1

¹ To elect pilgrims Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect sojourners One could render ‘resident aliens’ or perhaps even ‘refugees’—these are presumably Christians who had left their homelands because of persecution (but since Paul was apostle to the Gentiles, Peter may be writing to Jews, as did James); Peter will emphasize the security of their position in heaven, in contrast to the uncertainty of their situation on earth. of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,

² elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the setting apart of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ: Peter is evidently making a point of including all three persons of the Godhead in the process of our salvation: the Father chooses, the Spirit sets apart (He works in our minds to encourage or predispose us to obey) and the Son paid the price for our cleansing. God has done His part, but each of us must obey. May grace and peace be multiplied ‘Multiplied’—not just a little, lots! to you.

³ Don’t take your inheritance for granted Begotten into an incorruptible inheritance Blessed be the God and Father ‘The God and Father’ is one person. of our Lord Jesus Christ, Since His victory by the cross and resurrection, the official name of Jehovah the Son is ‘the Lord Jesus Christ’, to which Peter adds the possessive pronoun. who according to His great mercy has given us The 1st person plural is presumably inclusive, including the people Peter is addressing; in the next verse he switches to the 2nd plural, applying the truth directly to them. another birth The Text neither says nor implies that God begot them the first time (that was done by their physical father); He is giving them a second begetting, a spiritual one. into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead, If Jesus had not arisen we would have no hope, but now we have a ‘living’ hope, that will not let us down.

⁴ into an imperishable and undefiled and unfading inheritance, Like, wow! Now that’s an inheritance! And it’s already reserved. Before talking about the difficulties they are facing Peter emphasizes the incredible blessing of a secure position. already reserved in the heavens for you,

⁵ who are being guarded by the power of God through faith Time and again Peter will present both divine sovereignty and human responsibility; God guarantees His part, we must do our part. unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. The full manifestation of our salvation is still future.

⁶ Genuineness of faith proved by testing You should be overjoyed about this, even if just now, briefly, of necessity, The trials are necessary to prove the quality of the faith. you have been distressed by a variety of trials,

⁷ so that the demonstrated genuineness of your faith (much more precious than gold that perishes, albeit tested through fire) may translate into Literally, “may be found into”. praise, glory and honor These are things that the faithful person will receive. To hear “Well done, good and faithful servant” from the lips of the Sovereign will be the ultimate praise. at the revelation of Jesus Christ

⁸ —whom not having understood The familiar ‘seen’ is based on about 7% of the Greek manuscripts (early, but of objectively inferior quality); to render ‘known’ rather than ‘understood’ would require qualification. you love, into whom believing (not yet seeing) you exult with joy inexpressible, already glorified, Anyone who has experienced this joy will agree with Peter—it definitely is not ‘natural’; it is ‘other-worldly’, a foretaste of heaven.

⁹ obtaining for yourselves the end result of your faith, Here Peter emphasizes human responsibility; the verb ‘obtain’ is in the middle (reflexive) voice. the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰ Salvation foretold by prophets Concerning this salvation ‘This salvation’ presumably includes the basis and the process, as well as the result; evidently quite different from the ‘salvation’ they themselves knew. the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and inquired diligently,

¹¹ investigating into whom, or what sort of time, the Spirit of Christ The Spirit of Christ was at work in the Old Testament. Is this a reference to the Holy Spirit, or did Jehovah the Son also do some inspiring? who was in them was indicating Evidently Peter had access to information that we don’t. However, when a prophet spoke or wrote under inspiration, he would not necessarily receive an explanation of the interpretation. Anything pertaining to the Messiah would be of intense interest, and they would certainly keep mulling over the implications—assuming a single advent, it would be hard to reconcile glory and suffering. as He testified beforehand the sufferings that would be inflicted on Christ The Text says literally, ‘the sufferings into Christ’. and the glories that would follow them.

¹² It was revealed to them that they were not ministering these things to themselves, but to you; The familiar ‘to us’ (TR, AV, NKJV) is based on about 14% of the Greek manuscripts, and is more congenial than ‘to you’; I take it that having already narrowed the focus to his addressees, Peter just keeps on going. which things have now been announced to you by those who proclaimed the gospel to you, with The more usual rendering is ‘by’, but I don’t think it fits the context. The Holy Spirit went along with the Gospel. the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things that angels really desire to look into. That’s what the Text says, but I’m not sure what it means. I assume that angels can read, so are they not allowed to? Or is it that they can’t really understand why the Sovereign would do something like that? Do angels have ‘soul’—emotions, ambitions, etc.? I wonder.

¹³ Be serious, be holy, be fearful Therefore, having girded up the loins of your mind, This is obviously a figure of speech, but I wasn’t sure how else to render it; in order to work, fight, run, or whatever, they would tie in their loose garments with a rope or a belt—the idea appears to be to prepare the mind for action, which would involve discipline and determination. staying sober, I take this phrase to be basically synonymous to the figure of speech; staying sober involves being disciplined and determined. rest your hope fully upon the grace being brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ In verse 7 I rendered the same Greek phrase as ‘at the revelation of Jesus Christ’, referring to His second coming, but here in verse 13 ‘being brought’ is in the present tense, so I take the revelation to be contemporaneous. The more we obey, the more Jesus reveals Himself to us. —

¹⁴ as children of obedience, Peter, a Jew, uses a Jewish idiom—he is not saying they are children, but are to be characterized by obedience. not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance,

¹⁵ but just as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your way of life,

¹⁶ because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” Since God is holy all the time, we are to be also. The quote is from Leviticus 11:45 or 19:2.

¹⁷ Also, since you invoke as Father To ‘invoke as Father’ is to place yourself under His authority and protection—also His evaluation. the One who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves during the time of your sojourn here in fear, ‘In fear’ is emphasized in the Text. We tend to forget just who and what God is, and so we get complacent—not a good idea, says Peter.

¹⁸ knowing that it was not with perishable things (silver or gold) that you were redeemed from the futile way of life handed down by your forefathers, All ways of life that are not biblical are futile. We should not be apologetic about challenging people’s belief systems or presuppositions, provided we are in a position to present the biblical worldview.

¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a faultless and pure lamb;

²⁰ who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, This sort of ‘blows my mind’—the Text is saying that the Lamb, with blood shed, was so known before the creation of our race and planet; which means that the Creator knew, before creating, what would happen and the terrible redemption price He Himself would have to pay, yet He went ahead anyway. Wow! but was revealed in these last times for your sake,

²¹ who through Him are believing into God, ‘Into’ not ‘in’, both here and at the end of the verse; what is involved is a change of position, from being outside to being inside. who raised Him out from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are into God.

²² Born again through an eternal Word Since you have purified your souls by obeying the truth through the Spirit, resulting in sincere brotherly love, you must love one another fervently from a pure heart,

²³ having been begotten again, not from a corruptible seed but an incorruptible, The seed that Adam received when he was created proved to be corruptible, in fact became corrupted upon his Fall, and that corrupted seed has been passed down through the succeeding generations [less than 300]; so our first begetting, by a human father, was with that corrupt seed. God gives us a second begetting with a pure seed that cannot be corrupted. through the living Word of God that remains valid forever.

²⁴ For: “All flesh is as grass, and all man’s glory as flower of grass. The grass withers and its flower falls off, but the Lord’s word endures forever.” The quote is from Isaiah 40:6-8.

²⁵ Now this is the good word that was proclaimed to you. Wait a minute—was the ‘good word’ they proclaimed limited to the Old Testament? I would say it was mostly about Jesus, the content of the Gospels. So Peter is saying that New Testament material is also God’s Word.

2

¹ To grow you must eat So then, laying aside all malignity This refers to the deliberate effort to harm others. If they must ‘lay aside’ such attitudes and activities, the implication is that they haven’t yet, or at least not sufficiently—actually, if they are still involved in such activities they have quite a ways to go. —even all deceit and play-actings and envies, yes all malicious speaking—

² crave the pure spiritual ‘milk’, Since Peter has just referred overtly to God’s Word, it is generally assumed that the ‘milk’ here is a metaphor for that Word. Peter isn’t saying that they are babies, just that they should imitate the craving. like newborn babies do, so that by it you may grow into salvation, Until quite recently, based upon von Soden’s apparent ascribing of some 80% attestation to the shorter reading (80% of the extant Greek manuscripts), I was rather critical of the longer form; I argued that Peter was writing to the “elect” [1:2], to the “redeemed” [1:18], to the “born again” [1:23], to a “holy priesthood” [2:5], to “believers” [2:7], to “slaves of God” [2:16]—they did indeed need to grow, but not “into salvation”. However, the evidence as presented by ECM [Editio Critica Maior] looks quite different (some 65% for the longer reading, including the best line of transmission, and joined by all three ancient versions, a not insignificant witness).Time and again Peter presents both divine sovereignty and human responsibility; God guarantees His part, we must do our part. According to 1:5 the full manifestation [at least] of our salvation is still future. Here in 2:2 the immediately following “if indeed” would appear to allow for some uncertainty as to their spiritual condition; Peter is emphasizing their responsibility.

³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is benevolent.

⁴ Coming to Him, a living stone—rejected indeed by men but chosen by God, precious—

⁵ you also, as living stones, are being built Spiritual growth is a process, much like physical growth. into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Much of the preaching nowadays focuses on what we are supposed to get, rather than what we are supposed to do. We need to talk more about what God is supposed to get—‘spiritual sacrifices’.

⁶ The Chief Cornerstone That is why the Scripture contains: “Attention, I am laying in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, precious, and the one who rests his trust upon Him will absolutely not be humiliated.” The quote is from Isaiah 28:16.

⁷ So then, this recompense is for you who believe, but to those who disobey, “the stone that the builders rejected is just the one that became the chief cornerstone,” The quote is from Psalm 118:22.

⁸ also “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense;” The quote is from Isaiah 8:14. One is reminded of the Sovereign’s words in Matthew 21:44. “Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but upon whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” being disobedient to the Word, they stumble, to which, indeed, they were appointed. Were they ‘appointed’ to stumble, a direct and necessary consequence of being disobedient to the Word, or were they ‘appointed’ to be disobedient? If the latter, this would become one of a very few passages that overtly point to ‘double predestination’ or preterition (that the lost are predestined to be lost). The answer hinges on the grammar, the antecedent of the pronoun ‘which’—is it the finite verb ‘stumble’ or the participle ‘disobey’? Being higher in rank, the finite form presumably takes precedence. Also, since there are hundreds of passages that clearly teach human responsibility, I take the former option to be the preferred interpretation.

⁹ A royal priesthood But you are a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a private-property people, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

¹⁰ who formerly were not a people but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Peter alludes to a number of OT passages, including Hosea 2:23.

¹¹ Your practice should be consistent with your standing Dear ones, I urge you to abstain from the lusts of the flesh, that war against the soul, When we indulge the flesh our soul is adversely affected.

¹² keeping your way of life among the nations praiseworthy (you being foreigners and sojourners), so that wherein they speak against you as evildoers, in spite of the praiseworthy deeds they have observed, The critics have already observed the good deeds—they know their criticism is false. they may glorify God in the day of visitation. What ‘day of visitation’ might this be? Is it a personal visitation wherein God touches a critic, wakes him up and he glorifies God; or is it the Day of judgment where ‘every knee will bow and every tongue confess’, only it will be too late to do them any good? In either event, we are to live in such a way that we don’t furnish any pretext to those who are looking for ways to ‘justify’ their unbelief.

¹³ Respect civil authority Therefore subordinate yourselves to every human institution because of the Lord, whether to a king, as being in authority,

¹⁴ or to governors, as being sent by him, both for punishment of evildoers and for praise of good-doers. But what happens if the ‘government’ does just the opposite, persecutes those who fear God and protects the corrupt? We have spiritual ‘weapons’ (authority) that we should learn how to use, but the time may come when we must say with Peter, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

¹⁵ Because such is the will of God, to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good:

¹⁶ as free (not using the freedom as a cover for evil) yet as slaves of God.

¹⁷ Respect everyone; Since every human being carries the ‘image of God’, that image should be respected (even when it is scarcely recognizable). love the brotherhood; fear God; honor the king.

¹⁸ A word for servants Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unscrupulous. Slavery was a normal aspect of the culture at that time. Note that belonging to Christ did not automatically change one’s social situation.

¹⁹ For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God someone endures grief, suffering unjustly.

²⁰ For what credit is it if upon sinning and being beaten you endure patiently? But if upon doing good and suffering you endure patiently, this is commendable before God.

²¹ Christ gave the example Now you have been called to this, really, because Christ also suffered in our behalf, leaving you 15% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘our’ and ‘us’ (1st person pl., as in TR, AV and NKJV) while a different 15% have ‘your’ and ‘you’ (2nd person pl., as in the eclectic text currently in vogue and most modern versions)—I take it that the 85% readings are correct (‘our’ and ‘you’); in addressing his readers Peter uses the expected 2nd person, but referring to the scope of the benefits of Christ’s suffering he properly uses the inclusive 1st person. an example that you should follow in His footsteps:

²² who did not commit sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth;

²³ who being reviled did not revile in return, suffering did not threaten but committed it to Him who judges righteously;

²⁴ who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, so that we, having died to those sins, Since the Lord died for our sins, we should die to them (separate ourselves from them). might live for the The Text has the definite article; the point being, I suppose, that there is only one true righteousness, God’s. righteousness; by whose wound ‘Wound’ is singular in the Text; of course the familiar ‘stripes’ sounds better, but do you really suppose that the marks left by the individual blows produce our healing? It was THE WOUND, when the Father placed on the Son the sins of the world (including yours and mine). In verses 22-25 Peter obviously has Isaiah 53:4-12 in mind, though he creates his own mosaic. you were healed.

²⁵ Yes, you were like straying sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our The evidence is split between ‘our’ and ‘your’; both make good sense, but I take it that the best line reads ‘our’, inclusive. souls.

3

¹ A word to wives Similarly, This is parallel to 2:18, and both are examples of ‘the will of God’, 2:15. wives, be submissive to your own husbands, so that even if some are disobedient to the Word, they may be won over, without a word, by the conduct of their wives

² (having watched your pure behavior accompanied by respect),

³ whose adorning should not be the outward one of braiding hair and wearing gold, or putting on fine clothing, Peter is not advocating a sloppy or slovenly appearance; the problem is the vanity and competition expressed by extravagant hairstyles, clothes, jewelry—anything to get attention.

⁴ but rather the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible adorning of the gentle and quiet spirit that is of great value before God.

⁵ For this is how the holy women who hoped in God in former times also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands,

⁶ as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him ‘lord’, whose (f) daughters you became A woman becomes a ‘daughter of Abraham’ by faith in God; she becomes a ‘daughter of Sarah’ by doing good. by doing good and not being afraid of any intimidation. An incorruptible character does not surrender to intimidation. Since there has never been a lack of evil people in the world, to keep on being and doing good one must stand up to intimidation.

⁷ A word to husbands Similarly, This is parallel to 3:1 and 2:18. husbands, live together knowledgeably as with a weaker vessel, Oh dear me, definitely not politically correct in this year of our Lord 2011! But then, when did the Sovereign Lord ever worry about being ‘politically correct’, especially in a culture heavily influenced by Satan? And when did the Sovereign’s true servants ever worry about being ‘politically correct’ in such a culture? Remember James 4:4—“Adulterers and adulteresses! [so 98% of the Greek manuscripts]. Don’t you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? So whoever may want to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” 1 John 2:15-17 is to the same effect. To love the things of the world (especially its values) is to adulterate against God: “the love of the Father is not in him”. As Joshua said so long ago, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). In Genesis 3:16 the Creator said to the woman, “your desire shall be for your husband”—a woman’s emotional health and sense of security are heavily influenced by her husband’s attitudes, more so than vice versa. according honor to the wife especially as being a joint heir of the grace of life, ‘The grace of life’—I love it. I take this to be the bottom line in marriage, husband and wife are joint heirs of the grace of life. Without males the race dies out; without females the race dies out; so both sexes are 100% necessary, so they are equally important. But for people to live together harmoniously there has to be organization, a chain of command, an authority structure. for your prayers not to be hindered. Oops, there’s more involved than meets the eye. ‘Your’ is plural—it could be referring to the husbands, but could also be referring to a husband and his wife, which seems to me more likely. Praying together is an important activity for any Christian couple, but if their relationship is strained such praying becomes awkward, in fact probably won’t even happen.

⁸ The golden rule Finally, all of you be likeminded, compassionate, loving as brothers, This list of attitudes refers primarily to relationships within the Christian community. tenderhearted, courteous,

⁹ not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but instead blessing, knowing that you were called to this so that you may inherit a blessing.

¹⁰ For: “The one who wants to love life and to see good days must refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;

¹¹ he must turn away from evil and do good; he must seek peace, even pursue it.

¹² Because the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears open to their prayer; but the face of the Lord is against those doing evil.” The quote is from Psalm 34:12-16.

¹³ Better to suffer than to sin Now who is he who will harm you if you become imitators of the good? ‘The good’ is ambiguous as to gender; it could be a good person or a good thing, or a generic good.

¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “Don’t fear what they fear, neither be troubled.” The quote is from Isaiah 8:12. In that context there is a contrast between Jehovah as the ‘fear’ of Israel and whatever god the others fear. Whatever ‘fear’ motivates those who persecute you for doing good, don’t let it shake your devotion to the true God.

¹⁵ Rather, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready with an answer for everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with meekness ‘Meek’ is not ‘weak’—it is power that is restrained, under control. Since the worldview of the Bible is far superior to all others, someone who really understands the issues can smash the opposition, but Peter says not to do that; by handling the questioners gently we have a better chance of converting them. In verse 18 he will make the point that in this we will be following Christ’s example. and respect;

¹⁶ keeping a good conscience, so that wherein they speak against you as evildoers, This clause is a repeat of 2:12. those who revile your good way of life in Christ may be put to shame. Often such people are put to shame in this life, but if not, they certainly will be at the Judgment.

¹⁷ For it is better to suffer for doing good, should the will of God so determine, than for doing evil.

¹⁸ Follow Christ’s example to victory Because Christ also suffered on account of sins, once for all, the righteous on behalf of the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God; having been put to death, to be sure, in flesh but having been made alive in spirit;

¹⁹ in which He also went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison What spirits are these? Peter gives a little more detail in his second letter, 2:4-6. “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, . . .” So the spirits in question are angels. Jude 6-7 refers to those same angels: “and the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these [angels], having given themselves over to fornication and gone after a different kind of flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” Recall that the men of Sodom wanted to rape the angels who were in Lot’s house; whatever kind of flesh angels have when they materialize, it isn’t human flesh, it is precisely a different kind of flesh. So the angels in question are the ones who cohabited with women, producing the mongrel race of nephilim (Genesis 6:2-4).Their crime was so terrible that God incarcerated them even before Jehovah the Son became flesh and defeated Satan—they were put in cold (or hot) storage until human history played itself out. So the ‘proclamation’ that Jesus went to make to those spirits was that he had won and that their condemnation was now irreversible.

²⁰ who formerly were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, while the Ark was being prepared, It probably took Noah at least 100 years. in which a few, that is eight, souls were brought safely through water.

²¹ This is an antitype Why ‘antitype’ rather than ‘type’? I suppose because the roles are reversed: the ark was to save Noah from the water, the water was the problem; in baptism the water is part of the solution, it saves us from something else. From what, from sin and death? Probably not. I have been given to understand that for the early Church water baptism was meant to do the following: by invoking the name of the Lord Jesus Christ the convert was placing himself under Christ’s protection and repudiating Satan and the world system (with its values) and the demons controlled by him. Recall that in the New Testament water baptism followed immediately upon conversion (no weeks or months of instruction). Peter discounts the physical effect of water—the point is to appeal to God in good conscience—and goes on to the victory of Christ over death and the whole angelic hierarchy. So obviously He is in a position to protect us from Satan and his angels. of baptism, that now saves us also (not the removal of physical filth, but the appeal into God from a good conscience) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

²² who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. I believe that this truth is directly relevant to Ephesians 2:6. In Christ we have authority over the hierarchy of fallen angels. [I am still working on how we may interact with the good ones.]

4

¹ Some concluding instructions Pursue the will of God Therefore, since Christ suffered on our behalf in flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mentality (for the one who has ‘suffered in flesh’ has been made to cease from sin) 3:18 says Christ was ‘put to death in flesh’, as the culmination of His suffering, and I take that to be the point of reference here. I take‘suffer in flesh’ to be a euphemism for death, and when one dies he stops sinning [I suppose]. All during His earthly life Jesus knew He was going to die on account of sins and was totally committed to doing the Father’s will. With the same mentality we too will be committed to doing God’s will, and so will avoid sin. “Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin but alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:11). Verse two here agrees that this is not automatic—we must determine not to indulge the flesh.

² so as not to live your remaining time in flesh for human lusts any longer, but for the will of God.

³ Because the time that has passed is plenty for you The Greek manuscripts are about evenly divided between ‘you’ and ‘us’, but the best line of transmission has ‘you’, which jives with verse 4. to have performed the will of the pagans—having walked in lewdness, All the nouns in this list are actually plural, emphasizing that their life was characterized by these things. The main ingredients would be alcohol and sex. lusts, drunkenness, revelries, carousings and disgusting idolatries—

⁴ in regard to which they are disagreeably surprised at your not running with them into the same flood of debauchery, reviling you;

⁵ they will give an account to Him who is ready to judge living and dead

⁶ (which is precisely why dead ones were once evangelized, that they should be judged as men in flesh, to be sure, but that they should live according to God in spirit). This delightful verse has given commentators no end of exercise. Verse 5 ends with “judge living and dead”, but anyone who is dead was once alive, obviously, and the judgment will be based on what they did while alive, which is why everyone needs to be evangelized while in this life (including the people who are making fun of us). There is no definite article with ‘dead’, either in verse 5 or 6, so Peter is referring to the ones who were evangelized in this life—he is not saying that everyone has been or will be evangelized. Everyone will be judged, but to ‘live according to God in spirit’ one must respond adequately to the Gospel.

⁷ Redeem the time The end of all things has approached; therefore be serious and self-controlled in your praying. Haven’t you heard a lot of ‘praying’ that wouldn’t qualify?

⁸ Above all things your love for one another should be constant, because love covers a multitude of sins.

⁹ Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. Have you never heard anyone grumble? Recall that to be hospitable is commanded.

¹⁰ As each has received a gift, minister it to one another as good administrators of God’s varied grace. Does your church allow people to minister their gifts?

¹¹ If anyone speaks, let it be as utterances of God. If anyone serves, let it be as from strength as God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion throughout the ages. Amen.

¹² Suffering in the will of God Dear ones, don’t be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you as a test, as though something strange was happening to you,

¹³ but to the extent that you share in Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, so that at the revelation of His glory you also may rejoice a great deal more.

¹⁴ If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of the glory and of God has come to rest upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.

¹⁵ Now don’t any of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or as a meddler in others’ affairs;

¹⁶ but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.

¹⁷ Because the time has come for judgment to begin at God’s house; Dear me, does this mean that the more I call down judgment on the forces of evil at work in the society at large, the more God judges the church? now if it starts with us, what will be the end of those who keep disobeying the Gospel of God?

¹⁸ Also, ‘If the righteous one is saved with difficulty, where will the godless and sinful person appear?’ See Proverbs 11:31 in LXX (Septuagint), which is quite different from the Hebrew Text. However, Peter does not claim to be quoting Scripture here, but used a statement that is true and served his purpose.

¹⁹ And so let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

5

¹ How to be a shepherd The elders who are among you I exhort, I, the fellow elder and witness of Christ’s sufferings; also the partaker of the glory that is to be revealed: I take it that Peter is referring to his having been on the mount of transfiguration; only James and John could say as much, and presumably they were not among the addressees. Peter uses the definite article with ‘fellow elder’ and ‘partaker’, from which I conclude that he is claiming a position of special authority.

² Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers willingly, not under compulsion; not for dishonest gain but freely;

³ neither as lording it over those entrusted to you, How many church leaders do you know who enjoy ‘lording’? but being examples to the flock.

⁴ And when the Chief Shepherd is revealed you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

⁵ Humility is a must Similarly, you younger ones, submit to elders. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, submitting to one another, because ‘God resists proud ones, but gives grace to humble ones’. Proverbs 3:34 in LXX.

⁶ Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time;

⁷ casting all your care upon Him, because He does the caring for you. My rendering follows the best line of transmission; God is offering to handle our concerns for us, so we don’t have to—now that’s a real deal (but it only works if we hand them over).

⁸ Guard against the devil Be sober, stay alert! Because your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is circling you , He isn’t ambling aimlessly; he is circling the prey, looking for an opening. looking for someone to devour;

⁹ withstand him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. What does this last clause have to do with withstanding Satan? Well, when we are suffering it is easy to question God’s goodness, to think that we are being picked on, to feel sorry for ourselves, and so on—our faith starts to waver and Satan has all sorts of fun.‘Devour’ means to gobble up (or gobble down); for a while I lived among a people in the Amazon jungle who used to practice cannibalism—I was assured that human flesh is sweet; now really, would any self-respecting ‘lion’ turn up his nose at such a treat?

¹⁰ Benediction Now may the God of all grace, who called you into His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, Himself perfect, establish, strengthen and ground you—after you have suffered a while. Oh dear, can’t I have all the good stuff without needing to suffer? Guess what the answer is.

¹¹ To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

¹² Sign-off I have written to you briefly by our faithful brother Silvanus, as I consider him, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.

¹³ The jointly elect sister in ‘Babylon’ greets you; Almost half the Greek manuscripts have a postscript that the letter was written in Rome, and it seems likely that such was the case. So ‘Babylon’ presumably refers to Rome. The ‘sister’ could be an individual woman, but could also be the church. and so does Mark, my son. Presumably Peter is referring to John Mark (Acts 12 & 15, Colossians 4:10, 2 Timothy 4:11), whom he took under his wing, as it were. This is the Mark who wrote the second Gospel. Many Greek manuscripts have a scribal comment that Mark wrote his Gospel with Peter at his elbow.

¹⁴ Greet one another with a kiss of love. The love here is agape, not phile. What is involved is genuine concern for the other’s well-being, not an emotional interest Peace be to you, all who are in Christ Jesus. If you aren’t in Christ Jesus you can’t expect peace. Amen.