Ch. 2:1-10. Fifth Exhortation:

Desire the sincere milk of the word.

1. Wherefore points to the ground on which the exhortation rests. You have been born by means of the word (1:23); therefore desire the word. You have been exhorted to mutual love (1:22), the child of that new birth which was effected by means of the word, and this implies obligation to lay aside all malice, etc.; therefore desire the word. Laying aside malice, etc., is to run continually parallel with desiring the word.

Laying aside — putting off. It was at first applied to putting off something external, as a crown or a garment, and therefore this is a figurative use of the word. The use of the figure was not intended to teach that the sins mentioned are only external.

Evil speaking — speaking against a person, backbiting (2 Cor. 12:20), and so far as they take on words, all other sins are but molds into which the hot passions of the heart are poured. (Matt. 15:18, 19.)

Malice (wickedness in the Revised Version), guile, hypocrisies, and envies — too far from being strangers in the hearts of most men to make explanation necessary. So common were these forms of sin in the ancient world, both Jewish and Gentile, that Christ and the apostles gave them no quarter, whatever mercy they showed to the penitent who had been guilty of them. See Matt. 5:22, 44; 12:36; 15:19, 20; Rom. 1:28-30; Gal. 5:19-21. To 'lay aside' is the duty of Christians, which implies repentance; to repent is the duty of others, which implies laying aside. The former, addressed to men while impenitent, might lead to a course of self-righteousness.

2, 3. As — as new-born babes are wont to do. New-born babes. 'Babes' is here not used in contrast with adults (full age), as in Heb. 5:13, 14; it is not expressive of special weakness of character, as in 1 Cor. 3:1; Heb. 5:13; does not necessarily refer to "those just entering on the Christian life." (Robinson.) The Epistle contains no evidence that the readers had but recently been born again; it contains proof to the contrary. Not 'new-born babes,' but 'desire,' etc., is expressive of Christian character as it should be maintained to the end of life.

Desire — long for. The sincere milk of the word — much quoted, but a poor representative of the original. The Greek for 'word,' instead of being a noun, is an adjective, the same as is found in Rom. 12:1, and there rendered reasonable — that is, pertaining to your rational or spiritual part. So here the milk for which the readers are to long is such milk as pertains to their spiritual nature — spiritual milk. 'Sincere' is not a fitting word to describe the quality of milk; rather, without guile, pure, unadulterated. Long for the spiritual, pure milk; by milk is meant the word of God. That word, pure, unmixed with error, spiritual, is the proper nourishment for regenerate souls. For that nourishment we are exhorted to long. As the new-born babe turns with instinctive earnestness to its mother for nourishment, so should all Christians most earnestly desire the word of God. In respect to this longing for God's word, we are to be babes, however old we may be.

Thereby — not by means of, but in (ἐν) it; grow in the power of it, grow in the spiritual power which it will minister.

That ye may grow — the end for which they should receive into their souls the word of God. The word may be desired as a means of usefulness, but it is right that one's own growth be the chief end. Not "work and grow,'' but "study and grow," is the divine direction. Nourish your new life with the truth of God's word, or your working will be the child of self-conceit. A blustering and egotistic working shows that the worker needs more milk of the word. " Work and grow" is one of those maxims which has some truth, but much error. See Crit. Notes.

If so be — 'if,' but, as in 1:17, not a sign of doubt.

Ye have tasted — ye tasted — namely, at your conversion. If ye tasted, as I doubt not you did, that the Lord is gracious (good), long for the spiritual, pure milk of the word. "Taste and see that the Lord is good." (Ps.34:8.) In the Hebrew, Lord is Jehovah, yet Peter does not hesitate to apply it to Christ. 'Tasted.' Compare Heb. 6:4: "And have tasted of the heavenly gift." It is not merely sipped, as understood by many Christian people, but it expresses inward experience or enjoyment, very full, possibly. In the New Testament the verb is found in connection with death (Matt. 16:28; Mark 9:1), and, of course, Cannot mean that the experience of death was slight. Tasting death is full experience of death. So here, to 'taste,' etc., is to have inward experience of the Lord's graciousness. Sipping is quite too common; it makes one weak and thin.

4. The new exhortation (desire) and the end (growth), lead the apostle to a vivid description of the gracious Lord, and of themselves, as subjects of the new birth. This will quicken their desire and promote their growth. To whom — the Lord — i. e., Christ.

Coming — by faith — i. e., believing. Not, having first come, and after that built up a spiritual house (ver. 5); but the two are to run on together during the earthly life; ever coming and ever built up. Some came to Christ only with the feet; some come only with the head. The coming must be that of the heart; and such coming implies the coming of the entire man.

A living stone. That the figure was suggested to Peter by his own name (Petros, rock) is improbable. He comes to the use of the figure more directly; he comes to it through his familiarity with the Old Testament. The verse is tinged with language drawn from Ps. 118:22; Isa. 28:16, yet the words are not a quotation. The severest taste need not be offended at the application of the term 'living' to 'stone.' Christ is life — is the Giver of life. As bread he is the same. (John 6:51.) Not even while held by the "great stone" of Joseph's tomb (Matt. 27:60), was he other than a living stone.

Living — a little key for unlocking great treasures — a living hope (1:3); the living word (1:23); and now a living stone.

Disallowed indeed of men — rejected after being tried.

Chosen. See on 'elect' (1:2), and compare 2:9. Christ was chosen as the Messiah chosen to his redeeming work and to all its blessed results, (Isa. 42.) Contrast Peter's quiet positiveness of conviction with the exasperated infidelity of the rulers expressed too weakly in that skeptical and semi-hypocritical if: "If he be Christ, the chosen of God." (Luke 23:35.)

Precious — honorable, and honorable because precious; costly. (Matt. 3:17; Heb. 1:3, 6 9; Col. 1:19.) How the golden music of Peter's word revives the spirit when fainting under earthly fatigues, or when longing for some new consciousness of spiritual life!

Chosen of God — elect with God. It is infinite capacity which so appreciates the excellence of the living stone. How marked the contrast which the apostle makes between God's estimate and man's! Rejected by men! The rejection was foretold by Christ himself (Mark 8:31); and the severest rebuke of himself which ever fell upon the ear of Peter from the lips of Christ, "Get thee behind me, Satan!" was administered because of his hasty and unseemly "rebuke" of his Master, when the latter announced the certainty of the very event of which Peter now speaks. "The Son of man must be rejected." Peter sees with the utmost clearness that this was to be; and in the blessed consequences resulting, he rejoices. It was indeed love, but love with blurred vision, which prompted the original utterance. His sight was long ago made clear. At a later period of his ministry, Christ spoke of himself as rejected by this generation (Luke 17:25). Isaiah says. Rejected of men; and this was the great and fearful fact,, that so far as it knew him the human race rejected him — the exceptions were very few. Among the saddest representations of art is that of "Christ Rejected."

5. Ye... are built up. Many take the verb as imperative, instead of indicative: Be ye yourselves also built up. The apostle is still filled with the thought of their growth. Not, Be living stones, but be built up as living stones. He thinks of them both as individuals, and as individuals connected with each other. He is not thinking of them as organized bodies; for there were many churches there, and he represents them as growing into one building. The picture is exceedingly graphic. "Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn." (Isa. 51:1.) Once dead stones in the quarry, now living stones! But the building of which they form a part has this peculiarity, that it is capable of indefinite growth. He does not yet say that the living stone, Christ, is a corner-stone, and that it is that upon which they are to be built. Perhaps the conception is in his mind; for he soon gives utterance to the thought.

A spiritual house — not the foundation, or even a part of it. See on corner-stone in the next verse. To be built up as a mere house, however large and elaborate — as the Roman Catholic Church, for example, and even some Protestant (National) Churches, is foreign to Peter's view.

Spiritual — because, being begotten by God (1:3), they may ever become more like the children of God — i. e., more holy. (1:15, 16.)

A holy priesthood. In many valuable manuscripts, a preposition (εἰς into) stands before these words. Be built up a spiritual house into — i. e., for the purpose of becoming a holy priesthood. If 'house' is used for temple, the transition to priesthood was easy. Becoming a body of holy priests was the end to which becoming a temple looked. They were to be not only stones, but living stones; not only living stones constituting a temple, but, with greater boldness of view, this temple itself was to become a community of priests, and that community was to be a holy one. The Jewish priest was accustomed to draw especially near to God to offer sacrifice and incense for others, as well as for himself; and thus he was supposed to be set apart from others. (Num. 16:5; Exod. 19:22.) So these Christians are all alike to be holy, and all alike to draw near to God. No one is to be a priest in any higher sense than another. Priest — applied officially under the Christian economy to ministers of the gospel, as has been done many centuries by several ecclesiastical bodies, is not in harmony with the spirit of this passage. Altar has been applied, unscripturally, to a given part of a Christian house of worship, and even sacrifice to the ministration of the Lord's Supper. Bad seed — bad fruit. Jewish terms with a Jewish meaning, instead of Jewish terms with a Christian meaning, well nigh ruined Christendom. All Christians are now priests, and ought to be as holy as the priests of ancient Israel were supposed to be.

But this great community of priests is made such, in order to offer up spiritual sacrifices. The Jewish sacrifices ought always to have been offered with spiritual feeling, but not often were they so offered; and had they been so offered, they were in themselves material, animal. (Heb. 9:10, 13, 22.) 'Spiritual' — offered with the spirit, and not of a material nature. Offering one's self (Rom. 12:1), praise (Heb. 13:15), and doing good, almsgiving (Rom. 15:16), are included in spiritual sacrifices.

Acceptable to God. See Rom. 15:16; 12:1; 14:18. Such sacrifices, and the offering of them, are well pleasing to God.

By Jesus Christ. Some say, well pleasing through Christ; others, to offer up through Christ. The former seems preferable. Thrilling to every child of God is the efficacy of that mediation by which sacrifices, so worthless in themselves, are made pleasing to Him who is infinitely pure.

6. Wherefore — for, or because. Also has little manuscript authority. The apostle proves what he has said by quoting from Isa. 28:16. But parts of Isaiah's description are left out. Compare the two.

In Sion. 'Sion' (Zion) was the southwestern hill on which Jerusalem was built, and was sometimes used for the entire city. Being the residence of the kings, and (Ps. 132:13) the " habitation " of Jehovah, it was the seat of divine and of human government. There God laid the chief corner-stone of the Jewish theocracy, or of the house of David. The words express, therefore, stability of Jewish government; but reference to the Messiah is clear, in which nearly all expositors are agreed.

A chief corner-stone — not a chief corner-stone, but a stone laid at the extreme angle — that is, a corner-stone. The context shows that it was to be a foundation corner-stone, and this is distinctly said by Isaiah. Such a stone supports all that is above it. It binds together the two sides; but this idea, on which some like to linger, is not expressed either here, or in Isaiah. Hence the pleasing and Scriptural fact that Jews and Gentiles are bound together by a common union with Christ is put into Peter's words, not drawn out of them. See Eph. 2:20, where the readers are said to be built on the apostles and prophets, as well as on Christ. Christians in general are not a part of the foundation; and this is a fact of very great importance. That they are a part of it is a conception foreign to the New Testament, and is a fruitful source of error. The words in 1 Tim. 3:15 do not teach the contrary. That the apostles, in connection with Christ, are a part of the foundation, Christ as the corner-stone, "the first and chief part," indeed, shows that their teachings are authoritative, and authoritative because they are the voice of Christ in them. Christ and the apostles deliver truth; we receive it. See Bernard's " Progress of Doctrine in the New Testament," p. 125, and elsewhere.

Elect, precious. See on the same words in ver. 4.

Believeth on him. The preposition implies resting upon him. See on 1:8.

Shall not be confounded — be put to shame (Rom. 5:5); that is, shall receive the end for which his faith is placed upon Christ — final glory.

7. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious. To millions of the elect, accustomed to read only the English, this is one of the richest things in the Epistle, and to reject it as not the true expression of the mind of the Spirit will seem like the ruthless crushing of a diamond. Yet it is the duty of all to sit reverently at the feet of the Divine Teacher, and to receive all that may there be taught. To the believer, the preciousness of Christ will not be lost, or in the least diminished, even if it is not taught directly in the words before us.

Therefore — in view of what I have said relative to the living stone. Therefore to you who believe, who rely upon the stone as the true foundation, is 'the honour.' See margin of Revised Version. The word honour stands in contrast with the idea implied in shall not be put to shame, (ver.6.) See Crit. Notes. It is there implied that he who believeth not shall be dishonored. It also stands in contrast with what follows. Thus the contrast is twofold: (a) He that believes not shall be dishonored; to you, on the contrary, who believe, is the honor, (b) To you who believe is the honor; they, on the other hand, who believe not, stumble against the stone, and so are dishonored. The apostle speaks of the reward which is conferred upon believers, not of what Christ is to them; though precious he most certainly is.

Them which be disobedient — better, both in style and thought, as in the Revised Version, such as disbelieve. The critics adopt the Greek word for disbelieving (ἀπἱστοῦσν), instead of that for the disobedient (απειθοῦσι). The unbelief is active, and more or less hostile. Thus are contrasted the faith of Christians and the disbelief of others.

Which the builders disallowed (or rejected) — which the working religionists, the Scribes and Pharisees, who were very busy, and thought themselves very skillful in building a spiritual house, rejected. Their own Scriptures (ver.6) proved that the building would be useless, unless God's stone were used; but they not only did not want it — they rejected it.

The same — this. It is a case not of mere repetition (the stone... the same), but of emphasis, this very stone which the builders rejected. To a consciously condemned builder the use of the word was like thrusting the blade to the hilt. Peter quotes from Ps. 118:22. Of what egregious folly and sin were the builders guilty! Compare Matt. 7:24-27, and note especially our Lord's own solemn citation of the passage, in presence of the very men to whom it was applicable. (Matt. 21:42.)

Is made — has become, implying that he continues to be the head of the corner. What the builders rejected as a stone unfit to be used in the building at all, God caused to become, by the resurrection and glorification, the cornerstone. See Crit. Notes.

8. And... offence. 'Offence' recalls the solemn application of the same word (σκάνδαλον) to Peter himself, when he rebuked his Master. (Matt. 16:23.) He came to the right view by severity, administered in wonderful love. The Greek word is originally "a trapstick — a bent stick on which the bait is fastened, which the animal strikes against, and so springs the trap." (Robinson.) Hence, it came to mean a trap, and was at length easily applied to whatever was the cause of one's falling morally. Peter quotes from Isa. 8:14. Christ rejected became ruin to the rejecters. The rejecters brought ruin on themselves; but in that ruin must not be overlooked the active and just displeasure of God. See Luke 10:21; 2:34; 20:18.

Even to them was unnecessarily supplied, and even the Revisers supply 'for.' Literally, who stumble at the word, being disobedient; or (as in the margin of the Revised Version), stumble, being disobedient to the word. They are not represented as stumbling both at Christ and the word. They stumble at that word which has respect to redemption by Christ as the only ground of salvation. See 1 Cor. 1:18, and especially 1:23, of the same Epistle. Preaching Christ as less than the corner-stone of all durable human hopes is perilous work. It saves none, and ruins all who like it.

Whereunto — to which stumbling, not to which disobedience. In the original, 'stumble' is a verb, and 'being disobedient' is a participle. The main thought is expressed in the verb, and it is the main thought to which 'whereunto' should be referred.

Appointed. The Greek is the same as is found in 1 Thess. 5:9: "For God hath not appointed us to wrath." They are unbelieving, which is a sin; they stumble, and though that also is a sin, yet it is here viewed as a punishment of the unbelief, and in this respect God appointed them to it. That one who persistently refuses to believe in Jesus Christ may be appointed by God, after "much long-suffering," to the ruin which is implied in stumbling, is an obvious principle of his moral government, and is recognized as such with remarkable calmness and independence by the sacred writers. See the very important words in Rom. 9:22. The appointing was before the stumbling, for the verb is in a past tense. There is a power back of the devil's.

9. Another description of the readers and equally of all the regenerate, the more striking in contrast with that of the unbelieving just given. It is an additional evidence of Peter's knowledge of the Old Testament, for nearly every item is Scriptural in language as well as in thought.

A chosen generation, an elect race. (Isa. 43:20; Deut. 7:6; Isa. 45:4.) The original for chosen is here used the fourth time since the Epistle opened. The word bristles with no such difficulties that one need fear to use it often. Applied at first to Israel as a race chosen by God from all other nations, it is here applied to all Christians. These have been chosen out of the world to eternal life.

A royal priesthood. See Ex. 19:6, where it is "a kingdom of priests." Peter's form is according to the Septuagint. The delicate pencil of John has given us a similar picture (Rev. 1:6; 5:10) in a different form; "kings and priests" in the Common Version which Keil and Delitzsch ("Pentateuch") affirm to be in the Greek the correct reading. But the correct reading gives us a kingdom, priests. See the "Commentary on the Revelation" (this series), by Justin A. Smith, D. D. On 1:6, Dr. Smith says: "The correct rendering of the Greek in the word we here distinguish is important. A less ambiguous translation would be, made us to be a kingdom — that is, made a kingdom of us, not for us. Believers are spoken of collectively as a 'kingdom,' in the sense in which that word is so often used in the New Testament, not individually as 'kings.' The word 'priests' applies to them individually, as well as collectively, and has reference to the abolishing of that ancient ritual, in which approach to God must be always with priestly intervention." All Christians are priests. They are a kingdom. Their priesthood has royalty.

A holy nation, (Ex. 19:6.) See on 1:15, 16.

A peculiar people, (Deut. 7:6; 14:2.) 'Peculiar ' is not here equivalent to odd [oddity may be a blotch on character), but to owned as property, belonging to; and this is doubtless the sense in which King James' Revisers used the word, peculiar being derived from the Latin word peculium (property). The Greek is, literally, a people for a possession — that is, designed for a possession. For special possession (Farrar, "Early Days"); for God's own possession. (Revised Version.) Israel was acquired by Jehovah for his possession; in no such exalted sense was any other nation his property. So the readers of the Epistle, so all Christians, are God's possession, acquired through the redeeming work of Christ (Tit. 2:14), and in this sense the unregenerate are not God's possession. See Eph. 1:14; Acts 20:28; Isa. 43:21.

This vivid description must not be weakened by the supposition that it is merely ideal. It describes what Christians are now, not what they will be either in the millennium or in heaven. So far as men are not what this description makes them, they are without evidence that they have been born again. Introduction of persons into Christian churches in infancy has done much to make the description inapplicable; so also has hasty reception of adults professing to believe. The character of Christians as here given is so exalted that, if it is not realized in a community which rejects infant church-membership, superficiality in preaching and method of working may justly be presumed. That (denoting design) ye should shew forth, etc., by publishing wide.

The praises — virtues (the meaning of the Greek), as applied to God, is very uncommon. The singular is used in 2 Pet. 1:3, and that also is applied to God. Though holiness is the term almost always used in the Scriptures for the purpose of expressing God's moral nature, and though virtus (virtue) was used by the Romans to express, chiefly, mere natural bravery, yet we need not be so surprised as some are (Farrar and Dr. Edwin A. Abbott) at the application of the word, either singular or plural, to the Divine Being. Here it may be rendered, as in the Revised Version, excellencies. See Isa. 43:21.

Who hath called — who called you is more exact; called at the time of your conversion. It was God's effective calling through the Holy Spirit.

Out of darkness — darkness of sin and ignorance, leading always to misery. (Col. 1:13.) Nothing in the material universe more expressively symbolizes the state of the unrenewed mind. 'Out of.' Yet the darkness is not external.

His light. The natural light represents the ineffable light of God's life. Compare John 1:4.

Marvellous — in itself, and to angels and saints. Darkness! light! Out of! into! The greatest change expressed in the smallest words.

10. Which (who) in time past, etc. See Hos. 1:9, 10; 2:28. Speaking of the state of Israel at the time when he was writing, the prophet says substantially this: They are not God's people; God has no mercy for them, so thoroughly have they forsaken the Lord; but the time will come, the time of the Messiah, when they will become God's people, and will be the subject of God's compassion. Peter applied this to the readers. They, too, were once not a people. He does not say, not the people of God; but he says, not a people. See Crit. Notes. They were not even a people, so wanting were they in oneness of characteristics. Sin disunites and scatters. As several interpreters express it, they were a not-people; humiliating, but true. He speaks of them as individuals, and as a community. But the disunited and scattered ones, brought together by the spiritual change which each has received through the ransom paid by Christ, are now a people, and more — they are God's people. It is equally true that once they "were in the condition of those that have received no mercy; but now ye did receive mercy." (Lillie.) The public prayers of the German missionary, Dr. J. G. Oncken, offered during his visit to this country, were characterized by the outpouring of fervent praise for the amazing change which grace had wrought upon the Christians present. Peter is here virtually exhorting the saints of Asia Minor to extol the grace which wrought a similar change upon themselves.

Ch. 2:11 — 4:6. Second Series of Exhortations.

This series, speaking generally, pertains to relations to the world without; embracing particularly, relation to (a) rulers; (b) masters; (c) husbands; (d) wives; (e) persecutors — a classification which must be taken as only in part correct, for the thoughts of the several divisions are not a little intermingled; and in the exhortations to husbands, both the husbands and the wives are supposed to be members of the church.

11, 12. Preliminary General Exhortations. Dearly beloved, Beloved is more correct; and such everywhere else in Peter's Epistles is the rendering. Very tender is the address, more like the nature of John than of Peter; but Peter's nature has been overmatched by grace.

I beseech (you); tenderness still, not prelatical lordliness; real, not assumed for effect, which is possible along with great arrogance of power.

As strangers and pilgrims — as being such, as those who know that they are such. As to the former word, see on 1:1. The two Greek words, which here have a figurative meaning, are used in nearly the same sense — that of sojourners in the world, having no right of citizenship, not permanent residents.

Fleshly lusts. Compare the exhortation in 1:14; 2:1, and see similar forms of expression in Gal. 5:16; Eph. 2:3; 2 Pet. 2:18. 'Lusts' — sinful desires in general, including, doubtless, unclennness or impurity, then so painfully common in all classes of society, from the lowest to the highest (so painfully common now), that the pure, in the sense to which Peter refers, were, probably, exceptions. 'Fleshly' — carnal; so called because they proceed from our corrupt nature. It is a figurative use of the word. The flesh was indeed conceived as in some sense the occasion of wrong desires, but strictly the desires are desires of the soul, not of the material nature; and fleshly desires are desires of the soul viewed as unregenerate. The readers are a holy nation (ver. 9), but they have not become superior to the necessity' of exhortation.

Abstain — literally, hold yourselves off from. This I exhort you to do as persons who are not citizens of this world, who belong to a commonwealth which is in heaven (Phil. 3:20); a motive the strength of which can be felt only by those who are sojourners.

Which war. This military term is used also by James (4;1), and by Paul (Rom. 7:23), warring against. Sinful desires are not a besieging army waiting for surrender, but are foes of merciless activity'.

Against the soul. If sinful desires are desires of the soul, how can they be said to war against the soul? They are viewed by the apostle as having their seat outside the soul — that is, in the flesh; and the soul is viewed as the immortal, spiritual part of man. It was possible for the readers to relapse, and the apostle's exhortation is to be a means of keeping them. Several hundred years before Peter's time, a Greek philosopher, who had no written revelation, wrote of an immortal battle between right and wrong.¹ The "grandeur" of the conception is second only to that of the Scripture.

Verse 12 enforces the exhortation of ver. 11 by the consideration that God may come to be glorified by the Gentiles, who shall have been converted through the influence of their holy walk.

Conversation — course o' life, (1:15, 18.)

Honest — literally, beautiful. It is not. beautiful course of life, which might, perhaps, refer only to a day's course of life, or a week's, but it is, having your course of life beautiful, which can mean nothing less than that their entire course of life must be beautiful. The Revised Version renders seemly, but it renders the same word in the latter part of the verse, good. A life may be beautiful in the sense in which the word was used by ancient Greek philosophy-, without being morally good. The life en joined by Peter is far better than the beautiful life extolled by the Greeks.

Gentiles, living under the Roman government, were the most numerous of the inhabitants living in the region to which the Epistle was sent. The form of the allusion to Gentiles is one of the grounds for supposing that the majority of the readers were Jews. Christianity raises no impenetrable barrier between the regenerate and the men of the world (consider the necessary relations of the two classes in business and social life), but it is justly inexorable in its demand that the lives of the former shall in no degree be modeled by the principles of the latter. The principles which underlie the business, politics, and pleasures of the world, are too corrupt to be used by men of heavenly birth. Spiritual alliance with God, and acting upon such principles, are as impossible as for "the fountain" to "send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter." (James 3:11, Rev. ver.) Professions of such alliance, while acting upon such principles, are worthless, and the sooner either the principles or the professions are renounced, the better.

That whereas, etc. So that, in what they speak against you as evildoers, they, when beholding, may, etc. As as being, evil doers. The Christians were slandered by the unconverted Gentiles. They were misunderstood. "If in hot climates the long absence of rain brought on a drought; if in Egypt the Nile failed to irrigate the fields; if in Rome the Tiber overflowed its banks; if a contagious disease was raging; if an earthquake, a famine, or any other public calamity occurred, the popular rage was easily turned against the Christians." (Neander.) According to the same historian, Augustine reports that it became a proverb in North Africa, " If there is no rain, tax it on the Christians." Though referring to a later time, the proverb throws light upon the words of Peter. If the readers lead a life of holiness ("good works") before their slanderers, these will be so changed that in the very same things in which tliey misunderstand and malign them, they will at length be led to praise God.

Behold — a strong word, one which implies sharp observation and contemplation; not mere seeing, for which the Greek has another word.

Day of visitation. In Job 10:12, and Luke 19:44, these words are used to express God's favor; in Isa. 10:3, and many other places, God's displeasure. Should God have mercy upon their slanderers, they will praise him for that in you of which they now speak so unjustly. If the words are used in the latter sense, the slanderers are represented as the unwilling means of glorifying God when the day of punishment comes.

13, 14. First Exhortation (particular).

The general exhortation of ver. 11, enforced in ver. 12, is now resolved into particulars. First: Submission to the civil power.

Submit yourselves — so some translate; others, be subject. The submission must be voluntary, not yielded with reluctance. See Crit. Notes.

To every ordinance of man — to every human institution — that is, every institution originating with men; a comprehensive direction applicable to the citizen, the servant (ver. 18), and to the wife (3:1). Applied to the citizen, it requires him to render obedience to the civil power. It was possible that some of the Christians might be "contentiously conscientious." They might refuse to do what it would not be sinful to do. Such instances are known to have occurred. See Neander, "Church History." Such superfluity of conscientiousness it was important to prevent, lest the charge of being evil doers should be just. It was not necessary for Peter's purpose to remind them of the possible existence of such civil requirements as it would be sinful to obey. His opinion concerning that point may be seen in Acts 4:18-20. His present silence is not the result of greater conservatism. He is older, indeed, but he has as much natural courage as ever, and a good deal more grace. If by submitting to every ordinance of man he meant submitting even if it involved commission of sin, why did he not save himself from martyrdom? Compare Paul's view in the very important passages, Rom. 13:1-5. The relation of Christians to civil government involves questions of the highest importance.

For the Lord's sake — the best of motives. ' Lord,' ' Christ'; for both by Peter and Paul the word is almost always used in reference to Christ. Whether, etc. The king in this case is the Roman emperor.

As supreme — as one who is supreme. His superiority in rank, etc., is a motive (as) why you should submit. It implies sovereignty over all other rulers of the Roman empire, as well as over the people. "Whether the government is a monarchy or a republic is not the question. "The powers that be are ordained of God." (Rom. 13:1.) Government, not necessarily the form of it, is a divine ordinance.

Governors — rulers who presided over Roman provinces. Representatives of the king, they, too, should be obeyed. They are sent to maintain the government, and that can be done only by punishing (vengeance) those who refuse allegiance, and by commending (praise) those who are loyal. While the method of dealing with criminals should not be unnecessarily harsh, it ought not to be so mild as to lose the character of punishment. The fiendishness of secret attempts to take the life of rulers, and to demolish public buildings, deserves something much severer than is meted out to common criminals.

15. For introduces a reason why they should submit (ver. 15) to the ordinances of men — namely, that the slanderers, even if not led to glorify God, may at least be made to stop their slandering. For so is — for the will of God is such. What is the will of God? Neither the well-doing, nor the putting to silence the ignorance of foolish men, but both combined into one — i. c, putting to silence by well-doing. God's will should be sufficient to determine their course. No false views of freedom must be permitted to make them disloyal. Modern communism was not spawned from such words as these.

Well-doing — in their general mode of life, but especially by obedience to rulers.

Put to silence — primary meaning, "to muzzle, as oxen treading out grain." (1 Tim. 5:18.) " But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence"; muzzled them. (Matt.22:34.) The plain meaning is, stop the mouth, so that the objector finds himself unable to reply.

The ignorance — ignorance begotten of culpable prejudice against the truth, as illustrated in the life of the Christians.

Of foolish men — of the foolish men. The article points out the slandering Gentiles of ver. 12. Fools of this sort have not all died off.

16. Still anxious to keep them loyal to rulers, that the religion which they profess may not be dishonored. Whether the connection is with ver. 13, or with ver. 14, or with ver. 17, is not easily decided; with the finst is most probable. Submit (ver. 13) as free. Free, though required to submit. Freedom and loyalty to rulers may co-exist. Only when, in its submission to rulers, the soul disobeys God, is it in bondage. And besides, in submitting to government they are free because they recognize government as appointed by God.

Your liberty — the freedom implied in the word 'free.' Both the Common and the Revised Versions supply 'j-our' without necessity. As free, and not using the freedom — a needful caution.

For a cloak — as a cloak, though some consider that as should be connected with using — as free, and not as using the freedom, etc. They must not use the freedom for a covering of wickedness. See Gal. 5:13; 2 Pet. 2:19.

As the I servants of God — as being, as knowing that I you are God's servants. This is the positive, 1 and of course the stronger, representation. They must not only (negatively) not attempt to hide wickedness by boasting of their freedom (Hutlier), but they must be as God's servants. No word in the Greek tongue (δοῦλοι, slaves) could have more strongly expressed the duty of being entirely subject to God. If the application of the term to Christians is not pleasant, it is because the word, as applied to those held in bondage to men, so often suggests degradation and injustice. Used in reference to Christians, it implies neither, but expresses only, or chiefly, the rendering of absolute, unconditional service. The Revised Version uses the strong word bondservants. Elsewhere we learn that the service as required is just, and as rendered, is cordial; but these are not expressed by the word itself

17. Closing the section which began at ver. 11. It is a fine specimen of rapid, condensed thinking. It is like a quick, powerful closing of orchestral music. The apostle ascends from men in general to men of spiritual relationship; from these he ascends to God himself, and ends by dropping to the key-note: 'Honor the king.'

Honour all men — not humanity, but men, and men without exception are to be honored. Wealth, office, and learning may deserve respect, especially the last; but Peter has no thought of them here. Men are the work of God — that is the chief reason why they are to be honored. Honor the lowest of them, which can be done by helping them up.

Love the brotherhood — the entire Christian body — that is, all Christians. These are supposed to be members of Christian churches; yet, as this is not universally the case, the love must not be restricted to such; and therefore it need not, it must not, be restricted to denominational lines. True Christian love for the universal brotherhood of Christians should be conscientiously cultivated, which is possible in connection with inflexible adherence to the truths and ordinances of Christianity. Christian love is not inconsistent with vigorous defense of truth, nor even with sharp invective against bold and persistent teachers of fatal error. See Matt. 2:3; 2 Pet. 2:1-3, 17, 18; Jude 4, 8, 11-13. Compare Rom. 10:1 with Rom. 16:17, 18. But controversy among those who were alike begotten to the living hope should be conducted with delicate respect for one another's conscientious, though perhaps unfounded, convictions. Christ says, "Love your enemies" (Matt.5:44); Peter says nothing to the contrary.

Fear God — reverence him. It includes love; but in contrast with honoring men and the king, the apostle enjoins awe in view of God's superiority over all. It implies humility.

Honour the king. See on ver. 13.

18. Second Exhortation (particular). This is included under the general exhortation of ver. 13. In that, all are exhorted to submit to every human institution; here is enjoined upon servants submission to their masters. Servants — house-servants (οἰκέται, pertaining to the house; not the stronger term δοῦλοι, bondservants, slaves, used in ver. 16). Both words, however, were applied to persons held in involuntary servitude. Yet some house-.servants may have been freemen. Slavery existed in the times of the apostles, and had long existed. It was allowed by the Roman government; and whatever may have been the conviction of individuals relative to its wrongfulness, no general and active combination against it had arisen. It was prevailing in the region to which this Epistle was sent. Yet slave is used but once in the Common Version New Testament), and but once in the Common Version (Old Testament,; servant, as in the passage before us, being preferred. The Revised Version uses for the same Greek word (δοῦλος) servant in Matt. 8:9, but bondservant in 2:16, of our Epistle. That all these servants were slaves cannot be proved; that none of them were slaves is entirely improbable; that a large majority of them wore slaves is almost certain. See the context, and Eph. 6:5-9; Col. 3:22; 4:1; 1 Tim. 6:1,2; Tit. 2:9, 10; and the Epistle to Philemon. That Onesimus had been a slave would be conceded by all interpreters. See Hackett on the Epistle.

With all fear — in fear of offending their masters, yet not with slavish fear, slaves though they were — for they are Christians; but with fear pervaded by fear of God. (1:17.) 'All fear'; fear at every point where It would be necessary, in order to secure what the apostle here requires them to do.

The good — the kind. The froward — the crooked, that is, the perverse, fretful, easily angered. " Untoward' is the translation in Acts 2:40, and "crooked" in Phil. 3:15 (Common Version); more consistently in the Revised Version, crooked in both places, but inconsistently with the rendering here. The character of the master, whether marked by kindness, or by severity, is not to be the standard by which the conduct of the servants is to be governed. They are to submit to their masters for the sake of One who is far above their masters, yet took upon him the form of a bond-servant. (δοῦλος. Phil. 2:7.) They are to regard themselves as submitting to God rather than to men. We shall tail to appreciate the spirit of this inspired direction unless this is borne in mind. See Eph. 6:5-7; Col. 3:22-24; Tit. 2:10.

This exhortation to servants no more implies approval of slavery than the command to submit to the king implies approval of monarchy in distinction from republicanism. The direction to submit was eminently wise, as the state of society was at that time. But while such wore the directions for the time being, Christianity contemplated, by the equality in Christ which it taught (1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:28; Philemon 16; Col. 4:1), the final removal of slavery from the world. To Christianity is due the removal thus far. In his translation of Paul's Epistle to Philemon, Dr. Hackett uses servant instead of slave; yet he has no doubt that Onesimus was a fugitive from slavery.2

19, 20. From ver. 19 to the close of the chapter, the apostle enforces the duty expressed in ver. 18, chiefly by the duty of submission to masters whose treatment of them is severe. It is enforced by two considerations:1. God's approval; 2. Christ's example. The former is taught in the verses before us. For this is thankworthy — what follows in the same verse. The original of 'thankworthy ' is a noun, and is often rendered grace, as in the margin of the Revised Version. But some insist that it here means praise. For this is praise — that is, an object of praise. The meaning may be as follows: For if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully — this is grace — that is, it shows God's grace toward him; or, it conciliates the favor of God toward him.

If a man — if any one.

For conscience toward God. Some say:" The knowledge of God concerning us," because God knows your sufferings; but the better view is that which makes it refer to one's knowledge of God. The sense, then, is this: If through one's knowledge of God, as the Being who takes cognizance of all one's sufferings, one endures, bears up under, instead of sinking.

Grief — grievances.

Suffering wrongfully; allusion to such masters as might indulge in severity. It was the possible severity which would lead to the grievances.

Heaven me such uses send, Not to pick bad from bad; but, by bad mend.

20. For what glory — a strong denial that there is any glory at all in so doing.

Buffeted. The related noun means a box on the ear, and so the verb means to give a box on the ear. Sometimes the smiting was done with the fist. Many of these Christian servants were doubtless made to feel, practically, the etymological meaning of the word; but the term was sometimes used to express a wider range of abuse.

For your faults — the entire clause, more exactly, if doing wrong and being buffeted; yet the abusive treatment is supposed to be caused by the wrong doing. 'Doing wrong' is here, literally, missing the mark — a, significant way of expressing the act of committing sin.

Take patiently — bear up under. It has essentially the same meaning as endure, in ver. 19.

Acceptable with God. In the Greek it is the word for grace, as ver. 19 (''thankworthy"); this is grace, and the word must have the same meaning as there. Notice the addition, 'with God.' Bearing up under abuse may be the result of natural heroism, or of philosophic pride. As enjoined by Peter, it is a virtue of heavenly birth.

21. This enforces the duty (ver. 18) by the example of Christ. They should bear up under the sufferings inflicted by masters, inasmuch as Christ suffered for them; and he suffered for them without sin, patiently, and as their substitute. See Crit. Notes. Even — unnecessarily inserted.

Hereunto — not unto slavery; not, exclusively, unto suffering, but unto patience under suffering.

Called. See Acts 14:22; Rom. 8:28-30; 1 Thess. 3:3. It is only servants to whom he refers, yet the spirit of the words is applicable to all to whom the Epistle was sent. (3:8, 9.) The calling implies divine purpose, but divine purpose relative to the patience enjoined, and not also relative to the sufferings inflicted, would have been poor comfort. The Christian who believes suffering to be only the result of natural law, or man's wickedness, or the devil's malignity, surrenders himself so far, however ignorantly, to one of the most pestiferous principles of Paganism. "God has nothing to do with it" — a very common saying — is not the teaching of Christianity. See what this same apostle taught on the Day of Pentecost concerning God's purpose relative to Christ's crucifixion. (Acts 2:23.) Man's wickedness, always committed freely, is part of the good man's schooling. The point of harmony between man's freedom in wrong doing and God's purpose eludes us. Here every man is an agnostic. Denying the existence of such a point is easy, but the difficulty is not thereby removed. To the sharper sight of the next life that may be one of the things brought within its angle; it may not be. It may not be visible in the brightest light of eternity.

Because. This assigns the reason why these Christian servants are called to suffer — namely, Christ also suffered. It is conceivable that Christ might have passed through the world without suffering, but he suffered. Peter sends the argument home by adding, for you — for us, in Common Version, but in Revised Version after the more approved Greek — for your good, or in your stead. Concerning the meaning of the preposition — that is, whether it implies substitution — see Crit. Note.

Leaving us. Here, also, a better reading requires you; leaving behind, a clear allusion to the Lord's ascension.

An example. The word means literally a copy to be followed in writing. As a child learns to write by imitating the copy at the head of the page, so we must imitate the suffering Christ by suffering ourselves, not complaining because we are not allowed to choose the kind, but accepting the kind which God gives.

Follow his steps — a change of figure which rhetorical precision would condemn. They are to imitate the copy that they may follow upon his footsteps. See the same figure in Rom. 4:12. Both figures being dropped, the simple form is, leaving an example for you to follow.

22. Who did no sin — the first fact in the suffering Redeemer's case. Jesus suffered, not as a wrong doer, but as a sinless one, which makes appeal to servants yet stronger. Though Peter supposed them to be innocent under suffering, yet in this representation of Christ's sinlessness, there is an indirect allusion to their own want of sinlessness. The words are still another evidence that Peter had made the Old Testament a study. They are quoted, as also the remaining words of the verse, from Isa. 63:9, not according to the Hebrew, but according to the Septuagint, which is believed to have been much used by the Jews in our Lord's time.

No sin — though born of a daughter of Eve, Jesus had no taint of the depravity of Eve. He lived among great sinners, yet took no harm from their character. He had human appetites, but not one of them became his master. He was capable of ambition, but no such vice found place in his heart. No man ever had greater reasons, greater opportunities, and greater power to indulge in revenge; yet he forgave the greatest personal insults, and loved the wrong doer even unto death. Wise above all the men of his time, he neither treasured up wisdom in self-gratification, nor, when disclosing it, disclosed it in vanity. "With capacity for a life of study and meditation superior to that of any of his contemporaries, he gave himself to active toil for the good of others, seeking solitude only that by renewing his exhausted strength, and obtaining fresh supplies of spiritual power, he might continue his labors for the selfish and rebellious. He sought honor neither from the bad nor from the good; and, with bold consistency, cried in the ears of men, "How can ye believe which (who) receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour which cometh from God only?" In suffering, not less than in doing; in death, not less than in life, he was distinctly conscious of the spirit of obedience to the will of God, instead of being blindly impelled by the divinity within him. His virtues were not those of an angel or of God, but of man. They were thoroughly human; yet they were so united with the divine that the divine and the human were scarcely distinguishable. So in this God-man dwelt infinite excellence. (Heb. 7:26; 2 Cor. 5:21.) Neither was guile found. Though freedom from guile (deceit) is included in freedom from sin, yet Christ's freedom from that particular form of evil, so characteristic of fallen man, seemed to Peter to require, for the sake of servants, special mention. Nathanael was not sinless, but he had no guile, even according to Christ himself. (JohQi:47.) Such Nathanaels are rare. 'Was found' — more expressive than was. No guile could be detected in his words. (Rev. 14:5.) See Winer. Neither his enemies, nor his friends, with the latter of whom he held the most intimate relations, could ever see in him the least deceit, though the former called him while his body lay in Joseph's tomb (Matt. 27:63), "that deceiver." See more on 1:7 concerning 'might be found.' Deceit in the mouth has bad parentage — deceit in the heart. (Mark 7:22.) " Naught, naught, saith the buyer; but when he is gone his way then he boasteth " (Prov.20:14; the full-blown deception of not a few buyers in the present time. Elymas, the sorcerer (Acts 13:8-10), "full of all subtilty " — the deceit of opposers of the gospel. Expose one such deceiver, and another springs up. Simon Magus (Acts 8:23.24), the deceit of a hypocrite, the worst kind. Nothing did the guileless Saviour so severely denounce as the last. Deceit in conducting religious affairs is sure to rebound upon those who practice it.

23. The second fact: He suffered patiently. The chain of argument enforcing the duty of servants to bear up under their sufferings, must not be defective; this link is therefore added. Reviled. Christ was the object of criticism during his entire public life, and this at times broke forth into such malignant accusations as that of being in league with Satan; being a glutton and a wine-bibber; a companion of persons loose in character; a boaster (Matt. 26:ei); a pretender (claiming to he the Messiah and King of Israel), and a blasphemer. But under no form of reviling did Christ revile in return.

He threatened not. He denounced hypocrites with severity never equaled, but he never threatened in revenge for what he suffered.

But committed. in the original the verb has no object. We may supply himself, or his affairs, or it (the reviling and suffering). Perhaps his judgment — that is, judgment of himself, may express the thought which lay in the mind of the writer. The Revised Version supplies himself, and puts his cause in the margin.

Judgeth righteously. What confidence that he should be vindicated! Compare Job 19:25-27. Nineteen centuries have passed, and evidence of his blamelessness, not stronger indeed than at first, is still spreading, and is destined to spread till "he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power." (1 Cor. 15:24.) In the patience of Christ under suffering, his followers have a lesson of infinite persuasiveness.

24. The third fact: He bare our sins. This point applies to others than servants. Yet he returns to those who were suffering in servitude. The verse is one of inexpressible importance and preciousness. It answers the question: How are we saved? The meaning of a preposition (for, ver. 21 > is not here the point. Who his own self — who himself. Whatever is here affirmed as having been done was done by Christ himself. Not an angel aided him in bearing man's sin. The strength ministered by an angel in Gethsemane (Luke 22:4:!) was ministered that he might be able to bear it alone.

Bare our sins — evidently suggested by Isa. 53, especially ver. 11, 12. In what sense did Christ bear our sins? By taking them away through the influence of his love in suffering? Then his sufferings were not a substitute for those which we deserve; he did not suffer in our place. Three ways of getting an answer are open to us: 1. We may show what Isaiah meant, assuming that Peter's meaning must be the same. 2. Without seeking Isaiah's meaning, we may inquire for Peter's meaning in the light of the New Testament. 3. We may combine both methods. The twofold method will bring us to the conclusion that Christ bore our sins upon the cross in the sense of suffering what God accepted in place of the penalty deserved by ourselves. This is the very least that can be said. Some think that he bore our sins in the sense of suffering the penalty itself — the penalty due to all the sins of all human beings. As the sufferer

was God-man; as his sufferings were intense beyond all human conception; as they were chiefly the sufferings of the soul; and as there was an unfathomable depth of mystery in them, we cannot limit them by any known standard; and yet, strictly speaking, penalty (punishment) implies guilt. But that guilt cannot be ascribed to Christ is clear from ver. 22. If it be said that guilt may be ascribed to him figuratively, that is conceding that guilt cannot be ascribed to him in the sense in which it is ascribed to an actual sinner. For the sake of precision of language, therefore it seems better to restrict the term penalty to punishment inflicted for one's own sin. In John 1:29, a different Greek word is used for taketh away; but as Meyer and others say, that word may mean either take away, or take upon himself in order to bear. Substitution is the meaning expressed there, as well as in the passage before us. See Crit. Notes.

                                     Alas! alas!
Why all the souls that were, were forfeit once;
And he that might the vantage best have took
Found out the remedy: How would you be,
If he, which is the top of judgment, should
But judge as you are? Oh, think on that;
And mercy then will breathe within your lips.
Like man new made.

In his own body — in his body. Compare "present your bodies a living sacrifice." (Rom. 12:1.) No Contrast between the body and the soul is intended. Christ bore our sins in his soul as truly as in his body. Compare Matt. 26:38. But as it was the body which was nailed to the cross, it was natural to make it prominent in the tragic representation. Yet 'body' may be used here, as in Romans, for the entire person.

On the tree. Primary meaning, on the wood, or on a beam of wood. The use of the original word for cross was borrowed from the Hebrew language, and is therefore called a Hebraism. The chief baker was to be hanged on a tree, (Gen. 40:19.) A body was not to remain all night on a tree. (Dcut. 21:23.) Joshua hanged five kings on five trees. (Josh. 10:26.) "Tree, like treow in Anglo Saxon, was often used in early English in the sense of 'wood' in general, as 'vessells of tre' (Chaucer), 'cuppe of tre'; and also specifically to denote something made of wood, particularly a bar or beam; a meaning still preserved in the compounds axle-tree, cross-tree, whipple-tree. . . . . The cross in early English poetry is often called 'Chrisios tre' (Chaucer)." — Ezra Abbott in "Smith's Bib. Diet.," p. 3321. There were modes of putting criminals to death in our Lord's day to which such deep disgrace would not have been affixed. The final object of Christ's death, in the case of men themselves, was to make them "dead to sins and alive unto righteousness." See Rom. 6:11, and consider the relation of this great inward change, wrought by the Saviour's substituted sufferings, to baptism. (Rom. 6:36.) Dead to sins, not dead in sins. (Eph. 2:1.) in the latter case sins are viewed as the "efficient cause" of the state of death.

By whose stripes — not scourging, but the effect of it. The Greek word is in the singular number, and may refer, therefore, not merely to scourging, but to his entire course of suffering — death as the culmination of all.

Were healed. Sin is a fearful disease; regeneration is restoration to health. Sinlessness, to which the regenerate are to attain, is life in the form of perfect health; and this liff is attributed to the death inflicted upon Christ. Self-healing is impossible, for the tendency of man is ever toward a worse state; and great care should be taken by those who use means to heal others, that the means be not such as to heal slightly. (Jer.6:11.) Bodily disease may need change of treatment; for diseases of the soul the apostolic method is still good, and in revivals of religion departure from that method shows how little reliance is placed upon God to do the needed work. Giving the wrong medicine shows ignorance of the disease. On the "Satisfaction of Christ," as treated by Grotius against Socinius, see in "Bib. Sac," 1879, a translation of the Latin treatise by Rev. F. H. Foster. Grotius' view, that the sufferings of Christ were a penalty or punishment inflicted upon Christ himself — that is, the penalty which is deserved by us, would now find few advocates; but the treatise as a whole, it is quite superfluous to say, is one of great power against those errors of Socinians which are more or less distinctly reproduced in Unitarianism.

25. The writer has said that we should live unto righteousness, and that they have been healed. This easily suggests their former state, and all the more easily the figure by which it is represented, because in the very chapter (Isa. 53) which has supplied him with the main thought, men are represented as going astray like sheep, (ver. 6.) As sheep going astray — by the more approved Greek, Ye were straying as sheep. In most affecting terms it expresses the fact of their former separation from God. Plato represents men as God's sheep, but not for the purpose of showing that they have strayed. The remarkable thirty-fourth chapter of Ezekiel, in which the metaphor, greatly expanded, is applied to Israel, should be read in connection with the description by Peter. See also John 10 and Ps. 23. Not as slaves, but as sinners, they were once straying, yet their state of servitude before conversion adds to the effect of the description. Straying sheep encounter want and wolves, and straying men are fearfully exposed to teachers of error (thieves, robbers, hirelings, wolves, John 10:8, 12). False teachers are both straying sheep and prowlers.

Are now returned — have now turned, but this is not an implication that divinely ministered strength to turn was not needed and given.

Bishop — overseer. The Common Version and the Revised Version are alike unfortunate; for bishop does not necessarily imply oversight, which is precisely what is implied in the Greek. A bishop, in the sense used not long after the apostles died, was unknown.

The Shepherd and Bishop (overseer) — Christ, not God, though in 5:2 Peter calls the elect the flock of God. That Christ is meant is clear from Ezek. 34:23, 24. He is the chief Shepherd. (5:4.)

Your souls — connected with 'Shepherd' as well as with 'Bishop.'

Thus is the duty of bearing up under their sufferings enjoined upon the servants by the example of Christ as a sufferer; more particularly by the three facts that his sufferings were borne without sin, with patience, and as a substitute. The appeal is adapted to all Christian sufferers of all times. This chapter is even richer than the first. Like that, it is chiefly hortatory, but here also the practical is not without strong support in doctrine. While the exhortations of the first are radiant with electing love, shining indeed, also, with that glory of Christ which was to come after his sufferings, the exhortations of this chapter glow with ineffable brightness; for Christ's death appears in its mightiest efficacy. Verses 24, 25 give additional evidence (compare 1:18, 19) of Peter's attainment of correct views concerning the necessity and object of Christ's death.

CRITICAL NOTES. — CHAPTER II.

3. εἷς σωτηρίαν (unto salvation) is found after αὐξηθῆτε (may grow) in so many valuable manuscripts, that it is judged to have been originally a part of the Epistle. It is accepted as genuine by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort, and the Revisers. "It indicates," says Huther, "the aim of all Christian growth."

The Greek word for honour (τιμη) occurs in Peter, in not one case with the meaning preciousness, unless it has it here. It occurs in 1:7; 3:7; 2 Peter 1:17, and in the Common Version is translated honor. The Revised Testament of the Bible Union translates honor in the case before us. The English and American Revision translates preciousness, but puts honor in the margin. It translates in all the other passages honor. Translating differently here is one of the few inconsistencies of the Revised Version. Not only the context, but the ustis loquendi (customary way of speaking), shows that honor is the true meaning. The old interpreter Bengel, born in 1687, understood it as the Revisers of 1611 did, but in the American translation of his Notes he is corrected by the editor, who says that the rendering of the English is quite out of the question. In the Gorman, Luther's translation, is the same as that of the Common English Version. On the other hand, the view which is here taken is that of "Wiesinger, Gerhard, De Wette, Bruckner, Weiss, Schott (all from Huther), of Huther himself, Fron müller, and Alford. Lillie seems to prefer preciotisness, and applies it to the Saviour, but afterwards in a note admits that honor would be rather more agreeable to current Greek usage. The before honor points to ἔντιμον (honored, "precious") in ver. 6. The stone is honored; and he that believeth in him shall not be dishonored. You believe; therefore to you is not dishonor, but the honor. This view is held by Dr. Robinson also, who defines τιμη as a state of honor conferred in reward. The position of πιστεύουσιν (who believe) is worthy of notice: Unto (for) you, therefore, is the honor, for you who believe, so that even if τιμη should be translated preciousness, and should be applied to Christ, not that but πιστεύουσιν (believe) would be the emphatic word.

7. εἰς (into) stands before κεφαλὴν (head). If the genius of the English tongue permitted it to be translated, the entire clause would stand thus: This has become for the corner-stone. In the Greek, the preposition expresses design and result — that is, a designed result — a meaning which, according to Buttmann, εἰς sometimes has. That ἐγενήθη (has become), though a passive, may be rendered as above (with an intransitive sense), see Buttmann, pp. 51, 52; and that, though an aorist, it may express by the implication of the context, "the continuance of the action, and its working down to the present time." see Buttmann, pp. 197, 198.

10. They were οὐ λαός (a not-people); λαός (people), οὐ (not). The latter word standing before the former is an instance of what is called negatived substantives. The peculiarity is distinctly recognized by Winer: "Οὐ combined with nouns into one idea, obliterates their meaning altogether (Rom. 10:19; 1 Pet. 2:10), all quotations from the Old Testament." It is more neatly expressed by Buttmann: "Examples of negatived substantives — i. e., of substantives transformed by the negative into their opposites, and blending with it, as it were, into a single word, occur only in Old Testament quotations. The negative then is alway's οὐ, because compounds of the sort are formed in Hebrew with ליא. Rom. 9:25; 1 Pet. 2:10; . . . Rom. 10:19."

13, 18. ὑποτάγητε — submit yourselves (ver. 13) is the aorist passive, with the sense of the middle voice; "a pure reflexive," as Buttmann says of the same word in James 4:7. Humble yourselves (1 Pet. 5:6; James 4:10); joined themselves (Acts 5:30.); but here the manuscripts differ. On the general subject (the use in the New Testament of the aorist passive in a reflexive sense), see Winer, §39, p. 261, Huther on this (ver. 13), and Buttmann, pp. 51, 52. Anticipating in part the consideration of ver. 18 and 3:1, it may be added that the participle ὑποτασσόμενοι. — be subject (ver. 18), be in subjection (3:1) stands in both cases in connection with ὑποτάγητε — submit yourselves (ver. 13), thus: Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man. . . servants being subject to masters, . . . wives being subject to their husbands. Though participles, they are not improperly translated into English as if they were verbs.

21. Christ suffered for you. Did Christ suffer for men in the sense of suffering for their good? or did he suffer for them in the sense of suffering in their place — that is, was Christ the sinner's substitute? The difference is very great, and involves the entire question of the way of salvation. The Revisers of 1611 use the same for to translate two different Greek prepositions, ἀντι and ὑπερ. But there are passages in which the former means, in place of (Luke 11:11; 1 Cor. 11:15; Matt. 20:28); are there any in which the latter has the same meaning? That it is generally used in the sense of for, for the good of is evident; but that it is never used in the sense of instead, in place of — that is, that it never conveys the idea of substitution, is more, probably, than ought to be affirmed. See Philemon, ver. 13: "Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead (ὐπὲρσὸυ) he might have ministered unto me"; "as his representative — substitute" (Hackett), and the same interpreter cites 2 Cor. 5:21:" For he made him to be sin for us" (ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ) . "Winer, after giving to ὑπὲρ in several passages the meaning for, for the benefit of adds: "In most cases, one who acts in behalf of another takes his place (1 Tim. 2:6: 2 Cor. 5:15); hence, ὑπὲρ is Sometimes nearly equivalent to ἀντί, instead, loco" (in place of). He refers to the very decisive Philemon 13. One is surprised to hear Winer say after this, in a note, "Still, in doctrinal passages relating to Christ's death (Gal. 3:13; Rom. 5:6, 8;14: 15; 1 Pet. 3:18,etc.), it is not justifiable to render ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν and the like rigorously by instead of. Ἀντὶ is the more definite of the two prepositions. 'Υπὲρ signifies merely for men, for their deliverance; and leaves undetermined the precise sense in which Christ died for them." Robinson admits the sense instead of in Philemon, and thinks it may be the meaning in 2 Cor. 5:20; Eph. 6:20. Compare 1 Pet. 3:18. The question, however, in what sense Christ died for sinners does not turn wholly upon the meaning of a preposition. See upon ver. 24.

24. The Greek for bare is ἀνήνεγκεν, from ἁναφέρω — ἀνα (up) and φέρω (bear); to bear up from a lower to a higher place. Where the Common Version says on, the Greek uses ἐπὶ (upon). The verb and the preposition taken together mean bore up upon, and as sacrifices were carried up to the altar and offered (compare James 2:21), it has been insisted that Peter here views the cross as an altar, and represents Christ as bearing our sins up to the cross to sacrifice them there. See Col. 2:14. But the cross of Christ is never represented in the New Testament as an altar; and neither in the Old Testament, nor in the New, are our sins viewed as the sacrifice which is brought to the altar. (Huther.) Bearing our sins he ascended the cross is another way of expressing the meaning. ἀναφέρω does not always mean to bear up, in the sense of taking the object to a higher place. See Heb. 9:28; Isa. 53:12; in the latter of which verses the word is used in the Septuagint for נָשֹא and סָכַל. " But there is no necessity for regarding the case as anything more than the very common one of ἐπὶ, with an accusative; when the verb of motion, appropriate to such a construction is suppressed, and it is to be only mentally supplied: bare our sins in his body [when lifted up] upon the tree." (Lillie.) The Revised Version has in the margin, "Or, carried up. . . to the tree," a suggestion made by the American Committee. Farrar ("Early Days of Christianity") makes substantially' the same, but less elegant, rendering: "Carried up our sins in his own body on to the tree." The marginal reading of the Revised Version may be accepted, without attributing the idea of altar and sacrifice to the verb.

1) Plato, "Against the Atheists." See Lewis' ed., 1845, p. 68, line 12.

2) "Slave," he says in a note, "(softened from sklave, and originally a national appellation, sklavonic, or Sclavonic), is comparatively a modern word in our language, and altogether too restricted to represent the Greek δοῦλος." Dr. T. J. Conant says on Matt. 8:9:"The word servant has, in English, the same extent of application as the Greek word δοῦλος. The latter (properly a bondman, a slave, from δἑω, to bind), is often employed where the English word bondman or slave would be inappropriate. It is used, for example, AS an expression of unlimited devotion to another's will; and this of his own free choice, and in the most honorable relations. . . . . It is necessary in translating to employ a term that has the same comprehension as the Greek term. Compare, e. g.," [Luke] "17:7-10. . . . . ver. 10: Say we are unprofitable servants; unprofitable bondmen or slaves would not express the meaning." In his " Authorized Version," Trench has a paragraph upon the meaning of δοῦλος (servants), from which it is clear that his view is substantially the same as that of Hackett and Conant.