our own goodness. It is received freely through the response to His love of our faith as a result of the sanctification of the Spirit.

‘The end (telos) of your faith.’ That is, its aim and goal. Compare 1Ti 1:5; Jas 5:11; Rom 10:4.

‘The salvation of your souls.’ This does not mean that a small part of us called our ‘souls’ will be saved. It means that we will be saved in all that we are. It refers to our very lives. We will be saved spirit, inner man and body.

‘ouk idontes (having not seen Him)– me horowntes (not now gazing at Him).’ The change in the negative particle from ‘ouk’ to ‘me’ is an indication that the words are written by an eyewitness as if he had distinguished, ‘You have not seen Him’ from ‘– we now not gazing at Him.’

The idea of ‘seeing Jesus’ is a theology in itself:

1) The prophets ‘saw’ Jesus as they looked ahead and prophesied about Him.

2) The disciples literally saw and beheld Jesus as He walked among them. They were witnesses to His life (Act 1:21; Act 2:22; Joh 1:14; 1Jn 1:1-4) and resurrection (Mat 28:10; Joh 20:29; Luk 24:31).

3) Both His followers and His enemies ‘saw Jesus’ through His triumph in the establishing of His Kingly Rule through the early church (Mat 16:28; Mat 26:64; Mar 14:62).

4) Paul literally saw Jesus as the resurrected Jesus on the Damascus Road (Act 9:27; 1Co 9:1). Compare Act 7:55 where Stephen also saw the resurrected Jesus reigning in Heaven.

5) Believers ‘see’ Jesus as they read the Scriptures and look to Him in faith (Heb 2:9; compare 2Co 4:6; 2Co 3:18), but like the prophets, they do not see Him with their eyes.

6) Those who are alive at His coming will literally see Him in His glory (Mat 26:64).

7) One day all who are His will literally see Him face to face (1Jn 3:2; Joh 17:24; 1Co 13:12).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

1Pe 1:8. Whom having not seen, It is very possible that, among these dispersed Christians, there might have been some who had visited Jerusalem while Christ was there, and might have seen or conversed with him. However, St. Peter speaks according to the usual apostolical manner, as if they all had not. See Joh 20:29. 2Co 5:6-7. Heb 1:14.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Pe 1:8 . The longing of the believers is directed to the . , He being the object of their love and joy. This thought is subjoined to what precedes in two relative clauses, in order that thereby the apostle may advert to the glory of the future salvation.

] “ whom, although ye know Him not (that is, according to the flesh, or in His earthly personality), ye love .” The object of is easily supplied from , according to the usage in Greek. The reading expresses substantially the same thought.

Since , properly speaking, presupposes personal acquaintance, the clause is significantly added, in order to set forth prominently that the relation to Christ is an higher than any based on a knowledge after the flesh.

In the clause following co-ordinate with this the thought is carried further, the apostle’s glance being again directed to the future appearance of Christ.

] As regards the construction, can hardly be taken with , the participles and thus standing absolutely (Fronmller), but, as most interpreters are agreed, must be construed with . The more precise determination of the thought must depend on whether is, with de Wette, Brckner, Winer, Steinmeyer, Weiss, Schott, to be taken as referring to present, or, with Wiesinger and Hofmann, to future joy. In the first case, is joined in the closest manner with , and only with (de Wette: “and in Him, though now seeing Him not, yet believing ye exult”); in the second, is to be taken as the condition of the , and to be joined with (Wiesinger: “on whom for the present believing, although without seeing, ye exult”). In support of the first view, it may be advanced, that thus corresponds more exactly to , and that forms a more natural antithesis to than to ; for the second, that it is precisely one of the peculiarities characteristic of this epistle, that it sets forth the present condition of believers as one chiefly of suffering, which only at the of the Lord will be changed into one of joy; that the more precise definition: , as also the subsequent , have reference to the future; that the seems to involve the thought: “ now ye see Him not, but then ye see Him, and shall rejoice in beholding Him;” and lastly, that the apostle, 1Pe 4:13 , expressly ascribes the to the future. On these grounds the second view is preferable to the first. The present need excite the less surprise, that the future joy is one not only surely pledged to the Christian, but which its certainty makes already present. It may, indeed, be supposed that must be conceived as in the same relation to time with ; yet, according to the sense, it is not the , but the , which forms the second characteristic of the Christian life annexed to . It is not, however, the case, that on account of the present , . also must be taken with a present signification (Schott), since love and faith are the present ground of the joy beginning indeed now, but perfected only in the future. The particle of time applies not only to , but likewise to ; the sense of is not this, that although they now do not see, yet still believe the not seeing and the believing do not form an antithesis, they belong to each other; but this, that the Christians do not indeed see, but believe. On the distinction between and , see Winer, p. 452 [E. T. 609].

] serves to intensify . , . ., “unspeakable,” is either “what cannot be expressed in words” (thus , Rom 8:26 ), or “what cannot be exhausted by words.” [66] , according to Weiss, means: “the joy which already bears within it the glory, in which the future glory comes into play even in the Christian’s earthly life;” similarly Steinmeyer: “hominis fidelis laetitia jam exstat , quoniam ejus futuram praesentem habet ac sentit;” but on this interpretation relations are introduced which in and for itself the word does not possess. means simply “ glorified ;” . is accordingly the joy which has attained unto perfected glory; but “the imperfect joy of the Christian here (Wiesinger, Hofmann), and not the joy of the world, which as of sense and transitory is a joy ” (Fronmller), is to be regarded as its antithesis; so that this expression also seems to show that is to be understood of the future exultation.

[66] Steinmeyer gives an unjustifiable application to the word, by saying: “Meminerimus . Si quidem plurimae illae tentationes totidem laetitiae causas afferumt, sine dubio eodem sensu exstat, quo nequeunt enumerari.”

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 2382
THE CHRISTIANS HAPPINESS

1Pe 1:8-9. Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

THE world often wonder that Christians do not conform to the vices of the age [Note: 1Pe 4:4.]: and are yet more surprised, that any should be willing to suffer for the sake of their religion. But every Christian is actuated by a principle of love to Christ; which principle even gathers strength from the opposition it meets with. The Apostle is writing to those who were in heaviness through manifold temptations. He declares, however, that their trials were promoting their eternal good; and that they were supported under them by their attachment to their adorable Redeemer.

In his words we may see,

I.

The state of true Christians

Christians cannot be distinguished better by any thing, than by their regard to their Divine Master:

1.

They love Christ

[Once, like the ungodly around them, they were enemies to Christ and his cross [Note: Php 3:19.]: they saw no beauty in him, for which he was to be desired [Note: Isa 53:2.]. But now he is truly precious to their souls [Note: 1Pe 2:7.]: and they claim him as their best friend and portion [Note: Son 5:16.]. This is the character of every true Christian [Note: Eph 6:24.] If any answer not to this character, they are, and must be, accursed [Note: 1Co 16:22.].]

2.

They rejoice in Christ

[They have a good hope, if not a full assurance, of an interest in him. They have access to him in their secret duties. They receive strengthening and refreshing communications from him. They rejoice in him, as their faithful and almighty Friend [Note: Php 4:4.]. Their joy in him is incapable of being fully declared [Note: .]. It is a glorified joy, such as the saints in heaven possess [Note: .]. Every Christian indeed does not experience the same measure of joy; nor is any one at all times alike joyful: but no one is a Christian, who does not esteem the light of the Redeemers countenance above every other good [Note: Psa 4:6; Psa 73:25.].]

That their felicity may be more generally experienced, we proceed to state,

II.

The means by which they attain it

[Many suppose, that if they could have a personal interview with Christ, such as Paul was favoured with, they should love him, and rejoice in him. But a sight of him with the bodily eyes only never in any instance produced this effect. Many who even heard his discourses, and beheld his miracles, were amongst his bitterest enemies. The Christians to whom St. Peter wrote had never seen Christ. The Apostle twice mentions this circumstance, to shew that their regard for him did not arise from any personal acquaintance with him. Faith is the only mean whereby we are brought to this love and joy: as it is said, in whom believing, ye rejoice. It is only by faith that we can behold the excellency of Christ by faith only that we can apply his merits to ourselves by faith only that we can receive his gracious communications [Note: Eph 3:17.]. Repentance will lead to this state; and obedience spring from it: but it is faith only that will prevail to bring us into it [Note: Rom 15:13.].]

To increase our ardour in pressing forward to this state, let us consider,

III.

The blessedness of those who have attained it

[The salvation of the soul is the great end of our faith. Present comforts are desirable; but eternal happiness is that which the Christian has principally in view. It is to this that he looks forward, under his first convictions. This is the end for which he cheerfully endures all his privations and conflicts. In every possible state he has an eye to this, as the consummation of all his hopes and desires. And this blessed object is already attained by all true Christians: they do not wait for it till they arrive in heaven; their full reward indeed is reserved for another world. But believers have the foretastes of heaven already communicated to them; yea, their love to Christ, and their joy in him, are an earnest, as well as pledge, of their eternal inheritance; they now, in a way of anticipation and actual enjoyment, receive the end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls.]

Infer
1.

What a rational character is the Christian!

[He is thought an enthusiast, for loving and rejoicing in Christ; and they who have no such love or joy appropriate to themselves the name of rational Christians. Now we are willing to meet our adversaries on this ground, and to submit our sentiments to this test. If to admire supreme excellence, to love infinite amiableness, and to rejoice in unbounded goodness, be a rational employment; yea, if the glorified saints and angels be rational, then the Christian is a rational character; and the more so, in proportion as he loves and rejoices in Christ: and their adversaries are most irrational, in that they can love and rejoice in the things of time and sense, and yet feel no love to, nor any joy in, our adorable Lord and Saviour. Let those who are now despised as enthusiasts, think who will be accounted rational in the day of judgment ]

2.

How clearly may we know, whether we be real Christians or not!

[There are certainly different degrees of faith, love, and joy; but every true Christian experiences them in some measure. This is decided by an authority that cannot be doubted [Note: Php 3:3.]. Let us then examine what is the supreme object of our affections, and chief source of our joys Nor let us ever conclude well of our state, unless we can adopt from our hearts the language of St. Paul; I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord [Note: Php 3:8.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: (9) Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

These are very sweet verses. The persons to whom Peter wrote, had never seen Christ’s face in the flesh; and yet they loved him, believed in him, and rejoiced in him, as their hope of glory. And the Apostle saith, that by virtue of this inwrought faith, they did now, in the present life, receive the end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls. The Apostle talks of an absolute, immediate possession. They did, as the Holy Ghost declares the Old Testament saints did, by faith obtain a good report; and proved that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, Heb 11:1-2 . They are said t, receiving the end of their faith, not as if to receive it another day. They are now, to all intents and purposes, in possession. They realize Christ, live upon Christ, enjoy Christ. All their views of Christ are full of glory. Reader! bring this doctrine home, and it is as much ours now, as it was believers’ then, if so be our faith is of the same operation of the Spirit Of God, as their’s. We have never seen Christ in the flesh. But we have seen more. Christ’s returned to glory, and God the Holy Ghost, according to Christ’s most sure promise, come down. And what is the effect? He hath given us to believe the record which God hath given of his Son, 1Jn 5:10 . And, doth not He who gives his people grace to believe the record, give with it the blessed fruits and effects also? Doth not God) sometimes work in the hearts of his redeemed, a joy unspeakable, and full of glory, in the certainty of that glory, which shall be revealed? It is unspeakable, for their souls are sometimes so elevated with it, as for a while to be lifted up above themselves, above sin, sorrow, death, and Satan, that, like Paul, they hardly know whether in the body or out of it. And it is full of glory, for it is glory itself by anticipation. And why should it be thought incredible for the Lord at times to bless New Testament saints, less than He did Old Testament believers? Let those men, who would tempt us to alter scripture, and would teach us to call Christ’s salvation not finished, abridge these enjoyments in themselves as they may; but let not the faithful in Christ Jesus be led away by such error, and fall from their own stedfastness. If the peace of God be a peace that passeth all understanding; so is the end of faith in believing, a joy unspeakable and full of glory. And, if the Almighty Giver of faith be, as He calls himself, the Rewarder of faith: Heb 11:6 , here is the present reward as a pledge and earnest of the sure glory that follows; now receiving (mark the word, not to be received, but now receiving) the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

Ver. 8. Whom having not seen ] They had not been, belike, at the feast of the Passover (at which time our Saviour suffered), but came up to the feast of Pentecost, and were converted,Act 2:7-11Act 2:7-11 ; Act 2:41 .

And full of glory ] Gr. , glorified already; a piece of God’s kingdom and heaven’s happiness beforehand. Oh, the joy! the joy! the inexpressible joy that I find in my soul! said a dying saint.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

8 .] whom (it is in the manner of our Apostle to take up anew and with a fresh line of thought, a person or thing just mentioned: see above on 1Pe 1:6 ) having not seen (so the E. V. with more than usual accuracy: the , as distinguished from , adhering closely to the verb. If be read, the meaning will be the same: the lack of knowledge there predicated being that which arises from absence of personal eye to eye acquaintance) ye love (now, at this present time): in whom though now ye see Him not, yet believing (so E. V. again accurately. With this word the condition of believers ends, and with the next, , the then state again begins) ye (then) rejoice (pres. categoric, as before. Some would join with , taking and absolutely. So Huther (alt.), and probably E. V. which may be taken either way. The objection to this is, that is not found with , as neither are verbs of cognate meaning. Others again, as De Wette, would take with , leaving an object ( ) to be supplied after . This would confine to a strictly present meaning, as (see above) De W. maintains it has) with joy unspeakable (ineffable, which cannot be spoken out = , Rom 8:26 ) and glorified (this word is the strongest testimony for the quasi-future sense which we have adopted and maintained for , both times. It fixes the reference of the verb to that time when hope shall have passed into enjoyment, and joy shall be crowned with glory. The meaning on the other interpretation is obliged to be weakened down to “joy bearing in itself glory, i. e. the high consciousness of glory:” so De Wette ( herrlichkeit, das hochgefuhl derselben in sich tragender Freude ), and Steinmeyer, “quia futuram prsentem habet et sentit” [the E. V. “ full of glory ” is quite beside the meaning. It is no quality of the joy which is asserted, but a fact which has happened to it]),

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1 Peter

JOY IN BELIEVING

1Pe 1:8

The Apostle has just previously been speaking about the great and glorious things which are to come to Christians on the appearing of Jesus Christ, and that naturally suggests to him the thought of the condition of believing souls during the period of the Lord’s absence and comparative concealment. Having lifted his readers’ hopes to that great Future, when they would attain to ‘praise and honour and glory’ at Christ’s appearing, he drops to the present and to earth, and recalls the disadvantages and deprivations of the present Christian experience as well as its privileges and blessings. ‘Whom having not seen, ye love,’ that is a very natural thought in the mind of one whose love to Jesus rested on the ever-remembered blessed experience of years of happy companionship, when addressing those who had no such memories. It points to an entirely unique fact. There is nothing else in the world parallel to that strange, deep personal attachment which fills millions of hearts to this Man who died nineteen centuries ago, and which is utterly unlike the feelings that any men have to any other of the great names of the past. To love one unseen is a paradox, which is realised only in the relation of the Christian soul to Jesus Christ.

Then the Apostle goes on with what might at first seem a mere repetition of the preceding thought, but really brings to view another strange anomaly. ‘In Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.’ Love longs for the presence of the beloved, and is restless and defrauded of its gladness so long as absence continues. But this strange love, which is kindled by an unseen Man, does not need His visible presence in order to be a fountain of joy unspeakable and full of glory. Thus the Apostle takes it for granted that every one who believes knows what this joy is. It is a large assumption, contradicted, I am afraid, by the average experience of the people that at this day call themselves Christians.

We notice–

I. The All-sufficient Ground or Source of this Glad Emotion.

‘In whom,’ with all the disabilities and pains and absence, ‘yet believing,’ you can put out a long arm of faith across the gulf that lies, not only between to-day and eighteen centuries ago, but the deeper and more impassible gulf that lies between earth and heaven, and clasp Christ with a really firm grasp, which will fill the hand, and which we shall feel has laid hold of something, or rather has laid hold of a living person and a loving heart. That is faith. The Apostle uses a very strong form of expression here, which is only very partially represented by our English version. He does not say only ‘in whom believing,’ but ‘towards whom’; putting emphasis upon the effort and direction of the faith, rather than upon the repose of the heart when it has found its object and rests upon Him. And so the conception of the true Christian attitude is that of a continual outgoing of Trust and its child Love; of Desire and its child Possession; and of Expectation and its child Fruition towards that unseen Christ. It is much to believe Him, it is more to believe in Him; it is–I was going to say–most of all to believe towards Him. For in this region, quite as much as, and I think more than, in the one to which the saying was originally applied, ‘search is better than attainment.’ Our condition must always be that of ‘forgetting the things that are behind’; and however much we may realise the union with the unseen Christ in the act of resting upon Him, that must never be suffered to interfere with the longing for the larger possession of myself, and fuller consequent likeness to Him, which is expressed in that great though simple phrase of my text ‘believing towards Him.’ Such a continual outgoing of effort, as well as the rest and blessedness of reposing on Him, is indispensable for all true gladness. For the intensest activity of our whole being is essential to the real joy of any part of it, and we shall never know the rapture of which humanity, even here and now, is capable until we gather our whole selves, heart, will, and all our practical, as well as our intellectual, powers in the effort to make more of Christ our own, and to minimise the distance between us to a mere vanishing point, ‘Believing towards whom ye rejoice.’

That act of trust, however inadequate the object upon which it rests, and however mistaken may be our conceptions of that on which we lean, always brings a gladness which is real, until disappointment disillusionises and saddens us. There is nothing that so sheds peace over the heart as reliance, absolute and quiet, upon some object worthy of trust. It is blessed to trust one another until, as is too often the case, we find that what we thought to be an oak against which we leaned is but a broken reed that has no pith in it, and no possibility of support. So far as it goes, all trust is blessed, but the most blessed is simple reliance upon, and aspiration after, Jesus Christ. Ever to yearn for Him, not with the yearning of those who have no possession, but with that of those who, having a little, desire to have more, is to bring into our lives the one solid and sufficient good without which there is no gladness, and with which there can be no unmingled sorrow, wrapping the whole man in its ebon folds. For this Christ is enough for all my nature and for the satisfaction of every desire. In Him my mind finds the truth; my will the law; my love the answering love; my hope its object; my fears their dissipation; my sins their forgiveness; my weaknesses their strength; and, to all that I am, what He is answers, as fulness to emptiness, and as supply to need. So, ‘believing towards Him, we rejoice.’

But note that the joy is strictly contemporaneous with the faith. Tear away electric wire from the source of energy, and the light goes out instantly. It is as another Apostle says, ‘in believing’ that we have ‘joy and peace.’ And that is why so many of us know little of it. Yesterday’s faith will not contribute to to-day’s gladness, any more than yesterday’s meals will satisfy to-day’s hunger. Present joy depends upon present faith, and the measure of the one is the measure of the other.

Notice again–

II. The Characteristics of the Christian Gladness.

‘Unspeakable,’ and, as the word ought to be rendered, not ‘full of glory’ but ‘glorified.’ Unspeakable. Still waters run deep. It is poor wealth that can be counted; it is shallow emotion that can be crammed into the narrow limits of any human vocabulary. Fathers and mothers, parents and children, husbands and wives, know that. And the depths of the joy that a believing soul has in Jesus Christ are not to be spoken. Perhaps it is better that it should not be attempted to speak them.

‘Not easily forgiven

Are those, who, setting wide the doors that bar

The secret bridal chambers of the heart,

Let in the day.’

It is in shallow streams that the sunlight gleams on the pebbles at the bottom. The abysses of ocean are dark, and have never been searched by its light. I suspect the depth of the emotion which bubbles over into words, and finds no difficulty in expressing itself. The joy which can be manifested in all its extent has a very small extent. Christian joy is unspeakable, too, because just as you cannot teach a blind man what colour is like, and cannot impart to anybody the blessedness of wedded love, or parental affection, by ever so much talking–and, therefore, the poetry of the world is never exhausted–so there is only one way of conveying to a man what is the actual joy of trusting in Christ, and that is, that he himself should trust Him. We may talk till Doomsday, and then, as the Queen of Sheba said, when she came to Solomon, ‘the half hath not been told.’

‘He must be loved ere that to you

He will seem worthy of your love.’

It is unspeakable gladness springing from the possession of an unspeakable gift.

‘Glorified.’ There is nothing more ignoble than the ordinary joys of men. They are too often like the iridescent scum on a stagnant pond, fruit and proof of corruption. They are fragile and hollow, for all the play of colour on them, like a soap bubble that breaks of its own tenuity, and is only a drop of dirty water. Joy is too often ignoble, and yet, although it is by no means the highest conception of what Christ’s Gospel can do for us, it is blessed to think that it can take that emotion, so often shameful, so often frivolous, so often lowering rather than elevating, and can lift it into loftiness, and transfigure it, and glorify it and make it a power, a power for good and for righteousness, and for ‘whatsoever things are lovely and of good report’ in our lives. And that is what trusting towards Christ will do for our gladnesses.

Lastly, in one word, let me lay upon your consciences, as Christian people

III. The Obligation of Gladness.

Peter takes it for granted that all these brethren to whom he is writing have experience of this deep and ennobled joy. He does not say, ‘You ought to rejoice,’ but he says, ‘You do rejoice.’ And yet a verse or two before he said, ‘Ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.’ So, then, he was not blinking the hard, painful facts of anybody’s troubled life. He was not away upon the heights serenely contemptuous of the grim possibilities that lurk down in the dark valleys. He took in all the burdens and the pains and the anxieties and the harassments, and the losses, and the bleeding hearts and the cares that can burden any of us. And he said, in spite of them all, ‘Ye rejoice.’

Do you? I am afraid there is no more irrefragable proof of the unreality of an enormous proportion of the Christian profession of this day than the joyless lives–in so far as their religion contributes to their joy–of hosts of us. We have religion enough to make us miserable, we have religion enough to make us uncomfortable about doing things that we would like to do. We are always haunted by the feeling that we are falling so far below our professions, and we are either miserable when we bethink ourselves, or, more frequently, indifferent, accordingly. And the whole reason of such experience lies here, we have not an adequately strong and continued trust in Jesus Christ working righteousness in our lives, nobleness in our characters, and so lifting us above the regions where mists and malaria lie. Let us get high enough up, and we shall find clear sky.

You call yourselves Christians. Does your religion bring any gladness to you? Does it burn brightest in the dark, like the pillar of cloud before the Israelites? ‘Greek fire’ burned below the water, and so was in high repute. Our gladness is a poor affair if it is at the mercy of temperaments or of circumstances. Jesus Christ comes to cure temperaments, and to enable us to resist circumstances. So I venture to say that, whatever may be our condition in regard to externals, or whatever may be our tendencies of disposition, we are bound, as a piece of Christian duty, to try to cultivate this joyful spirit, and to do it in the only right way, by cultivating the increase of our faith in Jesus Christ. ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’; the man who said that was a prisoner, with death looking into his eyeballs. As he said it, he felt that his friends in Philippi might think the exhortation overstrained, and so he repeated it, to show that he recognised the apparent impossibility of obeying it, and yet deliberately enjoined it; ‘and again I say, rejoice.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

seen. App-133.

love. App-135.

see. App-133.

believing. App-150.

unspeakable. Greek. aneklaletos. Only here.

full of glory. Literally glorified.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

8.] whom (it is in the manner of our Apostle to take up anew and with a fresh line of thought, a person or thing just mentioned: see above on 1Pe 1:6) having not seen (so the E. V. with more than usual accuracy: the , as distinguished from , adhering closely to the verb. If be read, the meaning will be the same: the lack of knowledge there predicated being that which arises from absence of personal eye to eye acquaintance) ye love (now, at this present time): in whom though now ye see Him not, yet believing (so E. V. again accurately. With this word the condition of believers ends, and with the next, , the then state again begins) ye (then) rejoice (pres. categoric, as before. Some would join with , taking and absolutely. So Huther (alt.), and probably E. V. which may be taken either way. The objection to this is, that is not found with , as neither are verbs of cognate meaning. Others again, as De Wette, would take with , leaving an object () to be supplied after . This would confine to a strictly present meaning, as (see above) De W. maintains it has) with joy unspeakable (ineffable, which cannot be spoken out = , Rom 8:26) and glorified (this word is the strongest testimony for the quasi-future sense which we have adopted and maintained for , both times. It fixes the reference of the verb to that time when hope shall have passed into enjoyment, and joy shall be crowned with glory. The meaning on the other interpretation is obliged to be weakened down to joy bearing in itself glory, i. e. the high consciousness of glory: so De Wette (herrlichkeit, das hochgefuhl derselben in sich tragender Freude), and Steinmeyer, quia futuram prsentem habet et sentit [the E. V. full of glory is quite beside the meaning. It is no quality of the joy which is asserted, but a fact which has happened to it]),

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Pe 1:8. ) Ye love, although ye know Him not in person. A paradox: for in other cases it is knowledge which produces love. This is said respecting love: Peter afterwards asserts the same respecting faith. Whom and in whom: the absence of the copula resembles Anaphora.[8]- , in whom) The word in properly belongs to believing, as does also now.- , not seeing) The present: that is, although you see Him not as yet in glory. The apostles, who had seen Him themselves, thought that their faith was not so great as that of others.-, unspeakable) even now: 1Co 2:9.- , and glorified) This joy is glorified in itself, and glorified by witnesses. Comp. 1Pe 1:10. In other respects it is unspeakable.

[8] See Append.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Love and Joy in Believing

Whom not having seen, ye love; on whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory.1Pe 1:8.

In the preceding verses the Apostle has been speaking of the exceeding joy of primitive Christians in the midst of all their bodily trials and worldly privations. Driven from home, robbed of their substance, injured in person and reputation, they yet greatly rejoiced. What, then, was the secret source of their joy, their invisible support in affliction? The Apostle answers in the words of our text: Whom not having seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Jesus Christtheir faith in Him and love to Himaccounts for this phenomenon of exquisite joy in Christian experience, a phenomenon so strange that it baffles philosophy, not only to produce it, but even to explain it.

I

Love to the Unseen Christ

1. Love to Christ is independent of sight.The Christians love to Christ is of necessity spiritual. The eye that sees Jesus is the minds, and the heart that loves Him is the minds too. The sight is spiritual and the affection also. The love may lack the passion and intensity of instinct, but it has the calmness and the power of spirit. The claims of Christ have appealed not to eye and ear, but to heart and mind. We love Him, not for His beautiful face, I or fine voice, or winsome ways, but for His mercy and grace, the righteousness and truth that blend so perfectly in His character. We love Him, not so much for what He did, as for what He is. Gratitude for salvation may be the first, but is never the final form of Christian love. He who loves his deliverer simply as a deliverer loves for the lowest of all reasons, merely because he has been rescued. But he who loves his Saviour for what that Saviour is, loves Him for the highest of all reasons, because He is Supreme Love, perfect Grace and Truth.

How can the bodily absence of the Lord be for the benefit of His people? He Himself tells us. He must go, to send the Spirit. This fact touches the heart of the whole question. We can know Christ, trust Christ, love Christ, only as we are taught by the Spirit. Christ is a Spirit, to be worshipped in spirit and in truth; Christ in His whole Person and work is the great God infinite and eternal, transcending, therefore, the grasp not merely of all bodily senses, but also of all human reason. And it is as thus transcending the comprehension of nature that He presents Himself to be known, to be trusted, to be loved, to be gloried in by the soul.1 [Note: J. Hamilton, Faith in God, 235.]

Consider this strange fact: the Gospels give no hint as to Christs personal appearance, the colour of His eyes or hair, the cast of His features, the form of His head, the fashion of His body. Christ, as to physique, is to us an absolutely unknown being; but as to spirit, He is the best known of all beings. While physical descriptions help us to understand other persons, they would mar our conception of Him. In ordinary cases a good portrait is better than a big biography. How much better do we understand Dante, when we study his sad yet severe, worn yet ethereal face, with its keen, clear-cut features, yet look as of infinite remoteness from the world men most realize; or Luther, when we examine the lines of his heavy and broad, yet massive and mighty countenance, so full of laughter or tears, the loud indignation of the controversialist, and the inflexible resolution that could stand solitary against the world; or Oliver Cromwell, in whose large eyes, seamed brow, cheek furrowed and warty, and strong mouth, the mystic and soldier, the man of iron will and silent counsel, stands expressed. But so little has the outer man to do with Christ, so little is the face capable of expressing what was within, so impossible is it to human flesh or form to reveal the grace and truth that were in Him, that we should feel a description or a portrait an injury to our faith, a deprivation to our spiritual ideal.2 [Note: A. M. Fairbairn, The City of God, 346.]

An old divine said that he wished he could have seen three thingsRome in her glory; St. Paul preaching at Athens; and Christ in the body. And it was because of their desire to satisfy themselves, and to meet this great longing, that the great painters of Christendom covered the walls of picture galleries with conceptions of the face of Jesus. Crowds have stood transfixed and touched before these masterpieces of art. But who has not turned from the very noblest of them with a sigh of dissatisfaction, and a secret conviction that even if the sublimest feature were to be taken out of each separate picture and all combined into one, the face so composed must still fall infinitely short of that in which Deity and humanity met, and shone, and wept, and loved. We shall never see anything worthy of that face till we see Him as He is.1 [Note: F. B. Meyer, Tried by Fire, 39.]

2. It is no hardship to have an invisible Saviour.We can love Him the better that He is unseen. Sight assists the affection that is akin to instinct, but not that which lives in the spirit. That which the eye sees and the hand handles is commonplace and gross, loses in ethereality by what it gains in visibility. Were God localized, He would seem to our thought much less awful and majestic than when He is conceived as everywhere, like the air we breathe, the element in which all beings live. If there were only one spot on earth where God and my heart could stand face to face, God would seem to my heart much less Divine than He does now, when I can meet Him anywhere, speak to Him anywhere, I just as my soul has need. So a Jesus visible to the eye, tangible to the touch, would be a Jesus too limited and gross to be the object of a universal and spiritual affectiona Jesus known to the senses rather than to the soul. And so, while God gave us an historical Christ on whom our faith could rest, He made the history but a moment in the heart of His invisible and eternal being, that we might be compelled to love Him, if we loved Him at all, in spirit and in truth.

There attaches a transcendent character to the souls true love of the Lord. A beauty which we can see with our bodily eye,a worth and excellence which we can measure off by the standard of our own being or observation,all earthly and all finite grandeur,utterly fail to touch the depths of a renewed heart, or to fill the large longings of the souls love. Unless the soul finds the Lord in His gifts, it soon sucks out the sweetness from the blossom of all created beauty, and turns away from the crushed and withered leaves with discontented yearnings after something higher and better. All the noblest and tenderest of merely human loves retain their strength only so long as they preserve some natural semblance of Divine and infinite mystery. The passionate and exulting fondness of the mother for her babe, of the boy for his parent, of the young bridegroom for his bride, is drawn forth, not by the actual realities of its objects, but by the imagination of all conceivable and all inconceivable excellences, which floats before the soul in unformed and untried vagueness. When the natural heart loves its grandest and its best, it loves but its own dream. The love of the spiritual mind, however, finds the beauty and the worth of its Beloved greater and ever greater as it gazes on Him with fixed, fond lookgreater than anything the eye hath seen or the heart conceived. To the Christians love for Jesus necessarily belongs that character of transcendency and mystery which so essentially belongs to true love.1 [Note: J. Hamilton, Faith in God, 237.]

II

Joy in the Unseen Christ

In whom, with all the disabilities and pains and absence, yet believing, you can put out a long arm of faith across the gulf that lies, not only between to-day and nineteen centuries ago, but the deeper and more impassable gulf that lies between earth and heaven, and clasp Christ with a really firm grasp, which will fill the hand, and which we shall feel has laid hold of something, or rather has laid hold of a living person and a loving heart. That is faith. The Apostle uses a very strong form of expression here, which is only very partially represented by our English version. He does not say only in whom believing, but towards whom; putting emphasis upon the effort and direction of the faith, rather than upon the repose of the heart when it has found its object and rests upon Him. And so the conception of the true Christian attitude is that of a continual outgoing of trust and its child love; of desire and its child possession; and of expectation and its child fruition towards that unseen Christ.

It is much to believe Christ, it is more to believe in Him; it isI was going to saymost of all to believe towards Him. For in this region, quite as much as, and I think more than, in the one to which the saying was originally applied, search is better than attainment. Our condition must always be that of forgetting the things that are behind; and however much we may realize the union with the unseen Christ in the act of resting upon Him, that must never be suffered to interfere with the longing for the larger possession of Himself, and fuller consequent likeness to Him, which is expressed in that great though simple phrase believing towards Him. Such a continual outgoing of effort, as well as the rest and blessedness of reposing on Him, is indispensable for all true gladness. For the intensest activity of our whole being is essential to the real joy of any part of it, and we shall never know the rapture of which humanity, even here and now, is capable until we gather our whole selves, heart, will and all our practical as well as our intellectual powers in the effort to make more of Christ our own, and to minimize the distance between us to a mere vanishing point.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]

Faith does something from which I think joy specially springs. It appropriates. It takes possession, and you all know how possession of anything gives joy. Though it is only a very little thing, if you have long had possession of it how you cling to it. And still more is this the case with more important things. Now, for instance, you and I may have a natural love of children, and will love children wherever we see them. But what a different emotion is produced in us when we first know that we possess a child of our own! What must it be to possess a Saviour of our own? To possess a Saviour is to possess pardon and peace; it is to possess a holy life; it is to possess the assurance of a happy death and of a blessed eternity. Everything that the mind of man can think of in its highest and holiest moments is included in possessing Christ.2 [Note: James Stalker.]

It is this which made the fortunes of Christianityits gladness, not its sorrow; not its assigning the Spiritual world to Christ, and the material world to the Devil, but its drawing from the Spiritual world a source of joy so abundant that it ran over upon the natural world and transfigured it.3 [Note: Matthew Arnold, Essays in Criticism, 1st Ser., 220.]

1. This joy is described as (1) unspeakable, and (2) full of glory. Why is it unspeakable?

(1) Because it is too deep and sacred for words.Still waters run deep. The worldlings joy barely covers the stones of his daily sorrow, and therefore it babbles like a shallow brook as it runs along in its narrow bed; but the Christians joy is broad and deep, and it scarcely makes any sound as it majestically rolls on like some great river on its way to the sea. The Christians joy is unspeakable, because it is unfathomable, even by those who enjoy it.

The climax of every emotion is silence. The climax of anger is not the thunder, not the earthquake, not the fire, not even the still small voice; it is the absence of any voice at all; we say habitually, He was speechless with rage. The climax of grief is not the cry, not the shriek, not the paroxysm; it is the numbness, the deadness, the torpor, the insensibility to all around. And the climax of praise or joy is silence. When did you experience most difficulty in expressing your admiration of a thing? Was it not when you were thoroughly carried away with rapture! A girl plays a piece of music with great brilliancy. She receives gushing compliments from all but one. That one has been sitting in rapt attention all the time of the performance, yet at the close he only says, Thank you. I should esteem his the greatest praise of all. His silence comes from the joy unspeakablefrom an admiration too deep for words, too high for compliments, too intense for plaudits.1 [Note: G. Matheson, Messages of Hope, 161.]

Did you ever ask yourself when it was that according to the Book of Revelation there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour? It was when the seventh seal was opened and the prayers of the saints ascended as incense to the Father. In other words, the moment of silence was the moment of ecstatic praise; thanksgiving expressed itself in speechless adoration. There are members of the choir invisible who at times cannot singnot because they have hung their harps upon the willows, but because they see no willows on which to hang them; they are too full of joy to sing; the fulness of their joy makes it unspeakable.2 [Note: Ibid.]

Dr. Berry of Wolverhampton received a call from Brooklyn to succeed Henry Ward Beecher. He hesitated much. When I left him on the Friday, says his biographer, he was still in uncertainty. On the Sunday morning, however, a letter reached the deacons intimating that the call had been declined. I shall never forget the scene when, in the course of the service, the letter was read. The church was crowded; the faces upturned to the pulpit were wistful, sad, and apprehensive. But when, after listening to a forcible statement of the broad and vital issues presented by the invitation to America, the sentence was read by Mr. Bantock, I must remain in England, the moment will never be forgotten by any who were present. There was no sound except a rustle and sigh of reliefnot the slightest breach of Christian decorum, only the silent and unconscious tokens of a relief and thankfulness too deep for words and outward signs. His people realized the responsibilities they were assuming in retaining him, and in promising him as their pastor a sphere of usefulness, a ministry as wide as that which would have been his had he chosen to accept one of the most illustrious pulpits in the world, in succession to one of the greatest preachers of the age.1 [Note: James S. Drummond, Charles A. Berry, 63.]

(2) Because it is too subtle.The joy which wells up in the Christians heart cannot be conveyed in language, being too subtle and volatile a thing, evaporating in the very attempt to pour it from the heart into the bottles of grammatical construction. It cannot be told out. Hence Christians, after exhausting all the vocabulary at their command, feel the utter inadequacy of their highest efforts.

There are sounds, like flakes of snow falling

In their silent and eddying rings;

We tremble,they touch us so lightly,

like the feathers from angels wings.

There are pauses of marvellous silence,

That are full of significant sound,

Like music echoing music

Under water or under ground.

That clarion again! through what valleys

Of deep inward life did it roll,

Ere it blew that astonishing trumpet

Right down in the caves of my soul?2 [Note: F. W. Faber.]

2. It is full of glory, i.e. glorified.

(1) Joy in Christ is higher than the joys of the world.There is nothing more ignoble than the ordinary joys of men. They are too often like the iridescent scum on a stagnant pond, fruit and proof of corruption. They are fragile and hollow, for all the play of colour on them, like a soap bubble that breaks of its own tenuity, and is only a drop of dirty water. Joy is too often ignoble, and yet, although it is by no means the highest conception of what Christs Gospel can do for us, it is blessed to think that it can take that emotion, so often shameful, so often frivolous, so often lowering rather than elevating, and can lift it into loftiness, and transfigure it, and glorify it, and make it a power, a power for good and for righteousness, and for whatsoever things are lovely and of good report in our lives.

With a mighty victory over himself, Francis sprang from his horse, approached the leper, from whose deformed countenance the awful odour of corruption issued forth, placed his alms in the outstretched wasted handbent down quickly and kissed the fingers of the sick man, covered with the awful disease, whilst his system was nauseated with the action.

When he again sat upon his horse, he hardly knew how he had got there. He was overcome by excitement, his heart beat, he knew not whither he rode. But the Lord had kept His word. Sweetness, happiness, and joy streamed into his soulflowed and kept flowing, although his soul seemed full and more fulllike the clear stream which, filling an earthen vessel, keeps on pouring and flows over its rim, with an ever clearer, purer stream.1 [Note: J. Jrgensen, St. Francis of Assisi, 34.]

(2) It is an earnest of the joy to come.Full of glorythat is, it is Heaven already begun. There is a most significant suggestion here. Some men seem to fancy that they shall gain joy by entering Heaven. But the joy of which we are speaking is not gained or lost by any change of state; it belongs to the immortal soul. You cannot get into Heaven, Heaven must enter you. You must carry Heaven with you in the joy of Christ, or you will find no Heaven beyond the grave. But some one may ask, Is this feeble rejoicing of the Christian on earth the real element of the eternal Heaven? Remember, your present joy will then lose its imperfections; your present sacrifice will then be shorn of its painfulness; that which is perfect will have come, and that which is partial will be done away. Then the love which hopeth all things, endureth all things, will be the light that shall not fail when the lamps of faith and hope are lost in a blaze of glory. Then we shall cease our life of struggle, of endeavour, of unrest, and be filled with the eternal love, which is the eternal joy.

It is of the same substance, if not of the same bulk and weight, as the glory which awaits us on the other side. There are moments of heaven upon earth; prelibations of the river of life; stray notes of the angel choruses; Eschol grapes from the vineyards of the land of promise; flowers from the parterres of Paradise. Oh for more of heaven on the way to heaven! A prayer which we may almost answer for ourselves by seeking more of Him who is Himself the heaven of heaven; and so adopting Bengels motto: Christ in the heart; heaven in the heart; the heart in heaven.1 [Note: F. B. Meyer, Tried by Fire, 44.]

Upon the waters face

Of sadness not a trace!

Bright rays from sunny skies

All Heaven reflected lies.

Beneath the golden glow

There lie concealed, we know,

Hopes buried in the wave,

Full many a lonely grave,

Full many a vague unrest,

And many a gem unguessd;

Aye, many a lost delight,

All hidden from our sight.

One day lifes pulse will cease,

And God will grant us peace:

Yeajoy for evermore;

Lost treasures Hell restore.

Earths last farewells then said,

The sea will yield its dead.2 [Note: Una, In Lifes Garden, 40.]

Love and Joy in Believing

Literature

Arnot (W.), The Lesser Parables and Lessons of Grace, 289.

Brown (C.), Trial and Triumph, 15.

Cunningham (W.), Sermons (18281860), 159.

Fairbairn (A. M.), The City of God, 335.

Foster (J.), Lectures, ii. 107.

Hamilton (J.), Faith in God, 226.

Hodge (C.), Princeton Sermons, 204, 207.

Jones (J. C.), Studies in the First Epistle of Peter, i. 50.

Lambert (J. C.), Three Fishing Boats, 27.

Leckie (J.), Sermons at Ibrox, 147.

Maclaren (A.), Expositions: 1 and 2 Peter and 1 John, 34.

Matheson (G.), Messages of Hope, 161.

Meyer (F. B.), Tried by Fire, 38.

Moore (A. L.), God is Love, 107.

Oosterzee (J. J. van), The Year of Salvation, i. 370.

Parker (J.), Sermons (Cavendish Pulpit), i. 113.

Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, ii. 17.

Raleigh (A.), The Way to the City, 157.

Somerville (A. N.), Precious Seed, 129.

Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xii. (1866) No. 361; lvi. (1910) No. 541.

Christian World Pulpit, xiv. 72 (Tuck); xxxiii. 193 (Ferguson); xxxiv. 88 (Rowland); lviii. 266 (Macfarland); lxxiii. 118 (Veevers).

Church of England Magazine, xxxiv. 345 (Browne).

Church Pulpit Year Look, ii. (1905) 296.

Preachers Magazine, xvi. (1905) 34 (Johns).

Treasury (New York), xvi. 163 (Hallock).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

having: Joh 20:29, 2Co 4:18, 2Co 5:7, Heb 11:1, Heb 11:27, 1Jo 4:20

ye love: 1Pe 2:7, Son 1:7, Son 5:9, Son 5:16, Mat 10:37, Mat 25:35-40, Joh 8:42, Joh 14:15, Joh 14:21, Joh 14:24, Joh 21:15-17, 1Co 16:22, 2Co 5:14, 2Co 5:15, Gal 5:6, Eph 6:24, 1Jo 4:19

believing: 1Pe 1:6, Hab 3:17, Hab 3:18, Act 16:34, Rom 14:17, Rom 15:13, Phi 1:25, Phi 3:3, Phi 4:4

unspeakable: Joh 16:22, 2Co 9:15, 2Co 12:4

full: 1Pe 5:4, 2Co 1:22, Gal 5:22, Eph 1:13, Eph 1:14

Reciprocal: Lev 23:40 – rejoice Jdg 5:31 – them that 1Sa 2:1 – My heart Psa 4:7 – put Psa 37:4 – Delight Psa 68:3 – exceedingly rejoice Psa 94:19 – General Psa 97:10 – Ye that Psa 108:7 – I will rejoice Psa 119:111 – for they Psa 149:5 – the saints Pro 14:10 – and Pro 29:6 – but Son 1:4 – we will be Son 3:1 – him whom Isa 9:3 – they joy Isa 25:9 – we will Isa 30:33 – ordained Isa 51:3 – joy Isa 58:14 – delight Isa 61:10 – will greatly Zec 10:7 – their heart Mat 25:21 – enter Luk 1:46 – General Luk 24:52 – with Joh 6:36 – That Joh 6:40 – seeth Joh 12:43 – the praise of God Joh 14:28 – If Joh 15:11 – your Joh 16:27 – because Rom 2:7 – glory Rom 5:11 – but we Rom 8:28 – we know 1Co 8:3 – love 2Co 4:17 – far Gal 1:14 – traditions Gal 2:16 – we have Gal 2:20 – I now Col 2:1 – not 1Th 1:6 – with joy 2Th 1:12 – and ye Heb 3:6 – rejoicing Jam 1:12 – them 1Pe 4:13 – ye may 2Pe 2:1 – bought

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE LIFE OF FAITH

Whom having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

1Pe 1:8

We often think, if we had only lived in the days when Christ walked on earth, it would have been so much easier to believe. Many good people think that, but I believe they are wrong. We are too ready to improve on Gods methods of revealing Himself. The Light He gives is enough to guide. Jesus Christ has answered such reasonings as this (see St. Luk 16:31).

I. Every revelation of God to man has, what I may call, a sacramental character: that is, it has an outward and sensible form which is as real as its inward and spiritual truth; and the passage from the outward to the inward is commonly ascribed to Faith. We Christians are met by two facts which seem hard to reconcile: the fact that Christ has come into the world, is in the world, in a sense in which He was not in the world in patriarchal times; the other fact, that some behold Him, and some behold Him not. These facts are to be reconciled by remembering the principles on which God has always revealed Himself. He never compels belief. He leads, but does not drive. He does not put before us certain truths which cannot be misunderstood, but He gives that which will lead us to Him, if we receive it rightly. The Christian life, then, is a life of Faith, for Faith is the passage from the outward and visible to the inward and spiritual, which it is meant to show. To none but those who were living the life of Faith could the Apostle have written the words of the text.

II. The lesson of our text is Faith, the seeing, that is, not with the bodily sight, but with the eye of Faith, Christ invisibly present with us; the power of passing through the dark veil of sacraments to the Living Christ, Who is present in them.

(a) Look at the first and most rudimentary revelation of God, the vision of Himself which He gives in external nature. Most argue at once from this to the existence of a God, and a good God too. Yet we know this blessed truth has been denied, and that men have studied nature without seeing God in it. What is the difference between these and the Psalmist who cried, The Heavens declare the glory of God? The difference between Faith and no Faith. Where Faith lived and wrought, the eye could pierce the veil. Even such an elementary truth as that God made the world is not to be grasped by reason without Faith.

(b) The Advent of Christ at the Incarnation, and His invisible Presence in His Church now, is to be recognised only by Faith. Go back to the time when Jesus Christ lived upon earth in a form visible to human eyes. What did men see? A man like in all points to men. We should have seen mighty works of healing wrought, loving words spoken to the heavy laden and despised; but should we have seen God? Surely not. The disciples knew not at once that He was the Saviour of the world. Yet these menwho lived in alternate hope and despair beforeafter the Resurrection went forth in a power not their own, to preach Christ, to speak of a living Present Lord, the Head of His Body, the Church. They were persecuted and martyred, and suffered joyfully, for the truth that they had learned by Faiththe truth, that He Who lived in human form was Christ the Incarnate Son of God. They had passed within the veil, and seen the invisible in the visible. It was to such converts, men who believed as they in the real abiding Presence of Him Who died and rose again, that the Apostle dared to write the words of the text.

III. There is a large number of Christians who believe in Christs Divine Nature, in His earthly life and finished work, who never really understand His Advent, and what it meant.If Christ only came and lived in human form for thirty years, and then departed whence He came, how are we better for the memory of that fact than the old-world saints, who saw it afar off? Surely the Advent must be a fact of infinitely wider meaning. The taking of humanity into Godnot the mere wearing for a time a human form, and then flinging it asideis the very ground of that blessed promise, Lo! I am with you alway. Rest on that Divine promise, when you are tempted to wish that you had seen Christ in the fleshAbide in Me, and I in you. Before our fallen nature had been taken unto God, could that prayer have been uttered, As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us? Do we not lose half our glorious birthright because we will not believe that it is ours? or because, as when Christ revealed Himself in the Incarnation, we cannot pass through by Faith from the visible to the Invisible?

IV. Whether we will recognise Him or not, depends on the degree of our Faith.He is with us in His Church, with its constitution and ordinances and divinely appointed ministry. To those who believe not in the Presence of Christ, these are mere human contrivances which may be exchanged for any other religious organisation which commends itself to our private judgment; while to those who understand what Christs Advent means, these are earthly vessels; but earthly vessels which, in Gods wisdom, are charged with a heavenly treasure. So it is pre-eminently in that means of grace, whereby the Presence of Christ is revealed to the eye of Faiththe Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Those who believe not in the Presence of the Lord see here but signs and memorials of One Who left the earth at the Ascension, only to come again to judge; while to others, the eternal Presence of the Son of God in His Body, the Church, is the starting point of their belief. They draw near to the Altar of God in the full assurance of Faith. Christ is revealed to them in power. They love Him Whom they cannot see, and they feel that He is present. Many, it is to be feared, draw near to Christ in the Sacrament of His love who never feel the virtue that goes out when the hand is stretched forth in Faith.

Rev. Canon Aubrey Moore.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

FAITH COMPELLING LOVE

Christ reigns over the hearts of men by love. A few years after death none will, none can, really care for us, but the love towards Jesus lasts on, undiminished by time.

I.This love is illimitable in extent as well as in time.It pervades, more or less, in some cases very intensely, three hundred millions of human souls. Churches east and west, Established and Nonconformist, are scattered and divided, but wherever the name of Jesus is known there Jesus is loved. For Him all sacrifices are made. The love towards Him is indeed as strong as death. Martyrs die in endless succession, not only an Ignatius or a Polycarp in the first ages, but year after year the mission field, with its supposed ignoble population, gives these martyrs to ideal truth.

II. This is no abstract subject.It brings us to the very centre and home of Christian life. No ear of ours has ever heard that voice with the majestic and magnetic sweetness of its attraction: Draw me and I will run after Thee. No authentic likeness of the face of Him Who was crowned with thorns, with the pale and dying lips, has been preserved. There are those who love to look upon the crucifix, but remember this: in the catacombs, on mosaics, from pictures in galleries or on panes, from crucifixeswhich, doubtless, as they are sculptured, did not exist in Christendom for, I suppose, six centuriesno face ever imaged or ever painted by sculptor or artist is the very likeness of the Son of Mary and the Son of God, Whom yet, not having seen, we love.

III. We have not seen Him, and yet we love Him. Why so?He received us in infancy when we were baptized with the baptism of the uplifted brow, and grafted into His body. When we had erred and strayed from His ways, He called us back to the fold. When we returned He gave us pardon and peaceaye! it may be the fulness of pardon and the abundance of peace. He feeds us with His own body and blood. As we grow older He is able to make even the October of life a sort of Indian summer. He inspires not the academic, half-affected melancholy of a Milander or an Amiel, but the sweet hope that heals all the wounded places of each human life of ours, and He brings us, as it were, gently to that place where each one of us must lie until the daybreak and the shadows flee away.

IV. Here is the strange fact of the spiritual worldthis intense personal love towards One Whom we have not seen. As St. Bernard says: When I name Jesus I name a Man, strong, gentle, pure, holy, sympathising, Who is also the true and the Eternal God. And the image of the beauty is the best proof to the heart of the reality of the object which it represents, something in the same way as when we are walking along in meditation by a clear river that runs into the sea the reflection of the white seabird in the stream, even when we are not able to look up, is a proof to us that the bird is really sailing overhead. There is no fear of disappointment in that love toward Christ. As spiritual sight is given to us, as we start up in the light of the Resurrection morning, there will be no disappointment; when we wake up after His likeness we shall be satisfied with Him, with the likeness of Him, Whom, not having seen, we love.

Archbishop Alexander.

Illustrations

(1) There was a wife once who was all in all to a husband who had been blind from very early childhood, and when the question came about an operation being performed, she was troubled. She confessed she was troubled lest when sight was restored to her husband, whom she had loved and tended, he should be disappointed in the features of which he had thought so tenderly.

(2) A Chinese convert was asked by a missionary when he was dying whether he was sorry, and his answer was: Sorry! I am not sorry, I am glad. I am sorry at least only for one thing, and that is that I have not done more for Jesus, Who has done all for me. And that is the sacrifice of self-devotion in hospitals; of those who are working in the East End of London whose lives seem to be so dull, as they are.

(THIRD OUTLINE)

A TEST OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

Two classes are here spoken of: those who had seen, and those who had not seen, Jesus Christ. St. Peter belonged to the first. The strangers scattered abroad to the second. Here was a great difference. There was a time when Jesus was in the world. That passed. He ascended, and the heavens received Him. Still many remained who had seen Christ. Gradually their number diminished. At last but St. John left. With what mingled feelings of wonder and awe would it be said of him, Behold a man who saw the Lord. Then, when he was taken, Christians everywhere would be placed on the same level.

I. Doubtless it was a high privilege to have seen Christ.There is a power in the living voice. There is a subtle force in the glance of the eye, in the touch of the hand, and in the actual visible presence, which all must have felt. Sight individualises, and helps to intensify and sustain our feelings. We can sympathise with those who desired to see Jesus. Who but has felt this yearning? But we must take heed. We may err and deceive ourselves, as to the effects of seeing Jesus. Remember the Jews (Joh 15:24). If we do not believe on Jesus, with the evidence and motives we have, there can be little doubt, but though we had seen Him with our bodily eyes, we should have continued in unbelief. Besides, our Lord, Who knew what was in man, has declared that it is better for us as things are. It is expedient, etc. Let us have patience. Yet a little while, etc. (Joh 16:7; Isa 33:17).

II. The love of Jesus Christ is

(a) The true test of Christianity (1Co 16:22).

(b) The best inspiration for Christian work (2Co 5:14; Joh 21:25).

(c) The dearest bond of fellowship and the Divinest proof of the power and ultimate triumph of the Gospel (Eph 6:24; 2Ti 4:8; Php 2:9-10).

Illustration

Napoleon is reported to have said, at St. Helena, of Jesus Christ: All who sincerely believe on Him taste this wonderful, supernatural, exalted Love. The more I think of this I admire it the more, and it convinces me absolutely of the Divinity of Christ. I have inspired many with such affection for me, that they would die for me. But afterwards my presence was necessary. Now that I am alone, chained to this rock, who fights and wins empires for me? What a wide abyss between my deep misery, and the eternal Kingdom of Christ, which is proclaimed, loved, and adored, and which is extended over all the earth.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

1Pe 1:8. We do not have to see Jesus to love him if we believe the multitude of evidences of His love for us. “We love him because he first loved us” (1Jn 4:19.) His faith in the unseen Christ enables us to have great joy. Unspeakable means it cannot be fully described by human speech. Full of glory means it is a joy that imparts to one a sense of dignity, not a feeling of outward show.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Pe 1:8. Whom having not seen, ye love. With some good MSS. Scrivener reads known here instead of seen. The latter, however, is the better supported reading. The verse has a historical interest, being quoted (from the second clause onward) in the Epistle addressed to the Philippians (chap. 1) by Polycarp, the martyr bishop of Smyrna and the disciple of John, of whom also Irenaeus (Adv. Har. iii. 3), his own disciple, tells us that he was instructed by the apostles, and brought into connection with many who had seen Christ. From the brief vision of the future honour of believers, Peter turns again to their present position, and to that as one with the springs of gladness in it. He takes up the joy already referred to (1Pe 1:6), and, having indicated how the end of their trials should make the burdened present a life of joy, he next suggests how much there is to help them to the same in what they had in Christ now. In presenting the ascended Christ first as the object of love, he uses the term expressive of the kind of love which rises on the basis of a recognition of the dignity of the Person loveda term which he had hesitated to adopt from the Risen Christs lips in the scene by the Sea of Galilee (Joh 21:15-17).

on whom, though for the present not seeing him, yet indeed believing. The relative is connected not with the rejoice, but with the believing. It is as they believe on Him that they rejoice. The faith already noticed as the means through which they are kept is reintroduced as a belief in the unseen Saviour which carries unspeakable joy in it. Neither the writer himself, who once had seen Christ in the flesh, nor the readers who had not had that privilege, could now see Him, of whom it is said that then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord (Joh 20:20). Yet they had Him as the object of their love and faith, and in that they had enough to make their clouded life bright. Their present might seem grievous in comparison with that future of which Peter had given them a glimpse. But if it denied them Christ in the possession of sight, it admitted the deeper possession of faith. And to have that is to have joy. For joy is the reflex of love and trust. So joy stands next to love in Pauls description of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). So Peter, perhaps with the Lords words to Thomas in his mind (Joh 20:29), lets them into the secret of the blessedness of those who have not seen and yet have believed. It is commonly true, the eye is the ordinary door by which love enters into the soul, and it is true in this love; though it is denied to the eye of sense, yet you see it is ascribed to the eye of faith. . . . Faith, indeed, is distinguished from that vision that is in glory; but it is the vision of the kingdom of grace, it is the eye of the new creature, that quick-sighted eye, that pierces all the visible heavens, and sees above them (Leighton). Faith and love are associated as working together for a gladness of heart which rises to exultation. Their gracious inherence in each other is indicated. There is an inseparable intermixture of love with belief, says Leighton again, and a pious affection, receiving Divine truth; so that, in effect, as we distinguish them, they are mutually strengthened, the one by the other, and so, though it seem a circle, it is a Divine one, and falls not under the censure of the Schools pedantry. If you ask, How shall I do to love? I answer, Believe. It you ask, How shall I believe? I answer, Love.

ye rejoice greatly (or, exult). The verb is taken here again (so Huther, Wiesinger, Hofmann, etc.) to be future in sense, though present in form. This chiefly on the ground that the adjectives descriptive of the joy are too strong for the experience of the present. But its association here with the strict presents ye love and believing, stamps the verb as a present in sense as well as in form. The point, therefore, is not merely that over against the tossings of the present and the disadvantage of an absent Lord, there is a glorious future in which they shall yet certainly rejoice, but that in Christ believed on, though not seen, they have now a joy deeper than times storms can reach. The quality of this joy is expressed both by the repetition of the verb already used to express exultant joy (1Pe 1:6), and by the addition of two remarkable adjectives. The former of these, which is found in no other passage of the N. T., and is of very rare occurrence elsewhere, conveys a different idea from the unspeakable in 2Co 12:4, and is more analogous to the which cannot be uttered of Rom 8:26. It means, too deep for expression, and that in the sense of not capable of being told adequately out in words, rather than in the sense of not capable of being fitted to language at all. The latter adjective means more than full of glory. It designates the joy as one already irradiated with glory, superior to the poverty and ingloriousness of earthly joy, flushed with the colours of the heaven of the future. Compare the proleptic glorified of Rom 8:30, and better, the spirit of glory in 1Pe 4:14.

receiving the end of your faith, salvation of souls. If the rejoice is taken as a quasi-future, the participle must now be rendered, receiving as ye then shall. As a strict present, which it rather is, it may express the time of the rejoicing as coincident with the time of the receiving, or (so Huther, etc.) it may introduce the latter as a reason for the former: ye can cherish this joy now inasmuch as ye are now receiving the end of your faith. This term receiving occurs not un-frequently of judicial reward, specially that of the last day (1Pe 5:4; 2Pe 2:13; 2Co 5:10; Eph 6:8; Col 3:25). It may denote the getting of wages, the securing of a reward, the carrying off of a trophy, etc., and is used also in the more general sense of obtaining (Heb 10:36; Heb 11:39). The word end. again, means goal, that which faith has in view, or in which it is to issue. The idea, therefore, is more than that of securing reward. It is rather that they are even now in the process of reaching the goal of their faith, in the way to make finally their own that to which their faith looks, and therefore they may well find deep and constant joy even in the broken present. The mark which their faith is meant to reach is described as a salvation of souls, not because salvation is a spiritual thing, nor because it is the soul that is the chief subject of salvation, and the body only a future participant (so Bengel), nor because there is anything like a trichotomy or triple division of human nature in view (Brown, etc.), but simply because in the flexible psychology of the N. T. the term soul denotes the living self (cf. 1Pe 3:20; Jas 1:21; Jas 5:20).

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

In these words our apostle commendeth the faith and love of those Jews to whom he wrote; that although they had never seen Christ in the flesh as others did, yet they did truly love him, and their faith caused them to triumph and rejoice in him.

Learn hence, That it is the property and practice of a believer to love an unseen Saviour, and to rejoice in him, and in the hopes of eternal life by him.

Inference, If such as never saw Christ but with a believing eye, do yet love him superlatively, and rejoice in him unspeakably, how will they love him and rejoice in him, who shall see him with a glorified eye, and behold him face to face!

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

The Ultimate Source of Rejoicing

After “Doubting” Thomas had seen the resurrected Jesus and proclaimed him as Lord, Jesus said, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” ( Joh 20:29 ). Those words seem to echo in his ears as Peter speaks to these scattered Christians who have never seen Jesus, yet love him. This love is agape love, “which indicates an intelligent and purposeful love. It is the love which recognizes its object for what it is; it is the love of consideration and care; it is the love of good will which desires to serve and to promote the best interests of its object” (Kelcy). Belief in Jesus had brought them to a joyful state. Included is that joy of close association with and knowledge of Jesus ( 1Pe 1:8 ; Act 8:39 ; Php 4:4-7 ; 2 Corinthians 3:18: 4:6 ). Of course, present day Christians also look forward to the glory of heaven.

The ultimate source of every Christian’s rejoicing is heaven, the end result of faith. Christians have salvation from past sins ( Act 2:38 ; Act 2:47 ; Act 22:16 ); salvation in the present, so long as they are walking in the light ( 1Jn 1:7 ); and salvation in heaven ( 1Jn 2:25 ). Peter was likely speaking of the last of these, though all three certainly could be said to yield rejoicing ( 1Pe 1:9 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

1Pe 1:8-9. Whom having not seen , known, that is, personally in the flesh; ye love Namely, on account of his amiable character, and for the great things he hath done and suffered for you, and the great benefits he hath bestowed on you. It is very possible, as Doddridge observes, that among these dispersed Christians, there might be some who had visited Jerusalem while Christ was there, and might have seen, or even conversed with him; but as the greater part had not, St. Peter speaks, according to the usual apostolic manner, as if they all had not. Thus he speaks of them all as loving Christ, though there might be some among them who were destitute both of this divine principle and of that joy which he here describes as , unutterable and glorified; that is, such joy as was an anticipation of that of the saints in glory. Receiving Even now already, with unspeakable delight, as a full equivalent for all your trials; the end of your faith That which in your faith you aim at, and which is the seal and the reward of it; the salvation of your souls From the guilt and power of your sins, and all the consequences thereof, into the favour and image of God, and a state of communion with him; implying a qualification for, and earnest of, complete and eternal salvation. The Jews thought that the salvation to be accomplished by the Messiah would be a salvation from the Roman and every foreign yoke; but that would only have been a salvation of their bodies: whereas the salvation which believers expect from Christ is the salvation of their souls from sin and misery, and of their bodies from the grave.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Even though we will experience joy when we see the Lord, we can experience joy now too because we have hope (1Pe 1:3), faith (1Pe 1:7), and love (1Pe 1:8). These characteristics are inseparable. Our joy is "full of glory" in that the glory people will see when God reveals Jesus Christ infuses our present joy (cf. Joh 20:29). Our joy will be no different on that day, only greater.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)