Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ— as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance, but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.” If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear,
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Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ— as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance, but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.” If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear, knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ, who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God.
Parallel Translations
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Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ—
as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance,
but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior;
because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.”
If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear,
-
Wherfore gyrde vp the loynes of youre myndes be sober and trust perfectly on the grace that is brought vnto you by the declaringe of Iesus Christ
as obedient chyldren not facioninge youre selves vnto youre olde lustes of ignorancye:
but as he which called you is holy even so be ye holy in all maner of conuersacion
because it is written. Be ye holy for I am holy.
And yf so be that ye call on the father which with out respecte of person iudgeth accordinge to every manes worke se that ye passe the tyme of youre pilgremage in feare.
Show all 3 translations
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Wherefore, girde vp the Ioynes of your minde: bee sober, and trust perfectly on that grace that is brought vnto you, in the reuelation of Iesus Christ,
As obedient children, not fashioning your selues vnto the former lustes of your ignorance:
But as hee which hath called you, is holie, so be yee holie in all maner of conuersation;
Because it is written, Be yee holie, for I am holie.
And if ye call him Father, which without respect of person iudgeth according to euery mans woorke, passe the time of your dwelling here in feare,
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (3)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (105)
- Leviticus 11:44 (v16) For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any kind of…
- Leviticus 19:2 (v16) “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘You shall be holy; for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.
- Leviticus 20:7 (v16) “ ‘Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am Yahweh your God.
- 1 Peter 5:8 (v13) Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
- Luke 12:35 (v13) “Let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning.
Show all 100 cross-references
- Matthew 5:48 (v15) Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
- 1 Peter 4:7 (v13) But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer.
- 2 Corinthians 7:1 (vv15, 17) Having therefore these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear…
- Hebrews 9:28 (v13) so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting…
- 1 Peter 3:15 (vv13, 17) But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is…
- Hebrews 12:14 (v15) Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,
- Romans 12:2 (v14) Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing,…
- 1 John 3:3 (vv13, 15) Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure.
- James 3:13 (v15) Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.
- Titus 2:11-13 (v13) For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,…
- Ephesians 5:1-2 (v15) Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and…
- Acts 10:34-35 (v17) Peter opened his mouth and said, “Truly I perceive that God doesn’t show favoritism; but in every nation he who fears him and works…
- 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 (v15) For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own…
- Luke 21:34-35 (v13) “So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 (v13) so then let’s not sleep, as the rest do, but let’s watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are drunk are…
- Philippians 2:15-16 (v15) that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom…
- Titus 3:3-5 (v14) For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating…
- 1 Peter 2:12 (v15) having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they…
- 1 Peter 2:9 (v15) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of…
- 1 Peter 4:2-3 (v14) that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough…
- Ephesians 6:14 (v13) Stand therefore, having the utility belt of truth buckled around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
- Philippians 1:27 (v15) Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state,…
- Luke 1:74-75 (v15) to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before…
- Ephesians 2:2 (v14) in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works…
- 2 Timothy 4:8 (v13) From now on, the crown of righteousness is stored up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to…
- 2 Chronicles 19:7 (v17) Now therefore let the fear of Yahweh be on you. Take heed and do it; for there is no iniquity with Yahweh our God, nor respect of persons,…
- Romans 8:28-30 (v15) We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. For whom he…
- 1 Corinthians 1:7 (v13) so that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;
- Luke 17:30 (v13) It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.
- Hebrews 13:5 (v15) Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any…
- 2 Peter 3:11-14 (v15) Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness, looking for…
- Isaiah 6:3 (v15) One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”
- 1 Thessalonians 4:5 (v14) not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God,
- Titus 3:14 (v15) Let our people also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they may not be unfruitful.
- Revelation 3:7 (v15) “To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: “He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one…
- Colossians 3:5-7 (v14) Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and…
- 2 Timothy 4:5 (v13) But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.
- Hebrews 3:6 (v13) but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house. We are his house, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the…
- Hebrews 6:19 (v13) This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil;
- 1 Corinthians 13:13 (v13) But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love.
- Ephesians 4:18-22 (v14) being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of…
- Philippians 3:14 (v15) I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 3:20 (v15) For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
- 2 Timothy 1:9 (v15) who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to…
- Titus 2:11-14 (v15) For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,…
- Hebrews 10:35 (v13) Therefore don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward.
- 1 Peter 1:3-9 (v13) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope…
- Job 40:7 (v13) “Now brace yourself like a man. I will question you, and you will answer me.
- Philippians 2:12 (v17) So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation…
- 2 Peter 1:3-10 (v15) seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by…
- Matthew 6:9 (v17) Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
- Romans 13:13 (v13) Let’s walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and…
- 1 Timothy 4:12 (v15) Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in…
- Romans 15:4-13 (v13) For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that through perseverance and through encouragement of the…
- 1 Thessalonians 2:12 (v15) to the end that you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own Kingdom and glory.
- Titus 3:8 (v15) This saying is faithful, and concerning these things I desire that you affirm confidently, so that those who have believed God may be…
- 1 Peter 3:16 (v15) having a good conscience. Thus, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good way of life in…
- 1 Peter 5:10 (v15) But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect,…
- Isaiah 11:5 (v13) Righteousness will be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his waist.
- Jeremiah 1:17 (v13) “You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and say to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you…
- Hebrews 12:28 (v17) Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can’t be shaken, let’s have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe,
- Revelation 6:10 (v15) They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the…
- Jeremiah 3:19 (v17) “But I said, ‘How I desire to put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’…
- Acts 17:30 (v14) The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,
- Exodus 12:11 (v13) This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in…
- 1 Kings 18:46 (v13) Yahweh’s hand was on Elijah; and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
- Job 34:19 (v17) He doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respect the rich more than the poor; for they all are the work of his hands.
- Proverbs 28:14 (v17) Blessed is the man who always fears; but one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.
- Matthew 7:7-11 (v17) “Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks…
- Matthew 22:16 (v17) They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in…
- Romans 6:4 (v14) We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,…
- Romans 11:20 (v17) True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear;
- Galatians 2:6 (v17) But from those who were reputed to be important—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God doesn’t show partiality to man—they,…
- Ephesians 1:17 (v17) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him,
- Revelation 4:8 (v15) The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying,…
- Romans 2:10-11 (v17) But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.
- Romans 9:24 (v15) us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?
- Ephesians 3:14 (v17) For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
- Ephesians 5:6 (v14) Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
- Ephesians 6:9 (v17) You masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and…
- Colossians 3:25 (v17) But he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality.
- Hebrews 4:1 (v17) Let’s fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest.
- Hebrews 11:13-16 (v17) These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they…
- 1 Peter 2:11 (v17) Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
- 2 Kings 4:29 (v13) Then he said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet any man, don’t greet him;…
- Job 38:3 (v13) Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!
- Proverbs 14:16 (v17) A wise man fears and shuns evil, but the fool is hot headed and reckless.
- Zephaniah 3:9 (v17) For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on Yahweh’s name, to serve him shoulder to shoulder.
- 2 Corinthians 1:2 (v17) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 5:6 (v17) Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;
- 2 Thessalonians 1:7 (v13) and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,
- Genesis 47:9 (v17) Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and evil.…
- Deuteronomy 10:17 (v17) For Yahweh your God, he is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t respect persons or take…
- 1 Chronicles 29:15 (v17) For we are strangers before you, and foreigners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no remaining.
- Psalms 39:12 (v17) “Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and give ear to my cry. Don’t be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, a foreigner, as all my fathers…
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (105 total citations).
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 15, 17 From the greatness and excellency of grace he draws…
From the greatness and excellency of grace he draws an exhortation, that it surely behoved them the more readily to receive the grace of God, as the more bountifully he bestowed it upon them. And we must notice the connection: he had said, that so elevated was the kingdom of Christ, to which the gospel calls us, that even angels in heaven desire to see it; what then ought to be done by us who are in the world? Doubtless, as long as we live on earth, so great is the distance between us and Christ, that in vain he invites us to himself. It is hence necessary for us to put off the image of Adam and to cast aside the whole world and all hinderances, that being thus set at liberty we may rise upwards to Christ. And he exhorted those to whom he wrote, to be prepared and sober, and to hope for the graces offered to them, and also to renounce the world and their former life, and to be conformed to the will of God.
Then the first part of the exhortation is, to gird up the loins of their mind and to direct their thoughts to the hope of the grace presented to them. In the second par, he prescribes the manner, that having their minds changed, they were to be formed after the image of God.
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13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind It is a similitude taken from an ancient custom; for when they had long garments, they could not make a journey, nor conveniently do any work, without being girded up. Hence these expressions, to gird up one’s-self for a work or an undertaking. He then bids them to remove all impediments, that being set at liberty they might go on to God. Those who philosophize more refinedly about the loins, as though he commanded lusts to be restrained and checked, depart from the real meaning of the Apostle, for these words mean the same with those of Christ,
“Let your loins be girded about, and burning lamps in your hands,” (Luke 12:35,)
except that Peter doubles the metaphor by ascribing loins to the mind. And he intimates that our minds are held entangled by the passing cares of the world and by vain desires, so that they rise not upward to God. Whosoever, then, really wishes to have this hope, let him learn in the first place to disentangle himself from the world, and gird up his mind that it may not turn aside to vain affections. And for the same purpose he enjoins sobriety, which immediately follows; for he commends not temperance only in eating and drinking, but rather spiritual sobriety, when all our thoughts and affections are so kept as not to be inebriated with the allurements of this world. For since even the least taste of them stealthily draws us away from God, when one plunges himself into these, he must necessarily become sleepy and stupid, and he forgets God and the things of God.
Hope to the end, or, Perfectly hope. He intimates that those who let their minds loose on vanity, did not really and sincerely hope for the grace of God; for though they had some hope, yet as they vacillated and were tossed to and fro in the world, there was no solidity in their hope. Then he says, for the grace which will be brought to you, in order that they might be more prompt to receive it. God ought to be sought, though far off; but he comes of his own will to meet us. How great, then, must be our ingratitude if we neglect the grace that is thus set before us! This amplification, then, is especially intended to stimulate our hope.
What he adds, At the revelation of Jesus Christ, may be explained in two ways: that the doctrine of the Gospel reveals Christ to us; and that, as we see him as yet only through a mirror and enigmatically, a full revelation is deferred to the last day. The first meaning is approved by Erasmus, nor do I reject it. The second seems, however, to be more suitable to the passage. For the object of Peter was to call us away beyond the world; for this purpose the fittest thing was the recollection of Christ’s coming. For when we direct our eyes to this event, this world becomes crucified to us, and we to the world. Besides, according to this meaning, Peter used the expression shortly before. Nor is it a new thing for the apostles to employ the preposition ἐν in the sense of εἰς. Thus, then, I explain the passage, — “You have no need to make a long journey that you may attain the grace of God; for God anticipates you; inasmuch as he brings it to you.” But as the fruition of it will not be until Christ appears from heaven, in whom is hid the salvation of the godly, there is need, in the meantime, of hope; for the grace of Christ is now offered to us in vain, except we patiently wait until the coming of Christ.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 16, 17 This is a borrowed speech, taken of a common…
This is a borrowed speech, taken of a common usage amongst them: for by reason that they wore long garments, they could not travel unless they girded up themselves: and hence it is that Christ said, Let your loins be girded up.
He goeth from faith to hope, which is indeed a companion that cannot be sundered from faith: and he useth an argument taken of comparison: We ought not to be wearied in looking for so excellent a thing, which the very Angels wait for with great desire.
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He setteth forth very briefly, what manner of hope ours ought to be, to wit, continual, until we enjoy the thing we hope for: then, what we have to hope for, to wit, grace (that is, free salvation) revealed to us in the Gospel, and not that, that men do rashly and fondly promise to themselves.
Soundly and sincerely.
An argument to stir up our minds, seeing that God doth not wait till we seek him, but causeth so great a benefit to be brought even unto us.
He setteth out the end of faith, lest any man should promise himself, either sooner or later that full salvation, to wit, the later coming of Christ: and therewithal warneth us, not to measure the dignity of the Gospel according to the present state, seeing that that which we are now, is not yet revealed.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv13–17 13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind,…
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;
Ver. 13. Wherefore gird up, &c.] We are seldom comforted, but we have need to be exhorted. So apt are our hearts to security, and so apt is Satan to interrupt our joys with his base injections. How soon did Hezekiah fondly overshoot himself to the Babylonish ambassadors, after his sweet intercourse with God in holy duties! And how shamefully did Jonah forget himself and break out into a brawl with God, after his embassage faithfully discharged to the Ninevites, and the sweet comforts that came in to his soul thereupon!
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Gird up the loins of your mind, &c.] Gird yourselves and serve God, Luk 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.
Hope to the end] Gr. τελειως, hope perfectly or entirely; q.d. do it not by halves; let there not be any odd reckonings between God and you, but work out your salvation, Php 2:12. {See Trapp on "Php 2:12"}
For the grace] That is, for the glory.
That is to be brought unto you] It must be brought unto us (such is our dulness), we will scarcely go seek it, hardly be persuaded to live happily, reign everlastingly.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv13–17 Wherefore; the following exhortation may be connected, either with…
Wherefore; the following exhortation may be connected, either with 1Pe 1:4, Being so glorious an inheritance is reserved in heaven for you,
gird up, & c.; or with 1Pe 1:12; Seeing ye know those things, which the prophets that foretold them did not fully see, and the angels themselves desire to look into; the grace of God vouchsafed to you is so excellent and admirable, gird up, & c.
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Gird up the loins of your mind; i.e. let your minds be attent, prompt, ready, prepared for your spiritual work, restrained from all those thoughts, cares, affections, and lusts, which may entangle, detain, hinder them, or make them unfit for it. It is a metaphor taken from the custom of the Oriental nations, who wearing long loose garments, were wont to gird them up about their loins, that they might not hinder them in their travelling or working, 1Ki 18:46; 2Ki 4:29; Luk 17:8; See Poole on "Luk 12:35", See Poole on "Luk 12:37". Perhaps it may have a special respect to the like rite used at the Passover, Exo 12:11, when the Israelites were just ready to enter upon their journey, aud go out of Egypt.
Be sober: this may relate, either:
1. To the body; and then the sense agrees with Luk 21:34, where the cares of this life seem to be opposed to the girding up the loins of the mind, and surfeiting and drunkenness, to sobriety here. Or rather:
2. To the soul; and then girding up the loins of the mind, may refer to the understanding, and thoughts, and sobriety, to the will and affections, and may signify that moderation which belongs to them, in opposition to their inordinateness, which is a sort of drunkenness. Or, it may be rendered, be watchful, as it is translated, 2Ti 4:5, and with which it is joined, 1Th 5:6,8; and so it agrees well with the former clause; they that have the loins of their mind girt up, being of a vigilant, present mind, and ready for any work they are to undertake.
And hope to the end; Greek, perfectly, as in the margin, i.e. sincerely, entirely, with a firm confidence; but the following words favour our translation, which signfies perseverance in hope. See Heb 3:6.
For the grace that is to be brought unto you; final salvation, which is the gift of grace, Rom 6:23, and is called the grace of life, 1Pe 3:7.
At the revelation of Jesus Christ; called the appearing of Jesus Christ, 1Pe 1:7.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 17 Our apostle having laid before them their high and…
Our apostle having laid before them their high and glorious privileges in the foregoing verses, comes now to excite them to the practice of several needful and important duties in this and the following verses.
The first of which is vigilance and watchfulness, preparation and readiness of mind: Gird up the loins of your mind: an allusion both to runners and waiters; to such as run in a race, and to such as wait upon their master; who both gird up their clothes (which in those eastern countries they wear down to their heels) that they might not hinder or trouble them, either in running or waiting.
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Next, to be sober, and keep up their hope steadfastly and perseveringly to the end, for that grace and salvation, for that perfection in holiness and glory, which God will certainly give us at the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ.
Here note, 1. The grace and duty which they are exhorted to be found in the exercise of, and that is, hope; to persevere in hope unto the end. That is a divine grace, and necessary duty, whereby a believer for Christ’s sake expects and waits for all the great and good things which God has promised, but the Christian at present not received.
Note, 2. The direction given in order to the exercise of this grace and duty of hope, Gird up the loins of your mind. Habits of grace are altogether unprofitable to us, without they be excited by us, and stirred up in us. When we pray, when we hear, we must gird up our loins in praying and hearing; or in the prophet’s phrase, Stir up yourselves to take hold on God. A man upon his sick bed must gird up the loins of his mind to bear his affliction, else he will not profit by it nor answer the end of God in it. No grace can be exercised, no duty can be performed, by a soul ungirded: Gird up the loins of your mind, that ye may hope, &c.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v13 Here the apostle begins his exhortations to those whose…
Here the apostle begins his exhortations to those whose glorious state he had before described, thereby instructing us that Christianity is a doctrine according to godliness, designed to make us not only wiser, but better.
I. He exhorts them to sobriety and holiness.
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1. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, etc., Pe1 1:13. As if he had said, "Wherefore, since you are so honoured and distinguished, as above, Gird up the loins of your mind. You have a journey to go, a race to run, a warfare to accomplish, and a great work to do; as the traveller, the racer, the warrior, and the labourer, gather in, and gird up, their long and loose garments, that they may be more ready, prompt, and expeditious in their business, so do you by your minds, your inner man, and affections seated there: gird them, gather them in, let them not hang loose and neglected about you; restrain their extravagances, and let the loins or strength and vigour of your minds be exerted in your duty; disengage yourselves from all that would hinder you, and go on resolutely in your obedience. Be sober, be vigilant against all your spiritual dangers and enemies, and be temperate and modest in eating, drinking, apparel, recreation, business, and in the whole of your behaviour. Be sober-mined also in opinion, as well as in practice, and humble in your judgment of yourselves." And hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Some refer this to the last judgment, as if the apostle directed their hope to the final revelation of Jesus Christ; but it seems more natural to take it, as it might be rendered, "Hope perfectly, or thoroughly, for the grace that is brought to you in or by the revelation of Jesus Christ; that is, by the gospel, which brings life and immortality to light. Hope perfectly, trust without doubting to that grace which is now offered to you by the gospel." Learn, (1.) The main work of a Christian lies in the right management of his heart and mind; the apostle's first direction is to gird up the loins of the mind. (2.) The best Christians have need to be exhorted to sobriety. These excellent Christians are put in mind of it; it is required of a bishop (Ti1 3:2), of aged men (Tit 2:2), the young women are to be taught it, and the young men are directed to be sober-minded, Tit 2:4, Tit 2:6. (3.) A Christian's work is not over as soon as he has got into a state of grace; he must still hope and strive for more grace. When he has entered the strait gate, he must still walk in the narrow way, and gird up the loins of his mind for that purpose. (4.) A strong and perfect trust in God's grace is very consistent with our best endeavours in our duty; we must hope perfectly, and yet gird up our loins, and address ourselves vigorously to the work we have to do, encouraging ourselves from the grace of Jesus Christ.
2. As obedient children, etc., Pe1 1:14. These words may be taken as a rule of holy living, which is both positive - "You ought to live as obedient children, as those whom God hath adopted into his family, and regenerated by his grace;" and negative - "You must not fashion yourselves according to the former lusts, in your ignorance." Or the words may be taken as an argument to press them to holiness from the consideration of what they now are, children of obedience, and what they were when they lived in lust and ignorance. Learn, (1.) The children of God ought to prove themselves to be such by their obedience to God, by their present, constant, universal obedience. (2.) The best of God's children have had their times of lust and ignorance; the time has been when the whole scheme of their lives, their way and fashion, was to accommodate and gratify their unlawful desires and vicious appetites, being grossly ignorant of God and themselves, of Christ and the gospel. (3.) Persons, when converted, differ exceedingly from what they were formerly. They are people of another fashion and manner from what they were before; their inward frame, behaviour, speech, and conversation, are much altered from what they were in times past. (4.) The lusts and extravagances of sinners are both the fruits and the signs of their ignorance.
3. But as he who hath called you, etc., Pe1 1:15, Pe1 1:16. Here is a noble rule enforced by strong arguments: Be you holy in all manner of conversation. Who is sufficient for this? And yet it is required in strong terms, and enforced by three reasons, taken from the grace of God in calling us, - from his command, it is written, - and from his example. Be you holy, for I am holy. Learn, (1.) The grace of God in calling a sinner is a powerful engagement to holiness. It is a great favour to be called effectually by divine grace out of a state of sin and misery into the possession of all the blessings of the new covenant; and great favours are strong obligations; they enable as well as oblige to be holy. (2.) Complete holiness is the desire and duty of every Christian. Here is a two-fold rule of holiness: [1.] It must, for the extent of it, be universal. We must be holy, and be so in all manner of conversation; in all civil and religious affairs, in every condition, prosperous or reverse; towards all people, friends and enemies; in all our intercourse and business still we must be holy. [2.] For the pattern of it. We must be holy, as God is holy: we must imitate him, though we can never equal him. He is perfectly, unchangeably, and eternally holy; and we should aspire after such a state. The consideration of the holiness of God should oblige as to the highest degree of holiness we can attain unto. (3.) 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. (4.) The Old Testament commands are to be studied and obeyed in the times of the New Testament; the apostle, by virtue of a command delivered several times by Moses, requires holiness in all Christians.
4. If you call on the Father, etc., Pe1 1:17. The apostle does not there express any doubt at all whether these Christians would call upon their heavenly Father, but supposes they would certainly do it, and from this argues with them to pass the time of their sojourning here in fear: "If you own the great God as a Father and a Judge, you ought to live the time of your sojourning here in his fear." Learn, (1.) All good Christians look upon themselves in this world as pilgrims and strangers, as strangers in a distant country, passing to another, to which they properly belong, Psa 39:12; Heb 11:13. (2.) The whole time of our sojourning here is to be passed in the fear of God. (3.) The consideration of God as a Judge is not improper for those who can truly call him Father. Holy confidence in God as a Father, an awful fear of him as a Judge, are very consistent; to regard God as a Judge is a singular means to endear him to us as a Father. (4.) The judgment of God will be without respect of persons: According to every man's work. No external relation to him will protect any; the Jew may call God Father and Abraham father, but God will not respect persons, nor favour their cause, from personal considerations, but judge them according to their work. The works of men will in the great day discover their persons; God will make all the world to know who are his by their works. We are obliged to faith, holiness, and obedience, and our works will be an evidence whether we have complied with our obligations or not.
5. The apostle having extorted them to pass the time of their sojourning in the fear of God from this consideration, that they called on the Father, he adds (Pe1 1:18) a second argument: Because or forasmuch as you were not redeemed with corruptible things, etc. Herein he puts them in mind, (1.) That they were redeemed, or bought back again, by a ransom paid to the Father. (2.) What the price paid for their redemption was: Not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. (3.) From what they were redeemed: From a vain conversation received by tradition. (4.) They knew this: Forasmuch as you know, and cannot pretend ignorance of this great affair. Learn, [1.] The consideration of our redemption ought to be a constant and powerful inducement to holiness, and the fear of God. [2.] God expects that a Christian should live answerably to what he knows, and therefore we have great need to be put in mind of what we already know, Psa 39:4. [3.] Neither silver nor gold, nor any of the corruptible things of this world, can redeem so much as one soul. They are often snares, temptations, and hindrances to man's salvation, but they can by no means purchase or procure it; they are corruptible, and therefore cannot redeem an incorruptible and immortal soul. [4.] The blood of Jesus Christ is the only price of man's redemption. The redemption of man is real, not metaphorical. We are bought with a price, and the price is equal to the purchase, for it is the precious blood of Christ; it is the blood of an innocent person, a lamb without blemish and without spot, whom the paschal lamb represented, and of an infinite person, being the Son of God, and therefore it is called the blood of God, Act 20:28. [5.] The design of Christ in shedding his most precious blood was to redeem us, not only from eternal misery hereafter, but from a vain conversation in this world. That conversation is vain which is empty, frivolous, trifling, and unserviceable to the honour of God, the credit of religion, the conviction of unbelievers, and the comfort and satisfaction of a man's own conscience. Not only the open wickedness, but the vanity and unprofitableness of our conversation are highly dangerous. [6.] A man's conversation may carry an appearance of devotion, and may plead antiquity, custom, and tradition, in its defence, and yet after all be a most vain conversation. The Jews had a deal to say from these heads, for all their formalities; and yet their conversation was so vain that only the blood of Christ could redeem them from it. Antiquity is no certain rule of verity, nor is it a wise resolution, "I will live and die in such a way, because my forefathers did so."
6. Having mentioned the price of redemption, the apostle goes on to speak of some things relating both to the Redeemer and the redeemed, Pe1 1:20, Pe1 1:21.
(1.) The Redeemer is further described, not only as a Lamb without spot, but as one, [1.] That was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, fore-ordained or foreknown. When prescience is ascribed to God, it implies more than bare prospect or speculation. It imports an act of the will, a resolution that the thing shall be, Act 2:23. God did not only foreknow, but determine and decree, that his Son should die for man, and this decree was before the foundation of the world. Time and the world began together; before the commencement of time there was nothing but eternity. [2.] That was manifested in these last days for them. He was manifested or demonstrated to be that Redeemer whom God had fore-ordained. He was manifested by his birth, by his Father's testimony, and by his own works, especially by his resurrection from the dead, Rom 1:4. "This was done in these last times of the New Testament and of the gospel, for you, you Jews, you sinners, you afflicted ones; you have the comfort of the manifestation and appearance of Christ, if you believe on him." [3.] That was raised from the dead by the Father, who gave him glory. The resurrection of Christ, considered as an act of power, is common to all the three persons, but as an act of judgment it is peculiar to the Father, who as a Judge released Christ, raised him from the grave, and gave him glory, proclaimed him to all the world to be his Son by his resurrection from the dead, advanced him to heaven, crowned him with glory and honour, invested him with all power in heaven and earth, and glorified him with that glory which he had with God before the world was.
(2.) The redeemed are also described here by their faith and hope, the cause of which is Jesus Christ: "You do by him believe in God - by him as the author, encourager, support, and finisher of your faith; your faith and hope now may be in God, as reconciled to you by Christ the Mediator."
(3.) From all this we learn, [1.] The decree of God to send Christ to be a Mediator was from everlasting, and was a just and merciful decree, which yet does not at all excuse man's sin in crucifying him, Act 2:23. God had purposes of special favour towards his people long before he made any manifestations of such grace to them. [2.] Great is the happiness of the last times in comparison with what the former ages of the world enjoyed. The clearness of light, the supports of faith, the efficacy of ordinances, and the proportion of comforts - these are all much greater since the manifestation of Christ than they were before. Our gratitude and services should be suitable to such favours. [3.] The redemption of Christ belongs to none but true believers. A general impetration is asserted by some and denied by others, but none pretend to a general application of Christ's death for the salvation of all. Hypocrites and unbelievers will be ruined for ever, notwithstanding the death of Christ. [4.] God in Christ is the ultimate object of a Christian's faith, which is strongly supported by the resurrection of Christ, and the glory that did follow.
II. He exhorts them to brotherly love.
1. He supposes that the gospel had already had such an effect upon them as to purify their souls while they obeyed it through the Spirit, and that it had produced at least an unfeigned love of the brethren; and thence he argues with them to proceed to a higher degree of affection, to love one another with a pure heart fervently, Pe1 1:22. Learn, (1.) It is not to be doubted but that every sincere Christian purifies his soul. The apostle takes this for granted: Seeing you have, etc. To purify the soul supposes some great uncleanness and defilement which had polluted it, and that this defilement is removed. Neither the Levitical purifications under the law, nor the hypocritical purifications of the outward man, can effect this. (2.) The word of God is the great instrument of a sinner's purification: Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth. The gospel is called truth, in opposition to types and shadows, to error and falsehood. This truth is effectual to purify the soul, if it be obeyed, Joh 17:17. Many hear the truth, but are never purified by it, because they will not submit to it nor obey it. (3.) The Spirit of God is the great agent in the purification of man's soul. The Spirit convinces the soul of its impurities, furnishes those virtues and graces that both adorn and purify, such as faith (Act 15:9), hope (Jo1 3:3), the fear of God (Psa 34:9), and the love of Jesus Christ. The Spirit excites our endeavours, and makes them successful. The aid of the Spirit does not supersede our own industry; these people purified their own souls, but it was through the Spirit. (4.) The souls of Christians must be purified before they can so much as love one another unfeignedly. There are such lusts and partialities in man's nature that without divine grace we can neither love God nor one another as we ought to do; there is no charity but out of a pure heart. (5.) It is the duty of all Christians sincerely and fervently to love one another. Our affection to one another must be sincere and real, and it must be fervent, constant, and extensive.
2. He further presses upon Christians the duty of loving one another with a pure heart fervently from the consideration of their spiritual relation; they are all born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, etc. Hence we may learn, (1.) That all Christians are born again. The apostle speaks of it as what is common to all serious Christians, and by this they are brought into a new and a near relation to one another, they become brethren by their new birth. (2.) The word of God is the great means of regeneration, Jam 1:18. The grace of regeneration is conveyed by the gospel. (3.) This new and second birth is much more desirable and excellent than the first. This the apostle teaches by preferring the incorruptible to the corruptible seed. By the one we become the children of men, by the other the sons and daughters of the Most High. The word of God being compared to seed teaches us that though it is little in appearance, yet it is wonderful in operation, though it lies hid awhile, yet it grows up and produces excellent fruit at last. (4.) Those that are regenerate should love one another with a pure heart fervently. Brethren by nature are bound to love one another; but the obligation is double where there is a spiritual relation: they are under the same government, partake of the same privileges, and have embarked in the same interest. (5.) The word of God lives and abides for ever. This word is a living word, or a lively word, Heb 4:12. It is a means of spiritual life, to begin it and preserve in it, animating and exciting us in our duty, till it brings us to eternal life: and it is abiding; it remains eternally true, and abides in the hearts of the regenerate for ever.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv13–17 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind,.... With…
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind,.... With the girdle of truth; see Eph 6:14 since angels desire to look into the mysteries of grace, do you apply your minds, and diligently attend unto them, in opposition to all loose and vagrant thoughts of the mind, about other things: give yourselves up wholly to them, meditate upon them, employ yourselves in them, and about them; seeing they are the study and inquiry of angels, and what the prophets have prophesied of, and searched into and ministered, and the apostles of Christ have preached; and besides, are things which relate to the person, office, sufferings, and glory of Christ, and the salvation of immortal souls. Though the phrase is sometimes used to denote preparation and readiness, and to be in a fit position to do anything, as the Israelites were at the eating of the first passover, to march at the least notice out of Egypt; and so to go a journey, to run a race, to serve another, to wait on him, and for him, and also be prepared for battle; and is a metaphor taken from the custom of the eastern nations, who used to wear long garments, which they gathered up close to them, and girt about them, when they were about any of the above things, that they might be no hinderance to them, and that they might perform them with more expedition and dispatch; and so may be expressive of the readiness of believers, as pilgrims and travellers, for their journey towards the heavenly country, and to run the race set before them, and also to do every good work, according to the station they are placed in, to serve their Lord and master Jesus Christ in whatsoever he calls them to, and to wait for his coming; see Luk 12:35 and also to fight his battles, to quit themselves like men, and be strong in defence of his Gospel, and against every enemy of his and theirs,
Be sober; which is not only opposed to intemperance in eating and drinking, which greatly disqualifies for the above readiness and attention, but also 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:
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and hope to the end; or "perfectly", as the Greek word may be rendered, and as it is in the Syriac version, which joins it with the other phrase, and renders it, "be ye perfectly awaked". The Arabic version renders it, "trusting with a perfect confidence"; so that it designs either the nature of that lively hope, to which they were begotten again, and are here exhorted to exercise, it being perfect, sincere, and without hypocrisy; not like the hope of the hypocrite, which shall perish, and stand him in no stead, but an undissembled one; for as there is faith unfeigned, and love without dissimulation, so hope without hypocrisy; and also the full assurance of it, for as there is a plerophory of faith and love, and of understanding, so of hope; see Heb 6:11 or it intends the duration of this grace, and the exercise of it: it is a grace that does, and will remain, and it ought to be continually exercised, and the rejoicing of it to be kept firm, to the end; to the end of life, and until the saints come to the enjoyment of what they are hoping for; even
for the grace that is to be brought unto you as the revelation of Jesus Christ; and which may be rendered for the grace that is brought unto you, in or by the revelation of Jesus Christ: and the sense may be, that there is grace that is now brought to light by the Gospel, and that is brought home to the souls of God's people through it; as electing grace, redeeming grace, justifying grace, pardoning grace, adopting grace; and, in short, salvation, as all of grace; which Gospel is the revelation of Jesus Christ: it is a revelation that is made by him; and it is a revelation that is made of him; it is a revelation of the glory of his person and offices; herein is his righteousness revealed from faith to faith; and here the riches of his grace are made manifest, and laid to open view; life and immortality are brought to light by Christ in it; and the way to eternal life, glory, and salvation, as being by Christ, is pointed out by it; and all this grace that is brought, and set before the saints in the Gospel, they ought to hope for, and comfortably believe their interest in; and continue thus hoping, believing, and trusting to the end of their days: or if our version, and which is that of others also, be retained, the meaning is, that eternal glory and happiness, which is called "grace", because it is the free gift of God through Christ, to his children and flock, and is the finishing of the grace that is bestowed on them, and wrought in them, and is future, "is to be brought"; is a glory that shall be revealed in them, and a salvation ready to be revealed to them; and which will be done when Christ shall be revealed from heaven, when he shall appear a second time, and in glory; and is, and ought to be, the object of their hope, for it is laid up, and reserved for them; and they have the earnest of it in them, as well as the promise of it to them. The Syriac and Ethiopic versions, instead of "grace", read "joy"; and is the same with eternal glory, the joy of the Lord prepared for them, and which they shall enter into.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 16, 17 Wherefore - Having such encouragement. Gird up the loins…
Wherefore - Having such encouragement. Gird up the loins of your mind - As persons in the eastern countries were wont, in travelling or running, to gird up their long garments, so gather ye up all your thoughts and affections, and keep your mind always disencumbered and prepared to run the race which is set before you. Be watchful - As servants that wait for their Lord. And hope to the end - Maintain a full expectation of all the grace - The blessings flowing from the free favour of God. Which shall be brought to you at the final Revelation of Jesus Christ - And which are now brought to you by the Revelation of Christ in you.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 15, 17 Verse 13. Gird up the loins of your mind]…
Verse 13. Gird up the loins of your mind] Take courage from this display of God's love now made known to you; and though you must expect trials, yet fortify your minds with the consideration that he who has given you his Son Jesus will withhold from you no manner of thing that is good. The allusion here is to the long robes of the Asiatics, which, when they were about to perform any active service, they tucked in their girdles: this they did also when they waited on their superiors at meals.
Hope to the end for the grace] Continue to expect all that God has promised, and particularly that utmost salvation, that glorification of body and soul, which ye shall obtain at the revelation of Christ, when he shall come to judge the world.
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But if the apostle alludes here to the approaching revelation of Christ to inflict judgment on the Jews for their final rebellion and obstinacy, then the grace, χαριν, benefit, may intend their preservation from the evils that were coming upon that people, and their wonderful escape from Jerusalem at the time that the Roman armies came against it.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv13, 17 1Pe 1:13-16. Wherefore — Since your lot is fallen…
1Pe 1:13-16. Wherefore — Since your lot is fallen into these glorious times, wherein you enjoy such high privileges above what the people of God formerly enjoyed; since the blessings which are set before you are so invaluable, and are so freely offered you, and you have such great encouragement to believe you may attain them; gird up the loins of your mind — Prepare to pursue them with vigour, constancy, and perseverance, and to perform the various duties which they lay you under an indispensable obligation steadily to practise. The apostle alludes to the manners of the eastern countries, in which the men’s garments being long and flowing, they prepared themselves for travelling, and other active employments, by girding them up with a girdle put round their loins, to prevent their being encumbered by them. The loins of the mind, therefore, is a figurative expression for the faculties of the soul, the understanding, memory, will, and affections, which the apostle signifies must be gathered in and girded, as it were, about the soul by the girdle of truth, so as to be in a state fit for continual and unwearied exertion in running the Christian race, fighting the good fight of faith, and working out our salvation with fear and trembling. Our mind must not be overcharged at any time with surfeiting and drunkenness, or the cares of this life: our affections must be placed on proper objects, and in a just degree; and especially must be set on the things that are above, which are to be our portion and felicity for ever: our various passions must be under the government of reason and religion, of the truth and grace of God. Be sober — Or rather, watchful, as νηφοντες properly signifies, as servants that wait for their Lord; and hope to the end — Τελειως ελπισατε, hope perfectly, namely, with the full assurance of hope; for the grace — The blessings flowing from the free favour of God; to be brought unto you at the final and glorious revelation of Jesus Christ — At the end of the world. As obedient children — As children of God, obedient to him in all things; not fashioning — Or conforming; yourselves — In spirit and conduct; according to — Or, as if you were influenced by; your former desires in your ignorance — When you were unacquainted with those better things which now claim the utmost vigour of your affections. But as he which hath called you — To be his children and his heirs; is holy — A being perfectly pure and spiritual; be ye holy — In imitation of him, your heavenly Father; in all manner of conversation — Εν παση αναστροφη, in your whole behaviour, in all your tempers, words, and works, from day to day.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv13–17 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind -…
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind - The allusion here is to the manner in which the Orientals were accustomed to dress. They wear loose, flowing robes, so that, when they wish to run, or to fight, or to apply themselves to any business, they are obliged to bind their garments close around them. See the notes at Mat 5:38-41. The meaning here is, that they were to have their minds in constant preparation to discharge the duties, or to endure the trials of life - like those who were prepared for labor, for a race, or for a conflict.
Be sober - See the 1Ti 3:2 note; Tit 1:8; Tit 2:2 notes.
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And hope to the end - Margin, “perfectly.” The translation in the text is the most correct. It means that they were not to become faint or weary in their trials. They were not to abandon the hopes of the gospel, but were to cherish those hopes to the end of life, whatever opposition they might meet with, and however much might be done by others to induce them to apostatize. Compare the notes at Heb 10:35-36.
For the grace that is to be brought unto you - For the favor that shall then be bestowed upon you; to wit, salvation. The word brought here means, that this great favor which they hoped for would be borne to them by the Saviour on his return from heaven.
At the revelation of Jesus Christ - When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in his glory; that is, when he comes to judge the world. See the notes at 2Th 1:7.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv13–14 The loins of your mind girded. It is a…
The loins of your mind girded. It is a metaphor, to signify they must live in such a manner as to be always prepared for heaven, as persons used to gird their garments about them, when about to walk or run, or to undertake any labour. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v13 Analysis:—Exhortations to firmness and sobriety, to holiness in mind…
1Pe_1:13-21
Analysis:—Exhortations to firmness and sobriety, to holiness in mind and conversation, to filial reverence of God,—all founded on love and gratitude for the precious redemption by the blood of Christ.
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1913Wherefore 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;2014As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:2115But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner 16of conversation;22Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.23 17And 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:2418Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers25; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot:2620Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,27but was manifest in these last times for you, 21Who by him do believe in God,28 that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory;29that your faith and hope might be in God.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1Pe_1:13. Wherefore, Διό refers to all the preceding account of the possession (by grace) of the elect. The New Testament state of grace is mainly designed to beget a perfect hope in the future consummation and perfecting of salvation. This hope essentially facilitates the full use of salvation with a view to holiness, to which exhortation is made in 1Pe_1:14, etc. In 1Pe_1:13, hope should be regarded as the central and leading idea, the other exhortations being added as participles. The object of that hope is the grace, which manifests itself in σωτηρία, in perfect salvation. The preposition ἐπί does not indicate the ground and strength of hope as Steiger and Weiss maintain, for it is not contrary to the New Testament usus loquendi to connect ἐπί with the object, cf. 1Ti_5:5; Act_9:42; Act_11:17; Act_22:19; Winer, 5th edition, p. 241; 1Jn_3:3; 2Co_1:10; Act_24:15.—Join τελείως not with νήφοντες but with ἐλπίσατε. The hope existing in its first beginnings shall become so firm, that no suffering shall be able to shake it, and that it shall embrace whatever it contains in itself, and that it shall ever continue to the end. [ita, ut nihil disideretur.—Wahl.—M.]
For the grace—brought to you.—Ἐπὶ τὴν φερομένην ὑμῖν χάριν. The proper meaning of this expression depends on the interpretation of ἐν ἀποκαλύψει. The verb ἀποκαλύπτειν occurs indeed in a wider sense, to denote the revelation of the truth to the mind, or that of Jesus Christ, Mat_11:25; Mat_16:17; Luk_10:21; Gal_1:16; Gal_3:23; 1Co_2:10. Hence ἀποκαλύψις μυστηρίου Rom_16:25; and several times ἀποκαλύψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. It is applied to inward revelation as contrasted with human instruction, Gal_1:12; Rev_1:1; cf. Eph_1:17; Eph_3:3; 2Co_12:1. But ἡ ἀποκαλύψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ without the article, and without further specification, is the constant expression denoting the visible return of Christ. It is never used of His first advent in the flesh, cf. 1Pe_1:7; 1Pe_4:13; 1Pe_5:1; 2Th_1:7; Rom_8:18-19; 1Co_1:7. Particularly decisive are 1Pe_1:5 and 1Pe_1:7, where the reference is evidently to the second advent of Christ in the flesh. So Œcum. Theophylact, Grotius, Carpzov, Starke and others. It is difficult to combine both ideas, viz.: an inward and an outward revelation (Calvin, Beza, Bengel), and a clear sense possible only on the consideration that the revelation or advent of Christ to judgment is necessarily both inward and outward. The Apostle sees the advent of Christ as nearly impending, indeed as already present, 1Pe_4:7; 1Pe_1:20, and consequently speaks of grace, not as to be brought unto them hereafter, but as already brought to them [even now bearing down upon them.—M.]. In this sense φέρειν is used in the LXX. at Gen_33:11. Hence it is unnecessary to assume a confusion of the present and future tenses.—χάρις in the usual sense, not=χάρισμα, as Grotius maintains. The objection of Weiss that the general biblical representation makes the second advent of Christ not a second revelation of grace, but a revelation of righteous judgment, 1Pe_4:5; Rom_2:5, is met by clear passages, e. g. Luk_21:28. To the ungodly it will be a day of terror, but to believers a day of honour and glory. Then, at the appearing of Christ, it will become manifest, what is meant by being in favour (by standing in grace) with God, Mal_4:2. It has already been announced to you by the prophets (1Pe_1:12) but by Christ it is laid at your door, yea, laid in your bosom.
Gird up—sober.— Ἀναζωσάμενοι—νήφοντες. The perfect hoping is more clearly defined and confirmed by two participial additions. The first exhorts to girding up the loins. Peter thinks doubtless of the words of Jesus, “Let your loins be girded about,” Luk_12:25 and with a view to avoiding all misunderstanding, adds, “the loins of your mind.” Perhaps he alludes also to the significant commandment, “With your loins girded” Exo_12:11; and in that case the explanation of the addition is more simple and evident, cf. Jer_1:17; Eph_6:14.—The loins were girded by gathering the long folds of the wide undergarment in a girdle in order to supply the body with a firm stay and to remove all hinderances, when the object was to work, to set out on a jourdey, to run, to carry a burden, to wrestle or to go to war. So the Christian should gird the διάνοια, gather up all distractedness and fickleness, and be astir and ready, that is, his thoughts and his will should be alive and concentrated when there is a call for work, for fight and for suffering. Beware of distractedness and idleness, but also of irritation, morbid excitement and exaggeration and eccentricity. Sobriety is to be the preventive of the latter. Both the girding and the sobriety are to be taken figuratively, although sobriety of the body is taken for granted. Compare the exhortation at Luk_21:34, and Rom_13:14. Elsewhere sobriety is joined with vigilance that shall ward off all sleepiness and indolence, 1Th_5:6; 1Pe_5:8; sometimes it occurs, as here, alone, 1Th_5:8; 2Ti_4:5; 1Pe_4:7. [Mentis sobrietas et vigilantia requiritur, sicque metaphora in lumborum cinctura prius reposita ἐξηγετικῶς explicatur. Gerhard. ‘Non temperantiam solum in cibu et potu commendat, sed spiritualem potius sobrietatem, quum sensus omnes nostros continemus, ne se hujus mundi illecebris inebrient.’—Calvin.—M.] The hope of Christians might become mixed up with foolish and fanatical fancies of the glories of a temporal Messianic kingdom and premature expectations of the same as in the case of the Thessalonians (cf. 1Th_5:6; 1Th_5:8; 2Th_2:2, etc.) against which the Apostle wishes to warn them. The present tense denotes necessary endurance in sobriety, while the Aorists ἐλπίσατε and ἀναζωσάμενοι concentrate the lasting action, as it were into one moment and denote them to depend upon one principal act.
1Pe_1:14. As children of obedience.—Who sets his hopes in grace alone acquires the impulse and ability to fulfil the commandment of holiness. The exhortation proper is contained in 1Pe_1:15. The contrary of children of obedience, are children of disobedience, in whom the devil is working, Eph_2:2; Eph_5:6; Col_3:6; who are consequently called children of wrath, Eph_2:3; 2Pe_2:14. Obedience comprises here, as in 1Pe_1:2. both the willing reception of the word of God and subjection to its precepts. Children of light, Eph_5:8, are such as are born out of light and into light, with the property and calling to shine as lights; so children of faith are such as are born out of faith and into the life of faith and obedience. Our heavenly Father is their begetter, 1Pe_1:3; 1Pe_1:17, and assurance of faith coupled with obedience their mother, while on the other hand the devil is the father of unbelievers Joh_8:44; and evil concupiscence their mother. Ὡς denotes the reason, because you are children of obedience, cf. Joh_5:19; 1Pe_2:13; 1Pe_4:16. [τέκνα ὑπακοῆς. “This phraseology,” says Winer, Gram., 6th ed. p. 252, “is to be attributed to the vivid imagination of Orientals, which represents mental and moral derivation or dependence under the form of son or child. Sir_4:11. Children of disobedience are those who are related to ἀπείθεια as a child to a mother, those in whom disobedience has become predominant and a second nature.”—M.]
Not fashioning—ignorance.—The exhortation to holiness is now more clearly defined by reference to their ante-Christian state. As Christians, you dare not pursue a course that is in unison with your former walk in sinful lusts. συσχηματίζεσθαι (from σχῆμα, the form of a thing, the fashion and mode of life, the manner in which one appears) to form or fashion one’s self after something, to conform to it, Rom_12:12; to make oneself like to, cf. Rom_8:12; 1Th_5:22. Lusts are not sensual impulses and wants only, but desires of what is different from what God allows, desires of evil comprehensively described by John (1Jn_2:16) as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life; cf. Gal_5:19 etc. They include, also, the proud aims of ambition, of the lust of power and of the desire of knowledge. The lusts are more clearly defined by ‘in your ignorance.’ Sin darkens the understanding by the cloud of prejudices and false notions, cf. Rom_1:21; Eph_4:18; and ignorance on the other hand, is the mother of many sins. A hint might be found in the circumstance that the Epistle is addressed to former heathens, who were devoid of all clear moral consciousness, of all definite discrimination between good and evil, between right and wrong; but the Jews also are charged with ignorance as the reason of their rejecting Christ, Act_3:17, etc., and the degree to which their moral consciousness had been confused and clouded by the tenets of the Sanhedrim, is well known. This passage therefore is not decisive. In the case of believers, lusts belong to the past, inasmuch as their power is virtually broken and the spirit has the supremacy, although it must ever contend with the law in their members.
1Pe_1:15. But according to the pattern of that Holy One who hath called you.—What is in the heart must appear in the life. Conform not to your former lusts but aspire after conformity to the Holy God; συσχηματιζόμενοι may be understood; so Œcumenius and Theophylact. Calling is closely connected with election, being the realization and assurance of it. It takes place sometimes mediately sometimes immediately; its end is the light and salvation of God out from the darkness, 1Pe_2:21. If God calls, it is man’s duty to hear and to follow, cf. 1Sa_3:10. Thus he becomes, by constant yielding, a child of obedience. Weiss sees in the reference to the Holy God a hint of the Old Testament character of the Epistle, but this is not conclusive per se. The Aorist Imperative donotes an action that is to take place immediately, cf. Winer, Gram. 6th ed. p. 329.
All manner of conversation, in all your behaviour toward God and your neighbour. [Nulla sit pars vitæ quæ, non hunc bonum sanctitatis odorem redoleat. Calv.—M.]
1Pe_1:16. Because it is written.—διότι gives the reason why holiness is necessary. For γένεσθε, Lachmann and Tischendorf read ἔσεσθε. The end and aim of believers is the same in the New Testament and in the Old Testament, although the ways are different. Man’s holiness is effected by his participating in the holiness of God in Christ, Heb_12:10; Lev_20:8.
And if ye call upon as Father Him. If, does not denote doubt, but the necessary consequence of the one from the other. [Si non dubitantis est, sed supponentis rem notam. Est enim omnium renatorum communis oratio, Pater noster qui es in cœlis. Estius.—M.] You ought not to regard God as your Father nor call upon Him as such in the Lord’s Prayer, if you will not walk before Him in holy fear. The exhortation to a holy conversation is parallel to a conversation in the fear of God; both are founded on the filial relation. ἐπικαλεῖσθε may mean simply to call or to call upon or pray to. Gerhard recognized already a reference to the Lord’s Prayer. If you confess before the world in your prayer that God is at once your Father and Judge, then …; cf. 1Pe_1:14; 1Pe_2:2; Mat_5:45; Mat_5:48; Luk_6:35. 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, Mal_2:10; Mal_1:6; Deu_32:6; cf. 2Sa_7:14. The Apostle doubtless thinks here of Mal_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 Mal_1:8-9 the question is twice asked, “Will He regard your persons?” and where Mal_2:2, the judicial revelation of God is mentioned, cf. Mal_2:9; Mal_3:5; Mal_3:18; [S. Barnabas, Ephesians 4; “Meditemur timorem Dei, Dominus non accepta personâ judicat mundum; unusquisque secundum quod facit accipiet.—M.]
Who without respect of persons—work. πρόσωπον λαμβάνειν—נָשָׂא פָנִים, Luk_20:21 is to regard the person, to take cognizance of outward relations, to make injurious distinction between rich and poor, the talented and the untalented, high and low, citizens and strangers, Jam_2:4. God judges very differently; He looks at the heart and the character of men and at their exhibition in deeds. Justification at the last judgment depends upon the inward state and the outward works of believers and unbelievers. So taught our Lord Himself, Mat_16:27; Mat_7:19; Mat_25:31 etc.; and with this agree John, Rev_22:12; Rev_3:11; John Joh_8:51; cf. Joh_13:15; James, 1Pe_2:13 etc.; Peter, 1Pe_2:12 and Paul, Rom_2:6 etc.; Rom_8:13; 2Co_5:10; Eph_6:8; Col_3:24-25; Gal_6:7-9. The Scriptures uniformly teach that forgiving grace is not conditioned by any work; it is absolutely free and unmerited and presupposes nothing beyond a penitent mind and an appropriating of the righteousness of Christ; but it insists upon a life corresponding with the will of God, and even supplies the needed strength to lead it. Faith must work by love, Gal_5:6. It is the living root of all good works, while unbelief is the father of every sin. God looks upon the life of a man as one connected work. Hence we have here the singular ἔργον as at Mat_16:27 πρᾶξις; for God looks at the one source of all our work, on our relation to the truth revealed in our conscience and in His word. But since all rational creatures ought to know the perfect justice of His decision, He judges them according to their works and here all mankind fall into only two classes. There is no inconsistency between this passage and Joh_5:22, where it is said that the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son [for, as Didymus says, the Father is the fons judicii, judicante filio Pater est qui judicat.—M.], just as the creation of the world is ascribed to the Father, although mediated by the Son, Joh_1:1 etc.; cf. 1Pe_3:12; 1Pe_3:22; 1Pe_4:5; 1Pe_5:4; 2Pe_2:9. [Joh_5:22 clearly implies that He who has delegated the judgment to the Son is the Judge.—M.]
In fear.—This does by no means militate, as Weiss maintains, against the Petrine and Johannean fundamental conceptions of the Christian life, as expressed Rom_8:15; 2Ti_1:7; 1Jn_4:18. These passages speak of a slavish fear which in believers makes room to filial love; filial fear and dread remains also in the children of God, while they continue in a state of imperfection; it flows from the contrast between themselves and God, from their dependence on Him and their remembrance of His holiness and justice, from the possibility of a relapse, cf. Php_2:12, and mostly exhibits itself as a holy fear to grieve his love, to displease Him and to provoke His disfavour. Calvin: “Fear is here opposed to security,” cf. Rom_11:20; 2Co_7:1; 2Pe_3:17; Psa_34:10; Psa_19:10.—A reason of fear is also contained in the additional clause: “the time of your sojourning,” while you tarry here below among strangers. You are not yet at home, but only on the way; like seafaring men you may possibly be cast on a strange coast. At all events you must fight your way through the world’s hatred. Joh_15:19.
[Wordsworth: Here is a connected series of arguments and motives to holiness, derived from a consideration,
1. Of the holy nature of Him whom we invoke as Father, whose children we are, whom therefore we are bound to imitate and to obey.
2. Of His office as Judge, rewarding every man according to his work, whom therefore we ought to fear.
3. Of Christ’s office as Redeemer, and of His nature as an all-holy Redeemer, paying the costly price of His own blood to ransom us from a state of unholiness, and purchasing us to Himself, with His blood. Therefore we are not our own, but His; and being His, bought by His blood, we owe Him, who is the Holy One, the service of love and holiness. Cf. 1Co_6:19-20; Eph_1:7; Eph_1:14; and Clem. Rom_1:7. ἀτενίσωμεν εἰς τὸ αἶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἴδωμεν ὡς ἕστι. τίμιον τῷ Θεῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ ὅτι διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν ἐκχυθέν. cf. S. Aug. Serm. 36.
4. Of our transitory condition in this life. On the special allusion in παροικία, sojourning see 1Pe_2:11.
5. Of the gift of the spirit of holiness.
6. Of our new birth by the living Word of God.—M.]
1Pe_1:18. Forasmuch as ye know.—The consideration of the inestimable benefit of salvation supplies a new argument for aspiration to holiness of mind and conversation, v. 1Pe_1:18-19. Bede gives the right connection. “In proportion to the price at which you have been redeemed from the corruption of carnal life should be your fear not to grieve your Saviour’s heart by a relapse, for the punishments will correspond to the worth of the ransom.” This knowledge is the knowledge of faith, flowing from the fundamental consciousness of Christians, cf. 1Pe_3:9; 1Pe_5:9; Jam_1:3.
Redeemed.—λυτροῦν denotes not any release or deliverance, but to release by payment of a corresponding ransom. It corresponds to the Hebrew גָּאַל and פָּדָה, Exo_6:6; Psa_74:2; Psa_77:16; Psa_106:10; Deu_7:8; Deu_9:26; Jer_15:21; Jer_31:11. So Christ says that He was giving His life as a ransom for many, Mat_20:28 : cf. Mar_10:45; 1Ti_2:6; Tit_2:14. The comparison of the blood of Christ with gold and silver proves that the word must be taken in its original sense. ἐξαγοράζειν is used in the same sense at Gal_3:13; 1Co_6:20; 1Co_7:23; Rev_5:9. The manner in which the redemption has been effected, is therefore the production and payment of an equivalent, viz.: the satisfaction, the substitution, cf. Eph_5:2; Eph_1:7; Rom_3:24; Heb_9:15.—Who received the ransom? Not the devil as maintained by some, but the Supreme Lawgiver and Judge. The justice of God, outraged by sin, was satisfied—the satisfaction itself, however, being appointed by the love of God Himself; allusions to which are even found in the sacrifices of the Old Testament, Lev_17:11. Because this last passage states that the soul of the flesh is in the blood and that it is the blood which maketh atonement by the soul, cf. 1Pe_1:14; blood is designated as the means of atonement both here and Rom_3:24-25; Rom_5:8-9; while elsewhere the soul, the life of Christ is said to have been given. Blood has atoning virtue, for “without shedding of blood is no remission,” Heb_9:22. Redemption relates therefore primarily to the curse and guilt of sin and secondarily to its enslaving power. The two ideas are not very sharply separated in Holy Writ, cf. 1Pe_2:24; Isa_53:7. It is most dear, most precious blood because it is undefiled by sin and passion and because it is the blood of the God-man and more valuable by far than the blood of many thousand valiant warriors. The addition 1Pe_1:19, ὡς ἀμνοῦ ἀμώμου καὶ ἀσπίλου, etc., confirms our explanation. ὡς indicates a well-known reason and refers to Isaiah 53. While in Isaiah the figure of the Lamb denotes immediately only the patient, silent suffering of the Messiah in His atoning death, the predicates used by the Apostle, clearly relate to sacrificial lambs, and particularly to the Paschal Lamb, cf. Joh_1:29; Joh_1:36. Every sacrificial lamb had to be without blemish, Lev_4:32; Lev_3:6; Lev_22:20 etc.; Lev_1:10; Lev_12:6; Lev_14:10; Num_28:3; Num_28:11; Exo_12:5. Christ as the Spiritual Sacrificial Lamb (1Co_5:7; Joh_19:36) was perfectly pure within and unstained by sin without, as Bengel rightly explains. “In se non habet labem, neque extrinsecus maculam contraxit.” Cf. 1Jn_3:5; 2Co_5:21; Heb_7:26; Eph_5:27. From what are the children of God redeemed?
From your vain conversation, inherited from your fathers. [So the German.—M.] This describes the being of this world as untrue, as having its root in appearances, and as devoid of all foundation, strength and vitality, cf. Rom_1:21; Eph_4:17; 1Co_3:20; 2Pe_2:18; Rom_8:20. Its main stay and support lies in the force of habits, ideas, views, principles and maxims transmitted from father to child through successive generations. Men justify their ways, saying, ‘Such was the practice of our fathers and our forefathers,’ and continue in the bonds of error and sinful lusts. Calov. explains πατροπαραδότου of original sin and of imitating paternal examples. The deep-rootedness of this vain conversation notwithstanding, deliverance and redemption from it is found in the death and blood of Jesus Christ. The Apostle does not specify how the atonement of Christ effects redemption from the power of sin; we may doubtless supply this solution (cf. 1Pe_2:24) thus: having been redeemed from the curse of the law by the blood of Jesus, we are enabled to be cleansed from sin, to be united to God and to approach Him with joy and courage. The Holy Spirit’s power is present to deliver us from the dominion of sin.—Χριστοῦ, an explanatory addition serving as a transition to what follows.
1Pe_1:20. The personality and work of Christ were neither the natural result of the world’s development nor the suddenly formed decree of God in time [as distinguished from eternity, M.], as if after the lapse of four thousand years He had suddenly thought of contriving this way of salvation, but Christ was destined and ordained from before the foundation of the world to redeem us by His blood; hence the prophets did foretell His life and sufferings, His death and glorious exaltation, 1Pe_1:11-12. The antithesis φανερωθέντος does not warrant the positive conclusion that the Apostle thinks of the real (opposed to ideal) preëxistence of Christ. The sense might be as follows: The Messiah having ideally existed in the Spirit of God, in the fulness of time became also really manifest. But reverting to 1Pe_1:11, where mention is made of the Spirit of Christ in the prophets, and considering that correctly speaking the φανεροῦν, is the manifestation of a previously hidden existence, and that while believers are said to have been fore-ordained it is never affirmed that they were manifested, we feel inclined to agree with Lutz and Schumann that the real preëxistence of Christ is probably presupposed here; φανεροῦν, however, relates also to the continuing manifestation of Christ by the preaching of the Gospel.
Before the foundation of the World.—καταβολή, the act of καταβάλλεσθαι denotes laying something down, laying the foundation; applied to the foundations of the earth (Job_38:6; Pro_8:29)=founding, creation, cf. Joh_17:24; Eph_1:4; 1Co_2:7; 2Ti_1:9; Tit_1:2-3; Col_1:26. The remark of Oettinger that the creation of the world is called καταβολή because the Visible originated from the Invisible by a fall, is ingenious, but far-fetched and untenable. He maintains that the word signifies casting off. Ἐπ̓ ἐσχάτων τῶν χρόνων; Tischendorff and Lachmann read ἐσχάτου. Χρόνοι periods of time shorter than aeons. The καιροί are definite portions of those periods. They are called, Act_2:17; 2Ti_3:1, the last days. They form, since they have a similar character, a unit, and are called on that account the last hour, 1Jn_2:18, or the last time, Judges 18. It would seem to signify therefore the period from the glorification of Christ to His first visible advent [vulgo, his second advent, M.] cf. 1Pe_1:5; but ἐπί may also mean, “near at hand,” a sense in which it may be shown to be used at least with local reference.—Ἐσχάτων to be taken as neuter on account of the succeeding Article.
For you who.—Believers are the end and aim in the manifestation of the Redeemer: you may therefore view it, as if Christ had come for you only, cf. 1Co_2:7. The design of His manifestation was to make you also believers. You owe it to Him that you are able to believe (δἰ αὑτοῦ). Weiss gives the following connection: The manifestation of Christ effected by means of the preaching of the Gospel (1Pe_1:12) and culminating in His resurrection and exaltation to glory, begets believing trust in God, who did work this miracle of miracles. He that has done such great things is also able (humanly speaking) to accomplish the greatest and highest expectations we can cherish. Thus faith becomes hope in God, who has done this miracle. Hope appears here as a new feature superadded to faith, cf. Rom_5:2; Eph_1:18. [Your faith rests on Christ’s resurrection—it was God who raised him; your hope on Christ’s glorification; it is God who has given him that glory. Alford.—M.] Εἰς Θέον signifies resting in, entering into God. Petr. Lomb. Credendo in Deum ire.—ὡστε denotes sequence not purpose. The exhortation here reverts once more to 1Pe_1:12, with this difference, that what there is urged, is here supposed to exist.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The disciple of Jesus must intimately combine with confident repose in the grace of atonement, the desire after the pattern of God to become holy and to walk in holiness before Him, 1Pe_1:13-15.
2. The state of Christians is marked by the singular characteristic that they must become what they are: born into lively hope, they have to learn daily to hope anew. They stand in faith and love, 1Pe_1:5; 1Pe_1:8, yet must ever suffer themselves to be anew excited thereto, 1Pe_1:13. They are dead with Christ, Col_3:3, yet must daily mortify anew their sinful members, Col_3:5, etc. The riddle is solved by distinguishing between what we are in the eternal view of God and what in empirical reality, or between what we are in the new principle of life and what in its gradual development. That which is implanted in the idea and in the germ must be followed by a voluntary and all-sided development. [This sentence may have a misty air to some, but I found it difficult to give the sense of the original without a long circumlocution. Light is shed upon it by the consideration that idea is not used in the popular, but in the philosophical sense. It appears to come nearer to ideal than to idea proper.—M.] By the side of the new man there continues, until we die, the old man who must be crucified day by day.
3. All exhortation to holiness of mind and conversation will prove ineffectual and unsuccessful, unless the firm foundation of it lies in confidence in the grace of God that meets us half-way in Christ, 1Pe_1:13. The hope to which that confidence gives rise, namely, the hope of the glorious possession of heaven, supplies the power of victory in view of the temptations and enjoyments of this earthly world.
4. The agreement of the Old and New Testaments is evident from the circumstance that holiness after the pattern of God is in both the chief requirement and end of our vocation. Compare the Sermon on the Mount. The only difference being that the idea of holiness in the New Testament is more profound and spiritual than in the Old.
5. Justification at the last judgment will depend on our works; our works, whether flowing from faith or unbelief, will determine our respective destiny, 1Pe_1:17; cf. Rom_2:13; Rom_2:6-7; Mat_25:34; Rev_20:12; 2Co_9:6.
6. The blood of Jesus Christ is not the same as His death. Elsewhere also it is specially emphasized as the means of redemption, the ransom, Rom_3:25; Rom_5:9; 1Jn_5:6; Heb_10:29; Heb_9:22; Heb_13:20; Act_20:28; Eph_1:7; Col_1:20; 1Jn_1:7; Rev_1:5; Rev_5:9; Rev_7:14; Rev_12:11. God’s law for the government of the world having been broken by sin, the blood of the holy God-Man is needed as an atonement, 1Pe_1:19.
7. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the seal set to the atoning virtue of His blood and at the same time the pledge of the perfecting of those, who as members of His body are united to Him, the head.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The tightened girdle of faith is a main essential to the pilgrim passing through the world to heaven.—The loins serve the purposes of walking, warring and carrying; the powers of the soul corresponding to these purposes have need to be strengthened.—“The Christian in the heavenly race, Must firmly set and keep his face, Fixed on Jerusalem.”—Tersteegen. The blissful end of Christian hope, 1Pe_1:13.—The grace offered by Christ is the solid foundation for the soul’s anchor to rest upon.—True faith is not an idle dream nor hollow talk.—The features of the regenerate exhibit the impress of their heavenly Father’s image.—Spiritual blindness both the consequence and cause of the dominion of sinful lusts. 1Pe_1:14.—Fear of self-deception, relapse and new offences against God is the sure guardian of our hope.—How do we recognize the time of our visitation?—What glorious hopes flow from the glory which Christ has obtained from His Father? Starke. Would you be God’s child, you must imitate Him, Eph_5:1-17. What a great alliance! a bought slave, preferred to the distinction of an adopted child, it is to be hoped, will not complain of having to render to his Redeemer a reasonable and joyful service, after his former experience of the rudder and the whip.—If you meet with some adversity, think yourself for a night in uncomfortable quarters, you will have better accommodation when you get home.—You are greatly in error, and abuse the Gospel, if you consider all manner of vain conversation to belong to Christian liberty. In the work of salvation, redemption as the cause of salvation cannot be dissociated from the condition annexed to it, which is the renunciation of every evil work—the two, redemption and renunciation should go hand-in-hand, Luk_1:74-75.—We are bound to honour, love and obey our parents and ancestors, but not to follow them in the vanity of conversation and sinful habits, Eph_6:1-2; Mat_10:37. Beware to form too low an opinion of any man, and still more to injure his soul’s welfare, for every one has been redeemed by the inestimable price of the blood of Jesus.—If the atoning blood of Jesus is to benefit us, we must also carry the innocence, gentleness and patience of the Lamb of God, Col_1:22.—Who, after the Apostle’s doctrine preaches another Gospel is not of God, but of the devil, and he is by no means to be heard, Gal_1:8.
Lisco:—Motives to zeal for holiness: (a) the grace offered to Christians; (b) the blessedness of their filial relation to God; (c) the redemption effected by Jesus Christ.—The real character of Christ’s redeemed people: (a) they are full of faith in God and Jesus Christ; (b) earnestly struggling with sin they strive after holiness; (c) they walk in righteousness and obedience to the commandments of God; (d) they abound in zeal to do good and are rich in faithful love of the brethren.—How the preciousness and assurance of our hope founded on the resurrection of Christ should influence our whole behaviour. The value of the blood of Christ: (1) what makes it invaluable: (a) the holiness of Him who shed it; (b) the glory of the work accomplished by it; (2) what is the evidence of our appreciation of the value of it.
Besser, in illustration of 1Pe_1:19, supplies the following narrative: A wealthy and kind Englishman once bought in the slave-market a poor negro for twenty pieces of gold. His benefactor presented him moreover with a certain sum of money, that he might buy therewith a piece of land and furnish himself with a home. Am I really free? May I go whither I will? cried the negro in the joy of his heart; well, let me be your slave, Massa: you have redeemed me, and I owe all to you. This touched the gentleman to the quick: he took the negro into his service, and he never had a more faithful servant. But, said that Englishman, I ought to learn a lesson from my grateful servant, which until then, alas, had little engaged my attention, namely, what is meant by the words: “Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold—but with the precious blood of Christ.”
[1Pe_1:13. Grace is bearing down upon, coming to meet the Christian who with girded loins sets out on his pilgrimage. The prodigal son was met by his Father.—M.] Faith establishes the heart on Jesus Christ, and hope lifts it up, being on that rock, over the head of all intervening dangers, crosses and temptations, and sees the glory and happiness that follow after them.—Gather up your affections, that they hang not down to hinder you in your race and so in your hopes of obtaining; and do not only gather them up, but tie them up, that they fall not down again, or if they do, be sure to gird them straiter than before.—We walk through a world where there is much mire of sinful pollutions and therefore cannot but defile them; and the crowd we are among will be ready to tread on them, yea our own feet may be entangled in them and so make us stumble and possibly fall.
Leighton:
1Pe_1:14. The soul of man unconverted is no other but a den of impure lusts, wherein dwell pride, uncleanness, avarice, malice, etc. Just as Babylon is described Rev_18:2; or as Isa_13:21. Were a man’s eyes opened he would as much abhor to remain with himself in that condition, “as to dwell in a house full of snakes and serpents,” as St. Austin says. As the offices of certain persons are known by the garb or livery they wear, so transgressors: where we see the world’s livery we see the world’s servants; they fashion or habit themselves according to their lusts; and we may guess that they have a worldly mind by their conformity to worldly fashions.
Clarke:—Obedience to God is as much the mark of right knowledge, as a sinful life is the sure sign of ignorance of God.
1Pe_1:15. Summa religionis est imitari quem colis (In Leighton).—Clarke:—Heathenism scarcely produced a god whose example was not the most abominable; their greatest gods, especially, were paragons of impurity; none of their philosophers could propose the objects of their adoration, as objects of imitation.
Leighton:
1Pe_1:17. This fear is not cowardice, it doth not debase, but elevate the mind, for it drowns all lower fears, and begets true fortitude and courage to encounter all danger for the sake of a good conscience and the obeying of God. The righteous is as bold as a lion, Pro_28:1. He dares do any thing but offend God: and to dare to do that is the greatest folly, and weakness, and baseness in the world. From this fear have sprung all the generous resolutions and patient sufferings of the saints and martyrs of God; because they durst not sin against Him, therefore they durst be imprisoned, and impoverished and tortured, and die for Him. Thus the prophet sets carnal and godly fear as opposite, and the one as expelling the other, Isa_8:12-13. And our Saviour, Luk_12:4, “Fear not them which kill the body, but fear him which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you fear Him.” Fear not, but fear, and therefore fear, that you may not fear.—He made all the persons and he makes all those differences Himself, as it pleaseth Him; therefore He doth not admire them as we do; no, nor at all regard them: we find very great odds betwixt stately palaces and poor cottages, betwixt a prince’s robes and a beggar’s cloak; but to God they are all one, all these petty grievances vanish in comparison of His own greatness; men are great and small compared one with another; but they all amount to just nothing in respect of Him; we find high mountains and low valleys on this earth, but compared with the vast compass of the heavens, it is all but as a point, and hath no sensible greatness at all.
[Our sojourn on earth is a state of probation, from which the fear of God is inseparable.—M.]
[1Pe_1:18. The doctors of the synagogue had delivered traditions to the Jews which made the worship of God vain, Mat_15:9; and the Gentiles sought to justify their vain idolatry on the plea of tradition, saying (on the authority of Plato, Tim. p. 1053 E. and Cicero, de Nat. Deor. 3, n. 3, 6.) That they “were not to be moved, by any persuasions, from the religion which they had received from their forefathers.”—M.]
[1Pe_1:19. “All glory be to Thee, almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that Thou, of Thy tender mercy, didst give Thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who made there (by His one oblation of Himself once offered) a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.” Book of Common Prayer, Communion Office.—M.]
[1Pe_1:20. The Jews say, that “When God created the world, He held forth His hand under the throne of glory, and created the soul of the Messiah and His company, and said to Him, Wilt thou heal and redeem my sons, after six thousand years? He answered, Yes. God said to Him, If so, wilt thou bear chastisements, to expiate their iniquity, according to what is written, (Isa_53:4) ‘Surely, He bore our griefs?’ He answered, I will endure them with joy.” And to this representation of this covenant made with the Messiah “before the creation of the world” it may be the Apostle here refers. In the style of Philo, he is ἀΐδιος Λόγος, “the Eternal Word, the first born and the most ancient Son of the Father, by whom all the species were framed.” This therefore is according to the received opinion of the Jews. Whitby citing Cartw. Mellif. I. p. 2974, 75, and De Plaut. Noe, p. 169, D.—M.]
Leighton:
1Pe_1:21. When you look through a red glass, the whole heavens seem bloody; but through pure unclouded glass, you receive the clear light, that is so refreshing and comfortable to behold. When sin unpardoned is betwixt, and we look on God through that, we can perceive nothing but anger and enmity, in His countenance; but make Christ once the medium, our pure Redeemer, and through Him, as clear transparent glass, the beams of God’s favourable countenance shine in upon the soul; the Father cannot look upon his well beloved Son, but graciously and pleasingly.
[Redemption flows from the precious blood of Christ, faith and hope from His glorious resurrection.—M.]
Footnotes:
[19] 1Pe_1:13. [ German:—Wherefore with the loins of the mind girded and with soberness of spirit, fix all your hope on the grace which is being brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ.—M.]
[Translate:—Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, being sober, and hope perfectly for the grace which is being.—M.]
[20]1Pe_1:14. [ Children of obedience, so Greek. German.—M.]
[21]1Pe_1:15. [ But after the pattern of that Holy One.—de Wette, Alford.—M.]
[22] 1Pe_1:15. [ Conversation—behaviour.—M.]
1Pe_1:16. [Cod. Sin. §10.—ἔσεσθαι διότι for γένεσθε ὅτι of Text. Rec.,—omits εἰμί.—M.]
[23] 1Pe_1:17. [ And if ye call upon as Father, Him, etc., so German after the Greek.—M.]
[Cod. Sin. *ἀναστρεφόμενοι.—M.]
[24]1Pe_1:18. [ Knowing that.—M.]
[25]1Pe_1:18. [ Out of your vain conversation, delivered to you from your fathers (Alford), inherited from the fathers, German.—M.]
[26]1Pe_1:20. [ Who indeed, instead of, Who verily.—M.]
[27] 1Pe_1:20. [ But was manifested.—M.]
[Cod. Sin. *ἀνεγνώσω—ἔσχατοι τοῦ χρόνου.—(**τῶν χρόνων)—M.]
[28]1Pe_1:21. [ Who through Him believe on God.—M.]
[29] 1Pe_1:21. [ So that your faith and hope are on God.—M.]
[German:—So that your faith may also become hope in God.—M.]
[Cod. Sin. *ἐγείροντ.—M.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv13–17 Wherefore--Seeing that the prophets ministered unto you in these…
Wherefore--Seeing that the prophets ministered unto you in these high Gospel privileges which they did not themselves fully share in, though "searching" into them, and seeing that even angels "desire to look into" them, how earnest you ought to be and watchful in respect to them!
gird up . . . loins--referring to Christ's own words, Luk 12:35; 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]. Sobriety, that is, spiritual self-restraint, lest one be overcome by the allurements of the world and of sense, and patient hopeful waiting for Christ's revelation, are the true ways of "girding up the loins of the mind."
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to the end--rather, "perfectly," so that there may be nothing deficient in your hope, no casting away of your confidence. Still, there may be an allusion to the "end" mentioned in Pe1 1:9. Hope so perfectly (Greek, "teleios") as to reach unto the end (telos) of your faith and hope, namely, "the grace that is being brought unto you in (so the Greek) the revelation of Christ." As grace shall then be perfected, so you ought to hope perfectly. "Hope" is repeated from Pe1 1:3. The two appearances are but different stages of the ONE great revelation of Christ, comprising the New Testament from the beginning to the end.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 15, 17 6. General exhortations based upon the excellency of the…
6. General exhortations based upon the excellency of the gospel salvation, 1Pe_1:13 to 1Pe_2:8.
a. Exhortation to firm, enduring hope, 1Pe_1:13.
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13. Wherefore—Referring to the entire foregoing description.
Gird up— Literally, having girded up, aorist, once for all, showing the completeness of the condition in which the hope is to be exercised. The figure (as in our Lord’s words in Luk_12:35, “Let your loins be girded about”) of the tucking up of the long flowing robe and tightening the girdle implies preparation for work, running, fighting, or other energetic action. The meaning is, Let your whole spiritual nature be so disentangled from earthly things, and intently fixed on the heavenly and eternal, that you will be always ready and on the alert for your business as Christians.
Sober— Being sober, self-restrained, and held well in hand against temptation, appetite, cares, pleasures, and spiritual sloth.
Hope—The emphatic word. Desire it as of infinite worth; expect it because bought and promised.
To the end—Rather, perfectly, entirely, with no doubt, diminution, interruption, or failure.
Grace—The inheritance and eternal salvation, named from its source.
Revelation—At the visible second advent. St.
Peter uses the word αποκαλυψις, or its verb, five times in this epistle in reference to that day. 1Pe_1:5; 1Pe_1:7; 1Pe_1:13; 1Pe_4:13; 1Pe_5:1.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv13–17 13. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind]…
13. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind] The words were in any case a natural figure for prompt readiness for activity, but, coming from one who had been a personal disciple of the Lord Jesus, we cannot fail to trace in them an echo of His words as recorded in Luk_12:35, possibly also, looking to the many instances of parallelism with St Paul’s Epistles, of those which we find in Eph_6:14. The sequence of thought is that the prospect of the coming glories should be a motive to unflagging activity during men’s sojourn upon earth.
be sober, and hope to the end] The verb for “be sober” expresses a sobriety of the Nazarite type. It meets us in 1Th_5:6; 1Th_5:8, and in this Epistle, chaps. 1Pe_4:7, 1Pe_5:8. The marginal reading perfectly, as though he said “hope with a hope that lacks nothing of completeness,” answers better to the meaning of the adverb than the phrase in the English Version.
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the grace that is to be brought unto you] Literally, as the Greek participle is in the present tense and has no gerundial force, the grace which is being brought unto you. The communication is thought of as continuous, and finding its sphere of action in every successive revelation of Jesus Christ from that of the soul’s first consciousness of His presence, as in Gal_1:16, through those which accompany the stages of spiritual growth, as in 2Co_12:1, to that of the final Advent. The use of the phrase in 1Pe_1:7 gives, perhaps, a somewhat emphatic prominence to the last thought.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv13–17 (13) Gird up the loins of your mind.—A metaphor…
(13) Gird up the loins of your mind.—A metaphor from persons gathering up the flowing Oriental dress (which had been let down for repose), so as to be ready for energetic action (e.g., 1Ki_18:46, for running; Job_38:3, for arguing). What exact kind of action St. Peter meant them here to prepare for we need not inquire. A “mind,” rather than “soul” or “heart,” seems to bespeak practical intelligence. Thus when the Galatians, too, began to fall from evangelical to Judaic religion St. Paul calls them “senseless” (Gal_3:1).
Be sober.—Not in the literal sense, but with the same notion of alertness as in “gird up”; sobriety and wakefulness are often combined (e.g., 1Pe_5:8; 1Th_5:6).
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Hope to the end.—Literally, hope perfectly, or, thoroughly, or, with completeness. “Indeed this hope,” says Leighton, “is perfect in continuance, it is a hope unto the end, because it is perfect in its nature.” The chief thought, however, is that the hope should not be half-hearted, dispirited. St. Peter brings us back to what he began with, that ours is a living hope. The exhortation is exactly of the same nature as that which pervades the Epistle to the Hebrews (see, for instance, Heb_3:6; Heb_3:14; Heb_6:11), and for the same reason—i.e., that spiritual sloth, combined with fear of man, was beginning to turn these Jewish Christians back to dead works. “Hope on,” in these passages, is tantamount to “remain Christians.”
For the grace.—Not exactly” hope for the grace,” i.e., expect confidently that it will come: rather, “hope upon the grace,” as in 1Ti_5:5, the only other place where the same construction is used, and where it is rendered “trusteth in God.” Here, therefore, it is, “confidently hope (for salvation, glory, &c.) on the strength of the grace.” The grace is the same as in 1Pe_1:10.
That is to be brought.—“If we will render it strictly, it is, That is a-bringing to you. That blessedness, that consummation of grace, the saints are hastening forward to, walking on in their way, wheresoever it lies indifferently, through honour and dishonour, through evil report and good report. And as they are hastening to it, it is hastening to them in the course of time; every day brings it nearer to them than before; and notwithstanding all difficulties and dangers in the way, they that have their eye and their hopes upon it shall arrive at it, and it shall be brought safe to their hand; all the malice of men and devils shall not be able to cut them short of this grace that is a-bringing to them against the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Leighton). On the tense, see also Note on 1Th_1:10. Notice also that it is now the personal Name, not the official title. St. Peter is enforcing the gospel as we know it; we no longer “search unto whom” the title of the Messiah belongs.
(13-25) GENERAL APPLICATION OF THE FOREGOING.—This salvation being so magnificent, the Asiatic Hebrews must cling to it tenaciously, in holiness, in reverence caused by consideration of the cost of it, and in charity: the gospel they have received cannot be improved upon.
(13-4: 6) EXHORTATION TO KEEP A PURE CONSCIENCE.—It is the only charm against persecution. It is like Christ to suffer with a good conscience; and He had His reward for it, in bringing us, and even the spirits of men who had died impenitent, to God thereby. It is the very meaning of the baptism by which He saves us. To feel its beauty and safety, we have but to consider the ugliness and danger of our former life.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv13–17 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind. St.…
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind. St. Peter sums up in the word "wherefore" all the blessings, privileges, and hopes which he has enumerated; on these he founds his exhortations. Gird up. The word ajnazwsamenoi (literally, "girding up, tucking up long garments by the help of a girdle") occurs in no other place of the New Testament. But the same metaphor, expressed in similar words, is common. St. Peter alludes, doubtless, to the Lord"s exhortation, "Let your loins be girded about;" perhaps also the solemn words ofnoia, Joh_21:18, "signifying by what death he should glorify God," were present to his thoughts. The loins of your mind. St. Peter often explains a metaphor by adding a genitive or. adjective; so "milk of the Word; .... hidden man of the heart;" amaranthine wreath of glory." Dia translated "mind," is the reflective faculty. The Christian must reflect, and that with intense exertion of thought, on the glory of his hopes, on the greatness of his responsibilities; he must seek to love God with all his mind (olh th dianoia), as well as with all his heart and soul. Be sober. The Christian must be sober in his use of the gifts of God; he must be sober also in his habits of thought; he should preserve a calm, collected temper. Christian enthusiasm should be thoughtful, not excited and disorderly. (comp. 2Th_2:2 2Th_3:11, 2Th_3:12) And hope to the end; rather, perfectly, with a full, unwavering, constant hope. It is better to take the adverb teleiwv with the verb "hope" than with nhfontev, "be perfectly sober." For the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The Christian"s hope must be directed to, set towards (ejpi with accusative), the continual growth in grace ("He giveth more grace,". (Jam_4:6) That grace is being brought now, being borne in upon the soul in the present revelation of Jesus Christ. "It pleased God," says St. Paul, (Gal_1:16) "to reveal his Son in me." So now the Lord manifests himself to those who walk in the path of loving obedience. Each gift of grace kindles the hope of a nearer manifestation, a fuller revelation; grace is continually brought, till at length the full unspeakable gift of grace is realized at the glorious revelation of Jesus Christ at his second advent. This seems better than to give the present participle feromenhn a future sense, and to understand the revelation of Jesus Christ only of his final coming in glory.
Vers. 13-25.
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Practical exhortations.
I TO PROGRESS IN HOLINESS.
1. The necessity of earnest effort. Christians are pilgrims and strangers; they must not loiter on their way, they must press toward the mark. The journey is long and laborious; they must gather up their robes, for there are many miry places, there is much pollution in the world, and "blessed are they that have not defiled their garments; they shall walk with the Lord in white." They must gird them up round their loins lest they hang down and impede their progress. They must lay aside the sin which doth so easily beset them, and keep their affections and desires closely girt in, that they become not loose and hinder them. They must not allow their mind to be listless and apathetic; they must keep their thoughts active, fixed on their journey and on its end.
(1) To do this they must be sober. Excess of meat and drink weighs down the soul and sinks it into a deadly lethargy. The intemperate use of any of this world"s good things or enjoyments interferes with spiritual exertion, and lowers the tone of the spirit. The Christian must he temperate in all things, in all his habits and modes of thought; he must be calm, quiet, thoughtful, zealous but collected, full of high enthusiasm but wise and free from excitement.
(2) And they must hope, and that perfectly. Hope urges the traveler onward; he heeds not the discomforts of the way while the hope of the joy that is set before him is fresh and bright in his heart. The Christian"s hope is sometimes mixed with doubts and fears; but this, the psalmist says, is mine own infirmity". (Psa_77:10) He must lift up his eyes to the hills whence cometh his help; for the grace which is the object of his hope (grace, says Leighton, "is glory begun, and glory is grace completed") is being brought to him. Grace comes from God; it is his free favor; he gave the first gift of grace; he giveth more grace." It is his bounty, not deserved by any merits of ours: "dona sun coronat Deus, non merita tun," says St. Augustine. That grace is being brought now; as men gird up their loins and hasten towards it, it is brought nearer to them; when the prodigal arose and came, his father, while he was yet a great way off, ran and came to meet him. So God"s grace is being brought in continually increasing measure as the Lord Jesus Christ reveals himself in nearer vision to the believing soul; it will be brought in perfect glory when his saints shall see him as he is in his kingdom.
1. Old lusts must be forsaken. The assured hope of salvation will urge the Christian to follow after holiness: "He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself." Holiness is separation from all that defileth. Christians must, as obedient children, forsake the world, the flesh, and the devil; they must not fashion themselves after the likeness of the lusts of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; for the image of Christ cannot be traced upon the soul that bears the impress of these evil things. The heathen had the excuse of ignorance; we Christians have the light; let us beware lest any of us incur the awful condemnation of those who love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
2. The pattern to be set before us. It is the all-holy God himself. "Summa religionis est imitari quem coils. The essence of religion consists in the imitation of him we worship" (Leighton). The gods of the heathen were represented as actuated by human passions and stained with hateful sins; their character must have reacted upon their ignorant worshippers; their worship was degrading. Our God is the most Holy One, awful in holiness. He has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness; he has set us apart for himself, that we should be holy to him. "Holiness unto the Lord" was inscribed upon the miter of the high priest; it should be written in the hearts of Christians, who are a holy priesthood, dedicated to the service of God. Holiness lies in the imitation of God. "Be ye followers literally, "imitators of God as dear children," says St. Paul. It is the high pattern for the Christian, very high indeed above us, but yet set before us by God himself. We must make it our constant effort, by the promised help of his Holy Spirit, to become "partakers of his holiness;" we should follow after holiness in all things, in all the circumstances of our lives, in all manner of conversation. If we earnestly desire it with a strong sustained longing, with hunger and thirst, then we know for we have his gracious word we shall be filled.
II TO HOLY FEAR.
1. The first reason: the judgment. St. Peter, the apostle of hope, dwells much on the deep and hidden joy which is vouchsafed to the faithful
2. Christian. St. Paul, the apostle of faith, again and again urges upon us the same duty, the same privilege, of joy in the Lord. But both apostles bid us fear God; "pass the time of your sojourning here in fear;" "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Then faith and hope and joy are not inconsistent with fear. Nay, there can be no true faith and hope and joy without fear; for God"s grace, out of which flow faith and hope and joy, produces also holy fear; without reverence and godly fear we cannot serve him acceptably. (Heb_12:28) True religion implies a deep sense of God"s presence; and that presence, realized by faith, must inspire a solemn awe into the heart to which it is granted. He who lives very near to God, as Abraham did, must feel, as Abraham did, that it is a solemn thing for one who is but dust and ashes to speak unto the Lord. (Gen_18:27) Flesh and blood, conscious of unworthiness, must have something of that awful dread which led St. Peter himself once to say, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" The first petition in the prayer which the Lord himself hath taught us, the prayer which St. Peter apparently had in his thoughts when he wrote these verses, is, "Hallowed be thy Name." Our first approach to the throne of grace must be made with deep and solemn reverence. The very seraphim covered their faces when they chanted, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord;" and we sinful men must learn reverence from the blessed angels when we draw near to God. We call him our Father; that precious name tells us of his love, but it reminds us also of the honor due to such a Father. We are but sojourners here; this life, with all its cares and excitements, will soon be gone. Be not over-anxious; fear not earthly troubles and trials; think of the end, the judgment which is coming, and live in the holy fear of God. He "judgcth according to every man"s work." Is our work so thorough that we have no need to fear? God"s holiest servants feel their unworthiness the most; they are conscious, not only of many great sins in the past, but of much frailty and inconstancy always. There are strange inconsistencies and vacillations and falterings, even in the holiest lives. The sense of weakness keeps God"s people in the holy fear of God, and that fear makes them vigilant and circumspect. They think often of the judgment; they think of themselves standing before the throne. They have hope, a blessed hope through their Lord"s atoning blood; but that hope must be mingled with fear even in saints. "My flesh trembleth for fear of thee," said the psalmist, "and I am afraid of thy judgments.
3. The second reason: the great price with which we were bought. There is another reason, higher and holier, for godly fear the ransom given for our souls. The fear of judgment may have much of selfishness in it; the thought of Christ"s exceeding great love is the high Christian motive. If a dear friend had given his silver and gold to redeem us from shame and punishment, we should regard him with reverent gratitude, and fear to displease him. But Christ gave himself; he shed his precious blood. The sacrifice was exceeding precious; the sacred Victim was without blemish and without spot, and foreordained before the foundation of the world. These thoughts ought to fill us with holy fear when we gaze upon the cross. The cross, as it reveals the blessed love of Christ., throws an awful light on the guilt of sin and on its tremendous consequences. Then there is need of fear. Indeed, "perfect love casteth out fear," but
(1) our love, alas! is not perfect, and imperfect love must be more or less accompanied with fear. And
(2) the fear which love casteth out is that servile fear which simply dreads the punishment, heeding neither the guilt of sin nor the love of Christ. The Christian fears to offend God, who spared not his own Son; he fears to dishonor the cross of Christ; he fears to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. "This fear is not cowardice; it doth not debase, but elevates the mind; for it drowns all lower fears, and begets true fortitude and courage to encounter all dangers for the sake of a good conscience and the obeying of God. The righteous is as bold as a lion. (Pro_28:1) He dares do anything but offend God; and to dare to do that is the greatest folly and weakness and baseness in the world. From this fear have sprung all the generous resolutions and patient sufferings of the saints and martyrs of God; because they durst not sin against him, therefore they durst be imprisoned, and impoverished, and tortured, and die for him. Thus our Savior says, "Fear not them that kill the body; but fear him which, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell." Fear not, but fear; and therefore fear, that you may fear not" (Leighton).
3. Consider further
(1) From what we were redeemed. Out of (ejk) our former vain conversation. We were bought out of our old unconverted life, and that by no less a ransom than the precious blood. He who bought us wilt give us power to escape out of that old life; he will strengthen us with all might by his Spirit in the inner man; then let us fear to look back upon Sodom, to return to our sins and carelessness. It may be the traditional, the conventional mode of life; we are tempted to do as others do, to go with the multitude. But that blood was shed to redeem us out of the worldly life: let us fear.
(2) The purpose of that redemption. That our faith and hope might be in God. The sacrifice of Christ was foreordained from all eternity. Christ was manifested in due time, and that, the apostle says, "for you, who by him do believe in God." All this was for us, if we believe. God provided for our salvation before the world was. He then determined to give up his own Son for us all. This thought, almost too great to take into our minds, gives us some insight into the momentous importance of that salvation, the exceeding value of our souls. Again, Christ was manifested for us; God raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; and it was all for us. Christ"s manifestation, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, it was all for us sinful men, that our faith and hope might be in God. We are not worthy, we feel; we are utterly unworthy of this unutterable love, this tremendous sacrifice. But he loved us so, he counted it not too great a price. Then let us fear to offend him who loved us so deeply; let us fear to lose the salvation for which so great a price was paid; let us fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of us should seem to come short of it. Then "pass the time of your sojourning here in fear." When that time is past, and God"s elect are sojourners no more, but at home in the many mansions of the Father"s house, there will be no more room for fear; for they shall have everlasting rest, and perpetual peace will shine upon them.
III TO BROTHERLY LOVE.
1. Charity is the end of the commandment. (1Ti_1:5) St. Peter is the apostle of hope; but, like St. Paul the apostle of faith, he joins with St. John the apostle of love in his earnest exhortations to follow after charity. He presses that high duly upon us in words of intense earnestness. He knows how hard it is for our selfish hearts to love as Christians ought to love he knows how essential it is for our salvation, for our happiness, for the happiness of others, that we should exercise that heavenly grace. He calls it philadelphia, brotherly love a word which, except as the name of one of the seven Churches of Asia, we find only in St. Peter (here and 2Pe_1:7) and St. Paul (Rom_12:10; 1Th_4:9) Heb_13:1. The Lord Jesus had said, "All ye are brethren;" the holy apostles remembered his words.
1. That brotherly love which is the badge and test of Christ"s true disciples must be unfeigned. St. Paul uses the same word (kritov), Rom_12:9, ojnupo where it is translated "without dissimulation." The world, in its ordinary forms of courtesy, counterfeits the grace of charity; the
2. Christian must learn to love, not in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And that we can learn only of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one Teacher of all true disciples, through the help of the Holy Spirit of God.
3. It must be "out of a pure heart." The word "pure" is somewhat doubtful here; but St. Paul certainly has it in the parallel passage. (1Ti_1:5) Christian love must issue from the heart, and that heart must be pure. Alas! impure, unholy passions often usurp the sacred name of love; but these are only forms of selfishness; there is love on the tongue; there is only lust, loathsome and wicked, in the heart. True love is a very beautiful and holy thing; it springs only out of a pure heart.
1. It must, be fervent, intense. For it must be like the love of Christ: As I have loved you." His love was unto death; his apostle tells us that the measure of our love should be the same: We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren". (1Jn_3:16) How very far we are from this height of self-sacrificing love! It should be the aim of our holiest ambition.
2. Whence that charity must spring.
(1) From a purified, a consecrated soul. Christian love is a product of spiritual religion; the soul must be consecrated to God"s service that is to love the brethren with a pure heart, fervently. And the consecrated life moves in the path of holy obedience obedience to the truth. The truth makes God"s people free free from the bonds of sin, free from the entanglements of sensual lusts, free from selfishness. While they walk in truth they walk in obedience, seeking to obey God in all things, not only in their outward lives, but by bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. While they walk in truth they are walking in the light, and then the blood of Jesus Christ is cleansing them from all sin. Only by the grace of God the Holy Ghost can they thus purity their souls.
(2) A consecrated life implies a new birth. St. Peter returns to the doctrine of the new birth, because it is that new birth which makes us children of God and brethren one of another. Here is the Christian"s highest privilege: "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!" We are begotten again of incorruptible seed. That incorruptible seed abideth in the faithful child of God, who hath been made partaker of the Holy Ghost, and hath not received the grace of God in vain. He doth not grieve the Holy Spirit; he doth not by willful resistance quench the Spirit. "He that is born of God sinneth not." So far as the seed of the new life abideth in him, that life dieth not; it lives and energizes, for it is the life of Christ. "Not I, but Christ liveth in me." And that new life must show itself in love, in love unfeigned, pure, and fervent. For "he that loveth not, knoweth not God;" but "every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
(3) That new birth is through the Word. The Word of God liveth; it is quick and powerful; it is the cause of life. "Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." God said once, "Let there be light; and there was light." God hath said, "Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God;" and men are born of water and of the Spirit, and do cuter into the kingdom of God. Whatever virtues the sacraments possess come through the Word of God. And when, alas] men have forgotten their regeneration, when they have neglected to stir up the grace of God, and it has well-nigh died out of their souls, it is the Word of God that stirs them again into life. "This my son was dead, and is alive again." For the Word is not merely the letter; the Word liveth; the Word, in the deepest sense, is the voice of God speaking through those letters and syllables, speaking to the hearts of men. And it is by his Son that God bath in these last days spoken unto us. He is the Word of God, the Word made flesh. He calls us by his Spirit: "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." He is the Life of the world, the Resurrection and the Life; when he speaks the word of power, then dead souls "hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
3. Charity abideth. The seed whereof we are born again is incorruptible; and the Word of God, which is the instrument of our new birth, abideth for ever; therefore charity, the love of the brethren, which springs out of our common birth into the family of God, never faileth. It is the flower of the Christian life, bright and beautiful and fragrant, It fadeth not like the flowers of this world. "All flesh is grass," said the prophet, and the holy apostle repeats his words. "The grass withereth;" generations of men come and go; one after another, like the leaves of each successive year, they perish and decay. And if some men are conspicuous among the multitude, distinguished by rank, or riches, or learning, or great deeds and triumphs and successes, all these glories are no more abiding than the beauty of a flower. The rare flower, delicate or gorgeous, shines in its brightness above the common weeds; but it has no more permanence, no longer lease of life; it droops and fades and falleth away. So is it with that human life which seems most brilliant, most glorious. "The rich man also died, and was buried." The dust of Caesar is no better than the dust of Lazarus; both mingle with the earth from which they came. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," is said over the grave of kings and of beggars. "But the Word of the Lord abideth forever." That Word is the instrument of our new birth. Therefore, if only we abide in him who is the Word of God, who hath the words of eternal life, and by his apostles has declared them unto us; if we abide in him as faithful branches abiding in the vine, then we can never perish, none can pluck us out of his band; for "he is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him." And that Word is the gospel, the glad tidings which we have heard. Let us welcome it as good tidings of great joy, let us treasure it in our hearts; it will bring forth fruit the fair fruit of holy deeds, "the white flower of a blameless life," fruit that dieth not, a flower that falleth not away.
LESSONS.
1. The journey is lung, the way is steep; be active, sober, hopeful.
2. The end is before the throne; without holiness none can stand in that presence; follow after holiness.
3. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;" think of the judgment; think of the precious blood.
4. "God is Love;" "He that loveth not knoweth not God;" see that ye love one another.
5. "All the glory of man is as the flower;" it fadeth, it falleth away; holy love fadeth not; it is the fairest flower in the amaranthine wreath.
The Christian"s hope.
The grammatical structure of this verse marks out the principal command as being that to hope, while two subsidiary participial clauses give subordinate exhortations to girding up the loins of the mind, and to being sober, as accompaniments of and helps to this Christian hope. The true meaning of the injunction is given in the Revised Version, which substitutes "hope perfectly" for "hope to the end." Peter is not encouraging to persistence but to completeness in our hope. The characteristic which he would have all Christians cultivate refers, not to its duration, but to its degree. Such a perfect hope is the only one corresponding to the perfect object on which it is fixed the grace that will be ours when Christ shall come. The more clearly that object is discerned, the more vigorous wilt be the joyous anticipation which grasps it. But such strength of hope will not come of itself. It needs effort and discipline, self-stimulating and self-restraint.
I We have to consider THE PERFECT OBJECT OF CHRISTIAN HOPE. There are three striking ideas suggested by the remarkable language here.
1. We have a very unusual designation for that object, namely, grace." Usually the future blessings are called glory, and in common religious language, "grace and "glory" are contrasted, as belonging to earth and heaven. Here clearly "grace" means the whole sum of the blessings to be bestowed in another life, and is equivalent to the" salvation ready to be revealed" spoken of in an earlier verse. The unusual expression teaches us that the glories of our ultimate exaltation in all their splendor are purely gratuitous and the product of the undeserved love and liberality of our God. The whole Christian career from first to last owes all it enjoys, possesses, or hopes to "grace." The substantial identity of the Christian character here and there is also implied. Glory is but grace perfected; grace is incipient glory. The gift is one here and there, only the measure varies. What is a spark now, almost smothered sometimes under green wood, flames out ruddy and triumphant then.
2. That ultimate grace is on its way to us. It is "being brought," or, as Leighton puts it, "a-bringing." The same word is used to describe the onward-moving rush of the mighty wind of Pentecost. It is as if some strong angel-choir had already begun their flight with this great gift in their hands, and were hasting with all the power of their majestic pinions to this small island in the deep. The light from fixed stars may take centuries to reach us, but is speeding through space all the while. So that "great far-off Divine event" is coming steadily nearer, as if some star, at first a point in the distance, should take motion towards us and at last pour all its splendor on our eyes. A solemn but invigorating thought, fitted to brighten hope and kindle desire that "now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
3. This approaching grace is wrapped up in the revelation of Jesus Christ. We may render "at," as the Revised Version does, and yet give full force to the preposition in the original. The grace is included in the revelation of Jesus Christ, as a jewel in a case. The manifestation of Christ in his glory shall be the participation in that glory of all who love him. It overflows, as it were, into us, partly because the sight of him in his glory shall work transformation into his likeness, as a light falling on a mirror makes a brightness; but chiefly because he and we shall be so truly one in deep mystic union that all this is ours, and the glory which streams from him shall brighten us. All which he shows to a wondering world we shall share.
This is the perfect object of Christian hope. How different from paltry, perishable earthly hopes! Why let this great faculty trail along the ground, when it might climb to heaven by the trelliswork of God"s promises? Why limit it to days and years, when it might expand to lay hold on eternity? Let hearts and hopes mount to fix on Christ, and they shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
II THE PERFECT HOPE WHICH GRASPS THE PERFECT OBJECT. There is no doubt that "hope perfectly" is the injunction here. It is more needful to exhort to perfection in degree than to permanence in duration, which will follow naturally. Hope may exist in all degrees from a tremulous "perhaps" up to "I am sure." Usually it is less than certainty. "Hopes and fears that kindle hope" are "an inextinguishable hope. A leek of doubt slumbers in her fair eyes. How can that be firm which is built on a quagmire?" But it is possible for a Christian to have this perfect hope. God"s fixed and faithful Word gives us certainty of future. Nor need our own sin or, weakness dash our confidence, for his promises are made to the sinful and weak. We have rock on which to build. Why should our hope cast its anchor on some floating island which may drift and melt away, when it may be fastened within the veil? It is a duty to hope perfectly, because only such hope corresponds to facts. Not to hope is unbelief. Some good people say "I hope" in such tremulous melancholy tones that it sounds liker "I fear." Joyous confidence becomes those who have God to lean on. "I am persuaded," "we know," are the words with which Paul and John heralded their hopes; and we should be bold to use the same. It is blessedness to hope perfectly. So we escape the alternations which, like the hot and the shivering fits of ague, rack others, and the bitterness of disappointment when some gleaming vision collapses, and, instead of the rainbow-hued bubble, we are left with a drop of dirty water. He who lives by earthly hopes is in danger of dying by earthly disappointments, A fulfilled hope is often a disappointed one. We may have a pillar of fire to guide us in all the darkness, which will glow brighter as we draw near the end. It is strength to hope perfectly. Hope is often a trifler, robbing us of energy, making the present flat, and withdrawing us from working in order to dream. But Christian hope is an armed warrior, grave and calm, ready for conflict because assured of victory. It will be as wings to lift us above care and sorrows, and as cords to bind us to duty and toil.
III THE SELF-DISCIPLINE WHICH KEEPS THE PERFECT HOPE. It has two parts up the loins," and "being sober." These two are somewhat difficult to distinguish. But the former enjoins determined effort, the bracing up of all one"s powers, or, as we say, "pulling one"s self together." Travelers, servants, soldiers, have to tighten their belts and confine loose robes. A slackly braced mind has not force enough to cherish a perfect hope. There are many difficulties in its way, and vigorous effort is needed to concentrate the mind and heart on the truth which warrants it. All Christian virtue needs determined effort. Earthly hopes will not be vigorous unless the intrusive present is shut out by resolute effort, and the attention kept fixed on the future. How can a strong Christian hope be preserved on easier terms? Again, for the completeness of Christian hope, rigid self control and repression are needed. "Be sober" means "keep a tight hand on all desires and tastes, especially on animal passions and appetites." There is no possibility of clear vision of the future if the mists that steam up from these undrained marshes bide it, nor can the soul whose desires turn earthwards go out in keen expectation to the more ethereal joys above. If the plant is allowed to throw out side shoots, it will not run high. Our hopes are regulated by our desires. We have a limited amount to expend, and if we bestow it on things of time and sense, we shall have none to spare for the unseen. If we pour the precious ointment on the heads of earthly loves, there will be none with which to anoint our true Lover and King. A great possibility is set before us weary sons of men, whose hearts have been so often turn by disappointment that we know not whether it is sadder to hope or to despair. We may have the future made as certain as the past, and be made conquerors over sorrow and the dread of to-morrow and the apathy which does not look forward, by a calm hope which knows that it will be fulfilled. We need not build on peradventures, but on "Verily, verily, I say unto you." Do not build on saint when you may build on rock, even on "Christ, who is our Hope and you will not be confounded. A.M.
Practical Christianity.
The apostle has been speaking of the loftiest and most celestial themes of faith, love, and joy; of revelation and salvation: of prophets and angels; of Christ and of God himself. But he would not have his readers lost in thoughts so sublime; he recalls their attention to the plain and practical duties of this earthly life. He shows that every true Christian is called to be
I SOBER AS TO LIFE"S PLEASURES, As a reasonable man and a wise teacher, he does not take the attitude of the ascetic, He does not say, "Denounce pleasures! despise pleasures! abstain from and abjure pleasures I" but, "Be sober!" Not only in food and drink, but in the various enjoyments and pursuits of life, it behooves the follower of Jesus to practice moderation, self-restraint, and prudence, He should not lie down, stretching himself by the stream, and taking his fill of the waters of enjoyment; he should be satisfied to quaff the refreshing draught as from the hollow of his hand.
II DILIGENT AS TO LIFE"S DUTIES. Flowing garments are all very well for times of ease and festivity; but they must be girded when a journey is to be undertaken, when a work is to be performed, when a warfare is to be waged. If this precaution be not taken, the raiment may he trodden upon, soiled, and torn, and the wearer may stumble and be hindered. So the Christian is bidden to look upon his life as something serious and earnest, He must gird up the loins of his mind, and set about the business to which his Lord has called him. What his hand findeth to do, he is required to do with his might.
III HOPEFUL AS TO LIFE"S AIM. Peter has been called the apostle of hope, so great is the stress he lays upon this Christian virtue.
1. The object of hope is grace, i.e. a free gift of God. He who comes for streams of refreshment and blessing brings with him nothing but his thirst.
2. The occasion of the satisfaction and fulfillment of this hope. This is the expected and promised revelation of Jesus Christ.
3. The quality of this hope. The expression is a remarkable one, "Set your hope perfectly." The hope recommended is sure, enduring, joyful, purifying. And as the hope is well grounded, it may fairly be expected to possess this quality, and to exercise accordingly an elevating and purifying power. Such a hope lends cheerfulness to toil. Work without hope draws water in a sieve, And hope without an object cannot live." J.R.T.
Vers. 13-16.
Salvation by Christ issuing in holiness.
The modern demand for a religion which is practical is but an echo of the demand of Scripture. Right being and doing are the aim and proof, yea, the very substance, of Christianity. But Scripture adds that on which the moralists are silent how this right living can be acquired. Redemption first, then holiness. Holiness grows out of redemption as its natural result. To say we do not want the doctrines of grace, but rather a setting forth of God"s requirement of holy character, were as reasonable as to insist that the roots in the garden should be dug up, because we want, not roots, but fruit. Holy character is the outcome of a knowledge of free redemption through the Son of God. So much is involved in the word "wherefore" here. The paragraph has to do with practical life; it holds up the loftiest ideal: "As he who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy," etc., and this is set forth as the necessary sequence to the preceding.
I SPIRITUAL REDEMPTION IS HERE SPOKEN OF AS "THE GRACE THAT IS BEING BROUGHT TO US IN THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST." Revised Version margin, "Greek, Is being brought." "At" is the ordinary preposition signifying "in." We, therefore, take the expression as covering all that the apostle has spoken of from the third verse. The nature, certainty, sublimity of redemption; redemption beginning here, perfected in heaven; -that has been his theme, and he now sums it up in the beautiful and comprehensive phrase, "The grace that is being brought unto you in the revelation of Jesus Christ." Think of salvation under this title.
1. It is Gods free gift. "The grace." It is gratuitous. One of its marvelous features is that it is for "whosoever will." A salvation we had wrought for ourselves could not have rectified our relation to God; it would have freed us from condemnation, but not have opened to us the Father"s heart, nor constrained us to his service. There is a priceless power in God himself discharging our liabilities by the atonement of his own blood, and thus saving the unthankful and evil, the outcast and lost, for nothing.
2. It is possessed by us in an extraordinary degree. There is evident stress on the words," to you." The expression seems to look back to vers. 10-12. Divine truths were in their dawning in the Old Testament, but they are brought to light in the New. Compared with what has to be revealed, it is darkness; for that which is the expression of God"s boundless love, and the full reward of the atonement, will need enlarged capacities for its perception, and all eternity for its reception; but compared with what was revealed before New Testament times, it is brightness. Very touching is it, for instance, to think of Isaiah sitting down and pondering the prophecies he was given to utter, and vainly trying to understand their mysteries. "The Spirit was not yet;" but he has come now, and in his light we see light, Now we may "comprehend with all saints what," etc.; now "the eyes of our understanding being," etc.; now "eye hath not seen, nor ear but God hath," etc.; "Verily I say unto you, many prophets," etc.
3. It is continuous and increasing with the revelation of Jesus Christ. "That is being it is a prolonged, unceasing, ever-enlarging bestowment.
What we received when we first knew Christ as Savior was far surpassed by what came with glowing knowledge of him; and this, in turn, shall be immeasurably surpassed when we shall see him as he is. What is the joy on the face of the young disciple; what the calm of the saintly heart as it comes forth from the closet; what the growing likeness to the Savior in the good man"s character; what the holy peace of the aged believer; what the glory of the redeemed in heaven, but "the grace that is being brought to us in the revelation of Jesus Christ?
II THE POSSESSION OF THIS GRACE CLAIMS THAT WE CLEARLY APPREHEND ITS FULNESS. "Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for this grace;" equivalent to "God would have us see how great salvation is; if it is to work in us its proper work, we must have adequate views, and a firm, personal, intelligent grip of it.
1. There must be activity of thought concerning it. To gird up the loins is the preparation for activity. In Scripture we have the thoughts of God, but they are not revealed to the careless reader; they only yield to patient study under the illumination of the Divine Spirit. The absolutely needful truths of Scripture, like the corn on the surface of the earth, are easily gathered, but for the gold and gems we must dig. Some Christians know so little of God"s grace because they have no systematic, leisurely, deliberate, prayerful study of Scripture. "Search the Scriptures;" "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.
2. There must be freedom from what would dim our vision of it. "Be sober." Sobriety is self-restraint from what intoxicates. The intoxicated man has no clear perception of anything; he sees nothing as it is. There is an intoxication of soul which operates thus on spiritual perceptions. We may be intoxicated with business, worldly pleasure, pride of intellect, etc. To understand God"s grace, a restraining hand must be put on this.
3. There must be confident anticipation of it. "Hope perfectly Revised Version for," etc. Hope is beyond faith. Faith reveals somewhat, then hope anticipates it. Hope expects, ponders, yearns for. "Perfectly;" equivalent to "without any admixture of doubt." To make the blessings promised in Christ a subject of hope would make them grow before our vision, and intensify the consciousness that they are ours. It does not impress us to know that a vast multitude of stars fill the sky, but to go into the observatory and single out one star for observation, and fix our mind on that, ensures one new beauty after another gleaming out of the darkness, and where we thought was but a star, a galaxy is discerned.
III THE APPREHENSION OF THE FULNESS OF DIVINE GRACE WILL LEAD TO HOLINESS. Man says, "Be holy, then you will have hope; do your duty, then you will find rest." God says, "Salvation free through Christ first; then holiness as the result." Vers. 14-16 are the sequel to ver. 13. A table tells of a stream which made those that drank of it new beings; so to drink of the blessings which flow from Calvary is to find ourselves new creatures. None can know what redemption is, and that it is his, and fashion himself according to his former lusts in his ignorance; it rather creates a desire to be "holy in all manner of living.
1. It is so because of the filial love redemption evokes. Without redemption we have no sufficient motive to holiness; that comes with love to God in Christ.
2. And it is so because of the high purpose of God redemption reveals. As we apprehend what redemption is, we see it includes God"s purpose of likeness to him. Then this likeness can be reached, for what God wills can be. C.N.
Vers. 13-16.
The call to holiness.
Peter sums up as the conclusion from what he has just written as to prophets, apostles, angels, the very Spirit of Christ being deeply concerned in our soul-salvation, "Be holy." Holiness is salvation. Just as there is no salvation for a sick man but to give him health, so there is no salvation for a sinful man but to ensure him holiness. Holiness is the supreme purpose of religion. So now, in his own direct, glowing, practical manner the apostle voices the call of God" Be holy." And in doing this he sets forth
I THE ONE MODEL AND MOTIVE OF TRUE HOLINESS. Does he not, however, in passing, show what is not a standard of true holiness? For he guards his readers against shaping their character by their own past habits of life. He gently recalls the sad fact to them that they had led lives of vice and of ignorance. He warns them that such living is altogether bad; it was a life according to lusts, coarse and dark, of men, not laws of God. And he suggests to them by the very use of the word "fashioning," which denotes what is fleeting and on the surface (as when he says, "the fashion of this world," the scenery of it, passeth away"), that a life molded according to the vicious and ignorant lusts of men is transient, decaying, perishing. Do not so degrade and so destroy human nature. Then again, in passing, he shows what the manifestation of true holiness will be. The body of holiness is described by Moses in the Decalogue the breath of it is breathed by Jesus in the sermon on the mount. But where will this holiness, this breathing body of Christian holiness, show itself? Peter answers, "Holy in all manner of living." The word "conversation" means a "turning about," and the thought is, wherever that life turns in the revolutions of daily history it will be holy. Holy not in its moods, sentiments, religious rites alone; but in its "behavior." The holy man is a revolving light a light, not with six sides darkened and the seventh flashing some special luster, but wherever he turns translucent with the virtues of the indwelling Christ. Of such holiness the passage before us gives the one model and motive namely, God. God is the Model of true holiness. "He which called." God is the great "Caller." He cares to call, and is ever calling. And he is holy. And we are called to be holy like as he is holy. Moreover, God is the Motive of true holiness. Not only like as he is holy, but because he is holy, we are to be holy. We notice:
1. Because of Gods nature it is right that man should resemble him.
2. Because of mans nature it is possible for him to resemble God. And the fact that we are God"s offspring may indicate some hope of our having the capacity of resembling him. But the incarnation of the Son of God declares that man is like God; and that incarnate life of Jesus, where the life of God was lived in a human frame, its thoughts scintillating in a man"s brain, its emotions vibrating in a man"s heart, its character revealed in a man"s conduct, is the one great warrant for the appeal made from the nature of God to the duty of man. The almighty God says, "Be ye holy; for I am holy." All the forces of the universe, all the energies of God, are in battle against sin and in league with holiness. The all-wise God says, "Be ye holy; for I am holy." He who knows what man is and what man can be, and what are all the possibilities of woe or of blessedness throughout creation the heart-searching, man-knowing, hell-knowing, heaven-knowing God calls us to holiness. The all-loving God says, "Be ye holy; for I am holy." There is no true love without holiness, and he who is the Holy One, who is Love, yearns for us to be like him. Yes, it is written, "Be ye holy." Peter was quoting Leviticus or Exodus, or both, for there it was written. In that the music of the Old and New Testaments is in unison, and not merely in harmony. But it is written in the stones of Sinai, and in the fires of Sodom, and with the blood of Calvary. It is still echoing in messages of prophets and apostles and in the deathless words of Christ. It is written in all the laws of nature which give pain; and in the moral realm, where is violence of remorse; it is written as with pen of iron in man"s reason, and point of diamond on his conscience, "Ye shall be holy, as I am holy.
II SOME OF THE ESSENTIALS IN THE PURSUIT OF TRUE HOLINESS. We say" some," because it is not the habit of Peter to deal exhaustively, and we should not expect all to be set out; and because clearly all essentials are not here, though certainly those, such as the working of the Holy Spirit, are implied. But those that are distinctly enumerated are:
1. Vigorous intelligence. "Gird up the loins of your mind.
2. Firm self-control. "Be sober.
3. Thorough hope. "To the end;" reserved perfectly to the limit of hope.
(1) Thorough in itself. To the bound of hope; no anxious doubt, no fitfulness.
(2) In its object. The "grace." The gift of grace which is being brought to us at the revelation of Christ. Every unveiling of Christ brings grace; the last apocalypse perfects the gift.
4. Filial obedience. U.R.T.
Vers. 13-25.
The pilgrim-life.
I PREPAREDNESS.
1. Unity of the energies. "Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind." The apostle has been dwelling on the bright future before the people of God. We are pilgrims on our way to our inheritance. It becomes us therefore to gird up the loins of our mind. It belongs to the richness of our endowment that there are strong forces in our nature. But these are naturally in a state of dispersion. We are like travelers with loose flowing robes which form an impediment in walking. We need to gird up the loins of our mind to gather up our scattered energies, to unite them in a common bond for the accomplishment of a common end. For this there is needed a vigor of will which is by no means common. There is a Chinese proverb which says, "Most men have passions, strong men have wills." We are not to allow ourselves to be swayed by alternate passions, which counteract one another and involve loss of force. We need all the vigor we can command for sustaining us in the accomplishment of our arduous journey, in the execution of our difficult plan. It has been pointed out that even for success in an evil undertaking there is needed a harmonious character, or agreement of the powers. And men have sometimes failed in their evil schemes just because they have not been bad enough; there has been some better feeling of their nature drawing them back (Macbeth). For all success we must be able to say with Paul, "This one thing I do." It is to be observed that the language here comes with a special appropriateness from Peter, to whom were spoken the words of destiny, "When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
1. Sobriety. "Be sober." "Peter commands," says Calvin, "not merely moderation in eating and drinking, but spiritual sobriety rather, when we shut in all our senses, that they do not intoxicate themselves with the
2. unlawful things of this world." The sobriety here enjoined has a natural association with wakefulness, being a condition of wakefulness. Hence Paul says, "Let us watch and be sober." As thus associated with wakefulness, it naturally follows on girding up the loins. Hence the Master says, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning." We are not to allow the pleasures of the world to bring us into a state of unnatural excitement or of stupor; but we are so to sober ourselves with all sobering thought (such as the vanity of worldly pleasure, the shortness of time) as that with a clear head we can discern the way we are taking, and the end to which it leads.
3. Hope. "And set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Stress is laid in tiffs verse on the exercise of hope. There are various degrees in which it may exist. We are to aim at exercising it perfectly. One aspect of the perfectness is brought out in the old translation, Hope to the end." To be thus enduring it must be vigorous, conquering. The ground of hope on our part is grace on the part of God. Grace has already been brought unto us in our election (Ver. 1); it is to be signally brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. What we hope for from grace is our inheritance. When Christ is to be glorified then are we also to be enriched from grace. In order that our hope may be perfect or abundant, (Rom_15:13) we must not only realize the inheritance as well merited for us, but must form some distinct conception of its nature. This is what Paul teaches when he thus prays for his Ephesian converts, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." When gathering up our energies, and sobered against the blandishments of the world, we are also sustained by hope, we are prepared for the journey of life.
II FASHION.
1. Not after self. "As children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance." The apostle proceeds on our being children of obedience (Ver. 2). We are naturalized in obedience, so that we have it as our father. The dignity of our nature lies in this, that we are character-making. We have the power of fashioning ourselves, leaving our own mark on our nature a power not possessed by the lower creatures. We have not the power of adding any new principle
2. or eradicating any that there is; for we do not stand to our nature as creators; but we can lead to such a change in ourselves as amounts to a second nature. As children of obedience, we are not to fashion ourselves as we please. There is a negativing here of lusts, which are just self in some form or other. If, like many of those addressed in this Epistle (Gentile converts), lusts once had the fashioning of us, that belonged to our former life when we were in ignorance of Divine things. Now that we are enlightened, let them not have the fashioning of us any more. Let there not be the slightest impress on us from sensuality; from avarice, from falseness, from pride, from worldliness, from ambition, from injustice, from hatred.
3. After God. "But like as he which called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living; because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy." We are to have the Divine impress on us. We are to fashion ourselves according to the character of him who called us to be his people. This held under the old covenant. The command laid repeatedly on the people of God then was, "Ye shall be holy; for I am holy." As belonging to God and enjoying many tokens of the Divine favor, it was their duty to take the fashion of their life, not from the heathen around them and their pollutions, but from God and his absolute holiness. We have come into their privileges, and also their obligations. As called by God to a rich inheritance in the future, there is for us a shall be, a must be holy in the holiness of God. We are bound to approve what he approves, to condemn what he condemns. This obligation extends to every part of our life. We are to be holy in all manner of living. Whatever holy form there is (purity, generosity, sincerity, humility, spirituality, earnestness, honorableness, gentleness), we are to impress it on all we think, and feel, and say, and do.
III FEAR ACCOMPANYING THE PILGRIM-STATE.
1. Fear of judgment. "And if ye call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to each man"s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear." The fear enjoined here is not the feeling of reverence which we are forever to cherish toward God as infinitely exalted above us. It is the fear connected with our state of sojourning our being away for a time from the Father"s house, the fear of sin endangering the happiness, if not the certainty, of our home-going. "It is not fear alone, or fear supreme, or fear thwarting or limiting love and hope and joy that the Word of God enjoins, but fear surrounded, intertwined, and subservient. Fear must be like the sentinel always awake, always on the alert, always faithful, but always aware that he is neither general nor leader of any kind. Although
2. fear in itself and by itself cannot produce truly good or spiritually right action, it yet performs a vital function in keeping the soul awake. Fear rings the alarm-bell and rouses the conscience. It blows the trumpet of warning. Where the sense of right is growing numb the smart blows of fear bring it back to consciousness again. It creates pause and opportunity for all better and nobler things to make themselves heard. To be regardless of dangers is to cut the sinews of effort" (Leckie). Fear is represented as springing out of our view of God as judging. His essential relation to each man (believer or not believer) is that of Judge. He judges without respect of persons, i.e. not by appearances, but by the actual realities of the case. He judges according to each man"s work, i.e. all in which character is displayed. His judgment is ever going forward along with our work; it is to culminate in a pronounced judgment on our work as completed. It is fitted to inspire us with fear, that the Divine judgment accompanies every deed. It is fitted by itself to overwhelm us with fear, that the Divine judgment is to be pronounced on our deeds as a whole. But then as believers we call on (in our prayers acknowledge) this Judge as our Father. That does not make his judgment free from fear. "The judgment of a King does not feel half so searching and painful as that of a Father. It is dreadful to feel that even love, that even a Father"s love, condemns me. But still Father is Father, and the heart that clings to the word will find enough in that to keep the fear from paralyzing or even depressing" (Leckie). Let us, then, pass the time of our sojourning in the fear of judgment. Let us not lull ourselves into a feeling of security. Let us realize that there are perils by the way, and that we must never for a moment relax our efforts until we actually possess the inheritance.
3. Fear of redemption. Two points in analogy founded on. "Knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold." The first point in the analogy is suggested in words which follow ("vain manner of life"). The life of a captive is a vain manner of life, i.e. empty of the activities and therefore the pleasures which belong to a life of freedom. The second point in the analogy is brought out. The usual way of redeeming a captive is by silver or gold being paid for him. The captive who has thus been redeemed has reason to fear first when he thinks of the life he has escaped, dud also when he thinks of the cost of his redemption.
(1) The fear of the life escaped. "From your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers." The life of sin is a vain manner of life, i.e. empty of the holy activities and pleasures which are the contents of a true life. The life of sin is here viewed as inherited. When, as in heathenism, wrong ideas and customs are handed down from generation to generation, deliverance presents appalling difficulty. The redeemed to whom Peter wrote had reason to fear, when they saw in the heathen around them what they once had been. When the man rescued sees the bridge or ledge on which he lately stood toppling into the abyss, his first feeling is that of fear. So have we not reason to fear when we think of the life of sin in which we were once involved, or when we see in the sinful lives of men around us what we might have been?
(2) The fear of the manner in which redemption has been effected. The cost of redemption. "But with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ." We were redeemed not with corruptible things, but with precious blood (which therefore is to be ranked with incorruptible things and marks incorruptibility as a chief element of the preciousness). "Precious blood" is a description of the blood of Christ, i.e. of him who was the Anointed of God for his redeeming work. He is here represented as offering himself a sacrifice in the way of redeeming. The main point in which his sacrifice differed from all previous sacrifices was that it was no mere prefigurement, but was the real transaction with God on behalf of man. It was no unconscious victim, but conscious, free, morally characterized life in the nature identified with the sin. There is also the representation of the innocent being offered for the guilty and vile. There are two words used to express innocence. Bengel is probably right in the distinction has not blemish in itself, nor has contracted spot from without. As applied to Christ as a sacrifice, the meaning is, that he had no pollution in himself, neither did he take pollution from without. In his sacrifice we see the required physical immaculateness of the animal sacrificed rising into moral immaculateness. "That he who sought to give himself as a sacrifice to free the world from sin should have been conscious of being himself a sinner, or felt himself to be in any one respect unclean before God, would have been not merely a contradiction, it would have been a gross impiety" (Ullmann). The two epithets used are negatives; but we must for a full conception think of there being on the positive side absolute excellence. He yielded complete obedience to the Law of God under which he was placed, and, in the result, carried our nature forward into a state of perfection. It was only by his offering life on which God could look with the highest satisfaction that our redemption could be effected. Have we not, then, reason to fear when we think of the precious blood, the incorruptible reality, that has obtained redemption for us? "You have felt, when some blessing came to you, a sort of pain at the thought of your own unworthiness. The kindness of God has made you ashamed. It did not make you glad, as you expected. It rather made you sad and afraid lest you should prove unworthy of it all. So it is with redemption. It shows so grandly and tenderly the love of God; it shows so powerfully God"s desire to have you, his determination to win you by love, his resolution that no barriers shall be allowed to stand between you and him. It shows a God so intensely in earnest, both for happiness and holiness, that you feel afraid. He is so much in earnest, and I so careless; he so intent on my salvation, and I so dull and indifferent. He so anxious for me, he the Infinite One so intent on having me, and I, poor worm, so cold about him who is in himself all wealth and glory and blessedness. Such love, such intensity, such sacrifice for me. I am ashamed and I fear I fear lest I should not respond to all this. What a devotedness and thoroughness, what a living existence it would take to be at all in harmony with such love! And I shall I be able to come even near to such a course?" (Leckie). The sphere of its operation. Redeemer provided from eternity. "Who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world." There is similar language in Rev_13:8, "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." The purpose was formed, and the fact taken into account from eternity, that the Second Person of the Godhead was to be sent forth as Redeemer. And therefore, when the world was founded, it was not without respect to redemption. God planned and acted beforehand, as though redemption had taken place throwing a splendor over material creation, giving a day of grace tomen, sending forth redeeming power upon men"s souls and, in some instances, upon men"s bodies. In redemption reaching in its operation through preceding times far back into the eternal counsels of God, is there not reason for fear the fear that we do not sufficiently endeavor to appreciate what has entered so long and so deeply into the thought of God? Manifested in time. "But was manifested at the end of the times." The Redeemer was provided from eternity; he was also the subject of prophecy from a very early time (Gen_3:15) he was manifested, we are told here, "at the end of the times." Time, according to the idea, is divided into various times. At the beginning of the last of the times Christ was manifested. It was then made clear what the thought of God was. The Incarnation burst forth (not to the carnal eye) in all its wonderfulness. And when we think of the "strong Son of God, immortal Love," dwelling in our nature and in it redeeming, have we not reason to fear to fear lest by our sin we dishonor the nature upon which so much love and honor have been bestowed? Persons benefiting by the manifestation. "For your sake, who through him are believers in God, which raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God." Peter"s readers were many of them benefited to a very great extent in relation to the time of the manifestation. From being idolaters, by one bound they had got into the position of Christian believers. We are also greatly benefited, as having our lifetime on earth connected with the last of the times. Now that Christ has been manifested, we have presented to us what in its essential elements is the highest conception of God. This conception embraces not only God providing the precious blood of Christ for redemption, but, beyond that, showing Christ triumphant in raising him from the dead and giving him glory. Thereby God compels, not only our faith, but our hope our faith in the proof that is given of the redeeming virtue of the blood, and our hope in the pledge that is given of our full redemption, which is a being raised and glorified with our Head. When we think of our having been brought into a position in which our prospects are so great, have we not reason for fear fear lest we should prove unworthy of what redeeming love has in store for us?
IV RULE BETWEEN FELLOW-PILGRIMS.
1. Prerequisite to brotherly love. "Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren." What we are to aim at is love of the brethren, i.e. Christian brethren; and, since love is so often and so easily feigned, we are to see to it that it is love not in appearance, but in reality. (1Jn_3:18) With a view to this, we are to purify our souls, i.e. ourselves in our individual life. We cannot do this from ourselves; it is only the truth that has the power to sanctify. (Joh_17:17) The way in which we are to bring ourselves within the sanctifying influence of the truth is by our living in the element of obedience to the truth, i.e. believing what the truth proclaims, and realizing what the truth requires. We are to think especially of the truth of the gospel. When we grasp what God is in redemption, and allow ourselves to be swayed by the love of redemption, we are prepared for loving the brethren.
2. Statement of the duty of brotherly love. "Love one another from the heart fervently." Cremer remarks on the expression, "loving from the heart," that it denotes "the love of conscious resolve." It is love which is here viewed as depending on ourselves. We are to see to it that it comes from the depths of our being. "Fervently," which should be translated "intently," points to the energetic way in which we are to give our heart"s affections free play. We are to allow nothing to come between them and their object. We are to allow nothing to stop them in the steadiness of their course. We must not think that we only require to be passive to love; to love rightly, our energies, as we are here taught, must be on the stretch.
3. Ground of brotherly love in regeneration.
(1) Connection of the Word with regeneration. "Having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the Word of God, which liveth and abideth." As regenerated, we are capable of attending to the duty of loving one another. Stress is laid on the way in which we have been regenerated. We have been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. By the seed we are to understand the Word which, lodged in the soul ("implanted Word,", Jam_1:21) is the beginning of a new and incorruptible life. This Word is also viewed as the outward means by which regeneration is effected. And, as the seed which is the beginning of the new life is said to be incorruptible, so the Word of the Lord by which the new life is effected is said to live and abide, Though its earthly form is not to remain, it has a living, active power in it which can never fail. The bearing of this is that, being alike in having been born into the new abiding life, we are plainly intended for loving one another. As on the way to the same inheritance, we are to keep up good brotherhood.
(2) Confirmation of the abiding power of the Word. "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth: but the Word of the Lord abideth forever." That with which grass is compared is all flesh, i.e. man on the earthly side of his life. That with which the flower of grass is compared is all the glory of flesh beauty of form, strength of muscle, greatness of intellect, riches, honors. The image sets forth the transitoriness of human life and glory. Grass has only a certain amount of vitality, and, when a certain stage is reached, it withers; it is not otherwise with the flower it falleth. The language is graphic the grass we looked upon withered and the flower fell. So the life of man on its earthly side has only a certain amount of endurance, which is soon exhausted, and its greatness soon comes to its decadence. It is otherwise with the Word of the Lord it abideth forever. The language in this verse, which is from Isa_40:6-8, is not formally introduced as a quotation, and is quoted freely. It gives us an exalted conception of the Word as that by which we are introduced into a life that is never to end.
(3) Means of recognizing the Word. "And this is the Word of good tidings which was preached unto you." The Word, in this as in the preceding verse, is appropriately the spoken Word. It is thought of as the Word of glad contents. It is the Word which had been preached to Peter"s readers by Paul and others, so that they could have no difficulty in understanding what was meant by it. "This, therefore, also instructs us where we must seek for the Word of God, viz. in the authentic originals of the apostolic preaching" (Stager). R.F.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv13, 17 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind.
1Pe_1:13-16
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind.
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Tighten the belt
Wherefore, for this reason, that your salvation was so great an object of interest to prophets and to angels, it becomes you to maintain your faith, your courage, and expectation to the end. Wherefore, girding up the loins of your mind. The allusion is to the long loose garments worn by the Asiatics.
I. The meaning then, is, be thoroughly courageous, genuine, sincere. Make your life compact by the girdle of truth. Avoid loose, unsubstantial convictions regarding spiritual and eternal things, Remember, however little the word of revealed truth is to you, it is Gods greatest and best thought: that it is the divine record concerning yourself and His dear Son ought to make it of infinite importance to you. Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind. Tighten the belt. You can do better work, run a better race, or be better ready for fight. Then shall you be fitted for the best service the King demands. Settled convictions of divine truth are of great value; they give stability, contentment, and influence. The girdle compact, and everything is made available for comfort and usefulness, you are stable and helpful when others are weak and vacillating.
II. This, also, will induce sobriety, gravity, thoughtfulness. And, impressed with the magnitude and sustained by the certainty of divine truth, you will set your hope perfectly on the grace, or favour, that is to be brought unto you when Jesus shall come again, to give eternal honour to His people. Stop, then; think, tighten your belt. Many are not ready for the sudden revelation of Jesus Christ. Are you? O, the supreme importance of being ready now, and each moment!
III. Tell us how we shall do this girding. Peter wrote these words in the shadow of the greatest truths: the Cross, and the possibility of your salvation. Think often of the Cross and its mystery of grace; it will fill your life with the mightiest motives. Think of the end of your faith, the salvation of your soul. Think; you are in possession of Gods revelation, His best thought, the sunlight of your present joy and your future hope. Think; you are in fellow ship with Jesus Christ. Do it by much prayer. (J. Parker.)
A seasonable exhortation
1. How full of their Lord were the minds of these holy writers!
2. How ardently these men expected the coming of the Lord!
3. It is equally noticeable that while apostolic men looked for the coming of Christ, they looked for it with no idea of dread, but, on the contrary, with the utmost joy.
4. Observe also, how constantly they were urging this as a motive! Peter never holds it out as a mere matter of speculation, nor exclusively as a ground of comfort; but as the grand motive for action, for holiness, for watchfulness. The teaching necessary for today is this: Gird up the loins of your mind, brace yourselves up; be firm, compact, consistent, determined. Do not be like quicksilver, which keeps on dissolving and running into fractions; do not fritter away life upon trifles, but live to purpose, with undivided heart, and decided resolution. These are equally days in which it is necessary to say be sober. We are always having some new fad or another brought out to infatuate the unstable. Be sober, and judge for yourselves. Nor is the third exhortation unnecessary: Hope to the end. Be so hopeful as to be calm mid the bewildering cry, confident of victory.
I. An argument. Wherefore. True religion is not unreasonable; it is common sense set to heavenly music. The apostle begins by saying, Elect according to foreknowledge, etc. Shall the elect of God be timorous? Shall those who are chosen of the Most High give way to despair? God forbid! There is an argument, then, in the first and second verses, forcibly supporting the precepts of the text. It well behoves the elect of God to choose His service resolutely, to abide in it steadfastly, and hope for its reward with supreme confidence. But next, Peter declares that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. O ye begotten of God, see that ye live as such! You are twice-born men; live not the low life of the merely natural man. You are descended from the King of kings; degrade not your descent! Your election and your regeneration call you to holy living. Further, the apostle goes on to say that you are heirs of an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. Courage, then, if this be your destiny: do not be cast down by the aboundings of sin, nor even by your own personal temptations. Then he goes on to say that you are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. If the power of God keeps me, shall I be hopeless? Shall I speak like one that has no hereafter to rejoice in? Further, the apostle goes on to say that we may be passing through needful trial, but it is only for a little while. Come, then, if this fire is to be passed through, let us gird up our loins to dash through it. Let us hope to be sustained, and sanctified as the result, and let no unbelieving fear cast a cloud over our sky. Is not this good argument? Nor is this all. He tells us that even while we are in trial we are still full of joy. Once more: the apostle goes on to say that the gospel which we believe, and for which we are ready to suffer, is a gospel that comes to us with the sanction of the prophets. It seems to me that with such men as Moses and David, Isaiah and Jeremiah, to support our faith, we need not be ashamed of our company, nor tremble at the criticisms of the moderns.
II. The exhortation.
1. Gird up the loins of your mind.
(1) That certainly teaches us earnestness. We brace ourselves for a supreme effort; and the Christian life is always such.
(2) Does it not also mean preparedness? A true believer should be ready for suffering or service-ready, indeed, for anything.
(3) It means determination and hearty resolution. By conflict throughout a whole life we come to our rest; and there is no other way. You cannot go round to a back door, and enter into heaven by stealth. You must fight if you would reign. Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind.
(4) Once more, the figure teaches us that our life must be concentrated. Gird up the loins of your mind. We have no strength to spare; we cannot afford to let part of our force leak away. We need to bring all our faculties to bear on one point, and exert them all to one end.
2. Be sober.
(1) This means moderation in all things. Do not be so excited with joy as to become childish. Do not grow intoxicated with worldly gain or honour. On the other hand, do not be too much depressed with passing troubles.
(2) Keep the middle way; hold to the golden mean. Make sure of your footing when you stand; make doubly sure of it before you shift.
(3) Be clear headed. Ask that the grace of God may so rule in your heart that you may be peaceful, and not troubled with idle fear on one side or with foolish hope on the other. Be sober, says the apostle. You know the word translated be sober sometimes means be watchful; and indeed there is a great kinship between the two things. Live with your eyes open; do not go about the world half asleep.
3. Hope to the end. Be strong in holy confidence in Gods Word, and be sure that His cause will live and prosper. Hope to the end; go right through with it; if the worst comes to the worst, hope still. Hope as much as ever a man can hope; for when your hope is in God you cannot hope too much. But let your hope be all in grace. Do not hope in yourself or in your works; but hope in the grace; for so the text may be read. Hope, moreover, in the grace which you have not yet received, in the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Bless God for the grace that you have not yet obtained, for He has it in store for you; yea, He hath put it on the road, and it is coming to you.
III. Expectation. What you have got to hope for is more grace. God will never deal with you upon the ground of merit; He has begun with you in grace, and He will go on with you in grace, therefore hope to the end for the grace. The grace you are to hope for is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. He has been revealed once, at His first advent; hence the grace you have. He is to be revealed very soon in His second advent; hence the grace that is a-coming to you. My ship is coming home, says the child. So is mine: Jesus is coming, and that means all things to me. But what can this grace be that will be received at His coming? Justification? No, we have that already by His resurrection. Sanctification? No; we have that already, by being made partakers of His life. What is the grace that is to be revealed at His coming? Just look at the chapter, anal you will read in the fifth verse, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
1. Perfect salvation is one part of the grace which is to be brought in the last time when Christ comes. When He comes there will be perfection for our souls and salvation for our bodies.
2. The second grace that Christ will bring with Him when He comes is the perfect vindication of our faith: 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. Today they sneer at our faith, but they will not do so when Jesus comes; today we ourselves tremble for the ark of the Lord, but we shall not do so when He comes. Then shall all men say that believers were wise, prudent, philosophical. Those who believe in Jesus may be called fools today, but men will think otherwise when they see them shine forth as the sun in the Fathers kingdom. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christian morality
The great privileges we enjoy are here urged upon us as a reason why we should live like regenerate persons.
I. The essentials of Christian character. They are-diligence, sobriety, and hope.
1. Diligence. This virtue is here exemplified by a very striking figure. Christians are not to be like pompous peacocks, mere objects of beauty, strutting about over the green fields of earth. They are not to be languid and effeminate dreamers. They are to engage in the activities of manhood, and for this purpose must brace themselves with vigour. There is much to be accomplished. There is much to be learnt. There is much to be obtained. There is much to be endured. But the apostle is particular to remind us of the spiritual nature of this work - Gird up the loins of your mind. The Christian life is not an outward thing. The mind is the battlefield. Here the battles are lost or won. How much does the mind require bracing up! It soon sinks into indifference and sluggishness, especially under trials or difficulties. A healthy soul results from moral discipline. We are to brace up our thoughts by wholesome restraint, our desires by a strong curb, our sentiments by calm deliberation. This requires patient and persevering diligence.
2. Sobriety. Be sober. This does not refer to what we call temperance. It is that calm, quiet dignity which so well befits a Christian man, and which raises him above the flighty, giddy, thoughtless throng of worldly people. There is something noble in his character.
3. Patient hope. Here is a rebuke to the restless uneasiness at the trials of life which was the cause of writing this Epistle.
II. The great Christian motive. The grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And is it not worth hoping for?
1. Consider its greatness. It is not an earthly blessing-temporary, passing, and mingled with what is evil, sinful, and transitory. It is-
(1) An eternal state. All our chief sorrows here are caused by change.
(2) A perfect state. Life will be perfect; here most men only half live. Health will be perfect. Taste will be perfect. Employment will be perfect. And all the surroundings of this state will be perfect also.
2. Consider its fulness. There is no stint in the eternal life which is provided. The vastness of heaven is one of the mysteries we have to contemplate, but at present cannot understand.
III. The great end of Christian development-holiness. All discipline has one object to carry out.
1. Under the aspect of dutiful children. As obedient children, etc. Here is a grand motive-the motive of love.
2. Under the aspect of similitude. We desire to be like those whom we love. Holiness, then, makes us like God. Without it we cannot be conformed to Him. Without it we cannot associate with Him.
3. Under the aspect of universality. In all manner of conversation, i.e., in all your behaviour. Holiness is to pervade all things. (J. J. S. Bird.)
The right influence of a Christian creed
I. Mental activity. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind. First: That man has a mind. He has a thinking, conscious, undying spirit. This fact is attested both by philosophy and the Bible. Secondly: That this mind has a great work. There are some minds that are very inactive. Other minds are active, but it is the activity of children playing with toys. What is the real work of the mind? Rightly to culture self, to bless society, and to honour God. The figure implies-Thirdly: That the present condition of the mind is unfavourable to this work. What are those entangling robes? Wrong thoughts, earthly sympathies, carnal tendencies, moral indifferences, etc. Gird up the loins, etc.
II. Moral sobriety. Be sober. It may include three things. First: Moral judiciousness. Judiciousness in our opinions, our affections, our expectations, and speech. Souls are often intoxicated with wild and extravagant sentiments. Second: Moral steadfastness. The soul should not reel to and fro like a drunken man; it should be steadfast. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free. Thirdly: Moral seriousness. Christian seriousness stands in sublime contrast both to gloom on the one hand and to levity on the other.
III. Permanent hope. Hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. This language implies three things. First: That the perfection of our being is to be looked for in the future. Secondly: That our future perfection is to be obtained in connection with grace. Hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you. Thirdly: That the grace that is to ensure our perfection will be fully manifested at the appearance of ,Jesus Christ. The grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Wise counsel
I. The preparation. Gird up, etc.
1. Righteousness.
2. Faithfulness.
3. Truth.
II. The consideration. Be sober. There is such a thing, of course, as being drunk mentally or spiritually. A drunken man is very foolish, yet conceited; and he is quarrelsome, and hazardous, and he would lie down and go to sleep anywhere.
III. The decision. Hope to the end. Your hope is to be in the perfect work of Christ. Be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.
IV. The prospect. For the grace, etc. (James Wells.)
The place of mind in religion
One thing is presupposed-St. Peter counted it self-evident-the mind has place in the things of God. Orthodoxy has too often warned off reason from the things of God. It has made it sacrilege to touch the Bible. What St. Peter rebukes is the slovenly, the untidy, the dissolute mind. He does not fear the practised, the disciplined, the intense intellect. The mind of which he wrote was the rock-hewn element of thinking, equally available, for its highest processes and purposes, in palace and cottage, in philosopher and peasant. It needs not education in mans sense, classical or scientific, to gird its loins for the enterprise St. Peter has in view. That enterprise is the knowledge of a Father, in a Saviour, and in a Spirit. The enterprise is a personal knowledge, the girding up of the loins for it is a personal exertion. Shall we try to sketch one or two of the particulars of that girding?
1. Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty. In reference to all knowledge, what is the chief hindrance? Is it not vanity? Is it not the saying, We see? Gird up the loins of your mind by a deep humility. Thou art near, they tell, me, O Lord: but I am so far off-so ignorant, so stupid, so sin bound-O quicken me.
2. But next to it I would place its sister grace-which is patience. Patience; perhaps above all, for the reconciliation of apparently contradictory principles, and the harmonising of certain parts of Revelation with the character of God Himself the Revealer. Be willing to wait. Not indolently, not in indifference, but in a submissive waiting.
3. Hope. Hope to the end, St. Peter says-Hope perfectly are his very words-meaning doubtless, perseveringly and amidst all obstacles. And St. Peter makes hope very definite when he adds, for the grace that is being brought to us. It cannot be that this scene of confusion should be forever. As God is true, as God is holy, as God is merciful, it shall not. We see not as yet how it shall be. But, where explanation fails, where reason fails, where revelation itself fails, hope fails not. (Dean Vaughan.)
Be sober.
Sobriety
Sobriety is a virtue that keeps us not only from things unlawful, but moderates us in the use of things lawful, that we exceed not our bounds therein. These may be referred to two heads, pleasures and profits, which we are most subject to abuse.
I. For the former, which is pleasure, thereto may be referred meat, drink, apparel, recreation, etc. All which we must use soberly to the glory of the Giver, our own good, and the good also of others.
1. For our meat and drink, we must neither be excessive nor over-curious, as Dives who fared deliciously every day, making his belly his god. We must eat to live, and thereby be more fit for duty.
2. For our apparel, we must not exceed for the matter of it, nor for the fashion. God hath given it for necessity, comeliness, and decency.
3. For recreation, it must be sparing in time, place, measure, to make us more fit for our duty; for God hath not set us here to pamper the flesh, but to mortify the lusts thereof: not to play, but to do His work.
II. For the latter, namely, profits, we must also be sober, both in getting and keeping them. We must not only use no unlawful means to get the world, but use the lawful means moderately, not filling ourselves with too many businesses, and following the same too eagerly, lest we neglect good duties, or be hindered from doing them as we should. (John Rogers.)
Hope to the end.-
The duty and discipline of Christian hope
Girding up the loins of your mind, being sober, hope is the accurate reproduction of the form of the original. Hope is the principal exhortation, arid it is to be fulfilled by bracing up the mind and by sobriety. The Revised Version, which has partially shown this construction in its rendering, has given the more accurate perfectly, instead of to the end. It is a question, first, of the quality, and only after that of the duration of the hope. If our hope be perfect it will take care of itself in another respect, and be permanent.
I. The object on which this Christian hopefulness is to fasten, like a limpet on a rock. The grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Here grace means the sum of the felicities of a future life. That is clear from two considerations-that this grace is the object of our hope all through life, which only an object beyond the grave can be, and also that its advent is contemporaneous with the revelation of Jesus Christ. The expression, though unusual, is valuable because it brings out two things. It reminds us that whatever of blessedness we may possess in the future it is all a gratuitous, unmerited gift of that loving God to whom we owe everything. And then there is another thought suggested by this word, namely, the substantial identity of the Christian life here and hereafter. Grace is glory in the bud, glory is grace in the flower; and all which we hope for in the future is but the evolving of that which is planted in our hearts today, if we love Him, though it may have to fight with much antagonism to itself both without us and within. The inheritance is a hope, but the earnest of the inheritance, which is of the same stuff as the inheritance, is a present possession. Further, this grace is on its way to us. It is being brought, as the margin of the Revised Version has it; or a-bringing, as Leighton translates it. It is on its road as if some band of strong-winged angels had already left the throne, and, like them who bore the Holy Grail, were steadily flying nearer and nearer to us. With all the power of strong winds and waves lifting it on, it is bearing down upon us as a ship at sea. By all the passions and convulsions of earth the day of the Lord is hastened on its course. Further, this grace, which is on its way to us, is wrapped up in the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is brought to us encased in that revelation, like a fair jewel in a golden setting. When He who is our life shall be manifested, says another apostle, then shall we also be manifested with Him in glory. As in an old picture you will sometimes see a saint represented as standing near the Master with a glory encompassing him, that rays from the Christ, so our glory in the future is all to be hut the effluence and the reflection of His glory. Why should we let our hopes go trailing along the ground, like some poor creeping plant that the gardener has forgotten to put a stick to, when they might lift themselves to the heavens? Why should you ever feed your hopes upon the bread that perishes, and sometimes upon husks, when you may feed them on angels food? Why should you confine your hope within the limits of this world when it might expand to the width of that great eternity that lies there before you through which you may let your hope wander at will? Set your hope there, and then it will never be ashamed or confounded.
II. The perfect hope which grasps the perfect object. Hope perfectly would be the true rendering, it being a question not at all of duration but of quality. There are all degrees of hope from the most doubtful peradventure up to almost certainty. But there is always a kind of doubt and dread mingling with hope. A certain wistful look as of one who knows not what may be drawing on is ever in Hopes blue eyes; and hopes, and fears that kindle hope are an indistinguishable throng. That is necessarily so, because here our hopes are fixed on contingent, external things, and are mostly born of our wishes rather than of reasonable probabilities. Therefore, this exhortation here, in effect, bids us lift our hopes higher, and set them on God that they may be sure. Are we letting our hearts lead our hopes astray after the will-o-the-wisps of earth, instead of ordering their march by the pole star of Gods faithful promise? Does our hope leap up to lay hold on that cord let down from heaven, and by it to climb above the level of mutation and disappointment?
III. The self-discipline by which the perfect hope is maintained. Girding up the loins of the mind and being sober are the two great means to that end. The first of them enjoins concentration of mind and will, a determined effort to realise the future and persistently to hope in the teeth of all discouragement. Travellers, servants, soldiers have to brace up their robes and buckle them tight with their girdles. So we have to gather up our thoughts and cultivate the habit of fixed attention to unseen things. The loosely braced mind will be unable to cherish a lively hope; a man with his robes flapping about his feet cannot run. They hinder his stride, catch in the briars, get trodden on by rivals. There are many difficulties in the way of our Christian hope. It is hard to keep its light burning through the darkness of the night and the howling of the storm. Why, a man cannot have earthly hopes bright unless he concentrates his thoughts upon them. And how can our hope of heaven be clear, triumphant, unless we coerce our vagrant imaginations and loose flowing affections and by a dead lift and effort set our hopes in God? Wherefore, brace up the loins of your minds and hope. Be sober. Rigid self-control and repression are needed for such a hope. The clear eye of hope cannot see the land that is very far off through the fogs that rise from the undrained marshes of our animal nature. In this sense, too, the flesh lusts against the spirit. But not only must bodily appetites be held well in hand, all desires that go out towards the present must be subdued. Hope follows desire. The vigour of our hopes is affected by the warmth of our desires. The warmth of our desires towards the future depends largely on the turning away of our desires from the present. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Hope
As we read this Epistle and drink in its spirit we become aware of something that lifts and enkindles; it is as if we were inhaling sea air, were basking in the glow of a genial warmth. The Peter of the Gospels was of an eager, sanguine disposition, and his hopefulness, while it was yet unchastened, repeatedly outran his real strength. The Pentecostal fire descends upon him, and he continues to be the same man, with the same basis and structure of character; but there has passed over him a refining and invigorating touch. He has become more truly a Peter; he has drawn strength from the Rock of Ages. He is the apostle of hope. To speak of hope at all is to speak of what we instinctively recognise as a condition of fruitful effort, of anything like success or satisfaction, even in the affairs of ordinary life. To take hope from a man is to paralyse him morally; if he lives on in so dreary a condition we think of him as surviving himself. The teaching of Scripture may help us to distinguish and appreciate three characteristics of that hope which apostles would recognise as true.
1. First, then, Christian hope, as St. Peter tells us, is seated in God; it is, as it has been called, one of the triad of virtues specially theological; it takes its stand on Divine revelation, it looks on to the attainment of Divine promises. It draws its life-blood from no mere surmise as to what is possible for humanity, in the race at large or in the individual, but from the manifestation of Divine truth and goodness in the Incarnate, whom St. Paul calls our hope (1Ti_1:1), because our hope is grounded on Him and centred in Him. St. Paul, indeed, cannot think of hope without thinking of Christ; it is characteristic of him that the object of his earnest expectation and hope should be the glorification of Christ in his body, whether by life or by death. So he elsewhere speaks of Christians as having been called in one hope which grows out of their calling, which derives all its force and charm from the act of grace that brought them into that sacred and supernatural fellowship. Christian hope, being rooted in faith, is, like faith, vivid, positive, and definite; it is, as St. Peter calls it, living, because it is a fruit of the resurrection life of Jesus; it gazes with calm, trustful eyes, onward and still onward, into a future literally boundless, as illuminated by the person and the work of the one everlasting Redeemer; it is a hope of eternal life, as based on Him.
2. A hope which is thus essentially religious, thus Christian from the root upwards, and impossible except on the terms of Christian belief, is strong enough to face all facts, even such as are unwelcome or austere. Certainly there will be temptations to unhopefulness; there must be the discipline of hopes deferred, of success marred, of apparent defeats and disappointments, of much that might tempt impatience to despair. A hope thus trained, while resting on august realities, is strong because it is not fanciful; it has realised the conditions of Christian life as an uphill march; it can afford to take full account of the gravest requirements of His service, who bids no one follow save where He Himself has trod; it does not dream of being exempt from anxieties, but it casts the whole weight of them on the strong hand of that good Father who has proved so well how much He careth for us.
3. True hope is a great instrument of moral and spiritual discipline. When St. Peter is about to say, make your hope perfect, he prefaces it with a call to sustained effort; we are to gird up the loins of our mind. It is remarkable also that St. Paul does not merely exhort us to cherish hope, but to see that our hope is of the right kind, that it is such as is secured through endurance, and endurance as fortified by the encouragement, the quickening impulse to Christian exertion, which the pages of Scripture will supply (Rom_15:4). It is as if he had said, The further you advance in the spiritual life, the more will you need of strength to resist temptation, or to bear outward trials bravely, brightly, and patiently; and the more you can do this, the more of true hope will you acquire. Thus we see that the hope which maketh not ashamed is always humble and always active. (W. Bright, D. D.)
How and for what to hope
The word wherefore bases the exhortation upon all that has preceded, not merely upon the sentence immediately before it.
I. The discipline needed for Christian hope. Girding up the loins of your mind, be sober. Here are two practical injunctions, given as means towards a vigorous Christian hope. The first of these is too familiar to require many words. Girding up the loose garments was instinctively done before any kind of vigorous effort, whether it was pilgrimage, labour, or conflict. Elijah girded up his loins when he ran before Ahabs chariot. The soldier tightens his belt by another hole before the great struggle comes. The symbol, then, stands definitely here as expressing effort and concentration. There must be both, as Peter thinks, if there is to be any pulse of vitality throbbing under a Christian mans hope. And, says the apostle, thus making a concentrated effort to secure the vigour and clearness of hope, do another thing, Be sober. Of course if I let my tastes, inclinations, desires, appetites, passions, run wild anywhere, there will be very little strength left me with which to hope for anything beyond. A mans mind is only capable of a given quantity of desire and expectation: and if he fritter it all away on the things seen and temporal, of course there will not be any left over for the things that are unseen. Every gardener knows that if he wants a tree to grow high he must pull off the side shoots, but if he likes to clip it at the top and take away the leader, it will grow nice and bushy down below. A mans mind obeys the same law.
II. The characteristics and qualities of this Christian hope. As you are aware, our A.V. gives one translation of part of this verse, and the R.V. gives another. Hope to the end, says the older. Hope perfectly, says the newer and the better rendering. What are the imperfections that attach to mens hopes?
1. The first glaring one which attaches to the worlds idea of hope is that it is something short of, less reliable than, certainty. We have not sufficiently concentrated our effort, nor have we sufficiently washed our hands of earthly follies and filths, so long as there is one shade of difference between the certitude with which we know today and the confidence with which, trusting to Christ, we expect the remotest eternity in the most glorious heavens.
2. Then there is another imperfection from which it is our duty and our joy to be able to clear our Christian hope, and that is that mens hopes fluctuate according to their moods and their circumstances. But the Christian mans hope should have this for the very signature of its perfection, that it is altogether independent of the changes of external circumstances. Nay! rather it should be like the pillar of fire that was only a thin film of smoke while the sunshine blazed, but kindled at its heart as darkness fell, and in the murkiest night was brightest and most blessed.
3. Then there is another imperfection which the Christian hope is permitted to put away from it; and that is that most of our hopes have no ennobling, no staying, no stimulating effect upon our lives. What a man hopes for he waits for with patience, and the perfection of the Christian hope is measured roughly by this, the extent to which it is fruitful of all lowly, persistent adherence the most uncongenial, common place, and smallest duties.
III. The object that is here proposes for hope. The apostle tells us to hope for the grace, etc. There are three things we have to note here.
1. The loftiest hope of the furthest eternity is the hope of grace. We usually keep that word in contradistinction to glory as expressive of the gifts of God which we receive here upon earth in our pilgrimage. But the apostle here goes even deeper than that, and says, Ah! it is all of a piece from the beginning to the end. The first gifts that a believing soul receives, whilst it is struggling here with darkness and light, are of the same sort as the eternal gifts that it receives when it stands before the throne, after millenniums of assimilation to the brightness and blessedness of Jesus Christ. They are all grace; the gifts of earth and heaven are one in their source and one in their nature.
2. Further, says the apostle, this grace is being brought to you. The light that set out from the sun centuries ago has not reached some of the stars yet, but it is on the road. And the grace that is to be given to us has started from the throne, and it will be here presently. We are like men standing in the crowded streets of some royal city through which the kings procession has to pass. If we listened we have heard the guns fire that told that He had left the palace; and He will sweep in front of us and sweep us up into His train before very long. The grace is being brought to us.
3. And it is being brought not merely at, but in the revelation of Jesus Christ. When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall we also be manifested together with Him in glory. The Christ in me will be manifested when Christ is manifested on His throne, and that will be my glory. If you can fancy a planet away out on the edge of our system, such as that one that welters in the fields of space, I know not how far from the central sun, and gets but a little portion of his light and warmth, and moves slowly in a torpid round; and imagine it laid hold of and borne right into the orbit of the planet next the sun, what a difference in its temperature, what a difference in the lustre and the light, what a difference in the swiftness of its motion there would be! We here are moving round a half-veiled Christ, and we get but little, and oh! we give less, of His light and glory. But the day comes when we shall be swept nearer the throne, and all the light that is manifested to us shall be incorporated within us. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Christian hope
I. Hope in its preliminary but indispensable conditions.
II. Hope in its operation.
1. Hope is natural to the human mind, nothing more natural. It is a sweet-scented flower growing in every poor mans garden; a perennial flower, never blooming so exquisitely as in the midwinter of adversity.
2. Hope perfectly. By this St. Peter probably means the same as St. Paul when the latter speaks of the full assurance of hope, an unfaltering persuasion in the mind that we have a personal interest in the inheritance reserved in heaven, the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. When I live, wrote Latimer to Ridley, in a settled and steadfast assurance about the state of my soul, methinks I am as bold as a lion; I can laugh at all trouble; no affliction daunts me; but when I am eclipsed in my comforts I am of so fearful a spirit that I could run into a very mouse hole. Now, how to attain this perfection of hope, this full assurance? Evidently by constantly but legitimately exercising this grace according to the Divine word and testimony, for, like other things, it grows bright in use.
3. Hope unto the end. Persevere in the face of difficulties, however colossal, for he that continueth to the end shall be saved. Turn your face to the Sun, pitch your hope fixedly on the inheritance reserved for you up yonder, and the shadows will all fall behind you.
III. Hope in its immutable foundation.
1. Our hope of salvation is based on Divine grace as brought to us in the past at the first revelation of Jesus Christ.
2. But not only has grace been brought to us in the past, but fresh supplies are being brought to us in the present. The grace that is a-bringing, that is being brought to you, as the revelation of Jesus Christ. Grace came to the world in the person and work of Jesus Christ; it is still coming, a very present help in trouble, to Gods people, whether that trouble be in the shape of sufferings or temptations. John Bunyan in his immortal dream beheld a fire which burnt on brightly notwithstanding all efforts to extinguish it. What was the explanation of this persistence? Oh, a man stood the other side of the wall continually pouring oil into it. Hope perfectly, unto the end, for the gospel treasury of grace will never fail you.
3. But this hope looks forward to the future, to the final triumph of grace at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Much grace has already been revealed; but eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered the heart of man the things God hath in store for His people. (J. C. Jones, D. D.)
Hope as a power in moulding character
I. The power of hope in human character. What makes the difference between human beings and beasts? Very largely, the presence of hope as a factor in character. The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests. So much the worse for them. Man is distinguished from the animals by the fact that you cannot so easily satisfy him. He may begin by living in the hole in the ground, or by lodging in the branches; but, by and by, that hole is not good enough. Something in man demands improvement. Hope is therefore one of the foremost elements in human character; distinguishing man as man, giving him a higher rank than all the rest of the animal creation. And as it is a necessary factor in character, so it is in human progress. Any conditions in human society which tend to repress hope are abnormal and unnatural, and hostile to mans well-being. Who is today at the bottom of society may, under the encouragement, of our republican institutions and freedom, rise until he occupies the highest position that the people can bestow. Hope presents a perpetual incentive to progress:-not an ignis fatuus, a will-o-the-wisp, beguiling us into mire and marsh, but impelling us continually onward to things higher and better. The hopes of boyhood do not satisfy manhood, and the hopes even of manhood do not satisfy maturer years; and so that which once beckoned you forward, as you reach up and move up toward it, keeps still ahead of you, and becomes a perpetual inspiration, urging you ever onward and upward. If hope, therefore, could be quenched or crushed, we could make no more advancement. Because hope is so important an element in character, and so essential to human development and progress, the Word of God lays such heavy stress on this essential element of all true manhood. No other grace seems more vital to a true Christian life than hope. Then see how hope helps us to bear trials. It surrounds us with a kind of elastic medium, so that when the terrible afflictions of this life beat against us, they rebound from us. There is a power in hope that prevents the severity of their blows from utterly crushing us.
II. What, now, are the objects set before the Christian hope? The grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Few of us ever think of this. When we speak of the grace that is revealed we think of what is already manifested, of Golgotha with its Cross, of Gethsemane with its agony. Peter is speaking of something future, not grace already manifested. The grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christs Incarnation was not a revelation. His divinity was rather hidden within the veil of His humanity: only now and then the glory of that divinity shone forth. When Jesus was here He was in disguise. God was only feebly and faintly manifested in the flesh, which obscured the glory. But when Christ conies a second time, no longer to make a sin offering, but to bring full salvation unto His people, then will be the revelation of Jesus Christ. He will come like the King in His glory. All the grace that comes to you from the hour of your regeneration to the hour of your complete sanctification is nothing in comparison with the grace that is to be revealed to you by Christ in the day when you are presented, faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.
III. In view of the glorious hopes that the Bible inspires. Girding up the loins of your mind, be sober, hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Let us mark these subordinate phrases: Girding up the loins of your mind, be sober. That they may not be entangled in thorns and briars, or be defiled by the dust and the filth of the way. And so the apostle says, Girding up the loins of your mind, your affections, so that they may not be defiled by earthly things. John Wesley used to say, The child of God ought to be too proud to sin. When I think of myself as the disciple of Christ, born of the Spirit, I say, How can I sin against God? Set your affections on things above; gird up your loins, and keep your white garments unspotted from the world. And then be sober. Now, it would do a pilgrim very little good if he gathered up his garments and did not maintain sobriety. He might fall in the dust of the way, bruising himself as well as defiling his robe. And so we must not only gird ourselves, but keep sober and clear-minded for the journey.
IV. What a contrast between the objects of Christian hope and worldly hope! Contrast the reality of Christian hopes with the illusiveness of worldly hopes. And consider, once more, the permanence and reliability of the Christian objects of desire and expectation. We come to a limit in this world. The glory of your possessions and your achievements will all pale and grow dim when you face the last great destroyer. But, blessed be God, the point at which human hopes are utterly blasted is the point at which Christian expectations only arrive at their consummation. What should we care for the perishing treasures of this world? for the evanescent pleasures that charm for a moment, and then lose their power? (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)
Hope
Hope is mentioned in the text and in other parts of Scripture as a distinct grace or virtue, which the Christian should cultivate.
I. I shall point out the distinctions between hope and faith.
1. Faith and hope differ as to their extent. Faith relates to all things which Almighty God has revealed in Scripture, bad as well as good; whereas hope has only to do with the good things of our Heavenly Father.
2. Again, hope may be described as ever looking forward, and advancing from one blessed prospect to another, with its eyes bent upon God and the promises. But faith has to do with the present and past, as well as with the future. With past facts.
3. Once more, there is this great difference between hope and faith; that faith has to do with certainty, hope with uncertainty. You believe with full assurance, and it is a matter of faith that the righteous go to heaven. But that you individually are righteous, and shall finally go to heaven, is the subject of hope. Now the absolute necessity of this grace in your hearts will be at once evident, if you consider that it would interest you but little to be told of the felicities of heaven, had you no hope of ever attaining them. When you read of kings of the earth, of their royal appearance and great wealth, you at once feel that these things interest you but slightly, because they are so utterly beyond your reach.
II. Now, let us illustrate the force and power of hope. Stories are told us of travellers journeying in other climes, who having wandered from their course, have by degrees found themselves involved in the intricacies of the wilderness without any probable chance of rescue. What so overwhelming as the feeling of utter loneliness which must press on the heart in the midst of unlimited sand? At such a time surely, a man may well give himself up as lost, and submissively lie down to perish. But there is a God beyond that sky and sun, Who has preserved men from worse dangers, and a hope springs up within his bosom, in the protection of that God. Hope cheers his soul, braces him to exertion, overcomes fatigue, and rescues from peril. He had no certainty of deliverance, but his hope was of sufficient power to make him persevere until he found the path, or was discovered by others and rescued. When the wife of the mariner sits at home solitary, what sustains her soul but the hope that all will be well? There can be no certain safety for him who is on the water; nothing, as we know, is so variable and treacherous as the waves and wind. When the prodigal child of God, like him in the parable, comes to himself and remembers his transgressions, what is to bring him to the feet of Almighty God but the hope of pardon? When the Christian soldier has taken his oath of service to Jesus Christ, and calmly considers the duties which are necessary to his reward, when he thinks of the enemies who encompass him, and of his own frailness and alienated affections, what can lead him to the contest and keep him undismayed? What but a sure and certain hope of Christs continued assistance? Lastly: There is a moment, if possible more trying than all, when hope is the stay and anchor of the tossed soul. It is in that hour when even the most saintly may look forward with something of dread to the departure from earth. In hope of eternal life, which God Who cannot lie promised before the world began; my flesh, he thinks within himself, shall rest in hope; Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; Thou wilt show me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy, and at Thy right hand are pleasures for evermore. (J. M. Chaunter, M. A.)
Hope ennobles the spirit
It is pleasing to observe how the hopes of persons, by degrees, greaten their spirits from their childhood. The proper spirit of a noble man, a prince, or a king, is greater than that of an inferior person. And the reason is because as he comes to understand his quality, his spirit grows with his hopes of what he shall attain to; his very hopes greaten his spirit, ennoble him, and make him think of living like one that expects to be in such a state as that to which he is born. And such is the property of the Christians hope. It not only makes him not ashamed, but it heightens and ennobles his spirit, makes him aspire high, and look forward to great things. (J. Howe.)
Present the germ of future revelation
I am well aware that the words of the original will bear the present signification. Hope perfectly for the grace which is being brought unto you by the revelation of Jesus Christ. But after careful consideration I am convinced that the future sense is the right one, though the fact that the present is employed is full of significance, and discloses a fact which underlies the whole Word of God. The future revelation will be but the full unveiling of the present; just as in the creation round us were our eyes cured of their films, we should see a splendour which would reveal heaven. The whole life of what lives in the world has in it the germ of that full revelation; just as when you unfold one of the soft buds of spring, sheath within sheath of delicate leafage is found there, and in the heart of it all, visible only to the aided eye, is every petal, every stamen of the flower. The forms are already perfect in their microcosm, but the colours that are to blaze in the sunlight, and the odours that are to scent the air, wait the inspirations of the spring. The colour, which is the glory of a flower, glows only under the perfect conditions of its life. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)
A perfect hope
I. We note the remarkable designation here of the object of Christian hope-The grace that is to be brought unto you at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Now, it is interesting to notice the various phases under which the future perfecting of the Christian life and felicity in heaven is set forth in the New Testament. Sometimes we read of the object of our hope as being the resurrection from the dead. Sometimes we read of the hope of righteousness; sometimes we read of the hope of eternal life; sometimes of the hope of the glory of God; sometimes of the hope of salvation. But all these are but the many facets of the one jewel, flashing many coloured and yet harmonious light. Peter adds another general expression when he sums up the felicities and perfectness of that future life in this remarkable and unusual phrase, the grace that is to be brought. Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life; and no man of the countless nations of the blessed can say, Give me the portion for which I have worked, but all must bow and say, Give me from thine own loving heart that which I do not deserve, the grace that is to be brought at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Such, then, is the object of Christian hope, stated in its most general terms, a grace which includes resurrection, salvation, righteousness, eternal life, the glory of God, and that grace ever tending towards us, and that ever tending grace to be ours in its fulness, when Christ is manifested and we shall be manifested with Him in glory. How different in its dignity, in its certainty, in its remoteness, which is a blessing-how different from the paltry, shortsighted anticipations of a near future which delude us along the path of earthly effort!
II. Notice the enjoined perfection of Christian hope. What constitutes perfect hope? First, theft it shall be certain; and no earthly hope is so. If my anticipations are set upon contingent things they must vary with their objects. You cannot build a solid house on a quagmire; you must have rock for that. So, the only perfect hope is that which grasps a perfect certainty. Christian hope ought to be, if I might so say, screwed up to the level of that on which it is fastened. It is a shame that Christian people should be wavering in their anticipations of that which in itself is certain. Again, the perfection of hope lies in its being patient, persistent through discouragements, burning bright in the darkness, like a pillar of fire by night; and most of all in its being operative upon life, and contributing to steadfastness of endurance and to energy of effort. This is exactly what the feeble and fluctuating hopes of earth never do. For the more a man is living in anticipation of an uncertain good, the less is he able to fling himself with wholeness of purpose and effort into the duties or enjoyments of the present. But a perfect hope will be the ally and not the darkener of the brightness of the present. And if we hope as we should for that we see not, then shall we with patience wait for it. Here, then, is the sort of hope which it is laid upon us Christian people consciously to try to cherish, one which is fixed and certain, one which is the mother of patience and endurance, one which persists through, and triumphs over all trouble and sorrow, one which nerves us for effort and opens our eyes to appreciate the blessings of the present, and one which wars against all uncleanness, and lifts us up in aspiration and aim towards the purity of Jesus Christ. We are neglecting a plain duty and impoverishing ourselves unnecessarily by the want of a treasure which belongs to us, unless we are making conscious efforts for our increase in hope as in faith and charity. Think of the blessedness of living thus, lifted up above all the uncertainties that rack men when they think about tomorrow. Try to realise the blessedness of escaping from the disappointments which come from all earthward turned expectations. The brightest blaze of Christian hope may be on the verge of the darkness of the grave.
III. Lastly, the discipline of Christian hope. Gird up the loins of your mind. It suggests that there is a great deal in this life that makes it very difficult for us to keep firm hold of the facts, on which alone a perfect hope can be built. Unless we tighten up our belt, and so put all our strength into the effort, the truths of the resurrection which beget to a lively hope, of the great salvation wrought by Jesus Christ, of the meaning and end of all our trials and sorrows, will slip away from us, and we shall be left at the mercy of the varying anticipations of good or evil which may emerge from the varying circumstances of the fleeting moment. Be sober. That means, not only gather yourselves together with a consecrated effort, but keep your heel well down on the necks of lower and earthly desires. The fleshly lusts that belong to everybody must be subdued. That goes without saying. But, then, there are others more subtle, more refined, but not less hostile to the perfectness of a heaven-directed hope than are these grosser ones. We must keep down all the desires and appetites of our nature, both of the flesh and of the spirit. For we have only a certain quantity of energy to expend, and if we expend it upon the things of earth there is nothing left for the things above. If you take the river, and lead it all out into the gardens that are irrigated by it, or into the stream that drives your mills, its bed will be left bare, and little of the water will reach the great ocean which is its home. We may, if we will, be as certain of the future as of the past. We may, if we will, have a hope which maketh us not ashamed. We may have a great light burning steadily, like a lamp fed with abundant oil, and shielded from every wind. We may see His coming shining afar off, and be warranted in saying, not merely we hope, but we know, that when He shall appear we shall be like Him. This Christ-given hope is the only one that persists through calamity, old age, and death. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The grace that is to be brought unto you.-
Coming grace
I. There is to be a revelation of Jesus Christ. He has promised to come; He has given His people the hope of His coming; His coming is necessary-
1. For His own final and perfect glorification.
2. For the complete salvation and glorification of His Church.
3. For the full and everlasting destruction of His and its enemies.
4. For the vindication of Gods way and the exhibition of His glorious attributes to the world.
II. What the revelation brings. Grace. The Lord keeps His best wine unto the last, but He certainly sets forth good wine even now. We may, and do, receive grace now. Now is the day of salvation. But with all the grace given now to believers, and notwithstanding its present variety, fulness, and freeness, and all that it does in Christs people, they need yet more at His revelation.
1. The grace of perfect vision of Him who is now unseen.
2. The grace of perfect likeness to Christ.
3. The grace of perfect acquittal.
4. The grace of perfect avowal and recognition.
5. The grace of perfect joy and glory forever.
III. What influence this revelation should now exert.
1. Spiritual readiness, in the loins of the mind girded, the thoughts collected, braced, prepared, and on the alert, with nothing left till the last (Luk_12:35-36).
2. Spiritual self-restraint, in sobriety; neither too elated nor too depressed.
3. Perfect hope; desiring, picturing, expecting the revelation and what it brings; hoping perfectly, never letting go hope, though the day seems far off. (Alex. Warrack, M. A.)
Grace and glory
We take grace as denoting in our text precisely what it ordinarily denotes in Gods dealing with a sinner, and wish to show you that grace thus understood may become, or rather, produce glory. We will briefly examine into the twofold achievement of grace-deliverance from sin, and consignment to Gods service.
1. As to deliverance from sin, shall not we be borne out by the experience of every believer, when we declare that it is his happiness to overcome sin, and his misery to be exposed to its assaults? If this corruption were wholly eradicated, he might continually walk in the shinings of the countenance of his Maker, and feel, so to speak, the fresh and free air of a better land circulating around him, as he passed on in his pilgrimage. So that all the interruptions of happiness are to be referred to sinfulness, and happiness becomes uniform, or rather, advances uniformly towards perfection, just in proportion as the sinfulness is subdued, and the whole man given over to a holy dominion. And if this be a correct account of a believers experience, it will show us that grace and glory are one and the same. It is to the operations of grace that we must ascribe all the progress I have made in overcoming sinfulness; and if this progress b¢ the same as progress in happiness, we proclaim that to the operations of grace must be ascribed all the happiness which a believer attains. And if it would thus be perfect happiness to realise to the full the renewing power of grace, how can we better describe perfect happiness than by supposing grace given without measure, and acting without rival? And if, yet further, perfect happiness be one ingredient of future glory, is not the gift of grace the gift of glory, and does not St. Peter address himself to the highest and most rapturous imagination when he bids us hope for grace at the revelation of Jesus Christ? This will be yet clearer if you observe the period at which the grace will be received. The second advent of our Lord was unquestionably present to St. Peters mind. It is on this grand consummation that apostles and holy men of old delight to linger, and from this that they fetch their motives and consolations. They well knew that whatever the happiness of separate spirits, however deep and beautiful their repose after the clang and din of warfare, there can be no perfection of felicity until the widowhood be over, and the soul dwell once more in the body. They looked for grace at the revelation of Jesus Christ, because they knew with that revelation would come the resurrection of the saints, the body and soul both redeemed, both purified, both endowed with eternity. If, therefore, this consummation be glory, what is glory but grace completed?
2. We have thus far only treated of grace as producing deliverance from sin; but this is not the only achievement of grace; yet further we must consider it as consignment to the service of God. There are none but true Christians who at all fulfil the great end of their being, that of promoting the glory of their Maker; and it is not through the workings of any human principle that they propose to themselves so sublime an honour; there must have been an alienation of the affections, and a withdrawment of the heart from temporary interests. We know, indeed, that all things, wickedness as well as righteousness, one way or another, promote Gods glory; but while the Almighty, in the exercise of His sovereignty, compels a tribute from the rebellious, that tribute is offered by none but the believer. It is, therefore, to grace, the principle imparted by God, that we ascribe every effort to promote Gods glory; nothing can be presented to God which has not first been received from Him; according to the words of David-All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee; and if it be the direct result of the workings of grace that we are led to consecrate ourselves to the service of God, then let grace have unrestrained operation, and, dust and ashes though we be, should we not become ineffably glorious? It will not be the robe of light which shall make us glorious, though brighter threads than sunbeams shall be woven into its texture; it will not be the palm and the harp that shall make us glorious, though the one shall have grown on the trees of Paradise, and the other have been strung by the Mediators hands; we shall be glorious as ministering to Gods glory glorious as the servants of the Almighty-glorious with more than an angels glory, because entrusted with more than an angels commission. And, if this be our glory, poetry may give her music to what she counts more beautiful, anti painting its tints on more sparkling and captivating things, but Christianity, the scheme of human restoration, recognises no glory but the living to the glory of God. If this be glory, then where is the word which could describe glory so emphatically as grace? Grace is that which produces consecration to Gods service, and therefore grace is nothing less than incipient glory. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
At the revelation of Jesus Christ.-
The revelation of Jesus Christ
I. The grand object referred to. The revelation of Jesus Christ.
II. The blessings which result to believers in consequence of this revelation.
1. By means of this revelation the kindness of God our Saviour to man is made known.
2. This revelation brings heaven to the view of believers, and assures them that they shall inherit that glory which is yet to be revealed.
3. This revelation teaches those who in consequence of receiving it have truly believed on the Son of God, that when He shall come again it will be to con summate their salvation.
III. The entire confidence and joyous anticipation, which it becomes believers consequently to indulge.
1. It is very important to Christians that they should indulge hope-that they should perfectly hope. We are saved by hope.
2. A firm foundation is laid for the exercise of perfect hope in the promises of God, ratified by the blood of the everlasting covenant, and confirmed by solemn oaths. (W. Temple.)
Christ and His grace
The display of Him is everything. Be it therefore observed that the revelation of Him is four fold.
1. The first revelation of Him we call scriptural. This began very early, even in Paradise. There the Sun of righteousness dawned, and from thence shone more and more unto the perfect day. This exhibition of Him may be likened to a perfect portraiture of a most distinguished and endeared person age, at full length, rolled up on the side of a room, and which the owner gradually opens to the beholders, till the whole figure stands disclosed.
2. The second revelation of Him is incarnate. Thus He was not only declared but perceived. He appeared not in vision but in person. Not tremendously, as in the giving of the law, but familiarly, clothed in a body like our own. Not transiently, as when He paid visits to His people of old, but by a continuance of three-and-thirty years-for the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us-full of grace and truth.
3. The third revelation of Him is spiritual. And we call it spiritual because it is produced by the Spirit of God in the spirit of man. It is expressed by sight; not a carnal sight of Him, but by the eye of faith. It is such an acquaintance with Him as draws forth our admiration, excites our love, gains our confidence, and secured our obedience.
4. The fourth revelation of Him is glorious. After all He is now much concealed. There are millions who know nothing even of His existence. Even where He is professedly known, there are multitudes to whom He has no form or comeliness, nor any beauty, that they should desire Him. But Christians are relieved and cheered with the thought that it will not be so always. But what is to be expected at the revelation of Jesus Christ? The grace that is to be brought unto you.
Two inquiries may here arise-
1. What does the grace here spoken of mean? It comprehends the fulness of the promise, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. His invitation, Come, ye blessed of My Father.
2. But why is it called grace? Why is it not said, The glory that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ?
(1) May it not be, first, to exclude merit from all share in attaining it?
(1) And may it not be so called to show the identity of grace with glory (W. Jay.)
As obedient children.
Obedience
creature can escape. Man created to obey does not avoid this duty by separating himself from God; he only changes masters. What constitutes his greatness is that he freely responds to the design of his Creator.
2. Because as Christians we are the redeemed of Jesus Christ, and consequently the property of God. Everything in the gospel teaches obedience.
II. How must we obey? God will not be served by mercenaries nor by slaves. Who then will serve Him? The apostle answers, children.
III. What influence does this obedience exert over our life? Action is but a part of obedience; to suffer is another. For many it is the larger part; for all it is the most difficult. Walking, speaking, working are to us means of obedience.
1. Some complain at being obliged to obey, and rebel. Direct them to Nazareth, to Gethsemane, to Calvary.
2. Some apparently accept the yoke of the Lord, but reserve to themselves the right of obeying in their way. Under the cover of Divine will they accomplish their own designs.
3. Some wait till an inward impulse moves them to obedience. If it does not act they do not obey at all. In obeying at first passively and without joy, their obedience would soon, under Divine blessing, be transformed into a joyous doing of His will. One word to such as do not yet possess the truth. If they ask me what is the best way of obtaining faith, I will not hesitate to answer, Obey! (E. Bersier, D. D.)
Obedience
1. We must obey, not by halves, or where we list, but in all things (Psa_119:6; Luk_1:6; Lev_10:2).
2. We must not, on the other side, run without our errand, nor do things whereof we have no commandment; this is no obedience, be it never so costly or painful, have it never so goodly a show (Jer_7:31).
3. Moreover, we must obey the commandment of the Lord, be it never so strange, harsh, unpleasing, or contrary to custom, though all the world counsel to the contrary.
4. We must obey without reasoning the case, or consulting with flesh and blood: we must bind reason hand and foot to follow God (as it were) blindfold, as Abraham offering Isaac, and Joshua compassing Jericho.
5. We must obey, whosoever or whatever be against it. If profits, pleasure, farm, oxen, etc., call us away, and God invite us, we must follow Him, else we have no part in Him.
6. Speedily, not hereafter, but today.
7. Voluntarily, not be haled only by pain and misery. God loves a cheerful servant.
8. Constantly, not for a while only. Reasons hereof.
(1) Gods sovereignty over us. We clay, He our Maker.
(2) His will a rule of righteousness.
(3) His great mercies every way, even to the worst, but to His children wonderful ones. (John Rogers.)
Obedience a Christian virtue
The idea of the Christian life, as a new sphere in which hope is predominant, and into which by virtue of our Lords resurrection Christians enter by a second birth, leads the apostle to address those to whom he wrote as children; and among the typical excellencies of children he selects the virtue of obedience. Now it may be noticed, first of all, that obedience is not in our day one of the more popular Christian graces or virtues. There have been days in the Church when men have been possessed by nothing short of a passion for putting themselves under rule-sometimes, it must be granted, not being sufficiently careful as to the sort of rule they put themselves under. Those days have gone by; and While we hear of Church Temperance Societies and Church Purity Societies devoted to the enforcement of these particular virtues, we do not, as yet, hear of a Church Obedience Society. Now the neglect into which obedience has fallen is apparently part of a larger neglect-that of the passive virtues generally; because, although obedience has an active, sometimes a very active, side, it is in the main a passive excellence. As the soul loses touch with the great Master of love, humility, self-repression, obedience it falls back on the old pagan ideal of regulated self-assertion, and a virtue like that insisted on by St. Peter-child-like obedience-is apt to be very soon at a discount. And there is another characteristic of our time which makes obedience a more or less difficult virtue. Obedience is said to be the virtue of older social conditions, such as accompanied feudalism or absolute monarchy, older conditions to which democracy has succeeded. It was natural, we are reminded, for arbitrary rulers to make much of a temper of mind which buttressed their power, but in a democratic age liberty takes the place of obedience: liberty is the typical virtue of free, self-improved, self-governing man; obedience, as a virtue, has had its day. Again, we are reminded that we are living in an age of liberty, nor, can it be denied that the difficulties of doing justice to the virtue of obedience have been aggravated by the abuses which have gathered round the ancient centres of authority? Nothing discredits the claims of obedience like the exaggerations of the rightful claims of any who ought to be obeyed. The Monarchy of France, as Richelieu contrived to make it, was the natural forerunner of the great Revolution; the Papacy, when, among other causes, the false decrials had exaggerated a legitimate supremacy of order into a spiritual absolutism, led by reaction into that enfeeblement of Church authority which is the weakness of our part of Christendom. We have accordingly fallen upon times when, both in Church and State, the rights of liberty have been pleaded against the duties and the instincts of obedience, and pleaded more or less successfully because of abuses in the support of which obedience has been, or might be, conceivably enlisted. And, further, as a consequence of these three tendencies, attention has been in modern times largely concentrated on those parts of Holy Scripture, to the neglect of others, which lay stress upon the rights, as distinct from the duties, of a Christian; Upon his freedom from the Jewish law as distinct from his obligations to the eternal moral law; upon the liberty with which Christ has made him free, as distinct from that service which he owes to God and which is itself perfect freedom. It is impossible to mistake the charm and power which attach to this word liberty. There is, we feel, something in our own human nature which at once responds to it; it appeals to sympathies which are universal and profound. Liberty is even in one particular sense the excellence of man as man-that is to say, of man as being endowed with a free will. To attempt to crush the exercise of this endowment of freedom is regarded as a crime against human nature, while the undertaking to strengthen its vigour and to enlarge its scope appeals to mans profound desire to make the best of that which is his central self; and hence the indefinite, the magic charm which always attends upon the word and the idea of liberty. But, when in this connection we use the word liberty, two different things are often intended. The liberty to choose between good and evil, with, it must be added, in our fallen state, an existing inclination in the direction of the evil, is one thing; the true moral liberty of man is another. True liberty is secure when the will moves freely within its true element, which is moral good. Moral good is to the human soul what the air is to the bird, what the water is to the fish. Bird and fish have freedom enough in their respective elements; water is death to the bird, as the atmosphere is to the fish. A bird can sometimes drown itself, a fish can leap out of the water and die upon the bank; but the liberty of fish and bird alike is sufficiently complete without this added capacity for self-destruction; and so it is with man. Every Christian who is living in a state of grace will understand this. He knows that he would gain nothing in the way of moral freedom by a murder, or an adultery, or a lie; he knows that our Lord Jesus Christ, who did no sin, who could have done no sin, was not, therefore, other than morally free, since it is His freedom in giving Himself to death which is of the essence of His self-sacrifice for the sins of the world: No man taketh My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. Nay, a Christian knows, too, that God could not choose evil without doing violence to His essential nature. But is God, therefore, without moral freedom? Is not God rather the one Being who is perfectly free because His perfections make it impossible for Him to choose evil; and would it not follow that the more closely man approaches to the holiness of God, the more closely does he approach to the true idea of liberty? We may look at this fundamental truth from another side. The sense of liberty within the soul of man is the conscious energy of the will, its felt vigour its power of making straight for the aim before it. But what is more certain than that the will acquires this two-fold excellence-strength and directness of purpose-by the discipline of obedience? The man who has never obeyed is not the man to know how to command. The steady drudgery of an apprenticeship is the necessary training for the conduct of a great business. The submissive and persistent industry of the junior clerk is the true preparation for a partnership in the firm. He would be a poor general of division who had never served as an ensign or a lieutenant, if not in the ranks. Nay, we see the operation of this law, that the strength and freedom of the will is secured by obedience, in the very quarter where we might beforehand perhaps think that it might have been dispensed with. We are told that the Divine Redeemer of the world went down to Nazareth, and was subject to His mother and His foster father until a period long past the age of manhood; and when his ministerial life, which from first to last was a life of obedience, was ended, it was ended by a supreme act of obedience. For He became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross; wherefore also God hath highly exalted Him. The obedience which St. Peter recommends is, let us observe, the obedience of children. It is not the obedience of slaves, of slaves who are slaves against their will. The kingdom of heaven is not fashioned on the lines of an Oriental court in which a crowd of unwilling servitors tremble before a master whose word may at any moment bring to any one of them sentence of death. There have been Christians who have understood the service of God in some such sense as this, but it is not the tendency or a danger of our time. We should perhaps do better to remember that the use which a true Christian makes of his freedom is to become willingly a slave of Jesus Christ. This is St. Pauls favourite way of describing himself, Paul, a servant-it should be, a slave of Jesus Christ. He means that he has freely surrendered himself, his soul, his body, his understanding, his affections, his will, his passions, his entire liberty, to the will, to the commands of Jesus Christ. But then this slavery is the highest expression of freedom, and it differs vitally from the involuntary slavery which has nothing to do with, though it may have at times been mistaken for, Christian obedience. In the current sense of the words, Christian obedience is not the obedience of slaves, nor is it the obedience of mercenaries. A true Christian does not serve God for the sake of what he can get from Him; he does not serve God only or chiefly even for the sake of gaining heaven, or of escaping hell. But here do not let us exaggerate. If God is to be served because He is what He is-infinitely perfect and lovable-it is not less true that a recompense does follow on Christian obedience. The picture in St. Mat_25:1-46 of the King sitting in judgment and making the eternal awards to the blessed and to the lost is not an illusion. If the recompense is not the first motive of service, it is a motive which our Lord Himself has sanctioned. Nay, in the last resort obedience to God for His own sake and obedience for the sake of the reward which He gives so blend as not to be distinguishable from each other, since God Himself is the only true and adequate reward of the human soul. He says to each true servant now, as He said to the Patriarch, I am thy exceeding great reward. And yet it remains true that the obedience which keeps an eye only or mainly on what it will get is not in keeping with the higher temper of the Christian life. Every time we say Our Father, at the beginning of the most authoritative of all prayers, we bind ourselves to a life of obedience. Of this let us be sure, that no true obedience neglects orders and duties which God has clearly prescribed. If God says by His apostle, Pray, even pray without ceasing, a true obedience does not say, My heart is cold, my prayer will be formal, lifeless, resultless-it does its best. If God says, In everything give thanks, true obedience does not say, God knows all about me and He will take my thankfulness for granted; I need not say grace after meals, or thanksgiving after Communion, or go out of my way to render praise to Him for some special deliverances and mercies-it does its best. And if God bestows on us the treasure of His Holy Word, and bids us Search the Scriptures, true obedience does not say that the Bible will not help us until we are aroused by literary curiosity, or some other sort of eagerness, to read it; it resolves to train the spiritual taste by earnest daily study-it does its best. If God desires us again and again to bear witness before the world to the faith that is in us, true obedience does not dwell on the feeble hold of the great unseen realities which is all that as yet we have, on the danger of saying more than we feel or mean, on the shifting, uncertain character of our present impressions-it goes straight to Holy Scripture and does its best. If God bids us remember the poor, visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction-in other words, look after hospitals, orphanages, homes, penitentiaries, deserted children, tramps, lone women, and the like-true obedience does not say, There is no knowing, after all, how many of these institutions are doing any real good. It does not say, We cannot possibly decide how many of these poor people are not gross impostors. It goes to work with the love of God in its heart, and, expecting to make a full percentage of mistakes, it does its best. Obedience cannot hope to be always and everywhere the product of a sustained enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is a great gift of God which visits souls and visits churches at intervals, but there are also intervals when there is little or no enthusiasm abroad, but during which the persistence of obedience is not the less necessary; and it is during these colder periods that we learn the value of living by rule. No obedience worth anything is to be secured without rule. Moral force, it has well been said, is like running water in a narrow channel which confines it on this side and that; it rushes onwards towards the fields of duty as the dispenser of fertility and of life; but if it has no barriers to confine its energies and to direct its course, it will presently sink away into the sands and will do no good to any living thing. Not that child-like obedience is always, indeed chiefly, active. In the majority of human lives it is passive. It consists in acceptance of what is ordered, in submission, in resignation, rather than in anything demonstrative; and obedience of this kind is at once harder and more sublime than active obedience: it is the obedience of Gethsemane and of Calvary, rather than that of the preceding years of labour and of miracle. The Holiest, we are told, Himself learnt obedience, not by the things which He did, but by the things which he suffered. The best and most fruitful obedience may in some cases be that of the confirmed invalid, that of the closing weeks of a last illness. Obedience is the joy and glory of the great intelligences who move and worship around the eternal throne; and here below on earth the souls which grace has fashioned after the likeness of the pattern Man-aye, the finest natures among us-have a thirst, nay, they have a passion, for obedience, for they know that in freely obeying they touch nearly, or quite, the secret of moral victory and spiritual joy. (Canon Liddon.)
The obedience of hope
These words immediately follow, and are to be taken in closest connection with, the exhortation to hope perfectly for the grace that is to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Hope, then, is to be nurtured, not only by a believing contemplation of future felicities, but by exercising ourselves to godliness and practical obedience. Two points as to the words of this text must be noticed before dealing with the thoughts. As the Revised Version shows, the literal rendering is as children of obedience. The essential or permanent characteristic of a person or thing is regarded as his or its parent. So obedience is represented as the inalienable mark of a Christian. But the immediately following reference to God as our Father seems to suggest that the Hebrew idiom here is blended with the Christian thought of sonship. One other expository remark is necessary. The Revised Version reads in the margin but like the Holy One which called you. If we adopt that rendering, and connect the words closely with the preceding, Gods own holiness is proposed as the pattern by which Christians are to fashion themselves.
I. That Christian hope and Christian obedience are inseparable companions. The mark of a son is to obey. And obedience means not merely doing what we are bid, but being glad to be bidden to do it; and it means not merely the active submission of will to the loving command of the Father, but also the quiet acceptance of and bowing of the will to the wise appointments of that Father. So it is the exact opposite of that temper and attitude which are characteristic of the godless world which makes self and its own will its law. There are the two courses of life, obedience or rebellion; and there is no middle point. Does our obedience cover the whole ground-of action and of surrender and submission? Such obedience can never be parted from the great Christian hope. Hope will produce obedience. Now, many professing Christians are a great deal stronger in the department of devout emotion than in that of practical righteousness. I should like all these people who find it so good to feed their souls on the meditation and anticipation of future blessedness to notice how, as in one volume, Peter binds up the two things that they keep so distinctly apart, and how emphatically he affirms that, if we have any genuine Christian hope, it will have its effect in helping us, as children of obedience, to do and to accept all our Fathers will. There we come down to a very plain practical test. But, then, these two things which the Apostle thus couples by an iron band have a reciprocal action. They work upon each other; in fact, they are the outside and the inside of the same thing; but we may look at them as being different. Just as strong hope will produce obedience, so true obedience will nourish and strengthen hope. For a little sin will go much further towards obscuring and shattering a Christian mans hope than a great sorrow will. It is comparatively easy to keep up the temper of joyous anticipation of the future in the midst of the darkness of a present experience; but it is absolutely impossible for a man, at one and the same time, to be rebelling in heart and act against the will of God and to be entertaining and recreating his soul by the bright hope of a future heaven. No Christian mans hope will last through a sin. Therefore obedience and hope must co-exist and feed one another.
II. That hope, fed by and feeding obedience, should change us from the likeness of our former selves. Not fashioning yourselves according to the former in your ignorance-that may be said to all people who have been brought out of the darkness into the light. It is but an uncertain light, or twilight mainly, at the best, that shines upon the mysteries of human life and duty, until the sunshine of God, manifested in Jesus Christ, rises and is welcomed by our hearts. So, then, non-Christian living is, in a profound sense, ignorance; and in the ignorance, just as the wild beasts of the forest go forth in the dark and are nocturnal in their habits if they are predatory, so the lusts that war against our souls expatiate and hunt and find their prey in the darkness. But, says Peter, if, hoping, you are obedient, and obedient you hope, then there will be a process of transformation going on in you. But in a world like this, and with creatures like us, unless a man has learnt not to do wrong, there is little chance of his doing right. The evil that we have to fight against is in possession, and we have to turn it out. A large part of all practical morality, Christian or not, consists in negative precepts; and the very heart and centre, in one aspect, of Christian duty lies here; self-denial, self-suppression, self-crucifixion. You have to put off the old self as part of the process of putting on the new. I press this upon you, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts, in your ignorance. And that will be a life-long task. For nobody knows how, like a cuttlefish, holding on to its prey by the suckers upon its arm, his evil habits cling to him, until he have tried to fling away the loathly thing that prevents him from freely using his limbs. Hope? Yes! Obey? Yes! and that you may crucify the old man with his deeds, and put off the garments spotted by the flesh, that you may put on the fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of saints.
III. Lastly, this obedience and hope should change us into the likeness of the father. If we are children we have the Fathers life in us; and we ought to have the Fathers likeness. This is the great aim that we have to set before ourselves. And oh! what an aim it is. Nothing less august than absolute perfection is worthy to be the goal of a soul. How different it is to say, Try to be like God as you haw learned to know Him in Jesus Christ, from what it is to say, Try to be up to the ideal of humanity; try to cultivate a pure morality; be true to yourselves, and all those other sayings, noble in their way and to a certain extent, which people who turn away from Christianity try to set up as substitutes for its morality. They are all hard and icy; and no kind of inspiration comes out of them. Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect, the ideal lives; the ideal loves, Yes! and more; the ideal is our Father, and so He will make His child like Himself. And that fashioning ourselves like our Father, if it does not precede obedience to the negative precept, must at all events be carried on simultaneously with it. It is a fatal mistake to try simply to obey the negative precept unless we aim along with it at obedience to the positive one. The more we come close to Him the further we withdraw from earth and evil. But notice how hope animates the effort at becoming like God. He is the Holy One which called you. Well, then, if He has called us to be holy, it will not be in vain that we shall try to be so. And unless we have this hope of His calling, sure I am that we shall never earnestly and successfully aim at being like Him. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Obedience in small things
Do not always be looking for the large and the heroic, the expansive, the typical, the magnificent. Do with simplicity and consecration and faith your duty as it comes, every day; that is all. The great Earl of Lincoln held all his great estates from the Crown on the condition that he gave to the king every year one white rose in the time of roses. Now, it was not much-a white rose for a title to these estates; but mind you it was enough. It was a sign that the earl held all from the throne, and that he held all for the throne; and, as he gave his white rose, year by year, it was the signal of his loyalty. And God says to us, I do not ask you for the large and the difficult and the impossible, day by day-but simple love, simple loyalty, simple service, one white rose in the time of roses. But mind you keep the white rose of love, of simple obedience, and consecration in your heart. That, then, is enough. He can see the heroic in the simplest service. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts.-
We must forsake evil before we can do good
For the order here used, he sets renouncing of our lusts first, before embracing of holiness; men put off their old rags, ere they can put on a new apparel; purge the stomach of ill humours, ere they take good nourishment; dig up the weeds, ere they sow or set herbs: so in this ease. Where, therefore, there remaineth the love of any lust or sin, there is no true grace in the heart, neither will any grow till that be rooted out. God will not plant any of His grace there, till the devils planting be plucked up. Many think they be Christians, and do many things well, though they keep the love of some sin; no, mark, the love of grace and goodness, and the love of any sin, cannot be in one heart; they are so contrary the one to the other; therefore, while thou livest in any known sin, and lovest any lust, as sure as God is in heaven thou art an hypocrite and standest in the state of damnation. (John Rogers.)
Lusts
are not sensual impulses and wants only, but desires of what is different from what God allows. (G. F. C. Frau Muller, Ph. D.)
In your ignorance.-
The sin of ignorance
I. Why is ignorance named as the special sin to set out their unregenerate estate, seeing they were guilty of many other sins? Not because men sin only by ignorance, as the Platonists think, but-
1. It may be the Holy Ghost doth of purpose do it to aggravate the hatefulness of the sin because men use to excuse it and make light of it.
2. Because it is a sin none are free from. If he had named whoredom, or drunkenness, etc., many unregenerate men would have pleaded not guilty.
3. This sin serves more to reproach the rebellious nature of man. It was the knowledge of good and evil that Adam so much aspired unto, and lo, now, he and all his were set in gross ignorance.
4. Because ignorance is the mother and nurse of all sorts of sins (Eph_4:18; 2Pe_2:12; Psa_36:2-4). But have unregenerate men no knowledge? Yes, they have some knowledge, for they are wise to do evil, and they may have great learning in arts and sciences; but yet they are justly taxed with ignorance because they know not God as a Father by the light of faith, nor Christ Jesus whom He hath sent; and besides, they have no desire to know their own iniquities or the way how to reform their own lives; they have no knowledge to do good.
II. These things being thus resolved, there are divers observations to be noted from hence.
1. That a true convert must make conscience of inward sins, as well as outward; of defects as well as evil desires or lusts, as here of ignorance as well as of wicked thoughts. The same God that saith, How long shall thy evil thoughts abide in thee? complains also of ignorance (Isa_1:3).
2. That ignorance is no small sin; it is exceeding hateful to God; contrary to doctrine of those that say it is the mother of devotion.
3. That without reformation of ignorance we cannot be truly turned to God; without knowledge the mind is not good; therefore, to tear the veil is one part of Gods work in our conversion (Pro_19:3; Isa_25:8).
4. That ignorance is wanton and full of lust (Eph_4:18).
5. That the way to be rid of lusts is to be rid of ignorance. For saving knowledge keeps us from sin (Jam_3:17). Here we may see the principal use we should put our knowledge to, viz., to cleanse our hearts of base thoughts and desires.
6. That we may live in places of great means for knowledge and yet be grossly ignorant. For he writeth here to the Jews, who had the law and the prophets, and the oracles of God and the priests, etc.
7. That all knowledge or learning without the knowledge of Gods favour in Christ, and the way how to reform our own lives, is but foolish ignorance.
8. That habitual lusts are a sure sign of ignorance, whatsoever knowledge men pretend.
III. Lastly, seeing there is ignorance even in the children of God after calling, what are the signs of unregenerate ignorance?
1. It hardens the heart and works a continued evil disposition to sin with greediness (Eph_4:11; Eph_4:18). Now the ignorance in the godly may be where the heart is softened and the overflowings of corruption stopped.
2. It hoodwinketh the soul in the main things needful to salvation, as the knowledge of a mans own iniquities, God in Christ, the forgiveness of a mans own sins, and generally all the things of God (1Co_2:14). A wicked man may discern spiritual things carnally, but not spiritually.
3. It hath never been in the furnace of mortification; it hath never been truly repented of, whereas the ignorance of the godly hath often been confessed, mourned for, etc.
4. It will suffer no saving grace to neighbour by it; where ignorance hath not been repented of, there no fear of God, no holy contemplation, no uprightness, love of God, or His Word, or His people, will dwell. Now the ignorance that is in Gods children is well neighboured with many holy graces that can dwell by it. And as these ignorances differ in nature and working, so they differ in imputation. For unto the godly there is a sacrifice for ignorance. God doth not impute ignorance unto the godly: it shall be to them according to what they know, and not according to what they know not. (N. Byfield.)
Ignorance the cause and root of a bad life
He fathers their following of lusts on their ignorance; and ignorance is the root of a wicked life; for, till men know the will of God out of His Word, how can they do it? and what are we prone to by nature, but to all the evil in the world? Therefore the devil labours by all means to hold people in blindness, and, of all books, hath most been an enemy to the Bible, and to sincere and diligent reading, and preaching the Scriptures, for were those away, he knows all iniquity must needs abound. As, if one comes into a house at midnight, he sees no faults, but when the morning comes, then he sees a number of things out of order; so in the clear light of the gospel, we see the wickedness that then appeared not in the dark. Whither will not our nature run, and whither may not the devil and world lead one, when he hath no eyes to see whither he goes? As the raven first picks out the lambs eyes, and then kills it at his pleasure, when it cannot see to escape, so doth the devil by people. (John Rogers.)
Slavery through ignorance
I have heard a reflection often expressed by thoughtful country people when they saw a great draught horse meekly submitting to be bridled and led away to labour by a child: If the brute creatures knew their own strength, they would not submit to the yoke and the lash. These mighty quadrupeds could trample down the stripling that puts bits in their mouths. Yet they submit to whatever their master imposes, ignorant of their own strength. Oh, if man, Gods greatest creature, knew his strength, he would not submit to be the slave of vile passions! Strong men in multitudes are in our country led not only to the yoke, but even to the shambles, by the appetite of intemperance. This possessing spirit says to the right arm, Do this, and he doeth it; to the foot, Go thither, and he goeth. Oh, that these captives, driven openly in gangs, not through the marshes of interior Africa, but along the streets of British cities, were at last set free! (W. Arnot.)
Holy in all manner of conversation.-
Holiness in all things
Not where, when, to whom, and what we list, but at all times, in all places, towards all persons, and in all things, as God is holy in all His ways and works.
1. This serves to rebuke those that will yield in some things only. What is it if a man be not covetous, if he be proud, or unclean, etc.? Some will yield in great matters, but in small do as they list; as to swear by their faith and troth, especially in that which is true, talk vain a little, put a little false ware, deceive a little, etc. Some again will yield in all small matters, but in some great thing they will not; as to give all diligence to increase in every grace, and that no corrupt communication should come out of their mouths; though thou hast spoken many good words, yet hadst thou better be silent than have no more good to speak. Some in adversity will be very humble, good words, golden promises, but in prosperity nothing so. Some use their superiors well, their poor tenants or work folks hardly. Alas, there is no part of our life, wherein God gives any license to do evil; in our particular callings let us show the truth of our Christianity.
2. Let us prove the truth of holiness in us by the generality of it; keep a constant tenour, an even hand, and let there be a proportion between every part of our life, not one part, as it were, devout, another profane and wicked. (John Rogers.)
Be ye holy, for I am holy.-
The holiness of God the type and model of ours
What, then, is the sort of holiness to which He who is holy in calling us, does in fact call us?
I. Here, negatively, let us note what it is not and cannot be.
1. For one thing, it clearly is not, it cannot be, mere innocence, the innocence of one ignorant of evil, or of one who knows evil only by report, or of one who knows it only as a possibility, by a prohibitory enactment with a penalty attached to it.
2. Neither is it enough that it should be a holiness consisting merely of enforced abstinence from evil, or of such outward compliance with good as a sense of dire necessity and a dread of unpleasant consequences may produce.
3. Nor even can it be such painful discipline of self-restraint, self-denial, self-mortification, as may spring from better and more respectable motives-sometimes from motives of deep religious earnest ness.
4. For, as to its essential character, our holiness, if it is to be like the holiness of God, must, at the very outset, pass out of the region of the merely negative, which implies a continual struggle to dethrone a tyrant, into the region of the positive, which is realised in our acknowledgment of Him who buys us to be His freedmen.
5. For, finally, it is indeed now a new influence, a fresh and new power.
II. The positive aspect of the grace in question-how, in that changed aspect of affairs, with our new mind towards God, as connected with His new mind towards us, may His holiness thus purely and simply bear upon us? How otherwise than by our being made partakers of His holiness, in such a sense and to such an effect that we do now really become as God, knowing good and evil? We know evil as God knows it; because we know good as God knows it. For we are partakers of the Divine nature, through our faith in Gods exceeding great and precious promises (2Pe_1:4). We are thus partakers of His holiness (Heb_12:10). (R. S. Candlish, D. D.)
Holiness
I. Explain the exhortation.
1. The nature of holiness.
2. Its different stages and degrees.
3. Its objects.
4. Its effects.
II. Consider the motive.
1. God is holy, and therefore without holiness we cannot be like Him.
2. God is holy, and therefore those only who are so can truly serve Him.
3. God is holy, and without holiness it is impossible to please Him in anything we do.
4. God is holy, and unless we be so too, we cannot be owned or acknowledged by Him.
5. God is holy, and we must be holy in order to enjoy Him. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
Holiness
I. Holiness in the heart, or as it works its way down to the depth of our nature. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance.
1. In their unregenerate state men always fashion themselves after the pattern of their lusts or inward sinful desires.
2. The power of evil, however, though not expelled, is dethroned in the believers heart, and the principle of dutiful obedience takes its place. Gods people-ideal, and to a certain extent actual, people-are emphatically the children of obedience.
(1) This implies for one thing that they inwardly approve the Divine law, that they love Gods commandments. It is not a law they would alter if they could.
(2) Obedience, however, contains another element, namely, that the mind throws itself actively and energetically into the duties prescribed.
II. Holiness in the life, or as it widens out over the whole area of conduct. As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.
1. This enjoins holiness in all our thinking and reading.
2. Holiness should also be observed in all your conversation, in the modern sense of the word. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt.
(1) On the one hand, you must renounce filthy and blasphemous language.
(2) But as you should avoid evil communications, so, on the other hand, your speech should be such as to cause grace in the hearers. We do not faithfully mirror the Divine holiness when we foul each others character.
3. Christian holiness, furthermore, extends to our acts as well as to our words and thoughts. Be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Christianity influences the whole area of life private and public; it is commensurate with our existence.
III. Holiness in its standard. Be ye holy, for I am holy.
1. Why is holiness a virtue, and therefore required of us? The Bible answer is, Because God is holy. The essence of God-that is to say, that which makes God to be God-is His infinite holiness and infinite love. Hence the Bible continually summons men to holiness; not to learning or culture, but to holiness, for only in holiness and love can we resemble our Maker. By growing in other things, however much to be coveted in themselves, we do not grow in likeness to our Maker.
2. In the text God is styled He that called you. And His calling imposes a fresh obligation upon you. You are called by God-to what? To holiness, to show forth the virtues of Him that called you. If you seek not holiness, you overlook the very purpose of your separation from the world and your incorporation into the Church. Your call has been in vain.
3. As the ground of our holiness is in God, so the standard of our holiness, that to which it is to grow, is the holiness of God. Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. Infinite holiness surely presents a standard lofty enough. Christianity in the morality, the holiness, it demands can never be outdone. One argument Herbert Spencer urges against it is that the standard of character it offers for our imitation is too high. Observe that the objection carries in it a homage to the pure ethics of the Teacher of Nazareth. (J. C. Jones, D. D.)
The family likeness
I. The pattern of holiness. Religion is imitation. The truest form of worship is to copy. All through heathenism you find that principle working. They that make them are like unto them. Why are heathen nations so sunken in their foul nesses? Because their gods are their examples, and they, first of all, make the gods after the pattern of their own evil imaginations, and then the evil imaginations, deified, react upon the makers and make them tenfold more children of hell than themselves. Worship is imitation. For religion is but love and reverence in the superlative degree, and the natural operation of love is to copy, and the natural operation of reverence is the same. So that the old Mosaic law, Be ye holy as I am holy, went to the very heart of religion. And the New Testament form of it, as Paul puts it in a very bold word, Be ye imitators of God, as beloved children, sets its seal on the same thought. But then, says somebody or other, it is not possible. Well, if it were not possible, try it all the same. For in this world it is aim and not attainment that makes the noble life; and it is better to shoot at the stars, even though your arrow never reaches them, than to fire it along the low levels of ordinary life. I do not see that however the unattainableness of the model may be demonstrated, that has anything to do with the duty of imitation. Instead of bewildering ourselves with questions about unattainable or attainable, suppose we asked, at each failure, Why did I not copy God then; was it because I could not, or because I would not?
II. The field of this Godlike holiness. Here is no cloistered and ascetic holiness which taboos large provinces of every mans experience, and says we must not go in there, for fear of losing our purity, but rather wherever Christ has trod before we can go. That is a safe guide, and what ever God has appointed there we can go and that we can do. In all manner of conversation. There is nothing so minute but it is big enough to mirror the holiness of God. The tiniest grain of mica, upon the face of the hill, is large enough to flash back a beam; and the smallest thing we can do is big enough to hold the bright light of holiness.
III. The motive or inspiration of holiness. Peter would stir his hearers to the emulation of the Divine holiness by that thought of the bond that unites Him and them. He hath called you. In which word, I suppose, he includes the whole sum of the Divine operations which have resulted in the placing of each of his auditors within the circle of the Christian community as the subjects of Christs grace, and not only the one definite act to which the theologians attach the name of calling. In the briefest possible way we may put the motive thus-the inspiration of imitation is to be found in the contemplation of the gifts of God. And not only so, but in this thought of the Divine calling there lies a fountain of inspiration when we remember the purpose of the calling. As Paul puts it in one of his letters: God has not called us to uncleanness but to holiness. And so, if in addition to the fact of His gift and calling and all that is included within it, if in addition to the purpose of that calling we further think of the relation between us and Him which results from it, so as that we, as the next verse says, call Him who hath called us, Our Father, then the motive becomes deeper and more blessed still. Shall we not try to be like the Father of our spirits, and seek for His grace, to bear the likeness of sons? (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Of imitating the holiness of God
I. The obligations we are under to imitate the God whom we worship. This is an original obligation, founded in nature itself, requiring us to imitate what it necessitates us to admire. And this obligation is confirmed by the light of reason, teaching us further that imitation of God, as it is most fit in itself, so it cannot but be likewise most acceptable unto Him and agreeable to His will. For the same absolute perfection of the Divine nature which makes us certain that God must Himself be of necessity infinitely holy, just, and good, makes it equally certain that He cannot possibly approve iniquity in others. And the same beauty, the same excellency, the same importance of the rules of everlasting righteousness, with regard to which God is always pleased to make those rules the measure of all His own actions, necessarily prove that it must likewise be His will that all rational creatures should proportionately make them the measure of theirs. In the revelation which God has been pleased to make to us of Himself in Scripture, the necessity of the same duty is more expressly and more clearly enforced (Lev_11:44; Lev_19:1; Eph_4:24; Col_3:10; 2Pe_1:4).
II. The true extent and proper limitations of this duty.
1. All imitation of God must be understood to be an imitation of His moral attributes only, and not of His natural ones.
2. Even in these moral excellencies it is evident further that it must necessarily mean an imitation of likeness only, and not of equality.
3. Yet ought we also to consider that even in the degrees of goodness it is our duty continually to improve. A perfect example is set before us that aiming always at that, we may make a perpetual progress in the ways of virtue.
Conclusion:
1. If true religion consists in the imitation of God, and all imitation of God is of necessity confined to His moral perfections only, then it hence evidently follows that moral virtue is the chief end of religion, and that to place the main stress of religion in anything else besides true virtue is superstition.
2. If true religion consists in the imitation of God, and that which is imitable in God be His moral perfections, hence it follows necessarily that moral excellences, justice, goodness, truth, and the like, are of the same kind in God as in men.
3. From hence it appears of how great importance it is to men to frame to themselves right and worthy notions of God. For such as are the conceptions men have of the object of their worship, such also will proportionably be their own behaviour and practice. (S. Clarke, D. D.)
The true ideal of life, its sublime grandeur and implied attainability
I. Its sublime grandeur. The holiness of God. To be holy is to possess, not one virtue or grace, but all virtues. The moral magnates of the old world, says Luthardt, are strong in this or that particular virtue; but they fail to give us the impression that the central point of their being is penetrated and renovated by the spirit of morality, and that we have in this a guarantee that the moral spirit by which they are animated would manifest itself in all aspects as occasion offered. They represent only single virtues: Aristides, justice; Epaminondas, truthfulness; Cimon, liberality; Leonidas, patriotism, etc.; but they do not represent morality itself. Socrates is the model of a noble Greek; but in his last hours he was un feeling to his wife and children. Plato and Aristotle were teachers of wisdom; but their verdict on the sensual errors of their fellow countrymen was more than lenient. Carp was proverbial for his integrity in public life, but was cruel to his slaves; and we might adduce many more such instances. Everywhere we see single virtues; nowhere do we find the spirit of morality filling the whole man. Gods character is the totality. God is light. By a prism we can divide the light of the sun into various coloured rays, each of which is an object of interest and deserves study. But as in the light there is the combination of all these colours, so in the character of God we have the combination of all actual and conceivable virtues. This is our standard, nothing lower. First: Anything lower than this would not suit our nature. We are so constituted that our faculties can never unfold themselves vigorously, fully, without having some grand object ever before us; when that object is reached they collapse, and the soul sinks into dormancy if not death. Secondly: Anything lower than this would damage the universe. The well-being and blessedness of the intelligent creation depends upon every member aiming at the highest holiness, the holiness of God.
II. Its implied attainability. No character ever appeared in history so imitable as the character of Christ. He is the most imitable character-First: Who has the most power to command admiration-the admiration of the soul. Secondly: Who is the most transparent in character. Thirdly: Who is the most unalterable in purpose. Therefore follow Him. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Personal holiness
This great gift and demand of the Gospel, I wish to regard as a thing simply personal and individual. I have called it a gift, for holiness is no longer natural to, no longer rises spontaneously in the soul of man: it needs to be inspired and called forth by the Spirit of holiness, which is the Spirit of God. And what is this gift of holiness, so needful for the Christian, the work of the Holy Ghost in His own individual soul and nature? Now if holiness has its seat in the soul, it is clear that it does not consist merely of a certain number of ceremonial, or even of religious acts, but that it consists first of a principle, and then of habits springing from that principle. It does not consist merely of religious acts, although these acts are quite necessary to a holy life. It consists in the soul of man being brought into communion and concord with God, the source of holiness. And this is done on mans part by the exercise of two qualities in his nature directed towards God-faith and love. The spiritual power of these two great gifts is unbounded, is miraculous. They transform the soul; they make it, according to its capacity, like God; they awaken new affections; they give a new bias to the will; they inspire new hopes, desires, and aims; they raise the spirit into a higher atmosphere, while they invest the commonest duties of life with a hallowing influence. This is its principle; but it is not merely an excited or elevated state of mind or feeling. It will not evaporate in sentiment, but will go forth into habits, and mix itself with all the acts of this life. Where the will of man is brought into harmony with the will of God, it must run out into deeds and habits of love and self-sacrifice, into all that is pure and holy. And if we look for a perfect exhibition, an unique pattern of the holiness here enjoined, we find it in the character and life of our Divine Redeemer. To be holy is to be like Christ; this is the final test, the consummation of human nature, wholly sanctified in body, soul, and spirit. For in that heavenly character, what is the leading idea? One stands forth pre-eminent-the supreme lesson of His life. It is the sacrifice of His will, in love to God and man. (A. Grant, D. C. L.)
The holiness of God
Why ought the holiness of God to be a reason for our holiness?
I. Because holiness is that idea of himself which God is most intent upon communicating to man.
II. Every other moral conception that you can form of God when you analyse it will carry you back to the fundamental thought that God is a holy being. He is said to be good. Goodness, if you analyse it, will bring you back to the idea of doing that only which is pure and fit and just and right.
III. The relation which subsists between man and God makes it indispensable that man should be holy, or pure in his purpose, and this for several reasons. The Scriptures inquire, How can two walk together, except they be agreed? What harmony can there be between light and darkness, good and evil, right and wrong, purity and impurity, sin and holiness? Two persons may be most strongly attached where one supplements the other. So, even in the marriage relation, absolute identity of tastes is not always essential to the highest happiness; but, while there may be the supplementing of one with the other, if there be antagonism, there can he no sympathy or union. So that, if we are expecting to be accounted the children of God, there must be sympathy, truth, identity. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
God and obligation, or the pattern of sanctity
A holy thing is a thing that has been withdrawn from common uses and reserved for specific religious ends. A holy man is one upon whom there has been laid an authoritative interdict irrevocably separating him from the pursuits of common life, and binding him to the Divine service. But how can God be called holy in this earliest meaning of the term? He is eternally pure and perfect and separate from sinners, and does not need to draw a line between Himself and the world by a special consecration act. Well, God is separate from all those gods of the heathen kingdoms who may be thrust into competitive relations with Him. Even when the gods of the heathen are made to represent virtues and heroisms, when they incorporate the fairest ideals of the human imagination and conscience, in disposition and conduct and benign economy they fall immeasurably short of the perfection of the Most High, and He is still separate and alone. By acts that are from everlasting to everlasting in their range, He makes for Himself a consecrated sphere of life that must be ever and only His own (Mic_7:18). Is the time-honoured logic of this injunction sound? Is Gods pattern a spring of motion and obligation to us? The logic has stood the strain of many centuries: will it do for our critical decade?
I. The argument at the outset sounds like an argument basing itself upon the authority which takes its rise in supreme and boundless power. The Divine Speaker seems to assume unlimited proprietorship over us because He imparts life and determines all the outward conditions under which life maintains itself. Now a Jew would have submitted himself at once. We, however, are disposed to go a little further into the subject than that, and ask, Does mere power, however gigantic its scale, create obligation? It is our privilege to live after the French Revolution, and we are not disposed to submit to superior power for the simple reason that it is superior power. For God to bind upon us the law of His personal life because He is stronger than we is surely not unlike Fate trying to vanquish Prometheus bound to the rock in the Caucasus. Well, whilst usurped power can bring no sanction with it, if the power be original, creative, unlimited in time and space, it does bring essential obligation in its train. God does not want our conformity to His pattern because His power out powers other types of power, but because it is spontaneous, eternal, and a part of Himself. He whose breath brings the secret of life, whose word makes every wavelet of sunshine or starlight that visits the eye, every atom of air that sweetens and vitalises the blood, whose hand prepares the foundation upon which all life rests, and strikes the blow which brings our truest enfranchisements, has the right to bind men by His pattern. The rights of all fatherhoods, the prerogatives of all crowns and thrones and sovereignties, the sanctions of all law and ethic speak in this imperative Be ye holy, for I am holy.
II. The authority that here addresses us is not that of supreme power only, but also of absolve loveliness and perfection. In bidding us be like Himself God is bidding us be like that we most esteem, for has He not captivated the entire range of our reverence and admiration? The crown of supremacy belongs to God, not by an arbitrary coronation act, but by His own inherent fitness to wear it. We must set ourselves to copy that which we irresistibly worship. The musician whose soul has been visited by dream-like melodies from other worlds, is bound to so group his notes as to realise, for those to whom he sings, the mystic enchantments that have smitten his own soul with wonder. The painter to whose inner sense the subtle charm and secret of glowing sky, or flowered landscape, or fretting sea, has made itself known, is bound to suggest, as far as the play of colours will do it, the magnificent vision that has possessed his own imagination. All admirations have as their very core and essence the force of a vast moral constraint; and if God be the best of which we can think, or reason, or dream, if He has conquered all our moral admirations, if He is the loftiest pattern a quick and healthy and highly stimulated conscience can conceive, we are bound to copy Him. The highest form of worship is imitation. The trisagion of the cherubim, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts, confesses the law under which earth and heaven alike are placed to be like God. I need not remind you how in His pattern prayer Christ makes us subscribe to the principle whose gracious operation and benefit we need for ourselves-Our Father, which art in heaven. Where there is fatherhood there is sonship and its duties, the first of which is to copy the qualities of the highest fatherhood. As we confess the Divine perfection the voice of unfailing response comes back in reply to our homage, Be ye holy, for I am holy.
III. These words are an argument from the affinities and similitudes of the divine and human natures. Gods nature is the archetype of ours. What does it mean when it is said we are made in Gods image and quickened to life with Gods breath, but that God has put within us the rudiments of His own holiness? The power to grow like God is implanted in man at the very beginning. There is a long-buried seed of spiritual excellence in him, old as his dim origins, which the processes of grace are destined to awaken and perfectly fructify. And to give us further assurance on the subject we are not only reminded of that image whose faint outlines and affinities we still bear, but we are told that this high and holy One has made Himself in our image. The correspondences are guaranteed from two standpoints. He has lived out His perfect life in an environment that is one with our own. In the person of His spotless and eternal Son, God has bowed Himself to the most abject conditions of our life, giving us a vision of that we are charged to copy, notwithstanding the strain of fierce and varied temptations. The grace that surrounds us on every side enters our natures and tends to produce there a reflection of the Holy One who has been our Friend and Saviour. In one of his books Mr. Ruskin says: Some years ago a young Scotch student came to put himself under me, having taken many prizes justly with respect to the qualities looked for by the judges in various schools of art. He worked under me very earnestly and patiently for a time, and I was able to praise his doings in what I thought very high terms. Nevertheless there always remained a look of mortification on his face after he had been praised, however unqualifiedly. At last he could hold no longer, but one day when I had been more than usually complimentary, turned to me with an anxious yet not unconfident expression, and asked, Do you think, sir, that I shall ever draw as well as Turner? I paused for a second or two, being much taken aback, and then answered, It is more likely you should be made emperor of all the Russias. There is a new emperor every fifteen or twenty years on an average, and by strange hap and fortunate cabal any body might be made emperor. But there is only one Turner in five hundred years, and God decides without any admission of auxiliary cabal what piece of clay his soul is to be put into. Come with your largest aspirations to the feet of Jesus Christ, and you may count upon a very different answer from that. I am the Firstborn amongst many brethren, and you shall be like Me, and shall realise the very qualities of Him whose manifestation I am. Trust Me, and go forward at My word, for you may be merciful and holy and perfect as the One in whose image you are made. The seed of the forgotten possibility is still in you, and I come to quicken that seed again, and in that quickening to bestow all spiritual grace and perfection. Yours is the very clay into which God determines to put His eternal ideal.
IV. The argument is an argument from the living contact and mystic immanency of the most high himself. The very self-same energy that makes God holy dwells in us and blends itself with our life. The very motive which determines Gods eternal and unspotted life of blessedness comes to infix itself in us. The power of Gods personal holiness, with all its magnificent achievements, lends itself to us for our perfecting.
1. God comes very near to every man who wants to copy His personal perfection, and the reason He seems far off from some is that they have never been inspired with the desire to emulate His character. He is a model who lends Himself to the most intimate handling of reverential natures, and to the closest study of all who love Him and desire to conform themselves to His spiritual similitude.
2. God is not only accessible, but He has the art of imparting Himself to those who seek Him in sincerity and love. If we may use the term without irreverence, He is the most magnetic being in the universe, inspiring those about Him with His own thought and love and sacred spiritual ardour. He is ever ready to make known His deepest secret to us.
3. He comes also to dwell within us, and inform our nature with His hourly inspirations. And if God be in us, the imitation of God is not an extravagant or fantastic hope. And so our obligation is not measured by what we are in ourselves, but by those new ranges and outbursts of energy the Holy Spirit brings into our natures. His forces must be added to our own; the marvellous possibilities arising out of His inhabitation of human souls, the capacity attainable through His infinite and unfaltering succours, must be discerned and brought into the estimate if we would know the sum of oar obligation, the breadth of the law under which we are placed, the lofty standard we are summoned to reach. To be like God is a costly thing, involving stern self-abnegation, and the strenuous application of all that is within you to one end. Well, is Gods holiness a cheap and easy and self-indulgent thing? Did it not cost Him the most cherished treasure of His universe to exercise that holiness and compassionate an offending race? It is only by the renunciation of self that you can begin, however faintly, to be like God. (T. G. Selby.)
Holiness after the Divine type
The word holy has received various interpretations, according to the culture of those employing it, In the law of Moses, the word of which it is the translation seems to mean nothing more than ceremonial cleanliness. Then, certain moral ideas got associated with it, and to be holy signified to be virtuous. By and by the idea of pure feeling was added on, and it was seen that there must be an inward as well as outward purity in order to make a man holy. Our English word starts from an altogether different basis. Its fundamental conception is that of health; the holy man is the healthy, sound, whole man. But, then, it went through the same spiritualising process; first of all, health, holiness, consisted simply in soundness of body, then of mind, then of morals, and, finally, of the whole being. I like this conception better than the Hebrew; it gives one an idea more completely in harmony with the truth. I find it very hard to work my way up to spiritual holiness from the Hebrew standpoint of ceremonial cleanliness. But I discern this holiness, in the highest sense, to be wholeness, soundness, or health, that is, existence in the normal state, according to the laws of my whole being. And that, surely, is the holiness of God. He lives, He acts, according to the condition of His own absolutely perfect nature-from Himself, according to the truth of His own being. The text, then, is a call to Christian people ever to be striving after higher attainments in this holiness, ever to be setting before them the absolute holiness of God as the ideal after which they should form themselves.
1. First of all, I feel there are a great force and beauty in the terms the writer employs: Not fashioning yourselves according to your former desires, in your ignorance. The idea is that of constructing the outward form of your life according to the inward scheme you have formed of it. And so, again, when he says, Be ye holy in all manner of conversation, it means, in every turn of your conduct, in deeds as well as words; let your outcoming be according to the perfect law of your nature. Words, actions, are simply the covering, habitation, exuded from ones soul which shows clearly what the soul is-its character, tone, refinement, thought, feeling, purposes, life. Every instant we are thus giving out from ourselves and proclaiming to those who are by us what we are. And when I say this, I do not forget that a great deal of what we say and do is done according to custom and etiquette of the set of people amongst whom we live. Very few live according to the pure, free, spontaneous impulses of their own nature. But, then, it must be remembered that these social usages of thought and expression have entered into and become a part of our inner being before they get themselves outwardly observed by us. You mingle, for example, with coarse people; their coarseness, sooner or later, consciously or unconsciously, insinuates itself into your soul; then you fall into coarse ways; that is, the coarseness your soul has grown into, comes out in coarse words and manners. Or, let us hope, you associate with refined people; the influences of their refinement purify your soul, and it, too, becomes refined; the manners, morals, modes of life which you henceforth exhibit become, of necessity, the expression of that refinement. A noble soul puts its nobleness into the smaller acts of its life as well as into the greatest: two sentences will disclose the want of order in an illogical mind; Divine love radiates its tenderness through the simplest expression; the pure soul indicates its purity by the kind of its response to purity and coarseness, as the thermometer responds to heat and cold. The only way of being good, pure, noble, holy in the high Anglo-Saxon sense of the word, is to have the soul filled with truth and goodness, and then act from the inward impulses freely. Schematise, fashion your outward life by the plastic energy of your own soul.
2. Secondly, I think this text intimates the progressive character of holiness in each individual. A past and a future are referred to; the present is the transition point from the one to the other. In the past, the outward life was fashioned by ignorance, or rather, in ignorance; now, knowledge is to take its place, and a higher ideal is to give the model of the conversation. Yet, observe, as much as the writer supposes his hearers to have risen above that former state, it was one of comparative evil rather than of positive-of privative knowledge rather than absolute ignorance. However high the attainments of today, and however pure the life of today may seem, when the higher knowledge and life of tomorrow come, we shall look back upon all we have attained today, as today we look back upon what we were yesterday. The youth at sixteen or seventeen thinks himself a man, and laughs at the childishness of ten years ago. When he has grown to forty or fifty years he will look back upon his present age as that of his boyhood. And so it always happens that our past seems to us folly, weakness, evil, in the light of the grace we have now reached. But that just leads the thoughtful to see how the past belongs to the present, and forms an essential part of it, containing within itself the rudiments of all that is truest and best in us now.
3. But thirdly, we have here given to us the primal condition of this increasing holiness; namely, the setting before us of a perfect ideal. As He calling you is the holy One, be ye holy in all forms and turns of your life, for it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Now, you will observe, this is quite accordant with all I have said about the holiness being dependent upon, not an outward rule, but an inward principle. For, although correctly, God is set before us as the pattern, type or object with which we are to conform ourselves in holiness, yet, clearly, it is not God existing outwardly and beyond ourselves, but as He is known to, and conceived in our own minds. The outward revelation of God must be construed to the mind in the form of its own ideas, before it can possibly produce the least spiritual effect upon the soul. And that is true, whether the revelation be given in nature or in books. And now, consider a little the principle that it is the forming of higher ideals which is the one primal condition of progress in holiness. You can never rise above your own thoughts, that is certain. There is nothing which you have out of which anything higher and better could come; you are kept down to that level by a law harder than fate. Ex nihilo nihil fit. Blessed are those who can realise their thoughts to the full! For, whilst it is true that we cannot rise higher than our ideals, our thoughts, it is not true that we can always rise as high. The reverse is the truth. We never can shape the material on which we work so readily as we shape our thoughts. The thing done is never so true and good and beautiful as the idea we had of it. Sometimes the fault lies in the unshapeable, unplastic materials. More often with the untrained, disobedient hand, or other powers with which we do the work. What Divine songs our fancies, for instance, sometimes sing, and how they get never sung by the unmanageable organs of speech! What fame some artists would have, if the hand could but create the idealised picture or sculpture! And all this is still more true of the moral qualities of things, for in them we meet with more hindrances to realisation. We picture goodness, which a little passing appetite is strong enough to mar in operation, We idealise justice, and the chance of some palpable advantage causes the idea to get sadly distorted when it comes out in deeds. Wonderful and mysterious is that plastic power of the soul! as it thinks of Divine things it becomes Divine, and forthwith the divineness spreads through words and deeds; and although in spreading the divineness becomes diffused, attenuated, yet it is divineness still, which, radiating through, glorifies the character, and, in proportion to the fulness of the original thought, renders the outward life Divine. Wonderful power! mirroring Thine, great Father, Thou supernal power of all, who clothest Thyself with this universe wrought out of Thine eternal ideas-ever energising the forms of beauty and life we dimly see around-dimly see, because not for us, the finite, is it to comprehend Thine infinite thoughts. But as we comprehend and rise in our conceptions of Him-as more and more our souls conceive truly and fully goodness, love, the perfect life to which we are called and of which we are capable-it issues forth into the conversation, the character, the moulding and turning of words and deeds; and we become holy as the Holy One is holy. (James Cranbrook.)
Holiness
I. Holiness: what is it?
1. Holiness does not consist in bodily austerities, or in ritual observances. This view of it has widely prevailed among men; for it is the natural result of that dislike of true holiness by which they are universally characterised, when associated with the conviction that holiness of some kind is indispensable with their acceptance with God.
2. Holiness has been identified with mere external morality. This defective view of it prevails among the worldly minded, as the false view already considered is cherished and acted on by the superstitious.
3. In what, then, does true holiness consist?
(1) The words of God, Be ye holy, for I am holy, obviously imply that holiness consists in resemblance to God, or in conformity to His moral character. God is holy-infinitely and unchangeably holy.
(2) Though holiness consists in resemblance to God, something more specific than the mere statement of this truth is requisite to give you a clear conception of its nature. In order to this, you must not only know how God thinks and feels and acts; but, seeing that the position which you occupy as creatures is widely different from that which belongs to Him as the Creator, and different, too, in many respects from that which is occupied by other creatures whose nature is dissimilar to that of man, you must be able to apply your knowledge of the thoughts and sentiments and conduct of God to your own condition and circumstances. The means of doing so has been provided; for His law-under which term in this statement the whole revelation of His will respecting human duty, contained in Scripture, must be regarded as included-is an expression of His own excellence, a declaration of the manner in which the moral perfections that compose His character must operate when communicated to creatures who sustain the relations to Him and to one another which are sustained by you.
(3) But the intimation that the likeness to God which constitutes true holiness denotes conformity in heart and life to His revealed wilt, is not all that is necessary to enable you to form a clear and accurate conception of the nature of holiness. You must be aware of what is implied in conformity to the Divine law. It contains both prohibitions and commands; it tells you both what you should shun, and what you ought to do. Now, the injunction, Be ye holy, requires conformity to the law of God in both these departments; and none but he who hates and avoids whatever it condemns and forbids, and who loves and practises whatever it commends and enjoins, is a holy person.
II. Holiness: why should we seek it?
1. You should seek holiness as an appropriate means of testifying gratitude to God for the blessings of His salvation.
2. You should seek holiness as an appropriate means of ascertaining and attesting your interest in Gods salvation.
3. You should seek holiness as an appropriate means of securing present happiness. The possession of it imparts release from the distressing doubts and fearful apprehensions with respect to futurity which harass the ungodly, and gives that persuasion of interest in Gods favour, and that hope of eternal blessedness, which communicate a peace that passeth all understanding, and a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.
4. You should seek holiness as an appropriate means of recommending religion, and thereby advancing the glory of God.
5. You should seek holiness as an appropriate means of preparing you for the happiness of heaven, and thus insuring your reception of it.
III. Holiness: how may we acquire it? The acquisition of holiness is in Scripture made the subject both of exhortation and of prayer. Being made a subject of prayer, holiness must be regarded as a privilege, or blessing, communicated to men by God. In harmony with this view of it, the work of their sanctification, both in its commencement and in its progress, is attributed to the powerful operation of the Divine Spirit. But while the Scriptures declare that holiness is a Divine gift, imparted to men by the efficacious operation of the Holy Spirit, and, on this ground, a proper subject of prayer and thanksgiving, they also teach certain important truths in regard to the operations of the Spirit as the Sanctifier, which show that the acquisition of holiness may appropriately be made the subject of exhortation and injunction. That the acquisition of holiness is a duty incumbent on men; that they ought not merely to pray for it, but to strive after it, is a truth very plainly taught in the word of revelation-a truth which no man who searches the Scriptures with an unbiased mind will hesitate to receive.
1. Release from the curse of the law and reconciliation to God are an indispensable prerequisite to the operations of the Spirit as the Sanctifier.
2. The operations of the Spirit as the Sanctifier do not supersede activity on the part of the subjects of them. They are created anew. But the change effected on them in this new creation does not destroy the powers or faculties which constitute them voluntary agents. Ii only gives a new direction to their activity; and hence, though the continued operation of the Spirit is necessary to preserve and strengthen the principle of spiritual life which has been implanted in them, yet its actings are the actings, not of the Spirit, but of the individuals to whom it has been imparted.
3. The truth revealed to us in Scripture is the means or instrument employed by the Spirit in all His operations as the Sanctifier. As His agency does not supersede human activity, so, in imparting to them the earnest desires, the ability, and the direction which are necessary to the acquisition of holiness, He always makes use of the disclosures of the mind and will of God contained in the word of revelation
4. The operations of the Spirit as the Sanctifier are the result of prayer-of earnest, believing prayer. The atoning sacrifice of Christ has opened a channel through which the influences of the Spirit may be communicated to men, in consistency with the holiness of the Divine character, the honour of the Divine law, and the rectitude and stability of the Divine administration. (D. Duncan.)
On being holy
Hence this command to be holy requires that we bring ourselves into a moral adjustment to God and our entire moral duty.
I. Why should we be holy?
II. What are the reasons of this requirement?
1. We cannot but require it of ourselves. Our own nature irresistibly demands it of us-his own individual conscience of every moral agent. He knows he ought to, and therefore, by a necessity as strong as his own nature, he must become holy, or fail of peace and conscious self-approval. No moral agent can respect himself unless he is holy. Need I urge that self-respect is a thing of very great importance? Few are fully aware how very important self-respect is to themselves and to others, This form of self-respect pertains to our relations to this world and to society. But suppose a moral agent in like manner to lose his self-respect towards God. How fearful must be the influence of this loss on his heart! How reckless of moral rectitude he becomes in all that pertains to his Maker!
2. Another reason why we should be holy is, that God requires it of us. He has made us in His own image; and therefore, for the same reasons that make Him require holiness of Himself, He must require it of us. He requires us to be holy because He cannot make us happy unless we will become holy.
Remarks:
1. Sinners know they are not holy.
2. The hope that unconverted people often have that they shall be saved, is utterly without foundation.
3. Many who know they must become holy, are yet very ignorant of the way in which they are to become so. Having begun in the Spirit, they try to become perfect in the flesh.
4. Pardon without holiness is impossible, in this sense: that the heart must turn from its sins to God before it can be forgiven.
5. The command to be holy implies the practicability of becoming so.
6. Christs promises and relations to His people imply a pledge of all the help we need. The entire gospel scheme is adapted to men-not in the sense of conniving at their weakness, but of really helping them out of it.
7. God sympathises with every honest effort we make to become holy.
8. If we become partakers of His holiness, we are made sure of the river of His pleasures!
9. All men will sometimes feel the necessity of this holiness. In some cases it is felt most deeply.
10. There is no rest short of being holy. Many try to find rest in something less, but they are sure to fail.
11. Many insanely suppose that when they come to die, they shall be sanctified and prepared for heaven.
12. No man has any right to hope unless he is really committed to holiness, and in all honesty and earnestness intends to live so. (C. G. Finney.)
Holiness repugnant to sin
True holiness hath a repugnancy and contrariety to all sin. It is not contrary to sin because it is open and manifest, because it is private and secret, but to sin as sin, whether public or private, because both one and the other are contrary to Gods will and glory, as it is with true light, though it be but a beam, yet it is universally opposed to all darkness; or as it is with heat, though there be but one degree of it, yet it is opposite to all cold; so if the holiness be true and real, it cannot comply with any known sin. You can never reconcile them in the affections; they may have an unwilling consistence in the person, but you can never make them agree in the affection. (Obadiah Sedgwick.)
How to become holy
There is only one way of becoming holy as God is; and it is the obvious one of opening the entire being to the all-pervading presence of the Holy One. None of us can acquire holiness apart from God. It dwells in God alone. Holiness is only possible as the souls possession of God; nay, better still, as Gods possession of the soul. It never can be inherent, or possessed apart from the Divine fulness, any more than a river can flow on if it is cut off from its fountain head. We are holy up to the measure in which we are God possessed. The least holy man is he who shuts God up to the strictest confinement, and to the narrowest limits of his inner being; curtaining Him off from daily life by heavy curtains of neglect and unbelief. He is holier who more carefully denies self, and who seeks a larger measure of Divine indwelling. The holiest is the man who yields himself most completely to be influenced, swayed, possessed, inspired by that Spirit who longs to make us to the fullest extent partakers of the Divine nature. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Holy in all manner of conversation
The demand is, Be holy in all manner of conversation. The meaning is, in all your intercourse with men, in every turning of your history. At home, or abroad; with your own family, or in presence of strangers; at work, or enjoying relaxation; at church, or in the market; wherever you may be, or however employed-let lips and life be holiness to the Lord. A life is like a stream issuing from a mountain lake. The water cannot be of different colours at different places. It cannot be pure at one spot and turbid a few yards further on. If the fountain is transparent, the outflowing stream will be clear over all its breadth. The holiness that is put on, as suitable at certain times and in certain places, is not holiness; it is hypocrisy. When the streams of a life, as they disperse themselves over the individual history, are found, like the waters of Jericho, to be all bitter, it is not possible, by any medicament, to sweeten portions of them here and there, where travellers may be expected to taste them. There is only one way of cure: a certain salt must be cast into the spring, and then all the water that flows over its brim will be wholesome-all wholesome alike. (W. Arnot.)
Likeness to God
To change our physical relation to God, of absolute dependence and incommensurable littleness, is no more possible than for the wave to become the ocean; but just as the same laws that sway the masses of the sea also trace the ripple and shape the spray, so may the very same Divine principles, the same preferences, the same constancy which belong to the spiritual life of God, reappear in the tiny currents of our will, and even the very play and sparkle of our affections. It is but the affectation of humility or the dislike of noble claims that can make us shrink from our affinity with the Father and Inspirer of all souls. (J. Martineau, LL. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v13 Chapter 4
Chapter 4
THE CHRISTIANS IDEAL, AND THE STEPS THEREUNTO
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1Pe_1:13-21
THE Apostle, who has set forth the character of the Christians election, who has given to the converts large assurance for the hope which he exhorts them to hold, who has proclaimed the exceeding glory of their inheritance in the future and how its nature had been foreshadowed in type and prophecy, now turns to those practical lessons which he would enforce from the doctrines of election and of future glory in heaven. Such glorious privileges cannot be looked forward to without awakening a sense of corresponding duties, and for these he would not have them unprepared. "Wherefore," he says, because you have the assurance of what the best men of old only dimly foresaw, "girding up the loins of your mind, be sober." The Apostle has in mind the words of his Master, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning; and be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their lord". {Luk_12:35-36} The advent of the bridegroom may be sudden; those who would be of his train must be prepared for their summons. To be girt in body is a token of readiness for coming duty. And St. Peters figure would speak more forcibly to Eastern ears than it does to ours. Without such girding the Oriental is helpless for active work, the encumbrance of his flowing robes being fatal to exertion. The heart of the Christian must be untrammeled with the cares, the affections, the pleasures of the world. He must be free to run the race which lies before him, as was the well-girt prophet who ran before the royal chariot to the entrance of Jezreel.
And the Christian life is no light care, as St. Peter pictures it. First, he says, "Be sober." To train the mind to exercise self-restraint is no easy duty at any time, but specially in a season of religious excitement. We know how converts in the very earliest days of Christianity were carried into excesses both in action and in word; and in every age of quickened activity some have been found with whom freedom degenerated into license, and emotion took the place of true religious feeling. The Jewish converts in the provinces of Asia might be tempted to despise those who still clung to the ancient faith, while some of those who had been won from heathenism might by their conduct alienate rather than win their brethren in Christ. We gather what was the nature of the peril when we find the Apostle {1Pe_4:7} urging this sobriety as a frame of mind to be cultivated even in their prayers, and St. Paul in his advice to Timothy combining the exhortation to sobriety with "suffer hardship; do the work of an evangelist." {2Ti_4:5} It is the frame of mind meet for the maintenance of sound doctrine, utterly opposed to those itching ears which are only satisfied with teaching according to their own lusts. Fitly therefore does our Apostle add to his first exhortation a second which will make the believers steadfast: "Set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you." In those early days this counsel was not always easy to follow. There were many enticements to wavering, many trials which made the firm hold on strong faith difficult to maintain. And with the "perfectly" must be combined that other sense of the word "to the end." The hope must be perfect in its nature, unshaken in its firmness, persuaded of the certainty of the future grace, and strengthened in that persuasion by the experience of the present working of the Spirit. But the language of the Apostle almost anticipates the future. He says not so much that the grace is "to be brought," but rather that it is even now "being brought" near and coming ever nearer; for the revelation of Jesus Christ is progressive. Though we learn something, it is only so much as teaches us that there is more still to learn of the boundless stores of grace. But as in a former verse he spake of believers as having already by faith their salvation in possession, even such is his language here. And mark his lesson on the free gift of Gods grace. It is not a blessing to which the believer can attain of his own power. He can hope for it; he can feel assured that God in His own time will bestow it. But whenever it comes, either as present grace to help in trial, or future grace which shall be revealed, it is given, brought, bestowed; and its full fruition will only be reached "at the revelation of Jesus Christ." But assuredly these words may be applied to this life as well as to the next. He who said, "The Holy Spirit shall take of Mine and declare it unto you," designs to be ever more and more revealed in the hearts of His followers. His grace is being brought to them day by day, and trains continually unto obedience those who have been sprinkled with His blood.
And this obedience is the next precept for which they are to be made ready by the girding up of the loins of their minds, "as children of obedience," the obedience not of slaves, but of sons. Children they are become by virtue of the new birth, and obedience it is which gives them a claim upon Gods Fatherhood. They must seek for the docility and trustfulness of the childlike character; they must accept a law other than their own wills, having taken upon them the yoke of Christ and aiming, in the light of His example, to become worthy of being reckoned among His true followers.
When they contemplate their own lives, they must feel that a mighty change is needed from what they were aforetime. St. Peters words mark the completeness of the needed change: "not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts." In time past they had sought no further for a guide and pattern than their own perverted desires; now they must school themselves to say, "Do with me as Thou wilt, for I am Thine." And He whose grace has begotten them again will help them to frame their lives by His rule, will have them learn of Him. But while the Apostle dwells on the difference which must come over the lives of these converts, mark the wondrous charity with which he alludes to their former life in error. "In the time of your ignorance," he says. Even here he follows the example of the Lord, who prayed in His agony, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Sin blinds the moral and the mental vision too, and men so blinded sink deeper and deeper into the slough, while he who has learnt Christ has gained another source of light. But, to raise the ignorant, they must be taught; and tenderness makes teaching most effective, and charity dictates the apostolic words. So St. Paul at Athens to those who worshipped an unknown God offered instruction to win them from their ignorance, and pointed them to a God whose offspring they were, and to whose likeness they might be conformed.
Just so does St. Peter: "Like as He who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living." This has been Gods call from the first day until now, but what a hopeless height is this for the sinner to aim after, holy as God is holy! Yet it is the standard which Christ sets before us in the Sermon on the Mount: "Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." And why does He propose to us that which is impossible? Because with the command He is ready to supply the power. He knows our frailty; knows what is in man both of strength and weakness. At the same time He proclaims to us by this command what God intends to make of us. He will restore us again to His own likeness. That which was Gods at first shall be made Gods once more. The marred image, on which not even the superscription can be traced, shall again be revealed in full clearness, and the believer purged from all the defilements of sin by the grace and help of Him who says, "Be ye perfect," because He loves to make us so. "Because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy." This command comes down to us from the earliest days of the Law. But in those old times it could not be said, "in all manner of living." These words betoken the loftier standard of the New Testament. The patriarchs and prophets and the people among whom they lived were trained, and could only be trained, little by little. Even in the best among them we cannot hope for holiness in all manner of living. It was only by the types and figures of external purification that their thoughts were directed to the inner cleansing of the heart, and long generations passed before the lessons were learnt, The full sense of the Fatherhood of God was not attained under the Law, nor did men under it learn fully to live as children of obedience, children of a Father who loves and will succor every effort which they make to walk according to His law. The Incarnation has brought God nearer to man, and on this relationship of love the Apostle grounds his further exhortation:
"And if ye call on Him as Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to each mans work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear."
But the fear which St. Peter means is a fear which grows out of love, a fear to grieve One who is so abundant in mercy. Who can call on God as Father but the children of obedience? About the Fathers will and His power to make you holy there need be no fear. He has called men and bidden them strive after holiness. The way is steep, but they will not be unattended. What fear then of failing to attain the goal? For the Father will also be the Judge. And here is the ground for eternal hope and thankfulness, which the Apostle expresses in words akin to those which he used in the house of Cornelius: "Now I see that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him." Yes, this is the fear which God looks for, not a paralyzing dread which checks all effort and kills out all hope. Our Judge knows that our work will be full of faults, but fear of Him must nerve us to make the endeavor. It is not what men do, the feeble sum of their performance that He regards. The way, the spirit, the motive, from which it is wrought- these will be the ground of our Fathers judgment. Hence the Gospel is a message for all the world alike. The poor and lowly, to whom no great deeds are possible, may through it live a life of hope. It is not great gifts poured into the treasury from an abundant store that have value in His eyes, but the gifts which come with a hearts sacrifice-these are precious indications, and receive the blessing, "They have done what they could." And Gods children are to look on their life as no more than a brief pilgrimage. It is a time of sojourning, in which the small occurrences are of little account. Earth is to the Christian, what Egypt wag of old to the Hebrews, no home, but a place of trial and oppression of the enemy. God will bring His children forth, even as He did of old. But the dread to be most entertained is lest the many attractions should, like the fleshpots of the history, win the affection of the pilgrims, and make them not unwilling to linger in the house of bondage and to think lightly of peril which surrounds them there. The great preservative from this danger is to revive constantly the thought of the great things which have been done for us. Be in fear of the world and its beguilements, says St. Peter, "knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers." The redemption price is paid, has been paid for all men. Shall any then be willing to tarry in their slavery? Ye were redeemed. The work is complete. "It is finished," was the last sigh of the dying Lord, who before had testified that His true disciples might be of good cheer, because He had overcome the world.
But in the hearts of men the world and its allurements die very hard. The men for whom St. Peter wrote would surely find this so. They had many of them lived long either under Judaism or in heathendom, and would be surrounded still by friends and kinsmen who clung to the ancient teaching and customs. Prejudices were sure to abound, and the ties of blood in such cases are very strong, as we know ourselves from mission experience in India. The Apostle speaks of their manner of life as handed down from their fathers. He may have had in his thought the corruption of the human race from the sin of our first parents. Generation after generation has been involved in the consequences of that primal transgression. But he probably thought rather of the converts from idolatry and the life which they had led in their days of ignorance. Of Gods covenant with the chosen people, though now it was abolished, St. Peter would hardly speak as a vain manner of life. But to the worship of the heathen the word might fitly be applied. Paul and Barnabas entreat the crowd at Lystra, who would have done sacrifice to them. as to their gods, to turn from these vanities to serve the living God; {Act_14:15} and to the Ephesians St. Paul writes that they should no longer walk, as the other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind. {Eph_4:17} The parents of such men, having themselves no knowledge, could impart none to their children, could not lift them higher, could not make them purer; and yet the ties of natural affection would plead strongly for what had been held right by their fathers for generations.
But the price which has been paid for their ransom may convince them how precious they are in the eyes of a Father in heaven. They are redeemed "with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot," even the blood of Christ. For ages the offering of sacrifices had kept before the minds of Israel the need of a redemption, but they could do no more. The blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer suffice only to the purifying of the flesh, and can never take away sin. But now the true fountain is opened, and St. Peter has learnt, and bears witness, what was the meaning of the words of Jesus, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me". {Joh_13:8} The door of mercy is opened, that by the knowledge of such wondrous love the hearts of men may be opened also.
And this counsel of God has been from all eternity. Christ "was foreknown before the foundation of the world" as the Lamb to be offered for human redemption. The world and its history form but a tiny fragment of Gods mighty works, and yet for mankind a plan so overflowing with love was included in the vision of Jehovah before man or his home had existence except in the Divine mind. Now by the Incarnation the secret counsel is brought to light, and the foretokenings of type and prophecy receive their interpretation. "He was manifested at the end of the times for your sake." He was made flesh, and tabernacled among men; He showed by the signs which He wrought that He was the Savior drawing near to them that they might draw near unto Him. His lifting up on the cross spake of the true healing of the souls of all who would look unto Him. And when death had done its work upon the human body, He was manifested more thoroughly as the beloved Son of God by His resurrection from the grave. The first Christians felt that Gods work was now complete, salvation secured. It is not unnatural therefore that they should expect the drama of the worlds history soon to be closed. For the Master had not seldom spoken of the coming of a speedy judgment. Hence the age in which they lived seemed to merit the name of "the end of the times." We now can see that the judgment of which Christ spake was wrought in great part by the overthrow of Jerusalem, though His words are still prospective, and will not find their entire fulfillment till the close of human history; and the whole Christian era may be intended and included in "the end of the times." This was the goal towards which Gods counsel had been moving since the world was made. No new revelation is to be looked for, and we who live in the light of Christs religion are those upon whom the ends of the world are come. In this sense the words may be applied in every age and to every generation of Christians. To them, as to St. Peters converts, the preacher may testify, "For your sakes" all this was planned and wrought, and may offer the ransom of the Savior to His people, assured that in this speck of time Christ is being manifested for their sake also. For "they through Him are believers in God," as the Lord Himself hath testified. "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me"; "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." The words are as true today as when Christ was upon earth. Since the Fall the glory and majesty of Jehovah have been unapproachable. Sin rendered man both unfit and unable to have the pure communion of the days of innocence. It was the vision of Jesus by faith which brought Abraham near to God and filled him with joy. And so with all the saints and prophets of the first covenant. They beheld Him, but it was afar off. They greeted the maturing promises, but only as strangers and pilgrims upon earth. To the Asian converts and to us also the testimony of St. Peter and his fellows is from those who beheld the glory of God as it was manifested in Christ, who saw Him when raised from the dead, and watched His ascent into the glory of heaven. And by such witness faith in what God has wrought is confirmed. We are sure that He raised Christ from the dead; we are sure that He has received Him into glory: and thus through all generations the faith and hope of Christians are sustained and rest unshaken upon God.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv13–17 13–16. Gird up the loins of your mind. A…
13–16. Gird up the loins of your mind. A figure drawn from the custom of girding the loins when about to start on a journey. So the Christian must prepare himself as on a journey. Be sober. Let there be sobriety of spirit. Hope to the end. Never let the glow of your hope cease until the great consummation, when Christ comes.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv13, 17 1Pe_1:13. Be sober.—The word suggests a sobriety of the…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
1Pe_1:13. Be sober.—The word suggests a sobriety of the Nazarite type. To the end.—Margin, perfectly; hope with a hope that lacks nothing of completeness.
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1Pe_1:14. Obedient children.—Lit. “children of obedience.” Read “lusts which were formerly yours in the time of your ignorance”—before the first revelation of Christ was made to you. It is implied that the ignorance is the mother of the lusts. The words are quite as applicable to unregenerate Jews as to unregenerate Gentiles.
1Pe_1:15. Conversation.—Behaviour, conduct; turning about in daily relationships; moving to and fro with others. Swift is the first writer who limits the word to talking. Read the first clause of the verse: “After the pattern of the Holy One who called you.”
1Pe_1:16. Be ye holy.—Or future “Ye shall be holy,” but with the force of an imperative. For application to Jewish nation see Lev_11:44; Lev_19:2; Lev_20:26.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Pe_1:13-16
Self Discipline.—Christian privilege ought always to act upon us as an inspiration to duty. But the first sphere of the Christian’s duty is himself, his own character, habits, and relationships. It never can be too constantly or too persuasively presented, that a Christian’s power lies first in what he is. The service a renewed man can render, and is called to render, is the service of his own cultured self. “Among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.” “Ye are the salt of the earth.” St. Peter has in mind, however, not only the duty of self-discipline, but the security that lies in it. The Christian who is diligently attentive to spiritual self-culture is guarded round, and protected safely from all the assaults of evil. Too much engaged, too interestedly occupied, to be overborne by any outward circumstances of persecution or trial. It may further be said that, in a well-ordered self-discipline the Christian finds so much personal pleasure that he is fully compensated for all losses of worldly pleasure which the self-culture may involve. Christian self-discipline is here seen to include:—
I. Bracing up.—“Girding up the loins of your mind.” To His disciples our Lord gave the same counsel. “Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning” (Luk_12:35). The figure is a familiar one, but it is more forcible when associated with the long, flowing garments of the East. The loose dress had to be turned up and bound round the waist, when active exertion was required. Thus, Elijah is said to have girded up his loins when he ran before the chariot of Ahab from Carmel to Jezreel (1Ki_18:46), and the Lord required Job to “gird up his loins like a man,” to listen to His sublime response (Job_38:3). In modern times athletes brace up, or gird, the body before exertion. What is represented in the moral sphere we can well understand. There is a resolute dealing with ourselves in the face of difficulties—to use a familiar expression, a “pulling of ourselves together”—which enables us to present a strong front to the adversary, and to endure what may involve serious strain. Something of this severe self-dealing is indicated in the psalmist’s expression, “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed.” “I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” Illustration may be taken from the soldiers in an enemy’s country, and on some dangerous expedition. Day and night they keep fully attired and armed, get what sleep they can beside their horses, ready at any moment to spring into the saddle—always braced up. The “loins of the mind” are the resolves and purposes. They keep the mind occupied, and brace it up for its duty. A striking instance of bracing up the loins of the mind, and standing four square to every temptation and every foe, may be found in Joshua, who was strong, and could say, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
II. Self-restraint.—“Be sober.” Temperate in all things. Weakness attends upon excess in anything, partly because a rebound is sure to follow it, and all rebounds are perilous; partly because every excess tends to repeat itself, and the repetition involves entire loss of self-control. Moderation is essential to Christian virtue; and it has its application in the religious as well as the moral spheres. This, however, is seldom wisely insisted on, and many religious persons actually lose their power of self-restraint by excess in religious meetings, duties, and services. Self-restraint needs to be cultured in relation to everything. Physical health depends on our working up to, but never beyond, the limit of our powers, and so does moral health. But it is more practically helpful to show that each individual will find some particular sphere in which he is called to “be sober.” And the mastery of himself in that particular thing will be found a triumph which carries with it his easy restraining and ruling of all other things. It may be shown that we all need to win the power of self-restraint in relation to the “lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life.” And the evils into which the unrestrained man falls may be vigorously described, as a warning against neglecting self-culture.
III. Trust in provision and promise.—“Set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you.” It is possible to present the duty of self-restraint only on its sterner side, as the resolute mastery of tendencies that are evil. And doing this may give a severer view of the Christian life than is necessary. Self-culture is the nourishing of the good. There is the call to self-restraint that we may win good, as well as that we may control evil. St. Peter would have those he addressed master all depression, and fear, and indifference, and so set the Christian hope before them, that they should always be working towards its attainment. He really speaks of the grace that is “being brought” day by day, and not of some grace that is “to be brought” some one day. But it involves self-restraint for us to loosen the self-confidence so that we may wisely trust.
IV. Distinct aim at holiness.—“Be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living.” Our Lord set this aim before His disciples. “Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Self-discipline needs a pattern, a standard. It cannot be intelligent; it will not be wisely directed; it cannot hope to reach an effective result;—unless a man sees what he is restraining, disciplining himself unto. He is working at himself, at his moral character and relations; but to what end, after what pattern? When he has done his self-culturing work, what does he expect to be? Holiness, as God’s holiness, is the distinctly Christian aim, and it is the aim of no other religion besides Christianity. Holiness is more than cleanness and fitness of relations. It is an inward state of mind and feeling which ensures that the relations must be pure and right. And it is purity with a bloom on it, that makes it attractive, and gives it a peculiar power of influence. But it is practical, not dreamy and sentimental; and therefore St. Peter says, “Be ye holy in all manner of conversation”; holy in all the turning about, all the associations, of life. That tone on all life would in the most marked way distinguish the Jewish Christians from the older Jews, and from all the heathen world around them.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
1Pe_1:13. Girding the Loins of the Mind.—The figure is Oriental. The Orientals wore a loose and flowing robe, which, dangling about the feet, hindered swift, straight motion. When they would move quickly and with precision, they must needs gather the trailing garment into the girdle about the waist. You remember how the children of Israel were commanded to eat the passover. The passover was the door of their deliverance. The lamb, slain, and roasted whole, they were to eat. How? Standing, with travelling-staff in hand, with loins girded. A journey was before them, They were to go forth from Egypt. On that journey no trailing robes were to hold them back. A definite aim was theirs—to leave Egypt, and march toward freedom and nationality. They were to be harnessed toward that aim. Robes, trailing, flowing down and out, catching at stones, sweeping up sticks—robes to be trodden on, and so the cause of stumbling—might do for the smooth floors of Pharaoh’s palace, might do for the even paths about their villages; but they would not do for men on the march. With girded loins they were to go forth. So, before these Christians to whom Peter wrote, there was an aim. They were to be sober, to hope to the end, to be obedient children, to refuse to live after the fashion of their former heathen lusts; they were to be holy, since He who had called them was holy. A shining and gracious aim was theirs. And there was but one way for them to reach it; wherefore toward this aim gird up the loins of your minds, says the apostle. Thoughts, loose and wandering; thoughts heedlessly trailing over this thing and that; allowed imaginings of your former heathen lusts; the robes of your minds unbound, and let down to flow over whatever they may list;—such ungirded thoughts will be as hindering to you, O Christians, as would have been the loose robes of the Israelites on their desert march. Girded thoughts are what you need. All this is very close and practical. Here is a young man who has come to the consciousness of life’s meaning and solemnity. “Ah,” he says, “I must be sober; I must take for my life a strong and noble aim.” But how may the young man make real and actual such aim? Here our Scripture comes in. By girded thought, not by thoughts loose and wandering.
1. What ungirds thoughts?
(1) Pleasure as an end for life ungirds them. Duty is the sacrifice for the great altar of the life, and pleasure—recreation—is to come in only as it helps us lay that sacrifice more constantly and worthily upon that holy place.
(2) Aimless and frivolous reading ungirds thoughts.
(3) Bad associations, also, ungird thoughts.
(4) Neglected Bibles and neglected secret prayers ungird thoughts.
(5) Carelessness of attendance on religious services ungirds thoughts.
(6) Sunday secular newspapers ungird thoughts.
2. What girds thoughts?
(1) A high and determined purpose girds them.
(2) Quick decisions for the Right gird thoughts.
(3) Love for the true and good girds thoughts. The best and most helpful girdle for the thoughts is passionate devotion to the personal Christ.—Anon.
Spiritual Sobriety.—This injunction may refer inferentially to the practice of temperance as commonly understood; but its significance and scope are much deeper and wider than that. Writing of the surpassing excellence of that great salvation of which prophets had prophesied, into which angels desired to look, which had really been made known by the Spirit of God (1Pe_1:12), Peter urges his readers to “gird up the loins of their mind”—i.e., to call forth all their spiritual resources, that they may understand and appreciate it; he then bidsthem “be sober”—i.e., exercise in this great matter a sound judgment, command themselves, not to be led to harmful extremes, or give way to illusions that would disappoint them, but maintain a manly, intelligent, healthful self-restraint. Doing this, they might “set their hope perfectly” [to the fullest possible limit] “on the grace that was being brought unto them at the revelation of Jesus Christ”—i.e., they might confidently expect the largest and richest blessings which the manifestation of the grace of Christ was fitted to bring with it. We may strive and we may look for the greatest good, the fullest prosperity, in connection with the gospel, but at the same time we must cherish and exercise spiritual sobriety.
I. In the acceptance of Christian doctrine.—
1. The Church at Thessalonica had a strong hold on the doctrine of the second coming of Christ. “The coming of the Lord draweth nigh” was its watchword, its prevailing thought. It had a right to anticipate the hour when there would be another manifestation of its Lord. But it fell into insobriety of thought and of conduct in this matter. Its members thought that, as Jesus Christ might appear among them at any hour, they need not concern themselves with the ordinary duties of life, with provision for its bodily necessities; and they began to be “disorderly.” They had to be rebuked by the apostle Paul (2 Thessalonians 3), and summoned to be sober in doctrine and in deed.
2. The Church of Corinth had an unusual share of “gifts,” particularly of this “gift of tongues.” The members of that Church had a perfect right to make the most of its possession. But they were bound to hold their special powers in subordination to the great ends of glorifying Christ, and of edifying one another. This they did not do; they were not taking a sober view of the subject, and had to be corrected (1 Corinthians 14).
3. It is a distinct Christian doctrine that we must be “separate” from the world; that while in it we are not to be of it. But the hermits of the earlier time, and the monks and nuns and the ascetics of a later, and of the present, time, fell into sad insobriety when they sought to retire altogether from the engagements and relationships of human life. Painful facts have superabundantly proved that we cannot decline what our heavenly Father offers us without doing ourselves harm rather than good. On the other hand, proof abounds on every side that in accepting the joys and filling the spheres which open to us in the providence of God, we may “walk holily, righteously, and blamelessly,” and adorn the doctrine of our Saviour in all things. It is the sober view of separateness from the world which is the right, wise, Christian one.
4. That “we are justified by faith” is according to Scripture. By faith in Jesus Christ we have access to the grace of God; believing on Him we have eternal life. But when men say, as they have said, that when we have once believed, and been restored to the favour of God, we cannot forfeit His friendship by any folly, or even by any sin, they fall into the gravest spiritual insobriety; they push certain statements to an extreme, and they fall into dangerous, even destructive, error.
5. We are sanctified by the Spirit of God. When we have returned unto God and been received by Him, there remains much in us that has to be removed from us; there is much absent from us that has to be gained by us. We are not “complete in Him.” The process of spiritual completion is the work of the Divine Spirit. But when it is maintained, as it has been, that if we only give our hearts to Him, and invite His entrance, and make entire surrender of ourselves, we may be instantaneously lifted up to the full height of holiness, then the mistake is made of not “being sober” in thought and in belief. Christian maturity is a growth; it is the gradual upbuilding ourselves on our holy faith; it is the result of a strenuous struggle; it is the consummation of a wise and true Christian course; it is the blessed consequence of daily prayer, of the continual reception into our minds of the thoughts of God, of much fellowship with Jesus Christ, of the wise use of all forms of Christian privilege, of active work in the field of sacred usefulness, of the lighter and also the severer discipline of the Lord of our life, of the wise Father of our spirit. That is the “sober” view, strongly substantiated by Scripture, constantly confirmed by the experience of the good.
II. In the regulation of Christian life.
III. In the nourishment of Christian character.—There is a kind of spiritual sustenance which is pleasant “to the flesh,” but which is dangerous, if not delusive; it is that of perpetual religious excitement; the reading of those books, and the hearing of those sermons, which make an almost unbroken appeal to the imagination. This cannot be said to be taking milk (1Co_3:2), but drinking champagne. If we would build up a robust and fruitful Christian character we must eat the “strong meat” of Divine truth, which informs the mind, which enlarges the view, which braces the will, which sustains and strengthens the soul. There is much occasion here for attention to the apostolic admonition—be sober.—William Clarkson, B.A.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
1Pe_1:16. An African Figure of Holiness.—Dr. Livingstone once asked a Bechuana what he understood by the word “holiness” (foitsepho). He answered, “When copious showers have descended during the night, and all the earth and leaves and cattle are washed clean, and the sun rising shows a drop of dew on every blade of grass, and the air breathes fresh—that is holiness.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv13–14 13. “Therefore having girded up the loins of your…
ARGUMENT 4
MORTALITY AND SPIRITUALITY
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13. “Therefore having girded up the loins of your mind, being perfectly sober, hope unto the grace which is to be conferred upon you in the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Man is a trinity similitudinous to God. He has body, mind and spirit. The great bulk of theologians, since the Constantinian apostasy, have been dichotomists, i.e., dualists treating man as consisting of two natures instead of three, confounding mind and spirit. As the result of this heresy, mentalities are everywhere preached as a substitute for spiritualities. John Wesley was a staunch trichotomist, in harmony with Paul, Peter and other inspired writers. He fought the dichotomists all his life, little anticipating that within one hundred years the great majority of his Gospel sons would preach dichotomy. In ordinary parlance, soul, heart and spirit are synonymous, meaning the man himself in contradistinction to the mind and body, his servitors. When God said to Adam, “In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” He meant just what He said. He did not tell him his mind should die (in which case he would become idiotic), nor that his body should die (in which case he would become a corpse). Adam the immortal spirit did die, i.e., forfeit the life of God, and so remains till that life is restored in regeneration. Hence you see that total depravity (which means entirely deprived of spiritual life) only appertains to the spirit of Adam and not to his mind nor his body. Consequently great systems of religion prevail in the earth, consisting of materiality and mentality, utterly destitute of spirituality and equally devoid of salvation, for when you leave out the human spirit you eliminate the man, retrogressing toward brutality. The human spirit is constituted of the conscience, the will and the affections. The conscience was the only survivor of the fall, the voice of God still lingering in the soul of the vilest reprobate, true and faithful, taking God’s side against the sinner. The will, the king of the man, is on the devil’s side till turned over to God in conversion, after which it ever remains true to God, unless unfortunately turned back to the devil in apostasy. After conversion, hereditary evil still survives in the deep regions of the affections, until utterly extirpated in the glorious subsequent work of entire sanctification. The mind consists of the intellect, the judgment, the memory and the sensibilities. The popular gospel is mainly mentality, which is simply no gospel at all. Popular religion consists of morality, philanthropy, mentality and churchianity, all of which are utterly destitute of salvation, leaving the poor devotee to drop into hell. The true religion, while including all these things, is pure spirituality, begun, perpetuated and perfected in the heart by the Holy Ghost, bringing in the new life in regeneration, eliminating carnality in sanctification, then filling and flooding the soul. “Perfectly sober.” In this valuable passage, unfortunately the adverb “perfectly” is omitted in the English. Sin is the only thing that ever made the human soul drunk. When your soul receives entire sanctification, expurgating all original sin, then it is made “perfectly sober.” “Hope unto the grace which is to be conferred on you in the revelation of Jesus Christ.” In this verse we are commanded first to “gird up the loins of our minds” i.e., to use all the sense that God has given us to the best possible advantage. Then we are to reach perfect spiritual sobriety, which is none other than complete sanctification. Now, we have reached the attitude of preparation and expectancy of our Lord’s coming in His glorious kingdom. Then follows the positive commandment, “Hope unto the grace which is contained in the revelation of Jesus Christ.” What is that grace which is to be conferred on the true saints when our Lord is revealed in His glory? It is none other than our glorified transfiguration. The New Testament repeatedly certifies that the Gentile age in which we live is the last predecessor of the glorious millennial kingdom, while the prophecies certainly settle the conclusion that we are living in the time of the end when our Lord’s coming is very nigh. Pursuant to the prophecies we are on the constant outlook for the rapture in which the glorified Jesus will transfigure the members of His bridehood, taking them up while the great tribulation sweeps over all nations. As none but the wholly sanctified will constitute the bridehood, the greatest conceivable incentives constantly inspire the true Christian to keep under the blood, robed and ready for the transcendent grace of this glorious transfiguration when the Lord shall ride down on the cloud.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv13, 15, 17 1 Peter
1 Peter
HOPE PERFECTLY
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1Pe 1:13.
Christianity has transformed hope, and given it a new importance, by opening to it a new world to move in, and supplying to it new guarantees to rest on. There is something very remarkable in the prominence given to hope in the New Testament, and in the power ascribed to it to order a noble life. Paul goes so far as to say that we are saved by it. To a Christian it is no longer a pleasant dream, which may be all an illusion, indulgence in which is pretty sure to sap a man’s force, but it is a certain anticipation of certainties, the effect of which will be increased energy and purity. So our Apostle, having in the preceding context in effect summed up the whole Gospel, bases upon that summary a series of exhortations, the transition to which is marked by the ‘wherefore’ at the beginning of my text. The application of that word is to be extended, so as to include all that has preceded in the letter, and there follows a series of practical advices, the first of which, the grace or virtue which he puts in the forefront of everything, is not what you might have expected, but it is ‘hope perfectly.’
I may just remark, before going further, in reference to the language of my text, that, accurately translated, the two exhortations which precede that to hope are subsidiary to it, for we ought to read, ‘Wherefore, girding up the loins of your mind, and being sober, hope.’ That is to say, these two are preliminaries, or conditions, or means by which the desired perfecting of the Christian hope is to be sought and attained.
Another preliminary remark which I must make is that what is enjoined here has not reference to the duration but to the quality of the Christian hope. It is not ‘to the end,’ but, as the Margin of the Authorised and the Revised Version concurs in saying, it is ‘hope perfectly.’
So, then, there are three things here--the object, the duty, and the cultivation of Christian hope. Let us take these three things in order.
I. The object of the Christian hope.
Now, that is stated, in somewhat remarkable language, as ‘the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.’ We generally use that word ‘grace’ with a restricted signification to the gifts of God to men here on earth. It is the earnest of the inheritance, rather than its fulness. But here it is quite obvious that by the expression the Apostle means the very same thing as he has previously designated in the preceding context by three different phrases--’an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,’ ‘praise and honour and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,’ and ‘the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.’ The ‘grace’ is not contrasted with the ‘glory,’ but is another name for the glory. It is not the earnest of the inheritance, but it is the inheritance itself. It is not the means towards attaining the progressive and finally complete ‘salvation of your souls,’ but it is that complete salvation in all its fulness.
Now, that is an unusual use of the word, but that it should be employed here, as describing the future great object of the Christian hope, suggests two or three thoughts. One is that that ultimate blessedness, with all its dim, nebulous glories, which can only be resolved into their separate stars, when we are millions of leagues nearer to its lustre, is like the faintest glimmer of a new and better life in a soul here on earth, purely and solely the result of the undeserved, condescending love of God that stoops to sinful men, and instead of retribution bestows upon them a heaven. The grace that saved us at first, the grace that comes to us, filtered in drops during our earthly experience, is poured upon us in a flood at last. And the brightest glory of heaven is as much a manifestation of the Divine grace as the first rudimentary germs of a better life now and here. The foundation, the courses of the building, the glittering pinnacle on the summit, with its golden spire reaching still higher into the blue, is all the work of the same unmerited, stooping, pardoning love. Glory is grace, and Heaven is the result of God’s pardoning mercy.
There is another suggestion here to be made, springing from this eloquent use of this term, and that is not merely the identity of the source of the Christian experience upon earth and in the future, but the identity of that Christian experience itself in regard of its essential character. If I may so say, it is all of a piece, homogeneous, and of one web. The robe is without seam, woven throughout of the same thread. The life of the humblest Christian, the most imperfect Christian, the most infantile Christian, the most ignorant Christian here on earth, has for its essential characteristics the very same things as the lives of the strong spirits that move in light around the Throne, and receive into their expanding nature the ever-increasing fulness of the glory of the Lord. Grace here is glory in the bud; glory yonder is grace in the fruit.
But there is still further to be noticed another great thought that comes out of this remarkable language. The words of my text, literally rendered, are ‘the grace that is being brought unto you.’ Now, there have been many explanations of that remarkable phrase, which I think is not altogether exhausted by, nor quite equivalent to, that which represents it in our version--viz. ‘to be brought unto you.’ That relegates it all into the future; but in Peter’s conception it is, in some sense, in the present. It is ‘being brought.’ What does that mean? There are far-off stars in the sky, the beams from which have set out from their home of light millenniums since, and have been rushing through the waste places of the universe since long before men were, and they have not reached our eyes yet. But they are on the road. And so in Peter’s conception, the apocalypse of glory, which is the crowning manifestation of grace, is rushing towards us through the ages, through the spheres, and it will be here some day, and the beams will strike upon our faces, and make them glow with its light. So certain is the arrival of the grace that the Apostle deals with it as already on its way. The great thing on which the Christian hope fastens is no ‘peradventure,’ but a good which has already begun to journey towards us.
Again, there is another thought still to be suggested, and that is, the revelation of Jesus Christ is the coming to His children of this grace which is glory, of this glory which is grace. For mark how the Apostle says, ‘the grace which is being brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ.’ And that revelation to which he here refers is not the past one, in His incarnate life upon earth, but it is the future one, to which the hope of the faithful Church ought ever to be steadfastly turned, the correlated truth to that other one on which its faith rests. On these two great pillars, rising like columns on either side of the gulf of Time, ‘He has come,’ ‘He will come,’ the bridge is suspended by which we may safely pass over the foaming torrent that else would swallow us up. The revelation in the past cries out for the revelation in the future. The Cross demands the Throne. That He has come once, a sacrifice for sin, stands incomplete, like some building left unfinished with rugged stones protruding which prophesy an addition at a future day; unless you can add ‘unto them that look for Him will He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.’ In that revelation of Jesus Christ His children shall find the glory-grace which is the object of their hope.
So say all the New Testament writers. ‘When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory’ says Paul. ‘The grace that is to be brought unto you in the revelation of Jesus Christ,’ chimes in Peter. And John completes the trio with his ‘We know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him.’ These three things, brethren--with Christ, glory with Him, likeness to Him--are all that we know, and blessed be God! all that we need to know, of that dim future. And the more we confine ourselves to these triple great certainties, and sweep aside all subordinate matters, which are concealed partly because they could not be revealed, and partly because they would not help us if we knew them, the better for the simplicity and the power and the certainty of our hope. The object of Christian hope is Christ, in His revelation, in His presence, in His communication to us for glory, in His assimilating of us to Himself.
‘It is enough that Christ knows all,
And we shall be with Him.’
‘The grace that is being brought unto you in the revelation of Jesus Christ.’
II. And now notice the duty of the Christian hope.
Hope a duty? That strikes one as somewhat strange. I very much doubt whether the ordinary run of good people do recognise it as being as imperative a duty for them to cultivate hope as to cultivate any other Christian excellence or virtue. For one man that sets himself deliberately and consciously to brighten up, and to make more operative in his daily life, the hope of future blessedness, you will find a hundred that set themselves to other kinds of perfecting of their Christian character. And yet, surely, there do not need any words to enforce the fact that this hope full of immortality is no mere luxury which a Christian man may add to the plain fare of daily duty or leave untasted according as he likes, but that it is an indispensable element in all vigorous and life-dominating Christian experience.
I do not need to dwell upon that, except just to suggest that such a vividness and continuity of calm anticipation of a certain good beyond the grave is one of the strongest of all motives to the general robustness and efficacy of a Christian life. People used to say a few years ago, a great deal more than they do now, that the Christian expectation of Heaven was apt to weaken energy upon earth, and they used to sneer at us, and talk about our ‘other worldliness’ as if it were a kind of weakness and defect attached to the Christian experience. They have pretty well given that up now. Anti-Christian sarcasm, like everything else, has its fashions, and other words of reproach and contumely have now taken the place of that. The plain fact is that no man sees the greatness of the present, unless he regards it as being the vestibule of the future, and that this present life is unintelligible and insignificant unless beyond it, and led up to by it, and shaped through it, there lies the eternal life beyond. The low flat plain is dreary and desolate, featureless and melancholy, when the sky above it is filled with clouds. But sweep away the cloud-rack, and let the blue arch itself above the brown moorland, and all glows into lustre, and every undulation is brought out, and tiny shy forms of beauty are found in every corner. And so, if you drape Heaven with the clouds and mists born of indifference and worldliness, the world becomes mean, but if you dissipate the cloud and unveil heaven, earth is greatened. If the hope of the grave that is to be brought onto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ shines out above all the flatness of earth, then life becomes solemn, noble, worthy of, demanding and rewarding, our most strenuous efforts. No man can, and no man will, strike such effectual blows on things present as the man, the strength of whose arm is derived from the conviction that every stroke of the hammer on things present is shaping that which will abide with him for ever.
My text not only enjoins this hope as a duty, but also enjoins the perfection of it as being a thing to be aimed at by all Christian people. What is the perfection of hope? Two qualities, certainty and continuity. Certainty; the definition of earthly hope is an anticipation of good less than certain, and so, in all the operations of this great faculty, which are limited within the range of earth, you get blended as an indistinguishable throng, ‘hopes and fears that kindle hope,’ and that too often kill it. But the Christian has a certain anticipation of certain good, and to him memory may be no more fixed than hope, and the past no more unalterable and uncertain than the future. The motto of our hope is not the ‘perhaps,’ which is the most that it can say when it speaks the tongue of earth, but the ‘verily! verily!’ which comes to its enfranchised lips when it speaks the tongue of Heaven. Your hope, Christian man, should not be the tremulous thing that it often is, which expresses itself in phrases like ‘Well! I do not know, but I tremblingly hope,’ but it should say, ‘I know and am sure of the rest that remaineth, not because of what I am, but because of what He is.’
Another element in the perfection of hope is its continuity. That hits home to us all, does it not? Sometimes in calm weather we catch a sight of the gleaming battlements of ‘the City which hath foundations,’ away across the sea, and then mists and driving storms come up and hide it. There is a great mountain in Central Africa which if a man wishes to see he must seize a fortunate hour in the early morning, and for all the rest of the day it is swathed in clouds, invisible. Is that like your hope, Christian man and woman, gleaming out now and then, and then again swallowed up in the darkness? Brethren! these two things, certainty and continuity, are possible for us. Alas! that they are so seldom enjoyed by us.
III. And now one last word. My text speaks about the discipline or cultivation of this Christian hope.
It prescribes two things as auxiliary thereto. The way to cultivate the perfect hope which alone corresponds to the gift of God is ‘girding up the loins of your mind, and being sober.’ Of course, there is here one of the very few reminiscences that we have in the Epistles of the ipsissima verba of our Lord. Peter is evidently referring to our Lord’s commandment to have ‘the loins girt and the lamps burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord.’ I do not need to remind you of the Eastern dress that makes the metaphor remarkably significant, the loose robes that tangle a man’s feet when he runs, that need to be girded up and belted tight around his waist, as preliminary to all travel or toil of any kind. The metaphor is the same as that in our colloquial speech when we talk about a man ‘pulling himself together.’ Just as an English workman will draw his belt a hole tighter when he has some special task to do, so Peter says to us, make a definite effort, with resolute bracing up and concentration of all your powers, or you will never see the grace that is hurrying towards you through the centuries. There are abundance of loose, slack-braced people up and down the world, in all departments, and they never come to any good. It is a shame that any man should have his thoughts so loosely girt and vagrant as that any briar by the roadside can catch them and hinder his advance. But it is a tenfold shame for Christian people, with such an object to gaze upon, that they should let their minds be dissipated all over the trivialities of Time, and not gather them together and project them, as I may say, with all their force towards the sovereign realities of Eternity. A sixpence held close to your eye will blot out the sun, and the trifles of earth close to us will prevent us from realising the things which neither sight, nor experience, nor testimony reveal to us, unless with clenched teeth, so to speak, we make a dogged effort to keep them in mind.
The other preliminary and condition is ‘being sober,’ which of course you have to extend to its widest possible signification, implying not merely abstinence from, or moderate use of, intoxicants, or material good for the appetites, but also the withdrawing of one’s self sometimes wholly from, and always restraining one’s self in the use of, the present and the material. A man has only a given definite quantity of emotion and interest to expend, and if he flings it all away on the world he has none left for Heaven. He will be like the miller that spoils some fair river, by diverting its waters into his own sluice, in order that he may grind some corn. If you have the faintest film of dust on the glass of the telescope, or on its mirror, if it is a reflecting one, you will not see the constellations in the heavens; and if we have drawn over our spirits the film of earthly absorption, all these bright glories above will, so far as we are concerned, cease to be.
So, brethren, there is a solemn responsibility laid upon us by the gift of that great faculty of looking before and after. What did God make you and me capable of anticipating the future for? That we might let our hopes run along the low levels, or that we might elevate them and twine them round the very pillars of God’s Throne; which? I do not find fault with you because you hope, but because you hope so meanly, and about such trivial and transitory things. I remember I once saw a sea-bird kept in a garden, confined within high walls, and with clipped wings, set to pick up grubs and insects. It ought to have been away out, hovering over the free ocean, or soaring with sunlit wing to a height where earth became a speck, and all its noises were hushed. That is what some of you are doing with your hope, degrading it to earth instead of letting it rise to God; enter within the veil, and gaze upon the glory of the ‘inheritance incorruptible and undefiled.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v13 for the grace
for the grace
Grace (in salvation). 1Pe 5:12; Rom 3:24 (See Scofield "Joh 1:17").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv13, 17 An Admonition to Lead a Godly Life.
An Admonition to Lead a Godly Life.
The need of holiness:
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v. 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;
v. 14. as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance;
v. 15. but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
v. 16. because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.
Because the believers are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, therefore there is need that they be strengthened in faith and a holy life day by day, as the apostle writes: Therefore, girded up in the loins of your mind and with soberness of spirit, set your hope definitely upon the grace which is being brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ. The picture is that of a person who is altogether ready for a journey or for a piece of work in the performance of which he wants to be unhindered, with no loose garments impeding his progress by wrapping themselves about his limbs. The mind of the Christians must ever be alert, full of intent watchfulness, ready for the business of the Master, and sober, not engaged in the lusts and desires of the world. Their minds must be directed exclusively toward Christ and toward the goal which they have set before them. In this condition, in this state of mind, Christians should set their hope definitely, without wavering, without the slightest indication of uncertainty, upon the grace of God as it is set before us again and again in the revelation of Jesus Christ, upon the future salvation which God gives to us out of pure grace and mercy. When Christ will be revealed to our eager eyes on the last day, it will be for the purpose of putting us, the elect sojourners here on earth, into the possession of our heavenly inheritance. This we know; and therefore our hope is so sure, so steadfast.
The apostle now shows what attitude, what conduct agrees with the hope of the future grace: As children of obedience, not molding yourselves after the former lusts in your ignorance. Christians must at all times show themselves children of obedience; that is the sphere in which they should be found, in obedience to the gracious will of God, to the Gospel. For this reason they will avoid everything that might endanger their chances of salvation. They will not fashion themselves, they will not mold their opinion, their conduct, according to the lusts and desires which formerly, while they were still in ignorance of the holy will of God, ruled in them. Every unconverted person, every heathen, knows no better than to seek his fortune, his happiness, the gratification of his ambitions in doing after the lusts of his heart. All this the believers have renounced, with all this they have nothing in common any more.
The thought which governs the life of the Christians is this: But as He that called you is holy, so be also you holy in your entire conduct; for it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy. God is the absolutely Pure and Holy One; in Him is no darkness, but He is light. It is He that has called the Christians by the Gospel, converting them to faith in Jesus Christ, their Savior. In accordance with this call, therefore, and with the fact that it is the Holy One that issued the call, the Christians should likewise prove themselves holy, striving in their whole life and conduct after the purity, the righteousness, which is well-pleasing to Him. Instead of bearing in their attitude the form of evil lusts, they should be renewed to the image of God. This is the will of God, as He Himself has stated in His Word, Lev 11:44; Lev 19:2; Lev 20:26. That is the unchangeable will of God with reference to His children, that they make the holiness which He has in His essence their ideal, that the hope and the faith of their hearts find its expression in the sanctification of their lives, Col 1:12; Heb 12:14.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 15 So gird
So gird
"Because of this, gird." Peter uses the word "So" here to refer back to everything he has said about salvation, their faith, and the Spirit of Christ giving revelations to the prophets.
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gird up the loins of your mind
Girding up the loins refers to preparing to work hard. It comes from the custom of tucking the bottom of one's robe into a belt around the waist in order to move with ease. AT: "get your minds ready" (See: Idiom)
Be sober
Here the word "sober" refers to mental clarity and alertness. AT: "Control your thoughts" or "Be careful about what you think" (See: Idiom)
the grace that will be brought to you
This can be stated in active form. AT: "the grace that God will bring to you" (See: Active or Passive)
the grace that will be brought to you
Here God's way of dealing kindly with believers is spoken of as if it were an object that he will bring to them. (See: Metaphor)
when Jesus Christ is revealed
This refers to when Christ returns. This can also be expressed with an active form. See how you translated this in 1 Peter 1:7. AT: "when Jesus Christ appears to all people" (See: Active or Passive)
do not conform yourselves to the desires
"do not desire the same things" AT: "do not live to gratify the desires" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
gird
loins
mind
confidence
grace
reveal
Jesus
children
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 15, 17 1:13-21 New birth and the hope of salvation require…
1:13-21 New birth and the hope of salvation require that Christians live as God’s people, separating themselves from the values of the world and emulating the holiness of God, who redeemed them.
1:13 prepare your minds for action (literally gird the loins of your mind): In Peter’s day, a man had to tuck the hem of his long robe into his belt before he could work or run.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.