1 Peter 1:13

1:13-16 As the traveller, the racer, the warrior, and the labourer, gathered in their long and loose garments, that they might be ready in their business, so let Christians do by their minds and affections. Be sober, be watchful against all spiritual dangers and enemies, and be temperate in all behaviour. Be sober-minded in opinion, as well as in practice, and humble in your judgment of yourselves. A strong and perfect trust in the grace of God, is agreeable with best endeavours in our duty. Holiness is the desire and duty of every Christian. It must be in all affairs, in every condition, and towards all people. We must especially watch and pray against the sins to which we are inclined. The written word of God is the surest rule of a Christian's life, and by this rule we are commanded to be holy every way. God makes those holy whom he saves.

{4} Wherefore {g} gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and {5} hope {h} to the end for the grace {6} that is to be brought unto you {7} at the revelation of Jesus Christ; (4) He goes from faith to hope, which is indeed a companion that cannot be separated from faith. He uses an argument taken by comparison: We should not be wearied in looking for so excellent a thing, which the very angels wait for with great desire. (g) This is a borrowed speech, taken from common use among them: for since they wore long garments, they could not travel unless they girded up themselves: and hence it is that Christ said, Let your loins be girded up. (5) He sets forth very briefly, what manner of hope ours ought to be, that is, continual, until we enjoy the thing we hope for: then, what we have to hope for, that is, grace (that is, free salvation) revealed to us in the gospel, and not that, that men do rather and fondly promise to themselves. (h) Soundly and sincerely. (6) An argument to stir up our minds, seeing that God does not wait until we seek him, but causes so great a benefit to be brought even unto us. (7) He sets out the end of faith, lest any man should promise himself, either sooner or latter, that full salvation, that is, the latter coming of Christ. In addition warns that that which we are now, is not yet revealed.

1 Peter 1:13-16 . Wherefore — Since your lot is fallen into these glorious times, wherein you enjoy such high privileges above what the people of God formerly enjoyed; since the blessings which are set before you are so invaluable, and are so freely offered you, and you have such great encouragement to believe you may attain them; gird up the loins of your mind — Prepare to pursue them with vigour, constancy, and perseverance, and to perform the various duties which they lay you under an indispensable obligation steadily to practise. The apostle alludes to the manners of the eastern countries, in which the men’s garments being long and flowing, they prepared themselves for travelling, and other active employments, by girding them up with a girdle put round their loins, to prevent their being encumbered by them. The loins of the mind, therefore, is a figurative expression for the faculties of the soul, the understanding, memory, will, and affections, which the apostle signifies must be gathered in and girded, as it were, about the soul by the girdle of truth, so as to be in a state fit for continual and unwearied exertion in running the Christian race, fighting the good fight of faith, and working out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Our mind must not be overcharged at any time with surfeiting and drunkenness, or the cares of this life: our affections must be placed on proper objects, and in a just degree; and especially must be set on the things that are above, which are to be our portion and felicity for ever: our various passions must be under the government of reason and religion, of the truth and grace of God. Be sober — Or rather, watchful, as νηφοντες properly signifies, as servants that wait for their Lord; and hope to the end — Τελειως ελπισατε , hope perfectly, namely, with the full assurance of hope; for the grace — The blessings flowing from the free favour of God; to be brought unto you at the final and glorious revelation of Jesus Christ — At the end of the world. As obedient children — As children of God, obedient to him in all things; not fashioning — Or conforming; yourselves — In spirit and conduct; according to — Or, as if you were influenced by; your former desires in your ignorance — When you were unacquainted with those better things which now claim the utmost vigour of your affections. But as he which hath called you — To be his children and his heirs; is holy — A being perfectly pure and spiritual; be ye holy — In imitation of him, your heavenly Father; in all manner of conversation — Εν παση αναστροφη , in your whole behaviour, in all your tempers, words, and works, from day to day.

Gird up (ἀναζωσάμενοι) Lit., having girded up. Used here only. The metaphor is suggested by the girding up of the loose eastern robes preparatory to running or other exertion. Perhaps recalling the words of Christ, Luke 12:35. Christ's call is a call to active service. There is a fitness in the figure as addressed to sojourners and pilgrims (1 Peter 1:1; 1 Peter 2:11), who must be always ready to move. Mind (διανοίας) See on Mark 12:30. Be sober (νήφοντες) Lit., being sober. Primarily, in a physical sense, as opposed to excess in drink, but passing into the general sense of self-control and equanimity. Hope to the end (τελείως ἐλπίσατε) Better, as Rev., set your hope perfectly: wholly and unchangeably; without doubt or despondency. That is to be brought (τὴν φερομένην) Lit., which is being brought, as Rev., in margin. The object of hope is already on the way.

1 Peter 1:13 . Διὸ , wherefore ) An exhortation is now derived from those things which have been said.— ἀναζωσάμενοι , girding up ) to collect the strength. Comp. the expression, to stir up , 2 Peter 1:13 .— τὰς ὀσφύας , the loins ) A similar phrase occurs, Job 38:3 .— νήφοντες ) sober: ch. 1 Peter 5:8 .— τελείως ἐλπίσατε , hope [Engl. Vers. “ to the end ”], hope perfectly ) have that hope which may grasp the end ( τέλος ) placed before it, 1 Peter 1:9 . Hope is repeated from 1 Peter 1:3 .— φερομένην ) which is afforded and held forth. The same word is used, Hebrews 9:16 . Grace is given to us in perfect measure , and with that our hope ought perfectly to correspond. They are correlatives.— ἐν ἀποκαλύψει , at the revelation ) There is but one revelation, which takes place through the whole time of the New Testament, by the two appearances of Christ: Titus 2:11 ; Titus 2:13 .

Wherefore; the following exhortation may be connected, either with 1 Peter 1:4 , Being so glorious an inheritance is reserved in heaven for you, gird up, & c.; or with 1 Peter 1:12 : Seeing ye know those things, which the prophets that foretold them did not fully see, and the angels themselves desire to look into; the grace of God vouchsafed to you is so excellent and admirable, gird up, & c. Gird up the loins of your mind; i.e. let your minds be attent, prompt, ready, prepared for your spiritual work, restrained from all those thoughts, cares, affections, and lusts, which may entangle, detain, hinder them, or make them unfit for it. It is a metaphor taken from the custom of the Oriental nations, who wearing long loose garments, were wont to gird them up about their loins, that they might not hinder them in their travelling or working, 1 Kings 18:46 2 Kings 4:29 Luke 17:8 : See Poole on "Luke 12:35" , See Poole on "Luke 12:37" . Perhaps it may have a special respect to the like rite used at the Passover, Exodus 12:11 , when the Israelites were just ready to enter upon their journey, aud go out of Egypt. Be sober: this may relate, either: 1. To the body; and then the sense agrees with Luke 21:34 , where the cares of this life seem to be opposed to the girding up the loins of the mind, and surfeiting and drunkenness, to sobriety here. Or rather: 2.

To the soul; and then girding up the loins of the mind, may refer to the understanding, and thoughts, and sobriety, to the will and affections, and may signify that moderation which belongs to them, in opposition to their inordinateness, which is a sort of drunkenness. Or, it may be rendered, be watchful, as it is translated, 2 Timothy 4:5 , and with which it is joined, 1 Thessalonians 5:6,8 ; and so it agrees well with the former clause; they that have the loins of their mind girt up, being of a vigilant, present mind, and ready for any work they are to undertake. And hope to the end; Greek, perfectly, as in the margin, i.e. sincerely, entirely, with a firm confidence; but the following words favour our translation, which signfies perseverance in hope. See Hebrews 3:6 . For the grace that is to be brought unto you; final salvation, which is the gift of grace, Romans 6:23 , and is called the grace of life, 1 Peter 3:7 . At the revelation of Jesus Christ; called the appearing of Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 1:7 .

1 Peter 1:13-21 . Practical admonitions . In this section St. Peter is engrossed with the conception of the Church as the new Israel which has been delivered from idolatry—the spiritual Egypt—by a far more excellent sacrifice . Jesus Himself endorsed such adaptation of the directions given for the typical deliverance ( Luke 12:35 ) and the principle that the worshippers of Jehovah must be like Him ( John 4:23 f.; Matthew 5:48 , etc.).

13. Wherefore—Seeing that the prophets ministered unto you in these high Gospel privileges which they did not themselves fully share in, though "searching" into them, and seeing that even angels "desire to look into" them, how earnest you ought to be and watchful in respect to them! gird up … loins—referring to Christ's own words, Lu 12:35; an image taken from the way in which the Israelites ate the passover with the loose outer robe girded up about the waist with a girdle, as ready for a journey. Workmen, pilgrims, runners, wrestlers, and warriors (all of whom are types of the Christians), so gird themselves up, both to shorten the garment so as not to impede motion, and to gird up the body itself so as to be braced for action. The believer is to have his mind (mental powers) collected and always ready for Christ's coming. "Gather in the strength of your spirit" [Hensler]. Sobriety, that is, spiritual self-restraint, lest one be overcome by the allurements of the world and of sense, and patient hopeful waiting for Christ's revelation, are the true ways of "girding up the loins of the mind." to the end—rather, "perfectly," so that there may be nothing deficient in your hope, no casting away of your confidence. Still, there may be an allusion to the "end" mentioned in 1Pe 1:9.

Hope so perfectly (Greek, "teleios") as to reach unto the end (telos) of your faith and hope, namely, "the grace that is being brought unto you in (so the Greek) the revelation of Christ." As grace shall then be perfected, so you ought to hope perfectly. "Hope" is repeated from 1Pe 1:3. The two appearances are but different stages of the ONE great revelation of Christ, comprising the New Testament from the beginning to the end.

13 . Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind ] The words were in any case a natural figure for prompt readiness for activity, but, coming from one who had been a personal disciple of the Lord Jesus, we cannot fail to trace in them an echo of His words as recorded in Luke 12:35 , possibly also, looking to the many instances of parallelism with St Paul’s Epistles, of those which we find in Ephesians 6:14 . The sequence of thought is that the prospect of the coming glories should be a motive to unflagging activity during men’s sojourn upon earth. be sober, and hope to the end ] The verb for “be sober” expresses a sobriety of the Nazarite type. It meets us in 1 Thessalonians 5:6 ; 1 Thessalonians 5:8 , and in this Epistle, chaps. 1 Peter 4:7 , 1 Peter 5:8 . The marginal reading perfectly , as though he said “hope with a hope that lacks nothing of completeness,” answers better to the meaning of the adverb than the phrase in the English Version. the grace that is to be brought unto you ] Literally, as the Greek participle is in the present tense and has no gerundial force, the grace which is being brought unto you . The communication is thought of as continuous, and finding its sphere of action in every successive revelation of Jesus Christ from that of the soul’s first consciousness of His presence, as in Galatians 1:16 , through those which accompany the stages of spiritual growth, as in 2 Corinthians 12:1 , to that of the final Advent.