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1 Peter 1

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Salutation and Greeting 1–2

1
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ​
2
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. ​

A Living Hope and Heavenly Inheritance 3–9

3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ​
4
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, ​
5
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ​
6
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: ​
7
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: ​
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:
9
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

The Prophets Foretold This Salvation 10–12

10
Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: ​
11
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. ​
12
Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. ​

A Call to Holiness and Obedience 13–21

13
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ​
14
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
15
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; ​
16
Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
17
And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: ​
18
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; ​
19
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: ​
20
Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, ​
21
Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

Fervent Love and the Eternal Word 22–25

22
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: ​
23
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. ​
24
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: ​
25
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Peter 1

Verse 1

strangers scattered — Parepidemos is a resident alien, one who lives beside others without belonging; it returns in 2:11, 'strangers and pilgrims', and in Heb 11:13. 'Scattered' is diaspora (James 1:1; John 7:35). Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia are among the lands named at Pentecost (Acts 2:9); into Bithynia the Spirit once 'suffered them not' to go (Acts 16:7).

Verse 2

sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ — Rantismos occurs only here and in Heb 12:24, 'the blood of sprinkling'. 'Obedience and sprinkling' follows Ex 24:7–8: the people said 'be obedient', and Moses 'sprinkled it on the people', 'Behold the blood of the covenant'. 'Foreknowledge' (prognosis) is found elsewhere only in Acts 2:23. Father, Spirit and Son are each named.

Verse 3

begotten us again — Anagennao occurs only here and in v.23. The opening words are those of Eph 1:3, 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ', and of a like blessing in 2 Cor 1:3. The hope is 'lively', that is living, because it rests on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Verse 4

incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away — Three Greek words, each beginning with the negative prefix: aphthartos, amiantos, amarantos; the last occurs only here. 'Reserved' is tereo, kept; Col 1:5 has the same thought with another verb, 'the hope which is laid up for you in heaven'. In v.5 the heirs are 'kept' with a different verb.

Verse 5

kept by the power of God — Phroureo is to guard as a garrison does: Paul uses it of the governor who 'kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison' (2 Cor 11:32) and of the peace of God that 'shall keep your hearts and minds' (Phil 4:7). The inheritance is 'reserved' (v.4) and the heirs are kept; the salvation is 'ready to be revealed' (apokalupto, as in v.12).

Verse 6

manifold temptations — 'Greatly rejoice' (agalliao) and 'heaviness' (lupeo, grief) are held together. 'Manifold' (poikilos) and 'temptations' (peirasmos, trials) are the words of James 1:2, 'divers temptations', where James 1:3 goes on to 'the trying of your faith', the word of v.7. 'If need be' is dei, the word of necessity.

Verse 7

the trial of your faith — Dokimion, the proving, found only here and in James 1:3. Gold 'tried' in fire is a figure of Zech 13:9 ('will try them as gold is tried'), Prov 17:3 ('the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts') and Job 23:10 ('I shall come forth as gold'). 'Appearing' is apokalupsis, 'revelation', as in v.13.

Verse 10

enquired and searched diligently — Two compound verbs: ekzeteo, to seek out, and exereunao, to search out; the second occurs only here. Christ said of the same longing, 'many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see' (Matt 13:17), and he expounded from 'Moses and all the prophets… the things concerning himself' (Luke 24:27).

Verse 11

the Spirit of Christ which was in them — The Spirit is named 'the Spirit of Christ' in Rom 8:9; the prophets spoke as 'moved by the Holy Ghost' (2 Pet 1:21). Promarturomai, 'testified beforehand', occurs only here. The order, sufferings then glory, is the one in Luke 24:26: 'Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?'

Verse 12

the angels desire to look into — Parakupto is to stoop and look in. It is used of Mary, who 'stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre' (John 20:11), and of the one who 'looketh into the perfect law of liberty' (James 1:25). 'Not unto themselves, but unto us' agrees with Heb 11:39–40, where the earlier believers 'without us should not be made perfect'.

Verse 13

gird up the loins of your mind — Anazonnumi occurs only here. The figure is the Passover meal eaten 'with your loins girded' (Ex 12:11), and 'Let your loins be girded about' (Luke 12:35). 'Be sober' (nepho) returns in 4:7 and 5:8. The grace comes 'at the revelation of Jesus Christ', the same apokalupsis as in v.7; v.19 brings the Passover lamb.

Verse 15

all manner of conversation — Anastrophe, conduct, manner of life; the KJV renders it 'conversation' six times in this letter (1:15, 18; 2:12; 3:1, 2, 16). The ground is 'he which hath called you is holy', as 1 Thess 4:7: 'God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.' V.16 cites the source: 'Be ye holy; for I am holy.'

Verse 17

without respect of persons — Aprosopolemptos occurs only here; Peter had learned its root at Cornelius' house: 'God is no respecter of persons' (Acts 10:34). He judges 'according to every man's work', as Rom 2:6, 'to every man according to his deeds'. 'Sojourning' (paroikia) is elsewhere used only of Israel's time in Egypt (Acts 13:17).

Verse 18

not redeemed with corruptible things — Lutroo, to release on payment of a ransom; elsewhere only Luke 24:21 and Titus 2:14. Ps 49:7 says no man can 'redeem his brother', and Isa 52:3 promises, 'ye shall be redeemed without money'. 'Received by tradition from your fathers' is one word, patroparadotos, found only here.

Verse 19

a lamb without blemish and without spot — 'Lamb' is amnos, as in John 1:29, 'Behold the Lamb of God'. The Passover lamb was to be 'without blemish' (Ex 12:5); of Christ, 'offered himself without spot to God' (Heb 9:14). 'Precious' is timios, the word of v.7 where faith is 'much more precious' than gold.

Verse 20

foreordained before the foundation of the world — Proginosko, to know beforehand, rendered 'did foreknow' in Rom 8:29 and 11:2; it is the verb behind 'foreknowledge' in v.2. The Lamb was 'slain from the foundation of the world' (Rev 13:8), and 'now once in the end of the world hath he appeared' (Heb 9:26), 'manifest in these last times'.

Verse 22

unfeigned love of the brethren — Philadelphia, brotherly love, then 'love one another' is agapao. 'Unfeigned' is anupokritos and 'a pure heart' is the pair of 1 Tim 1:5. 'Obeying' is hupakoe, the 'obedience' of v.2. 'Fervently' (ektenos) is stretched out, intensely; the purifying comes 'in obeying the truth through the Spirit'.

Verse 23

born again, not of corruptible seed — Anagennao again, as in v.3: there 'according to his abundant mercy', here 'by the word of God'. Spora, seed, occurs only here. 'Corruptible' and 'incorruptible' set this seed against the corruptible things of v.18 and the inheritance of v.4. James 1:18: 'Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth.'

Verse 24

All flesh is as grass — The quotation is Isa 40:6–8; Peter's 'all the glory of man' stands where Isaiah has 'all the goodliness thereof'. Isaiah gives the cause: 'because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it' (Isa 40:7). Ps 103:15 has the same figure, 'As for man, his days are as grass'.

Verse 25

the word of the Lord endureth for ever — Isa 40:8 reads 'the word of our God shall stand for ever'. Here 'word' is rhema, the spoken word; v.23 has logos. 'Is preached' is euaggelizo, the verb of v.12: the word the prophets served is the word now preached. Isa 40:9 goes on to 'good tidings'.