The First Epistle of
PETER
1
To elect pilgrims
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect sojourners* of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the setting apart of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ:† May grace and peace be multiplied‡ to you.
Do not take your inheritance for granted
Begotten into an incorruptible inheritance
3 Blessed be the God and Father§ of our Lord Jesus Christ,* who according to His great mercy has given us† another birth‡ into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead,§ 4 into an imperishable and undefiled and unfading inheritance,* already reserved in the heavens for you, 5 who are being guarded by the power of God through faith† unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.‡
Genuineness of faith proved by testing
6 You should be overjoyed about this, even if just now, briefly, of necessity,§ you have been distressed by a variety of trials, 7 so that the demonstrated genuineness of your faith (much more precious than gold that perishes, albeit tested through fire) may translate into* praise, glory and honor† at the revelation of Jesus Christ 8 —whom not having understood‡ you love, into whom believing (not yet seeing) you exult with joy inexpressible, already glorified,§ 9 obtaining for yourselves the end result of your faith,* the salvation of your souls.
Salvation foretold by prophets
10 Concerning this salvation† the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and inquired diligently, 11 investigating into whom, or what sort of time, the Spirit of Christ‡ who was in them was indicating§ as He testified beforehand the sufferings that would be inflicted on Christ* and the glories that would follow them. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not ministering these things to themselves, but to you;† which things have now been announced to you by those who proclaimed the gospel to you, with‡ the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things that angels really desire to look into.§
Be serious, be holy, be fearful
13 Therefore, having girded up the loins of your mind,* staying sober,† rest your hope fully upon the grace being brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ‡— 14 as children of obedience,§ not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance, 15 but just as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your way of life, 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”*
17 Also, since you invoke as Father† the One who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves during the time of your sojourn here in fear,‡ 18 knowing that it was not with perishable things (silver or gold) that you were redeemed from the futile way of life handed down by your forefathers,§ 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a faultless and pure lamb; 20 who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world,* but was revealed in these last times for your sake, 21 who through Him are believing into God,† who raised Him out from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are into God.
Born again through an eternal Word
22 Since you have purified your souls by obeying the truth through the Spirit,‡ resulting in sincere brotherly love, you must love one another fervently from a pure heart, 23 having been begotten again, not from a corruptible seed but an incorruptible,§ through the living Word of God that remains valid forever.* 24 For:
“All flesh is as grass,
and all man's glory as flower of grass.
The grass withers and its flower falls off,
but the Lord's word endures forever.”†
25 Now this is the good word that was proclaimed to you.‡
* 1:1 One could render ‘resident aliens’ or perhaps even ‘refugees’—these are presumably Christians who had left their homelands because of persecution (but since Paul was apostle to the Gentiles, Peter may be writing to Jews, as did James); Peter will emphasize the security of their position in heaven, in contrast to the uncertainty of their situation on earth. For a discussion of the implications of Peter addressing this letter to five provinces, please see the article “Multiple Autograph Copies”, available from my website: www.prunch.org. † 1:2 Peter is evidently making a point of including all three persons of the Godhead in the process of our salvation: the Father chooses, the Spirit sets apart (He works in our minds to encourage or predispose us to obey) and the Son paid the price for our cleansing. God has done His part, but each of us must obey. ‡ 1:2 “Multiplied”—not just a little, lots! § 1:3 “The God and Father” is one person. * 1:3 Since His victory by the cross and resurrection, the official name of Jehovah the Son is ‘the Lord Jesus Christ’, to which Peter adds the possessive pronoun. † 1:3 The 1st person plural is presumably inclusive, including the people Peter is addressing; in the next verse he switches to the 2nd plural, applying the truth directly to them. ‡ 1:3 The Text neither says nor implies that God begot them the first time (that was done by their physical father); He is giving them a second begetting, a spiritual one. § 1:3 If Jesus had not arisen we would have no hope, but now we have a “living” hope, that will not let us down. * 1:4 Like, wow! Now that is an inheritance! And it is already reserved. Before talking about the difficulties they are facing Peter emphasizes the incredible blessing of a secure position. † 1:5 Time and again Peter will present both divine sovereignty and human responsibility; God guarantees His part, we must do our part. ‡ 1:5 The full manifestation of our salvation is still future. § 1:6 The trials are necessary to prove the quality of the faith. * 1:7 Literally, “may be found into”. † 1:7 These are things that the faithful person will receive. To hear “Well done, good and faithful servant” from the lips of the Sovereign will be the ultimate praise. ‡ 1:8 The familiar ‘seen’ is based on about 7% of the Greek manuscripts (early, but of objectively inferior quality); to render ‘known’ rather than “understood” would require qualification. § 1:8 Anyone who has experienced this joy will agree with Peter—it definitely is not ‘natural’; it is ‘otherworldly’, a foretaste of heaven. * 1:9 Here Peter emphasizes human responsibility; the verb ‘obtain’ is in the middle (reflexive) voice. † 1:10 “This salvation” presumably includes the basis and the process, as well as the result; evidently quite different from the ‘salvation’ the prophets themselves knew. ‡ 1:11 The Spirit of Christ was at work in the Old Testament. Is this a reference to the Holy Spirit, or did Jehovah the Son also do some inspiring? § 1:11 Evidently Peter had access to information that we do not. However, when a prophet spoke or wrote under inspiration, he would not necessarily receive an explanation of the interpretation. Anything pertaining to the Messiah would be of intense interest, and they would certainly keep mulling over the implications—assuming a single advent, it would be hard to reconcile glory and suffering. * 1:11 The Text says literally, ‘the sufferings into Christ’. † 1:12 The familiar ‘to us’ (TR, AV, NKJV) is based on about 14% of the Greek manuscripts, and is more congenial than “to you”; I take it that having already narrowed the focus to his addressees, Peter just keeps on going. ‡ 1:12 The more usual rendering is ‘by’, but I do not think it fits the context. The Holy Spirit went along with the Gospel. § 1:12 That is what the Text says, but I am not sure what it means. I assume that angels can read, so are they not allowed to? Or is it that they cannot really understand why the Sovereign would do something like that? Do angels have ‘soul’—emotions, ambitions, etc.? I wonder. * 1:13 This is obviously a figure of speech, but I wasn't sure how else to render it; in order to work, fight, run, or whatever, they would tie in their loose garments with a rope or a belt—the idea appears to be to prepare the mind for action, which would involve discipline and determination. † 1:13 I take this phrase to be basically synonymous to the figure of speech; staying sober involves being disciplined and determined. ‡ 1:13 In verse 7 I rendered the same Greek phrase as ‘at the revelation of Jesus Christ’, referring to His second coming, but here in verse 13 “being brought” is in the present tense, so I take the revelation to be contemporaneous. The more we obey, the more Jesus reveals Himself to us. § 1:14 Peter, a Jew, uses a Jewish idiom—he is not saying they are children, but are to be characterized by obedience. * 1:16 Since God is holy all the time, we are to be also. The quote is from Leviticus 11:45 or 19:2. † 1:17 To “invoke as Father” is to place yourself under His authority and protection—also His evaluation! ‡ 1:17 “In fear” is emphasized in the Text. We tend to forget just who and what God is, and so we get complacent—not a good idea, says Peter. § 1:18 All ways of life that are not biblical are futile. We should not be apologetic about challenging people's belief systems or presuppositions, provided we are in a position to present the biblical worldview. * 1:20 This sort of ‘blows my mind’—the Text is saying that the Lamb, with blood shed, was so known before the creation of our race and planet; which means that the Creator knew, before creating, what would happen and the terrible redemption price He Himself would have to pay, yet He went ahead anyway. Wow! † 1:21 “Into” not ‘in’, both here and at the end of the verse; what is involved is a change of position, from being outside to being inside. ‡ 1:22 Some 8% of the Greek manuscripts omit “through the Spirit” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). § 1:23 The seed that Adam received when he was created proved to be corruptible, in fact became corrupted upon his Fall, and that corrupted seed has been passed down through the succeeding generations [less than 300]; so our first begetting, by a human father, was with that corrupt seed. God gives us a second begetting with a pure seed that cannot be corrupted. * 1:23 As it says in Psalm 119:89, “Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven.” Some 6% of the Greek manuscripts omit “forever” (as in NIV, NASB, etc.). † 1:24 The quote is from Isaiah 40:6-8. ‡ 1:25 Wait a minute—was the “good word” they proclaimed limited to the Old Testament? I would say it was mostly about Jesus, the content of the Gospels. So Peter is saying that New Testament material is also God's Word. By the time he wrote this letter, Matthew and Mark were already in circulation, and maybe even Luke. (Luke was ‘published’ in 45 AD.)