1 Peter 1:10

1:10-12 Jesus Christ was the main subject of the prophets' studies. Their inquiry into the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow, would lead to a view of the whole gospel, the sum whereof is, That Christ Jesus was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification. God is pleased to answer our necessities rather than our requests. The doctrine of the prophets, and that of the apostles, exactly agree, as coming from the same Spirit of God. The gospel is the ministration of the Spirit; its success depends upon his operation and blessing. Let us then search diligently those Scriptures which contain the doctrines of salvation.

{3} Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: (3) He makes a difference between true faith, that is to say, that faith which only has an eye to the doctrine of the prophets and apostles, and false faith. Afterward he makes two degrees of one and the same faith, according to the manner of the various revelations, when as in deed it is but one only faith. Thirdly, he says that the preaching of the apostles is the fulfilling of the preaching of the prophets, although the latter end of it be as yet looked for by the very angels.

1 Peter 1:10-11 . Of which salvation — That is, concerning the nature and extent of it, and the way and means of attaining it, namely, by believing and obeying the gospel, to be preached among all nations: (see the margin:) the prophets have inquired — Εξεζητησαν , sought with accuracy, or were earnestly inquisitive about; and searched diligently — (Like miners searching for precious ore,) after the meaning of the prophecies which they delivered; who prophesied — Long ago; of the grace of God toward you — Of his abundant overflowing grace to be bestowed on believers under the dispensation of the Messiah: searching what, or what time — What particular period; and what manner of time — By what marks to be distinguished; or in what age of the world, and what events should then take place. From this it appears that in many instances the prophets did not understand the meaning of their own prophecies, but studied them, as others did, with great care, in order to find it out. See Daniel 7:28 ; Daniel 12:8 . This care they used more especially in examining the prophecies which they uttered concerning Christ. The Spirit of Christ which was in them — The Holy Spirit, as a Spirit of prophecy communicated to them by Christ, who therefore then existed, and that not as a creature, for no creature can give the Holy Ghost but a person properly divine.

Here then we learn that the inspiration of the Jewish prophets was derived from Christ; it was his Spirit (see Galatians 4:6 ) which spoke in them. The same Spirit he promised to the apostles, John 16:7 ; John 16:13 . Wherefore, the prophets and apostles being inspired by one and the same Spirit, their doctrine must be, as in fact it is, the same. When it testified beforehand — Moved them to foretel and show; the sufferings of Christ, (see the margin,) and the glory that should follow — Τας μετα ταυτα δοξας , the glories that should succeed these sufferings; namely, the glory of his resurrection, ascension, exaltation, and the effusion of his Spirit; the glory of the last judgment, and of his eternal kingdom; and also the glories of his grace in the hearts and lives of true believers.

Have inquired and searched diligently (ἐξεζήτησαν - ἐξηρεύνησαν) Rev., properly, renders the aorists sought and searched diligently. The ἐξ in composition has the force of out, searched out, and is rendered by diligently. Sought Used of Esau's seeking carefully for a place of repentance, in Hebrews 12:17. Searched Used nowhere else in the New Testament. Compare Septuagint, 1 Samuel 23:23, of Saul's searching out David.

1 Peter 1:10 . Περὶ ἧς σωτηρίας , of which salvation ) A great argument for the truth arises from the prophecies and eagerness of the prophets.— ἐξεζήτησαν καὶ ἐξηρεύνησαν , inquired and searched diligently ) There is great emphasis in the two compound words, ἐκζητεῖν , to seek out , to attain to by seeking: ἐξερευνᾶν , to search through , to attain to by searching. The simple word ἐρευνῶντες , searching , occurs in 1 Peter 1:11 . What they attained to by inquiring and searching, is expressed and defined in 1 Peter 1:12 . Ἐρευνῶντες , searching , refers to the first and principal searching respecting Christ Himself: ἐξεζήτησαν καὶ ἐξηρεύνησαν , they inquired and searched diligently , to a further and more advanced searching respecting Christians.— προφῆται , prophets ) with the other righteous men: Matthew 13:17 ; John 8:56 . The omission of the article gives weight to the sentence, as is often the case with the Germans: for it has the effect of calling away the attention of the hearer from the particular consideration of individuals to the genus itself. So 1 Peter 1:12 , angels . A gradual rise of subject.— εἰς ὑμᾶς , unto you ) who live in this age.— χάριτος , grace ) The grace of the New Testament, 1 Peter 1:13 . True grace , ch. 1 Peter 5:12 . Comp. John 1:17 .

Of which salvation; either: 1. The more full and clear manifestation of salvation promised to be at the coming of Christ, when life and immortality should be brought to light through the gospel, 2 Timothy 1:10 ; and then this place is parallel to Luke 10:24 : or: 2. The salvation of the dispersed Jews, i.e. their public conversion by the gospel, and eternal life following upon it; which (as well as the calling of the Gentiles) was reserved for the times and glory of the Messiah. The prophets; viz. those under the Old Testament, out of whose writings the faith of New Testament believers is to be confirmed, John 5:39 Acts 17:11 ; and whom this apostle therefore mentions, that he might strengthen the faith of the Christian Jews, by assuring them that the doctrine he had delivered to them was no new invention, but the very truth of God revealed of old to the prophets. Have inquired and searched diligently; the words imply their vehement desire of knowing, as well as great diligence in seeking. Who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: what he called salvation before, he calls grace here, to intimate their salvation to be merely of grace. This grace revealed under the gospel, the prophets foretold, but in a more dark way; the Sun of righteousness not being yet risen, the shadows were not gone, and the light was but obscure.

1 Peter 1:10-12 .—The ancient prophets prophesied concerning the grace which was destined for you and enquired diligently about this salvation. They were the unconscious instruments of the revelation of God and their first duty done continued to pore over the inspired descriptions of the sufferings and subsequent glories of the Messiah. They asked themselves to whom does this refer and when shall these things be. And to them the revelation was made that they were only the administrators of an estate which others—you in fact should enjoy. The subjects of their prophecies have now been proclaimed to you by your Christian teachers who, like the prophets, were inspired by the Holy Spirit—with this difference that now the Spirit has been sent from heaven whereas of old He dwelt only in minds of a few. And these are the mysteries into which angels long to peep. St. Peter has utilised a saying of Jesus to explain the great problem of unfulfilled prophecy and expounded it. Among the prophets he includes the so-called apocalyptic writers like Daniel and his successors. Gradually the coming of the Messiah and the dawn of the new age had been pushed further and further back until the inspired prophets realised that—as the Christians held—he Messiah would only come just before the end of all. The Messiah was not Hezekiah despite the Rabbis, nor yet the best of the Hasmonean house as Enoch hoped. ἀπεκαλύφθη .

Such was the revelation or Apocalypse from which the latest of the prophets derive their common name; and St. Peter credits all the line with the curiosity which characterised the last of them and his own contemporaries; cf. Acts 2. and Hebrews 11:13 ff. The saying in question on which St. Peter builds is reported differently: According to Matthew 13:17 , Jesus said, πολλοὶ προφῆται καὶ δίκαιοι ἐπεθύμησαν … according to Luke 10:24 , προφῆται καὶ βασιλεῖς ἠθέλησαν … according to St. Peter προφῆται (10) καὶ ἄγγελοι . The mention of the righteous derives support from Hebrews 11:13-16 , and John 8:56 , and an original ישרים “the righteous” would easily be altered in the course of transmission into שרים = princes earthly or heavenly ( cf. Daniel 10:21 ; LXX, Μιχαὴλ ὁ ἄγγελος ). The motive which prompted the interpretation ἄγγελοι is due to the influence of the Book of Enoch (see note below) which explains the writer’s conception of the prophets.

10. The magnitude of this "salvation" is proved by the earnestness with which "prophets" and even "angels" searched into it. Even from the beginning of the world this salvation has been testified to by the Holy Spirit. prophets—Though there is no Greek article, yet English Version is right, "the prophets" generally (including all the Old Testament inspired authors), as "the angels" similarly refer to them in general. inquired—perseveringly: so the Greek. Much more is manifested to us than by diligent inquiry and search the prophets attained. Still it is not said, they searched after it, but concerning (so the Greek for "of") it. They were already certain of the redemption being about to come. They did not like us fully see, but they desired to see the one and the same Christ whom we fully see in spirit. "As Simeon was anxiously desiring previously, and tranquil in peace only when he had seen Christ, so all the Old Testament saints saw Christ only hidden, and as it were absent—absent not in power and grace, but inasmuch as He was not yet manifested in the flesh" [Calvin]. The prophets, as private individuals, had to reflect on the hidden and far-reaching sense of their own prophecies; because their words, as prophets, in their public function, were not so much their own as the Spirit's, speaking by and in them: thus Caiaphas.

A striking testimony to verbal inspiration; the words which the inspired authors wrote are God's words expressing the mind of the Spirit, which the writers themselves searched into, to fathom the deep and precious meaning, even as the believing readers did. "Searched" implies that they had determinate marks to go by in their search. the grace that should come unto you—namely, the grace of the New Testament: an earnest of "the grace" of perfected "salvation … to be brought at the (second) revelation of Christ." Old Testament believers also possessed the grace of God; they were children of God, but it was as children in their nonage, so as to be like servants; whereas we enjoy the full privileges of adult sons.

10 . Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently ] The words require a slight correction before we proceed to explain them. The noun “prophets” is without the article and the verbs are in the aorist and not the perfect. We translate accordingly, of which salvation prophets enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied . The words have commonly been taken as referring exclusively to the Old Testament prophets, and it is at least right to set before the reader the interpretation of the passage in detail based upon that assumption. Those prophets, it is said, saw the future sufferings of Christ and the after glory but not the time of their accomplishment. The Spirit which taught them was, though they knew it not, the Spirit of Christ, one with that which proceeds from Him and which He bestows on His people. The sufferings appointed for Christ (this, rather than “sufferings of Christ,” is the true rendering) were such as those indicated prophetically in Isaiah 53, typically in Psalms 22. The glories were those of His Eternal Kingdom. It was revealed to the prophets that they were ministering these things (the verb is in the tense that implies continuous action) not for themselves (comp. the parallel language of Hebrews 11:13 ; Hebrews 11:39 ) but for “you” (some MSS. giving “us”), i.e. for the whole body of future believers in Christ.