1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
Paul called Peter “an apostle to the circumcised,” and considered himself "an" apostle to the Gentiles. (Galatians 2:8) But there is no reason to consider this letter to Jewish-Christians only. “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) “One of the outstanding things about this passage is that it takes words and conceptions which had originally applied only to Jews and applies them to Christians.” (Barclay) These are now the elect, chosen, dispersion, and sojourners. By the foreknowledge of God, the church becomes the center of learning.
“‘Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ …’Peter was the beloved name that Jesus himself had bestowed upon this apostle, and is the Greek form of the Aramaic name meaning ‘stone’ or ‘pebble.’ Jesus had first spoken it prophetically (John 1:42), later confirming it, when in his great confession of Christ (Matthew 16:18), this great apostle was proving his perception and dependability.— ‘An apostle of Jesus Christ …’ There was no need for Peter to defend his apostleship, for it was never questioned, as was sometimes true with Paul. Note also that he did not write ‘THE apostle,’ but ‘AN apostle.’ He was always careful to acknowledge his own equality with all the twelve and with Paul also. ‘St. Peter knew no higher title to bestow on himself than that which he held in common with the other eleven.’ (A. J. Mason)” (Coffman Commentary) The stone may be a reference to the stones on the breastplate of the high priest. Likewise, Jesus will give all overcomer new names. In His letters to the compromising church at Pergamon, He tells them, “To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”’ (Revelation 2:12-17)
Peter was generally in Jerusalem and Paul in various places, but the common headquarters was new Jerusalem. To the pilgrims of the dispersion etc… “The letter is addressed by ‘the Apostle’ Peter to district churches in Asia Minor (modern Turkey), their names given in the order in which the messenger would visit them.” (Peter Pett)
“To the the pilgrims of the dispersion” — “The ten tribes, after existing as a separate kingdom for two hundred and fifty-five years, were carried captive (B.C. 721) by Shalmaneser (or Sargon), king of Assyria. They never returned to their own land as a distinct people, although many individuals from among these tribes, there can be no doubt, joined with the bands.” (Easton’s Bible Dictionary) Here: “Peter's readers are 'God's scattered people', an expression that Peter uses with a wide meaning. In relation to their place of local residence, they are God's people scattered throughout northern Asia Minor. But in relation to heaven, they are God's people scattered in a foreign land. Their true homeland is heaven, and the foreign land is the world. They really belong to God. He chose them and cleansed them, with the aim that they be holy and obedient (1:1-2).” (Bridgeway Bible Commentary)As many Jews were of the dispersion after various captivities, so the members of the Christian church were... and are "strangers and sojourners on earth."
These is an elect according to the foreknowledge of God.
“Dr. Heylin… observes, that as the Christian church succeeded to the Jewish, it has the same titles of elect and sanctified; that is, consecrated to God, being separated from the rest of the world by the peculiar illumination of the Holy Spirit. The source of their redemption by Jesus Christ was the love of God the Father, who designed before the coming of Christ, not only to call the Jews, but [at the appointed time] also to take unto himself a chosen people from among the Gentiles. It was not owing to the merit of those Gentiles, or granted as a reward for their works of righteousness antecedent to their conversion, that the gospel was sent among them; but to the foreknowledge and love of God the Father. By the phrase the sprinkling of the blood the apostle may refer to the Jewish ceremony of sprinkling the blood of the sacrifices upon the people; whereby they [were cleansed and] entered into covenant with God.” (Thomas Coke)
In His foreknowledge, God knew that covenant based on the blood of bulls would be in effective and would be superseded by a new, as Yahweh had spoken. "The days come, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, not after the covenant I made with their fathers" (Jer. 31:31). This is quoted in the New Testament book of Hebrews, with the addition: "In that He saith a new covenant, He hath made the first old." (Heb. 8:13) The old ended with the destruction of the temple.
“Our Lord spoke Himself of the New Covenant in His blood. In His dealings with His people, in His working out His great redemption, it has pleased God that there should be two covenants.… They indicate two stages in God's dealing with man; two ways of serving God, a lower or elementary one of preparation and promise, a higher or more advanced one of fulfillment and possession. As that in which the true excellency of the second consists is opened up to us, we can spiritually enter into what God has prepared for us. Let us try and understand why there should have been two, neither less nor more. The reason is to be found in the fact that, in religion all intercourse between God and man, there are two parties, and that each of these must have the opportunity to prove what their part is in the Covenant. In the Old Covenant man had the opportunity given him to prove what He could do, with the aid of all the means of grace God could bestow” (Andrew Murray)
The old has ended . The actual blood of the Jesus is not sprinkled in some literal sense here, but metaphorically by the Spirit and the Word, the blood is sprinkled, thus preparing them for services. The Jews — “‘Because he loved thy fathers therefore he chose their seed after them’ (Deut. 4:37). However, Jesus Christ said to his followers, ‘I have chosen you’ (John 15:16,19); therefore, Christians are the new chosen people (note particularly in this context that no Israelite in the fleshly sense is excluded from this fellowship, unless he chooses to be excluded); these people are said to be chosen out of the world, in the world, but not of it (John 15:15ff).” (Coffman Commentary)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
“‘Blessed’ (εὐλογητὸς) be, εὖ , well, λόγος , a word. Well-spoken-of; praised; honored. Used in the New Testament of God only.” (Vincent Word Studies) “In that this form implies that blessing is always due on account of something inherent in the person... The idea of blessing God... is, of course, wholly Hebrew.” (C. J. Ellicott)
“The kindred verb is applied to human beings, as to Mary (Luke 1:28): ‘Blessed (εὐλογημένη) art thou.’ Compare the different word for blessed in Matthew 5:3, etc. (μακάριοι)...” (Vincent Word Studies) —“Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God." Mark 10:18)
“the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’— For, as formerly, by calling Himself the God of Abraham, He designed to mark the difference between Him[self] and all fictitious gods; so after He has manifested Himself in His own Son, His will is, not to be known otherwise than in Him. Hence they who form their ideas of God in His naked majesty apart from Christ, have an idol instead of the true God, as the case is with the Jews and the Turks. Whosoever, then, seeks really to know the only true God, must regard him as the Father of Christ; for, whenever our mind seeks God, except Christ be thought of, it will wander and be confused, until it be wholly lost. Peter meant at the same time to intimate how God is so bountiful and kind towards us; for, except Christ stood as the middle person, His goodness could never be really known by us.” (John Calvin)
"God is not the God of the dead"— those still sleeping—, "but of the living…” (Matt. 22:32). “It is no longer the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but ‘the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ They were begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead. It is a joyful song of the better hope. We may think of what it meant to Peter, as well as to the other disciples. They had believed on Jesus as their promised, national Messiah. Their hope was in Him. As the two said on the way to Emmaus, 'we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel.' They hoped He would be King and take the throne of His father David. Then He who was their hope died on the shameful cross, and hope died. But the third day came and Christ arose from among the dead. Hope revived, yea, they were begotten again unto a living hope. His resurrection was a begetting again to a living hope, no longer the hope of the earthly kingdom but a living hope ‘unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away.’ And this living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead, the hope which centers in Him as the living, risen and glorified One, is the hope of all His people.” (Arno Gaebelein)
"The resurrection had made all new in Peter's life, had turned tragedy into triumph; so it is altogether fitting that his epistle should begin with this paean of it." (Archibald M. Hunter) “Many popular writers have called Paul the apostle of faith, John the apostle of love, and Peter the apostle of hope. They have done so because of the dominant emphasis each of these writers made in the New Testament. Peter had much to say about hope in this epistle." (Geerhardus Vos)
This hope of Peter's was “sure and solid, clearing the conscience, and cheering the spirit… If it were not for [this] hope [of the resurrection of Jesus], the heart would break; as they do whose lives and hopes end together. True hope lives when the man dies. It hath for its motto, 'Dum expiro, spero'.... The righteous hath hope in his death, as St Stephen had; who… 'went with good cheer to take his end.' (Bembus.) And many of the holy martyrs went as willingly to die as ever they did to dine;… The ungodly are not so; their hopes are dying hopes, they are no better than as the giving up of the ghost, Job 11:20.” (John Trapp) “Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” (1 Cor. 15:18) They will rise again but only for Judgment and that second death.
Our living hope: "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" (Job 19:25-27)
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.
Of old it was the Jews who suffered persecution for the contents of their faith, often at the hands of the so-called religious authorities. Stephen preached to the religious leaders of his day: “Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” (Acts 7:52-53)
The keepers of the law are oft persecuted by the mainstream. Woe to anyone who challenges their theology, especially concerning the keeping of the Commandments of God. I believe that the persecution of the remnant will likely be at the hands of those who call themselves Christians, but who prove, in fact, to be wolves in sheep clothing. In contrast, the sheep— those being persecuted rejoice in their present salvation, “though not without having an eye to the great recompense of reward. [and] ‘though now for a little while… you have been grieved.’ Sometimes there is a kind of necessity that the followers of God should be afflicted; when they have no trials they are apt to get careless, and when they have secular prosperity they are likely to become worldly-minded [anyway].” (Adam Clarke) Their hope and the expressing of it had “made them unpopular, but now they were facing almost certain persecution. Soon the storm was going to break and life was going to be an agonizing thing. In face of that threatening situation Peter in effect reminds them of… reasons why they can stand anything that may come upon them.” (William Barclay)
These types of trails are “a being put to the test. Thus God ‘tempted [Gen. 22: 1; R.V., 'did prove'] Abraham;’ and afflictions are said to tempt, i.e., to try, men (James 1:2 12; comp. Deut 8:2), putting their faith and patience to the test… The scene of the temptation of our Lord is generally supposed to have been the mountain of Quarantania (q.v.), a high and precipitous wall of rock, 1,200 or 1,500 feet above the plain west of Jordan, near Jericho.’ Temptation is common to all [beleivers] (Dan 12:10; Zech 13:9 Ps 66:10; Luke 22:31, 40; Heb 11:17; James 1:12; 1 Pet 1:7 4:12). We read of the temptation of Joseph (Gen 39), of David (2 Sam. 24; 1 Chr. 21), of Hezekiah (2 Chr 32:31), of Daniel (Dan 6), etc.” (Easton Bible Dictionary)... to return to the world— our Goshen, but let us persevere.
We endure grievous afflictions in our bodies and estates for Jesus' sake, but "rejoice", just as the Master has bidden (Matthew 5:12) These atrocities are meant by those inflicting them for evil against us; but God meant it for our good, “in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” (Genesis 50:20) This is reasonable logic, yet:
“It seems somewhat inconsistent, when he says that the faithful, who exulted with joy, were at the same time sorrowful, for these are contrary feelings. But [indeed] the faithful know by experience, how these things can exist together, much better than can be expressed in words. However, to explain the matter in a few words, we may say that the faithful are not logs of wood, nor have they so divested themselves of human feelings, but that they are affected with sorrow, fear danger, and feel poverty as an evil, and persecutions as hard and difficult to be borne. Hence they experience sorrow from evils; but it is so mitigated by faith, that they cease not at the same time to rejoice. Thus sorrow does not prevent their joy, but, on the contrary, give place to it.” (John Calvin)
“That the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (7) “'There is an analogy between the testing of character (faith) and the refining of gold.' [Archibald M. Hunter] If people go to the trouble to test gold, how much more should it be expected that God will test faith? Albert Barnes also stressed this, as follows: ‘This does not mean that their faith was more precious than gold (though of course it is), but that the testing of it ... was a much more important and valuable process than that of testing gold by fire.’ Also inherent in this verse is the tremendous fact itself, that faith is more precious than fine gold, the reason for this, as pointed out by E. M. Zerr, being that: ‘Even while the earth remains, the joys that gold may procure for us are uncertain and often flee like the dew of morning; but the happiness that is obtained by an enduring faith will not pass away.” (Coffman Commentary) “For gold, though it bear the fire, yet will perish with the world.” (John Wesley) But works based on faith in Jesus will survive. (Cp. 1 Cor. 3:11-14)
“'Whom having not seen you love.' It is a strange sound and fact at first, but in the end it is precious. Who ever loved a person that he never saw? We know that in human relations it is not so [though oft infatuated]. In divine things it is precisely what shows the power and special character of a Christian’s faith. ‘… 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, the salvation of your souls.' This at once gives us a true and vivid picture of what Christianity is, of signal importance for the Jews to weigh, because they always looked forward for a visible Messiah as an object, the Son of David. But here it is altogether another order of ideas. It is a rejected Messiah who is the proper object of the Christian’s love..." (Arno Gaebelein) and whose suffering they were apt to share.
“Their eye was single”— an unseen, suffering Messiah— thus "they embraced christianity in the hope of eternal life, and all their sufferings here prepared them for a brighter crown.” (Sutcliffe) At the Second Coming: “Then you will rejoice with inexpressible and glorious delight, when you each receive the outcome of your faith, your final salvation’ ..." (Michaels) For now: “Some grapes of Canaan God gave them beforehand, to sustain them, not to satisfy them.” (Trapp)
10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
"Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully," Peter declared the blessedness the church age. “He declares that more has been given to us than to the ancient fathers, in order to amplify by this comparison the grace of the gospel; and then, that what is preached to us respecting salvation, cannot be suspected of any novelty, for the Spirit had formerly testified of it by the prophets. “ (John Calvin)
“That Daniel understood not the full meaning of his own prophesies, see Daniel 8:15; Daniel 8:27; Daniel 12:8-9. It is evident, that the ancient prophets had views of a greater salvation than that of being saved out of the hands of their enemies when they conquered Canaan, and got possession of that good land, the land of Promise. To that salvation, (... spoken of by Daniel,) St. Peter seems here to allude.— ‘who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,’— By grace or favour, in this verse, we understand the favour of having the gospel preached unto them, and being admitted to the privileges of Christians; the elect people of God under the Messiah. By grace, in the New Testament, is often meant the gospel, or the Christian religion.” (Thomas Coke)
The prophets search diligently, longing for this day: “‘Searching what?’ Whether near or farther off, or what particular part of time. This may relate particularly to Daniel’s weeks, Daniel 9:1-27. ‘What manner of time?”; whether peaceable or troublesome, when the people were free or when in bondage; what were the qualities of the time, or signs by which it might be known, Jacob foretells Christ’s coming, when the sceptre was departed from Judah, Genesis 49:10; Isaiah, in a time of universal peace, Isaiah 2:4 11:6. This diligent inquiring after the time of Christ’s coming showed their earnest longing for it.” (Matthew Poole) Because of their longing and searching and sufferings for their messages, the prophets will be part of His salvation. "To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation." (Hebrews 9:28)
12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven- things which angels desire to look into.
"They knew that it was not for themselves, nor for their own times, that which the Spirit had announced, but for another time. The passage is illustrated by comparing Isaiah 64:4 with 1 Corinthians 2:9-12. The Spirit having come down from heaven after Christ had died and was raised from among the dead, has made known the fullness of redemption. And the angels desire to look into these things; they seek to explore and to fathom the wonders of that redemption and the coming glories which are connected with it.” (Arno Gaebelein)
“But as it is written [by the prophet]: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ [Isaiah 64:4] ‘But [says the apostle to the uncircumcision] ‘God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.’” (1 Corinthians 2:9-12)
By His Spirit, aided by study of the Scriptures, we can know personally of His glory, if we share is His sufferings— “Namely, the glory of His resurrection, ascension, exaltation, and the effusion of His Spirit; the glory of the last judgment, and of His eternal kingdom; and also the glories of His grace in the hearts and lives of Christians.” (John Wesley)
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
"'Therefore'— seeing that the prophets ministered unto you in these high Gospel privileges which they did not themselves fully share in…—
'gird up the loins of your mind' — referring to Christ‘s own words, Luke 12:35- ‘Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit’; an image taken from the way in which the Israelites ate the passover with the loose outer robe girded up about the waist with a girdle, as ready for a journey. Workmen, pilgrims, runners, wrestlers, and warriors (all of whom are types of the Christians), so gird themselves up, both to shorten the garment so as not to impede motion, and to gird up the body itself so as to be braced for action. The believer is to have his mind (mental powers) collected and always ready for Christ‘s coming. ‘Gather in the strength of your spirit.’ [Hensler].” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) "Thus Peter’s allusion pictures a mind prepared for active work." (Peter H. Davids) “Make up your mind decisively!" (Lenski) As you discover the Biblical precepts, obey them.
Prepare to march order. “Gird your mind and serve God, Luke 17:8. A loose, discinct, and diffluent mind is unfit for God’s service. Girding implies, 1. Readiness; 2. Nimbleness, handiness, and handsomeness. The main strength of the body is in the loins. Therefore some say, the strong purposes and resolutions of the mind are here meant.” (John Trapp)
Be sober— which is not only opposed to intemperance in intoxicating drinks and drugs, “which greatly disqualifies for the above readiness and attention,” but also possibly metaphorically referring “to a being inebriated with the cares of this life, which choke the Word, and make it unfruitful, and lead men into temptation, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, and from the faith of Christ; and likewise to a being intoxicated with errors, and false doctrine, which lull men asleep, and render them incapable of serving Christ, and his church; and turn their heads from faith to fables, and are contrary to the words of truth and soberness; so that to be sober, is not only to be moderate in eating and drinking; but to be disengaged from the anxious cares of the world, and to be disentangled, recovered, or awaked from the error of the wicked.” (Gill)
“And rest your hope fully upon the grace…” or better "and hope 'to the end'”; Greek, “perfectly”,… i.e. sincerely, entirely, with a firm confidence; but the following words favour our translation, which signfies perseverance in hope. See Hebrews 3:6 [below]. ’For the grace that is to be brought unto you’; final salvation, which is the gift of grace, Romans 6:23, and is called the grace of life, 1 Peter 3:7. ’At the revelation of Jesus Christ’; called the appearing of Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 1:7.” (Poole)
“And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.” (Heb. 3:5-6)
“‘As children of obedience’; an usual Hebraism, by which persons are called the children of that, to which they are addicted or devoted. ‘Obedience (says Dr. Heylin,) is a sure ground of hope: to expect salvation without it, is not hope, but presumption.’” (Thomas Coke)— “not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance”— “your desires - which ye had while ye were ignorant of God” (Wesley) — “because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’ [Lev.11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7].” Holiness in the children of God is an eternal requirement which “necessitates a walk in the Spirit as it is so fully revealed in the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians.” (Arno Gaebelein)
Holiness must be our desire. "It must be in all affairs, in every condition, and towards all [God's] people. We must especially watch and pray against the sins [—the transgression of the moral code of the Ten Commandments] to which we are inclined. The written word of God is the surest rule of a Christian's life, and by this rule we are commanded to be holy every way. God makes those holy whom he saves." (Matthew Henry)
“Holiness is a chief attribute of God and a quality to be developed in His people. ‘Holiness’ and the adjective ‘holy’ occur more than 900 times in the Bible. The primary OT word for holiness means ‘to cut’ or ‘to separate.’ Fundamentally, holiness is a cutting off or separation from what is unclean and a consecration to what is pure… Holiness as applied to God signifies his transcendence over creation and the moral perfection of his character. God is holy in that he is utterly distinct from his creation and exercises sovereign majesty and power over it. His holiness is especially prominent in the Psalms (47:8) and the Prophets (Ez 39:7), where ‘holiness’ emerges as a synonym for Israel's God. Thus, Scripture ascribes to God the title ‘Holy’ (Is 57:15), ‘Holy One’ (Jb 6:10; Is 43:15), and ‘Holy One of Israel’ (Ps 89:18; Is 60:14; Jer 50:29).” (Tyndale)
17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Adherents to "cheap grace" (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) have the wrong idea of God as a loving Father. They think He will forgive all sin. However, He does not forgive un-forsaken sin. He will chasten His children when they are trying to stop sinning... (See Proverbs 3:11-12; Romans 12:6), yielding the "peaceable fruit of righteousness - holiness and happiness— to them that are exercised thereby - that receive this exercise as from God, and improve it...” (John Wesley) But for those who persist in sin, He has other titles, even that of Eternal Judge. “In the Old Testament God is called the Father of Israel on account of the peculiar covenant-relation, into which He had entered with Israel, Malachi 2:10; Malachi 1:6; Deuteronomy 32:6; cf. 2 Samuel 7:14. The Apostle doubtless thinks here of Malachi 1:6 etc. where a similar condition is found, where God’s relation of Father and Master is made the reason of an exhortation to reverence, where at Malachi 1:8-9 the question is twice asked, ‘Will He regard your persons?’ and where Malachi 2:2, the judicial revelation of God is mentioned, cf. Malachi 2:9; Malachi 3:5; Malachi 3:18; [S. Barnabas]” (Lange's Commentary) “And if you call on the Father”— “‘If’ does not imply doubt; it introduces an hypothesis which, being taken for granted, involves a duty.” (Barclay) “Better, since ye call on Him as Father, being children, as they were, of Him who is also their Judge.”— 'who without partiality judges' —“... regarding the work of every man, unerringly read by the all-seeing eye, and not his race, birth, colour, wealth, or social position. The apostle learned this doctrine, and announced it in his speech, at the house of Cornelius. Acts 10:34-35.” (Daniel Whedon) He does not judge a man’s doctrine; rather He judges “according to each one’s work” — “the singular number put for the plural, as James 1:25; Romans 2:6; Job 34:11.” (Matthew Poole)—the fruit of the mind, as far as a person can control fruitfulness... and He will render to each human being according to their deeds, whether good or evil. (Psalms 62:12.) HERE IS THE CHARGE—> Since your Father is the impartial Judge— “conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here [on this earth] in fear” - “’In fear;’ which is due to him as a Father and a Judge. It may imply the greatest reverence, and the deepest humility, Phil. 2:12; 1 Cor. 2:3 1 Peter 3:2,15.” (Matthew Poole) In fact, when that Day of Judgment comes, we will discover that the Father will judge noone for He has “committed all judgment to the Son,” — the Redeemer of His Church, who will separate wheat and tares— “ that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” (John 5:22-23) “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things”— things that will perish with this world, as enduring as they seem— “like silver and gold”— “These are poor things to purchase a soul with (more likely they are to drown it in perdition and destruction, 1 Timothy 6:9). Our Saviour, who only ever went to the price of souls, tells us that one soul is more worth than a world, Matthew 16:26.—‘from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your father’— Children are very apt to follow their parents’ example, whether of good or evil. ‘I will never forsake that way of divine service that I have received from my forefathers.’” (Trapp) But Yahweh God giver another tradition. He " took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it…. commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” (Gen. 2:15-17) By the adoption of sons whereby we cry “Abba”— "Father", to our Creator and Kinsman Redeemer who will destroy Satan shortly. (Gen. 3:15; Rom. 16:20) Two and Only Two Ways-- “From the Garden of Eden with its two trees (one allowed, one forbidden) to the eternal destiny of the human being in heaven (eternal life) or in hell (destruction), the Bible sets forth two, and only two, ways: God’s way, and all others. Accordingly, people are said to be saved or lost. They belong to God’s people or the world. There was Gerizim, the mount of blessing [Deut. 28], and Ebal, the mount of cursing [Deut. 27]. There is the narrow way and the wide way, leading either to eternal life or to destruction. There are those who are against and those who are with us, those within and those without. There is life and death, truth and falsehood, good and bad, light and darkness, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, love and hatred, spiritual wisdom and the wisdom of the world. Christ is said to be the way, the truth, and the life, and no one may come to the Father but by Him. His is the only name under the sky by which one may be saved.” ("A Call To Discernment: The Sharp Antithesis in Scripture" by Jay E. Adams) “but “— you were redeemed from eternal death or destruction — “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."(19) "The reference to a lamb without blemish is from the requirement of that kind of animal sacrifices in former ages. The public life of Christ on earth showed one of spotless righteousness. 'He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth' ( 1 Peter 2:22)." (E. M. Zerr) "Oh may the love that died for us on Calvary purify our hearts as flames of fire from the love of sin.” (Joseph Sutcliffe) “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world,”—“Be not discouraged by the reproaches of the Jews and Gentiles, that yours is a new religion, Christianity is built on the counsel and love of God before the tractless light of the milky-way, ere suns and orbs began to shine; it has been the study of angels from the first promise that Christ should bruise the serpent’s head, and the cheering theme of prophecy in every succeeding age. This to the saints is a consolatory argument to embrace the truth, and rest on the love of God as revealed in His word.” (Sutcliffe) “but was manifest in these last times for you,” (20) "All the former dispensations, from the beginning of the world, were carried on with a view to the coming of Christ, under whom was to be the concluding dispensation; and in this view, the Bible takes in a large and extensive plan." (Thomas Coke)—“who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” (21) "Without Christ we should only dread God; whereas through him we believe, hope, and love.” (John Wesley) 22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides, 24 because “All flesh is as grass, and all its glory as the flower of the grass." The grass has withered, and the flower has fallen away, 25 "But the word of the Lord endures forever.” [Isaiah 40:6–8] Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth in sincere love of the brethren” (22a) —"'They must realize that they have cleansed themselves ideally at baptism’ [Hart]; and that this is surely the meaning of it appears to be certain when the passage is compared with Acts 2:40. On Pentecost Peter admonished those whom he was exhorting to be baptized to ‘save yourselves from this crooked generation.’ Here it is evident exactly what Peter meant by one's saving himself or purifying himself, the same being references to one's obeying the gospel of Christ.” (Coffman Commentary) —“love one another fervently with a pure heart” (22b)— Your calling requires a better love than you are rendering. "Brotherly love is distinct from common love." (Jameison-Faussett-Brown) Jesus said, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) "So Paul in Ephesians 1:4..., when speaking of the perfection of the faithful, makes it to consist in love. And this is what we ought the more carefully to notice, because the world makes its own sanctity to consist of the veriest trifles, and almost overlooks this the chief thing. We see how the Papists weary themselves beyond measure with thousand invented superstitions: in the meantime, the last thing is that love which God especially commends... This, then, is the reason why Peter calls our attention to it, when speaking of a life rightly formed." (John Calvin) “Since you have purified your souls- Greek, ‘Having purified your souls.’ The apostles were never afraid of referring to human agency as having an important part in saving the soul Compare 1 Corinthians 4:15. No one is made pure without personal intention or effort - any more than one becomes accomplished or learned without personal exertion. One of the leading effects of the agency of the Holy Spirit is to excite us to make efforts for our own salvation; and there is no true piety which is not the fair result of culture, as really as the learning of a person, or the harvest of the farmer. The amount of effort which we make ‘in purifying our souls’ is usually also the measure of our attainments in religion. No one can expect to have any true piety beyond the amount of effort which he makes to be conformed to God,.” (Albert Barnes) Having been born again, etc. not of some perishable element (23) Our new birth was made generative by our believers baptism. “The old creation is left behind, the world with all its glory and boastings, is judged. All is as grass and the glory of man as the flower of the grass. Those born again do no longer belong to this world, as He prayed: ‘They are not of the world, as I am not of the world’ The words concerning the grass and the flower of the grass are a quotation from Isaiah (Isaiah 40:6; 8 ). But the quotation is changed a little. In Isaiah we read: ‘The grass withereth, the flower fadeth,’ and here it is, ‘The grass hath withered and the flower fallen,’ that is how faith must look upon the world and all its glory, as withered and fallen, with no more attraction for the heart which knows God.” (Arno Gaebelein) In this quote, Peter "sets forth the vanity of man. All flesh is as grass, weak and perishing; and all the glory of man, his pomp, wealth, affluence, wisdom, and endowments of every kind, are as the flower of grass, that soon fades and decays. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; one stroke of sickness, or accident, or the ravages of age, make all human greatness droop; and death carries it to the grave. — 'But the Word of the Lord endureth for ever', and they who are begotten by it have in their hearts eternal life begun; and if they perseveringly improve it, they shall flourish in glory everlasting. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you, whose effects are so everlastingly blessed to the faithful saints of God." (Thomas Coke)